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BR  270  .S6  1885 
Smith,  Philip,  1817-1885. 
The  history  of  the  Christia 
church  during  the  middle 


THE    POPE     IN    PROCESSION. 


The  Student's  Ecclesiastical  History 

Part  II. 


THE  HISTORY 

OF   THE 

CHRISTIAN    CHURCH 

DURING  THE  MIDDLE  AGES 

WITH  A  SUMMARY  OF  THE  REFORMATION 
CENTURIES  XI.  TO  XVI. 

y 

By  PHILIP  SMITH,  B.A. 

AUTHOR  OF  THE   "STUDENT'S  OLD   TESTAMENT   HISTORY"  AND  THE   "STUDENT'S  NEW 
TESTAMENT  HISTORY" 


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PREFACE. 


The  present  Work  forms  the  continuation  and  conclusion 
of  the  Author's  "  History  of  the  Christian  Church  during 
the  First  Ten  Centuries." 

The  Preface  to  that  Yolume  set  forth  the  need  of  such 
a  Manual,  not  only  for  the  Theological  Student,  but  also 
for  every  reader  of  Civil  History,  which  becomes  more 
closely  connected  with  Ecclesiastical  History  as  we  ad- 
vance into  the  Middle  Ages  ;  while  the  great  severance  of 
a  large  part  of  Western  Christendom  from  Home  marks 
the  epoch  at  which  the  general  history  of  the  Church 
branches  out  into  that  of  the  several  nations. 

The  limit  thus  prescribed  by  the  nature  of  the  subject 
corresponds  to  that  which  has  been  found  practicable  in 
the  execution  of  the  work  ;  for  the  Author  is  not  ashamed 
to  confess  that  he  had  to  learn  the  magnitude  of  his  task 
in  its  performance — "  Experto  disces  quam  gravis  iste  labor  " 
— and  the  book  was  not  written  in  the  order  of  its  final 
arrangement.  The  History  of  the  Medieval  Church— or 
rather  that  well-defined  part  of  it  which  begins  from  the 
darkness  of  the  Tenth  Century— is  a  subject  large  enough 
in  itself,  and  a  complete  History  of  the  Reformation  is  one 
of  equal  magnitude  ;  but  the  ultimate  issue  of  the  former 


vi  PREFACE. 

can  only  be  seen  by  a  glance  at  least,  comprehensive  how- 
ever brief,  over  the  latter ;  and  this  has  been  attempted  in 
the  present  Volume. 

Apart  from  all  questions  of  opinion  about  the  true 
Catholic  Church,  which  belong  to  polemical  Theology,  the 
external  union  of  Western  Christianity  under  the  twofold 
headship  of  the  Roman  See  and  the  Empire  supplies  a 
well-defined  historical  chain,  which  is  here  followed  in  the 
first  two  Books,  from  the  deaths  of  the  Emperor  Otho  III. 
and  Pope  Sylvester  II.  (a.d.  1002-3)  to  the  Reformation, 
at  the  epoch  marked  by  the  coronation  of  Charles  Y.  in 
the  same  year  as  the  Diet  and  great  Protestant  Confession 
of  Augsburg  (1530)  and  the  death  of  Pope  Clement  VII. 
(1534),  which  is  also  the  epoch  of  England's  severance 
from  Rome.  Then,  taking  up  what  Mosheim  long  since 
defined  as  the  Internal  History  of  the  Church,  the  attempt 
is  made  to  exhibit,  in  successive  Books,  the  Constitution, 
Worship,  and  most  distinctive  Doctrines  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  system ;  the  progress  and  decline  of  Monasticism, 
including  the  wondrous  phenomenon  of  the  Mendicant 
Orders,  the  standing  militia  of  Rome,  till  their  corruptions 
became  a  chief  cause  of  the  revolt  from  her  authority; 
the  great  intellectual  movement  of  Scholasticism  and  the 
Universities  ;  and  the  rebellion  of  opinion  and  conscience 
against  authority,  which — justly  or  unjustly — was  stig- 
matized as  Heresy.  This  subject  leads,  by  a  natural 
transition,  to  the  great  movement  of  Reformation,  begin- 
ning with  Wyclif  and  Hus,  and  culminating  in  the 
religious  revolution  of  the  Sixteenth  Century  ;  the  last 
wide  period  being  only  sketched  in  outline. 

With  regard  to  the  authorities  on  which  the  Work  is 
founded,  the  avowal  made  in  the  Preface  to  the  former 
Volume  is  still  more  applicable  to  the  vast,  literature  of  the 
Medieval  Church.  Though  the  subject  has  formed  one  of 
his  special  studies,  the  Author  does  not  claim  to  have 
founded  the  present  Manual  on  the  life-long  labour  of 
original  research ;    but  to  have  used  the  best  Histories 


PREFACE.  vii 

accessible,  with  such,  reference  to  primary  authorities  as 
was  possible.  The  works  chiefly  used  are  constantly 
indicated  by  references,  and  quotations  are  freely  made 
where  they  seemed  to  give  the  best  expression  of  the 
subject.  Special  acknowledgment  is  due  to  the  thesaurus 
of  extracts  from  original  authorities,  collected  with  equal 
industry  and  judgment  by  Gieseler  in  the  Notes  to  his 
History,1  which  were  also  freely  drawn  on  by  Canon 
Robertson,  to  whose  work  the  Author's  acknowledgment 
is  now  mingled  with  regret  for  his  loss  (he  died  on  the 
8th  of  July,  1882,  in  his  70th  year).  Another  tribute  of 
mingled  gratitude  and  regret  is  due  to  Archbishop  Trench, 
on  his  retirement  from  the  see  of  Dublin,  for  the  spirited 
and  devout  portraiture  of  the  period  in  his  Lectures  on 
Medieval  Church  History  ;2  and  great  help  has  been  derived 
from  the  late  Archdeacon  Hardwick's  two  excellent 
Manuals  of  Church  History  during  the  Middle  Ages  and 
the  Reformation,  edited  by  the  present  Bishop  of  Chester 
(Dr.  Stubbs) ;  and  also  from  Mr.  Pryce's  Essay,  which  has 
become  a  standard  work,  on  the  Holy  Roman  Empire.  Of 
Dean  Milman's  History  of  Latin  Christianity,  and  the  works 
of  Hallam,  it  is  almost  superfluous  to  sj)eak.  Constant 
use  has  been  made  of  the  German  Church  Histories  of 
Guerike,  Niedner,  Kurz,  and  Hase.  Some  important 
authorities  for  special  parts  of  the  work  are  acknowledged 
in  their  place ;  but  a  tribute  of  admiration  must  here  be 
paid  to  the  labours  of  the  late  Professor  Brewer  and 
Dr.  Shirley  on  the  Franciscans  and  the  Schoolmen,  and 
particularly  Roger  Bacon  and  Wyclif. 

The  avowal  made  in  the  Author's  former  Preface  of  his 
attempt  to  preserve  historical  impartiality,  but  not  in  a 
spirit  of  indifference,  becomes   the  more  necessary  from 

1  The  references  are  to  Mr.  Hull's  Translation  in  Clark's  Foreign 
Theological  Library. 

2  Another  light  of  the  Irish  Church,  the  late  Bishop  Fitzgerald,  has 
left  behind  the  Lectures  delivered  in  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  which  it  is 
hoped  will  soon  be  published.     They  are  full  of  instruction  and  suggestion. 


Vin  PREFACE. 

the  nature  of  the  questions  at  issue  throughout  the 
Middle  Ages,  especially  between  the  Church  of  Rome  and 
those  who  regard  it  as  essentially  a  corrupted  form  of 
Christianity.  On  all  such  matters  the  object  aimed 
at  has  been  to  state  the  plain  historic  truth,  without 
exaggerating  or  glozing  over  the  conclusions  to  which 
it  leads. 


Luther's  Cell  in  the  Augustinian  Convent  at  Erfurt. 


Noah's  Ark,  as  a  Symbol  of  Salvation  in  the  Church  by  Bapti 
From  the  Catacombs. 


CONTENTS. 


BOOK    I. 

CLIMAX  OF  THE  EMPIEE  AND  THE  PAPACY  AND 

THEIR  CONFLICT  FOR  SUPREMACY. 

Centuries  XI.-XIII. 


CHAPTER  I. 

PAGE 

SUPREMACY  OF  THE  EMPIRE  AND  REFORM  OF  THE 
PAPACY,  UNDER  HENRY  II.,  CONRAD  II.,  AND 
HENRY  III.     a.d.  1002-1056 1 

CHAPTER  II. 

SUPREMACY  OF  HILDEBRAND  (GREGORY  VII.)  AND 
HIS  CONTEST  WITH  HENRY  IV.  ABOUT  INVESTI- 
TURES,    a.d.  1057-1085 10 

CHAPTER  III. 

THE  CRUSADES   AND   THE  PAPACY:  WITH  THE 
SEQUEL  OF  THE  DISPUTE  OX  INVESTITURES. 

From  the  Death  of  Gregory  VII.  to  thk  Concordat  op  Worms 
and  the  Death  of  the  Emperor  Henry  V. 

a.d.  1085  1125   J4 

II— A  2 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  IV. 
THE  HOUSE  OF  HOHENSTAUFEN  AND  THE  PAPACY. 

PAGE 

From  the  Election  of  Pope  Honorius  II.  and  the  Emperor 

LOTHAIR   II.    TO    THE    DEATHS    OF    THE    EMPEROR    HENRY    VI. 

and  Pope  Celestine  III.    a.d.  1124-1198      40 

CHAPTER.  V. 

CLIMAX  OF  THE  PAPACY: 
AND  FALL  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  HOHENSTAUFEN. 

From    the    Election    of    Innocent    III.    to   the   Deaths    of 
Conrad  IV.  and  Innocent  IV.    a.d.  1198-1254 61 

CHAPTER  VI. 

END  OF  THE  PAPAL  SUPKEMACY. 

From   the   Election   of    Alexander   IV.    to   the   Deaths  of 
Boniface  VIII.  and  Benedict  XL    a.d.  1254-1304     ..      ..     81 


BOOK   II. 

THE  DEGEADATION  AND  OUTWAED  EEVIVAL  OF 

THE  PAPACY. 

Centuries  XIV.-XVI. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  "BABYLONIAN  CAPTIVITY."— PART  I. 
CLEMENT  V.   AND  JOHN   XXII.     a.d.    1305-1334      103 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  BABYLONIAN  CAPTIVITY— PART  II. 

From  Benedict  XII.  to  Gregory  XI.     a.d.  1334-1378. 

Including  the  Tribuneship  of  Rtenzi  at  Rome      ..   119 


CONTENTS.  xi 

CHAPTER  IX. 
THE  GREAT  PAPAL  SCHISM.-PART  I. 

PAGE 

To  thr  Council  op   Pisa  and  the  Death  of  Alexander  V. 

a.d.  1378-1410       136 

CHAPTER  X. 
THE  GREAT  PAPAL  SCHISM  —PART  II. 

The  Council  of  Constance  and  End  of  the  Schism. 

a.d.  1410  to  1418 149 

CHAPTER  XI. 
PAPACY  OF  MARTIN  V.  AND  EUGENIUS  IV. 

The  Council  of  Basle  :  to  its  Virtual  End.    a.d.  1418-1443  .   168 

CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  COUNCIL  OF  FERRARA  AND  FLORENCE. 

The  XVIIth  (Ecumenical  of  the  Romans.     End  of  the  Council 
of  Basle,    a.d.  1438  to  1447    ..      ..' 185 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

OUTWARD  REVIVAL  OF  THE  PAPACY. 

Age  of  the  Renaissance.    Nicolas  V.    Calixtus  III.    Pius  II. 

Paul  II.    a.d.  1447-1471 196 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE  PAPACY  IN  THE  AGE  OF  THE  RENAISSANCE. 

Sixtus  IV.    Innocent  VIII.    Alexander  VI.    Pius  III. 

a.d.  1471-1503       214 

CHAPTER  XV. 
THE  PAPACY  IN  THE  AGE  OF  THE  REFORMATION. 

Julius   II.     Leo  X.     Clement  VII.     To   the    Epoch   of   the 
Coronation  of  Charles  V.     a.d.  1503-1530        233 


xii  CONTENTS. 

BOOK     III. 

THE  CONSTITUTION,  WORSHIP,  AND  DOCTEINES 

OF  THE  MEDIEVAL  CHURCH. 

Centuries  XI.-XVI. 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

PAGE 

THE  PAPACY,  HIERARCHY,  AND  CLERGY 255 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
MINISTRATIONS  OF  THE  CHURCH.    Centuries  XI.-XVI.  271 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

SAINT- WORSHIP    AND    MARIOLATRY.      HYMNOLOGY 

AND  SACRED  ART         294 

CHAPTER  XIX. 
THE  EUCHARISTIC  CONTROVERSY. 

Lanfranc  and  Berengar— Doctrine  of  Transubstantiation  . .   310 


BOOK    IV. 
THE  MONASTIC  ORDERS  AND  MENDICANT  FRIARS. 

CHAPTER  XX. 
REFORMED  AND  NEW  MONASTIC  ORDERS 328 

CHAPTER  XXI. 
THE  MILITARY  AND  MINOR  MONASTIC  ORDERS      ..   351 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

THE  MENDICANT   ORDERS.     ST.  DOMINIC  AND  THE 

PREACHING  FRIARS,     a.d.  1170,  et  seq 368 


CONTENTS.  xiii 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

PAGE 

THE    MENDICANT    FRIAKS  -continued.      ST.    FRANCIS 

AND  HIS  ORDER,     a.d.  1182-1226     381 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 
PROGRESS  OF  THE  FRANCISCANS,     a.d.  1226-1256      ..   399 

CHAPTER  XXV. 
LATER  HISTORY  OF  THE  MENDICANT  ORDERS        ..415 


BOOK      V. 

ECCLESIASTICAL  LEARNING,  THE  UNIVERSITIES, 

AND  SCHOLASTIC  THEOLOGY. 

Centuries  XI.-XV. 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 
RETROSPECT  OF  CENTURIES  VI.-X 438 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 
RISE  OF  SCHOLASTIC  DIVINITY. 

From  Lanfranc  and  Berengar  to  Anselm — Second  Half  of 
Cent.  XI 451 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 
FIRST  AGE  OF  SCHOLASTICISM. 

Realism  and  Nominalism:  Roscellin,  Abelard,  and  St.  Ber- 
nard. The  Victorines  and  Peter  Lombard.  First  Half 
of  Cent.  XII 464 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 
SECOND  AGE  OF  SCHOLASTICISM. 

The  Universities  and  the  Schoolmen. — Cent.  XII.,  XIII.        ..   486 


XIV  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XXX. 

PAGE 

SCHOLASTIC  THEOLOGY— continued. 
THE  FRIARS  AND  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  PARIS. 

St.  Bonaventcra,  St.  Thomas  Aquinas,  Duns  Scotus. 

a.d.  1221  4308      501 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 
THE  GREATEST  OF  THE  SCHOOLMEN. 

Roger. Bacon.  From  about  1214  to  after  1292  a.d 525 

CHAPTER  XXXII. 

LAST  AGE  OF  SCHOLASTICISM. 

William  of  Ockham  and  the  Later  Schoolmen.    From  the 
End  of  Cent.  XIII.  to  the  End  of  Cent.  XV 543 

CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

MYSTICAL  THEOLOGY  AND  THE  MYSTICS. 

Centuries  XIV.  and  XV 554 


BOOK    VI. 
SECTS  AND  HERESIES  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

CHAPTER  XXXI V. 

ORIGIN  OF  THE  MEDIEVAL  SECTS. 

Retrospect. — Centuries  VII.-XII 576 

CHAPTER  XXXV. 
THE  MANICHEAN  SECTS: 

Cathari,  Albigenses,  etc. — Centuries  XII.,  XIII 585 

CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

THE  WALDENSES,  OR  POOR  MEN  OF  LYON. 

Centuries  XII.-XV 595 


CONTENTS.  xv 

CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

PAGE 

THE  ALBIGENSIAN  CRUSADE,     a.d.  1198-1229        ..      ..607 

CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 
THE  INQUISITION:  from  a.d.  1229  621 


BOOK    VII. 
THE  REFORMATION  AND  ITS  PRECURSORS. 

CHAPTER  XXXIX. 
WYCLIF  AND  THE  LOLLARDS,     a.d.  1324  (?)-1384,  et  seq.  629 

CHAPTER  XL. 

JOHN  HUS,  JEROME  OF  PRAGUE, 
AND  THE  RELIGIOUS  CONFLICT  IN  BOHEMIA. 

From  the  Fourteenth  Century  to  the  Peace  of  Westphalia 

(a.d.  1648)      650 

CHAPTER  XLI. 
SUMMARY  OF  THE  PROTESTANT  REFORMATION. 

Century  XVI 681 


The  Pope's  Chair  at  the  Council  of  Constance. 


Christ  and  the  Doctors.     The  figure  brlow  is  supposed  to  represent  the  Firmament. 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE 

The  Pope  in  Procession Frontispiece 

A  Gem,  with  Christian  Symbols Title 

The  Twelve  Apostles  on  Thrones,  with  Our  Lord  in  the  centre  . .       . .  v 

Luther's  Cell  in  the  Augustinian  Convent  at  Erfurt viii 

Noah's  Ark,  as  a  Symbol  of  Salvation  in  the  Church  by  Baptism      ..  ix 

The  Pope's  Chair  at  the  Council  of  Constance       xv 

Christ  and  the  Doctors xvi 

Susannah  and  the  Elders  allegorized  as  a  type  of  the  Church  :  a  Sheep 

between  two  wild  beasts      xvii 

Coin  of  Charles  the  Great        xviii 

Vestibule  of  the  Abbey  of  Lorsch,  near  Darmstadt      xl 

The  Walls  of  Rome.     The  Ostian  Gate           1 

Rome         10 

Ancient  Chalices,  formerly  at  Monza 23 

Jerusalem 24 

Shrine  of  the  "Three  Kings,"  Cologne  Cathedral          40 

The  Iron  Crown  of  Lombardy,  at  Monza  Cathedral ,  BO 

Apse  of  the  Apostles' Church  at  Cologne        61 

Basilica  of  the  Lateran,     (San  Giovanni  in  Laterano) 81 

The  Lord  with   SS.  Peter  and  Paul.      An  ancient  Glass   Medallion, 

found  in  the  Catacombs,  and  preserved  in  the  Vatican 102 

Avignon;   with  the  Broken  Bridge  over  the  Rhone      103 

Palace  of  the  Popes  at  Avignon      119 

The  Castle  of  St.  Angelo  (Mausoleum  of  Hadrian)       136 

Hall  of  the  Kaufhaus,  in  which  the  Council  of  Constance  was  held    ..  149 

Medal  of  Martin  V.     From  the  British  Museum 167 

Medal  of  Pope  Eugenius  IV 1(58 

Florence 185 

Medal  of  John  Palseologus.  II.,  by  Pisani.     (Reverse.) 195 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS.  xvii 

PAGE 

Interior  of  St.  Peter's,  at  Rome      196 

Medal  of  Cosmo  de'  Medici      213 

Bronze  Statue  of  St.  Peter,  in  St.  Peter's,  at  Rome 214 

The  Pope  in  Procession 233 

Durham  Cathedral 255 

Shrine  of  St.  heboid,  at  Nuremberg      270 

Cologne  Cathedral 271 

St.  Peter  Fishing.     (From  the  Calixtine  Catacomb) 293 

The  Virgin  Enthroned 294 

Abbey  of  Corbey,  in  Westphalia 310 

Archbishop  celebrating  Mass  "before  the  Table  "         327 

The  Abbey  of  Clugny,  in  Burgundy       328 

IXQTC  and  Anchor.     (A  Gem  from  Martigny) 350 

The  Temple,  Paris 351 

Monks. — Devotion  and  Labour.    One  at  prayer  and  two  basket-m;iking  367 

Interior  of  Cordova  Cathedral         368 

St.  Francis  in  Glory.     From  the  Fresco  by  Giotto,  on   the  Vault  of 

the  Lower  Church  of  St.  Francis  at  Assisi         381 

Assi&i :  showing  the  Churches  of  St.  Francis         ..  399 

Christ  the  Good   Shopherd,  with   subjects  from    the  Old  Testament. 

An  archaic  bronze  Medallion,  found  in  the  Catacombs  at  Rome      . .  414 

Franciscan  Friar  and  Trinitarian  Monk  415 

Tomb  of  the  Venerable  Bede :   in  the  Galilee  of  Durham  Cathedral    ..  438 

Tomb  of  Charles  the  Great,  at  Aix-la-Chapelle 451 

Vezelay — where  St.  Bernard  preached  the  Second  Crusade         ..       ..  464 

Interior  of  Notre  Dame,  Paris         486 

The  Great,  Benedictine  Abbey  of  Monte  Cassino 501 

Merton  College,  Oxford    ..       525 

The  Kbnigsstuhl  at  Rhense  on  the  Rhine       543 

Strassburg         554 

Interior  of  the  Court  of  a  Greek  Monastery. '    A  monk  is  calling  the 
Congregation  to   prayers   by  beating   a  board   called  a  Simaodro, 

which  is  used  instead  of  bells 576 

Albi 585 

Church  of  St.  Ainay,  Lyon 595 

Gateway  of  Carcassonne 607 

The  Three  Children  in  the  Fiery  Furnace 620 

Prison  of  the  Inquisition  at  Cordova      621 

Preaching  at  Paul's  Cross        629 

Old  Town-hall  (Rathhaus)  at  Prague 650 

Council  of  Trent.     From  a  photograph  of  an  old  picture  which  used 

to  hang  in  the  Church  of  Santa  Maria  Maggiore  at  Trent       ..       ..  681 
Castle  of  the  Wartburg  in  Thuringia,  where  Luther  made  his  trans- 
lation of  the  Bible        690 


Susannah  and  the  Elders  allegorized  as  a  type  of  the  Church  : 
a  Sheep  between  two  wild  beasts.     From  a  bas-relief. 


Coin  of  Charles  the  Gnat 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE  OF  EVENTS 
AND   PERSONS.1 


RETROSPECT  OF  IMPORTANT  POINTS  REFERRED  TO  IN 
CENTURIES  VI. -X. 

A.D.  PAGE 

524.  Boethius  the  last  Classical  Latin  Writer 440 

Decay  of  Learning  ;  but  preserved  by  the  Church 441 

600.  The  Epoch  from  which  the  Middle  Ages  begin 440 

Ecclesiastical  Schools.     Gregory  the  Great 442 

630.  Schools  of  King  Sigbert  and  Bishop  Felix  in  East  Anglia  . .  443 
653.  Constantine  founds  the  Paulician  Heresy  in  Armenia  ..  ..  579 
668.  Archbishop  Theodore.     Greek  Learning  in  England     . .      . .   443 

Learning  flourishing  in  Northumbria  444 

684.  Benedict  Biscop's  Abbeys  of  Wearmouth  and  Jarrow     . .       . .    445 

The  Venerable  Bede  (ob.  735).     His  knowledge  of  Greek    ..    445 

690.  Burning  of  Panlicians  by  Justinian  II 579 

735.  Archbishop  Egbert  (ob.  766);  the  Schools  of  York  ..  ..  445 
766.  Alcuin  (6.  735,  d.  804)  ;  teacher  of  Charles  the  Great  445-6 
800  f.  The  Cathedral  and  Conventual  Schools  of  Charles       ..      ..446 

811.  Capitularies  of  Charles  on  Church-building 306 

813.  Council  of  Mainz.     Feast  of  the  Assumption 295 


i  Note.— This  is  intended  not  merely  as  a  Chronological  Table  complete  in  itself, 
but  a  gathering  up  into  consecutive  order  of  the  items  which  our  arrangement  by 
subjects  lias  necessarily  dispersed  through  the  book. 

Beyond  the  limits  of  the  text  (Centuries  XI.-XVI.)  various  items  incidentally 
referred  to  are  inserted  boih  at  the  beginning  and  the  end  of  the  Table. 

What  relates  to  the  conversion  of  the  nations  of  Northern  Europe  (in  Centuries 
XI.-XIV.)  has  already  been  given  In  our  First  Volume. 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  xix 

A.D.  PAGE 

871.  Destruction  of  the  Paulician  stronghold  Tephrica 580 

General  Intellectual  State  of  Europe  in  9th  and  10th  Centuries  447 

880  (circ.).  Death  of  John  Scotus  Hrigena      448-450 

912.  Berno  founds  the  Benedictine  Order  of  Glugny 332 

960.  Witikund  OF  Corvey  against  Monastic  Reform       335 

969  f.  Pauliciaiis  in  Thrace,  &c. :  spread  to  Europe 580 

Oriental  Origin  of  Western  Manicheaa  Sects      578-580 

980.  Avicenna,  Arab  commentator  on  Aristotle  (06.  1037)..       458-9 

999.  Sylvester  II.,  P.  (Gerbert),  brings  Arab  Learning  from  Spain   458 

1000.  General  Expectation  of  the  Millennium       306 


ELEVENTH  CENTURA 

1002.  Death  of  the  Emperor  Otho  III 2 

Henry  II.  (of  Bavaria)  King  of  the  Romans      2 

1003.  Death  of  Pope  Sylvester  II.  (Gerbert).  His  Learning  ..  ..  448 
John  XVII.  (Sicco)  and  John  XVIII.  (Fanassi)  Popes  ..  ..  3  n. 
Sergius  IV.  (Bocca  di  Porco)  Pope 3  n. 

1004.  Leutheric,  Archbishop  of  Sens,  on  the  Eucharist 313 

1005.  Nilus  the  Younger,  hermit  in  Calabria  (ob.) 333 

1012.  Benedict  VIII.  (John),  Pope  :  Gregory,  Antipope        ..      ..       3 

1017.  Manichean  Heretics  in  Aquitaine         .. 581 

1018.  Romuald  founds  the  Order  of  Camaldoli 334 

1022.  Heretics  burnt  at  Orleans,  Toulouse,  &c 581 

1024.  John  XIX.  (Romano)  Pope,  Senator  of  Rome 3 

Conrad  the  Salic  (Franconian) :  cr.  Emperor  1027       . .      . .   3,  4 

1025.  Eucharistic  Miracles 311  n. 

1030.  St.  Catharine  of  Alexandria,  a  fictitious  Saint 292 

1033.  Benedict  IX.  (Terfilacto)  Pope  (deposed  1046)       4 

Expectations  of  the  Millennium 306 

1038.  Earliest  known  Regular  Canons  of  Cathedrals 343 

1039.  Henry  III.  the  Black  {Franconian)  :  cr.  Emperor  1046  . .  . .  4 
Gttalbert  founds  the  Order  of  Vallombrosa      334 

1044.  Heretics  burnt  at  Monteforte  near  Turin 581 

Wazo,  Bishop  of  Liege,  against  persecution  (ob.  1048)  ..  ..  581 
1044-5.  SYLVESTER  III.  and  G REGORY  T7.  Antipopes  (deposed  1046)  4 
1046.  Clement  II.  (Suidger)  Pope  :  Synod  of  Sutri 4 

1048.  Dam asus  II.  (Poppo)  Pope  for  20  days      5 

St.  Leo  IX.  (Bruno)  Pope:  Rise  of  Hildebrand 5-7 

Hospital  of  St.  John  at  Jerusalem  (cf.  1095)      352 

1049.  Hugh,  Abbot  of  Clugny       342-3 

Dispute  of  Berengar  of  Tours  (6.  1000,  d.  1088)  and  Lan- 

franc  OF  Bec  (b.  1005)  on  the  Eucharist      314  f. 

1050.  Synods  of  Home  and  Vercelli  against  Berengar       316 

Use  of  Dialectics  in  the  controversy 323,461 


XX  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 

A.U.  PAGE 

Origin  and  Meaning  of  SCHOLASTICISM         \ .       452-3 

1053-4.  Final  Schism  of  the  Eastern  and  Western  Churches  ..  ..8,9 
1054.  Victor  II.  (Gebhard)  Pope 9 

Council  of  Tours  about  Berengar 317 

1056.  HENRY  IV.  (Franconian) :  cr.  Emperor  1084 9 

1057-8.  STEPHEN  IX.  (Frederick  of  Lorraine)  Pope 11 

1058.  Decay  of  Cathedral  and  Monastic  Schools 491 

1058-9.  Besedict  X.  (John)  Antipope       11 

1059.  Nicolas  II.  (Gerard)  Pope.    He  makes  the  College  of  Cardinals 

electors  of  the  Pope       ..       ..  11 

Treaty  with  Robert  Guiscard,  founder  of  the  Norman  power 

in  South  Italy 13 

Resistance  to  the  Pope  in  Germany 13,15 

Berengar's  enforced  confession  at  Rome 318 

1061.  Alexander  II.  (Anselmo  da  Baggio)  Pope 14 

E.ONORIUS  Antipope  to  1069 „      ..       ..      14 

1066  f.  William  the  Conqueror  :  his  ecclesiastical  policy      ..      ..      35 

1068.  Hanno,  Archbishop  of  Cologne,  Monastic  Reformer 335 

1069.  Congregation  of  Hirschau  founded  by  the  Abbot  William      ..    336 

1070.  Lanfranc,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury       35 

1072.  Peter  Damiani  (St.)  ob. :  promotes  Mariolatry  14,  282,  296,  321  n. 

His  complaint  of  secular  learning        457 

1073  f.  Guitmund  on  the  Eucharist      319 

St.  Gregory"  VII.  (Hildebrand)  Pope.     His  "Dictate  "   ..      ..      15 

1074.  Synod  of  Borne,  against  simony  anil  clerical  marriage       ..       ..      16 
Stephen  of  Tigerno  founds  the  Order  of  Grammont     ..        336-7 

1075.  Decree  against  Investitures 17 

Council  of  Poitiers  against  Berengar 317 

1076.  Henry  IV.  excommunicated        19 

1077.  His  abject  submission  at  Canossa         20 

Rudolf  of  Swabia,  Anti-King  in  Germany  (killed  1080)    ..       ..      21 

1078.  ANBELM   (St.)  Abbot  of  Bee  (6.   1033,  d.   1109):  founder  of 

the  Scholastic  Theology    ..       .,      37,461-3 

1079.  Council  of  Borne  against  Berengar      322 

1080.  Henry  IV.  again  excommunicated       21 

CLEMENT  III.  (Guibert)  Imperialist  Antipope,  to  1100..       ..      22 
Plenary  Indulgence  to  the  supporters  of  Rudolf        283 

1084.  Henry  IV.  takes  Rome  and  is  crowned  by  Clement 22 

Alliance   of  Gregory   with   Robert    Guiscard  and   the  Eastern 

Emperor  Alexius  Comnenus 22-3 

Bruno  of  Cologne  founds  the  Carthusian  Order        ..      ..       338-9 

1085.  Death  of  Gregory  VI] 23 

1086.  Victor  III.  (Desiderio)  Pope       25 

1088.  Urban  II.  (Otho,  a  Frenchman)  Pope.  Conflicts  in  Rome  ..  25 
1092  f.  Roscellin  {Nominal tat)  opposed  to  Anselm      465-7 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  xxi 

A.D.  PAGE 

1093.  Conrad,  son  of  Henry  IV.,  Anti-King  in  Italy 37 

Anselm,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury 37 

1095.  His  quarrel  with  William  Rufus  about  Investiture 37 

Council  of  Clermont.     First  Crusade       26 

Order  of  Hospitallers  of  St.  Anthony  founded 352 

1098.  Archbishop  Anslem  at  the  Synod  of  Bari 38 

Robert  of  Champagne  founds  the  Cistercian  Order 341 

1099  Capture  of  Jerusalem.     Godfrey  of  Bouillon,  King     ..      ..  27 

Paschal  II.  (Rainer)  Pope 28 

Order  of  Hospital  Brethren  of  St.  John  founded  (cf.  1118)       ..  353 

1100.  Robert  of  Arbrissel  founds  the  Order  of  Fontevraud   ..      ..    339 

Council  of  Poitiers  :  fictitious  Relics 291 

William  of  Champeaux  {Realist),  teacher  at  Paris  . .  . .  467 
Afterwards  founder  of  the  Victor ine  Mystical  Scholasticism  . .  479 
Peter  Abelard  {Nominalist,  b.  1079)  rival  of  William  ..  467-8 
Abelard  attacks  Indulgences 285 

1100  f.  England  resists  legatine  authority 32,39 


TWELFTH  CENTURY. 

1101  f.  The  Heretics  Eon,  Tanchelm,  and  Peter  of  Bruis      ..        582-3 

1102.  Henry  IV.  again  excommunicated       28 

1103.  Civil  War  in  Germany.     Henry  deposed  (06.  1106) 29 

1106.  Agreement  of  Anselm  with  Henry  1 39 

Henry  V.  {Franconian) :  cr.  Emperor  1111      29 

1107.  Contest  about  Investitures  renewed 30 

1109.  Death  of  Anselm  of  Canterbury 39 

1111.  Henry  in  Italy.     The  Pope  imprisoned       30 

1112.  Paschal  revokes  his  agreement  with  Henry        31 

1113  f.  The  Cistercian  "daughter  societies"  founded           342 

1115.  Bernard,  St.  {b.  1091),  Abbot  of  Clairvaux     44 

1116.  Alexius  Comnenus  and  the  Paulicians  in  Thrace 582 

1116  f.  Henry  of  Lausanne  :  the  Henrician  heresy          584 

1117.  Anselm  of  Laon  (o'>.),  biblical  theologian        468 

1118.  Abelard  and  Heloisa 469 

Gelasius  II.  (John  Gaetano)  Pope 31 

Gregory  VIII.  (Burdinus)  Antipope  to  1121         31 

Military  Order  of  the  Temple  founded        355 

The  Hospitallers  of  St.  John  become  Military 353 

1119.  CalixtusII.  (Guy  of  Dauphiny)  Pope      32 

Council  of  Reims.     Henry  V.  excommunicated           32 

Conference  of  Gisors  between  Henry  I.  and  the  Pope       . .       . .  33 

1119.  Religious  and  Ecclesiastical  State  of  Languedoc 588 

Council  of  Toulouse  against  Heresy      589 

1120.  Abelard's  Jnt>  oduction  to  Theology 470 


xxii  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 

a.d.  PAGE 

1120.  Norbert  founds  the  Prsemonstratensian  Order  ..       ..^     ..    345 

1121.  Council  of  Soissons  against  Abelard 47/ 

1122.  Abel ard  founds  the  monastery  Paraclete 471-2 

Norbert  and  Bernard  against  Abelard        472 

Concordat  of  Worms  about  Investitures 34 

1123.  First  Lateran  Council  (the  Ninth  (Ecumenical) 34 

1124.  Honorius  II.  (Lambert)  Pope      ..     43 

First  mention  of  Seven  Sacraments      275  n. 

Guiberti,  Abbot  of  Nogent,  on  false  relics  and  saints      ..       ..    291 

1125.  Ivo  OF  Chartres  (ob.)  :  Canons  Regular  of  St.  Augustine        . .    343 

Bernard  on  Monastic  Corruptions 348-9 

Abelard,  Abbot  of  St.  Gildas  in  Brittany        473 

History  of  his  Misfortunes.     Correspondence  with  Heloisa       . .    473 
Emperor  Henry  V.  ob.     End  of  the  Franconiin  Line        ..       ..      34 

Lothair  II.  (of  Saxony):  cr.  Emperor,  1137 43,  46 

Peter  the  Venerable,  Abbot  of  Clugny        45,  348 

1128.  The  Statutes  of  the  Templars  by  Bernard 356 

1130.  Innocent  II.  (Gregory),  Pope 43 

ANACLETUS  II.  (Peter  Leonis)  Antipope  to  1138      43 

1131  (or  1148).  Order  of  Sempringham  founded  by  Gilbert     ..       ..341 
1134.  Abelard's  teaching  at  Paris.     His  Sic  et  \on  ..       ..        474-5 

1138.  Conrad  III.  (The  Swabian  or  Hohenstaufrn  Line) 46 

Contest  with  Henry  of  Bavaria  and  Saxony       46 

Origin  of  the  Guelph  and  Ghibelline  factions       46 

1139.  Second  Lateran  Council  (the  Tenth  (Ecumenical)       ..      ..     47 

Condemnation  of  Arnold  of  Brescia        47 

Edict  against  Heresy  in  Languedoc 589 

1140.  Abelard  condemned  by  the  Council  of  Sens  (ob.  1142)    ..       476-7 

1141.  Robert  Pulleyn  (ob.  circ.  1150),  writer  of  Sentences    ..        482-3 
Hugo  of  St.  Victor,  Mystical  Scholastic  (ob.)         480 

1143.  Republican  Revolt  at  Rome          47 

Celestine  II.  (Guy  de  Castro)  Pope          47 

1144.  Lucius  II.  (Gerard  Caccianimico)  Pope       48 

Church  of  St.  Denys  at  Paris, :  Pointed  Architecture         ..       ..  308 

1145.  Eugenius  III.  (Bernard)  Pope 48 

1146.  St.  Bernard  against  puttiog  Heretics  to  Death       587 

1147.  Gilbert  de  la  Porree  opposed  to  Bernard  (ob.  1151)    ..       ..  478 

The  Second  Crusade  preached  by  St.  Bernard         48 

Albi,  the  seat  of  the  Albigensian  Heresy      584,  586 

1 147  f.  Prophecies  of  St.  Hildegard  (6.  1098)  and  St.  Elizabeth    584  n. 

1148.  Council  of  Reims  against  Heresy  589 

1149.  St.  Bernard's  work  De  Consideration e         48  n. 

(probably  earlier)  Averrhoes  (06.  1198)  of  Cordova,  Arab  com- 
mentator on  Aristotle       459 

Vacarius  teaches  Civil  Law  at  Oxford 490 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  xxiii 

A.D.  PAG  E 

1150.  Peter  Lombard,  "Master  of  Sentences  "  at  Paris  (ob.  1164)..    483 

1152.  Frederick  I.  Barbarossa  (Hohenstaufen) :  cr.  Emperor  1155     49 
St.  Bernard  on  Papal  Legates  261 

„  on  the  Mediation  of  the  Virgin 298 

„  Definition  of  a  Sacrament 324 

1153;  Death  of  St.  Bernard 48 

Anastasius  IV.  (Conrad)  Pope 50 

1158  (about).  The  Decretum  Gratiani 485 

1153.  Alliance  of  Barbarossa  with  the  Emperor  Manuel  Comnenus       49 

1154.  Barbarossa  in  Lombardy      50 

Adrian  IV.  (Nicolas  Breakspear)  the  only  English  Pope        . .      50 
The  Hundred  Years'  Conflict  with  the  Empire  begins      ..  50-1 

John  of  Salisbury,  friend  of  Adrian  IV.  (ob.  1180)       ..        480-1 

„               on  Papal  corruptions  and  Archdeacons        ..  261 

„              on  Ancient  Learning  and  the  Schoolmen    ..  481 

1155.  Execution  of  Arnold  of  Brescia      50 

1156.  The  Carmelite  Order  founded  by  Berthold       364 

Stephen,  Abbot  of  Obaize  (ob.  1159),  resists  an  Indulgence    ..  284 

1158.  Order  of  Calatrava  founded         363 

Frederick  in  Italy.     Assembly  at  Roncaglia       52 

Privileges  granted  to  the  University  of  Bologna         457 

1159.  Alexander  III.  (Roland)  Pope 52 

Victor  IV.  (Octavian)  Antipope  to  1164 52 

1160.  Imperialist  Council  at  Pavia       53 

Punishment  of  Heretics  (Publicani)  in  England          587 

1161.  Flight  of  Alexander  III.  to  France      53 

Knights  of  St.  James  of  the  Sword  founded        363 

1162.  Council  of  Tours  for  Alexander 54 

Thomas  Becket,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury      54 

Knights  of  Evora,  or  Order  of  Avis,  founded 363 

1163.  Council  of  Tours  against  Heresy          589 

1164.  Council  of  Clarendon.     Exile  of  Becket       54 

PASCHAL  III.  (Guy  of  Crema)  Antipope  to  1168 54 

1165.  Alexander  III.  returns  to  Rome 54 

1166.  The  Greek  Emperor  Manuel  proposes  a  reunion      54 

1167.  Barbarossa  takes  Rome,  but  retreats       55 

The  Lombard  League  against  the  Emperor         55 

Catharist  Council  near  Toulouse,  under  their  "  Pope  "      . .       . .  589 

1168.  CALIXTUS  III.  (John  of  Struma)  Antipope  to  1178        .        ..55 
1170.  Murder  of  Thomas  Becket.     Penance  of  Henry  II.,  1178         ..      55 

Peter  Waldo  founds  the  Poor  Men  of  Lyon  (  Waldenses)        596  f. 

Power  of  Canonization  vested  in  the  Pope 260 

St.  Dominic  (Domingo  Guzman)  born        371 

(circ.)  Richard  of  St.  Victor  (ob.) 480 

Walter  of  St.  Victor  opposes  the  Scholastics       480 


xxiv  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 

a.d.  .  page 

1176.  Defeat  of  Frederick  by  the  Lombards  at  Legnano      56 

Order  of  Alcantara  founded         363 

1177.  The  Emperor  reconciled  to  the  Pope  at  Venice 56 

First  Cistercian  Mission  against  Heresy  in  Languedoc      ..    589,  590 

1178.  Alexander's  triumphant  return  to  Rome 56 

INNOCENT  III.  Anti pope  to  1180      57 

Hospital  Brethren  of  Montpellier  founded  by  GuiDO         ..       ..    352 

1179.  Third  Lateran  Council  (the  Eleventh  (Ecumenical)     ..      ..     57 

Decree  on  (University)*  Teaching  at  Paris  489 

Decree  on  behalf  of  Cathedral  Schools        491 

Decree  against  Pluralities    . . 268 

Crusade  against  Heretics  in  Languedoc       57,591 

Various  names  and  tenets  of  the  Cathari,  Albigenses,  &c.  586,  591,  f. 
Waldensian  Deputies  at  the  Council 600 

1180.  Pkter  of  Blois  on  Confession  and  Penance      276 

1180  f.  Origin  of  the  Beguines  and  Beghards        436 

1181.  Lucius  III.  (Ubaldo  Allocingoli)  Pope        57 

1182.  Belethus,  Ritualist  writer         303 

St.  Francis  of  Assisi,  born       382 

1183.  Peace  of  Constance  between  Emperor  and  Lombards         ..       ..  57 

1184.  Council  of  Verona  against  heretical  Sects 601,623 

The  Reichsfest  of  Frederick  Barbarossa  at  Mainz      57 

1185.  Urban  III.  (Humbert  Crivelli)  Pope          58 

Fame  of  the  Schools  of  Oxford 491 

1187.  Gregory  VIII.  (Albert  di  Morra)  Pope,  Oct.  20-Dec.  17         ..  59 

Clement  III.  (Paul  Scolaro)  Pope      59 

Jerusalem  taken  by  Saladin      59 

1188.  The  Third  Crusade;  led  by  Barbarossa  (1189)      59 

1190.  Frederick  Barbarossa  drowned  in  Cilicia 59 

Henry  VI.  (ffohenstaufen) :  cr.  Emperor  1191 159 

1191.  The  Order  of  Teutonic  Knights  founded  by  Henry  of  Walpot  362 
Celestine  III.  (Hyacinth  Bubona)  Pope 59 

1192  (cir.)  Adam  of  St.  Victor,  Liturgical  poet  (ob.)       ..       ..       305  n. 

1194.  Henry  VI.  conquers  Naples  and  Sicily       59 

Council  of  Verona  condemns  the  Waldenses        601 

Wide  Diffusion  of  the  Waldenses        601 

Raymund  VI.,  Count  of  Toulouse,  excommunicated         ..       ..    609 

1195.  Fourth  Crusade  under  Henry  VI 60  n. 

1196.  Peter  II.  King  of  Arragon        609 

I'm  DEBICE  II.  (Henry's  infant  son)  elected  King  of  the  Romans     60 

1197.  but  on  the  death  of  his  father  excluded  by  the         60 

rival  elections  of  Philip  II.  (Swabiari),  and  Otho  IV.  (Saxon)       65 


1  The  C   )  are  a  reminder  thai  the  name  is  not  yet  used,  but  in  reality  Universities 
rose  In  the  twelfth  century  or  <;irlirr  (see  p.  487  f). 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  xxv 

AJ>-  PAGE 

1198.  Innocent  III.  (Lothair  of  Segni)  Pope ..      65 

His  Reforms.    Climax  of  the  Papacy 65  71 

Frederick,  King  of  Sicily,  under  the  Pope's  protection    . .       . .      64 

Civil  War  in  Germany.     Innocent  supports  Otho 65 

Order  of  Trinitarians  or  Mathurins  founded      365 

The  Waldenses  in  Piedmont         601 

1198  f.  The  Jus  Exuviarum  renounced  in  Germany 265-6 

1199.  Innocent  proclaims  the  Fifth  Crusade        68 

Heresy  in  Italy  put  down  by  the  Pope       608 

Heresy  in  Languedoc  :  Mission  of  Cistercians 609-16 

Innocent  III.  on  the  Waldenses  and  Scripture         602 

1200.  Paulus  Presbyter  on  the  Remission  of  Sins 285  n. 

Aristotle's  Philosophical  works  brought  into  Europe  in  the 

latter  part   of  the  twelfth  century.      The  Dialectic   works 
known  much  earlier         459,460 


THIRTEENTH  CENTURY. 

1201.  Charter  of  John  to  the  University  of  Oxford  (cf.  1149)  ..  490 
Royal  Grant  to  the  University  {Studium  Generale)  of  Paris  . .  490 
Order  of  the  Humiliati  sanctioned  by  Innocent  III 365 

1202.  Abbot  St.  Joachim  of  Fiore  (06.):  his  Prophecies 420 

1203.  The  Crusaders  take  Constantinople 68 

1204.  Latin  Kingdom  there  till  1261 '      68 

Heresies  of  David  of  Dinant  and  Amalric  of  Bena     . .      . .  492 

Peter  of  Castelnau  and  Arnold  in  Languedoc     ..      ..  379,  610 

1204  f.  Hospitals  of  the  Holy  Ghost       352 

1205.  Diego,  Bishop  of  Osma,  and  Dominic  in  Languedoc         ..        372 

1208.  Murder  of  Peter  of  Castklnau  imputed  to  Raymond  ..      ..61 

Philip  II.  murdered,  Otho  IV.  cr.  Emperor  (1220) 67 

A  Crusade  against  Languedoc;  Simon  de  Montfort        ..  611,  613 

1209.  Capture  and  Massacre  of  Beziers  and  Carcassonne    ..       ..        614-5 

Submission  and  Penance  of  Raymond  614 

Female  Schools  founded  by  Dominic 375 

Council  of  Paris  condemns  the  Physics  of  Aristotle  ;  also  the 

books  of  Amalric  of  Bena  and  David  of  Dinant    491-2  and  n. 

1210.  Attempt  to  reconcile  the  Waldenses 610 

Otho  excommunicated  by  the  Pope      66 

1212.  Frederick  II.  {Hohenstaufen)  recalled  to  Germany  :  (cr.  1220)  67 

The  Moors  defeated  at  Navas  de  Tolosa  in  Spain       68 

St.  Francis  founds  his  Order  of  Minor  Brethren      385 

Sisterhood  of  St.  Clare      387 

1213.  John  of  England  becomes  the  Pope's  vassal       67 

Homage  of  various  states  to  Innocent  III 68 

II— B 


xxvi  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 

a.d.  v       page 

1213.  Peter  II.  of  Arragon  defeated  and  slain  at  Muret         ..      ..    617 

1214.  Otho  defeated  at  Bouvines.     (Dies  1218) 67 

Roger  Bacon,  Franciscan  Schoolman,  born  (ob.  after  1292)      526  f. 

1214-5.  Conquest  of  Languedoc  by  the  Crusaders       617 

1215.  Fourth  Later  an  Council  (the  Twelfth  (Ecumenical)   ..      ..     70 
Decrees  for  Transubstantiation  and  Auricular  Confession        Til ',  325 

„      against  Episcopal  power  of  Indulgence 288  n. 

Condemns  the  Cathari,  Waldenses,  and  other  heretics      ..       ..    623 

Proclaims  Crusade  against  the  Albigenses 71 

Decrees  published  in  the  Pope's  name  259  n. 

Forbids  new  religious  Orders 350 

Innocent  sanctions  the  Franciscans  and  Dominicans 71 

First  General  Chapter  of  the  Minorites  (Franciscans)       ..       ..    388 

First  use  of  the  name  of  the  University  of  Paris 490 

Aristotle  prohibited  by  the  Papal  Legate  at  Paris         . .       . .    493 

1216.  Honorius  III.  (Cencio  Savelli)  Pope 72 

The  Dominican  Order  of  Preachers  sanctioned 375 

1217.  Revolt  of  Languedoc.     Death  of  De  Montfort  (1218)    ..       ..619 
Unsuccessful  Sixth  Crusade  to  Egypt 72 

1219.  St.  Francis  goes  to  Egypt      388 

FraDciscan  Martyrs  in  Morocco 388 

1220.  Brethren  of  the  Warfare  of  Jesus  Christ 364 

Henry,  son  of  Frederick,  elected  King  of  the  Romans        ..       ..      72 
First  Dominican  Chapter 377 

1220-3.  Agreements  between  the  Emperor  and  Pope 72 

1221.  Death  of  St.  Dominic  (canonized  1233)     378-9 

The  Third  Order  (Terliarii)  of  St.  Francis         392 

1222.  Council  of  Oxford  on  Feasts  of  the  Virgin 301  n. 

1223.  The  University  of  Cambridge        490 

1223  (or  1224).  Charter  of  Honorius  to  the  Minor  Brethren     ..       ..    389 

1224.  Arrival  of  the  Franciscans  in  England        389 

Their  School  at  Oxford,  Robert  Grosseteste  reader       390  w.,  494 
The  Stigmata  of  St.  Francis.     His  death  (1226)        ..       ..        393-5 

1225  f.  Adam  Marsh  (Ada  de  Maiisco)  Francn.  Prior  at  Oxford    407,  495 
122(3.  Louis  IX.  (St.)  King  of  France 85 

1227.  Gkegory  IX.  (Ugolino  de  Segni)  Pope       73 

Begins  the  long  strife  with  Frederick  II 73 

The  Crusade.     Excommunication  of  the  Emperor      74 

Cjesarius  of  Heisterbach  on  Miracles  and  Visions         ..       . .    293 

1228.  Albertus  Magnus  at  Paris  (6.  1193,  d.  1280) 497-500 

University  of  Paris  suspended  (restored  in  1231)      ..       ..        498-9 

1228-9.   Frederick  in  Palestine  :  King  of  Jerusalem 75 

1229.  End  of  the  War.     Penance  of  Raymond  VII 620 

Sequel  of  the  history  of  Languedoc 620  n. 

Council  of  Toulouse  against  Heresy 622 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  xxvii 

A.I>.  PAGE 

1229.  The  Scriptures  forbidden  to  the  Laity        622 

First  Origin  of  the  Inquisition 623 

1230.  Frederick's  return  and  agreement  with  Gregory       75 

1231.  Frederick's  ecclesiastical  laws.     The  Code  of  Melfi 75 

His  Laws  against  Heresy      75   624 

Elias,  successor  of  St.  Francis  :  deposed  1239 411-413 

Bull  of  Gregory  X.  on  Aristotle      493 

Albert  the  Great  at  Cologne  (Bp.  of  Ratisbon  1260-3)     ..       ..    499 

1232.  Conradof  Marburg,  preacher  and  Inquisitor  (k.  1233)  557,  625-6 

1233.  The  Inquisition  entrusted  to  the  Dominicans 374,  380 

Order  of  Servites  of  the  Blessed  Virgin        434 

1234.  Crusade  against  the  Stedingcrs  in  Frisia 626  n. 

Raymund  Pennaforti:  the  Decretals  of  Gregory  IX.    ..     76,  485 
The  Emperor's  son  Henry  rebels  in  Italy  :  dies  1242         ..  76-7 

Council  of  Tarraco  forbids  vernacular  SS.  to  the  clergy  ..        622  n. 

1235.  Council  of  Bordeaux  forbids  Infant  Communion 325 

Robert  Grosseteste,  Bishop  of  Lincoln  (pb.  1253)..      ..  407,  495 

1237.  Frederick's  son  Conrad  IV.  elected  King  of  the  Romans         ..  77 

1238.  The  Carmelite  Order  come  to  Europe 434 

1239.  Frederick  again  excommunicated         77 

1241.  Celestine  IV.  Pope,  Oct.  26-Nov.  17,  not  consecrated    ..       ..  78 

The  Holy  See  vacant  till' June  26,  1243 78 

1243.  Innocent  IV.  (Sinibald  Fiesco)  Pope 78 

The  Quarrel  with  the  Emperor  continued 78 

Matthew  Paris  on  the  Mendicant  Friars         380 

1244.  Jerusalem  taken  by  the  Chorasmians          86 

1245.  Alexander  Hales,  Franciscan  Schoolman  (06.)      ..      ..        496-7 

The  Franciscan  rule  relaxed  by  Innocent  IV 413 

Rise  of  the  Zealots  of  the  Order  or  Fraticelli 426 

1245.  First  Council  of  Lyox  (the  Thirteenth  (Ecumenical)    ..      ..  79 

Decrees  Frederick's  deposition.      War  in  Italy 79 

1246-7.  Henry  of  Thuringia  and  William  of  Holland  Anti-kings      ..  79 

1247  f.  Berthold,  Franciscan  preacher  in  Germany  (06.  1272)     289,  557 

1248-54.  The  Seventh  Crusade.     Louis  IX.  in  Egypt 86 

1249.  William,  Bishop  of  Paris,  on  Absolution 281 

1250.  Death  of  Frederick  II.     The  Great  Interregnum  is  dated  by 

some  from  this  year  to  the  election  of  Rudolf  of  Hapsburg 

(1271);  by  others  only  from  1254  to  1256 79,  80 

Robert  of  Sorbonne  founds  the  famous  Theol.  School  at  Paris  506 
1250-4.  Conrad  II.,  the  last  of  the  Hohenstaufen        80 

1251.  Contest  of  the  University  of  Paris  with  the  Friars 507 

First  Crusade  of  the  Pastoureaux        Ill  w. 

1254.  Introduction  to  the  "  Everlasting  Gospel" 423  f 

Bull  of  Innocent  IV.  about  the  Friars      507 

Alexander  IV.  (Reinaldo  di  Segni,  a  Franciscan)  Pope..       ..      82 


xxvm  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 

A.D.  PAGE 

1254.  Alexander  IV. 's  Bulls  in  favour  of  the  Mendicants    ..       ,\       ..    507 

1255.  Council  of  Bordeaux  ;  fictitious  relics 291 

1256.  John  of  Parma,  Franciscan  General,  resigned 414 

St.  Bonaventura  (p.  1221,  d.  1274),  General ..       ..  416,  497,  502 
William  of  St.  Amour  On  the  Perils,  &c.  (ph.  1270)     ..        508-9 

Condemnation  of  the  Everla sling  Gospel 510 

Order  of  the  Augustinian  Eremites      434 

1257.  Richard,  Earl  of  Cornwall  jRival  Kings  of  thef  to  1271  ..  82 
Alfonso  X.  of  Castile  )  Romans  \  to  1273  ..  82 
St.  Thomas  Aquinas  (b.  1226,  6b.  1274)  Doctor  at  Paris         503  f. 

1258.  Manfred  King  of. Sicily,  to  1266 83-4 

1260.  Supposed  Apocalyptic  Epoch        421,  f. 

1261.  Council  of  Mainz  against  Quxst iaries 289  n. 

Urban  IV.  (James  Pantaleon,  a  Frenchman)  Pope  . .       . .      83 

The  Eastern  Empire  recovered  by  Michael  VIII.  Pal^eologus     90 
Spurious  Catena  of  Greek  Fathers  imposed  on  Thos.  Aquinas  . .    520 

1263.  Crusade  against  Manfred  for  Charles  of  Anjou          84 

1264.  Festival  of  Corpus  Christi 327 

1265.  Clement  IV.  (Guy  Foulquois,  a  Frenchman)  Pope 84 

Papal  claim  to  dispose  of  vacant  benefices          263 

1266.  Charles  of  Anjou  cr.  King  of  Sicily        84 

1266-7.  Roger  Bacon's  Op.  Majus,  Minus,  and  Tertium  ..      ..        529  f. 

1268.  Enterprize  and  execution  of  Conradin       84-5 

Death  of  Clement  IV.     Papal  Vacancy  to  1271         85 

1269.  Pragmatic  Sanction  of  Louis  IX.  87 

1270.  Eighth  and  Last  Crusade.  Louis  IX.  d.  at  Carthage  ..  ..  88 
Philip  III.  {le  Hardi)  King  of  France,  to  1285         88 

1270-2.  Edward  of  England  in  Palestine.     End  of  the  Crusades..      88 

1271.  Roger  Bacon's  Compendium  of  Philosophy        536 

Gregory  X.  (Theobald  Visdomini)  Pope 89 

1272.  Edward  I.  King  of  Englaud        ..  95 

1273.  Rudolf  I.  of  Hapsburg,  King  of  the  Romans 89 

1274.  Second  Council  of  Lyon  (the  Fourteenth  (Ecumenical)         ..  89 

The  Four  Orders  of  Mendicant  Friars          434 

New  rule  for  Papal  Elections.     The  Conclave  of  Cardinals        ..  91 

Fruitless  reconciliation  with  the  Greeks 91 

Deaths  of  Bonaventura  and  Thomas  Aquinas      ..      ..    502,511 

1274?  William  of  Ockham  born  (06.  1343  or  1347)         545 

1275.  Papal  Territories  and  Claims  confirmed  by  Rudolf 92 

1276.  Innocent  V.  (Peter  de  Tarentaise)  Pope,  Jan.-June  ..  ..  92 
Adrian  V.  (Ottobone  di  Fresco)  Pope,  July-August  ..  ..  92 
John  XXI.  (Ioao  Pedro,  a  Portuguese)  Pope      92 

1277.  Nicolas  III.  (John  Orsini,  a  Franciscan)  Pope 92 

Franciscan  Indulgence  of.the  Portiunculit 4is 

1278.  Rudolf  I.  (Emperor),  master  of  Bohemia . .      ..      ■.      ..      ..  652 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  XXIX 

A.D.  PAGE 

1278  f.  Jerome  of  Ascoli,  Francn.  Gen.,  afterwards  P.  Nicolas  IV.  427 

1279.  Bull  Exiit,  relaxing  the  Franciscan  Rule 427 

Peter  John  Olivi  (6.  1247,  ob.  1297)      427-30 

1281.  Martin  IV.  (Simon  de  Brie,  a  Frenchman)  Pope 93 

1282.  Massacre  at  Palermo,  the  "  Sicilian  Vespers" 93 

Sicily  conquered  by  Peter  III.  of  Arragon 93 

Naples  still  held  by  the  house  of  Anjou      93 

1285.   HONORIUS  IV.  (James  Savelli;  Pope  93 

Philip  IV.  (the  Fair)  King  of  France         95 

1287.  Raymund  Lully  (b,  1235,  ob.  1315) 552-3 

1288.  Nicolas  IV.  (Jerome  of  Ascoli,  Franciscan  General)  Pope       ..      93 

1291.  Fall  of  Acre.  End  of  Christian  Kingdom  in  Palestine  93,354,361 
1291  f.  NlCOLAUS  DE  Lyra  (Franciscan),  Biblical  expositor        ..       ..    551 

1292.  Adolf  (of  Nassau)  King  of  the  Romans     ..     _ 95 

Jacobus  de  Voragine  (6.) :  the  Golden  Legend       ..      . .      292  n. 
Roger  Bacon's  Compendium  of  Theology,  &c 536-7 

1292-4.  Papal  Vacancy  for  more  than  two  years 93 

1294.  Celestine  V.  (Peter  Murrone,  a  hermit)  Pope,  abdicated        ..      93 

His  order  of  the  Celestine  Eremites 427 

Boniface  VIII.  (Benedict  Gaetano)  Pope  94 

1296.  His  conflict  with  England  and  France.    The  Bull  Clericis  Laicos     95 

The  poet  Dante  jl.  (b.  1265,  d.  1321)        95  n. 

1296.  William  Durandus,  Bp.  of  Mende  (ob.) 292  n.,  303 

1298.  Albert  I.  (of  Hapsburg)  King  of  the  Romans 95 

The  Decretals  of  Boniface  VIII 485 

1299  f.  Contest  of  England  with  the  Pope  about  Scotland  ..  ..96  f. 
1300.  The  first  great  Papal  Jubilee.     Indulgences        96,288 


FOURTEENTH  CENTURY. 

1301.  Four  Bulls  against  Philip  of  France 97 

1302.  Answei's  of  the  States-General 98 

The  Bull  Unam  Sanctam  :  climax  of  Papal  claims 99 

1303.  Assault  on  Boniface.     His  death 10o 

Benedict  XI.  (Mcolas  Bocasi)  Pope 101 

Turning-point  in  the  state  of  the  Papacy 104 

1304.  Henry  Eckiiart,  Dominican  Mystic  (pb.  1330)        ..       ..        558-9 

1305.  Clement  V.  (Bertram!  le  Got,  a  Gascon) 105 

Removes  Irom  Lyon  to  Avignon 106 

1305-1378.  Period  of  the  "  Babylonian  Captivity  "  ..      ..        106  f. 

1305  f.   Exactions  of  the  Popes  at  Avignon 263 

System  of  Papal  Reservations  or  Provisions         263 

1308.  Henkit  YII.  (of  Luxemburg) :  cr.  Emperor  1312      107 

John  Duns  SCOTUS,  Franciscan  Schoolman  (ob.)  ..  ..  522-3 
Long  Conflict  of  Thomists  and  Scotists        ..       ..       ..       .*       ..    524 


xxx  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 

A.D.  PAGE 

1309.  The  Knights  Hospitallers  at  Rhodes v     ..    354 

1309  f.  Brotherhoods    of    Practical    Benevolence :     Fratres      Cellitx, 

Lollards,  Brethren  of  the  Common  Life 569-70 

1310.  Henry  VII.'s  son  John  K.  of  Bohemia  :  killed  at  Crecy,  1346  125,  652 
(circ.)  Brethren  of  the  Free  Spirit  in  Alsace        437,  557 

1311.  Council  of  Vienxe  (the  Fifteent h  (Ecumenical)     108 

Durantis,  Bishop  of  Mende,  on  Councils 109 

1312.  Abolition  of  the  Order  of  the  Temple 108,361-2 

1313.  Matthew  Visconti,  Captain-General  of  Milan        112 

1314.  Death  of  Clement  V.     Papal  Vacancy  for  ttxo  years 110 

Louis  IV.  (of  Bavaria)  :  cr.  Emperor  1328         112 

Frederick  (of  Austria),  rival  king  to  1325      112 

1316.  John  XXII.  (James  of  Cahors,  a  Gascon)  Pope         110 

Contest  of  the  Pope  with  Louis 113 

1316  f.  John  claims  the  Reservation  of  all  benefices 263 

Persecution  of  the  Franciscan  Zealots         430-1 

Suspension  of  Nicolas  lll.'s  Bull  Quis  exiit         431-2 

1317.  Philip  Y.(le  Long)  King  of  France 110 

Persecution  of  Magicians,  Lepers,  and  Jews        110-11 

Second  Crusade  of  the  Pastoureaux Ill 

1322.  William  of  Ockham,  Provincial  Minister  for  England..  ..  546 
Renewed  and  long  contest  of  Nominalism  and  Realism  . .  . .  548 
Franciscan  General  Chapter  at  Perugia      432 

1324.  Victory  of  Louis  at  Mukk lorf 113 

His  Excommunication.     The  Long  Lnterdict  of  Germany  ..    114,  556 

1324?  Assumed  date  of  John  Wyclif's  birth 634 

1325.  Alliance  of  the  Austrian  party  with  Louis         114 

1326.  Wm.  Durandus,  Bp.  of  Meaux,  on  the  Sacraments  and  SS.       544-5 

1327.  Louis  in  Italy.     Council  at  Trent  against  John  XXII 115 

John  Buridan,  disciple  of  Ockham,  at  Paris 548  n. 

Walter  Burley,  Realist,  at  Oxford 548  n. 

1328.  Nicolas  V.  imperialist  Antipope  to  1329        116 

Assembly  of  Pisa  against  John  XXII 117 

Philip  VI.  (of   I  'alois)  King  of  France       ..       117 

Thomas  Bradwardine,  Oxford  Schoolman  (ob.  1349)     ..       ..    524 

1329.  Flight  of  Ockham  and  Michael  di  Cesena  to  Louis  IV.  432,  546-7 
Works  of  Ockham  and  John  of  Jaudun  on  the   Empire  and 

Papacy        113  n..  547 

i:'.29-30.   Retreat  of  Louis.     End  of  Lmperial power  in  Italy     ..  ..117 

1331.  John  XXII.  on  the  Beatific  Vision:  charged  with  heresy  ..    118 

Nicolas  of  Basle  (burnt  1393)  :  the  Friends  of  God     ..  559-561 

1334.  Benedict  XII.  (James  Fournier),  a  reforming  Pope          ..  ..    120 

1336.  Opposes  Philip,  who  prevents  a  reconciliation  with  Louis  120-1 

1338.   Electoral  Union  at  Rhense 121-2 

Controversy  of  William  of  Ockham  and  the  Papalists  ..  ..    122 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  xxxi 

A'D'  PAGE 

1338.  Edward  III.,  imperial  vicar  :  deserted  by  Louis        122 

1340.  John  Tauler,  Preacher  and  Mystic  (6.  1290,  ob.  1361)   ..        561-4 
1340  f.  Revival  of  Republican  spirit  at  Rome       127  f. 

1341.  Petrarch  (6.  1304,  ob.  1374)  crowned  at  the  Capitol     ..      ..128 

1342.  Clement  VI.  (Peter  Roger)  Pope      123 

Missions  inviting  his  return  to  Rome 123 

Climax  of  Profligacy  at  Avignon         123 

1343.  Clement's  Bull  against  Louis       124 

1344.  Prague  made  an  independent  Archbishopric      652 

1345.  Disputed  succession  in  Naples 124-5 

1346.  Charles  IV.  (of  Luxemburg)  King  of  Bohemia         652 

1347.  Charles  IV.  King  of  the  Romans  :  cr.  Emperor  1355     ..    125,  652 
1347-8.  Nicolas  Rienzi,  Tribune  of  Rome 129-30 

Plague  of  the  Black  Death 130,556 

Conduct  of  the  Friars  and  John  Tauler 131,563 

The  fanatical  Flagellants 132 

1348.  University  of  Prague  founded  by  Charles  IV 653 

Joanna  of  Naples  sells  A vignon  to  the  Pope       126 

1348-9.  Gunther  of  Schwarzburg  Anti-King      126 

1350.  The  Second  great  Papal  Jubilee 132 

John  II.  King  of  France ..    132 

1351.  Statute  of  Edward  III.  against  Papal  Provisions        ..       140  n.,  264 

1352.  Rienzi  imprisoned  at  Avignon      130 

Innocent  VI.  (Stephen  Aubert)  Pope       130 

1353.  Cardinal  Giles  Albornoz  reconquers  the  Papal  States       ..       ..    132 

1353-4.  Rienzi's  mission  to  Rome,  and  murder 133 

1356.  The  Golden  Bull  of  Charles  IV 133 

1361.  Wyclif,  Master  of  Baliol  College,  Oxford  634 

Resigned  for  the  rectory  of  Fylingham       634 

1362.  Urban  V.  (William  de  Grimoard),  reforming  Pope 133 

1363.  Wyclif  takes  his  Doctor's  Degree 635 

His  "  bundles  of  tares  "  gathered  up  by  the  Friars  . .       . .    631,  635 

1364.  Free  Companies  in  Italy.     Treaty  with  Bernabo  Visconti        ..    134 

1365.  Suso,  Dominican  Mystic  (06.  set.  70) 564 

Urban  V.  demands  tribute  from  England         637 

1366.  Refusal  of  the  Tribute  supported  by  Wyclif 97,637 

His  Theory  of  Dominion.     First  Epoch  of  English  Reformation    638 

1367.  Urban  returns  to  Rome ;  and  reo  ives  the 134 

1368.  submission  of  the  Greek  Emperor  John  Pal^eologus  1 134 

Wyclif  Rector  of  Ludgershall.     His  Poor  Priests  . .       . .    634,  640 

1369.  Conrad  of  Waldhausen,  Bohemian  reformer  (06.)        ..      ..    654 
John  Hus  of  Husinetz  born         656 

1370.  Urban's  return  to  Avignon,  and  death        134 

The  enthusiasts  St.  Bridget  and  two  St.  Catherines   ..        134-5 
Gregory  XL  (Peter  Roger)  Pope       ..      ..135 


xxxii  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 

A.D.  „  PAGE 

1371.   Wyclif  iu  the  contest  about  taxing  the  Clergy        642 

1374.  Milicz,  Bohemian  reformer  (ob.)       654-5 

Wyclif,  Rector  of  Lutterworth 634 

Goes  to  Bruges  for  negociations  with  Gregory  XL          ..       ..    6+2 

1376.  The  Good  Parliament.     Death  of  the  Black  Prince        ..      ..642 

1377.  John  of  Gaunt,  William  of  Wykeham,  and  Wyclif..      ..    642 
Wyclif  cited  before  the  Bishop  of  London  at  St.  Paul's..       ..    643 

Papal  Bulls  against  Wyclif  and  Oxford      643 

Richard  II.  King  of  England      138  n. 

Wyclif's  State  Paper  for  Richard  II 644 

The  Pope  returns  to  Rome;  and  dies  (1378) 135 

End  of  the  Babylonian  Captivity 135 

1378-1417.  The  Great  Papal  Schism  of  Forty  Years1       ..      ..137 

1378.  Urban  VI.  (Bartholomew  Prignano)  elected  Pope  at  Rome     ..    137 
A  number  of  the   cardinals  secede  and  elect  Clement  VII. 

(Robert  de  Geneve),  who  retires  to  Avignon  (ob.  1394)  ..  138 
Wenceslaus  (of  Luxemburg  and  Bohemia)  King  of  the  Romans, 

deposed  1400       138  n.,  658 

Wyclif  before  Archbishop  Sudbury  at  Lambeth      645 

1379.  Jerome  of  Prague  born 659 

1380.  Charles  VI.  (Le  Bien-Aime)  King  of  France 138  n. 

1380  f.  Wyclif's  Translation  of  the  Bible 646 

1381.  Effect  of  Cade's  Insurrection  on  Wyclif      645 

Archbishop  Courtenay  hostile  to  Wyclif       645 

Wyclif's  Doctrine  of  the  Eucharist 646 

Proceedings  against  Wyclif  at  Oxford         647 

Anne  of  Bohemia,  queen  of  Richard  II 656 

Her  Bible  in  three  Languages 656-7 

John  Ruysbroek,  Mystic  (ob.  set.  88)        565 

1382.  The  "  Earthquake  Council  "  at  London       647 

Wvclif's  retirement  at  Lutterworth 647 

His  Trialogus,  &c,  and  English  Tracts        648 

1384.  Wyclif  cited  to  Rome:  his  Death  (Dec.  3 1)      648-9 

Gerard  Groot,  founder  of  Brethren  of  the  Common  Life  (ob.)     572 

1385.  New  forms  of  Papal  exaction       14<» 

1386.  Florentius  Radevvini,  founds  Canons  of  Windesheim  (o&. 1400;  572 

1387.  Sigismund  (of  Luxemburg),  King  of  Hungary 658 

University  of  Paris  for  the  Immaculate  Conception 304 

1389.  Boniface  IX.  (Peter  Tomacelli)  Pope  at  Rome  (ob.  1404)       . .  140 

1389  and  1393.  Richard  II.'s  Statutes  of  Praemunire        140 

1390  and  1400.  The  two  Jubilees  of  Boniface  IX 141 

1391.  Wyclif's  (scholastic)  works  known  at  Prague          657 

John  DE  Huesden,  prior  of  Windesheim  to  1424     ..       ..    366,  572 


i  Note.— On  the  question  of  Pope  or  Antipope  during  the  Schism,  see  p.  138  n. 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  xxxiii 

AD'  PAGE 

1393.  Mathias  of  J  a  now,  Bohemian  reformer  (06.) 655-6 

Nicolaus  de  Clamengis,  Rector  of  Univ.  of  Paris  . .       140  568  n. 

1394.  Efforts  in  France  to  heal  the  Schism 141 

BENEDICT  XIII.  (Peter  de  Luna)  Pope  at  Avignon,  dej>.  1417    142 

1395.  Attempts  to  induce  both  Popes  to  resign 140 

The  Visconti  made  Dukes  of  Milan U2 

1395-1409.  Dominicans  expelled  from  University  of  Paris  ;;79 

1396.  Peter  d'Ailly  (ob.  1425) 140,  567-8  n. 

1398.  The  French  declare  against  Benedict 142 

1399.  Richard  II.  deposed  :  Henry  IV.  King  of  England  . .       ..   142,649 

1400.  Statute  (2  Hen.  IV.  c.  15)  for  the  burning  of  Heretics     ..       ..'649 
Rupert  (Count  Palatine)  King  of  the  Romans 142 

1400  f.  Persecution  of  the  Lollards  in  England 649  n. 


FIFTEENTH  CENTURY. 

1401  (dr.).  The  Noble  Lesson  of  the  Waldenses 598  606 

1401.  Hus's  first  work  on  the  Sacrament  of  the  Altar        661 

1402.  Wyclif's  theological  works  brought  to  Prague        660 

1402.  John  Hus  preacher  at  Bethlehem  Chapel 658 

1403.  Zbynek  Zajitz,  Archbishop  of  Prague      662 

1404.  Innocent  VII.  (Cosmato  Migliorati)  Pope  at  Rome  (ob.  1406)  143 

1405.  Jerome  of  Prague  at  Paris,  Cologne,  aDd  Heidelberg    ..       ..  660 

1406.  Gregory  XII.  (Angelo  Corario)  Pope  at  Rome  (abd.  1415)     ..  143 

1407.  Murder  of  Duke  of  Orleans.    (Case  of  Jean  Petit)      144,  161,  165 

1408.  Demand  for  a  Council.     John  Charlier  Gerson 144 

Meeting  of  seceding  Cardinals  of  both  Popes      144 

1408-9.  The  petty  councils  (Conciliabules)  of  the  two  Popes      ..       ..  145 

1409.  Council  of  Pisa  (not  recognized  as  (Ecumenical)    . .        146  and  n. 

Principle  of  Reform  "in  Head  and  Members" 146 

Decree  of  deposition  against  both  Popes 146 

Election  of  Alexandeh  V.  (Peter  Philargi,  a  Greek)     ..       ..  147 
Three  rival  Popes  :  the  Church,  before  bivira,  now  trivira        147  n. 

Alexander's  favour  to  the  Mendicants         148 

His  Bull  against  Wyclifs  works  and  Hus  664 

Secession  of  Germans  from  the  University  of  Prague       . .       . .  663 

1410.  John  XXIII.  (Balthasar  Cossa)  elected  Pope  at  Bologna  '    . .  148 

His  contest  with  Ladislaus  of  Naples       151 

Wyclifs  works  burnt  at  Prague  665 

Sentence  in  their  favour  at  Bologna 633 

SlGlSMUND  (of  Luxemburg  and  Hungary)  cr.  Emperor  1433    ..  152 

JOBST  (of  Moracia)  rival  King  (ob.  1411) 152 

1412.   Bull  for  Indulgence  burnt  at  Prague 666 


1  On  the  legitimacy  of  Alexander  V.  and  John  XXIII.,  see  148  n. 
II— B  2 


xxxiv  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 

A.D.  PAGE 

1412.  John  Hus  in  exile  from  Prague  "      ..    667 

1413.  His  Be  Ecclesia  and  Bohemian  works         667-8 

John  Hus  excommunicated         154 

1414-18.  Council  of  Constance  (the  Sixteenth  (Ecumenical)..  153,  155 
The  leaders  :  Card.  Zabarella,  D'Ailly,  Gerson,  Hallam      156 

Reluctant  presence  of  John  XXIII 154-5 

Arrival,  reception,  and  arrest  of  Hus         155,  157,  670 

Arrival  of  Sigismund  :  Sermon  of  D'Ailly        158-9 

1415.  Sigismund's  safe-conduct  to  Hus,  and  perfidy 160,669 

Trial  and  martyrdom  of  Hus       160,  670,  f. 

Deposition  of  John  XXIIL,  Gregory  XII.,  and  Benedict  XIII.   161-2 

1416.  Trial  and  burning  of  Jerome  of  Prague 160,  674,  f. 

1417.  Election  of  Pope  Martin  V.  (Otho  of  Colonna)        163 

Exile  of  Gerson  (06.  1429) 164  and  n. 

His  Mystical  Theology 566-7 

Order  of  St.  Justina  sanctioned 367 

1418.  The  Council  dissolved:  reform  postponed  to  another  ..  ..  167 
Papal  Abuses  restored.  High  claims  of  Martin  ..  ..  164,168 
Concordats  with  separate  states 169 

1418  f.  Religious  War  in  Bohemia.     Calixtines  and  Taborites    ..        678  f. 
1420.  Crusade  and  defeat  of  Sigismund  ;  John  Ziska  (pb.  1424)       ..    679 

1422.  Charles  VII.  (the  Victorious)  King  of  France         170 

Siege  of  Constantinople  by  Amurath  II.     Truce        . .       . .       170  n, 

1423.  Papal  Councils  of  Pavia  and  Siena      170 

1424.  Council  summoned  to  Basle  after  seven  years 179 

1427.  Crusade  of  Cardinal  Beaufort  in  Bohemia 679 

1428.  Burning  of  Wyclif  s  bones 649 

1430  (cir).  Raymund  of  Sabunde  :  Natural  Theology      568 

1431.  Eugenius  IV.  (Gabriel  Condolmieri)  Pope         171 

Bohemian  Crusade.  Cesarini  defeated  at  Tauss  ..  171-2,  672 
Council  of  Basle.  (In  part,  Seventeenth  (Ecumenical)  173,  184  n. 
Its  Beputations.     Cardinals  Cesarini  and  Nicolas  Cusanus   173-4 

1432.  Decrees  of  Constance  renewed.  Opposition  of  the  Pope  ..  174-5 
Decree  for  the  Immaculate  Conception  of  the  Virgin  ..       304  n. 

1431-3.  Sigismund  in  Italy  and  at  Basle      175-6 

1433.  The  Council's  Agreement  (Compactata)  with  the  Bohemians  ..    679 

1434.  The  Taborites  crushed  by  the  Calixtines 679 

Eugenius  driven  from  Rome,  till  1443        177 

1435-40.  Government  and  fate  of  John  Vitelleschi        177 

1435  f.  Reforming  Decrees  of  the  Council 178 

1436.  Sigismund  received  as  King  of  Bohemia  (ob.  1437) 679 

1437.  Scheme  of  reconciliation  with  the  Greeks          186 

1438.  Final  Breach  between  Pope  and  Council 178 

Papal  Council  at  Ferrara  (afterwards  at  Florence) 178 

New  Leaders  at  Basle :  Cardinal  Louis,  Bishop  of  Aries  . .      . .  179 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  xxxv 

A  D  PAGE 

1438.  ^neas  Sylvius  Piccolomini  (6.  1405)  afterwards  Pius  II.  179-80 
Albert  II.  (of  Hapsburg)  l  King  of  the  Romans       ..      ..    181.  680 

Germany  neutral  between  Pope  and  Council      181 

Pragmatic  Sanction  of  Bourgcs;  the  Gallican  liberties      ..       ..    181 
The  Emperor  John  Pal^eologus  II.  comes  to  Italy 187 

1439.  Felix  V.  (Amadeus,  Duke  of  Savoy)  Antipope  elected  at  Basle  182 
Council  of  Florence  (the  Seventeenth  (Ecumenical)  184  n.,  187 
Agreement  with  the  Greeks  :  the  " Definition"        ..       ..        187-9 

1440.  Frederick  III.  elected  :  cr.  Emperor  1451       183 

Laurenttus  Valla  (b.  1406,  d.  1465)      204 

1442.  Invention  of  Printing 204 

1443.  Council  at  Rome.     Orientals  received 189 

Virtual  end  of  the  Council  of  Basle 184 

1444.  Crusade  in  Turkey.     Fatal  battle  of  Varna       190 

1445.  Mission  of  jEneas  Sylvius  from  Frederick  to  Rome       . .      . .    191 
144  6.  Diet  of  Frankfort  agrees  to  his  terms         192 

1447.  Consent  and  death  of  Eugenics  IV 193 

Nicolas  V.  (Thomas  of  Sarzana)  Pope       193,198 

1448.  Concordat  of  Aschaffenburg 193 

1449.  Submission  of  Felix.     End  of  the  Council  of  Basle  ..      ..       193-4 

Results  of  the  three  great  reforming  Councils 194-5 

Virtual  end  of  the  Middle  Age  of  the  Church       195 

Climax  of  Latin  Christianity  and  Epoch  of  the  "  Renaissance  "     197 

1450.  Splendour  and  Profit  of  the  Jubilee 199 

Discontent  provoked  by  the  sale  of  Indulgences        ..       ..        199  n. 
Cardinal  Nicolas  of  Cusa,  monastic  reformer  in  Germany     ..    367 

1450  f.  The  Moravian  Brethren      680 

1452.  Last  Coronation  of  an  Emperor  at  Rome 201 

Amurath  II.  renews  the  siege  of  Constantinople      190 

The  Greeks  reject  the  Agreement  with  Rome 190 

1453.  Fall  of  Constantinople  and  the  old  Roman  Empire      . .  202 

Its  results  in  the  diffusion  of  Greek  learning 203 

Conspiracy  and  execution  of  Porcaro 201 

1455.  Death  of  Nicolas  V.     Character  of  his  Pontificate . .      . .        202-3 

His  patronage  of  Letters  and  Art        203 

Restorations  and  new  buildings  at  Rome 204  f. 

Design  of  St.  Peter's  and  the  Vatican 204-5 

Other  works  throughout  Italy 205 

Printing  perfected  by  John  Gutenberg 204 

1455.  Calixtus  III.  (Alphonso  Borgia,  Spaniard)  Pope      206 

Crusade  against  the  Turks.     John  Capistrano       206 


i  All  the  succeeding  Emperors  were  of  the  house  of  Hapsburg,  except  Charles  VII. 
(Bavarian)  and  Francis  I.  of  Lorraine,  whose  marriage  with  Maria  Theresa  made  him 
head  of  the  new  line  of  Hapsburg-Lorraine. 


xxxvi  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 

A.D.  PAGE 

1455.  John  Huniades  repulses  Mahomet  II.  from  Belgrade       .^       ..    207 

1456.  The  Germaaia  of  .Eneas  Sylvius 207 

The  Pope's  Nepotism  .  the  Borgias  and  "  Catalans  "  . .       . .    207 

1458-71  George  Podiebrad  King  of  Bohemia 680 

1458,  Pius  II.  (.Eneas  Sylvius  Piccolomini)  Pope         208 

1459.  His  crusading  zeal.     Congress  of  Mantua  209,210 

New  Orders  of  religious  Knighthood  for  the  Crusade        ..    240,  367 

1461.  His  papal  policy.     Bull  of  Retractation  (1463) 210 

Louis  XL  King  of  France 211 

Attempt  to  repeal  the  Pragmatic  Sanction         211 

Progress  of  the  Turks.     Thomas  Palseologus  at  Rome       ..       ..  211 

1462.  Pius  II.  annuls  the  Compactata  of  Basle 679  n. 

1464.  Pius  starts  for  the  Crusade  :  dies  at  Ancona      212 

Paul  II.  (Peter  Barbo)  Pope  :  his  works  at  Rome 212 

Paganism  mixed  with  the  revival  of  letters       212 

College  of  Abbreviators.     Persecution  of  Platina      213 

1467.   Printing  first  used  at  Rome          213 

1469.  Lorenzo  de'  Medici  (the  Magnificent)  ruler  of  Florence       ..  217 

Marriage  of  Ferdinand  of  Arragon  to  Isabella  of  Castile    ..  627 

1471.  Regular  Canons  of  St.  Agnes  at  Zwoll         572 

Thomas  a  Kempis  ob.  (b.  1380).     The  De  fmitatione  Christi    574-5 

Moral  Degradation  of  the  Papacy         215 

Sixtus  IV.  (Francis  della  Rovere)  Pope      216 

The  Pope's  nephews,  Julian,  Peter,  and  Jerome         217 

1473.  Contest  of  Realists  and  Nominalists  at  Paris      549  n. 

1474.  Bulls  on  behalf  of  the  Mendicants       379 

1475.  Jubilee.     Works  at  Rome      217 

John  of  Goch,  German  reformer  (ob.)       683 

1478.  Conspiracy  of  the  Pazzi  at  Florence ..       ..    21'8 

1479.  Bull  of  Sixtus  IV.  for  the  Spanish  Inquisition         627 

John  Busch,  Monastic  Reformer  (ob.)        366  n. 

1480-1.  The  Turks  take  Otranto  :  their  surrender      218 

1481.  John  of  Wesel,  German  reformer  (<>b.) 683 

1482.  The  Pope's  quarrels  with  Venice  and  Naples 218-9 

St.  Francis  of  Paola.  founds  Order  of  Minims  (ob.  1507)      ..    433 

1483.  Deaths  of  Sixtus  IV.,  Louis  XL,  and  Edward  IV 219,  683 

Charles  VIII.  (l'Affable)  King  of  France  219 

Birth  of  Martin  Luther  (November  10)         219,683 

Thomas  of  Torquemada  Inquisitor-General  in  Spain     ..       ..    627 

1484.  Innocent  VIII.  (John  Baptist  Cibo)  Pope 219 

His  gross  profligacy,  corruption,  and  venality 219 

Birth  of  the  Swiss  reformer  Ulrich  Zwingli 686 

1489.  Papal  alliance  with  Florence.  John  de'  Medici  a  cardinal  ..  220 
Jtntrigue  with  Sultan  Bajazeft.  Prince  Djem  (killed  1495)  ..  220 
John  Wessel,  German  reformer  (d>.)       682 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  xxxvii 

A'D-  PAGE 

1491.  Jerome  Savonarola  (6.  1452)  prior  of  St..  Mark's,  at  Florence  226 

1492.  Savonarola  at  the  death-bed  of  Lorenzo  de' Medici 227 

Discovery  of  A merica  by  Columbus 226  n. 

Conquest  of  Granada  from  the  Moors 220 

Alexander  VI.  (Roderigo  Borgia)  Pope 221 

His  sons  John  and  Caesar,  and  daughter  Lucrezia        . .      . .    222 

1493.  Maximilian  I.  (styled  Emperor  Elect x) 222,237 

1494.  Charles  VIII.  invades  Italy  :  retires  in  1495 223 

The  Medici  expelled  :  power  of  Savonarola  at  Florence    ..       ..    227 

1495.  Gabriel  Biel  (Nominalist)  the  last  great  Schoolman     ..       ..    549 
1496-7.  Reformation  at  Florence.     Sacrifices  of  Vanities 228 

Affairs  of  Naples.  ^  Schemes  of  the  Pope 223 

1497.  Murder  of  John  Borgia  by  his  brother  Caesar 224 

Order  of  St.  Bernard  founded      367 

1498.  Martyrdom  of  Savonarola 229   230 

Niccolo  Machiavelli,  Secretary  (b.  l-'69,  d.  1527)        ..   230-1  n. 

Louis  XII.  (of  Valois- Orleans)  King  of  France 224 

His  alliance  with  the  Pope  and  Cassar  Borgia 224-5 

1499.  Louis  conquers  the  duchy  of  Milan 225 

Schemes  and  Progress  of  Caesar  Borgia       225 

1500.  The  Jubilee.     Caesar's  triumph 225 

Corruption,  Disorder,  and  Terror  at  Rome  225-6 

Feb.  24.  Birth  of  Charles  of  Austria  and  Spain  (aft.  Charles  V.)  . .  231 
Treaty  of  Granadx  for  the  partition  of  Naples 231 

SIXTEENTH  AND  FOLLOWING  CENTURIES. 

1503.  Battle  of  the  Garigliano.  Spanish  Conquest  of  Naples  231  and  n. 
Pius  III.  (Francis  Piccolomini)  Pope,  Sept.  22-Oct.  18  ..  ..  232 
Julius  II.  (Julian  della  Rovere)  a  warrior  Pope        235 

1504-6.  He  recovers  the  papal  territory  in  the  Romagna 236 

1507.  Death  of  Caesar  Borgia  in  Spain  236  n. 

1508.  League  of  Cambray  against  Venice       237 

1509.  Henry  VIII.  King  of  England 237  and  n. 

John  Calvin  born       687 

1510.  The  Venetians  submit  to  the  Pope      237 

Breach  of  the  Pope  with  France.     Assembly  at  Orleans  . .       . .    238 
The  Gravamina  of  Germany         238 

1511.  Julius  at  the  siege  of  Mirandola  239 

Schismatic  Council  of  Pisa  and  Milan,  to  1512 239 

Holy  League  of  the  Pope,  Spain,  and  Venice,  against  the  French  239 

1512.  Victory  and  death  of  Gaston  de  Foix  at  Ferrara 240 


i  The  title  borne  by  all  his  successors,  except  Charles  V.,  who  was  crowned  Emperor 
at  Bologna. 


xxxvm  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 

A.D.  PAGE 

1512    Cardinal  John  de' Medici  taken  prisoner         v    ..    240 

The  Emperor  joins  the  League 240 

The  French  driven  out  of  Milan 240 

Fifth  Lateran  Council  (the  Eighteenth  (Ecumenical)  . .  . .  241 
Jacques  Lefevke,  leader  of  French  Reformation      ..       ..       687  n. 

1513.  Leo  X.  (John  de' Medici)  Pope.     His  Character       ..       ..        241-4 

Affairs  of  Italy,  Fiance,  and  Germany        244 

Restoration  of  a  general  peace      245 

1515.  Francis  I.  King  of  France 245 

Invades  Italy  :  his  victory  at  Marignano 245 

Concordat  of  Bologna.     Pragmatic  Sanction  annulled        245-6,  266 

1516.  Charles  I.  King  of  Spain  :  his  vast  Dominions         246 

Conspiracy  and  execution  of  Cardinal  Petrucci 243 

Luther  reads  the  Greek  Testament  of  Erasmus 684 

1517.  Last  Session  of  the  Fifth  Lateran  Council 247 

Cardinal  Ximenes,  ob 628  n. 

Indulgence  for  St.  Peter's  preached  by  Tetzel 247,  684 

Luther's  Ninety-five  Theses  at  Wittenberg        247,  684 

1518-19.  His  Disputations.     Philip  Melanchthon  (6.  1497)  ..      ..    685 

1519.  Election  of  Charles  V.  (cr.  Emperor  at  Bologna,  1530)..       ..    248 
Ulrich  Zwingli  (b.  1484)  preaches  at  Zurich 686 

1520.  Relations' of  Charles,  Francis,  and  Henry 249 

Luther  burns  the  Bull  of  Excommunication 249,685 

His  three  Primary  Works 685 

1521.  Diet  of  Worms.     Ban  against  Luther         249,685 

Luther  at  the  Wartburg.     Translation  of  the  Bible  ..       ..    685 

War  between  Charles  and  Francis  in  Lombardy  and  Navarre  ..    249 

Ignatius  Loyola  wounded  at  Pampeluna        249,  688 

Death  of  Leo  X 249 

The  Turks  take  Belgrade,  and  Rhodes  (1522)  ..  ..  253  n.,  354 
Henry  VIII.  "  Defender  of  the  Faith  "      249  n. 

1522.  Adrian  VI.  (Adrian  Florent)  a  reforming  Pope       250 

An  Infallible  Pope  denies  Papal  Infallibility       250 

The  Reformation  in  Basle  687 

1523.  Clement  VII.  (Julius  de' Medici)  Pope 251 

1524.  Erasmus  separates  from  Luther  (06.  1536)        687  n. 

1525.  Francis  I.  taken  prisoner  at  Pavia 251 

Treaty  of  Madrid  forced  upon  him      251 

John  the  Constant,  Elector  of  Saxony  (ob.  1532)  ..      ..       686  n. 

1526.  First  Diet  of  Spires  :  a  compromise 685 

1527.  League  of  Pope,  France,  Venice,  and  Florence,  against  Charles      252 

Sack  of  Rome  by  the  Imperialists        252 

Ferdinand  I.  King  of  Bohemia  680 

1528.  Lautrec  in  Italy.     The  Pope  set  free 252 

The  French  repulsed  from  Naples       253 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  xxxix 

A.O.  PAGE 

1529.  Peace  of  Cambray         253 

Second  Diet  of  Spires.     The  name  of  Protestants 686 

The  Turks  repulsed  from  Vienna         253  n. 

1530.  Charles  V.  crowned  by  Clement  at  Bologna 253 

The  Diet  and  Confession  of  Augsburg  25+,  686 

1531.  Protestant  League  of  Schmalkald       686 

Death  of  Zwingli.     Peace  of  Cappel 686 

1532.  Religious  Peace  of  Nuremberg 686 

John  Frederick  (the  Magnanimous)  Elector  of  Saxony  ..    686 

1533.  Marr.  of  Catherine  de'  Medici  to  Henry  (afterwards  II.)   253  n. 
The  Knights  Hospitallers  at  Malta  (till  1798) 354 

1534.  Death  of  Clement  VII 253  n. 

The  English  Church  severed  from  Rome 253  n. 

Luther's  Translation  of  the  Bible  finished        685 

Calvin  at  Basle.     His  Institutes        687 

Paul  III.  (Alexander  Farnese)  Pope 270,  688 

1538.  Calvin  expelled  from  Geneva  (returns  1541) 688 

Paul  III.'s  Commission  De  Emendanda  Ecclesia  270 

15)0.  Society  of  Jesus  sanctioned  by  the  Pope      681 

1541.  The  Interim  of  Ratisbon        688 

1542.  Xavier,  Jesuit  Missionary  to  India  (06.  1552)  ..       ..       ..  689 

Bull  of  Paul  III.  for  the  Inquisition 628 

1545-63.  Council  of  Trent  (the  Nineteenth  (Ecumenical)       . .      . .    689 

1546.  Death  of  Martin  Luther 689 

1546-7.  Schmalkaldic  War.     Battle  of  Miihlberg        689 

1553.  Servetus  burnt  at  Geneva  688  n. 

1555.  Religious  Peace  of  Augsburg        690 

1555-6.  Abdication  of  Charles  V 690  n. 

1556.  Philip  II.  King  of  Spain.     Persecution  in  the  Netherlands     690  n. 
1558.  Ferdinand  I.  Emperor        680 

Elizabeth  Q.  of  England.      Statute  2  Hen.  IV.  c.  15  repealed. 

15n9.  Bull  of  Paul  IV.  confirming  the  Inquisition      628 

1564.  Maximilian  II.  Emperor 680 

1566.  Constitution  of  Pius  V.  for  the  Inquisition        628 

1572.  Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew  at  Paris. 

1576.  Rudolf  II.  Emperor 680 

1589.  Henry  IV.  King  of  France 687  n. 

1598.  Edict  of  Nantes.     (Revoked  1685)      687  n. 

1609.  Royal  Charter  in  Bohemia 680 

1611.  Matthias  Emperor      680 

1617.  Ferdinand  II.  King  of  Bohemia  (Emperor  1619) 680 

1618-48.  The  Thirty  Years'  War  680,690 

1619-20.  Frederick,  Elector  Palatine,  "  winter  King"  of  Bohemia     680 

1620.  Bohemia  finally  subjected  to  Austria  680 

1648.  Peace  of  Westphalia 254,680,690 


xl  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 

A.1-.  PAGE 

1677.  Writ  Ve  Hwetico  Comburendo  abolished  by  2  Chas.  II.  c.  9." 

1685.  Edict  of  Nantes  revoked  by  Louis  XIV 687 

The  Waldenses  expelled  from  Piedmont. 

1805.  Death  of  the  last  Grand  Master  of  the  Hospitallers 354- 

1806.  Abdication  of  Francis  II.     End  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire. 

1820.  The  Spanish  Inquisition  abolished       627  n. 

1854.  Pus  IX.  decrees  the  Immaculate  Conception       305 

1870.  End  of  the  Pope's  temporal  power. 

1870-1.  Council  of  the  Vatican  (the  Taentieth  (Ecumenical) . .  j      259 

1871.  The  Pope's  Infallibility  decreed /  305  n. 

1879.  Leo  XIII.  Pope.     Encyclical  on  St.  Thomas  Aquinas         ..  ..    513 

1884.              „                   Encyclical  on  Franciscan  Tertiaries        ..  ..    393 

1883.  Aor.  10.     Quatercentenary  of  Luther's  birth 632 

1884.  Dec.  31.     Quincentenary  of  Wycltf's  death      632 


i£L__r— '^'^ 


Vestibule  of  the  Abbey  of  Lorsch,  near  Darmstadt.    Of  the  time  of  Charles  the  Great. 


LIST  OF  POPES  AND  EMPERORS. 


The  Names  in  [    ]  are  those  of  Antipopes  and  Rival  Emperors.    The  term  "  Emperor  "' 
is  used  for  convenience,  but  those  who  were  not  crowned  at  Rome  are  marked  with  **. 

From  the  Beginning  of  the  11th  Century. 


Popes. 

To 

From 

Emperoks. 

To 

A.D. 

A.D. 

Saxon  Line. 

A.D. 

Sylvester  II 

John  XVII.  Jan.  la-Dec.  7 

1003 
1003 

983 

1002 

OthoIIl 

1002 

Henry  II.  B.iv.  (the  Saint). 

1024 

JohnXVlII 

1009 

10i4 

(Crowned  Empiror.) 

Sergius  IV 

1012 

Benedict  VIII 

1024 

[Gregory]  Jan.  Dec. 

1012 

Franconian  Line. 

John  Xi\ 

1033 

1024 
1027 

Con  radii,  the  Salic 
(Crowned  Emperor.-) 

1039 

Benedict  IX 

1046 

1039 

Henry  III.  the  Black 

1056 

[Sylvester  III.] 

1046 

1046 

(Crowned  Emperor.) 

Gregory  VI 

1046 

Clement  II 

10-17 

Damasus  11 

11)48 

Leo  IX 

1054 

Victor  II 

1057 

1056 

Henry  IV 

1106 

Stephen  IX 

1058 

1084 

(Crowned  Emperor;  dep.) 

[Benedict  X.] 

1059 

Nicolas  II 

1061 

Alexander  II 

1073 

[Honorius  II.] 

1069 

Rivals  with  Henry  I V. 

Gregory  VII 

1085 

1077 

[Rudolf  of  Swabia.] 

[Clement  III.] 

1100 

1081 

[Hermann  of  Luxemburg.] 

Victor  111 

1087 

Urban  11 

1099 

1093 

[Conrad  of  Franconia.] 

Paschal  II 

1118 

[Theodoric]       

1102 

[Albert.] 

1105 

[Sylvester  IV.]         . . 

1111 

1106 

Henry  V 

1125 

Gelasius  11 

1119 

1111 

(Crowned  Emperor.) 

[Gregory  VIII.]       . . 

1121 

CalixtusII 

1124 

[Celestine.] 

Honorius  11 

1130 

1125 

Lotliairll.  (or  III.)..      .. 

1137 

Innocent  II 

1143 

1137 

(Ciowned  Emperor.) 

[Anacletus  II] 

1138 

Lint  of  Hohtnstaufen. 

[Victor.] 

1138 

*Conrad  ill 

1152 

Celestine  II 

1144 

(Never  crowned  at  Rome.) 

Lucius  11 

1145 

Eugenius  III 

1153 

1152 

Fr<  derick  1 .  Barbarossa  . . 

1190 

Anastasius  IV 

1154 

1155 

(Crowned  Emperor) 

Adrian  IV 

1159 

Alexander  II I 

1181 

[Victor  IV.]      

1164 

[Paschal  III.] 

1168 

[CalixtuslII] 

1178 

[Innocent  III]  

1180 

Lucius  III 

1185 

Urban  III 

1187 

Gregory  VIII 

1187 

xlii 


LIST  OF  POPES  AND  EMPERORS. 


Popes. 


Clement  III. 
Celestine  III. 
Innocent  III. 
Honorius  III. 


Gregory  IX 

Celestine  IV 

The  Holy  See  vacant 

Innocent  IV 

Alexander  IV 

Urban  IV 

Clement  IV 

Vacancy 

Gregory  X 

Innocent  V 

I  Adrian  V.  July  11-Aug.  5. 

John  XXI 

Nicolas  III 

Martin  IV 

Honorius  IV 

Nicolas  lv' 

Vacancy     

Celestine  V. 

Boniface  VIII 

Benedict  XI 


To 


a.d. 
1191 
1198 
1216 
1227 

1241 

I  1241 

j  1243 

i  1254 

I  1261 

I  1264 

1268 

'  1271 

I  1276 

I  1276 

I  1276 

j  1277 

I  1280 

!  1285 

I  1287 

1292 

1294 

1294 

1303 

1304 


From 


A.D. 

1190 
1191 
1197 
1197 
1209 
1212 
1220 
1246 
1247 
1250 
1254 
1257 

1273 


1292 
1298 


Emperors. 


Henry  VI . 

(Crowned  Emperor.) 

[*Philip  II.]       

Otho  IV.  (Saxon)     ..     . 

(Crowned  Emperor.) 

Frederick  II.  Hohenstfn. 

(Crowned  Emperor). 

[Henry  of  Thuringia]     . 

[William  of  Holland]  . 
*ConradIV 

Interregnum 

[Richard  of  Cornwall]     . 

[Alfonso  of  Castile]  . .  . 
*RudolfI   (Hapsburg)     . 


*  Adolf  (Nassau)  deposed. . 

killed 

*  Albert  I.  (Hapsburg)  . . 


To 


A.D. 

1197 

1208 
1218 

1250 

1247 
1247 
1254 
1271 
1271 
1273 
1291 


1298 
1299 
1308 


The  Babylonian  Captivity  at  Avignon. 


Clement  V.         ... 
Vacancy     

John  XXII 

[Nicolas  V.]       . . 

Benedict  XII 

Clement  VI 

Innocent  VI.     . .      .  f 

Urban  V 

Gregory  XI 

Returns  to  Rome. 


1314 

1308 

1316 

1312 

1314 

1334 

1328 

1329 

1314 

1342 

1346 

1352 

1347 

1362 

1355 

1370 

1349 

1378 
1 

Henry  VII.  (Luxemburg) 
(Crowned  Emperor.) 
Louis  IV.  (Bavaria) 
(Crowned  by  the  Antipope) 
[Frederick   of  Austria] 
[Charles  IV.  of  Luxembg.] 
Charles  I V.  acknowledged 
(Crowned  Emperor) 
[Giinther  of  Schwarzburg] 


1378 


The  Great  Papal  Schism. 


1378     i  Urban  VI.  (Rome)  . .     . 

1378  Clement  VII.  (Avignon) 
1389  Boniface  IX,  (Rome) 
1394  Benedict  XIII.  (Av  )  dep 
died 
Innocent  VII.  (Rome )  . 
Gregory  XII.  (  Ro.)  resig 
Alexander  V.  (Pisa) 

John  XXIII.  (Pisa).. 

(Deposed) 

End  of  >'«e  Schism. 


1389 

1378 

1394 

1404 

1400 

1417 

14241 

1406 

1415 

1410 

1410 

1411 

1415 

1433 

1417 

1410 

*Wenceslaus  (of   Luxem 
burg)  deposed. 

♦Rupert  (Palatine)    . . 


Sigismund  (of  Luxemburg) 

(Re-elected.) 

(Crowned  Kmperor.) 


[Jobst,  of  Moravia] 


i  Clement  VIII.  and  Benedict  XIV. :  rival  elections  by  the  followers  of  Benedict  XIII. 
in  Spain  (1424-1429). 


LIST  OF  POPES  AND  EMPERORS. 


xliii 


From 

Popes. 

To 

From 

Emperors. 

To 

A.D. 

A.D. 

A  D. 

House  if  Hapsburg.*- 

|     A.D. 

1417 

Martin  V 

1431 

1438 

♦Albert  II 

!   1439 

1431 

Eugenius  IV 

1447 

1440 

Frederick  III 

1493 

1439 

[Felix  V.  (Basle)  ]     .     . . 

1449 

1447 

Nicolas  V 

1455 

1452 

/  ast  Coronation  at  Home. 

j 

1455 

Calixtus  III 

1458 

i 

1458 

Pius  II 

1464 

1464 

Paul  II 

1471 

1471 

Sixtus  IV 

1484 

1484 

Innocent  VIII 

1492 

1493 

♦Maximilian  1 

i   1519 

1492 

Alexander  VI 

1503 

1508 

(Emperor  Elect.) 

1503 

Pius  III 

1503 

1503 

Julius  II 

1513 

15)3 

LeoX 

1521 

1519 

Charles  V.,  abdicated 

1556 

1522 

Adrian  VI 

1523 

1530 

*  Crowned  at  Bologna.)  died 

1558 

1523 

Clement  VII 

1534 

1534 

Paul  III 

1549 

1550 

Julius  III 

1555 

1555 

Marcelltis  II.  (An.  9-30) 

1555 

1555 

Paul  IV.     ..    ...     ..     .. 

1559 

1558 

♦Ferdinand  I 

1564 

1559 

Pius  IV 

1565 

1564 

♦Maximilian  II 

1576 

1566 

Pius  V 

1572 

1572 

Gregory  XIII 

1585 

1576 

♦Rudolf  II 

1612 

1582 

Reformation  of  Calendar 

1585 

Sixtus  V 

1590 

1590 

Urban  VII.  (Sept.  15-27) 

1590 

1590 

Gregory  XIV 

1591 

1591 

Innocent  IX 

1591 

1592 

Clement  VIII 

1605 

1605 

Leo  XI.  (April  1-27) 

1605 

1612 

•Matthias 

1619 

1K05 

Paul  V 

1621 

1619 

♦Ferdinand  II 

1637 

1621 

Gregory  XV 

1623 

1623 

Urban  VIII 

1644 

1637 

♦Ferdinand  III 

1658 

1644 

Innocent  X 

1655 

1655 

Alexander  VII 

1667 

1658 

♦Leopold  I 

1705 

1667 

Clement  IX.      .T     ..     .. 

1669 

1670 

Clement  X 

1676 

1676 

Innocent  XI 

1689 

1689 

Alexander  VIII 

1691 

1691 

Innocent  XII    

1700 

1705 

♦Joseph  I 

1711 

1700 

Clement  XII 

1721 

1711 

♦Charles  VI 

174?. 

1721 

Innocent  XIII 

1724 

1724 

Benedict  XIII 

1730 

1730 

Clement  XII 

1740 

1742 

♦Charles  VII.  of  Bavaria. 

1745 

1740 

Benedict  XIV 

1758 

1745 

♦Francis  I.  of  Lorraine. 

1765 

1758 

Clement  XIII 

1769 

1765 

(H.  of  Hapsburg-  Lorraine.) 
♦Joseph  11 

1790 

1769 

Clement  XIV 

1774 

1775 

Pius  VI.  d.  pris.  in  France 

1799 

1790 

♦Leopold  II 

1792 

1800 

Pius  VII.   (Rome   united 
with  France,  1809-14). 

1823 

1823 

Leo  XII 

1829 

1792 

"Francis  II 

1806 

1829 

Pius  VIII 

1830 

1806 

(Abdicated.) 

1831 

Gregory  XVI 

1846 

End  of  the  Holy  Roman 

1846 

Pius  IX 

1878 

Empire. 

1878 

Leo  XIII. 

Mem.' 


•All  subsequent  Emperors  were  of  the  House  of  Hapsburg,  except 
Charles  VII.  and  Francis  I. 


LIST  OF  (ECUMENICAL  COUNCILS. 


A.D.  PAGE 

325.            I.  The  First  of Nicea        Vol.  I.  255 

381.          II.  The  First  of  Constantinople        „       273 

431.        III.  The  Council  of  Ephesus          „       353 

451.        IV.  The  Council  of  Chalcedon „       359 

553.          V.  The  Second  of  Constantinople „       373 

680.        VI.  The  Third  of  Constantinople      „       377 

787.       VII.  The  Second  of  Nicea      „       537 

Note. — These  Seven  are  recognized  alike  by  the  Greek 
and  Roman  Churches. 

869.      VIII.  (Roman)  Fourth  of  Constantinople   . .      . .  „       546 

879.     VIII.  (Greek)  Fourth  of  Constantinople    . .       . .  „       517 

Note. — The  following  are  of  the  Soman  Catholic  Church  : 

1123.       IX.  First  Lateran  Council Vol.11.    34 

1139.         X.  Second  Lateran  Council       „         47 

1179.        XL  Third  Lateran  Council         „         57 

1215.      XII.  Fourth  Lateran  Council      ,,        70 

1245.     XIII.  First  Council  of  Lyon      „         79 

1274.     XIV.  Second  Council  of  Lyon          „         91 

1311.      XV.  Council  of  Vienne „       108 

1409.  [Council  of  Pisa:  not  recognized  by  best  authorities]  „        146 

1414-18.  XVI.  Council  of  Constance        „       153 

XVII.  Council  of  Basle-Ferrari-Florence,  viz.  ..  „  184  n. 

1431  f.      „       Basle  (recognized  in  part) ,,       173 

1438-9.    „      Ferrara,  removed  to  Florence Vol.  II.  178,  187 

1512-17.  XVIII.  Fifth  Lateran  Council         Vol.11.    241 

1545-63.  XIX.  Council  of  Trent        „       689 

1870-1.  XX.  Council  of  the  Vatican        Vol.  II.  259,  305 


rWTr:   ' 


The  Walls  of  Rome.    The  Ostian  Gate. 

BOOK   I. 

CLIMAX  OF  THE  EMPIKE  AND  THE  PAPACY 
AND  THEIE  CONFLICT  FOE  SUPBEMACY. 

Centuries  XL — XIII. 


chapter  I. 

SUPREMACY  OF  THE  EMPIRE  AND  REFORM  OF  THE 
PAPACY,     UNDER      HENRY     II.,     CON  HAD     II.,     AND 

HENRY  III. 

A.D.   1002—1056. 

§  1.  The  Papacy,  redeemed  from  degradation,  aims  at  Supremacy.  §  2. 
Henry  II.,  King  of  the  Germans— State  of  Italy  and  the  Papacy — Pope 
Benedict  VIII.  crowns  Henry  Emperor.  §  3.  Pope  John  XIX.  and 
the  Emperor  Conrad  II.,  the  Franconian — Pope  Benedict  IX.  §  4. 
King  Henry  III. — Contest  for  the  Papacy — Simony  at  Rome — Synod  of 
Sutri — Abdication  of  Gregory  VI. — Pope  Clement  II.  crowns  Henry  III. 
Emperor.  §  5.  Sudden  deaths  of  Clement  II.  and  Dam  ASUS  II. — The 
Emperor  appoints  Bruno  Pope — Intervention  of  Hildebrand.  §  6.  The 
clerical  party  of  Reform — They  aim  at  papal  supremacy — Life,  Principles, 


2  THE  EMPIRE  AND  THE  PAPACY.  Chap.  I. 

and  Character  of  Hildebrand.  §  7.  Contest  about  the  imperial  nomi- 
nation and  confirmation  of  the  Popes — Interview  of  Hildebrand  and 
Bruno — Bruno's  consecration  as  Leo  IX.  §  8.  His  Journeys  and 
Synods — Councils  of  Rheims  and  Mainz — Leo's  personal  jurisdiction — 
Admission  of  papal  assumptions.  §  9.  Leo  IX.  and  the  Normans  in 
Italy — Capture  of  the  Pope  in  battle,  and  treaty  with  the  Normans — 
Death  of  Leo.  §  10.  Final  Schism  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  Churches. 
§  11.  Hildebrand  declines  the  Papacy — Election  of  Gebhard  as  Pope 
Victor  II. — Deaths  of  Henry  III.  and  Victor. 

§  1.  Like  most  schemes  of  human  wisdom  and  policy,  the  reform  of 
the  Papacy  by  the  great  German  emperors  had  effects  very  different 
from  their  fair  designs  and  hopes.  The  ideal  of  a  "  holy  alliance  " 
between  the  supreme  civil  and  ecclesiastical  powers,  for  the  re- 
generation of  the  world,  was  above  the  reach  of  human  nature  ;  and 
the  practical  question  soon  became,  which  of  these  powers  should 
subdue  the  other  to  its  supremacy.  The  Church  in  general,  and  the 
Papacy  in  particular,  raised  from  the  degradation  into  which  it  had 
sunk  in  the  tenth  century,  with  an  awakened  feeling  of  its  high 
calling  and  duties,  had  also  a  revived  sense  of  privilege  and  ambition. 
The  subjection  of  the  Church  to  the  Empire  seemed  a  danger  only 
to  be  escaped  by  the  subjection  of  the  Empire  to  the  Church.  The 
victory  was  won  by  the  power  which  the  spiritual  authority  had 
over  the  minds  of  men,  and  by  the  energy  and  resolution  of  such  Popes 
as  Hildebrand  and  Innocent  III.,  aided  by  the  monastic  orders  and 
the  standing  army  of  mendicant  friars.  The  Crusades  too,  while 
keeping  religious  enthusiasm  at  a  high  pitch  of  exaltation,  occupied 
the  attention  and  exhausted  the  strength  of  the  European  princes. 
But  the  victory  of  the  Papacy  was  purchased  at  the  heavy  cost  of 
discovering  that  the  imperial  power  had  been  its  best  ally.  The 
Pope  had  conquered  the  Emperor  only  to  become  subservient  to  the 
policy  of  France,  and  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  humiliation  of  the 
"  Babylonian  Exile." 

§  2.  On  the  death  of  Otho  III.,  Henry,1  duke  of  Bavaria,  sur- 
named  the  Pjous,  was  elected  King  of  the  Germans  through  the  in- 
fluence of  Archbishop  Willigis  (1002).  Henry,  who  had  been  destined 
for  the  clerical  office,  was  remarkably  devout,  but  none  the  less  vigo- 
rous in  civil  administration  and  in  his  efforts  to  reform  the  Church. 
It  was  ten  years,  however,  before  his  power  was  established  in  Italy,2 

1  He  is  called  in  history  Henry  II.,  which  was  his  style  as  King  of 
the  Germans;  but  he  was  the  first  emperor  of  his  name,  for  Henry  the 
Fowler  was  not  emperor. 

2  From  this  time  forward  the  sovereign  of  Germany  was  elected  at  once 
in  that  character  and  as  King  of  the  Romans,  with  a  title  to  the  imperial 
dignity,  involving  (though  by  no  clear  claim  of  right)  the  sovereignty 
of  Italy,  which  ere  long  became  but  nominal.     (As  to  this  last  point,  see 


A.D.  1002  f.  THE  STATE  OF  ITALY.  3 

where  the  nobles  had  set  up  Ardoin  (or  Harduin)  as  king  at 
Pavia,  while  the  republican  party  was  revived  at  Rome  under  John, 
a  member  of  the  Crescentian  family,  and  three  successive  popes 
owed  their  election  to  his  influence.1 

On  the  death  of  the  last  of  these,  the  election  of  Gregory  as  his 
successor  was  disputed  by  the  Tusculan  party,  who  were  strong 
enough  to  establish  Benedict  VIII.  (1012-1014)  on  the  papal 
throne.  Gregory  repaired  for  aid  to  Henry,  who  had  just  put  down 
Ardoin;  but  Henry,  on  his  arrival  at  Rome,  declared  for  Benedict,  who 
crowned  him  Emperor.  The  schemes  of  both  for  the  reformation  of 
the  Church  had  to  be  postponed  for  more  pressing  occupations,  and 
the  energy  of  Benedict  was  spent  in  conflicts  with  the  Greeks,  who 
still  ruled  in  Southern  Italy  and  threatened  to  win  back  Home  for 
the  Eastern  Empire,  and  with  the  Saracens,  who  were  extending 
their  power  from  Sicily  into  Italy.  It  was  during  the  papacy  of 
Benedict  that  the  first  bands  of  Normans  established  themselves  in 
Southern  Italy,  after  giving  their  aid  against  the  Greeks  and  Saracens. 

§  3.  On  the  death  of  Benedict  VII 1.  (1024),  the  Tusculan  party 
purchased  the  votes  of  the  Romans  for  his  brother,  Romanus,  a  lay- 
man, who  took  the  name  of  John  XIX.  (1024-1033).  A  few  months 
later,  the  death  of  Henry  II.  ended  the  Saxon  imperial  line,  and  the 
crown  of  Germany  was  conferred  on  the  first  of  the  Franconian 
dynasty,  Conrad  II.  (1024-1039),  whose  surname  of  "  the  Salic  " 
declared  his  origin  from  the  noblest  race  of  the  Franks,  and  who 
proved  himself  a  worthy  successor  of  Charles  the  Great.2     In  1026 

Bryce,  Holy  Hon, an  Empire,  pp.  149-150,  6th  ed.  1876.)  Preceding 
Emperors  were  (before  coronation)  kings  of  the  Franks,  or  of  the  Eastern 
Franks,  or  of  the  Franks  and  Saxons,  or  of  the  Germans  {lentonicorum, 
very  rarely  Geimanorum.  The  title  Rex  Germanice  was  first  used  by 
Maximilian  I.  in  1508).  Henry  II.  and  his  successors  asserted  their  claims 
to  the  sovereignty  of  Rome  by  tailing  themselves  A'in</s  of  th"  Romans, 
till  the  act  of  coronation  at  Rome  invested  each  with  the  title  of  Emperor. 
But  the  title  Rex  Romanorum  was  not  uniformly  assumed  till  the  reign  of 
Henry  IV.  From  the  eleventh  century  to  the  sixteenth,  the  title  before 
coronation  at  Rome  was  Romanorum  Rex  semper  Augustus,  and  after  that 
ceremony  it  was  Romanorum  Imperator  scmp>r  Aujustus.  (Bryce,  Note  C, 
p.  452.) 

1  John  XVII.  (1003;  John  XVIII.  (1003-1009);  and  Sergius  IV. 
(1009-1012).     Gregory  is  not  reckoned  among  the  Popes. 

2  Conrad  was  also  connected  with  the  Saxon  line  by  his  descent  from 
a  daughter  of  Otho  the  Great.  Franconia  was  now  the  name  of  the 
eastern  or  Teutonic  part  of  the  old  Frank  kingdom  (Francia  Orientalis), 
to  distinguish  it  from  the  western  part,  now  called  simply  Francia.  With 
reference  both  to  Conrad's  origin  and  character,  it  was  said  that  his  throne 
stood  on  the  steps  of  Charles  : — "  Sella  Chuonradi  habet  ascensoria  Caroli," 
or,  inverse — "Chuonradus  Caroli  premit  ascensoria  regis."  (Wippo,  Vita 
Chuonradi,  c.  6,  quoted  by  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  442.) 


4  THE  EMPIRE  AND  THE  PAPACY.  Chap.  I. 

he  was  crowned  King  of  Italy  at  Milan,  and  in  the  ful lowing  year  he 
received  the  imperial  crown  at  Home,  our  King  Canute  being  present 
at  the  ceremony.  Conrad  vindicated  his  authority  over  the  highest 
ecclesiastics  by  imprisoning  Heribert  of  Milan,  when,  presuming  on 
his  former  services,  the  archbishop  added  to  his  misgovernment 
insolence  towards  the  Emperor.  But,  in  the  contest  which  ensued, 
Conrad  demeaned  himself  by  an  alliance  with  the  dissolute  Pope 
Benedict  IX.  (1033-1048),  whom,  while  a  mere  boy  of  ten  or 
twelve,  the  Tusculan  party  had  raised  to  the  chair  of  St.  Peter,  as 
successor  to  his  cousin  John  XIX.1 

§  4.  In  1039  Conrad  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Henry  III.  (1039- 
1056),  who  raised  the  German  kingdom  and  the  Holy  Empire  to 
the  climax  of  its  power,  and  was  a  vigorous  reformer  of  the  Church. 
His  intervention  was  called  for  at  Rome  by  the  rival  pretensions  of 
three  Popes,  all  of  them  the  creatures  of  simony,  and  each  holding 
one  of  the  principal  churches  of  the  city.  "  Benedict  IX.  was  sup- 
ported by  the  Tusculan  party,  and  Sylvester  111.  by  a  rival  faction 
of  nobles,  while  John  Gratian,  who  had  assumed  the  name  of  (J  re- 
gory  VI.,  was  the  Pope  of  the  people.  The  state  of  things  was 
miserable ;  revenues  were  alienated  or  intercepted,  churches  fell  into 
ruin,  and  disorders  of  every  kind  pievailed."2 

Gregory  VI.,  in  whom  the  hopes  of  the  reforming  party  were 
centred,  met  Henry  III.  on  his  entrance  into  Italy,  and  by  his 
desire  convened  a  synod  at  Sutri  (Dec.  1046).  This  assembly  set 
aside  the  claims  of  Benedict  and  Sylvester ;  and  then  proceeded  to 
enquire  into  the  election  of  Gregory  himself.  The  worthy  man, 
convinced  that  he  had  erred  in  purchasing  his  election,  stripped  off 
his  robes  in  presence  of  the  council ;  and  a  German,  nominated  by 
Henry,  Suidger,  bishop  of  Bamberg,  was  elected  at  Rome  on  Christ- 
mas Eve  as  Pope  Clement  II.  (1046-47).  On  Christmas  Day,  he 
placed  the  imperial  crown  on  Henry's  head ;  and  the  Romans,  in 
their  joy  for  the  restoration  of  order,  conferred  on  Henry  the  here- 
ditary patriciate,3  with  the  right  of  nomination  to  the  papal  chair, 
and  bound  themselves  by  an  oath  not  to  consecrate  a  Pope  without 
tli.'  Emperor's  consent.  No  Emperor  was  ever  so  absolute  at  Rome 
as  Henry,  and  under  his  rule  the  Romans  were  obliged  to  elect  a 
succession  of  pious  and  reforming  German  Popes. 

§  5.  Clement  had  only  time  to  begin  the  work  of  reformation  by 

1  His  own  name  was  Theophylact. 

2  Robertson,  History  of  the  Christum  Church,  vol.  ii.  p.  445  ;  where  the 
reader  will  find  the  complicated  details  of  the  elevation  of  these  rival 
Popes,  and  tin   conflict  between  their  parties. 

Henry  constantly  wore   the   green   mantle  and  circlet  of  gold,  which 
were  the  insignia  of  the  Patrician  of  Rome. 


A.D.  1048.  HENRY  III.  MAKES  BRUNO  POPE.  5 

holding  a  council  against  simony,  when  he  died  within  ten  months 
from  his  election  (1047).  Henry  had  returned  to  Germany,  carrying 
with  him  the  deposed  Pope  Gregory.  The  Tusculan  party  ventured 
on  the  restoration  of  Benedict  IX. ;  but  he  was  compelled  to  fly  at 
the  approach  of  the  Emperor's  nominee,  the  German  Damasds  II., 
with  a  powerful  escort.  The  death  of  the  new  Pope  on  the 
twentieth  day  from  his  installation  (1048),  following  on  the  sudden 
end  of  Clement's  pontificate,  raised  suspicions  of  foul  play  by  the 
anti-German  party. 

The  choice  of  the  Emperor  now  fell  on  his  cousin  Bruno,  bishop 
of  Toul,  who  was  famed  "for  piety,  learning,  prudence,  charity, 
and  humility;  he  was  laborious  in  his  duties,  an  eloquent  preacher, 
and  a  skilful  musician."1  Notwithstanding  his  hesitation  to  accept 
the  dignity,  and  without  waiting  for  the  form  of  election  by  the 
Roman  clergy  and  people,  Bruno  was  invested  with  the  papal 
insignia  at  a  Diet  held  at  Worms,  in  presence  of  the  Roman  envoys; 
and  he  set  out  for  Borne  in  full  state.  But  at  Besancon  he  was 
met  by  Hugh,  abbot  of  Clugny,  who  was  accompanied  by  the  monk 
Hildebrand,  and  the  rtnown  of  that  great  name  may  be  said  to 
date  from  the  epoch  of  this  interview. 

§  6.  We  have  thus  far  seen  the  course  of  ecclesiastical  and  papal 
reform  directed  by  the  imperial  head  of  the  ideal  Christian  State. 
But  there  was  a  party  within  the  Church,  which  laboured  for  deeper 
reform  and  aimed  at  a  higher  ideal  of  spiritual  power,  and  only 
accepted  the  aid  of  princes  till  that  power  could  be  raised  above  all 
secular  authority.  "To  the  connection  of  the  Church  with  the 
State,  to  the  feudal  obligations  of  the  prelates,  they  traced  the 
grievous  scandals  which  had  long  disgraced  the  hierarchy — the  rude 
and  secular  habits  of  the  bishops,  their  fighting  and  hunting,  their 
unseemly  pomp  and  luxury,  their  attempts  to  render  ecclesiastical 
preferments  hereditary  in  their  own  families.  And  what  if  the 
empire  were  to  achieve  such  an  entire  control  over  the  Papacy  and 
the  Church  as  Henry  appeared  to  be  gaining?  What  would  be  the 
effect  of  such  power  when  transferred  from  the  noble,  conscientious, 
and  religious  Emperor,  to  a  successor  of  different  character?  The 
Church  must  not  depend  on  the  personal  qualities  of  a  prince  ;  it 
must  be  snided  by  other  hands,  and  under  a  higher  influence; 
national  churches,  bound  up  with  and  subject  to  the  State,  were 
unequal  to  the  task  of  reformation,  which  must  proceed,  not  from 
the  State,  but  from  the  hierarchy,  from  the  papacy,  from  heaven 
through  Christ's  vicegerent,  the  successor  of  St.  Peter;  to  him  alone 
on  earth  it  must  be  subject,  and  for  this  purpose  all  power  must  be 

1  Robertson,  vol.  ii   p.  552. 
II— C 


6  THE  EMPIRE  AND  THE  PAPACY.  Chap.  I. 

centred  in  the  papacy."1  The  strongholds  of  this  reforming  party 
were  the  cloisters  recently  founded  for  the  purpose  of  reviving  strict 
monasticism,  especially  those  of  Clugny  and  Camaldoli  ;2  and  their 
whole  spirit  was  centred  in  the  enthusiastic  but  deeply  politic  reso- 
lution of  Hildebrand,  the  Italian  monk,  who  began  the  conflict  of 
life  and  death  between  the  Papacy  and  the  German  Emperors. 

Born  between  1010  and  1020,  the  son  of  a  carpenter,  at  the  old 
Etruscan  city  of  Suana  (now  Sovana),  he  was  trained  for  the  priest- 
hood by  his  uncle,  the  abbot  of  St.  Mary's  on  the  Aventine.  His 
rigid  views  of  the  monastic  life  led  him  across  the  Alps  to  join  the 
society  of  Clugny,  where  the  abbot  is  said  to  have  applied  to  him  the 
prophecy,  "  He  shall  be  great  in  the  sight  of  the  Highest."  After 
visiting  the  court  of  Henry  III.,  Hildebrand  returned  to  Rome,  and 
became  chaplain  to  his  former  preceptor,  Gregory  VI.,  on  whose 
deposition  he  retired  again  to  his  cell  at  Clugny,  whence  he  now 
came  forth  to  be  the  guiding  and  animating  spirit  of  the  reformation 
which  was  based  on  the  supremacy  of  the  Church  over  the  State,  of 
the  Papacy  above  the  Empire.  It  has  been  well  said  that  Hilde- 
brand "  was  not  the  inventor  nor  the  first  propounder  of  these 
doctrines ;  but  he  teas  the  first  who  dared  to  apply  them  to  the  world 
as  he  found  it.  His  was  that  rarest  and  grandest  of  gifts,  an  intel- 
lectual courage  and  power  of  imaginative  belief  which,  when  it  has 
convinced  itself  of  aught,  accepts  it  fully  with  all  its  consequences, 
and  shrinks  not  from  acting  at  once  upon  it — a  perilous  gift,  as  the 
melancholy  end  of  his  own  career  proved,  for  men  were  found  less 
ready  than  he  had  thought  them  to  follow  out  with  unswerving 
consistency  like  his  the  principles  which  all  acknowledged.  But  it 
was  the  very  suddenness  and  boldness  of  his  policy  that  secured  the 
ultimate  triumph  of  his  cause,  awing  men's  minds  and  making  that 
seem  realized  which  had  been  till  then  a  vague  theory."3 

§  7.  The  chief  practical  point,  on  which  the  contest  between  the 
civil  and  ecclesiastical  powers  turned,  was  the  right  of  the  Emperor 
to  nominate  the  Popes  and  to  confirm  their  election.4  In  the  present 
case,  Henry  and  the  Diet  of  Worms  had  gone  so  far  as  to  invest 
Bruno  with  the  papal  insignia,  which  indeed  he  had  only  accepted 
on  the  condition  that  he  should  be  duly  elected  at  Borne.  But,  on 
the  remonstrances  of  Hildebrand  against  his  accepting  from  the 
Emperor  the  dignity  to  which  he  could  only  be  raised  by  the  free 
election  of  the  Romans,  Bruno  laid  aside  all  outward  marks  of  his 

1  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  551  ;  who  cites  Voigt's  Hildebrand,  8,  9,  and  Re- 
musat's  St.  Ansehne,  186. 

2  Concerning  these  new  orders,  see  below.  Chap.  XX. 

3  Bryce,  The  Holy  Rom  in  Empire,  pp.  160,  161. 

4  On  the  mode  of  election  itself,  see  Part  I.  Chaps  VII.  §  6,  and 
below,  Chap.  II.  §  2. 


A.D.  1048  f.  REFORMS  OF  LEO  IX.  7 

office  for  the  dress  of  a  pilgrim,  and  entering  Rome  barefoot,  in 
company  with  Hildebrand,  he  was  received  with  enthusiasm,  and 
was  elected  Pope  by  the  style  of  Leo  IX.  (1048-1054).  Hildebrand, 
whom  he  ordained  a  sub-deacon  and  made  his  treasurer,  was  the 
chief  director  of  his  policy;  and  Italian  influence  was  strengthened 
by  the  ascetic  enthusiast,  Peter  Damiani,  the  vehement  opponent 
of  simony  and  "  nicolaitanism,"  and  the  zealous  votary  of  flagella- 
tion and  other  superstitions  of  the  age.1  Damiani  was  the  tool  of 
Hildebrand,  whom  he  calls  his  "  hostile  friend  "  and  "  saintly  £atan." 
§  8.  Leo  IX.  addressed  himself  vigorously  to  carry  on  the  work  of 
reformation  by  his  own  presence  and  by  frequent  councils  in  various 
parts  of  the  Empire.  One  of  the  most  important  of  these  was  held 
at  Rheims  (1049),  where  the  French  bishops  and  abbots,  who  were 
among  the  most  corrupt  in  Christendom,  were  required  to  take  an 
oath  that  they  had  not  obtained  their  benefices  by  simony  ;  and 
several  of  them  were  excommunicated.  The  Council  acknowledged 
the  Bishop  of  Rome  as  Apostolic  Pontiff  and  Primate  of  the  whole 
Church,  and  recognized  the  pseudo-Isidorian  Decretals  as  the  law  of 
the  Church.  In  the  same  year  Leo  held  another  council  at  Mainz 
in  presence  of  the  Emperor.  This  personal  assertion  of  his  authority 
had  a  wonderful  effect  in  crushing  the  rising  tendency  to  dispute 
the  advancing  claims  of  Rome.  Leo  entered  kingdoms  and  princi- 
palities without  asking  pea-mission  of  their  sovereigns  ;  summoned 
councils,  in  which  he  not  only  sat  as  judge,  but  himself  originated 
proceedings  and  conducted  them  according  to  no  forms  but  his  own 
pleasure;  treated  the  dignitaries  of  each  national  church  as  respon- 
sible to  himself,  forced  them  to  accuse  or  excuse  themselves  on 
oath,  and  pronounced  a  summary  judgment  on  every  offender. 
"  Yet  startling  as  were  the  novelties  of  such  proceedings,  Leo  was 
able  to  venture  on  them  with  safety,  for  the  popular  feeling  was 
with  him  and  supported  him  in  all  his  aggressions  on  the  authority 
of  princes  or  of  bishops.  Hi-s  presence  was  welcomed  everywhere  as 
that  of  a  higher  power  come  to  redress  the  grievances  under  which 
men  had  long  been  groaning  ;  there  was  no  disposition  to  question 
his  pretensions  on  account  of  their  novelty  ;  rather  this  novelty  gave 
them  a  charm,  because  the  deliverance  which  he  offered  had  not 
before  been  dreamed  of.  And  the  manner  in  which  his  judgments 
were  conducted  was  skilfully  calculated  to  disarm  opposition.  What- 
ever there  might  be  of  a  new  kind  in  it,  the  trial  was  before  synods, 
the  old  legitimate  tribunal ;  bishops  were  afraid  to  protest,  lest  they 
should  be  considered  guilty  ;  and  while  the  process  for  the  discovery 
of  guilt  was  unusually  severe,  it  was  in  the  execution  tempered 
with  an  appearance  of  mildness  which  took   off  much    from  its 

1   For  the  life  and  character  of  Damiani,  see  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  pp.  555  f. 


8  THE  EMPIRE  AND  THE  PAPACY  Chap.  I. 

seventy.  Offenders  were  allowed  to  state  circumstances" in  extenua- 
tion of  their  guilt,  and  their  excuses  were  readily  admitted.  The 
lenity  shown  to  one  induced  others  to  submit,  and  thus  the  Pope's 
assumptions  were  allowed  to  pass  without  objection."1 

§  9.  The  NTorman  adventurers,  who  had  established  themselves  in 
Southern  Italy  at  the  expense  both  of  the  Greeks  and  Saracens,  and 
had  now  conquered  Apulia  (1040-1013),2  proved  troublesome  and 
dangerous  neighbours  to  the  Holy  See,  invading  the  patrimony  of 
St.  Peter  and  threatening  Rome  itself.  To  seek  the  Emperor's  aid 
against  them,  Leo  IX.  crossed  the  Alps  for  the  third  time  (1052). 
But  his  appeal  was  frustrated  through  the  influence  of  Bishop  Geb- 
hard,  the  imperial  chancellor,  and  he  only  obtained  a  body  of  700 
German  adventurers.  With  these  and  the  Italians  who  nocked  to 
his  standard,  the  Pope,  who  had  hitherto  exerted  himself  to  put  down 
the  military  spirit  among  the  churchmen  of  France  and  Germany, 
advanced  to  battle  agarn  a  Christian  enemy,  and,  being  defeated  at 
Civitella,  became  a  prisoner  to  the  Normans  (1053).  But  this  disaster 
led  to  a  new  alliance,  on  which  the  Papacy  could  rely  in  its  contest 
with  the  Empire.  The  Norman  victors  implored  the  pardon  of  the 
Holy  Father,  who  was  glad  to  grant  the  terms  he  had  before  refused, 
that  they  should  hold  their  present  and  future  conquests  in  Italy 
and  Sicily  under  the  Pope,  who  claimed  the  right  to  those  territories 
as  included  in  the  donation  of  Constantine.  In  consequence  of  this 
Treaty,  the  Two  Sicilies  remained  a  fief  of  the  Holy  ^ee  till  their  recent 
absorption  in  the  new  kingdom  of  Italy.  Leo,  after  being  kept  in 
honourable  captivity  at  Benevento  for  nine  months,  was  permitted 
to  return  to  Rome,  to  die  before  the  altar  of  St.  Peter  (April,  1054). 

§  10.  Just  before  his  death,  the  schism  between  Rome  and  Con- 
stantinople was  made,  complete  and  final.  The  interest  of  the 
Greek  Emperors  in  Southern  Italy  had  disposed  them  to  cultivate 
the  goodwill  of  the  Popes  ;  and  the  Emperor  Basil  II.  had  lately 
proposed  to  John  XVIII.  a  reconciliation  on  the  basis  of  allowing 
the  title  of  Universal  Bishop  to  both  patriarchs ;  but  the  Italian 
bishops  protested  vehemently  against  the  compromise.  Leo  IX.  had 
laboured  to  heal  the  schism  and  to  unite  the  forces  of  both  Emperors 
against  the  Normans  ;  but  the  threatened  loss  of  Southern  Italy  seems 
rather  to  have  roused  the  zeal  of  the  Greeks  against  all  the  Latins. 

The  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  Michael  Cerularius,  joined  the 
metropolitan  of  Bulgaria,  Leo,  archbishop  of  Achrida,  in  a  letter 
to  the  bishop  of  Trani,  in  Apulia,  denouncing  the  heresies  of  the 
Latin  Church,  and    especially  the  use  of  unleavened  bread  in  the 

1  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  pp.  564,  565. 

2  For  the  history  of  the  Normans  in  Italy  and  Sicily,  see  the  Student's 
Gibbon,  chap.  xxxi.  pp.  520,  foil. 


A.D.  1056-7.      DEATH  OF  HENRY  111.  AND  VICTOR  II.  9 

Eucharist ;  and  the  patriarch  closed  the  Latin  churches  and  mona- 
steries at  Constantinople  (1053).  The  captive  Pope  wrote  a  letter 
of  remonstrance  to  the  patriarch,  and  at  the  beginning  of  1054 
he  sent  three  legates  to  the  Emperor  Constantine  X.  Monomachus. 
A  controversy  ensued  between  Humbert,  the  chief  of  the  papal 
legates,  and  the  Studite  monk,  Nicetas,  in  which  the  Emperor  took 
the  side  of  Humbert.  But  the  patriarch  Michael  refused  not  only 
agreement,  but  even  discussion ;  and  the  legates,  after  laying  a 
sentence  of  excommunication  against  him  on  the  high  altar  of  St. 
Sophia,  took  their  departure  from  Constantinople  Further  attempts 
at  reconciliation  were  made  in  vain  by  the  Emperor  and  the 
moderate  party  among  the  Greeks,  and  soon  afterwards  by  Pope 
Stephen  IX.,1  and  the  schism  remains  open  to  the  present  day. 

§  11.  The  dying  words  of  Leo  IX.,  and  the  wishes  of  the  Roman 
clergy  and  people,  summoned  Hildebrand  to  assume  the  power  which 
he  really  directed.  But  he  saw  that  the  Papacy  was  not  yet  strong 
enough  to  oppose  a  powerful  emperor  like  Henry  III.,  nor  even  to 
dispense  with  his  support.  With  profound  policy  he  preferred  the 
elevation  of  another  German,  and  that  the  very  man  whose  influence 
had  opposed  Leo  IX.  Hildebrand  himself  headed  an  embassy  from 
the  Romans  to  the  Emperor,  requesting  him  to  nominate  a  Pope,  as 
none  among  themselves  was  worthy  of  the  office  ;  and,  in  suggesting 
the  Chancellor  Gebhard,  he  trusted  that  Henry's  ablest  counsellor, 
hitherto  an  opponent  of  the  Cluniac  party,  would  be  transformed 
into  the  spirit  of  his  new  dignity.  When  Hildebrand's  persistence 
had  not  only  overborne  the  reluctance  of  Henry,  who  in  vain  sug- 
gested other  names,  but  had  brought  him  to  press  the  appointment  on 
his  unwilling  chancellor,  Gebhard  at  length  yielded,  with  the  ominous 
words,  "  So  be  it!  I  give  myself  body  and  soul  to  St.  Peter,  but 
only  on  the  condition  that  you  give  him  back  what  is  his"  (1055). 

A  great  victory  was  won  when  Henry  not  only  consented  to  that 
formal  election  at  Rome,  in  which  he  had  tacitly  acquiesced  in  the 
case  of  Bruno,  but  promised  the  restoration  of  the  Patrimony  of  St. 
Peter  in  its  full  extent,  and  in  performing  his  promise  he  also  con- 
ferred on  the  Pope  the  administration  of  all  Italy.  The  year  after 
the  installation,  Gebhard,  now  Victor  II.,  was  invited  by  Henry 
to  Germany,  and  was  present  when  the  great  Emperor  died,  in  his 
fortieth  year,  commending  his  infant  son  Henry  IV.  (1056-1106) 
to  the  Pope's  care,  and  bidding  his  widow  Amies  to  be  guided  by 
his  ancient  counsellor's  advice.  The  power  of  the  Empire  and  of 
the  Papacy  seemed  to  be  united  in  the  see  of  St.  Peter,  when  Victor 
himself  died  in  the  following  year  (1057). 

1  Frederick  of  Lorraine,  who  was  one  of  Leo  IX.'s  envoys  to  Constan- 
tinople. 


Rome. 


CHAPTER  II. 


SUPREMACY  OF  HILDEBRAND  (GREGORY  VII.)  AND 
HIS  CONTEST  WITH  HENRY  IV.  ABOUT  INVESTI- 
TURES. 

a.d.  1057—1085. 


1.  Infancy  of  Henry  IV.  and  Regency  of  his  mother  Agnes.  Popes 
Stephen  IX.  and  Benedict  X. — Election  of  Nicolas  II. — Beginning  of 
Hildebrand's  Supremacy.  §  2.  Regulation  of  Papal  Elections  by  the 
College  of  Cardinals — The  Emperor's  right  only  saved  in  name.  §  3. 
Relations  of  the  Empire  and  Papacy  at  this  crisis — Lofty  claims  of  Hilde- 
brand's party — Aid  sought  from  the  Normans — Treaty  with  Robert 
Guiscard.  §  4.  German  Council  against  Nicolas — His  death — Double 
Papal  Election — Alexander  II.  and  the  Antipope  Honorius  II.  §  5. 
Revolution  in  Germany — Abduction  of  Henry  IV.  by  Archbishop  Hanno 
— Synod  of  Osbor — Deposition  and  death  of  Honorius.  §  6.  Germany 
under  Hanno  and  Adalbert — Henry  IV.  cited  to  Rome — Death  of  Alex- 
ander II.  §  7.  Hildebrand  becomes  Pope  Gregory  VII. — His  lofty 
claims  embodied  in  the  "Dictate."  §  8.  Reformation  of  simony.  ;ind 
enforcement  of  clerical  celibacy —Discords  between  clergy  and  people — 
Gregory  VII.  and  Henry  IV.  §  9.  Gregory's  decree  against  Inves- 
titures— State  of  the  question — Consequences  of  the  Papal  claim. 
§  10.  Outrage  of  Cencius  on  Gregory.  §  11.  Revolt  of  the  Saxons  — 
The    Pope    cites    the    Emperor    to    Rome  —  Gregory    deposed    by    the 


A.D.  1057.  THE  COLLEGE  OF  CARDINALS.  11 

Synods  of  Worms  and  Piacenza.  §  12.  Excommunication  of  Henry — 
Diet  of  Tribur :  Henry  conditionally  deposed.  §  13.  Henry  goes  to 
Italy — His  humiliation  and  interview  with  Gregory  at  Canossa — Hard 
terms  of  absolution.  §  14.  Rudolf  elected  King — Civil  War  and  Victory 
of  Henry.  §  15.  Second  excommunication  of  Henry — Guibert  made 
Antipope  as  Clement  III.  §  16.  Henry  enters  Italy,  takes  Rome,  and 
is  crowned  Emperor  by  Clement.  §  17.  Rome  retaken  and  sacked  by 
Guiscard — Gregory  VII.  retires  to  Salerno — His  death. 

§  1.  The  change  from  the  rule  of  Henry  III.  to  the  government  of 
a  woman,  as  guardian  for  a  child  of  seven,  encouraged  the  cardinals 
to  choose  Frederick  of  Lorraine,  abbot  of  Monte  Cassino,  as  Pope 
Stephen  IX.1  (1057-58).  The  great  schemes  attributed  to  this 
haughty  and  ambitious  pontiff  were  cut  short  by  his  death,  while 
Hildebrand  was  absent  on  a  mission  to  reconcile  the  Empress- 
Regent  to  his  election.  The  Tusculan  party  seized  the  opportunity 
to  set  up  once  more  a  member  of  the  Crescentian  family,  John, 
bishop  of  Velletri,  by  the  title  of  Benedict  X.  (1058-59) ;  but  the 
cardinals  withdrew  from  the  city  to  Siena ;  and  Hildebrand  secured 
both  the  Empress's  nomination  and  their  election  of  Gerard,  bishop 
of  Florence,  and  a  Burgundian  by  birth,  as  Nicolas  II.  (1059- 
1061).  Benedict,  condemned  and  excommunicated  by  a  council, 
fled  from  Rome,  but  presently  returned  and  submitted  to  Nicolas. 
From  this  time  may  be  dated  the  full  ascendancy  of  Hildebrand  as 
the  soul  of  the  papal  Curia. 

§  2.  Up  to  this  time  the  Emperor  had  still  the  right  both  of  nomi- 
nating a  candidate  for  the  vacant  chair  and  of  confirming  the  election, 
and  the  Pope  was  his  acknowledged  subject.  But  now  the  first  de- 
cisive step  towards  freeing  the  Papacy  from  dependence  on  the  Empire 
was  taken  by  the  appointment  of  a  permanent  body  of  electors  to 
St.  Peter's  chair,  who  were  possessed  of  high  dignity  and  authority. 
Hitherto  the  election  of  the  Pope,  as  of  bishops  in  general,  had  been 
made  by  the  clergy  and  people ;  and  this  right,  which  had  been 
exercised  in  a  manner  both  uncertain  and  often  tumultuous,  was  not 
formally  annulled,  but  was  so  modified  as  to  place  the  election 
virtually  in  the  hands  of  the  august  body  since  known  as  the 
College  of  Cardinals. 

This  famous  title,  like  so  many  others,  had  a  simple  and  com- 
paratively humble  origin.2  As,  from  the  etymological  sense  of  the 
word,3  anything  principal   and   fixed   is   called   cardinal — such  as 

1  Or  Stephen  X.,  according  to  the  reckoning  noticed  in  vol.  i.  p.  522. 

2  "  Nomen  vetus,  nova  est  dignitas,  purpura  recentior,"  say  the  Bene- 
dictine editors  of  St.  Gregory  the  Great  (Ad  Epist.  i.  15).  See  the  Article 
Cardinal  in  the  Diet,  of  Christian  Antiqq. 

3  Cardo,  the  "  hinge,"  on  which  the  door  turns  and  is  supported. 


12  SUPREMACY  OF  HILDEBRAND.  Chap.  II. 

cardinal  numbers,  points  of  the  compass,  virtues,  and,  in.  ecclesias- 
tical usage,  the  cardinal  altar  and  mass — so  the  permanent  and  chief 
holders  of  benefices  and  officers  in  churches  were  called  cardinal 
bishops,  presbyters,  and  deacons,  as  opposed  to  those  who  held  tem- 
porary, movable,  or  subordinate  appointments.  The  title,  -whose 
origiu  is  very  ancient,  is  frequently  used  in  this  sense  by  Gregory 
the  Great. 

At  Rome,  especially,  it  was  applied  from  an  early  age  to  the  per- 
manent priests  and  deacons  of  the  twenty-five  or  twenty-eight 
parish  churches,  or  of  the  seven  regions  of  the  city.  The  title  of 
cardinal-bishojys  was  given  later  (probably  not  till  the  time  now 
spoken  of)  to  the  seven  bishops  of  the  Pope's  own  immediate  pro- 
vince, who  assisted  him  in  his  functions,  and  officiated  in  turn  at 
the  altar  of  St.  Peter's — those,  namely,  of  Ostia,  Porto,  !St.  Rufina, 
Albano,  Sabina,  Tusculum,  and  Prameste.  These  bishops,  with  the 
cardinal  priests  of  the  city,1  were  now  formed  into  a  College  for  the 
election  of  all  future  popes;  but  in  such  a  manner  that  the  initiative 
was  given  to  the  seven  cardinal-bishops.  They  were  first  to  consult 
about  the  election,  and  then  to  call  in  the  cardinals  of  lower  rank ; 
and  the  choice  thus  made  was  to  be  ratified  by  the  assent  of  the 
rest  of  the  clergy  and  the  people. 

The  time  had  not  come  for  the  Emperor's  right  of  confirmation 
to  be  openly  renounced ;  but  it  was  recognized  in  terms  little  short 
of  the  mockery  of  formal  respect,  and  reasserting  the  papal  claim 
to  grant  the  imperial  dignity,  "  saving  the  due  honour  and  reverence 
of  our  beloved  son,  Henry,  who  at  present  is  accounted  King,  and 
hereafter  will,  it  is  hoped,  if  God  permit,  be  Emperor,2  as  we  have 
already  granted  to  him,  and  of  his  successors  icho  shall  have  person- 
ally obtained  tliis  privilege  from  the  Apostolic  >See." 

§  3.  This  bold  assertion  calls  us  to  pause  and  notice  the  relations 
of  the  Papacy  to  the  Empire  on  the  eve  of  the  coming  conflict. 
"The  attitude  of  the  Roman  Church  to  the  imperial  power  at 
Henry  III.'s  death  was  externally  respectful.    The  right  of  a  German 

1  "  Although  the  term  cardinal  was  applied  to  Roman  deacons,  there 
were  as  yet  no  members  of  the  electoral  college  below  the  order  of  priest ; 
but  afterwards,  on  the  complaint  of  the  deacons  and  lower  clergy  that 
they  were  excluded,  some  deacons  were  added  to  the  body.  The  steps  are 
uncertain ;  but  it  is  supposed  that  the  College  of  Cardinals  was  thus 
arranged  by  Alexander  III.  (See  Mosheim,  ii.  331-34.)  The  whole 
number  was  fifty-three,  until  Sixtus  V.,  in  1586,  fixed  it  at  seventy 
(Walter,  29.0-1).  See  lists  of  the  churches  from  which  the  cardinals  took 
their  titles  at  various  times  in  Ciacon,  vol.  i.  pp.  117-120."  (Robertson, 
vol.  ii.  p.  584.) 

2  Henry  IV.  is  here  recognized  as  K'in'j  of  the  Romans.  (See  Chap.  I. 
§  2,  note.)  He  did  nut  become  Emperor  till  the  twenty-eighth  year  of  his 
reign,  when  he  was  crowned  by  the  Antipope  Clement  (10X4). 


A.D.  1059.  TREATY  WITH  ROBERT  GUISCARD.  13 

King  to  the  crown  of  the  city  was  undoubted,  and  the  Pope  was  his 
lawful  subject.  Hitherto  the  initiative  in  reform  had  come  from 
the  civil  magistrate.  But  the  secret  of  the  pontiff's  strength  lay  in 
this  :  he,  and  he  alone,  could  confer  the  crown,  and  had,  therefore, 
the  light  of  imposing  conditions  on  its  recipient.  Frequent  in- 
terregna had  weakened  the  claim  of  the  Transalpine  monarch,  and 
prevented  his  power  from  taking  firm  root ;  his  title  was  never  by 
law  hereditary :  the  Holy  Church  had  before  sought,  and  might 
again  seek,  a  defender  elsewhere.  And  since  the  need  of  snch 
defence  had  originated  this  transference  of  the  Empire  from  the 
Greeks  to  the  Franks,  since  to  render  it  was  the  Emperor's  chief 
function,  it  was  surely  the  Pope's  duty,  as  well  as  his  right,  to  see 
that  the  candidate  was  caj  able  of  fulfilling  his  task,  to  degrade 
him  if  he  rejected  or  misperformed  it."1 

If  these  lofty  claims  were  to  be  more  than  an  idle  boast,  a  new 
helper  must  be  found  against  the  Emperor,  who,  rejected  as  a  pro- 
tector, must  soon  be  reckoned  with  as  an  enemy ;  and  the  needed 
force  was  at  hand  in  the  now  established  power  of  the  Normans. 
After  the  council  at  Rome,  Nicolas  went  into  Southern  Italy,  and 
held  a  council  at  Melfi  to  denounce  certain  Greek  customs  of  the 
clergy  in  those  parts,  especially  the  liberty  of  marriage  (1059). 
This  gave  him  the  opportunity  of  making  a  treaty  with  the  Norman 
chieftain,  Robert  Guiscard  (i.e.  the  Wise  or  Crafty)?  to  whom 
the  Pope  renewed  the  grant  of  such  territories  in  Italy  and  Sicily 
as  he  now  held  or  might  conquer  from  the  Saracens  and  Greeks, 
by  the  title  of  "  Robert,  by  the  grace  of  God  and  of  St.  Peter,  Duke 
of  Apulia  and  of  Calabria,  and,  with  the  help  of  both,  hereafter  to 
be  of  Sicily."  The  Norman  duke  engaged  to  hold  his  territories  as 
a  fief  of  St.  Peter,  paying  an  annual  quit-rent ;  to  be  the  faithful 
defender  of  his  lord  the  Pope  against  all  men;  and  especially  to 
support  the  new  order  of  the  papal  elections.  All  the  churches  in 
his  dominions  were  to  be  subject  to  the  Pope.  Nicolas  also  secured 
the  support  of  Richard,  the  chief  of  the  Normans  who  had  been 
long  established  at  Aversa,  by  creating  him  Prince  of  Capua.  In 
the  next  and  following  years,  the  conquest  of  Sicily  by  Roger,  the 
brother  of  Guiscard,  won  back  another  province  to  the  see  of  Rome. 

§  4.  Meanwhile  the  proceedings  of  Nicolas  roused  in  Germany  a 
vehement  opposition,  headed  by  Hanno,  archbishop  of  Cologne.  At 
Easter,  1061,  the  Empress  Agnes  convened  a  council  of  German 
bishops,  which  excommunicated  the  Pope  and  annulled  his  or- 
dinances.    Nicolas,  who  was  already  ill,  received  the  sentence  of  his 

1  Bryce,  Holy  lio'nan  Empire,  pp.  157-8. 

2  For  the  history  of  Robert  Guiscard  and  his  brothers,  the  sons  of  Tancred 
of  Hauteville,  see  the  Student's  Gibbon,  chap.  xxxi.  §§  6,  foil. 

II— C  2 


14  SUPREMACY  OF  HILDEBRAND.  Chap.  11. 

countrymen  with  signs  of  the  deepest  grief,  and  died  immediately 
afterwards  (July  1061). 

A  fierce  contest  broke  out  for  the  succession  to  the  papal  chair. 
The  Tusculan  and  imperial  parties  combined  in  "opposition  to  Hilde- 
brand,  and  sent  an  embassy  to  offer  Henry  the  Patriciate  and 
Empire.  Hildebrand,  learning  that  this  embassy  was  well  received 
by  the  Empress,  while  his  own  envoys  were  kept  waiting  for  an 
audience,  bribed  the  Prince  of  Capua  to  come  to  Rome,  where 
Anselm,  bishop  of  Lucca,  was  elected  by  the  cardinals  as  Alex- 
ander II.  (106L-73),  and  was  enthroned  by  night,  after  a  bloody 
conflict  between  the  Norman  troops  and  the  imperialists  (Oct.  1). 

Thereupon  the  diet  and  council,  which  the  Empress  was  holding 
at  Basle,  with  the  concurrence  of  some  Lombard  bishops,  headed  by 
the  Chancellor  Guibert,1  annulled  the  decree  of  Nicolas  concerning 
papal  elections,  and  elected  Cadalous,  bishop  of  Parma,  as  Pope 
Honorius  II.  (October  28).2  The  war  between  the  supporters  of  the 
two  Popes  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Rome  was  stopped  by  the  armed 
mediation  of  Godfrey,  Count  of  Tuscany,  the  ally  of  Hildebrand. 
Cadalous  and  Anselm  engaged  to  retire  to  their  respective  bishop- 
rics, till  the  question  between  them  should  be  decided  by  the 
Empress.     But  all  was  changed  by  a  new  crisis  in  Germany. 

§  5.  A  large  party  of  the  German  princes,  who  resented  their 
subjection  to  Henry  III.  and  the  firm  and  upright  administration 
of  his  widow  Agnes,  laid  a  plot  to  obtain  possession  of  the  person  of 
Henry  IV.,  who  was  now  twelve  years  old.  Archbishop  Hanno, 
while  feasting  with  the  young  King  on  an  island  of  the  Rhine, 
near  the  present  town  of  Kaiserswerth,  tempted  Henry  on  board  of 
a  richly-equipped  vessel,  which  carried  him  to  Cologne ;  and  a 
decree  was  published,  vesting  the  administration  in  the  archbishop 
of  the  province  where  the  King  should  be  at  any  time  resident. 
To  support  the  power  thus  seized,  Hanuo  deserted  the  party  of  the 
Antipope,  and  formed  a  league  with  Alexander  and  Hildebrand. 
A  synod  held  at  Osbor  (Augsburg)  acknowledged  Alexander  and 
excommunicated  Honorius  (1062).  The  Antipope,  however,  gained 
possession  of  the  Leonine  city,  and  was  enthroned  at  St.  Peter's  ; 
but,  after  being  besieged  for  two  years  in  the  Castle  of  St.  Angelo 
by  a  Norman  force,  he  fled  to  his  bishopric  of  Parma,  and  died  there 
in  1072. 

§  6.  After  the  revolution  at  the  German  court,  the  Empress 
Agnes,  having  been  brought  by  Peter  Damiani  to  repent  of  her 
resistance  to  the  Holy  See,  became  a  nun  in  a  Roman  convent. 

1  Guibert  had  been  the  leader  of  the  Imperialist  party  in  the  Roman 
Council  of  1059. 

2  In  the  Papal  Annals,  Honorius  is  treated  as  an  Antipope. 


A.D.  1073.        HILDEBRAND  BECOMES  POPE  GREGORY  VII.  15 

Henry  IV.  was  brought  up  in  such  a  manner  as  to  spoil  his  natural 
good  qualities,  and  to  develop  his  faults  by  frivolous  pursuits  and 
the  indulgence  of  his  passions.  Hanno,  unable  to  overcome  the  young 
King's  dislike  of  him,  committed  his  education  to  Adalbert,  arch- 
bishop of  Bremen,  a  prelate  whose  many  noble  qualities  were  marred 
by  haughtiness,  ambition,  and  ostentation,  and  a  strange  mixture  of 
affability  and  angry  temper.  Under  these  two  prelates  Germany, 
both  in  State  and  Church,  became  a  prey  to  misgovernment  and 
disorder,  rapacity  and  corruption,  which  grew  worse  when  Adalbert 
supplanted  Hanno  as  minister  of  the  young  King,  who,  at  the  age 
of  fifteen,  was  declared  able  to  govern  without  a  regent  (1065).  It 
belongs  to  civil  history  to  relate  the  alternate  rise  and  fall  of  the  rival 
prelates,  till  Adalbert  died  in  March  L072,  and  Hanno  retired  at 
the  end  of  the  same  year. 

Freed  from  these  able  though  unscrupulous  ministers,  Henry 
gave  the  reins  to  his  licentiousness  and  misgovernment,  till  many 
of  his  subjects,  driven  to  the  verge  of  rebellion,  carried  their 
complaints  to  the  Holy  See.  After  calling  the  chief  prelates  of 
Germany  to  answer  before  him  for  their  misrule,  especially  in  the 
permission  of  flagrant  simony,  Alexander  ventured  on  the  unpre- 
cedented assumption  of  citing  Henry  to  Rome  ;  but,  before  the 
mandate  could  be  delivered,  the  Pope  died  (April  21,  1073). 

§  7.  The  signal  thus  given  for  the  long-impending  conflict  at 
length  called  the  great  champion  of  Rome  to  his  true  place.  The 
appointed  pause  of  three  days  before  the  election  of  a  new  Pope 
was  broken,  at  the  funeral  of  Alexander,  by  the  cries  of  the  clergy 
and  people  for  Hildebrand  ;  and  the  cardinals,  having  retired  for  a 
short  time,  presented  him  to  the  acclamations  of  the  people.  As 
if  to  intimate  his  resolve  to  resume  the  work  and  spirit  of  his  friend 
and  preceptor  Gratian,  Hildebrand  chose  the  title  of  Gregory  VII. 
(1073-1085).1  With  consummate  prudence,  he  asked  for  the  royal 
confirmation  ;2  and,  the  envoys  sent  by  Henry  having  reported  that 
they  found  no  informality  in  the  election,  Gregory  was  consecrated 
on  St.  Peter's  Day  (June  29,  1073). 

In  devoting  himself  to  the  reformation  of  the  Church,  Gregory 
plainly  declared,  as  the  essential  condition  of  the  work,  her  inde- 
pendence of  all  secular  control,  and  her  sovereignty  over  all  worldly 
powers.  With  equal  plainness,  he  asserted  a  despotic  power  for  the 
Papacy  over  the  rest  of  the  Church.3    In  the  "  Dictate,"  which  gives 

1  The  choice  of  this  title  was  also  a  declaration  that  he  I'egarded  Gre- 
gory VI,  as  a  legitimate  Pope.     (See  above,  p.  4.) 

2  This  was  the  last  occasion  on  which  such  confirmation  was  asked  for  a 
papal  election. 

3  Canon  Robertson  (vol.  ii.  pp.  610-11)  sums  up  the  principles  of  his 


16  SUPREMACY  OF  HILDEBRAND.  Chap.  II. 

a  fair  summary  of  Gregory's  principles,  it  is  laid  down  that  "the 
]{oman  pontiff  alone  is  universal  bishop  ;  that  his  name  is  the 
only  one  of  its  kind  in  the  world.  To  him  alone  it  belongs  to 
depose  or  to  reconcile  bishops ;  and  he  may  depose  them  in  their 
absence,  and  without  the  concurrence  of  a  synod.  He  alone  is 
entitled  to  frame  new  laws  for  the  Church — to  divide,  unite,  or 
translate  bishoprics.  He  alone  may  use  the  ensigns  of  empire  ; 
all  princes  are  bound  to  kiss  his  feet ;  he  has  the  right  to  de- 
pose emperors,  and  to  absolve  subjects  from  their  allegiance.  His 
power  supersedes  the  diocesan  authority  of  bishops.  He  may  revise 
all  judgments,  and  from  his  sentence  there  is  no  appeal.  All 
appeals  to  him  must  be  respected,  and  to  him  the  greater  causes 
of  every  Church  must  be  referred.  With  his  leave,  inferiors  may 
accuse  their  superiors.  No  Council  may  be  styled  General  without 
his  command.  The  Roman  Church  never  has  erred,  and,  as 
Scripture  testifies,  never  will  err.  The  Pope  is  above  all  judgment, 
and  by  the  merits  of  St.  Peter  is  undoubtedly  rendered  holy." 
The  claim,  that  all  kingdoms  are  held  as  fiefs  of  St.  Peter, 
was  not  only  laid  down  by  Gregory  as  a  general  principle, 
but  was  asserted  in  his  direct  dealings  with  all  the  states  of 
Christendom. 

§  8.  Gregory's  chief  efforts  for  the  reformation  of  the  Church 
were  directed  against  simony  and  the  marriage  of  the  clergy.  A 
synod  held  in  Lent,  1074,  debarred  those  guilty  of  such  practices 
from  all  functions  in  the  Church,  and  charged  the  laity  to  refuse 
their  ministrations.  The  enforcement  of  clerical  celibacy  raised  a 
commotion  through  Germany  and  France  ;  but  Gregory  sent  out 
legates  to  execute  the  new  decrees  ;  and  they  were  supported  by  the 
monks,  who  inveighed  against  the  disobedient  clergy.  The  laity 
were  not  only  released  from  obedience  to  the  bishops  and  clergy 
who  opposed  the  decrees,  but  were  enjoined  by  Gregory  to  prevent 
their  ministrations,  "  even  by  force  if  necessary."  An  excuse  was 
thus  given  for  acts  of  outrage  against  the  clergy  and  profanation  of 
religious  ordinances  ;  and  the  contempt  of  the  clergy  thus  generated 
contributed  greatly  to  the  increase  of  anti-hierarchical  and  heretical 
sects.1 

In  his  dealings  with  the  Empire,  Gregory  began  with  remarkable 
moderation.  '1  he  disorders  and  discontent  caused  by  the  mis- 
system  as  "  embodied  in  a  set  of  propositions  known  as  his  Dictate,  which, 
though  not  drawn  up  by  himself,  contains  nothing  but  what  may  be  paral- 
leled either  from  his  writings  or  his  actions.  These  maxims  are  far  in  ad- 
vance of  the  forged  decretals."  The  propositions  of  the  Dictate  are  generally 
believed  to  belong  to  Gregory's  own  time.  Gieseler  observes  as  to  their 
form,  that  they  look  like  the  headings  of  a  set  of  canons  passed  at  some 
synod  under  Gregory.  l   Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  619. 


A.D.  1075.  PAPAL  DECREE  ON  INVESTITURES.  17 

government  of  Henry  seemed  to  give  an  opportunity  for  friendly 
intervention,  which  the  difficulties  of  the  young  King  disposed  him 
to  accept.  When  his  mother  Agnes  came  to  Nuremberg  with 
four  bishops  on  an  embassy  from  Gregory,  Henry  did  penance,  and 
received  absolution  for  his  sins  against  the  Church,  and  promised  to 
aid  the  Pope  in  suppressing  simony  (1074).  Gregory,  while  return- 
ing his  thanks,  announced  the  project  of  a  Crusade,  which  he  himself 
was  to  lead,  while  Henry  was  to  watch  over  the  Church.  But  all 
hope  of  friendly  relations  was  destroyed  by  a  new  blow  which  the 
Pope  aimed  at  the  whole  existing  system  of  secular  authority. 

§  9.  At  his  second  Lenten  synod  (1075)  Gregory  issued  a  decree 
that  no  ecclesiastic  should  take  investiture  from  lay  hands,  on  pain 
of  deposition  ;  and  that  any  lay  potentate  who  should  confer  inves- 
titure should  be  placed  under  the  ban  of  the  Church.  The  custom 
of  investiture?  that  is,  of  putting  ecclesiastics  in  possession  of  their 
temporalities  by  a  symbolical  act  performed  by  the  sovereign,  was 
peculiar  to  the  West,  where  its  origin  was  later  than  the  ninth 
century,  and  it  seems  to  have  been  not  fully  established  till  the 
end  of  the  tenth.  Under  the  feudal  system,  the  custom  formed  an 
important  bond  between  the  sovereign  and  the  clerical  holders  of 
fiefs,  to  whom  it  secured  their  lord's  protection,  while  it  assured 
him  of  their  submission  as  his  liege  vassals.  But  the  line  of 
demarcation  between  the  appointment  to  the  spiritual  office  and  the 
investiture  with  temporalities  was  less  clear  in  practice  than  in 
theory.  The  right  of  investiture  might  be  so  used  as  to  secure  the 
power  of  nomination  ;  and,  by  withholding  it,  the  sovereign  might 
annul  a  canonical  elect;on.  Nay,  the  very  form  of  investiture  seemed 
to  imply  a  claim  on  the  sovereign's  part  to  confer  the  spiritual  office  ; 
for  the  symbols  which  he  delivered  to  the  bishop  were  the  ring — the 
figure  of  spiritual  marriage  with  his  Church — and  the  pastoral  staff 
(the  crook  or  crosier),  the  emblem  of  pastoral  authority  over  the  flock. 

To  the  obvious  argument  that,  if  bishops  and  abbots  were  to 
hold  property,  they  ought,  like  other  holders,  to  be  subject  to  its 
feudal  obligations,  the  advocates  of  ecclesiastical  independence  re- 
plied, l-  that  the  temporalities  were  annexed  to  the  spiritual  office, 
as  the  body  to  the  soul  ;  that,  if  laymen  could  not  confer  the 
spiritualities,  they  ousht  not  to  meddle  with  trie  disposal  of  their 
appendages,  but  that  these  should  be  conferred  by  the  Pope  or  the 

1  Twestitura,  from  vestire,  "  to  put  into  possession."  The  word  is  ex- 
clusively ecclesiastical,  in  the  sense  defined  above.  The  earlier  and  more 
general  term  for  the  form  of  giving  position,  in  the  case  both  of  lay  and 
clerical  holders,  was  traditio.  The  attempt  to  trace  investiture  to  the  time 
of  Charles  the  Great,  and  to  make  it  a  privilege  conferred  on  the  Emperor 
by  Adrian  I.,  is  contradicted  by  the  silence  of  the  Capitularies.  (See  Diet, 
of  Christian  Antiqq.,  Art.  Investiture.) 


18  SUPREMACY  OF  HILDEBRAND.  Chap.  II. 

Metropolitan,  as  an  assurance  to  the  receivers  that  their  tempo- 
ralities were  given  by  God."  Herein  lay  the  whole  practical  issue  of 
the  dispute.  The  abolition  of  investitures  meant  nothing  less  than 
the  transfer  of  the  feudal  allegiance  of  all  ecclesiastics  (for  the  lower 
clergy  and  monks  depended  on  the  bishops  and  abbots,  as  the 
lesser  vassals  on  the  greater)  from  the  sovereign  to  the  Pope.  There 
could  be  no  longer  any  treason  against  the  crown,  nor  any  feudal 
obedience  to  any  lord  except  the  supreme  bishop. 

§  10.  With  his  usual  policy,  Gregory  took  no  hasty  steps  to 
enforce  the  decrees  against  investiture  ;  and  at  the  end  of  the  year  a 
strange  incident  befel  him.  As  he  was  celebrating  a  midnight  ma>s 
on  Christmas  Eve,  Cencius,  the  leader  of  the  anti-reforming  party 
among  the  Roman  nobles,  broke  into  the  church  at  the  head  of  an 
armed  band,  cutting  down  many  of  the  worshippers ;  and  the  Pope, 
beaten  and  wounded  in  the  head  by  a  sword,  was  dragged  from  the 
altar  and  carried  off  to  a  tower,  with  the  intention  of  taking  him 
away  from  the  city  as  a  prisoner.  But  the  people  of  Rome  rose  in 
the  night,  and  forced  Cencius  to  set  Gregory  at  liberty;  his  popu- 
larity was  redoubled,  and  the  shame  of  the  sacrilegious  outrage  was 
imputed  to  the  Imperial  party,  just  at  the  time  when  the  relations 
between  the  Emperor  and  the  Pope  had  reached  a  crisis. 

§  11,  The  misgovernment  of  Henry  had  driven  his  Saxon  sub- 
jects to  open  revolt;  and  both  parties  had  appealed  to  the  Pope. 
Gregory,  still  intent  on  gaining  his  ends  by  friendly  influence,  had 
congratulated  Henry  on  a  victory  gained  over  the  Saxons  in  June 
1075  ;  but  his  advice  to  use  that  success  well  had  been  utterly 
disregarded.  Shortly  before  the  outrage  of  Cencius,  Gregory  had 
replied  to  an  embassy  from  Henry  by  sending  legates  with  a  letter, 
greeting  the  King  with  "  Health  and  benediction — if,  however,  he 
obey  the  Apostolic  See  o.s  a  Christum  kin;/  ought."  The  obedience 
thus  required  had  respect  to  Henry's  conduct  in  holding  intercourse 
with  excommunicate  persons,  and  investing  several  bishops.  With 
his  usual  study  of  moderation,  at  least  in  form,  the  Pope  offered  to 
listen  to  any  reasonable  accommodation  on  the  question  of  investi- 
tures. Henry  had  already  been  privately  warned  that  his  rejection 
of  the  Pope's  demands  would  be  followed  by  excommunication ; 
but  he  replied  by  an  indignant  refusal ;  and  the  envoys  cited  him 
to  appear  at  Rome  at  the  ensuing  Lenten  synod  (January  107G). 

The  King's  anger  was  now  inflamed  to  the  utmost,  and  his 
indignation  was  shared  by  the  German  bishops  and  abbots  whom 
he  convened  at  Worms  (January  24).  On  the  ground  of  simony, 
magic,  and  other  incredible  charges — supported  by  letters,  in  the 
name  of  Roman  cardinals,  which  appear  to  have  been  forged — the 
Council  pronounced  the  deposition  of  Gregory,  to   whom   Henry 


A.D.  1076.  HENRY  IV.  EXCOMMUNICATED.  19 

announced  the  sentence  in  a  letter  addressed,  "  To  Hildebrand,  not 
now  Apostolic  Pontiff,  but  a  false  monk."  He  also  wrote  to  the 
Romans,  bidding  them  to  thrust  out  "  the  monk  Hildebrand,"  by- 
force,  if  he  should  resist,  and  to  receive  a  new  Pope  from  the  King. 
This  letter  charged  Hildebrand  with  attempting  to  rob  Henry  of  his 
Italian  kingdom  and  of  his  rights  in  the  appointment  to  the 
Papacy,  and  with  determined  designs  against  the  King's  crown  and 
life.  Another,  from  the  bishops  to  their  "  brother  Hildebrand," 
accused  him  of  throwing  the  Church  into  confusion.  "  His  begin- 
ning had  been  bad  ;  his  progress  worse  ;  he  had  been  guilty  of 
cruelty  and  pride;  he  had  attempted  to  deprive  the  bishops  of  the 
power  committed  to  them  by  God  ;  and  had  given  up  everything 
to  the  fury  of  the  multitude."  *  After  adding  other  charges,  the 
bishops  solemnly  renounced  their  obedience  to  Gregory ;  and  the 
same  renunciation  was  made  by  a  synod  of  Lombard  bishops  at 
Piacenza,  which  confirmed  the  decree  of  Worms. 

§  12.  At  the  Lenten  Synod  at  Rome  (February  21-22,  1076)  the 
decrees  of  the  two  councils  and  the  King's  letter  were  answered  by 
a  sentence  of  excommunication  and  deposition  against  Henry,  who 
replied  from  Utrecht  by  pronouncing  a  ban  against  the  Pope.  But, 
as  to  the  power  of  enforcing  the  sentences,  their  natural  position 
was  inverted ;  the  subjects  whose  support  the  King  should  have 
commanded  became  the  ministers  of  the  Pope.  Bishops  who  had 
taken  part  in  the  council  of  Worms  went  to  Rome  to  seek  absolu- 
tion ;  and  when  the  disaffected  Saxons  applied  to  the  Pope,  they 
were  exhorted  to  choose  another  King  The  same  threat  was 
formally  announced  as  the  resolution  of  an  assembly  of  the  German 
princes,  prelates,  and  nobles,  at  Tribur  ;2  and  Henry's  abject  offers 
of  amendment  could  only  procure  the  alternative  of  a  reference  of  all 
questions  in  dispute  to  the  Pope,  who  was  invited  to  attend  a  diet 
at  Augsburg  next  Candlemas.  Henry's  continuance  on  the  throne 
was  made  conditional  on  his  obtaining  papal  absolution  before  a  year 
and  a  day  had  elapsed  from  his  excommunication,  in  which  case  the 
German  nobility  would  attend  him  to  Rome  for  his  coronation  as 
Emperor,  and  help  him  to  win  back  Italy  from  the  Normans. 
Meanwhile  he  was  to  live  as  a  private  person  at  Spires. 

§  13.  Dreading  the  effect  of  Gregory's  presence  in  Germany, 
Henry  crossed  the  Alps  in  the  depth  of  a  severe  winter,  with  his 
wife  and  child  and  the  scantiest  attendance,  and  was  received  with 
enthusiasm  by  the  Lombards.      Gregory  had  already  set  out  for 

1  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  625. 

2  Tribur  (Trebur)  on  the  east  side  of  the  Rhine,  south  of  Mainz,  was  one 
of  the  old  election  fields  of  the  Germans.  Henry  IV  was  now  at  Oppen- 
heim,  on  the  other  side  of  the  Rhine. 


20  SUPREMACY  OF  HILDEBRAND.  Chap.  II. 

Germany,  in  company  with  his  devoted  supporter,  Matilda,  Coun- 
tess of  Tuscany,  called  the  "  Great  Counte ss  "  from  her  immense 
wealth  and  commanding  talents.1  On  hearing  that  Henry  had 
reached  Vercelli,  with  a  train  growing  as  he  advanced,  the  Pope 
withdrew  to  Canossa,  a  strong  castle  in  the  Apennines,  belonging 
to  Matilda.  Here  he  was  joined  by  some  of  his  most  eminent 
adherents,  as  well  as  by  several  bishops  of  Henry's  party,  who  came 
to  make  their  submission,  and  were  put  to  severe  penance  before 
they  received  absolution. 

Henry,  on  arriving  before  Canossa,  prevailed  on  Matilda,  and 
other  persons  of  high  influence,  to  mediate  for  him  with  the 
Pope,  who  required,  as  a  proof  of  the  King's  penitence,  the  sur- 
render of  his  royal  insignia,  with  a  confession  that  for  his  offences 
he  was  unworthy  to  reign.  When  the  importunity  of  the  envoys 
at  length  obtained  Gregory's  consent  to  a  personal  interview, 
Henry  was  kept  waiting  for  three  days  in  a  court  of  the  castle, 
alone,  barefooted,  in  the  coarse  woollen  garment  of  a  penitent,  ex- 
posed from  morning  to  night  to  the  winter's  cold  of  that  mountain 
region,  till,  as  Gregory  himself  relates,2  all  within  the  castle  cried 
out  against  his  harshness,  as  being  nut  the  severity  of  an  apostle, 
but  barbarous  and  tyrannical  cruelty.  On  the  fourth  day  Henry, 
having  persuaded  the  Countess  Matilda  and  Hugh,  abbot  of  Clugny, 
to  be  his  sureties,  was  admitted  to  the  presence  of  Gregory. 
**  Numb  with  cold,  bareheaded  and  barefooted,  the  King,  a  man  of 
tall  and  remarkably  noble  person,  prostrated  himself  with  a  pro- 
fusion of  tears,  and  then  stood  submissive  before  the  Pope,  whose 
small  and  slight  form  was  now  withered  with  austerities  and  bent 
with  age.  Even  Gregory's  sternness  was  moved,  and  he  too  shed 
tears."3  Put  he  showed  no  relenting  in  the  terms  of  absolution 
which  he  imposed.  Henry's  conduct  was  to  be  tried  before  a  diet  of 
the  German  princes  under  the  Pope's  presidency  ;  his  kingdom  was 
to  depend  on  the  sentence  given  according  to  the  laws  of  the 
Church ;  and  he  was  for  the  future  to  yield  implicit  obedience  to 
the  Holy  See  (January  1077). 

Gregory  cleared  himself  of  the  charges  made  against  him  by  an 

1  Matilda  was  the  daughter  and  heiress  of  Boniface,  Count  of  Tuscany, 
and  Beatrice,  a  cousin  of  the  Emperor  Henry  III.  She  had  been  lately  left 
a  widow,  and  sole  mistress  of  her  enormous  wealth,  by  the  deaths  of  her 
husband,  the  younger  Godfrey  of  Lorraine,  and  of  her  mother.  In  spite  of 
the  scan  lal  raised  by  the  Pope's  enemies,  there  is  no  reason  to  question  the 
purity  of  her  enthusiasm  for  Gregory,  and  for  the  ecclesiastical  principles 
with  which  he  had  imbued  her  mind.  During  Gregory's  residence  at 
Canossa,  Matilda  bequeathed  her  vast  inheritance  to  the  See  of  Rome  ;  but 
the  donation  was  only  partially  carried  into  effect. 

3  Epist.  iv.  12.  3  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  63? 


A.D.  1077.  CIVIL  WAR  IN  GERMANY.  21 

oath  taken  upon  the  eucharistic  bread.  "Here,"  said  lie,  "is  the 
Lord's  body  ;  may  this  either  clear  me  from  all  suspicion  if  I  am 
innocent,  or,  if  guilty,  may  God  strike  me  with  sudden  death  !" — an 
awful  and  convincing  ordeal  to  the  bystanders;  but  from  which 
Henry,  in  his  turn,  recoiled  with  terror,  pleading  the  absence  of 
his  accusers,  and  preferring  a  trial  by  the  diet. 

§  14.  Gregory  is  said  to  have  replied  to  the  remonstrances  of  the 
Saxons  at  Henry's  absolution,  "Be  not  uneasy,  for  I  will  send  him 
back  to  you  more  culpable  than  ever  ;"  and  its  effect  was  to  widen 
the  breach  with  his  German  subjects,  who  complained  that  Henry 
had  broken  faith  with  them  by  his  journey  into  Italy,  and  were 
jealous  of  his  reception  by  the  Italians.  A  diet  held  at  Forchheim. 
in  Franconia,  where  legates  attended  from  the  Pope,1  elected  a  new 
king  in  the  person  of  Henry's  brother-in-law,  Budolf,  duke  of 
Swabia,  who  was  crowned  at  Mainz  by  the  primate  Siegfried 
(March  1077).  But  the  deposition  of  the  rightful  king  by  the 
princes,  and  his  humiliation  by  the  arrogance  of  the  Italian  Pope, 
awoke  a  strong  reaction  in  Henry's  favour  ;  and  most  of  the  bishops 
and  towns  took  his  part  against  the  nobles.  We  must  leave  to 
secular  history  the  account  of  the  three  years'  civil  war,  which  was 
ended  by  the  victory  of  Henry  and  the  death  of  his  rival  on  the 
banks  of  the  Elster  (October  1080). 

§  15.  The  Pope,  having  tried  to  keep  his  favourite  attitude  of  a 
mediator  during  the  conflict,  had  taken  a  decided  course  just  in  time 
to  incur  the  conqueror's  implacable  resentment.  At  the  Lenten 
Synod  following  a  victory  won  by  Rudolf  at  Fladenheim  (Jan. 
1080),  he  renewed  the  sentence  against  Henry  in  terms  most  re- 
markable for  their  assertion  of  his  claims  to  supreme  sovereignty — 
nay,  to  universal  ownership — for  the  See  of  Pome :  "  Come,  now  I 
beseech  you,  O  most  holy  and  blessed  Fathers  and  princes,  Peter 
and  Paul,2  that  all  the  world  may  understand  and  know  that  if  ye 
are  able  to  bind  and  to  loose  in  heaven,  ye  are  likewise  able  on  earth, 
according  to  the  merits  of  each  man,  to  give  and  to  take  away 
empires,  kingdom*,  princedoms,  marquisates,  duchies,  countships, 
and  the  possessions  of  all  men.  For  if  ye  judge  spiritual  things, 
what  must  we  believe  to  be  your  power  over  worldly  things  ?  and  if 

1  Gregory,  whose  profound  policy  foresaw  the  reactionary  effect  of  this 
extreme  step,  excused  his  own  attendance  on  the  ground  that  Henry  would 
not  grant  him  a  safe-conduct,  and  instructed  his  legates  to  endeavour  to 
postpone  the  new  election  till  he  should  be  able  to  attend,  but  not  To  risk 
the  consequences  of  direct  opposition  to  it. 

2  Both  sentences  of  excommunication  were  in  the  form  of  an  address  to 
the  two  Apostles.  Let  it  be  remembered  that  the  doctrines  thus  affirmed 
in  the  eleventh  century  have  been  declared  of  infallible  authority  in  the 
nineteenth  bv  the  Vatican  Council. 


22  SUPREMACY  OF  HILDEBRAND.  Chap.  II. 

ye  judge  the  angels,  who  rule  over  all  proud  princes,  what  can  ye 
not  do  to  their  slaves  ?" 

But  Gregory  proved  himself  unable  to  "  bind  on  earth"  the  fate 
of  the  King,  on  whose  death  or  utter  defeat  within  the  year  he 
ventured  to  stake  his  credibility.  When,  on  the  contrary,  that 
fate  befel  the  rival  King  Rudolf,  Gregory,  in  the  spirit  of  an  am- 
biguous Delphic  oracle  rather  than  of  an  infallible  Vicar  of  Christ, 
is  said  to  have  declared  that  he  had  rightly  prophesied  the  death 
of  the  pretended  king. 

Meanwhile,  Henry  had  felt  himself  strong  enough  to  meet  this 
seeond  deposition  by  an  equally  decisive  stroke.  A  synod  convened 
at  Mainz,  and  adjourned  to  Brixen  for  the  attendance  of  the  Lom- 
bard bishops,  who  had  been  Henry's  most  stedfast  friends,  elected 
the  great  leader  of  the  Lombard  party,  Guibert,  now  archbishop  of 
Ravenna,  as  Pope  Clement  III.  (1080-1100).1 

§  16.  After  his  victory  over  Rudolf,  Henry  offered  peace  to  the 
Saxons,  but  they  refused  to  treat  without  the  Pope,  and  set  up  a 
new  king,  Hermann,  to  whom  Gregory  sent  a  form  of  oath  which 
would  have  reduced  the  kingdom  and  empire  to  a  fief  of  the  Church. 
While  abating  nothing  of  his  sovereign  claims,  Gregory  relaxed  his 
reforming  zeal  in  order  to  win  support  from  various  countries  against 
the  march  of  Henry  into  Italy.  But  he  found  no  sure  ally  except 
the  Countess  Matilda,  who  put  her  wealth  and  forces  at  his  disposal. 

In  this  extremity  he  turned  again  to  the  Normans,  and  released 
Robert  Guiscard  from  a  ban  laid  on  him  for  invading  the  patrimony 
of  St.  Peter.  The  entreaties  of  his  friends,  that  he  would  make  peace 
with  the  King,  were  all  in  vain ;  and  even  after  Henry  had  entered 
Italy,  Gregory  wrote,  "  If  we  would  comply  with  his  impiety,  never 
has  any  one  of  our  predecessors  received  such  ample  and  devoted 
service  as  he  is  ready  to  pay  us,  but  we  would  rather  die  than  yield."  2 
He  still  maintained  his  resolution  when,  after  a  tedious  siege  of 
three  years,  Henry  had  won  the  Leonine  city;  and  in  a  last  council 
he  anathematized  the  King,  just  before  the  Romans  capitulated  on 
March  21st,  1084.  On  Easter  Day,  Henry  IV.  at  length  received 
the  imperial  crown  from  the  Antipope  Clement,  who  had  been  en- 
throned on  Palm  Sunday. 

§  17.  But  the  triumph  of  Henry  and  Clement  at  Rome  was  short. 
Gregory  held  out  in  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo,  awaiting  the  promised 
aid  of  the  Normans,  whose  expulsion  from  Italy  was  one  object  of 
Henry's  expedition.  To  this  end  he  had  made  an  alliance  with  the 
Byzantine  Emperor,  Alexius  Comnenus  (1081-1118) ;  while  Robert 

1  He  is  only  reckoned  as  an  Antipope;  but  he  maintained  himself  against 
four  successive  Popes,  keeping  many  adherents  till  the  day  of  his  death. 
7  L'pist.  ix.  11,  April  28th,  1081. 


A.D.  1085. 


DEATH  OF  GREGORY  VII. 


23 


Guiscard,  on  the  other  hand,  had  engaged  in  an  expedition  into 
Northern  Greece.1  Henry  had  already  sent  away  most  of  his  forces, 
when  he  received  news  that  Guiscard  was  on  his  march  from  Salerno 
at  the  head  of  6000  horse  and  30,000  foot.  The  Emperor  retreated  ; 
and  the  Normans  gained  an  easy  entrance  into  the  city,  which, 
after  three  days'  sack  and  pillage,  was  set  on  fire  to  avenge  a  rising 
of  the  exasperated  people  (May-June  1084). 

The  liberated  Pope,  unable  to  bear  the  spectacle  of  such  ruin  or  the 
reproaches  of  the  people,  retired  with  his  Norman  allies  to  Salerno, 
whence  he  renewed  his  excommunication  of  the  Emperor  and  the 
Antipope;  and  he  still  excepted  them  when,  feeling  the  approach 
of  death,  he  absolved  all  others  whom  he  had  anathematized.2  He 
expired  amidst,  the  raging  of  a  fearful  tempest,  after  leaving  this  last 
testimony  to  the  sincerity  of  his  motives  :  "  I  have  loved  righteous- 
ness and  hated  iniquity,  therefore  I  die  in  exile  "  (May  25th,  1085). 
This  assumption,  habitual  to  Gregory  and  to  most  other  popes,  of 
language  that  belongs  only  to  Him  whose  human  nature  is  glorified 
by  His  deity,  reveals  far  better  than  any  elaborate  analysis  of  cha- 
racter and  motives  the  fundamental  fault  of  Gregory's  career,  and 
of  the  principles  to  which  he  sacrificed  all  other  claims  of  right  and 
goodness. 

1  See  the  Student's  Gibbon,  chap.  xxxi.  §  10. 

2  Such  is  the  statement  of  Gregory's  friends ;  but  the  imperialist 
writers  say  that  he  absolved  all,  acknowledged  that  he  had  sinned  greatly 
in  his  office,  and  sent  his  confessor  to  request  Henry's  forgiveness.  For 
the  authorities  on  either  side,  see  Robertson  (vol.  ii.  p.  647,  note),  who 
observes  that  Gregory's  dying  words,  "  which  have  been  interpreted  as  a 
reproach  against  Providence,  may  perhaps  rather  imply  a  claim  to  the 
beatitude  of  the  persecuted." 


Ancient  Chalices,  formerly  at  Monza. 
From  a  Painting  in  the  Cathedral  Library. 


Jerusalem. 

CHAPTER  III. 

THE  CRUSADES  AND  THE  PAPACY: 
WITH  THE  SEQUEL  OF  THE  DISPUTE  ON  INVESTITURES. 

FROM  THE  DEATFI  OF  GREGORY  VII.  TO  THE  CONCORDAT  OF  WORMS 
AND  THE  DEATH  OF  THE  EMPEROR  HENRY  V.   A.D.  1085 — 11l'5. 

§  1.  Election  and  Character  of  Urban  II.  §  2.  His  relations  with  Henry  IV. 
— Progress  of  the  conflict  in  Germany — Conrad  made  King  of  Italy. 
§  3.  The  First  Crusade  adds  to  the  power  of  Urban — Council  of  Cler- 
mont— Philip  I.  of  France — Results  of  the  Crusades  in  favour  of  the 
Clergy  and  Papacy.  §  4.  Recovery  of  Rome  from  the  Antipope — Cap- 
ture of  Jerusalem — Death  of  Urban — His  arrangement  with  the  Normans 
in  Sicily,  called  the  Sic  Hi  m  Monarch)/.  §  5.  Paschal  II.  Pope — Deaths 
of  Guibert  (Clement  III.)  and  Conrad  —  New  excommunication  of 
Henry  IV.  §  »3.  His  good  government  and  efforts  for  peace — Henry 
made  prisoner  by  his  son,  who  is  crowned  Henry  V. — Death  and  Cha- 
racter of  Henry  IV.  §  7.  The  contest  renewed  between  Henry  V.  and 
the  Pope — Henry  enters  Italy,  and  accepts  a  compromise,  which  fails — 
Imprisonment  of  the  Pope  and  Cardinals — Enforced  treaty,  and  corona- 
tion of  Henry  as  Emperor.  §  8.  Paschal  is  compelled  to  condemn  the 
treaty  and  to  excommunicate  the  Emperor.  §  9.  Henry  again  at  Rome — 
Flight  and  Death  of  Paschal — Elections  of  ( J  flash  s  II.  and  the  Anti- 
pope  Gregory  VIII.  —  Expulsion  and  Death  of  Gelasius,  and  election  of 
Calixtus  II.  in  France.  §  10.  Council  of  Rheims  and  renewed  excom- 
munication of  Henry   V.      §  11.  Questions   between   England   and  the 


A.D.  1088.  URBAN  II.  AND  CLEMENT  III.  25 

Papacy — Resistance  to  Legates — Sees  of  Canterbury  and  York — Inter- 
view of  Calixtus  with  Henry  I.  at  Gisors— Calixtus  at  Rome— Punish- 
ment of  the  Ant  i  pope.  §  12.  Civil  War  in  Germany — The  Dispute  on 
Investitures  ended  by  the  Concordat  of  Worms — First  General  Council  of 
Lateran  (Ninth  (Ecumenical  Council  of  the  Romans) — Death  of  Henry  V. 
§  13.  Ecclesiastical  affairs  of  England — Supremacy  maintained  by 
William  I.,  independently  of  Rome.  §  14.  Lanfranc,  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury — His  reforms,  and  support  of  the  King's  policy — William 
and  Gregory  VII.  §  15.  Rapacity  and  Tyranny  of  William  Rufus — 
Seizure  of  vacant  bishoprics  and  abbacies.  §  16.  Anselm  made  Primate 
— His  Life  and  Character.  §  17.  Differences  between  Anselm  and  Rufus 
— The  pall  brought  from  Pope  Urban.  §  18.  Renewed  disputes — Anselm 
goes  to  Rome — Death  of  William  Rufus.  §  19.  Anselm  recalled  by 
Henry  I. — He  refuses  Investiture  and  Homage — His  second  exile.  §  20. 
Agreement  about  Investiture  and  Homage — Return  and  Death  of  Aaselm 
— Council  of  Westminster — Celibacy  of  the  Clergy  enforced. 

§  1.  At  the  death  of  Gregory  VIL,  his  party  held  the  ascendancy 
in  Italy,  supported  by  the  Normans  and  the  Countess  Matilda,  while 
the  great  cities  showed  a  growing  desire  to  make  the  Papacy  the 
rallying  point  for  their  claims  of  independence  against  the  Empire. 
It  is  not  worth  while  to  pursue  the  confused  details  of  the  disputes 
among  the  party  of  Hildebrand  in  professing  to  carry  out  his  dying 
wishes,  or  the  short  papacy  of  his  successor,  Victor  III.  (1086-87), 
preceded  and  followed  by  long  vacancies,  till  Otho,  bishop  of  Ostia, 
was  elected  by  a  council  at  Terracina  as  Urban  II.  (1088-1099). 
A  Frenchman  of  noble  family,  educated  at  Rheinis  under  Bruno, 
the  famous  founder  of  the  Carthusians,  he  became  a  monk  of  Clugny, 
whence  he  was  sent  to  Rome  in  1076,  as  one  of  a  body  of  monks 
whose  services  were  desired  by  Gregory,  and  he  was  there  advanced 
to  the  bishopric  of  Ostia.  Such  a  training  made  him  a  devoted 
adherent  of  the  Cluniac  party  and  of  the  principles  of  Hildebrand, 
who  had  named  Otho  among  those  most  worthy  to  succeed  him  ; 
and,  with  equal  firmness  and  activity,  Urban  surpassed  his  master 
in  artfulness  and  caution. 

§  2.  Rome  was  now  in  the  hands  of  Clement  -,1  and  the  partisans  of 
Pope  and  Antipope  carried  on  fierce  and  cruel  conflicts  both  in  the 

1  The  following  epigrams  cleverly  described  the  positions  of  the  rival 
Popes : — 

"  Clem.   Diceris  Urbanus,  cum  sis  projectus  ab  urbe ; 
Vel  muta  nomen,  vel  regrediaris  ad  urbem. 

"  Urb.  Nomen  habes  Clemens,  sed  clemens  non  potes  esse, 
Cum  tibi  solvendi  sit  tradita  nulla  potestas." 

(Gerh.  Syntagma,  17,  Pairolog.,  cxciv. ;  quoted  by  Robertson,  vol.  ii. 
p.  669.) 


26         THE  CRUSADES  AND  THE  PAPACY".     Chap.  III. 

capital  and  other  cities  of  Italy.  In  Germany  Henry  put  an  end  to 
the  civil  war  this  year,  and  expelled  the  hostile  bishops  from  their 
sees,  so  that  only  four  were  left  who  acknowledged  Urban.  On  the 
other  hand,  Clement  was  driven  out  of  Rome  by  the  citizens 
(1089) ;  and  a  negociation  was  opened  between  Urban  and  Henry 
on  the  basis  of  their  mutual  acknowledgment  as  Pope  and  Em- 
peror ;  but  it  was  defeated  by  the  imperialist  bishops,  who  feared 
that  they  might  be  made  victims  of  the  peace.  It  is  needless 
here  to  dwell  on  the  progress  of  the  conflict  between  the  papal 
and  imperial  parties  during  the  next  few  years,  including  the 
Countess  Matilda's  marriage  to  the  young  Welf,  son  of  the 
Duke  of  Bavaria,  and  Henry's  troubles  with  his  second  wife, 
Adelaide  of  Russia,  and  with  his  rebellious  son  Conrad,  whom 
the  Lombards  and  papalists  set  up  as  King  of  Italy  ;  nor  need  we 
repeat  the  story  of  the  first  Crusade,  which  is  related  in  all  the 
civil  histories.1 

§  3.  The  enterprise,  to  which  Peter  the  Hermit  incited  Europe  by 
his  tale  of  the  sufferings  of  the  Christian  pilgrims  to  the  Holy  Land 
from  the  Seljuk  Turks,  who  had  lately  conquered  Asia  Minor  and 
Palestine,  gave  the  one  great  opportunity  for  realizing  the  idea  of 
the  Holy  Roman  Empire  in  the  union  of  Christendom,  roused  to  the 
defence  of  the  faith  at  the  call  and  blessing  of  the  Pope,  and  led  by 
the  Emperor  to  its  achievement.  But  at  this  crisis  the  civil  head  of 
Christendom  was  an  excommunicated  prince,  with  a  disputed  title 
conferred  only  by  an  Antipope :  he  was  distracted  by  domestic 
troubles,  and  weakened  by  rebellion.  The  crusading  enthusiasm, 
which  "  Henry  III.  might  have  used  to  win  back  a  supremacy  hardly 
inferior  to  that  which  had  belonged  to  the  first  Carolingians,  .  .  . 
turned  wholly  against  the  opponent  of  ecclesiastical  claims,  and 
was  made  to  work  the  will  of  the  Holy  See,  which  had  blessed  and 
organized  the  project."2 

As  the  sole  head  of  this  great  movement,  animating  and  directing 
the  princes  and  chivalry  of  Europe,  Urban  was  raised  above  both 
the  temporal  power  and  the  Antipope,  while  the  appeal  for  his  help 
from  Alexius  Comnenus,  so  lately  banded  with  Henry  against 
Gregory,  seemed  to  invite  him  to  the  high  destiny  of  reuniting  the 
Eastern  with  the  Western  Church.  It  was  significant  of  his  in- 
creased strength  that  the  great  council  of  Piacenza,3  at  which  the 
Pope  proposed  the  holy  war,  and  the  much  greater  council  of  Cler- 
mont in  Auvergne,4  at  which  the  Crusade  was  adopt  ml  with  the 

1  For  the  foundation  of  the  Seljukian  kingdom  of  Sown  (1074),  the  cap- 
ture of  Jerusalem  by  the  Turks  (1076),  and  the  history  of  the  Crusades, 
see  the  Sttulent's  Gihbon,  chaps,  xxxii.  and  xxxiii. 

2  Bryce,  p.  164.  3  March   1095.  4  November  1095. 


A.D.  1099.  DEATH  OF  URBAN  II.  27 

enthusiastic  war-cry,  "God  wills  it!" — both  pronounced  new  con- 
demnations of  the  Antipope  and  the  Emperor,  and  excommunicated 
another  disobedient  king,  Philip  I.  of  France,  for  his  adultery  with 
Bertrada.1 

The  assured  ascendancy  added  to  the  Pope,  as  director  of  the  united 
enterprise  of  Western  Christendom,  was  afterwards  still  further  en- 
hanced when,  in  the  Second  Crusade,  sovereign  princes  were  sent 
forth  to  fulfil  their  religious  vows,  to  which  the  Pope  had  the  power 
of  holding  them.  The  preaching  of  a  Crusade  gave  a  new  pretext 
for  the  interference  of  legates  and  the  exaction  of  contributions, 
especially  from  ecclesiastical  bodies,  whose  property  was  thus  brought 
more  or  less  under  papal  control.  In  the  East,  the  lands  won  from 
the  infidels  were  added  to  the  Latin  Church  and  to  the  papal 
claim  of  sovereignty  ;  but  this  course,  combined  with  the  double 
dealing  of  the  Byzantine  Empire  and  the  violence  of  the  Crusaders 
towards  the  Greeks,  made  the  desired  reunion  of  the  two  churches 
more  than  ever  hopeless. 

The  increased  power  of  the  Popes  was  shared  by  the  clergy,  who 
found  in  the  Crusaders'  vow  a  new  hold  on  the  conscience  of  nobles 
and  people.  They  remained  a  permanent  body  amidst  the  changes 
caused  by  absence  and  death  ;  and,  while  their  contributions  to  the 
cause  affected  only  their  annual  income,  they  added  greatly  to  their 
wealth  by  purchasing  the  estates  sold  at  a  depreciated  value  to 
equip  the  nobles  and  their  followers.2  Nor  were  the  political 
changes  produced  by  the  Crusades,  and  the  impulse  which  they 
gave  to  commerce,  learning,  the  spirit  of  chivalry,  and  freedom  01 
thought,  without  great  indirect  influence  upon  the  Church.  The 
direct  result  of  the  first  Crusade  for  Christianity  in  the  East  was 
the  establishment  of  the  Christian  Kingdom  of  Jerusalem,  and 
of  the  Latin  patriarchates  of  that  city  and  of  Antioch. 

§  4.  Urban 's  last  year  was  crowned  by  the  complete  recovery  ot 
Pome  from  the  Antipope  Clement,  and  by  the  capture  of  Jerusalem 
(July  15th,  1099);  but  his  own  death  followed  in  a  fortnight,  un- 
cheered  by  the  news  of  the  great  success  (July  29th). 

It  remains  to  notice  the  important  arrangement  which  he  made 
for  the  Church  re-established  in  Sicily  by  Count  Roger's  conquest 
of  the  island  from  the  Saracens.  Always  careful  to  preserve  the 
goodwill  of  his  Norman  allies,  when  the  great  count  complained  oi 
the  subjection  of  the  Church  in  Sicily  to  the  bishop  of  Trani  as 
legate,  Urban,  at  a  council  at  Salerno,  made  the  ordinance  known 
as  "  the  Sicilian  Monarchy,"  vesting  the  exercise  of  the  ecclesias- 

1  Philip's  quarrels  with  Gregory  VII.,  Urban  II..  and  Paschal  II.  belong 
rather  to  the  history  of  France  than  to  that  of  the  Church. 

2  Robertson,'vol.  ii.  pp.  699-701. 


28  REBELLION  OF  HENRY  V.  Chap.  III. 

tical  supremacy  in  the  civil  power,  and  appointing  Roger  and  his 
successors  perpetual  legates  of  the  Roman  See.1 

§  5.  Uiban  was  succeeded  by  another  member  of  the  Cluniac 
party,  a  Tuscan  named  Rainier,  who,  like  his  predecessor,  had 
been  sent  from  the  monastery  of  Clugny  to  Rome  to  serve  under 
Gregory  VII.,  at  the  age  of  twenty.  He  took  the  title  of  Paschal  II. 
(1099-1118).  In  the  following  year  (September  1100),  death  re- 
moved his  rival,  Guibert  (Clement  111.),  a  man  whose  noble  qualities 
and  great  abilities  might  have  adorned  the  papal  chair,  into  the  dis- 
puted possession  of  which  he  was  thrust  against  his  will.  Next 
year,  death  relieved  Henry  also  from  the  rivalry  of  his  son  Conrad 
in  Italy ;  while  in  Germany,  since  his  return  in  1096,  he  had  won 
back  much  of  his  people's  esteem,  and  his  supremacy  was  generally 
acknowledged,  even  by  many  bishops  of  the  papal  party. 

Thus  the  twelfth  century  seemed  to  open  with  new  opportunities 
for  reconciliation ;  and  the  Emperor  proposed  to  cross  the  Alps  and 
submit  all  differences  to  a  Council.  But  it  seems  that  the  German 
bishops  dissuaded  him  from  the  double  risk  of  leaving  Germany  and 
trusting  himself  in  Italy  to  the  papal  party,  now  elated  with  the 
success  of  the  Crusade;  and  his  failure  to  appear  furnished  the 
ground  for  a  new  excommunication  by  Paschal  (March  1102). 

§  6.  Henry,  however,  persevered  in  his  desire  for  peace,  and  at 
the  Christmas  diet  at  Mainz  he  announced  his  resolution  of  abdi- 
cating in  favour  of  his  son  Henry  (now  twenty-one  years  old),2  and 
devoting  himself  to  the  Crusade,  as  soon  as  he  could  obtain  a  recon- 
ciliation with  the  Pope.  The  "  peace  of  God,"  which  he  proclaimed 
for  four  years,  seemed  to  open  a  new  era  of  happiness  for  Germany ; 
but  the  sources  of  discord  were  too  deeply  seated  to  be  healed  by 
words.  The  turbulent  nobles,  who  longed  for  the  renewal  of  war 
and  plunder,  were  the  natural  allies  of  those  papal  claims  which 
depressed  the  power  of  their  sovereign.  A  large  party  of  the  clergy, 
and  especially  the  monks,  found  the  principles  of  Hildebrand  suited 
to  their  interests  as  well  as  their  spiritual  pride,  or  in  many  cases 
were  moved  by  a  purer  enthusiasm  of  duty  to  God  rather  than  man. 

These  passions  were  brought  to  a  terrible  focus,  and  both  Em- 
peror and  Empire  were  plunged  back  into  a  sea  of  misery,  by  the 
rebellion  of  the  prince  who  had  been  held  forth  as  the  hope  of  a 

1  The  contrast  between  the  policy  adopted  on  the  vital  principle  at  stake, 
when  the  Empire  was  to  be  humbled,  and  when  the  Normans  were  to  be 
conciliated,  is  naively  exposed  by  Baronius,  when  he  uses  it  as  an  argu- 
ment against  the  genuineness  of  this  decree.  "How  is  it  to  be  supposed 
that  Urban  could  have  granted  to  Roger  such  powers,  when,  by  granting 
but  a  small  part  of  them  to  Henry,- he  might  have  prevented  so  much 
misery?"     On  this  question  see  further  in  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  702. 

2  Henry  V.  was  born  in  1081. 


A.D.  1106.  DEATH  OF  HENRY  IV.  29 

new  age.  The  noble  youths,  his  comrades,  were  naturally  ready, 
and  were  encouraged  by  the  Emperor's  enemies,  to  foster  the  son's 
discontent  at  any  position  short  of  equality  with  his  father  on  the 
throne.1  But  young  Henry  declared,  with  characteristic  hypocrisy, 
that  he  had  no  wish  to  reign,  but  only  to  bring  about  the  con- 
version of  his  father,  whom,  as  an  excommunicated  person,  he 
could  not  in  conscience  obey :  and  his  own  share  in  the  excom- 
munication was  removed  by  the  Pope,  whose  counsel  he  sought  as 
soon  as  he  broke  into  open  rebellion  (December  1101).  The  Em- 
peror's paternal  fondness  led  him  to  place  himself  in  the  hands  of 
his  son  at  Coblenz  (December  1105);  whence,  with  a  perfidious 
show  of  affection,  young  Henry  carried  his  father  up  the  Rhine  to 
a  prison,  where  the  harshest  treatment  broke  his  already  humbled 
spirit ;  and  he  resigned  his  crowns,  with  abject  entreaties  for  the 
absolution  which  the  papal  legate  still  found  excuses  for  postponing. 

Henry  V.  was  crowned  "  King  of  the  Romans "  at  Mainz,  at 
Epiphany,  1106; 2  but  the  deposed  Emperor  escaped,  and  seemed 
in  a  fair  way  to  regain  the  crown,  when  he  died  at  Liege  on  the  7th 
of  August,  sending  his  ring  and  sword  to  his  son,  with  a  fruitless 
request  for  an  amnesty  to  his  adherents.  His  faults  had  been  many; 
but  his  better  qualities  brought  upon  him  much  of  the  opposition 
and  trouble  that  embittered  the  fifty  years'  reign  which  he  had 
begun  as  a  child  of  seven.  "It  was  his  fate,"  says  William  of 
Malmesbury,  "  that  whosoever  took  up  arms  against  him  regarded 
himself  as  a  champion  of  religion."  The  common  people  and  the 
poor,  to  whom  he  had  always  shown  kindness,  honoured  with  a 
saintly  reverence  the  remains  which  his  enemies  disinterred  from  his 
tomb  at  Liege  and  kept  for  five  years  in  an  unconsecrated  vault  at 
Spires,  where  Henry  had  wished  to  be  buried  in  the  cathedral  raised 
by  himself.  It  was  not  till  August  1111  that  Henry  V.,  having  ob- 
tained a  reluctant  consent  from  the  humiliated  Pope,  interred  his 
father's  body  in  the  cathedral  with  a  funeral  of  unexampled  splendour. 

§  7.  During  those  five  years,  Paschal  II.  had  in  his  turn  been 
made  the  victim  of  the  craft  and  perfidy  which  he  had  encouraged 
in  Henry  V.  against  his  father.  Trusting  to  the  King's  professions 
of  obedience,  the  Pope  renewed  the  decrees  against  investiture  at  a 
council  at  Guastalla  (October  1106).  He  was  on  his  way  to  spend 
the  Christmas  with  Henry  at  Augsburg,  when  news  reached  him 

1  The  association  of  a  son  iu  the  kingdom,  nominally  of  the  Romans, 
really  of  Germany,  during  his  father's  life,  was  now  common,  as  a  means 
of  securing  the  succession,  which  fell  to  him  on  his  father's  death,  with- 
out a  new  election,  involving  also  the  claim  to  the  Empire.  (See  Bryce, 
A  pp.  C,  p.  45<5-7.)  Both  Henry  III.  and  Henry  IV.  had  been  crowned 
during  the  lifetime  of  their  fathers. 

-   He  reigned  hetween  nineteen  and  twenty  years,  to  May  1120. 
II— D 


30  CONTEST  ABOUT  INVESTITURES.  Chap.  Ill 

which  raised  his  suspicions,  and  he  turned  aside  to  France  to  seek 
support  from  King  Philip  I.  At  a  conference  at  Chalons-on-the- 
Marne  (April  1107),  the  German  envoys  demanded  the  acknow- 
ledgment of  the  right  of  investiture,  which  Henry  had  already  put 
in  force;  and,  on  the  Pope's  refusal,  they  declared  that  the  question 
must  be  decided  at  Rome,  and  by  the  sword. 

Three  years  later  Henry  crossed  the  Alps;  and  Paschal,  unable  to 
obtain  help  from  his  Norman  allies,  offered  a  remarkable  compro- 
mjse — that,  if  Henry  would  relinquish  investiture,  the  Church  should 
give  up  the  property  on  which  the  claim  was  founded,  namely,  all 
the  endowments  and  secular  privileges  conferred  upon  bishops  and 
abbots  by  his  predecessors  since  Charles  the  Great.  "  The  Pope 
expressed  an  opinion  that,  as  the  corruptions  of  the  clergy  had 
chiefly  arisen  from  the  secular  business  in  which  those  privileges 
had  involved  them,  they  would,  if  relieved  of  them,  be  able  to 
perform  their  spiritual  duties  better ;  while  he  trusted  for  their 
maintenance  to  the  tithes,  with  the  oblations  of  the  faithful,  and 
such  possessions  as  they  had  acquired  from  private  bounty  or  by 
purchase." l 

The  needful  consent  of  the  clergy  was  so  unlikely,  as  to  have 
thrown  doubts  on  the  sincerity  both  of  the  Pope's  offer  and  of  its 
acceptance  by  Henry  on  the  condition  that  it  should  be  ratified  by 
the  bishops  and  the  Church.  Henry  at  all  events  contrived  to 
secure  all  the  advantage  of  the  impossibility  of  its  performance.  On 
his  arrival  at  Rome  (Feb.  12th,  11 1 1),  where  the  agreement  was  to 
be  confirmed  and  he  was  to  receive  the  imperial  crown,  he  publicly 
declared  in  St.  Peter's  that  it  was  not  his  wish  to  take  away  from 
the  clergy  any  gifts  made  by  his  predecessors.  This  threw  all  the 
odium  upon  the  Pope,  who  was  attacked  at  once  by  the  German 
and  Lombard  bishops,  and  by  the  nobles  who  held  ecclesiastical 
fiefs.  Henry  demanded  his  immediate  coronation,  as  the  execution 
of  the  agreement  had  become  impossible ;  and  when  the  Pope  did 
not  at  once  comply,  he  was  seized  and  imprisoned  in  the  castle  of 
St.  Angelo,  with  several  of  the  cardinals,  while  fearful  riots  broke 
out  in  Rome  against  the  Germans,  and  the  royal  troops  devastated 
the  country  all  around. 

It  was  not  till  after  two  months  that  Paschal  yielded  to  the 
entreaties  of  the  cardinals  and  the  distress  of  the  Romans  He  was 
released  on  swearing:,  together  with  thirteen  cardinals,  to  allow  in- 
vestiture by  the  symbols  of  the  ring  and  staff  after  a  free  election, 
never  to  trouble  the  King  either  on  this  subject  or  for  his  late 
treatment  of  him,  and  never  to  excommunicate  him  ;  and  he  was 

1   Robertson,  vol.  ii.  n.  741. 


A.D.  1111.  HENRY  V.  CROWNED  EMPEROR.  31 

reluctantly  compelled  to  place  a  copy  of  this  agreement  in  Henry's 
hands  when  he  crowned  him  at  St.  Peter's  (April  13th).  The  Pope 
and  Emperor  ratified  their  treaty  by  a  solemn  oath  upon  the 
Eucharist,  and  the  Scotch  historian,  David,1  who  was  Henry's 
chaplain,  compares  his  master's  treatment  of  the  Pope  to  Jacob's 
importunity  when  he  wrestled  with  the  angel  at  Peniel,  and  said, 
"  I  will  not  let  thee  £0,  except  thou  bless  me."    (Gen.  xxxii.  26.) 

§  8.  It  was  not  likely  that  the  treaty  thus  extorted  should  be  lasting, 
though  Paschal  attempted  to  he  faithful  to  his  engagements,  against 
the  clamour  of  the  Hildebrandine  party,  headed  by  Bruno,  abbot  of 
Monte  Cassino,  whom  he  regarded  as  a  dangerous  rival.  At  the 
Lateran  Synod  of  11 L2,  he  was  compelled  to  condemn  the  agreement, 
as  having  been  made  under  constraint ;  and  soon  afterwards  he  was 
artfully  drawn  into  a  more  decided  step.  Guy,  archbishop  of 
Vienne,  in  Henry's  kingdom  of  Burgundy,  held  a  council  which  not 
only  repeated  the  Lateran  condemnation  of  the  compact,  but  pro- 
nounced investiture  a  heresy,  and  excommunicated  Henry  for  his 
outrages  against  the  Pope.  The  decree  was  sent  to  Paschal,  with  a 
threat  of  renouncing  obedience  to  him  if  he  refused  to  confirm  it, 
and  the  Pope  saved  his  conscience  by  the  plea  that  this  indirect  act 
was  no  violation  of  his  oath. 

§  9.  Meanwhile  the  proceedings  of  Henry  towards  the  German 
Church  had  given  the  grossest  provocation,  and  had  thrown  Germany 
back  into  civil  war.  In  111')  he  again  crossed  the  Alps  to  take 
possession  of  the  inheritance  of  the  Countess  Matilda,  in  disregard  of 
her  donation  to  the  papal  see.  On  his  way  to  Pome  he  made  vain 
attempts  to  negociate  with  Paschal,  who  fled  to  Monte  Cassino  ;  and 
when  Henry  departed,  after  Easter  (1117),  the  Romans,  who  had  a 
quarrel  of  their  own  with  the  Pope,  refused  him  admission,  and  he 
died  in  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo  (Jan.  21st,  1118).  The  cardinals 
elected  one  of  their  own  number,  John  of  Gaeta,  as  Pope  Ge- 
lasius  II.  (1118-1119)  ;  but,  before  his  consecration,  Henry  re- 
turned to  Rome,  and  used  his  prerogative  to  confirm  the  election 
by  the  ]  eople  of  Burdinus,  archbishop  of  Braga,  as  the  Antipope 
Gregory  VIII.  After  much  trouble,  and  even  personal  violence, 
from  the  turbulent  factions  of  Rome,  Gelasius  retired  to  France  and 
died  at  Clugny  (Jan.  29, 1119).  The  five  cardinals  who  had  accom- 
panied him  chose  as  his  successor  the  anti-imperialist  champion 
Guy,  archbishop  of  Vienne,  who,  after  much  reluctance  on  his  own 

1  David,  a  Scot  by  birth,  and  afterwards  Bishop  of  Bangor,  accom- 
panied Henry  into  Italy,  with  several  other  men  of  learning,  to  support 
the  controversial  part  of  the  conflict,  which  has  been  quite  eclipsed  by 
the  King's  decisive  measures.  David  was  charged  to  write  a  history  of 
the  expedition,  which  was  used  by  Ekkehard  and  William  of  Malmesbury. 


32  CONTEST  ABOUT  INVESTITURES.  Chap.  III. 

part  and  violent  resistance  from  his  flock,  was  consecrated  in  his 
cathedral  as  Pope  Calixtus  II.  (1119-1124). 

§  10.  The  anarchy  and  civil  war  now  raging  in  Germany  disposed 
the  Emperor  to  listen  to  the  Pope's  proposals  for  a  compromise,  on 
the  terms  that  Henry  should  be  released  from  excommunication  on 
giving  up  his  claim  to  investiture,  but  that  the  bishops  should  still 
do  homage  for  their  fiefs.  Calixtus  had  even  set  out  from  Hheims, 
where  he  was  holding  a  great  Council,  to  meet  the  Emperor,  when 
his  commissioners  reported  that  Henry  was  trying  to  evade  the 
terms  agreed  upon.  Calixtus  returned  to  Rheims  in  great  indig- 
nation, and  the  Council,  after  enacting  further  canons  against  simony, 
clerical  marriage,  and  investiture,  pronounced  a  most  solemn  ana- 
thema on  the  Emperor  and  the  Antipope,  and  absolved  Henry's 
subjects  from  their  allegiance  (Oct.  1119). 

§  11.  Among  the  matters  brought  before  the  Council  of  Rheims 
were  complaints  made  by  the  King  of  France1  against  Henry  I.  of 
England,  for  his  conduct  in  regard  to  the  duchy  of  Normandy,  and 
for  his  treatment  of  his  brother  Robert.2  These  purely  secular 
disputes  were  referred  by  Louis,  with  the  consent  of  Henry,  to  the 
Pope's  arbitration  ;  and  the  attempt  of  the  Norman  primate,  Godfrey 
of  Rouen,  to  vindicate  his  sovereign,  was  put  down  by  the  clamour 
of  the  Council.  Henry  had  given  four  English  bishops  permission 
to  attend  the  Council ;  but  he  had  warned  them  against  bringing 
back  any  "  superfluous  inventions ;"  and  he  had  charged  them  not 
to  complain  against  each  other,  because  he  was  resolved  to  do  full 
justice  to  every  complaint  within  his  own  kingdom. 

In  accordance  with  this  principle,  Henry  had  resisted  the  use  of  the 
legatine  authority,  which  was  one  of  the  most  effective  means  of 
subjection  employed  by  the  Hildebrandine  party.  At  the  beginning 
of  his  reign  (1100),  he  and  the  English  Church  had  refused  to 
receive  the  present  Pope  as  legate  of  Paschal  II.,  who  had  admitted 
the  claim  of  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury3  to  be  his  sole  repre- 
sentative in  England.  On  the  election  of  a  new  archbishop, 
Ralph  (1114),  Paschal  had  complained  of  the  independent  spirit 

1  Louis  VI.  le  Gros  (1108-1137). 

2  Robert  had  been  a  prisoner  since  the  battle  of  Tenchebrai  (1106);  but 
Louis  supported  the  claims  of  his  son,  William,  to  the  duchy  of  Normandy. 

Here,  and  in  §§  13-20,  we  relate  briefly,  as  a  part  of  our  whole  subject,  the 
matters  of  which  a  fuller  account  is  given  in  the  Student's  History  of  the 
Eagh'sh  CiUrch,  by  Canon  Perry,  Period  I.,  Chaps,  xi.-xiii. 

3  This  admission,  however,  was  personal  to  Anselm,  who  had  just  returned 
from  his  first  exile,  and  might  be  relied  on  to  support  the  cause  of  Rome. 
The  next  legate  appointed  by  Paschal  was  Ansclm's  nephew,  also  named 
Anselm,  Abbot  of  St.  Edniundsbury.  Respecting  the  earlier  disputes  of 
Anselm  with  William  Rufus  and  Henry  I.,  see  below  §§  16-20 


A.D.  1119.  THE  CONFERENCE  OF  GISORS.  33 

shown  by  the  English  Church,  and  had  appointed  another  legate, 
whom  Henry  ordered  to  he  received  with  honour  in  Normandy,  but 
did  not  suffer  him  to  cross  the  sea. 

There  was  also  a  question  open  between  Henry  and  the  Pope 
about  the  claim  of  the  see  of  York  to  independence  of  the  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  which  two  successive  archbishops  of  York  had  main- 
tained against  Lanfranc  and  Anselm,  but  without  success.  Thurstan, 
who  had  been  appointed  to  the  see  of  York  in  1114,  and  had  refused 
to  be  consecrated  at  Canterbury,  had  gone  to  Reims  and  received 
consecration  from  Gelasius,  in  spite  of  the  protest  of  the  English 
bishops. 

On  all  these  questions  the  Pope  determined  to  hold  a  personal  con- 
ference with  Henry,  whom  it  was  of  great  importance  to  conciliate, 
both  as  King  of  England  and  as  father-in-law  of  the  Emperor.1 
Calixtus  proceeded  from  lieims  to  meet  Henry  at  Grisors,  and 
readily  accepted  his  answers  to  the  complaints  of  the  King  of  France 
(November  1119).  The  Pope  promised  that  no  legate  should  be 
sent  into  England  except  at  the  King's  request,  and  for  the  arrange- 
ment of  such  matters  as  the  English  bishops  could  not  settle. 
Having  conceded  these  points,  the  Pope  asked  that  Thurstan  might 
return  to  his  see ;  and  when  the  King  replied  that  he  had  sworn  to 
the  contrary,  Calixtus,  as  apostolic  pontiff,  offered  to  release  him 
from  his  oath.  Henry's  conscience  was  not  over-scrupulous ; 
but  he  was  able  to  plead  that,  whatever  a  pope  might  do  or 
undo,  a  king  could  not  break  his  oath  without  producing  universal 
distrust. 

On  his  return  to  Italy,  Calixtus  punished  the  Antipope,  who  was 
betrayed  into  his  hands,  by  a  humiliating  exposure,-  and  shut  him 
up  for  life  in  a  monastic  prison  (1121). 

§  12.  Germany  was  still  a  prey  to  anarchy,  and  the  armies  of  the 
Emperor  and  the  primate  Adalbert,  now  papal  legate,  were  encamped 
near  Wurzburg,  as  if  for  a  decisive  battle,  when  negociations  were 
opened,  and  had  a  successful  issue  (October  1121).  The  contest  of 
half  a  century  had  exhausted  both  parties,  and  each  had  learned  the 
impossibility  of  obtaining  complete  supremacy  over  the  other.  The 
princes  of  Germany  were  unwilling  that  the  Emperor  should  be 
subjected  to  Pome,  and  the  clergy  of  France — where  investiture  was 
unknown,  because  the  kings  had  retained  an  effectual  control  over 

1  Matilda,  daughter  of  Henry  I.,  was  married  to  the  Emperor  Henry  V. 
in  1114,  when  only  twelve  or  thirteen,  and  was  left  a  widow  by  his  death 
in  1125.     She  married  Geoflrey  Plantagenet,  Count  of  Anjou,  in  1130. 

2  Burdinus  was  paraded  about  Rome,  dressed  in  bloody  sheepskins  for  his 
Pontifical  robe,  and  seated  backwards  on  a  camel,  the  tail  of  which  he  held 
in  his  hands. 


34  THE  CONCORDAT  OF  WORMS.  Chap.  111. 

the  Church— came  forward  to  suggest  a  compromise,  by  which  the 
election  and  consecration,  which  made  a  bishop,  should  be  clearly 
distinguished  from  his  investiture  in  his  temporalities  by  means  of 
other  symbols  than  the  ring  and  staff,  which  were  proper  to  his 
spiritual  authority.  On  this  basis  the  Pope  and  the  Emperor  made 
the  Concordat  of  Worms  (September  23,  1122).  "  On  the  Pope's 
part  it  was  stipulated  that  in  Germany  the  elections  of  bishops  and 
abbots  should  take  place  in  the  presence  of  the  King,  without 
simony  or  violence.  If  any  discord  should  arise,  the  King,  by  the 
advice  of  the  metropolitan  and  his  suffragans,  was  to  support  the 
party  who  should  be  in  the  right.  The  bishop  elect  was  to  receive 
the  temporalities  of  his  see  by  the  sceptre,  and  was  bound  to  perform 
all  the  duties  attached  to  them.  In  other  parts  of  the  Emperor's 
dominions  the  bishop  was,  within  six  months  after  consecration >.,  to 
receive  the  temporalities  from  the  sovereign  by  the  sceptre,  without 
any  payment,  and  was  to  perform  the  duties  which  pertained  to 
them.  The  Emperor,  on  his  part,  gave  up  investiture  by  ring  and 
staff,  and  engaged  to  allow  free  election  and  consecration  through- 
out his  dominions ;  he  restored  to  the  Roman  Church  all  possessions 
and  royalties  which  had  been  taken  from  it  since  the  beginning  of 
his  father's  reign,  and  undertook  to  assist  towards  the  recovery  of 
such  as  were  not  in  his  own  hands."1  These  terms  were  read  out 
before  a  vast  multitude  assembled  in  a  meadow^  near  Worms,  and 
the  ratifications  were  solemnly  exchanged  in  the  city.  The  papal 
legate,  Lambert,  cardinal  bishop  of  Ostia,  performed  mass,  and  gave 
the  Emperor  the  kiss  of  peace.  On  the  apparent  simplicity  of  the 
solution,  as  contrasted  with  the  length  and  bitterness  of  the  struggle, 
Canon  Robertson  observes : — "  But  in  truth  circumstances  had 
disposed  both  parties  to  welcome  a  solution  which  at  an  earlier  time 
would  have  been  rejected.  The  question  of  investitures  had,  on 
Gregory's  part,  been  a  disguise  for  the  desire  to  establish  a  domi- 
nation over  temporal  sovereigns  ;  on  the  part  of  the  emperors,  it 
had  meant  the  right  to  dispose  of  ecclesiastical  dignities,  and  to 
exercise  a  control  over  the  hierarchy.  Each  party  had  now  learnt 
that  its  object  was  not  to  be  attained,  hut  it  was  not  until  this 
experience  had  reduced  the  real  question  within  the  bounds  of  its 
nominal  dimensions  that  any  accommodation  was  possible." 

The  terms  of  the  Concordat  were  confirmed  by  the  First  General 
Council  of  Lateran,  which  is  reckoned  by  the  Romans  the  Ninth 
(Ecumenical  Council  (March  1123).  Two  years  later,  Henry  V. 
died  childless  at  Utrecht  (May  23,  1125),  and  with  him  ended  the 
line  of  the  Franconian  Emperors. 

1  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  757. 


A.D.  1070.  WILLIAM  I.  AND  LANFRANC.  35 

§  13.  A  few  words  must  be  added  concerning  the  dispute  about 
investitures  in  England,  a  country  which  had  also  at  this  time 
the  honour  of  possessing  the  two  greatest  lights  of  the  Western 
Church,  as  successive  primates.  The  ecclesiastical  policy  of  William 
the  Conqueror  was  directed  by  his  own  resolute  will,  with  the 
twofold  purpose  of  securing  his  power  over  England,  and  keeping 
it  free  from  foreign  control.  From  the  first  he  acted  on  the  watch- 
word of  our  national  independence — "Britain  is  a  world  by  itself." 
The  native  English  prelates  were  soon  replaced  by  his  own  followers, 
whom  he  appointed  and  promoted  at  his  pleasure,  and  invested 
according  to  the  feudal  forms.  By  abstaining  from  the  sale  of 
benefices,  he  earned  the  praise  of  Gregory  VI 1.,  and  also  deprived 
him  here  of  what  was  the  great  excuse  for  his  interference  with 
the  German  Church,  in  order  to  put  down  simony.  Deep  as  were 
his  obligations  to  the  Papacy  for  the  support  given  to  his  enterprise 
by  Alexander  II.,  William  was  not  the  man  to  hold  his  kingdom 
as  the  vassal  of  the  Pope.  Legates  were  allowed  to  hold  synods, 
in  which,  however,  nothing  was  to  be  done  without  the  King's 
sanction  first  obtained.  Bishops  were  forbidden  to  obey  citations 
from  Rome,  or  to  receive  letters  from  the  Pope  without  showing 
them  to  the  King ;  and  none  of  his  nobles  or  servants  were  to  be 
excommunicated  without  his  license. 

§  14.  While  conferring  bishoprics  ana  abbeys  on  his  .Norman 
followers  with  very  little  regard  to  learning  or  even  character, 
William  chose  for  the  primacy  one  of  the  most  eminent  ecclesias- 
tics of  the  age,  the  Lombard  Lanfranc,  a  native  of  Pavia,  who  had 
been  a  distinguished  lawyer  before  he  became  a  monk  of  Bec-Herlouin 
in  Normandy,  which  he  made  a  great  school  of  both  sacred  and  secular 
learning.  William  had  made  Lanfranc  head  of  his  new  abbey  of 
St.  Stephen's,  at  Caen,  whence  he  was  called  to  Canterbury, 
against  his  own  will,  on  the  deposition  of  the  English  primate, 
Stigand  (1070).  Proceeding  to  Rome  for  the  pall,  he  was  received 
by  Alexander  II.  with  the  highest  honour,  and  was  made  legate 
in  England.  He  exerted  himself  to  reform  the  disorders  of  the 
Emilish  Church,  which  the  Norman  writers  represent  as  in  a  dis- 
graceful state  from  the  ignorance  an<l  low  character  of  the  clergy. 
On  the  two  great  points  of  contention,  monasticism  and  celibacy, 
the  effects  of  Dunstan's  reforms  had  passed  away,  and  Lanfranc 
had  to  renew  the  work,  wffch  imperfect  success.1  The  substitution 
of  monks  for  secular  canons  in  cathedrals  led  to  serious  struggles; 
and   a  council  at  Winchester,  while  enforcing  celibacy  on  canons 

1  For  the  work  of  Dunstan,  and  the  whole  history  of  the  English  Church 
under  the  Anglo-Saxon  kings,  see  the  Student? 6  History  of  the  Enjlish 
Church,  Period  I.,  Chaps,  ii.-viii. 


36  THE  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND.  Chap.  III. 

and  on  future  priests  and  deacons,  allowed  the  rural  clergy  to  keep 
their  wives  (1076). 

Lanfranc  seconded  the  King's*  policy  of  independence  towards 
Rome,  and  professed  neutrality  in  the  contest  between  Hildebrand 
and  Guibert.  Gregory  VII.  used  every  effort  to  secure  the  support 
of  William  ;  and  his  letters,  both  to  the  King  and  the  Archbishop, 
are  in  a  curiously  mingled  tone  of  compliment  and  authority.  But 
neither  flattery  nor  command,  nor  even  citations  to  Rome,  backed 
by  threats,  were  of  any  avail.  When,  for  example,  Gregory  re- 
quired William  to  enforce  the  payment  of  Peter's  Pence,  and  to 
swear  fealty  to  the  Apostolic  see,  the  King  granted  the  former, 
as  an  alms  due  by  precedent,  but  not  as  tribute,  and  peremptorily 
refused  the  latter,  as  neither  called  for  by  precedent  nor  by  his  own 
promise.  His  letter  is  characteristic :  "  Your  legate  has  admonished 
me  in  your  name  to  do  fealty  to  you  and  your  successors,  and  to 
take  better  order  as  to  the  money  which  my  predecessors  have  been 
accustomed  to  send  to  the  Roman  Church.  The  one  I  have 
admitted;  the  other  I  have  not  admitted.  I  refused  to  do  fealty ; 
nor  will  I  do  it,  because  neither  have  I  promised  it  nor  do  I  find 
that  my  predecessors  have  performed  it  to  yours." 1 

§  15.  The  firm  policy  of  the  Conqueror  contrasts  most  favourably 
with  his  son's  reckless  disregard  of  all  religious  obligations,  his 
contemptuous  levity  and  self-interest,  alternating  with  abject  weak- 
ness under  superstitious  terror.  William  of  Malmesbury  says  of 
Rufus,  "  He  feared  God  but  little;  man  not  at  all."  The  death 
of  Lanfranc,  two  years  after  the  King's  accession  (1089),  put  an 
end  to  the  hopes  founded  on  his  influence  over  his  pupil,  who  took 
for  his  adviser  the  unprincipled  Ralph  Flambard.  The  revenues  of 
vacant  bishoprics  and  other  high  preferments  were  not  only  diverted 
to  the  use  of  the  crown,  but  the  offices  themselves  were  kept  vacant 
to  supply  the  King's  extravagance.  The  primacy  remained  unfilled 
for  four  years,  Rufus  swearing  that  he  would  have  no  archbishop 
but  himself,  till  a  serious  illness  brought  on  a  fit  of  seeming 
penitence,  and  he  chose  Anselm  for  the  see  of  Canterbury. 

§  16.  This  great  divine  and  philosopher  was,  like  Lanfranc,  an 
Italian,  having  been  born  at  Aosta  about  1033.  Having  entered 
the  monastery  of  Bee,  he  succeeded  Lanfranc  as  prior  and  master  of 
the  school  (1063),  and  was  afterwards  elected  abbot  (1078).  He 
was  regarded  as  the  greatest  light  of  the  Western  Church  since 
Augustine  ;  and  he  has  been  called  the  founder  of  Natural  Theology, 
in  the  wide  sense  of  bringing  all  science  and  philosophy  to  the  sup- 
port and  illustration  of  Divine  truth.     But,  unlike  Johannes  Scotus, 

1  Ap.  Lanfranc,  Epist.  7  ;  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  718. 


A.D.  1093  f.  WILLIAM  RUFUS  AND  ANSELM.  37 

who  forced  theology  into  agreement  with  his  philosophy,  Anselm 
proceeded  from  the  principle,  that  the  truth  concerning  God  is 
the  foundation  and  end  of  all  knowledge.  The  great  motto  of  his 
system — "  Faith  in  search  of  Understanding  "  (Fides  quctrens  iv- 
teUectum) — was  the  first  title  of  his  work  called  '  ProslogionJ  which 
aims  to  prove  the  existence  and  attributes  of  the  Deity  by  a  single 
argument :  "  God  is  that  than  which  none  greater  can  be  conceived, 
and  he  who  well  understands  this  will  understand  that  the  Divine 
Being  exists  in  such  a  manner  that  His  non-existence  cannot  even 
be  conceived."1 

§  17.  Anselm  was  the  more  unwilling  to  leave  his  cloister  and  his 
work  of  teaching,  as  he  foresaw  the  difficulty  of  acting  in  concord 
with  such  a  king  as  Kufus.  He  reluctantly  accepted  the  arch- 
bishopric, on  conditions  which  the  King  partly  agreed  to  and  partly 
evaded,  and  he  was  consecrated  near  the  end  of  1093.  The  King 
impeded  his  efforts  for  reforming  clerical  and  social  disorders  ; 
and  when  Anselm  urged  him  to  fill  up  the  vacant  abbacies,  liufus 
replied,  "  What  is  that  to  you?  Are  not  the  abbeys  mine?" 
"They  are  yours,"  answered  Anselm,  "to  defend  and  protect  as 
advocate,  but  they  are  not  yours  to  invade  and  devastate." 

An  open  quarrel  broke  out  when  Anselm  asked  leave  to  go  to 
Rome,  to  receive  the  pall  from  Urban  II.  Neither  the  Pope  nor  the 
Antipope  had  yet  been  acknowledged  in  England;  and  William 
angrily  declared  that  no  one  should  be  styled  Pope  there  without 
his  special  warrant.  He  consented,  however,  to  refer  the  question 
of  the  primate's  duty  to  a  council  of  bishops  and  nobles  at  Rocking- 
ham (March  1095).  With  two  exceptions,  all  the  prelates  took 
part  against  Anselm,  and  urged  him  to  make  full  submission  to 
the  King's  authority  ;  but  Piiifus  could  not  prevail  oti  them  absolutely 
to  renounce  obedience  to  the  primate.2  The  nobles  still  more 
decidedly  refused  to  disown  him ;  and  the  people  outside  were 
clamorous  in  his  favour. 

At  length  a  truce  was  agreed  on  till  after  Whitsuntide  :  and 
William  meanwhile  sent  two  ecclesiastics  to  Rome,  to  enquire  into 
the  claims  of  the  rival  Popes.  They  decided  in  favour  of  Urban, 
and  from  him  they  asked  for  a  pall,  not  for  Anselm  by  name, 
but  for  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  as  William  hoped  to  confer 
it  on  another  primate  of  his  own   choice.     The  pall  was  brought 

1  Eadmer's  'Life  of  Anselm,'  6;  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  722.  Respecting 
Anselm's  position  as  the  founder  of  Scholastic  Theology,  see  further  in 
Chap.  XXVII. 

2  It  is  interesting  to  find  the  bishops  recognizing  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury  as  primate,  not  only  of  all  England,  but  also  of  Scotland,  Ireland, 
and  the  adjacent  islands,  in  accordance  with  the  scope  of  the  commission 
given  by  Gregory  the  Great  to  Augustine. 

II-  D  2 


38  THE  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND.  Chap.  III. 

by  Walter  of  Urbano,  who  refused  to  depose  the  Archbishop ;  and 
Anselm  was  summoned  to  receive  the  pall  from  the  King's  hands. 
On  his  refusal  to  take  it  from  any  secular  person,  it  was  agreed  that 
the  pall  should  be  laid  on  the  altar,  and  that  the  primate  should 
take  it  thence,  as  from  St.  Peter. 

§  18.  In  order  to  make  up  the  sum  for  which  Duke  Robert,  when 
preparing  for  the  Crusade,  pledged  Normandy  to  his  brother,  Rufus 
made  severe  exactions  from  the  Church  ;  and  he  found  a  pretext  for 
citing  Anselm  to  answer  in  the  King's  court  for  failing  to  make 
certain  contributions.  Regarding  this  summons  as  an  attempt  to 
bring  him  under  feudal  subjection,  Anselm  asked  leave  to  go  to 
Rome,  to  lay  his  case,  and  the  whole  state  of  the  English  Church, 
before  the  Pope.  After  several  refusals,  the  King  gave  an  un- 
gracious assent  (October  1097);  and  Anselm,  who  was  received  at 
Rome  with  high  honour  and  sympathy  for  his  wrongs,1  remained 
in  Italy,2  and  afterwards  in  France,  with  his  friend  Hugh,  arch- 
bishop of  Lyon,  till  William's  death  (1100). 

§  19.  Anselm  was  recalled  to  England  by  Henry  T.,  who  began 
his  reign  by  granting  a  charter  securing  the  liberties  of  the  Church, 
the  nobles,  and  the  people;  he  also  filled  up  the  vacant  bishoprics 
and  abbacies,3  and  restored  their  possessions.  The  King  received 
the  primate  with  marked  honour  ;  but  it  soon  appeared  that  Anselm 
had  brought  back  from  his  exile  ideas  of  papal  authority  beyond 
what  had  hitherto  been  admitted  in  England.  The  custom  of  in- 
vestiture, with  the  concomitant  act  of  homage  by  the  ecclesiastical 
possessor  to  the  King  as  his  feudal  lord,  was  firmly  established  in 
England,  and  had  been  submitted  to  by  Anselm  himself  on  his 
appointment  to  the  primacy.  But,  on  being  required  to  receive 
investiture  from,  and  to  do  homage  to,  the  new  king,  he  replied 
that  he  was  bound  to  obey  the  decree  of  the  council,  which  he  had 
lately  attended  (at  Bari),  against  investitures. 

The  question  was  referred  to  Pope  Taschal  II.,  who  would  make 
no  concession  ;  and,  after  long  and  complicated  negotiations,  Anselm 
undertook  a  journey  to  Rome  to  confer  with  the  Pope,  at  the  King's 

1  In  the  exuberance  of  his  compliments  to  "  the  holy  man  "  (as  Anselm 
was  commonly  called  at  Rome),  Urban  bore  an  unconscious  testimony  to  the 
independence  of  the  English  Church  by  declaring  that  lie  ought  to  be  treated 
as  an  equal — as  "  pope  and  patriarch  of  another  world."  Again  the  maxim, 
"  Britain  is  a  world  by  itself." 

?  During  his  retirement  at  a  monastery  among  the  hills  near  Telese,  in 
1097,  Anselm  finished  his  work,  Cur  Dens  Homo  i  which  is  one  of  the  best 
treatises  on  the  Incarnation  of  our  S  iviour.  He  was  present  at  the 
Councils  of  Clermont  and  Bari,  and  at  the  latter  he  made  a  powerful 
address  on  the  questions  at  issue  between  the  Greek  and  Latin  Churches. 

3  In  the  last  year  of  Rufus,  the  King  received  the  revenues  of  Canterbury 
Salisbury,  Winchester,  and  of  twelve  abbeys.     (William  of  Malmesbury.) 


A.D.  1106.  AGREEMENT  ABOUT  INVESTITURES.  39 

desire,  but  protesting  that  lie  would  do  nothing  to  the  injury  of  the 
Church  or  to  his  own  discredit.  At  the  same  time  Henry  sent  an 
envoy  of  his  own,  who  declared  that  his  master  would  rather  lose  his 
crown  than  give  up  his  right  of  investiture,  and  Paschal  rejoined  that 
he  also  would  rather  die  than  yield  (1103).  Dreading,  however,  the 
result  of  the  corruption  to  which  the  King's  envoy  resorted,  Anselm 
retired  again  to  Lyon,  where  he  received  repeated  invitations  from 
Henry  to  return,  if  he  would  do  as  his  predecessors  had  done,  which 
he  construed  as  a  virtual  sentence  of  banishment. 

§  20.  Anselm  had  at  length  resolved  to  pronounce,  by  his  own 
authority,  the  sentence  of  excommunication  which  he  had  in  vain 
urged  the  Pope  to  utter  against  the  King,  when  the  mediation  of 
Henry's  sister,  the  Countess  of  Blois,  brought  about  an  interview 
between  the  King  and  primate  at  the  castle  of  L' Aigle,  in  Normandy. 
The  result  was,  that  both  again  sent  envoys  to  Rome,  who  brought 
back  the  proposal  of  a  compromise,  by  which  the  King  was  to  give 
up  investiture,  but,  "  until  he  should  come  to  a  better  mind," 
bishops  and  abbots  should  be  permitted  to  do  homage.  The  victory 
was  apparently  with  Anselm;  but  the  King  retained  his  feudal 
rights  over  the  clergy  and  the  power  of  nominating  the  bishops,  in 
the  exercise  of  which,  however,  he  took  the  advice  of  his  ecclesiastical 
councillors.1  The  agreement  was  confirmed  at  Bee  (August  HOG), 
and  Anselm  returned  to  England,  where  he  was  received  with  en- 
thusiasm, the  "  good  Queen  Maud  "  taking  a  prominent  part  in  his 
welcome.  At  a  council  held  at  Westminster  next  year,  the  King 
and  Church  of  England  formally  adopted  the  agreement.  Canon? 
were  at  the  same  time  passed,  renewing  the  enforcement  of  celibacy 
on  the  parochial  clergy,  which  had  been  enacted  by  a  council  at 
London  in  1102.  The  Pope,  however,  consented  that,  for  a  time, 
the  sons  of  the  married  clergy  might  be  admitted  to  holy  orders, 
for  a  reason  which  really  furnished  a  strong  argument  against  the 
prohibition,  namely,  that  "  almost  the  greater  and  the  better  part 
of  the  English  clergy"  were  derived  from  this  class.  Anselm 
remained  the  honoured  friend  of  Henry  till  his  own  death  two 
years  later  (April  1109).  The  archbishopric,  having  remained 
vacant  for  five  years,  was  conferred  on  Ralph,  bishop  of  Rochester 
(1114),  who  was  successful  in  his  mission  to  Rome  to  maintain  the 
rights  of  the  primacy  against  the  attempt  to  intrude  a  papal  legate 
(s;>e  §  13). 

1  William  of  Malmesbury,  Gesta  JRerjum,  lib.  v.  p.  654 : — "  Rex  investi- 
tnram  annuli  et  baculi  indulsit  in  perpetuum  ;  retento  tantum  electionis  et 
regalium  privilegio.  Respecting  his  exercise  of  the  power  of  nomination, 
Anselm  writes  to  the  Pope,  "Rex  ipse  in  personis  eligendis  nullatenus  pro- 
pria utitur  voluntate,  sed  religiosorum  se  penitus  committit  consilio." 


Shrine  of  the  "■Three  Kings,"  Cologne  Cathedral. 

CHAPTER  IV. 
THE  HOUSE  OF  HOHENSTAUFEN  AND  THE  PAPACY. 


FROM  THE  ELECTION  OF  POPE  HOXORIUS  II.  AND  THE  EMPEROR  LOTHAIR  II. 
TO  THE  DEATHS  OF  THE  EMPEROR  HENRY  VI.  AND  POPE  CELESTINE  III. 
A.D.    1124   TO    1198. 

§  L„  Results  of  the  Conflict  on  Investitures — The  German  People  and  the 
Papacy.  §  2.  Contest  for  the  Empire — The  House  of  Hohenstaufen — 
Election  of  Lothair  II.  of  Saxony — Civil  War  between  the  Saxon  and 
Swabian  parties.  §  3.  Pope  Honorius  II. — Papal  Schism  between 
Innocent  II.  and  the  Antipope  Anacletus  II.  §  4.  St.  Bernard  of 
Clairvaux  and  Peter  the  "  Venerable  "  of  Clugny — General  acceptance  of 
Pope  Innocent.  §  5.  Diet  of  Wiirzburg — Lothair  crowned  Emperor  — 
His  submission  to  the  Pope — Roger  of  Sicily — Death  of  Lothair,  and  of 
the  Antipope.  §  6.  Coxrad  III.  of  Hohenstaufen,  the  first  King  of  the 
Swabian  Line — War  of  the  Guelpks  and  Ghibellines.  §  7'.  The  Second 
Lateran  Council — Arnold  of  Brescia— Republic  at  Rome  —  Popes 
Celestine  II.  and  Lucius  II.  §  8.  Pope  Eugenius  III.  —  The 
Second  Crusade  —  Bernard's  work  "  On  Consideration  "  —  Deaths  of 
Conrad,  Eugenius,  and  Bernard.  §  9.  Election  of  Frederick  I. 
BarbaroSSA  —  His  Character  and  Work.  §  10.  State  of  Italy  — 
Frederick's  first  expedition  into  Lombardy — Pope  Anastasius  IV. 
§  11.    Pope  Adrian  IV. — Execution  of  Arnold  of  Brescia— Frederick 


A.D.  1125.  RESULTS  OF  THE  LATE  CONFLICT.  41 

crowned  Emperor.  §  12.  Beginning  of  the  Hundred  Years'  Conflict 
between  the  Popes  and  the  Hohenstaufen — Affairs  of  Sicily — Assembly  of 
BesaiKjon  and  quarrel  about  "beneficia,"  §  13.  Frederick  again  in 
Lombardy — Assembly  of  Roncaglia — Indignation  and  death  of  Adrian. 
§  14.  The  Twenty  Years'  Papal  Schism — Pope  Alexander  III.  and  the 
Imperialist  Antipope  Victor  IV. — Real  significance  of  the  contest  — 
Council  of  Pavia — General  acceptance  of  Alexander — His  Character  and 
Policy.  §  15.  Frederick  takes  Milan — Council  of  Tours — Thomas 
Becket — The  Antipope  Paschal  III. — Council  of  Wvirzburg.  §  16. 
Frederick's  fourth  expedition  into  Italy — League  against  him — The 
Emperor  Manuel  Comnenus — Frederick  at  Rome — The  fatal  Pestilence 
and  disastrous  Retreat — The  Lombard  League — Murder  of  Becket  and 
Submission  of  Henry  II.  to  Alexander — The  Antipope  Calixtus  III. 
§  17.  Frederick's  fifth  expedition  and  defeat  at  Legnano — His  agree- 
ment and  meeting  with  the  Pope  at  Venice.  §  18.  Alexander  at  Rome — 
Submission  of  Calixtus  and  imprisonment  of  the  fourth  Antipope, 
Innocent  III. — The  Third  Lateran  Council  prescribes  the  order  of  Papal 
Elections  and  sanctions  Crusades  against  Heretics — Death  of  Alexan- 
der III.  §  19.  Pope  LUCIUS  III. — Frederick's  Reichsfest  at  Mainz — His 
sixth  visit  to  Italy  and  agreement  with  the  Lombards  — Pope  Urban  III. 
— His  hostility  to  Frederick — Marriage  of  Henry  VI.  to  Constance  of 
Sicily — Death  of  Urban — The  Third  Crusade  and  death  of  Frederick 
Barbarossa— Death  of  Pope  Clement  III.  §  20.  Henry  VI.  crowned 
Emperor  by  Pope  Celestine  III. — Henry's  War  in  South  Italy — 
He  conquers  Sicily  :  his  cruelties — His  Proposal  of  an  Hereditary  Empire 
rejected — His  Ecclesiastical  Policy — The  Fourth  Crusade — Deaths  of 
Henry  and  Celestine — Results,  of  the  Conflict. 

§  1.  The  long  conflict  between  the  Franconian  Emperors  and  the 
Italian  Popes  left  permanent  results,  which  had  great  influence  both 
on  the  imperial  constitution  and  on  the  second  and  decisive  stage  of 
the  struggle  for  supremacy.  The  personal  authority  of  the  Em- 
peror had  received  rude  shocks,  and  the  power  of  the  princes  and 
nobles  had  risen  on  his  humiliation.  "  All  fiefs  are  now  hereditary, 
and  when  vacant  can  be  granted  afresh  only  by  consent  of  the 
States;  the  jurisdiction  of  the  crown  is  less  wide;  the  idea  is 
beginning  to  make  progress,  that  the  most  essential  part  of  ihe 
Empire  is  not  its  supreme  head,  but  the  commonwealth  of  princes 
and  barons.  Their  greatest  triumph  is  in  the  establishment  of  the 
elective  principle,  which,  when  confirmed  by  the  three  free  elections 
of  Lothair  II.,  Conrad  III.,  and  Frederick  I.,  passes  into  an  un- 
doubted law.  The  Prince-Electors  are  mentioned  in  a.d.  1156  as 
a  distinct  and  important  body.1     The  clergy,  too,  whom  the  policy 

1   "Gradum  statim  post   Principes  Electores." — Frederick  I.'s  Privilege 
of  Austria,  in  Pertz,  Man.  Hist.  Germ.  Legg.  ii. 


42  GERMANY  AND  THE  PAPACY.  Chap.  IV. 

of  Otto  the  Great  and  Henry  II.  had  raised,  are  now  not  less 
dangerous  than  the  dukes,  whose  power  it  was  hoped  they  would 
balance ;  possibly  more  so,  since  protected  by  their  sacred  character 
and  their  allegiance  to  the  Pope,  while  able  at  the  same  time  to 
command  the  army  of  their  countless  vassals."1  But  their  preten- 
sions had  roused  a  new  spirit  among  the  German  people,  and  espe- 
cially in  the  rising  order  of  the  burghers.  "  It  was  now  that  the  first 
seeds  were  sown  of  that  fear  and  hatred,  wherewith  the  German 
people  never  thenceforth  ceased  to  regard  the  encroaching  Romish 
court.  Branded  by  the  Church,  and  forsaken  by  the  nobles,  Henry 
IV.  retained  the  affections  of  the  faithful  burghers  of  Worms  and 
Liege.  It  soon  became  the  test  of  Teutonic  patriotism  to  resist 
Italian  priestcraft."2 

§  2.  The  choice  of  Henry  V.'s  successor  exemplified  at  once  the 
principle  of  free  election  and  the  influence  of  the  clergy.  The 
death  of  Henry  without  a  direct  heir  gave  an  opportunity  for 
asserting  fully  the  old  German  right  of  electing  the  new  sovereign  ; 
and  the  princes  who  attended  his  funeral  issued  from  Spires  a  letter 
— ascribed  to  Henry's  chief  enemy,  Adalbert,  archbishop  of  Mainz — 
exhorting  their  brethren  to  choose  one  who  would  free  the  kingdom 
from  "so  heavy  a  yoke  of  slavery."3 

In  August,  1 125,  a  great  assembly  of  60,000  men  of  the  four 
German  nations — Franconians,  Saxons,  Swabians,  and  Bavarians — 
encamped  on  both  banks  of  the  Rhine  between  Worms  and  Mainz, 
the  city  where  the  princes  met.  Under  the  guidance  of  the  papal 
legate,  the  procedure  was  modelled  on  that  of  an  election  to  the 
Holy  See  ;  the  choice  being  made  by  a  select  body — ten  from  each 
of  the  four  nations — and  ratified  by  the  whole  assembly. 

The  candidate  who  had  the  strongest  hereditary  claim  was  Frede- 
rick, Duke  of  Swabia,  whose  father,  Frederick',  head  of  the  ancient 
house  of  Hohenstaufen,4  had  risen  into  celebrity  as  the  firm  ad- 
herent of  Henry  IV.,  who  had  bestowed  on  him  the  hand  of  his 
daughter  Agnes,  and  the  dnchy  of  Swabia.     Thus  Frederick  was 

1  Bryce.  p.  165.  2  Ibid,  p.  164. 

3  Pertz,  Eegg.  ii.  79 ;  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  2. 

4  This  renowned  title  was  derived  (like  that  of  Hapsburg)  from  the 
family  castle  of  Hohenstaufen,  which  stood  (as  its  name  denotes)  on  a  lofty 
conical  hill,  between  Ulm  and  Stuttgart.  It  was  destroyed  in  the  Peasants' 
War,  and  only  a  few  foundations  mark  its  site :  but  the  remembrance  of  its 
imperial  dignity  is  preserved  by  an  inscription  over  the  doorway  of  a  chapel 
on  the  slope  below — "  Hie  transibat  Caesar."  To  avoid  confusion,  the 
succession  of  the  Dukes  of  Swabia,  of  the  house  of  Hohenstaufen,  should  be 
noted: — (1)  Frederick  I.,  son-in-law  of  Henry  I.;  (2)  His  son.  Frederick 
II.,  the  competitor  with  Lothair  II. ;  (3)  His  son,  Frederick  III.,  who  be- 
came the  Emperor  Frederick  I.  Barbarossa. 


A.D.  1130.    LOTHAIR  II.,  INNOCENT  II.,  AND  ANACLETUS  II.      43 

Grandson  of  Henry  IV.,  and  joint  heir  of  the  family  estates  of  the 
Franconian  emperors  with  his  brother  Conrad,  who  inherited  the 
duchy  of  Franconia  through  his  mother.  But  their  other  inheri- 
tance— of  the  policy  of  their  house — provoked  the  opposition  of  the 
clergy,  as  well  as  of  the  nobles,  who  feared  a  strong  emperor ;  and  the 
influenceof  Archbishop  Adalbert  turned  the  scale  in  favour  of  Lothair, 
Count  of  Supplinburg  and  Duke  of  Saxony,  who  was  chosen  king, 
and  became  afterwards  the  Emperor  Lothair  II.  (1125-1138).1 
Though  he  had  been,  during  a  life  already  long,  the  firm  opponent 
of  the  late  Emperor,  Lothair  was  now  required  to  give  new  guaran- 
tees in  favour  of  the  Church,  among  which  the  Concordat  of  Worms 
was  tacitly  ignored.  The  mission  of  two  bixhops  to  solicit  the 
Pope's  confirmation  of  his  election  gave  an  earnest  of  that  complete 
submission  to  the  Holy  See,  by  which  he  sought  to  strengthen 
himself  against  the  Swabian  party.2 

§  3.  The  Pope  to  whom  this  request  was  made,  Honorius  II. 
(1124-1130),  had  succeeded  Calixtus  II.  after  a  brief  contest  with 
an  Antipope,  Celestine.  The  death  of  Honorius  was  followed  by 
a  far  more  important  struggle  for  the  papal  throne,  which-  brought 
into  notice  the  great  names  of  St.  Bernard  of  Clairvaux,  and  Peter 
V  the  Venerable  "  of  Clugny.  On  this  occasion  the  double  election 
represented  no  conflict  of  principles,  but  a  rivalry  of  powerful  fac- 
tions. No  sooner  was  Honorius  dead,  than  a  party  of  the  Cardinals 
met  in  the  church  of  St.  Gregory,  on  the  Caslian,  and  made  a  hasty 
election  of  Gregory,  cardinal  of  St.  Angelo,  by  the  name  of  Innocent 
11.  (1130-1143),  but  without  the  proper  formalities ;  while  a  larger 
number  of  the  sacred  college,  at  a  later  hour  of  the  same  day  and 
observing  the  regular  forms,  chose  Peter  Leonis,  cardinal  of  St.  Mary 
in  the  Transtevere.  Peter,  who  had  studied  at  Paris  and  been  a 
monk  of  Clugny,  was  the  head  of  the  "  Leonine  "  family  or  "  Pkr- 
leoni,"  so  called  from  his  grandfather,  a  wealthy  Jew,  who  had  em- 
braced Christianity  under  Leo  IX.,  and  was  baptized  by  his  name. 
The  family  had  gained  increasing  power  by  their  wealth  and  their 
able  services  in  office  and  diplomacy ;  and  the  party  of  Peter,  who 
was  styled  Anacletus  II.,3  was  strong  enough  to  hold  possession 
of  Home,  while  Honorius  sought  refuge  and  support  in  France. 
The  response  of  Louis  VI.  and  the  French  church  was  deter- 
mined by  the  two  great  Abbots,  of  whom  some  account  must  now 
be  given. 

1  Lothair  was  descended  from  Otho  II.  through  his  daughter  Matilda. 
He  became  Duke  of  Saxony  in  1106. 

2  The  origin  and  details  of  Lothair's  civil  wars  with  Frederick  and  Conrad 
behmg  to  civil  historv. 

3  Antipope  from  1130  to  1138. 


44  ST.  BERNARD  OF  CLAIRVAUX.  Chap.  IV. 

§  4.  Bernard,  born  in  1091,  the  third  of  the  six  sons"  of  a  Bur- 
gundian  knight,  imbibed  a  spirit  of  deep  devotion  from  his  mother 
Aletha,  who  died  while  he  was  still  a  youth.  After  a  conflict  be- 
tween the  love  of  learning  for  its  own  sake  and  the  religious  profes- 
sion, to  which  his  sainted  mother  often  appeared  to  summon  him 
in  vision,  he  resolved  not  only  to  devote  himself  to  the  monastic 
life,  but  also  to  lead  his  family  and  friends  to  the  same  calling.  His 
uncle,  his  brothers,  his  father,  and  his  only  sister,  were  successively 
won  over,  and  at  length,  in  1113,  Bernard,  with  more  than  thirty 
companions,  applied  for  admission  to  the  monastery  of  Citeaux.1 

The  Cistercian  fraternity,  which  had  grown  but  slowly  owing  to 
its  rigorous  discipline,  was  so  enlarged  by  this  addition,  that  new 
monasteries  were  founded  at  La  Ferte  and  Pontigny ;  and,  in  1114, 
Bernard  himself  led  fortb  a  company  to  a  desolate  spot,  formerly  the 
haunt  of  robbers,  which  now  exchanged  the  name  of  "  Valley  of 
Wormwood  "  for  that  of  Clair vaux  {Clara  Vallls).  But  it  was  a 
"bright  valley"  only  in  the  spiritual  sense:  for  the  new  settlers 
suffered  extremities  of  cold  and  hunger,  and  a  visitor  carried  away  a 
piece  of  bread  as  a  curiosity.  The  Abbot's  own  life  was  one  of  the 
most  rigid  mortification,  hard  manual  labour,  and  diligent  study, 
pursued  in  a  spirit  of  independent  thought,  which  demands  special 
record  :  "  Although  he  read  the  orthodox  expositors,  he  declared  that 
he  preferred  to  learn  the  sense  of  Scripture  from  itself,  that  his  best 
teachers  were  the  oaks  and  beeches  among  which  he  meditated  in 
solitude."2  Miracles  were  ascribed  to  him,  and  he  appears  to  have 
been  himself  persuaded  of  their  reality  ;  but  they  were  hardly 
needed  to  enhance  the  fascination  of  Bernard's  eloquence,  made 
doubly  persuasive  by  his  pale  face  and  emaciated  form  and  the 
power  of  his  holy  life.  "As  the  chief  representative  of  the  age's 
feelings,  the  chief  model  of  the  character  which  it  most  revered,  he 
found  himself,  apparently  without  design  and  even  unconsciously, 
elevated  to  a  position  of  such  influence  as  no  ecclesiastic,  either 
before  or  since  his  time,  has  attained.  Declining  the  ecclesiastical 
dignities  to  which  he  saw  a  multitude  of  his  followers  promoted,  the 
Abbot  of  Clairvaux  was  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  the  real  soul  and 
director  of  the  Papacy  :  he  guided  the  policy  of  emperors  and  kings, 
and  swayed  the  deliberations  of  councils  ;  nay,  however  little  his 
character  and  the  training  of  his  own  mind  might  have  fitted  him 

1  The  Cistercians,  that  is,  brethren  of  Citeaux,  had  been  founded  by 
Robert,  a  Benedictine,  near  the  end  of  the  eleventh  century.  They  were 
now  under  their  third  abbot,  Stephen  Harding,  an  Englishman,  who  had 
sought  the  solitude  of  the  convent  as  a  pilgrim.  For  nn  account  of  these 
and  the  other  new  monastic  oi-ders,  see  Chap.  XX. 

2  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  9. 


A.D.  1130.    PETER  THE  VENERABLE  OF  CLUGNY.         45 

for  such  a  work,  the  authority  of  his  sanctity  was  such  as  even  to 
control  the  intellectual  development  of  the  age  which  owned  him  as 
its  master." l 

The  whole  weight  of  Bernard's  influence  was  thrown  into  the  scale 
for  the  fugitive  Pope  ;  and  his  eloquence,  which  was  felt  to  be  like  a 
divine  inspiration,  prevailed  on  the  Council  which  Louis  VI.  con- 
vened at  Etampes  to  declare  in  favour  of  Innocent,  chiefly  on  the 
ground  of  his  personal  character;  for  Anacletus  was  accused  of 
impiety,  corruption,  and  many  other  misdeeds.  But  at  this  crisis 
the  authority  of  Bernard  had  scarcely  more  weight  than  the  spon- 
taneous judgment  of  Peter,  the  "Venerable"  Abbot  of  Clugny, 
against  Anacletus,  who  had  relied  on  the  support  of  his  former 
fraternity.  "  The  character  of  Peter  was  such  as  to  give  all  weight 
to  his  decision.  Elected  to  the  headship  of  his  order  at  the  age  of 
thirty,  he  had  recovered  Clugny  from  the  effects  of  the  disorders 
caused  by  his  predecessor,  Pontius,  and  had  once  more  established 
its  reputation  as  a  seat  of  piety,  learning,  and  arts.  In  him  the 
monastic  spirit  had  not  extinguished  the  human  affections,  but  was 
combined  with  a  mildness,  a  tolerance,  and  a  charity,  which  he  was 
able  to  reconcile  with  the  strictest  orthodoxy.  The  reputation  of 
the  'Venerable'  Abbot  was  such,  that  emperors,  kings,  and  high 
ecclesiastical  personages  revered  his  judgment;  and  when  it  became 
known  that  Innocent  had  reached  Clugny  with  a  train  of  sixty  horses, 
provided  by  the  Abbot  for  his  conveyance,  the  effect  of  this  signal 
declaration  against  the  Cluniac  Antipope  was  widely  and  strongly 
felt."2  During  his  stay  at  Clugny,  Innocent  was  welcomed  in  the 
King's  name  by  the  Abbot  of  St.  Denys  ;  and  early  in  the  new  year 
Louis  himself  received  him,  with  every  mark  of  reverence,  at 
Fleury.  By  the  personal  influence  of  Bernard,  though  opposed  by 
many  English  and  Norman  prelates,  Henry  1.  of  England  was 
brought  to  give  his  support  to  Innocent  in  a  personal  interview  at 
Chartres  (Jan.  1131).  All  the  great  orders  throughout  the  West 
declared  in  favour  of  Innocent,  while  Anacletus  vainly  pleaded  his 
cause  in  letters  to  princes  and  prelates ;  and  the  state  of  the 
controversy  wras  pithily  -expressed  by  the  verse  : — 

"  Peter  holds  Rome,  but  Gregory  the  world."  3 

§  5.  A  German  diet  held  at  Wurzburg  declared  in  favour  of 
Innocent,  who  met  Lothair  at  Liege,  and  crowned  him  with  his 
queen  Bichenza  (March  1131).     Two  years  later  the  King  met  the 

1  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  pp.  11,  12.  We  have  to  spenk  in  another  place  of 
St.  Bernard's  share  in  the  scholastic  controversies  of  the  age,  and  of  his 
conflict  with  Abelard.     (See  Chap.  XXVIII.)  -  Ibid.  pp.  12,  13, 

3  "  Roniam  Petrus  habet,  totum  Gregorius  orbem."  Rob.  de  Monte, 
A.D.  1130:  Robertson,  ibid.  p.  14. 


46  LOTHAIR  II.  EMPEROR.  Chap.  IV. 

Pope  in  Italy  and  escorted  him  to  Rome,  where  Innocent  crowned 
Lothair  Emperor  in  the  Lateran,  St.  Peter's  being  still  held  by  the 
Antipope  (June  4th,  1132).  Before  the  ceremony,  Lothair  took  an 
oath  to  defend  the  Pope's  person  and  dignity,  to  maintain  those 
royalties  of  St.  Peter  which  Innocent  already  possessed,  and  to  aid 
him  with  all  his  power  for  the  recovery  of  the  rest.  It  is,  however, 
doubtful  whether  the  Emperor's  submission  went  the  length  of  that 
acknowledgment  of  vassalage  which  Innocent  boasted  in  the  inscrip- 
tion beneath  a  picture  of  the  scene  on  the  wall  of  the  Vatican ; 

"Rex  venit  ante  fores,  jurans  prius  urbis  honores, 
post  homo  fit  Paps,  sumit  quo  dante  coronam." 

For  the  present,  the  Emperor  had  so  little  power  to  give  the 
promised  help,  that,  as  soon  as  he  had  left  Rome,  Innocent  was  again 
driven  out  to  Pisa,  where  he  remained  till  1137.  By  that  time 
Anacletus  had  exhausted  his  wealth  and  lost  most  of  his  adherents  ; 
his  only  powerful  supporter  being  Roger  II.,  whom  he  had  crowned 
King  of  Sicily.  Innocent  now  returned  to  Italy  ;  and  Lothair,  who 
had  made  peace  with  the  Swabian  party  in  1135,  led  a  powerful  army 
across  the  Alps,  drove  Roger  out  of  his  possessions  in  Italy,  and 
restored  the  Pope  to  Rome.  But  on  his  return  the  Emperor  fell  sick 
at  Trent,  and  died  in  a  peasant's  hut  on  the  Alps  (Dec.  3,  1137). 
A  few  weeks  later  the  papal  schism  was  ended  by  the  death  of 
Anacletus  in  the  Vatican  (Jan.  25,  1138). * 

§  6.  The  pretensions  of  Lothair's  son-in-law,  Henry  the  Proud, 
Duke  of  Bavaria  and  afterwards  of  Saxony,  were  now  contested  by 
Conrad  of  Hohenstaufen,  who  was  chosen  king  by  a  part  of  the 
electors,  headed  by  the  Archbishops  of  Treves  and  Cologne,  without 
waiting  for  the  meeting  of  the  Diet.  With  Conrad  III.  (1138- 
1152)  began  the  Swabian  or  Hohenstaufen  dynasty  ;  but  civil  war 
and  his  unfortunate  part  in  the  Second  •  Crusade  prevented  his 
establishing  his  power  in  Italy,oreven  going  to  Rome  to  receive  the 
Imperial  crown.  His  contest  with  Henry  is  memorable  for  the  use 
of  the  names  of  the  Saxon  and  Swabian  factions,  Gutlph  and 
Ghibelline,  which  became  so  famous  as  the  titles  of  the  Papal  and 
Imperial  parties.2  They  are  said  to  have  been  first  used  as  watch- 
words at  the  great  battle  of  Weinsberg,  in  which  Conrad  defeated 
Wei  f,  the  brother  of  Henry  (1140).     The  fall  of  Weinsberg  vir- 

1  A  new  Antipope.  who  was  set  up  under  the  name  of  Victor  IV.,  was 
soon  persuaded  to  make  his  submission  to  Innocent  (May  1138). 

2  Guelp'i  and  Ghibelline  are  the  Italian  torms  of  the  German  We'f  and 
Waihlingen  ;  the  former  being;  the  family  name  which  the  Dukes  of  Saxony 
inherited  from  Henry's  grandfather,  Welf  I.,  Duke  of  Bavaria,  the  latter 
the  name  of  the  village  where  Conrad's  brother  Frederick  had  been 
brought  up. 


A.D.  1139.    SECOND  LATERAN  COUNCIL.  ARNOLD  OF  BRESCIA.   47 

tually  ended  the  civil  war.     Henry  had  died   the  year  before ;  and 
peace  was  made  in  1142.1 

§  7.  Pope  Innocent  II.,  restored  to  the  undisputed  possession  of 
Rome,  held  the  Second  General  Council  of  Lattran  (the  Tenth 
(Ecumenical  of  the  Romans),  which  annulled  the  acts  of  Anacletus 
and  excommunicated  Roger  of  Sicily  (1139).  This  Council  also 
condemned  Arnold  of  Brescia,  who  may  be  called  in  some 
respects  one  of  the  forerunners  of  the  Protestant  Reformation, 
while  he  was  also  a  leader  of  the  republican  agitation  which 
was  now  gaining  strength  in  Italy.  The  conflicts  between  the 
Empire  and  the  Papacy,  and  the  diminished  power  of  the  Em- 
perors south  of  the  Alps,  had  encouraged  many  of  the  Lombard 
cities  to  assert  their  independence  under  republican  forms  of  govern- 
ment ;  and  the  claims  of  their  bishops  to  temporal  rule  provoked  a 
political  resistance  to  the  hierarchy,  who  were  already  widely  de- 
nounced for  their  worldliness  and  immorality.  This  twofold  opposi- 
tion found  a  vigorous  leader  in  Arnold,  who  was  born  about  1105 
at  Brescia,  one  of  the  chief  centres  of  republican  independence  in 
Lombard}'.  Having  been  for  some  time  a  reader  in  the  church,  he 
adopted  the  monastic  profession,  and  began  to  denounce  the  cor- 
ruptions both  of  the  clergy  and  the  monks  in  a  strain  of  eloquence, 
to  which  Bernard  applied  the  language  of  the  Psalmist  (lv.  22): — 
"his  words  were  softer  than  oil,  yet  were  they  very  swords."  His 
ideas  of  reform  were  based  on  the  pure  spirituality  of  the  Church. 
"  Filled  with  visions  of  apostolical  poverty  and  purity — of  a  purely 
spiritual  church  working  by  spiritual  means  alone — Arnold  im- 
agined that  the  true  remedy  for  the  evils  that  had  been  felt  would 
be  to  strip  the  hierarchy  of  their  privileges,  to  confiscate  their  wealth, 
and  to  reduce  them  for  their  support  to  the  tithes,  with  the  free-will 
offerings  of  the  laity."2  Condemned  to  banishment  by  the  Council 
of  1 139,  he  withdrew  to  France,  and  afterwards  to  Zurich. 

The  influence  of  Arnold's  teaching  was  supposed  to  be  manifested 
by  the  insurrection  at  Rome  in  1143,  which  replaced  the  Pope's 
civil  government  by  a  Senate  in  the  Capitol.  The  Romans  "  re- 
solved that  their  city  should  resume  its  ancient  greatness — that  it 
should  be  the  capital  of  the  world,  as  well  in  a  secular  as  in  a 
religious  sense;  but  that  the  secular  administration  should  be  in 
different  hands  from  the  spiritual."3  Broken  down  by  this  revolt, 
Innocent  died  in  the  same  year,  and  his  successor  Celestine  II. 
held  the  See  for  only  six  months  (1143-44),  during  which  time 
Arnold,  who  had  been  before  protected  by  the  new  Pope,  seems  to 

1  The  details  belong  to  the  histories  of  Europe  and  Germany. 

2  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  43.     3  Ibid.  p.  4»5 ;  cf.  Bryce,  pp.  174,  253,  277,  f 


48  CONRAD  III.,  LUCIUS  II.,  EUGENIUS  III.  Chap.  IV. 

have  returned  to  Rome.  On  the  death  of  Celestine,  the  model  of  the 
old  Republic  Avas  still  further  copied  by  the  creation  of  an  equestrian 
order;  and  a  Patrician,  as  nominal  representative  of  the  Emperor,1 
was  substituted  for  the  papal  prefect  of  the  city.  The  new  Pope, 
Lucius  II.,  provoked  by  the  riots  and  new  demands  of  the  people, 
and  trusting  to  the  armed  power  of  the  nobles,  lost  his  life  in  an 
attempt  to  drive  the  Senate  from  the  Capitol  (Feb.  loth,  1145). 

§  8.  His  successor,  Eugenius  III.  (1145-1153) — a  pupil  of 
Bernard  of  Clairvaux,  and  hitherto  known  only  for  his  pure  sim- 
plicity— surprised  his  former  master  and  the  world  by  displaying 
an  ability  and  eloquence,  which  were  explained  by  miraculous 
illumination.  The  interruption  of  his  consecration  by  a  riotous 
demand  for  his  acknowledgment  of  the  Republic  caused  his  retire- 
ment to  Viterbo;  and  he  only  returned  to  Rome  (Jan.  1146)  to  be 
driven  out  again  by  the  people  (March),  whose  riots  were  inflamed 
by  the  harangues  of  Arnold  and  by  his  armed  force  of  2000  Swiss. 
The  efforts  of  Bernard  to  induce  Conrad  to  restore  the  Pope  were 
interrupted  by  the  excitement  which  caused  the  disastrous  Second 
Crusade,  of  which  Bernard  was  the  great  preacher  (1147-1149).2 

The  Pope  Eugenius,  who  had  gone  to  France  to  support  the 
Crusade,  was  enabled  by  the  help  of  Roger  of  Sicily  to  return  to 
Rome  in  1149.  The  treatise  "  On  Consideration," 3  which  Bernard 
wrote  at  his  request  and  for  his  direction,  exhorting  him  to  the 
spiritual  duties  of  his  office  and  warning  him  against  secularity, 
contains  an  exposure  of  the  abuses  that  infected  the  Roman  Church 
and  the  monastic  system,  which  is  doubly  impressive  as  a  witness 
borne  by  the  great  champion  of  the  Papacy.  Though  respecting  the 
personal  character  and  spiritual  authority  of  Eugenius,  the  Romans 
still  resisted  his  secular  government,  and  he  was  again  driven  out 
after  a  few  months.  While  preparing  an  expedition  to  restore  him, 
Conrad  died  of  a  sudden  illness  (Feb.  1152).  At  the  end  of  the 
year  the  Romans  consented  to  receive  Eugenius,  but  he  died  six 
months  after  his  return  (July  1153);  and  in  the  following  month 
Bernard — to  use  the  words  of  a  chronicler — "ascended  from  the 
Bright  Valley  to  the  mountain  of  eternal  brightness."4  He  was 
canonized  by  Alexander  III.  in  1174. 

1  It  should  be  remembered  that  there  was  no  Emperor  at  this  time ; 
and  Conrad  had  refused  the  invitation  of  the  republican  party  to  receive 
the  imperial  crown  at  Rome  as  the  head  of  the  revived  state. 

2  The  details  of  the  Crusade  belong  to  civil  history. 

3  "  De  Considei-atione." — Bernard  explains  the  meaning  of  this  term 
(in  contradistinction  to  contemplatio)  as  "  intensa  ad  investigandum  cogi- 
tatio  vel  intentio  animi  investigantis  rerum." — ii.  2. 

*  Rob.  Autissiod.  ;  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  70. 


A.D.  1152.  FREDERICK  I.  BARBAROSSA.  49 

§  9.  A  week  after  Conrad's  death,  the  electors  at  Frankfort  con- 
firmed his  designation  of  his  nephew  Frederick  I.,1  surnamed  by 
the  Italians  Barbarossa  ("with  the  Red  Beard").  In  him  was 
united  the  blood  of  the  Ghibellines  and  Guelphs,  whose  feud  was 
suspended  during  his  reign.  A  few  days  later  he  was  crowned  as 
King  of  the  Germans  at  Aix-la-Qhapelle,  at  the  age  of  thirty-one, 
and  he  reigned  thirty-seven  years  (1152-1189).  His  firm  character 
and  splendid  abilities  qualified  him  to  fulfil  his  resolution  of  sup- 
porting the  imperial  dignity  and  rights  after  the  model  of  Charles 
the  Great ;  and  his  reign  is  the  most  brilliant  in  the  annals  of  the 
Empire.  "  Its  territory  had  been  wider  under  Charles,  its  strength 
perhaps  greater  under  Henry  III.,  but  it  never  appeared  in  such 
pervading  vivid  activity,  never  shone  with  such  lustre  of  chivalry, 
as  under  the  prince  whom  his  countrymen  have  taken  to  be  one  of 
their  national  heroes,  and  who  is  still,  as  the  half  mythic  type  of 
Teutonic  character,  honoured  by  picture  and  statue,  in  song  and  in 
legend,  through  the  breadth  of  the  German  lands.  The  reverential 
fondness  of  his  annalists,  and  the  whole  tenor  of  his  life,  goes  far  to 
justify  this  admiration,  and  makes  it  probable  that  nobler  motives 
were  joined  with  personal  ambition  in  urging  him  to  assert  so 
haughtily  and  carry  out  so  harshly  those  imperial  rights  in  which 
he  had  such  unbounded  confidence.  Under  his  guidance  the 
Transalpine  power  made  its  greatest  effort  to  subdue  the  two 
antagonists  which  then  threatened  and  were  fated  in  the  end  to 
destroy  it — Italian  nationality  and  the  Papacy."2  Frederick's 
famous  struggle  with  the  Lombard  cities  must  be  left  to  the  civil 
history  of  the  age,  except  in  its  bearing  on  his  conflict  with  his 
papal  antagonists,  Adrian  IV.  and  Alexander  III. 

§  10.  The  state  of  Italy  at  Frederick's  accession  was  such  as  to 
demand  vigorous  action,  unless  he  were  prepared  to  renounce  all  do- 
minion beyond  the  Alps.  The  exiled  Pope  Eugenius  entreated  his 
aid  against  the  republicans,  while  they  wrote  to  assure  him  that 
all  respect  for  the  Papacy  was  lost  at  Piome.  The  cities  of  North 
Italy  were  not  only  asserting  their  independence,  but  abusing  it  in 
bitter  contests  with  each  other  ;  the  larger  oppressed  their  weaker 
neighbours ;  and  a  fierce  feud  was  waged  between  Milan  and  Pavia, 
the  ancient  capital  of  Lombardy,  which  remained  faithful  to  the 
Empire.  To  protect  Southern  Italy  against  the  Norman  kingdom 
of  Sicily,  Frederick  formed  an  alliance  with  the  Greek  Emperor, 
Manuel  Comnenus,  and  he  made  a  compact  with  Pope  Eugenius  for 
the  mutual  safeguard  of  their  interests  (March  1153).     At  his  first 

1  He  was  the  son  of  Frederick  II.,  Duke  of  Hohenstaufen,  and  of  Judith, 
sister  of  Henrv  the  Proud  and  of  Welf.     (Cf.  p.  42,  n.  4.) 

2  Bryce,  p."  167. 


50  REIGN  OF  FREDERICK  BARBAROSSA.  Chap.  IV. 

diet  (1152)  he  proposed  an  expedition  to  Italy,  the. importance  of 
which  was  indicated  by  the  two  years'  preparation  required  of  the 
princes.  In  October,  1154,  Frederick  led  into  Lombardy  the 
strongest  German  army  that  had  ever  crossed  the  Alps,  and  asserted 
his  power  over  the  imperial  vassals  and  the  cities.  Meanwhile 
death  had  carried  off  not  only  Eugenius,  who  had  promised  to 
crown  him  Emperor,  but  also  his  successor,  Anastasius  IV.  (1153- 
1151);  and,  while  Frederick  was  still  in  Lombardy,  the  election  fell 
upon  Adrian  IV.,  who  began  that  hundred  years'  conflict  with  the 
house  of  Hohenstaufen,  which  at  length  raised  the  Papacy  to  the 
climax  of  its  power  (Dec.  1154). 

§  11.  Nicolas  Breakspear,  the  only  Englishman  who  ever  filled 
St.  Peters  chair,  is  described  by  a  biographer  as  " a  man  of  great 
kindness,  meekness,  and  patience,  skilled  in  the  English  and  the 
Latin  tongues,  eloquent  in  speech,  polished  in  his  utterance,  dis- 
tinguished in  singing  and  an  eminent  preacher,  slow  to  anger,  quick 
to  forgive,  a  cheerful  giver,  bountiful  in  alms,  and  excellent  in  his 
whole  character."1  But  these  milder  personal  virtues  did  not 
exclude  the  utmost  vigour  in  exalting  and  enforcing  the  claims  of 
his  office.  He  at  once  refused  to  acknowledge  the  republican 
government  of  Rome,  and,  on  the  murder  of  a  cardinal  in  the  street, 
he  placed  the  city  under  an  interdict  in  the  midst  of  the  solemnities 
of  Lent,  and  only  removed  it  on  the  consent  of  the  Senators  to 
banish  Arnold  of  Brescia.2  This  vigorous  stroke  was  followed  by  an 
embassy  of  three  cardinals  to  Frederick,  who  was  now  advancing 
rapidly  towards  Rome,  requesting  him  to  take  measures  against  the 
common  enemy  of  the  Empire  as  well  as  the  Church.  Arnold, 
given  up  by  his  protectors,  was  sent  by  Frederick  to  Rome,  where 
he  was  hanged  and  his  body  burnt,  and  his  ashes  thrown  into  the 
Tiber  (1155). 

The  mission  of  the  Cardinals,  who  received  friendly  assurances 
from  Frederick  and  promised  him  the  imperial  crown,  was  followed 
by  a  visit  of  the  Pope  to  the  King's  camp.     Not  content  with  the 

1  Card.  Aragon,  in  the  Patrolog.,  clxxxix.  1352;  Robertson,  vol.  iii. 
p.  74. 

2  An  Interdict  was  a  sentence,  pronounced  by  the  supreme  spiritual 
authority  of  a  district  or  country,  suspending  the  service  of  the  churches 
and  all  the  other  offices  of  religion,  except  the  baptism  of  infants  and  the 
confession  and  absolution  of  the  dying.  Its  appeal  to  men's  spiritual  fears 
was  doubly  terrible,  as  the  innocent  were  involved  equally  with  the  guilty. 
The  first  example  of  its  use  was  by  Alduin,  bishop  of  Limoges,  in  994- ; 
but  it  was  not  till  the  time  of  Hildebrand  and  his  successors  that  Inter- 
dicts on  a  whole  kingdom  were  resorted  to  as  the  most  powerful  weapon 
in  the  Papal  armoury.  They  were  used  most  effectively  by  Innocent  III. 
against  France  and  England. 


A.D.  1155  ADRIAN  IV.  AND  FREDERICK.  51 

prostration  of  Frederick  at  his  feet,  Adrian  required  him  to  hold  his 
stirrup,  as  Constantine  was  said  to  have  performed  that  service  to 
Sylvester!  The  politic  King  referred  the  question  to  his  nobles, 
and,  finding  that  the  service  had  been  performed  by  Lothair  to 
Innocent  II.,  he  went  through  the  form,  but  in  such  a  manner  as  1o 
make  it  ridiculous.  Accompanying  the  Pope  to  Rome,  Frederick 
was  crowned  Emperor  by  Adrian  at  St.  Peter's  (June  18,  1155). 

§  12.  Causes  of  quarrel  soon  arose,  first  from  Adrian's  treaty  of 
peace  with  William  the  Bad  (son  of  Roger  of  Sicily),  whom  he  in- 
vested with  the  kingdom  of  Sicily  and  more  than  the  former  posses- 
sions of  the  Normans  in  Italy,  as  a  fief  of  the  Holy  See,  not  only 
disallowing  the  imperial  sovereignty,  but  obtaining  William's  pro- 
mise of  aid  against  all  enemies.  A  petty  quarrel,  also,  caused  by  an 
outrage  on  a  Scandinavian  bit-hop,  was  inflamed  into  a  grave  offence 
by  one  ambiguous  word.  At  an  assembly  at  Besancon  (1157)  two 
cardinals  presented  a  letter  from  Adrian,  reminding  Frederick  that 
the  Pope  had  conferred  on  him  the  imperial  crown,  and  protesting 
his  willingness,  had  it  been  in  his  power,  to  have  bestowed  on  him 
still  greater  favours  (beneficia).  This  word  was  taken  by  the 
Germans  in  its  technical  sense  of  benefices,  as  if  it  were  meant  to  im- 
ply that  the  Empire  was  a  fief  of  the  Holy  See.  When,  amidst  their 
clamorous  resentment  of  the  supposed  insult,  one  of  the  cardinals, 
Roland,  rashly  exclaimed,  "  From  whom  then  does  the  Emperor 
hold  his  crown,  if  not  from  the  Pope?" — the  noble  who  carried  the 
unsheathed  sword  of  state  was  hardly  restrained  from  cleaving  his 
head,  and  the  Emperor — while  holding  him  back — said,  "  If  we 
were  not  in  a  church,  they  should  know  how  the  swords  of  the 
Germans  cut."  The  taunt  was  amply  avenged  when  the  other  of 
"the  two  swords"1  was  wielded  by  the  same  Roland  as  Pope 
Alexander  III.  Frederick  dismissed  the  le2ates  with  vehement 
reproaches,  and  put  forth  a  declaration  to  his  subjects  that  he 
would  rather  hazard  his  life  than  admit  the  Pope's  insolent  assump- 
tions. Adrian  found  it  prudent  to*  explain  that  by  beneficia  he 
had  only  meant  bona  facta,  and  by  conferring  the  crown  the  act 
of  placing  it  on  the  Emperor's  head.  More  than  this,  he  yielded 
to  Frederick's  demand  for  the  removal  of  the  offensive  picture  of 
Lothair's  homage  to  Innocent  II.2  (Jan.  1158). 

§  13.  In  the  following  July  Frederick  acain  led  an  immense 
army  across  the  Alps,  with  the  resolution  of  establishing  the  im- 
perial authority  on  a  firm  bnsis,  which  was  settled  in  a  great  assem- 

1  Luke  xxii.  38  ;  a  text  which  was  constantly  applied  to  the  two  swords 
of  temporal  and  spiritual  government — of  the  Emperor  and  the  Pope — 
especially  by  Boniface  VIII.,  in  his  famous  Bull  Unam  Sanctam  (see 
below,  p*.  99>  2  See  above,. §  2. 


52  REIGN  OF  FREDERICK  BARBAROSSA.  Chip.  IV. 

bly  held  on  the  plains  of  Roncaglia  (Nov.  1158).  The  details  belong 
to  the  civil  history  of  Italy:  what  concerns  us  here  is  the  resent- 
ment of  Adrian  at  the  almost  autocratic  power  over  the  Italian  cities, 
which  the  assembly  conferred  upon  the  Emperor.  "  It  seemed  to 
him  as  if  all  that  the  Emperor  gained  were  taken  from  himself." x 
The  quarrel  reached  its  climax  in  the  Pope's  claim  to  the  uncontrolled 
government  of  Rome,  in  reply  to  which  Frederick  cited  the  imperial 
rights  secured  by  the  Civil  Law,2  and  concluded  thus : — "  Since  by 
the  ordination  of  God  I  both  am  and  am  called  Emperor  of  the 
Romans,  in  nothing  but  name  shall  I  appear  to  be  ruler  if  the 
control  of  the  Roman  city  be  wrested  from  my  hands."  Such 
was  the  crisis  in  the  midst  of  which  Adrian  IV.  died  at  Anagni,  on 
Sept.  1,  1159. 

§  14.  Each  of  the  two  factions  at  Rome — the  Imperialist,  and 
that  of  the  late  Pope,  which  relied  on  the  Sicilian  power — now  made 
a  separate  election,  and  a  Papal  schism  ensued  for  twenty  years. 
The  majority  of  the  sacred  college  elected  the  Chancellor  Roland, 
Cardinal  of  St.  Mark,  whose  bearing  at  the  assembly  of  Besancon3 
had  given  an  earnest  of  his  bitter  opposition  to  the  Empire  as  Pope 
Alexander  III.  (1159-1181).  A  majority  of  the  cardinals,  sup- 
ported by  the  lower  clergy,  the  nobles,  and  the  people,  chose  the 
Imperialist  Octavian,  Cardinal  of  St.  Cecilia,  who  is  regarded  as  the 
Antipope  Victor  IV.  (1159-1164).  It  would  be  tedious  to  review 
the  arguments  of  the  two  parties  or  the  contradictory  accounts  of 
the  riotous  proceedings  on  both  sides.4  The  true  issue  is  described 
by  the  voice  of  impartial  history  : — "  The  keen  and  long-doubtful 
strife  of  twenty-years  that  followed,  while  apparently  a  dispute  be- 
tween rival  Popes,  was  in  substance  an  effort  by  the  secular  monarch 
to  recover  his  command  of  the  priesthood  ;  not  less  truly  so  than 
that  contemporaneous  conflict  of  the  English  Henry  II.  and  St. 
Thomas  of  Canterbury,  with  which  it  was  constantly  involved. 
Unsupported,  not  all  Alexander's  genius  and  resolution  could  have 
saved  him  :  by  the  aid  of  the  Lombard  cities,  whose  league  he  had 
counsel le  1  and  hallowed,  and  of  the  fivers  of  Rome,  by  which  the 
conquering  German  host  was  suddenly  annihilated,  he  won  a 
triumph  the  more  signal,  that  it  was  over  a  prince  so  wise  and  pious 
as  Frederick."6 

1  Gunther,  viii.  107-8,  quoted  by  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  82. 

2  The  study  of  the  Civil  Law  had  received  a  great  impulse  through  the 
University  of  Bologna,  the  professors  of  which  had  decided  in  favour  of 
the  high  claims  of  imperial  authority  in  the  assembly  of  Roncaglia.  For 
the  great  intellectual  movement  of  this  age,  and  the  rise  of  the 
Universities,  see  Book  V.,  especially  Chap.  XXIX.  3  See  above,  §  12. 

4   For  the  details,  see  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  pp.  85,  86.        5  Bryce,  p.  171.  • 


A.D.  1159.  ALEXANDER  III.  AND  VICTOR  IV.  53 

Frederick  was  engaged  in  quelling  the  resistance  of  Milan  and  other 
Lombard  cities  when  he  received  the  appeal  of  Victor  for  his  decision, 
as  well  as  a  letter  from  Alexander  announcing  his  election  in  terms 
which  roused  the  Emperor's  passionate  indignation.  In  right  of  his 
imperial  authority,  after  the  examples  of  Constantine,  Theodosius, 
Justinian,  and  Charles  the  Great,1  he  summoned  a  General  Council, 
inviting  the  kings  of  France,  England,  Hungary,  Spain  and  other 
countries,  to  send  bishops  ;  but  in  fact  the  fifty  prelates  who  assem- 
bled at  Pavia  were  almost  entirely  his  own  German  and  Lombard 
subjects  (Feb.  1160).  Alexander  not  only  refused  to  attend,  assert- 
ing the  old  claim  that  a  lawful  Pope  was  above  all  human  judg- 
ment, but  he  accused  Frederick  of  invading  the  rights  of  the  Holy 
See  by  calling  a  Council  without  his  sanction.  The  Council  pro- 
nounced its  judgment  for  Victor  and  rendered  him  homage,  the 
Emperor  holding  his  stirrup,  while  on  his  part  he  received  investi- 
ture from  Frederick  by  the  ring. 

Beyond  the  Empire,  however,  almost  all  Christendom  declared 
for  Alexander,  who  was  solemnly  acknowledged  by  the  kings  and 
bishops  of  France  and  England  in  a  Council  at  Toulouse,  as  well  as 
by  the  Byzantine  court  and  the  Latin  Christians  of  Palestine.  "  In 
Alexander  the  hierarchical  party  had  found  a  chief  thoroughly 
fitted  to  advance  its  interests .  While  holding  the  highest  views  of 
the  Hildebrandine  school,  the  means  which  he  employed  in  their 
service  were  very  different  from  those  of  Hildebrand.  He  was 
especially  skilful  in  dealing  with  men,  and  in  shaping  his  course 
according  to  circumstances ;  and  above  all  things  he  was  remark- 
able for  the  calm  and  steady  patience  with  which  he  was  content  to 
await  the  development  of  affairs,  and  for  the  address  with  which  he 
contrived  to  turn  every  occurrence  to  the  interest  of  his  cause."  2 

§  15.  Neither  of  the  rival  Popes  had  been  strong  enough  to 
establish  himself  at  Pome.  Alexander  indeed  returned  thither 
from  Anagni  in  April  1161,  but  he  soon  found  himself  unsafe  in 
the  city,  and  after  a  short  residence  at  Terracina  he  took  refuge  in 
France,  just  after  Frederick  had  destroyed  all  his  hopes  of  support 
in  Lombardy  by  the  capture  and  cruel  chastisement  of  Milan 
after  a  three  years'  siege  (1162).3 

1  This  was  Frederick's  own  declaration  at  the  opening  of  the  Council. 

2  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  pp.  89,  90. 

3  Among  the  relics  now  carried  away  from  Milan  were  the  skulls  of  the 
three  "Magi,"  or  "Wise  Men  from  the  East"  (Matt.  ii.  1),  which  were 
said  to  have  been  presented  by  the  Empress  Helena  to  Eustorgius,  bishop 
of  Milan,  and  were  now  transferred  to  Cologne  Cathedral  by  Reginald,  the 
imperial  Chancellor.  The  splendid  shrine  of  the  "  Three  Kings  of  Cologne  " 
was  made  towards  the  end  of  the  century.  It  is  more  than  5  feet  long, 
and  5  feet  high.     (See  Vignette  to  this  Chapter.) 

II—E 


54  PAPACY  OF  ALEXANDER  III.       Chap.  IV. 

In  the  following  year  Alexander  was  solemnly  acknowledged  by 
a  great  council  of  cardinals,  bishops,  and  abbots,  convened  at  Tours 
by  Louis  VII.  and  Henry  II.  ; 1  and  on  their  invitation  the  Pope 
took  up  his  residence  at  Sens  (Oct.  1163). 

Among  the  ecclesiastics  present  at  this  Council  was  Thomas 
Becket,  who  had  been  made  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  in  the  year 
before  (1162),  and  wTho,  a  year  later,  returned  to  France  an  exiled 
fugitive  (Nov.  1164).2  His  cordial  welcome  by  Louis  and  Alex- 
ander seemed  to  offer  an  occasion  for  detaching  Henry  from  the 
cause  of  the  Pope.  Meanwhile  the  Antipope  Victor  had  died  at 
Lucca  in  the  same  year  ;  and  of  the  two  surviving  cardinals  who 
had  elected  him,  one,  the  Archbishop  of  Treves,  declining  the  tiara 
for  himself,  appointed  the  other,  Guy  of  Crema,  as  Paschal  III. 
(April  1164).  This  step  is  ascribed  to  Reginald  of  Cologne;3  and 
it  is  a  curious  parallel  to  our  own  time  to  find  an  imperial  chancellor, 
seven  centuries  ago,  denounced  by  the  then  Pope  as  "  the  author 
and  head  of  the  Church's  troubles."4  Having  secured  the  warm 
support  of  Frederick  (who  is  said  to  have  first  inclined  to  a  recon- 
ciliation with  Alexander),  Reginald  went  to  England  to  negociate 
with  Henry,  who  consented  to  send  envoys  to  an  imperial  diet  at 
Wiirzburg,  which  pronounced  a  most  solemn  decision  for  Paschal 
(Whitsuntide,  1165).  But  Alexander  gained  new  adherents  even 
among  the  high  ecclesiastics  of  Germany  ;  and  the  Romans,  won 
over  by  money  supplied  from  France,  England,  and  Sicily,  received 
him  back  into  the  city  with  an  enthusiastic  welcome  (Dec.  23). 

§  16.  And  now  the  tide  of  Barbarossa's  fortune  began  to  turn. 
The  tyranny  and  exactions  of  the  podestas5  had  spread  disaffection 
in  Lombardy  even  among  the  imperialist  cities,  and  the  princes  of 
Germany  were  less  and  less  ready  to  supply  the  force  for  another 
campaign  in  Italy.  The  Emperor  Manuel  took  advantage  of  the  long 
quarrel,  to  propose  to  the  Pope  a  reconciliation  of  the  Churches  under 
a  reunited  Empire  ;  and  he  landed  a  body  of  troops  at  Ancona.    At 

1  It  must  be  remembered  that  Henry  II. 's  possessions  in  France  were 
larger  than  those  of  Louis. 

2  The  great  conflict  between  Henry  and  Becket  is  so  essential  a  part  of 
the  history  of  England,  that  we  need  only  notice  it  here  in  its  connection 
with  the  wider  contest  between  the  Empire  and  the  Papacy.  (See  the 
Student's  History  of  the  English  Church,  Period  I.,  Chap.  XV.) 

3  Reginald,  though  ruling  at  Cologne,  was  at  this  time  only  in  deacon's 
orders,  from  the  fear  (as  it  seems)  that  consecration  by  a  schismatic  Pope 
would  shut  the  door  to  reconciliation  with  Alexander;  but,  on  the  decision 
of  the  Diet  *of  Wiirzburg  for  Paschal,  he  was  obliged  to  receive  priest's 
orders,  and  was  soon  afterwards  consecrated  at  Cologne  as  Archbishop. 

4  Alex.  III.  Epist.  254;  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  93. 

5  The  podcsta  was  the  chief  magistrate  in  each  city,  appointed  by  the 
Emperor,  under  the  provisions  settled  at  Roncaglia. 


A.D.  1167.  BARBAROSSA  AT  ROME.  55 

length  Frederick  crossed  the  Alps  for  the  fourth  time,1  with  a  powerful 
army,  in  the  autumn  of  1166;  and,  while  he  himself  remained  to 
besiege  Ancona,  the  Archbishops  of  Cologne  and  Mainz  gained  a 
decisive  victory  over  the  Romans  at  Monte  Porzio,  near  Tusculum 
(May  20,  1167).  Hastening  to  Rome,  Frederick  took  possession  of 
the  Leonine  City,  and,  after  a  fearful  massacre  of  the  Romans,  who 
held  out  in  the  very  Basilica  of  St.  Peter,  the  Antipope  Paschal  was 
brought  from  his  residence  at  Viterbo  and  solemnly  enthroned,  and 
the  Emperor  and  Empress  were  crowned  by  him  anew  (Aug.  1).  The 
Romans  swore  fealty  to  Frederick,  who  acknowledged  the  privileges 
of  their  Senate.  Alexander,  fortified  among  the  ruins  of  the  Colos- 
seum, refused  all  terms  which  would  subject  him  to  any  earthly 
government. 

But  this  success  was  the  prelude  to  a  fatal  disaster,  in  which  the 
Papal  party  claimed  God's  judgment  on  "the  new  Sennacherib;" 
only  it  fell  as  heavily  on  the  Romans  themselves.  The  German  army 
had  scarcely  been  established  in  Rome  when  a  pestilence  broke  out  in 
the  city  and  camp,  carrying  off  in  one  week  20,000  of  the  soldiers, 
and  among  many  chief  prelates  and  nobles  the  Chancellor  Reginald  of 
Cologne.  Frederick  retreated  northwards — his  army  thinned  at  every 
march — to  find  Lombardy  in  full  insurrection.  Already  while  he 
was  detained  at  the  siege  of  Ancona,  the  chief  cities,  encouraged  by 
the  Pope  and  the  Emperor  Manuel,  had  formed  the  famous  Lombard 
League ;  the  walls  of  Milan  had  been  rebuilt ;  and  Frederick's 
disaster  made  the  revolt  almost  universal.  Scarcely  any  of  the 
cities  obeyed  his  call  to  an  assembly  at  Pavia  ;  and,  having  launched 
the  brutum  fulmen  of  an  imperial  ban  against  the  rebels,  he 
pursued  his  retreat,  harassed  by  constant  attacks,  till  at  Susa  he  was 
obliged  to  fly  for  his  life  across  the  Alps.  The  great  fortified  city  of 
Alessandria,  which  the  Italians  built  to  command  the  road  through 
Piedmont,  still  preserves  the  memory  of  the  Pope  in  whose  honour 
it  was  named,  and  whose  power  was  secured  by  his  alliance  with 
the  Lombard  League. 

The  last  stroke  needed  to  turn  the  general  sympathy  of  Christen- 
dom into  enthusiasm  was  given  by  the  murder  of  Thomas  Becket 
(Dec.  29,  1170),  and  the  submission  of  Henry  II.  to  the  terms  of 
reconciliation  dictated  by  the  Papal  Legates  (May  1172).  The 
King's  penance  at  the  tomb  of  "Thomas  of  Canterbury,"  whom 
the  Pope  canonized  as  "  Saint  and  Martyr,"  at  Lent,  1173,  was 
the  sign  to  Europe,  as  well  as  England,  of  Alexander's  victory. 
Meanwhile  the  Antipope  Paschal  had  died  at  Rome  (Sept.  1168), 
and  his  successor,  John   of  Struma,  who  bore   for   ten   years  the 

1  He  had  visited  Italy  the  third  time  in  the  autumn  of  1163,  but  with- 
out any  large  force. 


56  PAPACY  OF  ALEXANDER  III.       Chap.  IV. 

empty  title  of  Calixtus  III.  (1168-1178)  is  scarcely  worthy  of 
mention. 

§  17.  It  was  not  till  seven  years  after  his  great  repulse  that 
Frederick  once  more  crossed  Mont  Cenis,  and  avenged  the  insults 
he  had  received  at  Susa  (1174)  ;  but  both  Alessandria  and  Ancona 
resisted  his  attacks,  and  the  Lombard  League  gained  a  decisive  victory 
in  the  great  battle  of  Legnano,  the  Emperor  hardly  escaping  with 
his  life  (May  20th,  1176).  In  the  following  year  the  complete 
triumph  of  the  Papacy  was  displayed  in  the  striking  scene  of  the 
meeting  between  Alexander  III.  and  Frederick  Barbarossa,  in  the 
great  square  of  St.  Mark's  at  Venice^1  with  all  the  public  marks  of 
abject  homage,  followed  by  less  formal,  and  even  cordial  converse 
(July  23-25,  1177).2  "  Three  slabs  of  red  marble  in  the  porch  of 
St.  Mark's  point  out  the  spot  where  Frederick  knelt  in  sudden  awe, 
and  the  Pope  with  tears  of  joy  raised  him  and  gave  the  kiss  of 
peace.  A  later  legend,  to  which  poetry  and  painting  have  given 
undeserved  currency,  tells  how  the  Pontiff  set  his  foot  on  the  neck 
of  the  prostrate  King,  with  the  words,  '  The  lion  and  the  dragon 
shalt  thou  trample  under  feet.' 3  It  needed  not  this  exaggeration  to 
enhance  the  significance  of  that  scene,  even  more  full  of  meaning 
for  the  future  than  it  was  solemn  and  affecting  to  the  Venetian 
crowd  that  thronged  the  church  and  the  piazza.  For  it  was  the 
renunciation  by  the  mightiest  prince  of  his  time  of  the  project  to 
which  his  life  had  been  devoted :  it  was  the  abandonment  by  the 
secular  power  of  a  contest  in  which  it  had  twice  been  van- 
quished, and  which  it  could  not  renew  under  more  favourable 
conditions."  4 

§  18.  In  March,  1178,  Alexander  re-entered  Eome  from  his 
retirement  at  Anagni,  on  the  invitation  of  all  ranks  of  the  people, 
whose  obedience  was  guaranteed  by  the  senate's  homage  and  oath 
of  fealty.  His  horse  could  hardly  move  through  the  crowds  of 
people  who  struggled  to  kiss  his  feet,  and  his  right  hand  was  weary 
of  bestowing  benedictions.5  Calixtus  soon  after  submitted  to 
Alexander,  who  gave  him  a  rich  abbacy  at  Benevento  (Aug.  1178); 

1  The  republic  had  been  neutral  in  the  conflict. 

2  The  terms  of  peace,  settled  before  the  meeting,  provided  for  the  ab- 
juration of  the  Antipope  by  the  Emperor  and  the  imperialist  bishops,  and 
a  perpetual  peace  between  the  Empire  and  the  Papacy.  The  Lombards 
were  to  yield  the  Emperor  the  same  obedience  which  they  had  paid  to  his 
predecessors  from  Henry  V.  downwards;  while  the  Emperor  acknowledged 
their  power  to  appoint  their  own  consuls,  to  fortify  their  cities,  and  to 
combine  for  the  defence  of  their  liberties.  There  was  to  be  a  truce  of  six 
years  with  the  Lombards,  and  of  fifteen  years  with  the  King  of  Sicily. — 
Robertson,  vol.  iii.  pp.  101,  102. 

a  Psalm  xci.  13.         4  Brvce,  p.  171-2.         5  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  104. 


A.D.  1179.  THIRD  LATERAN  COUNCIL.  57 

and  a  fourth  Antipope,  set  up  by  the  Frangipani,  mocked  by- 
anticipation  the  famous  title  of  Innocent  III.  for  about  a  year,  when 
he  was  delivered  up  to  the  Pope  and  imprisoned  for  life.  To  lessen 
the  danger  of  future  schisms,  a  new  order  for  Papal  elections  was 
enacted  by  the  Third  Lateran  Council  (the  Eleventh  (Ecumenical  of 
the  Romans),  held  by  Alexander  in  March  1179.  "  The  share  which 
had  been  reserved  to  the  Emperor  by  Alexander  II.  had  already  been 
long  obsolete  ;  and  it  was  now  provided  that  the  election  should  rest 
exclusively  with  the  College  of  Cardinals ;  while,  by  adding  to  the 
College  certain  official  members  of  the  Roman  clergy,  Alexander  de- 
prived the  remaining  clergy  of  any  chiefs  under  whom  they  might 
have  effectually  complained  of  their  exclusion  from  their  ancient 
rights  as  to  the  election.  It  was  enacted  that  no  one  should  be  de- 
clared Pope  unless  he  were  supported  by  two-thirds  of  the  electors  ; 
and  that,  if  a  minority  should  set  up  an  Antipope  against  one  so 
chosen,  every  one  of  their  party  should  be  anathematized,  without 
hope  of  forgiveness  until  his  last  sickness."  1  This  Council  also  marks 
a  new  epoch  in  the  history  of  the  Roman  Church,  as  well  as  of  the 
forces  rising  up  in  opposition  to  its  supremacy,  by  its  27th  Canon, 
which  gave  the  first  public  sanction  to  a  Crusade  against  Heretics.2 

The  few  remaining  events  of  Alexander's  long  pontificate3  belong 
rather  to  the  separate  histories,  especially  of  France  and  England. 
Notwithstanding  his  triumph  over  all  his  enemies,  he  found  the 
turbulence  of  his  subjects  at  home  so  dangerous  that  he  was  again 
obliged  to  leave  Rome,  and  he  died  at  Civita  Castellana  (Aug.  30, 
1181).  His  enemies  insulted  his  corpse  on  its  way  to  the  city,  and 
would  hardly  allow  him  to  be  buried  in  the  Lateran  Church. 

§  19.  The  enmity  of  the  Romans  broke  out  into  open  violence  on 
finding  themselves  excluded,  by  the  recent  scheme,  from  any  voice 
in  the  election  of  the  new  Pope,  Lucius  111.  (1181-1185),  who  was 
forced  to  seek  refuge  at  Velletri,  and  was  unable  to  re-enter  the  city 
during  his  whole  pontificate.  Frederick  gained  new  strength  by 
conciliating  the  Lombards,  and,  before  the  expiration  of  the  six 
years'  truce,  the  relations  between  the  Empire  and  the  cities  were 
definitely  settled  by  the  peace  of  Constance  (1183).  At  Whitsun- 
tide, 1184,  Frederick  gathered  the  flower  of  the  German  nobility  to 
a  great  festival  at  Mainz — the  famous  Beichsfest  of  Barbarossa  on 

1  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  104. 

2  On  the  whole  subject  of  Heresies  in  this  age,  see  Chaps.  XXXIV.  f. 

3  Since  St.  Peter's  pretended  Papacy,  of  twenty  five  years,  the  twenty- 
two  years  of  Alexander  III.  had  only  been  exceeded  by  the  twenty-three 
years  of  Sylvester  I.  and  Adrian  I.  (before  him),  and  of  Pius  VII.  since 
(1800-1823),  till  Pius  IX.  falsified  the  old  prophecy  of  warning  to  each 
Pope — "Non  videbis  annos  Petri" — by  surviving  the  full  term  of  twenty- 
five  years,  which  he  completed  in  1871,  and  lived  on  to  the  7th  of  Feb.,  1879. 


58'  FREDERICK  BARBAROSSA  AND  URBAN  III.        Chap.  IV. 

the  Rhine — to  celebrate  the  conferring  of  knighthood  on^iis  two  elder 
sons,  Henry  and  Frederick — Henry  having  been  already  crowned 
"King  of  the  Romans."1  The  Emperor  was  warmly  welcomed, 
even  at  Milan,  in  the  same  year,  when  he  visited  Italy  for  the  sixth 
time.  At  Verona  he  was  met  by  the  Pope,  who  solicited  his  aid 
against  the  Romans,  but  refused  to  crown  Frederick's  son  Henry  as 
his  colleague  in  the  Empire.  Other  causes  of  mutual  complaint 
made  a  breach  which  seemed  already  hopeless,  when  Lucius  died  at 
Verona  (Nov.  25,  1185),  and  was  succeeded  by  a  bitter  enemy  of 
the  Emperor. 

Humbert  Crivelli,  archbishop  of  Milan,  had  been  both  a  leader 
and  a  sufferer  in  the  resistance  of  that  city  to  Frederick,  an  advocate 
of  the  high  pretensions  of  Pope  and  priesthood,  and  the  friend  and 
companion  of  Thomas  Becket.  On  the  same  day  that  Lucius  died, 
he  gathered  together  twenty-seven  cardinals,  who  elected  him  as 
Pope  Urban  III.2  (1185-1187).  He  at  once  sounded  the  note  of 
conflict,  not  only  by  repeating  the  refusal  to  crown  Henry  emperor, 
but  by  refusing  also,  as  Archbishop  of  Milan,  to  place  the  iron  crown 
of  Italy  on  the  young  King's  head. 

Meanwhile  Frederick  was  maturing  a  scheme  for  enhancing  his 
power  in  Italy,  which  he  compared  to  "  an  eel,  which  a  man  had 
need  to  grasp  firmly  by  the  tail,  the  head,  and  the  middle,  and 
which  might  nevertheless  give  him  the  slip."  He  had  regained  a 
hold  of  the  head  in  Lombardy,  and  by  securing  the  tail  in  the  Two 
Sicilies,  he  might  hope  to  keep  the  Pope  in  check  in  the  middle. 
The  kingdom,  which  had  descended  from  the  famous  Roger  to  his 
son,  William  the  Bad,  had  devolved  in  1166  on  his  son,  William  the 
Good,  who  had  been  married  to  a  daughter  of  Henry  II.  of  England 
since  1177,  but  was  still  childless.  Frederick  resolved  to  grasp  the 
almost  sure  reversion  by  the  union  of  his  son  Henry  with  the  next 
heiress,  Constance,  a  posthumous  daughter  of  Roger.  In  spite  of 
the  Pope's  violent  opposition  and  threats,  the  marriage  was  celebrated 
at  Milan,  where  also  Frederick  was  crowned  as  King  of  Burgundy, 
Henry  as  King  of  Italy,  and  Constance  as  Queen  of  the  Germans 
(January  1186).  The  harshness  of  King  Henry  to  the  partisans  of 
the  Pope  had  embittered  the  growing  quarrel,  when  Urban  died  at 
Ferrara,  whither  he  had  removed  from  Bologna  with  the  intention 
of  excommunicating  Henry  (October  20,  1187). 

Before  his  death  the  thoughts  and  feelings  of  all  Western 
Christendom  had  been  turned  into  a  new  channel  by  the  fall  of 

1  On  such  coronations,  see  p.  29,  n. 

2  As  in  the  case  of  Urban  II.  (see  Chap.  III.  §  1),  the  name  provoked 
pun,   and    Urban  III.  was   nicknamed    Twrbantts-— "eo  quod  in  odium 

Imperatoris  volebat  turbare  ecclesiam." — Chron.  Ursperg.,  224. 


A.D.  1190.  DEATH  OF  BARBAROSSA.  59 

the  corrupt  Latin  kingdom  of  Palestine  before  the  victorious 
Sultan  of  Egypt,  Saladin,  who  took  Jerusalem  on  the  3rd  of 
October,  1187.  This  is  not  the  place  to  relate  the  story  of  the 
Third  Crusade?  the  van  of  which  was  led  by  Frederick  Barbarossa, 
who  was  now  sixty-seven  years  old.  Amidst  all  his  contests 
with  the  Papacy,  he  had  always  been  a  devout  Christian,  and  it 
seemed  fitting  that  he  should  end  his  course  as  he  bad  begun 
it,  in  fighting  for  the  Sepulchre  of  Christ.2  But  he  was  not 
destined  even  to  reach  the  Holy  Land.  Leaving  to  civil  history 
the  story  of  his  march,  which  began  from  Ratisbon  in  1189,  and  of 
his  firm  policy  towards  the  treacherous  and  supercilious  Byzantines, 
it  behoves  us  only  to  record  his  unlooked-for  death  near  Tarsus,  iu 
attempting  the  passage  of  the  river  Calycadnus  (June  10,  1190). 
The  Pope  Clement  III.,  who  had  followed  Urban  after  the  two 
months'  pontificate  of  Gregory  VIII. — and  of  whom  nothing  need 
be  said  except  that  he  was  restored  to  Rome  by  an  agreement  with 
the  citizens — survived  the  great  Emperor  only  till  March  1191. 

§  20.  The  ntw  Pope,  Celestine  III.  (1191-1198),  who  was 
elected  at  the  age  of  eighty-five,  deferred  his  consecration  till  the 
arrival  of  King  Henry  VI.,3  who  was  on  his  way  to  Rome  to  receive 
the  imperial  crown.  The  Poj  e  was  consecrated  on  Easter  Day,  and 
he  crowned  Henry  and  Constance  on  the  two  succeeding  days 
(April  14-16,  1191).  Henry  at  once  marched  southwards  with  his 
empress,  whose  inheritance  had  been  seized — on  the  death  of 
William  in  1189 — by  Tancred,  a  bastard  of  the  Norman  royal 
house.  The  first  campaign,  though  opened  by  the  capture  of 
Naples,  had  a  disastrous  end;  but  two  years  later  Henry  conquered 
Sicily  with  the  aid  of  a  Genoese  fleet,  and  his  triumphal  entry  into 
Palermo  was  followed  by  cruelties  which  proved  him — as  indeed  he 
had  already  shown  in  Lombardy — "  a  man  who  had  inherited  more 
than  all  his  father's  harshness,  with  none  of  his  father's  generosity."4 
The  acquisition  of  Naples  and  Sicily  (1194)  turned  the  stronghold 
of  his  enemies  into  a  vantage-ground  against  the  Papacy  from  the 
south,  as  Lombardy  already  was  on  the  north,  and  encouraged  him 
to  propose  a  scheme  for  making  the  crown  hereditary ;  but  all  he 

1  Besides  the  splendid  narrative  of  Gibbon  and  the  other  histories  which 
treat  of  this  Crusade,  it  forms  a  special  part  of  the  history  of  England 
through  the  brilliant  achievements  of  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion. 

2  Frederick  had  accompanied  his  uucle  Conrad  on  the  Second  Crusade 
just  forty  years  before. 

3  We  have  seen  that  Henry  had  already  been  crowned  King  of  the 
Romans  (that  is,  heir  to  the  German  kingdom  and  the  Empire)  and  of 
Italy  in  the  lifetime  of  his  father,  who  had  left  the  government  in  his  hands 
when  he  went  on  the  Crusade. 

*  Bryce,  p.  205. 


60  DEATHS  OF  HENRY  VI.  AND  CELESTINE  III.      Chap.  IV. 

could  obtain  from  the  diet  was  the  election  of  his-  infant  son 
Frederick  as  King  of  the  Romans  (1196).1 

"  In  his  ecclesiastical  policy,  Henry  showed  himself  resolved  to 
yield  nothing  to  the  Papacy.  He  forbad  appeals  to  Rome,  and 
prevented  his  subjects  from  any  access  to  the  Papal  court.  He 
attempted  to  revive  the  imperial  privilege  of  deciding  in  cases  of 
disputed  election  to  bishopricks.  He  refused  the  homage  which 
the  Norman  princes  had  performed  to  the  Pope  for  their  Italian 
and  Sicilian  territories,  and,  returning  into  Italy,  he  invaded  the 
patrimony  of  St.  Peter  up  to  the  very  gates  of  the  city."2  The  aged 
Pope  tried  to  conciliate  the  Emperor,  and  reminded  him  of  the  vow 
which  he  had  taken  some  time  before  to  lead  a  new  crusade.3 
Henry  renewed  his  engagements  at  Bari  (Easter,  1195),  and  he 
gathered  a  force  in  Apulia,  but  with  the  intention  of  using  it  for 
his  own  ends,  and  especially  against  the  Byzantine  Empire.  He 
had  crossed  over  into  Sicily  and  resumed  his  cruelties  in  putting 
down  a  conspiracy,  when  he  died  suddenly  at  Messina,  not  without 
a  suspicion  that  he  was  poisoned  by  his  wife  Constance,  through 
abhorrence  of  his  savage  treatment  of  her  Norman  relatives  and 
friends  (September  28th,  1197).  Pope  Celestine  died  soon  after, 
on  the  8th  of  January,  1198. 

The  death  of  Henry  VI.  marks  the  turning  point  from  which 
we  have  to  trace  the  rapid  fall  of  the  imperial  house  of  Ilohen- 
staufen,  and  the  advance  of  the  Papal  power  to  its  climax. 

1  He  is  not,  however,  reckoned  as  King  Frederick  II.  till  his  de  facto 
accession  in  1212.    (See  next  chapter.) 

2  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  134. 

3  A  part  of  the  German  forces  proceeded  on  this  Fotirth  Crusade,  and 
gained  some  success  on  the  sea-coast  only  ;  but  they  had  fierce  quarrels 
with  the  Templars,  and  on  the  death  of  Henry  they  made  a  six  years' 
truce  with  the  infidels. 


The  Iron  Crown  of  Lombardy,  at  Monza  Cathedral. 


Apse  of  the  Apostles'  Church  at  Cologne. 


CHAPTER  V. 

CLIMAX  OF  THE  PAPACY : 
AND  FALL  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  HOHENSTAUFEN. 

FROM   THE    ELECTION   OF    INNOCENT   III.    TO   THE    DEATHS   OF   CONRAD   IV. 
AND    INNOCENT   IV.       A.D.   1198-1254. 

§  I.  Exaltation  of  the  Papacy.     §  2.  Election  of  Innocent  III -His  pre- 
vious career   works,  and   character.     §  3.   His  Reforms  at  Rome,  and 
power  m    Italy-Frederick,   Kin,    of  Sicily   and    ward   of   the   Pope 
§  4.  Contest   for   the   German    Crown— Otho  IV.    and    Philip  II.-- 


62  CLIMAX  OF  THE  PAPACY.  Chap.  V. 

Murder  of  Philip — Otho  crowned  Emperor.  §  5.  His  Quarrel  with 
the  Pope,  excommunication,  and  deposition — Election  of  Frederick  II. 
§6.  Wide  influence  of  Innocent — England,  France,  Spain,  and  other  states 
— The  Fifth  Cmsad::  Latin  Empire  of  Constantinople.  §  7.  Crusades 
against  Heathens  and  Heretics —New  Romish  doctrine  of  persecution 
and  death  for  Heresy — The  Vernacular  Scriptures  forbidden  by 
Innocent  —  Burning  of  French  Bibles  —  Rising  forces  of  resistance. 
§  8.  The  Fourth  Lateran  Council — Transubstantiation  and  Auricular 
Confession — Death  of  Innocent  III. —  Climax  of  the  Papacy,  but  seeds 
of  Reaction.  §  0.  Pope  Honorius  III. — Sixth  Crusade— Frederick  II. 
crowned  Emperor — Kingdoms  of  Sicily  and  Jerusalem.  §  10.  Pope 
Gregory  IX. — Final  and  decisive  contest  with  the  Empire — Character 
of  Frederick  II.  §  11.  The  Crusade — Frederick  excommunicated — 
His  Recovery  of  Jerusalem,  return  to  Italy,  successes,  and  Absolu- 
tion. §  12.  Legislation  of  Frederick  and  Gregory — The  Code  of  Melfi 
and  the  new  Decretals — Laws  of  Frederick  for  burning  Heretics. 
§  13.  Rebellion,  pardon,  and  death  of  Frederick's  son,  Henry — Election 
of  Conrad  as  King — Victory  of  Corte  Nuova  over  the  Lombards. 
§  14.  Frederick  again  excommunicated — Deaths  of  Gregory  and  his 
successor  Celestine  IV.  §  15.  Papal  Vacancy — Election  and  Cha- 
racter of  Innocent  IV.  §  16.  His  opposition  to  and  peace  with 
Frederick — His  flight  to  Lyon — The  First  Council  of  Lyon  deposes 
Frederick.  §  17.  War  in  Italy  and  Sicily — Rival  Kings  in  Germany  : 
Henry  of  Thuringia  and  William  of  Holland — Death  of  Frederick  II. 
§  18.  Real  Fall  of  the  Empire — Conrad  IV.,  the  last  King  of  the 
Hohenstaufen  line — Affairs  of  Italy — Deaths  of  Conrad  and  Innocent. 

§  1.  The  Thirteenth  Century  of  the  History,  of  the  Church  exhibits 
the  closing  scene  of  that  great  contest  for  supremacy,  which  was 
the  unforeseen  but  inevitable  result  of  the  grand  idea,  conceived 
and  carried  on  by  Otho  I.  and  his  successors  down  to  Henry  III., 
of  making  a  reformed  Papacy  the  life  and  strength  of  a  renovated 
Empire.1  "The  first  result  of  Henry  lll.'s  purification  of  the 
Papacy  was  seen  in  Hihlebrand's  attempt  to  subject  all  jurisdiction 
to  that  of  his  own  chair,  and  in  the  long  struggle  of  the  Investitures, 
which  brought  out  into  clear  light  the  opposing  pretensions  of  the 
temporal  and  spiritual  powers.  Although  destined  in  the  end  to 
bear  far  other  fruit,  the  immediate  effect  of  this  struggle  was  to 
evoke  in  all  classes  an  intense  religious  feeling  ;  and,  in  o|  ening 
up  new  fields  of  ambition  to  the  hierarchy,  to  stimulate  wonderfully 
their  power  of  political  organization.  It  was  this  impulse  that  gave 
birth  to  the  Crusades,  and  that  enabled  the  Popes,  stepping  forth 
as  the  rightful  leaders  of  a  religious  war,  to  bend  it  to  serve  their 
own  ends  :  it  was  thus  too  that  they  struck  the  alliance — strange 

1  See  Chap.  I.  §  1. 


A.D.  1198.  POPE  INNOCENT  III.  63 

as  such  an  alliance  seems  now — with  the  rebellious  cities  of  Lom- 
bardy,  and  proclaimed  themselves  the  protectors  of  municipal  free- 
dom. But  the  third  and  crowning  triumph  of  the  Holy  See  was 
reserved  for  the  thirteenth  century.  In  the  foundation  of  the  two 
great  orders  of  ecclesiastical  knighthood — the  all-powerful  all- 
pervading  Dominicans  and  Franciscans  — the  religious  fervour  of  the 
Middle  Ages  culminated.  In  the  overthrow  of  the  only  power  which 
could  pretend  to  vie  with  her  in  antiquity,  in  sanctity,  in  uni- 
versality, the  Papacy  saw  herself  exalted  to  rule  alone  over  the 
kings  of  the  earth."1  But  before  the  close  of  this  century  we  shall 
see  the  triumphant  Papacy  fairly  launched  on  the  descent  to  its 
worst  corruption  and  deepest  degradation. 

§  2.  We  have  seen  that  Henry  VI.  died  in  September  1197,  and 
Celestine  III.  on  Jan.  8,  1198  ;  but  a  new  Pope  was  elected  before 
the  succession  to  the  Roman  and  German  crowns  was  settled.  On  the 
very  day  of  Celestine's  death — without  waiting,  as  was  the  rule, 
till  after  his  funeral — the  assembled  cardinals  pressed  the  papal 
dignity,  against  his  own  resistance  and  even  tears,  on  Lothair, 
cardinal  of  SS.  Sergius  and  Bacchus.  Having  waited  till  the 
ember  season  for  ordination  to  the  priesthood,  for  he  was  as  yet 
only  a  sub-deacon,  he  was  enthroned  as  Innocent  III.  (Feb.  22). 

The  new  Pope  was  now  only  37  years  old.  Born  a  member  of 
the  house  of  Conti,  as  the  Counts  of  Segni  proudly  styled  themselves, 
he  had  studied  at  Paris,  and  also  at  Bologna,  where  he  acquired  a 
profound  knowledge  of  ecclesiastical  law.  Having  been  ordained  a 
sub-deacon  by  Gregory  VII 1.,  he  was  made  a  cardinal,  in  his  29th 
year,  by  his  relative,  Clement  III.,  and  discharged  several  important 
missions.  "The  papacy  of  Celestine,  to  whom  he  was  obnoxious 
on  account  of  the  hostility  between  their  families,2  condemned  him 
for  a  time  to  inaction ;  and  he  employed  himself  chiefly  in  study, 
which  produced  its  fruit  in  a  treatise,  On  the  Contempt  of  the 
World,  and  in  other  writings.  The  general  tone  of  these  is  that  of 
a  rigid  ascetic,  withdrawn  from  the  world  and  despising  it — a  tone 
seemingly  very  alien  from  the  vigorous  practical  character  which 
the  author  was  soon  to  display.  His  sermons  are  remarkable  for 
the  acquaintance  with  Scripture  which  appears  in  them,  and  for 
his  extraordinary  delight  in  perverting  its  meaning  by  allegory  ; 
a  practice  which  in  later  times  enabled  him  to  produce  scriptural 
authority  for  all  his  pretensions  and  for  everything  that  he  might 
desire  to  recommend.  And  in  his  books  On  the  Sacred  Mystery  of 
the  Altar,  he  had  laid  down  the  highest  Roman  doctrine  as  to  the 
elevation  of  St.  Peter  and  his  successors  over  all  other  Apostles  and 

1  Bryce,  pp.  204-5.  2  Celestine  was  of  the  family  of  the  Orsini. 


64  PAPACY  OF  INNOCENT  III.        Chap.  V. 

Bishops." *  Now  that  he  was  raised  to  the  position  for  putting  these 
principles  in  practice,  he  displayed  a  union  of  the  boldness  of 
Hildebrand  with  the  cautious  and  patient  policy  of  Alexander  III. 
"  Yet  stern  as  Innocent  was  in  principle,  fully  as  he  upheld  the 
proudest  claims  of  the  Papacy — and  not  the  less  so  for  his  continual 
affectation  of  personal  humility — he  appears  to  have  been  amiable 
in  his  private  character.  His  contemporary  biographer  describes 
him  as  bountiful  but  not  prodigal,  as  hot  in  temper  but  easily 
appeased,  and  of  a  magnanimous  and  generous  spirit.  He  is  said  to 
have  been  even  playful  in  intercourse ;  he  was  a  lover  of  poetry  and 
music,  and  some  well-known  hymns  of  the  Church  have  been 
ascribed  to  him."2 

§  3.  The  first  act  of  Innocent  was  to  reform  the.  luxury  of  the 
Papal  court ;  and  he  attempted  to  free  the  administration  of 
the  Curia  from  corruption.  Having  secured  the  support  of  the 
citizens,  he  abolished  the  last  vestiges  both  of  the  imperial 
and  republican  government  at  Rome,  by  exacting  oaths  of  fide- 
lity to  himself  from  the  Prefect  of  the  City,  and  from  the  Consul 
who  now  alone  represented  the  Senate,  as  well  as  from  all  the 
people. 

Thus  established  as  sole  ruler  in  Eome,  Innocent  next  set  him- 
self to  get  rid  of  the  Imperial  power  in  Central  Italy,  and  to  transfer 
the  suzerainty  over  Southern  Italy  and  Sicily  from  the  Empire 
to  the  Papacy.  Taking  advantage  of  the  hatred  borne  by  the 
Italians  to  the  Germans,  and  of  the  discords  among  the  German 
officers  themselves,  he  contrived,  by  mingling  negociations  with 
threats  of  excommunication,  to  win  the  allegiance  of  the  imperialist 
and  other  nobles  who  held  possession  of  a  great  part  of  the  States  of 
the  Church,  and  to  drive  out  those  who  refused  to  acknowledge  him 
as  their  sovereign. 

The  desired  severance  of  the  Sicilian  kingdom  from  the  Empire 
was  prepared  to  his  hand  by  that  hatred  of  the  people  to  the 
Germans,  which  was  felt  even  by  their  Queen,  the  widowed 
Empress  Constance.  Having  caused  her  son  Frederick  to  be 
crowned  King  of  Sicily  (May  1198),  she  offered  to  place  the  king- 
dom and  her  son  under  the  Pope's  protection.  She  died  before  the 
treaty  was  completed  (Nov.) ;  but  her  will  left  the  guardianship  of 
the  young  King  to  Innocent ;  and  thus  the  training  of  the  heir  of 
the  anti-papal  Hohenstaufens  was  committed  to  the  hands  of  the 
very  Pope  who  was  most  determined  in  upholding  the  claims  which 
that  family  had  resisted. 

§  4.  In  Germany  the  untimely  death  of  the  Emperor  Henry  VI., 

1  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  283.  2  Ibid.  p.  284. 


A.D.  1198.  OTHO  IV.  AND  PHILIP  II.  65 

while  his  son  and  colleague  in  the  kingdom  was  an  infant  of  three 
years  old,  caused  new  and  strange  relations  of  the  rival  parties  both  to 
each  other  and  towards  the  Papacy.  In  the  critical  state  of  affairs,  a 
long  minority  was  but  another  name  for  anarchy;  and  while  Philip, 
the  youngest  brother  of  Henry  VI.,  was  chosen  by  the  Ghibelline 
party,  at  first  only  as  guardian  of  the  kingdom  for  his  nephew 
Frederick  (March  6,  1198),  a  Guelphic  assembly,  held  at  Andernach 
at  Easter,  elected  Otho  of  Saxony,  son  of  Henry  the  Lion,  and 
nephew  of  Richard  Cceur-de-Lion,  who  strongly  supported  his  cause. 

"  Each  of  the  competitors  was  in  the  earliest  manhood — Otho 
twenty-three  years  of  age,  and  Philip  younger  by  a  year.  In  personal 
character,  in  wealth,  and  in  the  number  of  his  adherents,  Philip  had 
the  advantage.  The  chroniclers  praise  his  moderation  and  his  love  of 
justice  ;  his  mind  had  been  cultivated  by  literature  to  a  degree  then 
very  unusual  among  princes — a  circumstance  which  is  explained 
by  the  fact  that  he  had  been  intended  for  an  ecclesiastical  career, 
until  the  death  of  an  elder  brother  diverted  him  from  it ; — and  his 
popular  manners  contrasted  favourably  with  the  pride  and  rough- 
ness of  Otho.  But  Otho  was  the  favourite  with  the  great  body  of 
the  clergy,  to  whom  Philip  was  obnoxious  as  the  representative  of 
a  family  which  was  regarded  as  opposed  to  the  interests  of  the 
hierarchy." 1  At  his  coronation  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  Otho  IV.  took 
an  oath  to  maintain  the  Roman  Church  and  to  relinquish  the  abuses 
of  his  predecessors  (July  12).  Two  months  later,  his  rival  was 
crowned  at  Mainz  as  Philip  II.2  (Sept.  8). 

It  could  not  be  doubtful  which  side  Innocent  would  take;  but 
the  applications  made  to  him  by  the  rival  princes  themselves,  and 
by  the  kings  of  England  and  France — Richard  pleading  the  cause 
of  Otho,  and  Philip  Augustus  that  of  Philip — gave  him  the  oppor- 
tunity of  declaring  his  decision  for  Otho  with  the  appearance  of 
impartial  argument.3  A  ten  years'  war  ensued  in  Germany  ;  and, 
though  Innocent  used  his  influence  with  growing  vehemence  on 
behalf  of  Otho,  the  cause  of  Philip  prevailed  more  and  more,  till  he 
was  murdered  by  a  personal  enemy,  Otho  of  Wittelsbach,  Count 
Palatine  of  Bavaria  (June  21,  1208). 

The  Hohenstaufen  family  was  now  left  without  a  head,  for 
Frederick  was  still  only  in  his  fourteenth  year,  and  was  under  the 
tutelage  of  the  Pope.     All  parties  desired  peace,  and  it  was  proposed 

1  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  292. 

2  The  number  not  only  claimed  a  sequence  with  the  old  Roman  Empire, 
but  also  recognized  the  claim  of  Philip  (a.d.  244—249)  to  be  regarded  as 
the  first  Christian  Emperor  (see  Part  I.  Chap   V.  §  4). 

3  It  is  hardly  worth  while  to  cite  the  Pope's  reasons,  which  will  be 
found  in  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  294. 


6Q  OTHO  IV.  AND  INNOCENT  III.  Chap.  V. 

to  unite  the  Swabian  and  Saxon  houses  by  Otho's  marriage  to  Philip's 
daughter  Beatrice,  who  was  yet  only  twelve  years  old.  Having 
been  recognized  as  king  in  a  great  assembly  at  Frankfort  (Nov.  II, 
1208),  and  having  solemnly  renewed  his  promises  to  the  Pope  by 
a  deed  signed  at  Spires  (March  1209),  and  celebrated  his  betrothal 
with  Beatrice,  Otho  set  out  for  Piome,  where  he  was  crowned  Em- 
peror by  Innocent  (Oct.  4,  1209).  At  this  ceremony  he  confirmed 
all  his  former  promises  by  a  solemn  oath  ;  and,  for  the  first  and 
last  time,  an  Emperor  confessed  that  he  held  his  crown  "  by  the 
grace  of  God  and  of  the  Apostolic  See."  x 

§  5.  But  even  this  Guelph,  hitherto  so  obsequious  to  the  Pope, 
formed  no  exception  to  what  seemed  almost  to  have  become  a 
rille — that  an  Emperor's  coronation  was  the  preface  to  a  deadly 
quarrel  with  the  Pope  who  had  just  blessed  him.  Disputes  began 
with  the  usual  collisions  between  the  Roman  citizens  and  the 
German  troops,  for  which  Innocent  refused  redress.  Otho  with- 
drew from  Rome,  and  made  himself  master  of  some  of  the  places 
which  the  Pope  had  occupied  ;  and,  when  Innocent  reminded  him 
of  his  oath  to  respect  the  property  of  the  Church,  he  replied  that  the 
Pope  himself  had  caused  him  to  swear  that  he  would  maintain  the 
rights  of  the  crown,  and  that,  while  he  owned  the  authority  of  the 
Pope  in  spiritual  things,  he  was  himself  supreme  in  the  affairs  of  this 
world.  After  spending  a  year  in  strengthening  his  cause  in  Tus- 
cany and  Lombardy,  and  composing  the  disputes  of  Guelph  and 
Ghibelline,  Otho  proceeded  to  assail  the  most  vital  part  of  the  Pope's 
Italian  policy  by  invading  Apulia.  Upon  this  provocation,  the 
Pope  pronounced  an  excommunication  against  the  Emperor  (Nov. 
1210)  ;  and,  after  repeated  attempts  to  negotiate  with  Otho  in  his 
winter-quarters  at  Capua,  Innocent  solemnly  confirmed  the  sen- 
tence on  Maunday  Thursday  (1211). 

A  powerful  party  had  now  risen  up  in  Germany  against  the 
absent  Emperor.  His  rough  manners,  his  avarice,  and  his  exac- 
tions, had  made  him  unpopular  with  all  classes,  and  especially  with 
his  chief  supporters,  the  clergy,  whose  state  he  had  attempted  to 
reduce.  Siegfried,  archbishop  of  Mainz,  whom  Otho  had  formerly 
protected,  undertook,  as  legate,  to  publish  the  Pope's  sentence,  and 
organized  a  confederacy  of  the  Swabian  party  in  favour  of  Frederick, 
the  surviving  heir  of  Hohenstaufen.  On  Ascension  Day,  a  meeting 
of  German  princes  and  prelates  at  Nuremberg  declared  Otho  to  have 
forfeited  the  crown,  and  invited  Frederick  from  Sicily.  This  call  to 
the  youth  of  sixteen,  to  embark  on  a  career  so  much  high(  r  and  vaster 
than  he  could  hope  for  in  his  Sicilian  kingdom,  was  eagerly  accepted 
by  Frederick,  against  the  advice  of  his  councillors  and  the  entreaties 
Gregorov.  v.  80 :   Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  300. 


A.D.  1198.  WIDE  POWER  OF  INNOCENT.  67 

of  his  wife.1  Innocent  gave  his  consent,  whether  in  the  belief  that 
his  own  influence  and  Frederick's  southern  blood  and  training  had 
mastered  the  old  Hohenstaufen  leaven,  or  as  the  best  policy 
open  to  him.  In,  either  case  we  may  well  be  struck  with  the  destiny 
of  the  young  prince,  "  whom  a  tragic  irony  sent  into  the  field  of 
politics  as  the  champion  of  the  Holy  See,  whose  hatred  was  to 
embitter  his  life  and  extinguish  his  house."  2 

It  does  not  concern  us  here  to  follow  Frederick's  journey  from 
Palermo — whence  he  set  out  on  Easter  Day,  1212 — to  Rome — where 
he  received  counsel  and  money  from  Innocent — and  across  the  Alps 
to  Constance,  with  a  small  band  of  followers,  Avhich  was  swollen  at 
every  stage  of  his  progress  down  the  Rhine.  In  Lorraine  he  was 
met  by  Louis,  son  of  Philip  Augustus,  who  made  a  treaty  with 
Frederick.  Meanwhile,  Otho,  at  the  news  of  the  revolt,  had 
returned  to  Germany  (March  1212),  which  became  the  scene  of 
a  fierce  civil  war.  In  the  desperate  hope  of  reconciliation  with  the 
Swabian  party,  he  completed  his  marriage  with  Beatrice  (Aug.  7) ; 
but  her  death  only  four  days  afterwards,  ascribed  to  poisoning  by 
her  husband's  Italian  mistresses,  inflamed  the  exasperation  of  his 
enemies.  His  final  effort  against  his  rival's  great  supporter,  the 
King  of  France,  ended  in  his  decisive  defeat,  with  his  English  and 
Flemish  allies,  in  the  battle  of  Bouvines  (July  27th,  1214).  Otho  fled 
to  Cologne  and  thence  to  Saxony  :  he  was  deposed  from  the  Imperial 
dignity  by  the  Fourth  Lateran  Council  (1215),  and  died  in  12 IS. 

§  6.  Frederick  II.3  (1212-1250)  was  crowned  at  Aix-la-Chapelle 
by  the  German  primate,  Siegfried  of  Mainz,  on  St.  James's  Day, 
July  25,  1215  ;  but  the  interest  of  his  eventful  career  scarcely 
begins  till  after  the  death  of  Innocent,  whose  other  acts  mean- 
while claim  our  attention.  In  the  furtherance  of  his  stedtast  de- 
termination to  establish  the  unlimited  spiritual  supremacy  of  the 
Papacy  over  all  the  governments  of  Western  Christendom,  there 
was  scarcely  a  country  of  Europe  that  was  not  made  to  bow  to  his 
authority,  which  was  everywhere  represented  and  upheld  by  the 
presence  of  his  Legates.  The  two  great  contests  with  France  and 
England — in  which,  putting  forth  all  his  power  up  to  the  terrible  ex- 
tremity of  the  Interdict,  he  humbled  Philip  Augustus,  deposed  John, 
and  gave  him  back  his  kingdom  as  the  vassal  of  the  see  of  Rome, 
and  defied  the  Barons  who  had  just  extorted  the  Great  Charter  from 

1  Frederick  had  been  married,  in  his  fifteenth  year  (August  1209), 
through  the  arrangement  of  the  Pope,  to  Constance,  daughter  of  Peter  II., 
King  of  Arragon,  and  widow  of  Emmerich,  King  of  Hungary,  who  was  at 
least  ten  years  older  than  himself.  -  Bryce,  p.  207. 

3  His  reign  is  reckoned  from  his  entrance  into  Germany,  or  even  (by 
some)  from  the  invitation  sent  to  him  in  1211. 


68  PAPACY  OF  INNOCENT  III.        Chap.  V. 

their  sovereign — these  triumphs  of  Innocent  in  the  two  kingdoms 
most  independent  of  the  Papacy  are  fully  related  in  their  histories.1 

The  Christian  kings  of  Spain  were  brought  under  the  spiritual 
authority  of  Innocent  by  the  censures — extending  4o  interdict  and 
excommunication — to  which  their  irregular  marriages  laid  them  open. 
For  the  first  time  since  the  erection  of  Arragon  into  a  kingdom, 
Peter  II.  came  to  Rome  to  receive  the  crown  from  the  Pope,  and  to 
hold  it  thenceforth  as  the  tributary  vassal  of  the  Holy  See  (1204)  ; 
and  he  united  with  the  King  of  Castile,  under  the  encouragement  of 
Innocent,  in  repelling  a  new  Moslem  invasion  from  Africa  at  the 
decisive  battle  of  Navas  de  Tolosa  (1212).  The  kingdom  of  Portugal 
was  made  tributary  to  the  Pope.  Hungary  and  Dalmatia,  Poland 
and  Livonia,  Norway  and  Scotland,  accepted  him  as  a  mediator 
and  director.  Bulgaria  was  confirmed  in  its  allegiance  to  the 
Eoman  Church  by  his  elevation  of  its  prince  to  the  royal  dignity. 
But  the  like  offer  proved  of  no  avail  to  shake  the  stedfastness  of 
Bussia  to  the  Greek  Church.  When  the  Papal  envoy  spoke  of  in- 
vesting the  Grand  Prince,  Roman,  with  the  power  of  St.  Peter's 
sword,  the  prince  laid  his  hand  upon  his  own  with  the  proud  words, 
"  Has  your  master  a  weapon  like  this  ?  If  so,  he  may  dispose  of 
kingdoms  and  cities ;  but  so  long  as  I  carry  this  on  my  thigh,  I 
need  no  other."  2 

In  the  remote  East  the  ancient  church  of  Armenia  was  brought, 
through  the  intercourse  renewed  by  the  Crusades,  into  closer  com- 
munion with  Rome,  and  the  Patriarch  accepted  a  pall  from  Innocent, 
and  promised  to  take  part  in  Councils  summoned  by  the  Pope.  It 
was  under  Innocent,  too,  that  the  Latin  Christianity  of  the  East  came 
to  a  great  crisis.  No  Pope  was  ever  more  strongly  possessed  with 
crusading  zeal ;  and  the  disasters  of  the  Fourth  Crusade  only 
stimulated  Innocent  to  redeem  its  failure.  But  the  Fifth  Crusade* 
which  he  proclaimed  near  the  beginning  of  his  pontificate  (1199), 
was  joined  by  no  sovereign  of  the  first  rank,  and  it  was  diverted 
from  its  proper  object  to  the  capture  of  Constantinople  (1203),  and 
the  establishment  of  a  Latin  Empire  in  that  capital  for  nearly  60 
years  (1204-1261).4  But  this  passing  success  had  no  results  on 
which  it  concerns  us  to  dwell,  except  an  increase  of  exasperation 
between  the  Greek  and  Latin  Churches/ 

1  See  the  Student1  a  History  of  France,  chap.  viii. ;  the  Student's  Hume, 
chap.  viii.  ;  and  the  Student's  English  Church  History,  chap.  xvi. 

2  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  324. 

3  The  Fourth  of  Gibbon,  who  passes  over  the  Crusade  of  Henry  VI. 

4  For  the  details,  see  the  Student's  Gibbon,  chap,  xxxiv. 

5  See  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  pp.  336  f.  We  must  be  content  to  refer  to  the 
same  historian's  account  of  that  strange  outbreak  of  fanaticism,  the 
Children's  Crusades  (pp.  340-1). 


A.D.  1198  f.  CRUSADES  AGAINST  HERETICS.  69 

§  7.  There  were  other  manifestations  of  the  crusading  spirit,  into 
which  Innocent  threw  himself  with  equal  ardour.  The  mixture  of 
religious  zeal  and  chivalrous  adventure,  which  had  reached^  its 
climax  in  the  efforts  to  rescue  the  Holy  Places  from  the  infidel 
Moslem,  was  directed  against  the  nations  which  were  still  heathen, 
and  against  the  heretics  who,  as  ecclesiastical  rebels,  were  deemed 
worthy  of  extirpation  by  the  sword.  Our  survey  of  the  conversion 
of  Europe  has  shown  how  Innocent  encouraged  the  military  orders 
which  subdued  the  heathens  on  the  Baltic  shores,1  and  a  subsequent 
review  of  the  great  internal  movements  of  the  Church  during  this  age 
will  give  the  fit  occasion  for  describing  his  unflinching  severity  in 
the  suppression  of  heresy,  and,  in  particular,  the  exterminating 
crusade  against  the  Albigenses ;  as  well  as  for  the  history  of  the 
champions  whom  he  sent  forth  to  the  conflict  with  heresy  by  his 
encouragement  of  the  two  great  non-military  orders  of  ecclesiastical 
knighthood,  the  Dominicans  and  Franciscans.2 

Meanwhile  we  must  record,  as  characteristic  of  Innocent's  ponti- 
ficate, the  plainer  avowal  than  had  yet  been  made  of  the  two  prin- 
ciples : — that  religious  error  ought  to  be  put  down  by  persecution  even 
to  the  death,  a  doctrine  which  had  been  repudiated  so  lately  and 
by  so  zealous  a  champion  of  orthodoxy  as  St.  Bernard  ;3 — and  that 
the  people  should  not  read  the  Scriptures,  "  every  man  in  his  own 
tongue  wherein  he  was  born  "  (Acts  ii.  8).  The  first  principle  is 
defended  by  Innocent  in  an  argument  from  the  less  to  the  greater; 
that  the  heretic  is  both  a  thief  and  a  murderer,  because  "  He  that 
taketh  away  the  faith  stealeth  the  life ;  for  the  just  shall  live  by 
faith."4  This  is  a  sample  of  that  peculiar  use  of  Scripture  which 
adds  a  sort  of  irony  to  Innocent's  hostility  against  its  possession  in 
the  vernacular  tongue  by  the  common  people,  to  whose  presumption 
he  applies  the  command — "  If  a  beast  touch  the  mountain  it  shall 
be  stoned."5  Almost  at  the  beginning  of  his  pontificate,  in  1199, 
Innocent  wrote  to  the  bishop  and  faithful  of  Metz,  in  denuncia- 
tion of  a  party  of  laymen  and  women  who  used  French  translations 

1  See  Part  I.  Chap.  XXIV.  §§  18,  19. 

2  See  below,  Books  III.  and  IV. 

3  Scrm.  in  Cantica,  05-6  ;  in  which  ho  applies  to  heretics  the  text, 
Canticles  ii.  15,  as  did  Innocent  after  him  ;  but  Bernard  wishes  the  "little 
foxes  that  spoil  the  vines"  to  be  "  taken  to  'is" — reclaimed  to  the  Church  ; 
while  Innocent  censures  <he  Milanese  for  not  extirpating  them  (Epist.  xv. 
189).  It  is  ;n  one  of  Innocent's  letters  that  we  first  find  the  direction, 
which  henceforth  bore  such  a  terrible  meaning,  that  heretics  should  be 
"delivered  to  the  secular  arm"  for  punishment.  Sismondi,  R.  I.  ii.  72  ; 
Robertson,  vol.  iii.  pp.  185,  345.     (Comp.  Chap.  XXXVIII.  §  2.) 

4  Epist.  i.  94. 

5  Epist.  ii.  141-2  j  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  565. 


70  FOURTH  LATERAN  COUNCIL.  Chap.  V. 

of  the  Scriptures,  and,  on  the  strength  of  their  acquaintance  with  them, 
despised  the  clergy  and  their  ministrations.  The  Pope  admits  that 
a  desire  to  know  the  Scriptures  is  not  only  innocent  but  praise- 
worthy ;  but  he  censures  the  party  at  Metz  for  their  sectarian  spirit, 
for  imagining  that  the  mysteries  of  the  faith  are  open  to  the  un- 
learned, and  for  their  behaviour  towards  the  clergy — as  to  which  he 
is  careful  to  deprive  them  of  such  warrant  as  they  might  allege  from 
the  example  of  Balaam's  ass  rebuking  the  prophet.  He  desires  the 
bishop  to  enquire  into  the  authorship  and  character  of  the  vernacular 
translations ;  and  the  result  was  the  burning  of  all  such  versions 
that  they  could  find.1  From  the  language  of  Innocent  it  is  clear 
that  the  objection  to  the  use  of  the  Scriptures  in  the  vernacular,  on 
the  ground  of  the  incompetence  of  the  unlearned  to  understand 
them,  was  no  abstract  principle  established  on  its  own  merits  and 
for  the  sake  of  guarding  the  people  against  error,  but  was  the  off- 
spring of  alarm  at  the  use  which  was  made  of  the  Scriptures  against 
the  clergy.  And  so  throughout,  the  new  severity  against  heresy, 
which  marks  this  age,  is  the  measure  of  the  rising  forces  which  it 
aimed  to  suppress,  and  the  measure  also  of  the  ecclesiastical 
tyranny  and  corruption  which  provoked  that  growing  opposition. 
And  this  is  true  also  of  the  excesses  which  are  charged,  not 
altogether  unjustly,  upon  the  objects  of  persecution. 

§  8.  In  the  last  year  of  his  pontificate,  Innocent  accomplished  his 
long-cherished  design  of  assembling  the  Fourth  Lateran  Council 
(the  Twelfth  (Ecumenical  of  the  Romans),  the  acts  of  which  were  the 
crown  and  confirmation  of  his  whole  work.  Among  the  77  primates 
and  metropolitans,  412  bishops  and  800  abbots,  the  East  was 
represented  by  the  titular  patriarch  of  Jerusalem  and  two  claimants 
to  the  Latin  patriarchate  of  Constantinople — both  of  whom  were 
set  aside  and  another  appointed.  There  were  also  ambassadors  from 
various  Christian  powers,  and  a  vast  number  of  deputies  for  bishops, 
chapters,  and  monasteries.2  On  St.  Martin's  Day  (Nov.  11,  1215) 
Innocent  opened  the  proceedings  with  a  sermon  from  the  text — 
perhaps  with  a  half-prophetic  consciousness — "  With  desire  I  have 
desired  to  eat  this  Passover  with  you  before  I  suffer."3  The  de- 
cisions of  the  Council  embraced  most  of  the  questions  which  had 
been  dealt  with  by  the  Pope's  vast  energy  : — the  disputes  with 
England  and  France  ;  the  coronation  of  Frederick  II.  as  Emperor ; 
a  new  Crusade,  which  was  to  be  carried  out  in  the  ensuing  year, 
;uk1  in  which  Innocent  himself  proposed  to  take  part;  the  con- 

1  Innoc.  Epist.  ii.  141-2  ;   Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  344. 

2  The  total  number  of  persons  entitled  to  attend  the  sittings  is  reckoned 
at  2283.     Rog.  Wendov.  iii.  341  ;  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  376. 

3  Luke  xxii.  15;  Patrolog.  vol.  ccxvii.  p.  673,  scqq. 


A.D.  1216.  DEATH  OF  INNOCENT  III.  71 

demnation  of  the  Albigenses  and  other  heretics,  as  well  as  the  pre- 
sumption of  preaching,  "under  the  appearance  of  piety,"  without  a 
regular  mission,  that  is,  by  canonical  orders.  But  all  these  sentences 
are  insignificant  in  comparison  with  the  formal  establishment,  for 
the  first  time,  by  the  authority  of  the  Western  Church,  of  the  doc- 
trine of  Tran substantiation 1  in  the  Eucharist,  and  the  obligation  of 
A  uricular  Confession .2 

Within  eight  months  of  this  crowning  scene  of  his  success,  when 
Innocent  was  still  in  the  vigour  of  his  age  (55),  he  was  seized  with 
illness  at  Perugia,  on  a  journey  to  mediate  between  the  republics  of 
Genoa  and  Pisa,  and  he  died  on  the  16th  of  July,  1216,  in  the 
19th  year  of  his  Papacy. 

The  Papacy  of  Innocent  III.  marks  the  culminating  point  of  the 
power  of  the  Roman  See  ;  but  even  in  his  success  the  light  of 
ensuing  events  shows  the  germs  of  reverses,  which  were  hastened  by 
the  attempts  of  his  successors  to  raise  their  authority  still  higher. 
The  very  height  at  which  he  pitched  his  claims  provoked  a  sure  re- 
action ;  as  especially  in  England,  where  the  subjection  of  John 
created  an  eternal  resentment  against  the  whole  authority  of  the 
Pope.  Natural  feeling  was  shocked  by  the  cruelties  perpetrated 
against  the  Albigenses ;  and  the  formal  sanction  given  to  the  deadly 
persecution  of  heretics  committed  the  Church  of  Rome  to  a  contest 
with  humanity.  Even  the  new  strength  brought  to  the  Papacy  by 
the  Dominican  and  Franciscan  orders  involved  a  new  provocation  to 
resistance  ;  and  their  corruptions  ere  long  offered  a  fresh  mark  for  the 
assailants.  Innocent  himself  appears  to  have  had  a  foresight  of 
this  danger.  "  His  sanction  of  the  Mendicant  Orders  was  contrary 
to  his  own  first  judgment,  and,  notwithstanding  the  powerful  help 
and  support  which  the  Papacy  derived  from  these  orders,  there  was 
more  than  enough  in  their  later  history  to  justify  his  original  dis- 
trust of  them."3  The  rule  of  Innocent  and  its  results  showed  forth 
the  utmost  strength  and  the  certain  retribution  of  worldly  policy 
usurping  the  government  of  Christ's  kingdom. 

§  9.  His  gentle  successor,  Cencio  Savelli,  Honorius  III.  (1216- 
1227),  made  it  his  first  object  to  carry  out  the  Crusade  determined  on 
by  the  Lateral)  Council ;  but  his  letters  and  envoys  met  with  a  feeble 

1  The  doctrine  is  stated  as  follows  in  the  1st  Canon  of  the  Fourth 
Lateran  Council: — "  Cujus  corpus  et  sanguis  in  sacramento  altaris  sub 
speciebus  panis  et  vini  veraciter  contiuentur,  transubstantiate  pane  in  corpus 
et  vino  in  sanguinem  potestate  Domini."     See  further  in  Chap.  XIX. 

2  The  21st  Canon  prescribed  to  every  Catholic  Christian  the  duty  of 
confessing  once  a  year,  at  least,  to  his  own  priest,  and  of  receiving  the 
Eucharist  yearly  at  Easter.  But,  if  any  one  wished  to  confess  to  some  other 
prie.-t,  it  was  necessary  to  get  the  leave  of  his  own  pastor,  or  else  the  other 
would  not  be  entitled  to  loose  or  bind.  3  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  378. 


72  HONORIUS  III.  AND  FREDERICK  II.  Chap.  V. 

response  ;  and  the  expedition  which  was  ,at  length  made  to  Egypt 
proved  a  complete  failure  (1218-1220).1  The  Pope  ascribed  the  dis- 
astrous issue  to  the  hesitation  of  Frederick  II.,  who  had  postponed 
the  fulfilment  of  his  vow  to  the  object  of  strengthening  himself  in 
Germany,  and  especially  of  securing  the  succession  of  his  son  Henry, 
who  was  elected  King  of  the  Romans  (April  26,  1220).  To  secure 
the  support  of  the  clergy  on  this  occasion,  Frederick  renewed  the 
promises  he  had  made  to  Innocent  on  his  own  election — to  renounce 
the  long-disputed  claim  of  the  crown  to  the  property  of  deceased 
bishops,^  as  well  as  to  the  income  of  vacant  sees,  and  to  allow  free- 
dom of  election  and  appeals,  besides  other  privileges.  In  the  same 
year  Frederick  crossed  the  Alps,  and  was  crowned  Emperor  by  the 
Pope  with  a  splendid  ceremonial  (Nov.  22,  1220),  after  all  causes  of 
dispute  had  been  arranged,  at  least  apparently.  "  Laws  were  enacted 
for  the  liberty  of  the  Church  and  of  ecclesiastical  persons  ;  for  the 
exemption  of  the  clergy  from  taxes  and  from  secular  jurisdiction; 
for  the  enforcement  of  ecclesiastical  censures  by  civil  penalties ;  for 
the  severe  punishment  of  heretics  and  of  any  who  should  show 
them  favour  or  indulgence/'3 

In  return  for  finally  making  over  to  the  Holy  See  the  long- 
disputed  inheritance  of  the  Countess  Matilda,4  Honorius  released 
Frederick  from  the  promise  he  had  made  to  Innocent,  not  to 
reunite  the  kingdom  of  Sicily  to  the  Empire.  The  Emperor  at 
once  proceeded  to  Southern  Italy,  where  the  measures  which  he 
took  to  enforce  his  authority  opened  a  new  quarrel  with  the  Pope, 
who  urged  on  Frederick  the  fulfilment  of  his  vow  as  a  Crusader  ; 
but  the  Emperor  pleaded  the  urgency  of  his  affairs  at  home. 
It  was  at  length  agreed,  in  a  personal  interview  at  Ferentino 
(March  1223),  that  two  years  should  be  granted  for  Frederick  to 
establish  order  in  his  dominions,  while  fresh  attempts  were  made 
to  rouse  the  apathetic  sovereigns  of  Europe  to  adequate  prepara- 
tions ;  and  the  Emperor  was  to  be  further  pledged  to  the  enterprise 
by  a  union  with  Iolanthe,  the  heiress  to  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem.5 

1  For  the  details  of  this  Crusade,  which  is  variously  reckoned  the  Fifth 
or  the  Sixth,  see  the  Student's  Gibbon,  pp.  566-7  ;  and  Robertson,  vol.  iii. 
pp.  381-4. 

2  This  jus  exuviarum  had  been  maintained  by  Frederick  Barbarossa 
against  Urban  III.,  and  had  been  introduced  into  England  by  William  Rufus. 

3  Pertz,  Leges,  ii.  243-5  ;  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  386. 

4  This  had  been  one  of  the  most  constant  grounds  of  quarrel  between 
successive  Emperors  and  Popes  since  the  original  bequest  made  by  Matilda 
to  Gregory  VII.     (See  p.  20,  note.) 

5  Iolanthe  was  the  daughter  of  John  de  Brienne  and  his  wife  Iolanthe, 
who  had  inherited  the  titular  kingdom  of  Jerusalem  from  her  father, 
Conrad  of  Montferrat.     The  elder  Iolanthe  had  died  in  1212. 


A.D.  1220  f.  CHARACTER  OF  FREDERICK  II.  73 

The  marriage  was  celebrated  in  November  1225  ;  Frederick  having 
meanwhile  bound  himself  by  new  crusading  vows  under  the  penalty 
of  the  censures  of  the  Church.  But  he  was  again  detained  by  fresh 
troubles  in  Germany  and  by  a  renewal  of  the  Lombard  League ;  and 
the  Pope's  decision  for  the  Lombards  on  the  appeal  of  both  parties 
seemed  to  threaten  an  open  quarrel,  when  Honorius  died  on  the 
18th  of  March,  1227. 

§  10.  Of  a  very  different  temper  was  Ugolino  de'  Segni,  Pope 
Gregory  IX.  (1227-1241),  who  resembled  his  near  relative  Inno- 
cent III.  in  character,  ability,  and  principles ;  and  was  still  vigorous 
under  the  weight  of  eighty  years.  "Frederick  himself  had  charac- 
terized him  as  a  man  of  spotless  reputation,  eminent  for  religion  and 
purity  of  life,  for  eloquence  and  learning."1  His  accession  to  St. 
Peter's  chair  marks  the  beginning  of  "  that  terrific  strife,  for  which 
Emperor  and  Pope  girded  themselves  up  for  the  last  time,"  as  well 
as  a  fresh  starting-point  in  Frederick's  career,  "  with  its  romantic 
adventures,  its  sad  picture  of  marvellous  powers  lost  on  an  age  not 
ripe  for  them,  blasted  as  by  a  curse  in  the  moment  of  victory.  That 
conflict  did  indeed  determine  the  fortunes  of  the  German  kingdom 
no  less  than  of  the  republics  of  Italy  ;  but  it  was  upon  Italian 
ground  that  it  was  fought  out,  and  it  is  to  Italian  history  that  its 
details  belong.  So,  too,  of  Frederick  himself.  Out  of  the  long  array 
of  the  Germanic  successors  of  Charles,  he  is,  with  Otto  III.,  the 
only  one  who  comes  before  us  with  a  genius  and  a  frame  of  cha- 
racter that  are  not  those  of  a  Northern  or  a  Teuton.  There  dwelt 
in  him,  it  is  true,  all  the  energy  and  knightly  valour  of  his  father 
Henry  and  his  grandfather  Barbarossa.  But  along  with  these,  and 
changing  their  direction,  were  other  gifts,  inherited  perhaps  from 
his  Italian  mother  and  fostered  by  his  education  among  the  orange- 
groves  of  Palermo — a  love  of  luxury  and  beauty,  an  intellect  refined, 
subtle,  philosophical.  Through  the  mist  of  calumny  and  fable  it  is 
but  dimly  that  the  truth  of  the  man  can  be  discerned,  and  the  out- 
lines that  appear  serve  to  quicken  rather  than  appease  the  curiosity 
with  which  we  regard  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  personages  in 
history.  A  sensualist,  yet  also  a  warrior  and  a  politician ;  a  pro- 
found lawgiver  and  an  impassioned  poet;  in  his  youth  fired  In- 
crusading  fervour,  in  later  life  persecuting  heretics  while  himself 
accused  of  blasphemy  and  infidelity ;  of  winning  manners  and 
ardently  beloved  by  his  followers,  but  with  the  stain  of  more  than 
one  cruel  deed  upon  his  name; — he  was  the  marvel  of  his  own 
generation,2  and  succeeding  ages  looked  back  with  awe,  not  un- 
mingled  with  pity,  upon  the  inscrutable  figure  of  the  last  Emperor 

1  Pertz,  Leges,  ii.  246  (Feb.  1221);  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  389. 

2  "  Stupor  mundi  Friderieus,"  he  was  called. 


74  FREDERICK  II.  AND  GREGORY  IX.  Chap.  V. 

who  had  braved  all  the  terrors  of  the  Church  and  died  beneath  her 
ban,  the  last  who  had  ruled  from  the  sands  of  the  ocean  to  the  shores 
of  the  Sicilian  Sea.  But  while  they  pitied  they  condemned.  The 
undying  hatred  of  the  Papacy  threw  round  his  memory  a  lurid 
light;  him  and  him  alone,  of  all  the  imperial  line,  Dante,  the 
worshipper  of  the  Empire,  must  perforce  deliver  to  the  flames  of 
hell."1 

§  11.  It  now  appeared  how  fatal  a  bequest  Barbarossa  had  left  to  his 
descendants  by  the  extension  of  his  dominions  over  all  Italy,  and 
especially  by  the  acquisition  of  Naples  and  Sicily,  which  had  been 
for  two  centuries  a  fief  of  the  Holy  See,  Every  Pope  who  had  the 
smallest  share  of  that  ambition,  which  was  now  a  fixed  tradition  01 
the  See,  felt  challenged  to  a  conflict  of  life  and  death  for  his  tem- 
poral rights.  The  "  eel,"  which  Barbarossa  had  confessed  it  so  hard 
to  hold,  became  a  serpent  to  bite  the  hand  that  grasped  it.  And  it 
was  the  fate  of  Frederick  II.  to  have  placed  himself  at  the  Pope's 
mercy  by  his  crusading  vow  with  its  acknowledged  penalty.  Hono- 
rarius  had  temporized,  to  win  Frederick  to  the  enterprise  on  which  his 
own  heart  was  set ;  but  Gregory  cared  more  to  advance  his  power  by 
exacting  the  penalty.  Whether  from  seeing  this,  or  from  a  sincere 
desire  to  perform  his  vow  as  soon  as  he  was  able,  Frederick,  in 
spite  of  the  backwardness  of  all  the  other  powers,  collected  his  forces, 
and  embarked  from  Brindisi  (Sept.  8,  1227);  but,  after  being  three 
days  at  sea,  he  returned  on  the  plea  of  his  own  sickness  and  of  a 
pestilence  among  his  troops.  Upon  this  the  Pope  declared  him 
excommunicate  (Sept.  29),  and  required  all  his  bishops  to  publish 
the  sentence.  Frederick's  solemn  declaration  of  his  sincerity,  in  a 
letter  to  the  Crusaders,  was  answered  by  a  renewed  excommunica- 
tion, to  which  the  Pope  added  a  declaration  that  the  Emperor  had 
forfeited  the  Apulian  kingdom,  and  pronounced  an  interdict  on  all 
places  where  he  might  be  (Maunday  Thursday,  1228). 

To  prove  his  sincerity,  or  at  least  to  remove  the  ostensible  ground 
of  the  sentence,  Frederick  again  set  sail  from  Brindisi  at  the  end  of 
June,  and  landed  at  Acre  on  the  7th  of  September.  This  per- 
severance in  daring  to  proceed  to  the  holy  war  as  an  excommuni- 
cated person  redoubled  his  offence ;  and  then  was  seen  the  strange 
spectacle  of  the  chief  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire,  cursed  by  its 
spiritual  head  and  disowned  by  the  clergy  of  Palestine,  treating 
with  the  Sultan  Kamed  in  a  spirit  of  mutual  friendship,  as  unlike 

1  Inferno,  canto  x. :  "  Qua  entro  e  lo  secondo  Federico."  Bryce  (}>p. 
207-8),  who  quotes  from  the  Liber  August  ilis,  printed  among  Petrarch's 
works,  the  following  curious  description  of  Frederick:  ''  Fuit  armorum 
strenuus,  linguarum  peritus,  rigorosns,  luxuriosus,  epicurus,  nihil  curans 
vel  credens  nisi  temporale  :  fuit  malleus  Romans  ecclesise." 


A.D.  1229.  FREDERICK  AT  JERUSALEM.  75 

as  possible  to  the  zeal  of  Godfrey  or  Coeur-de-Lion.  By  the  treaty 
of  February  1229,  Frederick  obtained  Jerusalem,  with  Nazareth, 
Bethlehem,  Sidon,  and  other  places ;  but  the  site  of  the  Temple, 
venerated  as  it  was  by  both  parties,  remained  in  Moslem  custody, 
though  open  to  the  Christians.  But  the  clergy  and  the  Knights 
of  the  Temple  and  St.  John  joined  in  opposing  Frederick's  claim  to 
the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem  on  the  ground  of  the  Pope's  censure  and 
the  want  of  an  election ;  and  when  Frederick  took  the  crown  from 
the  altar  with  his  own  hands,  the  Archbishop  of  Cffisarea,  in  the 
name  of  the  patriarch,  laid  the  city  and  the  holy  places  under  an 
interdict  because  of  the  pollution. 

The  denunciations  and  charges  of  vice  and  infidelity,  with  which 
the  Pope  pursued  Frederick  at  Jerusalem,  were  accompanied  by  an 
invasion  of  Apulia,  which  brought  him  back  to  Brindisi,  to  the 
surprise  and  discomfiture  of  his  enemies  (June  10).  It  was 
indeed  a  case  suited  to  enlist  the  sympathy  which  was  excited 
by  Frederick's  vindication  of  his  conduct.  "  Excommunicated  by 
Gregory  for  not  going  to  Palestine,  he  went,  and  was  excommuni- 
cated for  going.  Having  concluded  an  advantageous  peace,  he  sailed 
for  Italy,  and  was  a  third  time  excommunicated  for  returning."1 
But  Gregory's  obstinacy  was  forced  to  give  way  before  the  desertions 
of  his  troops  and  the  progress  of  Frederick's  arms;  and  an  agree- 
ment was  made  at  Ceperano,  by  which  the  Emperor  was  absolved 
on  his  submission  as  to  all  matters  for  which  he  had  incurred  ex- 
communication and  the  payment  of  a  large  indemnity  for  the  Pope's 
expenses  (Aug.  1230).  "  Immediately  after  his  absolution,  Frederick 
visited  the  Pope  at  Anagni,  and  both  parties  in  their  letters  express 
great  satisfaction  as  to  their  intercourse  on  this  occasion."2 

§  12.  The  ensuing  few  years'  interval  of  quiet  is  notable  for 
the  ecclesiastical  laws  enacted  both  by  the  Emperor  and  the  Pope. 
The  'Code  of  Melfi'  (1231) — which  Frederick  promulgated  for  his 
Sicilian  dominions — the  work  chiefly  of  his  distinguished  Chan- 
cellor, Peter  delle  Vigne,3  secured  the  temporalities  of  the  Church 
while  controlling  the  pretensions  of  the  hierarchy,  subjecting  them 
to  taxation  and  the  judgment  of  secular  courts,  restricting  their 
jurisdiction  to  matrimonial  cases,  and  forbidding  the  sale  of  land  to 
the  clergy,  or  even  their  holding  it  without  providing  for  the  feudal 
services.  Appeals  to  the  Pope  were  not  allowed  except  in  matters 
purely  spiritual,  and  were  altogether  forbidden  when  the  sovereign 

1  Bryce,  p.  209.  2  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  296. 

3  Peter  delle  Vigne  (in  Latin,  dc  Vineis,  like  our  name  Viney)  was  a 
native  of  Capua,  who  had  risen  from  the  humble  position  of  a  mendicant 
scholar  to  the  highest  place  in  the  Emperor's  confidence.  Besides  his 
learning  as  a  jurist,  he  shared  with  his  master  the  reputation  of  a  poet. 


76  FREDERICK  II.  AND  GREGORY  IX.     Chap.  V. 

and  the  Pope  should  be  at  variance.  The  provision  that  the  King 
might  legitimatize  the  children  of  clergymen  is  a  proof  of  the  still 
surviving  resistance  to  clerical  celibacy. 

On  the  other  hand  "  Gregory,  who  had  been  noted  for  his  skill  in 
canon  law,  put  forth  a  body  of  Decretals,  in  which  the  principles  of 
Hildebrand  and  Innocent  III.  were  carried  to  their  greatest  height. 
According  to  this  code,  the  clergy  were  to  be  wholly  exempt  from 
taxes  and  from  secular  judgment ;  all  secular  law  was  to  be  sub- 
ordinate to  the  law  of  the  Church ;  and  the  secular  power  was  bound 
to  carry  out  obediently  the  Church's  judgment.  There  was,  how- 
ever, one  subject  as  to  which  the  rival  systems  of  law  were  in 
accordance  with  each  other.  While  Gregory  was  severe  in  his 
enactments  against  heresy,  Frederick  was  no  less  so  —  declaring 
heresy  to  be  worse  than  treason,  and  in  this  and  his  other  legisla- 
tion condemning  heretics  to  be  burnt,  or,  at  least,  to  have  their 
tongues  cut  out,  while  he  denounced  heavy^  penalties  against  all 
who  should  harbour  or  encourage  them."1  It  seems  not  unfair  to 
Frederick  to  suppose  that  these  severities  were  designed  partly  as 
an  answer  to  the  imputations  of  heresy  made  against  himself.  It  has 
been  supposed,  too,  that  he  meant  to  use  the  new  laws  against  the 
Lombard  rebels,  on  the  pretext  of  their  being  heretics ;  and  he 
made  the  necessity  of  combatting  heresy  among  the  Italians  an  excuse 
for  not  renewing  the  Crusade. 

§  13.  The  urgent  need  in  which  Gregory  stood  of  Frederick's  aid 
forced  him  to  be  content  with  strong  remonstrances  against  the 
Code  of  Melfi.  The  Pope  had  resided  chiefly  at  Anngni,  and, 
after  he  had  returned  to  Rome,  he  had  been  twice  driven  out. 
Though  the  citizens  had  done  this  chiefly  in  the  cause  of  Frederick, 
the  Emperor  restored  the  Pope  to  the  city  earl}'  in  1235. 

At  Easter,  Frederick  left  Rome  for  Germany,  owing  to  tidings 
(received  at  the  end  of  1234)  that  his  son  and  colleague,  Henry, 
had  raised  a  rebellion,  in  league  with  the  Lombard  cities.  The 
revolt  was  easily  put  down,  and  Henry  was  forgiven  ;2  but  he 
soon   gave    his    father    fresh   provocation,    and    was    confined   in 

1  Pertz,  Leges,  ii.  244,  252,  287-9,  326,  &c. ;  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  pp.  397-8. 
Dean  Milman  has  shown  (Lett.  Christ  v.  390)  that,  in  the  12th,  and  per- 
haps the  11th  century,  heretics  had  been  burnt  in  England,  France,  and 
Germany  ;  but  this  seems  to  be  the  first  legislative  sanction  of  the  practice. 
As  to  the  cutting  of  tongues,  it  is  worth  while  to  mention  the  coincidence, 
that  the  Assyrian  sculptures  and  inscriptions  of  Sennacherib  and  his 
successors  exhibit  the  like  punishment  of  blasphemers  of  the  god  Asshur. 

2  During  this  visit  to  Germany,  Frederick  formed  an  alliance  with 
England  by  marrying  Isabella,  the  "sister  of  Henry  III.  His  second  wife, 
lol.mthe,  had  died  in  childbirth  just  as  he  was  setting  out  for  the 
Crusade. 


A.D.  1241.         DEATH  OF  GREGORY  IX.  77 

various  prisons  of  Southern  Italy.  On  his  way  from  one  of  these 
to  another  Henry  threw  himself  from  his  horse,  and  died  from  the 
injuries  received  in  his  fall1  (1242). 

Meanwhile,  at  Vienna,  which  Frederick  had  entered  as  a  con- 
queror, after  repelling  an  attack  by  the  Duke  of  Austria,  he  pro- 
cured the  election  of  Conrad,  his  son  by  Iolanthe,  as  King  of  the 
Romans  (March  1237) ;  and,  in  the  following  November,  he 
gained  the  decisive  victory  of  Corte  Nuova  over  the  Lombards,  who 
had  renewed  their  league  two  years  before.2 

§  14.  All  this  time  the  Pope  kept  bringing  charges  against  the 
Emperor,  and  sent  repeated  embassies  urging  him  to  submission. 
At  length,  having  secured  the  support  of  Genoa  and  Venice, 
Gregory  pronounced  against  Frederick  the  sentence  of  excommuni- 
cation and  anathema,  releasing  his  subjects  from  their  allegiance, 
on  Palm  Sunday,  1239.  Frederick,  who  was  keeping  Easter  at 
Pavia,  held  a  court  in  full  state,  at  which  he  published  the  Pope's 
bull  and  his  own  answer  to  the  charges,  with  his  refusal  to  submit 
because  the  sentence  was  unjust.  Gregory  rejoined  by  a  most 
violent  letter,  in  which  he  brought  against  Frederick  those  charges 
of  infidelity  and  profanity,  to  which  the  Emperor  gave  a  firm  denial, 
and  for  which  there  seem  to  have  been  no  sufficient  grounds, 
beyond  a  certain  laxity  of  religious  opinion,  and  his  freedom  from 
fanatical  hatred  of  the  Mohammedans.  In  his  rejoinder  he  asserted 
his  orthodoxy,  and  distinguished  between  the  authority  of  the 
Church  and  of  the  Pope,  whose  power  to  bind  and  loose  was  null 
and  void,  if  wrongly  exercised.  It  is  not  uninteresting  to  find  the 
heads  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire  anticipating  Protestant  com- 
mentators in  their  interpretation  of  Apocalyptic  imagery  —  the 
Pope  comparing  Frederick  to  the  beast  with  seven  heads  and  ten 
horns,  having  on  his  'heads  the  names  of  blasphemy ;  while  the 
Emperor  sees  in  Gregory  the  great  red  dragon  and  the  Antichrist. 
The  general  feeling  of  Europe  was  on  the  side  of  Frederick,  whose 
arms  were  successful  in  Italy  ;  and  he  was  for  the  second  time 
threatening    Rome,  when  Pope  Gregory  IX.  died  on  August  21, 

1  Though  Henry  had  been  elected  King  of  the  Romans,  he  is  not  reckoned 
in  the  line  of  kings,  and  the  title  of  Henry  VII.  is  given  to  the  King  and 
Emperor  of  the  Hapsburg  line  (1308-1314). 

2  The  details  of  the  great  and  constantly  renewed  conflict  between 
Frederick  and  the  Lombards  belong  to  civil  history. 

3  See  Canon  Robertson's  discussion  of  the  charges  and  of  Frederick's 
religious  opinions  (vol.  iii.  pp.  389-390,  401-3).  The  specific  charge — 
that  Frederick  had  spoken  of  three  great  impostors  who  had  deluded  the 
world,  and  of  whom  two  had  died  in  honour,  but  the  third  had  been 
hanged  on  a  tree — was  formerly  supposed  to  be  supported  by  a  book  De 
Tribus  Impostoribus,  ascribed  to  Frederick  or  his  chancellor  Peter  ;  but 
this  work  has  been  proved  to  be  a  foreerv  of  the  lHth  centurv. 

II— F 


78  FREDERICK  II.  AND  INNOCENT  IV.  Chap.  V. 

1241.     His  successor,  Celestine  IV.,  survived  him  only  seven- 
teen days,  and  died  without  heing  consecrated. 

§  15.  The  dissensions  in  the  conclave  prolonged  the  vacancy  of  the 
Holy  See  above  a  year  and  a  half,  till  Frederick,  to  whom  the  delay 
was  generally  imputed,  compelled  them  to  an  election  at  Anagni 
(June  25,  1243).  Their  choice  fell  on  Cardinal  Sinibald  Fiesco, 
a  noble  Genoese,  who  had  hitherto  been  an  imperialist,  but  who 
soon  verified  the  reply  of  Frederick,  when  congratulated  on  his 
election,  that,  instead  of  gaining  a  friendly  Pope,  he  had  only  lost 
a  friendly  cardinal,  for  no  Pope  could  be  a  Ghibelline.  "  By 
styling  himself  Innocent  IV.  (1243-1254),  Sinibald  seemed  to 
announce  a  design  of  following  the  policy  of  the  great  Pope  who 
had  last  borne  the  name  of  Innocent ;  and  this  design  he  steadily 
carried  out.  In  some  respects  his  pretensions  exceeded  those  of 
any  among  his  predecessors ;  he  aimed  at  a  power  over  the  Church 
more  despotic  than  anything  before  claimed ;  and  the  vast  host  of 
the  mendicant  friars,  who  were  wholly  devoted  to  the  Papacy, 
enabled  him  to  overawe  any  members  of  the  hierarchy  who  might 
have  been  disposed  to  withstand  his  usurpations.  Yet,  although 
he  was  less  violent  than  Gregory  IX.,  his  pride,  his  rapacity,  and 
the  bitterness  of  his  animosity  against  those  who  opposed  him, 
excited  wide  dissatisfaction ;  and  many  who  were  well  affected  to 
the  Papacy  were  forced  to  declare  that  the  Pope's  quarrels  were 
not  necessarily  the  quarrels  of  all  Christendom."1 

§  16.  From  the  first,  Innocent  took  up  the  charges  against 
Frederick,  against  whom  the  fortune  of  war  turned  at  the  same 
time;  and  the  Pope  entered  Rome  amidst  the  rejoicings  of  the 
people  (Nov.  15,  1243).  After  long  negociations,  Frederick  sub- 
mitted to  hard  terms  of  peace  (March  31,  1244);  but  there  was 
mutual  distrust  as  to  the  execution  of  its  "terms,  and  the  poten- 
tates were  advancing  to  hold  a  personal  interview,  when  Innocent 
suddenly  fled  to  Civita  Vecchia,  and  embarked  for  Genoa.  Thence 
he  crossed  the  Alps  to  Lyon,  which  at  this  time  was  not  in  France, 
but  belonged  to  the  kingdom  of  Burgundy,  while  in  fact  it  was 
independent  under  its  own  archbishop  (Dec.  2).  His  overtures 
for  a  reception  in  England,  France,  or  Arragon,  had  all  been 
rejected — so  strong  was  the  feeling  that  had  been  roused,  especially 
by  the  exactions  of  the  papal  legates  and  collectors ;  but  Innocent 
consoled  himself  with  a  remark  which  shows  the  aim  of  his  policy  : 
"  When  the  great  dragon  is  crushed  or  quieted,  the  king-snakes2 
and  little  serpents  will  soon  be  trodden  down." 

At   Lyon    Innocent    summoned   a   General    Council,   to   which 

1  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  409. 

2  This  word  may  be  allowed  to  represent  the  double  sense  of  rrgulos,  minor 
kings  or  cockatrices.   (Matt.  Paris,  660,  774;  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  411,  note.) 


A.D.  1245.  FIRST  COUNCIL  OF  LYON.  79 

Frederick  was  invited,  but  the  excommunication  was  renewed 
without  waiting  for  his  answer.  He  nevertheless  sent  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Palermo,  and  other  envoys,  headed  by  an  eloquent  and 
learned  jurist,  Thaddeus  of  Sessa.  The  First  Council  of  Lyon 
(the  Thirteenth  (Ecumenical  of  the  Romans),1  was  opened  on 
JSt.  Peter's  Eve  (June  28th,  1245),  the  East  being  represented  by 
the  Latin  Emperor  and  the  Patriarchs  of  Constantinople  and 
Antioch.  The  chief  subjects  for  consultation — which  Innocent 
compared  to  the  Saviour's  five  wounds — were  the  Tartar  invasion 
of  Europe,  the  schism  of  the  Greeks,  the  prevalence  of  various 
heresies,  the  state  of  the  Holy  Land,  and  the  enmity  of  the  Em- 
peror ;  but  the  last  was  the  real  object  of  the  convocation. 
Notwithstanding  offers  from  Frederick,  whjch  the  Pope  himself 
admitted  to  be  fair  if  only  he  had  sureties  for  their  performance,  the 
able  defence  of  his  master  by  Thaddeus  (who  finally  appealed  to 
a  future  Pope,  and  to  a  more  impartial  Council),  and  the  desire  of 
the  French  and  English  envoys  that  the  sentence  might  be  deferred, 
the  synod,  at  its  third  session,  decreed  the  deposition  of  Frederick. 
The  German  princes  were  directed  to  choose  another  King,  while  the 
Pope  claimed  to  dispose  of  the  kingdom  of  Sicily  in  consultation 
with  his  cardinals  (July  17th). 

§  17.  On  receiving  the  sentence  at  Turin,  Frederick  declared 
himself  released  from  all  obedience,  reverence,  love,  or  other  duty 
towards  the  Pope,  whom  he  upbraided  for  his  luxury,  extravagance, 
blood-guiltiness,  and  neglect  of  his  pastoral  duties ;  and  he  defied 
Pope  or  Council  to  deprive  him  of  his  crown  without  a  bloody 
struggle.  A  cruel  war  was  forthwith  begun  in  North  Italy,  while 
in  Sicily  a  revolt  was  stirred  up  by  papal  emissaries,  who  preached 
a  crusade  against  the  King;  but  we  cannot  dwell  on  the  details  of 
the  conflict,  in  which  both  parties  were  equally  violent,  while  the 
Pope  was  the  more  obstinate  in  rejecting  all  terms  or  mediation. 

In  Germany  a  rival  was  found,  with  some  difficulty,  in  Henry, 
Landgrave  of  Thuringia,  who  was  elected  King  by  the  great  Khenish 
prelates  (Vlay  22nd,  1246),  but  died  nine  months  later  after  a 
defeat  by  Frederick's  son,  Conrad  (Feb.  1247).  His  successor, 
William,  count  of  Holland,  a  youth  of  twenty,  had  little  more 
than  the  name  of  royalty.  Meanwhile  the  successful  career  of 
Frederick  in  Italy  was  rapidly  turned  to  utter  reverse  by  his  repulse 
at  the  siege  of  Parma  (Feb.  1248),  where  he  lost  Thaddeus  and 
other  faithful  friends,  and  by  the  treason  of  his  chancellor,  Peter  delle 
Vigne.  Sick  in  body  and  mind,  and  with  his  temper  exasperated 
to  ferocious  cruelty,  he  was  at  length  struck  with  palsy,  and  died  at 
Fiorentino  in  the  Capitanata  (Dec.  13,  1250). 

1  But  it  is  not  admitted  by  the  Gallican  Church. 


80  END  OF  THE  HOHENSTAUFEN  LINE.  Chap.  V. 

On  his  death-bed  he  was  reconciled  to  the  Church ;  -and  his  will 
directed  that  her  rights  should  be  restored,  but  on  condition  that 
she  restored  the  rights  of  the  Empire.  He  was  buried  beside  his 
parents  in  the  cathedral  of  Palermo. 

§  18.  That  royal  and  imperial  tomb  was  all  that  remained  of  the 
dominion  set  up  by  Barbarossa  in  the  south  ;  but  it  belongs  to  oivil 
history  to  relate  the  complicated  fortunes  of  the  Sicilian  kingdom. 
Lombardy  also  was  virtually  severed  from  the  Empire  by  Frederick's 
death ;  and  even  in  Germany  the  crown  lost  its  imperial  splendour. 
"  With  Frederick  fell  the  Empire.  From  the  ruin  that  overwhelmed 
the  greatest  of  its  houses  it  emerged,  living,  indeed,  and  destined  to 
a  long  life,  but  so  shattered,  crippled,  and  degraded,  that  it  could 
never  be  to  Europe  and  to  Germany  what  it  had  once  been."1 

The  "  likeness  of  the  kingly  crown  "  of  Hohenstaufen  was  indeed 
prolonged  for  four  troubled  years.  The  will  of  Frederick  had  ap- 
pointed Conrad  IV.  (1250-1254)  the  heir  of  all  his  dominions,  and 
his  illegitimate  son,  Manfred,  to  be  regent  in  Italy  and  Sicily 
during  Conrad's  absence.  Innocent  launched  a  new  excommunica- 
tion against  Conrad,  and  wrote  to  the  Germans  that  "  Herod  was 
dead,  but  Archelaus  reigned  in  the  room  of  his  father."2  He  even 
offered  the  hereditary  lands  of  the  Swabian  duchy  to  any  one  who 
could  seize  them.  Germany  fell  into  complete  anarchy;  while 
Conrad  crossed  the  Alps,  and,  after  reducing  Naples,  died  at  the 
age  of  twenty-six  (May  20,  1254),  the  last  king  of  the  house  of 
Hohenstaufen.3  He  left  an  infant  son  only  two  years  old,  named 
also  Conrad,  but  called  commonly  by  the  diminutive,  Conradin. 

Innocent  now  claimed  the  Sicilian  kingdom,  as  having  lapsed  to 
its  suzerain,  St.  Peter,  and  on  his  progress  to  take  possession  of  it  he 
was  well  received  by  the  people,  who  were  tired  both  of  Saracen  and 
German  rule.  He  had  reached  Naples,  when  he  received  a  mortal 
shock  from  the  news  of  a  victo^  gained  by  Manfred  over  his  troops 
at  Foggia,  and  he  died  five  days  later  (Dec.  7, 1254).  "  We  are  told 
by  a  Guelfic  chronicler  that  on  his  death-bed  he  often  repeated  the 
penitential  words,  'Thou,  Lord,  with  rebukes  hast  chastened  man 
for  sin.' 4  A  story  of  different  character  is  told  by  Matthew  Paris — 
that,  as  the  Pope  lay  on  his  death-bed,  surrounded  by  his  weeping 
relations,  he  roused  himself  to  rebuke  them  by  asking,  '  Why  do 
you  cry,  wretches  ?     Have  I  not  made  you  all  rich  ?' "  5 

1  Bryce,  p.  210.  We  must  be  content  to  refer  to  Dr.  Bryce's  admirable 
sketch  of  the  decline  of  the  Empire,  and  the  essential  difference  of  its 
character  under  the  Hapsburgs  from  what  it  had  been  under  the  Saxon, 
Franconian,  and  Hohenstaufen  Emperors. 

2  Matt.  ii.  22.  3  Conrad  II.  never  became  Emperor. 

4  Annul.  Par  mens.  ap.  Pertz,  xviii.  77  (Ps.  xxviii.  12,  Vulg.). 

5  Matt.  Par.  897  ;  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  426. 


Basilica  of  the  Lateran.    (San  Giovanni  in  Laterano.) 

CHAPTER    VI. 

END    OF    THE    PAPAL    SUPREMACY. 

FROM    THE     ELECTION    OF    ALEXANDER    IV.     TO     THE     DEATHS     OF 
BONIFACE   VIII.    AND   BENEDICT   XI.       A.D.   1254—1304. 

1.  Pope  Alexander  IV.— Germany :  Richard,  Earl  of  Cornwall,  and 
Alfonso  X.  of  Castile— Manfred,  King  of  Sicily.  §  2.  Pope 
Urban  IV.  offers  the  crown  of  Sicily  to  Charles  of  Anjou— Pope 
Clement  IV.  crowns  him— Defeat  and  Death  of  Manfred— Enterprise 
and  Execution  of  Conradin.  §  3.  Triumph  of  the  Papacy  and  be- 
ginning of  its  Decline— St.  Louis  IX.  of  France— His  First  Crusade, 
Captivity  in  Egypt,  and  Return.  §  4.  His  Ecclesiastical  Policy— His 
Pragmatic  Sanction  of  1269— His  Treatment  of  Heretics  and  Jews.  §  5 
The  Second  Crusade  of  St.  Louis— His  Death  at  Carthage— Edward  I 
of  England  in  Palestine— End  of  the  Crusades  and  of  the  Christian  King- 
dom in  Palestine.  §  6.  Philip  III.,  King  of  France-Power  of  Charles 
in  Italy— Papal  Vacancy,  and  election  of  Gregory  X.— His  devotion  to 
the  Crusades— Rudolf  I.,  of  Hapsburg,  elected  King  of  the  Romans- 
Change  in  the  character  of  the  Empire,  and  diminished  power  of  the 


82  END  OF  THE  PAPAL  SUPREMACY.     Chap.  VI. 

German  kingdom.  §  7.  Attempt  to  reconcile  the  Latin  and  Greek 
Churches — Michael  VIII.  Pal^Ologus — Second  Council  of  Lyon — 
New  Rule  for  Papal  Elections  by  the  Cardinals  in  Conclave.  §  8. 
Rudolf  and  the  Pope — Death  of  Gregory  X. — Rapid  Succession  of 
Innocent  V.,  Adrian  V.,  and  John  XXI.  §  9.  Nicolas  III. — 
Martin  IV. — Designs  of  Charles  of  Sicily — Insurrection  :  the  "  Sicilian 
Vespers  " — Peter  of  Arragon  in  Sicily — Honorius  IV. — Nicolas  IV. 
§  10.  Papal  Vacancy — Election  and  Abdication  of  Celestine  V. — 
Benedict  Gaetani  made  Pope  Boniface  VIII. — His  Character  and 
Schemes — Obstacles  to  his  Policy.  §  11.  His  persecution  of  the 
Colonnas — His  policy  in  Italy  and  Germany — Adolf  of  Nassau  and 
Albert  I.  §  12.  The  Pope's  contests  with  Edward  I.  of  England, 
and  Philip  IV.  (the  Fair)  of  France — Taxation  of  the  Clergy — The 
Bull  Clericis  Laicos — Strong  Measures  of  Philip.  §.  13.  The  Jubilee 
of  1300.  §  14.  Claim  of  Papal  suzerainty  over  Scotland — Reply  of 
the  English  Parliament.  §  15.  Progress  of  the  Quarrel  with  France 
— Bulls  against  the  King— §  16.  The  Bull  Ausculta  fill  burnt  by  Philip 
— Assembly  of  the  States-General— Papal  Consistory.  §  17.  Council 
at  Rome — Extreme  assertion  of  the  Pope's  temporal  supremacy  in  the 
Bull  Unam  Sanctam.  §  18.  Philip  cited  to  Rome — Mutual  defiances 
and  preparations.  §  19.  Consistory  at  Anagni — Bull  prepared  for  the 
deposition  of  Philip — Imprisonment,  release,  and  death,  of  Boniface  VIII. 
— The  turning-point  of  the  Papal  supremacy — Its  power  never  re- 
covered.    §  20.  Brief  Pontificate  of  Benedict  XI. 

§  1.  The  new  Pope,  Alexander  IV.  (1254-1261),  a  zealous  Francis- 
can, and  nephew  of  Gregory  IX.,  had  the  will  without  the  ability  to 
carry  on  the  system  of  his  two  predecessors  ;  and  "  while  he  is  praised 
for  his  piety  and  for  his  kindly  disposition,  he  is  said  to  have  been 
the  dupe  of  flatterers,  and  a  tool  of  those  who  made  the  Roman 
court  odious  by  their  rapacity  and  extortion."  l  Under  him  and 
his  two  successors  the  chief  interest  of  our  subject  centres  in  the 
sequel  of  the  struggle  between  the  Papacy  and  the  Hohenstaufen 
interest  in  the  Sicilian  kingdom.  For  the  rest,  it  is  enough  to  say 
that,  in  Germany,  after  the  death  of  William  of  Holland  (1250), 
the  kingly  power  was  merely  nominal,  during  the  "  Great  Interreg- 
num "  and  the  rivalry  of  Richard,  Earl  of  Cornwall  (brother  of 
Henry  111.  of  England),  who  was  crowned  but  never  really  reigned 
(1257-1271),  and  Alfonso  X.  of  Castile  (1257-1273),  who  never 
set  foot  in  Germany  ;  while  in  Northern  Italy  the  fierce  factions  of 
Guelph  and  C.hibelline  merged  ecclesiastical  in  political  conflicts. 
The  sum  of  the  Papal  victory  in  the  long  contest  with  the  Empire 

1  Matt.  Par.  897  ;  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  450.  The  Franciscan  Salim- 
bene  gives  the  following  terse  description  of  the  person  and  character  of 
Alexander  :  "  Gross  us  (i.e.  corpulentus)  et  crassus  rait,  sicut  alter  Eglon  ; 
beniguus,  clemens,  pins,  Justus,  ef  timoratus  fuit,  et  Deo  devotus. 


A.D.  1258.  MANFRED,  KING  OF  SICILY.  83 

was,  Germany  distracted,  Italy  dismembered,  England  and  other 
states  disgusted  with  the  encroachments  and  exactions  of  Home,  and 
— as  we  shall  presently  see — France  a  helper  so  much  too  powerful, 
that  she  was  soon  to  humble  both  the  Papacy  and  the  Empire. 

In  the  Sicilian  kingdom  the  papal  power  was  resisted  by  the  able 
and  accomplished  Manfred,  who  had  thrown  himself  into  the  strong- 
hold of  Luceria,  which  was  held  by  a  mixed  garrison  of  Germans 
and  Saracens,1  who  were  less  hated  by  the  people  than  the  Germans. 
Manfred's  reliance  on  his  Saracen  soldiers  was  a  chief  source  of 
his  strength,  but  the  papal  party  made  it  a  ground  of  accusation 
against  his  Christianity.  The  refusal  by  the  Pope  of  a  partition  of 
the  kingdom  left  him  no  choice  but  submission  or  war  ;  and  he 
had  nearly  regained  the  whole,  when,  on  a  report  of  Conradin's  death 
in  Germany,  which  his  enemies  accuse  him  of  inventing,  the  people 
cried  for  Manfred  to  be  king,  and  he  was  crowned  at  Palermo 
(Aug.  11,  1258).  The  claim  of  Edmund,  the  young  second  son  of 
Henry  III.  of  England,  to  whom  Innocent  had  offered  the  crown, 
was  a  source  of  embarrassment  to  the  English  king  rather  than  of 
danger  to  Manfred,2  whose  able  administration  gained  him  the  sup- 
port of  the  people  against  the  censures  of  the  Church.  The  Pope  was 
fain  to  reopen  negociations ;  but,  when  he  asked  for  the  dismissal  of 
the  Saracen  troops,  Manfred  replied  that  he  would  fetch  over  as 
many  more  from  Africa  (1260).  Soon  after  this  the  Pope,  who  had 
been  driven  out  from  Rome3  in  1257,  died  at  Viterbo,  May  25, 1261. 

§  2.  His  more  vigorous  successor,  Urban  IV.  (1261-1264),  a 
native  of  France,4  finding  that  no  more  money  was  to  be  got  from 
England,  offered  the  crown  of  Sicily  to  Louis  IX.  of  France  for  one 
of  his  sons.  The  pious  King  preferred  his  own  sense  of  the  prior  rights 
of  Conradin  and  Edmund  to  the  assurances  of  the  Pope  ;  but  his  am- 
bitious brother,  Charles  of  Anjou,  was  troubled  by  no  such  scruples. 
The  Pope  obtained  a  cession  of  Edmund's  claim  in  return  for  a 
renewed  censure  against  the  barons,  whose  contest  with  Henry  III. 

1  There  was  still  a  considerable  remnant  of  the  old  Saracen  conquerors 
in  Southern  Italy  ;  and  Frederick  II. — one  of  whose  greatest  offences  was 
his  favour  to  his  Mohammedan  subjects — had  permitted  Saracen  colonies 
to  settle  in  Luceria  and  Nocera. 

2  The  sums  of  money  raised  in  England  for  this  enterprize,  but  wasted 
by  the  English  and  Roman  courts,  formed  one  chief  ground  of  quarrel 
between  Henry  and  his  subjects. 

3  For  the  political  state  of  Rome — where  the  republican  party  still 
rejected  the  temporal  government  of  the  Pope — and  the  rule  and  fortunes 
of  the  Senator  Brancaleone,  see  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  pp.  426-7. 

4  James  Pantaleon,  the  son  of  a  poor  cobbler  at  Troyes,  had  risen  by 
his  skill  in  diplomatic  missions.  He  was  now  Patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  and, 
arriving  at  Viterbo  when  the  Cardinals  had  been  debating  for  three  months 
on  a  successor  to  Alexander,  he  was  elected  to  the  vacant  chair. 


84  END  OF  THE  PAPAL  SUPREMACY.     Chap.  VI. 

was  near  its  climax ; *  and  a  Crusade  against  Manfred  was  preached 
in  France  (1263).  The  Koman  people,  among  whom  Manfred  had 
had  a  strong  party,  now  preferred  Charles  to  him  in  the  election  of 
a  Senator,  and  the  prince  used  this  advantage  to  make  better  terms 
with  the  Pope.  Instead  of  a  partition  of  Southern  Italy,  Charles 
was  to  have  the  whole,  except  the  papal  city  of  Benevento,  (besides 
other  advantages,)  in  return  for  his  promise  to  resign  the  senator- 
ship  as  soon  as  he  was  in  possession  of  the  kingdom. 

Meanwhile  Manfred  had  won  most  of  the  papal  territory,  and 
his  advance  on  Rome  caused  the  Pope's  flight  to  Perugia,  where  he 
arrived  and  died  on  the  same  day  (Oct.  2, 1264).  He  was  succeeded 
by  another  Frenchman,  Clement  IV.  (1265-1268),  whose  name 
(as  with  many  other  Popes)  was  a  satire  on  his  character  and  rule.2 
He  had  been  eminent  as  a  lawyer,  and  had  assisted  Louis  IX.  in 
his  legislation.  He  was  fully  prepared  to  espouse  the  cause  of 
Charles  ;  but,  when  the  prince  arrived  at  Rome  (May  1265)  with 
few  men  and  no  money,  Clement  bitterly  remarked  that  he  could 
do  nothing  for  Charles  except  by  a  miracle,  and  for  this  his  own 
merits  were  not  sufficient.  Further  offence  was  given  by  the  prince's 
arrogance  and  exactions,  but  their  common  interests  prevailed ; 
Charles  was  invested  with  the  Sicilian  kingdom  on  new  con- 
ditions, and  the  Pope  crowned  him  with  his  wife  at  St.  Peter's  at 
Epiphany  (Jan.  6,  1266).8  The  crusade  which  the  Pope  pro- 
claimed against  Manfred  gathered  to  Charles's  banners  a  host  of 
reckless  adventurers,  who  were  a  terror  to  the  whole  country.  The 
complaints  of  Clement  and  the  want  of  supplies  hastened  the  march 
of  Charles,  who  won  a  decisive  victory  at  Benevento  (Feb.  26), 
where  Manfred's  defeat  and  death  crushed  the  Ghibelline  party 
throughout  Southern  Italy.  But  the  tyranny  and  exactions  of  the 
new  king  prepared  the  people  to  welcome  the  gallant  but  rash 
attempt  of  Conradin,  the  son  of  Conrad  IV.,  to  recover  his  in- 
heritance. This  last  scion  of  the  Hohenstaufen,  now  a  handsome 
and  accomplished  youth  of  fifteen,  was  encouraged  by  his  grand- 

1  Urban  confirmed  the  release  which  Alexander  IV.  had  given  Henry  III. 
from  his  oath  to  observe  the  Provisions  of  Oxford.  These  are  far  from 
the  only  examples  in  our  history  of  the  Papal  standard  of  good  faith  ;  and 
it  was  characteristic  of  Edward  I.,  that  he  refused  to  accept  the  dispen- 
sation from  his  oath,  and  preferred  his  own  maxim,  Pactum  serva. 

2  "  Clemens,  cujus  nomen  ab  effectu  non  modice  distat."  Matins  of 
Monza,  ap.  Pertz.  xvii.  517  ;  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  458.  The  different 
dates  given  for  his  accession  (Oct.  1264,  and  Feb.  1265),  may  be  probably 
accounted  for  by  the  interval  between  his  election  and  his  acceptance,  as  he 
was  absent  on  a  legation  in  England. 

3  This  was  the  first  coronation  of  any  sovereign  at  St.  Peter's,  except 
as  Emperor. 


A.D.  1220-70.  ST.  LOUIS  IX.,  KttsG  OF  FRANCE.  85 

father's  example  to  disregard  the  cautious  counsels  of  his  mother 
and  the  threats  of  the  Pope.  We  need  not  dwell  on  the  details 
of  his  enterprise,  which,  after  a  bright  dawn  of  success,  ended  with 
his  defeat  and  capture  at  Tagliacozzo  (Aug.  23,  1268),  and  his 
execution  at  Naples  after  the  mockery  of  a  trial  (Oct.  29).1  On  that 
day  month  the  Pope  died  at  Viterbo  (Nov.  29). 

§  3.  The  fall  of  the  last  Hohenstaufen  signalized  the  triumph  of 
the  Papacy  in  Italy,  so  long  its  great  field  of  battle  with  the  Empire  ; 
but  it  had  already  turned  the  summit  towards  that  rapid  descent  of 
humiliation,  of  which  the  chief  instrument  was  the  very  power  it 
had  helped  to  strengthen  against  the  Empire.  We  have  seen,  in  the 
ninth  and  tenth  centuries,  how  slowly  the  Frank  Church  yielded  to 
the  supremacy  of  Ptome  ;  and  we  have  now  to  witness  the  re-asser- 
tion of  the  liberties  of  the  Gallican  Church  by  that  most  devout  of 
sovereigns  whom  Pome  herself  has  canonized.  Saint  Louis,  the 
ninth  French  king  of  that  name  (1226-1270),  though  not  con- 
spicuous for  intellectual  gifts  or  military  skill,  shines  in  history 
above  almost  every  other  sovereign  by  the  purer  lustre  of  piety 
and  moral  principle,  acted  out  consistently  through  his  life : — 

"  Where  shall  the  Holy  Cross  find  rest  ? 

On  a  crown'd  monarch's  mailed  breast : 
Like  some  bright  angel  o'er  the  darkling  scene, 
Through  court  and  camp  he  holds  his  heavenward  course  seiene."2 

Even  those  who  distrust  the  sympathy  of  the  Christian  poet  may  accept 
the  testimony  of  Voltaire — "  It  is  not  given  to  man  to  carry  virtue 
to  a  higher  point."  The  King's  scrupulous  moderation  in  making  use  of 
advantages  proved  a  gain  to  him,  instead  of  a  loss,  as  it  gave  confidence 
in  his  justice ;  and  no  sovereign  ever  exercised  a  more  wide-spread  in- 
fluence over  his  age.  The  details  of  his  career,  even  in  ecclesiastical 
affairs,  must  be  left  to  the  special  annals  of  France;3  but  some 
points  of  it  are  inseparable  from  the  general  history  of  the  Church. 

It  was  his  peculiar  distinction  above  other  sovereigns  to  be 
the  leader  of  two  Crusades,  almost  without  allies.  In  1244, 
a  new  cry  for  help  came  from  Palestine.  The  Latin  Christians 
had    enjoyed    for   fifteen  years  the  fruit    of  the    much-maligned 

1  The  part  of  Clement  IV.  in  this  atrocious  deed  has  been  very  differ- 
ently represented.  Canon  Robertson  (vol.  iii.  p.  464)  adopts  the  statement 
of  some  authorities,  that  the  Pope  interceded  for  Conradin,  adding,  "the 
story  that  Clement,  on  being  consulted  by  Charles,  answered  '  Vita  Cor- 
radini  mors  Caroli  ;  mors  Corradini  vita  Caroli,' — although  adopted  by 
Giannone  (iii.  294) — is  now  generally  rejected,"  and  quoting,  in  support 
of  this  view,  Raynald,  Tillemont,  Schrockh,  Sismondi,  Von  Raumer,  and 
Milman.  On  the  other  hand,  Dr.  Bryce  says  (p.  211),  "  The  murder  of 
Frederick's  grandson  Conradin  was  the  suggestion  of  Pope  Clement,  the 
deed  of  Charles  of  France." 

2  Keble's  Christian  Year:  Advent  Sunday. 

3  See  the  Student's  France,  chap.  ix. 

II— F  2 


86  END  OF  THE  PAPAL  SUPREMACY.     Chap.  VI. 

policy  of  Frederick  II.,  when  they  were  overwhelmed  by  the 
irruption  of  the  Chorasmians  (or  Carizmians),  a  barbarous  horde, 
who,  flying  from  northern  Persia  before  the  Mongols,  defeated 
the  united  Moslem  and  Frank  defenders  of  Syria,  and  sacked  Jeru- 
salem. The  Christian  sovereigns  were  too  much  occupied  with 
their  own  troubles  to  venture  on  the  Crusade  which  was  proposed 
at  the  Council  of  Lyon  (see  p.  79),  and  it  was  a  tribute  to  the  good 
government  which  Louis  IX.  had  established,  when  Henry  III. 
said,  "  The  King  of  France  may  go,  for  his  people  may  follow  him." 

In  the  same  autumn,  the  sudden  recovery  of  Louis  from  what 
seemed  a  fatal  sickness,  as  soon  as  the  cross  was  placed  in  his  hands, 
bound  his  couscience  to  the  expedition,  on  which  he  started  for 
Egypt  in  June  1248,  and  which  ended,  after  a  series  of  disasters, 
in  his  surrender  to  the  Saracens  at  Damietta  (April  8th,  1250).1 
After  being  ransomed,  he  spent  some  time  in  Palestine,  strengthening 
the  places  still  held  by  the  Christians,  and  attempting  the  harder 
task  of  reconciling  them  to  one  other  ;  and  he  returned  home  in 
1254,  after  an  absence  of  six  years.  Innocent  IV.  had  proved  the 
warm  sympathy,  which  he  expressed  for  the  captive  King,  by 
diverting  much  of  the  money  raised  for  his  ransom  to  his  own 
crusade  against  Frederick  and  Conrad  ;  but  the  retribution  fol- 
lowed quickly,  for  the  struggle  of  the  Popes  to  make  Italy  their 
own  left  them  powerless  to  resist  the  national  policy  of  Louis. 

§  4.  A  chronicler  testifies  that  the  King's  conversation  after  his 
first  Crusade  was  better  than  before,  as  gold  is  better  than  silver.2 
His  opposition  to  the  assumptions  of  Rome  was  the  fruit  of  his 
piety,  rather  than  a  contrast  to  it,  since  it  sprang  from  his  deep 
sense  of  law  and  justice.  The  knowledge  that  his  firmness  was 
based  on  a  pure  conscience  of  right  and  wrong  often  silenced  clerical 
resistance  and  encroachments ;  and  "  thus  the  saintly  reputation  of 
the  King  enabled  him  to  assert  with  success,  and  almost  without 
question,  principles  which  would  have  drawn  on  any  ordinary 
sovereign  the  charge  of  impiety  and  hostility  to  the  Church." 3  With 
consummate  prudence  he  refrained  from  invading  the  immunities 
of  the  clergy  by  his  own  authority  ;  "  but  he  gained  the  substantial 
acknowledgment  of  the  rights  of  the  state  by  prevailing  on  Alex- 
ander IV.  to  allow  that  the  King's  officials  should  not  be  liable  to 
excommunication  for  arresting  criminal  clerks  in  flagrant  delict, 
provided  that  they  held  them  at  the  disposal  of  the  ecclesiastical 
courts."  4     To  the  persistent  claim  of  Hildebrand  and  his  successors, 

1  For  the  details  of  this  Sixth  (or  Sere»th)  Crusade,  see  the  Student's 
Gibbon,  p.  568,  the  Student's  France,  chap.  ix.  §  6,  Robertson,  vol.  iii. 
pp.  443-9 ;  and  Milman,  who  draws  a  striking  contrast  between  Fre- 
derick II.  and  St.  Louis  (L<tt.  Christ.,  Bk.  XI.  c.  1). 

2  W.  Nang.  ap.  Bouq.  xx   392,  quoted  by  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  464. 

3  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.   165.  4   Ibid. 


A.D.  12G9.  ST,  LOUIS  AND  THE  PAPACY.  87 

that  all  earthly  crowns  were  held  by  the  gift  of  the  "Vicar  of  Christ, 
Louis  opposed  the  declaration,  that  "  the  King  of  France  holdeth 
of  no  one  save  God  and  himself."1  The  crowning  act  of  his  eccle- 
siastical legislation  was  the  Pragmatic  Sanction,2  put  forth  in  1269, 
which  is  justly  regarded  as  the  foundation  of  the  liberties  of  the 
Gallican  Church,  though  its  provisions  were  often  invaded  both  by 
Popes  and  kings.  It  was,  in  fact,  a  protest  against  crying  abuses, 
which  time  and  strength  were  still  required  to  extinguish.  The 
edict  provided  that  no  tax  or  pecuniary  exaction  should  be  levied 
by  the  Pope  without  consent  of  the  king  and  the  national  Church  ; 
that  churches  should  possess  their  rights  to  the  election  of  bishops, 
and  other  patronage,  free  from  papal  interference  ;  and  that  all 
prelates  and  other  patrons  should  enjoy  their  full  rights  as  to  the 
collation  of  benefices  according  to  the  Canons.3  Like  most  declara- 
tions of  right  that  have  been  fruitful  of  results,  the  Pragmatic 
Sanction  is  remarkable  for  its  unrevolutionary  moderation.  As 
Sismondi  observes,  it  introduces  no  new  right,  changes  nothing  in 
the  ecclesiastical  organization,  and,  with  the  exception  of  the  article 
concerning  the  levy  of  money  by  the  Roman  court,  it  contains 
nothing  which  that  court  itself  might  not  have  published. 

The  moderation  of  St.  Louis  tempered  even  his  abhorrence  of 
heresy  and  heretics,  whose  repression  by  the  sword  he  rather  held 
as  a  principle  than  practised  it  with  the  cruelty  which  disgraced  the 
age.  "No  one,"  he  said,  "  ought  to  dispute  with  Jews  unless  he 
be  a  very  good  clerk ;  but  the  layman,  when  he  heareth  the 
Christian  law  spoken  against,  ought  not  to  defend  it  save  with  the 
sword,  which  he  should  thrust  as  far  as  it  will  go  into  the  unbe- 
liever's belly."  But  the  pious  Louis  practised  no  such  severities  as 
the  latitudinarian  Frederick;  the  cruel  deeds  in  Languedoc  were 
committed  without  his  consent,  and  it  seems  due  to  him  that  the 
inquisition  was  never  established  elsewhere  in  France.4  He  deserves 
credit  for  the  rare  consistency  of  proving  his  horror  of  the  Jews  by 
refusing  to  make  use  of  their  property ;  and  he  ordered  them  to  for- 
sake usury  or  to  leave  his  kingdom,  in  spite  of  the  plea  of  his 
counsellors  that,  when  they  were  driven  out,  Christians  proved  still 
worse  usurers. 

1  In  his  "  Establishments,"  Liv.  i.  c.  78,  in  Ordonnances  des  Eois  de 
France,  i.  169  ;  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  465. 

2  The  term  pragmatic  was  derived  from  the  Byzantine  Empire,  sig- 
nifying an  ordinance  issued  by  the  sovereign  after  deliberation  (irpay/xa, 
irpay/JLaTeia)  with  his  counsellors. 

3  As  to  the  genuineness  and  provisions  of  this  edict  see  Hallam's  Middle 
Ages,  vol.  ii.  p.  214  (ed.  1872),  with  the  additional  notes. 

4  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  441  ;  Milman,  I.e.  Languedoc  was  no  part  of 
Louis'  territories  ;  nor  was  Champagne,  where  104  alleged  Manicheans  were 
burnt  alive  in  1239.     On  these  matters  see  Chaps.  XXXVII  ,  XXXVIII. 


88  END  OF  THE  PAPAL  SUPREMACY.     Chap.  VI. 

§  5.  The  cherished  purpose  of  his  last  years  was  to  fulfil  the  vow 
which  he  legarded  as  only  postponed  by  his  failure  in  Egypt.  In 
1267  Louis  solemnly  took  the  cross,  with  his  three  sons  and  many 
of  his  nobles,  and  the  example  was  followed  by  the  heir  of 
England,  Edward,  who  had  just  restored  peace  to  his  father's  king- 
dom. The  zeal  of  Louis  was  quickened  by  the  fall  of  Antioch 
(May  1268) ;  and,  though  too  ill  to  bear  his  armour,  he  set  out  on 
what  proved  the  last  of  the  Crusades,1  in  March  1270.  On  arriving 
at  Sardinia,  the  expedition  was  carried  over  to  Africa,  probably  to 
enforce  the  claim  of  Charles  of  Sicily  for  tribute  from  the  Sultan  of 
Tunis,  for  whose  conversion  Louis  thought  he  had  grounds  to  hope. 
Arriving  in  sight  of  Tunis  on  July  17,  the  Crusaders  disembarked 
next  day  on  the  famous  peninsula  where  Carthage  had  once  stood  ; 
and  while  they  lay  inactive  for  a  month,  waiting  the  arrival  of 
Charles  from  Sicily,  the  African  sun  and  the  vapours  of  the  lagoon 
bred  a  pestilence  in  the  camp.  Among  the  earliest  victims  was 
the  King's  younger  son,  John  Tristan ;  and  the  enfeebled  frame  of 
Louis  himself  succumbed  after  a  sickness  of  twenty  days,  spent  in 
devotion  and  wise  counsels  to  his  son  and  successor,  Philip.  At 
last  he  caused  himself  to  be  laid  on  a  bed  of  ashes,  and — uttering 
the  words  "I  will  enter  into  thy  house,  0  Lord,  I  will  worship  in 
thy  holy  tabernacle," — he  expired  at  the  age  of  fifty-six  years,  of 
which  he  had  reigned  forty-four  (Aug.  25,  1270).  St.  Louis  was 
canonized  by  a  Bull  of  Pope  Boniface  VIII.  (Aug.  11,  1297) 

Charles  arrived  just  too  late  to  see  his  brother  alive,  and  found  the 
new  King,  Philip  III.,  surnamed  the  Bold  {Je  Eardi,  1270-1285), 
seemingly  at  the  point  of  death.  His  military  skill  won  two 
sanguinary  battles,  and  extorted  from  the  Sultan  an  advantageous 
peace,  including  a  yearly  tribute  to  the  Sicilian  crown.  The  sur- 
vivors returned  to  France,  professing  the  intention  to  recruit  their 
forces  for  resuming  the  Crusade ;  but  it  was  only  carried  on  by 
Edward  of  England,  who  reached  Tunis  after  the  departure  of  Philip, 
and,  though  his  force  numbered  only  1200  lances,  he  sailed  in  the 
spring  from  Sicily  to  Acre,  now  the  only  place  left  to  the  Latin 
Christians  in  Palestine.  Edward  signalized  his  chivalrous  courage 
and  improved  his  great  military  talents  in  the  defence  of  Acre,  the 
capture  of  Nazareth,  and  other  daring  exploits ;  but  his  small  army 
could,  of  course,  effect  nothing  of  any  permanent  importance,  and 
his  truce  with  the  Sultan  Bibars  for  10  years,  10  months,  and 
10  days,  marks  the  epoch  of  the  End  of  the  Crusades  (Aug.  1272). 
Within  twenty  years  the  capture  of  Acre  by  the  Sultan  Khalid 
destroyed  the  last  remnant  of  the  Latin  Christian  kingdom  of 
Palestine  (see  §  9). 

1  This  last  Crusade  is  variously  reckoned  the  Seventh  or  the  Eighth.  As 
to  the  details,  see  the  works  referred  to  for  the  preceding  Crusade. 


A.D.  1271.     GREGORY  X.— RUDOLF  OF  HAPSBURG.       89 

§  6.  While  Edward  was  still  at  Acre,  the  news  arrived  that  one 
of  his  companions  in  the  Crusade,  Theobald,  formerly  archdeacon 
of  Liege,  had  been  elected  Pope  (Sept.  1, 1271).  The  Papal  Chair  had 
been  kept  vacant  for  three  years  through  the  factions  in  the  Sacred 
College  and  the  intrigues  of  Charles  of  Sicily,  who  took  advantage 
of  the  interregnum  to  make  himself  the  arbiter  of  Italy.  His  bold 
ambition,  and  the  weakness  of  his  nephew  Philip  III.,  caused  Charles 
to  be  looked  up  to  as  the  virtual  head  of  the  French  interest,  which 
now  began  to  have  weight  in  the  papal  elections.  But  the  choice  of 
Theobald  was  made  by  a  compromise  between  the  two  parties 
among  the  Cardinals ;  as,  though  he  was  of  the  Visconti  of  Piacenza, 
his  life  had  been  passed  remote  from  the  strife  of  Italian  factions. 
After  his  consecration  at  St.  Peter's,  as  Gregory  X.  (1271-6),  he 
took  up  his  residence  at  Viterbo. 

The  chief  desire  of  Gregory's  heart  had  been  expressed  in  the 
words  with  which  he  departed  from  Acre — "  If  I  forget  thee,  O 
Jerusalem,  let  my  right  hand  forget  her  cunning  !  "* — and  his  first 
object,  as  Pope,  was  to  reunite  the  Christian  powers,  both  of  the 
the  East  and  West,  in  a  great  effort  for  the  recovery  of  the  Holy 
Land.  The  cause  seemed  hopeless  while  Europe  was  divided  by 
varied  interests,  the  Empire  virtually  in  abeyance,  and  the  ambition 
of  Charles  reaching  to  Constantinople  and  Jerusalem.2  The  one 
remedy  which  Gregory  saw  was  the  revival  of  the  Empire :  he 
pressed  the  Germans  to  choose  a  king  from  among  themselves,  and 
went  so  far  as  threaten  that,  if  the  electors  failed  to  do  their  duty, 
he  with  his  cardinals  would  appoint  an  Emperor.  The  choice — made 
not  only  by  the  seven  Electors,  but  by  an  assembly  of  the  princes, 
and  by  the  cities,  which  had  promised  to  obey  the  sovereign  who 
might  be  elected — felt  on  Eudolf,  Count  of  Hapsburg  in  the 
Aargau 3  (1273-1291),  whose  descendants— direct,  and  in  the  female 
line  of  Hapsburg- Lorraine 4 — held  the  royal  crown  and  the  imperial 

1  Psalm  cxxxvii.  5. 

2  Charles  had  married  one  of  his  sons  to  a  daughter  of  Baldwin  II.,  the 
dispossessed  Latin  Emperor  of  Constantinople,  and  he  had  obtained  the 
semblance  of  a  title  to  the  crown  of  Jerusalem  by  cession  from  a  daughter 
of  John  of  Brienne. 

3  The  traveller  who  enters  Switzerland  by  the  high  road  from  Basle  to 
Zurich,  looking  down  from  the  descent  of  the  Jura  on  the  confluence  of 
the  three  rivers  which  form  the  Aar,  once  the  site  of  the  Roman  Vindonissa, 
sees  on  a  slight  eminence  the  ruins  of  the  castle  (Habbisburg,  the  "Havvk's- 
fort")  that  cradled  the  imperial  house  which  still  rules  over  the  Austrian 
Empire.  "  Within  the  ancient  walls  of  Vindonissa  (says  Gibbon)  the  castle 
of  Hapsburg,  the  abbey  of  Konigsfeld,  and  the  town  of  Bruck,  have  succes- 
sively arisen.  The  philosophic  traveller  may  compare  the  monuments  of 
Roman  conquests,  of  feudal  or  Austrian  tyranny,  of  monkish  superstition, 
and  of  industrious  freedom.  If  he  be  truly  a  philosopher,  he  will  applaud 
the  merit  and  happiness  of  his  own  time." 

4  For  the  few  exceptions  see  the  Table  of  Emperors. 


90  END  OF  THE  PAPAL  SUPREMACY.     Chap.  VI. 

dignity,1  till  the  Holy  Koman  Empire  ended  with  the  abdication  of 
Francis  II.  (1806).  "  Rudolf  was  a  petty  independent  prince,  fifty- 
five  years  of  age,  who  had  been  recommended  by  his  valour,  his 
frankness,  ability,  honesty,  and  other  popular  qualities,  while  he  was 
not  so  powerful  as  to  give  cause  for  apprehension  that  he  might  re- 
vive the  authority  which  Emperors  in  former  days  had  exercised." 2 
He  was  crowned  King  of  the  Romans  by  Engelbert,  archbishop  of 
Cologne,  at  Aix-la-Chapelle  (Oct.  24,  1273). 

Rudolf  was  chosen  with  the  intention  that  he  should  be  a  real 
Emperor — though  it  happened  that  he  was  never  crowned — but  it 
was  a  complete  mistake  to  suppose  that  the  Empire  of  Charles  the 
Great,  of  the  Othos  and  Henries,  had  been,  or  could  be,  revived.3 
What  the  election  of  Rudolph  really  did,  was  to  give  Germany 
a  new  and  vigorous  German  king,  and  to  restore  the  fabric  of  law 
and  order — which  had  almost  gone  to  pieces  during  the  Great  Inter- 
regnum— in  the  only  form  then  possible,  under  its  recognized  feudal 
head.  But  even  as  a  king  that  head  was  weak,  in  comparison  with 
other  kings,  especially  in  France  and  England,  where  political  union 
had  advanced,  while  in  Germany  it  had  grown  feebler  and  the 
princes  had  become  more  and  more  independent.  The  restored 
Empire,  therefore,  was  no  longer  an  effective  centre  for  that  united 
action  of  Europe  which  Gregory  sought  to  secure. 

§  7.  The  Pope's  second  great  object,  the  reconciliation  of  the 
Greek  and  Latin  Churches — both  for  its  own  sake  and  as  a  means 
to  his  more  cherished  purpose,  the  Crusade — was  favoured  by  the 
political  necessities  of  the  Emperor  Michael  VIII.  (the  first  of  the 
PaLjEOLOgi).  Having  recovered  Constantinople  from  the  Latins,  in 
1261,  he  was  eager  both  to  make  peace  with  the  Pope,  who  had 
espoused  the  cause  of  the  deposed  Emperor  Baldwin  II.,  and  to 
strengthen  himself  at  home  against  the  party  of  the  deprived  patriarch 
Arsenius,4  and  still  more  against  the  ambitious  schemes  of  Charles 

1  This  distinction  is  important,  as  very  few  sovereigns  of  the  Hapsburg 
line  were  crowned  as  Emperors  at  Rome.  Rudolph  himself  was  not,  and 
only  five  of  his  successors  were  so  crowned,  one  of  these  being  only  a  rival 
to  the  acknowledged  sovereign.  The  last  imperial  coronation  at  Rome 
was  that  of  Frederick  III.  (1452),  the  only  full  Emperor  since  that  time 
being  Charles  V.,  who  was  crowned  at  Bologna  (1530).  To  the  end  of  the 
fifteenth  century  those  not  crowned  at  Rome  were  "  Kings  of  the  Romans  ;" 
but  in  1508  Maximilian  I.,  being  refused  a  passage  to  Rome  by  the 
Venetians,  obtained  authority  by  a  Bull  of  Julius  II.  to  call  himself 
"  Kmperor-elect "  (fmperator  electus,  erirdkltcr  Kaiser),  and  this  title,  pei'- 
pctuated  by  his  successors,  became  by  courtesy  "  Emperor." 

2  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  472. 

3  We  must  content  ourselves  with  referring  to  Dr.  Bryce's  admirable 
sketch  of  the  changed  character  of  the  Empire  (pp.  214  f). 

4  Arsenius  had  been  deposed  in  consequence  of  his  excommunicating 
Michael  for  his  treachery  in  deposing  and  blinding  his  ward,  John  Lascaris, 
the  last  of  the  Emperors  who  reigned  at  Nicava  during  the  Latin  occupation 


AD.  1274.  SECOND  COUNCIL  OF  LYON.  91 

of  Sicily.  With  these  powerful  motives,  the  Eastern  Emperor  got 
rid  of  the  hitherto  insuperable  difficulties  of  creed  and  patriarchal 
supremacy,  by  the  simple  plan  of  forcing  his  clergy,  on  the  pain  of 
treason,  to  yield  everything  to  the  Church  of  Rome. 

As  the  fit  means  of  establishing  a  general  reconciliation  and  peace 
among  the  Christian  states,  and  with  the  view  of  their  union  in 
a  decisive  Crusade,  Gregory  had,  at  his  first  Easter,  summoned  a 
General  Council,  which,  in  order  to  secure  a  full  attendance  from  the 
Transalpine  states,  met  at  Lyon  on  the  7th  of  May,  1274.  This 
Second  Council  of  Lyon  (the  Fourteenth  (Ecumenical  of  the  Romans) 
was  the  most  numerous  that  had  ever  yet  assembled ;  being  attended 
by  the  Latin  Patriarchs  of  Antioch  and  Constantinople,  and  by 
more  than  500  bishops  and  a  thousand  of  the  inferior  clergy.  Three 
chief  subjects  were  laid  before  it  by  the  Pope : — a  subsidy  for  the 
recovery  of  the  Holy  Land ; — the  reconciliation  of  the  Greeks ; — 
and  the  reformation  of  morals.  The  first  was  as  easily  voted  as  it 
was  soon  afterwards  lightly  abandoned.  As  to  the  second,  the 
ambassadors  from  Michael,  being  received  with  great  honour,  agreed 
to  the  Latin  doctrines  and  usages,  confessed  the  primacy  of  the 
Roman  see,  and  joined  in  chanting  the  Nicene  Creed  with  special 
emphasis  on  the  article  of  the  Double  Procession,  which  they  sang 
thrice  "  with  solemnity  and  devotion."  But  there  was  no  reality  in 
the  agreement,  and  the  efforts  of  Michael  to  enforce  it  only  made 
the  schism  more  flagrant  and  bitter  after  his  death  (Dec.  1282). 

The  third  topic  was  urged  by  the  Pope,  at  the  sixth  and  final 
session,  in  a  strong  invective  against  the  vices  of  prelates,  and  an 
earnest  exhortation  to  reform  their  manners  (July  17).  But  the 
most  permanent  fruit  of  this  Council  was  the  new  rule  for  Papal 
elections,  established  by  its  Second  Canon,  with  a  view  to  prevent 
the  long  strife  of  parties  among  the  Cardinals,  and  consequent  vacan- 
cies of  the  Papal  See.  On  the  lapse  of  ten  days  from  the  death  of  a 
Pope — to  give  time  for  absent  members  of  the  college  to  assemble — 
the  Cardinals  were  to  be  shut  up  in  one  room  (conclave),1  without 
partitions  (each  attended  by  a  single  clerk  or  lay  domestic),  and  to 
hold  no  communication  with  the  outer  world,  till  they  should  agree 
on  a  successor.  If  the  election  should  not  be  made  within  three 
days,  their  food  was  to  be  diminished,  and,  alter  five  days  more, 
reduced  to  bread,  wine,  and  water. 

§  8.  The  Council  was  attended  by  envoys  from  Rudolf,  who  re- 

of  Constantinople.  (For  the  general  outline  of  this  period  of  Byzantine 
history,  see  the  Student's  Gibbon,  chaps,  xxxiw,  xxxv.) 

1  Hence  the  Cardinals  assembled  for  a  papal  election  are  called  the 
Conclive.  The  Latin  word  conclave  properly  means  a  room  under  lock 
and  key  (clavis),  or  that  can  be  closed  with  a  key.  (Festus,  s.v, :  "  conclavia 
dicuntur  loca,  quae  una  clave  clanduntur.")  In  practice,  however,  the 
Cardinals  are  confined  to  a  number  of  rooms  in  the  Vatican. 


92  END  OF  THE  PAPAL  SUPREMACY.     Chap.  VI. 

quested  the  Pope  to  confirm  his  election,  and  renewed  alLthe  engage- 
ments made  by  Frederick  II.,  or  by  any  other  Emperor,  in  favour 
of  the  Papacy  and  the  Church.  Gregory  confirmed  Rudolfs  elec- 
tion, but  in  words  which  by  their  ambiguity  were  intended 
to  insinuate  a  claim  to  the  right  of  nominating  the  King  of  the 
Romans  (Sept.  1275).  A  month  later  he  met  Rudolf  at  Lau- 
sanne, to  receive  his  vow  as  a  Crusader,  and  to  arrange  for  his 
imperial  coronation ;  Rudolf  confirming  all  the  engagements  of  his 
envoys,  giving  up  all  claim  to  the  territories  long  disputed  between 
the  Empire  and  the  Pope,1  and  promising  to  help  the  Pope  in  recover- 
ing all  the  possessions  that  he  claimed.  "  Thus  Gregory  had  gained 
from  the  Empire  more  than  any  of  his  predecessors.  .  .  .  All  the 
forged  or  doubtful  privileges  in  favour  of  the  Papal  See,  from  the 
time  of  Louis  the  Pious  downwards,  were  acknowledged  as  valid 
and  binding ;  and  the  Pope  was  owned  as  temporal  lord  of  all  the 
territories  which  had  formerly  been  subjects  of  contention." 2 

But  at  this  acme  of  his  success,  and  while  preparing  for  the 
Crusade,  the  Pope  died  at  Arezzo  (Jan.  10,  1276),  and  most  of  his 
work  and  hopes  died  with  him.  Within  the  same  year,  the  Papal 
Chair  fell  to  the  lot  of  three  successive  Popes,  Innocent  V. 
(Jan.-June);  Adrian  V.,  who  did  not  live  to  be  consecrated;  and 
John  XXI.  (Sept.  1276-May  1277),  who  disliked  the  monks  and 
cultivated  science,  which  procured  him  the  reputation  of  being  an 
astrologer.3 

§  9."  The  cardinals  now  rebelled  against  the  "  Conclave,"  and 
announced  its  suspension  by  the  authority  of  the  late  Pope.  But 
after  six  months  the  people  of  Viterbo  made  a  Conclave  of  their 
town-hall,  shutting  up  there  seven  Cardinals,  who  elected  Nicolas  III. 
(1277-1280),  a  member  of  the  house  of  the  Orsini  and  of  the  Fran- 
ciscan order,  who  had  acted  as  an  inquisitor  into  heresy.  His  high 
accomplishments  were  disgraced  by  nepotism,  simony,  and  the  cor- 
ruption of  his  court,  which  he  transferred  from  Viterbo  to  Rome, 
where  he  began  the  splendid  palace  on  the  Vatican.  By  an  artful 
policy,  and  chiefly  by  playing  off  Rudolf  and  Charles  against  each 
other,  Nicolas  obtained  fresh  concessions  from  both  ;  and  he  re- 
established the  Papal  government  in  Rome.  But  his  sudden  death 
from  a  stroke  of  palsy  (Aug.  22,  1280)  was  the  signal  for  fresh 
tumults  in  the  city,  and  for  a  violent  attempt  of  Charles  to  secure 
a  Pope  favourable  to  himself. 

The  Canon  of  Lyon  was  set  aside,  and  six  months  passed  before 

1  Namely,  the  Exarchate  of  Ravenna,  the  Pentapolis,  Ancona  and 
Spoleto,  and  the  inheritance  (once  more)  of  the  Countess  Matilda. 

2  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  479. 

3  Some  call  him  John  XX.,  but  the  recognized  lists  omit  this  number 
(XX.),  though  for  what  reason  is  doubtful. 


A.D.  1282.  THE  SICILIAN  VESPERS.  93 

the  election  of  a  Frenchman,  who  took  the  title  of  Martin  IV. 
(1281-1285),  in  honour  of  St.  Martin  of  Tours,  where  he  had  been  a 
canon.  He  hated  the  Germans,  and  proved  himself  a  mere  tool  of 
Charles,  in  favour  of  whose  designs  on  Constantinople  he  helped  on 
the  new  rupture  (already  mentioned)  between  the  Churches.  But 
the  design  of  Charles  was  frustrated  by  the  insurrection  long  pre- 
pared against  his  tyranny  in  Sicily,  which  broke  out  in  the  great 
massacre  of  the  French,  known  as  the  Sicilian  Vespers  (Easter, 
1282),  and  was  followed  by  the  invasion  of  Sicily  by  Peter  of  Arragon, 
as  the  avenger  of  Conradin.  Leaving  the  details  to  civil  history,1  we 
need  only  record  the  deaths  of  Charles,  in  January  1285,  and  of 
Pope  Martin  in  the  ensuing  March. 

His  aged  successor,  Honorius  IV.  (1285-7),  confirmed  the  Cru- 
sade which  Martin  had  proclaimed  against  the  King  of  Arragon, 
under  the  sanction  of  which  Philip  III.  invaded  Spain,  with  all  the 
cruel  outrages  common  to  wars  waged  on  the  pretext  of  religion, 
and  died  at  Perpignan  on  his  retreat  (Oct.  1285).  The  King  of 
Arragon  died  the  month  after,  and  Pope  Honorius  died  in  April  1287. 

The  cardinals  wasted  nearly  a  year  in  disputes,  at  the  expense 
of  six  lives  out  of  sixteen  from  the  malaria  at  Rome,  where  the 
conclave  was  held  on  the  Aventine,  before  they  elected  Jerome 
of  Ascoli,  General  of  the  Franciscans,  who  took  the  name  of 
Nicolas  IV.  (1288-1292).  This  Pope  also  was  an  undisguised 
partisan  of  the  French  interest,  and  he  gave  another  example  of  the 
dishonest  use  of  spiritual  authority  for  political  ends,  by  releasing 
Charles  II.  of  Naples  from  an  inconvenient  oath  to  Alfonso  of 
Arragon.2  In  his  time  the  final  fall  of  the  Christian  kingdom  of  Pales- 
tine by  the  capture  of  Acre,  in  1291,  marks  an  epoch  in  the  West  as 
well  as  the  East ;  for  it  gave  a  new  blow  to  the  papal  supremacy. 
"  The  association  of  nations  was  at  an  end,  and  the  spell,  which  for 
200  years  had  given  the  Popes  so  great  a  power  of  control  over 
them,  had  lost  its  efficacy."3 

§  10.  On  the  death  of  Nicolas  (April  1292),  the  Lyonnese  Canon 
was  again  set  aside,  and  the  disputes  of  the  French  and  Italian 
parties  prolonged  the  vacancy  for  two  years  and  a  quarter.  At  length 
the  difficulty  seemed  evaded  by  the  suggestion  of  the  name  of  Peter 
Murrone,  a  simple  hermit  of  extraordinary  sanctity,  seventy-two 
years  old,  who  was  made  Pope  Celestine  V.  (1294).  But  he 
proved  a  mere  tool  in  the  hands  of  the  King  of  Naples  and  the 
French  party,  the  monks  and  the  lawyers  of  the  Curia ;  and  in 
other  respects  his  utter  incapacity  became  manifest.     The  able  and 

1  They  are  related  also  by  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  pp.  488-493. 

2  The  progress  of  the  contest  for  Sicily  does  not  belong  to  our  subject. 

3  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  496. 


94  PAPACY  OF  BONIFACE  VIII.  Chap.  VI. 

ambitious  Cardinal  Benedict  Gaetani  obtained  a  complete"  ascendancy- 
over  "  the  hermit  pope,"  and  persuaded  him  to  resign  the  Papacy 
(Dec.  13).  Ten  days  later  a  conclave  held  at  Naples,  under  the 
influence  of  King  Charles  II.,  elected  Gaetani,  who  took  the  title 
of  Boniface  VIII.  (1294-1303). 

This  last  of  the  great  Popes  who  trod  in  the  steps  of  Hildebrand 
and  the  Innocents  was  a  native  of  Anagni,  the  birthplace  of 
Innocent  III.,  Gregory  IX.,  and  Alexander  IV.,  and  he  was  grand- 
nephew  of  the  last-named  pontiff.  He  had  discharged  important 
missions  and  offices  under  successive  Popes,  and  was  eminently 
learned  in  Scripture  and  ecclesiastical  law.  But  the  consciousness  of 
his  abilities  made  him  arrogant  and  scornful,  and  he  is  charged  with 
"  making  no  conscience  of  gain."  At  the  age  of  seventy-seven  he 
preserved  full  mental  vigour,  which  he  applied  to  the  work  of  restor- 
ing the  Papacy  to  its  highest  supremacy.  "  But  in  thinking  to  renew 
the  triumphs  of  Gregory  VII.  and  Innocent  III.,  he  overlooked  the 
adverse  circumstances  which  had  arisen  since  their  time  —  the 
increase  of  the  royal  power  in  France ;  the  English  impatience 
of  Roman  rule  and  aspirations  after  civil  and  spiritual  liberty  ; 
the  growth  of  independent  thought  in  the  Universities;  above  all, 
the  great  influence  of  the  civil  lawyers  who  had  been  trained  in  the 
principles  of  the  old  imperial  jurisprudence  of  Rome,  and  opposed  to 
the  pretensions  of  the  hierarchy  a  rival  system,  supported  by  a  rival 
learning,  and  grounded  on  a  rival  authority." 1  Not  the  least  cause, 
however,  of  his  final  failure,  was  the  passionate,  imperious,  and 
reckless  violence,  that  now  overmastered  the  prudence  for  which  he 
had  been  famous. 

§  11.  Abandoning  the  Ghibelline  politics  of  his  family,  Boniface 
became  at  once  a  bitter  enemy  of  that  party.  At  Rome  he  had  a 
personal  quarrel  with  the  great  Ghibelline  family  of  Colonna,  who 
protested  against  the  abdication  of  Celestine  V.  He  deposed  and  ex- 
communicated the  two  Cardinals  Colonna,  launched  violent  bulls 
against  the  whole  family,  confiscated  their  property,  destroyed  their 
palaces  in  Rome,  and  sent  his  army  to  reduce  their  fortresses,  till  the 
last  of  them,  Palestrina,  was  gained  by  treacherous  offers,  the  Pope 
acting  without  scruple  on  the  advice  to  "  promise  much,  but  perform 
little."  The  spoils  of  the  exiled  family  enabled  the  Pope  to  establish 
his  nephews  as  princes. 

With  equal  violence  he  mingled  in  the  feuds  of  the  Italian  cities  ; 
but  of  this  great  crisis  in  their  history  we  must  be  content  to 
mention  the  part  taken  by  Boniface  in  calling  in  Charles  of  Anjou 
as  the  pacificator  of  Tuscany  (1301),  which  at  Florence  caused  the 
exile  <>f  Dante,  with  the  Guelphic  party,  and  earned  for  Boniface 
1   Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  505.     Comp.  below,  Book  V. 


A.D.  1296.  THE  BULL  "  CLERICIS  LAICOS."  95 

himself  a  prospective  place  in  the  poet's  Hell.1  In  Germany  he 
attempted  to  assert  his  authority  by  denying  the  right  of  the  princes 
to  depose  Adolf  of  Nassau,  who  had  been  elected  in  opposition  to 
Albert,  the  son  of  Rudolf  (1292)  ;  and  though  Adolf  was  killed  in 
battle  just  after  the  election  of  Albert  in  his  place  (1298),  the  Pope 
continued  to  denounce  Albert  as  a  usurper  till,  at  a  later  period,  the 
need  of  his  help  led  to  a  reconciliation.2 

§  12.  But  by  far  the  most  important  exhibitions  of  this  Pope's 
spirit  and  policy  are  his  conflicts  with  the  two  great  kings  who  now 
filled  the  thrones  of  England  and  France,  Edward  I.  (1272-1307), 
and  Philip  IV.,  surnamed  the  Fair  (1285-1314).  It  was  more 
especially  the  great  struggle  in  which  Boniface  engaged  with  the 
kingdom  of  France,  which  had  now  become  more  powerful  than 
ever,  that  finally  broke  the  power  of  the  Papacy,  and  prepared  its 
way  into  the  "  Babylonian  Exile."  The  details  of  both  contests 
form  such  essential  parts  of  English  and  French  history,  that  a 
broad  outline  will  suffice  here. 

In  both  countries  the  sovereigns  insisted,  with  the  strong  will 
which  was  a  quality  common  to  Edward  and  Philip,  that  the  clergy 
should  contribute  to  the  expenses  of  the  state  ;  and  the  demand 
was  sternly  urged  by  both,  owing  to  the  necessities  of  the  wars 
between  France  and  England.  Philip  had  also  offended  the  Pope 
by  scornfully  refusing  his  mediation;  and  he  had  excluded  the 
clergy  from  all  share  in  the  administration  of  the  laws,  substituting 
for  their  judicial  authority  the  strict  principles  of  the  civil  law. 

On  the  24th  of  February,  1296,  Boniface  VIII.  issued  the  famous 
Bull,  Clericis  Laicos*  which  excommunicated  all  clergymen  who  had 
paid  or  promised  to  pay  any  part  of  their  revenues  to  laymen,  and 
all  sovereigns  who  had  imposed  or  received  such  payments.  The 
two  kings,  who  were  plainly  indicated,  though  not  named,  defied  the 
sentence  by  insisting  on  their  demands;  while  Philip  stopped  all 
the  supplies  which  the  Pope  and  the  Italian  churchmen  derived  from 
various  sources  of  revenue  in  France,  by  ferbidding  the  exportation 
of  the  precious  metals  and  jewels,  as  well  as  of  horses  and  munitions 
of  war.     A  controversy  ensued,  which  Boniface  did  not  yet  feel 

1  Dante  represents  Nicolas  III.  as  expecting  Boniface  in  Hell  (Inferno, 
canto  xix.  53).     Dante  lived  from  1265  to  1321. 

2  Albert's  marriage  with  Elizabeth,  a  descendant  ot  the  Hohenstaufen 
through  her  mother  made  him  especially  obnoxious  to  Boniface,  who 
declared  that  he  should  not  be  king  "while  that  Jezebel  lived." 

3  The  student  is  reminded  that  Papal  Bulls  are  generally  identified  by 
their  initial  words,  which  are  of  course  unmeaning  till  read  with  their 
context.  Thus  the  Bull  now  mentioned  begins  with  the  proposition, 
"Clericis  laicos  infestos  oppido  tradit  antiquitas:" — a  strange  result  of 
thirteen  centuries  of  teaching  and  pastoral  care! 


96  PAPACY  OF  BONIFACE  VIII.  Chap.  VI. 

strong  enough  to  carry  to  extremities.  He  conciliated  Philip  by 
canonizing  Louis  IX.;  and  his  mediation  was  accepted  by  both 
kings,  not  however  as  Pope,  but  as  a  private  person,  "  Master 
Benedict  Gaetani"  (1298).  But  both  the  substance  of  the  award, 
and  its  form  as  a  Bull,  gave  vehement  offence  to  Philip  and  his 
nobles. 

§  13.  To  satisfy  a  prevalent  expectation  that  the  close  of  another 
century  ought  to  be  marked  by  some  extraordinary  spiritual  privi- 
leges, and  especially  to  gratify  the  craving  for  indulgences  which 
had  been  excited  by  the  Crusades,  Boniface  published  a  Bull,  pro- 
mising very  full  indulgences  to  all  who  should  visit  the  tombs  of 
St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  with  penitence  and  devotion  for  a  specified 
number  of  days  during  the  current  year  ;  and  directing  that,  in 
future,  the  Jubilee  should  be  celebrated  in  the  last  year  of  every 
century  (Feb.  1300).1  But  the  Pope's  idea  of  a  Jubilee  was  not  to 
"  loose  every  yoke  :"  he  excluded  from  its  benefits  the  enemies  of 
the  Church — Frederick  of  Sicily  and  the  Colonnas  by  name,  and 
Philip  of  France  by  implication,  as  among  their  protectors.  Nor 
did  Boniface  miss  the  opportunity  of  solemnly  asserting  for  himself 
the  power  of  "  the  two  swords."  "  The  Pope  was  now  at  the  height 
of  his  greatness.  Although  some  of  his  pretensions  had  not  passed 
without  question,  he  had  never  yet  been  foiled  in  any  considerable 
matter ;  and,  while  the  enthusiasm  of  the  Jubilee  filled  his  treasury, 
the  veneration  of  the  congregated  multitudes  waited  on  him  as 
uniting  the  highest  spiritual  and  temporal  dominion."2 

§  14.  We  leave  to  British  history  the  details  of  Boniface's  attempt 
to  act  as  sovereign  arbiter  between  England  and  the  Scots,  by 
reviving  an  old  legend — already  made  use  of  by  former  Popes,  and 
especially  by  Alexander  III. — that  Scotland,  as  an  ancient  Catholic 
country,  was  subject  directly  to  the  Holy  See.  When  Edward 
claimed  the  homage  of  the  Scots,  after  the  overthrow  of  Wallace  at 
Falkirk  (1298),  the  regency  appealed  to  the  Pope  as  their  suzerain ; 
and  Boniface  addressed  a  Bull  to  the  King  of  England,  asserting 
the  above  claim,  denying  that  the  English  sovereign  had  any  feudal 
rights  over  Scotland,  and  requiring  him  to  set  free  all  Scottish  eccle- 

1  The  desire  for  the  indulgences  and  other  benefits  of  the  Jubilee  led  to 
the  shortening  of  the  interval  to  every  50th  year  by  Clement  VI.  (1343), 
to  every  33rd  year  by  Urban  VI.  (1389),  and  to  every  25th  year  by 
Paul  II.  (1470)  ;  and  this  interval  has  been  ever  since  observed. 

2  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  524.  The  two  greatest  names  in  the  dawn  of 
modern  poetry  and  art  are  connected  with  this  Jubilee.  The  multitudes 
passing  to  and  from  St.  Peter's  over  the  bridge  of  S.  Angelo  supplied 
Dante  with  a  simile ;  and  the  painting  of  Boniface  VIII.  proclaiming  the 
Jubilee  from  the  balcony  of  S.  John  Lateran  is  the  sole  remnant  of  the 
frescoes  with  which  Giotto  adorned  the  walls  of  that  Basilica. 


A.D.  1301.  THE  BULL  "  AUSCULTA  FILL"  97 

siastics  whom  he  held  as  prisoners,  but  permitting  him  to  submit 
his  claim  to  the  judgment  of  the  Pope  (1299).  The  result  was  the 
solemn  declaration  of  a  Parliament  assembled  at  Lincoln  (Jan.  1301), 
which  was  sent  to  the  Pope,  subscribed  by  above  a  hundred  English 
barons,  to  the  following  effect : — "  It  is  our  common  and  unanimous 
resolution  (and  by  the  grace  of  God  it  shall  continue  so)  that  our 
Lord  the  King  shall  not  plead  before  you,  nor  submit  in  any  manner 
to  your  judgment  with  respect  to  his  rights  as  to  his  kingdom  of 
Scotland,  or  as  to  any  other  his  temporal  rights  :  nor  shall  he  suffer 
his  said  rights  to  be  treated  as  questionable  by  any  discussion  as  to 
the  same.  To  do  so  would  be  to  betray  the  rights  of  the  crown  of 
England,  the  constitution  of  the  State,  and  the  liberties,  laws,  and 
customs,  which  we  have  inherited  from  our  fathers.  These  are  rights 
which  we  have  sworn  to  maintain,  and,  by  God's  help,  we  are  pre- 
pared to  defend  them  with  all  our  might.  We  do  not  permit,  we 
ought  not  to  permit,  our  Lord  the  King  to  do  the  things  demanded 
of  him,  and  even  if  he  were  minded  to  do  so,  we  would  not  allow  him 
to  do  them  or  to  make  the  attempt"  We  call  special  attention  to 
the  last  sentence,  as  once  for  all  asserting  the  independence  of  the 
English  crown  of  all  Papal  claims,  on  the  broad  basis  of  the  rights 
of  the  English  people,  even  against  the  accidental  disturbance  of  the 
constitution  by  a  king's  will.  In  accordance  with  this  principle, 
Edward  had  refused  to  pay  the  tribute  which  John  had  promised  to 
the  Pope,  and  the  vassalage  confessed  by  that  wretched  tyrant,  after 
being  stedfastly  ignored  by  successive  kings  and  parliaments,  was 
finally  abolished  by  an  Act  of  Parliament  in  1367. 

§  15.  On  the  present  occasion  Boniface  was  fain  to  abandon  the 
Scots,  lest  he  should  add  the  enmity  of  Edward  to  his  growing 
difficulties  with  France.  We  cannot  dwell  on  the  details  of  the  new 
quarrel,1  which  led  to  the  Pope's  issue  of  four  Bulls  against  Philip 
on  the  same  day  (Dec  5,  1301).  The  first  was  a  demand  to  release 
the  Legate  who,  as  a  French  bishop,  had  been  tried  and  condemned 
for  treason.  The  second  summoned  a  Council  of  French  ecclesiastics 
to  meet  at  Rome,  to  consider  the  grievances  of  the  Church  of  France. 
The  third,  known  as  Salvator  Mundi,  suspended  all  privileges  which 
the  Popes  had  granted  to  the  French  kings.  The  fourth,  beginning 
Auscultafili  ("  Hearken,  my  son  "),  was  a  long  letter  in  a  tone  scarcely 
consistent  with  the  precept,  "  fathers,  provoke  not  your  children," 
mingling  paternal  solicitude  with  accusation,  reproof,  and  admo- 
nition, and  with  the  proudest  assertion  of  the  authority  given  to 
the  Pope  by  God  over  kings  and  kingdoms,  "to  pluck  down, 
destroy,  scatter,  rebuild,  or  plant."2      It  concludes  with  inviting 

1  For  the  affair  of  the  Papal  Legate,  the  Bishop  of  Pamiers,  see  Robert-^ 
son,  vol.  iii.  pp.  527-9.  2  Jeremiah  i.  10. 


98  PAPACY  OF  BONIFACE  VIII.  Chap.  VI. 

the  King  to  appear  before  a  Council  which  the  Pope  was  about  to 
convene  at  Rome. 

§  16.  Philip  accepted  this  Bull  as  a  challenge  to  a  mortal  conflict. 
Having  had  it  read  before  a  full  court  of  nobles  and  knights,  the 
King  declared  that  he  would  not  acknowledge  his  own  sons  for 
heirs  if  they  admitted  the  authority  of  any  living  person,  save  God 
alone,  over  the  kingdom  of  France.  Amidst  a  general  outburst  of 
indignation,1  the  Bull  was  burnt  before  the  King  a  fortnight  later. 
This  defiance  was  followed  by  the  most  solemn  appeal  which  a 
French  king  could  make  to  the  opinion  of  the  people,  the  assembly 
of  the  Estates  of  the  Pealm,2  technically  called  the  States- General ; 
and  the  meeting  is  the  more  remarkable  as  the  first  to  which  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Third  Estate  (tiers  e'tat),  answering  to  the  English 
Commons,  were  summoned  (April  10,  1302). 

In  a  speech  reminding  all  three  orders  of  the  papal  encroach- 
ments upon  each,  the  Chancellor,  Peter  de  la  Flotte,  proposed  to 
them  the  question,  whether  the  kingdom  was  to  stand  immediately 
under  God,  or  to  be  subject  to  the  Pope.  The  first  impulse  of 
the  assembly  was  expressed  by  the  Count  of  Artois,  who  declared 
— like  the  English  barons — that,  if  the  King  were  disposed  to  submit 
to  the  Pope,  the  nobles  wrould  not ;  and  by  a  Norman  lawTyer,  who 
preferred  a  written  charge  of  heresy  against  the  Pope,  for  his 
attempt  to  deprive  the  King  of  the  rights  he  held  from  God.  The 
more  deliberate  acts  of  the  three  orders  were  expressed  with  equal 
firmness  in  their  several  letters,  addressed  by  the  Clergy  to  the  Pope 
(of  course  in  Latin),  and  by  the  two  lay  orders  to  the  Cardinals,  in 
French;  but  the  letter  of  the  Third  Estate  is  unfortunately  lost. 

The  Cardinals  replied  in  a  moderate  tone,  denying  that  the  Pope 
had  ever  claimed  temporal  subjection  from  the  King  ;  but  Boniface 
himself  answered  the  clergy  in  the  spirit  denoted  by  his  opening 
words,  Verba  delirantis,  the  "  madman  "  being  the  French  Chancellor. 
The  Pope  and  cardinals  used  similar  language  in  a  consistory  held 
at  Rome — where  Boniface  threatened  to  depose  Philip  "  like  a 
groom." 

§  17.  The  bold  tone  of  the  Pope  Avas  partly  due  to  the  troubles 

1  Respecting  the  means  taken  to  excite  the  people  against  the  Pope,  by 
circulating  the  so-called  "  Lesser  Bull  "  (a  still  more  violent  epitome  of 
Auscult  i  fili),  with  an  equally  violent  reply  in  the  King's  name,  see 
Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  530. 

2  In  French  history  the  Three  Est  <t<>s,  of  Clergy,  Nohles,  and  Commons 
(or  Third  Estate,  tiers  (bit)  are  so  clearly  defined,  that  it  may  be  needless 
to  warn  the  student  against  the  blunder  so  often  made  in  England,  that 
the  King,  Lords  and  Commons  are  the  Three  Estates.  The  cause  of  the 
error  is  the  long  union  of  the  first  two  estates  in  the  House  of  Peers,  but 
-the  old   distinction  is   still    preserved  in   the   title,    Lords  Spiritual  and 

Temporal. 


A.D.  1302.  THE  BULL  "  UNAM  SANCTAM."  99 

of  Philip  with  the  insurgent  Flemings,  who  had  defeated  his  army 
in  the  battle  of  Courtray  (July  11, 1302).  These  reverses  emboldened 
a  considerable  number  of  the  French  clergy,  headed  by  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Tours,  to  attend — in  defiance  of  Philip's  prohibition — the 
Council  which  met  at  Rome  in  the  ensuing  November.  It  was  then 
that  Boniface  put  the  climax  to  all  the  claims  of  the  Papacy — and 
indeed  of  the  whole  priestly  order  (sacerdotis)  ! — to  temporal  supre- 
macy by  the  famous  Bull  Unam  sanctam,2  which  defines  the  consti- 
tution of  the  Church  and  State.  The  Church  is  one  body  and  has  one 
head,  not  two  (like  a  monster),  Christ  and  his  Vicar,  Peter  and  his 
successor.3  The  power  of  that  one  head  is  set  forth  by  the  favourite 
figure  of  the  two  swords,  which  the  Lord  declared  to  be  "  enough," 
not  "  too  much."  Hence,  to  use  the  very  words  of  the  Bull,  "  Each 
of  the  two  is  in  the  power  of  the  Church,  namely,  the  spiritual 
sword  and  the  material.  But  the  latter  is  to  be  used  (exercendus) 
for  the  Church,  the  former  by  (he  Church:  the  one  by  the  hand  of 
the  priest,  the  other  by  that  of  kings  and  soldiers,  but  at  the  bidding 
and  sufferance  of  the  priest.4  Sword  must  be  subject  to  sword,  the 
temporal  authority  to  the  spiritual :" — a  thesis  sustained  by  curious 
arguments  and  texts  of  Scripture.  Whoever  resists  this  one  power 
resists  the  ordinance  of  God ;  for  he  cannot  suppose  there  are  two 
powers,  without  falling  into  the  Manichean  heresy  of  two  principles.5 
The  Bull  ends  with  this  most  comprehensive  and  emphatic  asser- 
tion of  the  Pope's  universal  supremacy  : — "Moreover  we  declare,  we 
say,  we  define,  and  we  pronounce,  that  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to 
salvation  for  every  human  creature  to  be  subject  to  the  Boman 
Pontiff"*     Such  was  the  climax  of  Papal  pretensions ! 

§  18.  Another  Bull  promulgated  at  this  Council  obliges  all 
persons,  of  whatever  rank,  to  appear  when  personally  cited  before 

1  This  deserves  special  notice  with  regard  to  high  views  of  the  authority 
of  the  priest,  however  independent  of,  or  even  opposed  to,  the  supreme 
authority  of  Rome. 

2  The  full  opening  sentence  is — "  Unam  sanctam  Ecclesiam  catholicam 
et  ipsam  apostolicam  urgente  fide  credere  cogimur  et  tenere." 

3  To  understand  this  plain  assertion,  it  should  be  remembered  that  the 
Church  of  Rome  distinctly  denies  the  doctrine  of  an  invisible  Church,  and 
hence  leaves  no  place  for  Christ's  headship  of  His  Church.  The  only  Church 
is  that  visible  society  on  earth,  of  which  Christ's   Vicar  is  the  only  head. 

4  "  Sed  ad  nutum  et  patientiam  sacerdotis." 

5  "  Quicunque  igitur  huic  potestati  a  Deo  sic  ordinate  resistit,  Dei 
ordinationi  resistit :  nisi  duo,  ut  Manichseus,  fnyat  esse  princ'pia." 

6  "  Porro  subesse  Romano  Pontifici  omni  humana?  creature  declaramus, 
dicimus,  definimus,  et  pronunciamus,  omnino  esse  de  necessite  salutis." 
The  omni  humanse  creUurx  may  be  compared  with  the  irciaa  t\  kt'ktis  of 
Romans  viii.  19-23;  a  text  which  seems  to  cast  a  prospective  irony  over 
the  sentence  of  the  Bull — a  sort  of  contrast  which  must  often  strike  the 
reader  of  Scripture  and  of  Ecclesiastical  History. 


100  DEATH  OF  BONIFACE  VIII.  Chap.  VI. 

the  apostolical  tribunal  at  Rome ;  and  Philip  was  thus  summoned 
to  answer  for  having  burnt  the  Bull  Ausculta  fili.  Negotiations 
proved  fruitless ;  and  both  parties  prepared  for  a  decisive  conflict  : 
Philip  by  making  peace  with  Edward  and  abandoning  the  Scots; 
Boniface  by  acknowledging  Frederick  of  Arragon  as  King  of  Sicily, 
and  above  all  by  flattering  Albert  and  exalting  the  imperial  dignity — 
which  he  compared  to  a  secular  papacy — as  the  power  in  which  he 
trusted  to  overthrow  France.  Almost  at  the  same  time  the  Pope 
excommunicated  Philip  (April  13,  1303),  and  the  King  in  a  great 
assembly  declared  "  Benedict  Gaetani  "  an  usurper  of  the  Papal  See, 
as  a  heretic  and  simoniac  "  such  as  none  ever  was  from  the  begin- 
ning of  the  world,"  and  demanded  his  suspension  and  trial  before  a 
Council,"  which  Philip  claimed  the  power  to  summon  (March  12). 
Meanwhile  he  convened  a  second  meeting  of  the  States-General  to 
consider  the  Pope's  offences  ;  and  this  Assembly  resolved  to  make  an 
appeal  to  a  General  Council  (June). 

§  19.  Boniface,  who  had  retired  for  the  summer  to  Anagni,  held 
a  consistory,  in  which  he  purged  himself  by  oath  from  the  charge  of 
heresy,  and  declaring  his  intention  of  issuing  a  Bull  deposing 
Philip  and  absolving  his  subjects  from  their  allegiance.  Its  solemn 
promulgation  had  been  announced  for  the  Nativity  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin  (Sunday,  September  8) ;  but,  on  the  day  before,  a  body  of 
armed  men,  raised  by  the  French  Chancellor1  and  one  of  the 
Colonnas,  marched  into  Anagni  under  the  French  flag,  with  cries  of 
"Death  to  Boniface!  Long  live  the  King  of  France!"  They 
demanded  the  Pope's  resignation  ;  and,  after  a  parley,  in  which 
Boniface  bore  himself  with  calm  dignity,  he  was  dragged  from  his 
throne,  and  carried  to  prison  with  insults  and  contumely.  But  he 
was  so  carelessly  guarded,  that  he  was  delivered  by  the  people  of 
Anagni,  and  was  escorted  by  his  friends  to  Pome.  But  the  old 
man's  sufferings  and  agitation  had  affected  his  mind  as  well  as 
body,  and  he  died  on  the  11th  of  October,  1303,  at  the  age  of  86. 2 
His  career  as  Pope  was  summed  up  in  the  epigram  : — "  He  got  in 
like  a  fox,  played  the  Pontiff  like  a  lion,  departed  like  a  dog ;" — 

"  Vulpes  intravit,  tanquam  leo  pontifioavit, 
Exiit  ut  canis,  de  divite  factus  inanis." 

"  Such  was  the  description  of  Boniface's  career,  uttered  no  doubt 
after  the  event,  but  soon  popularly  changed  into  the  form  of  a  pro- 
phecy, which  Celestine  was  supposed  to  have  spoken  when  visited 
in  his  confinement  at  Fumone  by  his  supplanter  and  persecutor. 

1  William  of  Nogaret,  who  was  on  a  mission  to  Italy,  and  was  the 
bearer  of  the  documents  drawn  up  by  the  States-General. 

2  For  the  various  statements  and  conjectures  concerning  the  manner  of 
his  death,  see  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  542. 


A.D.  1303.  TURNING-POINT  IN  THE  PAPACY.  101 

The  circumstances  of  his  death  produced  a  general  horror,  which  was 
felt  even  by  those  who  abhorred  the  man,  while  they  revered  the 
office  which  had  been  so  atrociously  outraged  in  him  ;x  and  tales  of 
judgments  denounced  by  him  on  his  enemies,  and  of  terrible  fulfil- 
ments of  his  curses,  were  eagerly  circulated  and  believed.  But  the 
end  of  Boniface  involved  far  more  than  his  own  ruin.  He  had 
attempted  to  strain  the  Papal  power  too  far,  and  after  his  failure  it 
never  recovered  the  ascendancy  which  he  had  rashly  hazarded  in 
the  endeavour  to  gain  a  yet  more  absolute  dominion."2 

§  20.  The  brief  pontificate  of  his  successor  marks  the  mere  sequel 
and  end  of  the  conflict  in  which  Boniface  succumbed.  Eleven  days 
after  his  death  (Nov.  23),  the  conclave  at  Perugia,  in  which  the 
Orsini  party  had  full  power,  elected  Nicolas  Boccassini,  bishop  of 
Ostia,  a  native  of  Trevisa,  of  humble  origin,  who  had  been  general 
of  the  Dominican  order,  and  a  firm  adherent  of  Boniface  down  to 
the  fatal  scenes  at  Anagni. 

Benedict  XI.3  (1303-4)  proved  his  will  to  maintain  the  preten- 
sions of  the  Papacy  by  a  Bull  rebuking  Frederick  of  Arragon  for 
dating  his  regnal  years  from  his  assumption  of  the  crown  of  Tri- 
nacria,  instead  of  from  the  confirmation  of  his  title  by  the  Pope. 
Something  of  the  same  spirit  was  shown  by  the  manner  in  which 
he  made  the  concessions,  which  were  dictated  by  prudence,  to  the 
King  of  France.  As  if  to  assert  perfect  free  will  in  the  matter,4 
and  to  place  Philip  in  a  position  to  hold  intercourse  with  the  Holy 
See,  the  Pope  anticipated  the  King's  embassy  of  congratulation  by 
an  act  of  absolution,  published  at  Paris,  which  revoked  or  suspended 
all  the  measures  of  his  predecessor  against  France.  The  ambas- 
sadors who  brought  the  King's  flattering  congratulations  to  the 
Pope  on  his  elevation  were  cordially  received,  and  all  the  privileges 
claimed  by  the  Gallican  church  were  restored. 

But  all  this  policy  of  concession  barely  covered  the  longing  for 
revenge  on  both  sides.  Benedict  refused  to  include  William  of 
Nogaret  in  the  amnesty  for  the  outrage  at  Anagni,  and  Philip 
demanded  a  formal  condemnation  of  the  late  Pope  by  a  General 
Council.  To  avoid  (as  he  said)  the  summer  heats  of  Eome,  but 
doubtless  also  for  greater  security  from  the  power  of  the  Colonnas, 

1  See,  for  example,  Dante,  Furgat.  xx.  86-91. 

2  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  542. 

3  He  was  at  first  styled  the  Xth  of  the  name,  as  Benedict  X.  (1058-9) 
was  regarded  as  an  Antipope  (see  Chap.  II.  §  1,  p.  11). 

4  The  Pope  stated  in  a  letter  that  the  King  was  absolved  ahsente  et  non 
petente.  No  embassy  could  be  received  by  the  Holy  See  from  a  prince 
under  sentence  of  excommunication.  The  tone  taken  by  Benedict  towards 
Philip  was  that  of  a  shepherd  compelling  the  noblest  sheep  of  his  flock  to 
return  to  the  fold  even  against  his  will  (Epist.  ap.  Dupuy,  III.  p.  207). 

II— G 


102 


BENEDICT  XL 


Chap.  VI. 


Benedict  retired  to  Perugia,  whence  he  fulminated  a  Bull  of  excom- 
munication against  the  sacrilegious  perpretrators  of  the  outrage 
upon  Boniface,  citing  William  of  Nogaret  and  fourteen  others  to 
appear  at  the  approaching  feast  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul.  This 
Bull  was  issued  on  the  9th  of  June;  the  citation  was  for  the 
29th ;  but  on  the  27th  Benedict  died  after  a  few  days'  illness, 
brought  on  by  eating  freely  of  figs  sent  to  him  as  a  present  from 
the  abbess  of  St.  Petronilla  at  Perugia.  The  passion  of  the  age, 
which  best  knew  its  own  propensities  in  the  mode  of  disposing  of 
an  enemy,  ascribed  his  death  to  poison;1  but  there  is  no  clear 
evidence  of  the  fact.  Benedict's  death  ended  the  resistance  to 
France ;  and  he  was  the  last  Pope  seen  at  Borne,  or  even  in  Italy, 
for  that  period  of  more  than  seventy  years  (1304-1378)  which  is 
called  the  Babylonian  Captivity. 

1  As  to  the  different  forms  of  the  accusation,  and  the  persons  charged 
with  the  crime,  see  Robertson,  vol.  iv.  p.  5. 


The  Lord  with  SS.  Peter  and  Paul. 

An  ancient  Glass  Medallion,  found  in  the  Catacombs,  and  preserved  iu  the  Vatican. 

(From  Roma  Sotteranea.) 


Avignon  ;  with  the  Broken  Bridge  over  the  Rhone. 

BOOK   II. 

THE  DEGRADATION  AND   OUTWARD 
REVIVAL  OF  THE  PAPACY. 

Centuries  XIV.-XVL 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  "BABYLONIAN  CAPTIVITY."— PART  I. 

CLEMENT  V.  AND  JOHN  XXII. 

A.D.  1305—1334. 

1.  Dante  on  the  overbuilt  edifice  of  Rome— New  Influences  against  the 
Papacy.  §  2.  Election  of  Clement  V. — The  Papal  Court  at  Avignon — 
Results  of  the  Removal.  §  3.  Relations  of  Clement  to  Philip  IV.  of 
France — The  Emperor  Henry  VII.  §  4.  The  Cou-icil  of  Vienne — Con- 
demnation of  the  Templars  —  Memory  of  Boniface  VIII.  —  Proposed 
Crusade  frustrated  by  the  Pope — Durantis  of  Mende  on  Reformation 
in  "  Head  and  Members."  §  5.  Death  of  Clement  V. — Character  of 
John  XXII. — Persecution  of  Magicians,  Lepers,  and  Jews— Crusade 
of  the  Pastoureaux.  §  6.  Death  of  Henry  VII. — Double  election  of 
LOUIS  IV.  of  Bavaria  and  Frederick  of  Austria — League  of  John  XXII. 
with  Robert  of  Naples — The  Visconti  of  Milan.  §  7.  The  Pope's  claim  to 
the  vicariate  of  the  Empire— Victory  of  Louis  IV.  at  Miihldorf — His 
Contest  with   John  on  the  Imperial  Authority — Men  of  Learning  on 


104  NEW  EPOCH  IN  THE  PAPACY.  Chap.  VII. 

both  sides — The  Defensor  Pads.  §  8.  Papal  Interdict  against  Louis — 
Union  of  Germany.  §  9.  Anti-papal  Assembly  at  Trent — Louis  IV.  in 
Italy.  §  10.  His  Coronation  at  Rome — Sentence  of  deprivation  against 
John — The  Antipope  Nicolas  V. — Unpopularity  and.  departure  of  the 
Emperor  and  Antipope — The  Assembly  at  Pisa — Nicolas  submits  to 
John.  §  11.  Philip  VI.  of  Valois  proposes  a  Crusade  against  Louis. 
§  12.  The  Pope  charged  with  heresy  about  the  Beatific  Vision — Decisiou 
of  the  Sorbonne — Death  of  John  XXII. 

§  1.  The  pontificate  of  Boniface  Till,  marks  a  decisive  turning- 
point  in  the  fortunes  of  the  Papacy.  As  is  the  common  law  in 
human  affairs,  the  crisis  of  humiliation,  provoked  by  his  extreme 
pretensions,  had  been  prepared  by  the  predecessors  by  whom 
those  same  pretensions  had  been  most  successfully  asserted.  The 
victory  over  the  Empire  was  also  the  fatal  triumph  of  the  Pope's 
secular  over  his  spiritual  authority.  The  lofty  fabric  of  the  Papacy 
had  overbuilt  itself ;  and  its  tottering  state  was  clearly  discerned 
by  Dante : 1 

"To  Rome,  which  taught  the  ancient  world  good  deeds, 

Two  suns  were  wont  to  point  the  twofold  way, 
That  of  the  world,  and  that  to  God  which  leads. 

The  one  hath  quencht  the  other :  with  the  crook 
The  sword  is  joined ;  and  scarce  it  need  be  told 

How  ill  the  twain  such  combination  brook, 
Since  one  no  longer  doth  the  other  curb. 

*  *  *  *  * 

Know  then,  Rome's  Church,  oppressed  by  too«much  weight, 

Confounding  the  two  governments,  hath  brought 
Herself  into  the  mire,  with  all  her  freight." 

Such  noble  strains  of  vernacular  literature  were  an  organ  of  the 
free  spirit  that  was  rebelling  against  the  claim  to  one  supreme 
authority  over  temporal  as  well  as  spiritual  affairs.  That  claim, 
with  the  exactions  which  it  brought  into  constant  and  irritating 
exercise,  was  an  especial  means  of  advancing  the  growth  of 
nationalities — a  power  fatal  to  papal  supremacy,  as  was  proved  by 
the  victory  of  Philip  the  Fair  over  Boniface,  and  afterwards  by  the 
legislation  of  Edward  III.  and  his  grandson  against  papal  aggressions 
and  exactions.2  The  claims  and  humiliation  of  Boniface  are  justly 
marked  by  Archbishop  Trench 3  as  a  decisive  epoch  in  the  History  of 
the  Church,  "  having  in  view  the  manner  in  which  all  subsequent 

1  These  lines  of  the  Purgatorio  (canto  xvi.  v.  97,  Wright's  translation) 
are  part  of  a  passage  in  which  he  contrasts  the  happy  state  of  Northern 
Italy  before  the  overthrow  of  Frederick  II.  with  its  later  lawlessness.  The 
date  is  1300. 

2  See  further  on  these  points,  Trench,  Medieval  Church  History, 
Lect.  xix.  pp.  279,  f.  3  Ibid.  p.  286. 


A.D.  1305.  ELECTION  OF  CLEMENT  V.  105 

humiliations  of  the  Papacy  are  connected  with  this  first  humilia- 
tion, and  links  in  the  same  chain.  With  it,  as  we  shall  presently 
see,  is  immediately  connected  the  transfer  of  the  seat  of  the  Papacy 
to  Avignon  ;  from  this  ill-omened  transfer  springs  the  Great  Schism 
of  the  West ;  from  the  Schism,  and  with  a  view  to  its  healing,  the 
Three  Councils,  also  of  the  West ;  while  all  these  events  effectually 
work  together  for.  the  hastening  forward  of  the  Reformation." 

§  2.  The  brief  episode  of  Benedict  XL's  pontificate  was  followed 
by  a  whole  year's  contest  of  intrigue  between  the  Italian  and 
French  parties  in  the  reduced  conclave  of  nineteen  members ;  till 
the  Dominican  cardinal  of  Prato  made  the  insidious  proposal,  that 
the  Italians  should  name  three  Ultramontane  candidates,  from 
whom  the  French  party  should  select  the  future  Pope.  The  result 
was  the  choice  of  Bertrand  d'Agoust  or  Du  Got,1  archbishop  of  Bor- 
deaux, by  birth  a  noble  Gascon,  who,  besides  being  a  subject  of  the 
King  of  England,  had  made  himself  obnoxious  to  Philip  the  Fair 
and  his  brother  Charles  of  Valois,  and  had  been  a  partisan  of 
Boniface.  These  presumptions  against  his  siding  with  France 
seem  to  have  been  relied  on  by  the  Italians  ;  but  they  were  out- 
weighed by  his  vanity  and  ambition,  and  his  election  was  secured 
by  a  secret  compact,  which  bound  him  to  the  interests  of  Philip.2 
Elected  on  the  5th  of  June,  1305,  the  new  Pope,  who  took  the 
name  of  Clement  V.,  replied  to  the  request  of  the  Italian  cardinals 
that  he  should  go  to  Piome,  by  summoning  them  to  attend  his 
coronation  at  Lyon.  "  Matthew  Orsini,  the  senior  of  the  college, 
is  said  to  have  told  the  Cardinal  of  Prato  that,  since  he  had 
succeeded  in  bringing  the  Papal  Court  beyond  the  mountains,  it 
would  be  long  before  it  would  return ;  for,  he  added,  /  know  the 
character  of  the  Gascons.""  3 

The  Cardinal's  foresight  was  justified  by  that  long  sojourn  of  the 

1  His  surname  was  taken  from  Le  Got,  a  village  near  Bordeaux. 
The  chief  contemporary  authorities  for  this  period  are  Ferreti  Vicentini 
(ab.  1328),  Hist.  Suorum  Temporum,  in  Muratori,  ix.  1014;  and  Giovanni 
Villain  (o'k  1348),  Hist.  Florent.,  in  Muratori,  .\iii.  415,  f. 

2  Villain  specifies  five  conditions,  besides  a  sixth  secret  article,  as  agreed 
on  at  a  personal  interview  between  the  Archbishop  and  the  King  in  the 
forest  of  St.  Jean  d'Angely.  It  seems  to  be  proved  that  no  such  meeting 
could  have  taken  place  ;  but  the  fact  of  an  agreement  appears  certain, 
and  the  details  may  have  been  inferred  from  the  subsequent  ((induct  of  the 
Pope.  By  the  five  alleged  articles  the  Pope  is  said  to  have  bound  himself 
to  the  complete  reconciliation  of  Philip  and  his  agents  with  the  Church, 
the  condemnation  of  the  memory  of  Boniface,  the  restoration  of  the 
Colonnas  to  the  cardinalate  and  the  promotion  of  certain  friends  of  the 
King  to  that  dignity,  together  with  the  substantia]  gain  of  a  tithe  of  the 
ecclesiastical  revenues  in  France  for  five  years  towards  the  expenses  of 
the  Flemish  war.  3  Villani,  viii.  81  ;   Piobertson,  vol.  iv.  p.  7. 


106         THE  PAPAL  COURT  AT  AVIGNON.     Chap.  VII. 

Papal  Court  at  Avignon,1  to  which  the  Italians  gave  the  name  of 
the  Babylonian  Captivity,  not  only  from  its  seventy  years'  dura- 
tion 2  and  the  subjection  of  the  Holy  See  to  the  policy  of  France, 
but  with  an  evident  allusion  to  the  likeness  of  the  apocalyptic 
Babylon  in  the  greed,  rapacity,  and  profligacy  of  the  Popes  and 
ecclesiastics  during  that  period.3  "  It  is  not  hard  to  perceive  " — 
says  Archbishop  Trench 4 — "  the  manifold  ways  in  which  such 
a  self-chosen  estrangement  from  its  Italian  home  must  have  wrought 
injuriously  for  the  Papacy.  It  was  no  light  matter  for  this  to  be 
thus  torn  away  from  those  roots  which  during  the  course  of  ages  it 
had  stricken  in  the  Italian  soil, — dissociated  from  the  reminiscences 
and  traditions,  patent  still,  of  the  imperial  city.  Then,  too,  the 
Popes  could  no  longer  make  plausible  claims  to  be  regarded  as  inde- 
pendent umpires  and  arbiters  in  the  affairs  of  Christendom ;  for  it 
was  manifest  that  they  had  no  choice  but  to  set  forward  the  interests 
and  to  fulfil  the  behests  of  the  monarch  who  sheltered  them ;  and 
who,  as  no  other,  could  work  for  them  harm  or  good.  At  the  same 
time,  feeling  comparatively  safe  in  that  ignoble  shelter,  they 
allowed  themselves  in  insolences  and  aggressions  on  the  rights  of 
other  princes  of  Christendom,  upon  which  they  would  not  otherwise 
have  ventured;  they  advanced  claims  to  an  universal  monarchy, 
which  stood  in  ridiculous  contrast  with  their  own  absolute  de- 
pendence on  the  Court  of  France,  a  dependence  so  abject  that  there 
were  times  when  a  Pope  did  not  venture  to  give  away  the  smallest 
preferment  without  permission  first  obtained  from  the  French  king. 
...  It  was  altogether  an  unlovely  time,  as  unlovely  morally  as 
is  materially  that  ugly  fortress-prison,  called  a  palace,  which  the 
Popes  have  left  behind  them  on  the  banks  of  the  Khone.  The 
morals  of  the  Court  of  Rome  may  not  have  always  been  very  edify- 
ing ;  but  those  of  the  Court  of  Avignon  were  immeasurably  worse. 

1  After  being  compelled  to  retire  from  Lyon  to  Bordeaux  through  the 
exasperation  of  the  citizens  at  the  profligacy  and  exactions  of  his  court, 
Clement  moved  from  city  to  city  in  the  south  of  France,  till  he  fixed  his 
residence  at  Avignon  in  Provence,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhone,  which, 
with  its  territory  (the  small  county  of  Venaissin),  a  part  of  the  old 
Burgundian  kingdom  of  Aries,  belonged  to  Robert  of  Anjou,  who  was  also 
the  Pope's  vassal  for  the  kingdom  of  Naples. 

2  The  exact  period  of  foreign  residence  was  71i  years  from  the  election 
of  Clement  XV.  to  the  return  of  Gregory  XL  in  Jan.  1377.  It  is  a  further 
coincidence  with  apocalyptic  numbers,  that  there  were  seven  Popes  in 
the  seventy  years. 

3  Thus  Petrarch,  in  advocating  the  claims  of  Rome  to  have  the  Papacy 
restored  to  it,  denounces  the  corruptions  of  the  court  at  Avignon,  which 
he  calls  the  third  Babylon  and  I'empia  Ba'n/oiva.  We  shall  see  later  how 
familiar  that  age  had  become  with  denunciations  by  sound  Catholics  of 
the  Papacy  as  the  mystic  Babylon. 

4  Mediecal  Church  History,  p.  287. 


A.D.  1308.  THE  EMPEROR  HENRY  VII.  107 

Petrarch,  who  formed  one  of  a  deputation  from  the  city  of  Rome 
beseeching  Clement  VI.  to  return  (1342),  .  .  .  gives  in  his  Letters 
a  revolting  picture  of  the  place,  and  of  the  things  which  were 
perpetrated  there." 

§  3.  The  politics  of  Avignon  are  summed  up  by  one  writer  in  the 
words,  "  The  whole  court  was  governed  by  Gascons  and  French- 
men."1 Whatever  may  be  the  truth  as  to  the  secret  agreement 
with  Philip,  its  alleged  five  articles  exactly  represent  the  conces- 
sions made  by  Clement  soon  after  his  accession.  He  even  consented 
to  absolve  William  of  Nogaret  for  his  share  in  the  violence  done  to 
Boniface  VIII. ;  but  Philip's  urgency  for  the  condemnation  of  the 
late  Pope's  memory  was  evaded  by  reserving  the  question  for 
a  general  council.  His  subserviency  to  the  King  was  crowned  by 
the  part  he  took  in  the  condemnation  of  the  Templars,  after  suffi- 
cient hesitation  to  betray  his  consciousness  of  its  iniquity.2  But 
in  another  matter  of  the  greatest  moment  the  cunning  policy  ot 
Clement  contrived  to  disappoint  the  King  of  France.  On  the 
murder  of  the  Emperor,  Albert  of  Austria  (May  1,  1308),  Philip 
urged  the  Pope,  who  was  then  at  Poitiers,  to  support  the  candi- 
dature of  his  brother,  Charles  of  Valois.  Clement  could  not  but  be 
alarmed  at  such  an  addition  to  the  power  of  his  royal  patron,  whose 
family  already  possessed,  besides  France  and  Navarre,  the  thrones 
of  Naples  and  Hungary,  and  through  agents  at  Florence  and  Rome 
had  supreme  influence  in  Central  Italy ;  while  the  establishment  of 
a  rival  power  in  Germany  and  Northern  Italy  might  secure  another 
protector  in  future  contingencies.  So,  while  he  gratified  Philip  by 
writing  to  the  electors  in  favour  of  Charles,  he  took  secret  measures 
in  favour  of  Henry  of  Luxemburg,  who  was  elected  as  Henry  VII. 
(Nov.  27th,  1308).  "  The  Pope,  in  ratifying  the  election,  exacted 
from  Henry  an  engagement  that  he  would  confirm  the  grants  of 
former  emperors  to  the  Church,  that  he  would  exterminate  heresies 
and  heretics,  that  he  would  never  intermarry  or  ally  himself  with 
Saracens,  heathens,  or  schismatics,  and  that  he  would  secure  to  the 
Roman  Church  the  lands  which  had  been  mentioned  in  former 
compacts." 3 

1  St.  Antoninus  of  Florence,  iii.  269  ;  Robertson,  vol.  iv.  p.  10.  For  the 
new  forms  of  exaction  devised  to  support  the  court  at  Avignon,  see 
Chap.  XVI. 

2  See  below,  Chap.  XXI. 

3  Robertson,  vol.  iv.  p.  42.  Henry's  march  into  Italy  to  claim  the 
imperial  crown — a  duty  which  Dante  had  censured  his  predecessors, 
Rudolf  and  Albert,  for  neglecting ;  his  contest  with  the  Guelph  factions 
headed  by  Robert  of  Naples,  for  supremacy  in  the  peninsula,  and  for  the 
possession  of  Rome ;  his  coronation  by  three  cardinals,  as  commissioner, 
for  the  Pope,  at  St.  John  Lateran  (the  Vatican  quarter,  and  St.  Peter's 
being  in  the  hands  of  John  and  the  Orsini);  his  quarrel  with  the  Pope, 
who  interfered   on  behalf  of  the   French    king's    kinsman    Robert ;    <i»d 


108  THE  COUNCIL  OF  VIENNE.  Chap.  VII. 

§  4.  It  may  have  been  from  a  knowledge  or  suspicion  df  Clement's 
conduct  in  this  affair,  that  Philip  revived  the  question  of  the  con- 
demnation of  Pope  Boniface;  and,  after  long  discussions  and 
intrigues,  a  special  Bull  was  issued  (April  1311)  annulling  the 
acts  of  the  late  Pope  against  France,  except  the  Bulls  Unam 
Sanctam  and  Rem  non  novam,  which  were  explained  in  a  qualified 
and  inoffensive  sense.  On  the  16th  of  October,  in  the  same  year, 
the  promised  council  (the  Fifteenth  (Ecumenical,  in  the  Roman 
reckoning)  was  assembled  at  Vienne,  a  city  not  belonging  to  the 
King  of  France ;  and  the  Pope  opened  it  with  the  announcement  of 
three  subjects  for  consideration,  the  case  of  the  Templars,  a  Crusade, 
and  the  reform  of  the  Church.  After  long  consideration  of  the 
evidence  against  the  order,  and  the  appearance  of  Philip  in  arms 
before  Vienne,  "  to  make  the  cause  of  Christ  triumphant,"  a  com- 
promise was  found  by  the  ingenuity  of  Durantis,  bishop  of  Mende ; 
and,  at  the  second  general  session  of  the  council  (April  3rd,  1312), 
the  abolition  of  the  order  was  decreed  on  the  ground  of  expe- 
diency, "  by  the  way  of  provision  or  apostolical  ordination,  not  by 
way  of  definitive  sentence"  on  the  evidence  in  support  of  the 
process.  "  Thus  the  very  instrument  by  which  the  abolition  of 
the  Order  was  determined  left  the  question  of  its  guilt  or  innocence 
open,  and  has  left  it  to  perplex  later  ages,  without  even  such 
assistance  towards  the  solution  of  it  as  might  have  been  derived 
from  a  papal  judgment." *  At  the  same  session  the  Council  decided 
the  long  vexed  question  of  the  memory  of  Pope  Boniface  by  de- 
claring that  he  had  always  been  a  Catholic,  thus  leaving  Philip  to 
be  content  with  the  practical  concessions  of  the  late  Bull.  The 
third  session  (May  3rd)  granted  a  tenth  for  six  years  for  a  new 
Crusade ;  the  cross  was  taken  by  King  Philip,  his  son  Louis  of 
Navarre,  Edward  II.  of  England,  and  other  princes ;  and  thousands 
of  Crusaders  are  said  to  have  presented  themselves  at  the  gates  of 
Avignon.  But  Clement  absolved  them  from  their  vow  and  sent 
them  back  to  their  homes ;  "  and  thus  "  (says  a  chronicler  of  the 

his  sudden  death,  which  was  ascribed  by  the  suspicions  of  that  age  to 
poison  given  in  the  Eucharistic  cup  by  his  Dominican  confessor  (Aug.  24. 
1313); — all  this  belongs  rather  to  civil  than  ecclesiastical  history.  The 
interest  of  Henry's  career  is  enhanced  by  Dante's  assertion  of  imperial 
rights  against  the  Papacy  in  his  famous  treatise  "  Of  Monarchy."  which 
Mr.  Bryce  justly  calls  the  epitaph  of  the  Empire  in  Italy,  rather  than  a 
prophecy  of  its  revival. 

1  Robertson,  vol.  iv.  p.  49: — "A  writer  who  lived  near  the  time,  and 
who  professes  to  have  special  authority  for  his  statement,  reports  Clement 
as  having  said  that  the  Order  could  not  be  destroyed  in  the  way  of  justice, 
but  that  it  must  be  destroyed  by  the  way  of  expediency,  lest  our  dear  son 
the  King  of  France  shou'd  be  offended.  (Albert  de  Rosate,  Dictionarium 
Juris,  Venet.  1573,  s.  v.  Templarii,  quoted  by  Baluz,  Vitae  Pap.  Aven.,  i. 
590)."     See  the  account  of  the  order,  Chap.  XXI. 


A.D.  1311.        DURANT1S  OF  MENDE  ON  COUNCILS.  109 

time)  "  their  labours  and  very  great  expenses  became  like  a  mockery, 
and  had  no  effect."  ] 

Though  for  the  proposed  reformation  of  the  Church  nothing  was 
effected  beyond  some  constitutions  for  the  regulation  of  the  clergy 
and  certain  points  of  discipline,  the  Council  marks  a  real  epoch  by 
the  Pope's  admission  of  the  need  for  a  reform,  and  still  more  by  the 
bold  and  comprehensive  scheme  proposed  by  Durantis,  bishop  of 
Mende.2  The  tract  is  doubly  interesting  as  a  witness  to  existing 
corruptions,  and  an  indication  how  far  a  most  orthodox  bishop  and 
learned  canonist  was  prepared  to  go  in  reversing  the  existing 
system.  He  urges  a  thorough  reform  of  the  Church,  from  the 
head  downwards  through  all  its  members — a  phrase  which  be- 
came the  watchword  of  reform ;  an  exact  definition  of  the  Pope's 
primacy,  who  ought  no  longer  to  be  styled  universal  bishop,  in 
contradiction  to  the  prohibition  of  Gregory  the  Great ;  a  limi- 
tation of  the  pretensions  of  the  Roman  see ;  a  remedy  for  the 
abuses  of  the  conclave,  especially  in  keeping  the  Papacy  long 
vacant.  On  the  great  question  between  Pope  and  Councils,  he 
declares  for  the  legislative  power  of  General  Councils  alone,  and 
proposes  their  convocation  every  ten  years.  While  urging  the 
restoration  of  those  episcopal  rights,  which  had  been  invaded  by 
the  Roman  Curia  and  by  the  privileges  and  exemptions  granted  to 
monks  and  friars,  he  insists  on  the  need  of  a  reform  throughout  all 
orders  of  the  clergy ;  especially  denouncing  simony,  pluralities,  the 
system  of  granting  monastic  and  other  benefices  to  cardinals  in 
commendam,  the  employment  of  bishops  and  clergy  in  secular 
affairs,  improper  promotions,  the  pride,  luxury,  and  ignorance  of  the 
clergy,  the  want  of  decent  ornaments  and  vestures  in  churches, 
defects  in  the  performance  of  the  services,  and  the  profanation  of 
Sundays  and  holydays  by  giving  them  up  to  unseemly  merriment. 
He  proposed  to  deal  with  the  gross  scandals  arising  from  clerical 
celibacy  and  concubinage,  partly  by  special  measures,  and  in 
general  by  conforming  the  Western  discipline  as  to  the  marriage 
of  the  clergy  to  that  of  the  Eastern  Church.  It  will  be  seen  that 
the  scheme  does  not  even  touch  the  doctrines  about  which  the  later 
Reformation  centred. 

1  Annal.  Altah.  A.n.  1311  ;  Robertson,  vol.  iv.  p.  48. 

2  See  Robertson,  vol.  iv.  pp.  46-7  : — "  The  tract,  De  Modo  Genei-alis 
Conoilii  ce  ebrandi,  which  was  one  among  various  proposals  written  by 
bishops  for  consideration  at  the  Council  of  Vienne,  was  published,  with 
other  pieces  of  a  reforming  tendency,  at  Paris,  1671,  and  has  Deen  since 
reprinted.  The  editor  makes  the  mistake  of  ascribing  it  to  the  elder 
Durantis,  the  author  of  the  Speculum  Juris  and  of  the  Rationale  Divinorwn 
Ojficio'-um,  whereas  it  was  really  written  by  his  nephew,  who  had  suc- 
ceeded him  in  the  see  of  Mende." 

II— G  2 


110  PAPACY  OF  JOHN  XXII.  Chap.  VII. 

§  5.  The  death  of  Clement  V.  (April  20, 1314)  was  followed  by  a 
long  vacancy  of  the  pontificate,  during  which  two  kings  of  France 
also  died,  Philip  the  Fair  (Nov.  29th,  1314),  and  his  son  Louis  X. 
(July  5th,  1316).1  The  struggle  between  the  Italian  and  French 
parties,  in  which  the  Gascon  populace  interposed  by  force,  was  at 
length  ended  by  the  influence  of  Napoleon  Orsini,  who  supposed 
he  had  found  a  Gascon  friendly  to  the  Italians  in  James  d'Euse 
or  Duese,  a  native  of  Cahors,  cardinal  of  Porto,  who  was  elected  by 
the  conclave  at  Lyon  (Aug.  7th,  1316),  and  took  the  name  of 
John  XXII.  (1316-1334)  ;  by  some  called  John  XXI.  (see  p.  92). 

The  new  Pope  had  been  a  firm  adherent  of  his  predecessor,  from 
whom  he  was  honourably  distinguished  by  his  simple  personal 
habits,  but  he  was  of  a  vehement  and  bitter  temper.  He  was  distin- 
guished for  his-acuteness,  his  eloquence,  and  learning ;  and  his  pride 
in  these  qualities  formed  a  mixture  of  strength  and  rashness.2 
Towards  his  virtual  sovereigns,  the  kings  of  France,  who  were  men 
of  far  less  vigour  than  Philip  the  Fair,  he  assumed  the  air  of  a 
superior,  and  invaded  their  privileges  in  ecclesiastical  affairs.3 

The  bigotry,  which  was  a  strong  element  in  John's  pride  of 
religious  learning,  must  share  with  popular  prejudice  and  the  cruel 
zeal  of  the  French  king  the  blame  of  the  persecution  of  three  classes 
so  different  as  persons  accused  of  magic,  lepers,  and  Jews.  The 
Inquisition  was  active  in  searching  out  the  magical  practices  which 
were  commonly  charged  against  the  Albigenses.  There  may  have 
been  an  element  of  personal  vengeance  in  the  fate  of  Hugh  Geraldi, 
the  bishop  of  John's  native  city,  who,  convicted  of  compassing  the 
Pope's  death  by  magical  arts,  was  flayed  alive,  torn  asunder  by 
horses,  and  his  remains  burnt  at  the  place  of  execution  (1317).  The 
lepers,  who  had  formerly  been  objects  of  compassion  and  the  special 

1  The  French  throne  remained  vacant  for  six  months,  as  Louis  X.  had 
left  his  wife  with  child;  but  the  son  born  on  Nov.  15th  lived  only  six 
davs,  and  on  June  9th,  1317,  the  regent  Philip,  brother  of  Philip  the 
Fair  and  Louis  X.,  caused  himself  to  be  crowned  at  Rheims  as  Philip  V. 
(surnamed  the  Tall,  le  Long).  The  claim  of  Jeanne,  the  daughter  of 
Louis  X.  by  his  first  marriage,  preferred  by  her  uncle,  the  Duke  of  Bur- 
gundy, was  set  aside  by  the  States-General  on  a  pretext  derived  from  the 
old  laws  of  the  Salian  Franks  (the  "  Salic  Law  "j,  and  this  unjust  decision 
thenceforth  established  the  rule  by  which  females  were  excluded  from  the 
succession  to  the  crown.  (Com p.  the  Stud  nt's  History  of  France,  chap. 
ix.  §  22.)  Philip,  who  had  been  deputed  by  his  brother  Louis  to  manage 
the  papal  election,  shut  up  the  conclave  at  Lyon,  and  left  them  there  when 
the  death  of  Louis  called  him  to  Paris. 

2  Archbishop  Trench  characterizes  him  as  "John  XXII. ,  that  '  man  of 
blood,'  as  some  named  him,  than  whom  there  may  have  been  worse  and 
wickeder  men  in  the  Papal  Chair,  but  scarcely  one  who  more  repels  every 
sympathy.'' — Medieval  <  hurch  History,  p.  290. 

3  For  the  details  see  Robertson,  vol.  iv.  pp.  65-6. 


A.D.  1320.  CRUSADE  OF  THE  PASTOUREAUX.  Ill 

oare  of  the  Franciscans,  fell  under  the  popular  suspicion  of  a  plot, 
instigated  by  Jews  and  Mohammedans,  to  poison  the  wells  and 
infect  all  Christians  with  their  own  loathsome  disease.  Many  of 
them  were  shut  up  and  burnt  in  their  houses  by  excited  mobs ;  and 
many  more  were  sentenced  indiscriminately  by  the  judges,  at  the 
King's  express  order,  to  a  more  formal  death  by  fire.  The  like  fate 
was  now  inflicted  on  many  of  the  Jews,  whom  St.  Louis  had  allowed 
to  return  to  France ;  and,  while  the  King  obtained  their  confiscated 
property,  the  Pope  ordered  the  bishops  to  destroy  all  copies  of  the 
Talmud,  as  being  the  chief  support  of  their  perversity.1 

The  popular  hatred  of  the  Jews  showed  itself,  in  combination 
with  a  wild  remnant  of  the  old  crusading  zeal,  in  a  fanatical 
movement,  which  was  provoked  by  the  exactions  made  under  the 
pretence  of  a  crusade.  In  1320,  there  appeared  in  the  north  of 
France  a  body  of  peasants,  chiefly  boys,  who  took  the  name  of 
the  Pastoureaux,  which  had  before  denoted  a  similar  movement 
in  the  reign  of  St.  Louis.2  Their  leaders  were  a  priest,  who  had 
been  deprived  of  his  parish  for  misconduct,  and  an  apostate  Bene- 
dictine monk.  They  professed  to  set  out  on  pilgrimage  for  the 
Holy  Land,  marching  in  silence  with  a  cross  borne  before  them, 
and  seeking  support  in  alms.  But  the  band  was  soon  swollen 
by  lawless  ruffians,  and  their  begging  became  .plunder.  Their 
zeal  wras  chiefly  displayed  in  massacring  and  pillaging  the  Jews ; 
but  they  spread  a  general  terror  as  they  advanced  southwards, 
and  at  Avignon  they  were  anathematized  by  the  Pope.  Their 
numbers  had  swollen  to  40,000  when  they  reached  Languedoc, 
where  they  proposed  to  embark  at  Aigues  Mortes ;  but,  shut  out 
from  that  town  by  the  governor,  and  hemmed  in  by  a  cordon  of 
troops,  most  of  them  perished  from  famine,  exposure,  and  fever; 
and  of  the  remnant  thus  weakened,  numbers  were  hanged  on  trees 
and  gibbets. 

§  6.  The  contest  for  the  imperial  crown,  which  ensued  on  the 

1  "  Bernard  Guidonis,  as  inquisitor  of  Toulouse,  threw  two  cartloads  of 
Talmuds  into  the  fire  on  the  29th  Dec,  1319  (Hist.  Lang.  iv.  181).  Many 
Tews  threw  their  children  into  the  fire  in  order  to  rescue  them  from  being 
iorcibly  baptized."     Robertson,  vol.  iv.  p.  67. 

2  These  earlier  Pastoureaux  were  a  body  of  shepherds  and  other  peasants, 
who  banded  themselves  together  in  1251,  with  the  professed  object  of 
obtaining  the  release  of  Louis  IX.,  who  had  been  taken  prisoner  at 
Damietta.  Their  leader  was  a  mysterious  personage,  called  the  Master 
of  Hungary — a  title  which  suggests  a  connection  with  the  Manicheans 
about  the  Danube — of  whom  the  most  marvellous  and  inconsistent  stories 
were  told.  They  were  at  first  encouraged  by  the  queen-mother ;  but,  as 
they  advanced  from  Paris  to  the  south,  they  committed  excesses  both 
against  the  clergy  and  the  Jews,  and  at  last  their  leader  and  many  of  his 
followers  were  hanged,  and  the  rest  dispersed. 


112  LOUIS  IV.  AND  FREDERICK  OF  AUSTRIA.      Chap.  VII. 

death  of  Henry  VII.,  gave  John  XXII.  an  opportunity  of  renewing 
the  pretensions  which  his  predecessors  had  asserted  against  the 
Hohenstaufen.  While  the  Papacy  was  still  vacant  after  the  death 
of  Clement  V.,  two  parties  among  the  electors  had  made  a  douhle 
election  at  Frankfort  to  the  dignity  of  King  of  the  Komans ;  one 
party  choosing  Frederick  of  Austria,  a  son  of  Henry's  predecessor, 
Albert ;  while  the  partisans  of  the  late  Emperor,  headed  by  Peter 
Aichspalter,  archbishop  of  Mainz,  chose  Louis  of  Bavaria,  a  grand- 
son of  Rudolf  of  Hapsburg  through  female  descent  (Oct.  19  and  20, 
1314).  The  latter  prince,  besides  the  majority  of  three  unquestion- 
able votes  over  the  two  given  for  Frederick,  had  possession  of  the 
city  of  Frankfort,  where  he  was  solemnly  inaugurated,  and  he  was 
crowned  at  Aix-la-Chapelle  as  Louis  IV.  by  the  Archbishop  of 
Mainz  (Nov.  26);  the  Archbishop  of  Cologne  having  crowned 
Frederick  at  Bonn  on  the  preceding  day. 

The  contest  between  the  rivals  had  lasted  nearly  two  years,  when 
John  was  elected  to  the  Papacy ;  and  he  assumed  the  appearance  of 
neutrality  in  order  to  establish  his  own  right  to  dispose  of  the 
imperial  crown ;  avowing,  as  we  are  told,  the  principle  that  "  when 
kings  and  princes  quarrel,  then  the  Pope  is  truly  Pope."  His 
predecessor  Clement  had,  immediately  on  the  death  of  Henry  V1L, 
claimed  the  administration  of  the  empire  in  Italy  as  an  ancient 
right  of  the  Papacy,  and  had  appointed  the  Angevine  prince,  Eobert 
of  Naples,  as  imperial  vicar  in  that  country.  John  went  further 
still ;  declariDg  by  a  Bull  that  all  the  authority  held  in  Italy  under 
grants  of  the  late  Emperor  was  at  an  end,  and  forbidding  all  officials 
to  exercise  such  authority  without  fresh  commissions  from  himself. 
These  assumptions,  and  the  well-founded  apprehension  of  a  scheme 
for  subjecting  all  Italy  to  Robert  of  Anjou,  as  the  ally  and  agent  of 
the  Pope,  provoked  a  spirit  which  strengthened  the  anti-papal 
party,  especially  among  the  tyrants  who  had  now  usurped  the  rule 
of  most  of  the  1  talian  republics.  Among  these,  the  most  conspicuous 
chief  of  the  Ghibelline  party  was  Matthew  Visconti,  of  Milan,  who, 
though  he  laid  down  the  title  of  Imperial  Yicar,  procured  his  election 
as  captain-general  of  the  republic  (1313),  and  founded,  in  spite  of  all 
the  interdicts  and  even  the  proclamation  of  a  Crusade  against  him 
by  John,  the  hereditary  power  which  was  afterwards  (1395)  con- 
verted by  the  Emperor  Wenceslaus  into  the  duchy  of  Milan.1 

Hallam  (Mid.  Ages,  vol.  i.  p.  411)  says  of  the  Visconti:  "That 
family,  the  object  of  every  league  formed  in  Italy  for  more  than  fifty 
years*  in  constant  hostility  to  the  Church,  and  well  inured  to  interdicts 
and  excommunications,  producing  no  one  man  of  military  talents,  but 
fertile  of  tyrants  detested  for  their  perfidiousness  and  cruelty,  was  never- 
theless enabled,  with  almost  uninterrupted  success,  to  add  city  after  city 


A.D.  1316.  CONTEST  OF  JOHN  AND  LOUIS.  113 

§  7.  Even  in  Germany,  John  set  up  the  pretension  to  a  vicariate 
during  the  v.icancy  of  the  imperial  throne,1 — a  vacancy  which  he 
held  to  exist  till  he  himself  should  decide  between  the  rival  emperors- 
elect;  nor  did  he  show  any  disposition  to  end  the  strife  which  was 
exhausting  both  parties  to  his  ultimate  profit.  He  addressed  both 
rivals  as  King  of  the  Romans,  and  desired  them  to  settle  their 
quarrel  and  report  the  result  to  him.  This  policy  was  brought  to 
an  end  by  the  decisive  victory  which  Louis  the  Bavarian  won  at 
Muhldorf,  taking  Frederick  and  his  brother  Henry  prisoners  (Sept. 
28,  1322).  The  victorious  prince  was  soon  required  to  submit  his 
title  to  the  Pope's  decision ;  and  a  long  interchange  of  manifestoes 
and  arguments  ended  in  his  excommunication  by  John,  from  which 
sentence  he  appealed  to  a  general  council,  and  to  a  true  and  lawful 
future  pope  (1324).  The  controversy  is  especially  memorable  for 
the  bold  principles  of  imperial  authority  in  the  civil  relations  of  the 
Church,  and  condemnation  of  papal  usurpations,  which  were  set 
forth  in  elaborate  arguments  by  the  literary  champions  of  Louis,  the 
English  Franciscan,  William  of  Ockham,  and  the  two  great  lights  of 
the  University  of  Paris,  John  of  Jandun,  and  Marsilius  Kaimondini 
of  Padua,  a  physician,  who  had  also  studied  law  at  Orleans.2  To 
the  two  latter  is  ascribed  the  joint  authorship  of  the  famous  tract 
against  the  Pope,  under  the  ironical  title  of  Defensor  Pads 3 — as  he 
ought  to  have  been,  instead  of  the  fomenter  of  war.  Starting  from 
the  principles  of  civil  government  laid  down  in  Aristotle's  Politics, 

to  the    dominion    of   Milan,  till    it  absorbed  .all  the  north  of  Italy " — 
meaning  Lombardy,  but  not  Piedmont  or  the  territory  of  Venice. 

1  By  the  Bull  Si  fratrum  of  1316,  John  distinctly  asserted  the  vicariate 
of  the  Pope  during  a  vacancy  of  the  Empire;  and  the  same  claim  had 
already  been  made  by  Boniface  VIII.,  when  he  refused  to  recognize 
Albert  I.  But  this  pretension  of  the  Popes  was  never  admitted  by  the 
Germans.  "  Still  their  place  was  now  generally  felt  to  be  higher  than 
that  of  the  monarch,  and  their  control  over  the  three  spiritual  electors 
and  the  whole  body  of  the  clergy  was  far  more  effective  than  his.  A 
spark  of  national  feeling  was  at  length  kindled  by  the  exactions  and 
shameless  subservience  to  France  of  the  Court  of  Avignon  ;  and  the  infant 
democracy  of  industry  and  intelligence,  represented  by  the  cities  and  by 
the  English  Franciscan  Occam,  supported  Louis  IV.  in  his  conflict  with 
John  XXII.,  till  even  the  princes  who  had  risen  by  the  help  of  the  Pope 
were  obliged  to  oppose  him."     (Bryce.  p.  219,  220.) 

2  We  have  to  speak  fully  of  Ockham,  and  his  famous  contributions  to 
the  controversy,  among  the  Schoolmen  (Chap.  XXXII.).  John  of  Jandun 
(whose  surname,  de  Jandano,  from  his  birthplace  in  Champagne,  is  some- 
times corrupted  into  de  Gandavo,  of  Ghent)  wrote  a  tract,  De  Kullitate 
Processuum  Papse,  Johnrmis  contra  Ludwicum  Imperatorem,  printed  in 
Goldast,  i.  18-21. 

3  In  Goldast,  ii.  154—312;  for  a  fuller  account  of  its  contents,  see 
Robertson,  vol.  iv.  pp.  79,  80. 


114  LOUIS  IV.  SUPREME  IN  GERMANY.  Chap.  VII. 

and  regarding  them  as  best  fulfilled  in  the  elective  Empire,  the 
work  assails  the  whole  theory,  not  only  of  the  temporal  sovereignty, 
but  of  the  spiritual  supremacy,  of  the  Roman  See.  In  civil  power, 
the  Pope  ought  to  be  subject  to  the  Emperor,  and  to  be  elected 
and,  on  sufficient  cause,  deposed,  by  him  and  the  people  :  in  Church 
government  and  doctrine,  the  ultimate  authority  belongs  to  a 
General  Council :  the  precedence  of  one  Apostle  and  church  over  the 
rest,  and  the  need  of  an  earthly  head  of  the  Church,  are  plainly 
denied.  But  perhaps  even  these  bold  assaults  on  the  very  foundations 
upon  which  the  Papal  power  had  grown  up,  had  less  effect  on  the 
people  than  the  extravagance  with  which  John's  champions x  revived 
all  the  most  extreme  claims,  supported  by  all  the  falsifications  of 
history,  from  the  donation  of  Constantine  to  the  pretensions  of 
Hildebrand,  Innocent,  and  Boniface. 

§  8.  The  loyalty  of  the  German  people  to  Louis  was  confirmed  by 
the  intrigues  of  the  Pope,  in  interviews  at  Avignon,  with  Charles  IV. 
of  France,  Robert  of  Naples,  and  King  John  of  Bohemia,  to  hand  over 
the  imperial  crown  to  the  King  of  France ;  in  pursuance  of  which 
scheme  John  pronounced  a  ban  against  Louis  (March  31, 1324),  and 
laid  Germany  under  an  interdict  (July  ll).2  The  Austrian  party, 
however,  not  only  refused  to  concur  in  this  scheme,  but  Leopold 
formally  sent  the  imperial  insignia  to.Louis,  who  released  Frederick 
from  captivity  on  his  renouncing  his  claim  to  the  Empire  and 
making  an  alliance  with  him  against  all  enemies,  especially  "  against 
him  who  styles  himself  Pope  "  (March  1325).  Frederick  not  only 
kept  his  word,  in  spite  of  the  Pope's  dispensation  and  injunctions  to 
the  contrary,  but  placed  himself  entirely  in  the  hands  of  Louis, 
and  lived  with  him  like  a  brother ;  and  his  own  brother,  Leopold, 
the  real  leader  of  the  Austrian  party,  died  suddenly  about  a  year 
later  (Feb.  1326). 

§  9.  Louis  now  deemed  himself  strong  enough  to  maintain  his 
cause  in  Italy  in  person,  whither  he  was  invited  by  his  Ghibelline 
partisans,  aud  to  receive  the  imperial  crown  at  Rome.     But  in  a  diet 

1  The  chief  papal  advocates  were  Augustinus  Triumphus  (Triomfi),  an 
Augustinian  friar  of  Ancona  (06.  1328),  who  wrote  a  Summa  de  Potestate 
Eccle$iast:ca  ad  J  oh.  XXII.  I.  (first  printed  at  Augsburg,  1473;  Romoe, 
1582);  and  the  Spanish  Franciscan,  Alvarus  Pelagius  (Alvar  Pelajo), 
whose  De  Planctu  Ecclesise  Libri  II.  was  written  at  Avignon  in  1330,  and 
revised  ten  years  later  by  the  author,  then  bishop  of  Silves  in  Portugal 
(printed  at  Ulm,  1474;  Venet.  1560).  For  a  summary  of  the  contents  of 
both  works,  see  Gieseler,  vol.  iv.  pp.  31-34.  As  to  the  latter,  "  it  is 
remarkable  how  the  writer  combines  with  his  extravagant  papal  ism  an 
unsparing  exposure  of  the  corruptions  which  existed  in  the  Church,  and 
had  their  real  source  in  the  system  of  the  Pope  and  his  court  (see 
Janus,  247-8)."     Robertson,  vol.  iv.  p.  80. 

2  For  the  sufferings  caused  by  this  "Long  Interdict,"  see  Chap.  XXXIII.  §  6. 


A.D.  1327.  LOUIS  IV.  IN  ITALY1.  125 

at  Spires  the  expedition  was  strongly  opposed,  especially  by  the 
ecclesiastical  princes  ;,  and  most  of  the  great  feudatories  refused  their 
bounden  service  to  a  sovereign  who  was  excommunicated.  In 
February,  1327,  Louis  crossed  the  Alps  with  a  train  which  a 
chronicler  likens  to  a  mere  hunting  party ;  but  his  adherents 
gathered  round  him  at  Trent,  not  only  from  the  Ghibelline  party 
of  Italy,  but  many  bishops,  the  grand  master  of  the  Teutonic  order, 
and  a  multitude  of  Franciscans,  Dominicans,  and  others,  whom 
John  had  alienated  from  their  natural  loyalty  to  the  Papacy.  Mar- 
silius  and  John  of  Jandun  enlarged  on  the  misdeeds  of  "  Priest 
John,"  which  were  set  forth  in  18  articles,  as  the  grounds  on  which 
the  assembly  declared  him  a  heretic  and  unworthy  of  the  Papacy. 
The  charge  of  heresy  had  been  brought  against  the  Pope  by  the 
"spiritual"  Franciscans,  whom  his  enmity  was  now  driving  more 
and  more  decidedly  into  the  Ghibelline  ranks.1  On  receiving  the 
report  of  this  meeting,  John  issued  his  "  fifth  process,"  pronouncing 
Louis  deprived  of  all  the  fiefs  held  by  him  both  from  the  Church 
and  the  Empire,  and  specially  the  duchy  of  Pavaria ;  absolving  all 
his  subjects  from  their  allegiance,  and  declaring  that  he  had 
incurred  the  penalties  of  heresy  by  his  persistent  favouring  of 
heretics  since  his  excommunication  (April  3,  13l.:7).2  At  Milan, 
whence  the  archbishop  had  fled,  Louis  received  the  iron  crown  from 
three  bishops  who  had  been  deprived  of  their  sees  by  the  Guelphic 
party ;  but  here  too  he  began  to  learn  how  Italy  had  finally  escaped 
from  any  real  exercise  of  the  imperial  authority.  By  deposing  and 
imprisoning  Galeazzo  Visconti,  as  an  act  of  justice,  he  alarmed  the 
Ghibelline  tyrants  of  the  Lombard  and  Tuscan  cities  ;  but  yet  he 
was  received  by  all  Northern  Italy  from  hatred  of  the  Pope. 

§  10.  Louis  marched  on  to  Rome.  The  city  was  in  that  social 
and  political  disorder,  which  was  its  normal  state  during  the  Middle 
Ages,  and  now  aggravated  by  the  absence  of  the  Pope.3  A  republic 
in  form,  without  an  element  of  popular  government ;  with  an  idle 
and  turbulent  populace,  destitute  of  manufacturing  and  commercial 
industry;  and  without  the  prosperous  and  powerful  middle-class 
which  had  risen  up  in  the  other  cities  of  Northern  Italy;  it  was 
kept  in  commotion  by  the  feuds  of  the   powerful  families — the 

1  Respecting  the  quarrel  between  John  and  the  Franciscans,  see  further 
in  Chap.  XXV.  §  7. 

2  For  the  ten,  see  Gieseler,  vol.  iv.  p.  37.  About  the  same  time 
(April  9th)  several  of  the  adherents  of  Louis  were  excommunicated  by 
name,  especially  Marsilius  of  Padua  and  John  of  Jandun;  and  these 
two  were  afterwards  expressly  declared  heretics  and  outlaws  (Oct.  23, 
1328). 

3  See  Brvce,  Holy  I?o?nan  Empire,  c.  xvi.,  for  an  admirable  description 
of  the  state  of  Rome  during  the  Middle  Ages. 


116  THE  ANTIPOPE  NICOLAS  V.  Chap.  VII. 

papalist  Orsini,  the  Ghibelline  Colonna !  and  Savelli — who  became 
in  turn  the  supporters  or  masters  of  the  Papal  Legate,  or  of  a 
foreign  prince,  as  at  this  time  of  Robert  of  Naples.  The  people, 
incensed  against  John  by  his  evasive  answer  to  an  invitation  to 
return,  and  by  the  attempt  of  a  papal  Genoese  force  to  surprise  the 
city,  received  Louis  with  enthusiasm.  His  consecration  as  Emperor 
in  St.  Peter's  was  performed  by  excommunicated  bishops,  and  the 
imperial  crown  was  placed  on  his  head  by  Sciarra  Colonna,  as 
captain  of  the  city  (Jan.  17,  1328).  To  the  Pope's  denunciation  of 
both  coronations  and  proclamation  of  a  Crusade  against  the  usurper, 
Louis  replied  by  presiding  as  Emperor  at  a  vast  assembly  in  the 
Place  of  St.  Peter's,  where  some  Franciscans  and  others  denounced 
the  misdeeds  of  "  priest  James  of  Cahors,  who  styled  himself 
John  XXI L;"  he  was  pronounced  to  be  deprived  of  the  Papacy  ; 
and  the  Emperor  declared  it  to  be  his  duty,  after  the  example  of 
Otho  the  Great,  to  provide  a  fit  successor  to  the  apostolic  see 
(April  18th).  This  revival  of  the  claim  to  the  election  of  the  Pope 
by  the  Roman  people,  on  the  nomination  of  their  Emperor,  was 
carried  out  in  another  assembly  on  Ascension  Day  (May  12th), 
when  Peter  Rainalucci,  of  Corbaria,  was  invested  with  the  nominal 
dignity  of  Pope  Nicolas  V.2  Hitherto  a  rigid  Franciscan,  he 
exchanged  his  strict  poverty  for  the  luxury  and  ostentation  which 
seemed  now  inseparable  from  the  Papacy,  and  supported  it  by  the 
traditional  expedients  of  selling  offices  and  preferments.  He  ob- 
tained little  support  even  from  the  imperialists  of  Rome,  where  the 
party  of  John  grew  stronger,  and  Louis  offended  the  Ghibellines 
by  his  impolitic  measures.  The  people,  who  had  welcomed  the 
Emperor  as  a  deliverer,  found  themselves  burdened  by  new  taxes  to 
supply  his  wants,  and  plundered  by  the  German  soldiers ;  while 
their  provisions  were  cut  short  by  the  enterprize  of  Robert  of 
Naples,  who  took  Ostia  and  sent  his  galleys  up  the  Tiber. 
Instead  of  a  bold  advance,  to  establish  his  power  by  wresting 
Southern  Italy  from  the  Angevin,  Louis  found  his  position 
untenable  at  Rome.  His  retreat,  on  the  4th  of  August,  was 
attended  by  curses  and  derision,  mingled  with  acclamations  for 
"  Holy  Church;"  and  the  populace  even  pelted  his  men  with  stones 
and  killed  some  of  them.    The  privileges  granted  to  the  city  by  the 

1  At  the  time  now  in  question  the  Colonna  were  divided  into  two 
factions,  under  the  brothers  Stephen  and  Sciarra,  the  former  adhering  to 
the  Pope,  the  latter  to  the  Empire ;  and  Sciarra,  elected  by  the  Romans 
as  their  captain,  drove  Stephen  out  of  the  city. 

2  He  is  only  reckoned  as  an  Antipope,  and  the  title  of  Nicolas  V. 
was  afterwards  borne  by  a  lawful  Pope,  Thomas  de  Sarzana  (1447- 
1455).     See  Chapter  XIII. 


A.D.  1328-30.       FAILURE  OF  THE  ITALIAN  EXPEDITION.  117 

Emperor  and  the  Antipope  were  contemptuously  burnt  in  the 
Place  of  the  Capitol. 

At  Pisa  Louis  was  joined  by  the  Franciscan  leaders  who  had 
escaped  from  Avignon— Michael  of  Cesena,  Bonagratia,  and  William 
of  Ockham;  and  he  held  an  assembly,  in  which  Pope  John  was 
again  pronounced  a  heretic  and  sentenced  to  deposition  (Dec.  13); 
while  John,  at  Avignon,  renewed  his  condemnation  of  the  Emperor 
and  the  Antipope,  who  had  joined  Louis  at  Pisa.  Meanwhile  the 
growing  discontent  of  the  Italians  had  pronounced  a  stronger  prac- 
tical sentence  of  failure  on  the  expedition  of  Louis,  whose  retreat 
across  the  Alps  marked  the  final  end  of  the  imperial  authority  in 
the  peninsula  (Jan.  1330).  The  Romans  again  swore  fealty  to  the 
Pope ;  and  his  forgiveness  was  sued  for  by  cities  that  had  taken 
part  with  the  Emperor.  The  Antipope  Nicolas,  left  behind  at 
Pisa,  was  given  up  to  the  Pope's  urgent  demand  next  year  by  his 
protector,  Count  Boniface  of  Donoratico,  on  condition  that  his  life 
should  be  spared;  and,  after  an  abject  submission  at  the  feet  of 
John,  he  received  the  kiss  of  peace,  and  passed  the  remaining  three 
years  of  his  life  in  honourable  but  strict  seclusion  in  the  palace  at 
Avignon. 

§  11.  The  death  of  Frederick  of  Austria,  in  January  1330,  had  no 
effect  in  mitigating  the  Pope's  animosity  towards  Louis,  which  was 
inflamed  by  Naples  and  France.  Philip  VI.  of  Valois,  who  had 
succeeded  to  the  French  crown  in  1328,  followed  St.  Louis  in 
maintaining  the  Gallican  liberties  against  Rome.  But  it  was  in  a 
spirit  far  less  pure  than  his  sainted  ancestor's  that  he  proposed  a 
Crusade,  with  the  twofold  object  of  aspiring  to  the  imperial  crown, 
as  the  head  of  united  Christendom,  and  of  obtaining  concessions 
from  the  Pope,  who  granted  for  the  enterprize  a  tithe  of  all  eccle- 
siastical benefices  for  six  years.  In  a  diet  at  Spires,  Louis  denounced 
the  collection  of  this  tithe  in  the  empire  as  illegal  without  his 
authority,  and  expressed  a  doubt  of  its  being  spent  for  its  avowed 
object.  He  declared  himself  ready  to  lead  a  Crusade  if  peace  were 
re-established  in  the  distracted  Empire,  adding  that  he  should  have 
lived  long  enough  if  he  might  but  see  a  Pope  who  cared  for  his 
soul's  good.  When  his  repeated  missions  to  Avignon  failed  to 
conciliate  John,  he  proposed  even  to  abdicate  as  the  price  of  his 
restoration  to  the  Church,  but  this  plan  was  frustrated  through  the 
fault  of  his  intended  successor  (1333). 

§  12.  At  this  crisis  the  Pope  incurred  a  new  suspicion  of  heresy  on 
the  part  of  his  own  supporters.  The  doctrine  of  an  intermediate  state 
of  departed  spirits  between  death  and  the  resurrection,  interesting 
as  it  is  to  believers  in  general,  is  evidently  of  vital  consequence  to 
Roman  Catholic  Theology  for  its  bearing  on  the   intercession  of 


118  HERESY  AND  DEATH  OF  JOHN  XXII.  Chap.  VII. 

glorified  saints.  The  earliest  Fathers  had  taught  that  the  souls 
of  those  who  have  died  in  grace  do  not  see  the  essence  of  God  nor 
are  perfectly  "blessed,  till  after  their  resurrection  in  the  body ;  but 
this  opinion  appears  to  have  been  abandoned,  and  it  was  con- 
demned by  the  University  of  Paris  in  12^0.  But  in  Advent,  1331, 
John  XXII.  preached  it  publicly ;  and  he  was  reported  to  have 
said  that  even  the  Blessed  Virgin  only  beheld  the  humanity  of  the 
Son,  not  His  Divinity,  till  the  final  consummation.  At  the  court 
of  Avignon  an  English  Dominican  alone  opposed  the  Pope's 
teaching;  but  his  old  enemies  among  the  spiritual  Franciscans 
denounced  it  as  heresy ;  and  at  Paris  it  was  vehemently  resisted, 
especially  by  the  Dominicans.  The  King,  who  saw  the  opportunity 
of  forcing  the  Pope  to  further  concessions,  referred  the  question  to 
the  theological  faculty  of  Paris ;  and  their  decision  was  that,  from 
the  time  when  the  Saviour,  descending  into  hell  {ad  inferos,  the 
abode  of  departed  spirits),  led  the  souls  of  the  redeemed  out  of 
limbo,  the  souls  of  the  faithful  dead  (whether  those  needing  no 
purgation,  or  on  their  release  from  purgatory),  are  caught  up  to  the 
"beatific  vision"  of  the  Divine  Essence  and  the  Blessed  Trinity, 
and  perfectly  enjoy  the  Blessed  Deity.  But,  as  a  door  of  escape 
for  the  Pope,  they  assumed  that  he  had  taught  the  contrary  only 
as  citing  an  opinion,  not  as  giving  a  decision.  The  King  sent 
this  declaration  to  the  Pope,  desiring  him  to  correct  those  about 
him  who  taught  the  contrary ;  and  John  replied  in  a  tone  curiously 
contrasting  with  other  papal  utterances,  treating  it  as  a  party 
question  between  the  doctors  of  the  two  courts ;  asking  his  beloved 
son  to  regard  what  was  said,  not  who  said  it ;  recommending  the 
King  to  study  the  proofs  he  had  collected  from  the  Fathers ;  and 
hinting  that  the  whole  was  a  trap  to  catch  him  in  a  charge  of 
heresy.  The  Italian  cardinals  and  the  Franciscan  zealots  urged 
the  Emperor  to  summon  a  council  for  the  condemnation  of  the 
heresy,  when  the  Pope  died  at  the  age  of  ninety  (Dec.  4th,  1334). 
The  recantation,  which  his  successor  published  as  having  been 
signed  by  John  the  day  before  his  death,  was  suspected  even  by 
his  contemporaries.  He  left  an  immense  treasure,  amassed  partly 
under  the  pretext  of  a  Crusade,  but  chiefly  by  his  unscrupulous 
manipulation  of  ecclesiastical  patronage.  "  Yet  although  his  long 
pontificate  was  chiefly  remarkable  for  the  unrelenting  hostility  with 
which  he  pursued  the  Emperor  Louis,  and  for  the  extortions  and 
corruptions  by  which  he  so  largely  profited,  it  must  in  justice  be 
added  that  he  is  described  as  temperate  in  his  habits,  regular  in  the 
observation  of  devotion,  and  unostentatious  in  his  manner  of  life." x 

1  Robertson,  vol.  iv.  pp.  94,  95. 


Palace  of  the  Popes  at  Avignon. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
THE  BABYLONIAN  CAPTIVITY.— PAET  II. 


FROM   BENEDICT   XII.    TO   GREGORY   XI.       A.D.    1334 — l^ 
THE   TRIBUNESHIP   OF    RIENZI    AT   ROME. 


INCLUDING 


1.  Benedict  XII.  a  reforming  Pope — He  resists  Philip  VI. — His  rela- 
tions with  Rome  and  Italy.  §  2.  Efforts  of  Louis  IV.  for  a  reconciliation 
frustrated  by  France — Spirit  of  Germany — Diet  at  Frankfort — First 
Electoral  Union  at  Rhense — Louis  IV.  and  Edward  III. — Question  of  the 
Emperor's  matrimonial  jurisdiction.  §  3.  Character  and  politics  of 
Clement  VI. — His  profligate  administration — Refusal  to  return  to 
Rome — Petrarch.  §  4.  Clement's  animosity  to  Louis  IV. — Discontent 
in  Germany — New  quarrel  about  Naples — Queen  Joanna  and  Andrew 
of  Hungary — Charles  of  Moravia  elected  as  rival  Emperor — Death  of 
Louis  IV. — Succession  of  Charles  IV.  §  5.  Joanna  of  Naples  sells 
Avignon  to  the  Papacy.  §  6.  Republican  spirit  at  Rome — Retrospect 
from  Arnold  of  Brescia  to  Rienzi — Petrarch's  coronation  in  the  Capitol 
• — Rienzi's  early  life — His  visit  to  Avignon — Career  as  Roman  Tribune  — 
His  faults  and  fall :  imprisonment  at  Avignon.  §  7.  The  Black  Death : 
its  social  and  religions  effects— A  profligate  Pope's  testimony  to  the 
virtues  of  the  Friars — The  fanatical  Flagellants.  §  8.  Jubilee  of  1350 
— Innocent  VI.  a  vigorous  reformer — Anarchy  in  Italy — The  Legate 
Giles  Albornoz — Return  and  death  of  Rienzi.  §  9.  Coronation  of 
Charles  IV. — His  Uolden  Bui':  its  results  on  the  Empire  and  Ger- 
many. §  10.  Urhan  V.  another  reforming  Pope — His  buildings  and 
institutions — The   Free  Companies  and  Bernabo  Visconti.     §  11.    The 


120  BENEDICT  XII.  AND  PHILIP  VI.  Chap.  VIII. 

Pope  goes  to  Rome — Visit  and  reconciliation  of  the  Eastern  Emperor, 
John  Pal^ologus  I. — Urban's  return  to  Avignon,  and  death — Pro- 
phecies of  St.  Bridget  and  Peter  of  Arragon.  §  12.  Gregory  XI.  and 
St.  Catherine  of  Siena — Disorders  of  Italy — The  Pope's  return  to  Rome, 
and  death — End  of  the  Babylonian  Captivity. 

§  1.  An  unforeseen  turn  in  the  intrigues  of  the  conclave,  which 
was  interpreted  as  a  divine  inspiration,  brought  about  the  elec- 
tion of  the  cardinal  James  Fournier,  a  native  of  the  country  of 
Foix,  as  Pope  Benedict  XII.  (Dec.  20,  1334— April  25th,  1342). 
His  judgment  on  his  own  election — "You  have  chosen  an  ass" — 
was  belied  by  his  sense  and  judgment,  as  well  as  his  learning.  The 
colours  in  which  his  personal  character  is  drawn  by  no  less  an 
authority  than  Petrarch,1  are  so  dark  as  scarcely  to  admit  of 
deepening  by  the  animosity  of  the  monks  and  friars  whom  he 
strove  to  reform.  He  reversed  his  predecessor's  corrupt  methods 
of  dealing  with  church  patronage,  and  even  eschewed  the  papal  vice 
of  nepotism,  telling  his  relations  that,  as  James  Fournier,  he  had 
known  them,  but  as  Pope  he  had  no  kindred.  He  made  an  effort 
to  break  the  bondage  of  the  Papacy  to  France ;  refusing  the  King's 
demand  for  the  late  Pope's  treasures  and  a  continuance  of  the  eccle- 
siastical tithe,  ostensibly  for  the  Crusade,  but  really  for  the  war 
with  England  ;2  and,  when  Philip  went  in  person  to  Avignon,  to 
urge  his  claim  with  regard  to  the  Crusade,  Benedict  told  him  that, 
if  he  had  two  souls  he  would  gladly  sacrifice  one  for  the  King,  but, 
as  he  had  only  one,  he  must  endeavour  to  save  it  (1336).  He 
refused  Philip's  request  for  investment  with  the  vicariate  of  Italy. 
But  his  courage  and  power  fell  short  of  shaking  off  the  control  of 
France  over  his  two  great  objects  of  policy,  a  return  to  Borne  and 
a  reconciliation  with  the  Emperor.  He  accepted  his  election  by 
the  Romans  to  the  office  of  Senator ;  appointed  vicars  in  Italy 
under  the  Apostolic  See;  endeavoured  to  check  party  spirit  by 
forbidding  the  use  of  the  names  Guelph  and  Ghibelline ;  and  spent 
large  sums  in  repairing  St.  Peter's  and  other  Roman  churches  and 
palaces :  but  the  design  of  returning  to  Rome,  or  at  least  to  Bologna, 

1  In  a  confidential  letter  written  immediately  after  Benedict's  death 
(Epist.  1  sine  titulo:  comp.  Sade's  Petrci'que  ii.  13,  n.),  the  poet  describes 
the  Pope  as  addicted  to  fierce  anger,  indolence,  and  sensuality  ;  and  his 
habitual  drunkenness  is  said  to  have  originated  the  proverb  Bib  nnus 
papaliter. 

-  The  reader  is  reminded  that  Philip  of  Valois  provoked  the  hostility  of 
England  by  his  aid  to  the  Scotch  (1336),  and  it  was  in  1337  that 
lvlward  III.  advanced  his  public  claim  to  the  crown  of  France.  The  war 
that  ensued  tended,  of  course,  to  hamper  Philip  in  his  dealings  both  with 
the  Pope  and  the  Emperor. 


A.D.  1336-8.        THE  CONTEST  WITH  LOUIS  IV.  121 

where  a  palace  was  begun  for  him  by  the  legate,  was  frustrated  by 
a  display  of  anti-papal  spirit  in  Italy,  and  by  other  difficulties. 
So  he  stayed  at  Avignon,  and  began  the  vast  papal  palace  there. 

§  2.  Benedict  was  sincerely  desirous  to  restore  the  peace  of 
Christendom  by  a  reconciliation  with  Louis ;  and  he  even  replied 
to  the  charges  made  by  the  Kings  of  France  and  Naples  against  the 
Emperor  as  the  enemy  of  the  Church : — "  Rather  it  is  we  that  have 
sinned  against  him.  He  would,  if  he  might  have  been  allowed, 
have  come  with  a  staff  in  his  hand  to  our  predecessor's  feet ;  but 
he  has  been  in  a  manner  challenged  to  act  as  he  has  done."  But 
the  influence  of  Philip  forbad  his  returning  an  answer  to  a  fifth 
and  sixth  embassy  which  Louis  sent  to  Avignon,  offering  the 
most  humiliating  terms  of  submission  and  obedience,  even  to 
laying  down  the  imperial  title,  to  receive  it  again  from  the  Pope 
(1336).  When  his  envoys  returned,  weary  of  waiting  for  an 
answer,  Louis  made  an  alliance  with  the  King  of  England,  who 
was  preparing  to  invade  France.  A  last  effort  was  made  by  a 
mission  to  Avignon  from  a  council  of  the  Archbishop  of  Mainz  and 
his  suffragans  at  Spires ;  and  the  Pope  is  said  to  have  wept  as  he 
told  the  envoys  that  Philip  had  threatened  him  with  a  worse  fate 
than  that  of  Boniface  VIII.,  if  he  should  absolve  the  Bavarian 
against  the  will  of  the  King  of  France.1 

The  spirit  of  Germany  was  now  roused  to  resist  the  claim  of 
the  Pope  to  control  the  election  of  the  Emperor  at  the  bidding 
of  the  French  king.  On  Rogation  Sunday,  1338,  Louis  laid  his 
whole  case  before  a  great  diet  of  princes  and  nobles,  deputies 
from  the  cities  and  cathedral  chapters ;  and,  after  an  argument 
by  canonists  and  lawyers,  in  which  the  Franciscan  Bonagratia 
took  a  leading  part,  the  assembly  decided  that  the  papal  censures 
against  the  Emperor  were  wrongful  and  of  none  effect,  that  the 
interdict  ought  not  to  be  observed,  and  that  any  of  the  clergy 
who  wished  to  obey  it  should  be  compelled  to  perform  their 
office.  This  decision  was  followed  by  a  meeting  of  the  electors 
(except  the  King  of  Bohemia,  who  acted  throughout  with  France 
and   Naples),  at    Rhense  on   the  Rhine,2  which    is   celebrated  as 

1  Albertus  Argent.,  p.  127,  ap.  Gieseler,  vol.  iv.  p.  48. 

2  This  famous  spot,  in  the  midst  of  the  finest  scenery  of  the  Rhine, 
between  Coblenz  and  Boppart,  is  distinctly  mentioned  as  the  place  of 
meeting  for  the  electors  on  the  occasion  of  the  election  of  Henry  Vll. 
(1308).  It  lay  within  the  territory  of  the  Archbishop  of  Cologne,  con- 
veniently near  the  frontiers  of  the  Archbishops  of  Mainz  and  Treves  and 
the  Elector  Palatine.  The  Gothic  chapel  called  Konujstuhl  (king's  chair), 
in  which  the  electors  met  and  the  chosen  king  was  enthroned,  was  built 
by  the  Emperor  Charles  IV.  in  1376,  and  restored  (after  its  ruin  by  the 
French)  in  1844.     (See  the  Illustration  to  Chap.  XXXII.) 


122  GERMANY  AND  THE  PAPACY.  Chap.  VIII. 

the  First  Electoral  Union  (Churverein,  July  15th,  1338).  They 
made  a  solemn  declaration  that  the  King  of  the  Komans1  received 
his  rank  and  power  solely  from  the  choice  of  the  Electors,  and 
needed  no  confirmation  of  the  Pope;  and  they  swore  to  defend 
the  ancient  rights,  liberties,  and  customs  of  the  Empire,  and  their 
own,  against  every  human  command,  without  exception,  nor  to  avail 
themselves  of  any  dispensation,  absolution,  or  relaxation,  of  this 
their  oath.2  They  sent  this  declaration  to  the  Pope,  with  a  denial 
of  his  authority  to  appoint  a  sovereign  or  confer  sovereign  rights 
over  the  Empire.  Another  diet  at  Frankfort  (Aug.  8th)  con- 
firmed the  resolutions  of  these  two  assemblies  as  laws  of  the 
Empire,  and  Louis  issued  edicts  to  enforce  them ;  while  the  war  of 
argument  was  renewed  between  his  literary  supporters,  headed  by 
William  of  Ockham,3  and  the  partisans  of  the  Pope,  who  published 
his  denunciations  of  the  Emperor.  The  German  priests,  banished 
for  obedience  to  the  interdict,  resorted  to  Avignon ;  but,  obtaining 
no  compensation  for  their  losses,  they  returned  and  submitted  to 
Louis.  The  contest  had  become  thoroughly  national,  when  the 
Emperor's  vacillation  and  rashness  lost  him  the  advantages  he  had 
thus  gained. 

-  Edward  III.  had  crossed  to  Flanders,  and  Louis  met  him  at 
Coblenz  (September).  Their  alliance  against  Philip  was  solemnly 
confirmed,  and  the  King  of  England  was  appointed  imperial 
vicar  over  the  territory  west  of  Cologne.  But,  in  spite  of  his 
oath  and  the  subsidies  he  received  from  Edward,  Louis  allowed 
himself  to  be  enticed  by  his  mother-in-law,  who  was  Philip's 
sister,  into  an  alliance  with  France  (1339-40).  But  his  hope 
of  obtaining  absolution,  through  the  mediation  which  Philip  only 
affected  to  use,  was  frustrated  by  the  Pope's  demand  for  un- 
conditional submission.  While  things  were  in  this  state,  the 
Emperor  did  his  cause  irreparable  harm  by  invading  the  Papal 
jurisdiction  in  matrimonial  cases.  In  order  to  obtain  the  Tyrol  for 
his  own  family,  he  dissolved  the  marriage  of  its  heiress,  Margaret, 
with  a  son  of  the  King  of  Bohemia,  and  granted  a  dispensation  for 
her  marriage  with  his  own  son,  Louis,  whom  he  had  made  Marquis 
of  Brandenburg  (1341).  In  this  assumption  he  was  again  sup- 
ported by  Marsilius  of  Padua  and  William  of  Ockham,  who  argued 
that  the  imperial  jurisdiction  in  such  cases  was  handed  down  from 
the  old  Roman  emperors,  and,  though  it  was  for  ecclesiastics  to 
decide  on  the  grounds  which  justify  a  divorce,  their  application 

1  On  the  title,  see  note,  pp.  89-90. 

2  See  the  original  in  Gieseler,  vol.  iv.  p.  49. 

3  Compendium   errorum   Papse,  Joannis    XXII.,    published  during   the 
papacy  of  Benedict  XII. 


A.D.  1342.  POPE  CLEMENT  VI.  123 

belongs  to  the  secular  judge  ;  that  "  it  is  for  the  human  lawgiver 
to  order  that  to  be  done  which  is  established  by  the  divine  law."1 
Both  politically  and  ecclesiastically,  these  steps  gave  wide  offence, 
at  the  very  time  when  a  far  more  decided  opponent  ascended  the 
papal  chair. 

§  3.  On  the  death  of  Benedict  XII.  (April  25th,  1342),  the  election 
fell  (May  7th)  on  a  thorough  partisan  of  France,  Cardinal  Peter  Roger, 
of  a  noble  family  in  the  Limousin,  who  had  been  a  Benedictine 
monk  and  chancellor  to  King  Philip,  and  was  now  Archbishop  of 
Rouen.  Pope  Clement  VI.  (1342-1352)  "was  noted  for  his  learn- 
ing, for  his  eloquence,  and  for  an  extraordinary  power  of  memory  ; 
his  manners  were  agreeable,  and  he  is  described  as  free  from  malice 
and  resentment.  His  morals  were  never  of  any  rigid  correctness  ; 
and,  while  he  was  Pope,  a  countess  of  France,  if  not  absolutely  his 
mistress,  is  said  to  have  exercised  an  absolute  influence  over  him. 
He  was  a  lover  of  splendour  and  luxury.  The  great  palace  of 
Avignon  was  growing  under  his  care,  and  the  princely  houses  of 
the  cardinals  rose  around  it ;  the  court  of  the  successor  of  St.  Peter 
was,  perhaps,  the  gayest  and  most  festive  in  Europe.  Under 
Clement  the  vice  of  the  papal  city  became  open  and  scandalous. 
Petrarch,  who  himself  cannot  be  described  as  a  model  of  rigid  and 
intolerant  virtue,  expressed  in  the  strongest  terms  his  horror  at  the 
abominations  which  filled  the  new  'Babylon  of  the  West,'  and 
withdrew  in  disgust  from  the  papal  city  to  the  solitudes  of 
Vaucluse." 2  The  ecclesiastical  government  of  Clement  was  in 
keeping  with  his  personal  character,  and  his  shameless  bestowal 
of  benefices',  in  defiance  of  the  rights  of  sovereigns  and  chapters,  on 
the  gay  and  dissolute  young  men  who  won  his  favour,  as  well  as  on 
his  relations,  was  made  a  boast  of  in  his  answer  to  a  remonstrance, 
"  Our  predecessors  did  not  know  how  to  be  Pope." 

Such  a  father  of  the  faithful,  and  "  servant  of  the  servants  of 
God,"  was  not  likely  to  exchange  the  luxurious  ease  of  Avignon  for 
the  cares  of  government  at  Rome.  Two  missions,  composed  of 
different  classes  (1342-3),  invited  his  return,  which  was  urged  by 
Petrarch,  who  was  one  of  the  deputies,  in  a  poetical  epistle,  describ- 
ing the  attractions  of  the  city.3  Clement  replied  that  his  presence 
beyond  the  Alps  was  necessary  to  mediate  between  France  and 
England ;  but  he  promised  to  visit  Rome  when  those  troubles  were 
composed,  and  meanwhile  he  accepted  the  dignity  of  Senator,  but 
only  as  a  private  person,  not  in  his  character  of  Pope. 

§  4.  In  his  relations  with  the  Emperor  Louis,  personal  animosity 
and  papal  ambition  prevailed  completely  over  the  easy  good-nature 

1  Marsilius  and  Ockham,  ap.  Gieseler,  iv   52;   Robertson,  iv.  103. 

2  Robertson,  vol.  iv.  pp.  104-5.  3  Petrarch;  Epist.  ii.  p.  1340. 


124  LOUIS  IV.  AND  CLEMENT  VI.  Chap.  VIII. 

of  Clement's  usual  character.  He  had  already  taken" a  bitter  part 
against  the  "  Bavarian  "  or  "  boor  "  (baurum),  as  he  called  him  in  a 
sermon ;  and  now  the  urgent  overtures  of  Louis  to  the  new  Pope 
were  met  by  demands  for  unlimited  submission,  followed  up  by  a 
new  Bull,  recounting  all  his  offences,  and  calling  on  him  to  lay 
down  the  imperial  dignity  within  three  months  (April  12th,  1343). 
Clement  wrote  to  the  German  princes,  desiring  them  to  prepare  for 
a  new  election,  and  threatening,  if  they  hesitated,  that  he  would 
appoint  a  new  Emperor  by  the  same  authority  by  which  Pope  Leo 
had  transferred  the  crown  of  the  West  from  the  Greeks  to  the 
Germans.  That  extreme  course  was  averted  for  the  present  by 
Louis's  appearance  before  the  electors  at  Khense,  offering  to  be 
guided  by  their  judgment ;  but  his  acceptance  of  all  the  Pope's 
terms  was  met  by  new  demands  of  absolute  submission,  not  only 
as  Emperor,  but  as  King  of  Germany.  This  fresh  usurpation  was 
rejected  by  an  imperial  diet  at  Frankfort  with  an  indignation  in 
which  the  Emperor  was  involved  for  his  vacillation,  and  he  was 
charged  with  making  his  personal  interests  the  only  obstacle  to 
peace.  Another  meeting  of  electors  at  Rhense  rejected  the  Em- 
peror's offer  to  resign  in  favour  of  his  son  Louis ;  and  a  new  candi- 
date was  set  up,  Charles,  Marquis  of  Moravia,  the  son  of  Louis's 
constant  enemy,  John,  King  of  Bohemia.1  Charles  had  been  a 
pupil  of  Pope  Clement,  when  the  latter  was  Abbot  of  Fecamp. 

A  new  cause  of  quarrel  now  arose  out  of  the  affairs  of  Italy. 
Charles,  the  only  son  of  Robert,  King  of  Naples,  had  died  in  1328, 
leaving  two  infant  daughters,  Joanna  and  Maria.  In  order,  as  it 
seems,  to  compensate  the  elder  branch  of  his  family  for  their  exclu- 
sion from  the  kingdom,2  he  had  arranged  a  marriage  between  his 

1  The  name  of  John,  who  fell  blind  about  this  time,  is  familiar  to 
English  readers  for  his  fate  at  Crecy.  where  his  crest  and  motto,  "  Ich 
dien,"  became  the  prize  of  the  Prince  of  Wales. 

2  Charles  II.,  the  second  King  of  Naples  of  the  line  of  Anjou,  had 
married  a  sister  of  Ladislaus  IV.,  King  of  Hungary,  on  whose  death,  in 
1290,  Pope  Nicolas  IV.  decided  for  Charles  Martel  as  King  of  Hungary 
in  preference  to  Andrew  III.,  the  son  of  Ladislaus.  Charles  Martel  was 
defeated  at  Zagrab  in  1292,  and  died  in  1295,  and  Andrew  III.  died  in 
1301,  ending  the  line  of  Arpad.  The  claim  of  Charles  Robert  (or  Charobert) 
son  of  Charles  Martel,  had  already  been  advanced,  and,  after  a  contest,  he 
became  Charles  I.,  King  of  Hungary.  He  was,  of  course,  the  direct  heir  to 
the  Kingdom  of  Naples  ;  but,  on  the  death  of  Charles  II.  (1309),  the  high 
qualities  shown  by  Robert,  his  third  sou,  caused  him  to  be  preferred  to 
his  nephew,  Charles  of  Hungary,  by  the  decision  of  Pope  Clement  V.  ; 
and,  in  his  reign  of  thirty-four  years,  "  Robert  the  Wise  ''  fully  justified 
his  choice,  and  remained  the  mainstay  of  the  Guelphic  party  in  Italy. 
John  Villani  says  that  for  500  years  there  had  been  no  such  sovereign, 
either  for  abilities  or  acquired  knowledge. 


A.D.  1347.  DEATH  OF  LOUIS  IV.  125 

heiress,  Joanna,  and  Andrew,  the  second  son  of  his  nephew  Charles 
Robert  (or  Charobert),  King  of  Hungary  (1333).  The  bridegroom, 
who  was  seven  years  old  (the  bride  being  six),  was  educated  at 
Naples,  but  grew  up  a  rude  and  headstrong  youth.  When  Joanna 
succeeded  to  the  crown  on  her  grandfather's  death  (1343),  an  Hun- 
garian faction  was  formed  at  Naples;  Andrew  claimed  to  be 
crowned  in  his  own  right,  as  heir  of  Charles  II.,  and  talked  im- 
prudently of  the  vengeance  he  would  take  on  his  opponents.  He 
suspected  the  young  queen  of  infidelity,  and  the  quarrel  was 
fomented  by  the  rival  parties  in  the  court.  After  two  years, 
Andrew  was  strangled  on  the  night  of  September  18th,  1345,  by 
a  conspiracy,  to  which  Joanna  was  suspected  of  being  privy.  On 
the  death  of  her  child,  the  posthumous  son  of  Andrew,  Louis  King 
of  Hungary  claimed  the  crown  of  both  Sicilies,  and  invaded 
Apulia  to  avenge  his  brother's  murder.  The  Emperor  Louis 
supported  him  as  a  means  of  regaining  influence  in  Italy  ;  and 
Clement,  while  refusing  an  audience  to  the  envoys  of  the  King  of 
Hungary  because  of  his  connection  with  the  excommunicated 
Bavarian,  fulminated  against  the  latter  another  most  violent 
anathema,  and  called  on  the  electors  to  choose  a  new  king 
(April  13th,  1346).  Charles  of  Moravia,  who  had  gone  with  his 
father  to  urge  his  claim  at  Avignon,  bound  himself  to  an  absolute 
submission  to  the  papal  see.  Clement  deposed  Louis's  chief  sup- 
porter, Henry  of  Virneburg,  archbishop  of  Mainz,  the  official  presi- 
dent of  the  electors,  replacing  him  by  Count  Gerlach  of  Nassau, 
a  youth  of  twenty,  who  summoned  the  Archbishops  of  Cologne  and 
Treves,  with  the  King  of  Bohemia  and  the  Duke  of  Saxony,  to 
Rhense.1  These  five  electors  proceeded  to  declare  the  empire 
vacant.  They  chose  Charles  of  Moravia  King  of  the  Romans,  and 
enthroned  him  on  the  Konigstuhl,  as  Frankfort  was  held  by  Louis 
(July  11th,  1346). 

But  Germany  with  one  accord  rejected  "  the  priest's  emperor ; "  a 
diet  at  Spires  under  Louis  declared  the  election  null,  and  denied  the 
Pope's  right  to  depose  an  emperor ;  and  Charles  was  fain  to  withdraw 
with  his  father  to  France.  Both  followed  Philip  to  the  field  against 
Edward  III. ;  and,  while  the  blind  King  of  Bohemia  died  like  a 
knight  of  romance  at  Crecy,  the  Emperor  elect  saved  himself  by 
flight  (August  26th,  1346).  A  civil  war  was  imminent ;  and  even 
the  death  of  Louis  IV.,  by  a  fall  from  his  horse  (October  1 1th,  1347), 
did  not  end  the  dispute.  The  Bavarian  party,  headed  by  Henry 
of  Virneburg,  who  was  still  generally  recognized  as  Archbishop  of 

1  The  Emperor's  sou,  Louis  of  Brandenburg,  w-as  excluded  from   the 
electoral   college  by  the  Pope,  on  tbe  ground  that  his  appointment  by  his 
father  to  the  marquisate  had  been  illegal. 
II— H 


126  THE  EMPEROR  CHARLES  IV.  Chap.  VIII. 

Mainz,  offered  the  crown  to  Edward  III.,  who  declined  it  by  the 
advice  of  his  parliament  (1 348).  They  then  chose  Gunther,  Count 
of  Schwarzburg  in  Thuringia,  who  was  enthroned  at  Frankfort 
(January,  1349) ;  but  he  met  with  little  support,  and,  being  hope- 
lessly ill,  he  resigned  his  pretensions  for  a  sum  of  money,  and 
died  in  June.  Charles  made  terms  with  the  Bavarian  party, 
undertaking  to  obtain  the  Pope's  sanction  to  the  marriage  of 
Louis  of  Brandenburg  with  Margaret  of  the  Tyrol.  Whether 
or  not  he  submitted  to  a  new  election  (as  some  authorities  state), 
Charles  IV.,  now  King  of  Bohemia,  was  recognized  without  dispute 
as  King  of  the  Romans.     His  reign  lasted  till  1378. 

§  5.  When  Louis  of  Hungary  invaded  Apulia,  Joanna  of  Naples, 
who  had  married  her  cousin  and  alleged  paramour  and  accomplice 
in  her  husband's  murder,  Louis  of  Tarentum,  fled  with  her  husband 
to  her  county  of  Provence,  and  was  received  with  great  honour  at 
Avignon.  After  the  form  of  an  enquiry  by  three  cardinals  into 
the  charges  brought  against  her  by  the  King  of  Hungary,  the  Pope 
granted  a  dispensation  for  her  marriage.  When  Louis  retired  from 
Italy,  after  punishing  many  of  his  brother's  alleged  assassins,  Joanna 
was  invited  to  return.  To  meet  the  expenses  of  the  journey  and  the 
defence  of  her  kingdom,  she  sold  Avignon  to  Clement  (January 
1348);  and  the  territory  was  a  papal  possession  till  the  great 
French  Revolution.1 

§  6.  Rome  was  at  this  time  the  scene  of  one  of  the  most  striking 
episodes  in  her  medieval  annals,  which  has  been  related  in  brilliant 
passages  of  history  and  romance.2  While  some  forms  of  the  old  Re- 
public remained  as  lifeless  names  amidst  the  corruption  and  decay 
of  the  city,  the  memory  of  its  freedom  and  glories  was  cherished  in 
bitter  contrast  with  the  haughty  rule  of  the  Teutonic  emperors,  and 
in  jealousy  of  the  sacerdotal  authority.  This  feeling  had  obtained 
a  more  definite  direction  in  the  twelfth  century,  under  the  impulse 
of  the  revived  study  of  Roman  law  and  the  example  of  the  re- 
publics of  Northern  Italy  ;  and  it  was  wakened  into  a  paroxysm 
of  seeming  life  by  Arnold  of  Brescia.  "  But  practically  the 
scheme  was  absurd,  and  could  not  maintain  itself  against  any 
serious  opposition.  As  a  modern  historian  aptly  expresses  it, 
'  they  were  setting  up  ruins ;'  they  might  as  well  have  raised  the 
broken  columns  that  strew  the  Forum,  and  hoped  to  rear  out  of 
them  a  strong  and  stately  temple.  The  reverence  which  the  men 
of  the  Middle  Ages  felt  for  Rome  was  given  altogether  to  the  name 
and  place,  nowise  to  the  people,     As  for  power,  they  had  none  :  so 

1  It  was  annexed  by  the  Republic  in  1791,  and  was  incorporated  with 
France  by  the  treaties  of  1815  and  1816. 

2  Gibbon,  c.  lxx. ;  and  Lord  Lytton's  Bienzi. 


A.D.  1347.  REPUBLICAN  SPIRIT  AT  ROME.  127 

far  from  holding  Italy  in  subjection,  they  could  scarcely  maintain 
themselves  against  the  hostility  of  Tusculum.  But  it  would  have 
been  worth  the  while  of  the  Teutonic  emperors  to  have  made  the 
Romans  their  allies,  and  bridled  by  their  help  the  temporal  am- 
bition of  the  Popes.  The  offer  was  actually  made  to  them,  first  to 
Conrad  III.,  who  seems  to  have  taken  no  notice  of  it ;  and  after- 
wards to  Frederick  I.,  who  repelled  in  the  most  contumelious 
fashion  the  envoys  of  the  Senate.  Hating  and  fearing  the  Pope, 
he  always  respected  him :  towards  the  Romans  he  felt  all  the  con- 
tempt of  a  feudal  king  for  burghers,  and  of  a  German  warrior 
for  Italians.  At  the  demand  of  Pope  Hadrian,  who  prudently 
thought  no  heresy  so  dangerous  as  one  which  threatened  the 
authority  of  the  clergy,  Arnold  of  Brescia  was  seized  by  the 
imperial  prefect,  put  to  death,  and  his  ashes  cast  into  the  Tiber, 
lest  the  people  should  treasure  them  up  as  relics.  But  the  mar- 
tyrdom of  their  leader  did  not  quench  the  hopes  of  his  followers. 
The  republican  constitution  continued  to  exist,  and  rose  from  time 
to  time,  during  the  weakness  or  the  absence  of  the  Popes,  into  a 
brief  and  fitful  activity.  Once  awakened,  the  idea,  seductive  at 
once  'to  the  imagination  of  the  scholar  and  the  vanity  of  the 
Roman  citizen,  could  not  wholly  disappear,  and  two  centuries 
after  Arnold's  time  it  found  a  more  brilliant,  if  less  disinterested 
exponent,  in  the  tribune  Rienzi."  l 

Since  the  retirement  of  the  Papal  Court  to  Avignon,  the  anarchy 
at  Rome  and  the  factions  of  the  noble  houses  had  become  more 
intolerable  than  ever.  The  last  attempts  of  Henry  VII.  and 
Louis  IV.  to  restore  the  imperial  authority  had  ended  in  the  final 
alienation  of  the  Romans  from  their  German  sovereigns,  long  since 
only  such  in  name.  But  one  hope  seemed  left, — the  restitution  of 
the  Republic,  sanctioned  and  dignified  by  the  return  of  the  spiritual 
sovereign,  whose  presence  would  mark  Rome  as  still  the  capital  of 
the  world.  This  feeling  found  fervid  expression  both  in  the  poetry 
and  prose  of  Petrarch,  whose  youth  shared  the  exile  at  Avignon.2 
Of  his  feeling  towards  Rome  one  utterance  may  be  chosen  from  a 
letter  to  his  friend,  John  Colonna : — "  Thinkest  thou  not  that  I 
long  to  see  that  city,  to  which  there  has  never  been  any  like  nor 
ever  shall  be ;  which  even  an  enemy  called  a  city  of  kings ;  of 
whose  people  it  hath  been  written,  '  Great  is  the  valour  of  the 
Roman  people,  great  and  terrible  their  name;'  concerning  whose 
unexampled  glory  and  incomparable  Empire,  which  was,  and  is, 

1  Bryce,  Holy  Poman  Empire,  pp.  278,  279. 

2  Francesco  Petrarca  was  born  in  1304  at  Arezzo,  in  Tuscnrxy  (Arretium, 
the  native  town  of  Maecenas),  whence  his  father  (a  fiieml  of  Dante) 
removed  to  Avignon.     He  died  at  Arqua,  July  18th,  1374. 


128  RISE  OF  RIENZI.  Chap.  VIII. 

and  is  to  be  divine,  prophets  have  sung ;  where  are  the  tombs  of 
the  apostles  and  martyrs,  and  the  bodies  of  so  many  thousands  of 
the  saints  of  Christ  ?" 

Amidst  the  solemnities  of  Easter  Day,  1341,  Petrarch  was  crowned 
with  laurel  in  the  Capitol, — as  the  prince  both  of  Italian  intellect  and 
Roman  patriotism.  Probably  among  the  enthusiastic  spectators  of  his 
triumph  was  Nicholas  Rienzi,1  then  a  young  man  of  twenty-seven, 
whose  indignation  had  already  been  roused  by  a  cruel  bereavement 
through  the  anarchy  which  prevailed  at  Rome.  Born  about  1314, 
Rienzi  sprang  from  among  the  lowest  ranks  of  the  people  in  the 
Transteverine  region,  where  his  father  kept  a  tavern  and  his  mother 
was  a  washerwoman  and  water-carrier ;  though  the  morbid  vanity, 
which  marred  his  career  in  the  hour  of  success,  claimed  the  Emperor 
Henry  VII.  as  his  father.  His  low  birth  did  not  debar  him  from  a 
good  education,  with  a  view  to  his  becoming  a  notary :  he  delighted 
in  the  study  of  the  Roman  classics,  and  acquired  a  remarkable  skill 
in  deciphering  and  interpreting  ancient  inscriptions.  This  converse 
with  the  great  minds  and  great  deeds  of  the  old  Republic  had  inspired 
him  with  the  vision  of  being  a  chosen  instrument  to  revive  the 
glories  of  Rome,  when  an  accident  added  the  impulse  of  a  personal 
motive.  Just  when  he  was  of  full  age,  his  young  and  dearly  loved 
brother  fell  an  innocent  victim  to  one  of  the  faction  fights  which 
the  nobles  waged  daily  in  the  streets;  and  the  failure  to  obtain 
redress  embittered  his  disgust  at  the  state  of  Rome  (1334-5). 

In  1342-3,  Rienzi  went  to  Avignon  with  the  deputation  sent  (as 
we  have  seen)  to  invite  the  new  Pope,  Clement  VI.,  to  return  to 
Rome.  His  eloquence  is  said  to  have  been  admired  by  the  Pope, 
as  it  certainly  was  by  Petrarch,  who  conceived  hopes  from  the 
enthusiasm  which  he  afterwards  found  to  be  wanting  in  stedfast- 
ness.2    Returning  to  Rome  invested  with  the  office  of  papal  notary, 

1  This  famous  name  was  not  that  of  his  family,  but  a  corrupted  patronymic 
from  Lorenzo,  his  father's  name ;  the  o  being  changed  to  the  plural  i  of 
family  names.  By  the  popular  abridgmeut  of  his  Christian  name,  he 
was  called  Cola  di  tiienzo  or  Rienzi.  The  original  records  say  nothing  of 
the  family  name  Gabrini,  given  by  some  writers.  The  leading  authority 
for  Rienzi's  life  is  a  chronicle  entitled  Historic  Romanse  Fragnienta  in 
Muratori's  Antiquities,  vol.  iii.,  and  re-edited  by  Zephyrino  Re,  Florence, 
1828  and  1854.  The  most  important  modern  work,  compiled  chiefly 
from  unprinted  sources,  is  Cola  di  Rienzo  und  seine  Zeit,  von  Dr.  F. 
Papencordt,  Hamburg  and  Gotha,  1841.  Canon  Robertson  refers  also  to 
Lord  Broughton's  Italy,  vol.  ii.  pp.  512,/. 

2  Writing  after  Rienzi's  fall,  and  drawing  an  argument  from  his 
temporary  success  for  the  possibility  of  renovating  Rome,  Petrarch 
describes  him  as  follows: — "  Vir  unus  obscurissimae  originis  et  nullarum 
opum,  atque,  ut  ratio  docuit,  plus  animi  habens  quam  constantiae,  rei- 
publicae    imbecillos    humeros    subjicere    ausus    est,    et   tutelam    labentis 


A.D.  1347.  RIENZI  TRIBUNE  OF  ROME.  129 

which  he  had  solicited  as  a  protection  from  the  enmity  of  the  nobles, 
he  set  to  work  to  rouse  the  popular  feeling  of  patriotism.  He 
expounded  ancient  inscriptions  recording  the  glories  of  old  Rome, 
and  placed  the  present  forlorn  state  of  the  Republic  vividly  before 
the  people's  eyes  in  a  great  picture  which,  in  the  midst  of  many 
other  symbols,  displayed  Rome  under  the  figure  of  a  majestic 
matron,  clothed  in  tattered  garments,  with  dishevelled  hair, 
weeping  eyes,  and  hands  crossed  on  her  breast,  kneeling  on  the 
deck  of  a  ship  which  was  without  mast  or  sail,  and  appeared  about 
to  sink. l  On  Whitsunday,  May  20th,  1347,  Rienzi  proclaimed  at 
the  Capitol  that  the  time  was  come  for  the  Romans  to  return  to 
"their  ancient  good  estate,"  and  he  assumed  the  venerable  and 
popular  title  of  Tribune,  with  the  papal  Legate,  Raymond,  bishop 
of  Orvieto,  as  his  colleague  in  the  government.  His  measures  to 
restore  order  were  signally  successful.  The  streets  and  roads 
became  safe,  for  the  first  time  since  many  years ;  the  fortresses  of 
the  nobles  were  demolished,  both  in  the  city  and  the  Campagna, 
and  they  themselves  were  compelled  to  go  through  a  solemn  form 
of  reconciliation,  at  the  bidding  of  the  Tribune.  The  cities  of 
Italy  received  his  invitations,  to  union  with  seeming  favour ;  and 
marks  of  the  respect  of  foreign  powers  for  the  new  government  of 
Rome  were  received,  even,  it  is  said,  from  the  Soldan  of  Babylon. 
Petrarch's  poetic  and  patriotic  enthusiasm  congratulated  the  Tribune 
and  the  people  on  having  thrown  off  the  yoke;  but  more  clear- 
sighted observers  pronounced  the  Tribune's  enterprize  a  fantastic 
work,  which  could  not  last.  It  had  in  fact  the  fatal  defect  of  a 
mere  revival  of  forms,  the  substance  of  which  had  long  since 
passed  away;  and  the  last  hope  of  success  was  extinguished  by 
the  faults  and  weaknesses  of  Rienzi's  character.  Like  all  dictators 
raised  up  by  a  revolution — save  but  one  or  two  in  the  whole  course 
of  history — he  yielded  to  the  temptation  to  glorify  and  indulge 
himself;  and  together  with  offensive  arrogance  he  stooped  to  vulgar 
and  sensual  luxury.  To  the  nobles,  whose  hostility  demanded  the 
union  of  consummate  prudence  with  firmness,  he  showed  an  irri- 
tating mixture  of  weakness  and  provocation.  Having  treacherously 
seized  some  of  the  chief  nobles,  whom  he  accused  of  conspiracy  and 
condemned  to  death,  he  humiliated  them  by  a  contemptuous  pardon 
at  the  intercession  of  the  citizens ;  and  then  loaded  them  with 
offices  and  honours.     A  victory,  which  he  gained  under  the  walls 

imperii  profiteri." — Apol.  c.  Galli  Calumnia?;,  p.  1181,  ap.  Robertson,  vol.  iv. 
p.  117. 

1  Fragm.  401 ;  Robertson,  vol.  iv.  pp.  117-8.  Mr.  Bryce  (p.  279)  points 
out  the  mistake  of  those  who  suppose  Rienzi  "  to  have  been  possessed  of 
profound  political  insight,  a  republican  on  modern  principles." 


130  FIRST  FALL  OF  RIENZI.  Chap.  VIII. 

of  Rome,  over  the  Colonna  and  their  adherents,  was  abused  by  his 
insults  to  the  slain,  and  left  unimproved  through  his  incompetence. 
By  adding  the  title  of  Augustus  to  that  of  Tribune,  he  seemed  to 
claim  succession  to  those  foreign  Emperors,  from  whose  yoke  he 
had  freed  the  Republic ;  and  he  even  summoned  the  electors  and 
the  rival  claimants  to  submit  to  his  arbitration.1 

Towards  the  Pope  himself,  by  whose  authority  he  professed  to 
govern,  Rienzi  assumed  the  tone  of  command  in  calling  him  to 
return  to  Rome;  while  he  gave  the  jealous  spiritual  power  a 
handle  for  the  fatal  charge  of  heresy  by  claiming  divine  inspiration 
and  even  comparing  himself  with  the  Saviour.  The  Legate  not  only 
broke  off  from  him  as  a  colleague,  but  pronounced  the  papal  anathema 
against  him ;  and  when  Count  Pipin,  a  banished  Neapolitan  noble 
and  leader  of  mercenaries,  answered  the  tribune's  summons  for  his 
crimes  by  an  armed  attack,  the  people  fell  away  from  Rienzi  in 
disgust.  Thus,  within  a  year  of  his  first  elevation,  he  fled  in  abject 
terror,  leaving  Rome  to  fall  back  into  worse  anarchy  than  before. 
(Jan.  1348.)  He  found  shelter  among  the  fanatical  Fraticelli  of 
the  Apennines;  and  two  years  later  he  appeared  at  Prague,  pro- 
fessing a  divine  commission,  revealed  to  him  by  a  hermit,  to  unite 
with  Charles  IV.  in  reforming  the  world.  But  the  Emperor  regarded 
him  as  a  fanatic,  and  placed  him  in  the  custody  of  the  Archbishop 
of  Prague,  who  afterwards,  at  the  Pope's  desire,  sent  Rienzi  to 
Avignon  (1352),  where  he  was  kept  in  a  comparatively  lenient 
captivity  for  two  years,2  till  the  time  came  for  his  new  and  last 
attempt  to  realize  his  dreams. 

§  7.  The  year  of  Rienzi's  first  government  at  Rome  was  marked 
by  a  terrible  pestilence,  which  affected  the  social  and  ecclesiastical 
state  of  Europe.  The  Black  Death  of  1347-8  shares  the  celebrity 
of  the  Plague  of  Athens,  in  B.C.  430,  and  of  the  Plague  of  London, 
in  a.d.  1665,  not  only  for  its  great  mortality  and  its  remarkable  moral 
effects,  but  also  for  its  fame  in  literature,  through  the  Decamerone 
of  Boccaccio,  beside  the  historic  record  of  Thucydides  and  the  vivid 
picture  of  Defoe.  Invading  Europe  from  the  East — like  all  other 
great  pestilences,  down  to  the  cholera  of  our  own  times — it  spread 
from  Constantinople  to  Ireland,  and  even  to  Greenland;  destroying 
about  a  quarter  of  the  population.     The  distress  which  it  caused 

1  Though  this  claim  was  left  unnoticed,  the  Emperor  Louis  solicited 
Rienzi's  mediation  with  the  Pope ;  and  both  Louis  of  Hungary  and  Joanna 
of  Naples  sought  his  support  in  their  quarrel. 

2  It  was  chiefly  through  Petrarch's  intercession  that  his  life  was  spared, 
and  the  charge  of  heresy  was  dropped.  He  was  bound  with  a  single 
chain,  and  was  allowed  the  use  of  books,  particularly  the  Scriptures  and 
Livv. 


A.D.  1347.  THE  BLACK  DEATH.  THE  MENDICANTS.       131 

inflamed  the  growing  discontent  of  the  people  with  existing  insti- 
tutions in  Church  as  well  as  State.  Decimating  the  ranks  of  the 
lower  clergy,  it  at  first  enabled  the  survivors  to  insist  on  higher 
emoluments,  which  attracted  unqualified  laymen,  especially  those 
who  had  lost  their  wives  by  the  plague,  till  its  further  ravages 
among  the  people  again  reduced  the  clergy,  thus  demoralized,  to 
greater  poverty  than  before.  The  corruption  of  the  religious  orders 
was  increased  by  the  loss  of  many  of  the  older  and  more  experienced 
monks,  followed  by  a  general  relaxation  of  discipline.1 

It  was  in  such  times  of  suffering  and  terror  that  the  Mendicant 
orders  showed  at  their  best.2  But  the  courage  with  which  they 
supplied  the  "  lack  of  service  "  of  the  priests,  who  fled  from  their 
stricken  parishes,  was  no  longer  crowned  with  the  virtue  of  con- 
sistent poverty  in  refusing  the  reward  of  their  self-denial,  especially 
in  the  form  of  large  bequests  from  persons  who  had  lost  their 
heirs.  The  secular  clergy,  supported  by  the  cardinals,  complained 
to  the  Pope  of  the  intrusion  of  the  Mendicants,  and  asked  for  their 
suppression.  But  the  answer  of  Clement  (according  to  a  writer 
who  himself  belonged  to  the  Mendicant  brotherhood  of  Car- 
melites) was  a  severe  rebuke  of  the  accusers.  "  He  asked  them  what 
they  themselves  would  preach  if  the  monks  were  silent.  He  told 
them  that  if  they  were  to  preach  humility,  poverty,  and  chastity, 
their  exhortations  would  be  vitiated  by  the  glaring  contrast  of  their 
avarice  and  greed,  and  the  notorious  laxity  of  their  lives.  He  re- 
proached them  for  closing  their  doors  against  the  Mendicants, 
while  they  opened  them  to  panders  and  buffoons.  If,  he  said,  the 
Mendicants  had  got  some  benefit  from  those  whose  death-beds  they 
had  attended,  it  was  a  reward  of  the  zeal  and  courage  they  had 
shown  when  the  secular  clergy  fled  from  their  posts.  If  they  had 
erected  buildings  with  the  money,  it  was  better  spent  so  than  in 
worldly  and  sensual  pleasures  ;  and  he  declared  the  opposition  to  the 
friars  to  be  merely  the  result  of  envy.  The  rebuke  carried  weight 
from  its  truth,  if  not  from  the  character  of  the  Pope  who  uttered  it."  s 

It  was  doubtless  from  a  mixture  of  religious  laxity  with  good 
sense,  which  was  so  little  understood  as  to  be  imputed  to  bribery, 
that  the  Pope  endeavoured  to  protect  the  Jews,  against  whom  the 
pestilence  roused  renewed  superstitious  charges  and  persecutions. 

1  Robertson,  vol.  iv.  p.  123. 

2  This  is  the  account  of  a  favourable  authority,  himself  a  Carmelite 
friar  (W.  Nang.  contin.  110),  but  the  annalist  of  Parma  (ap.  Muratori, 
xii.  746)  says  that  the  sick  were  abandoned  by  the  friars,  as  w<>11  as  by 
servants,  doctors,  and  notaries,  so  that  they  could  neither  make  their 
wills  nor  obtain  absolution  before  they  died. 

3  W.  Nang.  cont.  112;    Robertson,  vol.  iv.  pp.  125-6. 


132  POPE  INNOCENT  VI.  Chap.  VIII. 

The  excitement  found  vent  also  in  another  outbreak  of  the  sect  of 
the  Flagellants,  who  had  first  appeared  in  Hungary  and  Germany 
during  the  preceding  century.  Professing  to  have  received  from 
an  angel  a  written  revelation  of  the  Lord's  wrath  at  the  prevalent 
sins,  they  went  about  in  procession  stript  to  the  waist,  and 
scourging  themselves  while  they  sang.  They  regarded  their  blood 
as  a  sacrifice  mingled  with  the  Saviour's,  and  superseding  the  need 
of  the  sacraments.  Such  fanatical  movements  have  always  been 
found  to  grow  into  dangerous  societies :  thus  the  Flagellants  had 
"  masters,"  to  whom  they  were  bound  by  an  oath  of  obedience ; 
and  they  showed  a  hostile  spirit  towards  the  clergy.  When  they 
went  from  Germany  into  France,  their  practice  was  pronounced  a 
"  vain  superstition  "  by  the  University  of  Paris,  at  whose  instance  it 
was  condemned  by  the  Pope  and  forbidden  by  the  King.  Passing 
from  the  Low  Countries  into  England,  they  were  there  rejected  by 
popular  feeling  and  branded  as  heretics  by  the  Church. 

§  8.  The  impression  produced  by  the  pestilence  may  have  been  a 
chief  cause  of  the  zeal,  celebrate  d  by  Petrarch,  with  which  about 
two  millions  of  pilgrims  flocked  to  Rome  to  keep  the  jubilee  of  1350, 
and  to  obtain  the  indulgences  for  its  observance ;  though  a 
chronicler  of  the  time  says  that  many  came  back  worse  than 
they  had  been  before.1  Two  years  later,  Clement  VI.  died  sud- 
denly (Dec.  6,  1352).  One  of  his  last  acts  was  to  mitigate  the 
rules  for  the  seclusion  of  the  Conclave.  The  new  election,  hastened 
in  order  to  anticipate  the  interference  of  the  French  King,2  fell  on 
Stephen  Aubert,  bishop  of  Ostia,  a  native  of  the  Limousin,  who 
took  the  name  of  Innocent  VI.  (1352-1362).  He  is  described  as 
"  a  good,  sincere,  and  just  man,"  learned  in  civil  and  canon  law. 
He  at  once  repudiated  the  "  capitulations  "  sworn  to  by  the  members 
of  the  Conclave,  which  would  have  made  the  Pope  the  mere  tool  of 
the  cardinals,  availing  himself  of  the  saving  clause,  "provided  that 
these  laws  be  agreeable  to  right."  Left  more  free  to  act  as  he 
wished  by  the  disasters  of  the  French  monarchy  in  the  war  with 
England,  Innocent  applied  himself  to  the  work  of  reformation, 
retrenching  the  luxury  of  his  court  and  of  the  cardinals,  compelling 
the  bishops  to  return  from  Avignon  to  their  dioceses,  discouraging 
pluralities,  and  making  a  good  use  of  his  own  patronage. 

To  put  an  end  to  the  anarchy  of  Pome,  he  sent  an  army  under 
Cardinal  Giles  Albornoz,  a  Spaniard,  who  had  been  a  distinguished 
soldier  before  he  became  Archbishop  of  Toledo,  and  whose  military 
talents  reconquered  the  States  of  the  Church  (1353).    With  him,  as 

1  Limb.  Chron.  ap.  Gieseler,  vol.  iv.  p.  207. 

2  The  unfortunate  John  II.,  who  was  taken  prisoner  at  Poitiers  (1356), 
and  died  in  England  (1364),  had  succeeded  to  the  crown  in  1350. 


A.D.  1356.  GOLDEN  BULL  OF  CHARLES  IV.  133 

Legate,  was  associated  Rienzi,  released  from  prison,  and  appointed 
Senator  of  Rome.  But  the  enthusiasm  with  which  he  was  received 
by  the  people  was  soon  turned  into  disgust  by  his  renewed  and 
aggravated  exhibition  of  the  arrogance  and  sensuality  into  which 
he  had  fallen  before,  and  he  was  cut  to  pieces  in  a  popular  tumult 
(October  8,  1354).1 

§  9.  In  the  same  year  the  Emperor  Charles  IV.  went  to  Italy,  to 
receive  the  crowns  of  Lombardy  and  Rome  ;  having  engaged  with  the 
Pope  to  make  no  attempt  to  assert  real  authority.  Attended  by  an 
escort  so  small  as  to  disarm  suspicion,  he  was  welcomed  everywhere 
with  respect,  even  by  the  Guelphs  of  Florence.  Having  received 
the  iron  crown  at  Milan  at  Epiphany,  1355,  he  was  crowned, 
with  his  empress,  at  St.  Peter's,  on  Easter  Day,  by  the  Cardinal 
Bishop  of  Ostia.  His  departure  from  Rome  on  the  same  day, 
according  to  his  agreement  with  the  Pope,  was  a  bitter  disappoint- 
ment to  Petrarch,  who  had  urged  him  to  revive  the  glories  of  the 
Empire.  But  preferring  to  such  a  doubtful  enterprize  the  acknow- 
ledgment of  his  dignity  by  the  Italian  cities  and  the  substantial 
gain  of  the  contributions  he  had  levied  on  them,  Charles,  in  a 
diet  at  Nuremburg,  commemorated  his  coronation  by  the  famous 
"  Golden  Bull,"  which  settled  the  rules  for  future  elections  to  the 
Empire  (Jan.  1356).  In  this  new  fundamental  law  of  the  Empire 
"  the  claim  of  the  Pope  to  interfere  with  the  election  was  not  men- 
tioned at  all ;  and  it  was  assumed  that  in  Germany,  at  least,  the 
King  or  Emperor  had  full  power  from  the  time  of  his  election. 
The  '  priests'  Emperor '  had  secured  the  crown  against  the  pre- 
tensions of  the  Papacy;  and  Innocent  was  greatly  annoyed  at  the 
result."  2 

The  new  imperial  constitution  was,  in  effect,  a  final  abandon- 
ment of  Italy  by  the  Empire,  while  in  Germany  it  "  confessed  and 
legalized  the  independence  of  the  Electors  and  the  powerlessness 
of  the  Crown."3  Charles  now  sacrificed  what  was  left  of  German 
unity  under  the  Empire  to  the  aggrandizement  of  the  house  of 
Bohemia,  and  gave  a  decisive  impulse  to  that  rapid  decline,  by 
which  the  "  Holy  Roman  Empire "  became  (as  Voltaire  said) 
neither  Holy,  nor  Boman,  nor  an  Empire. 

§  10.  On  the  death  of  Innocent  VI.  (Sept.  12, 1362),  the  cardinals, 
being  unable  to  settle  their  respective  claims,  elected  William  de 
Grimoard,  the  Benedictine  abbot  of  St.  Victor  at  Marseilles,  a  man 
of  sixty,  of  high  repute  for  holiness  and  learning,  as  Urban  V. 
(1362-1370).  The  new  Pope  retained  his  monastic  dress  and  sim- 
plicity of  life,  and  was  even  a  more  stedfast   reformer  than  his 

1  The  details  belong  to  civil  history.  2  Robertson,  vol.  iv.  p.  138. 

3  See  the  results  described  by  Bryce,  pp.  225,  237-8. 
II— H  2 


134  POPE  URBAN  V.  Chap.  VIII. 

predecessor.  The  frugality  of  his  court  was  happily  contrasted  by 
his  free  expenditure  on  the  restoration  of  the  churches  and  palaces 
of  Eome,  and  for  purposes  of  learning  as  well  as  religion.  He 
built  and  endowed  a  monastery  and  college  at  Montpellier,  and 
maintained  a  thousand  students  at  the  Universities. 

Urban  inherited  from  his  predecessor  two  great  sources  of  trouble, 
both  in  France  and  in  Italy.  The  military  adventurers,  who  had  been 
trained  in  the  Anglo-French  wars,  especially  when  thrown  loose  by 
the  peace  of  Bretigny  (1360),  formed  disorderly  bands  under  the  name 
of  Free  Companies.  It  was  against  them  that  Innocent  VI.  fortified 
the  palace  and  city  of  Avignon.  Urban  V.  put  them  down  in  the 
south  of  France;  but  they  continued  to  infest  Italy,  both  as  inde- 
pendent bands  and  as  mercenaries  of  the  princes  and  cities.  Even 
more  audacious  was  the  defiance  both  of  Pope  and  Emperor  by 
Bernabo  Visconti,  of  Milan,  against  whom  crusades  were  proclaimed 
both  by  Innocent  and  Urban.  He  continued,  however,  to  with- 
stand the  martial  cardinal  legate,  Giles  Albornoz,  till  Urban  was 
fain  to  conclude  a  peace  with  him,  by  which  Bologna  was  secured 
to  the  papal  territory  (1364). 

§  11.  The  way  seemed  now  clear  for  that  return  to  Borne,  which 
Urban  had  advocated  before  his  elevation ;  and  the  renewed  in- 
vitation of  the  people,  adorned  by  the  eloquence  of  Petrarch,  was 
supported  by  the  Emperor,  who  visited  Avignon  (May  1365),  to  ar- 
range a  solemn  meeting  of  the  Pope  and  himself  at  Rome.  Embark- 
ing with  the  reluctant  cardinals,  five  of  whom  refused  to  leave 
Avignon  (April  30,  1367),  Urban,  on  landing  at  Corneto,  was  re- 
ceived by  Giles  Albornoz  ;  but  the  victorious  legate  died  next 
month,  while  the  Pope  was  staying  at  Viterbo.  The  Komans  wel- 
comed his  entrance  with  enthusiasm  (Oct.) ;  and,  in  the  following 
year,  he  received  the  personal  homage,  not  only  of  Charles,  but  of 
John  Palasologus  I.,  the  eastern  emperor,  who,  in  his  eagerness  for 
that  aid  against  the  Turks  which  he  failed  to  obtain,  professed  to 
acknowledge  all  the  claims  of  the  Latin  Church  and  the  see  of 
Home.  After  three  years,  however,  the  influence  of  the  French 
cardinals  prevailed  on  the  Pope  to  return  to  Avignon,  where  he 
died  only  three  months  after  his  arrival  (Dec.  19,  1370).  The  dis- 
appointed Italians  recognized  the  fulfilment  of  the  warnings  given 
to  Urban  by  St.  Bridget  of  Sweden,1  and  by  Peter  of  Arragon  (who 

1  St.  Bridget,  a  widowed  princess  of  Sweden,  lived  a  life  of  ascetic 
devotion  and  charity,  chiefly  at  Koine,  from  the  jubilee  of  1350  to  her  death 
in  1373.  She  founded  an  order,  both  of  monks  and  nuns,  at  Wadstena, 
in  Sweden,  which  spread  far  and  wide.  Her  oracles,  which  had  a  great 
influence  on  her  age,  were  approved  by  Gregory  XI.  and  later  Popes;  and 
she  was  canonized  by  Boniface  IX.  (1391). 


A.D.  1377-8.  RETURN  AND  DEATH  OF  GREGORY  XI.      135 

from  a  prince  had  become  a  Franciscan  friar),  that,  if  he  returned 
to  Avignon,  it  would  be  only  to  die. 

§  12.  The  like  influences  of  enthusiasm,  in  which  St.  Catherine  of 
Sweden,  the  daughter  of  St.  Bridget,  united  with  the  more  powerful 
pleading  of  her  namesake  of  Siena,1  in  prevailing  on  the  new  Pope, 
Gregory  XI.2  (1370-1378)  to  take  the  step  by  which  alone  it 
seemed  possible  to  save  the  temporal  power  of  the  Holy  See  in 
Italy.  The  persistent  contumacy  of  Bernabo  Visconti  and  his 
brother  Galeazzo  caused  the  proclamation  of  another  crusade  against 
them  (1372).  Eighty  towns  of  the  Papal  States  rose  in  rebellion, 
and  the  people  suffered  terribly  from  the  licence  of  the  mercenaries 
led  against  them  by  the  legate  Robert,  Cardinal  of  Geneva.  In  the 
treacherous  massacre  with  which  he  punished  the  rising  of  Cesena, 
1000  women  were  saved,  not  by  the  legate's  mercy,  but  by  the 
compassion  of  his  ally,  Sir  John  Hawkwood,  the  most  famous 
captain  of  Free  Companies.  The  people  of  Bologna  drove  out  the 
legate  and  papal  officials.  The  Florentines,  having  formed  a  league 
against  the  papal  authority,  were  placed  under  a  ban  and  interdict, 
by  which  they  were  allowed  to  be  made  slaves  (1376).  It  was  at 
their  request  for  her  mediation,  that  Catherine  of  Siena  went  to 
Avignon  to  urge  the  Pope's  return  to  Eome ;  and  Gregory  announced 
his  resolution,  though  opposed  by  the  French  King  and  most  of  the 
cardinals,  of  whom  six  remained  at  Avignon. 

The  seventy  years'  "Babylonian  Captivity"  was  ended  by  the 
Pope's  entrance  into  Pome,  amidst  demonstrations  of  joy,  in 
January  1377 ;  but  he  had  been  able  to  do  little  towards  com- 
posing the  troubles  of  Italy,  when  his  health,  always  feeble,  broke 
down,  and  he  died  at  the  early  age  of  47  (March  27,  1378). 

1  This  most  famous  of  the  female  mystical  enthusiasts  was  born  in 
1347,  the  daughter  of  a  dyer.  In  her  sixth  year  she  began  to  see  visions, 
and  in  her  seventh  she  devoted  herself,  by  a  vow  to  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
as  the  bride  of  the  Saviour,  whose  mystic  marriage  with  her  was  after- 
wards celebrated  by  a  ring  visible  on  her  ringer  to  herself  alone.  Like 
St.  Francis,  she  received  the  stigrrvit  i,  but  with  a  difference  which  may 
help  to  suggest  an  explanation ;  the  marks  were  invisible,  but  she  felt 
the  pain  of  the  wounds.  She  even  s  imagined  that  the  Saviour  had 
exchanged  her  heart  for  His  own,  as  was  witnessed  by  a  scar  in  her 
side.  She  became  a  sister  of  penitence  of  the  order  of  St.  Dominic, 
and  led  a  life  of  extraordinary  asceticism,  abstaining  from  food  to  a 
degree  of  which  even  her  biographer  says,  "  non  video  quod  sit  pos- 
sibile  per  naturam."  Catherine  died  in  1380,  and  was  canonized  by 
Pius  II.  in  14-61.     (Hase,  Caterina  von  Siena,  Leipzig,  1864.) 

2  Cardinal  Peter  Roger,  a  Provencal,  and  nephew  of  Clement  VI.  He 
was  highly  esteemed  for  his  learning  and  prudence,  modesty  and  generosity. 


The  Castle  of  St.  Angelo  (Mausoleum  of  Hadrian).1 

CHAPTER  IX. 
THE  GREAT  PAPAL  SCHISM.— PART  I. 


TO   THE   COUNCIL    OF    PISA   AND   THE   DEATH   OF    ALEXANDER   V. 
A.D.  1378—1410. 

1.  Elections  of  Urban  VI.  at  Rome  and  Clement  VII.  at  Avignon — 
Their  characters  and  adherents — National  character  of  the  Schism — 
Forces  at  work  for  a  reformation.  §  2.  Urban's  visit  to  Naples ;  his 
detention  and  escape — His  violent  acts  and  death.  §  3.  Exactions  of 
Clement;  resisted  by  France  and  England — Statute  of  Praemunire. 
§  4.  Boniface  IX.  at  Rome — His  exactions  and  two  jubilees  (1390 
and  1400).  §  5.  Effort  at  Paris  to  end  the  Schism  —  Death  of 
Clement  VII.  and  election  of  Benedict  XIII.  at  Avignon — Attempts  to 
make  both  Popes  resign — France  withdraws  from  and  returns  to  Bene- 
dict. §  6.  Death  of  Boniface  IX.  —  Succession  of  Innocent  VII.  and 
Gregory  XII.  at  Rome — Vain  overtures  of  Pope  and  Antipope.  §  7. 
France  rejects   Benedict — A   General  Council    proposed.     §  8.  Gerson 


1  The  architectural  decorations,  though  only  an  imaginary  restoration, 
may  serve  to  give  some  idea  of  the  state  of  the  edifice  before  its  ruin  at 


this  epoch.     (See  p.  139,  note.) 


A.D.  1378.  ELECTION  OF  URBAN  VI.  AT  ROME.  137 

on  Popes  and  Councils — Question  of  the  Imperial  Power.  §  9.  The 
Council  of  Pisa  deposes  both  Popes.  §  10.  Declaration  for  reform  "  in 
head  and  members  " — Election  of  the  Franciscan  Alexander  V. — He 
dissolves  the  Council — The  Schism  not  healed :  the  Church  with  three 
husbands  —  Weakness  and  profusion  of  Alexander — His  Bull  for  the 
Friars,  resisted  by  the  University  of  Paris — His  capture  of  Rome,  and 
death — Balthasar  Cossa,  John  XXIII. 

§  1.  The  death  of  Gregory  XI.  gave  the  signal  for  another  pro- 
longed crisis,  the  Great  Papal  Schism  of  forty  years  (1378-1417), 
"which  next  to  the  long  residence  at  Avignon,  tended  more  than 
other  agencies  to  shake  the  empire  of  the  Popes,  and  stimulate  a 
reformation  of  the  Church." x  The  late  Pope,  foreseeing  the  struggle 
of  parties  in  the  Conclave,  had  decreed  that  an  election  by  the 
majority  of  the  cardinals,  whether  at  Home  or  elsewhere,  should 
be  valid,  even  if  the  usual  formalities  were  not  observed.  The 
Koman  populace,  resolved  to  prevent  another  return  to  Avignon, 
forced  their  way  into  the  Vatican,  clamouring  for  the  election  of  an 
Italian ;  their  favourite  candidate  being  the  oldest  member  of  the 
sacred  college,  Tibaldeschi,  archpriest  of  St.  Peter's.  Of  the  sixteen 
cardinals  at  Rome,  eleven  were  Frenchmen ;  but  they  were  divided 
among  themselves,  and  it  was  as  a  compromise  as  well  as  under 
the  popular  compulsion,  that  they  chose  one  who  was  not  a  car- 
dinal, but  at  once  an  Italian  and  a  native  subject  of  the  Queen  of 
Naples — Bartholomew  of  Prignani,  archbishop  of  Bari,  who  took 
the  title  of  Urban  VI.  (April  9th,  1378-Oct.  15th,  1389). 

To  remove  all  doubts  of  the  validity  of  the  election,  it  was  an- 
nounced to  Europe  and  to  their  brethren  at  Avignon  by  the  car- 
dinals themselves  (instead  of  by  the  new  Pope,  as  usual)  as  their 
unanimous  choice,  under  the  direction  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Urban,  a 
man  of  humble  birth  and  of  ascetic  life,  learned  in  Church  law  and 
devoted  to  the  study  of  Holy  Scripture,  had  the  reputation  of 
humility,  compassion,  and  disinterested  equity.  But  he  bore  his 
elevation  badly,  at  once  announcing  violent  and  impolitic  reforms, 
and  provoking  the  cardinals  by  his  harsh  mandates  and  his  arrogant 
behaviour.     He  alienated  a  powerful  ally  in   his  late  sovereign, 

1  Hardwick  (Ch.  Hist.  Mid.  Age,  p.  328),  who  cites  the  remarkable  testi- 
mony of  Henry  of  Hesse  (1381):  "  Hanc  tribulatiouem  a  Deo  non  gratis 
permissam,  sed  in  necessariam  opportunamque  Ecclesise,  reformntionem  fina- 
liter  convertendam."  (Consilium  Pads,  in  Von  der  Hardt's  Consil.  Constant. 
ii.  1,  seq.)  Hardwick  also  points  out  that  "  the  long  duration  of  the  schism 
could  not  fail  to  give  an  impulse,  hitherto  unknown,  in  calling  up  the 
nationality  of  many  a  western  state,  in  satisfying  it  that  papal  rule  was 
not  essential  to  its  welfare,  and  in  thereby  adding  strength  to  local 
jurisdictions." 


138  CLEMENT  VII.  AT  AVIGNON.       Chap.  IX. 

Joanna  of  Naples,  by  his  rude  reception  of  her  husband,1  who 
brought  him  the  Queen's  congratulations. 

The  majority  of  the  cardinals,  leaving  the  city  one  by  one, 
assembled  at  Anagni,  where  they  denounced  the  election  of  Urban 
as  having  been  extorted  from  them  by  fear  of  death,  and  then, 
having  removed  to  Fondi,  in  the  Neapolitan  territory,  they  made 
a  new  election  of  Cardinal  Robert  of  Geneva,  bishop  of  Cambray, 
as  Pope  Clement  VII.  (Sept.  20,  1378).  The  Antipope,2  who  was 
connected  by  birth  with  the  chief  princes  of  Europe,  was  36  years 
old,  of  an  enterprizing  spirit,  which  we  have  already  seen  displayed 
in  the  Italian  wars  in  the  guise  rather  of  a  captain  of  mercenaries 
than  of  a  Christian  prelate.  He  proceeded  to  visit  Joanna,  with  whose 
concurrence  the  election  had  been  made ;  but  the  people  of  Naples, 
zealous  for  Urban  as  their  countryman,  raised  the  cry  of  "  Death 
to  the  Antipope  and  the  Queen,"  and  Clement  retired  to  Avignon, 
to  become  the  dependent  of  the  King  of  France.  The  University 
of  Paris,  after  a  contest  between  its  "  nations,"  pronounced  in  his 
favour  (1379) :  Scotland,  the  ally  of  France,  took  the  same  side ; 
while  England  declared  for  Urban,  as  did  also  Germany  and 
Bohemia,  Hungary,  Poland,  and  Portugal,  as  well  as  all  Italy, 
except  Naples.  Castile  and  Arragon,  after  some  delay,  declared 
for  Clement. 

The  contest  assumed  very  much  of  a  national  character,  and  an 
English  writer  of  the  time  remarks  that,  but  for  the  quarrels  of 
nations,  the  schism  would  neither  have  been  so  lightly  begun,  nor 
kept  up  so  long.3  The  evil  was  aggravated  by  the  want  of  any 
master-mind  among  the  sovereigns  of  Europe;  for  at  this  very 
crisis  the  crowns  of  England,  France,  and  Germany,  passed  from 
able  and  experienced  rulers  to  young  and  feeble  successors.4  But 
far  deeper  than  these  outward  influences  was  the  working  of  those 
internal  forces,  wThich  had  already  come  to  a  head  in    the  open 

1  Otho,  duke  of  Brunswick,  was  Joanna's  fourth  husband. 

2  Antipope,  that  is  to  say,  according  to  the  Roman  authorities;  but 
the  legitimacy  of  the  Popes  at  Avignon  (Clement  VII.  and  Benedict  XIII.) 
is  maintained  by  the  Gallican  divines,  and  no  decision  was  given  by  the 
Councils  held  for  the  express  purpose  of  healing  the  schism.  The  Pope 
appointed  by  the  Council  of  Pisa,  Alexander  V.,  obtained  a  sort  of  ac- 
knowledgment by  the  fact  that  the  next  Pope  of  that  name  was  numbered 
as  Alexander  VI.,  while,  on  the  other  haul,  the  names  of  Clement  VII.  and 
Benedict  XIII.  have  been  borne  by  later  Popes. 

3  Richard  of  Ulverstone,  ap.  Von  der  Hardt,  i.  1170. 

4  In  England,  Edward  III.  was  succeeded  by  Richard  II.  in  1377;  in 
Germany  and  Bohemia,  Charges  IV.  was  followed  by  his  son  Wenzel  or  Wen- 
ceslaus,  a  weak  debauchee  (1378)  ;  in  France,  the  able  King  Charles  V.  was 
replaced  (1380)  by  his  son  Charles  VI.,  a  boy  of  fourteen,  whose  imbecility 
left  the  realm  a  prey  to  factions  and  an  English  conquest. 


A.D.  1383-4.       URBAN  AND  CHARLES  OF  NAPLES.  139 

demands  for  a  thorough  reformation  in  England 1  and  Bohemia, 
when  the  schism  bore  its  own  witness  against  the  claims  of 
either  pontiff  to  universal  authority.  To  all  these  movements 
the  stimulus  of  practical  grievances  was  added  by  the  gross  exac- 
tions begun  by  Avignon  and  soon  outstripped  by  Rome.  It  was 
in  vain  that  the  University  of  Paris,  feeling  the  national  disgrace 
of  Clement's  proceedings,  proposed  that  the  dispute  should  be 
decided  by  a  General  Council.  Both  Popes  professed  their  readi- 
ness to  accept  the  judgment  of  a  Council,  but  each  demanded  the 
submission  of  his  rival  as  a  prior  condition. 

§  2.  Urban  VI.  succeeded  in  re-establishing  his  authority  in  the 
Papal  States  by  the  aid  of  a  native  mercenary  force,  which  broke 
up  the  Breton  and  Gascon  free  companies.2  To  avenge  himself  on 
the  Queen  of  Naples,  he  used  all  his  temporal  and  spiritual  power 
in  aid  of  her  kinsman,  Charles  of  Durazzo,  by  whom  Joanna  was 
dethroned  (1381),  and,  as  was  believed,  murdered  in  her  prison 
(1382).  As  Charles  was  slow  in  complying  with  the  Pope's  ex- 
travagant claims,  Urban  went  to  Naples,  against  the  advice  of  his 
cardinals,  on  whose  company  he  insisted  with  a  fury  that  raised 
doubts  of  his  sanity  (1383).  Charles  received  him  with  high 
honour,  but  kept  a  strict  guard  on  his  movements ;  and,  when 
Urban  proceeded  to  more  and  more  arbitrary  acts  of  authority,  he 
found  himself  a  prisoner  at  Nocera  (1384).  Here  his  self-will  and 
violence  became  so  intolerable,  even  to  the  cardinals  of  his  own 
creation,  that  they  framed  a  design  for  putting  him  in  charge  of 
curators.  The  plot  was  betrayed,  and  a  confession  was  extracted 
by  torture  from  six  cardinals,  who  were  half  starved  in  a  narrow 
loathsome  dungeon.  At  length  Urban  was  aided  to  escape,  and 
sailed  to  Genoa,  where  five  of  the  six  captive  cardinals  were  secretly 
put  to  death.3     Having  quarrelled  with  his  protector,  the  Doge, 

1  The  epoch  of  Wyclifs  appearance  as  a  reformer  may  be  dated  from 
his  establishment  in  the  rectory  of  Lutterworth  in  1375  ;  and  it  was  in 
the  year  which  ended  the  Babylonian  Captivity  that  he  was  summoned 
before  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  at  St.  Paul's  (1377).  See  Chap. 
XXXIX.,  and  for  Hus  and  Bohemia,  Chap.  XL. 

2  An  incident  of  this  campaign  was  the  ruin  of  Hadrian's  splendid 
Mausoleum  on  the  Tiber,  which  had  been  turned  into  the  chief  fortress  of 
Rome,  and  named  the  Castle  of  St.  Angelo.  Being  held  by  the  party 
of  the  cardinals,  it  was  now  first  assailed  with  cannon;  and,  after  its 
capture  by  the  papal  forces,  it  was  stripped  of  its  marble  facings  and 
ornaments.     (See  the  vignette  on  p.  136.) 

3  On  the  murder  of  Charles  in  Hungary  (1386),  whither  he  had  gone 
to  secure  the  crown  on  the  death  of  Louis,  Urban  refused  to  invest  his 
son  Ladislaus  in  the  kingdom  of  Naples;  thus  playing  into  the  hands  of 
his  rival  Clement,  who  supported  the  claim  of  Louis  of  Anjou.  Naples 
fell    into    anarchy,    till    Boniface    IX.    recognized    Ladislaus    (1389).     In 


140  BONIFACE  IX.  AT  ROME.  Chap.  IX. 

Urban  removed  to  Lucca  (1386),  and  thence  to  Perugia ;  and, 
compelled  to  leave  that  city  by  his  nephew's  infamous  licence,  he 
returned  to  Rome  in  August,  1388.  His  cold  reception  by  the 
people,  and  the  need  of  replenishing  his  coffers,  suggested  the 
popular  expedient  of  a  Jubilee ;  and  from  his  tender  regard  for 
those  who  found  the  interval  of  fifty  years  too  long,  Urban  disco- 
vered a  more  sacred  precedent  in  the  thirty-three  years  of  our 
Saviour's  life  on  earth.  But  the  appointed  date  of  1390  was 
anticipated  by  his  own  death  (Oct.  15th,  1389).  The  cardinals 
at  Rome  elected  Cardinal  Peter  Tomacelli  as  Boniface  IX.  (1389- 
1404),  a  man  in  the  prime  of  life,  who  is  described  as  possessed 
of  some  showy  personal  qualities,  but  wanting  in  learning  and 
knowledge  of  affairs. 

§  3.  Urban  had  the  one  merit  of  abstaining  from  the  gross  exac- 
tions and  simony  which  his  rival  carried  to  an  outrageous  length. 
Europe  had  now  to  support  twTo  papal  courts,  and  the  burthen  fell 
most  oppressively  on  the  West,  where  Clement  surrounded  himself 
with  no  less  than  36  cardinals.  The  papal  claim  to  present  to  all 
*  benefices  was  enforced  wherever  it  was  possible,  and  a  new  exten- 
sion of  it  was  devised  by  the  Qratise  exspectativee,  conferring  the 
reversion  of  a  benefice.  The  utmost  use  was  made  of  existing 
forms  of  exaction,  such  as  the  tithes  of  vacant  benefices,  the  annates 
and  jus  exuviarum,  and  all  kinds  of  dispensations.  The  sale  of 
appointments  to  the  most  unfit  persons,  in  the  schools  as  well  as  the 
Church,  was  ruinous  alike  to  religion  and  learning,  and  the  Uni- 
versity of  Paris  was  deserted  by  its  students.  The  resources  thus 
raised  were  partly  expended  in  purchasing  the  support  of  princes  and 
nobles.  The  King  of  France  endeavoured  to  check  these  abuses  by 
a  royal  edict  (1385)  and  by  new  taxation  of  the  clergy ;  and  in 
England  they  provoked  the  famous  statutes  of  Praemunire,  im- 
posing the  penalties  of  outlawry  on  any  who  should  bring  in 
papal  bulls  or  instruments  for  the  translation  of  bishops  and  the 
like  purposes  (1389  and  1393).1 

§  4.  At  Rome  the  influence  of  the  elder  cardinals  restrained  Boni- 

Northern  Italy,  the  weakness  of  the  Roman  court  threw  the  chief  power 
into  the  hands  of  the  politic  and  unscrupulous  John  Galeazzo  Visconti, 
who  had  poisoned  his  uncle  Bernabo  (1383). 

1  13  Ric.  II.  st.  ii.  c.  2,  3 ;  16  Ric.  II.  c.  5.  The  latter,  which  is 
usually  called  the  Statute  of  Praemunire,  was  enrolled  at  the  desire  of 
the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  himself.  The  former  statute  was  especially 
directed  against  the  bringing  in  of  excommunications  against  those  who 
enforced  the  equally  famous  Statute  of  Provisors  (25  Edw.  III.  st.  6,  1351), 
which  made  it-  penal  to  secure  any  presentation  to  benefices  from  the 
court  of  Rome.  (Comp.  Chap.  XVI.'§  7.)  Another  statute  (27  Edw.  III. 
c.  1)  visited  the  carrying  appeals  to  Rome  with  outlawry. 


A.D.  1394.  EFFORTS  TO  END  THE  SCHISM.  141 

face  from  the  like  practices  during  his  first  seven  years,  after  which 
he  far  outstript  even  Clement  in  unblushing  simony  and  multiplied 
exactions.1  In  1390  Boniface  held  the  Jubilee  proclaimed  by  Urban, 
and,  after  an  absence  caused  by  dissensions  with  the  citizens,  he 
returned  to  Rome,  at  their  request,  to  celebrate  the  greater  jubilee 
of  the  end  of  the  century  (1400).  Both  festivals  were  well  attended, 
and  even  the  French  flocked  to  the  second,  in  spite  of  the  King's 
prohibition.  The  great  profits  drawn  from  these  multitudes  were 
increased  by  the  indulgences  granted  in  lieu  of  the  pilgrimage. 
Besides  what  was  retained  for  the  Pope's  use,  means  were  thus 
provided  for  restoring  the  churches  and  fortifications  of  Rome,  and 
for  recovering  portions  of  the  papal  territory,  so  that  Boniface  was 
more  powerful  than  any  of  his  predecessors  for  a  considerable  time. 

§  5.  While  Boniface,  thus  strengthened,  endeavoured  by  repeated 
letters  to  detach  the  King  of  France  from  Clement,  the  University 
of  Paris  made  a  vigorous  effort  to  end  the  schism.  Having,  at  the 
beginning  of  1394,  obtained  permission 2  to  declare  their  opinion, 
and  having  collected  the  opinions  of  the  academic  body,  they  drew 
up  a  judgment  suggesting  three  ways  of  settlement :  either,  that  both 
Popes  should  abdicate  ;  or,  that  they  should  agree  on  the  choice  of 
a  council  of  arbitration  ;  or,  that  the  question  should  be  referred  to 
a  General  Council.  This  judgment,  drawn  up  by  Nicolas  of 
Clamenges,  who  was  styled  the  Cicero  of  his  age,  assisted  by  the 
eminent  doctors,  Peter  d'Ailly,  Chancellor  of  Paris,  and  Giles 
Deschamps,  was  submitted  to  the  King,  who  had  now  recovered 
(June  1394) ;  but  the  party  of  Clement,  and  chiefly  the  Cardinal 
Peter  de  Luna,  persuaded  Charles  to  postpone  his  decision.  Most  of 
the  cardinals  at  Avignon,  however,  were  disposed  to  agree  with  the 
University  ;  and,  on  learning  this,  Clement  was  so  enraged  that  he 
died  in  a  few  days  (Sept.  16,  1394). 

The  letters  of  Charles,  desiring  the  cardinals  not  to  make  a  hasty 

1  For  the  details,  see  Robertson  (vol.  iv.  pp.  169  f.),  and  especially  the 
extracts  in  Gieseler  (iv.  100  f.)  from  the  very  important  treatise,  De  Ruina 
Ucclesise  or  De  Corrupto  Ecclesim  Statu  (a.d.  1401),  commonly,  though 
very  questionably,  ascribed  to  Nicolas  of  Clamenges  (printed  in  Hardt, 
Cone.  Const.  I.  pt.  iii.).  This  writer  gives  another  example  of  the  use  of 
apocalyptic  imagery  in  tracing  all  the  evils  resulting  from  the  schism  to 
the  Popes  and  their  courts :  "  Sed  me  praeterire  non  decet,  quantam  et 
quam  abominabilem  fornicationem  Papa  et  hi  sui  fratres  cum  saeculi 
principibus  inierint."  Ample  evidence  to  the  same  corruptions  is  borne 
by  the  works  of  another  contemporary,  Theodoric  of  Niem,  De  Schismate, 
and  Nomus  Unionis  (printed  at  Strassburg,  1629). 

2  From  the  Duke  of  Berri,  who  was  in  power  during  one  of  the  King's 
attacks  of  derangement.  Above  10,000  papers  are  said  to  have  been  thrown 
into  the  chest  which  was  placed  to  receive  the  opinions  of  the  members  of 
the  University. 


142  BENEDICT  XIII.  AT  AVIGNON.  Chap.  XI, 

election,  found  them  just  assembling  in  conclave.  On  this  pretext 
the  King's  letters  were  left  unopened,  and  the  Cardinal  di  Luna  was 
elected  as  Benedict  XIII.  (Sept.  28,  1394).  This  able  and  obstinate 
Spaniard  had  been  from  the  first  most  active  in  the  cause  of  Clement, 
and  had  won  over  Castile  to  his  side.  Still  he  had  professed  a  desire 
to  heal  the  schism ;  and  he  was  now  under  an  oath,  which  all  the 
cardinals  had  taken  before  the  election,  to  do  his  utmost  for  that 
object,  even  by  resigning  if  the  college  required  it.  But  he  had 
taken  the  precaution  to  declare  that  the  oath  could  not  bind  the 
Pope,  except  so  far  as  every  Catholic  was  bound  by  right  and 
conscience  ;*  and  his  real  purpose  was  afterwards  expressed  by  the 
pithy  phrase,  that  "  he  would  rather  be  flayed  alive  than  resign." 
It  was  in  this  temper  that  he  received  a  mission,  headed  by  the 
Dukes  of  Berri,  Burgundy,  and  Orleans,  conveying  to  him  the 
judgment  of  a  great  national  council  of  the  prelates,  monastic 
orders,  and  Universities,  that  both  Popes  should  resign  (June 
1395). 2  The  sovereigns  and  Universities  of  Europe  were  called 
on  for  their  opinions.  Germany  leaned  to  the  side  of  Boniface. 
In  England,  Oxford  declared  for  a  Council ;  but  King  Richard  wrote 
to  both  Popes,  advising  their  resignation.  At  a  meeting  at  Keims, 
Charles  V.  and  Wenceslaus  agreed  to  enforce  that  measure,  each 
on  the  Pope  he  had  before  supported;  but,  in  answer  to  this 
resolution,  each  Pope  required  the  other  to  resign  first. 

At  length  another  national  council  at  Paris  decided,  by  247  votes 
out  of  300,  to  withdraw  support  from  Benedict  (July  1398).  A 
royal  edict  forbad  obedience  to  him,  and  he  was  besieged  at 
Avignon  by  the  marshal  of  France,  from  April  1399  to  March  1403, 
when  he  made  his  escape  down  the  Rhone  into  Provence,  the 
territory  of  Louis  of  Sicily.  Meanwhile  events  had  changed  in 
his  favour.  The  deposition  of  Richard  II.  ( 1399)  3  was  followed  by 
that  of  Wenceslaus  (1400)  and  the  election  of  Rupert,  Count  Pala- 
tine of  the  Rhine,  as  King  of  the  Romans,  which  was  confirmed  by 

1  "  Whatsoever  promises  might  be  made  [at  elections],  the  Pope  could 
never  be  bound  by  the  oaths  of  the  Cardinal."     (Gibbon,  vi.  897.) 

2  Adopted  by  87  votes  to  22,  and  approved  by  the  King.  The  cause 
of  Benedict  was  espoused  by  the  Dominicans,  who  had  been  excluded  from 
the  University  of  Paris  for  their  rejection  of  the  Immaculate  Conception, 
and  also  by  the  University  of  Toulouse.  When.  Benedict  deprived  his 
opponents  at  Paris  of  their  preferments,  the  University  appealed  to  "a 
future,  sole,  and  real,  pope ;  and  when  he  declared  appeals  from  the  Pope 
to  be  unlawful,  it  repeated  the  act,  asserting  that  schismatical  and 
heretical  popes  were  subject  in  life  to  the  judgment  of  general  councils,  and 
after  death  to  that  of  their  own  successors."     (Robertson,  vol.  iv.  p.  176.) 

3  In  England,  the  schism  strengthened  the  nationality  of  the  Church, 
and  Henry  IV.  detained  the  papal  revenues  till  the  dispute  should  be 
decided. 


A.D.  1404-6.  INNOCENT  VII.  AND  GREGORY  XII.  AT  ROME.  143 

Boniface  in  a  tone  worthy  of  Hildebrand.  In  the  factions  at  the 
French  Court,  the  King's  brother,  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  espoused 
the  cause  of  Benedict ;  and  the  great  leaders  of  the  University — 
Peter  d'Ailly,  Nicolas  of  Clamenges,1  and  John  Gerson — went  over 
to  his  side.  Another  national  assembly  resolved,  and  the  King 
confirmed  the  decision  by  a  public  solemnity,  to  return  to  the  obe- 
dience of  Benedict,  on  condition  that  he  should  resign  in  case  of 
Boniface's  resignation  or  death,  and  that  he  would  speedily  call  a 
General  Council  and  abide  by  its  judgment  (May  1403). 

§  6.  The  contingency  speedily  occurred  to  test  his  good  faith.  In 
the  following  year  he  sent  a  mission  to  his  rival,  proposing  a  personal 
conference ;  but  Boniface  scouted  all  idea  of  equality,  and  ordered 
Benedict's  envoys  to  leave  Rome.  Provoked  by  this  insolence,  they 
replied,  "  At  least  our  master  is  not  a  simoniac ;"  and  Boniface, 
stung  mortally  by  the  taunt,  fell  ill  and  died  in  three  days  (Oct.  1, 
1404).  The  Roman  cardinals  now  asked  the  envoys  if  they  had 
authority  to  declare  the  resignation  of  Benedict;  and,  on  receiving  a 
negative  reply,  they  elected  the  Neapolitan  Cardinal  Cosmato 
Migliorati  as  Innocent  VII.  (Oct.  17, 1404)  ;  every  cardinal  having 
first  taken  an  oath  that,  if  elected,  he  would  labour  to  heal  the 
schism,  and  resign  if  required.  This  mild  old  man,  opposed  to 
simony  and  rapacity,  found  his  attempts  to  reform  the  morals  of  his 
court  overborne  by  the  ambition  and  vices  of  his  kinsmen  ;  and  his 
brief  pontificate  was  one  scene  of  trouble  from  the  factions  of  Rome 
and  the  intrigues  of  Ladislaus  of  Naples.2     He  died  Nov.  6,  1406. 

Cardinal  Angelo  Corario,  titular  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  a 
man  of  seventy,  respected  for  his  piety,  learning,  and  prudence,  was 
now  elected  as  Gregory  XII.  (1406-1409),  under  so  binding  a  pro- 
mise to  heal  the  schism,  by  resignation  if  necessary,  that  he  was  said  to 
be  chosen  rather  as  a  proctor  for  resigning  the  Papacy  than  as  a 
Pope.3  It  was  on  his  proposal  that  the  cardinals  took  this  oath,  which 
he  renewed  after  his  election ;  but  Theodoric  of  Niem,  who  held  an 
office  at  his  court,  calls  him  a  wolf  in  sheep's  clothing.  In  a  letter 
to  Benedict  he  likened  himself  to  the  Hebrew  mother,  who  would 
rather  give  up  her  child  than  see  it  cut  in  twain ;  and  he  only 
feared  not  to  live  long  enough  to  fulfil  his  purpose.  But,  in  fact, 
there  were  more  immediate  obstacles  in  the  cupidity  of  his  nephews 

1  Nicolas  became  Benedict's  private  secretary.  "  It  was  with  re- 
luctance that  he  consented,  and  he  expresses  joy  at  being  released  from 
the  service,  although  he  speaks  with  gratitude  of  the  Pope's  considerate 
behaviour  towards  him.  The  tone  of  the  papal  court,  he  says,  was  better 
than  that  of  secular  courts."     (Epist.  14,  54.     Robertson,  vol.  iv.  p.  179.) 

2  For  the  details,  see  Robertson,  vol.  iv.  pp.  181-2. 

3  Leonardus  Arretinus,  925 ;  Robertson,  vol.  iv.  p.  182. 


144        DEMAND  FOR  A  GENERAL  COUNCIL.    Chap.  IX. 

and  the  ambition  of  Ladislaus  of  Naples.  Benedict  responded  by 
proposing  a  personal  interview,  for  which  both  set  out,  but  with 
such  delays  as  to  provoke  a  comparison  to  a  land  and  sea  animal 
proposing  to  meet,  but  each  refusing  to  leave  its  own  element. 

§  7.  Meanwhile  the  French  had  again  lost  patience  with  Benedict, 
who  was  deprived  of  his  chief  friend  by  the  murder  of  the  Duke  of 
Orleans  (Nov.  1407) ;  and  he  gave  fresh  provocation  by  two  Bulls 
against  his  opponents  (April  1408).  Another  great  national  assem- 
bly burnt  the  Bulls,  and  declared  "  Peter  de  Luna  "  guilty  of  heresy 
and  schism,  and  he  only  escaped  imprisonment  by  a  flight  to  Per- 
pignan  (May).  At  this  same  time  Gregory,  at  Lucca,  quarrelled 
with  his  cardinals,  who  withdrew  to  Pisa,  and  proceeded  to  meet 
Benedict's  cardinals  at  Leghorn.  The  two  parties  agreed  to 
summon  a  Council  to  meet  at  Pisa  in  the  following  year,  and  the 
design  was  approved  by  the  Universities  of  Paris,  Bologna,  and 
Florence.  In  their  letters  to  the  princes  and  universities,  the  car- 
dinals of  each  party  drew  the  most  odious  character  of  the  Pope  they 
had  hitherto  supported ;  but,  as  Milman  observes,1  "  the  mutual  fear 
and  mistrust  of  the  rival  Popes  was  their  severest  condemnation. 
These  grey-headed  Prelates,  each  claiming  to  be  the  representative 
of  Christ  upon  earth,  did  not  attempt  to  disguise  from  the  world, 
that  neither  had  the  least  reliance  on  the  truth,  honour,  justice, 
religion,  of  the  other."  While  refusing  to  abdicate  their  high  dig- 
nity, they  stripped  it  of  all  respect  in  the  eyes  of  Christendom,  at 
the  very  crisis  of  a  wide-spread  and  growing  demand  for  a  thorough 
reform  of  the  Church  "  in  head  and  members."  All  this  strength- 
ened the  conviction  that  the  time  had  come  to  fall  back  on  the 
ancient  mode  of  taking  the  judgment  of  the  Church  in  a  General 
Council. 

§  8.  This  course  was  advocated  with  great  effect  by  a  doctor  whose 
name  now  becomes  conspicuous,  John  Charlier,  surnamed  Gerson, 
from  the  village  in  Champagne  where  he  was  born  (1363).  Having 
studied  at  Paris  under  Peter  d'Ailly  and  Giles  Deschamps,  he 
succeeded  the  former  as  Chancellor  and  professor  of  theology  in 
1395.  The  counsel  he  now  gave  was  the  more  weighty  from  his 
former  adhesion  to  Benedict  and  his  unpopular  opposition  to  the 
extreme  course  taken  by  the  national  council  in  1406.  In  the 
works 2  which  he  contributed  towards  the  closing  of  the  schism, 

1  Latin  Christianity,  vol.  viii.  p.  108. 

2  Especially  his  Considerationes  de  Pace,  a  sermon  preached  before 
Benedict  XIII.  (Jan.  1,  1404),  and  his  tracts,  De  Unitate  Ecclesise,  (1409), 
and  De  Auferibilitate  P<ipx.  See  the  copious  extracts  in  Gieseler,  vol.  iv. 
pp.  116-121).  Though  Gerson  thus  helped  to  pave  the  way  for  the 
Council,  he  was  not  present  at  that  of  Pisa ;  but  he  was  a  chief  leader  in 


A.D.  1408.  GERSON  ON  COUNCILS  AND  POPES.  145 

Gerson  fell  back  on  the  original  idea  of  the  Church,  maintaining 
that  its  authority  resided  in  the  Catholic  body,  and,  practically,  in 
a  General  Council  as  its  representative.  "He  supposed  that, 
although  the  power  of  convoking  General  Councils  had  in  later 
times  been  exercised  by  the  Popes  alone,  the  Church  might  resume 
it  in  certain  circumstances  ;  that  this  might  be  properly  done  in  the 
case  of  a  division  between  rival  Popes  ;  and  that,  in  such  a  case,  a 
Council  might  be  summoned,  not  only  by  the  cardinals,  but  by 
faithful  laymen.  He  held  that,  in  case  of  necessity,  the  Church 
could  subsist  for  a  time  without  a  visible  head  ;  he  greatly  mitigated 
the  pretensions  which  had  been  set  up  on  behalf  of  the  Papacy ; 
and,  on  the  whole  he  expressed,  far  more  distinctly  than  any  one 
who  had  written  since  the  appearance  of  the  False  Decretals,  that 
theory  of  the  Church  to  which  the  name  of  Gallican  has  been 
given  in  later  times." l  Others  found  the  root  of  the  whole  evil  in 
the  discord  between  the  Empire  and  the  Papacy,  and  regretted  the 
time  when  the  Emperor  could  convene  a  General  Council,  so  as  to 
strangle  a  schism  in  its  birth.2  But  now,  strange  to  say,  the  only 
appeal  to  that  lost  power  was  made  by  Gregory  XII.  to  Kupert,3 
who  had  promised  to  support  him,  but  who  found  himself  unable  to 
refuse  sending  representatives  to  Pisa,  though  chiefly  to  oppose  the 
proceedings.  It  was  in  vain  that  each  Pope  made  a  futile  attempt 
to  anticipate  the  Council  by  one  of  his  own,4 — called,  with  deserved 
contempt,  Conciliabules.     The  only  sovereigns  who  refused  to  send 

that  of  Constance.  Of  his  theology  we  have  to  speak  further  in  connection 
with  the  Mystics  (see  Chap.  XXXIII.). 

1  Robertson,  vol.  iv.  p.  189. 

2  Theod.  a  Niem,  de  Schismate,  iii.  7,  ap.  Gieseler,  vol.  iv.  p.  117-8. 

3  Rupert's  claim  to  the  Empire  was  still  contested  by  the  partisans  of 
Wenceslaus,  and  when  Rupert's  envoys  withdrew  from  the  Council,  after 
a  vain  effort  for  its  adjournment,  the  Council  recognised  Wenceslaus,  but 
without  any  practical  effect. 

4  Benedict's  "  hasty,  but  somewhat  imposing  assembly  "  at  Perpignan, 
composed  of  bishops  from  Spain,  Savoy,  Lorraine,  and  a  few  from  France 
(Nov.  1408-March  1409),  dissolved  in  discord,  and  the  small  rem- 
nant advised  him  to  abdicate  and  send  envoys  to  Pisa,  but  their  final 
decisions  are  a  very  obscure  question.  Benedict  is  said  to  have  treated 
the  bishops  with  contemptuous  harshness.  "  He  certainly  retired  to  the 
strong  fortress  of  Peniscola,  and  there  in  sullen  dignity  awaited  the 
event."  (Milman,  viii.  p.  112.)  Gregory  was  unable  even  to  obtain  a 
place  for  his  assembly  till  after  the  meeting  of  the  Council  of  Pisa,  when 
the  authorities  of  Venice,  his  native  state,  allowed  his  Council  to  be  held 
in  a  remote  corner  of  their  territory,  at  Ciudad  or  Cividale,  in  the  Friuli 
(June-Sept.  1409).  It  was  scantily  attended,  and  without  any  result. 
Florence,  the  state  in  which  Pisa  was  situated,  held  a  Council  of  its  own, 
which  condemned  both  Popes.  Pisa  had  been  sold  by  its  Doge  to  its  old 
enemies,  the  Florentines,  three  years  before. 


146  THE  COUNCIL  OF  PISA.  Chap.  IX. 

representatives  to  Pisa  were  the  Kings  of  Castile  and  Arragon,  as 
adherents  of  Benedict,  and  Ladislaus  of  Naples,  who  supported 
Boniface  as  the  instrument  of  his  own  ambition,  and  from  enmity 
to  Florence. 

§  9.  On  the  appointed  Lady  Day,  1409,  the  Council1  met  in  the 
splendid  Italian  cathedral  of  Pisa.2  "  Among  those  who  took  part  in 
it  (although  many  of  them  did  not  arrive  until  later)  were  twenty- 
two  cardinals  and  four  titular  patriarchs,  with  archbishops,  bishops, 
abbots  (including  the  heads  of  the  chief  religious  orders),  envoys  of 
many  sovereign  princes,  representatives  of  cathedral  chapters,  and  a 
host  of  masters  and  doctors,  who  represented  the  powerful  influence 
of  the  Universities."  3  The  choice  of  Cardinal  Peter  Philargi,  arch- 
bishop of  Milan,  to  preach  the  opening  sermon,  proved  a  presage  of 
the  chief  act  of  the  Council.  The  rival  Popes  were  summoned,  and 
pronounced  contumacious  for  non-attendance.  The  charges  against 
them  were  stated,  and  the  evidence  examined  by  a  commission  ;  and, 
after  a  recital  of  the  judgments  of  Universities4  in  favour  of  the 
course  proposed,  both  were  declared  notorious  schismatics  and  here- 
tics, guilty  of  perjury  and  incorrigible  obstinacy,  rejected  of  God 
and  cut  off  from  the  Church,  and  by  their  enormous  iniquities 
and  excesses  unworthy  of  all  honour  and  dignity,  especially  of  the 
Supreme  Pontificate,  which  was  accordingly  pronounced  vacant, 
and  all  Christians  were  absolved  from  obedience  to  them  (June  5). 

§  10.  A  leading  principle  of  the  Council  was  the  full  admission  of 
the  need  of  reform  "  in  head  and  members;"  and,  before  proceeding 
to  a  new  election,  each  of  the  Cardinals  pledged  himself  that,  should 
he  be  chosen,  he  would  continue  the  Council  till  it  effected  "  a  due, 
seasonable,  and  sufficient  reformation." 5  Balthasar  Cossa,  who  had 
taken  an  active  part  in  the  Council,  might  have  secured  the  tiara, 

1  Sometimes  called  the  16th  (Ecumenical  Council,  but  Roman  Catholic 
divines  are  not  unanimous  as  to  its  authority  and  the  legitimacy  of  Alexan- 
der V.  Bellarmine  pronounces  the  council  nee  approbation  nee  reprobatum. 
The  best  recent  authorities  reject  it  as  not  convened  by  a  Pope. 

2  See  Milman's  vivid  description  of  the  scene,  and  full  enumeration  of  the 
members  of  the  Council  {Latin  Christianity,  viii.  1 13-115).  The  four  titular 
patriarchs  were  those  of  Alexandria,  Antioch,  Jerusalem,  and  Grado ;  but 
it  should  be  remembered  that  the  three  imposing  eastern  titles,  as  well  as 
that  of  Constantinople,  were  borne  by  Latin  bishops.  Of  the  English 
representatives,  the  most  distinguished  and  active  was  Robert  Hal  lam, 
bishop  of  Salisbury,  who  declared  that  he  had  authority  from  Henry  IV. 
to  consent  to  whatever  the  Council  might  determine  for  promoting  unity. 

3  Robertson,  vol.  iv.  p.  190. 

*  Namely,  of  Paris,  Angers,  Orleans,  Toulouse,  Bologna,  and  Florence. 

"  It  seems  not  superfluous  to  point  out  the  use  by  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  itself  of  a  word  afterwards  regarded  as  so  hateful,  and,  what  is 
much  more,  the  recognition  of  the  idea  which  that  word  embodies. 


A.D.  1409.  ELECTION  OF  ALEXANDER  V.  147 

but  he  preferred  that  it  should  be  worn,  for  a  time,  by  one  who 
was  his  tool.  The  election  was  duly  conducted  by  the  twenty  - 
two  cardinals  present,  who,  after  being  eleven  days  in  conclave, 
elected  Cardinal  Peter  Philargi  as  Alexander  V.  (June  26). 
He  was  a  Greek,  born  in  Candia,  but  had  never  known  his  parents 
or  any  other  relation.  The  child,  found  by  a  Franciscan  friar 
begging  his  bread,  was  received  into  the  order,  and  educated  at 
Paris  and  Oxford.  Having  become  tutor  to  the~sons  of  John 
GaleaZzo  Visconti,  he  was  made  through  his  influence  Bishop  of 
Vicenza  and  Novara,  and  Archbishop  of  Milan.  He  was  now  above 
70  years  old ;  of  high  repute  for  theological  learning.  But  he  had 
faults  which  soon  disappointed  the  hopes  which  he  was  called  to 
fulfil.  The  advice,  which  Gerson  addressed  to  him  on  the  duties 
of  his  office,  was  disregarded ;  and,  instead  of  at  once  proceeding  with 
the  promised  reformation,  he  postponed  it  for  another  Council,  to  be 
held  three  years  later,  and  dissolved  the  Council  of  Pisa  on  the  7th 
of  August,  1409.  Its  great  result  had  been  to  strike  a  mortal  blow 
at  the  foundations  of  the  papal  authority,  by  the  deposition  of  two 
Popes  on  other  grounds  than  invalid  election,  and  by  setting  a 
General  Council  above  the  Holy  See.1  "  Each  party  of  the  Cardinals 
had  concurred  in  the  election  of  one  or  other  of  the  Popes ;  they 
could  not  take  that  ground  without  impugning  their  own  authority. 
If  the  Schism  imperceptibly  undermined  the  Papal  power  in  public 
estimation,  the  General  Council  might  seem  to  shake  it  to  its  base."  2 
Nor  had  the  main  purpose  of  healing  the  Schism  been  yet  accom- 
plished. Both  Benedict,  from  his  fastness  at  Peiliscola,  and  Gregory 
from  the  refuge  he  had  found  with  Ladislaus,3  refused  submission 
and  anathematized  the  Council ;  the  former  was  still  recognized  by 
France  and  Scotland,  the  latter  by  some  of  the  German  bishops  and 
the  lesser  states  of  Italy,  while  the  King  of  Naples  gave  him  armed 
support.  Hence,  in  a  work  of  the  time,  the  Church  was  made  to 
complain  that  the  Council  had  only  exchanged  her  bigamy  for  three 
husbands.4 

1  Gieseler  (vol.  iv.  p.  119)  points  out  that,  after  the  Council  of  Pisa, 
"the  Canonists  vied  with  each  other  in  demonstrating  this  new  opinion,  so 
injurious  to  the  Papacy,  of  the  superiority  of  General  Councils  to  the 
Pope,  and  thus  the  papal  system  of  the  last  century  seemed  to  be 
threatened  with  total  overthrow." 

2  Milman,  viii.  120. 

3  After  holding  his  council,  Gregory  had  repaired  to  Gaeta,  in  the 
territory  of  Ladislaus,  to  whom  he  is  said  to  have  sold  his  rights  of 
sovereignty  in  Rome  and  the  Papal  States. 

4  "Bivira  fueram  et  triviram  fecerunt."  A  dialogue  between  Christ 
and  the  Church,  in  imitation  of  Boethius  de  Consul.,  by  Th.  de  Vrie, 
printed  in  Hardt's  Hist.  Cone.  Const,  i.  148.  Others  likened  the  Church 
to  a  three-headed  Cerberus. 


148  THE  SCHISM  NOT  HEALED.  Chap.  IX. 

He  might  have  said,  a  multitude,  for  the  easy  disposition  of 
Alexander  made  him  a  tool  in  the  hands  of  his  order.  The 
Franciscans  filled  all  places  at  his  court,  and  in  order  to  provide  for 
the  vast  number  of  applicants,  he  multiplied  offices  till  they  fell 
into  contempt.  Thus  the  order  supplied  that  want  of  kindred 
which  kept  him  free  from  nepotism ;  and,  being  equally  free  from 
avarice  and  too  good-natured  to  refuse,  he  lavished  gifts  till  he 
said  of  himself  that,  having  been  rich  as  a  bishop,  and  poor  as  a 
cardinal,  he  was  a  beggar  as  Pope.  His  first  act  of  authority  was 
to  throw  down  a  new  apple  of  discord  by  granting  the  four  orders  of 
Mendicant  Friars  the  privilege  most  obnoxious  to  the  secular  clergy, 
of  hearing  confessions,  giving  absolution,  and  administering  the 
sacraments  everywhere,  independently  of  bishops  and  parish  priests  ; 
to  whose  injury  was  added  the  insult  of  requiring  them  to  read  the 
Bull  in  their  churches  on  pain  of  excommunication.1  Even  the 
Dominicans  and  Carmelites  refused  the  privileges,  which  were 
accepted  by  the  Franciscans  and  Augustinians.  The  University  of 
Paris,  led  by  Grerson,  replied  by  expelling  these  two  orders,2  and 
obtained  from  the  King  an  edict,  forbidding  the  parochial  clergy  to 
allow  the  Mendicants  to  hear  confessions  or  to  preach  in  their 
churches. 

While  Alexander  remained  at  Pisa,  Ladislaus  took  possession 
of  Rome  in  the  name  of  Gregory.  Louis  of  Anjou,  the  rival  of 
Ladislaus,  and  his  enemies  the  Florentines,  aided  Cardinal  Balthasar 
Cossa,  legate  of  Bologna,  to  retake  the  city  for  Alexander,  to  whom 
the  Romans  sent  their  keys.  But  the  Pope,  who  was  under  the 
control  of  Balthasar  Cossa,  joined  him  at  Bologna,  where  he  died, 
not  without  suspicion  of  poison,3  on  the  3rd  of  May  1410 ;  and  on 
the  16th  a  conclave  of  seventeen  cardinals  elected  Cossa  as  Pope : 
"  a  man,"  says  Archbishop  Trench,  "  than  whom  it  would  have 
been  difficult  to  select  an  abler  or  a  worse.  He  took  the  name  of 
John  XXIII.4 

'  *  This  Bull,  "  Regnans  in  excelsis,"  overruled  no  less  than  seven  edicts 
of  former  Popes.  It  likewise  authorized  the  Mendicants  to  receive  tithes. 
It  was  revoked  by  his  successor,  John  XXIII.  Respecting  the  whole 
question,  see  the  subsequent  account  of  the  Franciscans  (Chap.  XXV.). 

2  Affecting  to  doubt  its  genuineness,  they  sent  a  mission  to  Rome,  to 
require  a  sight  of  the  Bull  itself,  which  was  disavowed  to  the  envoys  by 
the  Cardinals,  by  Avhose  advice  it  professed  to  have  been  issued. 

3  One  of  the  Articles  preferred  against  John  XXIII.  at  Constance 
alleged  the  murder  of  his  predecessor  by  his  machinations  as  a  thing 
asserted,  repixted,  and  believed. 

4  Some  call  him  John  XXII.  See  p.  92.  The  legitimacy  both  of 
Alexander  V.  and  John  XXIII.  is  involved  in  that  of  the  Council  ;  and 
the  most  consistent  opinion  holds  that  Gregory  XII.  was  the  true  Pope 
from  14-06  to  his  resignation  in  1415. 


Hall  of  the  Kaufhaus,  in  which  the  Council  of  Constance  was  held. 

CHAPTER  X. 
THE  GREAT  PAPAL  SCHISM.— PART  II. 

THE   COUNCIL   OF   CONSTANCE   AND   END   OF   THE   SCHISM. 
A.D.    1410   TO    1418. 

1.  Character  and  Career  of  John  XXIII.  §  2.  His  first  acts  as  Pope — 
Contest  with  Ladislaus  of  Naples  —  A  Council  at  Rome  condemns 
Wyclif — John  driven  from  the  City.  §  3.  The  Emperor  Sigismund — 
His  Character.  §  4.  He  resolves  to  call  a  Council — The  Pope  consents 
— Place  of  meeting  at  Constance.  §  5.  Death  of  Ladislaus — John  and 
Frederick  of  Austria — Arrival  of  the  Pope  and  John  Hus  at  Constance. 
§  6.  Assembling  of  the  Council — Its  numbers  and  motley  attendants. 
§  7.  The  leaders :  Zabarella ;  Peter  d'Ailly ;  John  Gerson ;  Robert 
Hallam — Reform  in  He  id  and  Members — Character  and  Limits  of  this 
demand.  §8.  The  Sixteenth  (Latin)  (Ecumenical  Council — The  last 
that  can  claim  the  title — Its  Opening,  and  threefold  purpose — Policy  of 
the  Pope :  to  deal  first  with  Heresy — Hus  committed  to  custody. 
§  9.  Arrival  of  the  Emperor — Cardinal  d'Ailly's  Sermon:  the  Sun, 
Moon,  and  Stars.  §  10.  Sigismund's  first  acts — He  gives  up  Hus — 
Doctrine  of  No  Faith  vith  Heretics.  §  11.  The  Pope's  scheme  frus- 
trated— Mode  of  voting — The  Four  Nations.  §  12.  Proceedings  against 
the  Pope — His  Flight  and  Return — The  70  charges — Deposition  of 
John  XXIII. — Resignation  of  Gregory  XII. — Resistance  and  deposition 
II— I 


150  CHARACTER  OF  JOHN  XXIII.  Chap.  X. 

of  Benedict  XIII. — End  of  the  Forty  Years'  Schism.  §  13.  Divisions  in 
the  Council — Henry  (afterwards  Cardinal)  Beaufort — Election  of  Pope 
Martin  V.  §  14.  His  Character  and  first  acts — Abuses  restored — The 
Con~  ordat<  instead  of  a  general  reform.  §  15.  Affair  of  Jean  Petit  and 
tyrannicide — His  condemnation  annulled  by  Martin  V. — The  three 
J  < tins  dealt  with  by  the  Council — Exile  and  end  of  Gerson.  §  16. 
Decrees  in  place  of  Reformation — The  Emperor  and  Pope — End  and 
failure  of  the  Council. 

§  1.  John  XXIlI.  (1410-1416)  is  characterized  by  Milman1  as 
"  another  of  those  Popes  the  record  of  whose  life,  by  its  contradic- 
tious, moral  anomalies,  almost  impossibilities,  perplexes  and  baffles 
the  just  and  candid  historian.  That  such,  even  in  those  times, 
should  be  the  life  even  of  an  Italian  Churchman,  and  that  after 
such  a  life  he  should  ascend  to  the  Papacy,  shocks  belief;  yet  the 
record  of  that  life  not  merely  rests  on  the  concurrent  testimony  of 
all  the  historians  of  the  time,  two  of  them  secretaries  to  the  Koman 
Courts,2  but  is  avouched  by  the  deliberate  sanction  of  the  Council 
of  Constance  to  articles  which  contained  all  the  darkest  charges  of 
the  historians,  and  to  some  of  which  John  himself  had  pleaded 
guilty." 

Born  of  a  noble  Neapolitan  family,  his  early  clerical  profession  did 
not  restrain  him  from  taking  part  in  the  piratical  warfare  between 
the  Hungarian  and  Provencal  fleets  about  Naples;3  and  he  then 
acquired  the  habit  of  sleeping  in  the  day  and  keeping  awake  during 
the  night.  While  studying,  or  affecting  to  study,  the  Canon  Law  at 
Bologna,  he  obtained  the  favour  of  Gregory  IX.,  who  made  him 
archdeacon  of  that  city,  and  afterwards  the  papal  chamberlain  at 
Rome.  For  his  own  profit,  as  well  as  the  Pope's,  he  became  the 
unscrupulous  agent  of  Gregory's  simony  and  extortion,  of  which  he 

1  Latin  Christianity,  viii.  pp.  128-9. 

2  These  two  chief  authorities  are :  Leonardus  Arretinus,  private  secre- 
tary to  Innocent  VII.,  Gregory  XII.,  Alexander  V.,  and  John  XXIII.,  and 
aftei  wards  Chancellor  of  Florence  (o'>.  1444),  Rcrum  suo  tempore  in  Italia 
gestarum  Commentarins  ah  anno  1378  usque  ad  annum  1440  (in  Muratori, 
xix.  p.  909  f.) ;  and  Theodoricus  a  Niem,  secretary  to  John  XXIII., 
in  his  work  De  Schismate,  his  Vita  Johannis  XXIII.,  and  Invectiva  in 
diffugientem  a  Const.  Concil.  (in  Meibomius,  Rerum  German.  Script.,  and 
Von  der  Hardt,  Concil.  Const.)  Niem  is  bitterly  hostile  to  John ;  but  most 
of  his  charges  are  confirmed  by  the  Acts  of  the  Council  of  Constance,  for 
which  see  Mansi,  vol.  xxvii.,  D'Achery,  i.  p.  828  f.,  and  Von  der  Hardt : 
also  Jacques  Lenfant,  Histoire  du  Cvncile  de  Pisa,  et  de  ce  qui  s'est  passe 
d<  /i'ks  memorable  depuis  ce  Concile  jusqu'au  Concite  de  Co7istance,  Arast. 
1724. 

3  The  condemnation  of  his  two  brothers  to  death  by  Ladislaus,  as 
pirates,  though  they  were  saved  by  the  intercession  of  Boniface  IX., 
embittered  his  hatred  of  the  King. 


A.D.  1410.  KING  LADISLAUS  OF  NAPLES.  151 

devised  new  and  ingenious  methods.  To  him  is  ascribed  the 
enormous  development  of  the  public  sale  of  Indulgences  by  priests 
and  friars  throughout  Europe  ; *  and  a  case  is  recorded  of  his  plun- 
dering one  of  these  papal  merchants  of  the  proceeds  of  his  traffic* 
Returning  to  Bologna  as  Cardinal  and  Legate,  he  ruled  the  city  for 
nearly  nineteen  years  "  with  as  absolute  and  unlimited  dominion  as 
the  tyrant  of  any  other  of  the  Lombard  or  Romagnese  common- 
wealths. Balthasar  Cossa,  if  hardly  surpassed  in  extortion  and 
cruelty  by  the  famous  Eccelino,  by  his  debaucheries  might  have 
put  to  shame  the  most  shameless  of  the  Viscontis."  He  took  an 
active  part  in  the  Council  of  Pisa,  and  was  one  of  those  named  for  the 
Papacy,  but  he  found  it  more  convenient  to  use  the  respectable 
Franciscan  as  his  tool ;  till  the  time  came  to  "  remove  *'  Alexander 
and  secure  his  own  election  by  his  power  over  the  conclave  held  at 
Bologna.  "  The  pirate,  tyrant,  adulterer,  violator  of  nuns,  became 
the  successor  of  St.  Peter,  the  Vicegerent  of  Christ  upon  earth."3 

§  2.  The  first  acts  of  John  XX1I1.  confirmed  the  worst  corrup- 
tions that  were  prevalent,4  and  anathematized  his  two  rivals  and 
the  King  of  Naples.  The  Crusade  which  he  proclaimed  against 
Ladislaus  was  supported  by  the  arms  of  Louis  of  Anjou,  who  gained 
a  great  victory  at  Rocca  Secca  (May  17th,  1411),  but,  failing  to  force 
the  passes  of  the  Apennines,  retired  to  Provence,  leaving  the  Pope 
to  deal  alone  with  Naples.  John  had  meanwhile  entered  Rome, 
where  he  celebrated  the  victory  with  insults  against  Ladislaus,  and 
soon  made  the  people  repent  of  the  welcome  they  had  given  him. 
He  now  found  it  necessary  to  purchase  peace  with  a  large  sum  of 
money,  besides  disallowing  the  claims  of  Louis  to  Naples  and  of 
Peter  of  Arragon  to  Sicily,  and  making  Ladislaus  standard-bearer 
of  Rome  5  (June  14]  2).  In  affected  compliance  with  the  promises 
given   at  Pisa,  the  Pope  now  summoned  at  St.  Peter's  the  mere 

1  "On  their  arrival  at  a  city,  they  exhibited  a  banner  with  the  Papal 
arms,  the  keys  of  St.  Peter,  from  the  windows  of  their  inn.  They  entered 
the  principal  church,  took  their  seats  before  the  altar,  the  floor  strewed 
with  rich  carpets,  and,  under  awnings  of  silk  to  keep  off  the  flies,  exhibited 
to  the  wondering  people,  notwithstanding  the  remonstrances  of  Priests  and 
Bishops,  their  precious  wares.  '  1  have  heard  them,'  writes  the  biographer 
of  John  XXUL,  'declare  that  St.  Peter  himself  had  not  greater  power 
to  remit  sins  than  themselves  '  (Niem,  p.  7)."     Milman,  vol.  viii.  p.  130. 

2  This  person,  seemingly  a  creature  of  Cossa's,  who  was  then  legate  at 
Bologna,  was  seized  by  him  on  his  arrival  at  that  city,  and  thrown  into 
prison,  where  he  hanged  himself  in  despair. 

3  Niem,  ap.  Milman,  ibid.  p.  133. 

4  For  the  details  see  Niem  and  Peter  d'Ailly,  quoted  by  Gieseler, 
vol.  iv.  p.  283  f. 

5  Gregory  XII.,  expelled  from  Gaeta,  took  refuge  with  Charles  Malatesta 
at  Rimini. 


152  THE  EMPEROR  SIGISMUND.  Chap.  X. 

mockery  of  a  Council,  which  only  deserves  a  mention  for  its  con- 
demnation and  burning  of  Wyclif  s  writings  (Feb.  1413).1  The 
treaty  was  soon  broken  on  account  of  the  exactions  which  John 
attempted  in  Naples,  and  he  had  to  fly  before  Ladislaus  (June),  who 
entered  and  pillaged  the  city,  and  overran  the  Papal  States  as  far  as 
Siena,  threatening  the  Pope's  safety  even  at  Bologna.  John  had 
now,  most  unwillingly,  to  seek  a  new  protector  in  Sigismund,  the 
Emperor-elect. 

§  3.  On  the  death  of  Rupert,  in  1410,  the  imperial  schism  was 
prolonged  for  a  while  by  the  partisans  of  Wenceslaus,  of  his  brother 
Sigismund,2  and  of  Jobst  (or  Jodocus),  marquis  of  Moravia,  whose 
rivalry  was  ended  by  his  death  in  about  a  year.3  Sigismund  was 
then  unanimously  reelected,  his  deposed  brother  voting  for  him 
(July  1411).  "  He  was  the  most  powerful  Emperor  who  for  many 
years  had  worn  the-  crown  of  Germany,  and  the  one  unoccupied 
sovereign  in  Europe.4  .  .  .  Sigismund,  as  Emperor,  had  redeemed 
the  follies,  vices,  tyrannies  of  his  youth  ;  ...  he  seemed  almost  at 
once  transformed  into  the  greatest  sovereign  whom  the  famous 
house  of  Luxemburg  had  ever  offered  to  wear  the  imperial  crown. 
...  He  enacted  and  put  into  execution  wise  laws.  He  made  peace 
by  just  mediation  between  the  conflicting  principalities.  He  was 
averse  to  war,  but  not  from  timidity.  His  stately  person,  his 
knightly  manners,  his  accomplishments,  his  activity  which  bordered 
on  restlessness,  his  magnificence,  which  struggled,  sometimes  to  his 
humiliation,  with  his  scanty  means,  had  cast  an  unwonted  and 
imposing  grandeur,  which  might  recal  the  great  days  of  the  Othos, 
the  Henrys,  and  the  Fredericks,  around  the  imperial  throne."  6 

§  4.  As  King  of  Hungary,  Sigismund  had  acknowledged  John 

1  For  the  strange  incident  of  the  owl,  which  on  two  successive  days  flew 
into  the  church,  and  sat  glaring  at  the  Pope,  see  Milnian,  vol.  viii.  p.  135. 

2  Sigismund  (b.  1366)  was  the  second  son  of  the  Emperor  Charles  IV., 
on  whose  death  (1378)  he  succeeded  to  the  marquisate  of  Brandenburg. 
Having  married  Maria,  the  daughter  of  Louis,  King  of  Hungary,  in  1386, 
he  was  recognized  as  King  next  year ;  but  he  had  a  hard  struggle  to  main- 
tain himself  against  Ladislaus  and  internal  conspiracies,  and  afterwards 
against  the  Turks  under  Bajazet,  whose  great  victory  at  Nicopolis  (1396) 
made  Sigismund  a  fugitive  for  18  months.  This  earlier  period  of  his  life  was 
sullied  by  his  love  of  pleasure  and  the  cruelties  provoked  by  the  frequent 
conspiracies  against  him.   Wenceslaus  reigned  in  Bohemia  till  his  death. 

3  He  is  said  to  have  been  90  years  old. 

4  France,  distracted  by  the  factions  striving  for  power  in  the  name  of 
the  lunatic  King,  Charles  VI.,  was  already  threatened  with  the  invasion, 
which  soon  gave  occupation  to  all  the  strength  of  England.  The 
visit  of  Sigismund  to  Henry  V.  at  London  (in  1415,  after  the  battle  of 
Agincourt)  is  memorable  for  his  full  admission  of  England's  independence 
of  the  Empire.     (See  Bryce,  Holy  Roman  Empire,  p.  187.) 

5  Milman,  vol.  viii.  pp.  139-140. 


A.D.  1413.  DECISION  FOR  A  COUNCIL.  153 

XXIII.,  with  whom  he  had  a  common  interest  against  the  claims 
of  Ladislaus.1  At  his  election  he  had  sworn  to  the  Archbishop  of 
Mainz  that  he  would  receive  the  crown  from  no  rival  Pope.  But  he 
was  above  all  things  desirous  of  healing  the  schism  of  the  Church ; 
and  now,  after  the  long  triumph  of  papal  supremacy,  the  imperial 
right  of  convening  a  General  Council,  after  the  example  of  Constan- 
tine,  was  not  only  revived,  but  put  in  force.2  This  decisive  act  was 
urged  upon  the  Emperor  by  Catholic  reformers  throughout  Christen- 
dom ;  and  Gerson,  in  the  name  of  the  French  Church  and  State,  whose 
own  strenuous  efforts  had  failed,  told  him  that  it  was  a  duty  of  his 
office,  not  to  be  neglected  without  mortal  sin.  John  empowered 
his  envoys  to  consent  to  this  indispensable  condition  of  the 
Emperor's  support,  but  with  a  secret  reservation,  of  which  his 
secretary,  Leonard  of  Arezzo,  informs  us  in  the  very  words  which 
the  Pope  used  to  him  :  3  "  All  depends  on  the  place  appointed  for 
the  Council :  I  will  not  trust  myself  within  the  dominions  of  the 
Emperor.  My  ambassadors,  for  the  sake  of  appearances,  shall  have 
liberal  instructions  and  the  fullest  powers,  to  display  in  public  ;  in 
private  I  will  limit  them  to  certain  cities.*'  But  at  the  moment  of 
their  departure,  whether  from  a  fit  of  confidence,  or  from  fear  of 
losing  all,  or  in  sheer  finesse  leaving  the  game  to  them,  he  tore 
up  the  secret  instructions ;  and,  on  their  meeting  the  Emperor  at 
Como,  they  consented  to  the  choice  he  had  made  of  Constance.4 

1  Besides  his  competition  for  the  crown  of  Hungary,  Ladislaus  appears 
to  have  aspired  to  the  Empire. 

2  On  the  significance  of  this  step  at  the  particular  crisis,  Mr.  Bryce  ob- 
serves (pp.  303-4): — "The  tenet  commended  itself  to  the  reforming  party 
in  the  Church,  headed  by  Gerson,  whose  aim  it  was,  while  making  no 
changes  in  matters  of  faith,  to  correct  the  abuses  which  had  grown  up  in 
discipline  and  government,  and  limit  the  power  of  the  Popes  by  exalting  the 
authority  of  General  Councils,  to  whom  there  was  no\v  attributed  an  in- 
fallibility superior  to  that  which  resided  in  the  successor  of  St.  Peter.  .  .  . 
The  existence  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire  and  the  existence  of  General 
Councils  were  necessary  parts  of  one  and  the  same  theory,  and  it  was 
therefore  more  than  a  coincidence,  that  the  last  occasion,  on  which  the 
whole  of  Latin  Christendom  met  to  deliberate  and  act  as  a  single  Common- 
wealth, was  also  the  last  on  which  that  Commonwealth's  lawful  temporal 
head  appeared  in  the  exercise  of  his  international  functions.  Never  after- 
wards was  he  in  the  eyes  of  Europe  anything  more  than  a  German  monarch." 
Mr.  Bryce  adds  the  remark  on  the  relations  between  the  Emperor  and 
Councils : — "  It  is  not  without  interest  to  observe,  that  the  Council  of 
Ba«el  showed  signs  of  reciprocating  imperial  care  by  claiming  those  very 
rights  over  the  Empire,  to  which  the  Popes  were  accustomed  to  pretend." 

3  Leonard.  Arret,  s.  a.  1413.  The  envoys  were  the  Cardinal  Challant 
and  Zabarella,  Cardinal  of  Florence. 

4  In  German  Konstanz  or  Kostanz,  from  the  Latin  Constantia,  so  named 
from  the  Csesar  Constantius  Chlorus,  having  been  formerly  called  Ganno- 
durum.    Bodensee  is  the  proper  German  name  of  the  laiae,  anciently  called 


1 54  COUNCIL  OF  CONSTANCE.  Chap.  X. 

This  ancient  imperial  city,  on  the  western  shore  of  the  Lake 
through  which  the  Khine  flows  in  the  great  bend  by  which  it  encom- 
passes Switzerland  on  the  East  and  North,  was  admirably  adapted  for 
the  seat  of  a  Council.  Enjoying  internal  order  and  a  salubrious  air,  it 
was  accessible  alike  from  Italy,  from  the  heart  of  Germany,  and  by 
the  Rhine  from  all  Western  Europe ;  while  needful  supplies  could 
be  brought  from  the  shores  of  the  lake.  The  Pope's  objection  to  the 
Italians  having  to  cross  the  Alps  was  applied  with  still  great  force 
to  the  many  more  who  lived  outside  them.  It  was  in  vain  that  he 
raved  at  his  envoys  for  yielding  the  choice  of  a  place,  and  tried  to 
reopen  it  in  an  interview  with  the  Emperor  at  Lodi,  where  he  was 
treated  with  all  respect,  and  promised  compliance  with  Sigismund's 
exhortations  to  amend  the  faults  by  which  he  scandalized  Christen- 
dom. At  this  time  the  summons  to  the  Council  had  already  gone 
forth  by  the  Emperor's  authority  as  the  temporal  head  of  Christen- 
dom (Oct.  31, 14 13)  ;  and  John  consented  to  issue  his  summons,  as  if 
by  the  independent  authority  of  the  Holy  See  (Dec.  9).  Both  fixed 
the  date  of  the  Feast  of  All  Saints  (Nov.  1),  in  the  following  year ; 
and  the  Emperor  invited  Benedict  and  Gregory  to  attend,  but 
addressed  neither  of  them  as  Pope.  His  edict  promised  his  full 
protection  to  all  who  should  attend,  and  guaranteed  the  rights  of 
Pope  and  Cardinals,  prelates  and  clergy. 

§  5.  John  was  already  threatened  with  an  attack  from  Ladislaus  in 
his  residence  at  Bologna,  when  the  King  was  seized  with  illness  at 
Perugia,  and  was  carried  back  to  Naples  to  die  (Aug.  1414).  This 
release  revived  the  idea  of  an  escape  from  the  decision  to  which  the 
Pope  stood  committed,  and  his  kindred  pressed  him  to  go  to  Rome 
instead  of  to  Constance,  with  the  ominous  warning,  "  You  may  set 
forth  as  a  Pope  to  the  Council,  to  return  a  private  man."  But  his 
Cardinals l  urged  him  to  keep  faith  with  the  Emperor  and  Christen- 
dom, and  he  set  out  with  reluctance  and  misgivings.  On  his  way 
through  the  Tyrol,  he  was  met  by  Duke  Frederick  of  Austria,  the 

Lacus  Brigantinus,  from  the  Vindelician  tribe  of  Brigantii  on  its  north- 
eastern shore.  Defined  more  precisely,  the  position  of  Constance  is  at  the 
point  where  the  Rhine  flows  out  of  the  lake  into  the  smaller  lake  called 
the  Untersee  (i.e.  Lower  D ike)  from  which  the  river  goes  westward  past 
Schaffhausen.  It  must  be  remembered  that  the  Swiss  confederacy  did  not 
yet  include  the  region  in  which  Constance  stands.  In  fact,  to  the  present 
day,  the  city  preserves  its  connection  with  Germany,  belonging  to  the 
duchy  of  Baden.     It  has  about  12,000  inhabitants. 

'  Milman  observes  (vol.  viii.  p.  145)  that  "it  is  among  the  inexplicable 
problems  of  his  life,  that  some  of  the  Cardinals  whom  he  promoted  were 
men  of  profound  piety,  as  well  as  learning  and  character.  .  .  .  Their 
urgency  might  seem  a  guarantee  for  their  loyalty.  ...  In  all  Councils, 
according  to  the  ordinary  form  of  suffrage,  the  Pope  and  the  Cardinals 
had  maintained  commanding  authority." 


A.D.  1414.       ARRIVAL  OF  POPE  JOHN  AND  JOHN  HITS.  155 

hereditary  enemy  of  the  house  of  Luxemburg,  on  whom  the  Pope 
conferred  honours  and  gifts,  while  Frederick  promised  his  support 
in  case  of  need,  and,  at  all  events,  a  safe  retreat  from  Constance.1 
Among  other  friends,  John  reckoned  on  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  the 
Marquis  of  Baden,  and  the  Archbishop  of  Mainz,  Primate  of 
Germany.  Most  of  all,  perhaps,  he  counted  on  the  great  treasures 
he  carried  with  him,  to  secure  support  in  the  Council  itself.  Yet  he 
was  haunted  by  misgivings  and  omens.  As  he  descended  the  steep 
slope  of  the  Arlberg,  the  upsetting  of  his  sledge  in  the  snow  pro- 
voked a  curse  on  the  evil  prompting  of  the  journey  ;  2  and  when  he 
looked  down  upon  the  fair  city  standing  at  the  foot  of  the  hills,  on 
the  point  between  the  lake  and  river,  he  ejaculated,  "  So  are  foxes 
caught."  But  the  reflection  might  still  more  truly  have  been  made 
on  the  guileless  innocence  of  the  Reformer,  who  walked  into  the  trap 
baited  with  the  Emperor's  safe-conduct  specially  given  to  him. 
John  Hus  arrived  in  Constance  three  days  after  the  Pope  (Nov.  3). 
Reserving  the  cause  which  brought  him  thither  for  the  connected 
narrative  of  the  movement  for  reform,3  we  shall  presently  see  that 
the  proceedings  against  him  had  a  most  essential  bearing  on  the 
whole  course  of  the  Council. 

§  6.  Since  Midsummer  the  quiet  Swabian  town  beside  the  lake  had 
become  the  busy  scene  of  preparation  for  the  visitors,  who  had  now 
arrived  in  great  numbers  and  kept  pouring  in  for  months  after  the 
sessions  began.  When  fully  assembled,  the  members  numbered 
22  cardinals,  20  archbishops  —  besides  the  titular  patriarchs  of 
Antioch,  Constantinople,  and  Jerusalem,  who  took  precedence  next 
after  the  Pope, — nearly  100  bishops  and  33  titular  bishops,  24 
abbots,  250  doctors,  with  many  secular  princes  and  nobles,  repre- 
sentatives of  absent  princes,  and  deputies  of  the  free  cities.  Some 
came  in  splendid  array,  with  hosts  of  retainers,  some  singly  on  foot, 
like  trains  of  pilgrims.  "  With  these,  merchants,  traders  of  every 
kind  and  degree,  and  every  sort  of  strange  vehicle.  It  was  not  only, 
it  might  seem,  to  be  a  solemn  Christian  Council,  but  a  European 
congress,  a  vast  central  fair,  where  every  kind  of  commerce  was  to 
be  conducted  on  the  boldest  scale,  and  where  chivalrous  or  histrionic 

1  Frederick  was  possessor  of  the  Tyrol  and  Vorarlberg  and  the  Black 
Forest,  and  his  territory  nearly  surrounded  Constance. 

2  Jaceo  hie  in  nomine  diaboli,  was  his  response  to  the  anxious  enquiries 
of  his  attendants. 

3  See  Chap.  XL.  Meanwhile  the  above  sentence  must  not  be  under- 
stood as  implying  that  Sigi&mund's  safe-conduct  was  given  with  the 
least  intention  of  breaking  it.  In  point  of  fact,  Hus  went  without  waiting 
for  the  promised  safe-conduct;  and  the  exact  date  at  which  it  reached 
him  is  uncertain.  At  all  events  it  was  before  the  first  proceedings  were 
taken  against  him  on  Nov.  28th,  and  it  had  been  promised  before  he  went. 


156  COUNCIL  OF  CONSTANCE.  Chap.  X. 

or  other  common  amusements  were  provided  for  idle  hours  and  for  idle 
people.  It  might  seem  a  final  and  concentrated  burst  and  manifesta- 
tion of  medieval  devotion,  medieval  splendour,  medieval  diversions  : 
all  ranks,  all  orders,  all  pursuits,  all  professions,  all  trades,  all  artisans, 
with  their  various  attire,  habits,  manners,  language,  crowded  to  one 
single  city."1  The  total  number  of  ecclesiastics  and  princes,  with 
their  attendants,  is  reckoned  at  18,000 ;  and  the  strangers,  who 
overflowed  the  city  and  encamped  outside  of  it,  amounted  usually 
to  50,000,  but  sometimes  twice  that  number,  with  30,000  horses.2 

§  7.  The  most  eminent  leaders  of  the  Council  were,  on  the  part  of 
the  Italians,  Cardinal  Zabarella,  archbishop  of  Florence ;  and,  repre- 
senting the  Ultramontane 3  advocates  of  a  reformation,  Peter  d' Ailly, 
now  Cardinal  Archbishop  of  Cambray,  leader  of  the  French  prelates ; 
John  Gerson,  Chancellor  of  the  University  of  Paris,  leader  of  the 
Doctors ;  and  Robert  Hallam,  bishop  of  Salisbury,  who  was  com- 
missioned to  declare  the  King  of  England's  assent  to  the  authority 
of  the  Council.4  The  Pope  had  made  efforts  to  conciliate  this  party 
by  granting  new  privileges  to  the  University  of  Paris,  and  sending 
a  cardinal's  hat  to  D' Ailly,  who  had  published  his  doubts  of  the 
efficacy  of  a  General  Council.5  Their  demand  for  "  reformation  of 
the  Church  in  Head  and  Memhers" 6  formally  adopted  by  the  Council, 
pointed  boldly  at  the  Papacy  itself,  as  the  source  and  focus  of  the 
prevalent  corruptions.  But,  in  recognizing  this  Catholic  precedent 
for  the  use  of  the  word  which  we  have  lived  to  see  scorned  by 

1  Milman,  Latin  Christianity,  vol.  viii.  p.  228. 

2  The  history  of  the  Council  is  compiled  in  the  great  work  of  H.  von 
der  Hardt :  '  Magnum  Oecumenicum  Constantiense  Concilium  ex  ingenti  anti- 
quissimorum  MScriptorum  mole  diligoitissime  erutum  op.  H.  v.  d.  Hardt, 
vi.  Tom.,  Francof.  et  Lips.  1700:  Tom.  vii.,  sistens  Indicem  Generalem, 
congessit  G.  Ch.  Bohnstedt,  Berol.  1742.'  Other  works  are :  Histoire  du 
Concile  de  Constance,  par  Jaques  Lenfant,  Amst.  1714  and  1727;  Nouvelle 
histoire  du  Concile  de  Cmstance,  par  Bourgeoise  du  Chastenet,  Paris,  1718. 
For  other  works,  see  Gieseler,  iv.  286,  Hefele,  vii.,  Hase,  p.  297.  Im- 
portant extracts  are  given,  as  usual,  by  Gieseler. 

3  This  word  is  here  used  in  its  constant  medieval  sense ;  namely, 
beyond  the  Alps,  in  contrast  with  Cismontane  Italy. 

4  He  died  at  Constance  during  the  sessions  (Sept.  1417).  A  brass  in 
front  of  the  high  altar  of  the  Cathedral  marks  his  grave. 

5  In  a  tract  addressed  to  Gerson  in  1410,  De  Difficultate  Reformations 
in  Concilio  Universali ;  answered  in  the  Opus  de  Modo  uniendi  ac  re- 
fonnandi  Ecclesiam  in  Concil.  Univers.,  ascribed  to  Gerson,  though  his 
authorship  has  been  doubted  (see  the  note  in  Robertson,  iv.  p.  257).  Both 
tracts  are  printed  in  Gerson's  works  and  by  Von  der  Hardt. 

6  The  formula,  as  it  recurs  in  the  public  acts  of  the  Council,  is  "  gene- 
ralis  reformatio  Ecclesioe  Dei  in  capite  et  in  membris,"  and,  more  fully, 
"  in  fide  et  in  moribus,  in  capite  et  in  membris ;"  where  in  fide  must 
evidently  be  understood,  not  as  bringing  Catholic  doctrine  into  question, 
but  of  the  casting  out  of  heresy. 


A.D.  1414.        SPECIAL  CHARACTER  OF  THE  COUNCIL.  157 

members  of  our  own  Protestant  Church,  we  must  clearly  distinguish 
the  sense  in  which  they  called  for  a  thorough  Reformation.  This 
is  well  put  by  Milman  : x  "  But  Latin  Christianity  was  alike  the 
religion  of  the  Popes  and  of  the  Councils  which  contested  their 
supremacy.  It  was  as  yet  no  more  than  a  sacerdotal  strife,  whether 
the  Pope  should  maintain  an  irresponsible  autocracy,  or  be  limited 
and  controlled  by  an  ubiquitous  aristocratic  Senate.  The  most 
ardent  reformers  looked  no  further  than  to  strengthen  the  Hierarchy. 
The  Prelates  were  determined  to  emancipate  themselves  from  the 
usurpations  of  the  Pope,  as  to  their  elections,  their  arbitrary  taxation 
by  Rome,  the  undermining  of  their  authority  by  perpetual  appeals  ; 
but  they  had  no  notion  of  relaxing  in  the  least  the  ecclesiastical 
domination.  It  was  not  that  Christendom  might  govern  itself,  but 
that  themselves  might  have  a  more  equal  share  in  the  government. 
They  were  as  jealously  attached  as  the  Pope  to  the  creed  of  Latin 
Christendom.  The  Council,  not  the  Pope,  burned  John  Hus. 
Their  concessions  to  the  Bohemians  were  extorted  from  their  fears, 
not  granted  by  their  liberality.  Grerson,  D'Ailly,  Louis  of  Aries, 
Thomas  of  Corcelles,  were  as  rigid  theologians  as  Martin  V.  or 
Eugenius  IV.  The  Vulgate  was  their  Bible,  the  Latin  service  their 
exclusive  liturgy,  the  Canon  law  their  code  of  jurisprudence." 

§  8.  Besides  the  distinction  of  having  been  called  by  the  Emperor, 
the  Sixteenth  (Ecumenical  Council  (according  to  the  Latin  reckon- 
ing) stands  in  a  unique  relation  to  all  that  went  before,  and  to  the  few 
that  have  followed  it.2  The  ancient  Councils,  down  to  the  schism 
of  the  East  and  West,  represented  (in  some  sense)  the  Universal 
Church  ;  while  in  those  held  since  the  severance  the  Italian  element 
was  predominant.  The  Council  of  Constance  was  the  first  that 
fairly  represented  the  Western  Church  ;  and,  to  use  the  words  of 
Mr.  Bryce,  "  it  was  the  last  occasion  on  which  the  whole  of  Latin 
Christendom  met  to  deliberate  and  act  as  a  single  Common- 
wealth." 3 

1  Latin  Clirvitianity ,  vol.  viii.  p.  448.  To  make  the  statement  complete, 
a  more  distinct  recognition  is  required  of  the  lay  and  national  part  in 
the  demand  for  reformation. 

2  In  so  far  as  the  Council  of  Basle  shared  the  same  character,  it  may 
be  regarded  as  a  supplement  to  that  of  Constance  ;  but,  besides  its  com- 
parative numerical  insignificance,  its  validity  is  still  a  disputed  question. 
As  to  the  numbering,  see  p.  146,  note  1. 

3  Besides  that,  of  course,  no  Protestant  can  concede  this  claim  to  the 
three  remaining  Councils,  it  is  also  to  be  observed  that  only  the  last  of  these 
(at  Rome,  1870-1)  fully  represented  the  Roman  Catholic  world.  The  Fifth 
Lateran  (1512-17),  like  former  Councils  at  Rome,  was  chiefly  Cismontane  ; 
and  even  at  the  famous  Council  of  Trent,  Italy  and  Spain  sent  by  far  the 
greater  number  of  the  Fathers  who  were  to  reorganize  the  Church  in  its 
resistance  to  the  Reformation. 

II— 12 


158  COUNCIL  OF  CONSTANCE.  Chap.  X. 

The  Pope,  as  we  have  seen,  reached  Constance  on  the  eve  of  the 
appointed  Feast  of  All  Saints  (1414)  ;  but  few  of  the  Fathers  had 
arrived ;  and,  though  the  Council  was  solemnly  opened  on  Nov. 
oth,  the  first  session  was  adjourned  to  the  16th.  Sigismund  was 
detained  by  his  coronation  as  King  of  Germany,  which  wasxelebrated 
at  Aix-la-Chapelle  on  the  8th;  and  the  Italian  party  were  for  the  time 
strong.  John  used  the  interval  to  "  make  himself  friends  of  the 
mammon  of  unrighteousness,"  and  to  lay  an  astute  plan  for  improv- 
ing the  advantage  which  he  had  as  the  lawful  Pope  under  the 
authority  of  the  Council  of  Pisa.  True,  the  sanction  of  this  claim, 
by  the  proposal  of  his  Italian  partisans  to  confirm  the  acts  done 
there  (Dec.  7th),  was  adroitly  evaded  by  the  decision  to  regard  the 
present  Council  as  only  a  continuation  of  that  of  Pisa;  but  John 
had  what  seemed  a  surer  game.  The  Council  had  a  threefold 
object :  to  end  the  papal  schism  ;  to  reform  the  Church  in  head  and 
members ;  and  to  extirpate  heretical  doctrines,  especially  those  of 
Wyclif  and  the  Bohemians.  For  the  last  purpose  John  Hus  had 
been  summoned  to  the  Council ;  and  his  early  arrival  gave  the  Pope 
his  opportunity.  If  the  question  of  heresy  could  be  taken  in  hand 
first,  and  dealt  with  effectually  while  John's  authority  was  still 
supreme,  the  Reformation  might  be  postponed,  and  the  Pope, 
strengthened  against  his  rivals  and  the  Emperor  by  the  honour  of 
crushing  the  heresiarch,  might  dissolve  the  Council,  as  Alexander  V., 
under  his  guidance,  had  dissolved  that  of  Pisa.  There  was,  as 
we  have  seen,  no  sympathy  with  the  Husite  doctrines,  and  the 
Germans  had  a  national  quarrel  with  the  Bohemian  reformers ; 
and,  according  to  all  precedent,  false  doctrine  was  to  be  dealt  with 
before  discipline.  When  Hus  arrived  at  Constance,  though  under 
excommunication,  he  was  received  graciously  by  the  Pope,  who  is 
reported  to  have  said  that  he  *'  would  protect  Hus  even  if  he  had 
slain  his  own  brother."  x  But  he  was  followed  at  once  by  two  of  his 
bitterest  enemies,  and,  on  their  accusation,  he  was  called  before  the 
Pope  and  Cardinals,  committed  to  custody,  and  soon  after  thrown 
into  a  noisome  dungeon  (Nov.  28  and  Dec.  6). 

§  9.  Before  the  late  dawn  of  Christmas  Day  Sigismund  crossed  the 
lake  to  Constance,  and  attended  mass.  By  a  remarkable  coincidence, 
in  reading  the  Gospel  for  the  day,  as  was  his  custom,  his  first  public 
utterance  before  the  Pope  and  Council  was  in  the  words :  "  There 
went  forth  a  decree  from  Cesar  Augustus  !  " 2  On  Innocents' 
Day  (Dec.  28th)  Cardinal  d'Ailly  preached  from  the  ominous  text, 

1  Von  der  Hardt,  vol.  iv.  p.  11  : — "  Etiamsi  Johannes  Huss  fratrem  sibi 
germanum  occidisset,  se  tamen  nullo  modo  commissurum,  quantum  in  ipso 
sitmn  est,  ut  aliqua  ei  fiat  injuria,  quamdiu  Constantia?  esset."  Perhaps 
the  qualification  was  a  loophole.  2  Luke  ii.  1, 


A.D.  1414.  D'AILLY'S  OPENING  SERMON.  159 

"  There  shall  be  signs  in  the  sun,  and  in  the  moon,  and  in  the 
stars." x  The  two  great  lights  were  figures  of  the  supreme  spiritual 
and  temporal  powers,  the  Pope  and  the  Emperor,  and  the  numberless 
stars  the  several  estates  of  the  Church,  united  in  the  firmament  of 
the  Council,  in  which  Christ  showed  signs  now,  as  in  a  higher  sense 
at  His  second  coming.  But  each  in  his  own  order,  as  established  by 
the  Lord.  There  could  be  no  reform  without  union,  nor  union  with- 
out reform.  John,  who  held  his  office  to  be  indefeasible  except  for 
invalid  election  or  heresy,  was  touched  to  the  quick  by  being  to4d 
that  a  Pope  who  had  risen  by  ambition  or  evil  means,  who  lived  ill 
or  ruled  ill,  was  but  the  false  image  of  a  sun  ;  and  he  seemed  to  be 
placed  on  a  level  with  his  rivals  by  the  indignant  likening  of  himself 
and  them  to  three  idols  in  the  sun's  house,  the  Church  of  Rome, 
usurping  the  place  of  the  one  Sun  in  heaven.  The  Emperor's  place 
there  was  defined  with  high  honour  but  strict  limits ;  not  to  pre- 
side over  it,  but  to  provide  for  its  good ; 2  not  to  define  spiritual  and 
ecclesiastical  matters,  but  to  maintain  its  decrees  by  his  power. 
The  stars  are  to  have  their  proper  influence  (the  age  believed  in 
astrology) :  it  was  granted  that  the  Council  derived  its  authority 
from  the  Pope  ;  but,  once  assembled,  it  was  above  him.  The  right 
of  defining  and  decreeing  belonged,  not  to  him,  but  to  the  whole 
Council ;  even  as  St.  James  published  the  decisions  of  the  First 
Council,  not  in  the  name  of  St.  Peter,  but  as  the  decree  of  the 
Apostles  and  Elders  and  brethren,  who  wrote,  "  It  seemed  good 
to  us,  being  assembled  with  one  accord,"  and  again  "  It  seemed  good 
to  the  Holy  Ghost  and  to  ws."  3 

§  10.  On  the  same  day,  in  the  first  general  congregation,  the 
Emperor  swore  to  protect  the  Pope  ;  but  he  also  insisted  on  the 
admission  of  the  legates  of  Benedict  and  Gregory  to  the  Council. 
"  This  was  to  sever  the  link  which  bound  the  Council  of  Con- 
stance to  the  Council  of  Pisa ;  it  disclaimed  the  authority  of  Pisa, 
if  it  recognized  as  Popes  those  who  had  been  there  deposed."  4 
This  blow  was  followed  by  the  decisive  one  which  Sigismund 
dealt  upon  John,  against  his  will,  and  to  his  own  lasting  dis- 
grace, though  still  more  to  the  teaching  of  the  Church  and  the 
Council  itself.      Already,  on    an  appeal  from  the  friends  of  Hus, 

1  Luke  xxi.  25:  in  our  Lord's  prophecy  of  his  second  coming. 

2  Thus  we  try  to  render  the  play  of  words  :  "  Non  ut  pnrsit,  sed  ut 
prosit ;"  but  prxsit  implies  power  over  it,  not  mere  place.  It  might  be 
rendered,  "  not  to  be  master,  but  minister." 

3  Acts  xv.  23,  25,  28.  We  are  not  told  what  the  Cardinal  made  of  the 
words  "the  brethren,"  "  the  multitude  "  (v.  12),  and  "  the  whole  church," 
who  are  associated  with  the  Apostles  and  Elders  in  the  decree  (verse  22). 

4  Milman,  vol.  viii.  p.  253.  The  election  of  a  new  Pope  had  already 
been  proposed  in  a  sermon  by  a  Parisian  divine. 


160  COUNCIL  OF  CONSTANCE.  Chap.  X. 

the  Emperor  had  sent  an  indignant  order  for  his  release,  which 
was  disregarded ;  and  he  now  retired  for  a  time  from  the  city, 
threatening  to  withdraw  from  the  Council.  The  reforming  leaders 
urged  upon  him  that  this  course  would  be  to  sacrifice  the  unity 
of  the  Church  and  his  own  noblest  desires,  nay  to  bring  a  sus- 
picion of  heresy  on  himself,  for  the  sake  of  an  enemy  of  the 
faith,  with  whom  Popes  and  Councils  and  Canons  had  decreed, 
and  the  Doctors  of  the  Church  had  taught,  that  no  faith  should  be 
kept.1  He  was  told  that  even  his  power  did  not  extend  to  the  pro- 
tection of  a  heretic  from  the  punishment  due  to  his  errors  ;  that  his 
safe-conduct  did  not  pledge  the  Council,  which  was  greater  than  the 
Emperor,  and  that  the  responsibility  would  rest  on  them.  As  he 
himself  afterwards  pleaded  to  the  Bohemians,  Sigismund  was  over- 
come by  these  importunities  and  the  difficulties  of  his  position ;  and 
he  left  John  Hus  to  be  tried  and  sentenced  by  the  Council.  If,  as 
seems  probable,  he  had  also  come  to  believe  Hus  politically 
dangerous,  he  reaped  his  reward  in  the  disastrous  civil  war  which 
raged  in  Bohemia  for  the  remaining  twenty  years  of  his  life,  and 
brought  ruinous  disgrace  on  his  arms. 

§  11.  This  sacrifice  of  the  reformer's  life  and  his  own  plighted 
faith  restored  harmony  between  Sigismund  and  the  Council,  and 
broke  down  John's  astute  plan.  The  prosecution  of  Hus's  case 
was  postponed  to  the '  more  urgent  settlement  of  the  schism.2 
John's  last  reliance,  on  the  influence  of  the  Cardinals  and  the  su- 
perior clergy,  and  the  votes  of  the  numerous  poor  Italian  clergy, 
bound  to  him  by  interest,  fear,  and  dislike  of  the  Transalpines,  was 
broken  down  by  the  mode  of  procedure  which  was  adopted.  First, 
the  professors  and  doctors  of  theology,  who  had  been  admitted  to 
vote  in  the  Council  of  Pisa,  had  the  privilege  secured  to  them ;  and 
it  was  given  to  the  proctors,  and  inferior  clergy  ;  also  to  princes 
and  their  ambassadors,  except  in  articles  of  faith.  But  of 
far  more  importance  was  the  adoption  of  the  mode  of  voting  by 
Nations,  as  practised  in  most  Universities.    The  nations  were  four  : 

1  As  Milman  says  (viii.  255):  "The  fatal  doctrine,  confirmed  by  long 
usage,  by  the  decrees  of  pontiffs,  by  the  assent  of  all  ecclesiastics,  and  the 
acquiescence  of  the  Christian  world,  that  no  promise,  no  faith,  was  binding 
to  a  heretic,  had  hardly  been  questioned,  never  repudiated."  It  was 
deliberately  and  formally  avouched  by  this  reforming  Council;  and  the 
more  we  admit  the  excuses  urged  for  Sigismund,  the  more  does  the  case 
of  John  Hus  fasten  the  guilt  of  the  doctrine  on  the  theological  and  moral 
system  of  the  Church  that  taught  it. 

'  2  It  was  after  the  deposition  of  John  XXIII.  that  Hus  was  burnt,  on 
July  6th,  1415,  and  his  friend,  Jerome  of  Prague,  who  had  joined  him  at 
Constance,  suffered  on  May  30th,  1416.  The  details,  and  the  outline 
the  Bohemian  war,  are  related  in  another  place  (Chap.  XL.). 


A.D.  1415.  CHARGES  AGAINST  JOHN  XXIII.  161 

Italians,  Germans  (including  Hungarians,  Poles,  and  Scandinavians), 
French,  and  English  (Feb.  7,  1415).1  This  arrangement,  carried 
against  the  Pope's  remonstrances,  reduced  the  Italians  to  one  vote 
out  of  four ;  the  Germans  and  English  being  thoroughly  hostile  to 
John,  as  were  the  most  influential  of  the  French,  though  the  factions 
of  their  country,  and  the  great  national  quarrel  with  England,  tended 
towards  discord  in  the  Council.2 

§  12.  The  resignation  or  deposition  of  John  XXIII.  was  now  only 
a  question  of  time  and  manner ;  and  it  would  be  tedious  to  trace  his 
artifices  to  evade  the  result.  The  secret  presentation  to  the  Council, 
by  an  Italian,  of  a  memoir  setting  forth  the  crimes  of  his  life,  with 
details  deemed  unfit  even  to  be  read  in  public,  came  to  his  know- 
ledge, and  frightened  him  into  a  conditional  promise  of  abdication 
simultaneously  with  his  rivals,  in  artful  terms,  which  the  Council, 
now  led  by  John  Gerson,3  insisted  on  his  making  more  stringent. 
But  the  restored  concord,  attested  by  the  gift  to  Sigismund  of  the 
golden  rose,4  the  special  sign  of  papal  gratitude,  was  belied  by  the 
watch  set  on  the  gates  of  Constance,  and  the  promise  exacted  from 
John  not  to  attempt  flight.  The  leaders  of  the  Council  pressed  for 
his  absolute  resignation ;  but,  by  the  contrivance  of  Duke  Frederick 
of  Austria,  he  escaped  in  disguise  to  Schaffhausen  (March  20th), 
and  thence  removed  successively  to  Freyburg,  Breysach,  and 
Neuenburg.  Frederick,  placed  under  the  ban  of  the  Empire,  had 
to  make  abject  submission  to  Sigismund,  and  finally  to  pursue 
John  and  bring  him  back  (May  27).  Meanwhile  the  Council  had 
adopted  a  strong  declaration,  proposed  by  Gerson,  of  its  authority 
above  the  Pope ;  and  70  articles  of  accusation  were  exhibited 
against  him,  and  witnesses  heard  in   support  of  them.     "  Never 

1  When,  at  a  later  period  of  the  Council,  Arragon  and  Castile  abandoned 
Benedict  and  joined  the  Council,  the  Spaniards  formed  a  fifth  nation. 

2  At  this  time  (the  spring  of  1415)  Henry  V.  was  preparing  the  invasion 
which  led  to  the  battle  of  Agincourt  (October  25th,  1415).  The  Orleanist 
faction  ruled  in  France.  John,  duke  of  Burgundy,  who,  after  his  formal 
reconciliation  with  the  Dauphin  Charles  (1414),  was  waiting  events  in 
sullen  retirement,  was  inclined  to  the  party  of  Pope  John  ;  and  his  rela- 
tions to  the  Council  were  complicated  by  its  having  to  decide  on  the 
charge  brought  against  the  Franciscan  Jean  Petit  for  his  defence  of  the 
murder  of  Louis,  duke  of  Orleans,  by  the  contrivance  of  his  cousin,  John 
of  Burgundy  (Nov.  1407).  For  the  details,  see  the  Student's  History  of 
France,  chap.  xi. 

3  Gerson  arrived  with  the  delegates  of  his  University,  on  Feb    18th. 

4  "The  golden  rose  is  consecrated  on  the  fourth  Sunday  in  Lent,  and  is 
given  by  the  Pope  to  such  princes  as  have  rendered  signal  services  to  the 
Church.  The  origin  of  this  custom  is  uncertain,  but  it  is  commonly 
referred  to  Leo  IX.  (See  Herzog's  Encyclop.  art.  Rose,  die  Goldene)." 
Robertson,  vol.  iv.  p.  142, 


162  THE  THREE  RIVAL  POPES  DEPOSED.  Chap.  X. 

probably  were  seventy  more  awful  accusations  brought  against 
man  than  against  the  Vicar  of  Christ.  The  Cardinal  of  St.  Mark  1 
made  a  feeble  attempt  to  repel  the  charge  of  heresy ;  against  the 
darker  charges  no  one  spoke  a  word.  Before  the  final  decree, 
sixteen  of  those  of  the  most  indescribable  depravity  were  dropped, 
out  of  respect,  not  to  the  Pope,  but  to  public  decency  and  the 
dignity  of  the  office.  On  the  remaining  undefended  fifty-four 
the  Council  gravely,  deliberately,  pronounced  the  sentence  of 
deposition  against  the  Pope."2  John  received  it  with  quiet  sub- 
mission, and  voluntarily  swore  that  he  would  never  attempt  to 
recover  the  Papacy.  He  was  kept  a  prisoner  in  the  castle  of 
Heidelberg,  till  his  further  disposal  should  be  determined  by  his 
successor  (Martin  V.),  who  after  two  years  restored  John  to  the 
dignity  of  Cardinal  and  made  him  Bishop  of  Frascati ;  but  he  died 
at  Florence  without  entering  on  his  see  (Dec.  28th,  1417). 

His  rival,  Gregory  XII.,  had  died  two  months  before  him 
(Oct.  18),  at  the  age  of  90,  having  given  in  his  resignation  to  the 
Council  through  his  legate  (July  4th,  1415),  and  been  made  Car- 
dinal-Bishop of  Porto  and  first  of  the  sacred  college.  Benedict  XIII. 
held  out  obstinately,  even  evading  an  interview  with  Sigismund, 
who  went  as  far  as  Perpignan  to  meet  him  ;  but  the  Emperor 
succeeded  in  obtaining  the  Antipope's  renunciation  by  the  King 
of  Arragon  and  other  princes  (Dec.  13th,  1415).  Shutting  himself 
up  in  the  fortress  of  Peniscola,  in  Valentia,  Benedict  remained  proof 
against  all  negociations,  and  at  length  received  the  sentence  of  depo- 
sition 3  with  the  outburst  of  violent  rage,  "  Not  at  Constance,  the 
Church  is  at  Peniscola."  This  end  of  the  forty  years'  schism  was 
celebrated  by  a  Te  Deum  in  the  Cathedral  and  proclaimed  with  the 
sound  of  trumpets  in  the  streets  of  Constance. 

§  13.  During  the  two  years  of  waiting  for  this  result,  the  work 
of  "  reformation  in  head  and  members "  had  been  suspended,  and 
was  now  frustrated  by  a  repetition  of  the  fatal  error  made  at  Pisa, 
the  election  of  a  Pope — to  prevent  it.  The  English  and  Germans 
supported  the  Emperor's  demand  to  give  precedence  to  reforms; 

1  Zabarella,  the  leader  of  the  Italian  party,  who,  unable  to  support 
John,  did  his  best  to  break  his  fall. 

2  May  29th,  1515.     Milman,  vol.  viii.  p.  277. 

3  In  the  sentence  passed  on  July  26th,  1417,  the  Council,  besides  declaring 
Benedict  guilty  of  perjury,  scandal  to  the  whole  Church,  and  schism, 
contrived  to  fasten  on  him  a  constructive  charge  of  heresy,  inasmuch  as 
he  had  violated  the  article  of  faith  in  "  one  Holy  Catholic  Church."  After 
his  death  at  Peniscola,  in  1424,  his  cardinals  attempted  to  set  up  two 
successors,  three  of  them  electing  a  Clement  VIII.  and  the  fourth  a  Bene- 
dict XIV.  (a  schism  within  the  dead  remnant  of  a  schism)  ;  but  the  King  of 
Arragon  had  fully  acknowledged  Martin  V.,  and  the  nominal  Clement  VIII. 
was  finally  compelled  to  abdicate  by  a  Council  at  Tortosa  (1429). 


A.D.  1417.  ELECTION  OF  POPE  MARTIN  V.  1 63 

but  the  divisions  in  the  Council  were  inflamed  by  national  hatred ; * 
and  the  French,  led  by  d'Ailly,  in  whom  "  the  Cardinal  prevailed 
over  the  Reformer,'' 2  joined  the  Italians  in  demanding  the  elec- 
tion of  a  new  Pope.  The  Spaniards,  who  now  entered  the  Council 
as  a  fifth  nation,  took  the  same  side ;  to  which  even  the  English 
fell  off,  after  the  death  of  Robert  Hallam3  (Sept.  4th,  1417). 
At  this  crisis,  Henry  Beaufort,  bishop  of  Winchester,  arrived  at 
Ulm,  with  the  prestige  of  an  intended  Crusade  added  to  the 
dignity  of  the  uncle  of  the  English  King.  The  Emperor  invited 
him  to  Constance  to  act  as  mediator ;  and  he  used  his  influence 
for  the  election  of  a  Tope,  to  which  the  Council  agreed,  as  much 
probably  from  weariness  as  conviction,  and  Sigismund  gave  his 
reluctant  consent  (Sept.  30).  After  further  disputes  about  the 
mode  of  election  and  the  reforms  to  which  the  future  Pope  must 
agree  as  the  conditions  of  his  elevation,  the  Council,  at  its  40th 
Session  (Oct.  30th),  "  made  its  last  effort  for  independent  life.  It 
declared  that  it  was  not  to  be  dissolved  till  the  Pope  had  granted 
reform."  4  It  was  agreed  that  thirty  members  (six  from  each  nation) 
should  be  associated  with  the  twenty-three  Cardinals ;  and  this 
Conclave,  enclosed  according  to  the  regular  forms  on  Nov.  8th, 
proclaimed  in  three  days,  "  We  have  a  Pope,  Lord  Otho  of  Colonna." 
Amidst  the  ringing  of  all  the  bells  in  Constance,  and  the  shouts  of 
80,000  people,  exulting  in  the  restored  unity  of  the  head  of  the 
Church  on  earth,  the  Emperor  rushed  into  the  conclave,  and  fell  at 
the  feet  of  the  Pope,  who  raised  and  embraced  him  as  the  chief 
author  of  this  peaceful  issue  of  the  schism.  Being  as  yet  only 
a  lay  Cardinal,5  Otho  was  ordained  deacon,  priest,  and  bishop, 
on  three   successive   days,  and  on   the   21st  he  was  crowned   as 

1  It  was  within  a  week  after  Benedict's  deposition  that  Henry  V.  landed 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Seine  (Aug.  1st.  1417)  on  his  second  invasion,  which 
resulted  in  his  conquest  of  France. 

2  Milman,  vol.  viii.  p.  309. 

3  They  appear  to  have  acted  under  the  direction  of  Henry  V.,  who 
would  naturally  wish  to  secure  the  favour  of  the  future  Pope  to  sanction 
his  proceedings  in  France,  and  Beaufort  was  doubtless  his  agent  in  the 
same  policy.  Martin  V.  rewarded  his  services  by  making  him  a  Cardinal 
(November  28th)  and  Legate  for  England  and  Ireland,  an  appointment 
which  was  resisted  by  Archbishop  Chichele,  as  the  Primate  had  always 
hitherto  been  Legate  ;  and  Beaufort  was  not  received  in  that  character  till 
his  family  gained  the  ascendancy  under  Henry  VI.  This  famous  Cardinal 
Beaufort  was  the  second  son  of  John  of  Gaunt,  by  his  marriage  (afterwards 
legitimated)  with  Catherine  Swynford,  and  so  the  half-brother  of  Henry  IV. 

4  Milman,  vol.  viii.  p.  310. 

5  He  had  been  made  Cardinal  of  St.  George  by  Innocent  VII.,  had  sup- 
ported Gregory  XII.  till  the  Council  of  Pisa  declared  against  him,  and  had 
been  one  of  the  last  to  give  up  the  cause  of  John  XXIII. 


164  FIRST  ACTS  OF  MARTIN  V.  Chap.  X. 

Pope  Martin  V.,  after  the  saint  on  whose  day  he  was  elected 
(Nov.  11th,  Martinmas). 

§  14.  This  election  formed  an  honourable  contrast  with  nearly  all 
those  of  the  Captivity  and  Schism.  Martin  was  about  50  years  old,  of 
the  noblest  blood  of  Home,  learned  in  the  Canon  Law,  of  irreproach- 
able morals,  "  courteous  in  manners,  short  and  sententious  in  speech, 
quick  and  dexterous  yet  cautious  in  business,  a  strict  and  even 
ostentatious  lover  of  justice."  *  Though  so  fast  an  adherent  of  John 
as  even  to  share  his  flight,  he  displayed  a  dignified  moderation  in 
all  the  debates  of  the  Council,  who  might  flatter  themselves  that 
in  such  a  man,  "  no  stern  advocate  of  reformation,  no  alarming 
fanatic  for  change,"  they  had  chosen  the  desired  leader  and  arbiter 
of  the  work  they  had  yet  to  do.  But  there  has  ever  been  a  power 
in  the  papal  tiara,  which  might  seem  magical  were  it  not  the 
natural  result  of  the  changed  position,  to  develop  qualities  unsus- 
pected under  the  cardinal's  hat.  Leonard  of  Arezzo  says  of  Martin 
that  whereas,  before  his  elevation,  he  had  been  noted  rather  for  his 
amiability  than  for  his  talents,  he  showed,  when  Pope,  extreme 
sagacity  but  no  excess  of  benignity.2  His  great  sagacity  was 
proved  in  the  disappointment  prepared  for  the  Council,  when  they 
gave  themselves  a  head  which  they  expected  to  begin  the  work  of 
reform  upon  itself!  Perhaps,  indeed,  they  acted  on  the  principle, 
which  has  since  become  familiar  in  what  is  called  statesmanship, 
accepting  what  seemed  inevitable  rather  than  daring  to  do  what 
was  right.  In  the  oft-quoted  saying,  "  Video  meliora  proboque, 
Deteriora  sequor?  the  true  point  lies  in  the  last  word — "  drifting  " 
on  the  current,  real  or  imagined.  They  ought  to  have  seen  that, 
the  abler  and  more  respectable  the  new  Pope,  the  more  sure  was  he 
to  revive  the  papal  power  rather  than  to  "  crown  the  edifice "  of 
the  Council. 

Martin's  first  brief,  dated  on  the  day  after  his  election,  confirmed 
the  regulations  of  all  his  predecessors,  even  of  John  XXIII.,  for  the 
Papal  Chancery,  the  very  focus  of  ecclesiastical  abuses ;  and  that 
by  the  act  of  the  Pope,  not  of  the  Council.  "  All  the  old  grievances 
— Reservations,  Expectancies,  Vacancies,  Confirmations  of  Bishops, 
Dispensations,  Exemptions,  Commendams,  Annates,  Tenths,  Indul- 
gences— might  seem  to  be  adopted  as  the  irrepealable  law  of  the 
Church."  3     Martin  was  prepared  for  the  protests  of  the  nations, 

1  Milman,  viii.  311. 

2  Muratori,  xix.  930  ;  Robertson,  iv.  296.  Of  the  change  charged  against 
him  from  contented  poverty  to  avarice  we  have  to  speak  pi-esentlv. 

3  Milman,  viii.  312.  Even  the  Spaniards  threatened  to  return  to  the 
obedience  of  Benedict,  but  their  indignation  evaporated  in  a  satirical  "  Mass 
for  Simony."     (On  the  abuses  enumerated  see  further  in  Chap.  XVII.) 


A.D.  1414.  THE  CASE  OF  JEAN  PETIT.  165 

and  met  their  demands  by  "  a  counter-plan  of  Reformation,  each 
article  of  which  might  have  occupied  the  weary  Council  for  months 
of  hot  debate."1  He  constituted  a  "reformatory  college"  of  six 
cardinals,  with  representatives  of  the  nations,  and  offered  some 
improvements  in  the  Curia,  in  order  to  elude  the  wider  demands  of 
the  Germans.  Meanwhile,  acting  on  the  maxim  Divide  et  impera, 
he  proposed  to  grant  partial  reforms  by  vague  Concordats  2  with  the 
several  nations,  Germany,  England,  and  France,  the  Italians  having 
at  once  accepted  the  Pope's  ecclesiastical  supremacy.  England, 
secure  in  her  laws  of  provisors  and  praemunire,  seems  to  have  left 
the  Concordat  offered  to  her  unnoticed  ;  while  that  with  France  was 
rejected  by  the  Parliament,  and  the  Dauphin  postponed  the 
acknowledgment  of  Martin's  title,  till  it  should  have  been  examined 
and  approved  by  the  University  of  Paris.3 

§  15.  It  remains  to  notice  the  other  affair  on  which  the  French, 
both  at  Paris  and  Constance,  were  at  issue  with  the  new  Pope.  The 
treacherous  murder  of  Louis  of  Orleans  by  the  agents  of  John  of 
Burgundy  (1407)  had  been  defended,  as  an  act  of  tyrannicide,  by  a 
Franciscan  friar,  Jean  Petit  (Joannes  Parvus),  in  a  discourse  before 
the  King  (March  1408),4  for  which  the  author  is  said  to  have  pro- 
fessed penitence  on  his  death-bed  (1410).  Eight  propositions  ex- 
tracted from  his  work — the  "  Eight  Verities  "  of  Jean  Petit — Avere 
condemned  by  a  Council  of  theologians,  canonists,  and  jurists,  under 
the  presidency  of  the  Archbishop  of  Paris  (1414)  ;  and  Gerson,5  in 
the  name  of  the  University,  supported  by  D'Ailly,  asked  for  a 
confirmation  of  this  sentence  at  Constance.  Thus  the  Council  had 
before  them  the  abstract  question  of  tyrannicide,  and  the  practical 
condemnation  of  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  whose  partisans,  headed 
by  the  Bishop  of  Arras,  joined  with  the  Abbots  of  Clairvaux  and 
Citeaux  and  the  Friars,  "  did  not  scruple  to  undertake  the  contest, 
to  allege  every  kind  of  factious  objection,  every  subtlety  of  scholastic 
logic.     These  monstrous  tenets  were  declared  to  be  only  moral  and 

1  Milman,  vol.  viii.  p.  316. 

2  This  technical  word  of  diplomacy  is  the  Latin  concordata,  "  things 
agreed  on." 

3  It  must  be  remembered  that  at  this  time  the  Dauphin  Charles,  at 
the  head  of  the  Orleanist  party,  was  endeavouring  to  withstand  Henry  V., 
who,  having  formed  an  alliance  with  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  was  pursuing 
the  conquest  of  France. 

4  Printed  in  Gerson's  Works,  vol.  v.  p.  15,  seq. 

5  Gerson,  always  a  consistent  opponent  of  passive  obedience,  had  in  his 
earlier  years  defended  tyrannicide  on  the  ground  taken  by  Seneca:  "  Nulla 
Deo  gratior  victima,  quam  tyrannus."  But  his  opinion  was  changed  by 
the  murder  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  and  he  denounced  the  doctrine  in  his 
treatise,  De  Auferibilitate  Papas. 


166  FATE  OF  THE  THREE  JOHNS.  Chap.  X. 

philosophical  opinions,  not  of  faith,  therefore  out  of  the  province  of 
the  Church  and  of  the  Council." x  An  attempt  was  made  to  silence 
Gerson  by  charges  of  heresy,  and  all  that  could  be  obtained  from  the 
Council  was  a  condemnation  of  one  of  Petit's  extremest  doctrines : 
"  It  is  lawful,  and  even  meritorious,  in  any  vassal  or  subject  to  kill 
a  tyrant,  either  by  stratagem,  by  blandishment,  flattery,  or  force, 
notwithstanding  any  oath  or  covenant  sworn  with  him,  without 
awaiting  the  sentence  or  authority  of  any  judge.'"1 2  This  sentence, 
passed,  by  a  noteworthy  coincidence,  on  the  day  of  Hus's  condem- 
nation (July  6,  1415),  was  annulled  by  Martin  V.  for  informality; 
and  thus,  of  the  three  Johns,5  wTho  were  arraigned  for  different 
offences  before  the  Council,  the  guilty  Pope  was  allowed  to  end  his 
days  in  peace  and  dignity ;  the  blameless  Hus  was  betrayed  by  a 
breach  of  imperial  faith,  and  burnt  by  a  reforming  Council ;  while 
even  the  memory  of  the  third  was  saved  from  condemnation.  But 
a  fourth  John,  leader  and  mouthpiece  of  the  effort  for  reform,  "  the 
learned  pious  Gerson,  dared  not  return  to  Paris,  now  in  the  power 
of  Burgundy  and  the  English;  he  lay  hid  for  a  time  in  Germany, 
lingered  out  a  year  or  two  at  Lyons,  and  died  a  proscribed  and 
neglected  exile ;  finding  his  only  consolation,  no  doubt  full  conso- 
lation, in  the  raptures  of  his  Holy  Mysticism." 4 

§  16.  Of  the  great  "  reformation  in  head  and  members,"  nothing 
was  effected,  save  some  decrees  on  exemptions  and  other  means 
of  papal  exaction,  on  simony,  tithes,  and  the  lives  of  the  clergy ; 
and  these  were  solemnly  pronounced,  with  the  Concordats,  a  full 

1  Mil  man,  vol.  viii.  p.  305. 

2  Observe  the  exact  parallel,  except  in  the  last  clause,  to  the  treatment 
of  heretics  avowed  and  acted  on  by  the  Council.  For  Martin's  determined 
opposition  to  the  condemnation  of  similar  doctrines  in  the  case  of  the 
Dominican,  John  of  Falkenberg,  who  had  declared  it  highly  meritorious  to 
assassinate  the  King  of  Poland  and  all  h:s  people,  see  Robertson,  vol.  iv. 
p.  300.  In  this  matter  the  Pope  ventured,  in  defiance  of  the  main  prin- 
ciples laid  down  by  the  Council,  to  deny  the  lawfulness  of  any  appeal 
from  "  the  supreme  judges,  viz.  the  Apostolic  See,  or  the  Roman  Pontiff," 
(March  10th,  1418).  Gerson  denounces  this  decree  as  destroying  the  funda- 
mental validity  of  the  Councils  of  Pisa  and  Constance,  with  all  their  acts, 
including  the  elections  of  Alexander  V.  and  Martin  himself.  (See  his 
Dialogue  on  the  case  of  Jean  Petit,  quoted  by  Gieseler,  vol.  iv.  p.  306.) 

3  See  the  striking  contrast  drawn  by  Milman,  vol.  viii.  pp.  303-306. 

4  On  the  breaking  up  of  the  Council,  Gerson  accepted  an  asylum  from 
the  Duke  of  Bavaria.  The  offer  of  a  professorship  at  Vienna  was  declined 
in  a  poem  of  thanks  to  Frederick  of  Austria.  On  the  death  of  the  Duke  of 
Burgundy  (September  1419),  he  returned  to  France;  and,  Paris  being  in 
disorder,  and  the  Dauphin  making  terms  with  Henry  V.,  he  stayed  at 
Lyon,  where,  after  ten  years  passed  in  devotion,  study,  and  abundant 
labour  in  letters,  he  died  at  the  age  of  sixty-six.  only  three  days  after 
finishing  his  Commentary  on  the  Canticles  (July  12th,  1429). 


A.D.  1418. 


END  AND  FAILURE  OF  THE  COUNCIL. 


167 


satisfaction  of  those  declared  to  be  essential  before  t lie  election  of  the 
Pope  ! x  For  the  rest,  they  had  the  promise  of  regular  Councils ;  and 
the  next  of  these  was  appointed  to  be  held  at  Pavia,  much  to  the  dis- 
content of  the  French  (April  19th,  1418).  The  Emperor  had  already- 
been  rewarded  (in  January)  with  the  Pope's  solemn  thanks,  and 
the  grant  of  a  year's  tithe  from  the  German  church ; 2  but  he  did 
not  withhold  some  covert  bitterness  in  his  farewell.  "  He  declared 
his  full  obedience  to  the  Pope  ;  his  submission  to  all  the  decrees  of 
the  Council ;  but  if  the  Council  had  fallen  into  error,  he  disclaimed 
all  concern  in  it." 3  At  the  45th  and  last  Session  (April  22,  1418) 
the  Pope  pronounced  plenary  absolution  on  all  who  had  attended  the 
Council ;  officiated  in  high  pomp  in  the  Cathedral  on  Whitsunday, 
and  at  night  gave  his  blessing  to  the  thousands  who  crowded  round 
the  bishop's  palace  (May  15th).  Next  day,  with  the  Emperor  and 
the  Elector  of  Brandenburg  holding  his  bridle  on  either  side,  he 
went  forth  on  the  way  to  Genoa  at  the  head  of  a  cavalcade  of 
princes,  nobles,  cardinals,  bishops,  churchmen,  and  their  followers, 
to  the  number  of  40,000,  which  might  well  seem  the  triumph  of 
papal  Eome.  "  The  Council  which  had  deposed  Popes  had  been 
mastered  by  a  Pope  of  its  own  choosing  ;  the  old  system  of  Kome, 
so  long  the  subject  of  vehement  complaint,  had  escaped  un- 
touched." 4 

1  Compare  the  articles  of  this  decree  of  the  43rd  Session  (March  21, 
1418),  with  those,  which  it  express1  y  cited,  of  the  40th  Session  (October 
1417),  in  Gieseler,  vol.  iv.  pp.  301,  304-5. 

2  See  the  Literse,  Gratiosas  (7  Cal.  Febr.  1418)  in  Gieseler,  iv.  305.  This 
tithe  was  objected  to  in  Germany,  but  without  effect. 

3  Von  der  Hardt,  iv.  p.  1563  ;  Milman,  vol.  viii.  p.  319. 

4  Robertson,  vol.  iv.  p.  301.  Compare  Milman's  eloquent  summary,  too 
long  to  quote  here  (vol.  viii.  pp.  319-321). 


Medal  of  Martin  V.     From  the  British  Museum. 


Medal  of  Pope  Eugenius  IV. 


CHAPTER  XI. 


PAPACY  OF  MARTIN  V.  AND  EUGENIUS  TV. 

THE  COUNCIL  OF  BASLE :    TO  ITS  VIRTUAL  END. 

A.D.  1418—1443. 

1.  State  of  Italy :  Braccio  and  Sforza — Martin  V.  at  Rome — His 
merits  and  faults — His  claims  of  supremacy — England  and  France. 
§  2.  Councils  of  Pavia  and  Siena — Danger  of  the  Eastern  Empire — 
Overtures  for  Reconciliation.  §  3.  France — Bohemian  War — Death  of 
Martin  V.  §  4.  Measures  of  the  Cardinals — Election  and  Character  of 
Eugenius  IV. — Proscription  of  the  Colonnas.  §  5.  The  Council  of 
Basle  and  the  Bohemian  Crusade — The  Legate  Julian  Cesarini — Battle 
of  Tauss — The  Pope's  attempt  to  postpone  the  Council.  §  6.  Its  opeuing 
— Mode  of  Voting— Four  Deputations — The  Leaders — Nicolas  Cusanus 
on  Popes  and  Councils.  §  7.  The  Council  claims  to  be  above  the  Pope — 
Eugenius  denounces  the  Council.  §  8.  Sigismund  in  Italy — His  Coro- 
nation at  Milan  and  Rome.  §  9.  He  arrives  at  Basle — Eugenius  sanctions 
the  Council — Departure  and  death  of  the  Emperor.  §  10.  Eugenius 
driven  from  Rome — Government  and  fate  of  John  Vitelleschi — The 
Pope's  return.  §11.  Refonning  decrees  of  the  Council — Bull  trans- 
ferring it  to  Ferrara — Open  quarrel  with  the  Pope.  §  12.  New  leaders 
at  Basle — Defection  of  Cusanus  and  Cesarini — Louis,  Bishop  of  Aries, 
and  Nicolas  of  Palermo — jEneas  Sylvius  Piccolomini  :  his  early  life 
and  appearance  at  the  Council.  §  13.  Election  of  Albert  II. — Prag- 
matic Sanction  of  Bowges.  §  14.  The  Council  deposes  Eugenius,  and 
elects  the  Antipope  Felix  V. — Failure  of  this  Schism.  §  15.  Death  of 
Albert  II. — Election  and  Character  of  Frederick  III. — Low  State  of  the 
Empire — ./Eneas  Sylvius  in  Frederick's  service — Virtual  end,  but  formal 
continuance,  of  the  Council  and  the  Schism. 


A.D.  1418.  MARTIN  V.  AT  ROME.  169 

§  1.  Taking  leave  of  the  Emperor  at  Geneva.1  Martin  travelled 
slowly  to  Italy,  where  the  first  Pope,  who  since  forty  years  had  an 
undisputed  title,  was  not  master  of  a  single  city.  Besides  the 
local  governments,  the  captains  of  Free  Companies  had  risen  to 
great  power ;  and  one  of  them,  Braccio  of  Montone,  had  made  him- 
self master  of  Kome  after  the  deposition  of  John  XXIII.  He  was 
well  matched  by  another  captain,  Jacopo  Sforza  Attendolo,  whose 
son  afterwards  won  the  dukedom  of  Milan.  Sforza  was  now 
serving  in  the  pay  of  Joanna  II.,  the  sister  and  successor  of  Ladislaus 
in  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  with  whom  Martin  made  an  alliance. 
As  gonfalonier  of  the  Church,  Sforza  expelled  Braccio  from  Eome ; 
but  the  latter  held  his  ground  at  his  native  city  of  Perugia,  and 
found  it  prudent  to  make  his  peace  with  the  Pope,  who,  after  a 
splendid  reception  at  Milan,  was  staying  at  Florence  (Feb.  1420).2 
He  restored  several  towns  in  the  Papal  territory,  receiving  others  as 
a  fief;  and  recovered  Bologna  for  the  Pope.  Entering  Rome  on 
the  28th  of  September,  Martin  beheld  the  misery  and  ruin  wrought 
by  the  long  absence  of  the  Popes  and  by  the  wars  of  factions.  Order 
was  restored  by  his  firm  and  just  administration  ;  and  his  labours, 
emulated  by  the  Cardinals,  in  rebuilding  the  churches  and  other 
public  edi6ces,  gained  for  him  the  titles  of  "  the  third  founder  of 
Rome,  and  the  happiness  of  his  times."  3  But  his  cardinals  resented 
his  arbitrary  rule  over  them ;  and  the  ecclesiastical  abuses,  that 
were  to  have  been  reformed  at  Constance,  continued  to  bring  in 
vast  wealth,  of  which  a  large  part  was  bestowed,  besides  castles, 
lands,  and  offices,  on  the  Pope's  kindred. 

In  his  relations  with  the  powers  of  Christendom,  Martin  revived 
the  highest  claims  of  his  predecessors.  England  only  accepted 
Cardinal  Beaufort  as  Legate  with  limited  powers,  and  stood  firm 
against  the  Pope's  haughty  demand  for  the  repeal  of  the  anti-papal 

1  Geneva  was  an  imperial  city,  under  the  government  of  its  bishops, 
who,  from  the  beginning  of  the  15th  century,  were  of  the  house  of  Savoy. 

2  It  was  at  Florence  that  Martin  received  the  submission  of  his  deposed 
predecessor.  Here  too  the  severe  economy  of  the  Pope's  equipage,  espe- 
cially in  contrast  with  the  magnificence  affected  by  Braccio,  was  ridiculed 
in  popular  songs,  with  a  refrain  curiously  echoed  in  one  of  our  own 
nursery  rhymes : — 

"  Papa  Martino :  Non  vale  un  quattrino :  " 
"  Here  is  Pope  Martin  :  Not  worth  a  farthing." 

The  rival  chieftains  died  in  the  same  year  (1424),  Braccio  of  wounds 
received  in  action,  Sforza  drowned  in  the  river  Pescara.  His  son,  Francesco, 
obtained  the  sovereignty  of  Milan  in  1449,  two  years  after  the  death  of 
Philip  Masse,  the  last  of  the  Visconti. 

3  For  the  enthusiastic  efforts  of  St.  Frances  of  Rome  (ob.  1440),  and 
the  Franciscan  St.  Bernardino  of  Siena  (ob.  1444),  to  rouse  Rome  to  a 
religious  and  moral  reformation,  see  Robertson,  vol.  iv.  pp.  373-375. 


170  PAPACT  OF  MARTIN  V.  Chap.  XI. 

statutes.1  The  Parliament  of  Paris  resisted  the  Concordat  till  the 
death  of  Charles  VI.  (1422)  ;  when  the  Pope  won  over  the  young 
King  for  a  time,  through  the  influence  of  his  mother  and  brother, 
and  absolved  him  from  the  oath  which  he  had  sworn,  as  Dauphin, 
to  observe  the  national  laws  (1425).2 

§  2.  Meanwhile  the  Parliament  of  Paris  urged  the  Pope  to  convene 
the  Council,  for  which  the  place  and  date  had  been  appointed  at 
Constance ;  and  a  few  prelates,  from  Italy  only,  were  assembled  at 
Pavia  (April  1423),  whence,  in  consequence  of  an  outbreak  of 
plague,  the  session  was  transferred  to  Siena.  The  Council,  which 
was  opened  by  a  papal  commission  on  July  21st,  did  nothing 
beyond  renewing  the  condemnation  of  Wyclif,  Huss,  and  Peter  of 
Luna  (Benedict  XIII.).  Martin  had  shown  his  resolve  to  abate 
nothing  of  the  supremacy  of  Rome ;  and  he  hoped  to  set  aside  the 
question  of  reform  by  the  grander  idea  of  reuniting  Christendom 
under  his  obedience.  The  victorious  Turks  had  now  pressed  their 
conquests  in  Europe,  till  of  the  Eastern  Roman  Empire  Constanti- 
nople alone  was  left ; 3  and  but  one  hope  remained,  to  purchase  help 
from  Latin  Christendom  at  the  cost  of  an  ecclesiastical  reunion,  for 
which  some  overtures  had  already  been  made.  But,  small  as  was 
the  number  of  Transalpine  prelates  at  Siena,4  the  Council  passed  a 
decree  that  the  internal  union  of  the  Church  by  reform  ought  to 
take  precedence  of  external  union.  On  the  ground  that  so  few 
Fathers  could  not  pretend  to  represent  Christendom  on  so  great  and 
vital  a  question,  Martin  issued  a  Bull  dissolving  the  Council,  and 
appointed  another  to  meet  in  seven  years'  time  at  the  imperial  city 
of  Basle  (1424).5 

1  For  the  details  of  these  affairs,  and  the  resistance  of  Archbishop 
Chichele  to  the  Pope,  see  Canon  Perry's  Student's  Enjlish  Church  History, 
Period  I.  chap,  xxiii. 

2  Charles  VII.  would  naturally  seek  to  win  the  support  of  the  Pope 
in  that  great  conflict  with  the  English,  which  gained  him  the  surname  of 
"  the  Victorious."  On  the  other  side,  Gerson  wrote  a  treatise,  urging, 
among  other  arguments,  the  coronation  oath,  by  which  the  Kings  of 
France  bound  themselves  to  defend  the  liberties  of  the  national  church. 

3  The  first  (unsuccessful)  siege  of  Constantinople  by  Amurath  II.  was 
in  1422;  and  the  truce,  which  postponed  its  fall  for  30  years,  was  made 
in  1425.      For  the  details  see  the  Student's  Gibbon,  chap,  xxxviii. 

4  Besides  a  very  few  from  England,  there  were  only  five  from  Germany, 
six  from  France,  none  from  Spain.  It  is  not  reckoned  as  an  (Ecumenical 
Council. 

5  This  old  French  form  of  the  name  is  a  convenient  compromise  between 
the  pure  German  Basel  and  the  modern  French  Bale.  It  is  the  Roman 
Basilia,  first  mentioned  in  the  4th  century,  which  grew  on  the  decay  of 
Augusta  Rauracorum,  the  ruins  of  which  are  still  visible  behind  Augst,  about 
6  miles  higher  up  the  Rhine.  Early  in  the  4th  century  it  was  important 
enough  to  be  mentioned,  in  the  Notitia  Imperii,  as  Civitas  Basiliensium. 


A.D.  1431.  ELECTION  OF  EUGENIUS  IV.  171 

§  3.  The  interval  was  marked  by  great  events.  The  uprising  of 
France,  moved  by  the  enthusiasm  of  the  Maid  of  Orleans  (1429),  pro- 
mised a  revival  of  the  spirit  of  ecclesiastical  liberty ;  while  in  Bohemia 
the  war  provoked  by  the  death  of  Huss  had  brought  repeated  disaster 
and  disgrace  on  the  imperial  arms,  till  Sigismund  felt  it  necessary  to 
negociate.1  He  demanded  the  submission  of  the  Bohemians  to  the 
decrees  of  the  coming  Council,  to  which  they  were  to  send  delegates. 
But  they  distrusted  alike  the  Emperor's  good  faith  and  the  promise 
of  reformation;  and  at  the  beginning  of  1431  a  papal  Bull  pro- 
claimed a  new  Crusade  against  them  under  the  Cardinal  Legate, 
Julian  Cesarini,2  who  was  appointed  by  another  Bull  to  preside  at 
the  Council  (Feb.  1).  But,  before  either  instrument  could  be  acted 
on,  Martin  V.  died  (Feb.  20th,  1431). 

§  4.  To  guard  against  another  such  rule  over  themselves,  the  Cardi- 
nals joined  in  a  mutual  pledge,  which  the  new  Pope  was  to  confirm 
by  his  oath  and  publish  in  a  Bull,  that  he  would  reform  the  Curia  as 
he  might  be  required  by  the  cardinals,  use  them  as  his  acknowledged 
advisers,  respect  their  privileges  and  the  rules  laid  down  at 
Constance  for  the  making  of  new  cardinals,  and  call  a  General 
Council,  at  such  place  and  time  as  they  should  recommend,  for  the 
reformation  of  the  whole  Church,  in  faith,  life,  and  morals.  On  the 
next  day  (March  3rd)  the  election  fell  on  Cardinal  Gabriel 
Condolmieri,  a  Venetian  and  nephew  of  Boniface  XII.,  who  took  the 
name  of  Eugenius  IV.  (1431-1447).  The  new  Pope's  age  was  forty- 
eight.  In  early  life  he  had  given  his  fortune  to  the  poor  and  joined 
his  cousin  in  founding  a  society  of  canons  on  one  of  the  islands  of 
Venice.  "  Both  his  virtues  and  his  faults  were  chiefly  those  of  a 
monk.  In  his  own  person  he  was  abstinent  and  severe,  although 
his  household  expenses  were  equal  to  the  dignity  of  his  station  ;  he 
loved  and  encouraged  men  of  letters,  although  his  own  learning  was 
but  moderate ;  he  was  obstinate,  narrow-minded,  possessed  by  an 
ambition  which  refused  to  consider  the  limits  of  his  power  ;  little 
scrupulous  in  the  pursuit  of  his  objects,  open  to  flattery,  filled  with 
a  high  idea  of  the  papal  greatness,  and  implacably  hostile  to  all 

1  The  crown  of  Bohemia  devolved  on  Sigismund  on  the  death  of  his 
brother  Wenceslaus,  in  1419,  but  the  armed  insurgents  held  out  against  his 
efforts  to  subdue  them  with  the  whole  force  of  the  Empire.  For  the  events 
of  the  war,  and  the  state  of  parties  in  Bohemia,  see  Chap.  XL. 

2  Julian  Cesarini,  who  had  lately  been  made  Cardinal  of  St.  Angelo, 
was  a  Roman,  "  of  a  family  whose  poverty  is  more  certain  than  its  nobility. 
He  had  risen  to  eminence  by  his  merits,  was  esteemed  for  ability,  morals, 
and  learning,  and,  from  having  been  in  Bohemia  in  attendance  on  a  former 
legate,  was  supposed  to  have  special  qualifications  for  the  office." — Robert- 
son, vol.  iv.  p.  398. 


172  THE  BOHEMIAN  CRUSADE.  Chap.  XI. 

deviation  from  the  established  doctrines  of  the  Church.  Under  him 
the  Romans  found  reason  to  look  back  with  regret  on  the  prosperous 
government  of  Martin ;  and  to  his  mistaken  policy  was  chiefly  to 
be  ascribed  the  troubles  by  which  the  Church  was  agitated  through- 
out his  pontificate."  *  Leagued  closely  with  the  Orsini,  his  first  act 
was  to  reclaim  from  the  Colonnas  not  only  the  wealth  which  their 
kinsman,  the  late  Pope,  had  placed  in  their  hands,  but  to  subject 
them  to  plunder  and  proscription,  and  to  destroy  the  monuments  of 
Martin's  pontificate. 

§  5.  The  time  appointed  for  the  Council  to  meet  was  in  March, 
and  Eugenius  renewed  the  commission  to  Cardinal  Cesarini,  both  to 
preside  at  Basle  and  to  attend  to  the  affairs  of  Bohemia,  evidently 
wishing  to  postpone  the  former  to  the  latter.  While  the  Fathers 
were  gathering  together  with  a  slowness  that  proved  ominous  of  the 
eighteen  years  to  which  the  Council  dragged  out  its  feeble  existence,2 
the  Legate  travelled  up  the  Bhine  and  as  far  as  Flanders,  to  stir  up 
princes  and  people  to  the  Crusade.  He-deputed  two  Dominicans  to 
open  the  Council,  and  to  entreat  it  to  await  the  issue  of  the  holy 
war.  After  further  vain  attempts  at  negociation,  an  army  of  100,000 
men,  under  the  imperial  banner,  entered  Bohemia  on  the  1st  of 
August,  only  to  be  utterly  routed  within  a  fortnight  (Aug.  14)  in 
the  Battle  of  Tauss,  the  Legate  himself  hardly  escaping  in  the  garb 
of  a  common  soldier.  His  silver  crucifix,  cardinal's  robes  and 
insignia,  and  the  very  Bull  authorizing  the  Crusade,  were  long 
shown  at  Tauss  as  memorials  of  the  victory. 

Not  only  by  this  crowning  disaster,  but  by  what  he  had  seen 
in  Germany,  Cesarini  was  convinced  that  the  sole  hope  both  of 
reconciling  the  Bohemians  and  satisfying  the  Germans  lay  in  the 
Council  and  its  work  of  real  reformation ;  and  he  pressed  this  view 
on  the  Emperor  and  princes  at  Nuremburg.  Repairing  to  Basle 
(Sept.  9),  where  but  very  few  prelates  were  as  yet  assembled,  he 
exerted  himself  by  letters  to  secure  a  fuller  attendance,  and 
obtained  its  authority  to  write  a  very  conciliatory  letter  to  the 
Bohemians  (Oct.  15),  which  was  forwarded  by  the  Emperor. 
Indignant  at  such  a  concession,  the  Pope  issued  a  Bull  denouncing 
and  annulling  any  treaty  with  heretics,  and  calling  the  faithful  to  a 
new  Crusade,  and  sent  the  Legate  a  decree  dissolving  the  Council, 
aud  announcing  the  calling  of  another  a  year  and  a  half  later  at 
Bologna  (Nov.  12th).  The  reasons  alleged  for  this  prorogation  Avere 
the  small  attendance,  the  insecurity  of  the  roads  owing  to  the  war 
between  Burgundy  and  Austria,  and  the  convenience  of  the  envoys 

1  Robertson,  vol.  iv.  p.  400. 

2  From  July  23rd,  1431,  to  April  25th,  1449. 


A.D.  1431.  THE  COUNCIL  OF  BASLE.  173 

expected  from  Constantinople  :  all  which  really  meant  the  post- 
ponement of  reform  to  the  honour  and  substantial  gain  of  bringing 
back  the  Eastern  Church  to  the  obedience  of  Rome.  Cesarini 
replied  by  an  earnest  and  bold  remonstrance,  insisting  on  the 
demoralized  state  of  the  clergy,  the  necessity  of  reform,  and  the 
danger  of  losing,  not  only  Bohemia,  but  Germany,  a  risk  not  to  be 
run  for  the  doubtful  reconciliation  of  the  East. 

§  6.  On  the  very  day  after  the  dispatch  of  this  letter,  the  Council 
began  its  work  (Dec.  14th),  which  it  defined  under  the  three  heads 
of  the  extinction  of  heresy,  the  restoration  of  peace  and  unity 
among  Christians,  and  the  reformation  of  the  Church  "  in  head  and 
members."  The  system  adopted  at  Constance,  of  voting  by  nations, 
was  found  impracticable ; l  and  the  Council  was  divided  into  four 
deputations,  each  composed  of  the  clergy  of  all  ranks,  which  met 
thrice  a-week  and  discussed  all  questions  before  they  were  pro- 
posed in  a  general  sitting.  They  were  charged  severally  with  the 
subjects  of  ( I )  General  Business  ;  (2)  Reformation  ;  (3)  The  Peace ; 
(4)  Faith.  The  extension  of  the  right  of  voting  to  all  ecclesiastics 
of  good  repute  deprived  the  bishops  of  their  usual  predominance,  and 
tended  to  give  to  the  proceedings  a  democratic,  and  even  a  turbulent 
character ;  while  the  proximity  of  Basle  to  Germany  and  France 
gave  those  nations  a  great  preponderance  in  the  Council.  Like  that 
of  Constance,  it  was  greatly  guided  by  the  spirit  of  the  University 
of  Paris.2 

The  great  leaders  who  had  passed  away,  Gerson,  D'Ailly,  and  the 
rest,  had  for  a  time  a  worthy  successor  in  the  Cardinal  Nicolas 
Cusanus,3  a  man  of  the  highest  reputation  for  learning  in  ancient 
letters  and  a  wide  range  of  practical  experience,  who  attended  the 
Council  as  Dean  of  St.  Florins  at  Coblenz.     Early  in  its  sitting,  he 

1  For  the  reasons  of  this,  see  Robertson,  iv.  p.  408.  Among  these  were 
the  fierce  jealousies  between  the  Spaniards  and  English,  and  the  practical 
abstinence  of  the  latter  from  any  part  in  the  Council. 

2  See,  for  example,  the  Letter  of  the  University  sustaining  the  Council 
(Feb.  9,  1432)  against  all  attempts  to  remove,  prorogue,  and  dissolve  it, 
and  denying  any  such  right  in  the  Pope.  (Bulaeus,  Hist.  Univ.  Paris, 
vol.  v.  p.  412;  Gieseler,  vol.  iv.  p.  319.) 

3.  Nicolas  Chryfftz,  in  High  German  Krebs  (i.e.  Crab),  was  named 
Cusanus  from  the  village  of  Cues  on  the  Moselle,  in  the  diocese  of  Treves, 
where  he  was  born  in  an  humble  station  in  1401.  iEneas  Sylvius  speaks 
of  him  as  "homo  et  priscarum  litterarum  eruditissimus,  et  multarum 
revum  usu  perdoctus."  Like  his  predecessor  Cardinal  d'Ailly  at  Constance, 
and  his  successor  in  the  leadership  at  Basle,  ./Eneas  Sylvius,  Nicolas 
Cusanus  went  over  to  the  papal  side  (in  1437),  and  did  all  he  could  to 
bring  the  Council  into  discredit.  His  M)ri  III.  de  Catholica  Concordantia 
are  printed  in  his  Works,  Paris,  1  514.  See  the  extracts  given  bv  Gieseler, 
vol.  iv.  p.  319. 
II— K 


174  THE  COUNCIL  OF  BASLE.  Chap.  XI. 

published  a  work  on  "  Catholic  Agreement,"  which  assailed  the  very 
foundations  of  the  Papal  supremacy.  He  maintained  that  a  General 
Council  had  supreme  power  in  all  things,  above,  the  Roman  Pontiff. 
Recognizing  the  division  of  opinion  among  the  Fathers  of  the 
Church,  whether  the  power  of  the  Pope  was  of  God  or  of  man,  he 
decides  that  it  is  from  God  through  the  human  medium  of  Councils. 
The  Roman  Pontiffs  primacy  above  other  bishops  in  the  seat  of  St. 
Peter  depends,  therefore,  on  the  consent  of  those  who  have  the  rule 
in  all  other  things ;  and  hence  if,  for  example,  it  should  happen  that 
the  Archbishop  of  Treves  were  elected  by  the  assembled  Church  as 
their  president  and  head,  he,  rather  than  the  Pope  of  Rome,  would 
be  the  true  successor  of  St.  Peter  in  the  primacy.  A  Council  might 
depose  a  Pope  for  other  causes  besides  heresy.  Infallibility  was  a 
grace  promised  to  the  whole  Church,  not  to  any  one  of  its  members. 
Besides  these  opinions  on  matters  of  principle,  he  ventured,  as  the 
result  of  careful  study,  to  declare  the  famous  donation  of  Constantine 
apocryphal,  "  as  also  perhaps  (he  adds)  some  other  long  and  great 
writings,  ascribed  to  St.  Clement  (the  Pseudo-Clementines)  and 
Pope  Anacletus,  on  which  those  rely,  wholly  or  in  part,  who  wish  to 
exalt  the  Roman  see  above  what  is  expedient  and  becoming  for  the 
Holy  Church." 

§  7.  Under  such  leadership,  the  Council,  at  its  second  session 
(Feb.  15th,  1432),1  renewed  the  decrees  of  Constance,  pronouncing  a 
General  Council  to  be  above  the  Pope,  and  the  Pope  bound  to  obey 
it.  They  declared  that  the  Council  neither  could  nor  should  be 
removed,  prorogued,  or  dissolved,  without  its  own  consent,  and  that 
no  one,  even  though  invested  with  the  papal  authority,  could  or 
ought  to  hinder  any  person  from  attending.  At  this  juncture,  too, 
the  cause  of  the  Council  was  decidedly  taken  by  an  assembly  of  the 
French  clergy  at  Bourges,  who  petitioned  Charles  VII.  to  support  it 
by  an  embassy  to  the  Pope  (Feb.  26).  The  renewed  prohibition  of 
Eugenius,  in  the  same  month,  was  again  answered  by  Cesarini,  who 
not  only  repeated  his  exposure  of  the  futility  of  the  reasons  given, 
but  maintained  that  the  authority  of  the  Council  was  derived  from 
the  same  source  as  that  of  Martin  V.  and  Eugenius  himself,  the 
decrees  of  Constance,  against  which  the  Pope  had  no  right  to  dis- 
solve the  Council  (June,  1432).  The  Legate,  however,  deferred  to  the 
Pope's  authority  by  resigning  the  presidency,  to  which  the  Council 
elected  Philibert,  bishop  of  Coutances ;  at  the  same  time  announc- 
ing, in  a  synodal  letter  to  the  princes  and  churches  of  Christendom, 
their  resolve  to  remain  at  Basle  till  their  work  should  be  accom- 
plished.    While  humbly  beseeching  the   Pope  not  to  dissolve  the 

1  For  the  negotiations  which  the  Council,  of  its  own  authority,  carried 
on  with  the  Bohemians,  see  Chap.  XL. 


A.D.  1431.  SIGISMUND  IN  ITALY.  175 

Council,  they  summoned  him  and  the  Cardinals  to  attend  it  within 
three  months  (April  29) ;  affirmed  their  right,  in  ease  of  the  death 
of  Eugenius,  to  elect  his  successor  (July  3  2) ;  and  at  length,  after 
fruitless  negociations  with  the  papal  Legates,  they  proceeded  to 
declare  the  Pope  and  seventeen  cardinals  contumacious  for  non-attend- 
ance (Sept.  6).  This  bold  attitude  attracted  larger  numbers  to  the 
assembly,  which  Eugenius  denounced  as  a  Synagogue  of  Satan.1  "  It 
is  marvellous  but  true,"  writes  the  most  famous  actor  in  a  later 
stage  of  the  proceedings,2  "  that  the  prohibition  of  the  Pope  drew 
more  than  the  invitation  of  the  Council."  Even  the  Cardinals 
slunk  away  from  Borne  to  Basle,  till  only  four  remained  with 
Eugenius. 

§  8.  The  Emperor-elect,  though  strongly  in  favour  of  the  Council 
as  the  only  means  of  pacifying  Bohemia,  had  not  yet  appeared  at 
Basle.  Shortly  before  it  met  he  had  acted  on  a  sudden  resolution, 
without  the  wish  or  consent  of  the  Electors,  to  go  to  Rome  for  his 
coronation.  Like  his  father  Charles  IV.,  he  was  tempted  with  the 
hope  of  reviving  the  imperial  influence  in  Italy  by  the  aid  of  the 
Duke  of  Milan  ;  and,  after  his  disappointment  at  Constance  and  his 
reverses  in  Bohemia,  he  probably  thought  that  the  dignity  of  a 
crowned  Emperor  would  enhance  his  influence  both  in  and  on 
behalf  of  the  Council.  But  the  want  of  money,  which  was  a  constant 
check  on  Sigismund's  magnificence  and  still  more  on  his  real  power,3 
reduced  him  to  appear  in  Italy  with  a  train  of  only  2000  German 
and  Hungarian  horse,  instead  of  a  force  adequate  to  join  Philip 
Maria  in  his  contest  with  Florence,  Venice,  and  the  Pope.  The 
Duke  kept  away  from  the  ceremony  of  crowning  Sigismund  with 

1  The  numbers  at  the  Council  varied  greatly,  the  largest  attendance 
being  about  100,  in  June  1435. 

2  iEneas  Silvius  Piccolomini,  afterwards  Pope  Pius  II.,  of  whom  more 
presently.  His  Commentariorum  de  Gestis  Concilii  Basiliensis  Libri  IL, 
written  in  1444,  while  he  still  sided  with  the  Council,  contains  its  history 
for  the  years  1438-1440.  (Published  in  the  Fasciculi  Rerum  Expetend.  ac 
Fugiend.  Colon.  1535  f.).  The  Epistola  ad  Jvannem  de  Segovia  de  Coro- 
natione  Felicis,  appended  to  the  work,  is  often  reckoned  as  a  3rd  Book. 
Another  leading  authority  is  Augustinus  Patricius  (a  Canon  of  Siena) 
Sumrna  C '  nciliorum  Basiliensis,  Florentini,  Lateranensis,  Lausanensis,  <J-c, 
composed  in  1480  from  two  MSS.  left  by  John  of  Segovia,  and  preserved 
at  Basle  (Harduin.  ix.  p.  1081).  The  Acts  of  the  Council  are  given  fully 
in  Mansi,  vols,  xxix.-xxxi. 

3  Mr.  Bryce  says  of  the  time  from  Rudolf  downwards:  "After  all,  the 
Empire  was  perhaps  past  redemption,  for  one  fatal  ailment  paralyzed  all 
its  efforts.  The  Empire  was  poor."  (Pp.  223  f.,  where  the  causes  of  its 
impoverishment  are  traced  out.)  At  Rupert's  death,  there  were  said  to 
be  many  bishops  better  off  than  the  Emperor  ;  and  Sigismund  himself  told 
his  Diet,  "nihil  esse  imperio  spoliatius,  nihil  egentius,"  and  that  his  suc- 
cessor would  find  it  "  non  imperium>  sed  potius  servitiuni." 


176  THE  COUNCIL  AND  THE  POPE.  Chap.  XI. 

the  iron  diadem1  of  Lombardy  at  Milan  (Nov.  25,  1431).  Though 
treated  with  outward  respect,  the  King  was  in  danger  from  the 
Guelfic  republics  and  the  Free  Companies  ;  and  his  first  cordial  wel- 
come was  at  the  Grhibelline  city  of  Siena.2  Here,  however,  he  was 
detained  many  months  by  the  evasions  of  Eugenius,  who  endeavoured 
to  make  the  forcible  suppression  of  the  Bohemians  a  condition  of  the 
coronation.  At  length  the  Pope  had  to  be  content  with  Sigismund's 
promise  never  to  desert  his  cause ;  and  the  Emperor  was  crowned  at 
Home  on  Whitsunday  (May  31,  1433).  The  diminished  splendour 
of  the  ceremony  suited  its  loss  of  any  real  significance.3 

§  9.  During  his  long  stay  in  Italy,  the  Emperor  had  kept  on  urging 
the  Pope  to  allow  the  Council  to  continue,  and  had  sent  letters  to 
enlist  the  princes  of  Christendom  in  its  support ;  while,  as  its  acknow- 
ledged protector,4  he  had  written  to  moderate  its  proceedings  against 
Eugenius.  While  the  Pope  was  preparing  fresh  Bulls  of  dissolution, 
the  Council  extended  the  term  of  the  summons  to  him  again  and 
again;  till  the  Emperor  arrived  at  Basle  (Oct.  11th),  bringing  a 
document  from  Eugenius,  which  was  deemed  insufficient.  At  length 
the  increasing  troubles  of  Italy,  and  the  factions  which  made  Rome 
unsafe  for  the  Pope,  induced  him  to  issue  a  Bull,  revoking  all  his 
sentences  against  the  Council  (Dec.  15th,  1433).  On  April  26th, 
1434,  in  presence  of  the  Emperor,  the  Pope's  legates  were  admitted 
to  the  Council  as  its  presidents,  "  on  swearing,  in  their  own  names,5 
that  a  General  Council  has  its  authority  immediately  from  Christ, 
and  that  all  men,  including  even  the  Pope,  are  bound  to  obey  it  in 

1  The  "  iron  crown  "  of  Lombardy,  of  which  an  engraving  is  given  on 
p.  60,  is  really  a  diadem  of  gold  and  jewels,  but  wrought  within  it  is  a 
thin  circle  of  iron,  said  to  have  been  forged  from  one  of  the  nails  of  the 
cross.  It  was  the  reputed  gift  of  Queen  Theodelinda  (ob.  A.D.  (528)  to  the 
cathedral  of  Monza,  where  it  is  still  preserved.  For  its  history,  see  the 
article  Crown  in  the  Diet,  of  Christian  Antiqq.  vol.  i.  p.  507. 

2  This  city  had  been  visited  by  Charles  IV.  soon  after  his  marriage, 
and  so  the  people  claimed  a  sort  of  hereditary  interest  in  Sigismund. 

3  Mr.  Bryce  observes  that  Sigismund  was  virtually  an  Hungarian  king. 
Eugenius,  also,  had  to  contend  with  narrowed  observance  from  his  dis- 
obedient son;  for,  "as  Sigismund  was  suffering  from  gout,  the  Pope  was 
obliged  to  consent  that  his  mule  should  be  led  only  three  steps  by  the 
Emperor — a  symbol  rather  than  a  performance  of  the  traditional  homage 
of  Constantine.  It  is  said  that  from  this  time  is  to  be  dated  the  use  of 
the  double  eagle  as  denoting  the  union  of  imperial  and  royal  dignity." 
Robertson,  vol.  iv.  p.  411. 

4  By  a  decree  of  the  9th  Session,  Jan.  12th,  1433,  which  also  declared 
any  papal  sentence  of  deprivation  against  Sigismund  null  and  void. 

5  I'rivatis  nommibus,  but  the  Council  maintained  that  this  act  implied 
the  Pope's  sanction  to  all  their  proceedings  from  the  beginning.  His 
advocates,  however,  declared  that  his  approval  was  given  only  to  the 
progress  of  the  Council,  not  to  its  decrees! 


A.D.  1434-40.        STATE  OF  HOME.     VTTELLESCHI.  177 

matters  relating  to  faith,  to  the  extinction  of  schism,  and  to  the 
reform  of  the  Church  in  head  and  members." 1 

It  was  but  a  hollow  reconciliation ;  but  the  Emperor  declared  he 
would  die  rather  than  allow  another  papal  schism.  He  felt  the 
scanty  numbers  of  the  Council  to  be  a  poor  support  for  their  high 
pretensions,  which  trenched  on  his  own  prerogative,  not  only  by 
negociating  with  other  powers,  but  interfering  with  the  politics  of 
Germany.  He  left  "Basle  on  the  19th  of  May,  1434.  Before  his 
departure,  he  had  introduced  the  question  of  the  marriage  of  the 
clergy,  which  was  debated  seriously,  but  without  result.  Through 
its  mediation  with  the  more  moderate  party  of  the  Bohemians,  he 
was  at  length  acknowledged  as  their  King  in  1436.  He  was  again 
labouring  to  avert  the  papal  schism,  when  he  died  at  Znaim,  in 
Hungary  (Dec.  9th,  1437). 

§  10.  Wi;hin  a  month  of  Sigismund's  departure  from  Basle, 
Eugenius  was  driven  from  Rome  by  a  popular  rising  against  the  in- 
solence of  his  nephew,  Cardinal  Condolmieri  (June  1434).  The  Pope 
escaped  in  the  disguise  of  a  monk  to  Ostia,  and  thence  to  Florence  ; 
while  the  Eomans  once  more  set  up  a  short-lived  republic,  and  made 
overtures  to  the  Council.  But  they  soon  found  their  new  govern- 
ment intolerable,  and  their  city  a  desert  without  the  papal  court. 
At  their  request  Eugenius  resumed  his  authority,  but  remained  at 
Florence,2  while  he  entrusted  the  government  of  Rome  to  John  of 
Vitelleschi,  who  united  the  characters  of  a  bishop  and  captain  of 
Condottieri,  and  whose  services  were  rewarded  with  the  dignities  of 
Cardinal  Archbishop  of  Florence,  and  titular  Patriarch  of  Alexandria. 
John's  ruthless  devastation  of  the  Campagna  in  his  war  to  crush  the 
Colonna,  and  his  vices  and  despotism,  were  atoned  for,  in  the  eyes 
of  the  Romans,  by  the  peace  and  prosperity  secured  by  his  five 
years'  rule  (1435-1440)  ;  and,  after  he  fell  a  victim  to  the  suspicion 
of  playing  the  part  of  another  Rienzi  (April  1440),  they  erected  a 
statue  to  Vitelleschi  as  a  new  founder  of  their  city.3  His  chief 
enemy,  Scarampo,  held  the  government,  or  tyranny,  of  Rome  till 
the  Pope's  return,  after  an  absence  of  nine  years  (Sept.  1443).  How 
Eugenius  had  been  occupied  during  that  long  interval  will  appear 
immediately. 

1  Robertson,  iv.  p.  421.  "The  power  of  the  Legates  was  limited  by- 
strict  conditions,  which  showed  tiiat  a  fresh  breach  with  the  Pope  was 
apprehended." 

2  He  afterwards  (1436)  removed  to  Bologna,  as  a  stronghold  against 
the  Duke  of  Milan. 

3  For  the  details  of  Vitelleschi's  fall,  and  the  question  of  Eugenius's 
complicity  in  his  treacherous  arrest  and  death  in  prison,  see  Robertson, 
vol.  iv.  pp.  429-430. 


178  BREACH  BETWEEN  POPE  AND  COUNCIL.       Chap.  XI. 

§  11.  The  Council  had  lost  no  time  in  using  the  Pope's  sanction  to 
proceed  earnestly  with  the  work  of  reformation  (1435).  "  Decrees 
were  passed  for  entire  freedom  of  election  in  churches ;  against 
expectancies,  usurpations  of  patronage,  reservations,  annates,  and 
many  of  the  exactions  by  which  the  Roman  court  drained  the  wealth 
of  the  Church ;  against  frivolous  appeals ;  against  the  abuse  of 
interdicts,  the  concubinage  of  the  clergy,  the  burlesque  festivals 
and  other  indecencies  connected  with  the  service  of  the  Church. 
Rules  were  laid  down  as  to  the  election  and  behaviour  of  Popes.  .  .  . 
The  number  of  Cardinals  was  limited  to  twenty-four ;  they  were  to 
be  taken  from  all  Christian  countries,  and  to  be  chosen  with  the 
consent  of  the  existing  Cardinals.  A  very  few  of  royal  or  princely 
families  might  be  admitted,  but  the  nephews  of  the  Popes  were  to 
be  excluded  from  the  College."  1 

The  contraction  of  the  sources  of  papal  revenues  touched  Eugenius 
at  his  most  sensitive  part.  His  plea  for  the  continuance  of  annates, 
till  some  other  means  of  maintaining  his  dignity  should  be  provided, 
was  answered  by  the  demand  to  submit  himself  unreservedly  to  the 
Council.2  While  he  appealed  by  letters  to  the  princes  of  Christendom, 
new  charges  were  brought  against  him  in  the  Council,  and  he  was 
again  summoned  to  appear  within  sixty  days  (July  31st).  Mean- 
while the  Greeks  had  continued  their  appeals  both  to  the  Pope  and 
the  Council ;  and  it  was  vehemently  disputed  whether  the  conference 
with  the  Greeks  should  be  held  within  or  beyond  the  Alps.  When 
at  length  Eugenius  issued  a  Bull  for  transferring  the  Council  to 
Ferrara  (Sept.  18),  they  continued  their  sessions  at  Basle,  and  pro- 
nounced him  obstinately  contumacious  for  disregarding  their 
summons  (Oct.  1).  The  Pope  opened  his  Council  at  Ferrara  (Jan.  8, 
1438),  which  excommunicated  the  men  at  Basle,  and  annulled 
their  acts ;  they  declared  the  assembly  at  Ferrara  schismatical,  and 
cited  its  members  to  appear  at  Basle  within  30  days  (Jan.  24th). 
This  31st  Session  was,  in  fact,  the  last  at  which  reformatory  decrees 
were  passed ; 3  henceforth  the  Council  existed  only  to  carry  on  a 
war  with  Eugenius,  which  soon  became  an  open  schism. 

§  12.  In  this  conflict  the  leaders  were  somewhat  changed.  Nicolas 
of  Cusa  had  already  left  Basle,  seduced,  it  is  said,  by  the  flattery  of  the 
Pope,  that  "  his  peerless  learning  was  absolutely  necessary  to  conduct 
negociations  with  the  Greek  Church,  now  returning  into  the  bosom 

1  Robertson,  vol.  iv.  p.  423.  See  the  extracts  from  the  decrees  of  the 
Council  in  Gieseler,  vol.  iv.  pp.  322  f. 

2  It  is  a  striking  sign  of  the  ingrained  abuses  now  prevalent,  to  find 
the  Pope  retorting  on  the  Council  itself  the  charge  of  issuing  indulgences, 
to  provide  for  the  cost  of  an  embassy  to  the  Greeks. 

3  For  the  details,  see  Gieseler,  vol.  iv.  pp.  331-2.  The  negociations  with 
the  Greeks,  and  the  Council  held  by  Eugenius  at  Ferrara  and  Florence,  are 
related  in  the  ensuing  Chapter  XII. 


A.D.  1438.  jENEAS  SYLVIUS  PICCOLOMINI.  179 

of  Rome."1  The  legate  Julian  Cesarini  had  striven  to  remain  loyal 
both  to  the  Council  and  the  Pope,  till  he  seemed  in  danger  of  being 
elected  as  the  head  of  a  schism.  He  and  Nicolas  of  Cusa  left  Basle 
at  the  beginning  of  1438  ;  but  they,  with  two  other  Cardinals,  were 
the  only  seceders  to  Ferrara.  The  lead  was  now  taken  by  the 
Burgundian  Louis  Allemand,  bishop  of  Aries  (the  only  Cardinal 
left  at  Basle),2  who  combined  the  most  signal  eloquence  and  fairness, 
temper  and  tact,  with  inveterate  animosity  to  Eugenius.3  The  new 
president  was  supported  by  Nicolas  de  Tudesco,  archbishop  of 
Palermo  (Nicolas  Panormitanus),  the  most  famous  canonist  of  the 
age.  Less  conspicuous  as  yet,  but  destined  to  a  fame  much  more 
lasting,  was  the  versatile  Italian,  JEneas  Sylvius  Piccolomini,  "  the 
most  elegant  writer  of  Latin,  the  historian  of  the  Council — at  one 
time  its  ruling  authority,  at  another  its  most  dangerous,  because 
secret  foe." 4  A  very  microcosm  of  Rome  in  all  the  stages  of  its 
history  is  suggested  by  the  scion  of  a  noble  but  reduced  Italian 
house,  named  after  the  refugee  from  Troy  and  his  great-grandson, 
the  third  King  of  Alba,5  beginning  life  as  an  adventurer  and  votary 
of  pleasure,  and,  after  taking  part  in  a  bitter  conflict  with  the  papal 
see,  labouring  to  revive  its  loftiest  traditions  in  his  own  person,  and 
dying  in  the  odour  of  sanctity.  The  Piccolomini,  of  whom  Pius  II. 
does  not  stand  alone  in  history,6  one   of  the   noblest   and  most 

1  Milman,  vol.  viii.  p.  361. 

2  Several  Cardinals  had  left  Basle  before.  Eugenius  had  created  new 
Cardinals,  to  supply  the  place  of  those  who  had  gone  to  Basle,  and  the 
Council  had  declared  these  appointments  null  and  void. 

3  iEneas  Sylvius  describes  Louis  as  "  homo  multarum  parabolarum, 
liberalitate  insignis,  sed  odio  erga  Eugenium  veteri  et  novo  accendissimus." 
"  His  lofty  independence  and  resistance  to  the  Papal  See  did  not  prevent 
his  subsequent  canonisation."     Milman,  viii.  p.  361. 

4  Milman,  /.  c.  We  must  be  content  to  refer  to  the  Dean's  graphic 
pages  for  a  fuller  account  of  the  remarkable  career  of  ^Eneas  Sylvius, 
afterwards  Pius  11.     (Chap.  xvi.  vol.  viii.  p.  415  f.) 

5  He  had  a  third  and  more  Christian  name,  Bartholomew. 

6  Besides  his  nephew,  who  was  Pope  for  a  month  (in  1503)  as  Pius  III,, 
Ottavio  Piccolomini  (b.  1599,  d.  1656),  the  Austrian  general  in  the  Thirty 
Years'  War,  has  been  made  famous  by  Schiller's  tragedy,  translated  by 
Coleridge.  The  chief  modern  authority  for  the  Life  of  JEneas  Sylvius  is 
Voigt,  JEneas  Sylvius  de' Piccolomini  als  Papst  Pius  II.,  und  seiti  Zeitalter 
3  vols.  Berlin,  1856-63.  The  original  sources  are  his  own  works,  espe- 
cially his  Letters,  and  the  Commentaries  of  Pius  II.  The  latter  book, 
though  not  published  till  1504,  120  years  after  his  death,  and  then  under 
the  name  of  the  copyist,  Joannes  Gobellinus,  is  known  by  the  testimony 
of  two  friends  of  the  Pope  to  have  been  his  own  work.  The  editor, 
Francesco  Bandini  de'  Piccolomini,  not  only  kept  back  the  true  authorship, 
but  suppressed  some  passages,  which  were  however  collected  by  some  one 
who  saw  the  sheets  while  passing  through  the  press.  The  collection  was 
preserved  among  the  MSS.  of  the  Chigi  Library,  the  librarian  of  which 


180  COUNCIL  OF  BASLE.  Chap.  XI. 

powerful  families  of  Siena,  had  fallen  with  the  establishment  of  the 
republic.  The  father  of  iEneas  added  to  the  poor  remnant  of  a  dissi- 
pated estate  a  family  of  22  children,  of  whom  10  grew  up,  only  to 
perish  by  the  plague,  except  two  daughters  and  iEneas  himself,  who 
was  born  at  the  village  of  Corsignago  on  the  18th  of  October,  1405. 
Though  the  poverty  of  the  family  obliged  him  to  take  part  in  the 
labours  of  the  field,  his  education  was  not  neglected ;  and  at  the  age 
of  22  he  went  to  Siena,  where  the  aid  of  his  wealthier  relations 
enabled  him  to  pursue  the  study  of  law,  but  he  turned  with  ardour 
to  Greek  and  Roman  letters  under  the  famous  scholar  Filelfo. 
Driven  from  Siena  by  the  war  with  Florence,  he  became  secretary 
to  Cardinal  Dominico  Capranica,  whom  he  attended  to  the  Council  of 
Basle.  But  the  Cardinal's  poverty  compelled  iEneas  to  seek  other 
patrons,  whom  he  followed  in  varied  missions  through  Germany, 
Italy,  and  France,  and  was  himself  sent  on  to  England  and  Scotland, 
of  which  countries  he  has  left  a  most  interesting  description.1 

Returning  to  Italy,  he  joined  his  master,  the  Bishop  of  Novara, 
at  Basle,  shortly  before  the  final  rupture  of  the  Council  with 
Eugenius  (1437).  "  No  sooner  was  iEneas  fixed  at  Basle,  than  his 
singular  aptitude  for  business,  no  doubt  his  fluent  and  perspicuous 
Latin,  his  flexibility  of  opinion,  his  rapidly  growing  knowledge  of 
mankind,  his  determination  to  push  his  fortunes,  his  fidelity  to  the 
master  in  whose  service  he  happened  to  be,  opened  the  way  to 
advancement ;  offices,  honours,  rewards,  crowded  upon  him.  He 
was  secretary,  first  reporter  of  the  proceedings,  then  held  the  office 
as  writer  of  the  epistles  of  the  Council.  The  office  of  these  duo- 
decimvirs  was  to  prepare  all  business  for  the  deliberations  of  the 
Council ;  nothing  could  be  brought  forward  without  their  previous 
sanction,  nor  any  one  admitted  to  the  Council  till  they  had  examined 
and  approved  his  title.  He  often  presided  over  his  department, 
which  was  that  of  faith.  The  leaden  seal  of  the  Council  was  often 
in  his  custody.  During  his  career  he  was  ambassador  from  the 
Council,  three  times  to  Strassburg,  twice  to  Constance,  twice  to 
Frankfort,  once  to  Trent,  later  to  the  Emperor  Albert,  and  to 
persuade  Frederick  III.  to  espouse  the  cause  of  the  Council."  2 

has  published  them  under  the  title  "  JEnese,  Sylvii  Piccolomini  Se?iensis, 
qui  postea  fuit  Pius  II.  Pont.  Max.  Opera  Inedita  ;  descripsit  Joseph  us 
Cugnoni,  Roma,  1883."  The  work  is  invaluable  for  the  characteristically 
frank  expression  of  opinion  ou  contemporary  persons  and  affairs.  Another 
recent  work  is  "  The  Life  of  Pope  Pius  II.,  as  illustrated  by  Pinturicchio's 
Frescoes  in  the  Piccolomini  Library  at  Siena.  By  the  Rev.  G.  W.  Kitchen, 
M.A.  With  the  engravings  from  the  Frescoes  by  Professor  Gruner.  Printed 
for  the  Arundel  Society,  1881." 

1  See  Milman,  vol.  viii.  pp.  417  f.  For  .Eneas's  frank  confession  of  his 
loose  morals,  as  natural  in  a  layman,  in  his  Letters,  see  ibid.  p.  421  f. 

8  Milman,  vol.  viii.  pp.  423-4. 


A.D.  1438.         PRAGMATIC  SANCTION  OF  BOURGES.  181 

§  13.  His  first  appearance  as  a  full  member  of  the  Council  (when 
in  the  debate  on  the  place  for  conference  with  the  Greeks,  taking  a 
middle  course  between  the  Papal  and  Transalpine  parties,  he 
supported  the  Milanese  proposal  for  Pavia)  was  rewarded  with  the 
office  of  provost  of  St.  Lawrence  at  Milan.  On  his  return  thence 
to  Basle,  still  a  layman,  he  preached  with  great  success  before  the 
Council  on  the  feast  of  St.  Ambrose  (Dec.  7th,  1437).  As  we  have 
seen,  this  was  the  moment  when  the  Council  took  a  decisive  step 
against  the  Pope,  and  when  Sigismund  died,  leaving  his  hereditary 
crowns  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia  to  his  son-in-law,  Albert  of  Austria, 
who  was  elected  in  the  following  March  as  Albert  II.,  King  of  the 
Komans.1  He  was  reluctant  to  accept  the  dignity,  the  prospect  of 
which  he  was  said  by  the  Hungarians  to  have  expressly  renounced 
on  his  election  as  their  king.  iEneas,  virtually  if  not  formally 
accredited  by  the  Council,  accompanied  the  Duke  of  Milan's 
ambassador  to  Vienna,  and  overcame  the  objections  of  the  Hungarians 
as  well  as  of  Albert  himself. 

The  Electors  had  seized  the  opportunity  to  declare  Germany 
neutral  between  the  Council  and  the  Pope ; 2  and  a  more  important 
decision  was  taken  by  France  about  the  same  time.  Charles  VII. 
himself  had  not  been  favourable  to  the  Council ;  but  in  a  national 
assembly  at  Bourges  he  adopted  their  reforms,  with  some  modifi- 
cations, by  a  Pragmatic  Sanction,  which  was  one  of  the  foundations 
of  Gallican  liberty  (July  7th,  1438).3  The  assembly  also  disowned 
the  Council  of  Ferrara. 

§  14.  These  measures  were  taken  in  the  hope  of  averting  a  schism  ; 
but  the  Council  of  Basle,  now  growing  more  and  more  irreconcil- 
able, trusted  to  the  support  of  France  and  Germany.  The  final  step 
divided  the  Council  itself ;  and  most  of  the  bishops  retired,  leaving 

1  By  this  election  the  imperial  dignity,  which  had  been  held  bv  Rudolf 
of  Hapsburg  (1273-1292)  and  his  son  Albert  I.  (1298-1308),  returned 
to  the  House  of  Hapsburg,  in  which  it  remained  till  the  abdication  of 
Francis  II.  in  August  1806, — with  the  sole  exceptions  of  the  Bavarian 
Charles  VII.  (1742-45)  and  Francis  I.  of  Lorraine  (1745-65),  though 
the  latter  may  be  called  a  Hapsburg  by  his  marriage  with  Maria  Theresa. 
Mr.  Bryce,  however,  has  pointed  out  that  Maximilian  I.  was  the  true 
founder  of  the  greatness  of  the  Hapsburgs,  and  he  has  traced  the  causes 
which  made  the  elective  imperial  dignity  practically  hereditary  in  that 
family.  (Holy  Roman  Empire,  p.  352  f.)  Of  all  the  Emperors-elect 
during  the  368  years  from  Albert  II.  to  Francis  II.,  Frederick  III.  was 
the  only  one  crowned  at  Rome. 

2  A  year  later,  however,  the  reforms  of  the  Council  were  adopted  by 
the  Emperor  and  Diet  at  Mainz  in  a  formal  Instrumenium  Acceptationis 
(March  26,  1439).     See  Gieseler,  vol.  iv.  p.  353. 

3  See  the  Pragmatique  Sanction,  or  La  Pragmatique  de  Bourges,  editel 
by  Pinson  (1666),  in  the  Ordinances  des  Kois  de  France  de  la  T,  oisieme 
Pace,  vol.  xiii.  p.  267. 

II— K  2 


182  THE  ANTIPOPE  FELIX  V.  Chap.  XI. 

affairs  in  the  hands  of  the  lower  clergy,  after  a  violent  discussion 
whether  preshyters  had  a  vote  or  only  a  consultative  voice.  The 
Cardinal  president,  Archbishop  of  Aries,  who  sided  with  the  extreme 
party,  caused  all  the  holiest  relics  of  saints  that  could  be  found  in 
Basle  to  be  placed  in  the  vacant  seats  of  the  bishops;  a  device 
which  moved  the  Council  to  tears !  With  such  overwrought 
feelings,  but  with  marked  dignity  and  decorum,  the  assembly  of 
about  400  clergy  (but  few  of  whom  were  bishops)  pronounced  the 
deposition  of  Eugenius  as  "  notoriously  and  obstinately  contumacious, 
a  violator  of  canons,  guilty  of  scandal  to  the  whole  Church ;  as 
simoniacal,  perjured,  incorrigibly  schismatic  and  obstinately 
heretical,  a  dilapidator  of  the  Church's  rights  and  property,  and 
unfit  to  administer  his  office"  (June  25th,  1439).  A  few  days 
later,  to  the  surprise  of  the  Council  itself,  the  ambassadors  of  the 
Emperor-elect  and  the  French  King  expressed  their  concurrence  in 
the  act,  and  added  an  apology  for  their  absence. 

During  the  interval  of  sixty  days  allowed  before  the  new  election, 
a  terrible  outbreak  of  plague  tried  the  stedfastness  both  of  the 
dying *  and  the  survivors  ;  but  the  few  who  left  Basle  returned  as  it 
abated,  and  the  session  of  September  17th  is  remarkable  for  its 
decree  affirming  the  Immaculate  Conception  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.2 
The  37th  session  (October  24th)  resolved  to  associate  with  their 
only  Cardinal  (the  Archbishop  of  Aries)  32  other  electors,  chosen 
from  all  nations  and  all  ranks  of  the  clergy ;  three  being  named 
by  the  Council  to  choose  the  rest.3  Out  of  seventeen  candidates 
named  at  first,  the  conclave  announced,  on  the  sixth  day,4  its  choice 
of  Amadeus,  Duke  of  Savoy,  who,  after  governing  his  duchy  for 
thirty-eight  years  with  high  reputation,  had  resigned  it  to  his  son 
(1434),  and  was  living  at  Eipaille,  on  the  south  shore  of  Lake 
Leman,  as  the  head  of  a  society  of  twelve  noble  hermits.5  Their 
life  seems  to  have  been  easy,  if  not  luxurious ;  but  the  character  of 
Amadeus  was  above  reproach,  and  the  objections  that  he  was  a 
layman  and  had  been  married  were  easily  overruled.  Yet  it  seemed 
to  Christendom  a  strange  choice,  of  an  aged  retired  prince  instead  of 

1  It  is  said  that  many,  with  the  last  sacrament  in  their  hands,  professed 
that  their  salvation  depended  on  their  renunciation  of  Eugenius.  ./Eneas 
Sylvius  was  one  of  the  few  stricken  who  recovered.  One  writer  (Rinaldi) 
regards  the  plague  as  a  judgment,  without  explaining  whether  those  who 
died  from  it  at  Ferrara  were  equal  sinners  with  those  at  Basle. 

2  The  schismatic  character  ascribed  to  the  Council  (a-t  all  events  after 
its  deposition  of  Eugenius)  deprived  this  decree  of  any  authority. 

3  One  of  these  was  a  Scotch  monk,  Thomas,  abbot  of  Dundrennan,  a 
Cistercian  house  in  the  diocese  of  Candida  Casa  (  Whitherne  in  Galloway). 

4  Nov.  5th,  confirmed  by  the  Council,  Nov.  17th,  1439. 

5  He  was  styled  Dean  of  St.  Maurice,  the  patron  saint  of  that  region. 
jEneas  suggests  that  his  retirement  was  a  scheme  to  prepare  for  his  eleva- 
tion to  the  Papacy,  but  this  is  improbable. 


A.D.  1440.  THE  EMPEROR  FREDERICK  III.  183 

a  bold  and  vigorous  prelate,  or  a  learned  canonist,  likely  to  fulfil  the 
hopes  of  a  complete  reformation  by  the  Council.  Perhaps  respectably 
neutral  qualities  were  thought  safest ;  and  it  seems  to  have  been 
supposed  that  Amadeus  could  for  a  time  supply  the  want  of  papal 
revenues  by  his  own  wealth,  and  ultimately  induce  his  powerful 
connections  to  establish  him  at  Home.  He  was  crowned  at  Basle 
with  great  splendour  as  Felix  V.  (July  23rd,  1440) ;  but  he  is  only 
reckoned  as  an  Antipope.  It  was  soon  seen  that  his  cause  was 
hopeless  ;  and  his  elevation  marks  the  epoch  of  the  Council's  rapid 
decline  in  power  and  repute.  Its  imposition  of  a  tax  on  vacant 
ecclesiastical  benefices  at  once  made  it  unpopular. 

The  King  of  France  expressed  his  disapproval  of  the  schism,  and 
wrote  from  Bourges,  exhorting  "  Monsieur  de  Savoye "  and  the 
Council  to  study  the  peace  of  the  Church.  Alfonso,  King  of 
Arragon,  was  after  some  time  induced  to  separate  himself  from  the 
Council  by  Eugenius's  recognition  of  his  claim  to  Naples,  against 
Rene  of  Anjou  (1443).1 

§  15.  Germany  resented  the  schism  as  a  breach  of  her  neutrality  ; 
but  the  Emperor  Albert  died  at  the  very  moment  of  the  election 
which  he  had  written  to  deprecate  (Nov.  5,  1439).  His  cousin,  the 
Duke  of  Styria  (b.  1415),  son  of  Ernest  the  Iron,  Duke  of  Austria, 
was  elected  as  Frederick  III.,2  King  of  the  Romans  (Feb.  4, 1440). 
His  inglorious  reign  of  53  years  marks  the  lowest  degradation  of  the 
Empire.  He  was  far  from  being  destitute  of  ability  and  good  sense ; 
but  his  tenacity  of  purpose  was  marred,  as  that  quality  often  is, 
with  constitutional  indolence.  He  was  signally  unfortunate ;  and 
his  want  of  decision  and  alleged  meanness  were  often  the  result  of 
the  want  of  wealth,  which  now  paralysed  the  Empire.  His  super- 
stitious weakness  gave  the  example  of  that  subservience  to  the 
Papacy,  which  became  the  hereditary  policy  of  his  line.  Though 
hitherto  favourable  to  the  Council,  he  shrank  from  the  schism,  and 
three  Diets  held  by  him  affirmed  the  neutrality  of  Germany.  iEneas 
Sylvius,  who  was  a  warm  partisan  of  Felix,  and  had  accepted  the 
post  of  his  secretary,  was  sent  on  an  embassy  to  Frederick,  which 

1  Joanna  II.  had  died  in  1435,  bequeathing  her  kingdom  to  Rene,  the 
brother  of  Louis  of  Anjou,  whom  the  Pope  was  disposed  to  favour,  while 
claiming  to  treat  Naples  as  a  lapsed  fief  of  the  Holy  See.  Alfonso  now 
added  to  his  former  claim  his  heirship  of  Manfred  and  the  Hohenstaufen. 
The  consequence  of  his  abandoning  the  Council  was  the  withdrawal  of 
Nicolas  of  Palermo,  who  gave  up  the  cardinalate  he  had  received  from  Felix. 

2  As  Emperor,  Frederick  is  variously  reckoned  as  the  Illrd,  IVth  ^r 
Vth  (according  as  former  claimants,  of  the  name,  are  recognized  or  not). 
Albert  Kranz  (Saxonia,  304)  likens  him  to  Fabius  Maxim  us  for  his  slowness 
in  action.  Rauke  gives  a  careful  estimate  of  his  character,  doing  justice 
to  his  better  qualities  {Hint,  of  the  Popes,  translated  by  Mrs.  Austin, 
vol.  i.  pp.  101-5). 


184  LAST  SESSION  OF  THE  COUNCIL.  Chap.  XI. 

proved  a  turning-point  in  his  own  fortunes.  The  Emperor  nattered 
his  literary  vanity,  and  made  him  his  poet  laureate  (July  1442). 
In  November,  Frederick  appeared  at  Basle,  but  in  the  avowed 
character  of  mediator,  treating  Felix  with  profound  respect,  but 
avoiding  any  recognition  of  his  title.  The  chief  result  of  his  visit 
was  the  transference  of  iEneas  to  his  own  service  as  secretary,  with 
the  reluctant  consent  of  Felix.  The  astute  Italian,  while  as  yet 
unchanged  in  his  convictions  of  the  Council's  right,  began  to  doubt 
both  the  motives  and  the  issue  of  the  conflict.  In  words  of  very 
wide  application,  he  says,  "  In  truth  the  quarrel  is  not  for  the  sheep 
but  for  the  wool ;  there  would  be  less  strife  were  the  Church  poor." 
In  accepting  the  Emperor's  service,  he  took  up  his  new  position  of 
neutrality,  and  resolved  to  secure  his  own  advancement  and  power 
by  a  steady  course  of  seeming  obedience  to  his  master's  weaker  will.1 
Meanwhile  Felix  withdrew  to  Lausanne,  on  the  plea  of  illness ; 
and  the  Council  of  Basle  held  its  45th  and  last  session  on  the  16th 
of  June,  1443,  when  Lyon  was  appointed  as  the  place  for  the  next 
General  Council,  to  be  held  according  to  the  decrees  of  Constance. 
As  a  protest,  however,  against  the  rival  assembly,  which  was  still 
sitting  at  Florence,2  the  Council  declared  its  continued  existence,- 
which  was  prolonged  in  form,  with  that  of  its  nominal  Pope,  for 
six  years  longer,  till  1449.  "  The  authority  of  this  assembly  has 
been  variously  estimated  within  the  Eoman  communion.  The 
more  moderate  divines  in  general  acknowledge  its  oecumenical 
character  as  far  as  the  26th  session,  i.e.  until  the  time  when 
Eugenius  proposed  to  transfer  it  to  Ferrara.  But  the  advanced 
Gallicans  maintained  its  authority  throughout ;  and  by  the  more 
extreme  Romanists  it  is  altogether  disavowed."  3 

1  See  his  own  frank  and  acute  avowals  cited  by  Milman,  vol.  viii.  p.  431. 
Here  is  a  hint  for  those  who  try  to  manage  affairs  by  reports  and  memorials, 
as  the  Archbishop  of  Palermo  was  labouring  to  do  at  Frankfort : — "  Stultus 
est  qui  putat  libellis  et  codicibus  movere  reges."  Soon  after  his  removal 
to  Vienna,  iEneas  took  holy  orders,  and  lived  for  a  time  on  the  small 
benefice  given  him  by  the  Emperor,  in  a  retired  valley  of  the  Tyrol, 
whence  he  removed  to  the  better  living  of  Auspac  in  Bavaria,  given  him 
by  the  Bishop  of  Passau.  He  attended  the  Diet  of  Nuremberg  (144-1), 
and  maintained  the  strict  neutrality  for  which  it  again  declared. 

2  See  the  next  Chapter. 

3  Robertson,  vol.  iv.  p.  437.  According  to  the  best  Roman  Catholic 
authorities,  this  Council,  so  far  as  it  is  accepted  at  all,  is  merged  in  that 
of  Ferrara  and  Florence,  as  the  consequence  of  its  removal  by  Eugenius  IV. 
Hence  the  XVIFth  CEcum< nical  Council  is  that  of  Basle- Ferrara- Florence, 
usually  styled  simply,  of  Florence.  (Hefele's  Conciliengeschichte ;  Her- 
genroether's  Kirchenaeschichte.  1879-80;  Alzog,  Manual  of  Universal 
Church  History,  translated  by  Tabish  and  Byrne,  ]  874-78.) 


Florence. 


CHAPTER  XII. 
THE  COUNCIL  OF  FERRARA  AND  FLORENCE. 

THE   XVIITH   (ECUMENICAL  OF   THE   ROMANS. 
END   OF   THE   COUNCIL   OF   BASLE.      A.D.    1438   TO    1447. 

1.  The  Greek  Empire  and  Church — Progress  of  the  Turks:  help  sought 
from  the  West — Former  overtures  for  Union — Embassies  from  Pope  and 
Council — John  Pal^eolocjus  II.  and  his  suite  at  Ferrara — Mark, 
Bessarion,  a  ,d  Syropulus — The  Council  removed  to  Florence.  §  2.  The 
four  chief  points  in  dispute — The  "  procession  "  and  Filioque — The 
Agreement  (Definite-).  §  3.  Death  of  the  Patriarch  Joasaph — Dissent 
of  Demetrius  and  Mark — Ceremony  of  Reconciliation.  §  4.  The  Agree- 
ment rejected  at  Constantinople — The  Council  ti-ansferred  to  Rome — 
Submission  of  other  Orientals.  §  5.  Crusade  against  the  Turks — 
Ladislaus,  Ces:irini,  and  Huniades — First  Successes — Disastrous  battle 
of  Varna — Sequel  of  the  Agreement — Constantink  XIII.  and  Maho- 
met II. — Mission  of  Cardinal  Isidore — Popular  feeling  agaii.st  the 
Latins.  §  6.  Quarrel  of  Eugenius  with  the  Germans — Mission  of 
iEneas  Sylvius  to  Rome — His  favour  with  the  Pope — Thomas  of  Sarzana. 
§7.  The  Diet  of  Frankfort — Diplomacy  of  ./Eneas — How  "Mainz  was 
captured" — New  German  compact.  §  .8.  /Eneas  again  at  Rome — 
The  dying  Pope  concludes  the  agreement — His  four  Bulls,  and  death 
— The  agreement  continued  by  Nicolas  V.      §  9.  The    Concordat   of 


186  THE  EASTERN  CHURCH.  Chap.  XII. 

Aschaffenburg — The  Council  of  Basle  dissolved — Resignation  and  death 
of  Felix  V.  §  10.  Archbishop  Trench  on  the  three  Great  Councils — 
Their  wrong  view  of  the  reformation  needed — Yet  not  total  failures — 
The  Hildebrandine  idea  rejected — They  mark  the  end  of  the  Middle  Age 
of  the  Church,  by  their  shock  to  the  Papal  dictatorship. 

§  1.  The  hollow  character  and  fruitless  result  of  the  last  effort, 
or  pretence  of  an  effort,  to  reunite  the  Greek  and  Latin  Churches, 
demands  but  a  brief  account  of  the  Council  held  by  Eugenius  IV., 
at  Ferrara  and  Florence,  in  opposition  to  that  of  Basle.1  It  belongs 
to  secular  history  to  follow  the  victories  of  the  Turks  in  Europe,  by 
which  the  Eastern  Empire  was  now  narrowed  to  the  environs  of 
Constantinople.  "  In  the  four  last  centuries  of  the  Greek  Emperors," 
says  Gibbon,  "  their  friendly  or  hostile  aspect  towards  the  Pope  and 
the  Latins  may  be  observed  as  the  thermometer  of  their  prosperity 
or  distress."  We  have  seen  how,  after  the  capture  of  Adrianople  by 
Amurath  I.,  the  Emperor  John  Palajologus  I.,  the  son  of  a  Latin 
mother,  Anne  of  Savoy,  went  in  person  to  propitiate  Urban  V.,  who 
made  a  vain  effort  to  kindle  an  Eastern  Crusade  (1369).  Thirty  years 
later,  his  son  Manuel  visited  France  and  England,  but  gained  only 
empty  honour.  The  overthrow  of  Bajazet  by  Timour  (1403)  gave  a 
respite,  which  was  prolonged  by  the  dissensions  of  the  Turks,  till 
Amurath  II.  laid  siege  to  Constantinople  in  1422.  Its  brave  resistance 
and  a  revolt  in  Asia  obtained  the  peace  which  allowed  the  new  Emperor, 
John  Palaeologus  II.  to  reign  over  the  city  as  the  Sultan's  tributary 
(L425).  Before  his  father's  death,  John  had  gone  to  Italy  in  search 
of  aid  (1423),  and  he  is  said  to  have  formed  the  idea  of  reuniting  the 
Empires  as  the  successor  of  Sigismund.  He  agreed  to  the  proposal 
of  Martin  V.,  that  he  and  other  Greeks  should  attend  a  Council  for 
accommodating  the  differences  between  the  Churches.  Not  to  dwell 
on  the  further  overtures  made  to  the  Greeks  by  the  Coimcil  and  the 
Pope,2  both  of  wThom  sent  fleets  to  Constantinople,  which  came  near 
illustrating  their  desire  of  union  by  a  battle  with  each  other, — the 
result  was  that  the  Greek  Emperor,  with  his  brother,  the  "  despot " 
Demetrius,  and  the  Patriarch  Joasaph,  attended  by  22  bishops  and 
a  large  train  of  clergy  and  monks,3  embarked   on   the   Venetian 

1  For  the  details,  see  Milman's  graphic  narrative,  c.  xiii.  vol.  viii. 
p.  365  f.,  and  Gibbon,  c.  xxxvii. 

2  Among  the  Pope's  envoys  was  Nicolas  of  Cusa,  the  former  leader  in 
the  Council. 

3  Among  the  attendants  of  the  Patriarch  was  the  Ecclesiast  (Preacher) 
Sylvester  Syropulus  (otherwise  called  Sguropulus,  ^yovpoirovXos)  who  (as 
Milman  puts  it)  M avenged  the  compulsion  laid  upon  him  to  follow  his 
master  to  Ferrara  and  Florence  by  writing  a  lively  and  bold  history  of 
the  whole  proceedings."     His  Vera  Hisloria  LT?iionis  non  Verse,  sen  Concilii 


A.D.  1438-9.  COUNCIL  OF  FERRARA  AND  FLORENCE.      187 

galleys  provided  by  the  Pope  (Nov.  29th,  1437),  and  were  welcomed 
with  great  ceremony  at  Venice  (Feb.  8th,  1438).  Here  they  first 
learned  the  decisive  breach  between  the  Pope  and  the  Council ;  and 
it  was  chiefly  by  the  persuasion  of  the  Legate  Cesarini  that  they 
decided  to  attend  the  Pope's  Council,  which  had  been  opened  in 
January  at  Ferrara.1  After  various  difficulties  of  etiquette  had 
been  adjusted — the  Pope  sitting  as  President  above  the  Emperor, 
and  the  Patriarch  on  a  level  with  the  Cardinals — the  preparatory 
discussions  were  opened  between  twelve  champions  on  either  side. 
Of  these  the  most  conspicuous,  among  the  Greeks,  were  the  rough 
outspoken  Mark  and  the  more  conciliatory  Bessarion,  archbishops 
of  Ephesus  and  Nicam ;  among  the  Latins,  Cardinal  Julian  Cesarini 
and  the  Spanish  Dominican  John,  provincial  of  Lombardy.2  But 
the  Greeks  soon  found  themselves  pressed  by  other  forces  besides 
argument :  the  Emperor's  resolve  to  effect  some  sort  of  union  as  the 
only  hope  of  help  against  the  Turks ;  the  disgrace  visited  on  the 
obstinate ;  and  the  cost  and  difficulty  of  needful  provisions,  which 
were  supplied  or  withheld  according  to  their  obedience.  Their 
troubles  were  increased  by  the  plague,3  which  gave  the  Pope  a 
pretext  for  transferring  the  Council  to  Florence  (Jan.  1439),  a  move 
which  roused  the  suspicions  of  the  Greeks. 

§  2.  Meanwhile  the  public  conferences  had  begun  on  the  four 
chief  points,  out  of  fifty  more  in  which  the  Greeks  were  held  to  be 
heretical ; 4   and  at  the  25th  session  the  Emperor  summed  up  the 

Flonntini  exactissima  Narratio,  was  edited,  with  a  free  Latin  Translation, 
bv  Rob.  Creighton,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells,  Hagae  Comitis, 
1660;  and  was  severely  criticized  in  the  Exercitationes  of  Leo  Allatius, 
Romae,  1665. 

1  From  its  removal  in  the  following  year,  it  is  usually  called  the 
Council  of  Florence.  Its  Acts,  both  in  Greek  and  Latin,  are  in  the 
Collections  of  Labbe  and  Cossart,  vol.  xiii ,  and  Harduin,  vol  viii.  See 
also  the  History  of  the  Council  of  Florence  from  the  Russian  of  B.  Popoff, 
edited  by  J.  M.  Neale,  Lond.  1861. 

2  Contrasting  Cesarini  with  Mark,  Syropulus  says  that,  although  the 
Cardinal  was  the  more  eloquent,  the  Archbishop  of  Ephesus  was  the 
stronger  and  more  solid.  The  principal  interpreter  was  Nicolas  Secondino, 
a  native  of  Negropont ;  but  we  are  told  that  St.  Bernard  of  Siena  received, 
in  answer  to  his  prayers,  the  gift  of  conversing  fluently  in  Greek,  a  tongue 
unknown  to  him. 

3  See  above,  p.  182.  As  a  sign  of  national  habits,  it  is  interesting  to 
read  that  the  chief  sufferers  were  the  Latins,  and  the  Russians  who  came 
in  the  train  of  their  Patriarch  Isidore,  himself  a  Greek. 

4  For  the  course  of  the  arguments,  especially  on  the  main  question  of 
the  "  Procession,"  see  Milman,  /.  c.  and  Robertson,  vol.  iv.  pp.  443  f.  It 
is  important  to  observe  that  the  Latins  acknowledged  themselves  unable 
to  trace  the  Filioque  in  the  Nicene  Creed  further  back  than  to  the  Frank 
Church  under  Charles  the  Great.     (See  Vol.  I.  of  this  work,  pp.  473-4.) 


188  COUNCIL  OF  FLORENCE.  Chap.  XII. 

discussion  by  leaving  the  Pope  to  devise  terms  of  union,  otherwise 
the  Greeks  would  return  home.  Ten  representatives  of  each  side 
at  length  agreed  on  a  Definition,1  which  was  drawn  up  in  Latin  by 
Ambrose  Traversari,  head  of  the  Camaldolite  order,  and  translated 
into  Greek  by  Bessarion.  (1.)  On  the  main  question  of  the  "  Pro- 
cession of  the  Holy  Ghost"  it  was  decided  that  the  difference  was 
only  in  the  form  of  expression ;  inasmuch  as  the  Latins  disavowed 
the  inference,  that  the  Holy  Spirit  proceeded  from  two  principles, 
which  was  the  ground  of  the  Greek  objection  to  the  words  Filioque. 
(2.)  As  to  the  use  of  leavened  or  unleavened  bread  in  the  Eucharist, 
the  consecration  of  either  was  valid,  and  each  Church  was  allowed 
to  retain  its  own  custom.  (3.)  The  doctrine  of  Purgatory  was 
affirmed,  but  as  to  its  nature  nothing  was  defined  against  the  opinion 
of  either  Church.  (4.)  The  Roman  Pontiff  was  declared  to  have  the 
primacy  of  the  whole  world,  as  the  successor  of  St.  Peter,  the  chief 
of  the  Apostles  and  true  vicar  of  Christ;  and  the  agreement 
"  renewed  the  order  "  of  the  other  patriarchal  sees  "  handed  down 
in  the  Canons,"  namely,  Constantinople  second,  Alexandria  third, 
Antioch  fourth,  Jerusalem  fifth,  "  saving  all  their  privileges  and 
rights."  Thus,  leaving  the  Eastern  Patriarchs  to  make  what  they 
might  out  of  this  saving  clause,  the  Pope  had  gained  the  one  sole 
object  of  his  ambition,  the  full  acknowledgment  of  his  supremacy. 
All  the  rest  was  unmeaning  compromise,  for  the  sake  of  a  formal 
concord 2  which  soon  proved  to  be  just  as  hollow. 

§  3.  The  Definition  was  subscribed  by  every  member  of  the  Coun- 
cil,— though  not  without  reluctance,  especially  on  the  part  of  some 
Greek  ecclesiastical  officers,  who  had  had  no  voice  in  the  debates, — 
with  three  remarkable  exceptions.  The  Patriarch  Joasaph,  who  had 
been  earnest  for  the  union,  was  spared  the  last  surrender  by  his  death 
(June  10th).  The  despot  Demetrius  refused  to  sign,  and  retired  to 
Venice ;  "  he  was  to  reap  his  reward  in  popularity,  hereafter  to  be 
dangerous  to  his  brother's  throne."  3     The  Archbishop  Mark,  whose 

1  The  Definitio  is  printed  in  Labbe  and  Cossart,  xiii.  p.  510  f.,  Harduin, 
vol.  ix.  p.  401  f. ;  and  Gieseler,  vol.  v.  pp.  206-7.  Each  of  the  forms, 
Greek  and  Latin  has  the  force  of  an  original. 

2  This  was  plainly  expressed  in  the  words  of  a  deacon  to  the  English 
ambassadors  who  met  the  Emperor  on  his  return.  "Neither  did  we  go 
over  to  the  doctrine  (8<$|t?)  of  the  Latins,  nor  the  Latins  to  that  of  the 
Greeks ;  but  the  doctrine's  were  considered  severally  by  each  party,  and 
were  found  to  be  accordant,  and  so  they  appeared  to  be  one  and  the  .same 
doctrine.  Wherefore  it  was  ordained  that  each  party  should  hold  the 
doctrine  that  it  had  held  till  now,  and  so  we  should  bo  united. " 
(Svicpulus,  p.  307,  ap.  Gieseler,  vol.  v.  p.  207.)  A  remarkable  case  of 
"agreeing  to  differ;"  but.  as  usual  in  such  cases,  the  difference  remained 
without  any  agreement  worth  the  name.  3   Milman,  vol.  viii.  p.  3i*8. 


A.D.  1439.  THE  HOLLOW  RECONCILIATION  189 

resistance  had  brought  him  into  hot  collision  with  the  Romanizing 
Bessarion,  had  obtained  the  Emperor's  promise  that  he  should  not 
be  compelled  to  sign ;  and  the  Pope's  prophetic  remark,  "  Then  we 
have  done  nothing  at  all !  "  acknowledged  in  Mark  the  true  voice  of 
the  Greek  Church.  For  the  present,  however,  Eugenius  celebrated 
his  triumph  in  the  magnificent  Cathedral  which  he  had  lately- 
consecrated,  after  it  had  been  150  years  in  building l  (July  6th, 
1439).  It  was  the  practical  reply  of  the  patriarch  of  reunited 
Christendom  to  his  deposition  at  Basle  just  a  week  before.  "  Nothing 
was  wanting  to  the  splendour  of  the  ceremony,  to  the  glory  of  the 
Pope.  After  Te  Deum  chanted  in  Greek,  Mass  celebrated  in  Latin, 
the  Creed  was  read,  with  the  Filioque.  Syropulus  would  persuade 
himself  and  the  world  that  the  Greeks  did  not  rightly  catch  the 
indistinct  and  inharmonious  sounds.  Then  the  Cardinal  Julian 
Cesarini  ascended  the  pulpit  and  read  the  Edict  in  Latin,  the 
Cardinal  Bessarion  in  Greek.  They  descended  and  embraced,  as 
symbolizing  the  indissoluble  unity  of  the  Church.  The  Edict  (it 
was  unusual)  ended  with  no  anathema."  2 

§  4.  While  the  Greeks  returned  by  Venice  to  Constantinople,  to 
find  their  submission  indignantly  repudiated,  Eugenius  transferred 
the  Council  to  Rome,  and  reopened  its  sessions  in  the  Church  of 
St.  John  Lateran  (Oct.  1443).  Here  the  formal  reconciliation  of  the 
Eastern  Church  was  completed  by  the  reception  of  deputies,  real  or 
pretended,  of  the  Copts,  Jacobites,  Maroni.tes,  and  Chaldasans  ;3  the 
Armenians  having  already  presented  themselves  at  Florence.  "  This 
frivolous  scene,"  as  it  is  justly  characterized  by  Gieseler,4  "  was 
evidently  intended  to  win  back  the  public  opinion  of  the  Western 
world  to  the  Pope,  by  the  appearance  of  a  general  union  of  all 
Christendom  under  the  papal  obedience,  and  to  overawe  and  bring  to 
submission  the  adherents  of  the  Council  of  Basle." 

§  5.  Meanwhile  the  Pope  had  endeavoured  to  fulfil  his  part  of 
the  alliance  with  the  Greeks  by  proclaiming  a  Crusade  against  the 

1  The  Duomo  of  Florence,  originally  the  church  of  Santa  Reparata, 
afterwards  dedicated  to  Santa  Maria  del  Fiore,  was  begun  in  1298  from 
the  designs  of  Arnolfo,  continued  by  many  architects,  among  whom  were 
Giotto,  Taddeo  Gaddi,  and  Andrea  Orcagna,  and  finished  by  Brunelleschi, 
who  completed  the  dome  in  1446.  For  a  full  description,  see  Murray's 
'  Handbook  for  Central  Italy,'  pp.  32  f. 

2  Milman,  vol.  viii.  p.  398.  But  it  is  a  slight  anticipation  to  call  Bes- 
sarion Cardinal.  Wisely  distrusting  the  effect  on  the  Greeks  of  the  part 
ne  had  taken  in  the  Council,  he  declined  the  vacant  patriarchate  of  Con- 
stantinople, accepted  the  reward  of  a  Cardinal's  hat  from  Eugenius,  and 
remained  at  Rome,  where  he  exercised  great  influence,  and  was  thrice 
near  being  elected  Pope. 

3  For  these  churches,  see  Vol.  I.  pp.  355,  379-383.         4  Vol.  v.  p.  409. 


190  LAST  CRUSADING  EFFORT  IN  THE  EAST.        Chap.  XII. 

Turks.  Though  England,  France,1  and  Germany,  were  too  much 
occupied  at  home  to  act  as  nations,  they  furnished  many  adventurers, 
attracted  by  what  Gibbon  calls  an  endless  treasure  of  indulgences ; 
and  an  enthusiatic  leader  was  found  in  young  Ladislaus,  King  of 
Poland  and  Hungary.  Cardinal  Julian  Cesarini,  who  had  preached 
the  holy  war  in  those  countries,  accompanied  the  Crusade,  which  was 
aided  by  the  military  skill  of  John  Huniades,  and  the  equipment  of 
fleets  from  Flanders,  Genoa,  and  Venice.  An  advance  to  Sophia, 
the  capital  of  Bulgaria,  with  two  considerable  victories,  brought  the 
Turks  to  sue  for  terms ;  and  both  parties  swore  to  a  ten  years' 
truce  (Aug.  1,  1444).  But  the  Cardinal  Julian,  who  had  held 
sullenly  aloof  from  the  negociations,  now  received  news  that 
the  fleets  of  Burgundy,  Genoa,  and  Venice,  were  in  the  Hellespont, 
while  the  Greeks  were  gaining  victories  in  Asia  Minor.  His  power 
of  absolution  persuaded  Ladislaus  to  break  the  truce  and  advance 
to  Varna,  where  the  fleets  were  expected.  But,  instead  of  their  aid, 
the  powerful  army  of  Amurath  had  been  transported  from  Asia  by 
the  perfidious  Genoese,  and  the  last  hope  of  Latin  help  for  the 
Greeks  perished  with  Ladislaus  and  10,000  Christians  in  the  fatal 
battle  of  Varna  (Nov.  10th,  1444).2 

It  is  convenient  here  to  follow  the  vain  attempt  at  reconciliation 
to  its  sequel.  John  Palaeologus,  having  been  compelled  by  popular 
feeling  to  repudiate  the  agreement  of  Florence,  was  succeeded  in 
1448  by  his  son  Constantine  XIII.,  the  last  Emperor  of  New 
Rome  ;  and  three  years  later  the  moderation  of  Amurath  II.  was 
replaced  by  the  youthful  vigour  of  his  son  Mahomet  II.,  the 
destined  conqueror  of  Constantinople.3  On  his  renewal  of  war 
(1452),  Constantine  turned  again  to  Rome  with  professions  of 
penitence,  and  the  Cardinal  Isidore,  a  Greek  and  former  metro- 
politan of  Russia,  was  sent  to  renew  the  reconciliation.  But  the 
Latin  forms  used  in  a  solemn  thanksgiving  at  St.  Sophia  provoked 
the  popular  indignation.  The  church  was  avoided  as  if  it  were  "  a 
Jewish  synagogue;"4  the  ministrations  of  the  Romanizing  clergy 
were  refused.  So  violent  was  the  feeling  against  the  Latins,  that 
a  great  officer  declared  "  that  he  would  rather  see  a  Turkish  turban 
than  a  cardinal's  hat  in  Constantinople."  5  As  in  the  last  days  of 
Jerusalem,  the  religious  factions  aggravated  the  terrors  of  the  siege 
and  helped  to  paralyze  the  defence  ;  the  Greeks  were  disputing 

1  It  was  now  the  very  crisis  of  the  expulsion  of  the  English  from  France 
and  the  eve  of  the  Wars  of  the  Roses. 

2  The  legate  Cesarini  perished  in  the  flight ;  but  the  manner  of  his 
death  is  variously  related. 

3  See  his  character  drawn  by  Gibbon  (Stu<1e7it's  Gibbon,  p.  622). 

4  Ducas,  pp.  143,  148.  5  Ibid.  p.  146. 


A.D.  1445.  EUGENIUS  AND  THE  GERMANS.  191 

over  a  text,  while  the  Turk,  the  derider  of  all  their  texts,  was 
thundering  at  their  gates.1 

§  6.  Though,  as  we  have  seen,  the  imperial  diet  maintained  its 
neutrality  in  the  papal  schism,  the  policy  of  Frederick  III.  was 
guided  by  iEneas  Silvius  towards  a  reconciliation  with  Eugenius. 
Disregarding  all  warnings  of  personal  danger,  the  former  anti-papal 
leader  and  secretary  of  Felix  went  on  a  mission  to  Eome,  and  con- 
vinced the  Pope  of  his  true  penitence  and  the  wisdom  of  making  a 
friend  of  such  a  man  as  himself  (1445).2  But  Eugenius  evaded  the 
Emperor's  chief  demand,  for  a  new  Council  to  be  held  in  Germany ; 
and,  overrating  his  own  strength  and  the  submissiveness  of  Frederick, 
he  deposed  the  Archbishops  of  Treves  and  Cologne  for  the  part  they 
had  taken,  both  in  the  Council  of  Basle  and  as  Electors,  in  favour  of 
neutrality.  This  sentence  kindled  a  flame  in  Germany :  six  of  the 
seven  Electors,  including  the  two  Archbishops,  met  at  Frankfort, 
and  bound  themselves  by  a  secret  agreement  to  join  the  Antipope, 
unless  Eugenius  would  agree  to  certain  practical  reforms  and  to  the 
regular  holding  of  General  Councils,  with  an  admission  of  their 
authority  according  to  the  decrees  of  Constance  and  Basle.  The 
Emperor,  who  was  informed  of  the  agreement  without  a  pledge  of 
secresy,  sent  iEneas  Sylvius  to  Home  (1445) ;  and,  though  joined 
with  a  rougher  colleague,  Gregory  of  Heimburg,3  he  paved  the  way 
to  reconciliation  with  such  address,  that  the  Pope  invited  him  to 
become  his  secretary.4 

1  For  the  final  catastrophe,  see  Chap.  XIII.  §  6. 

2  On  this  and  his  subsequent  mission  ./Eneas  was  aided  by  the  mediation 
of  Thomas  of  Sarzana,  bishop  of  Bologna  (the  future  Pope  Nicolas  V.), 
the  only  one  of  the  curia  who  at  tirst  looked  coldly  on  his  professions  of 
penitence,  but  who  showed  him  great  kindness  when  he  fell  ill.  ^Eneas,  who 
had  at  first  refused  to  humble  himself  before  the  Cardinal's  severe  virtue, 
adds  this  reflection  on  his  own  conduct — "  Si  scisset  ./Eneas  futurum 
Papam,  omnia  tolerasset !"  Thomas  was  not  made  a  Cardinal  till  Dec. 
1446,  at  the  same  time  with  John  of  Carvajal. 

3  ./Eneas  describes  Gregory  as  "  the  most  eminent  among  the  Germans 
for  eloquence  and  learning;  a  man  of  fine  person,  but  rough  in  manner, 
and  careless  of  his  appearance,  whose  sturdy  German  patriotism  regarded 
the  Italians  with  dislike  and  contempt."  (Hist.  Frid.  123.  Robertson, 
vol.  iv.  p.  463.) 

4  ./Eneas  accepted  this  offer  somewhat  later,  and  was  continued  in  the 
office  by  Nicolas  V.  He  meditates  with  his  usual  frankness  on  his  wonderful 
fortune  in  having  been  secretary  to  three  cardinals  and  as  many  Popes 
(though  one  of  them,  Felix,  was  not  genuine — adulterum),  while  to  the 
Emperor  he  was  not  only  secretary,  but  a  councillor,  and  crowned  with 
the  honour  of  a  princedom  : — all  of  which  he  imputes,  not  to  luck  but  to 
God,  the  ruler  and  governor  of  all  things.  Epist.  clzzzviii.  p.  760; 
comp.  the  passage  from  his  autobiographical  Commentaries  in  Milman, 
vol.  viii.  p.  439. 


192  DIPLOMACY  OF  .ENEAS  SYLVIUS.  Chap.  X1L 

§  7.  iEneas  left  Rome  in  company  with  Thomas  of  Sarzana,  who  had 
a  mission  to  the  Duke  of  Burgundy  on  the  way.  At  Frankfort  the 
Diet  was  assembled  in  full  state,  though  Frederick  was  not  there  in 
person  (Sept.  1,  1446).  The  Pope  was  represented  by  his  legates, 
the  Spaniard  John  of  Carvajal  and  Nicolas  of  Cusa  (besides  Thomas 
of  Sarzana,  when  he  arrived)  ;  the  Antipope  Felix  and  the  Council 
of  Basle  by  the  Cardinal  of  Aries,  John  of  Lysura,  and  others,  from 
whom  iEneas  had  to  bear  some  sharp  taunts  for  his  desertion.  But 
his  temper  and  tact  prevailed,  aided  by  the  free  use  of  money  and  a 
diplomatic  artifice,  as  bold  as  it  was  astute.  The  great  object  of 
the  Emperor  and  Pope  was  to  break  up  the  compact  of  the  Electors 
by  any  means.  "  Mainz  was  taken  " — that  is,1  the  Archbishop  was 
bribed,  though  he  refused  all  offers  for  himself,  with  2000  florins 
divided  among  his  four  chief  councillors.  But  the  spiritual  prince 
required  a  plausible  excuse  for  breaking  his  sworn  faith  ;  so  iEneas 
took  in  hand  the  notes  of  the  compact  made  by  the  Electors, 
"  taking  out  of  them  all  the  venom,  and  composed  new  notes,"  to 
which  he  pledged  his  opinion  that  Eugenius  would  consent.2  The 
Electors  of  Mainz  and  Brandenburg,  with  other  princes  and  bishops, 
signed  the  new  agreement  in  private  ;  and  its  support  by  a  majority 
of  the  Diet  overawed  the  three  dissentient  Electors  of  Treves, 
Cologne,  and  Saxony.  As  a  further  security,  the  Emperor's  envoys 
made  a  new  treaty  with  the  princes  who  supported  them,  to  send 
a  mission  to  Eugenius,  at  Christmas,  to  offer  the  submission  of  the 
German  nation  if  he  would  approve  the  new  agreement.  "  The 
Diet  broke  up ;  the  three  Electors  departed  in  indignation ;  the 
ambassadors  of  Basle  in  sorrow  and  discomfiture."  3 

§  8.  iEneas  and  his  colleagues  found  the  Pope  near  his  end,  but 
determined,  before  he  died,  to  complete  the  agreement  with  the 
Emperor  and  the  Germans.  The  opposition  of  nearly  all  the 
Cardinals  was  overborne  by  a  threat  of  new  creations;  and  the 
legates,  Thomas  of  Sarzana  and  John  Carvajal,  were  at  once  added, 
with  two  others,  to  the  Sacred  College.  iEneas  pressed  on  the 
agreement,  lest  the  work  should  have  to  be  begun  again,  and  a 

1  Literally  "  He  of  Mainz  "  was  stormed.  See  the  full  account  given 
by  .Eneas  with  his  usual  frankness.  Hist.  Friderici  III.,  p.  125  f., 
quoted  by  Gieseler,  vol.  iv.  pp.  340   1. 

2  The  purport  of  this  document  was  that  the  Archbishops  should  be 
restored,  and  the  authority  of  ihe  Council  safeguarded  ;  this  general  phrase 
being  purposely  left  open  to  mean  either  the  Council  of  Basle,  or  the  new 
Council  which  was  proposed. 

3  Milman,  vol.  viii.  p.  445;  iEneas  gives  an  account  of  the  embassy  to 
Rome,  the  death  of  Eugenius  IV.,  and  the  election  and  coronation  of 
Nicolas  V.,  in  a  speech  to  the  Emperor.  Frederick.  Baluzii  Miscell.  lib. 
vii.  p.  525  foil. 


A.D.  1447.   DEATH  OF  EUGENIUS  IV.  THE  CONCORDAT.   193 

new  election  might  even  create  a  new  schism.  Eugenius  lived  just 
long  enough  to  issue  four  Bulls,  accepting  the  decrees  of  Constance 
in  general,  and  in  particular  those  relating  to  General  Councils; 
sanctioning  such  of  the  decrees  of  Basle  as  had  been  accepted 
by  the  Germans  under  the  Emperor  Albert ;  reinstating  the  deprived 
Archbishops  on  their  acknowledgment  of  Eugenius  as  the  true  Vicar 
of  Christ ;  and  forgiving  all  who  had  taken  part  in  the  proceedings 
at  Basle,  on  their  submission.  A  fifth  Bull  declared  that  nothing  in 
the  agreement  should  infringe  on  the  privileges  of  the  Church. 

From  the  morrow  of  the  day  when  this  restoration  of  concord 
with  the  Empire  was  celebrated  with  brilliant  rejoicings  at  Rome 
(Feb.  5th,  1447)  the  Pope  sank  rapidly ;  and  on  the  23rd  he  died, 
expressing  his  regret  that  he  had  not  lived  and  died  a  simple  monk. 
"  The  dead  which  he  slew  at  his  death  were  more  than  they  which 
he  slew  in  his  life ; " *  for  his  dying  acts  extinguished  the  long- 
lived  hostile  Council  and  the  last  papal  schism ;  and  their  end  must 
be  recorded  before  tracing  the  brilliant  era  of  his  successor.  The 
new  Pope,  Nicolas  V.,  at  once  assured  iEneas  Sylvius  of  his  resolve 
to  hold  a  middle  course  between  the  undue  assumption  of  authority 
by  former  Popes  over  other  bishops,  and  the  pretension  of  the 
Council  of  Basle  to  shorten  his  hands ;  and  iEneas,  rewarded  with 
the  bishopric  of  Trieste,  and  carrying  with  him  a  written  confir- 
mation of  the  agreement,  returned  to  Germany  to  give  effect  to 
the  Pope's  designs. 

§  9.  The  versatile  Italian,  able  for  a  time  at  least  to  serve  two 
masters,  aided  the  papal  legate  Carvajal  in  obtaining  from  the  Em- 
peror all  that  Piome  could  now  ask,  by  the  Concordat  of  Aschaffenburg 
(Feb.  17th,  1448),  which  the  Electors  were  bribed  with  privileges, 
patronage,  exemptions,  and  the  like,  to  ratify.  The  Pope  was  to 
have  annates  and  reservations,  with  a  mere  change  of  form ;  the 
acceptance  of  the  decrees  of  Basle  by  the  Diet  at  Mainz  (1439) *  was 
set  aside,  and  Germany  was  again  placed  under  the  burthens  that 
she  had  struggled  against  for  fifty  years.  In  consequence  of  this 
agreement,  the  Emperor  formally  withdrew  his  protection  from  the 
Council  of  Basle,  and  forbad  the  city  to  harbour  it,  under  penalty  of 
the  imperial  ban.  A  decent  if  not  dignified  end  was  arranged  by  a 
conference  at  Lyon  between  the  Cardinal  President  and  envoys  of 
the  French  and  English  kings.  Felix  announced  to  the  remnant  of 
the  Council,  which  had  joined  him  at  Lausanne,  that  he  resigned  his 
dignity  for  the  sake  of  the  peace  of  the  Church  (April  7th,  1449); 
his  eight  cardinals  went  through  the  form  of  electing  "Thomas 
of  Sarzana "  as  Pope ;  and  the  Council  declared  itself  dissolved 
1  Judges  xvi.  3.  2  See  p.  181,  n.  2. 


194  END  OF  THE  COUNCIL  OF  BASLE.  Chap.  XIL 

April  25th).  This  quiet  close  of  the  schism  was  confirmed  by  the 
moderation  of  Nicolas.  Amadeus  himself,  invested  with  the  nominal 
dignities  of  premier-cardinal  and  legate  for  Savoy  and  Piedmont, 
survived  only  one  or  two  years  in  his  old  retreat  at  Ripaille.  The 
cardinals  created  by  him  were  enrolled  in  the  Sacred  College ; 
even  the  Archbishop  of  Aries  was  left  unmolested,  and,  dying  in 
the  following  year  (1450),  ultimately  received  the  honour  of 
beatification  from  Clement  VII.  m  1527. 

§  10.  Thus  ended  at  once,  with  the  last  papal  schism,  the  series 
of  Great  Councils  of  the  15th  century,  which  gave  the  Church  of 
Rome  its  last  opportunity  of  reformation  from  within.  It  remains 
for  us  to  ask,  with  Archbishop  Trench,1  "  Shall  we  lament  the 
defeat  of  so  many  well-intended  efforts  for  the  Church's  good  ? 
Have  we  reason  to  suppose  that  there  was  any  real  help  for  a  Church, 
sick  at  heart,  sick  throughout  all  her  members,  any  true  healing  for 
her  hurts,  in  that  which  these  councils  proposed  to  effect ;  assum- 
ing that  they  had  been  able  to  bring  this  about,  instead  of  succumbing, 
they  and  their  handiwork,  before  the  superior  craft  and  skill  which 
were  arrayed  against  them  ?  1  cannot  believe  it.  The  Gersons,  the 
Clemangises,  the  d'Aillys,  with  the  other  earnest  Doctrinaires  who 
headed  this  movement, — let  them  have  the  full  meed  of  honour  which 
is  their  due ;  but,  with  all  their  seeing,  they  did  not  see  what  is  now 
most  plain  to  us ;  they  only  most  inadequately  apprehended  the 
sickness  wherewith  the  Church  was  sick.  For  them  the  imperious 
necessity  of  the  time  was  a  canonically  chosen  Pope,  and  one  who,  it 
inclined  to  go  wrong,  might  find  the  law  of  the  Church  too  strong 
for  him ;  when  indeed  what  the  time  needed  was,  no  Pope  at  all ; 
what  it  wanted  was,  that  the  profane  usurpation  by  a  man  of  the 
offices  of  Christ, — kingly,  priestly,  prophetical, — should  cease 
altogether;  that  the  standing  obstacle  of  the  Church's  unity, — a 
local  centre  for  a  divine  Society,  whose  proper  centre,  being  the 
risen  and  ascended  Lord,  was  everywhere,  should  be  removed. 
They  would  admit  no  errors  of  doctrine  in  the  Church,  but  only 
abuses  in  practice  ;  wholly  refused  to  see  that  the  abuses  were  rooted 
in  the  errors,  drew  all  their  poisonous  life  from  them,  and  that  blows 
stricken  at  the  roots  were  the  only  blows  which  would  profit.  So  far 
from  admitting  this,  the  most  notable  feat  which  in  all  their  course 
they  had  accomplished  was  the  digging  up  of  the  bones  of  a  dead  man, 
and  the  burning  of  a  living  man  who  had  invited  them  to  acknow- 
ledge their  errors  and  to  amend  them. 

"And  yet,  failure  upon  failure  as  these  Councils  had  proved, 
wholly  as  every  gain  which  they  seemed  to  have  secured  for  the 

1  Lectures  on  the  Medieval  Church,  pp.  305  f. 


A.D.  1449. 


THE  THREE  REFORMING  COUNCILS. 


195 


Church  was  again  lost  before  many  years  had  elapsed,  total  failures 
they  were  not.  They  played  their  part  in  preparing  the  Church  for 
a  truer  deliverance  than  any  which  they  themselves  could  have  ever 
wrought.  The  Hildebrandine  idea  of  the  Church, — a  society,  that  is, 
in  which  only  one  person  has  any  rights  at  all, — this  idea,  questioned 
debated,  denied,  authoritatively  condemned,  could  never  dominate 
the  Church  and  world,  as  for  nearly  three  centuries  it  had  done. 
The  decrees  of  the  Councils  might  be  abrogated,  and  their  whole 
legislation  abolished ;  but  it  was  not  possible  to  abolish  from  men's 
minds  and  memories  that  such  once  had  been.  There  needed  many 
blows,  and  from  many  quarters,  to  overthrow  so  huge  and  strong- 
built  a  fabric  as  that  of  the  medieval  Papacy.  By  the  Councils  one 
of  these  blows  was  stricken" 

This  judgment  of  the  Protestant  Archbishop  is  strikingly  con- 
firmed by  the  terse  sentence  of  the  French  Ultramontane  historian 
Capefigue  :  "  I  consider  the  Councils  of  Constance  and  Bale  and  the 
Pragmatic  Sanction  as  the  three  acts  which  end  the  Middle  Age 
of  the  Church,  by  the  shock  they  gave  to  the  powerful  and  holy 
dictatorship  of  the  Popes." 


Medal  of  John  Pala'ologus  IT.,  by  Pisani.    (Reverse.)    The  Emperor,  travelling 
through  a  mountainous  country,  is  stopping  in  prayer  before  a  Latin  cross. 


Interior  of  St.  P*  ter's,  at  Rome. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
OUTWARD  REVIVAL  OF  THE  PAPACY. 

AGE    OF    THE    RENAISSANCE. 
COLAS    V.  CALIXTUS   III.      PR'S   II.      PAUL   II.      A.D.    1447-H71. 

1.  The  culmination  of  Latin  Christianity — New  Epoch  in  Art  and 
Letters.  §  2.  Election  and  Character  of  Nicolas  V. — The  Pacification 
of  Italy.  §  3.  The  Great  Jubilee  of  1450— Its  results  in  Europe.  §  4. 
Frederick  III.  in  Italy :  his  Marriage  and  Coronation.  §  5.  Roman 
Republicanism  :  Conspiracy  of  Porcaro — Its  evil  influence  on  the  Pope. 
§  6.  Constantinople  taken  by  the  Turks  (145.3)— Effect  on  the  West — 
A  Crusade  proclaimed.  §  7.  Death  of  Nicolas  (1455) — His  Love  of 
Letters  —  Revival  of  Learning— Influx  of  Greeks  into  Italy.      §  8.  Greek 


A.D.  1447.  EPOCH  OF  NICOLAS  V.  197 

Teachers  and  Translators — Laurentius  Valla — Invention  of  Printing. 
§  9.  Buildings  of  Nicolas  V.  at  Rome  :  St.  Peter's,  the  Vatican,  &c. 
§  10.  Election  of  Alfonso  Borgia  as  Calixtus  III.  §  11.  His  zeal  for  the 
Crusade — Opposition  in  Europe — The  Gcrmania  of  ./Eneas  Sylvius.  §  12. 
The  Pope's  Nepotism — Roderigo  and  Peter  Borgia — Death  of  Calixtus 
(1458).  §  13.  Election  of  iEneas  Sylvius  Piccolomini  as  Pius  II.  §14. 
His  devotion  to  the  Crusade — Congress  at  Mantua:  inadequate  response 
of  the  Powers.  §  15.  Zeal  of  Pius  for  the  Papacy — The  Bull  Execrahilis 
and  Bull  of  Retractation.  §  16.  Louis  XI.  revokes  the  Pragmatic 
Sanction.  §  17.  Progress  of  the  Turks — The  Pope's  Letter  to  Mahomet 
II. — Pius  sets  out  in  Person  for  the  Crusade — His  Death  (1464).  §  18. 
Character  of  Paul  II.  §  19.  Heathenism  in  the  revival  of  Letters : 
the  College  of  Abbreviators :  persecution  of  Platina,  the  papal  bio- 
grapher. §  20.  Fruitless  Efforts  for  the  Crusade — First  use  of  Printing 
at  Rome— Death  of  Paul  II. 

§  1.  Dean  Milman1  marks  the  pontificate  of  Nicolas  V.  (1447- 
1455)  as  "  the  culminating  point  of  Latin  Christianity  ;"  nor  is  this 
inconsistent  with  the  judgment  cited  at  the  close  of  the  preceding 
chapter.  True,  the  papal  autocracy,  which  had  been  declining 
from  Innocent  III.  to  Boniface  VIII.,  had  been  compelled  to  yield, 
at  Constance  and  Basle,  to  the  control  of  an  ecclesiastical  aristocracy 
in  a  General  Council ;  but  the  great  object  of  those  reformers  was 
to  strengthen  the  Hierarchy,  not  to  yield  a  jot  of  the  creed  of  the 
Church,  or  of  its  powrer  over  the  conscience.  "It  was  not  that 
Christendom  might  govern  itself,  but  that  they  themselves  might 
have  a  more  equal  share  in  the  government."  In  the  contest  with 
the  Council  of  Basle  and  its  Antipope,  the  practical  victory  remained 
with  Rome ;  and  she  spent  another  half  century  in  enjoying  and 
improving  it  in  her  own  fashion,  heedless  of  the  warning  that, 
unless  there  were  a  reformation  of  discipline  and  administration, 
from  the  head  throughout  the  members,  there  would  be  a  compul- 
sory reformation  rising  upward  from  below,  and  not  effected  without 
violence  and  schism.2 

The  revolutionary  reform  thus  rendered  necessary  was  forwarded 
by  the  artistic  and  intellectual  revival — the  boasted  Renaissance — 
which  gave  new  outward  splendour  to  the  last  age  of  the  medieval 
Papacy.  It  was  for  evil  and  good  strangely  mingled  that  "  Latin 
Christianity  had  yet  to  discharge  some  part  of  its  mission.  It  had 
to  enlighten  the  world  with  letters,  to  adorn  it  with  arts.  It  had 
hospitably  to  receive  (a  gift  fatal  in  the  end  to  its  own  dominion), 
and  to  promulgate  to  mankind,  the  poets,  historians,  philosophers, 

1  History  of  Latin  Christianity,  vol.  viii.  p.  448.  Respecting  the  Anti- 
pope,  who  bore  the  same  title  in  1328-9,  see  Chap.  X.  §  10. 

2  For  such  warnings  by  Peter  d'Ailly,  Julian  Cesarini,  and  others,  see 
Gieseler,  vol.  iv.  p.  439. 

II— L 


198  PAPACY  OF  NICOLAS  V.  Chap.  XIII. 

of  Greece.  It  had  to  break  down  its  own  idols,  the  Schoolmen,  and 
to  substitute  a  new  idolatry,  that  of  Classical  Literature.  It  had  to 
perfect  Christian  art."1 

§  2.  The  spirit  of  the  age  was  well  represented  in  the  new  pontiff, 
whose  election  was  due  to  one  of  those  accidents  not  unfrequent  in 
the  Conclave,  where  nicely-balanced  parties  suddenly  united  their 
votes  on  some  one  not  at  first  thought  of  (March  6, 1447).2  Thomas 
Parentuccelli,  or  Thomas  of  Sarzana  (his  mother's  native  place),3 
was  born  at  Pisa  in  1398 ;  and,  in  spite  of  difficulties  from  the 
harshness  of  a  stepfather,  he  studied  at  Bologna  with  great  success 
and  reputation.  Such  was  his  univeral  science,  that  iEneas  Sylvius 
says  anything  hidden  from  him  must  be  beyond  the  knowledge  of 
man.  The  name  he  took  as  Pope  marked  his  gratitude  to  his  early 
patron,  Cardinal  Nicolas  Albergati,  in  whose  family  he  spent  twenty 
years.  The  ability  he  displayed  in  controversy  with  the  Greeks  at 
Florence  had  been  lately  rewarded  by  Eugenius  with  the  bishopric 
of  Bologna,  where  as  Legate  he  was  active  and  popular,  and  with  a 
cardinal's  hat.  In  person  he  was  small  and  spare ;  of  affable  and 
unassuming  manners.  iEneas  Sylvius,  speaking — as  we  have  seen4 
— from  personal  experience,  describes  him  as  hasty,  but  placable  ; 
friendly,  but  there  was  no  friend  with  whom  he  was  not  sometimes 
angry ;  neither  revengeful  nor  forgetful  of  wrongs.  The  complaint 
of  undue  trust  in  his  own  judgment,  and  wishing  to  do  everything 
himself,  perhaps  marks  the  limit  of  the  great  confidence  which  he 
reposed  in  iEneas,  who  became  the  energetic  minister  of  the  Pope's 

1  Milman,  /.  c.  p.  449.  A  recent  work  of  the  highest  value  for  the 
period  down  to  the  Reformation  is  "  The  History  of  the  Renaissance  in  Italy, 
by  John  Addington  Symonds."  This  work  traces  the  Pagan  spirit  which 
infected  the  revival  of  classical  learning,  as  an  almost  inevitable  reaction 
from  the  utterly  corrupt  Christianity  of  the  age  ;  and  the  deep  moral  degra- 
dation of  society,  especially  in  Italy,  and  in  particular  of  the  Papacy, 
which  attended  the  new  splendour  of  art  and  letters,  except  in  the  few 
who  applied  themselves  earnestly  to  a  religious  reformation.  For  all  but 
those  few,  the  collapse  of  the  doctrinal  and  ecclesiastical  system,  which  had 
governed  the  mind  and  conscience  of  Europe  for  a  thousand  years,  involved 
the  abandonment  of  the  very  foundations  of  Christian  morality. 

2  The  papal  elections,  especially  in  this  age,  furnished  many  examples 
of  what  was  called  the  vote  by  access,  that  is,  when,  after  an  indecisive 
ballot  in  the  forenoon,  an  elector  (or  more  than  one)  revoking  his 
morning's  ballot,  transfers  his  vote  to  some  one  whose  name  had  that 
morning  already  come  out  of  the  ballot-box,  or  to  an  entirely  new  candidate. 
(Cartwright  on  P<ip  I  Conclaves,  l.">4.) 

3  The  chief  authorities  are  the  Lives  of  Nicolas  V.  by  Vespasiano  and 
Manetti  (in  Muratori)  and  Georgi,  Pom.  1742  ;  ./Eneas  Sylvius ;  and 
Bartholomew  Platina  (papal  officer  under  Pius  II.  &c,  ■  b.  1481),  Vitx 
P,,ntificum  Romano  mm,  Venet.  1479,  continued  by  the  Augustinian 
Onofrio  Panvini  (6.  1568),  Venet.  1562,  and  reprints. 

*  See  Chap  XII.  p.  191,  n.  2. 


A.D.  1450.  PACIFICATION  OF  ITALY.  199 

desire  to  recover  the  prerogatives  that  had  "been  shorn  at  Constance 
and  Basle.  We  have  seen  how  he  confirmed  the  agreement  with 
Germany,1  whither  iEneas  returned  rewarded  with  the  bishopric  of 
Trieste  and  confirmed  in  the  office  of  papal  secretary. 

The  new  Pope  was  free  from  that  vice  of  nepotism,  by  which 
several  of  his  predecessors  and  successors  vainly  tried  to  establish 
their  kinsmen  in  principalities.  "  Hitherto  these  families  had 
taken  no  root,  had  died  out,  sunk  into  obscurity,  or  had  been  beaten 
down  by  common  consent  as  upstart  usurpers.  Nicolas  V.  laid  the 
foundations  of  his  power,  not  so  much  in  the  strength  of  the  Koman 
see  as  a  temporal  sovereignty,  as  in  the  admiration  and  gratitude  of 
Italy,  which  was  rapidly  reported  over  the  whole  of  Christendom. 
He  kept  in  pay  no  large  armies ;  his  Cardinals  were  not  Condottieri 
generals ;  he  declared  that  he  would  never  employ  any  arms  but 
those  of  the  Cross  of  Christ.  But  he  maintained  the  Estates  of 
the  Church  in  peace ;  he  endeavoured  (and  the  circumstances  of 
the  times  favoured  that  better  policy)  to  compose  the  feuds  of 
Italy,  raging  at  least  with  their  usual  violence.  He  was,  among 
the  few  Popes,  really  a  great  Pacificator  in  Italy."2  While  pre- 
serving neutrality  in  the  contests  between  Spain  and  France  in 
Naples,  between  the  Florentines  and  Venetians,  and  in  that  which 
established  the  Sforzas  in  the  duchy  of  Milan,  he  recovered  the 
tributary  allegiance  of  the  chieftains  who  had  usurped  the  domains 
of  the  Church  in  the  Romagna. 

§  3.  The  peace  and  security  thus  established  helped  to  make  the 
Jubilee  of  1450  the  greatest,  and  the  most  fruitful  to  the  treasury 
of  Home,  since  the  first  Jubilee,  kept  by  Boniface  VIII.  and  cele- 
brated by  Dante,  a  century  and  a  half  before.  The  papal  collectors 
and  vendors  of  indulgences  had  been  busy  throughout  Christendom, 
not  indeed  without  provoking  discontent  and  opposition,  especially 
in  Germany.3  But  the  twofold  temptation  of  the  present  pleasure 
and  future  recompense  of  the  pilgrimage  was  still  too  strong  for  the 
reforming  spirit.     The  pilgrims  who  flocked  to  Rome  are  likened  to 

1  Chap.  XII.  p.  193. 

2  Milman,  viii.,  p.  455.  The  details  of  the  contests  referred  to  belong  to 
civil  history. 

3  "  In  1449,  a  collector  and  vendor  of  indulgences  levied  in  Prussia  7845 
marks  :  for  indulgences,  3241,  for  Peter's  pence,  4604  "  (Milman,  vol.  viii. 
p.  456).  The  Teutonic  knights  at  first  refused  to  publish  the  Bull ;  but  they 
afterwards  paid  the  Pope  1000  ducats  for  the  privilege  of  themselves  dis- 
pensing the  indulgences  of  the  Jubilee  to  those  who  should  perform 
devotions  and  alms  in  their  own  country;  and  a  similar  compromise  was 
made  by  Philip,  Duke  of  Burgundy.  Even  Nicolas  of  Cusa,  the  papal 
legate  in  Germany,  when  asked  whether  a  monk  might  go  on  pilgrimage 
without  leave  of  his  abbot,  quoted  Pope  Nicolas  himself  for  the  opinion 
that  obedience  is  better  than  indulgences  (Robertson,  vol.  iv.  p.  479). 


200  CORONATION  OF  FREDERICK  III.  Chap.  XIII. 

flights  of  starlings  and  swarms  of  ants ;  more  than  400,000  daily- 
walked  through  the  streets  and  filled  the  churches ;  and  an  acci- 
dental stoppage  of  the  two  crowds,  passing  the  bridge  of  St.  Angelo 
to  and  from  a  display  of  the  holy  Veronica,1  cost  the  lives  of  200 
persons  crushed  to  death  or  pushed  into  the  Tiber.  The  throng 
must  have  greatly  aggravated  the  plague,  which  spread  from 
Northern  Italy 2  to  the  city  in  the  summer,  when  the  Pope  with- 
drew with  a  company  of  scholars,  and  shut  himself  up  in  one  castle 
after  another  till  the  danger  was  over.  But  the  splendour  of  the 
Jubilee  prevailed  over  all  these  drawbacks  and  disasters.  "  The 
pilgrims  carried  back  throughout  Europe  accounts  of  the  resuscitated 
majesty  of  the  Roman  Pontificate,  the  unsullied  personal  dignity 
of  the  Pope,  the  reinthronement  of  Religion  in  the  splendid  edifices, 
which  were  either  building  or  under  restoration."3  Of  this  use  of 
the  wealth  now  poured  in  we  have  to  speak  presently. 

§  4.  Two  years  later  Kome  saw  for  the  last  time  the  coronation 
of  an  Emperor  by  a  Pope.4  The  feeble  Frederick  III.  vainly  hoped 
to  revive  his  authority  by  this  high  sanction,  at  the  same  time  that 
he  went  to  Italy  to  receive  his  bride,  Leonora  of  Portugal.  So 
reduced  was  the  imperial  state,  that  the  Pope  supplied  part  of  his 
expenses  as  a  recompense  for  the  concordat  of  Vienna  ;  and  the 
third  Frederick  solicited  a  safe-conduct  from  the  cities  which 
Barbarossa  had  marched  into  Italy  to  conquer.  The  Emperor's 
authority  was  exhausted  in  bestowing  nominal  privileges  and 
dignities,  such  as  count  and  knight,  doctor,  and  even  notary,  for 
the  sake  of  the  money  they  brought  him  in  fees ;  and  his  weakness 
ensured  him  a  cordial  reception.5  At  Siena,  his  faithful  iEneas, 
whom  the  Pope  had  lately  made  bishop  of  his  native  city,  met  him 
with  his  bride  ;  and  here,  too,  Frederick  submitted  to  take  an  oath 
for  the  Pope's  security  and  dignity,  which  was  repeated  before  he 
entered  Rome.6  There  he  was  lodged  in  the  old  imperial  palace  of 
the  Lateran,  and  held  frequent  conferences  with  the  Pope. 

1  The  napkin  impressed  with  a  miraculous  likeness  (vc  a  icon)  of  the 
Saviour  (See  Vol.  I.  p.  27). 

2  We  are  told  that  in  Milan  60,000  persons  died,  and  hardly  any  were 
left  alive  at  Piacenza. 

3  Milman,  vol.  viii.  p.  457. 

*  As  has  been  said  before,  Charles  V.  was  the  only  subsequent  Emperor 
crowned  by  a  Pope  but  at  Bologna,  not  at  Rome.  All  the  rest,  from  Maxi- 
milian to  Francis  II.  were  strictly  only  Emperors  Elect.  (See  note,  pp.  89-90.) 

5  A  contemporary  writer  says  that  "all  before  him  had  made  some 
attempt  to  recover  power  ;  he  was  the  first  who  gave  up  the  hope." 

6  The  two  cardinals,  who  met  the  Emperor  at  Florence,  represented  the 
oath  as  prescribed  by  that  treasury  of  papal  claims,  the  pseudo-Clementines 
(Lib.  ii.  tit.  9,  Dc  Jwejura>id>),  as  well  as  by  custom.  Frederick  replied 
that  it  had  not  been  required  of  Henry  VII.  and  only  of  Charles  IV.,  but 
he  yielded  at  last. 


A.D.  1452.  CONSPIRACY  OF  PORCARO.  201 

On  the  16th  of  March  the  marriage  was  celebrated  by  the  Pope, 
who  crowned  Frederick,  not  as  King  of  Italy,1  but  of  Germany, 
with  the  crown  brought  from  Aix-la-Chapelle  for  the  purpose,  and 
two  days  later  the  imperial  coronation  was  solemnly  performed  by 
Nicolas,  on  the  anniversary  of  his  own.2  "  The  Emperor  swore 
once  more  to  support  and  defend  the  Roman  Church,  and,  according 
to  the  traditional  usage,  he  performed  the  'office  of  a  groom'  by 
leading  the  Pope's  horse  a  few  steps."  3  On  his  return  from  a  visit 
to  King  Alfonso  at  Naples,  Frederick  waived  the  demand  for  a 
Council,  and  only  asked  for  a  Crusade,  which  the  Pope  referred  to 
await  the  general  consent  of  Christendom. 

§  5.  In  the  same  year  the  power  of  Nicolas  was  threatened  by  a 
new  outbreak  of  the  republican  fanaticism  which  was  ever  smoulder- 
ing at  Rome.  The  death  of  his  predecessor  had  been  seized  by 
Stephen  Porcaro  * — an  enthusiast  of  high  culture  and  influence — as 
an  opportunity  for  addressing  to  the  common  council  of  the  city, 
in  the  church  of  Ara  Cceli,  a  vehement  protest  against  the  baseness 
of  slavery,  foulest  of  all  when  it  was  yielded  to  priests  :  let  them,  he 
cried,  strike  a  blow  for  liberty  while  the  cardinals  were  shut  up  in 
conclave.  But  the  force  which  Alfonso  of  Naples  had  at  hand  for 
the  protection  of  the  cardinals  rendered  a  rising  hopeless,  and  the 
policy  of  Nicolas  made  Porcaro  podesta  of  Anagni.  On  his  return 
to  Rome  and  attempt  to  renew  the  agitation  at  a  popular  festival, 
he  was  sent  in  honourable  banishment  to  Bologna,  where  he 
pondered  the  verses  of  Petrarch  and  the  example  of  Rienzi,  and 
at  length,  by  correspondence  with  his  friends  in  Rome,  organized  a 
conspiracy,  which  was  betrayed :  and,  on  his  arrival  at  Rome  for 
its  execution,  Porcaro  was  seized,  and  hanged  by  night  from  a  tower 
of  St.  Angelo  (Jan.  9,  1453).  The  punishment  of  his  confederates, 
both  at  Rome  and  in  distant  places,  was  pursued  with  treachery 
as  well  as  cruelty,  and  much  sympathy  was  shown  for  them  by  the 
people.  Nicolas,  disgusted  at  the  ingratitude  of  the  Romans,  and 
also  (it  seems)  at  the  severity  to  which  he  had  been  driven,  and 
suffering  from  the  gout,  changed  his  popular  mode  of  life  for  a 
morose  retirement,  and  often  uttered  the  wish  that  he  could  again 
become  Master  Thomas  of  Sarzana. 

1  Significant  as  this  omission  was  in  fact,  the  reason  for  it  was  the 
protest  of  ambassadors  from  Milan,  with  which  city  Frederick  was  at 
enmity  for  its  preference  of  the  claims  of  Sforza  to  his  own.  Respecting 
the  four  crowns  of  Rome,  Italy,  Germany,  and  Aries  or  Burgundy,  see 
Bryce,  Holy  Roman  Empire,  pp.  193,  403. 

2  The  ceremony  is  fully  described  by  ./Eneas  Sylvius,  who  made  a 
speech  on  the  Kmperor's  behnlf.     (Vit.  Frid.,  p.  277,  s- q.) 

3  Mn.  Sylv.  292-3;   Robertson,  vol.  iv.  p.  481. 

4  He  claimed  descent  from  the  Porcii,  the  yens  of  the  Catos. 


202  FALL  OF  CONSTANTINOPLE.  Chap.  XIII. 

§  6.  This  year  was  signalized  by  the  great  catastrophe,  which 
put  an  end  to  the  old  Koman  Empire,  after  a  duration  of  nearly 
1500  }Tears  from  its  establishment  by  Augustus,  and  full  twenty-two 
centuries  from  the  foundation  of  the  city.1  On  the  29th  of  May, 
1453,  the  Turkish  Sultan  Mahomet  II.  took  Constantinople  by 
assault,  and  the  body  of  the  last  Emperor,  Constantine  XIII. 
Pal^ologus,  was  found  under  a  heap  of  slain.  The  great  church 
of  St.  Sophia  was  converted  into  a  mosque  ;  but  the  wise  moderation 
of  the  conqueror,  desirous  to  retain  the  Christian  population  of  the 
city,  shared  the  other  churches  between  them  and  the  Moslems  ; 
and  the  patriarch,  George  Scholaris  (or  Gennadius),  who  had 
retired  to  a  monastery  rather  than  carry  out  the  agreement  with 
Rome,2  was  re-elected  under  an  order  of  the  Sultan.  It  was  not  till 
sixty  years  later  that  the  public  countenance  of  Christian  worship 
in  Constantinople  was  put  an  end  to  by  the  Sultan  Selim. 

This  catastrophe  fell  upon  Latin  Christendom  with  the  double 
pain  of  indignation  for  the  loss  of  the  city  of  Constantine,  the 
newly-reconciled  capital  of  Eastern  Christianity,  and  terror  at  the 
prospect  of  the  like  fate.  The  first  effect  was  an  effort  to  revive 
the  crusading  spirit,  to  which  iEneas  Sylvius  devoted  the  remainder 
of  his  life.  The  Pope  issued  a  Bull,  declaring  the  founder  of  Islam 
to  be  the  great  red  dragon  of  the  Apocalypse,3  dwelling  on  the 
fate  of  Constantinople  and  the  danger  threatening  the  West; 
calling  on  all  princes  to  take  up  arms  ;  and  requiring  a  tithe  from 
the  clergy.  John  Capistrano,  an  observant  friar  of  unrivalled 
eloquence,  who  had  been  a  disciple  of  St.  Bernardine  of  Siena,  was 
sent  to  preach  the  new  crusade  in  Germany,  while  xEneas  Sylvius 
urged  it  with  all  his  power  on  successive  diets.  But  his  zeal  was 
encountered  by  deep  distrust  of  the  Papacy;  and  the  suspicion 
of  the  use  to  be  made  of  the  funds  appealed  for  was  supported 
by  complaints  of  Nicolas's  expenditure  on  the  works  of  Eome. 

§  7.  The  shock,  which  the  great  disaster  gave  to  the  Pope's 
enfeebled  health,  hastened  his  death  (March  24th,  1455).  But,  as 
is  truly  said  by  the  historian  who  concludes  his  great  work  with 

1  The  distinction  between  the  Western  and  Eastern  Empires,  and  the 
appellation  of  "Greek  "for  the  latter,  tend  to  obscure  the  real  continuity 
of  the  Empire,  which  was  called  Roman  to  the  last ;  a  name  which  still 
survives  in  the  province  around  Constantinople  (Boum>li,  Roumelia).  For 
the  details  of  the  fall  of  Constantinople,  see  the  Student's  Gibb>n}  chap, 
xxxviii. 

2  See  Chap.  XII.  §  5.  The  Cardinal  Isidore,  the  head  of  the  Latin 
party,  who  was  at  first  supposed  to  have  perished  in  the  sack,  escaped  in 
disguise,  and,  after  many  adventures,  reached  Italy  in  safety. 

3  Anol her  example  of  that  use  of  apocalyptic  imagery,  which  is  often 
ignorantly  supposed  to  be  peculiar  to  modern  Protestants. 


A.D.  1455.  DEATH  AND  WORKS  OF  NICOLAS  V.  203 

this  event,1  "  Nicolas  V.  foresaw  not  that  in  remote  futurity  the 
peaceful,  not  the  warlike,  consequences  of  the  fall  of  Constantinople 
would  be  most  fatal  to  the  Popedom — that  what  was  the  glory  of 
Nicolas  V.  would  become  among  the  foremost  causes  of  the  ruin 
of  medieval  religion  :  that  it  would  aid  in  shaking  to  the  base,  and 
in  severing  for  ever,  the  majestic  unity  of  Latin  Christianity. 
Nicolas  V.  aspired  to  make  Italy  the  domicile,  Borne  the  capital, 
of  letters  and  arts.  As  for  letters,  it  was  not  the  ostentatious 
patronage  of  a  magnificent  sovereign;  nor  was  it  the  sagacious 
policy  which  would  enslave  to  the  service  of  the  Church  that  of 

which   it   might   anticipate   the   dangerous   rebellion In 

Nicolas  it  was  pure  and  genuine,  almost  innate,  love  of  letters." 
Long  before  his  advancement  he  had  been  a  great  collector  of 
books ;  and  as  Pope  he  began  the  great  Libraiy  of  the  Vatican  with 
a  collection  of  5000  volumes.  Florence  was  now  the  centre  of 
the  revival  of  letters,  which  was  daily  gaining  strength  by  the 
influx  of  Greek  fugitives  from  the  advance  of  the  Turks;  and  a 
great  epoch  in  this  movement  was  marked  by  the  visit  of  John 
Palasologus  with  his  train  of  learned  ecclesiastics,  some  of  whom — 
such  notably  as  Cardinal  Bessarion — stayed  behind  to  enlighten 
the  West  with  Greek  learning.  The  acquaintance  of  these  men 
was  sought  by  Thomas  of  Sarzana,  when  he  went  to  the  Council  of 
Florence  with  Pope  Eugenius ; 2  and  when  the  last  siege  and  fall 
of  Constantinople  drove  many  more  learned  Greeks  into  exile,  they 
were  welcomed  by  several  of  the  Italian  states,  and  especially  at 
Florence  by  the  Medici,  and  by  Nicolas  V.  at  Rome.  They 
became  living  teachers  of  the  language  which  was  henceforth  to  be 
the  chief  organ  of  intellectual  life  for  the  world.3 

§  8.  Besides  the  treasures  of  MSS.  brought  from  the  East,  the 
emissaries  of  Pope  Nicolas  ransacked  all  the  countries  of  Europe  for 

1  Milman,  History  of  Latin  Christian^'-,  vol.  viii.  p.  468.  Comp. 
Gibbon's  reflections  to  the  same  effect,  chap,  lxvii.,  and  Trench's  Meduval 
Church  History,  lecture  xxv. 

2  See  especially  the  Disaiu'sitio  de  Nicolai  V.  Pont.  Max.  e  ga  literas  et 
liteiarios  vir-os  pa'rocinio,  appended  to  his  Life  by  Georgi,  Rom.  1742. 

3  We  have  to  speak  of  this  great  intellectual  revival  in  aDother  place; 
but  a  word  of  warning  mav  be  given  here  against  the  mistake  of  supposing 
the  knowledge  of  Greek  to  have  been  anything  like  extinct  in  the  West. 
It  was  fostered  in  England  under  Theodore  of  Tarsus  ;  it  was  known  to 
Bode,  Scotus  Erigcna,  Roger  Bacon,  and  many  other  Western  scholars; 
and  Petrarch,  with  whom  it  made  a  fresh  start  in  Italy,  learnt  it  from  a 
bishop  of  Calabria  (the  ancient  Magna  Graecia),  where  it  was  still  spoken. 
In  fact,  it  is  simply  untrue  to  call  Greek  and  Latin  dead  Ian  iUages  in  any 
sense  ;  besides  their  vital  and  vivifying  literature,  neither  has  ever  ceased 
to  be  a  verna  ular  tongue,  the  one  as  the  speech  of  a  people,  the  other  as 
the  common  language  of  learning  and  of  a  large  part  of  the  Church. 


204  REVIVAL  OF  LETTERS.  Chap.  XIII. 

the  remains  of  classical  and  patristic  antiquity ;  and  the  refugees, 
and  scholars  taught  by  them,  were  employed  to  translate  the  great 
Greek  authors  into  Latin.1  One  example  demands  special  record, 
as  showing  how  the  love  of  letters  began  to  prevail  over  the  rules 
of  orthodoxy,  even  in  a  Pope.  One  of  the  greatest  scholars  of  the 
age,  Laurentius  Valla  (born  at  Rome,  1406),  had  dared  (about 
1440)  to  publish  a  treatise  exposing  the  forgery  of  the  "  Donation 
of  Constantine ; "  and  he  found  it  needful  to  withdraw  secretly  to 
Naples,  where  he  applied  his  critical  skill  to  the  fictitious  corre- 
spondence of  Abgarus  with  Christ,  and  also  to  the  pretended 
authorship  of  the  Apostles'  Creed  by  the  Holy  Twelve.2  Rescued 
from  the  Inquisition  by  King  Alfonso,  he  in  vain  sought  permission 
from  Eugenius  to  return  to  Rome ;  but  the  liberal  Nicolas  invited 
him  and  made  him  his  secretary,  and  Calixtus  II I.  promoted  him 
to  a  canonry  of  the  Lateran.     He  died  in  1465. 

The  significance  of  this  revival  of  letters  was  immensely  en- 
hanced by  the  Invention  of  Priuting,  which  has  been  well  called 
"  a  new  gift  of  tongues — if  only  it  had  been  always  turned  to 
worthy  uses."3  The  epoch  assigned  to  that  great  event  is  the 
year  1442,  when  John  Fust  (the  Faust  of  dramatic  legend)  esta- 
blished his  press  at  Mainz ;  and  the  first  work  printed  from  metal 
types  (cut,  not  yet  cast)  was  the  Latin  Bible,4  completed  at  the  same 
place  by  John  Gutenberg  in  the  same  year  that  Nicolas  V.  died. 

§  9.  The  decay  of  Rome,  during  the  exile  at  Avignon  and  the 
strife  of  the  great  schism,  had  begun  to  be  repaired  when  order  and 
prosperity  were  re-established  by  Martin  and  Eugenius  ;  but  "  under 
Nicolas  V.  Rome  aspired  to  rise  again  at  once  to  her  strength  and 
her  splendour."  5  With  the  restoration  of  the  Pope's  authority,  his 
ordinary  revenues  flowed  in  steadily,  but  the  Jubilee  of  1450  fur- 
nished the  special  resources  for  the  new  works  of  defence,  majesty, 
and  ornament.  While  the  fortifications  of  the  whole  city  were 
repaired,  the  Leonine  quarter  on  the  Vatican  Mount  beyond  the  Tiber 
was  to  be  separately  fortified  and  embellished  for  the  residence  of 
the  Pope  and  the  Cardinals,  in  security  against  the  turbulent 
populace  of  the  city.  As  its  sacred  centre,  the  ancient  basilica  of 
St.  Peter,  built  by  Constantine,6  now  falling  into  decay,  was  to  be 

1  For  the  splendid  rewards  offered  by  Nicolas,  just  before  his  death,  to 
the  Greek  Philclpho,  for  a  translation  of  the  Iliad  and  Odyssey  into  Latin 
verse,  see  Milman,  vol.  viii.  p.  472.  A  prose  version  of  the  Homeric  poems 
had  been  made  by  Leontius  Pilatus,  under  the  care  of  Boccaccio. 

2  See  Vol.  I.  pp.  26,  234.  3  Trench,  Medi  ml  Ch.   fhst.  p.  389. 

*  Called  the  M 'sarine  Bible,  from  a  copy  in  the  library  of  Cardinal 
Mazarin.     See  the  work  of  Dr.  Hessels  on  Gutenberg,  1882. 

3  Milman,  vol.  viii.  p.  474. 

6  See  Vol.  1.  p.  422.     The  Lives  of  Nicolas  V.  by  Georgio  and  Manetti 


A.D.  1455.  BUILDINGS  OF  NICOLAS  V.  205 

replaced  by  a  majestic  edifice,  in  the  form  of  a  Greek  cross; 
and  Nicolas  began  the  work  by  building  a  tribune,  which  was 
destroyed  when  the  new  design  of  Bramante  was  carried  out. 

Beside  the  old  basili-a  there  was  a  palace,  probably  of  the  same 
age,  in  which  Charles  the  Great  had  lodged  when  he  was  crowned 
by  Leo  III.  It  was  rebuilt  by  Innocent  III.  and  enlarged  by 
Nicolas  III.  ;  and,  on  the  return  from  Avignon,  Gregory  XI. 
transferred  the  papal  residence  to  this  palace  on  the  Vatican,  for 
the  security  afforded  by  the  neighbouring  castle  of  St.  Angelo. 
Nicolas  V.  now  resolved  to  build,  beside  the  cathedral  of  St.  Peter, 
a  palace  worthy  of  his  successor ;  but  the  completion  of  "  the 
Vatican,"  with  its  20  courts  and  4422  rooms,  covering  and  enclosing 
a  space  of  1151  'feet  by  767,  with  its  vast  treasures  of  art  and  letters, 
occupied  his  successors  for  four  centuries,  to  the  fall  of  the  temporal 
power  under  Pius  IX.1  The  palace  was  connected  by  strong  walls 
with  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo  ;  and  both  the  fortress  and  bridge  were 
strengthened  and  adorned  with  bulwarks  and  towers.  All  the 
principal  churches  of  the  city  were  repaired,  and  their  ritual  made 
more  magnificent  than  before.  Nicolas  restored  the  Milvian 
Bridge  and  the  aqueduct  of  Augustus,  whose  ancient  name  of 
Aqua  Virgo  was  easily  sanctified  as  Acqua  Vergine  ;*  and  he 
cleansed  the  channel  of  the  Anio.  Nor  did  his  munificence  expend 
itself  on  the  city  only.  "  Everywhere  in  the  Roman  territory  rose 
churches,  castles,  public  edifices.  Already  the  splendid  church  of 
St.   Francis,  at  Assisi,3   wanted  repair:    Nicolas  built   a  church 

describe  the  design  and  the  details  of  the  plan,  of  which  Milman  says, 
"  Julius  II.  and  Leo  X.  did  but  accomplish  the  design  of  Nicolas  V.  Had 
Nicolas  lived,  Bramante  and  Michael  Angelo  might  have  been  prematurely 
anticipated  by  Rosellini  of  Florence  and  Leo  Battista  Alberti."  The 
mosaic  pavement  of  the  apse,  begun  by  Nicolas  V.,  was  completed  bv 
Paul  II.  The  existing  church  was  designed,  in  the  plan  of  a  Greek  cross 
surmounted  by  a  cupola,  by  Bramante  for  Pope  Julius  II.,  who  laid  the 
foundation  stone,  under  one  of  the  piers,  in  1506.  Leo  X.  employed 
Raphael  on  the  work,  which  was  checked  by  the  death  of  both  ;  and  in 
1534  Paul  III.  entrusted  it  to  Michael  Angelo  (then  in  his  72nd  year), 
who  declared  that  he  would  raise  the  dome  of  the  Pantheon  in  the  air. 
The  drum  only  was  complete  when  he  died  at  the  age  of  89  (1563),  but 
the  church  was  finished  according  to  his  plan,  except  that  the  nave  was 
lengthened  to  the  form  of  a  Latin  cross,  in  order  to  include  the  western 
part  of  the  old  basilica,  and  the  portico  was  made  in  two  stories,  with  the 
result  of  hiding  the  near  view  of  the  dome.  The  church  was  dedicated  by 
Urban  VIII.  (Nov.  18th,  1626),  176  years  after  its  commencement  by 
Nicolas  V.     For  a  full  account,  see  Murray's  Hundbo  >k  for  Borne. 

1  For  its  history,  and  a  full  account  of  its  museums,  galleries,  and 
libraries,  see  Murray's  Rome,  Sect.  I.  §  26. 

2  For  many  such  adaptations,  see  Conyers  Middleton's  Letter  from  Home. 

3  See  below  in  the  account  of  the  Franciscans,  Chap.  XXIIL,  p.  387,  n. 

II— L  2 


206  THE  BORGIAS.     CALIXTUS  III.  Chap  XIII. 

dedicated  to  St.  Francis  at  his  favoured  town  of  Fabriano;  one  at 
Gualdo  in  Urnbria  to  St.  Benedict.  Among  his  princely  works 
was  a  castle  at  Fabriano,  great  buildings  at  Centumcellce,  the  walls 
of  Civita  Castellana,  a  citadel  at  Narni,  with  bulwarks  and  deep 
fosses ;  another  at  Civita  Vecchia ;  baths  near  Viterbo ;  buildings 
for  ornament  and  defence  at  Spoleto.  The  younger  arts,  Sculpture 
and  Painting,  began  under  his  auspices  still  further  to  improve. 
Fra  Angelico  painted  at  Rome  at  the  special  command  or  request 
of  Nicolas  V." } 

§  10.  On  the  death  of  Nicolas  V.,  Bessarion  seemed  marked  out 
as  his  worthiest  successor ;  but  his  severe  virtue  was  disliked  by 
the  laxer  cardinals,2  who  objected  to  the  promotion  of  a  Greek 
neophyte,  still  wearing-  his  beard.  So  by  the  frequent  method  of 
compromise,  the  preference  was  given  to  the  first  of  that  name 
which  was  soon  to  become  a  proverbial  type  of  outrageous  wicked- 
ness.3 The  Spanish  Cardinal  Alfonso  Borja  (in  Italian  Borgia),  a 
native  of  Valencia,  studied  and  became  a  professor  in  the  University 
of  Lerida,  and  was  esteemed  the  greatest  jurist  of  his  time.  His 
first  preferment  was  received  from  Benedict  XIII.;  but,  being  sent 
by  Alfonso  of  Arragon  to  Rome  on  an  effort  to  end  the  remnant  of 
the  papal  schism,  he  was  rewarded  by  Martin  V.  with  the  bishopric 
of  Valencia ;  and,  on  a  second  mission  to  Eugenius  at  Florence,  he 
was  made  a  cardinal,  and  attached  himself  to  the  papal  court.  It 
was  at  the  advanced  age  of  77  that  he  became  Pope  by  the  title  of 
Calixtus  III.  (1455-1458).4 

§  11.  Despising  and  openly  censuring  the  splendid  tastes  and 
schemes  of  his  predecessor,  he  divided  his  energies  between  the 
Crusade  and  the  advancement  of  his  family.  Public  works  were 
stopped,  and  the  remains  of  Nicolas's  treasure,  as  well  as  church 
property  and  jewels,  were  devoted  to  the  holy  war,  to  which  a  Bull 
summoned  the  nations  of  the  West  for  the  1st  of  March,  1456. 
Calixtus  equipped  a  fleet,  and  sent  aid  to  the  famous  Albanian 
chieftain  Scanderbeg ;    while    the  eloquence   of  John    Capistrano 

1  Milman,  vol.  viii.  p.  477.  The  only  remaining  works  at  Rome  of  the 
Dominican  Fra  John  or  Angelico  are  his  paintings  in  the  chapel  of  St. 
Laurence  in  the  Vatican.     He  died  in  the  same  year  as  the  Pope. 

2  Leces  et  volnpt  >osi  (Platina,  Panetmr.  in  Bessar.  8  »). 

3  The  famous  lines,  in  which  Pope  illustrates  the  position,  that  moral 
as  well  as  physical  evils  may  be  a  part  of  the  scheme  of  Providence — 

*•  If  plagues  or  earthquakes  break  not  Heav'n's  design, 
Why  then  a  Borgia  or  a  Catiline  ?" — 

may  refer  to  Alexander  VI.,  or  his  son  Ca?sar,  or  both.  {Essay  on  Man, 
Bk.  I.  155-6.) 

4  Some  writers  call  him  Calixtus  IV.;  but  the  former  Calixtus  III. 
(111)8-1178)  is  regarded  as  only  an  Antipope  by  the  Roman  authorities. 


A.D.  1456  f.         CRUSADE.     THE  POPE'S  NEPOTISM. .  207 

raised  an  enthusiastic  though  undisciplined  force  of  40,000  men, 
which,  animated  by  his  daily  exhortations,  and  led  by  the  skill  aud 
valour  of  John  Huniades,  repulsed  Mahomet  II.  from  Belgrade 
(July  and  August,  1456).1 

But  this  check  to  the  instant  danger  from  the  Turks  tended  rather 
to  make  the  great  powers  more  suspicious  of  the  Pope's  designs  in  the 
Crusade.  Charles  VII.  of  France  dreaded  a  diversion  of  the  strength 
needing  to  be  consolidated  after  the  deliverance  from  the  English 
yoke ;  and  the  universities  only  consented  with  reluctance  to  the 
tenth  demanded.  The  same  impost  was  collected  in  Arragon  and. 
Sicily,  but  was  used  by  Alfonso  against  the  Genoese  as  "  the  Turks 
of  Europe." 2  The  chief  opposition  was  in  Germany ;  but  the  zea/ 
and  energy  of  /Eneas  Sylvius  secured  the  adhesion  of  Frederick  III., 
and  obtained  for  himself  the  reward  of  a  cardinal's  hat  (1456).  It 
was  on  this  occasion  that  iEneas  wrote  an  interesting  book  on  the 
relations  of  the  Papacy  to  Germany,  in  which  "  he  contrasts  thi 
free  cities  of  Germany,  which  owned  subjection  to  the  Emperor 
alone,  and  enjoyed  the  greatest  liberty  anywhere  known,  with  the 
Italian  republics,  such  as  Venice,  Florence,  and  Siena,  where  all  but 
the  dominant  few  were  alike  slaves."  3 

§  12.  While  the  crusading  zeal  of  Calixtus  remained  fruitless,  his 
nepotism  had  lasting  results  in  the  history  of  the  Papacy  and 
Europe.  Enfeebled  by  age  and  gout,  he  fell  under  the  influence  of 
his  three  nephews,  the  sons  of  his  sisters,  and  a  band  of  friars, 
whom  the  popular  hatred  designated  as  the  Catalans  (a  nation  not 
only  Spanish  but  notorious  as  pirates).  They  were  laden  with 
offices,  and  under  their  administration  Rome  fell  into  frightful  cor- 
ruption and  disorder.  One  nephew,  Louis  John  Milano,  was  made 
the  Pope's  first  new  cardinal  and  bishop  of  Bologna.  Even  /Eneas 
Sylvius  was  for  a  while  passed  over  in  favour  of  another  nephew, 
Roderigo  Lenzuol,  who  assumed  the  name  of  Borgia,  which  he  was 
destined  to  make  infamous  as  Pope  Alexander  VI.  At  the  age  of 
22  he  was  made  a  cardinal,  chancellor  of  the  Roman  church,  and 
warden  of  the  Marches,  besides  being  invested  with  numerous 
ecclesiastical  benefices.  His  elder  brother,  Peter  Borgia,  who  re- 
mained a  layman,  was  made  Duke  of  Spoleto,  Vicar  of  Benevento 

1  In  the  enthusiasm  of  gratitude,  preachers  applied  to  Huniades,  as 
afterwards  to  Sobieski,  the  text  (John  i.  6),  "There  was  a  man  sent  from 
God,  whose  name  was  John."  Both  the  defenders,  Capistrano  and  Huniades, 
were  in  feeble  health,  and  died  within  two  months  after  the  victory.  St. 
John  Capistrano  was  canonized  in  1690. 

2  For  the  troubles  of  Calixtus  about  the  succession  to  the  crown  of 
Naples  on  Alfonso's  death  (1458),  see  Robertson,  vol.  iv.  pp.  492-4. 

3  Robertson,  vol.  iv.  p.  492.     The  title  of  the  book  is  Germanh. 


208  •       jENEAS  SYLVIUS,  POPE  PIUS  II.         Chap.  XIII. 

and  Terracina,  standard-bearer  of  the  Church,  and  prefect  of  Rome. 
In  this  office  he  became  the  special  object  of  a  popular  insurrection 
against  the  "  Catalans,"  which  broke  out  on  the  Pope's  death 
(August  6th,  1458) ;  and  he  escaped  down  the  Tiber,  only  to  die  of 
fever  at  Civita  Vecchia,  leaving  his  vast  wealth  to  his  brother 
Roderigo. 

§  1 3.  The  close  balance  of  parties  in  the  conclave  caused  another 
resort  to  the  vote  by  access,  and,  on  the  proposal  of  Cardinal  Borgia, 
the  election  fell  on  iEneas  Sylvius  Piccolomini,  who  may  perhaps 
have  followed  Virgil's  well  known  epithet  of  iEneas  in  assuming 
the  name  of  Pros  II.1  (1458-1464).  His  elevation  was  acceptable 
both  to  the  Roman  people,  weary  of  the  "  Catalan "  yoke,  and  to 
the  states  of  Europe,  which  had  ample  experience  of  his  eloquence 
and  accomplishments,  his  personal  fascination,  political  skill  and 
versatility.  He  came  to  the  papal  throne  vainly  pledged,  like  so 
many  of  his  predecessors,  by  a  capitulation  agreed  on  among  the 
cardinals,  to  the  following  effect : — "  The  future  pope  was  bound  to 
carry  on  the  war  against  the  Turks,  to  reform  the  curia,  to  secure 
a  provision  for  the  cardinals,  to  act  by  their  advice,  to  choose  them 
according  to  the  decrees  of  Constance,  without  regard  to  the  im- 
portunities of  princes.  Once  a  year  the  cardinals  were  to  meet,  in 
order  to  enquire  as  to  his  performance  of  his  engagements ;  and  they 
were  authorized  to  admonish  him  in  ca«e  of  failure."  2 

§  14.  Of  these  obligations,  Pius  devoted  himself  heart  and  soul  to 
the  advancement  of  the  Crusade;  and,  for  the  rest,  the  former 
leader  in  the  Council  of  Basle  became  the  uncompromising  assertor 
of  the  papal  privileges  he  had  there  assailed.  His  fondness  for 
letters,  and  his  elegant  tastes,  yielded  to  the  devotion  of  all  his 
resources  to  the  Crusade,  except  in  the  favour  he  showed  to  Siena, 
the  cradle  of  his  family,  and  to  his  birthplace  Corsignano.3  "  The 
war  against  the  Turks  engrossed  his  care,  and  left  him  no  funds  to 
spare  for  the  patronage  of  arts  or  of  letters.  His  personal  tastes 
and  habits  were  simple ;  he  delighted  in  the  pure  air  of  the  country, 
and  intensely  enjoyed  the  beauties  of  nature ;  and  the  rapidity  of 
his  movements  disgusted  the  formal  officers  of  the  court,  although 

1  Vergil.  JEneid.  i.  305,  ct  passim.  The  only  papal  precedent  for  the 
name  was  as  far  back  as  the  second  century  ;  Pius  I.  (142-157).  Pius  II. 
was  now  in  his  53rd  year,  having  been  born  in  14Uf>. 

2  Robertson,  iv.  p.  495. 

3  He  made  Siena  an  archbishopric,  and  Corsignano,  renamed  after  him- 
self Pienza,  a  bishopric.  The  splendid  cathedral  and  vast  Piccolimini 
palace,  built  by  Pius  II.  aud  his  nephew,  Pius  III.,  also  a  native  of  the 
place,  still  contrast  strangely  with  the  iusignificance  of  the  town  of  20u0 
inhabitants.     Respecting  the  frescoes  in  the  Library,  see  above,  p.  180. 


A.D.  1458-9.       CRUSADE.     CONGRESS  OF  MANTUA.  209 

they  did  not  really  interfere  with'  his  attention  to  the  details  of 
business." x 

It  was  a  striking  sign  of  the  degradation  of  the  Empire  when  a 
Pope  summoned,  V>y  his  own  authority,  not  an  ecclesiastical  council, 
but  a  congress  of  princes,  to  meet  at  Mantua  ;2  but  the  result  was 
a  lamentable  contrast  to  the  enthusiastic  meeting  at  Clermont 
under  Urban  II.  The  Emperor  Frederick  found  an  excuse  for  not 
obeying  in  person  the  summons  of  his  former  secretary,  in  the 
contest  which  he  was  beginning  with  Matthias  Corvinus(the  son  of 
John  Hnniades),  who  had  been  elected  King  x>f  Hungary  on  the 
death  of  Ladislaus  V.  (1458).3  Pius  reproved  him  sharply  both  for 
his  absence  and  the  inefficiency  of  his  ambassadors,  remembering 
doubtless  how  differently  he  himself  had  worked  both  for  Emperor 
and  Pope.  Charles  VII.  of  France,  offended  at  the  part  taken  by 
Pius  in  Naples,4  refused  his  concurrence ;  and  when  at  last  he  sent 
ambassadors,  they  pleaded  the  impossibility  of  doing  anything;  till 
peace  was  made  with  England ;  and  the  latter  power  was  now  fully 
occupied  with  the  Wars  of  the  Roses.5  Even  Philip  of  Burgundy, 
the  prince  heartiest  in  the  cause,  was  persuaded  by  his  counsellors 
to  remain  at  home  ;  but  he  sent  a  splendid  embassy,  with  a  promise 
of  6000  men.  The  Duke  of  Milan,  and  other  Italian  princes,  ap- 
peared in. person.  Even  among  the  Cardinals,  Bessarion  was  the 
only  earnest  supporter  of  the  Crusade. 

1  Robertson,  vol.  iv.  p.  496. 

2  Pius  II.  instituted  two  new  orders  of  knighthood  for  the  enterprize, 
in  imitation  of  the  Templars  and  Hospitallers,  named  after  Jesus  and 
"the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary  of  Bethlehem." 

3  Ladislaus,  the  posthumous  son  of  Albert  II.  (born  1440),  had  been  sent 
to  Frederick  III.  by  his  mother  Elizabeth,  with  the  regalia  of  Hungarv. 
Chosen  king  after  death  of  Ladislaus  IV.  at  Varna  (1444),  under  the  regency 
of  John  Huniades,  he  was  at  last  released  by  the  Emperor  in  1452;  but 
his  ungrateful  treatment  of  Huniades  caused  civil  dissensions,  in  which 
Ladislaus,  the  eldest  son  of  Huniades,  was  executed,  his  second  son  Matthias 
Corvinus  was  imprisoned  in  Bohemia,  and  the  young  King  died,  it  was  said 
from  poison  (1457).  The  Hungarians  then  elected  Matthias  (15  years  old), 
who  was  released  from  prison,  and  had  to  sustain  a  long  but  ultimately 
victorious  conflict  with  Frederick  III. 

4  Alfonso  the  Wise,  King  of  Arragon  and  the  Two  Sicilies,  being  with- 
out lawful  issue,  had  procured  from  Eugenius  IV.  the  legitimation  of  his 
son  Ferdinand,  on  whom  he  intended  to  bestow  the  crown  of  Naples  (as 
his  own  conquest),  those  of  Arragon  and  Sicily  going  in  due  course  to  his 
brother  John.  The  arrangement  was  confirmed  by  Nicolas  V.  ;  but,  on 
the  death  of  Alfonso  (1458),  Calixtus  III.  claimed  Naples  as  a  lapsed  fief 
of  the  Holy  See,  intending  it,  as  was  supposed,  for  his  son  Peter  ;  while 
the  house  of  An jou  renewed  their  claim.  Pius  II.  acknowledged  Ferdinand, 
and  married  one  of  his  nephews  to  a  natural  daughter  of  the  King. 

5  England,  however,  sent  representatives,  with  whom,  as  well  as  those 
of  Castile,  the  Pope  expressed  himself  dissatisfied. 


210  PAPAL  PRINCIPLES  OF  PIUS  II.  Chap.  XIII. 

Though  Pius,  whose  health  was  bad,  made  a  painful  journey  over 
the  snow-clad  Apennines  in  January  1459,  it  was  not  till  the  1st  of 
June  that  he  opened  the  Congress.  His  speeches  are  described  by 
those  present  as  unrivalled  for  elegance  and  copious  variety ;  but 
his  own  peroration  to  his  eloquent  address  of  three  hours  (Sept. 
26th)  complains  that  his  "  many  words "  failed  to  call  forth  the 
response  of  Godfrey,  Baldwin,  and  their  fellows,  when  they  rose  and 
answered  Urban  with  the  shout,  "  Deus  vultl  Deus  vult."  Assu- 
redly a  Crusade  for  the  defence  of  Hungary,  as  the  bulwark  of 
Western  Christendom,  was  more  needful  and  more  righteous  than 
the  first  for  the  rescue  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre ;  but  the  spirit  of  the 
age  had  changed,  and  the  varied  interests  of  Europe  were  harder  to 
unite  against  a  pressing  danger,  than  then  for  a  distant  enterprize. 
Of  the  promises  made  in  men  and  money,  a  large  part  were  after- 
wards disavowed ;  but,  in  dissolving  the  Congress  (Jan.  19th,  1460), 
the  Pope  was  able  to  count  on  88,000  men,  to  be  supplied,  in  nearly 
equal  proportions,  by  Germany,  and  by  Hungary,  the  country  in 
most  imminent  danger.1  The  support  of  Germany  was  purchased 
at  a  price  sufficient  to  ruin  the  enterprize,  the  concession  of  its 
command  to  the  feeble  Emperor. 

§  15.  That  the  politic  and  versatile  iEneas  had  a  genuine  enthu- 
siasm for  this  cause,  seems  proved  by  his  whole  career  as  Pope ;  nor 
can  we  doubt  that  he  felt  himself  to  be  the  champion  of  Christendom 
against  the  danger  that  threatened  to  overwhelm  it.  But  he  was 
not  the  man  to  overlook  the  power  that  this  position  would  give  to 
the  Papacy,  the  aggrandizement  of  which  was  his  other  great  object. 
Accordingly,  though  the  Congress  of  Mantua  was  no  Council,  and  he 
alleged  that  the  consent  which  he  obtained  from  the  Fathers  present 
there  left  the  act  entirely  his  own,  he  issued  thence  the  Bull  Exe- 
crabilis,  declaring  an  appeal  from  a  Pope  to  a  General  Council  to  be 
punishable  with  excommunication.  This  reversal  of  the  decrees  of 
Constance  and  Basle — or  rather  of  the  very  foundations  of  those 
Councils — on  the  sole  authority  of  a  Pope,  who  had  himself  been  a 
leader  on  the  other  side,  was  followed  up,  three  years  later,  by  his 
famous  "  Bull  of  Retractation,"  addressed  to  the  University  of 
Cologne  (April  1463).2  "With  characteristic  skill  and  frankness  he 
relates  his  former  errors,  and  pleads  the  course  of  events  as  his 
apology;  admitting  that  he  had  said,    written,   and   done   many 

1  Besides  the  6000  Burgundians,  Germany  promised  10,000  horse  and 
32,000  foot,  and  Hungary  20,<>0  >  horse  and  2  y>00  foot. 

2  For  the  various  events,  which  had  meanwhile  caused  fresh  demands 
for  a  Genei-al  Council -the  Pope's  conflict  with  Diether  (Theodore), 
archbishop  of  Mainz,  with  Sigismund  of  Austria  about  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  legate,  Nicolas  of  Cusa,  and  with  the  persistent  opponent  of  the  Papacy, 
Gregory  of  Heimburg   see  Robertson,  vol.  iv.  pp.  502-3. 


A.D.  1461.  PROGRESS  OF  THE  TURKS.  211 

things  which  might  be  condemned;  but  professing  his  desire  to 
follow  the  example  of  St.  Augustine  in  his  "  Confessions."  The 
spirit  of  the  whole  is  summed  up  in  the  appeal :  "  Believe  an  old 
man  rather  than  a  young  one,  and  do  not  make  a  private  person  of 
more  account  than  a  Pontiff.  Eeject  jEneas ;  receive  Pius;1  the 
former  Gentile  name  our  parents  imposed  on  us  at  our  birth ;  the 
latter  Christian  name  we  took  with  our  apostolic  office." 

§  16.  To  the  Pope's  new  principles  the  Pragmatic  Sanction  of 
Bourges  was,  of  course,  no  less  obnoxious  than  the  decrees  of  the 
Councils,  and  he  denounced  it  to  the  French  ambassadors  at 
Mantua  as  a  token  of  the  Antichrist's  approach.  While  Charles  VII. 
lived,  it  was  steadily  maintained ;  but  Louis  XI.2  began  at  once  to 
reverse  the  policy  of  his  hated  father.  He  was,  however,  far  too 
politic  to  act  from  passion  only ;  and  he  was  persuaded  by  Gode- 
froy,  bishop  of  Arras,  who  conveyed  the  Pope's  congratulations  on 
the  King's  accession,  that  the  repeal  of  the  Sanction  would  further 
his  great  policy  of  curbing  the  power  of  the  nobles,  by  transferring 
their  influence  in  ecclesiastical  promotions  to  the  crown.  Godefroy, 
next  year,  carried  back  the  repeal  of  the  Sanction,  which  was 
received  with  public  rejoicings  at  Rome;  but  it  was  resolutely 
opposed  by  the  Parliament  and  the  Universities  of  France;  and 
when  it  appeared  that  the  Pope  would  not  support  the  Angevine 
cause  in  Naples,  Louis  reverted  to  an  anti-papal  policy. 

§  17.  In  1461  a  new  excitement  was  caused  by  the  Turkish 
capture  of  Trebizond  and  Sinope,  and  by  the  arrival  at  Rome  of 
Thomas  Paheologus  (brother  of  the  last  Emperor),  who,  having  been 
expelled  from  the  Morea,  came  from  Patras,  the  place  where 
St.  Andrew  was  said  to  have  died  a  martyr,  bringing  with  him  the 
Apostle's  head.  The  holy  relic  was  received  with  great  solemnities 
by  a  vast  crowd  assembled  from  Italy  by  the  promise  of  indul- 
gences, and  was  buried  beside  the  head  of  St.  Peter  on  the  Vatican. 

The  Pope  now  took  the  strange  step  of  addressing  to  the  Sultan 
Mahomet  a  letter  inviting  him  to  end  the  contest  by  embracing  the 
Christian  faith ;  but  the  enthusiasm  and  self-confidence  of  Pius 
are  more  apparent  than  the  old  diplomatic  skill  of  iEneas,  in  the 
zeal  with  which,  after  a  courteous  exordium  on  the  Sultan's 
virtues  and  his  faith  in  one  God,  he  urges  the  imposture  of  the 

1  This  seems  to  confirm  the  motive  suggested  above  for  the  choice  of  his 
papal  name  from  Virgil's  Pius  2Enn.as. 

2  The  great  authority  for  the  reign  of  Louis  XI.  (July  22,  1461 -Aug. 
30,  1483),  as  well  as  of  his  son  Charles  VIII.,  is  the  Hf&moires  of  Philippe  de 
Confines;  but  it  is  impossible  to  separate  Louis  from  the  powerful  sketch  of 
his  character  drawn  by  Sir  Walter  Scott  in  Quentin  Duraard.  For  the 
outlines  of  his  reign,  see  the  Student's  France,  chap.  viii. 


212  CRUSADE  AND  DEATH  OF  PIUS  II.         Chap.  XIII. 

Koran,  the  moral  vices  of  Mohammedanism,  and  the  sure  damnation 
of  all  but  Catholic  Christians.  Another  congress  of  princes  was 
summoned  to  meet  at  Rome,  and  Pius  proclaimed  a  "truce  of 
God  "  for  five  years  throughout  Christendom.  In  one  of  his  most 
eloquent  and  pathetic  speeches,  he  declared  to  the  Cardinals  his 
resolve  to  lead  the  Crusade  in  person,  not  to  wield  the  weapons 
of  war,  but,  like  Moses  while  Israel  fought  with  Amalek,  to  lift  up 
his  hands  in  prayer  from  some  hill  or  lofty  ship.  His  Bull  called 
forth  no  response,  except  from  Hungary  and  Venice;  but  he  set 
out,  tortured  with  gout  and  fever,  to  meet  the  Venetian  fleet  at 
Ancona  (June  19th,  1464).  "  Farewell,  Rome !  thou  wilt  never 
see  me  alive  ! " — were  his  parting  words,  fulfilled  at  Ancona  within 
a  fortnight.  He  died  comforted  by  the  sight  of  the  Venetian  fleet, 
and  by  the  assurance  of  Bessarion  that  he  had  governed  well. 
"  Pray  for  me,  my  son  !  "  were  the  last  words  of  the  man  who  had 
played  so  many  varied  parts  in  life  (August  15th,  1464). 

§  18.  Paul  II.1  (1464-1471)  was  a  Venetian  and  nephew  of 
Fugenius  IV.,  who  had  made  him  Cardinal  of  St.  Mark  at  the 
rge  of  twenty-two.  While  holding  that  dignity,  he  built,  chiefly 
from  the  ruins  of  the  Colosseum,  the  great  Venetian  Palace  on  the 
Via  Lata,  the  street  now  called  the  Corso,  from  the  races  which  he 
instituted  at  the  Carnival.  He  was  fond  of  display  in  splendid 
attire,  jewels,  and  ornaments ; 2  and  to  gratify  these  tastes  he  kept 
the  incomes  of  vacant  bishoprics  in  his  own  hands.  His  reputation 
has  doubtless  suffered  from  the  mortal  affront  given  to  his 
biographer,  Platina,  by  measures  which  throw  an  important  light 
on  the  character  of  the  age. 

§  19.  The  great  revival  of  letters  and  art  was  deeply  infected 
with  the  paganism,  from  the  famous  works  of  which  it  derived  its 
chief  impulse, — a  natural  reaction  from  corrupt  Christianity,  when 
not  replaced  by  purer  faith.  In  his  attempts  to  reform  the  College 
of  Abbreviators,  whose  office  it  was  to  record  contemporary  events,3 
Paul  is  said  to  have  detected  a  society,  or,  as  they  called  themselves, 
an  academy,  who  laid  aside  their  baptismal  names  for  fanciful 
appellations,  such  as  Callimachus  and  Asclepiades,4  and,  with  their 

1  Peter  Barbo,  of  a  family  claiming  descent  from  the  Ahenobarbi.  He 
is  said  to  have  been  so  vain  of  his  beauty  as  to  wish  to  take  the  name  of 
Formosus.     That  of  Paul  was  derived  from  the  church  which  he  rebuilt. 

2  He  is  said  to  have  painted  his  face,  to  heighten  the  effect  of  his 
appearance  at  the  festivals  of  the  Church. 

3  The  college,  which  dated  from  the  time  of  the  Papacy  at  Avignon, 
had  been  remodelled  by  Pius  II.,  who  fixed  its  number  at  7<>. 

*  The  fact  that  many  of  these  names  were  found  in  the  catacombs  raises 
the  question  whether  the  movement  may  not  have  been,  in  part,  a  pro- 
fession of  primitive  Christianity. 


A.D.  1464*71. 


PAPACY  OF  PAUL  II. 


213 


pagan  ideas,  held  republican  principles,  which  were  perhaps  their 
chief  real  offence.  Many  of  them  were  tortured  in  the  Pope's  own 
presence,  and  banished.  Among  the  accused  was  Bartholomew 
Sacchi,  called  Platina,  from  the  old  Latin  name  of  Piadena,  in  the 
Cremonese,  where  he  was  born  in  1421.  He  had  been  made  an 
abbreviator  by  Pius  II.,  but  under  Paul  II.  he  was  deprived  of  his 
office,  imprisoned  and  tortured,  though  finally  acquitted.  Sixtus  IV. 
made  him  librarian  of  the  Vatican,  and  induced  him  to  write  the 
lives  of  the  contemporary  Popes.  He  died  in  1481.  No  wonder 
that  he  represents  Paul  as  heartless  and  cruel,  while  other  writers 
speak  of  his  tenderness,  benevolence,  and  charity,  and  Platina 
himself  testifies  to  his  bounty  to  the  poorer  cardinals  and  bishops, 
and  his  mercy  to  offenders  against  the  law.  Though  he  made 
three  of  his  relations  cardinals,  he  did  not  succumb  to  favourites ; 
"  and  his  pontificate,  however  little  we  may  find  in  it  to  respect, 
came  afterwards  to  be  regarded  as  an  era  of  purity  and  virtue  in 
comparison  with  the  deep  degradation  which  followed."  * 

§  20.  The  election  of  Paul  was  preceded,  as  in  so  many  other 
cases,  by  capitulations  among  the  cardinals,  accepting  mutual 
obligations,  which  the  new  Pope  at  once  threw  off  as  illegal.  For 
the  crusade  against  the  Turks,  who  were  now  threatening  Italy,  he 
gave  subsidies  to  the  Venetians,  Hungarians,  and  Scanderbeg ;  and 
endeavoured  to  form  alliances  and  raise  money  in  Germany,  where 
his  invitations  were  answered  by  a  demand  for  reform.  The 
Crusade,  in  fact,  had  died  with  Pius.  A  visit  from  the  Emperor 
Frederick  to  Rome  led  to  nothing  but  display  and  empty  compli- 
ments, ending  in  mutual  dissatisfaction  (1468).  Far  more  im- 
portant is  the  record  of  the  first  use  of  printing  at  Rome  in  1467. 
Paul  was  found  dead  in  his  bed  on  the  26th  of  July,  1471. 
1  Robertson,  vol.  iv.  p.  515. 


Medal  of  Cosmo  dei  Medici :  b.  1389,  d.  1464. 
From  the  British  Museum. 


Bronze  Statue  of  St.  Peter,  in  St.  Peter's,  at  Rome  : 
ascribed  to  the  time  of  St.  Leo  the  Great. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
THE  PAPACY  IN  THE  AGE  OF  THE  RENAISSANCE. 

SIXTUS  IV.      INNOCENT  VIII.      ALEXANDER  VI.      PIUS  III.      A.D.  1471-1503 


§  1.  Moral  Degradation  of  the  Papacy — Election  of  Cardinal  della  Rovere 
as  Sixtus  IV. — His  nepotism — The  Popes  as  Italian  princes — Julian 
della  Rovere;  Peter  and  Jerome  Riario — Corruption  and  oppression — 
Jubilee  of  1475 — Public  Works  at  Rome.  §  2.  Conspiracy  of  the  Pazzi 
at  Florence,  and  complicity  of  the  Pope — The  Turks  at  Otranto. 
§  3.  Quarrel  with  the  Venetians — Birth  of  Martin  Luther  (1483) — 
Death  of  Sixtus  IV.  (1484).  §  4.  Innocent  VIII. — His  gross  immo- 
rality— Corruption    and    profligacy    of  the  court — Disorder    of   Rome. 


A.D.  1471.      MORAL  DEGRADATION  OF  THE  PAPACY.  215 

§  5.  Wars  with  Naples — Alliance  with  the  Medici — Cardinal  John 
de'  Medici  (afterwards  Leo  X.).  §  6.  Relations  with  the  Turks  — 
Prince  Djem  at  Rome — Treaty  with  the  Sultan  Bajazet.  §  7.  Conquest 
of  Granada  by  Ferdinand  and  Isabella — Deaths  of  Lorenzo  de'  Medici- 
and  Innocent  VIII.  (1492).  §  8.  Election  of  Roderick  Borgia  as  Alex- 
ander VI.  His  Early  Life  and  Character — His  Family ;  John,  Duke 
of  Gandia,  Caesar  Borgia,  Lucrezia.  §  9.  Maximilian  I.  Emperor 
Elect.  §  10.  Charles  VIII.  of  France  at  Rome  and  in  Naples — 
Ferdinand  II.  restored  at  Naples  by  the  Spaniards — His  death.  §11. 
Murder  of  John  Borgia  by  his  brother  Caesar,  who  renouuees  his  cardi- 
nalate  and  clerical  orders.  §  12.  Accession  and  divorce  of  Louis  XII. — 
Mission  of  Caesar  Borgia  to  France — His  Conquests  in  Italy — French 
conquest  of  the  Milanese.  §  13.  Profligacy  and  corruption  at  Rome — 
The  Jubilee  of  a.d.  1500,  and  its  effect  in  Europe.  §  14-.  Savonarola 
at  Florence  :  his  pi'eaching  :  no  doctrinal  innovations — His  republicanism  : 
the  death-bed  of  Lorenzo  de'  Medici.  §  15.  Savonarola's  relations  to 
Charles  VIII.  and  the  Florentine  Republic — His  work  of  reformation. 
§  16.  Interference  of  the  Pope — The  "  Sacrifice  of  Vanities  " — Excom- 
munication of  Savonarola.  §  17.  His  renewed  preaching,  and  the 
Franciscan  opposition — The  Ordeal  of  Fire — His  imprisonment  and  mar- 
tyrdom— Machiavelli.  §18.  Birth  of  Charles  V. — Naples  seized  by  Spain. 
§  19.  Death  of  Alexander  VI.     §  20.  Election  and  Death  of  Pius  III. 

§  1.  The  period  of  about  half  a  century,  that  now  lies  before  us 
to  the  epoch  of  the  Reformation,  is  at  once  glorified  by  the  highest 
spendours  of  the  Renaissance  and  darkened  by  the  deep  moral 
corruption,  which  had  its  climax  in  the  characters  of  those  who  still 
claimed  to  be  the  Vicars  of  Christ  and  chief  pastors  of  His  flock  : 
"  Quis  custodiet  ipsos  Custodes  ?  "  A  recent  writer x  sums  up,  in 
colours  not  blacker  than  the  truth,  the  characters  of  the  Popes 
who  are  now  to  be  passed  in  review  :  "  The  Papacy  had  descended 
to  the  lowest  depths  of  infamy.  The  fiercely  avaricious  and  cruel 
Paul  II.  had  been  succeeded  by  ISixtus  IV.,  who  was  steeped  in 
bloodshed  and  diabolic  lust ;  under  Innocent  VIII.,  more  con- 
temptible and  scarcely  less  guilty,  the  imperial  city  liecame  once 
more  the  asylum  of  murderers  and  robbers ;  till  finally,  in 
Alexander  VI.  the  Christian  nations  saw  a  monster,  who  excelled  in 
depravity  the  most  hated  names  of  the  Pagan  Empire,  seated  on  the 
throne  of  St.  Peter." 

1  Mr.  F.  P.  Willert,  in  an  article  on  Machiavelli,  in  the  Fortnijhtly 
Review,  March  1884.  In  the  description  of  this  corruption  in  the 
verses  of  the  Carmelite  friar,  Baptista  Mantuanus  (ob.  1516),  de  Hbrum 
Tempumm  Calamitalibus  Libei  IV.,  one  chief  element  is  thus  described  : — 

"  venulia  nobis 
Templa.  sacerdotes,  altaria,  saeni,  corona?. 
Igncs,  thuia,  preces  :  cctlum  est  venale,  Deusque." 

The  last  words  are  not  too  strong  for  the  traffic  in  Indulgences.  (See 
Gieseler,  vol.  iv.  pp.  437-8.) 


216  NEPOTISM  OF  SIXTUS  IV.  Chap.  XIV. 

After  the  death  of  Paul  II.,  the  election  of  Bessarion  was  once 
more  prevented  by  those  "  light  and  voluptuous "  cardinals,  who 
dreaded  his  severe  virtue.  They  were  afterwards  rewarded  with 
offices  and  preferments  for  their  preference  of  Francis  della  Rovere, 
who  took  the  name  of  Sixtus  IV.1  (1471-1484).  Born  near 
Savona,  in  a  humble  station  (1414),  he  had  become  a  Franciscan, 
and,  after  teaching  philosophy  and  theology  in  several  Universities, 
he  had  lisen  to  the  generalship  of  his  order;  and,  through  the 
influence  of  Bessarion,  he  had  been  made  Cardinal  of  St.  Peter  ad 
Vincula  (1407).  Some  of  his  works  had  been  put  forth  by  the 
new  art  of  printing. 

But  this  learned  cardinal,  if  we  are  to  believe  the  chief  contem- 
porary annalist,2  became  as  Pope  a  monster  of  moral  depravity,  as 
well  as  a  most  corrupt  and  oppressive  governor;  and,  however 
exaggerated  may  be  the  shadows  of  the  picture,  its  outline  is 
justified  by  his  public  history.  Sixtus  IV.  is  notorious  in  the 
annals  of  the  Papacy  for  his  outrageous  nepotism.  Indeed  we  have 
now  reached  a  point  where  the  See  of  Bome,  instead  of  being  the 
centre  of  Latin  Christianity,  might  almost  seem  to  part  company 
with  any  proper  history  of  the  Christian  Church.  The  Pope 
becomes  a  secular  Italian  prince,  using  his  ecclesiastical  dignity 
chiefly  as  a  means  of  influence  in  the  politics  of  the  Peninsula  and 
of  Europe,  and  aiming  to  strengthen  himself,  as  well  to  gratify  his 
relations,  called  in  general  nephews,3  by  making  them  the  heads  of 
great  families,  and  even  conferring  on  them  principalities  ;  so  that 
a  new  power  was  raised  up  in  rivalry  with  the  cardinals  at  Rome 
and  with  the  nobles  and  States  of  Italy.  In  defiance  of  the  usual 
"capitulations,"  in  which  he  had  concurred  before  his  election, 
Sixtus  at  once  conferred  the  dignity  of  cardinal  on  two  of  his 
nephews,  young  men  of  humble   origin,  who,   like   himself,   had 

1  With  regard  to  the  origin  of  this  papal  name,  which  had  not  been 
used  for  more  than  1000  years,  and  was  destined  to  be  made  famous  by 
Sixtus  V.  (1585-1590),  it  is  a  simple  blunder  to  connect  it  with  Sextus. 
In  the  history  of  the  early  Popes  (Sixtus  I.  119-128,  Sixtus  II.  257-8, 
a  martyr  under  Valerian,  and  Sixtus  III.  432-440)  it  appears  in  the 
original  form  of  Xystus,  a  Graeco-Latin  word  signifying  a  terrace  or 
colonnade,  so  called  from  its  smoothed  floor  (£u(rros,  from  £eV).  The 
name  would  become  in  Italian  ^isto,  which  was  re-latinized  as  Sixtus. 

2  Stephanus  Infessuva  (who  is  styled  Senatus  Populique  Romani  Scriba 
s.  Cancellarius.  circ.  1494)  author  of  a  Diariwn  homanse  Urbis,  1294-1494 
(in  Eccard  and  Muratori).  See  the  passage  (in  Gieseler,  vol.  iv.  p.  385), 
in  which  the  writer  speaks  of  the  Divine  Providence  in  the  Pope's  death, 
and  dwells  on  his  wickedness  and  oppression.  But  a  much  less  severe 
character  is  given  in  the  Life  ascribed  to  Platina,  whom,  as  we  have  seen, 
Sixtus  made  librarian  of  the  Vatican. 

3  The  ambiguous  application  of  the  term  was  made  still  more  con- 
veniently in  its  original  Latin  form,  niputes,  whence  nep  t  sin, 


A.D.  1475.  JUBILEE- WORKS  AT  ROME.  217- 

become  Franciscans,  but  speedily  threw  off  all  the  restraints  of 
their  profession  (Dec.  1471).  One  of  them,  Julian  della  Rovere, 
became  famous  under  the  name  of  Pope  Julius  II.  The  other, 
Peter  Riario,  took  only  two  years  to  bring  himself  to  ruin  and  the 
grave  at  the  age  of  28  by  his  extravagance  and  debauchery 
(Jan.  1474) ;  when  his  brother  Jerome  succeeded  to  the  Pope's  still 
greater  favour.1  To  create  fortunes  for  these  relatives,  Sixtus 
raised  money  by  the  most  disgraceful  arts  ;  selling  the  highest 
dignities  to  unworthy  purchasers,  who  were  often  defrauded  of 
their  money  by  non-fulfilment  of  the  promise  ;  creating  new  offices 
to  trade  in;  corrupting  justice  by  the  sale  of  pardons,  even  for 
capital  offences ;  imposing  oppressive  taxes ;  and  tampering  with 
the  market-prices  of  provisions  to  such  an  extent  as  even  to  cause 
a  famine. 

As  a  means  of  bringing  in  money,  advantage  was  taken,  by 
large  indulgences,  of  the  Jubilee  appointed  by  Paul  II.  for  1475, 
twenty-five  years  after  the  last  celebration :  but  the  influx  of 
pilgrims,  notwithstanding  the  amplest  offers  of  indulgences,  was 
checked  not  only  by  a  pestilence,  but  also  by  the  evil  repute  of 
the  Pope,  which  had  reached  all  parts  of  Christendom.  Still  it 
brought  in  great  wealth,  which  Sixtus  expended  in  part  on  the  im- 
provement of  Rome,  though  with  much  of  the  destruction  which 
has  become  almost  synonymous  with  "  restoration."  In  widening 
and  repaving  the  streets,  he  destroyed  many  porticoes  and  other 
ancient  buildings,  which  the  King  of  Naples  marked  as  obstacles  to 
the  Pope's  full  mastery  of  Rome.  One  of  his  biographers  boasts 
that  the  city  would  have  been  rebuilt  had  Sixtus  lived,  and,  in 
rivalling  the  famous  saying  of  Augustus,  he  destroyed  many  of  the 
most  venerable  churches.  His  chief  monuments  are  the  Janiculan 
bridge,  which  he  rebuilt,  and  the  Sistine  chapel  in  the  Vatican, 
afterwards  renowned  for  the  frescoes  of  Michael  Angelo.  His 
enlargement  of  the  Vatican  Library,  and  appointment  of  Platina  to 
its  charge,  testify  to  his  patronage  of  letters. 

§  2.  The  nepotism  of  Sixtus  IV.  affected  his  whole  policy 
towards  the  States  of  Italy  ;  and  in  one  case  it  was  a  chief  cause  of 
his  complicity  in  an  atrocious  crime,  the  conspiracy  of  the  Pazzi,  at 
Florence,  for  the  murder  of  Lorenzo  de'  Medici  (surnamed  "  the 
Magnificent ")  and  his  brother  Julian.  The  Pope's  nephew, 
Jerome  Riario,  and  his  grand-nephew,   Raphael  Riario,  who  had 

1  The  brothers  Riario  were  said  to  be  really  the  Pope's  sons ;  and 
Infessura  ascribes  their  favour  to  a  more  odious  connection.  Another 
nephew,  who  is  described  as  "a  very  little  man,  aud  of  intellect  corre- 
sponding to  his  person."  was  married  to  an  illegitimate  daughter  of 
Ferdinand  of  Naples;  and,  as  the  price  of  this  alliance,  Sixtus  commuted 
the  tribute  of  Naples  to  the  Apostolic  See  for  <i  white  h<>rs<'!  There  are 
other  cases  of  the  Pope's  nepotism,  which  it  is  needless  to  recount. 


218  DEATH  OF  SIXTHS  IV.  Chap.  XIV. 

just  been  made  a  cardinal  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  were  active 
parties  in  the  conspiracy,  to  the  support  of  which  Sixtus,  while 
professing  to  desire  no  bloodshed,  promised  the  aid  of  the  papal 
troops.  When  the  murderous  attack,  made  by  two  priests  in  the 
cathedral,  at  the  moment  of  the  elevation  of  the  host  (Sunday, 
April  26th,  1478),  failed  of  its  object — Lorenzo  de'  Medici  escaping 
with  a  wound,  though  his  brother  Julian  was  killed,  and  the 
people  taking  part  vehemently  against  the  assassins — the  Pope 
issued  a  violent  Bull  against  Lorenzo  and  the  magistrates  of 
Florence,  and  made  war  upon  the  city  in  league  with  Ferdinand, 
King  of  Naples. 

Europe  in  general  was  indignant  against  the  Pope,  and  Louis  XL 
threatened  to  revive  the  Pragmatic  Sanction  and  to  stop  the  papal 
revenues  from  France,  which,  he  declared,  went  to  enrich  Jerome, 
instead  of  being  applied  to  the  Holy  War.  So  little  indeed  had 
been  done  towards  the  Crusade,  for  which  the  Pope  had  professed 
great  zeal  at  his  accession,  that  Home  itself  was  now  threatened  by 
Mahomet,  who  took  Otranto,  and  put  12,000  out  of  its  22,000  inhabi- 
tants to  the  sword  (Aug.  21,  1480).  This  blow  brought  the  Pope"  to 
terms  with  the  Florentines,  who  had  already,  in  their  extremity, 
won  over  Ferdinand  of  Naples  by  the  personal  influence  of  Lorenzo 
de'  Medici.  Their  ambassadors  went  through  a  solemn  form  of  sub- 
mission and  reconciliation  at  Pome ;  and  the  chief  States  of  Italy 
joined  to  expel  the  invader  from  Italian  soil.  The  dynastic 
contest,  which  followed  the  death  of  Mahomet  the  Conqueror 
(May  3rd,  1481),  cut  off  the  reinforcements  needed  fur  holding 
Otranto,  and  the  Turkish  garrison  surrendered  to  the  Neapolitans 
(August  10th). 

§  3.  Instead  of  following  up  this  success  against  the  common 
enemy,  who  were  besieging  the  Knights  of  St.  John  at  Rhodes,  the 
Pope  and  the  Venetians  joined  in  an  attempt  to  take  Ferrara  from 
the  house  of  Este  for  Jerome  Riario.  Ferdinand  of  Naples  opposed 
the  scheme,  and  his  troops  had  advanced  to  the  gates  of  Rome, 
when  he  won  over  Riario,  and  through  him  Sixtus  himself  (1482). 
The  Pope's  late  allies  were  invited  to  join  in  a  new  league  for  the 
pacification  of  Italy ;  and  their  refusal  was  punished  by  Bulls  of  the 
severest  excommunication  and  interdict  (May  1483).  But  the 
Venetian  oligarchy  proved  itself  too  strong  for  the  Vatican ;  and, 
fortified  by  the  opinion  of  the  jurists  of  Padua,  the  Council  of  Ten 
intercepted  the  papal  missives,  compelled  the  clergy  to  perform 
their  functions,  and  appealed  both  to  a  General  Council  and  a 
Congress  of  Christian  princes.  Besides  this  war,  the  Roman 
territory  was  desolated  by  the  feuds  of  the  papal  Orsini  and  the 
an ti- papal  Colonna  and  Savelli ;  till  a  peace  was  made  between 
Venice  and  Naples,  without  any  stipulation  in  favour  of  Jerome 


A.D.  1484.  CHARACTER  OF  INNOCENT  VIII.  219 

Riario.  The  Pope's  vexation  at  this  treaty  is  said  to  have 
hastened  his  death,  which  took  place  five  days  later  (Aug.  12, 1484). 
The  biographer  sees  the  power  of  God  in  this  liberation  of  His 
Christian  people ;  but  we  may  now  still  more  trace  the  Divine 
hand  in  an  event  of  the  last  year  of  Sixtus.  Martin  Luther  ivas 
born  on  the  11th  of  November,  1483.1 

§  4.  The  death  of  Sixtus  IV.  gave  free  rein  to  the  popular  hatred 
of  his  family  and  connections,  the  factions  of  the  nobility,  and  the 
intrigues  of  parties  in  the  Conclave.  The  interests  of  the  cardinals 
were  again  vainly  protected  by  stringent  capitulations  ;  and  the 
confident  hopes  of  Roderigo  Borgia  were  frustrated  by  the  exertions 
of  Julian  della  Rovere  and  Ascanius  Sforza 2  in  favour  of  Cardinal 
John  Baptist  Cibo,3  who  was  elected  as  Innocent  VIII.  (1484- 
1492).  The  moral  laxity  of  the  nominal  head  of  Christianity 
seemed  to  have  reached  its  climax  in  a  Pope  whose  seven  illegiti- 
mate children,  by  different  mothers,  were  openly  recognized  and 
provided  for  out  of  the  revenues  of  the  Church.  Corrupt  and 
simoniacal  dealings  were  continued  and  increased ;  and  offices  were 
created  to  be  sold,  the  purchasers  repaying  themselves  by  exactions. 
The  "  capitulations,"  to  which  the  Pope  had  renewed  his  oath  after 
his  election,  were  set  at  nought.  Rome,  distracted  by  the  renewed 
feuds  of  the  Colonna  and  Orsini,  was  thrown  into  utter  disorder  by 
a  papal  edict  allowing  the  return  of  all  who  had  been  banished,  for 
whatever  cause  (1485) ;  and  pardons  were  sold  for  the  grossest 
crimes,  for,  as  a  high  officer  said,  "  God  willeth  not  the  death  of  a 
sinner,  but  rather  that  he  should  pay  and  live."*     The  papal  court 

1  The  same  year  was  also  marked  by  the  death  of  Louis  XI.  (Aug.  30, 
1483),  to  soothe  whose  superstitious  terrors  Sixtus  sent  relics  in  such 
abundance  that  the  Romans  remonstrated  against  the  loss  to  their 
city.  Among  the  troop  of  holy  men,  whose  intercession  was  sought  by 
the  King,  was  St.  Francis  of  Paola,  the  founder  of  a  new  branch  of  his 
great  namesake's  order  of  the  Minorites  (Fratns  JJinores),  which  he 
called  in  his  humility  the  Minims  (Fratres  Minimi).  See  further  in 
Chap.  XXV.  §  9. 

2  Ascanius  Sforza,  son  of  Galeazzo  Sforza  of  Milan,  had  been  made  a  car- 
dinal by  the  late  Pope  in  consideration  of  the  marriage  of  Jerome  Riario 
to  an  illegitimate  daughter  of  Galeazzo. 

3  His  family  was  of  Greek  origin,  but  had  been  long  settled  at  Genoa 
and  Naples  by  the  name  of  fomacelli,  that  to  which  Boniface  IX. 
belonged.  The  name  of  Cibo  was  taken  from  the  chess-board  pattern 
(kv^os)  in  their  arms.  The  father  of  Innocent  had  been  Viceroy  of  Naples 
under  King  Rene,  and  Senator  of  Rome  under  Calixtus  III. 

4  Infessura,  ap.  Robertson,  vol.  iv.  p.  544.  According  to  the  oft-mis- 
quoted proverb,  the  exception  tests  (probat)  the  rule;  as  when  two  papal 
secretaries,  detected  in  forging  Bulls,  were  put  to  death  because  they  could 
not  pay  the  price  of  a  pardon.  On  the  other  hand,  there  are  writers  who 
praise  Innocent  for  his  maintenance  of  public  order;  but  the  testimony  of 
Infessura,  though  hostile,  seems  the  more  trustworthy. 


220  THE  CONQUEST  OF  GRANADA.      Chap.  XIV. 

was  disgraced  by  gross  profligacy,  extravagance,  and  gambling, 
which  infected  the  whole  society  of  Home. 

§  5.  The  demand  made  by  Innocent  of  the  former  tribute  from 
Naples  involved  him  in  long  wars  with  King  Ferdinand,  though 
twice  ended  by  treaties  in  favour  of  the  Papacy,  the  terms  of  which, 
however,  were  little  regarded.1  In  this  conflict  the  Pope  sought 
the  alliance  of  the  great  ruler  of  Florence,  Lorenzo  de'  Medici, 
whose  son  John  (Giovanni),  afterwards  famous  as  Leo  X.,  was 
made  a  cardinal  at  the  age  of  thirteen  (1489). 

§  6.  While  following  the  example  of  his  predecessors,  and  with 
as  little  result,  in  calling  the  princes  of  Europe  to  a  crusade  against 
the  Turks,  Innocent  entered  into  curious  relations  with  their  royal 
family.  The  succession  to  the  great  Sultan  Mahomet  II.  had  been 
disputed  between  his  sons,  Bajazet  and  Djem  (called  Zizim  or 
Zemes  in  the  West) ;  and  the  latter,  defeated  by  his  brother,  fled  to 
the  Knights  of  St.  John  at  Rhodes,  who  sent  him  for  greater  safety 
to  their  brethren  in  France.  After  some  years  of  competition  for 
the  young  prince's  person,  to  be  used  as  a  pretender  against  the 
Sultan,  Djem  was  given  up  to  the  Pope,  and  was  lodged  as  an  honoured 
guest  in  the  Vatican  (1489).  Bajazet,  having  failed  (if  the  report 
can  be  trusted)  in  an  intrigue  to  poison  both  the  prince  and  the 
Pope,  arranged  to  pay  Innocent  40,000  ducats  annually  for  his 
brother's  maintenance  and  safe  custody;2  and  he  propitiated  the 
Pope  with  a  most  holy  relic,  the  head  of  the  spear  which  pierced 
the  Saviour's  side.3 

§  7.  While  these  civilities  were  exchanged  between  the  Pope  and 
Sultan,  a  great  landmark  was  set  in  the  history  of  Christendom  by 
the  final  victory  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  over  the  Moslems  in 
Spain,  in  the  conquest  of  Granada  after  a  twelve  years'  war  (Jan. 
1492).  The  triumph  was  celebrated  at  Rome  with  unbounded 
rejoicings,  and  with  bull-fights  given  by  the  Spanish  ambassador 
and  Cardinal  Borgia.  Three  months  later,  the  almost  royal  honours, 
with  which  the  young  Cardinal  John  de'  Medici  was  installed  on 

1  For  the  details  of  these  purely  political  affairs,  see  Robertson,  vol.  iv. 
pp.  544-5. 

2  The  young  prince's  fate  was  in  keeping  with  the  vest  of  this  policy. 
When  the  next  Pope,  Alexander  VI.,  supported  the  claim  of  Charles  VIII. 
on  Naples  (see  below,  §  10),  lie  gave  up  Djem  to  the  French  King,  to  be 
used  in  a  Crusade  (Jan.  1495).  But  in  the  next  month  Djem  died, 
poisoned,  as  was  believed,  and  is  now  confirmed  by  the  secret  archives  of 
Venice  (see  p.  232,  n),  for  the  great  sum  which  Bajazet  gave  the  Pope. 

3  This  is  still  one  of  the  four  most  sacred  relics  preserved  at  St.  Peter's. 
True,  the  possession  of  the  lance  was  already  claimed  by  other  places,  and 
Bajazet  himself  informed  the  Pope  that  its  point  (cuspis)  was  at  Paris; 
but,  as  a  writer  asked  in  the  spirit  of  the  classic  revival,  if  several  cities 
claimed  the  birth  of  Homer  and  the  tomb  of  /Eneas,  why  should  there  not 
be  many  claimants  to  the  custody  of  this  holy  relic? 


A.D.  1492.  RODERICK  BORGIA,  ALEXANDER  VI.  221 

completing  his  sixteenth  year,  were  interrupted  by  the  death  of  his 
father  Lorenzo  (April  7th) ;  and  the  Pope  died  on  July  27th. 

§  8.  Amidst  the  armed  tumults  and  loss  of  life  in  Eome  and  its 
neighbourhood,  for  which  every  papal  vacancy  had  become  the 
regular  signal,  a  vehement  struggle  took  place  in  the  Conclave 
between  the  parties  of  Cardinals  Borgia,  Sforza,  and  della  Rovere ; 
till  Sforza,  finding  his  chance  hopeless,  threw  his  weight  into  the 
scale  of  Borgia,  whose  success  was  ensured  by  unbounded  bribery 
and  promises  of  preferment  to  his  brother  cardinals.1  Alexander 
VI.  (1492-1503),  whose  name  stands  alone  in  its  "  bad  eminence  !" 
even  among  the  Popes  of  this  age,  expressed  his  exultation  in  words 
which  have  a  satiric  force  in  history;  "I  am  Pope,  Pontiff,  Vicar 
of  Christ ! "  Some  of  the  Romans  rejoiced  in  the  promise  which 
his  noble  presence,  wealth,  and  expensive  tastes,  gave  of  a  splendid 
pontificate ;  but  his  elevation  alarmed  the  sovereigns  of  Spain,  who 
knew  him  better,  and  Ferdinand  of  Naples  is  said  to  have  burst 
into  tears  at  the  news.  His  career  seems  strangely  placed  in  this 
history  of  the  Christian  Church ;  but  it  helps  on  the  climax  of 
evidence  for  the  necessity  of  a  better  foundation  than  the  falsely- 
claimed  Roman  rock  of  Peter — that  one  true  Rock  of  which  the 
Apostle's  name  was  but  the  symbol.2 

\Roderigo   Borgia,3  now   61    years   old,  was  (as  we   have   seen) 

1  The  only  ones  not  thus  won  over  are  said  to  have  been  the  Cardinals 
Piccolomini,  della  Rovere,  and  three  others.  Contemporary  satire  cele- 
brated the  means  by  which  Borgia  secured  his  election,  and  his  indis- 
criminate sale  of  benefices  : — 

"  Vendit  Alexander  claves,  altaria,  Chi  istum  : 
Emerat  iota  prius  ;  vendere  jure  potest." 

Alexander's  consciousness  of  the  means  by  which  his  election  was 
obtained  was  betrayed  by  his  constant  dread  of  a  General  Council. 

2  The  grand  text  inscribed  round  the  dome  of  St.  Peter's  (Matt.  xvi. 
J  8,  "Tu  es  Petrus,  &c")  may  suggest  an  irony  to  those  who  remember 
the  state  of  the  Papacy  when  it  was  set  up. 

3  The  chief  original  authorities  for  this  Pope  and  his  family  are  Stephen 
Infessura(to  1494);  Burchard,  Master  of  the  Ceremonies  to  Alexander  VI., 
Diarium  Curse  Romanee,  1484-1506  (the  first  vol.  of  a  new  and  complete 
edition,  by  L.  Thuasne,  has  appeared  at  Paris,  1883) ;  and  especially 
Guicciardini,  Isto-ia  d'ltalia,  Lib.  XX.  1494-1532.  Francesco  Guicci- 
ardini,  who  ranks  at  the  head  of  the  general  historians  of  Italy,  was  born 
at  Florence  in  1482,  and  became  a  strong  partisan  of  the  Medicean  party. 
He  was  in  the  service  of  Leo  X.  and  Clement  VII.,  and  had  a  chief  share 
in  the  final  establishment  of  the  rule  of  the  Medici  in  1530.  But  disgust 
at  the  despotic  power  usurped  by  Cosmo  I.  caused  his  retirement  to  his 
country  seat  at  Arcetri,  where  he  wrote  his  History,  and  died  in  May 
1540.  The  History  was  only  published  20  years  later  by  his  nephew, 
Bks.  I.— XVI.  in  1561,  aud  the  first  complete  edition  at  Venice  in  1569. 
Though  prolix,  it  is  valuable  and  authentic,  the  more  so  because  charac- 
terized, like  the  great  work  of  his  contemporary  Machiavelli,  by  the 
moral  indifference  of  the  age,  and  so  the  more  impartial. 

II— M 


222  MAXIMILIAN  I.,  EMPEROR  ELECT.  Chap.  XIV. 

by  birth  a  Spaniard:  he  and  his  family  spoke  Spanish  among 
themselves,  and  were  surrounded  by  attendants  and  confidants  of 
their  own  nation.1  A  legatine  mission  to  Spain,  to  collect  money 
for  the  Crusade,  added  to  the  great  wealth  he  derived  from  his 
numerous  preferments  and  the  inheritance  of  his  uncle,  Calixtus  III. 
Like  the  Spanish  clergy  in  general,  he  was  deficient  in  learning, 
though  of  ready  eloquence ;  his  ability  lying  chiefly  in  craft, 
resources,  and  perseverance  as  a  negociator.  His  faithlessness, 
Machiavelli  tells  us,2  was  such  that  he  was  not  to  be  believed  on 
his  oath.  His  addiction  to  pleasure  was  not  allowed  to  interfere 
with  business,  which  he  often  transacted  during  a  large  part  of  the 
night.  His  earlier  ecclesiastical  life  had  been  marked  by  deeds  as 
well  as  professions  of  piety  and  charity ;  nor,  up  to  this  time,  had 
his  loose  morality  reached  the  licence  which  made  the  palaces  of 
some  other  cardinals  notorious  for  their  profligate  revels.3  It  was 
probably  about  1470  that  he  made  an  irregular  marriage  (so  he 
regarded  the  connection)  with  Vanozza  de'  Catanei,  whom  he  pro- 
vided with  two  husbands  in  succession.4 

Alexander's  surviving  family  was  three  sons  and  two  daughters. 
His  eldest  son,  Peter  Louis,  having  died,  the  title  of  Duke  of 
Gandia,  given  him  by  the  King  of  Spain,  had  devolved  on  his  next 
brother,  John.  The  third  and  favourite  son,  the  infamous  Cesar 
Borgia,  who  was  studying  for  the  priesthood  at  Pisa,  was  at  once 
made  Bishop  of  Pampeluna  and  soon  after  Archbishop  of  Valencia 
(his  father's  see),  and  next  year  a  cardinal.5 

§  9.  In  the  same  year  (1493)  a  new  force  arose  in  Europe  by  the 
succession  of  the  able  and  adventurous  Maximilian  I.  to  his  father 
Frederick  III.6     From  him  dates  the  real  greatness  of  the  house  of 

1  Caesar  Borgia's  trusted  assassin  and  poisoner  was  a  Spaniard. 

2  Principe,  c.  18. 

3  Even  an  historian  of  the  age,  who  holds  that  the  vices  of  Alexander 
were  equalled  by  his  virtues,  draws  his  character  in  the  following  terms  : — 
"perfidia  plusquam  Punica,  saevitia  immani,  avaritia  immensa  ac  rapaci- 
tate,  inexhausta  parandifilio  imperii  per  fas  et  nefas  libidine  .  .  .  Mulieri- 
bus  maxime  addictus,  &c"  Onuphrius  Panvinius  (the  continuer  of 
Platina),  de  Yit.  Pontif.  p.  360,  Colon.  1600. 

*  After  Alexander's  death,  Vanozza  is  said  to  have  led  a  life  of  devotion 
and  beneficence.     She  is  buried  in  the  church  of  Sta.  Maria  del  Popolo. 

5  The  character  and  adventures  of  the  beautiful  Lucrezia  Borgia,  who 
was  now  fifteen,  have  no  real  place  in  the  ecclesiastical  history  ot'  the 
age.  It  is  enough  to  say  that  there  is  undoubtedly  much  exaggeration  in 
the  traditional  accounts  of  her,  and  indeed  of  the  whole  family  of  Borgia. 
But  enough  was  true  to  m:\ke  the  worst  easy  of  belief. 

6  As  has  been  said  before,  he  was  the  first  who  bore  the  title  of 
Emperor  Elect,  whi.h  was  formally  conferred  by  Pope  Julius  II.,  when 
the  Venetians  prevented  Maximilian  from  going  to  Rome  for  his  coronation 
(1508).  Born  in  1459,  he  had  been  elected  King  of  the  Romans  in  his 
father's  lifetime.     At  the  age  of  18,  he  married  Mary,  heiress  of  Charles 


A.D.  1494  f.     CHARLES  VIII.,  OF  FRANCE,  IN  ITALY.  223 

Hapsburg  in  the  Empire  which  they  held  (with  the  exception  of 
only  one  reign)  till  it  was  abdicated  by  Francis  II.  in  1806. 

§  10.  We  may  best  leave  to  civil  history  the  intricate  movements 
of  Italian  politics,  which  brought  Charles  VIIL  of  France  to  Rome 
on  his  enterprize  to  recover  the  Angevine  inheritance  of  Naples 
(Dec.  31,  1494).  The  Pope,  who  had  taken  part  with  King 
Alfonso,1  and  had  vainly  sought  aid  from  Maximilian,  found 
himself  unable  to  refuse  Charles  a  passage ;  he  shut  himself  up 
in  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo,  threatened  at  once  by  the  French 
cannon  and  an  appeal  promoted  by  a  large  party  of  the  cardinals  to 
a  General  Council  for  his  deposition.  But  he  found  means  to 
influence  the  King's  counsellors;  a  treaty  was  concluded,  and 
Caesar  Borgia  accompanied  Charles  as  legate,  but  really  as  a 
hostage,  and  contrived  to  escape  on  the  march  to  Naples.  Alfonso, 
whose  tyranny  and  vices,  as  well  as  his  father's,  had  made  him 
hated  by  his  subjects,  abdicated  in  favour  of  his  son  Ferdinand  II., 
and  retired  to  a  monastery,  where  he  soon  after  died ;  while  the 
new  King,  unable  to  oppose  the  invader,  fled  to  Ischia,  and  Charles 
entered  Naples  unopposed  (Feb.  21st,  1495).  But  his  indolence 
and  misgovernment,  and  the  rapacity  and  licence  of  his  followers, 
utterly  disgusted  his  new  subjects  ;  and  the  news  of  a  league  formed 
by  the  Pope,  the  Emperor,  the  sovereigns  of  Spain,  and  the  Vene- 
tians, forced  him  to  retreat  from  Naples.  At  Rome,  Alexander 
avoided  meeting  him  by  retiring  to  Orvieto,  and  Charles  recrossed 
the  Alps  in  October.  Meanwhile  Ferdinand  was  reinstated  at 
Naples  by  the  aid  of  the  "  Great  Captain  "  of  Spain,2  Gonsalvo  de 
Aguilar,  the  conqueror  of  Granada,  who  also  recovered  Ostia  for  the 
Pope  from  the  force  left  there  by  Charles  under  Julian  della  Rovere ; 
the  Cardinal  himself  being  driven  into  exile.  Gonsalvo  accepted 
the  golden  rose  as  a  present  for  his  sovereigns ;  but  he  refused  the 
honours  offered  for  himself,  and  rebuked  the  Pope  for  the  disorders 
of  his  court  (1497). 

§  11.  The  speedy  death  of  Ferdinand  IT.,  at  the  age  of  27 
(Sept.  7th,  1496),  opened  to  the  Pope  a  prospect  of  schemes  for  the 

the  Bold  of  Burgundy,  who  brought  the  Low  Countries  to  the  house  of 
Austria;  and  the  marriage  of  their  son,  Philip,  with  Joanna,  the  heiress 
of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  united  the  possessions  of  Spain,  Austria,  and 
the  Netherlands,  in  the  person  of  their  son,  Charles  I.  of  Spain,  the 
Emperor  Charles  V. 

1  Alfonso  succeeded  his  father  Ferdinand,  Jan.  25th,  1494.  Charles 
was  urged  on  to  the  enterprize  by  the  Cardinal  della  Rovere,  the  im- 
placable enemy  of  the  Pope. 

2  It  is  a  sign  of  the  objects  for  which  the  pretence  of  a  Crusade  was 
kept  up,  that  the  Pope  authorized  the  Spanish  sovereigns  to  employ  the 
money,  collected  for  that  purpose  in  Spain,  against  the  French  in  Naples. 


224  LOUIS  XII.  KING  OF  FRANCE.  Chap.  XIV. 

aggrandizement  of  his  family  in  Naples,  like  those  which  had  been 
formed  by  Sixtus  IV.  As  a  first  step,  the  dukedom  of  Benevento 
— the  ancient  possession  of  the  Papacy  in  the  heart  of  the  Neapolitan 
dominions — was  conferred  on  John  Borgia,  duke  of  Gandia,  Picco- 
lomini  being  the  only  cardinal  who  protested  against  this  aliena- 
tion of  the  Church's  patrimony  (June  7th,  1497).  But  on  that  day 
week  the  duke  was  murdered  in  the  streets  of  Rome,1  and  it  was 
not  doubted  that  the  crime  was  perpetrated  by  Caesar  Borgia,  in 
order  to  secure  for  himself  the  advancement  designed  for  his 
brother.  Alexander,  amidst  his  bitter  lamentations,  cried  out  that  he 
knew  the  murderer ;  but  before  the  consistory  he  declared  that  he 
suspected  no  one.  In  his  agony  of  grief,  he  appointed  a  commis- 
sion of  six  cardinals  to  draw  up  a  scheme  for  the  reformation  of  the 
Church,  and  even  talked  of  resigning  the  Papacy ;  but  all  this 
ended  in  verifying  the  famous  proverb  of  the  sick  wicked  one. 

Csesar  soon  regained  his  ascendancy  over  his  father,  and  went  to 
Naples  to  crown  the  new  King,  Frederick,  uncle  of  Ferdinand,  an 
amiable  and  popular  sovereign,  whom  he  was  perhaps  already 
plotting  to  supplant  (Aug.  1497).  To  smooth  the  path  of  his 
ambition,  Caesar  obtained  a  dispensation  from  his  clerical  orders 
and  dignity  as  a  cardinal,  and  became  a  simple  layman  (Aug.  1498). 

§  12.  Meanwhile  Charles  VIII.  of  France  had  died  at  the  age  of 
28  (April  7th,  1498),  and  was  succeeded  by  his  cousin  the  Duke  of 
Orleans,  as  Louis  XII.  The  new  King  was  eager  for  release  from 
his  deformed  but  amiable  wife,  Jeanne,  whom  her  father,  Louis  XL, 
had  forced  upon  him,2  that  he  might  marry  Charles's  widow,  who 
was  heiress  of  Brittany  in  her  own  right.  Alexander  eagerly 
seized  the  opportunity  for  an  alliance  with  France,  and  sent  Caesar 
on  a  splendid  mission,  with  Bulls  for  the  divorce  and  remarriage  of 
Louis,3  and  one  conferring  the  dignity  of  cardinal  on  the  King's 
minister,  d'Amboise.     The  divorce  was  pronounced  after  a  scanda- 

1  John  (Juan,  Giovanni),  who  was  24  when  he  died,  was  the  only  one 
of  the  Borgias  in  whose  line  the  family  was  continued.  His  son  Juan 
was  the  ancestor  of  dukes,  cardinals,  and  prelates:  and  chief  among  them 
ranks  his  son,  St.  Francesco  de  Borgia  (b.  1510),  who,  after  a  splendid 
career  at  the  court  of  Charles  V.  (whose  executor  he  became  later), 
retired  from  the  world  on  the  death  of  his  wife  (1546),  entered  the 
Society  of  Jesus,  and  became  its  third  General  (1565).  He  died  at  Rome 
in  1572,  and  was  canonized  by  Clement  IX.  in  1671. 

2  Louis  XII.,  the  first  King  of  the  line  of  Valois-Orleans,  was  the 
grandson  of  Louis,  duke  of  Orleans,  the  younger  son  of  Charles  V.,  and 
of  Valentina  Viseonti,  on  his  descent  from  whom  he  based  his  claim  to 
the  duchy  of  Milan.     As  to  the  death  of  Charles  VIII.,  see  ]-.  232,  n. 

3  With  characteristic  duplicity,  the  second  Bull  was  kept  back,  to 
secure  better  terms  from  Louis;  but  its  existence  was  betrayed  to  the 
King  by  a  bishop,  whom  Caesar  is  said  to  have  poisoned  for  his  indiscretion. 


A.D.  1498  f.      CAREER  OF  CESAR  BORGIA.  225 

lous  mockery  of  a  trial.  Louis  rewarded  Ca3sar  Borgia  with  the 
hand  of  his  niece  Charlotte  d'Alhret,  sister  of  the  King  of  Navarre, 
and  with  the  duchy  of  Valentinois,  and  promised  to  aid  his  ambi- 
tious schemes  in  Italy.  While  Louis,  in  two  campaigns,  conquered 
the  duchy  of  Milan,  and  carried  off  Ludovico  Sforza  a  prisoner  to 
France,1  Cajsar  Borgia  pursued  his  designs  in  Central  Italy.  With 
the  design  of  creating  a  great  principality — and  even,  as  some 
think,  of  aiming  at  a  union  of  the  peninsula — Ceesar  began  by 
putting  down  the  numerous  petty  princes,  who  had  raised  them- 
selves from  the  original  condition  of  papal  vicars  in  the  territories 
of  the  Holy  See.  The  oppressive  taxation,  required  to  support 
these  courts  in  the  luxury  of  the  age  and  their  patronage  of  arts 
and  letters,  made  them  hateful  to  their  subjects ;  and  their  failure 
to  pay  the  tribute  to  Rome  gave  a  pretext  for  their  suppression. 
The  alienation  of  their  fiefs  from  the  domain  of  the  Church  to  become 
the  property  of  the  Borgias  was  sanctioned  by  the  Sacred  College, 
and  Ca?sar,  who  had  been  received  at  Rome  with  a  splendid  triumph 
(Feb.  1500),  was  created  Duke  of  Romagna.  His  designs  on 
Tuscany  were  checked  by  the  French  king,  wlio  was  urged  by  many 
of  the  Italians  to  deliver  the  Church  from  the  Pope  and  his  son. 
Alexander,  however,  secured  the  influence  of  Cardinal  d'Amboise 
by  new  promises ;  and  the  alliance  was  confirmed  in  an  interview 
between  Louis  and  Caesar  at  Milan  (Aug.  1502). 

§  13.  It  would  only  be  disgusting  to  recite  in  detail  the  acts  of 
cruelty  and  perfidy  by  which  Caisar  Borgia  secured  and  extended 
his  power  in  Italy;  or  the  shameless  profligacy  in  which,  after 
making  allowance  for  exaggeration,  we  must  believe  that  the  Pope, 
his  family,  and  his  court,  revelled  at  the  Vatican.  These  excesses, 
and  the  splendid  establishments  of  the  Borgias,  were  supported  in 
part  by  all  the  old  abuses — the  traffic  in  benefices  and  indulgences, 
the  creation  of  offices  for  sale,  the  misappropriation  of  money  collected 
for  the  Crusade — with  new  and  most  shameful  devices.  Cardinals 
were  created  in  large  numbers  at  a  time,  "  for  a  consideration ; " 
but  their  removal  was  still  more  profitable.  Alexander  not  only 
seized  the  property  of  deceased  cardinals  under  the  jus  exuvia/rum, 
in  defiance  of  their  testamentary  dispositions,  but  even  forbad 
their  making  wills,  and  in  some  cases  a  rich  succession  is  said  to 
have  been  secured  by  poison.  Wealthy  prelates  disappeared  mys- 
teriously. Rome  was  kept  under  a  government  of  terror  ;  the  prisons 
were  crowded,  while  the  streets  were  full  of  assassins  and  spies, 
and  dead  bodies  were  daily  found  lying  in  the  streets  or  floating 

1  The  details  belong  to  civil  history.  See  the  Student's  France, 
chap.  xiii.  §  2. 


226  JUBILEE  OF  1500.  Chap.  XIV. 

in  the  Tiber.  Criminal  charges  were  invented  against  Roman 
nobles,  that  their  confiscated  property  might  be  swept  into  the 
coffers  of  the  Iiorgias ;  and  church  property  was  largely  alienated 
for  their  possession.1  The  Jubilee  of  1500  enriched  the  Vatican 
with  the  contributions  of  a  vast  number  of  pilgrims,  who  in  return 
carried  abroad  the  news  of  the  utter  depravity  of  Rome,  and  so 
gave  an  impulse  to  the  great  movement  of  the  sixteenth  century.2 

§  14.  How  the  forces  of  reformation  were  gathering  beyond  the 
Alps,  will  be  told  in  its  place ;  but,  even  in  the  great  depth  of 
Italian  corruption,  the  dark  picture  of  Alexander's  Papacy  is  broken 
by  the  appearance  of  one  of  the  most  striking  characters  of  the  age, 
the  reformer  and  martyr  Jerome  Savonaboi-a.3  Born  in  1452  at 
Ferrara,  where  his  grandfather  was  court  physician,  he  became  an 
ardent  student  of  poetry,  philosophy,  and  theology.  Imbued  with 
reverence  for  Thomas  Aquinas,  and  disgusted  at  the  profligacy  of 
the  times,  he  was  led  by  the  preaching  of  a  Dominican  friar  to 
enter  the  Order  at  the  age  of  twenty-two  (1475).  He  had 
already  believed  himself  favoured  with  visions ;  and  in  the  scrip- 
tural studies,  which  he  pursued  with  ardour,  he  was  addicted  to 
mystic  and  allegorical  interpretations.  After  a  course  of  seven 
years  in  the  Dominican  convent  at  Bologna,  his  superiors  removed 
him  to  the  monastery  of  St.  Mark's  at  Florence  (1482),  of  which  he 
was  elected  prior  in  1491.  Meanwhile,  notwithstanding  some 
natural  disqualifications  and  first  failures,  Savonarola  burst  forth 
into  full   power  as  a  preacher  to  the  multitudes   who   filled   the 

1  "Thus  Caesar,  in  addition  to  his  fiefs  in  the  Romagna,  received  the 
abbey  of  Subiaco,  with  eighteen  castles  belonging  to  it ;  and  nineteen 
cardinals  signed  the  deed  of  alienation,  while  not  one  dared  to  object  to 
it."— Robertson,  vol.  iv.  p.  580. 

2  A  series  of  events  of  the  highest  importance  in  contemporary  history 
claim  notice  also  as  an  illustration  of  the  lofty  claims  of  the  Pap;icy. 
The  Discovery  or  re-discovery  of  Americx  was  begun  by  the  first  voyage 
of  Columbus  in  1492,  and  in  1497  Vasco  da  Gama  found  the  way  to 
India  round  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  Alexander  VI.  assumed  the  right  to 
divide  the  newlv  discovered  worlds  by  a  Bull,  drawing  a  line  from  Pole  to 
Pole  west  of  the  Azores,  and  giving  the  East  to  Portugal  and  the  West  to 
Spain  (1493). 

3  In  Italian  Girolamo,  in  Latin,  Hieronymus  Savonarola.  The  chief 
authorities  are  the  old  lives,  by  his  admirer  Picus  of  Mirandola,  1530, 
and  by  the  Dominican  Burlamacchi  (ob.  1519),  in  Baluz.  Miseell.  vol.  i. ; 
Ecchard  and  Quetif;  Machiavelli,  and  De  Comines.  Among  modern 
works,  the  most  valuable  is  that  of  Villari,  Storia  di  (iir.  Sav.  2  vols. 
Fir.  1859-61;  also  the  lives  by  Rudelbach,  Hamb.  1835,  Hase  (Ncue 
Propheten,  Leipz.  1851-1861),  Madden,  Lond.  1853;  and  an  article  by 
Dean  Milman  in  the  Qu  irt<  rly  Bevien;  June  1865.  The  preaching  and 
death  of  Savonarola  play  a  conspicuous  part  in  4  George  Eliot's '  novel 
of  Romola 


A.D.  1491  f.  SAVONAROLA  AT  FLORENCE.  227 

cathedral,  to  hear  the  friar  whose  fervent  words  and  passionat" 
gestures  seemed  to  mark  one  who  pleaded  for  God.  He  propounded 
no  new  doctrines,  nor  did  he  assail  any  point  in  the  creed  of  the 
Church;  but  he  rebuked  with  equal  vehemence  the  practical  cor- 
ruptions of  laity  and  clergy,  the  utter  want  of  spirituality  amidst 
the  splendour  and  culture  of  the  age ;  the  luxury  of  common  life, 
and  the  pomp  of  religious  worship.  Formerly,  he  said,  the  Church 
had  golden  priests  and  wooden  chalices,  but  now  the  chalices  were 
of  gold,  the  priests  of  wood.  His  threats  of  coming  punishment 
were  not  only  couched  in  apocalyptic  imagery,  but  in  more  directly 
prophetic  language,  predicting  that  Italy  wTould  be  scourged  by  a 
new  Cyrus  coming  over  the  Alps.  He  claimed  to  have  received 
visions  and  revelations  from  angels;  these,  and  his  contests  with 
evil  spirits,  became  famous  beyond  Italy ;  and  his  admirers  spoke  of 
him  as  "  the  prophet." 

With  Savonarola's  religious  enthusiasm  was  mingled  an  ardent 
love  of  republican  freedom ;  and  his  political  opposition  to  the 
Medici  was  the  more  inflexible  for  his  reprobation  of  their  luxury 
and  vice.  In  1492,  Lorenzo  "  the  Magnificent,"  on  his  deathbed, 
turned  to  the  prior  of  St.  Mark's,  whom  he  had  before  vainly  tried  to 
conciliate,  and  confessed  the  sins  that  lay  heaviest  on  his  conscience. 
But  when  Savonarola,  replying  by  assurances  of  the  Divine  mercy 
and  goodness,  demanded  acts  of  restitution,  one  of  which  was  that 
he  should  restore  the  liberties  of  Florence,  Lorenzo  refused,  and 
Savonarola  left  him  unabsolved. 

§  15.  When,  two  years  later,  Charles  VIII.  entered  Italy  and 
approached  Florence,  Pietro  de'  Medici,  who  at  the  age  of  twenty-one 
had  succeded  to  his  father's  power  and  was  already  unpopular  for 
his  vice  and  weakness,  met  the  French  king  and  made  with  him 
a  treaty  most  disadvantageous  to  the  city.  For  this  he  and  his 
brothers  wTere  expelled ;  but  Savonarola,  as  a  leader  in  the  restored 
Eepublic,  counselled  submission  to  Charles,  of  whom  he  spoke  as 
"  the  new  Cyrus ;"  while  the  French  king  made  a  vague  response 
to  the  friar's  exhortations  that  he  would  respect  the  liberties  of 
Florence,  and  labour  for  the  reformation  of  the  Church  (1494). 
After  this  brief  episode  of  Charles's  invasion,  the  responsibility  of 
guiding  the  Eepublic  devolved  in  a  great  degree  on  Savonarola, 
amidst  the  suppressed  dislike  of  the  Medicean  party  and  the 
avowed  opposition  of  the  ardent  oligarchs,  while  the  pure  repub- 
licans had  little  sympathy  with  the  principles  of  moral  and  religious 
reform,  which  he  put  above  all  worldly  policy.  "  He  proclaimed  the 
sovereignty  of  Christ,  and  did  not  hesitate  to  deduce  from  this 
the  sacredness  of  the  laws  which  he  himself  set  forth.     His  visions 


228  THE  SACRIFICE  OF  VANITIES.  Chap.  XIV. 

increased,  partly  through  the  effect  of  his  ascetic  exercises."1  His 
preaching  produced  a  complete  revolution  in  the  outward  aspect  of 
life  at  Florence,  in  dress,  manners,  religious  duties,  almsgiving, 
commercial  honesty,  the  reading  of  serious  in  place  of  licentious  lite- 
rature, and  the  abandonment  of  gross  public  spectacles.  H  is  influence 
even  pressed  into  the  service  of  reform  the  unruly  boys,  whose 
exaction  of  money  for  their  festivities  had  been  a  chief  scandal  of 
the  Carnival,  where  they  now  appeared  to  collect  alms  (149B).  In 
his  own  priory  he  effected  a  thorough  reformation,  not  only  restoring 
the  simplicity  of  monastic  life,  but  training  the  brethren  in  schools 
for  the  study  of  Holy  Scripture  in  the  original  tongues,  and  for  the 
arts  of  calligraphy,  painting,  and  illumination,  which  were  used  to 
defray  the  expenses  of  the  house.  "  The  number  of  the  brethren 
had  increased  from  about  50  to  238,  of  whom  many  were  dis- 
tinguished for  their  birth,  learning,  or  accomplishments ;  and  among 
the  devoted  adherents  of  the  prior  were  some  of  the  most  eminent 
artists  of  the  age  ;  .  .  .  above  all,  Michael  Angelo  Buonarotti,  who 
even  to  old  age  used  to  read  the  sermons  of  Savonarola,  and  to  recal 
with  reverence  and  delight  his  tones  and  gestures."2 

§  16.  Around  such  a  course  it  was  inevitable  that  bitter  enmity, 
both  ecclesiastical  and  political,  should  gather.  As  the  result  of 
representations  made  to  Koine,  Savonarola  was  prohibited  from 
preaching  ;  but  his  temporary  obedience  was  soon  broken  by  new 
denunciations  of  the  vices  of  the  Roman  court  and  of  the  Pope's 
simoniacal  election,  with  appeals  to  a  General  Council  (1495).  The 
crafty  Alexander  tried  to  win  him  over  by  offering  to  make  him  a 
cardinal ;  "  but  Savonarola  indignantly  declared  from  the  pulpit  that 
he  would  have  no  other  red  hat  than  one  dj^ed  with  the  blood  of  mar- 
tyrdom."3 He  was  again  interdicted  from  preaching  till  he  should 
obey  the  summons  to  Rome. 

The  Carnival  of  1497  was  signalized  by  Savonarola's  great 
Sacrifice  of  Vanities.  "  For  some  days  the  boys  who  were  under 
his  influence  went  about  the  city,  asking  the  inhabitants  of  each 
house  to  give  up  to  them  any  articles  which  were  regarded  as 
vanities  and  cursed  things  ;  and  these  were  built  up  into  a  vast  pile, 
fifteen  stories  high — carnival  masks  and  habits,  rich  dresses  and 
ornaments  of  women,  false  hair,  cards  and  dice,  perfumes  and 
cosmetics,  amatory  poems  and  other  books  of  a  free  character, 
musical  instruments,  paintings,  and  sculptures ;  all  surmounted  by 
a  monstrous  figure  representing  the  Carnival.  ...  On  the  morning 
of  the  last  day  of  the  Carnival,  Savonarola  celebrated  mass.     A  long 

1  Robertson,  vol.  iv.  p.  584.  2  Ibid.  p.  585. 

s  Villari,  i.  423 ;  Robertson,  iv.  587. 


A.D.  1497.  SAVONAROLA  AND  ALEXANDER  VI.  229 

procession  of  children  and  others  then  wound  through  the  s'reets, 
after  which  the  pyre  was  kindled,  and  its  burning  was  accompanied 
by  the  singing  of  psalms  and  hymns,  the  sounds  of  bells,  drums, 
and  trumpets,  with  the  shouts  of  an  enthusiastic  multitude,  while 
the  signory  looked  on  from  a  balcony  (Feb.  7)."1 

On  the  ensuing  Ascension  Day  (May  4)  Savonarola's  friends 
with  difficulty  protected  him  from  a  riotous  assault  made  upon  him 
in  the  pulpit ;  and  at  the  same  time  (May  12),  Alexander  issued 
the  sentence  of  excommunication  against  him. 2  Savonarola  retired 
to  his  convent  and  wrote  his  most  important  work,  •  The  Triumph  of 
the  Cross.'  On  the  death  of  the  Duke  of  Gandia  (July  1),  he  addressed 
to  the  Tope  a  letter  of  consolation,  and  of  encouragement  in  the 
reforms  which  Alexander  professed  to  contemplate  under  the  pres- 
sure of  his  grief,  and  it  seemed  at  the  time  to  meet  with  a  favourable 
reception.3 

§  17.  In  the  spring  of  next  year  he  resumed  his  preaching  at  the 
request  of  the  signory,  denouncing  the  arbitrary  claims  of  the  Pope, 
and  especially  the  abuse  of  excommunication,  as  well  as  the  vices  ot 
the  papal  court,  and  urging  the  necessity  of  a  General  Council. 
The  "  burning  of  vanities  "  was  repeated,  and  was  followed  by  wild 
dances  and  singing  in  front  of  St.  Mark's,  by  allowing  and  defending 
which  Savonarola  incurred  fresh  odium.  A  fanatical  Franciscan, 
Francis  of  Apulia,  now  came  forward  to  challenge  the  great 
Dominican  reformer  to  the  ordeal  of  fire  ;  but  Savonarola  declared 
that  the  truth  of  his  teaching  was  proved  by  sounder  evidence,  and 
that  he  had  other  and  better  work  to  do.  The  challenge,  however, 
was  eagerly  accepted  by  his  zealous  adherent,  Dominic  of  Pescia ; 4 
and  not  only  all  his  friars,  but  a  multitude  of  men,  women,  and 
even  children,  proffered  themselves  for  the  trial.  At  leng  h,  as 
Francis  refused  to  meet  any  one  but  Savonarola  himself,  the  chal- 
lenger's place  was  taken  by  another  Franciscan,  Fr.  Eondinelli,  and 
the  eve  of  Palm  Sunday  was  fixed  for  the  ordeal  (April  7th,  1498). 
All  Florence  flocked  to  the  Place  of  the  Signory,  where  two  piles 
of  wood  were  heaped  up,  each  40  feet  long,  with  a  passage  between 
them  only  a  yard  wide.  But  the  Franciscans  raised  objections, 
chiefly  on  the  ground  that  Savonarola's  boast  of  miraculous  powers 

1  Robertson,  vol.  iv.  pp.  587-8. 

2  The  ground  alleged  was  Savonarola's  disobedience,  as  prior  of  St. 
Mark's,  to  the  order  uniting  that  society  with  the  Tuscan  congregation. 

3  Afterwards,  however,  Alexander  treated  the  intrusion  as  an  offence. 
Villari,  ii.  32. 

4  Dominic  had  taken  Savonarola's  place  in  the  pulpit,  when  his  leader 
was  forbidden  to  preach:  and  he  had  been  engaged  in  disputations  with 
Francis  of  Apulia.  We  have  to  speak  afterwards  of  the  bitter  rivalry 
long  since  established  between  the  two  great  orders  of  Mendicants. 

II— M  2 


230  MARTYRDOM  OF  SAVONAROLA.      Chap.  XIV. 

might  be  made  good  by  magical  charms.  The  dispute  had  lasted 
for  hours,  when  a  heavy  fall  of  rain  soaked  the  piles,  and  the 
signory  finally  forbad  the  ordeal.  The  multitude  of  sightseers, 
who,  according  to  their  kind  in  all  ages,  cared  most  for  the  danger 
and  cruelty  of  the  spectacle,  vented  their  disappointment  on 
Savonarola,  whose  friends  could  hardly  conduct  him  in  safety  to 
St.  Mark's.  Two  days  later  the  convent  had  to  surrender  to  a  mob, 
and  Savonarola  and  Dominic  were  put  in  prison. 

The  signory  who  governed  Florence  were  elected  anew  in 
alternate  months,  and  the  power  which  had  protected  Savonarola 
had  now  fallen  into  the  hands  of  his  enemies.  A  hostile  commis- 
sion was  appointed  for  his  examination,  and  he  was  repe  itedly  sub- 
jected to  torture,  which  his  frame,  exhausted  by  an  ascetic  life,  was 
unable  to  endure.  "  When  I  am  under  torture,"  he  said,  "  I  lose 
myself,  I  am  mad ;  that  only  is  true  which  I  say  without  torture." 
The  Pope  wished  him  to  be  sent  to  Rome  for  trial;  but,  as  the 
Florentines  stood  on  the  dignity  of  the  Republic,  and  argued  that 
the  scene  of  the  offence  should  also  be  that  of  the  punishment, 
Alexander  appointed  the  General  of  the  Dominicans  and  another  as 
his  commissioners.  Though  it  was  found  impossible  to  make  good 
any  charge  of  doctrinal  unsoundness,1  the  predetermined  judgment 
was  pronounced  (May  19th),  and  on  the  following  day  Savonarola, 
Dominic  of  Pescia,  and  Sylvester  Maruffi,  were  hanged  and  burnt 
in  the  place  of  the  Signory,  and  their  ashes  were  thrown  into  the 
Arno.  In  the  preliminary  ceremony  of  degradation,  the  officiating 
bishop,  who  had  formerly  been  a  friar  of  St.  Mark's,  was  so  agitated 
that  he  misread  the  formula :  "  I  separate  thee  from  the  Church 
triumphant."  Savonarola  calmly  corrected  him :  "  From  the 
militant,  not  from  the  triumphant,  for  that  is  not  thine  to  do:"  in 
those  few  words  rebuking  the  whole  usurpation  of  the  power  of 
binding  and  loosing.2 

1  The  acts  of  the  process  seem  to  have  been  falsified  with  this  view. 
See  the  original  documents  in  Villari,  and  the  authorities  cited  by 
Gieseler,  v.  155  f.,  and  Robertson,  iv.  593. 

2  It  was  in  the  same  year,  and  just  after  the  death  of  Savonarola,  that 
the  active  career  of  NlCCOLO  MACHIAVELLI  began.  Born  of  a  noble 
Florentine  family,  in  14G9,  he  was  25  years  old  when  the  Medici  were 
expelled  and  Charles  VIII.  entered  Florence.  His  decided  Republicanism 
was  rather  of  a  heathen  character  than  in  any  sympathy  with  the  theo- 
cratic views  of  Savonarola,  whom  he  charges  with  weakness  in  not 
destroying  the  "  sons  of  Brutus "  (i.e.  the  Medici).  For  fourteen  years 
(1498-1512)  he  served  the  Repubic  as  Secretary  to  the  Council  of  Ten, 
and  also  proved  his  high  ability  in  the  discharge  of  several  missions  to 
the  King  of  France,  the  Emperor,  and  Popes  Pius  III.,  Julius  II.  and 
Leo  X.    It  was  at  Rome,  during  the  election  of  Pius  III.,  that  he  conceived 


A.D.  1501  f.  NAPLES  SEIZED  BY  SPAIN.  231 

§  18.  To  return  to  Rome  at  the  epoch  of  the  Jubilee  of  1500.  In 
the  midst  of  the  celebration  of  Caesar  Borgia's  triumph,  news  arrived 
of  the  birth,  at  Ghent  (Feb.  24),  of  Charles,  son  of  Philip  of 
Austria  and  Joanna  of  Castile,  grandson  and  heir  of  Maximilian 
and  Ferdinand,  around  whom,  as  the  Emperor  Charles  V.,  the 
coming  religious  contest  was  to  centre.  In  the  same  year,  Louis  of 
France  and  Ferdin md  of  Spain  made  a  treaty  at  Granada  for  the  par- 
tition of  Naples  (Nov.  11).  The  Pope  sanctioned  the  treacherous 
scheme,  on  the  old  plea  of  preparing  for  a  crusade  ;  and  Caesar 
Borgia  joined  "  the  great  cap' am  "  Gonsalvo 1  in  expelling  Frederick, 
w  ho  surrendered  to  Louis  and  received  from  him  the  duchy  of  Anjou 
(1501).  A  quarrel  about  the  division  of  the  spoil  was  arranged  by 
another  treaty  at  Lyon  (April,  1503),  providing  for  the  marriage  of 
the  infant  Charles,  of  Spain  and  Austria,  to  Claude,  the  daughter 
of  Louis  XII.  But,  in  open  disregard  of  this  treaty,  Gonsalvo, 
joined  by  Cassar  Borgia,  overran  Naples,  to  recover  which  Louis 
was  preparing  an  expedition,  when  all  was  changed  by  the  Pope's 
sudden  death.2 

§  19.  Alexander  VI.  seemed  s*  ill  in  full  vigour  at  the  age  of 
seventy-two,    and    an    ambassador    had     admired     his     sonorous 

a  bitter  hatred  of  "  those  rascally  priests,"  to  whom  he  ascribed  the  ruin 
of  faith  and  morality  in  Italy.  On  the  restoration  of  the  Medici,  he 
submitted,  and  even  sought  office,  but  in  vain,  and  in  the  following  year 
he  was  arrested  on  a  charge  of  conspiracy,  tortured,  and  banished.  It  was 
during  his  retirement  of  eight  years  that  he  composed  his  famous  works, 
of  which  especially  the  Principe  and  the  Discorsi  illustrate  the  history 
of  his  times,  and  embody  the  then  prevalent  maxims  of  Italian  policy 
which  have  become  proverbial  under  his  name,  that  "the  means  must  be 
judged  by  the  ends  for  which  they  are  employed,"  and  that  a  sovereign 
may  use  all  arts  of  fraud  and  violence,  the  one  crime  being  failure.  It 
mav  be  said  that  Caesar  Borgia  was  the  original  of  his  J  rincipe ;  and  his 
principles  were  acted  out  by  Frederick  the  Great  and  Napoleon.  His 
earnest  endeavours  for  the  favour  of  the  Medici  may  be  explained  from  his 
conviction  that  a  despotism  was  the  only  hope  for  the  state ;  and  his 
cvuical  contempt  for  human  nature  set  him  free  from  all  bonds  of  political 
morality.  He  died  in  1527,  just  after  the  second  expulsion  of  the  Medici. 
The  very  valuable  Life  and  Times  of  Muchiavelli,  by  Professor  Villari,  has 
been  translated  by  Linda  Villari  (1878  f.) ;  and  a  complete  English  trans- 
lation of  his  works  has  recently  appeared. 

1  Gonsalvo  was  in  Sicily,  professedly  preparing  to  aid  the  Venetians 
against  the  Turks. 

2  The  French  army  was  detained  in  the  Roman  States  by  the  intrigues 
of  Cardinal  d'Amboise,  as  a  candidate  for  the  Papacy.  The  delay  proved 
fatal  ;  and  the  destiny  of  Naples  was  decided  bv  the  victory  of  Gonsalvo 
on  the  Gariijliuno,  one  of  the  greatest  military  disasters  in  the  history  of 
France  (Dec.  27,  1503).  This  decision  of  war  was  confirmed  by  Leo  X., 
and  Naples  remained  united  to  Spain  till  their  separation  in  the  great  War 
of  Succession  (1707). 


232  ELECTION  AND  DEATH  OF  PIUS  III.        Chap.  XIV. 

voice  in  celebrating  mass  at  Easter.  On  the  12  h  of  August, 
in  his  vineyard  near  the  Vatican,  he  gave,  with  his  son  Ca?sar, 
a  supper  to  the  wealthy  cardinal  of  St.  Chrysogonus  and  Bishop 
of  Hereford,1  who,  according  to  the  common  belief,  was  to  be 
"removed"  by  the  usual  practice  of  the  Borjjias.  Whether  by 
some  mismanagement  or  by  a  counterplot,2  all  three  were  seized 
with  illness,  from  which  Ca>sar  and  the  Cardinal  recovered  after  a 
frightful  crisis;  but  the  Pope  died  within  a  week,  as  was  publicly 
given  out,  of  a  fever  (Aug.  18,  1503). 

§  20.  The  preparations  which  Ca?sar  Borgia  had  made  for  such 
an  event  were  hampered  by  his  illness,  and  the  cardinals  were 
taken  quite  by  surptise.  As  a  temporary  expedient,  ihey  chose 
the  most  respectable  but  most  infirm  of  their  body,  Francis  Piccolo- 
mini, 3  who,  from  respect  to  the  memory  of  his  uncle,  iEneas 
Sylvius  (Pius  11.),  took  the  title  of  Pius  III.  (Sept.  22).  The  utter 
anarchy  caused  by  the  rising  against  the  Borgias  of  the  people  of 
Rome,  the  nobles  of  the  environs,  and  the  cities  of  the  Romagna, 
drove  the  Pope  for  refuge  to  the  castle  of  St  Angelo,  where  he  died 
on  the  twenty-sixth  day  after  his  election  (Oct.  18,  1503). 

1  Adrian  Castellesi,  a  native  of  Corneto,  was  made  Bishop  of  Hereford  in 
1502,  and  translated  to  Bath  and  Wells  in  1504.  The  architect  Bramante 
built  the  splendid  palace  in  the  Borgo  for  the  Cardinal,  who  gave  it  to 
Henry  VIII.,  and  it  became  the  residence  of  the  English  ambassador. 
Under  Leo  X.  Adrian  retired  to  Venice,  in  consequence  of  having  become 
privy  to  the  conspiracy  of  Petrucci ;  and  he  is  supposed  to  have  been 
murdered  on  his  way  to  Rome  for  the  election  of  Leo's  successor. 

2  Ranke  cites,  from  a  MS.  of  Sanuto,  a  story  that  Adrian,  suspecting  the 
design  against  his  life  (like  the  famous  Cardinal  Spada  of  romance)  bribed 
the  Pope's  cook  to  serve  up  a  poisoned  dish  to  Alexander  (Hist,  of  the  Popes, 
iii.  253).  The  common  report,  that  the  Pope  and  Caesar  drank  by  mistake  of 
the  poisoned  wine,  is  given  by  several  original  authorities,  in  vague  terms, 
as  is  natural  under  the  circumstances;  and  the  hypothesis  of  an  innocent 
accident  seems  quite  untenable.  The  recovery  of  the  Cardinal  favours 
the  supposition  that  he  was  on  his  guard.  His  whole  skin  is  said  to  have 
been  changed.  The  recovery  of  Caesar  is  ascribed  to  the  use  of  antidotes, 
aided  by  his  youthful  vigour.  The  belief  that  the  Pope  died  of  a  fever 
contracted  by  supping  in  the  garden  is  perhaps  but  a  sign  of  what  is  now 
called  "scientific  criticism."  Some  very  interesting  revelations  of  the 
free  use  of  poison  in  this  age,  as  well  as  of  other  points  in  its  history,  are 
made  in  the  recent  publication  of  the  secret  archives  of  Venice — "  Secrets 
d' /'tat  de  Venise.  Par  Vladimir  Lamansky,  St.  Petersbourg,  1884-." 
Among  seventy-seven  eminent  persons  whose  lives  were  thus  attempted 
or  threatened  by  the  Republic,  we  find  the  Emperors  Sigismund  and 
Maximilian,  Kings  Charles  VIII.  and  I.ouis  XII.,  the  Sultans  Mahomet  II. 
and  Bajazet  III.,  Casar  Borgia  and  Julius  II. 

3  He  was  64  years  old,  and  had  been  made  a  cardinal  by  his  uncle  in 
1460. 


The  Pope  in  Procession. 

CHAPTER  XV. 
THE  FAPACY  IN  THE  AGE  OF  THE  REFORMATION. 


JULIUS    II.       LEO   X.      CLEMENT    VII. 
CORONATION    OF   CHARLES    V. 


TO   THE    EPOCH    OF   THE 
A.D.    1503-1530. 


1.  Parties  in  the  Conclave — Capitulations — Election  of  Julian  della 
Rovere  as  JULIUS  II. — His  portrait  and  character:  love  of  war,  and 
policy  of  Italian  independence.  § '_'.  Expulsion  and  death  of  Caesar 
Borgia — The  Pope's  conquesjts  in  the  Romagna.  §  3.  Power  of  J'<  nice 
against   both    the    Empire   and    Papacy- — Maximilian    styled    "Emperor 


234  POPE  JULIUS  II.  Chap.  XV. 

Elect " — League  of  Cambray  and  war  with  Venice — The  Venetians  re- 
conciled to  the  Pope — Henry  VIII.  of  England.  §  4.  Quarrel  of  Julius 
with  France — National  Assembly  of  Tours — The  Gravamini  of  Germany. 
§  5.  Julius  in  the  Field — The  Keys  of  Peter  and  Sword  of  Paul — Siege  of 
Mirandola.  §  6.  Demands  of  Maximilian  and  Louis — Anti-papal  Council 
of  Pisa — The  Holy  League  against  France — Battle  of  Ravenna — The 
French  driven  out  of  Lombardy.  §  7.  The  Fifth  Lateran  Council  (the 
18th  (Ecumenical  of  the  Romans) — Adhesion  of  the  Emperor.  §  8.  Death 
of  Julius  II.  (1513).  §  9.  Cardinal  John  de'  Medici :  his  earlier  life 
and  election  as  Leo  X.  §  10.  His  character,  a  personification  of  the 
Renaissance — His  patronage  of  arts  and  letters ;  splendour,  luxury, 
and  extravagance.  §  11.  Instability  and  selfishness  of  his  policy — New 
League  against  Louis  XII. — The  French  again  driven  out  of  Milan — 
Peace  made  by  the  Pope — Louis  adheres  to  the  Lateran  Council.  §  12 
Accession  and  character  of  Francis  I.  (1515) — His  invasion  of  the 
Milanese  and  victory  at  M irignano — Interview  with  the  Pope — The 
Pragm  die  Sanction  renounced — New  Concordat :  confirmed  by  the 
Council.  §  13.  Accession  of  Charles  I.  in  Spain  (1516) — His  Alliance 
with  France — Europe  at  Peace.  §  14.  End  of  the  Council  and 
Beginning  of  the  Reformation  by  Luther's  95  Theses  (1517).  §  15. 
Death  of  Maximilian,  and  contest  for  the  Empire — Frederick  the  Wise 
of  Saxony — Election  of  Charles  of  Spain  as  Charles  V.  (1519).  §  16. 
Francis  renews  the  war — Ignatius  Loyola — The  Pope  joins  the  Emperor 
—Death  of  Leo  (1521).  §  17.  Adrian  VI.  (1522-3)  ;  his  attempted 
reform  and  death.  A  Pope  denying  Pap  d  Infallibility.  §  18.  Another 
Medicean  Pope,  Clement  VII.  §  19.  War  in  Lombardy — Battle  of 
Pavic  (1525) — New  Holy  Lrajue  against  Charles — Rome  sacked  by  the 
Germans — French  success  in  Lombardy  and  disaster  at  Naples.  §  20. 
Peace  of  Cambray — Charles  crowned  by  Clement  at  Bologna — Position 
of  the  Empire — Death  of  Clement  VII.  (15o4),  coincident  with  the 
epoch  of  the  English  Reformation — State  of  the  Papacy. 

§  1.  The  brief  episode  of  Pius  III.'s  pontificate  gave  a  breathing- 
space  to  test  the  strength  of  parties  in  the  Sacred  College.  Cardinal 
d'Amboise,1  the  powerful  minister  of  Louis  XII.,  having  found  his 
own  election  hopeless,  threw  his  influence  into  the  scale  of  Julian 
della  Kovere ;  and  even  Csesar  Borgia  saw  the  policy  of  supporting 
that  enemy  of  his  family  as  the  only  hope  of  still  maintaining  some 
part  of  his  own  power.  Among  the  capitulations  sworn  to,  it  would 
seem  with  more  serious  purpose  than  usual,  the  most  important 

1  George  d'Amboise,  archbishop  of  Rouen,  the  early  friend  of  Louis  XII. 
and  his  chosen  minister  on  his  accession,  had  been  male  a  cardinal  (as 
we  have  seen)  by  Alexander  VI.  on  the  occasion  of  Ca>sar  Borgia's  mission 
in  1499,  and  he  was  now  rewarded  for  his  support  of  Julius  II.  by  the 
appointment  of  Legate  in  France.  But  his  great  power  and  abilities  made 
him  a  thorn-in-the-side  to  Julius,  who,  on,  the  Cardinal's  death  in  1510, 
is  said  to  have  exclaimed,  "Thank  God,  I  am  now  the  only  Pope  !  " 


A.D.  1503.  HIS  PORTRAIT  AND  CHARACTER.  235 

was  the  promise  to  call  a  General  Council,  within  two  years,  for  the 
reformation  of  the  Church.  Without  the  formality  of  a  conclave, 
37  out  of  the  38  cardinals  gave  their  votes  for  Julian,  who  retained 
his  own  name  under  the  slightly  altered  form  of  Julius  II. 
(Oct.  31,  1503).1 

The  lineaments  of  this  remarkable  man  are  preserved  by  Raphael's 
wonderful  portrait  in  our  National  Gallery,  which  has  no  superior, 
if  any  equal,  in  that  province  of  art.2  We  have  had  to  notice  the 
earlier  career  of  this  nephew  of  Sixtus  IV.,  who  was  now  above 
threescore  years  of  age.3  In  contrast  with  the  profligacy  of  some 
of  his  predecessors,  his  manner  of  life  appears  comparatively 
respectable  ;  but  only  comparatively,  for  he  was  licentious  and  given 
to  wine.4  Even  his  great  enemy,  Alexander  VI.,  allowed  him  the 
merit,  then  so  rare,  ot  sincerity  and  frankness.  But  Julius  is  most  of 
all  distinguished  in  history  for  the  martial  energy,  untamed  by  old 
age,  which  he  brought  to  the  support  of  a  high  policy,  in  striking 
contrast  to  the  nepotism  of  his  predecessors.  It  was  his  great  aim 
to  restore  the  power  of  the  Papacy,  according  to  the  principles  of 
Hildebrand,  and  (in  his  own  phtase)  to  drive  the  "barbarians  "  out 
of  Italy — that  is,  the  French,  whom  he  had  himself  invited  in  his 
enmity  to  Alexander.  This  chief  design  furnishes  the  key  to  the 
apparently  varying  policy  and  alliances  by  which  his  history  is 
complicated. 

1  His  one  predecessor  of  the  name  was  the  contemporary  of  Athanasius 
and  the  sons  of  Constantine  (a.d.  337-352).  It  has  been  borne  by  but 
one  Pope  since,  Julius  III.  (1550-5),  who  was  elected  by  only  two  votes 
above  Cardinal  Pole.  The  chief  original  authorities  for  Julius  II.  are 
Guicciardini,  Lib.  vi.-xi. ;  Paris  de  Grassis,  Diarium  Curiae  Rom mse,  1504- 
1 522  ;  Hadrianus  Castellensis,  Itin.  .lulii. 

2  The  picture  represents  him  sitting  in  the  attitude,  and  with  the 
expression,  described  by  Fr.  Carpesanus  (p.  1286) :  "  Dum  domi  forte 
sedens  contractione  super cilii  nescio  quid  secum  mussitaret  ; "  and  the 
writer  adds  that  Julius  sometimes  betrayed  his  secrets  by  this  habit  of 
thinking  aloud. 

3  He  was  born  near  Savona  about  1441,  or  perhaps  a  year  or  two  later. 

4  Julius  had  a  natural  daughter,  whom  he  married  to  one  of  the  Orsini. 
"  His  love  of  wine  is  frequently  mentioned  in  the  Dialogue  entitled  Julius 
Exclusus,  which  is  reprinted  in  the  Appendix  to  Jortin's  Life  of  Erasmus, 
and  in  Miinch's  edition  of  the  Epistolx  Obscurorum  Yirorum.  In  this 
bitter  satire  the  Pope  appears  at  the  gate  of  heaven,  attended  by  a 
'genius,'  and  demands  admission.  A  conversation  with  St.  Peter  ensues, 
in  which  the  unlikeness  of  Julius — in  his  ambition,  love  of  war,  and 
personal  character — to  the  true  pastor  of  the  Church,  is  brought  out,  and 
at  last  he  is  not  admitted.  Erasmus  and  Ulrich  von  Hutten  have  been 
charged  with  the  authorship  of  this  piece.  Erasmus  strongly  denied  it 
{Append.  Epp.  17).  Munch  attributes  it  to  Hutten  (422),  but  Dr.  Strauss 
believes  that  the  initials  '  F.  A.  F.'  mean  Faustus  Andrelinus  Faroliviensis, 
who  was  a  partisan  of  Louis  XII."      Robertson,  vol.  iv.  p.  597. 


236  RECOVERY  OF  THE  ROMAGNA.  Chap.  XV. 

§2.  He  had  first  to  deal  with  Caesar  Borgia,  who  regretted  his 
support  of  Julius  as  the  only  mistake  he  had  ever  made.  In  the 
agitation  following  the  death  of  Alexander,  the  cities  of  the 
Romagna  had  for  the  most  part  recalled  their  old  lords,  while  some 
had  been  seized  by  the  Venetians.  The  armed  force  of  Caesar  had 
been  scattered  by  the  Orsini  and  his  other  enemies ;  yet  with  the 
400  or  500  soldiers  left  him  he  resolved  to  attempt  the  recovery  of 
the  Romagna.  But  he  was  arrested  when  about  to  embaik  at 
Ostia,  and  was  kept  a  prisoner  in  the  Vatican  till  he  made  over  to 
the  Pope  the  few  Romagnese  fortresses  which  still  held  out  for  him 
(Jan.  1504).1  Rejecting  scornfully  the  compromise  offered  by  the 
Venetians,2  Julius  set  out  in  person  to  reduce  the  fiefs  of  the  Church 
(Aug.  1506).  Perugia  submitted ;  Bologna  was  retaken  from  the 
Bentivogli ;  and  the  Pope  re-entered  Rome  in  triumph  on 
St.  Martin's  Day  (Nov.  11). 

§  3.  Julius  now  regarded  the  Venetians — even  before  the  French 
in  the  Milanese — as  the  great  immediate  obstacle  to  his  policy. 
The  Republic  was  theu  at  the  height  of  its  power.  While  its  fleet 
placed  it  in  the  forefront  of  the  Crusade  which  was  still  contem- 
plated, and  promised  it  the  lion's  share  of  any  spoils  won  from  the 
Turk,3  it  kept  the  French  in  check  in  Lombardy,  and  defied  the 
Pope  on  one  side  and  the  Emperor  on  the  other.  When  Maximilian, 
with  a  view  to  re-establish  the  imperial  influence  in  Italy,4  and 
with  the  support  of  a  diet  assembled  at  Constauce,  set  out  for  his 

1  The  sequel  of  Caesar's  career  may  be  briefly  told.  Repairing  to 
Naples,  he  was  received  with  honour  by  Gonsalvo,  but  Ferdinand  ordered 
him  to  be  sent  as  a  prisoner  to  Spain.  Escaping  after  two  years,  he 
entered  the  service  of  his  brother-in-law,  the  King  of  Navarre,  and  found 
his  death  in  a  skirmish  at  Viana,  in  his  own  former  diocese  of  Pampeluna 
(March  1507). 

2  They  offered  to  restore  all  their  acquisitions  in  the  Romagna,  except 
Faenza,  and  to  hold  that  city  as  a  fief  of  the  Holy  See,  on  the  same  terms 
as  its  former  lords. 

3  This  was  the  ground  on  which  Florence  had  refused  to  join  the 
Crusade  proposed  by  Pius  II.,  alleging  that  whatever  might  be  taken 
from  the  Turks  would  fall  to  the  Venetians. 

4  This  step  was  of  special  importance  from  the  crisis  which  had  arisen 
in  the  dynastic  affairs  of  Austria  and  Spain.  On  the  death  of  Isabella,  in 
1504,  the  crown  of  Castile  passed  to  her  only  daughter  Joanna,  in  con- 
sequence of  whose  mental  incapacity  her  husband,  the  archduke  Philip  I. 
(King-consort  of  Castile),  son  of  Maximilian,  was  co-regent  with  her 
father  Ferdinand.  Philip  died  in  1506,  leaving  his  son  Charles  (now 
six  years  old),  the  only  heir,  on  the  one  hand,  to  the  united  crowns  of 
Spain,  with  its  late  acquisitions  in  the  New  World,  and  with  Naples, 
which  was  now  securely  conquered  by  Ferdinand,  and,  on  the  other, 
to  Maximilian's  possessions  of  Austria  and  the  Netherlands,  besides  the 
hereditary  claim  to  preference  in  the  election  to  the  Empire. 


A.D.  1508.  LEAGUE  OF  CAMBRAY.     VENICE.  237 

coronation  at  Borne,  the  Venetians  offered  him  a  free  passage  for 
himself,  but  refused  it  to  his  army.  After  some  fighting  on  his 
descent  from  the  Tyrol,  Maximilian  was  fain  to  accept  the  com- 
promise offered  by  the  policy  of  Julius,  that,  without  the  ceremony 
of  coronation,  he  should  have  the  title  of  "  Emperor  Elect "  (1508), 
which  was  borne  by  all  his  successors,  except  his  grandson  Charles, 
who  was  Emperor  in  virtue  of  his  papal  coronation  at  Bologna. 

Glad  as  Julius  was  to  keep  the  Germans  away  from  Rome,  he 
shared  the  Emperor's  hostility  to  the  Venetians,  and  that  from 
other  causes  of  quarrel  besides  their  encroachments  in  the  Romagna. 
In  a  letter  to  Maximilian,  he  spoke  of  them  as  aggressive,  as  aiming 
at  supreme  domination  in  Italy,  and  even  at  re-establishing  the 
imperial  power  in  their  own  hands.  But,  for  all  this,  he  dreaded 
still  more  the  strengthening  of  the  French  power  in  Italy,  and  he 
was  jealous  of  d'Amboise,  his  probable  successor.  Accordingly, when 
the  Cardinal,  as  Legate,  invited  the  Pope  to  join  the  secret  Lague  of 
Cambray  (Dec.  1508)  between  France  and  the  Empire,  with  the 
promised  adhesion  of  Spain,  against  Venice,  Julius  made  a  private 
offer  of  peace  to  the  Republic,  if  the  territories  in  dispute  were  given 
up  to  him.  But  the  Venetians,  confident  in  their  mercenary  troops 
and  the  discordant  elements  of  the  alliance,  rejected  all  terms ;  and, 
while  the  French  began  a  successful  invasion  of  their  territory,  the 
Pope  not  only  followed  up  a  Bull  against  them  by  an  interdict,  but 
his  troops,  under  his  nephew,  the  Duke  of  Urbino,  took  Faenza, 
Rimini,  Ravenna,  and  other  towns  (1509). 

In  this  strait,  the  Venetians  are  said  to  have  hesitated  between 
submission  to  the  Father  of  Christendom  and  an  alliance  with  the 
Turk  ;  but  the  Pope  was  moved  by  dread  of  French  aggrandisement, 
and  listened  to  the  intercession  of  Henry  VIII.,1  notwithstanding 
the  strong  opposition  of  France  and  the  Empire.  The  Venetians 
yielded  the  points  in  dispute  about  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction,  and 
their  envoys  received  the  Pope's  absolution  in  the  porch  of  St. 
Peter's  "  not  as  excommunicate  or  interdicted,  but  as  good  Christians 
and  devoted  sons  of  the  apostolic  see  "  (Feb.  1510;. 

§  4.  This  reconciliation  was  followed  by  an  open  rupture  with 
Louis  XII.,  against  whom  Julius  had  ecclesiastical  grounds  of 
quarrel ; 2   but  his  great   object  was  to  exclude  the  French  from 

1  Henry  VIII.  had  succeeded  to  the  English  throne  during  the  crisis 
of  the  war  with  Venice  (April  21,  1509).  Already,  as  Prince  of  Wales, 
he  was  indebted  to  Julius  for  the  dispensation  for  his  marriage  with 
Katherine,  the  widow  of  his  brother  Arthur.  His  envoy,  who  now 
interceded  for  the  Venetians,  was  Bainbridge,  archbishop  of  York,  who 
was  made  a  cardinal  in  March,  1511. 

2  One  dispute,  in  which  Julius  had  to  give  way,  was  about  the  appoint- 
ment to  the  vacant  see  of  Avignon  :  another  arose  out  of  the  Pope's  claim  to 
the  treasures  of  the  Cardinal-Legate  d'Amboise,  on  his  death  in  May  1510. 


238  QUARREL  WITH  FRANCE  AND  GERMANY.     Chap.  XV 

Italy,  and  with  this  view  he  laboured  to  form  alliances  against  them. 
He  made  private  overtures  to  England;  and  decided  the  long- 
pending  dispute  for  the  crown  of  Naples  by  declaring  that  Louis 
had  forfeited  his  claim,  and  granting  investiture  to  Ferdinand 
(July  1510).  The  Swiss,  whom  their  ally  Louis  had  offended, 
were  induced  to  allow  the  Pope  leave  to  enlist  soldiers  from  the 
confederation.  His  Italian  allies  and  vassals  were  required  to  follow 
his  change  of  policy  ;  and  when  Alfonso,  duke  of  Ferrara,  refused 
to  break  off  from  the  alliance  against  Venice,  Julius  issued  a  violent 
Bull,  declaring  that  he  had  forfeited  his  fief,  and  that  to  punish  him 
he  would  risk  his  tiara  and  his  life  (August). 

At  the  same  time  the  King  of  France  convened  a  National 
Assembly  of  prelates  and  doctors  at  Orleans  (soon  removed  to 
Tours),  which  denounced  the  whole  conduct  of  Julius,  the  intrigues 
which  obtained  his  election,  and  the  love  of  war  wherewith  he 
troubled  Christendom;  declared  the  right  of  princes  to  resist  an 
aggressive  Pope,  even  to  the  invasion  of  his  territory,  and  reaffirmed 
the  principles  of  the  Pragmatic  Sanction  (Aug.-Sept.  1510).1 

About  the  same  time  a  paper  was  drawn  up  in  Germany,  and 
received  favourably  by  the  Emperor,  reciting  under  ten  heads  the 
"  Grievances  of  the  German  Nation"  {Gravamina)  in  regard  to  the 
long-standing  abuses  of  the  curia:  interference  with  the  election  of 
bishops  ;  reservation  of  the  higher  dignities  for  cardinals  and  papal 
officers ;  expectancies,  annates,  patronage,  indulgences,  tithes  for 
pretended  crusades,  and  needless  appeals  to  Rome.2  The  grievances 
were  folio  we  \  by  proposed  "  Remedies  "  and  an  "Advice  to  His  Im- 
perial Majesty,"  recommending  a  Pragmatic  Sanction,  on  the  princi- 
ples of  that  of  Bourges.  The  imperial  ambassador  to  Julius,  Matthew 
Lang,  bishop  of  Gurk,  returned  complaining  of  the  impossibility 
of  moving  the  Pope's  "  obstinate  and  diabolical  pertinacity."3 

§  5.  Julius  was  now  at  Bologna,  having  taken  up  arms  against 
Alfonso  and  the  French,  in  spite  of  old  age  and  serious  illness.  A 
famous  epigram  of  the  time  represents  him  as  throwing  the 
harmless  keys  of  Peter  into  the  Tiber  and  girding  on  the  sword  of 
Paul.4     After  leaving  his  sick-bed  to  bless   from   a   balcony  the 

1  For  the  details,  see  Gieseler,  vol.  iv.  pp.  401-2. 

2  For  the  text  of  the  ten  Gravamina  and  the  question  of  their  author- 
ship, see  Gieseler,  vol.  iv.  pp.  402  f. 

3  On  the  other  hand,  Lang's  own  arrogance  seems  to  have  been  enough 
to  make  his  mission  hopeless.     (See  Robertson,  vol.  iv.  p.  606.) 

*  "  In  Galium,  ut  fama  est,  bfllum  gessurus  acerbum, 
Armatam  educit  Julius  urbe  mamuu  ; 
Accinctus  gladio,  claves  in  Tibridis  annu-m 

Projictt.  et  saevus  talia  verba  facit : 
Qttum  I  etri  nihil  eWciant  ad  pralia  c'aves, 
Avxilia  Pauli  forsitan  ensis  erit." 
There     is    a    tale    that,    when    a    bishop    remonstrated    with    Julius    for 


A.D.  1511.  SCHISMATIC  COUNCIL  AT  PISA.  239 

troops  mustered  at  Bologna,  Julius  was  carried  in  a  litter  to  the 
siege  of  Mirandola.  Amidst  the  severity  of  winter,  he  took  an 
active  part  in  the  operations,  once  narrowly  escaping  capture  by 
the  famous  Chevalier  Bayard.  When  the  place  fell,  the  warrior 
Pope  refused  to  enter  by  the  gate,  but  rode  in,  arrayed  in  helmet 
and  cuirass,  through  a  breach  made  for  the  purpose  in  the  wall 
(Jan.  20,  151 1).1 

§  6.  Louis  and  Maximilian  now  joined  in  requiring  of  the  Pope 
the  fulfilment  of  his  promise  to  convene  a  General  Council ;  and 
the  plan  was  aided  by  the  defection  of  five  cardinals,2  who  repaired 
first  to  Florence  and  then  to  Milan,  and  there  declared  their 
hostility  to  the  Pope.  On  the  10th  of  May,  three  of  the  cardinals, 
in  their  own  name  and  that  of  six  others  (who  disavowed  the  act), 
convened  a  Council  to  meet  on  the  1st  of  September  at  Pisa, 
a  place  which  suggested  a  threatening  precedent  for  the  Pope,3  to 
whom  it  was  notified  at  Bimini.  Julius  replied  (July  18)  by 
a  Bull  summoning  a  Council  to  meet  at  St.  John  Lateran  on  the 
Monday  after  Easter  in  the  following  year,  with  threats  against 
the  cardinals  and  all  supporters  of  the  rival  Council.  When  that 
assembly  met,4  under  the  presidency  of  Carvajal,  it  was  found  to 
consist  almost  entirely  of  Frenchmen,  the  German  prelates  having 
refused  their  concurrence.  The  Florentine  magistrates,  and  even  the 
clergy  of  Pisa,  showed  their  dread  of  the  papal  interdict ;  and  the 
assembly  removed  to  French  territory  at  Milan  (Dec.  7). 

This  schismatical  movement  furnished  a  ground  for  the  new 
alliance  which  Julius  formed  with  Spain  and  Venice  against  the 
French,  under  the  name  of  the  "Holy  League"  (Oct.  9,  1511), 

causing  war  and  bloodshed,  and  reminded  him  that  Christ  ordered  Peter 
to  put  up  his  sword,  the  Pope  replied,  "  True,  but  not  till  after  Peter  had 
cut  off  the  ear  of  the  High  Priest's  servant." 

1  For  the  episode  of  the  revolt  of  Bologna,  in  May,  and  the  murder  of 
the  obnoxious  legate,  Alidosi,  by  the  Pope's  nephew,  the  Duke  of  Urbino, 
see  Robertson,  vol.  iv.  pp.  607-8. 

2  The  reason  alleged  for  this  step  was  the  death  of  a  cardinal  at 
Ancona;  and  a  charge  of  poison  seems  to  have  been  implied,  though  not 
openly  alleged,  against  the  Pope.  The  leader  of  the  secession  was  the 
Spanish  cardinal  Carvajal. 

3  See  Chap.  IX.  Ferdinand  of  Spain  refused  the  requests  of  Maximi- 
lian and  Louis  to  join  them  in  supporting  the  Council,  and  Henry  VIII. 
wrote  to  the  Emperor,  expressing  his  horror  at  the  prospect  of  a  new 
schism. 

4  The  attendance  is  snid  not  to  have  exceeded  4  cardinals,  who  held 
proxies  for  3  of  their  brethren,  2  archbishops,  13  bishops,  5  abbots,  besides 
some  doctors  of  law  and  deputies  from  Universities.  The  most  dis- 
tinguished of  these  was  Dr.  Philip  Dexio  (or  Decius),  who  wrote  in  defence 
of  the  Council,  ;ind  was  therefore  degraded  by  Julius  II.  His  tracts  are 
in  Goldast,  vol.  ii.  p.  1667  f.,  and  Richer,  vol.  iv.  p.  39  f. 


240  FIFTH  LATERAN  COUNCIL.  Chap.  XV. 

and  to  which  he  obtained  the  accession  of  England,  and  afterwards 
of  the  Empire.1  Louis  at  once  poured  his  forces  into  Lombardy 
under  his  heroic  young  nephew,  Gaston  de  Foix,  duke  of  Nemours, 
who  on  Easter  Day  gained  a  brilliant  victory  over  the  Papal  and 
Spanish  troops  at  Ravenna,  but  fell  in  the  battle,  at  the  age  of 
twenty-four  (April  11,  1512).  "  With  him,"  says  the  contem- 
porary historian  Guicciardini,  "  disappeared  all  the  vigour  of  the 
French  army,"  and  there  ensued  an  instant  and  complete  turn 
of  the  tide.  The  Cardinal  John  de'  Medici,  legate  of  Bologna, 
was  carried  a  prisoner  from  the  field  to  Milan,  where  many  of  the 
soldiers  accepted  the  absolution  he  offered  to  all  who  would  promise 
not  to  serve  against  the  Church.  The  people  declared  against  the 
antipapal  party.  The  Emperor,  having  joined  the  League  at  this 
moment,  withdrew  2000  men  from  the  French  army,  which  retreated 
from  Milan,  pursued  by  20,000  Swiss,  who  came  down  through  the 
Tyrol  for  the  service  of  Venice  and  the  Pope.2  With  the  exception 
of  the  garrisons  left  in  Milan,  Cremona,  and  Novara,  the  barbarians 
were  driven  out  of  Italy,  and  the  great  object  of  Julian's  civil 
policy  was  for  the  time  achieved.3  There  was,  of  course,  no  longer 
a  place  in  Milan  for  the  schismatic  Council,  which  held  its  last 
session  on  April  21st.  Its  decrees,  modelled  for  the  most  part  on 
those  of  Constance,  and  among  them  a  sentence  suspending  the 
Pope,  had  no  authority  or  effect.4 

§  7.  By  a  noteworthy  coincidence,  the  Pope's  Council  had  been 
summoned  for  the  19th  of  April ;  and  these  events  only  postponed 
it  for  a  fortnight.     The  Fifth  Lateran  Council  (the  18th  (Ecu- 

1  Maximilian  joined  the  League  in  April,  1512.  The  motives  and 
special  aims  of  the  several  allies  belong  to  secular  history.  Concerning 
the  strange  proposal  of  Maximilian,  on  the  occasion  of  the  Pope's  seemingly 
mortal  illness  (in  Aug.  1511)  to  become  the  coadjutor  and  ultimately  the 
successor  of  Julian,  see  Gieseler,  vol.  iv.  p.  407,  and  Robertson,  vol.  iv. 
p.  t>09.  The  Emperor's  pious  ambition,  as  expressed  in  a  letter  to  his 
daughter  Margaret,  regent  of  the  Netherlands,  went  beyond  the  highest 
place  in  this  world,  to  canonization  and  worship  as  a  saint: — "  de  avoir  le 
Papat  et  devenir  Prester  et  apres  estre  Saint,  et  que  yl  vous  sera  de  ne- 
cessite  que  apres  ma  mort  vous  seres  contraint  de  me  adorer,  dout  je  me 
tmuvere  bien  gloryoes"! 

2  The  Emperor  claimed  the  duchy  of  Milan,  but  the  Pope  was  stedfast 
for  the  right  of  Maximilian  Sforza  (son  of  Louis)  who  was  restored  in 
December.  The  Cardinal  Ascanius  Sforza  had  been  a  strong  supporter  of 
the  election  of  Julius,  in  the  hope  of  his  family's  restoration  at  Milan. 

3  Among  the  consequences  of  this  campaign  were  the  recovery  of  inde- 
pendence by  Genoa,  and  the  restoration  of  the  Medici  at  Florence.  The 
latter  revolution  was  effected  by  the  Spanish  army  under  Cardona. 

4  An  insignificant  remnant  of  the  Council  met  at  Asti,  and  afterwards 
at  Lyon.  Its  minutes  are  in  Richerii  Concil.  Gen.  Lib.  IV.  p.  i.  c  3.  For 
particulai"s,  see  Gieseler,  vol.  iv.  p.  406. 


A.D.  1513.  DEATH  OF  JULIUS  II.  241 

menical,1  according  to  the  Koman  reckoning),  which  lasted  for 
nearly  five  years,  may  be  regarded  as  the  final  act  of  the  Latin 
Church  before  its  great  disruption.  But,  instead  of  representing 
the  whole  Western  Church,  it  had  a  partisan  character,  being 
directed  against  France  and  the  Pragmatic  Sanction.  The  keynote 
was  struck  in  a  much-admired  sermon,  on  the  opening  day,  by 
Giles  of  Viterbo,  General  of  the  Augustinian  Friars ;  and,  after 
two  formal  sessions,  the  real  business  was  adjourned  for  half  a  year. 
Meanwhile  Julius  issued  an  interdict  against  all  France,  except 
Brittany,  and,  having  again  quarrelled  with  Venice  about  terri- 
tories on  the  Po,  he  concluded  an  alliance  with  Maximilian.2  At 
the  third  session  (Dec.  3)  the  Bishop  of  Gurk  appeared  as  the 
Emperor's  representative,  to  declare  that  he  adhered  to  the 
Council  and  annulled  the  acts  of  the  conciliabulum  of  Pisa.  The 
Council  adopted  the  Pope's  Bull  condemning  that  assembly  and 
renewing  the  interdict  against  France.  The  fourth  session 
(Dec.  10)  was  opened  by  the  reading  of  the  letter  in  which 
Louis  XL  had  promised  to  revoke  the  Pragmatic  Sanction ;  and 
two  Bulls  annulling  that  Act  were  read  and  adopted  by  the 
Council. 

§  8.  When  the  fifth  session  was  held,  Julius  lay  on  his  death- 
bed (Feb.  16,  1513) ;  but  he  obtained  the  sanction  of  a  Bull  for 
checking  simony  in  papal  elections.  "  The  Pope  retained  to  the 
last  his  clearness  of  mind  and  strength  of  will.  With  regard  to 
the  cardinals  who  had  been  concerned  in  the  Council  of  Pisa,  he 
declared  that  as  a  private  man  he  forgave  them,  and  prayed  that 
God  would  forgive  the  injuries  which  they  had  done  to  the  Church, 
but  that  as  Pope  he  must  condemn  them ;  and  he  ordered  that 
they  should  be  excluded  from  the  election  of  his  successor.  On 
the  night  of  the  21st  of  February  Julius  breathed  his  last,  at  the 
age  of  seventy."  3 

§  9.  Among  the  twenty-five  cardinals,  who  met  in  conclave  on 

1  That  is,  according  to  the  authoritative  reckoning,  which  does  not 
recognize  Pisa,  nor  Basle  as  a  distinct  Council  (see  p.  146).  The  Fifth  Late- 
ran  Council  was  opened  on  May  3rd,  1512,  and  its  last  session  was  held  on 
March  16th,  1517,  the  same  year  in  which  (Oct.  31)  Martin  Luther  pub- 
lished his  95  Theses  against  the  Papacy  at  Wittenberg.  The  character 
of  the  Council,  as  the  mere  instrument  of  a  predetermined  papal  policy, 
is  seen  partly  in  the  very  moderate  attendance,  chiefly  of  Italians,  but 
with  some  representatives  of  England,  Spain,  ami  Hungary.  From 
first  to  last,  the  numbers  did  not  exceed  16  cardinals  and  about  100 
bishops  and  abbots.  (Paris  de  Grassis,  in  Raynald.  Aunal.  Eccles.  1512, 
41  ;  Robertson,  vol.  iv.  pp.  622-3.) 

2  The  Venetians  now  formed  an  alliance  with  France 

3  Robertson,  vol.  iv.  p.  613. 


242  JOHN  DE'  MEDICI,  LEO  X.  Chap.  XV. 

March  4th,  the  desire  prevailed  for  a  change  from  the  restless 
warlike  policy  of  Julius  II. ;  and  the  younger  members,  headed  by- 
Alfonso  Petrucci,  son  of  the  lord  of  Siena,  were  disposed  to  assert 
their  influence.  It  was  not  till  two  days  after  the  meeting  that 
John  (Giovanni)  de'  Medici  arrived  lrom  Florence.  Born  in 
December  1475,1  the  second  son  of  Lorenzo  the  Magnificent, 
he  was  made  a  cardinal  at  the  age  of  thirteen  by  Innocent  Till. 
(1489).  Driven  from  Florence  five  years  later,  in  the  expulsion 
of  his  family  (1494),  he  travelled  in  Germany,  France,  and  the 
Low  Countries,  courting  the  society  of  artists  and  men  of  letter.-. 
At  Genoa,  where  he  resided  for  some  time,2  he  was  associated  with 
Julian  della  Rovere  in  an  intimacy  cemented  by  their  common 
enmity  to  the  Borgias ;  and  on  his  friend's  election  to  the  Papacy 
he  returned  to  Rome.  There  his  palace  was  the  home  of  Medicean 
splendour  and  patronage  of  art  and  letters,  as  well  as  of  the  bound- 
less extravagance  which  caused  it  afterwards  to  be  said  of  him  that 
he  had  spent  the  revenues  of  three  Papacies.  He  threw  open  to  the 
public  a  splendid  library,  gathered  in  great  measure  by  the  purchase 
of  MSS.  dispersed  from  Florence,  where  he  afterwards  founded  the 
great  Laurentian  Library.  In  1512  the  Cardinal  was  sent  as 
Legate  to  reduce  the  revolted  Bolognese ;  and  was  taken  prisoner, , 
as  we  have  seen,  at  the  battle  of  Ferrara.  After  the  retreat  of  the 
French  from  Milan,  he  rejoined  the  Spaniards  under  Cardona,  to 
whom  Florence  capitulated  (Aug.  l-r»12).  Entering  the  city  with 
his  brother  Julian,  he  obtained,  by  the  device  of  the  universal 
suffrage  of  the  assembled  citizens,  called  the  Parliament  (parla- 
rnento),3  the  reversal  of  all  acts  done  since  their  expulsion  of  the 
Medici,  and  the  appointment  of  a  commission  of  their  partisans, 
with  dictatorial  powers  to  reform  the  state  (Dec). 

1  Just  8  years  before  the  birth  of  Luther. 

2  Genoa  was  the  home  of  his  sister,  who  was  married  to  Franceschetto 
Cibo,  a  favourite  son  of  Innocent  VIII. 

3  The  equivalent  of  the  more  modern  plebiscite,  of  which  Cavour  said 
that  it  is  a  very  good  thing  for  those  who  know  how  to  manipulate  it ; 
only  the  vote  was  given  by  a  personal  assembly  in  the  great  square 
of  the  city,  not  through  ballot-boxes.  During  the  pontificate  of  Leo, 
Florence  was  virtually  subject  to  Rome.  The  sequel  of  its  history  may 
be  noted  here.  After  an  effort  to  preserve  its  independence  amidst  the 
struggle  between  Charles  V.  and  Francis  I.,  the  city  surrendered  to  the 
combined  imperial  and  papal  forces  in  1530.  By  another  parlameuto 
Alessandro  de'  Medici  obtained  his  election  as  Duke,  and  his  successor, 
Cosmo  I.,  became  lord  of  all  Tuscany,  as  Grand  Duke  (1569).  On  the 
extinction  of  the  Medicean  line  (1737),  the  Grand  Duchy  was  given  by 
the  treaty  of  Vienna  (1738)  to  Francis  of  Lorraine  (afterwards  the 
Emperor  Francis  I.),  and  remained  an  appanage  of  the  house  of  Austria 
till  the  great  Italian  revolution  of  1860. 


A.D.  1513.        HEATHENISM  OF  THE  RENAISSANCE.  243 

On  the  death  of  Julius  II.,  the  Cardinal  set  out  for  Rome,  leaving 
the  government  to  his  brother  Julian  and  his  nephew  Lorenzo. 
An  illness,  which  detained  him  on  the  journey,  contributed  to  his 
election  by  raising  the  hope  that  his  pontificate  would  be  short ; 
and,  in  announcing  the  election  of  Cardinal  Medici  to  the  people  as 
Pope  Leo  X.  (March  11th),1  Cardinal  Petrucci  is  said  to  have 
exclaimed,  "  Life  and  health  to  the  juniors ! "  For  himself  the 
aspiration  proved  ironical.  The  Pope,  indeed,  died  at  the  early  age 
of  forty-six  (Dec.  1,  1521),  but  five  years  before  (1516)  he  sent 
Petrucci  to  the  gallows  as  the  chief  of  a  plot  against  his  life. 
Being  only  in  deacon's  orders,  Leo  was  ordained  priest  and  bishop 
on  March  15th  and  17th,  and  enthroued  on  the  19th,  reserving 
a  more  splendid  coronation  till  after  Easter. 

§  10.  The  nine  years  of  Leo's  pontificate  were  so  crowded  with 
great  events  in  history  and  adorned  by  art  and  letters,  as  to  have 
invested  his  name  with  a  splendour  far  beyond  his  personal  merits. 
The  Medicean  pope  represented  the  spirit  of  the  Renaissance 
enthroned  as  the  head  of  the  Church,  which  it  was  his  destiny 
to  rend  asunder  as  the  direct  effect  of  that  same  spirit.  We  have 
often  meditated  on  the  problem,  Can  a  Pope  believe  in  himself? 
but  Leo  assuredly  had  no  such  faith.  It  seems  doubtful  whether 
he  ever  uttered  the  saying  ascribed  to  him,  "All  ages  well  know 
how  profitable  the  fable  of  Christ  has  been  to  us  and  ours  ;"2  but 
no  words  could  better  express  the  state  to  which  the  Pope  and 
Curia  had  now  come.  The  gods  of  Olympus  and  other  heathen 
emblems  adorned  the  coronation  procession,  in  which  Leo  rode  to 
the  Lateran  on  the  Turkish  charger  which  had  borne  him  through 
the  battlefield  of  Ravenna.  His  magnificence  and  expense  were 
unbounded.  His  banquets,  at  which  the  newest  and  strangest 
luxuries  were  served,  were  enlivened  by  the  wit  of  true  scholars 
and  the  verses  of  the  poetasters  who  amused  and  flattered  him ; 
and  the  comedies  and  other  diversions,  which  he  shared  with  the 
younger  cardinals,  often  transgressed  the  bounds  of  decency.  But 
he  was  a  munificent  patron  of  real  learning  and  of  the  art  which  is 

1  The  chief  original  authorities  for  his  papacy  are  Guicciardini, 
Lib.  XI. -XIV. ;  Paris  de  Grassis,  Diarium  Curiae  Homanse,  1504—1522; 
Paulus  Jovius,  bishop  of  Nocera  (06.  1552),  Vitas  Virorum  lllustr.  Among 
modern  writers,  besides  Ranke  and  Gregorovius,  the  well-known  work  of 
Roscoe,  Life  and  Pontificate  of  Leo  X.,  was  written  with  the  partiality 
of  a  biographer  for  his  subject,  at  a  time  when  men  were  dazzled  by  the 
splendours  of  the  Renaissance. 

2  "  Quantum  nobis  nostrisque  ea  de  Christo  fabula  profuerit,  satis  est 
omnibus  saeculis  notum,"  are  the  alleged  words  of  Leo  to  Cardinal  Bembo, 
but  on  no  better  authority  than  Bale,  bishop  of  Ossory,  who  was  ready  to 
believe  anything  against  the  Church  of  Rome. 


244  ITALIAN  POLICY  OF  LEO  X.      Chap.  XV. 

still  supreme  in  the  modern  world ;  for  Michael  Angelo  and  Raphael 
wrought  for  him  at  Florence  and  Rome.  Himself  au  accomplished 
classical  scholar,  as  the  pupil  of  Politian,  he  encouraged  the  study 
of  Greek ;  restored  the  University  of  Rome  and  the  Laurentian 
Library  at  Florence ;  collected  classical  and  oriental  MSS.  and 
antiquities ;  gathered  about  him  a  galaxy  of  scholars,  and  cor- 
responded with  such  men  as  Ariosto,  Machiavelli,  and  Erasmus. 
The  necessities  of  his  profusion  drove  him  to  all  the  old  corrupt 
expedients  for  raising  money.  His  zeal  in  advancing  the  rebuild- 
ing of  St.  Peter's  became,  through  the  indulgence  preached  by 
Tzetzel,  the  well-known  occasion  of  the  great  religious  revolution, 
of  which  the  causes  lay  far  deeper. 

§  11.  But  to  all  this  splendour  there  was  wanting — nay  it  was  the 
very  sign  of  its  absence — a  solid  foundation  of  firm  character  and 
consistent  policy.  Leo's  indolent  good-nature  did  not,  indeed, 
prevent  his  good  administration  of.  his  own  states,  and  his  occasional 
severity  is  a  quality  often  found  with  easy  selfishness.  But  his 
chief  objects  were  the  advancement  of  his  own  family,1  and  the  pre- 
servation of  the  Papacy  by  conciliating  and  cajoling  the  great  con- 
tending powers  of  Europe,  without  any  regard  to  principle  or  con- 
sistency.2 At  the  moment  of  Leo's  accession,  Louis  XII.  made  an 
alliance  with  the  Venetians  for  the  recovery  of  the  Milanese  (March 
24) ;  and  the  Pope  joined  the  new  league  made  at  Mechlin 
between  the  Emperor  and  the  Kings  of  England  and  Spain  against 
France  (April).  The  troops  poured  by  Louis  into  Lombardy  were 
joined  by  a  strong  Venetian  army  ;  Milan  declared  for  the  French, 
and  Maximilian  Sforza  fled  to  the  camp  of  his  Swiss  mercenaries  at 
Novara,  who,  in  their  turn,  surprised  the  French  camp  with  a  dis- 
astrous defeat  (June  6),  and  drove  the  invaders  out  of  Italy.  At 
the  same  moment  Henry  invaded  France,  accompanied  by  Maxi- 
milian as  a  volunteer,  and  won  the  "  Battle  of  the  Spurs  "  (Aug.  16). 
These  disasters  inclined  Louis  to   peace;  while   Leo  was   drawn 

1  Signal  examples  of  this  are  seen  in  his  taking  the  duchy  of  Urbino 
from  the  nephew  of  Julius  II.  to  give  it  to  his  own  nephew  Lorenzo;  his 
annexation  of  Perugia  by  treachery ;  and  his  attempt  to  create  a  princi- 
pality for  another  nephew  by  the  union  of  Parma  and  Piacenza  with 
Reggio,  and,  when  that  plan  failed,  by  the  expulsion  of  Alfonso  d'Este 
from  Ferrara — a  scheme  frustrated  by  the  Pope's  death.  The  Romans 
were  disgusted  by  the  preference  given  to  Florentines  for  all  sorts  of 
offices  and  employments. 

2  With  England  several  causes  concurred  to  keep  Leo  on  good  terms. 
His  accession  took  place  at  the  moment  when  Henry  went  to  war  with 
France  ;  but  the  more  permanent  bonds  of  union  were  Henry's  theological 
prepossessions  and  the  influence  of  Wolsey,  who  was  made  a  cardinal  in 
1515  and  a  legatee  1518. 


A.D.  1516.  CONCORDAT  WITH  FRANCIS  I.  245 

towards  him  by  fear  of  the  aggrandizement  of  Spain  and  the 
Empire.  The  French  King  guaranteed  Milan  to  Sforza,  and  agreed 
to  renounce  and  expel  the  rival  council  ;*  and  his  accession  to 
the  Lateran  Council  was  made  at  its  8th  session  (Dec.  17,  1513). 
Maximilian  deserted  England  for  France ;  and  Henry,  though 
deeply  offended,  was  induced  by  the  Pope  to  assent  to  the  peace. 

§  12.  A  sudden  change  was  made  by  the  death  of  Louis  XII.  on 
New  Year's  Day,  1515,  and  the  accession  of  Francis  I.  at  the  age  of 
twenty.2  The  young  King  resembled  Henry  VIII.  in  his  fine  person, 
chivalrous  accomplishments,  joyous  spirit,  and  graceful  manners ; 
but  these  brilliant  qualities  were  marred  by  levity  and  faithlessness, 
addiction  to  gross  pleasure,  and  hard-hearted  selfishness.  Martial 
ardour  and  ambition  urged  him  to  emulate  the  fame  of  Gaston  de 
Foix,  and  to  recover  the  ground  lost  in  Italy.  He  at  once  pro- 
claimed himself  Duke  of  Milan,  and  entering  Lombardy  with 
a  mighty  army,  aided  by  the  Venetians,  he  defeated  the  hitherto 
invincible  Swiss  in  what  a  veteran  present  called  the  "  battle  of 
giants  "  at  Marignano  (Sept.  13  and  14)  near  Milan,  which  became 
the  prize  of  his  victory.3  Leo  threw  himself  on  the  mercy  of  the 
conqueror,  and  hastened  to  conclude  a  peace  ;4  and  at  a  personal  in- 
terview at  Bologna  (Dec.  10),  chiefly  it  seems  by  holding  out  hopes 
about  Naples  on  the  death  of  Ferdinand,  he  induced  Francis  not 
only  to  sanction  his  designs  in  Italy,  but  to  concede  the  one  great 
vital  point  of  the  Pragmatic  Sanction.5  Francis  entrusted  the 
negociation  to  his  Chancellor,  Duprat,  whom  Leo  had  won  over  by 
the  hope  of  a  Cardinalate ;  and  the  terms  of  a  new  Concordat  were 
settled  at  Bologna,  in  August  1516.  The  mutual  compromises 
made  had  the  curious  effect  (remarked  by  Mezeray)  that  the  Pope 
abandoned  to  the  civil  power  a  purely  spiritual  privilege,  and 
received  a  temporal  advantage  in  return.  Elections  in  cathedrals 
and  monasteries  were  abolished,  on  the  ground  of  the  alleged  evils 

1  That  is,  the  remnant  of  the  Council  of  Pisa,  then  sitting  at  Lyon. 

2  As  Louis  XII.  died  without  male  issue,  Francis  of  Angouleme,  duke 
of  Valois,  was  the  next  collateral  heir  of  the  line  of  Valois-Orleans,  being 
the  grandson  of  John,  count  of  Angouleme,  the  younger  son  of  Louis, 
duke  of  Orleans,  who  was  the  younger  son  of  King  Charles  V.  Francis 
was  also  the  husband  of  Claude,  the  eldest  daughter  of  Louis  XII. 

3  For  the  particulars,  and  an  engraving  of  the  battle,  from  the  tomb  of 
Francis  at  St.  Denys,  see  the  Student's  France  (pp.  292—4).  The  Duke 
Maximilian  retired  to  France,  and  so  ended  the  rule  of  the  house  of 
Sforza  at  Milan.  The  Swiss  Republic  transferred  their  friendship  to 
France,  by  the  Paix  Pcrpetuclle,  which  was  faithfully  observed  to  the  time 
of  the  Revolution. 

4  At  Viterbo,  Oct.  13. 

5  This  question  had  occupied  the  Council,  without  any  decisive  result, 
at  its  9th  and  10th  sessions  in  1514. 

II— N 


246  CHARLES  I.  KING  OF  SPAIN.  Chap.  XV. 

attending  them,  and  the  King  acquired  the  right  of  presentation  to 
bishoprics  and  other  ecclesiastical  dignities,  subject  to  the  Pope's 
veto  on  the  ground  of  canonical  disqualification.  The  rights  thus 
surrendered  were,  in  fact,  at  the  expense  of  the  Gallican  Church 
rather  than  of  the  Pope.  As  to  temporalities,  Leo  surrendered  the 
papal  reservations  and  gratise  exspectativee,  but  obtained  a  compen- 
sation in  the  recovery  of  the  annates.  The  Concordat  was  ratified 
by  the  Lateran  Council  at  its  eleventh  session  (Dec.  19,  1516) ; 
the  Pragmatic  Sanction  was  annulled,  being  stigmatized  as  "  the 
Bourges  corruption  of  the  kingdom  of  France ;"  and  the  apparent 
triumph  of  the  Papacy  in  the  struggle  of  two  centuries  was  com- 
pleted by  the  re-enactment  of  the  famous  Bull  of  Boniface  VIII. 
"  Unam  sanctam  Ecclesiam." 1  Thus  the  doctrine  was  re-affirmed, 
that  the  Pope  is  the  sole  Head  of  the  Church,  invested  with  the 
power  of  the  "  two  swords,"  spiritual  and  temporal,  and  that  "  it  is 
absolutely  necessary  to  salvation  for  every  human  creature  to  be 
subject  to  the  Roman  Pontiff."  2  And  this  within  a  year  of  Luther's 
first  public  protest  against  Rome  ! 

§  13.  This  same  year  brought  a  new  and  mighty  element  into  the 
national  and  ecclesiastical  relations  of  the  European  world.  The 
death  of  Ferdinand  the  Catholic  (Jan.  23,  1516)  left  the  united 
kingdom  of  Spain,  with  the  Indies  and  the  Two  Sicilies,  to  Charles 
I. ;  and,  in  place  of  Lord  Bacon's  tres  mayi  of  statecraft,  Louis  XL, 
Henry  VII.,  and  Ferdinand,  Europe  became  the  field  for  the  rival 
ambitions  of  the  three  youthful  sovereigns,  Henry,  Francis,  and 
Charles.3  But  the  youngest,  though  a  mere  boy,  was  already  more 
than  a  match  for  the  other  two  in  policy  and  war.  Never  since  the 
first  founder  of  the  Roman  Empire  has  history  shown  such  an 
example  of  precocious  prudence,  supported  by  deep  dissimulation. 
At  once,  in  the  critical  relations  of  the  great  powers,  he  saw  the 
importance  of  quiet  for  the  time ;  and  a  treaty  of  peace  and  alliance 
between  France  and  Spain,  signed  at  Noyon  (Aug.  13,  1516),  was 
soon  concurred  in  by  England  and  the  Empire.     The  closing  year 

1  See  Chap.  VI.  §  17,  p.  99.  The  Bull  was  adopted  with  the  slight 
modifications  made  by  Clement  V.;  see  p.  1<  »8. 

2  In  France  the  Concordat  was  received  with  manifestations  of  popular 
indignation ;  it  was  denounced  from  the  pulpits  and  vehemently  opposed 
by  the  University  and  Parliament  of  Paris  ;  nor  was  it  submitted  to  till 
Francis  transferred  the  cognizance  of  ecclesiastical  causes  from  the  courts 
of  law  to  the  Great  Council  of  State  (1527).  The  spirit  of  the  Gallican 
liberties  survived,  but  the  attempts  made  to  re-assert  them  lie  beyond  our 
range.  The  Concordat  of  1516  governed  the  relations  of  Rome  and  France 
down  to  the  Great  Revolution. 

3  At  the  beginning  of  1516,  Henry  VIII.  was  2-1  years  old,  Francis  I. 
was  21,  Charles  was  15. 


A.D.  1517..     END  OF  THE  FIFTH  LATERAN  COUNCIL.  247 

left  Europe  in  the  rare  state  of  profound  peace,  which  lasted  for  two 
years,  till  the  rivalry  for  succession  to  the  Empire  gave  the  signal 
for  new  and  furious  wars. 

§  14.  Leo  might  well  be  satisfied  with  his  share  in  this  result. 
The  Lateran  Council  had  done  its  one  great  work,  as  the  mere  in- 
strument of  the  Papal  policy :  France  was  restored  to  the  papal 
obedience,  and  the  reforming  efforts  of  Constance  and  Basle  seemed 
brought  to  naught.  "  A  few  decrees  for  the  reform  of  the  Curia, 
and  other  such  objects,  were  passed  in  the  later  sessions ;  but  they 
were  so  limited  by  exceptions  and  reservations,  that  little  effect  was 
to  be  expected  from  them.  There  was  also  a  project  of  an  alliance 
between  Christian  sovereigns  against  the  Turks.  There  was  a  con- 
demnation of  some  sceptical  opinions  which  had  been  vented  as  to 
the  eternity  of  the  world  and  the  mortality  of  the  soul ;  and,  in 
order  to  check  the  indulgence  in  such  speculations,  it  was  decreed 
that  no  student  in  any  university  should  spend  more  than  five 
years  in  philosophical  and  poetical  studies,  without  also  studying 
theology  or  canon  law,  either  instead  of  such  subjects  or  together 
with  them." x 

The  Council  ended  with  its  last  Session  on  the  1 6th  of  March, 
1517 ;  little  thinking  how  its  accomplished  work  was  to  be  dis- 
turbed in  the  same  year  by  an  obscure  Augustinian  friar.  The 
Pope,  intent  on  the  completion  of  St.  Peter's,  had  issued  an  Indul- 
gence of  unexampled  compass,  which  was  preached  in  Germany  by 
the  Dominican  Tetzel  with  unprecedented  boldness  in  the  assertion 
of  its  power  both  in  this  world  and  the  world  to  come.  How  these 
extravagant  claims  roused  the  opposition  of  Martin  Luther,  who 
published  his  famous  95  theses  at  Wittenberg  on  the  31st  of  October, 
has  to  be  related  in  its  place.2 

§  15.  Meanwhile  it  is  convenient  here  to  follow  the  history  to  the 
epoch  of  what  seemed  for  the  moment  the  decisive  supremacy  of 
another  great  Emperor  Charles  in  Europe.  Leo  showed  at  first  a 
contemptuous  carelessness  about  the  contest  between  Luther  and 
the  Dominicans,  to  whose  demand  for  his  interference  he  replied,  that 
Brother  Martin  was  a  fine  genius  and  the  whole  dispute  sprang  from 
jealousy  among  the  orders  of  friars.3     He  felt  also  the  policy  of  not 

1  "  Hard.  ix.  1720.  Under  the  name  of  poetry  was  included  the  study 
of  classical  literature  in  general."     Robertson,  vol.  iv.  p.  623. 

2  See  Chap.  XLI.  §  4. 

3  "  Che  Fra  Martino  fosse  un  bellissimo  ingegno,  e  che  coteste  erano 
invidie  fratesche,"  are  the  words  ascribed  to  Leo  by  the  contemporary 
Matteo  Bandello,  bishop  of  Agen,  the  writer  of  episcopal  annals  (Novel. 
XXV.  Pref.,  Lucca,  1554).  Leo,  as  well  as  Bembo  and  other  members  of 
the  Curia,  is  said  to  have  spoken  with  habitual  scorn  of  the  friars  as 
hypocrites. 


248  THE  EMPEROR  CHARLES  V.       Chap.  XV. 

offending  Luther's  protector,  Frederick  the  Wise,  Elector  of 
Saxony,1  the  most  respected  and  powerful  prince  of  Germany,  in  the 
near  prospect  of  an  imperial  election.  On  the  death  of  Maximilian 
(Jan.  12,  1519),  it  became  clear  that  the  hereditary  claim  of  the 
house  of  Hapsburg  would  be  strongly  contested,  not  only  by  the 
ambition  of  Francis,  but  from  a  wide-spread  jealousy  of  the  vast 
power  which  would  fall  into  the  hands  of  Charles.2  The  adminis- 
tration of  the  Empire  was  committed  to  Frederick  of  Saxony,  who 
at  a  later  period  of  the  contest  declined  the  crown  offered  him  by 
the  patriotic  party  in  Germany.  Henry  VIII.  became  a  candidate, 
but  rather  to  assert  his  dignity  than  with  a  serious  purpose  to  press 
his  claims.3  The  real  competitor  with  Charles  was  Francis,  who 
advanced  the  fallacious  claim,  so  often  since  repeated,  that  the 
sovereign  of  France  is  the  successor  of  Charlemagne,  and  wrote  to 
his  ambassador  at  the  Diet,  "  I  will  spend  three  millions  of  crowns 
to  gain  my  object."  He  even  obtained  the  promise  of  four  out  of 
the  seven  votes  ;  but,  when  the  day  of  election  came,  other  counsels 
prevailed.  The  refusal  of  the  crown  by  Frederick  the  Wise,  fol- 
lowed by  his  vote  and  cordial  speech  in  favour  of  Charles,  decided 
the  election  4  (July  5th,  1519) ;  and,  after  consenting  to  unusually 
stringent  "  capitulations,"  the  King  of  Spain  received  the  Eoman 
and  German  crown  as  Charles  V.  at  Aix-la-Chapelle  in  the  follow- 
ing year.5    We  have  described  the  vast  possessions  united  under 

1  This  famous  prince,  who  soon  became  the  leader  of  the  Protestant 
party,  was  born  in  1463,  succeeded  his  father  Ernest  in  I486,  and  died  in 
1525.  He  founded  the  University  of  Wittenberg  (1502),  which  became 
the  focus  of  a  moderate  "  Humanism  ;  "  and  in  1508  he  appointed  Luther 
Professor  of  Philosophy. 

2  It  should  be  remembered  that  Charles,  though  an  Austrian  archduke, 
was  more  of  a  Spaniard  and  a  Fleming  than  a  German,  nor  did  he  even 
speak  the  true  German  language.  Born  at  Ghent,  and  brought  up  in  the 
Netherlands,  under  the  care  of  his  aunt,  the  regent  Margaret,  daughter  of 
Maximilian,  he  spoke  only  the  Low  German  dialect,  now  called  Dutch. 

3  There  would  have  been  a  strange  anomaly  in  the  election  of  the 
King  of  England,  which  prided  itself  on  being  "a  world  by  itself,"  com- 
pletely independent  of  the  Empire.  Besides,  Henry  was  too  late  in  the 
field,  and  his  envoy  found  all  the  votes  promised.  The  chief  object  of  his 
candidature  was  doubtless  to  strengthen  his  position  as  mediator  in  the 
inevitable  conflict  between  Charles  and  Francis,  whichever  of  them  might 
be  chosen. 

4  The  chief  motive,  which  overcame  the  objections  to  Charles  and  the 
dread  of  the  vast  power  united  in  his  hands,  was  the  desire  to  oppose  that 
power  to  the  still  greater  danger  from  the  Turks,  a  striking  sign  of  which 
is  preserved  in  Luther's  hymn  to  his  grand  "  Pope  and  Turk  "  tune. 

5  He  was  now  "  Emperor-Elect  "  by  the  grant  of  Julius  II.  to  Maximilian  ; 
but  in  153a  he  received  the  imperial  crown  at  Bologna  from  the  humiliated 
but  reconciled  Pope,  Clement  VII.    (See  below,  §  20.) 


A.D.  1521.  DEATH  OF  LEO  X.  249 

the  young  Emperor  (he  was  still  only  in  his  20th  year) ;  but  the 
least  part  of  his  strength  was  in  Germany,  which  was  soon  rent 
asunder  by  the  Reformation  i1  his  chief  strength  lay  in  his  Spanish 
infantry,  the  industrial  and  commercial  wealth  of  the  Low 
Countries,  and  the  riches  of  the  New  World. 

§  16.  The  year  1520  was  one  of  preparation  for  both  the  conflicts, 
political  and  ecclesiastical.  In  the  contest  for  the  goodwill  of 
Henry  VIII.,  Charles  outgeneralled  Francis  (in  spite  of  the  "  Field 
of  the  Cloth  of  Gold  "),  chiefly  by  holding  up  the  papal  tiara  before 
Wolsey.  After  Leo's  vain  attempts  to  win  back  Luther  to  obe- 
dience, his  own  bold  assertion  of  his  principles  and  the  influence  of 
his  Dominican  enemies  at  Rome  called  forth  the  Bull  of  excommu- 
nication (June  15th),  which  he  burnt  at  Wittenberg  (Dec.  10).  In 
the  next  year,  his  appearance  before  the  Diet  at  Worms  was  followed 
by  the  imperial  ban  against  him  and  his  abettors ;  but  the  Em- 
peror's action  was  crippled  by  the  outbreak  of  war  with  France  both 
in  Italy  and  the  Pyrenees.  The  campaign  for  the  recovery  of 
Navarre  on  behalf  of  Jean  d'Albret,  whom  Ferdinand  had  dis- 
possessed, is  memorable  for  the  introduction  of  another  great  actor 
on  the  scene  of  ecclesiastical  history ;  for  it  was  in  the  defence 
of  Pampeluna  that  a  gallant  young  Spanish  noble,  Ignatius 
Loyola,  received  the  wound  which  gave  cause  to  the  meditations 
that  led  him  to  a  religious  life  and  the  foundation  of  the  Society  of 
Jesus. 

At  the  same  time  war  was  renewed  in  Lombardy.  The  Milanese 
were  alienated  from  the  French  by  the  oppression  of  the  governor, 
Marshal  Lautrec,  who  was  also  left  without  means  to  pay  his  Swiss 
mercenaries.  Leo,  always  siding  with  the  stronger  party,  made  a 
secret  compact  with  the  Emperor,  and  their  united  forces  recovered 
Milan  (Oct.).  But  in  the  midst  of  the  public  rejoicings  at  Rome, 
the  Pope  was  taken  ill,  and  he  died  just  before  completing  his  46th 
year  (Dec.  1st,  1521).2 

§  17.  The  suspicion  of  poison,  which  attended  his  early  death, 
was  perhaps  better  founded  in  the  case  of  his  honest,  pious,  and 

1  For  some  excellent  remarks  on  what  might  have  happened  if  Charles 
had  supported  the  Reformation,  and  on  the  necessity  of  the  opposite  course 
from  the  essential  relations  of  the  Empire  to  the  Papacy,  see  Mr.  Bryce 
(pp.  321  f.)  who  observes  that,  politically,  Luther  completed  the  work  of 
Hildebrand  and  neutralized  the  power  of  Charles,  though  increased  by  his 
conquest  of  Italy. 

2  One  of  Leo's  last  acts  (Oct.  11)  was  to  confer  on  Henry  VIII.  the  title 
of  "  Defender  of  the  Faith,"  in  recognition  of  the  splendid  MS.  of  his 
"  Libellus  Regius  "  on  the  Seven  Sacraments,  against  Luther.  The  title 
was  not  new,  having  been  granted  to  Henry  IV.  for  his  zeal  against  the 
Lollards. 


250  THE  REFORMING  POPE  ADRIAN  VI.  Chap.  XV. 

reforming  successor,  Adrian  VI.  (1522-1523),1  whose  physician  is 
said  to  have  been  pronounced  by  the  malcontent  Romans  "  the 
saviour  of  his  country."  This  last  Teutonic  Pope,  Adrian  Florent, 
born  at  Utrecht,  the  son  of  an  artisan,  rose  by  his  learning  and 
high  character  to  be  Vice-Chancellor  of  the  University  of  Louvain, 
and  was  chosen  by  the  Emperor  Maximilian  as  tutor  to  his  grand- 
son Charles.  Ferdinand  appointed  the  learned  and  zealous  Domi- 
nican Bishop  of  Tortosa  and  Grand  Inquisitor  ;  and  after  the  King's 
death  Adrian  shared  the  regency  of  Spain  with  Cardinal  Ximenes. 
He  was  created  a  Cardinal  by  Leo,  on  whose  death  Charles  V., 
evading  his  promise  to  Wolsey,2  procured  the  election  of  his  fellow- 
countryman  and  tutor,  who  kept  his  own  name  as  one  already 
famous  in  the  Papacy  (Jan.  2,  1522,  but  not  crowned  till  Sept.  1). 
He  has  been  called  distinctively  "  the  reforming  Pope :"  and  he  was 
the  last  who  indulged  the  hope  of  a  reformation  of  the  Roman 
Church  from  within.  A  zealous  Thomist,  the  Pope,  who  is  himself 
now  declared  infallible,  did  not  hesitate,  in  his  Commentary  on  the 
Master's  work,  to  deny  the  doctrine  of  Papal  Infallibility,  and  that 
not  only  in  the  abstract  but  in  fact,  for  he  declares  that  "  many  of  the 
Roman  pontiffs  were  heretics," 3  as  we  have  seen  at  least  two  pro- 
nounced by  the  authority  of  their  own  Church.  His  conviction  of  the 
need  of  a  reformation  was  strengthened  by  his  bitter  hostility  to  the 
heresy  of  Luther,  about  the  means  of  suppressing  of  which  he  corre- 
sponded with  his  old  friend  and  countryman  Erasmus,  and  invoked 

1  The  chief  authorities,  besides  the  general  works  on  the  civil  and 
ecclesiastical  history  of  the  time  (especially  Onuphrius  Panvinus  (the 
continuer  of  Platina),  Du  Chesne,  Ranke,  and  Gregoroviu^,  are  Burman's 
Vita  Adriani  VI.,  Utrecht,  1727;  Correspondence  de  Charles-Quint  et 
d  Adrien  VI.,  publie'e  par  Gachard,  Brux.  1859 ;  Bauer,  Hadrian  VI. 
Heidelberg,  1876.     (For  other  works,  see  Hase,  pp.  470,  471). 

2  Charles  succeeded  in  amusing  Wolsey  with  hope  for  the  next  vacancy 
(to  be  equally  disregarded),  as  well  as  the  promise  of  a  pension  (which  was 
never  paid).  Henry  VIII.  joined  Charles  this  same  year  in  the  war  against 
France. 

3  Comment,  in  Lib.  IV.  Sent  nt.  Rom.  1522  :  "  Dico  primo,  quod  si  per 
Ecclesiam  Romanam  intelligat  caput  ejus,  puta  pontificem,  certum  est  quod 
possit  errare,  etiam  in  Us  qnze  tangunt  fidem,  hseresim  per  suam  determin- 
ationem  aut  decretalem  asserendo.  Plures  enim  fturunt  pontifices  Romani 
hxretici"  (of  course,  it  is  indifferent  whether  the  last  word  is  adjective  or 
substantive).  Observe,  from  the  date,  that  this  is  the  declaration  of 
Adrian  as  Pope;  whether  er  cathedra  is  a  question  perhaps  beyond  our 
discrimination;  but,  in  the  light  of  honest  common  sense,  the  Infallible 
Pope  denying  the  doctrine  of  Papal  Infallibility  is  very  much  like  the 
scholastic  problem  of  Kpimenides  and  the  Cretans,  thus  :  Adrian  says  the 
Pope  can  err;  he  was  infallible  ;  ergo,  Adrian  could  err;  ergo,  this  dictum 
may  be  an  error,  and  the  Pope  cannot  err  ;  ergo,  Adrian  did  not  err,  and 
the  Pope  can  err  :  and  so  on,  ad  infinitum. 


A.D.  1523-5.      CLEMENT  VII.     BATTLE  OF  PA  VIA.  251 

the  secular  arm  at  the  Diet  of  Nuremberg,  while  in  his  formal 
instructions  to  his  legate  he  declared  that  "  Many  abominations  had 
for  a  long  time  existed  even  in  the  Holy  See,  yea,  that  all  things 
had  been  grievously  altered  and  perverted." *  Beginning  his  reforms 
at  Rome,  the  change  from  Leo's  splendour  and  prodigality  to  his 
frugal  simplicity  disgusted  the  people  as  well  as  the  Curia ;  and  his 
schemes  of  reformation,  as  well  as  of  uniting  Christendom  against 
the  Turks,  ended  with  his  premature  death  (Sept.  24,  1523). 

§  18.  The  abortive  honesty  of  the  Dominican  Pope  proved  but  an 
episode  between  the  reigns  of  two  Mediceans ;  for  his  successor,  who 
took  the  name  of  Clement  VII.2  (Nov.  1523-Sept.  1534),  was 
Julius,  a  natural  and  posthumous  son  of  Julian  de'  Medici,  who  was 
murdered  in  the  Pazzi  conspiracy,  and  a  cousin  of  Leo  X.,  who 
legitimated  him  and  made  him  Archbishop  of  Florence  and  a  Car- 
dinal. Born  in  1478,  he  was  now  about  55  years  old.  With  the 
worldly  and  irreligious  spirit  of  his  cousin  he  united  a  more  stedfast 
ambition,  but  without  the  ability  to  make  it  good.  Owing  his 
election  to  the  imperial  influence,  for  the  sake  of  antagonism  to 
France,  he  hoped  to  restore  the  old  relations  between  the  Empire 
and  the  Papacy.3 

§  19.  The  campaign  of  1522  in  Lombardy  had  been  disastrous  to  the 
French,  who  were  now  for  the  third  time  driven  out  of  the  Milanese 
territory ;  but  next  year  a  greater  disaster  befel  Francis  in  the  de- 
fection of  the  Constable,  Charles,  duke  of  Bourbon,4  who  transferred 
his  service  to  the  Emperor,  and  arranged  with  him  and  England  a 
combined  attack  on  France.  We  must  leave  to  civil  history  the 
vicissitudes  of  war  which  led  to  the  defeat  and  capture  of  the  King 
of  France  by  the  Constable  Bourbon  in  the  great  Battle  of  Pavia, 
fought  on  Charles's  birthday  (Feb.  24,  1525). 

After  a  year's  captivity  in  Spain,  Francis  regained  his  liberty  on 
terms  so  severe  that  he  never  intended  to  observe  them ;  and  the 
very  greatness  of  Charles's  success  led  to  a  new  combination  against 
him.  The  Pope  absolved  Francis  from  the  obligations  of  the 
treaty  of  Madrid,  and  formed  a  league  with  him  and  the  Venetians 

1  Instructions  to  Francesco  Chieregati,  ap.  Raynald,  Annal.  Eccles.  an. 
1522,  §  66,  cited  by  Hardvvick,  Hist,  of  the  Reformation  Period,  p.  3. 

2  This  title  had  already  been  borne  by  the  French  Antipope,  whose 
election  in  opposition  to  Urban  VI.  (1378)  began  the  Great  Papal  Schism. 
See  Chap.  IX.  p.  138. 

3  Clement's  action  with  regard  to  the  Reformation  in  Germany  will  be 
noticed  in  connection  with  that  movement  (Chap.  XLL).  His  part  in  the 
divorce  case  of  Henry  VIII.,  which  resulted  in  the  severance  of  the 
English  Church  from  Rome,  belongs  to  the  History  of  England. 

4  The  details  of  this  event,  and  the  offence  which  caused  it,  belong  to 
civil  history.     (See  the  Student's  France,  Chap.  XIV.  §  6.) 


252        ROME  SACKED  BY  THE  GERMANS.    Chap.  XV. 

and  Florentines  for  the  expulsion  of  the  Imperialists  from  Milan, 
which  was  to  be  restored  to  Francesco  Sforza.  But  while  Francis, 
whose  high  spirit  seemed  crushed  by  his  disaster,  abandoned  him- 
self to  pleasure  at  Paris,  Bourbon  overran  the  duchy,  which 
had  been  promised  him  by  Charles.  His  German  soldiers,  for 
the  most  part  Lutherans,  demanded  to  be  led  against  Rome, 
which,  for  the  second  time  in  history,  was  sacked  by  a  northern 
army,  but  now  under  the  banner  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire 
(May  6,  1527).  The  death  of  Bourbon,  from  a  shot  as  he  was 
mounting  a  scaling  ladder,  added  revengeful  fury  to  the  assault, 
and  for  seven  months  the  city  was  given  up  to  violence  and  rapine. 
The  Pope,  shut  up  in  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo,  was  the  object  of 
perpetual  insult,  which  Philibert,  Prince  of  Orange,  who  had  suc- 
ceeded Bourbon  in  the  command,  was  unable  to  restrain.  "  Soldiers 
dressed  as  cardinals,  with  one  in  the  midst  bearing  the  triple  crown 
on  his  head,  and  personating  the  Pope,  rode  in  solemn  procession 
through  the  city,  surrounded  by  guards  and  heralds  :  they  halted 
before  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo,  where  the  mock  pope,  nourishing 
a  large  drinking-glass,  gave  the  cardinals  his  benediction.  They 
even  held  a  consistory,  and  promised  in  future  to  be  more  faithful 
servants  of  the  Roman  Empire :  the  papal  throne  they  meant  to 
bestow  on  Luther."  *  And  all  this  time  the  Emperor  was  enacting 
the  solemn  hypocrisy  of  ordering  public  prayers  for  the  Holy 
Father's  liberation ! 

A  more  practical  way  to  that  result  was  found  in  the  alliance  of 
England  and  France,  in  the  name  of  outraged  Christendom.  A 
powerful  French  army  under  Lautrec  again  crossed  the  Alps,  took 
Alessandria,  Pavia,  and  Genoa,  and,  disregarding  the  interests  and 
entreaties  of  Sforza  and  the  other  northern  allies,  marche  1  south- 
wards to  attack  Naples  (April  1528).  Their  approach  made  Rome 
untenable,  and  the  Prince  of  Orange  fell  back  to  defend  Naples, 
while  Charles  set  the  Pope  free  for  a  large  ransom  and  a  promise 
not  to  take  part  against  him.  In  striking  contrast  with  this  policy, 
the  headstrong  Francis  threw  away  the  advantage  he  had  gained, 
by  another  blunder  like  his  treatment  of  Bourbon.  The  army 
investing  Naples  was  powerfully  aided  by  the  Genoese  fleet,  which 
had  defeated  the  Spaniards  off  Salerno.  As  a  just  reward  for  this 
and  former  faithful  services,  the  great  admiral  Andrea  Doria 
petitioned  for  the  restoration  of  certain  franchises  and  commercial 
privileges  to  Genoa.  Misled  by  his  favourites,  Francis  not  only 
refused,  but  sent  out  a  French  officer  to  supersede  and  arrest  Doria, 
who  thereupon  carried  his  fleet  over  to  the  Emperor.     The  result 

1  Ranke,  German  Hist,  in  the  Age  of  the  Reformation,  Book  iv.  p.  449. 


A.D.  1530.  CORONATION  OF  CHARLES  V.  253 

was  the  relief  of  Naples  and  the  capitulation  of  the  besieging  force, 
while  Doria,  returning  with  his  victorious  fleet  to  Genoa,  expelled 
the  French  and  became  the  head  of  the  restored  Eepublic,  which 
retained  its  independence  till  the  great  French  Revolution. 

§  20.  These  disasters,  and  the  exhaustion  of  France  by  the  long  and 
repeated  wars  in  Italy,  had  tamed  the  martial  ambition  of  Francis; 
while  Charles  was  threatened  with  a  religious  war  in  Germany  and 
by  the  advancing  conquests  of  the  Turks  under  Solyman  the  Magni- 
ficent.1. The  Peace  of  Cambray  is  still  more  famous  by  the  name  of 
the  Paix  des  Barnes,  from  its  negociation  between  the  Emperor's 
aunt,  Margaret  of  the  Netherlands,  and  Louisa  of  Savoy,  the  mother 
of  Francis  I.  (July  1529).  Its  terms  were  based  on  those  before 
accepted  by  the  captive  King  at  Madrid ;  but  all  that  concerns  us 
here  is  the  absolute  surrender  of  the  French  claims  in  Italy.2 
Charles,  who  was  at  Barcelona,  had  already  come  to  terms  with 
the  Pope,  to  whom  he  restored  the  whole  States  of  the  Church, 
while  he  took  the  house  of  Medici  under  his  special  protection. 
He  now  proceeded  to  Italy,  and,  on  the  anniversary  of  his  birth  and 
of  the  victory  of  Pavia,  he  was  solemnly  crowned  at  Bologna  by 
Clement  (Feb.  24,  1530). 

This  last  imperial  coronation  marks  an  epoch  which,  at  first 
sight,  might  be  compared  with  that  of  Charles's  great  namesake  in 
800.  But,  besides  the  long-standing  erection  of  the  Western  and 
Middle   Frank  kingdoms  into  a  great  rival  power,  the  imperial 

1  Solyman  took  Belgrade,  the  bulwark  of  Western  Europe  on  the 
Danube,  in  Aug.  1521,  and  Rhodes,  the  last  Christian  possession  on  the 
coast  of  Asia,  in  Dec.  1522.  In  August  1526,  he  won  the  battle  of 
Mohatz,  in  Hungary,  where  Louis  II.,  the  last  Jagellon  king  of  Hungary 
and  Bohemia,  was  killed  ;  and  the  Archduke  Ferdinand,  regent  of  Austria 
for  his  brother  Charles,  was  more  intent  on  securing  the  vacant  crowns 
than  on  repelling  the  Turkish  invasion.  Espousing  the  rival  claim  of  John 
Zapolya,  Solyman  overran  most  of  Hungary,  and  for  the  second  time  took 
Buda,  which  he  burnt  (1529).  It  was  after  the  Peace  of  Cambray  that  he 
was  repulsed  from  Vienna,  with  the  loss  of  70,000  men,  by  Frederick 
the  Prince  Palatine  (Sept.  1529). 

2  The  subsequent  renewal  and  end  of  the  contest  belong  to  civil  history. 
We  have  only  to  notice  here  the  policy  of  Francis  in  courting  the  favour 
of  the  Pope,  which  gave  a  share  in  the  French  throne  to  a  queen- 
consort  most  notorious  in  history.  Catherine  de'  Medici,  daughter  of 
Lorenzo,  duke  of  Urbino,  was  married  by  Clement  himself  at  Marseille 
(Oct.  1533)  to  Francis's  second  son  Henry,  Duke  of  Orleans,  who,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  death  of  his  brother,  the  Dauphin  Francis,  succeeded  his 
father  as  Henry  II.  (1547).  The  only  important  events  in  the  few 
remaining  years  of  Clement  VII.  belong  to  the  history  of  the  Reformation 
and  of  Henry  VIII.'s  divorce,  his  opposition  to  which  occasioned  (we  do  not 
say,  caused)  the  severance  of  the  English  Church  from  Rome  just  at  the 
time  of  his  own  death  on  Sept.  26th,  1534. 

II— N  2 


254  POSITION  OF  THE  PAPACY.  Chap.  XV. 

rule  of  Germany  itself  was  little  more  than  nominal.  The  severed 
states  of  that  country  were  plunging  into  a  religious  war,1  from 
which  Charles  himself  withdrew  twenty-five  years  later,  to  meditate 
in  his  convent  on  the  folly  of  trying  to  force  human  thought  and 
action  to  uniformity,  when  even  mechanism  defied  his  regulation ; 
and,  when  another  century  saw  an  agreement  at  length  affected  by 
the  Peace  of  Westphalia  (1648),  the  States  of  Europe  had  lost  even 
the  pretence  of  any  likeness  to  the  old  civil  and  ecclesiastical  con- 
stitution of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire  under  the  double  headship  of 
the  Pope  and  Emperor.  There  is  no  longer  a  united  visible  Church 
to  occupy  the  historian. 

Meanwhile  the  great  contest  between  the  autocracy  of  Rome,  and 
the  principles  of  ecclesiastical  aristocracy  and  the  independence  of 
national  Churches,  seemed  now  to  have  been  decided  everywhere, 
except  in  England,  in  favour  of  the  Papacy.  But  the  allegiance  ren- 
dered to  the  Pope  was  no  longer  that  of  deep  religious  conviction, 
much  less  the  enthusiasm  of  united  Christendom,  as  at  the  epoch  of 
the  Crusades.  The  reverence  still  preserved  for  the  visible  centre 
of  Latin  Christendom  was  mingled  with  the  element,  now  stronger, 
of  that  policy  by  which  the  sovereigns  of  Europe  found  it  prudent 
to  take  account  of  the  Papacy  as  a  great  Italian  power,  and  as  a 
bulwark  against  the  encroachments  of  the  ecclesiastical  aristocracy, 
and  against  genuine  reform,  in  their  several  states.  Nor  did  any 
fresh  papal  schism  bring  its  authority  into  dispute. 

But  the  vantage  ground  thus  secured  for  the  Roman  see  proved 
a  growing  temptation  to  the  indulgence  of  those  abuses  which  out- 
raged public  morality ;  the  avarice,  venality,  and  misgovernment, 
the  luxury  and  personal  vices,  of  the  Popes  and  the  papal  curia. 
It  was  in  vain  that,  through  the  whole  fifteenth  century,  the  most 
faithful  counsellors  urged  a  voluntary  reformation  from  above  as  the 
only  means  of  averting  a  compulsory  reformation  from  below,  which 
would  not  be  effected  without  violence  and  schism.  The  events 
reviewed  throughout  this  Book  confirmed  the  conviction,  that  Rome 
herself  would  not  undertake  her  own  reform,  and  that  neither  the 
ecclesiastical  aristocracy  nor  the  temporal  princes  could  enforce  it, 
for  want  of  union  among  themselves ;  and  it  was  the  sad  confession 
of  a  man  most  honourably  eminent,  that  a  reformation  was  at  once 
necessary  and  impossible.  But  "  the  things  which  are  impossible 
with  men  are  possible  with  God." 

1  It  was  in  this  same  year  that  the  great  Protestant  Confession  (Con- 
fessio  Augustana,  or  of  Augsburg)  was  presented  to  the  Diet  of  the  Empire 
at  Augsburg  (June  25th,  1530), 


Durham  Cathedral. 

BOOK    III. 

THE  CONSTITUTION,  WOKSHIP,  AND 
DOCTKINES  OF  THE  MEDIEVAL  CHURCH. 

Centuries  XI.  to  XYI. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE  PAPACY,  HIERARCHY,  AND  CLERGY. 

1.  Character  of  the  Period— Revival  from  the  Darkness  of  the  Tenth 
Century— The  Middle  Ages  in  their  Glory — New  Creations  of  the  Age. 
§  2.  Relations  of  the  Church  to  the  State— The  Threefold  Alternative: 
independent,  national,  or  Catholic — Imperial  (Ecumenical  Church — 
National  Churches  of  Europe.  §  3.  The  Church  of  Rome  and  the 
Holy  Roman  Empire— Internal  State  of  the  Church— Era  of  its 
supreme  sovereignty.  §  4.  Power  of  the  Papacy — Causes  of  the 
general  submission — The  Pope's  despotic  authority — First  claims  to 
Infallibility — Supremacy  over  Councils  and  Canons — The  Pope's  dis- 
pensing power — Canonization.  §  5.  The  Episcopate  subject  to  the 
"  Universal  Bishop  " — Oath  of  obedience  imposed  on  Metropolitans — 
Power  and  Oppressions  of  the  Papal  Legates — Testimony  of  John  of 
Salisbury  and  St.  Bernard.  §  6.  The  Curia  Romans — Its  ubiquitous 
and  ravenous  agents — John  of  Salisbury  and  Adrian  IV. — The  Mother- 
Church  a  Stepmother — The  Pope  and  Cardinals.     §  7.  Episcopal  Eleo- 


25G  THE  MIDDLE  AGES  IN  THEIR  GLORY.       Chap.  XVL 

tions  by  Cathedral  Canons — Interference  of  the  Pope :  Preces,  Man- 
data,  and  Plenaria  Dispositio — Papal  Reservations  or  Provisions,  and 
Exemptions — Attempts  to  restore  free  Elections — Character  of  the 
Bishops — Titular  or  Suffragan  Bishops — Power  an  I  Tyranny  of  the 
Archdeacons  and  "  Officials."  §  8  Increase  of  Church  Property — 
Feudal  Claims  of  Sovereigns :  the  Regale,  Jus  Exuviarum,  and  Jus 
Primarum  Prccum — Taxation  of  the  Clergy — Papal  Exactions  from 
them — Annates  and  Expectancies.  §  9.  Worldly  motives  and  spirit 
of  the  Clergy — Abuses  of  Patronage — Income  of  the  Clergy — Tithes — 
Simony  and  Pluralism — Secular  Business  and  Ambition.  §  10.  De- 
graded state  of  the  parochial  clergy — Caricatures  and  more  serious 
testimony — Acephali  and  Chaplains — Popular  preference  for  the  Friars. 

§  1.  The  title  of  the  Dark  Ages — indiscrimiuately  applied  to  the 
Medieval  Period  of  History  by  the  pride  of  the  Renaissance  and  the 
self-complacency  of  modem  progress — is  truly  characteristic  of  the 
Tenth  Century.  The  great  intellectual  revival,  fostered  by  the 
government  of  Charles  the  Great  on  the  Continent,  and  renewed  by 
Alfred  in  the  island  wThich  had  been  one  of  its  chief  sources,  had 
spent  its  force  amidst  the  conflicts  of  the  kingdoms  into  which  the 
new  Empire  was  again  split  up,  and  the  sacred  centre  at  Rome 
had  become  the  seat  of  corruption.  But  already,  before  the  end  of 
the  tenth  century,  we  have  seen  the  efforts  of  the  great  Saxon 
Emperors  to  reform  the  Church  and  Papacy  ;  and  the  following  cen- 
turies, from  the  eleventh  to  the  thirteenth,  are  marked  by  the  out- 
burst and  growth  of  new  light  and  life,  religious  and  intellectual 
energy,  none  the  less  powerful  and  fruitful  of  ultimate  results, 
though  their  elements  were  as  yet  working  in  disorder,  and  re- 
pressed by  the  despotism  which  the  See  of  Rome  now  succeeded 
in  establishing.  These  three  centuries  are  justly  described  by- 
Arch  bishop  Trench1  as  "the  Middle  Ages  in  their  glory  and  at 
their  height" — as  "their  creative  period,  to  which  belong  all  those 
magnificent  births  which  they  have  bequeathed,  some  to  the 
admiration,  and  all  to  the  wonder,  of  the  after- world— the  Cru- 
sades, the  rise  of  Gothic  Architecture,  the  Universities,  the  School- 
men, the  Mystics,  the  Mendicant  Orders  :"  to  all  of  which  must  be 
added  the  still  newer  forces  of  free  religious  thought  and  wTorship 
— new  in  form,  but  springing  from  the  primitive  sources  of  Chris- 
tianity itself — that  were  destined  to  transform  the  Church,  though 
now  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  powers  suspended  their  deadly  strife 
to  join  in  crushing  this  common  foe.  The  seeds  of  purer  truth  and 
holier  life,  which  were  mingled  with  much  that  was  evil  in  the 
medieval  heresies,  the  efforts  for  reformation  within  the  bosom  of 

1  Lectures  on  Medieval  Church  History,  pp.  16-17. 


Chap.  XVI.     THREE  ALTERNATIVES  FOR  THE  CHURCH.  257 

the  Church,  and  even  the  growing  worldliness  and  corruption  of  the 
Papacy,  when  it  seemed  to  have  crushed  or  evaded  those  attempts, 
all  converge  to  the  great  crisis  of  Reformation  in  the  sixteenth 
century. 

§  2.  The  threefold  alternative  in  the  relations  of  the  Church  to 
the  civil  power  and  the  life  of  the  people — independence,  nationality, 
or  a  Catholic  despotism — is  now  fairly  presented  to  us  in  its  his- 
toric working.  The  pure  ideal  of  a  Church  independent  of  all 
worldly  power  had  been  of  necessity  maintained  so  long  as  the  civil 
government  was  anti-christian  ;  and  the  revived  aspiration  for  "  a 
free  Church  in  a  free  State,"  prompted  by  the  corruption  and 
tyranny  of  both  powers,  became  a  great  problem  of  the  future. 
The  close  union  and  theoretical  identity  of  the  Church  with  the 
Christian  state,  established  by  Constantine,  was  practicable  while 
the  Roman  Empire  was  co-extensive  with  Christendom,  and  so  long 
as  the  decrees  of  (Ecumenical  Councils  could  be  regarded  as  express- 
ing the  mind  of  the  universal  Church  under  the  civil  control  of  one 
imperial  ruler. 

In  the  ensuing  disruption,  this  constitution  furnished  a  type  for 
the  several  National  Churches,  at  the  necessary  sacrifice  of  oecu- 
menical action,  though  with  the  attempt  to  preserve  the  Catholic 
unity  of  doctrine,  ritual,  and  discipline.  But  the  bishops  of  the  old 
capitals  still  clung  to  those  oecumenical  claims,  of  which,  after 
the  severance  of  the  East  and  West  and  the  revival  of  the  Holy 
Roman  Empire,  Rome  became  the  unrivalled  centre  for  the  Latin 
Church.  We  have  seen  how  the  generally  admitted  claim  of  pre- 
cedence was  pressed  forward,  step  by  step,  first  to  the  Pope's  spiritual 
authority  over  the  Western  Church  (and  in  theory  over  the  whole), 
and  then  to  his  supremacy  over  the  civil  power  in  all  matters,  tem- 
poral as  well  as  spiritual ;  in  short,  a  personal  Catholic  despotism, 
equally  opposed  to  the  ideas  of  a  free  spiritual  Church,  and  of 
nationally  constituted  Churches  :  for  the  claim  of  Rome  to  embody 
the  former  is  perpetually  contradicted  by  her  assumptions  of  tem- 
poral power  and  control. 

§  3.  While  the  idea  of  national  churches,  with  rights  more  or 
less  independent  of  papal  control,  was  maintained  in  England  and 
France — to  be  asserted  with  signal  vigour  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  period  we  have  reviewed — the  great  region  still  included  in  the 
Empire  had  received  the  doctrine,  that  God  had  divided  all  power 
on  earth  between  the  Emperor  and  the  Pope.  The  question  then 
arose,  whether  these  "  two  swords "  were  held  each  by  an  inde- 
pendent commission,  in  virtue  of  which  the  Emperor  was  supreme 
in  civil  matters  even  over  ecclesiastics,  or  whether — as  the  Hilde- 
brandine  doctrine  held — the  ecclesiastical  power  was  independent, 


258  SOVEREIGNTY  OF  THE  VISIBLE  CHURCH.      Chap.  XVI. 

and  the  civil  power  was  derived  from  and  responsible  to  the  Pope 
as  Christ's  vicar  upon  earth.  In  the  foregoing  chapters  we  have 
followed  the  external  aspect  of  "  the  struggle,  so  grand  and  terrible, 
between  the  world- king  and  the  world-priest,  the  Emperor  and  the 
Pope,  with  the  triumph,  complete  though  temporary,  of  the  latter, 
the  Papacy,  in  the  most  towering  heights  to  which  it  ever  ascended."  l 
We  have  seen  how  the  overbuilt  edifice,  weakened  by  its  own  lofti- 
ness, was  shattered  by  the  Babylonian  Captivity  and  the  great 
Papal  Schism ;  and  how,  evading  the  demands  for  internal  reforma- 
tion, it  regained  a  deceptive  splendour  amidst  the  corruptions  that 
brought  on  the  final  crisis.  We  have  now  to  trace  the  working  of 
the  power  won  by  the  Papacy  on  the  internal  constitution  of  the 
Church,  together  with  the  whole  character  of  its  worship  and  disci- 
pline, its  doctrines  and  controversies,  its  religious  and  intellectual 
life,  during  the  Middle  Ages.  The  general  character  of  the  period  is 
admirably  summed  up  by  Schaff:2  "  This  may  be  termed  the  age 
of  Christian  legalism,  of  Church  authority.  Personal  freedom  is  here, 
to  a  great  extent,  lost  in  slavish  submission  to  fixed  traditional  rules 
and  forms.  The  individual  subject  is  of  account  only  as  the  organ 
and  medium  of  the  general  spirit  of  the  Church.  All  secular  powers, 
the  state,  science,  art,  are  under  the  guardianship  of  the  hierarchy, 
and  must  everywhere  serve  its  ends.  This  is  emphatically  the  era 
of  grand  universal  enterprises,  of  colossal  works,  whose  completion 
required  the  co-operation  of  nations  and  centuries  ;  the  age  of  the 
supreme  outward  sovereignty  of  the  visible  Churchy 

§  4.  That  supreme  sovereignty  was  vested  in  the  see  of  Rome 
by  the  efforts  of  Hildebrand  and  his  successors,  with  the  general 
assent  of  the  clergy  and  the  people.  To  understand  this  submission, 
it  must  be  remembered  that  the  Hildebrandine  claim  to  papal  as- 
cendancy went  hand  in  hand  with  that  effort  to  reform  the  deep 
corruptions  of  the  clergy,  which  won  the  mass  of  the  people  to  the 
side  of  Gregory  VII.  It  might  well  seem  to  earnest  men  that  the 
work  could  only  be  achieved  by  a  central  power  invested  with 
absolute  spiritual  authority  ;  and,  in  yielding  up  a  portion  of  their 
liberty,  the  clergy  saw  their  order  strengthened  against  the  civil 
ruler.  In  an  elective  hierarchy,  every  member  naturally  sympa- 
thizes with  the  aggrandisement  of  the  head,  especially  as  the  triumph 
of  spiritual  power  over  worldly  might.  From  a  president  or  primus, 
acting  as  an  authoritative  counsellor  and  arbiter  according  to  the 
canons,  the  Pope  became  the  autocrat  of  the  Latin  Church,  accord- 
ing to  the  principles  of  the  false  Decretals,3  the  supreme  and  ulti- 

1  Trench,  I.e.  2  Church  Hist.  Introd.  p.  51. 

3  See  Pt.  I.  p.  500  f.      The  gradual  adoption  of  the  autocratic  principle 


Chap.  XVI.  CLIMAX  OF  PAPAL  CLAIMS.  259 

mate  source  of  jurisdiction,  as  the  one  representative  of  Christ  on 
earth,  wielding  a  kind  of  power  above  that  belonging  to  human 
rulers.1  Though  the  claim,  to  infallibility,  which  lias  been  retro- 
spectively affirmed  in  our  own  day,2  was  only  beginning  to  be 
heard,  the  supreme  authority  of  Councils  was  more  and  more  dis- 
tinctly usurped.  The  old  imperial  authority  to  summon  General 
Councils  was  now  claimed  by  the  Pope  ;3  they  sank  to  the  position 
of  deliberative  assemblies,  whose  decrees  derived  their  force  from 
the  authority  of  the  Roman  Pontiff,  and  (from  the  time  of  Inno- 
cent III.)  were  published  in  his  name.4  He  was  placed  so  far 
above  the  laws  of  the  Church,  as  to  be  not  only  not  bound  by  them 
himself,  but  able  to  release  others  from  obedience;  and  this  dis- 
pensing power,  which  was  at  first  applied  only  in  extreme  cases, 
as  an  indemnity  for  offences  already  committed,  was  extended  to 
prospective  infractions  of  the  canon-law.5     Such  dispensations,  and 

is  one  great  distinction  between  Western  and  Eastei-n  Christendom.  It 
was  never  admitted  in  the  Greek  Church. 

1  Though  it  was  reserved  for  later  and  worser  Popes  to  assume  actual 
Divine  titles,  we  find  Innocent  III.  describing  himself  as  "  citra  Deum, 
ultra  hominem,"  and  as  "  minor  Deo,  major  liomine" — where  the  disclaimer 
is  scarcely  less  arrogant  than  the  assumption.  The  same  pontiff  plainly 
puts  forward  the  claim  to  be  the  Vicar,  no  longer  of  St.  Peter  only,  but  of 
the  true  God  and  of  Jesus  Christ  (Epist.  i.  326).  These  growing  claims 
were  symbolized  by  the  triple  crown.  Boniface  VIII.  added  to  the  papal 
tiara  a  second  crown,  to  denote  the  Pope's  twofold  lordship,  spiritual  and 
temporal ;  and  Urban  V.  added  the  third  crown,  to  signify  that  the  Pope  is 
the  representative  of  Christ.  The  climax  of  titular  assumption  is  seen  in 
the  worst  age  of  the  Papacy,  when,  at' the  5th  Lateran  Council  (1512), 
such  a  Pope  as  Julius  II.  was  addressed  as  "another  God  upon  the 
earth " :  "  Tu  enim  pastor,  tu  medicus,  tu  gubernator,  tu  cultor,  tu 
denique  alter  Dcus  in  tern's."     (See  Gieseler,  vol.  iv.  p.  432.) 

2  By  the  Vatican  Council,  1870.  The  doctrine  was  chiefly  founded  on 
Luke  xxii.  32,  "  I  have  prayed  for  thee,  that  thy  faith  fail  not"  and  as 
such  it  is  cited  in  the  Vatican  decree  of  1870  (chap.  iv.).  For  examples 
of  the  claim,  in  a  greater  or  lesser  degree,  by  Leo  IX.,  Gregory  VII.,  and 
Innocent  III.,  see  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  164,  n. 

3  Thus,  as  early  as  1095,  Urban  II.,  relying  on  the  enthusiasm  for  the 
Crusade,  summoned  the  Councils  of  Piacenza  and  Clermont  by  his  own 
authority  (see  above,  p.  26). 

*  Thus  he  says  of  the  4th  Lateran  Council  (1215): — "Sacra  universal] 
Synodo  approbante,  sancimus ;  "  and  the  formula  is  duly  repeated  in  the 
Vatican  Decrees  of  1870  ;  "  Pius  Episcopus,  &c,  sacro  approbante  concilio." 

5  The  earlier  and  more  restricted  form  of  dispensation,  which  gave 
"  veniam  canonis  infracti,"  but  not  infringendi,  was  granted  by  ordinary 
bishops.  The  wider  power  dates  from  Innocent  III.,  who,  for  example, 
absolved  King  John  from  his  oath  to  observe  the  Great  Charter  (see  his 
Epist.  lib.  xvi.  154  ;  ap.  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  163).  But  the  power  was  not 
held  to  be  unlimited.  As  defined  by  Thomas  Aquinas,  the  Pope's  ple- 
nary authority  in  the  Church  gave  him  the  power  to  dispense  with  the 


260  SUBJECTION  OF  THE  EPISCOPATE.        Chap.  XVI. 

especially  the  Pope's  absolution  from  the  laws  of  marriage  and  from 
oaths,  struck  at  the  foundation  of  social  and  political  order,  in  the 
same  proportion  as  they  exalted  and  extended  his  authority  over 
the  common  life  of  persons,  families,  and  nations.  The  power  of 
canonization,  which  had  formerly  belonged  to  bishops,  was  vested 
in  the  Pope  by  a  decree  of  Alexander  III.  (a.d.  1170). 

§  5.  As  an  inference  from  his  authority  as  the  Vicar  of  Christ, 
the  Pope  claimed  to  be  the  "  universal  bishop "  and  head  of  the 
episcopate  in  all  countries.1  As  a  necessary  consequence,  the  metro- 
politans, who  had  been  the  heads  and  champions  of  their  national 
and  provincial  churches,  became  the  vicars  of  the  Pope.  An  oath 
of  obedience  to  him  was  imposed  on  them  as  the  condition  of 
receiving  the  pallium,  from  the  time  of  Gregory  VII.,  who  regarded 
the  relation  of  metropolitans  to  the  Holy  See  as  that  of  vassals  to 
a  suzerain.2  This  authority  was  soon  extended  to  the  confirma- 
tion of  all  episcopal  elections,  and  the  Pope  often  even  nominated 
the  bishops,  from  whom  and  from  the  exempted  abbots  the  oath 
imposed  on  the  metropolitans  was  also  exacted.  The  Pope  further 
claimed  the  right  to  remove  and  depose  bishops,  and  to  receive 
appeals  from  episcopal  decisions.  The  growing  frequency  of  these 
appeals  to  Rome  was  not  only  a  serious  interference  in  national 
jurisdiction,  but  a  cause  of  the  decay  of  discipline,  which  the 
bishops  were  deterred  from  exercising  by  the  constant  fear  of  a 
mandate  from  Rome  reversing  their  decisions. 

The  relation  thus  claimed  was  made  a  practical  power  by  the 
papal  Legates  (legati  a  latere),  who,  according  to  Gregory  VII., 
"  were  to  be  heard  even  as  the  Pope  himself."  Such  representatives 
had  been  at  first  only  sent  from  Rome  on  special  occasions  ;  but 
from  the  time  of  Leo  IX.  their  commissions  were  unlimited  both  in 
time  and  subject.  Under  Gregory  VII.  a  regular  legate  was  esta- 
blished in  every  country,  either  as  an  emissary  direct  from  Rome 
(generally  a  Cardinal),  or  by  a  commission  conferring  the  lull  power  of 
the  Pope  on  a  local  ecclesiastic.  The  Legate,  who,  although  usually  a 
bishop,  might  even  be  a  deacon  or  archdeacon,  at  once  superseded 

institutes  of  the  Church,  as  the  ordinances  of  mail  or  of  positive  Ici't;  but 
not  with  those  of  divine  or  natural  law  ;  or,  as  others  put  it,  not  against 
the  Gospel  or  articles  of  faith,  or  the  precept  of  an  Apostle,  though, 
according  to  one  authority,  "  tamen  contra  Apostolum  dispensat." 

1  This  was  a  main  point  of  contention  in  the  reforming  effort  of  the 
15th  century.  While  Gerson  and  his  party  at  Constance  held  that  the 
episcopal  and  papal  authority  rested  on  a  common  foundation,  the  champions 
of  Home  claimed  that  the  Pope  was  the  source  and  perpetual  dispenser  of 
all  episcopal  powers. 

2  For  a  full  account  of  the  Pallium,  see  the  article  in  the  Diet,  of 
Christ.  Anti/q. 


Chap.  XVI.  PAPAL  LEGATES.  261 

the  full  authority  of  the  metropolitan,  or,  if  the  latter  held  the 
office,  the  danger  to  the  national  church  was  still  greater.  Besides 
this  usurpation  on  the  ancient  system  of  episcopal  authority,  the 
power  entrusted  to  the  legates,  in  an  age  of  great  worldliness 
and  corruption  among  the  clergy,  was  used  as  the  instrument  of 
oppression  and  rapacity,  to  such  a  degree  that  John  of  Salisbury 
(the  close  friend  of  the  English  Pope  Adrian  IV.)  speaks  of  them  as 
"raging  in  the  provinces  as  if  Satan  had  gone  forth  from  the 
presence  of  the  Lord  for  the  scourging  of  the  Church."1  St.  Ber- 
nard, who  often  mingled  his  championship  of  Rome  with  faithful 
warnings  of  her  corruptions,  has  left  a  picture  of  the  behaviour  of  a 
cardinal  named  Jordanus,  as  legate  to  France : 2  "  Your  Legate  has 
passed  from  nation  to  nation,  and  from  one  kingdom  to  another 
people,  everywhere  leaving  foul  and  horrible  traces  among  us. 
Travelling  about  from  the  foot  of  the  Alps  and  the  kingdom  of  the 
Germans  through  almost  all  the  churches  of  France  and  Normandy, 
and  all  round  as  far  as  Rouen,  the  apostolic  man  has  filled  them, 
not  with  the  Gospel,  but  with  sacrilege.  He  is  reported  everywhere 
to  have  committed  disgraceful  deeds,  to  have  carried  off  the  spoils  of 
the  churches,  to  have  advanced  pretty  little  boys3  to  ecclesiastical 
honours  where  he  was  able,  and  to  have  wished  to  do  where  he  was 
unable.  Many  have  bought  themselves  off,  that  he  might  not  come 
to  them  ;  those  whom  he  could  not  visit  he  taxed  and  squeezed  by 
his  messengers.  In  schools,  in  courts,  at  the  cross  roads,  he  has 
made  himself  a  by-word.  Seculars  and  religious,  all  speak  ill  of 
him."4 

§  6.  Nor  is  a  better  character  given  to  the  numerous  body  of 
ecclesiastics  at  Rome,  whose  aid  and  advice  the  Pope  found  ne- 
cessary for  the  exercise  of  his  authority,  and  whose  very  name, 
which  has  since  become  a  byword,  was  regarded  from  the  first  as  a 
sign  of  worldliness,  oppression,  and  corruption.     In  the  middle  of 

1  Policrat.  lib.  v.  c.  16,  ip.  Gieseler  (vol.  iii.  p.  179),  who  gives  a  number 
of  similar  testimonies. 

2  Epist.  290;  ad  Episcop.  Ostic?is.  (1152);  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  177; 
Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  216.  For  St.  Bernard's  strong  warning  of  the  moral 
danger  of  the  Papacy,  especially  from  its  growing  secularization,  addressed 
to  his  former  pupil,  Eugenius  III.,  in  his  work  on  Self-Consideration,  see 
Trench,  Med.  Ch.  Hist.  p.  280. 

3  We  can  scarcely  mistake  what  is  veiled  under  the  words  "  formulosos 
pueros." 

4  For  the  resistance  to  the  intrusion  of  Legates  into  England,  see 
Chap.  III.  §  11.  The  objection  appears  to  have  been  not  so  much  to  the 
office  itself  as  to  its  exercise  by  Italian  cardinals.  From  the  year  1195  to 
the  Reformation  it  was  generally  held  by  the  Archbishops  of  Canterbury. 
We  have  seen  the  dissatisfaction  caused  by  the  appointment  of  Cardinal 
Beaufort  in  the  15th  century  (Chap.  X.  p.  163,  n.3). 


262  THE  CURIA  ROMANA.  Chap.  XVI. 

the  12th  century,  Gerhoh,  Bishop  of  Reichersperg l  complains  to 
the  reigning  Pope  of  the  stain  (macula),  that  the  venerable  name 
of  the  Church  of  Rome  had  been  exchanged  for  that  of  the 
Roman  Court  (Cukta  Romana).  The  vast  growth  of  business 
consequent  on  the  extended  power  and  jurisdiction  of  the  Pope 
created  a  ubiquitous  host  of  ravenous  Officials  of  the  Curia.  John 
of  Salisbury  tells  us  that  when,  on  a  visit  to  Adrian  IV.  at 
Benevento,  the  Pope  asked  him  what  men  thought  of  the  Church 
and  himself,  he  frankly  exposed  the  evil  reports  which  he  had  heard 
in  various  provinces.2  "  For,  as  was  said  by  many,  the  Roman 
Church,  which  is  the  mother  of  all  the  Churches,  shows  itself  to 
the  rest  not  so  much  a  mother  as  a  stepmother.3  The  Scribes 
and  Pharisees  sit  in  it,  laying  on  the  shoulders  of  men  burthens 
not  to  be  borne,  which  they  do  not  touch  with  a  finger.  They 
shatter  churches,  stir  up  strifes,  set  clergy  and  people  against  one 
another,  have  no  sympathy  with  the  toils  and  miseries  of  the 
afflicted,  revel  in  the  spoils  of  the  churches,  and  account  all  gain 
godliness.  They  render  justice  not  so  much  to  truth  as  to  a 
bribe."  From  this  character  he  excepts  "a  few,  wdio  fulfil  the 
name  and  duty  of  the  pastor,"  but  he  describes  the  Roman  pontiff 
himself  (to  whom  he  said  all  this)  "  as  almost  intolerably  oppressive 
to  all,"  and  of  his  chief  agents  he  says,  "  The  palaces  of  the  priests 
are  splendid,  while  the  Church  of  Christ  is  made  sordid  in  their 
hands.  They  plunder  the  spoils  of  provinces,  as  if  it  were  their 
business  to  replenish  the  treasuries  of  Croesus."  In  the  next 
century,  a  greater  Englishman,  Robert  Grosseteste,  bishop  of 
Lincoln,  warned  Innocent  III.  that  the  extravagant  claims  of  the 
Roman  Church  were  tending  to  open  schism.  The  monastic  orders 
were  still,  for  the  most  part,  a  sort  of  papal  garrisons  in  every  land, 
and  we  have  presently  to  describe  the  vast  reinforcement  brought 
to  the  power  of  Rome  by  the  mendicant  orders,  who  have  been 
called  the  Pope's  militia. 

§  7.  In  the  time  of  Gregory  VII.,  and  as  a  part  of  his  reforming 
efforts,  the  election  of  bishops  was  transferred  from  the  people  to 
the  clergy ;  and,  after  the  pattern  of  the  papal  elections,  it  passed 
int©  the  hands  of  the  canons  of  each  cathedral.4     But  the  change 

1  De  Corrupto  Ecclesise  Statu  ad  Engcaium  III. ;  Gieseler,  vol.  iii. 
p.  178.  The  formal  council  of  the  Pope  was  the  College  of  Cardinals. 
The  actual  administration  of  affairs  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Curia.  The 
department  of  finance  was  called  the  Rota  Romana. 

2  Policrat.  lib.  vi.  c.  24  ;  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  179. 

3  The  same  figure  was  used  by  the  Emperor  Frederick  II.,  in  a  letter  to 
Henry  III.   of  England  (Matt.  Paris,  a.d.  1254,  p.  293). 

*  The  secular  canons  (canonici)  were  a  class  of  ecclesiastics  attached 
to  particular  churches,  intermediate  between  the  ordinary  parish  clergy 


Chap.  XVI.  APPOINTMENT  OF  BISHOPS.  263 

from  lay  patronage,  instead  of  doing  away  with  the  corruption 
which  had  been  the  subject  of  such  indignant  denunciations,  had 
only  the  effect  of  transferring  it  from  courtiers  to  the  canons ;  and 
in  its  new  form  it  worked  worse  than  before,  inasmuch  as  the  clergy 
might  choose  a  bishop  with  a  view  of  benefiting  by  his  defects,  or 
might  make  a  bargain  with  him  more  injurious  to  the  Church  than 
any  that  could  be  made  by  a  layman.  Jealousies,  intrigues,  and 
disputed  rights,  which  led  to  long  and  ruinous  suits,  and  sometimes 
to  open  war,  now  became  rife ;  and  Frederick  Barbarossa  had 
probably  good  reason  for  declaring,  in  a  well-known  speech,  that 
the  bishops  appointed  by  the  imperial  power  had  been  better  than 
those  whom  the  clergy  chose  for  themselves.1 

The  Popes  now  began  to  interfere  in  the  elections  of  bishops, 
and  the  appointment  of  the  clergy  in  general,  first  by  requests 
(jpreces),  from  which  Innocent  III.  advanced  to  mandates  (mandata), 
and  Clement  IV.  (ob.  1268)  claimed  the  full  right  of  disposing  of 
vacant  benefices  (phnaria  disjwsitio).  These  abuses  reached  their 
climax  during  the  residence  of  the  Popes  at  Avignon,  when,  being 
separated  from  their  estates,  they  made  their  claims  of  patronage 
a  source  of  revenue.  Clement  V.  began  the  system  of  appropriating 
rich  bishoprics  and  benefices  to  the  use  of  the  Pope,  his  kinsmen 
and  favourites,  under  the  name  of  papal  Reservations  or  Provi- 
sions, in  contempt  of  the  rights  of  sovereigns  and  chapters;  and 
John  XXII.  claimed  to  reserve  for  himself  all  the  benefices  in 
Christendom  !  Besides  that  interference  with  the  rights  of  national 
churches,  which  was  vigorously  resisted  in  England,2  the  system 

and  the  monastic  orders.  They  were  so  called  either  from  living  under 
a  regular  rule,  or,  as  is  more  probable,  from  the  enrolment  of  their 
names  in  the  lists  of  officers  of  the  Church  (navwv,  in  Latin  matricula, 
albus,  tabula).  The  institution  sprang  from  the  practice  which  arose  even 
before  the  4th  century,  and  of  which  we  have  examples  in  Ambrose, 
Augustine,  and  other  bishops,  who  gathered  a  body  of  clergy  round  them 
in  a  common  domicile,  under  strict  rules  of  life  ;  but  it  received  its  definite 
form  in  the  latter  part  of  the  8th  century,  from  Chrodegang,  archbishop 
of  Mainz,  and  cousin  of  King  Pepin.  "  The  essential  difference  between 
a  cathedral  with  its  canonici  and  an  abbey-church  with  its  monks  has  been 
well  expressed  thus :  the  canonici  existed  for  the  service  of  the  cathedral, 
but  the  abbey  church  for  the  spiritual  wants  of  the  recluses  happening  to 
settle  there  (Freeman's  Norman  Conquest,  ii.  443)." — Diet,  of  Christian 
Antiqq.  art.  Canonici.  For  the  growing  corruption  of  the  secular  canons, 
and  the  foundation  of  the  "  canons  regular  of  St.  Augustine,"  see  below, 
Chap.  XX. 

1  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  218.  See  what  is  there  added  on  the  partly 
successful  efforts  of  sovereigns,  especially  in  England,  to  retain  influence 
over  the  episcopal  elections.  The  contest  about  Investiture  has  been  fully 
related  above  (see  Chaps.  II.  and  III.). 

2  By  the  famous  Statute  of  1'rovisors,  visiting  the  introduction  of  papal 


264  SUFFRAGAN  BISHOPS  AND  ARCHDEACONS.     Chap.  XVI. 

tended  to  deprive  the  episcopate  of  the  increased  power  due  to  the 
weakening  of  the  Papacy  by  the  great  schism.  The  rights  and 
disciplinary  authority  of  the  Bishops  were  also  infringed  by  the 
habitual  exemptions  of  churches,  monasteries,  chapters,  and  even 
individuals,  besides  the  Mendicant  Friars  as  a  body,  from  episcopal 
jurisdiction.1  The  kindred  of  the  Pope  were  loaded  with  prefer- 
ments, and  Clement  VII.,  when  remonstrated  with  for  these  abuses, 
replied,  "Our  predecessors  knew  not  how  to  play  the  Pope." 

The  theory  of  episcopal  elections,  however,  was  still  maintained. 
After  the  settlement  of  the  great  contest  on  Investitures,  the 
bishops  were  almost  universally  elected  by  the  cathedral  canons ; 
and  this  system,  with  the  exclusion  of  the  ancient  assent  of  the 
laity,  was  enjoined  by  decrees  of  Innocent  III.  and  Gregory  IX. 
The  Council  of  Basle  endeavoured  to  restore  the  practice  "  accord- 
ing to  the  ancient  laws"  (1433);  and  free  elections  were  stipulated 
for  by  the  German  Compact  of  1448 ;  but  they  fell  more  and  more 
into  the  hands  of  sovereigns.  In  the  Concordat  with  France  (1516) 
the  appointment  of  bishops  was  conceded  to  the  King  by  Leo  X., 
who  set  a  higher  value  on  the  revenues  that  were  yielded  to  him  in 
return.2  The  whole  character  of  the  times  leaves  little  ground  for 
wonder  that  the  bishops,  with  some  admirable  exceptions,  grew 
worldly  and  corruprt,  idle  in  their  own  office  but  ambitious  of 
secular  power,  and  covetous  of  wealth ;  and  few  were  willing  or 
even  able  to  take  the  lead  in  the  work  of  reformation  by  means  of 
the  diocesan  synods,  which  the  Council  of  Basle  directed  to  be  held 
in  every  diocese  at  least  once  a  year. 

Since  the  order  of  country  bishops  (Chorepiscopi3)  had  died  out, 
their  functions  devolved  partly  on  the  Archdeacons,  and  partly  on 
the  Titular  or  Suffragan  Bishops,  whom  (especially  from  the  thir- 
teenth century  onward)  the  Popes  ordained  for  sees  in  the  hands  of 
the  Saracens  (in  partibus  infidelium).  The  order  of  Archdeacons 
acquired  a  new  character  and  growing  importance  onwards  from 
the  eighth  century,  when,  instead  of  only  one  under  each  bishop, 
every  diocese  was  divided  into  several  archdeaconries,  in  which 
those  who  were  still  but  deacons  exercised  jurisdiction  over  the 
presbyters,  and  were  tempted  to  make  themselves  independent. 
They  are  complained  of  as  defying  the  authority  of  their  bishops, 

instruments    for   such   "  provisions "    with    the    penalties   of  praemunire 
(25  Edw.  III.  c.  6). 

1  Martin  V.,  in  his  Bull  for  remedying  such  abuses  (1418),  confesses 
that  they  had  been  created  by  his  predecessors  "in  grave  ipsorum  ordina- 
riorium  pra-judicium."  In  the  case  of  the  monasteries,  however,  the 
primary  cause  of  their  exemptions  may  be  traced  to  the  exactions  and 
oppressions  of  the  bishops  upon  them. 

2  See  Chap.  XV.  §  12.  3  See  Vol.  I.  p.  296. 


Chap.  XVI.  TEMPORALITIES  AND  TAXATION.  265 

tyrannizing  over  the  clergy,  and  vexing  the  people  by  their  exac- 
tions, especially  on  the  pretext  of  penance,  by  which  they  were 
said  to  make  a  gain  of  sins.  New  abuses  were  the  sole  result  of 
the  attempts  of  the  bishops  to  check  these  troublesome  dignitaries 
by  setting  up  courts  of  their  own  under  the  presidency  of  "  officials," 
whom  Peter  of  Blois  (himself,  it  is  true,  an  a'chdeacon)  designates 
"  Bishops'  leeches." 

§  8.  All  these  evils  were  aggravated  by  the  increased  wealth  of 
the  Church  and  the  contests  of  the  clergy  with  the  people  and  the 
state  respecting  temporalities  and  taxation.  "  It  was  not  to  any 
regard  for  their  persons,  but  to  the  superstition  and  circumstances 
of  the  age,  that  the  clergy  were  indebted  for  the  remarkable  increase 
of  their  property.  It  was  brought  about  partly  by  the  vindication 
of  tithe-law,  partly  by  wills,  partly  by  advantageous  purchases  and 
mortgages  (obtained  mostly  from  nobles  who  took  the  cross), 
partly  by  compact  with  the  oppressed  free  commonalty,  who 
received  their  own  property  in  copyhold  from  them.  From  time 
to  time,  however,  this  immoderate  increase  of  ecclesiastical  wealth 
began  already  to  attract  attention  and  receive  some  restric- 
tions from  secular  law."1  By  long  contests,  and  much  firmness, 
the  sovereigns  of  England,  France,  and  Germany,  succeeded  in 
maiutaining  the  right  to  tax  the  clergy,2  which  was  first  called  in 
question  during  this  period,  as  well  as  the  feudal  dues  styled  Regale 
and  Jus  Exuviarum  or  Spoliorum.  The  former  was  the  "  royal 
title  "  to  the  income  of  vacant  sees  ;  the  latter  was  the  inheritance 
of  the  personal  property  of  deceased  bishops,  which  the  King's 
claim  had  at  least  the  advantage  of  saving  from  lawless  plun- 
derers. This  claim  was  constantly  contested  by  the  Popes,  who 
enforced  it  in  their  turn  when  they  had  the  powTer.  In  1198  both 
rivals  for  the  Empire,  Otho  and  Philip,  renounced  it  to  obtain  the 
Pope's  support,  and  so  did  the  electors ;  and  the  renunciation  was 

1  Gieseler  iii.  214,  215.  For  the  details  and  authorities,  see  the  Notes  ad 
loc,  and  Robertson  iii.  225  f. 

2  This  right  was  limited  in  Germany  to  one  year,  but  in  France  and 
England  it  appears  to  have  been  enjoyed  at  the  King's  pleasure.  We  have 
seen  (Chap.  III.  §  15)  how  shamefully  it  was  abused  by  William  Rufus, 
who  seems  first  to  have  established  it  in  England.  Its  origin  in  France  is 
traced  back  to  the  7th  and  8th  centuries,  when  the  Frank  kings  interfered 
to  rescue  the  property  of  vacant  bishoprics  from  seizure  by  dukes  or 
counts,  and  to  hold  it  as  the  chief  advocates  ecclesix  ;  so  that  the  seeming 
exaction  was,  in  fact,  a  remedy  for  worse  evils.  The  English  clergy  were 
severely  taxed  by  Edward  I.  for  his  wars  ;  and  when  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury  (Robert  Winchelsea)  attempted  resistance  on  the  ground 
of  the  Bull  of  Boniface  VIII.  (<'/rricis  Idicos.  see  p.  95),  Edward  put  the 
whole  of  the  clergy  under  a  virtual  outlawry  till  they  yielded.  (For 
details,  see  Student's  Eng.  Ch.  Ilitt  p.  386  f.) 


266  FORMS  OF  PAPAL  EXACTION.      Chap.  XVL. 

repeated  by  Frederick  II.  (1213),  and  by  the  envoys  of  Rudolf  at 
the  Second  Council  of  Lyon  (1274).  The  Jus  Primarum  Precum 
was  a  compensation  to  sovereigns  (first  granted  in  1242),  entitling 
them  to  claim  one  piece  of  patronage  from  each  new  bishop  or 
abbot,  in  lieu  of  their  former  share  in  the  appointment  of  bishops. 

While  resisting  these  imposts  of  the  secular  powers,  the  Popes 
themselves  claimed  the  right  to  tax  the  clergy  for  special  objects, 
such  as  a  war  against  the  infidels,  or  a  conflict  with  an  Emperor 
or  Antipope.  A  rematkable  example  is  furnished  by  the  "  Saladin's 
tithe,"  which  was  exacted  long  after  the  Crusade  was  abandoned. 
It  was  significant  of  the  free  spirit  which  survived  to  bear  future 
fruit,  that  this  tithe  "  was  at  first  resisted  by  the  clergy  and  monks, 
on  the  ground  that  their  prayers  were  their  proper  and  sufficient 
contribution  towards  the  holy  cause;  those  who  fight  for  the 
Church,"  said  Peter  of  Blois,  "  ought  rather  to  enrich  her  with 
the  spoils  of  her  enemies  than  to  rob  her."1  A  new  and  vast  deve- 
lopment of  these  abuses  was  caused  by  the  wants  of  the  Popes  in 
their  banishment  at  Avignon,  and  of  their  rival  courts  during  the 
great  papal  schism.  Besides  exercising  more  severely  the  Jus 
Exuviarum,  which  their  predecessors  had  resisted  in  the  hands  of 
sovereigns,  they  devised  new  engines  of  exaction.  In  addition 
to  the  reservations  or  jwovisions,  spoken  of  above,  the  Annates,  or 
first  year's  revenue  of  benefices,  brought  in  an  immense  treasure  to 
John  XXIL,  who  first  invented  them.2  During  the  great  schism, 
the  Pope  at  Avignon,  Clement  VII,,  began  the  grants  of  Expec- 
tancies (gratiie  exspectativse),  by  which  the  reversion  of  benefices 
was  conferred  during  the  life  of  their  incumbents  (comp.  p.  140) ; 
and  the  abuse  was  carried  to  such  lengths,  that  the  same  reversions 
were  granted  over  and  over  again  to  each  who  would  bid  higher 
than  another.  These  exactions  were  repeatedly  condemned  by  the 
great  reforming  Councils,  the  University  of  Paris,  and  the  civil 
powers  both  of  France  and  Germany ;  till  by  the  Concordat  of 
1516  Leo  X.  gave  up  reservations  and  expectancies,  but  the  Annates 
were  secured  to  the  Roman  see.  Meanwhile  the  practical  pressure 
of  these  claims  had  been  the  most  fruitful  source  of  discontent 
against  the  Papacy. 

§  9.  The  increased  wealth  of  the  Church,  and  the  eagerness  with 
which  her  temporal  rights  and  possessions  were  fought  over,  tended 
to  make  the  sacred  calling  more  and  more  a  worldly  profession,  in 
which  holy  orders  were  a  short  road  to  opulence.    Not  only  ignorant 

1  Epist.  112  (Patrolog.  ccvii.  337-3);  Robertson,  iii.  230. 

2  A  false  claim  to  the  higher  antiquity  of  Annates  was  set  up  by 
Eugenius  IV.  in  reply  to  the  decree  of  the  Council  of  Basle  for  their 
abolition. 


Chap.  XVI.  CLERICAL  INCOME.    TITHES.  267 

and  worthless  men,  but  even  boys,  were  appointed  to  benefices  by 
family  interest  and  corrupt  traffic  with  patrons.  For,  from  a  time 
as  early  as  the  ninth  century,  the  appointment  of  parish  priests, 
throughout  the  Western  Church,  as  a  general  rule,  had  fallen  into 
the  hands  of  lay  patrons,  suppressing  the  ancient  voice  of  the  people 
in  the  choice  of  their  pastors.  In  the  case  of  churches  built  by 
private  persons,  the  patronage  was  vested  in  the  founder,  and  was 
sometimes  continued  to  his  representatives.  Hence  arose  the 
practice  of  church-building  as  a  speculation,  the  founder  being 
reimbursed  by  the  oblations,  out  of  which  he  paid  the  incumbent 
a  stipend.  Such  arrangements,  though  condemned  by  canons,  were 
legalized  by  the  Carolingian  kings;  and  canons  were  enacted,  to 
secure  the  bishop's  right  of  assent  to  an  appointment,  while  forbid- 
ding him  to  reject  a  presentee  except  on  good  grounds.1 

In  the  early  medieval  age  the  Income  of  the  Clergy  was  still 
derived  from  the  voluntary  offerings  of  their  flocks  and  the  endow- 
ments of  the  churches.  Generally,  in  the  Western  Church,  these 
funds,  thrown  into  a  common  stock  in  each  parish,  were  divided 
into  four  portions:  (1)  for  the  poor;  (2)  for  the  clergy;  (3)  for 
maintaining  the  fabric  of  the  church  and  the  expenses  of  its  service ; 
while  (4)  the  remnant  went  to  the  bishop,  in  whose  hands  rested 
the  entire  administration  of  the  property.  The  endowments  were 
largely  increased  by  testamentary  bequests,  by  advantageous  pur- 
chases of  land  and  other  arrangements  made  with  Crusaders  in 
want  of  funds,  and  by  the  contracts  called  feuda  oblata,  in  which 
a  holder  made  over  his  property  to  the  Church,  on  condition  of 
receiving  it  back  in  fee,  whereby,  besides  the  present  consideration, 
the  Church  had  the  chance  of  the  reversion.  To  these  revenues 
were  added  the  perpetual  source  from  Tithes,  which  were  claimed 
from  early  times  on  the  ground  of  Scriptural  precedent,  but  not 
generally  paid  by  Christians  of  the  West  till  the  close  of  the  sixth 
century ;  and  from  the  eighth  they  were  enforced  as  a  legal  obliga- 
tion by  Charles  the  Great  and  other  sovereigns.  Like  the  earber 
voluntary  offerings,  they  were  allotted  to  the  poor,  as  well  as  to 
the  clergy  and  the  maintenance  of  worship,  the  allotments  being 
prescribed  by  the  diocesan.  From  the  produce  of  the  land,  tithes 
were  extended  to  the  earnings  of  trade  and  professions  and  military 
service,  and  it  was  even  held  that  they  ought  to  be  paid  on  the  receipts 
of  beggars  and  prostitutes ;  but  the  full  enforcement  of  such  rules 
was  of  course  impracticable.  Among  the  reforms  contemplated  by 
Gregory  VII.  was  the  entire  recovery  of  those  portions  of  the 
tithes  which  bad  fallen   into  the  hands  of  laymen,  but  he  was 

1  See  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  pp.  201,  202. 


268  SIMONY :  PLURALITIES :  WORLDLINESS.        Chap.  XVI. 

obliged  to  give  up  the  attempt  through  his  need  of  the  support  of 
the  nobles  against  the  Emperor,  and  later  elforts  to  recover  the 
tithes  from  lay  impropriators  proved  unsuccessful.1  The  constant 
practice  of  simony  was  condemned  by  Papal  decrees,  but  was  fre- 
quent (as  we  have  seen)  in  the  election  of  the  Popes  themselves; 
and  the  special  war  made  upon  it  by  Gregory  VII.  proved  in  vain. 
There  was  a  close  connection  between  the  great  Pope's  war  against 
simony  and  his  enforcement  of  clerical  celibacy;  but  the  former 
abuse  embraced  other  relationships  than  the  fruit  of  marriage. 

The  vast  multiplication  of  pluralities2  was  a  natural  consequence 
of  a  state  of  things  in  which  preferment  was  regarded  chiefly  as  a 
source  of  ample  income  for  churchmen  who  devoted  themselves  to 
secular  affairs,  maintaining  the  state  of  nobles  and  princes,  playing 
an  ambitious  part  in  the  service3  or  humiliation  of  sovereigns,  and 
were  even  forward  to  distinguish  themselves  in  battle.  This  martial 
spirit  was  partly  due  to  the  prevalent  reign  of  physical  force,  and 
partly  an  inheritance  from  the  Crusades,  where,  for  example, 
"  Hubert  Walter,  bishop  of  Salisbury  and  afterwards  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  attracted  the  admiration  of  the  lion-hearted  Richard 
himself,  and  after  his  return  found  exercise  for  his  military  talents 
in  the  feuds  of  his  own  country.  And  the  story  is  well-known  how 
Richard,  having  taken  prisoner  Philip,  count-bishop  of  Beauvais, 
met  the  Pope's  interference  on  behalf  of  the  warlike  prelate  by 
sending  to  him  Philip's  coat  of  mail,  with  the  scriptural  quotation, 
'  Know  now  whether  it  be  thy  son's  coat  or  not.' " 4  But  yet,  besides 
the  bright  individual  exceptions  to  this  abandoned  worldliness,  the 
reformatory  injunctions  of  synods,  from  which  we  learn  much  of 
the  evil,  attest  the  continued  acknowledgment  of  a  higher  standard 
of  piety  and  duty. 

§  10.  With  such  examples  among  the  higher  clergy,  we  do  not 
wonder  to  find  St.  Bernard  complaining  that  "  the  insolence  of  the 
clergy,  of  which  the  negligence  of  the  bishops  is  mother,  everywhere 
disturbs  and  molests  the  Church." 5     Prelates  of  such  a  character, 

1  See  further  in  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  22fi. 

2  The  third  Lateran  Council  (1179)  denounced  the  practice  of  accumu- 
lating six  or  move  churches  on  one  incumbent  ;  but  for  the  vastly  greater 
growth  of  the  practice,  see  Robertson,  iii.  232. 

3  The  frequent  employment  of  ecclesiastics  in  the  higher  offices  of  state 
was  a  natural  consequence  of  their  being  the  only  well-educated  class  ; 
and  it  was  for  the  most  part  an  advantage  to  the  sovereign  and  people, 
whatever  its  effect  upon  the  character  of  the  Church.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  resolute  struggle  (as  in  the  contest  of  Becket  with  Henry  II.) 
for  the  exemption  of  the  clergy  from  the  jurisdiction  <d"  the  civil  courts 
tended  to  encourage  them  in  lawlessness  and  immorality. 

1  Matt.  Paris  ;  Robertson,  iii.  233.  '  5  Epist.  152. 


Chap.  XVI.       THE  PAROCHIAL  CLERGY.  269 

and  absorbed  in  the  worldly  pursuits  and  conflicts  of  those  troublous 
times,  were  not  likely  to  be  choice  in  conferring  orders,  nor  careful 
in  the  exercise  of  discipline,  even  if  they  had  had  better  material  to 
work  with.  But  the  state  of  corruption,  intellectual  darkness,  and 
moral  depravity,  pervaded  all  classes  ;  nor  had  the  great  intellectual 
movement  which  we  have  presently  to  trace,  among  the  few  higher 
minds  of  the  age,  any  considerable  effect  on  the  character  of  the 
clergy  in  general.  Indeed,  the  earliest  efforts  of  reviving  letters,  out- 
side the  range  of  ecclesiastical  and  scholastic  literature,  are  largely 
occupied  with  a  satirical  exposure  of  the  ignorance,  indolence,  and 
vices  of  the  clergy ;  !  and  the  truth  which  underlies  these  cari- 
catures is  confirmed  by  the  testimony  of  eminent  churchmen,  such 
as  Herbert  of  Boseham,  the  friend  and  biographer  of  Becket,  John 
of  Salisbury,  Ivo  of  Chartres,  Gerhoh,  St.  Bernard,  and  many  others, 
as  well  as  by  the  frequent  acts  of  councils,  which  vie  with  one 
another  in  denouncing  the  evils  which  they  vainly  strove  to 
correct.  The  reformation  attempted  by  Gregory  VII.  missed  the 
mark ;  and  its  special  direction  in  enforcing  the  celibacy  of  the 
clergy  only  provoked  the  growth  of  concubinage  and  gross  vice.2 
The  cathedral  canons  became  especially  notorious  lor  their  immo- 
rality. Among  the  most  disorderly  of  the  clergy  were  those  called 
"  Acephali,"  whom  the  bishops  ordained  without  a  title,  and  the 
stipendiary  chaplains  in  the  families  of  great  men,  who  were  ap- 
pointed without  the  sanction  of  bishops,  and  withdrawn  from  their 
supervision.  But,  in  truth,  even  over  the  parish  clergy  the  super- 
intendence and  discipline  of  such  bishops  as  we  have  described  was 
of  little  worth,  and  any  honest  desire  to  exercise  it  was  checked  by 

1  It  belongs  to  the  history  of  literature  to  give  a  full  account  of  the 
works  referred  to,  such  as  the  famous  Reinecke  Fuchs  ('  Reynard  the  Fox  '), 
and  the  satiric  writings  of  Walter  von  der  Vogelweide  in  Germany,  the 
Confessio  Goligs  and  Be  Nugis  Carialium,  ascribed  to  Walter  Map,  or 
Mapes,  Archdeacon  of  Oxford,  about  the  end  of  the  12th  century,  and 
many  others  in  England  and  France  (see  Mr.  Wright's  Latin  Poems  com- 
monly attributed  to  Walter  Mapes,  and  Collection  of  Political  Songs,  &c). 

2  It  was  only  by  degrees  that  clerical  celibacy  was  enforced.  In 
England  the  rule  was  mitigated  by  a  decree  of  the  Council  of  Winchester 
(U)76).  Clerical  marriage,  though  everywhere  discredited,  did  not  entirely 
cease  till  the  middle  of  the  loth  century ;  and  it  was  only  after  a  pro- 
tracted contest  that  celibacy  was  enforced  on  the  subdeacons  and  inferior 
orders  (see  Hardwick,  p.  241).  Efforts  were  made  at  Constance  and  Basle 
to  abate  the  scandal,  not  only  by  severe  decrees  against  concubinage,  but 
the  marriage  of  the  clergy  had  powerful  advocates  in  7abarella  and  others, 
while  Gerson  stood  firm  against  it.  Pius  II.  himself  said,  according  to 
Platina  (Vit.  Pii  IT.  p.  311),  that,  if  there  were  good  reasons  for  pro- 
hibiting the  marriage  of  priests,  there  were  stronger  reasons  for  allowing 
it.  (See  Gieseler,  vol.  v.  pp.  15-18,  for  numerous  other  opinions  of  writers 
in  the  15th  century  in  favour  of  clerical  marriage.) 


270 


PAPAL  TESTIMONY  TO  CORRUPTION. 


Chap.  XVI. 


the  interference  of  the  Pope's  emissaries,  mandates,  and  dispensa- 
tions. The  contempt  of  the  masses  of  the  people  for  the  parochial 
clergy  is  attested  by  the  general  rejection  of  their  ministrations  for 
those  of  the  monks,  and  afterwards  of  the  mendicant  friars.  There 
were  bright  exceptions  to  this  prevalent  gloom  and  deadness ;  and 
the  true  life  of  the  Church  was  maintained,  not  only  by  the  great 
reforming  lights  of  the  age,  but  by  many  an  obscure  and  humble 
parish  priest,  whose  ministrations,  teaching,  and  example  guided 
and  comforted  his  flock,  and  preserved  among  them  the  "  incorrup- 
tible seed  of  the  word,"  to  bear  fruit  in  a  better  age.  Meanwhile, 
apart  from  the  indignant  utterances  of  reformers  and  satirists,  we 
have  the  emphatic  testimony  of  a  Committee  of  Cardinals,  appointed 
by  Paul  III.  to  consider  what  could  be  done  De  Ernendo.nda  Ec- 
clesia  (in  1538),  to  the  incompetence  and  crying  vices  of  the  clergy 
as  the  chief  cause  by  which  not  only  had  their  order  fallen  into 
contempt,  but  reverence  for  divine  worship  was  not  so  much 
lessened  as  all  but  extinct.1 

1  Le  Plat,  Mm.  Cone.  Trident,  ii.  598. 


Shrine  of  St.  Siebold,  at  Nuremberg. 


Cologne  Cathedral. 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
MINISTRATIONS  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

CENTURIES   XI.    TO   XVI. 


1.  Ministrations  of  the  Church :  formality  and  sacramentalism  — 
Latin  Service  —  Vernacular  Preaching  and  Teaching  —  The  Holy 
Scriptures — Scarcity  of  Copies — Vernacular  Versions  and  other  reli- 
gious books — Lives  of  the  Saints — Theological  Literature — Books  of 
"  Sentences  " — Prohibition  of  the  Scriptures  by  the  Council  of  Toulouse 
— Observance  of  the  Lord's  Day.  §  2.  Miracle  Plays,  Mysteries,  and 
Moralities — Mock  Festivals :  turned  against  the  Church  of  Rome. 
§  3.  Mechanical  Views  of  Rites  and  Ordinances — The  Sacraments  : 
change  in  the  meaning  of  the  word — The  Opus  Operation — The  Seven 
Sacraments.  §  4.  Doctrine  of  Repentance  and  Forgiveness  of  Sins 
— More  Spiritual  Views  of  Gregory  VII.,  Hildebert  of  Tours,  and 
Peter  Lombard  —  The  three  parts  of  penitence:  contrition,  con- 
fession,   satisfaction.       §    5.    Different   opinions   on  Confession  —  Pre- 


272  FORMALITY  AND  SACRAMENTALISM.        Chap.  XVII. 

scribed  by  the  Fourth  Lateran  Council  (1215) — Confession  held  neces- 
sary to  Salvation.  §  6.  Doctrine  of  sacerdotal  Absolution  new  to 
the  Church — The  old  formula  deprecatoria — Views  of  Peter  Lombard, 
Albertus  Magnus,  &c. — The  Absolution  of  Faith  and  Charity — Lay 
Confession  and  Absolution — The  Victorine  School — Thomas  Aquinas 
on  Absolution — Popular  view — The  new  formula — Authority  of  the 
Priest.  §  7.  Penitential  Discipline — Commutations  of  Penance — 
Asceticism  —  Flagellation.  §  8.  Indulgences  :  special  and  Plenary 
— Objectors  :  Abbot  Stephen  ;  Abelard — Doubts  and  Limitations — 
The  Treasury  of  Supererogation — Power  of  the  Keys — Special  Forms 
of  Indulgence  —  Sale  of  Indulgences:  Questuaries  and  Pardoners. 
§  9.  Traffic  in  Relics —  Impostures —  Multiplication  of  Saints  :  new 
and  fictitious  ones.  §  10.  Pilgrimage  :  protests  against  it  —Multipli- 
cation of  Miracles :  opposed  by  Abelard  and  others. 

§  1.  Throughout  the  Middle  Ages,  the  ministrations  of  the 
clergy,  and  the  teaching  and  worship  of  the  Church,  were  hampered 
by  a  system  in  which  forms  were  substituted  for  spiritual  thought 
and  feeling,  and  the  assumed  efficacy  of  sacramental  rights  and 
priestly  functions  interposed  between  the  conscience  and  God.  In 
Western  Christendom,  the  great  movements  which  had  created  the 
new  nations  of  Europe  had  strangely  severed  the  one  link  of  intelli- 
gence between  the  Church  and  people,  language,  the  chief  organ  of 
all  thought  and  feeling,  through  the  adherence  to  forms  of  worship 
and  ministration  of  the  sacraments  in  Latin.  Councils,  Popes,  and 
bishops,  indeed,  recommended  preaching  in  the  vernacular  tongues, 
and  specified  the  great  Christian  doctrines  that  were  to  be  taught ; 
but  their  directions  were  generally  neutralized  by  the  ignorance  and 
indifference  of  the  priesthood.  But  there  were  bright  exceptions 
among  the  parish  clergy  to  the  prevalent  neglect  of  vernacular 
preaching  ;  and  a  vast  and  wide  influence  was  exerted  by  the 
sermons  of  St.  Bernard.  We  shall  see  presently  how  great  a  change 
was  effected  by  the  voluntary  itinerant  preaching  of  the  mendicant 
friars.  The  parish  priest  was  bound  to  teach  children  the  elements 
of  the  faith  contained  in  the  Lord's  Prayer,  the  Ten  Commandments, 
and  the  Apostles'  Creed,1  in  the  vulgar  tongue  ;  and  the  range  of  in- 
struction was  much  widened  where  town  and  village  schools  were 
established,  especially  by  the  Benedictines.2 

But  the  fountain-head  of  light  and  life  in  the  Holy  Scriptures  was 
little  resorted  to  by  the  clergy,  and  was  almost  entirely  closed  to  the 
common  people,  though  not  at  first  so  much  from  the  set  purpose  of 

1  To  these  were  added  expositions  of  the  other  creeds,  and,  as  Mario- 
latry  advanced,  the  Are  Maria. 

2  On  the  other  hand,  the  monks  showed  great  jealousy  of  the  secular 
and  lay  schools,  and  often  succeeded  in  getting  them  closed. 


Chap.  XVII.        THE  SCRIPTURES.     LIVES  OF  SAINTS.  273 

blinding  them  to  the  corruptions  of  the  Church,  as  from  other  more 
natural  causes.  The  Bible  was  held  in  the  highest  reverence ;  copies 
were  multiplied  by  transcription  in  the  monasteries ;  and  there  were 
vernacular  translations  (for  the  most  part  only  of  portions,  as  the 
Gospels,  Psalms,  and  Pentateuch),  dating  from  the  ninth  and  tenth 
centuries.1  The  clergy  were  enjoined  to  study  the  Scriptures, 
and  to  make  them  the  basis  of  their  teaching  of  the  people.2  But 
copies  were  few  and  costly  ;  a  complete  Bible — which  has  become 
to  us  a  marvel  of  cheapness  in  the  smallest  compass — formed  then 
a  collection  of  several  MS.  volumes,  seldom  found  complete  except 
in  the  conventual  libraries ;  and  many  of  the  clergy  were  content 
to  possess  only  a  few  books  of  Scripture,  generally  the  Gospels  and 
the  Psalms.  Besides  the  lack  of  means,  the  sacred  text  was  more 
and  more  thrust  into  the  background  by  works  on  the  theological 
controversies  of  each  age,  and  especially  by  the  growing  taste  lor  the 
Lives  of  the  Saints,3  which,  though  to  a  great  extent  pure  inventions, 
and  often  evidently  intended  to  be  accepted  only  as  edifying  religious 
fictions,  were  received  as  historically  true.  For  the  laity,  besides 
the  vernacular  editions  of  these  legends,4  the  chief  provision  con- 

1  To  this  period  belong,  besides  King  Alfred's  efforts  for  the  translation 
of  the  Scriptures,  the  Anglo-Saxon  Gospels,  printed  in  Dr.  Bosworth's 
excellent  edition,  in  parallel  columns,  with  the  Gothic  version  of 
Ulphilas  and  the  English  translations  of  Wyclif  and  Tyndale  (1865)  ;  the 
extant  fragments  of  ^Elfric's  Heptateuch" s,  a  translation  of  portions  of  the 
Pentateuch,  Joshua,  Judges,  &c. ;  the  metrical  version  of  the  SS.  made 
under  the  direction  of  Louis  the  Pious  (probably  the  Heliand,  about 
A.D.  830)  ;  Gospel  Harmonies,  both  in  Anglo-Saxon  and  German ;  a  Low- 
German  version  of  the  Psalms,  besides  fragments  of  other  translations  and 
glosses  in  High  German  (see  Von  Raumer,  Kinuirkung  des  Christenthums 
auf  die  althochdeutsche  Sprache,  1845  ;  Hardwick,  pp.  89,  194,  195). 
Slavonic  versions  of  the  Bible  and  Service-Book  were  current  in  Moravia, 
Russia,  and  Servia. 

2  The  following  was  a  question  put  to  bishops  at  their  consecration : 
"  Vis  ea  quae  ex  Divinis  Scripturis  intehigis  plebem  docere  et  praeceptis 
et  exemplis  ?  " — Soames,  Baiupton  Lectures,  p.  95  ;   Hardwick,  p.  194. 

3  The  great  collection  of  this  literature  is  the  Acta  Sanctorum  of  the 
Jesuit  "  Bollandists,"  as  the  compilers  are  called,  from  John  Bolland, 
a  Belgian,  who  began  to  publish  the  work  at  Antwerp,  in  1643,  and 
wrote  the  1st  and  2nd  volumes.  It  was  interrupted  in  1794  by  the 
French  Revolution,  when  54  vols,  had  appeared.  The  Society  of  Bol- 
landists was  re-organized  at  Brussels  in  1837,  and  6  more  vols,  were 
published  (1845-1867),  bringing  it  down  to  October  12th;  the  work 
being  arranged  in  order  of  the  Calendar  of  Saints'  Days.  It  has  been 
lately  resumed  on  a  graud  scale  at  Rome  (1882). 

4  iElfric  translated  two  large  volumes  of  Li'es  of  the  Saints  for  the 
English  people,  and  compiled  a  third  for  his  own  monks.  See  Hardwick, 
p.  195,  and  his  edition  of  an  Anglo-Saxon  Passion  of  St.  George  for  the 
Percy  Society,  No.  lxxxviii. 


274  '-MYSTERIES"  AND  MIRACLE  PLAYS.        Chap.  XVII. 

sisted  of  the  translations  of  fragments  of  Scripture  as  interlinear 
gloss-  s  in  the  Service-Book,  paraphrases,  harmonies  of  the  Gospels, 
and  hymns. 

The  later  intellectual  movements  of  the  age,  instead  of  promoting 
the  study  of  the  Scriptures  as  the  supreme  and  ultimate  authority, 
led  to  their  being  neglected  for  the  pagan  writers  of  philosophy 
and  poetry,  for  the  great  treasury  of  the  civil  law,  and  the  books  of 
Sentences,  in  which  the  schoolmen  aimed  to  formulate  all  know- 
ledge, human  and  divine.  The  direct  hostility  of  ^ome  to  the 
reading  of  the  Scriptures  by  the  people  was  at  length  avowed 
when  they  were  appealed  to  by  the  sectaries,  especially  the  Albi- 
genses  and  the  Waldenses;  and  in  1229  the  Council  of  Toulouse 
formally  condemned  vernacular  translations  of  the  Bible,1  and 
forbad  the  laity  to  have  in  their  possession  any  books  of  the  Old 
and  the  New  Testament,  except  perhaps  the  Psalter,  and  those  parts 
of  the  Bible  contained  in  the  Breviary  and  the  Hours  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin.  The  same  council  prescribed  the  attendance  of  all  persons 
a>;  church,  under  penalty  of  a  fine,  on  Sundays,  Saturday  evenings, 
and  the  greater  festivals ;  and  during  this  period  the  strict  observance 
of  the  Lord's  Day  was  enjoined  by  councils  and  by  preachers,  and 
enforced  by  pretended  revelations  and  the  threat  of  special  judg- 
ments on  those  who  profaned  the  Sabbath.2 

§  2.  A  remarkable  plan  devised  by  clerical  ingenuity  for  the 
religious  instruction  of  the  uneducated  people  was  that  of  the  Mys- 
teries or  Miracles,  in  which  a  rude  presentation  was  given  on  the 
stage  of  subjects  taken  from  the  whole  range  c?f  Scripture  history, 
the  interest  and  attention  of  the  uncultivated  audience  being  main- 
tained by  the  admixture  of  a  sufficiently  broad  grotesque  and  comic 
element.3  The  popular  taste  for  such  comedy  was  also  exhibited  in 
a  form  to  which  the  clergy  at  first  found  it  prudent  to  condescend 
as  a  harmless  amusement  for  the  vulgar,  in  the  mock  festivals,  such 
as  the  Feast  of  Fools,  with  its  Bishop  of  Fools,    at  Circumcision 

1  Canon  14.  This  prohibition  was  especially  directed  against  the 
Romaunt  translations  in  use  amongst  the  Waldenses  ;  and  it  is  remark- 
able that  a  new  edition  of  the  French  Bible  was  put  forth  by  authority 
under  King  Charles  V.  (1364—1380),  expressly  to  supplant  those  versions 
(Hardwick,  p.  290).  In  the  Greek  Church  the  Scriptures  were  forbidden 
to  the  laity  as  early  as  the  9th  century. 

2  See  the  particulars  in  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  pp.  262-263.  The  Calendar 
of  Church  Festivals  was  enlarged  during  this  period  by  the  addition  of 
Trinity  Sunday,  in  the  12th  century,  and  the  Feast  of  Corpus  Christ  i  (1264, 
confirmed  in  1311)  to  commemorate  the  full  establishment  of  the  doctrine 
of  Transubstantiation,  besides  many  new  Saints'  Days. 

3  An  account  of  these  plays,  and  of  the  Moralities  and  Interludes  which 
formed  a  link  between  them  and  the  regular  drama,  is '  given  in  the 
Student's  History  of  English  Literature  (chap.  vi.  §  1-3). 


Chap.  XVII.  THE  SEVEN  SACRAMENTS.  275 

or  Epiphany,  the  "  Feast  of  Asses"  (referring  to  the  infant  Saviour's 
flight  to  Egypt),  and  the  election  of  the  "  boy-bishop,"  or  "  boy- 
abbot  "  on  Innocents'  Day,  or  at  the  Feast  of  St.  Nicholas,  the 
patron  of  children.  This  burlesque  of  sacred  things,  with  the  pro- 
fanation of  churches  by  the  attendant  revelries,  became  the  object  of 
condemnation  by  numerous  councils  ;  but  they  failed  to  put  down 
a  taste  which  at  last  grew  into  a  formidable  instrument  of  satire  on 
the  Church  of  Rome  at  the  time  of  the  Reformation. 

§  3.  In  the  ministrations  of  the  Church  to  the  spiritual  life 
and  conscience  of  the  faithful,  especially  for  the  forgiveness  of 
sins  and  peace  with  God,  there  was  a  constant  growth  of  what 
may  be  called  the  mechanical  (in  some  cases  we  might  even 
say  magical)  efficacy  of  external  acts  and  priestly  functions.  The 
sacramental  system  was  fully  developed  by  investing  the  chief 
acts  of  a  Christian's  life  with  the  mysterious  sanctity  which  now 
became  attached  to  the  word.  In  its  primitive  meaning,  "  sacra- 
ment" was  a  general  term  for  any  symbolic  aet,1  the  sign  of 
some  sacred  reality,  leaving  a  wide  scope  for  different  views  as  to 
the  lesson  which  it  taught,  or  the  spiritual  operation  with  which  it 
was  connected.  Gradually  the  idea  of  intrinsic  efficacy  in  the  rite 
itself  prevailed  more  and  more,  till  it  reached  the  hard  and  fast 
form  denoted  by  the  significant  phrase,  opus  operatum,  as  clearly 
embodied  in  the  words  of  Duns  Scotus :  "  A  sacrament  confers 
grace  through  the  virtue  of  the  work  which  is  wrought,  so  that 
there  is  not  required  any  good  inward  motion  such  as  to  deserve 
grace;  but  it  is  enough  that  the  receiver  place  no  bar"  in  the  way 
of  its  operation.2  In  its  original  sense,  the  name  was  applied 
especially  to  Baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper,  as  the  sacraments 
instituted  by  Christ  himself,  a  pre-eminence  which  was  still  ad- 
mitted-when  the  schoolmen  of  the  12th  and,  13th  centuries,  influ- 
enced by  a  mystic  view  of  the  number,  established  the  doctrine  of 
Seven  Sacraments,  namely,  Baptism,  Confirmation,  the  Eucharist, 
Penitence,  Extreme  Unctio:i,  Holy  Ord'rs,  and  Matrimony. z 

1  St.  Augustine's  definition  was  sacrse  ret  signum  or  invisibilis  gratise 
visihilis  forma.  Among  the  acts  to  \yhich  he  applies  the  word,  are 
exorcism  and  the  giving  salt  to  the  catechumens  ;  and  the  like  com- 
prehensive sense  survived  to  the  period  now  under  review.  Thus  a  writer 
early  in  the  12th  century  says  that  the  episcopal  ring  and  staff,  salt  and 
water,  oil  and  unction,  and  other  things  essential  to  the  consecration  of 
men  and  churches,  are  sacraments  of  the  Church  ;  and  St.  Bernard  applies 
the  term  to  the  washing  of  feet,  which  our  Lord  used  as  symbolical  of  an 
act  essential  to  salvation  (John  xiii.  9). — Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  327. 

2  Duns  Scotus,  Sentent.  lib.  iv.  dist.  i.  qu.  vi.  §  10;  Robertson, 
iii.  608. 

3  The  first  distinct  trace  of  this  number  is  fbund  in  a  discourse  of  Otho, 
the  apostle  of  the  Pomeranians  (a.d.  1124  ;  Hardwick,  pp.  208,  301).     It 


276  PENITENTIAL  DISCIPLINE.  Chap.  XVII. 

§  4.  The  foundation  of  Christian  life,  in  the  evangelic  doctrine 
of  the  forgiveness  of  sin,  was  now  more  and  more  undermined  by 
the  corruption  of  the  penitential  discipline  of  the  Church.  On  the 
vital  questions  of  repentance  and  penance,  confession  and  absolu- 
tion, we  trace  a  remarkable  conflict  between  mechanical  and  more 
spiritual  views  in  the  teaching  of  the  great  masters  of  the  Church ; 
but  its  practical  application  to  the  life  of  the  people  was  all  in  the 
downward  direction.  The  better  side  of  Gregory  VI I. 's  character 
is  shown  in  the  earnestness  with  which  he  combatted  the  prevalent 
tendency  to  substitute  outward  acts  of  penance  for  genuine  re- 
pentance towards  God  and  amendment  of  the  life.  In  a  remarkable 
letter  to  the  bishops  and  faithful  of  Brittany,  he  argues  that  true 
repentance  is  nothing  less  than  a  return  to  such  a  state  of  mind 
as  to  feel  oneself  obliged  hereafter  to  the  faithful  performance  of 
baptismal  obligations ;  while  other  forms  of  penance,  if  this  state 
of  heart  be  wanting,  are  sheer  hypocrisy.1  Hildebert,  bishop  of 
Tours  in  the  early  part  of  the  12th  centuiy,  was  the  author2 
of  the  famous  definition  of  penitence,  which  was  adopted  by  the 
great  "master  of  sentences,"  Peter  Lombard,3  and  other  scholastic 
divines,  as  consisting  of  three  parts,  the  contrition  of  the  heart,  the 
confession  of  the  mouth,  and  the  satisfaction  of  the  work. 

§  5.  As  the  outward  evidence  of  the  first,  the  Church  required 
the  second  and  third,  confession  and  penance ;  but  the  proper  forms 
of  both  were  subject  to  long  discussion  and  development  in  practice. 
The  primitive  doctrine  was,  that  open  sin  cut  off  members  from 
the  Church,  and  public  confession  was  the  condition  of  restoration 
to  communion.  But  now  the  wider  question  had  arisen  respecting 
secret  as  well  as  open  sins.  The  necessity  of  confession  to  a  priest 
in  order  to  the  forgiveness  of  sins ;  its  sufficiency  if  made  to  a  lay- 
man in  the  absence  of  a  priest;  the  obligation  of  confessing  venial 
as  well  as  mortal  sins ;    these  and  other  questions  are  discussed 

was  established  by  the  authority  of  Peter  Lombard  (Sentent.  lib.  iv. 
dist.  1  f.),  followed  by  Bonaventura  and  Thomas  Aquinas  (Summa  Thco- 
logiae,  lib.  iv.  qu.  60).  The  reader  is  reminded,  once  for  all,  that  a  full 
account  of  the  great  scholastic  divines,  whose  opinions  are  quoted  through- 
cut  this  and  the  ensuing  Chapters,  is  given  below  (Book  V.).  Meanwhile 
it  should  be  remembered  that  Thomas  Aquinas  is  recognized  by  the 
general  voice  of  Romanists,  and  most  emphatically  of  late  by  Pope 
Leo  XIII.,  as  the  chief  doctrinal  authority  of  their  Church. 

1  Epist.  lib.  vii.  10 ;  so  also  Ivo  of  Chartres,  Epist.  47,  22S  ;  Hard- 
wick,  p.  307.  2  Sermo  23. 

3  Sentent.  lib.  iv.  16,  c.  1.  We  find  a  significant  variation  in  Peter  of 
Blois  (ab.  a.d.  1180),  who  gives  as  the  third  part  carnis  qffiictionem,  and 
describes  the  three  as  pnrgatoria  mercifully  assigned  to  us  by  Christ,  while 
Himself  making  purgation  of  sins  {Be  Confessione  Sacramentali,  p.  1086, 
ed.  Migne  ;  Hardwick,  p.  307). 


Chap.  XVII.  CONFESSION  AND  PENANCE.  277 

by  the  great  scholastic  theologians.1  Duns  Scotus  held  the  ex- 
treme view,  that  confession  falls  under  a  positive  Divine  command  ; 
but  Thomas  Aquinas  agreed  with  Bonaventura,  that  it  did  nut  become 
heretical  to  deny  its  necessity,  until  the  decision  of  the  Fourth 
Lateran  Council  (1215),  which  prescribed  to  every  Catholic  Christian 
the  duty  of  confessing  to  his  own  parish  priest  once  a  year  at  least.2 
The  enormous  power  thus  conferred  on  the  priest,  with  all  its 
liability  to  abuse,  failed  of  the  one  good  object  intended — namely, 
to  strengthen  the  discipline  of  the  pastor  over  his  flock — through  the 
preference  of  the  people  for  confessing  to  the  mendicant  friars  rather 
than  to  their  own  priests.  But  the  decision  established  the  great 
principle  of  sacerdotalism,  which  invests  the  priest  with  the  full 
authority  of  God  over  the  penitent  sinner;  and  "from  that  time 
forth  the  confessional  began  to  be  considered  as  the  only  means  of 
obtaining  forgiveness  for  deadly  sin,  which  the  priest  as  the  repre- 
sentative of  God  actually  granted,  and  which  he  alone  could 
grant.'' 3 

§  6.  The  necessity  of  confession,  thus  established  in  the  fullest 

1  For  a  summary  of  opinions  on  the  whole  subject,  see  Gieseler, 
vol.  iii.  pp.  357-364.  The  whole  subject  is  admirably  treated  in  Dean 
Reichel's  Sermon  before  the  University  of  Cambridge  (June  10th.  1883) 
on  The  History  and  Claims  of  the  Confessional,  with  a  valuable  collection 
of  original  authorities. 

2  The  extremer  views,  which  at  last  found  utterance  in  this  Canon, 
derived  their  chief  support  from  the  work  Be  vera  et  falsa  Poenitentia, 
which  was  fathered  upon  Augustine  in  the  11th  or  12th  century,  and 
embodied  almost  in  its  entirety  in  the  Decretal  of  Gratian  and  the 
Sentences  of  Peter  Lombard,  and  hence  quoted  by  the  schoolmen  generally. 
It  exhorts  to  confession  on  the  ground  of  the  full  absolving  power  com- 
mitted to  the  priests,  and  teaches  that  sins  mortal  in  themselves  are  made 
venial  by  confession. 

3  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  360.  Among  other  important  testimonies  he  quotes 
the  decisive  authority  of  Thomas  Aquinas  on  the  question,  Utritm  con- 
fessio  sit  necessaria  ad  saluteml  The  answer  is,  that  the  passion  of  Christ, 
without  the  virtue  of  which  neither  original  or  actual  sin  is  remitted, 
operates  in  us  through  the  reception  of  the  sacraments,  by  baptism  for 
the  former  and  penitence  for  the  latter.  And  as  he  who  seeks  baptism 
thereby  commits  himself  to  the  minister  of  the  Church,  to  whom  it  belongs 
to  dispense  the  sacrament,  so  by  the  very  act  of  confessing  his  sins  he 
submits  himself  to  the  minister  of  the  Church,  to  obtain  through  the 
sacrament  of  penitence  the  remission  dispensed  by  him,  who  cannot  apply 
the  fit  remedy  unless  he  knows  the  sin,  which  he  only  does  through  the 
confession  of  the  sinner.  "  And  therefore  confession  is  necessary  for  his 
salvation  who  hat  fallen  into  mortal  sin."  Gieseler  adds  that  "  confession 
was  universally  believed  to  be  indispensably  necessary  only  for  the  forgive- 
ness of  deadly  sins  ;  with  reference  to  venial  sins  the  judgment  of  St. 
Augustine,  quoted  by  Lombard,  was  received,  '  For  those  daily  and  light 
sins,  without  which  our  life  is  not  led,  the  daily  prayer  of  the  faithful 
makes  satisfaction.' " 

II— O  2 


278  DOCTRINE  OF  ABSOLUTION.  Chap.  XVII. 

sense,  involved  that  extreme  view  of  the  authority  of  sacerdotal 
absolution,  which  was  a  doctrine  as  new  to  the  Church  as  it  was 
a  mighty  engine  of  command  over  freedom  of  action  as  well  as 
conscience.  Nothing  is  more  certain,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  than  that 
down  to  the  13th  century  the  form  of  absolution  used  in  the 
service  of  the  Church  was  not  authoritative,  nor  even  declaratory, 
but  (as  it  was  called)  deprecatory — that  is,  a  prayer,  implied  in 
the  priest's  address  to  the  penitent  on  his  confession,  recognizing 
the  remission  of  his  sins  as  in  the  power  of  God  alone.1  In 
accordance  with  this  formula,  the  doctrine  is  distinctly  explained 
by  the  great  authority  of  Peter  Lombard,  but  in  terms  which  mark 
the  beginning  of  a  tendency  to  magnify  the  authority  of  the  priest  :2 
"  This  we  are  able  fully  to  fay  and  think,  that  God  alone  remits 
and  retains  sins ;  and  yet  He  has  conferred  on  the  Church  the 
power  of  binding  and  loosing.  But  He  himself  binds  and  looses  in 
one  way  (or 'sense'),  the  Church  in  another  (aliter  .  .  .  aliter). 
For  He  himself  of  himself  alone  remits  sin,  because  He  both  cleanses 
the  soul  from  its  inward  stain,  and  frees  it  from  the  debt  of  eternal 
death.  But  this  He  has  not  granted  to  the  priests,  to  whom  how- 
ever He  has  granted  the  power  of  binding  and  loosing,  that  is,  of 
shoiving  men  bound  or  loosed.  Because,  though  a  man  be  loosed 
in  the  sight  of  God,  yet  is  he  not  regarded  (habetur)  as  loosed  in 
the  face  of  the  Church,  except  through  the  judgment  of  the  priest." 
That  judgment,  then,  is  the  outward  recognition,  for  the  sake  of 
the  penitent's  position  in  the  Church,  of  the  real  state  in  which  he 
is  placed  by  the  Divine  forgiveness;  as  is  further  shown  by  the 
comparison  of  his  case  with  that  of  the  lepers,  whom  Christ  com- 
manded to  shew  themselves  to  the  priests,  according  to  the  law,3  for 
the  cure  of  the  outward  disease  of  which  all  were  cleansed,  though 
only  the  one  who  obeyed  was  made  whole  thiough  his  faith.  The 
resort  to  the  priests  was  necessary,  both  as  they  were  the  appointed 
ministers  of  the  leper's  exclusion  or  restoration,  and  to  this  end 
they  had  diligently  to  examine  (a  parallel  to  confession),  and  pass 
judgment  on  the  signs  of  his  condition.  "Therefore  (says  Lombard) 
in  loosing  or  retaining  sins4  the  evangelical  priest  acts  (operatur) 
and  judges  in  the  same  manner  as  did  the  legal  priest  of  old  in  the 
case  of  those  who   were  contaminated  with  leprosy,  which  is  the 

1  For  the  proofs  and  examples,  see  Gieseler  (iii.  358),  and  Reichel. 
*  Sentent.  lib.  iv.  dist.  18 ;  quoted  by  Gieseler,  iii.  358. 

3  Luke  xvii.  14 ;  see  Lev.  xiii.  2  and  xiv.  2. 

4  Here  culpis.  the  word  which  signified  the  guilt  of  sin,  subjecting  to 
eternal  death,  in  contrast  with  pma,  its  temporal  penalty.  This  distinc- 
tion is  of  the  utmost  importance  for  understanding  the  views  of  the 
scnolastic  theologians  on  the  whole  subject. 


Chap.  XVII.  ABSOLUTION  BY  LAYMEN.  279 

outward  mark  of  sin."  All  this  goes  to  explain  and  qualify  the 
sense  in  which  he  argues  from  God's  committal  to  the  priests  of 
the  power  of  binding  and  loosing,  that  "  to  those  to  whom  they 
give  remission,  God  also  gives  it;"1  and  he  distinctly  holds  that 
their  absolution  is  only  valid  in  so  far  as  it  accords  with  the  Divine 
judgment.  And  how  completely  his  whole  view  of  absolution  rests 
on  this  foundation  is  shown  by  his  at  once  subjoining,  "  If,  how- 
ever, a  priest  be  not  at  hand,  confession  is  to  be  made  to  the  nearest 
neighbour  or  companion."  Such  confession  is  distinctly  held  to 
be  sacramental  by  another  of  the  greatest  schoolmen,  Albertus 
Magnus,2  who  regards  the  ministration  committed  to  the  priests  as 
only  one  of  Jive  kinds  of  absolution,  the  last  being  described  in  the 
most  widely  comprehensive  terms  as  ufrom  the  unity  of  faith  and 
charity;  and  this  in  the  case  of  necessity  devolves  on  every  man  for 
the  relief  of  his  neighbour ;  and  this  power  the  layman  has  in  case 
of  necessity."  Had  Albert  been  asked  "  Who  is  the  neighbour" 
qualified  to  grant  this  "  absolution  of  faith  and  charity  "  ? — he  might 
perhaps  have  replied  in  the  confession  which  his  Master's  parable 
drew  from  the  scribe,  "  He  that  shewed  mercy  on  him,"  when  the 
priest  and  Levite  had  passed  him  by.3  It  is  true  that  these  opinions 
were  not  universal;  but  even  their  strongest  opponents  in  the 
12th  century  did  not  venture  to  maintain  the  absolute  power  of 
the  priest  to  remit  the  guilt  of  sin  as  with  the  authority  of  God. 
In  the  Victorine  school,  for  example,4  the  founder  Hugh  held  a  high 
sacramental  view  of  absolution,5  and  his  follower  Richard  described 
the  opinion  of  Lombard — that  the  priests  had  not  the  power  of 
binding  and  loosing,  but  of  showing  men  bound  or  loosed— as 
frivolous  and  almost  too  ridiculous  for  refutation.6     But  his  own 

1  It  is  to  be  particularly  observed  that,  wheiever  Lombard  approaches 
the  extreme  views  of  confession  and  absolution,  he  is  following  the  treatise 
falsely  ascribed  to  St.  Augustine  (see  p.  277  ).  On  the  locus  clatsicus 
respecting  the  power  of  binding  and  loosing  in  heaven  as  well  as  earth 
(Matt.  xvi.  19),  he  quotes  Jerome's  condemnation  of  the-authority  assumed 
by  bishops  and  presbyters  "  who  did  not  understand  the  text" 

2  Sentent.  lib.  iv.  dist.  17,  art.  58,  59,  where  we  have  the  true  echo  of 
the  apostolical  precept,  so  often  perverted  into  an  argument  for  auricular 
confession  to  a  priest  :  "  Confess  your  faults  one  to  another,  and  pray  for 
one  another,  that  ye  may  be  healed.  The  effectual  fervent  prayer  of  a 
righteous  man  availeth  much  "  (James  v.  16).  As  late  as  1310  confession 
to  a  Catholic  layman  by  a  person  in  danger  of  death,  when  no  priest  was  at 
hand,  was  sanctioned  by  the  Synod  of  Treves;  and  we  have  an  example  of 
its  practice  in  the  confession  of  Joinville  and  his  companions  to  the 
Constable  of  Cyprus,  when  prisoners  in  the  hands  of  the  Saracens  (Join- 
ville, Hist.de  St.  Louis,  quoted  by  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  364). 

3  Lukex.  37.  4  See  Chap.  XXVIII.  §  14. 

5  Hugo  a  S.  Victore,  de  Stcrament,  lib.  ii.  pars.  xiv.  c.  8. 

6  Ricardus  a  S.  Vict.,  de  Potestate  ligandi  et  solvendi,  c.  12 


280  THOMAS  AQUINAS  ON  ABSOLUTION.        Chap.  XVII. 

view  fell  far  short  of  that  which  ultimately  prevailed,  for  the 
absolute  power  which  he  ascribes  to  the  priest  extends  onh'  to  the 
temporal  penalty  of  sin  (the  poena),  while  he  reserves  for  God 
the  "  deliverance  from  its  guilt  (culpa)  by  the  inward  supply  of 
grace  from  God" 

But  in  the  13th  century  the  same  great  distinction  is  as  clearly 
drawn,  only  to  be  decided  the  other  way  by  the  authority  of 
Thomas  Aquinas,  expressing  the  prevalent  opiniou  of  his  age.1 
Propounding  the  two  questions — Whether  the  power  of  the  keys 
extends  to  the  remission  of  guilt,  and  whether  the  priest  can  remit 
sin  as  respects  its  penalty : — he  replies  to  the  former,  that  the  virtue 
of  the  keys  operates  for  the  remission  of  guilt,  just  as  also  does  the 
water  of  baptism.  But  still  the  great  master's  scholastic  subtilty 
avoids  the  purely  mechanical  view  of  an  opus  operatum.  In 
both  cases  the  work  is  not  that  of  a  principal  agent,  for  Grod 
alone  of  Himself  remits  guilt,  and  by  virtue  of  His  power  baptism 
and  the  priest  act  each  as  an  instrument — an  inanimate  instrument 
in  the  water,  a  living  instrument  in  the  power  of  the  keys — and, 
even  as  an  instrument,  not  causing,  but  disposing  to  the  reception 
of  grace  and  the  remission  of  guilt.  At  first  sight,  this  disposing 
might  appear  to  be  a  spiritual  operation  ;  but  he  further  explains 
it  as  operating  in  the  sacrament  itself,  in  such  a  manner  that,  "  if 
before  absolution  the  person  had  not  been  perfectly  disposed  for 
receiving  grace,  he  would  obtain  grace  in  the  sacramental  confession 
and  absolution  itself,  if  he  opposed  no  obstacle  " — for  the  loss  of  the 
benefit  of  a  sacrament  by  its  unworthy  reception  was  a  doctrine 
never  abandoned,  at  least  in  theory. 

But  such  refinements  were  not  likely  to  reach  the  understanding 
of  the  vulgar,  who  were  even  told  by  some  of  their  priests  that  they 
were  cleared  of  their  sins  as  a  stick  is  peeled  of  its  bark.2  The 
popular  confidence  in  so  comfortable  a  doctrine  was  strengthened  by 
the  change  which  was  made  about  this  time  from  the  old  form  of 
absolution  into  the  formula,  "I  absolve  thee"  (Ego  te  dbsolvo),  not 
without  strong  objections,  as  we  learn  from  the  pains  taken  by 
Aquinas  to  answer  them.  As  late  as  1249,  William,  bishop  of 
Paris,3  distinctly  testifies  to  the  continued  use  of  the  formula  dfjn-r- 
catoria :  "  Nor  does  the  confessor,  after  the  manner  of  judges  in  the 

1  "  Secundum  opinionem  quae  sustenetur  commuuius." — Summa  Theo- 
logize, pars.  iii.  qu.  18,  art.  1,  2.  There  is  no  reason  to  doubt  this 
testimony  to  the  growth  of  opinions  so  much  in  accordance  with  human 
nature,  as  well  as  with  the  spirit  of  the  times. 

2  This  expressive  figure  was  used  with  reference  to  the  virtue  of  a 
local  indulgence,  and  was  condemned  by  Honorius  III.  (1255). 

3  Be  Sacramento  Pamitentix,  sub  fin.  ;  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  363. 


Chap.  XVII.      THE  NEW  AUTHORITATIVE  FORMULA.  281 

courts,  pronounce  the  sentence,  We  absolve,  we  do  not  condemn; 
but  rather  he  offers  prayer  over  him,  that  God  would  give  him 
absolution  and  remission  and  grace."  Thomas  Aquinas  quotes  the 
statement  of  a  writer,  to  whom  he  is  replying,  that  it  was  scarcely 
thirty  years  since  all  had  used  the  form,  "May  God  grant  thee 
absolution  and  remis.sion,"  and  that  the  priest  ought  not  to  say  "  I 
absolve  thee,"  both  because  this  lies  within  the  power  of  God  alone, 
and  because  the  priest  could  not  be  sure  that  the  person  was  really 
absolved.  Thomas  decided  for  the  formula,  "I  absolve  thee,"  as 
alone  effective,  the  deprecatory  formula  being  retained  only  as  an 
introductory  prayer  that  the  penitent  might  be  rightly  disposed  to 
receive  the  formal  absolution.1  As  to  the  authority  of  the  priest 
alone  to  grant  absolution,  Thomas  Aquinas  argues  thus: — "The 
grace,  which  is  given  in  the  sacraments,  descends  to  the  members 
from  the  Head :  and  therefore  the  only  minister  of  the  sacraments 
in  which  grace  is  given,  is  he  who  has  the  ministry  over  Christ's 
true  body;  which  belongs  to  the  priest  only,  who  has  power  to 
consecrate  the  Eucharist.  And  therefore,  since  grace  is  conferred  in 
the  sacrament  of  penitence,  the  priest  alone  is  the  minister  of  this 
sacrament;  and  to  him  alone,  therefore,  is  to  be  made  the  sacra- 
mental confession,  which  ought  to  be  made  to  the  minister  of  the 
Church."  In  such  reasoning  we  see  how  completely  the  character 
of  the  Church,  as  the  body  of  Christ,  in  which  all  believers  are 
united  as  members  to  Him,2  their  living  head,  had  been  usurped  by 
the  priesthood. 

§  7.  The  power  of  absolution  from  the  temporal  penalty  (poena) 
of  sin  was  connected  with  the  whole  penitential  discipline,  which 
fell  during  this  age  into  depths  of  abuse,  corruption,  and  supersti- 
tion. To  the  question,  Whether  the  priest  can  remit  sin  in  respect 
of  its  punishment,  Thomas  Aquinas  replies,  that  those  who  through 
penitence  obtain  remission  of  guilt  and  of  the  sentence  of  eternal 
death  receive  increase  of  grace  and  remission  of  the  temporal 
penalty,  a  part  of  which  had  still  remained.  For  penitence  is  not, 
like  baptism,  a  regeneration,  but  a  healing,  a  process  in  its  nature 
gradual  and  imperfect;  and,  after  contrition,  absolution,  and  con- 
fession, there  is  a  remnant  of  penalty  {residua  poena),  for  which 
satisfaction  has  still  to  be  made.  Hence  the  effort  to  maintain  true 
repentance  and  amendment  of  life  was  overpowered  by  the  idea 
that  penance  was  a  satisfaction  for  sin  to  God,  required  of  the 

1  Summa,  pars.  iii.  qu.  84,  art.  3 :  "  Utrum  hasc  sit  forma  hujus  sacra- 
menti,  Ego  te  absoho."  The  formda  deprecatoria  was  retained  as  the 
absolution  in  some  places  down  to  the  14th  century  ;  afterwards  it  was 
used  only  as  an  introduction  (Gieseler,  iii.  363). 

2  See  Rom.  xii.  4,  5  ;  1  Cor.  vi.  15,  xii.  throughout ;  Ephes.  iv.  25,  v.  30. 


282  PENANCE  AND  ASCETICISM.  Chap.  XVII. 

sinner  as  his  part  over  and  above  the  atonement  of  Christ  and  the 
absolution  of  the  Church.  In  this  new  sense  of  satisfaction  we 
find  the  key  to  a  vast  system  of  abuse.  For  the  evangelic  duty  of 
"bringing  forth  fruits  meet  for  repentance  "  and  making  reparation 
for  the  wrong  done  so  far  as  it  was  possible,  was  substituted  a 
system  of  acts,  burdensome  or  frivolous,  not  for  the  benefit  of  the 
injured  person,  bat  for  the  quieting  of  the  offender's  conscience. 
The  primitive  doctrine  of  penitential  discipliue  and  self-denial,  to 
combat  and  remove  the  sin  incurred  from  day  to  day,  was  now 
corrupted  into  a  system  of  "indulgences"  and  "commutations  of 
penance,"  in  which  the  Church  made  profit  from  the  vices  of  the 
people.  Penance  was  commuted  for  some  less  onerous  task,  of  which 
pilgrimage  was  one  most  in  favour  ;  pecuniary  gilts,  the  building  of 
churches  and  founding  of  monasteries,  and  even  the  vicarious  obser- 
vance of  fasts  and  other  penances  by  the  dependants  of  the  great, 
who  thus  laid  their  sins  on  others.  But  while  the  worship,  disci- 
pline, and  sacramental  system  of  the  Church  grew  more  and  more 
mechanical,  many  were  moved  all  the  more  by  dissatisfaction  with 
such  a  system,  and  especially  with  the  easy  modes  of  penance,  to 
the  sterner  practice  of  asceticism.  Such  persons  for  the  most  part 
found  refuge  in  the  stricter  monastic  orders ;  and  we  shall  have  to 
speak  presently  of  the  special  provision  made  for  them. 

Among  various  modes  of  self  mortification,  sometimes  vying  with 
the  cruellest  ingenuity  of  torturers,  besides  protracted  fasts,  special 
virtue  was  attributed  to  flagellation,  whether  self-inflicted  or  volun- 
tarily submitted  to.  One  of  the  most  vehement  advocates  of  this 
discipline  was  Peter  Damiani,  who  regarded  self-mortification  as  a 
meritorious  anticipation  of  purgatory  on  earth.1  The  practice  grew, 
though  protests  were  made  against  its  excess.2  Jn  the  year  1260 
it  broke  out  into  a  sort  of  epidemic,  originating  at  Perugia,  which 
should,  however,  rather  be  accounted  among  the  irregular  fanatical 
movements  of  the  age,  than  as  example  of  ascetic  discipline.  The 
fanatical  Flagellants  of  the  14th  century  have  been  spoken  of 
above  (Chap.  VIII.  §  7). 

§  8.  The  chief  form  of  commutation,  which  now  arose  and  was 
afterwards  developed  into  an  elaborate  system,  was  that  of  Indul- 

1  Damiani,  Opusc.  xliii.  Be  Laude  Flagellorum  ct  Discipline. 

2  Thus  in  England  the  author  of  the  Ancren  Rivcle  ('  The  Rule  of 
Female  Anchorets '),  a  sufficiently  stern  disciplinarian,  enjoins  upon  the 
nuns  of  Tarent,  in  Dorset :  "  Wear  no  iron,  nor  hair-cloth,  nor  hedgehog 
skins;  and  do  not  beat  yourselves  therewith,  nor  with  a  scourge  of 
leather  thongs,  nor  leaded  ;  and  do  not  with  holly  nor  with  briars  cause 
yourselves  to  bleed  without  leave  of  your  confessor;  and  do  not,  at  one 
time,  use  too  many  flagellations."  (Morton's  translation,  p.  419;  quoted 
by  Hardwick,  p.  307.) 


Chap.  XVII.  PLENARY  INDULGENCES.  283 

gences,  pardons  of  sin  granted  in  consideration  of  particular  acts  of 
piety  and  services  to  the  Church.  At  first  they  referred  only  to 
specific  offences  already  committed,  and  were  granted  by  bishops ; 
and  the  abuses  attending  them  were  rebuked  by  the  very  Popes 
who  developed  the  system  on  a  gigantic  scale.1 

Plenary  Indulgences*  began  to  be  granttd  fur  all  sins,  without 
limitation  to  special  acts;  such  as  Gregory  VII.  promised  to  those 
who  supported  the  rival  of  Henry  IV.  (1080) ;  but  the  first  grand 
example  of  a  general  plenary  indulgence  was  that  which  Urban  II. 
proclaimed  at  the  Council  of  Clermont  to  all  who  would  join  in  the 
First  Crusade  (1095).  "  These  indulgences,  indeed,  were  intended 
as  remissions  of  those  temporal  penalties  only,  which  it  was  believed 
th.it  the  sinner  must  undergo  in  this  life  or  in  purgatory  ;  but  the 
people  in  general  understood  them,  and  persisted  in  understanding 
them,  as  promises  of  eternal  forgiveness,  while  they  overlooked  any 
conditions  of  repentance  or  charity  which  had  been  annexed  to 
them.  And  the  licence  which  marked  the  lives  of  the  Crusaders, 
and  of  the  Latins  who  settled  in  the  Holy  Land,  is  an  unquestion- 
able proof  of  the  sense  in  which  the  papal  offers  were  interpreted."3 
There  were  not  wanting  those  who  saw  these  evil  consequences,  and 
contended  that  the  graces  of  penitence  and  devotion  were  essential 
to  the  benefit  of  indulgence  ;  but  others,  more  practically  if  less 
piously,  regarded  the  popular  view  as  necessary  to  the  indulgence 
having  any  value,  and  held  that,  if  the  people  were  deceived,  the 
deceit  was  lawful  for  its  good  effects.  The  fatal  doctrine  was  now 
propounded,  "  The  Church  deceives  the  faithful,  and  yet  she  doth  not 


1  Among  the  acts  for  which  indulgences  were  granted  by  bishops  were 
"  the  recitation  of  a  certain  prayer  before  a  certain  altar,  visiting  a  church 
on  a  certain  day,  pilgrimages  to  relics  or  miraculous  pictures,  or  the  like  ; 
and  in  furtherance  of  local  undertakings,  such  as  the  building  or  enlarge- 
ment of  a  church,  the  building  of  a  bridge,  or  the  enclosure  of  a  forest  " 
(Robertson,  iii.  271).  An  interesting  example  of  the  system  in  a  state  of 
transition  is  furnished  by  the  promise  of  Gregory  VI.  (1044),  in  grntitude 
for  the  offerings  made  towards  the  restoration  of  churches  in  Rome,  of  his 
prayers  and  those  of  his  successors  on  behalf  of  the  donors  for  the  remis- 
sion of  their  sins,  that  they  might  be  brought  to  everlasting  life. — D'Achery, 
Spicileg.  iii.  398  ;  Gieseler,  iii.  366,  n. 

2  "  At  first  plenary  indulgence  was  only  granted  for  services  undertaken 
on  behalf  of  the  Church  at  the  risk  of  life.  Thus  the  idea  of  the  power  of 
martyrdom  to  eradicate  sin  entered  into  the  conception  of  indulgence." — 
Gieseler,  iii.  366,  n. 

3  :%  Those  who  remained  at  home  also  received  the  benefit  of  the  indul- 
gence in  proportion  to  the  amount  of  their  contributions  to  the  cost  of 
the  Crusade;  but  Gregory  IX.  was  the  first  who  allowed  such  a  pay- 
ment as  a  commutation  for  fulfilling  the  vow  of  the  Crusader," — Robert- 
son, vol.  iii.  p.  270. 


284  DISCUSSIONS  ON  INDULGENCE.  Chap.  XVII. 

lie;"1  and  Thomas  Aquinas  says  that,  if  inordinate  indulgences  are 
given,  "  so  that  men  are  called  back  almost  for  nothing  from  the 
works  of  penitence,  he  who  gives  such  indulgence  sins,  yet,  never- 
theless, the  receiver  obtains  full  indulgence."2 

In  fact,  something  like  doubt  about  the  whole  system  is  betrayed 
by  the  elaborate  discussions  respecting  both  the  foundation  and  the 
extent  of  the  efficacy  of  indulgence,  which  some  altogether  denied 
as  inconsistent  with  the  fundamental  doctrine,  that  God  only  can 
forgive  sin.  This  seems  to  have  been  one  of  the  points  on  which 
the  purer  religion  surviving  in  the  monasteries  withstood  the 
corruptions  countenanced  by  the  bishops  and  Popes  from  motives 
of  interest.3  Thus  Stephen,  abbot  of  Obaize,  in  laying  the  founda- 
tion of  a  new  church  (1156),  resisted  the  bishop's  offer  of  letters 
of  indulgence  to  the  assembled  people,  refusing  to  introduce  a 
custom  which  (he  said)  was  a  stumbling-block  to  the  people  and  a 
disgrace  to  the  clergy,  by  making  them  a  present  of  indulgences 
which  none  but  God  had  the  power  to  give.4  "We" — said  the 
pious  abbot  to  the  bishop,  on  another  like  occasion — "are  still 
burthened  by  our  sins,  nor  have  we  pow^r  to  lighten  the  sins  of 
others."  5 

In  his  own  sharper  spirit  of  sarcasm,  Abelard  denounces  "  priests 
who  deceived  those  put  under  them,  not  so  much  through  error 
as  covetousness,  so  that  for  offerings  of  money  they  condoned  or 
mitigated  the  penance  enjoined  for  satisfaction,  regarding  not 
so  much  the  Lord's  will  as  the  power  of  money.  And  we 
see  "  (he  adds)  "  not  only  priests,  but  also  the  very  princes  of 
those  priests  (I  mean  the  bishops)  so  shamelessly  inflamed  with 
this  covetousness,  that  when,  at  the  dedications  of  churches,  or 
the  consecrations  of  altars,  or  the  blessing  of  cemeteries,  or  any 
solemnities,  they  gather  assemblies  of  the  people  from  which  they 

1  William  of  Auxerre,  quoted  by  Neander,  vii.  487. 

2  Summa  Theol.  suppl.  qu.  xxv.  art.  2  ;   Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  610. 

3  In  the  12th  century,  and  even  later,  all  bishops  had  the  right  to  grant 
indulgences  in  their  own  dioceses,  unless  it  were  limited  by  the  Pope 
(Albertus  Magnus  and  Thomas  Aquinas,  ap.  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  "p.  368,  n.). 
Innocent  III.,  by  a  decree  at  the  Fourth  Lateran  Council,  imposed  restric- 
tions on  the  granting  of  "indiscreet  and  extravagant"  (supertfuas) 
"  indulgences  by  the  prelates,"  who  thereby  "  contemned  the  power  of 
the  keys,  and  weakened  penitental  satisfaction  " — a  plea  for  the  papal 
prerogative  as  much  as  for  holy  discipline. 

4  It  is  clear  from  other  evidence,  as  well  as  from  the  testimony  of 
Abelard  next  quoted,  that  the  indulgences  granted  on  such  occasions  were 
not  a  gracious  reward  for  pious  acts,  but  a  stimulus  and  enticement  to 
obtain  contributions  from  the  people. 

5  Vit.  Steph.  Opaz.  ii.  18  ;  ap.  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  168. 


Chap.  XVII.  OPPOSITION  OF  ABELARD.  285 

expect  copious  oblations,  they  are  prodigal  in  the  relaxation  of 
penance,  granting  to  all  in  common  the  indulgence,  sometimes  of  a 
third,  sometimes  of  a  fourth  part  of  the  penance,  under  a  certain 
semblance  forsooth  of  benignity,  but  in  truth  from  the  greatest 
covetousness.  And  in  vaunting  themselves  of  the  power  which,  as 
they  say,  they  have  received  through  Peter  or  the  Apostles,1  when 
the  Lord  said  to  them,  Whosesoever  sins  ye  remit,  &c.  (John  xx. 
23),  they  boast  above  all  that  the  act  is  theirs,  when  they  confer 
this  benignity  on  those  put  under  them.  And  I  would  that  they 
at  least  did  this  for  their  own  sake  and  not  for  money,  that  it  might 
seem  at  all  events  to  be  benignity  rather  than  cupidity.  But, 
indeed,  if  it  is  to  redound  to  the  praise  of  their  benignity,  that  they 
remit  a  third  or  a  fourth  of  the  penance,  much  more  would  their  piety 
deserve  proclaiming  if  they  were  to  remit  the  half  or  the  whole 
completely,  as  they  profess  to  have  the  right  entrusted  to  them  by 
the  Lord,  as  if  heaven  were  placed  in  their  hands.  While,  on  the 
other  hand,  they  seem  chargeable  with  great  impiety,  because  they 
do  not  absolve  all  those  put  under  them  from  all  their  sins,  so  as  to 
suffer  none  of  them  to  be  damned :  if,  I  say,  it  has  been  thus  put 
in  their  power  to  remit  or  to  retain  what  sins  they  will,  or  to  open 
or  shut  heaven  to  those  for  whom  they  decide :  nay,  they  might 
well  be  proclaimed  most  blessed,  if  the}'  could  open  it  to  themselves 
when  they  would.  But  if  this  is  beyond  either  their  power  or  their 
knowledge,  they  certainly  incur,  as  1  think,  the  censure  of  the  poet, 

Nee  prosunt  domino,  qua -prosunt  omnibus,  artes. 
Let  who  pleases  covet  that  power — not  I— by  which  he  is  able 
rather  to  profit  others  than  himself,  as  though  he  had  power  over 
the  souls  of  others  rather  than  his  own."  2 

The  sarcastic  boldness  of  this  language,  so  characteristic  of  Abe- 
lard,  is  scarcely  more  damaging  to  the  doctrine  of  indulgence  than 
the  doubts  and  limitations  with  which  the  doctrine  was  accepted.3 

1  It  is  very  interesting  to  observe,  in  the  frequent  references  of  this 
age  to  the  leading  texts  on  the  remission  and  retention  of  sins,  how  little 
stress  is  laid  on  that  commission  of  the  power  of  the  keys  to  St.  Peteb 
on  which  the  Papacy  rests  its  highest  claims  (Matt.  xvi.  19  ;  comp. 
xvih.  18,  where  the  same  commission  is  given  to  all  the  Apostles).  It  is 
evident  also  that  Abelard's  reasoning  applies  a  fortiori  to  Papal  indul- 
gences, and  even  to  the  whole  extreme  theory  of  sacerdotal  absolution. 

2  Abaelardi  Kthica,  cc.  18,  25;  ap.  Gieseler,  iii.  365-6. 

3  See,  for  example,  Paul  us  Presbyter,  who  recites  seven  probable 
opinions  (Summa  de  Poznitentia,  15  ;  about  a.d.  1200),  and  Gulielmus 
Episcop.  Altissidor.  (SenUnt.  iv.  tract  vi.  c.  ix.  qu.  1),  who  discusses  the 
question,  Whether  in  truth  the  remission  avails  as  much  as  the  Church  pro- 
mises* (Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  pp.  368-9).  Albertus  Magnus  (Sentent.  lib. 
iv.  dist.  20,  art.   16)  says  that  three  opinions  were  snciently  held  about 


286         TREASURY  OF  SUPEREROGATION.     Chap.  XVII. 

The  original  and  moderate  notion  was,  that  the  remissions  granted 
in  reward  of  contributions  and  services  to  the  Church  availed  only- 
through  securing  the  prayers  of  the  Church ;  and  even  the  highest 
views  attached  some  conditions  and  limitations  to  their  efficacy. 
But  much  more  than  this  was  not  only  commonly  understood,  but 
often  promised.  Thus  of  the  indulgence  by  which  many  were 
induced  to  take  the  Cross,  they  were  told  by  the  bishops  that  the 
vowed  Crusader,  on  his  death,  would  immediately  fly  away  to 
heaven ;  upon  which  a  writer x  observes  that  "  the  prelates  make 
many  promises  which  are  not  performed;  wherefore  this  sort  of 
remissions  should  be  made  with  great  discretion,  and  not  at 
random." 

But  the  high  theory,  which  ultimately  prevailed,  was  that  the 
Church  had  at  its  disposal  an  accumulated  treasure  of  merits  won, 
the  good  deeds,  sufferings,  and  penitential  exercises  of  the  faithful, 
especially  of  Christ  himself,  to  impart  to  deserving  penitents,  in 
virtue  of  which,  like  the  "  Mammon  of  unrighteousness  "  in  the 
parable,  they  would  be  "  received  into  everlasting  habitations." 2 

The  scholastic  divines  of  the  thirteenth  century  gave  this  notion 
the  form  in  which  we  find  it  taught  by  Alexander  Hales  and  Albertus 
Magnus,  and  fully  elaborated  by  Thomas  Aquioas,  of  the  "  Treasury 
of  Supererogation  "3  of  the  merits  of  those  made  perfect  (thesaurus 

indulgences  :  the  first,  that  they  were  of  no  effect  at  all,  hut  a  pious 
fraud  which  the  mother  uses  to  entice  her  children  to  goodness,  such 
as  pilgrimage,  and  alms,  and  hearing  the  word  of  God,  and  the  like  ; 
but  this,  he  thinks,  perverts  the  acts  of  the  Church  into  mere  child's-play, 
and  almost  savours  of  heresy.  Others,  going  too  far  in  their  eagerness  to 
contradict  that  view,  have  said  that  indulgences  avail  simply  as  they  are 
pronounced,  without  any  other  condition  declared  or  understood.  He  him- 
self agrees  with  the  third  opinion,  namely,  that  indulgences  avail  just 
as  the  Church  declares  them  to  avail ;  but  six  conditions  are  required, 
which  are  either  supposed  or  expressed  by  the  Church.  Two  of  these  are 
on  the  part  of  the  giver :  authority  and  a  pious  cause ;  two  are  pre- 
supposed on  the  part  of  the  receiver  :  contrition  with  confession,  and  faith 
that  this  can  be  done  for  him  through  the  power  of  the  keys,  wherefore  letters 
of  indulgence  always  (?)  contain  the  clause  "  to  those  who  are  contrite  and 
have  confessed  " ;  the  other  two  are  required  on  the  part  of  grace  or  of 
the  Church,  namely,  the  superfluity  of  the  treasury  of  merits  (abundantia 
thesauri  meritorum),  and  the  just  estimation  of  that  remission  for  which 
the  indulgence  has  been  instituted.  1  Gulielmus  Altissidor,  I.e. 

2  We  find  the  germ  of  this  doctrine  in  the  first  of  the  seven  "probable 
topinions  "  enumerated  by  the  Presbyter  Paulus  (loc.  sup.  cit.),  who  quotes 

he  parable  (Luke  xvi.  1-9). 

3  The  verb  erogo,  "to  obtain  by  asking,"  had  the  secondary  sense  of 
expending  grants  thus  obtained  from  the  people,  and  then  generally  of 
spending  and  paying.  Hence,  in  Roman  law,  supererogo  signified  "  to  make 
a  payment  over  and  above  the  sum  due,"  and  supererogatio  any  excess  of 
payment  so  made. 


Chap.  XVII.  POWER  OF  THE  KEYS.  287 

supererogationis  perfectorum,  also  meritorum),  on  which  (to  use 
the  modern  phrase)  the  Church  could  draw,  in  virtue  of  the  poiver  of 
the  keys,  for  the  remission  both  of  the  temporal  and  eternal  penalties 
of  sin,  not  only  for  the  benefit  of  the  living,  but  also  of  the  dead  in 
purgatory.  The  doctrine  of  some,  that  such  remissions  regard  only 
the  judgment  of  the  Church,  and  not  the  judgment  of  God,  is 
expressly  rejected  by  Alexander  Hales,1  because,  if  the  Church 
remits  punishment  and  God  does  not,  this  would  be  more  of  a 
deception  than  a  remission,  and  cruelty  rather  than  piety ;  and  he 
holds  that  God  confirms  the  remission  granted  by  the  Church.  To 
the  question,  whether  the  merit  of  one  man  can  avail  in  satisfaction 
of  the  penalty  incurred  by  another,  he  replies  that,  so  far  as  punish- 
ment is  a  remedy  (rtiedicamenturti),  it  cannot,  but  if  we  speak  of  it 
as  a  price  (pretium),  in  this  sense  one  man  can  make  satisfaction 
for  another.  But  this  can  only  be  done  by  the  authority  of  a 
superior ;  and  his  conclusion  is,  that  "  indulgences  and  remissions 
are  made  in  consideration  of  the  supererogatory  merits  of  the  mem- 
bers of  Christ,  and  principally  those  of  Christ  himself2  which  are 
the  spiritual  treasure  of  the  Church.  But  to  dispense  this  treasure 
does  not  belong  to  all,  but  only  to  those  who  are  chiefly  the  vice- 
gerents of  Christ,  that  is,  the  Bishops."  Thus  he  leads  up  to  the 
Pope's  prerogative  of  indulgence  by  the  power  of  the  keys,  which  is 
more  fully  developed  by  Thomas  Aquinas.3  And  that  power  was 
now  held  to  rule  over  the  unseen  world  of  purgatory,  as  well  as  over 
the  Church  on  earth  ;  so  that  those  who  had  died  in  penitence,  but 
without  receiving  absolution,  even  though  absolved  by  God,  might 
still  obtain  the  absolution  of  the  Church ;  as  Alexander  Hales 
says,  "  It  is  presumed  probably  and  most  truly  that  the  Pontiff  can 
grant  indulgences  to  those  who  are  in  Purgatory."  But  he  adds, 
with  special  emphasis,  that  several  conditions  are  required  for  the 
efficacy  of  such  indulgence,  which  he  regards  as  availing  chiefly 
through   the  faith   and   prayers   of  surviving   friends  and  of  the 

1  Summa  Theol.  pars  iv.  qu.  23,  art.  1. 

2  It  would  be  an  injustice  to  the  views  of  the  scholastic  divines  to  over- 
look the  stress  they  lay  upon  this  point,  not  merely  that  the  treasure 
of  supererogation  consists  chiefly  of  the  merits  of  Christ,  but  also  that 
those  of  the  saints  avail  (as  Aquinas  puts  it),  "because  of  the  mystic 
unity  of  the  members  of  His  body  .  .  .  just  as  the  apostle  says  that  he  filled 
up  what  was  wanting  of  the  sufferings  of  Christ  in  his  body  for  the 
Church  to  which  he  writes  (Col.  i.  24)  ;  and  so  the  aforesaid  merits  are 
the  common  merits  of  the  whole  Church  "  ;  and  (he  adds),  as  common 
property,  they  are  distributed  to  the  individuals  of  the  community  at  the 
pleasure  of  him  who  presides  over  it,  namely,  the  Pope,  in  virtue  of  the 
power  of  the  keys  {Summa  Thcol.  suppl.  pars.  iii.  qu.  25,  ap.  Gieseler, 
vol.  iii.  pp.  375-6).  3  Loc.  mp.  cit. 


28S  SPECIAL  FORMS  OF  INDULGENCE.  Chap.  XVII. 

Church.  Aquinas  infers  the  benefit  of  the  dead  from  the  com- 
munity of  the  whole  Church  in  the  merits  on  which  indulgences 
depend.1 

This  final  form  of  the  doctrine  of  indulgence,  both  for  the 
quick  and  dead,  brought  a  vast  increase  and  awful  sanction  to  the 
authority  of  the  Papacy,  as  holding  the  supreme  power  of  the 
keys.  The  attempts  of  Popes2  to  check  the  abuse  of  the  episcopal 
power  of  indulgence  tended  to  strengthen  their  own  prerogative. 
During  the  13th  century,  plenary  indulgences  were  renewed  for 
every  crusade,  not  only  against  infidels,  but  against  heretics  and 
contumacious  princes,  as  the  Albigenses  and  Frederick  II.  At  the 
Jubilee  of  the  year  1300  Boniface  VIJ I.  proclaimed  to  all  penitent 
visitors  to  the  clurches  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  at  Rome  "not 
only  a  full,  but  mure  abundant,  nay  the  fullest  pardon  of  all  their 
sins."  When  at  length  the  system  reached  the  climax  which 
provoked  Luther's  opposition,  Leo  X.  declared  that  the  temporal 
penalty  {poena)  could  be  remitted  to  the  living  and  the  dead  alike, 
by  means  of  the  indulgences  which  he  was  empowered  to  distribute 
as  the  almoner  of  Christ  and  of  the  Saints;  the  guilt  {culpa)  being 
graciously  forgiven  through  the  sacrament  of  penance.  Lesser 
indulgences  were  granted  on  the  most  trivial  pretexts;  and  they 
were  dispensed  throughout  Christendom,  in  the  Pope's  name,  by  his 
devoted  agents  the  monks,  and  especially  by  the  friars,  who  used 
them  in  return  for  easy  and  mechanical  services  as  the  means  of 
attracting  popular  devotion  to  their  respective  orders.  Thus  the 
Franciscans  gathered  crowds  of  visitors  every  year,  on  the  feast  of 
St.  Peter's  chains  (Aug.  1),  to  receive  the  benefit  of  the  indulgence 
which  their  founder's  prayers  had  obtained  from  the  Saviour  himself 
for  the  church  called  Portiuncula  at  Assisi  (cf.  p.  418) ;  while  the 
Dominicans  established  the  use  of  the  rosary,  by  proclaiming  indul- 
gences for  the  prayers  reiterated  by  the  aid  of  that  instrument.3 

1  See  his  full  answer  to  the  question,  Utrum  indulgent >'a>  Ecclesise 
prosint  mortnis  1     (Quasst.  71,  art.  10,  ap.  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  377). 

2  As  Innocent  III.  at  the  4th  Lateran  Council  (1215),  and  Honorius  III. 
(1225).     Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  372. 

3  Though  the  rosary  (capettina,  paternoster,  preculse,  psalteriuni)  now 
became  the  special  property  of  the  Dominicans,  it  had  certainly  been  in 
use  much  earlier,  and  it  appears  to  have  been  derived  from  the  "muttering 
chaplet  "  (in  Sanscrit,  japamatd),  or  "  remembrance  "  (snutrani),  in  use 
among  Hindoos  and  Buddhists  long  before  the  Christian  era  (see  the 
article  in  the  Diet,  of  Christian  Ant  qq.  vol.  ii.  p.  1819).  "The  manner  of 
performing  the  devotion  of  the  rosary  was  by  reciting  the  angelic  saluta- 
tion, with  a  prayer  for  the  Blessed  Virgin's  intercession  in  the  hour  of 
death.  A  rosary  of  150  beads  represented  a  like  number  of  arcs,  which 
were  divided  into  fifteen  portions,  and  between  these  portions  a  recitation 
of  the  Lord's  Prayer  was  interposed.     Some  mystery  of  the  Christian  faith 


Chap.  XVII.  QUESTUARIES  AND  PARDONERS.  289 

The  abuse  of  the  system  reached  its  climax  in  the  open  sale 
of  indulgences,  for  which  the  way  was  prepared,  first  by  such 
grants  to  those  who  contributed  money  for  a  Crusade,  in  place  of 
personal  service ;  next  by  the  pecuniary  commutation  of  a  Crusader's 
vow ;  and  finally  by  the  grant  of  indulgences  for  small  contributions 
without  reference  to  any  special  pious  object.  The  function  of 
making  such  collections  was  abused  by  a  set  of  impostors  in  the 
garb  of  friars,  often  of  abandoned  character — called  Quaestuarii, 
from  their  trade1 — who  went  about  preaching  in  rivalry  with  the 
regular  mendicant  orders,  and  offering  for  sale  an  unlimited  supply 
of  briefs  of  indulgence,  as  well  as  forged  relics.  Their  practices 
were  denounced  by  several  Councils,2  and  in  most  vehement 
terms  by  the  friars  on  whose  special  province  they  intruded.  Thus 
the  Franciscan  Befthold  (pb  1272) inveighs  against  them  as  "newly 
sprung  up,  for  when  I  was  a  little  child  there  was  never  a  one 
of  them.  They  are  called  penny-preachers :  the  devil  has  no 
more  favourite  servants.  For  one  of  these  goes  out  among  the 
simple  folk,  and  preaches  and  shouts,  till  all  weep  who  stand  before 
him.  And  he  says  he  has  power  from  the  Pope  to  take  off  all  thy 
sins  for  one  mite.  And  he  lies,  saying  that  a  man  is  thereby  made 
free  from  sin  before  God.  Thus  he  crowns  the  devil  every  day 
with  many  thousand  souls.  Ye  must  give  him  nought :  ye  must 
stand  off  from  the  fraud.  The  while  you  are  giving  to  him,  he  is 
selling  to  you  eternal  death.  And  they  slay  you,  and  turn  you 
away  from  true  repentance,  which  God  has  hallowed,  so  that  ye 
never  may  have  the  will  to  repent."  Thus  far  the  Franciscan  ; 
and  the  General  of  the  Dominicans3  is  equally  emphatic:  "about 

was  proposed  for  meditation  during  the  performance  of  this  exercise,  and 
the  whole  was  concluded  by  a  repetition  of  the  Creed"  (Robertson,  vol.  iii 
p.  609). 

1  Or,  more  fully,  Quxstuarii prsedicatores,  "trafficking  preachers." 

2  See,  for  example,  the  declaration  of  the  Council  of  Mainz  (a.d.  1261, 
Mansi,  xxiii.  1102;  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  372),  "Contra  Quxstuarios 
maledicos"  whose  monstrous  abuse  of  base  gain  had  made  them  as  odious  to 
the  world  as  persons  infected  with  the  plague  ;  who  exhibited  as  relics  the 
bones  of  profane  persons  and  of  brutes,  and  boasted  of  lying  miracles ;  and 
then  spent  the  money  thus  sacrilegiously  acquired  in  feasts  and  drunken- 
ness, games  and  luxury.  The  Council  orders  them  to  be  delivered  over  as 
prisoners  to  the  bishops.  In  the  following  year  Urban  IV.  issued  a  Bull 
to  the  inquisitors  to  restrain  the  "  prsedicatores  quarstuarios  "  from  the 
function  of  preaching,  "  which  in  no  way  belongs  to  them,"  while  recog- 
nizing their  proper  business  of  "  merely  collecting  charitable  contribu- 
tions, and  exhibiting  (exponere)  the  indulgence,  if  they  happen  to  have 
any  "  (Gieseler,  ib.). 

3  Humbertus  de  Romanis,  in  his  book  drawn  up  at  the  request  of 
Gregory  X.,  on  the  questions  to  be  treated  of  in  the  General  Council 
of  Lyon  (1274),  lib.  iii.  c.  8 ;  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  373. 


290  TRAFFIC  IN  RELICS.  Chap.  XVII. 

the  questuary  preachers,  who  infect  almost  the  whole  Church  in 
every  land  and  are  a  scandal  to  the  whole  world :  .  .  .  .  for  they 
are  for  the  most  part  persons  dishonoured  and  of  ill  fame."  And 
their  influence  over  the  common  people  was  encouraged  by  the 
superior  clergy;  for  he  adds  that  "they  corrupt  Prelates  and 
officials,  and  Archpresbyters  and  Presbyters  to  such  a  degree  by 
their  obsequiousness,1  that  they  let   them    loose  to   say  and   do 

whatever  they  please Moreover  they  are  wont  to  tell  many 

lies  both  about  relics  and  about  indulgences ;  and,  what  is  the 
crowning  mischief,  these  and  many  other  evils  have  been  so  turned 
into  sport  and  derision,  that  scarcely  any  one  grieves  over  them  for 
the  sake  of  Christ."2 

§  9.  The  traffic  in  Relics  was  a  means  of  meeting  a  demand 
which  had  grown  chiefly  out  of  the  Crusades  and  the  passion  for  pil- 
grimage as  a  penance  and  a  form  of  indulgence.  While  the  moral 
and  religious  results  to  the  pilgrims  and  Crusaders  themselves  are 
pithily  summed  up  in  the  contemporary  testimony, "  I  have  scarcely, 
nay  never,  seen  any  who  returned  better,  either  from  the  parts 
beyond  sea  or  the  shrines  of  the  saints,"3  they  returned  at  once  to 
corrupt  their  friends  and  to  stimulate  in  them  new  devotion  by  the 
visible  signs  of  their  own,  in  the  shape  of  portions  of  the  body  and 
blood,  and  even  of  the  tears,  of  Christ,  the  Apostles,  and  Saints,  the 
instruments  of  His  passion  and  their  martyrdom,  and  other  objects 
connected  with  them,  often  in  a  way  almost  grotesque.4     These 

1  Servitiis  seems  to  imply  the  acting  as  their  servants  and  tools  in  various 
ways.  Of  course,  the  jealousy  between  the  secular  and  regular  clergy, 
especially  the  friars,  must  be  borne  in  mind. 

2  This  testimony  is  confirmed  by  the  prominent  part  played  by  the 
qua?stionary  or  "  pardoner  "  in  satiric  literature  from  this  time  to  the 
Reformation — a  matter  which,  as  well  as  the  mock  festivals,  is  graphically 
introduced  by  Sir  Walter  Scott  in  the  Abbot. 

3  Albertus  Stadensis,  ap.  Gieseler  (vol.  iii.  p.  367),  who  quotes  other 
striking  testimonies  to  the  abandoned  character  of  many  of  the  Crusaders, 
and  its  aggravation  by  the  system  of  indulgences ;  the  worst  of  them 
going  so  far  as  to  say  "  I  will  work  wickedness,  because  by  taking  up  the 
Cross  I  shall  not  only  be  blameless,  but  shall  free  the  souls  of  many  from 
their  crimes."  Innocent  IV.  (1246)  found  it  necessarv  to  desire  the 
French  prelates  to  warn  the  Crusaders  against  presuming  on  indulgence 
to  commit  the  thefts,  homicides,  rapes,  and  other  crimes,  of  which  the 
King  had  made  complaint  to  the  Holy  See.  But  the  climax  of  enormity 
(the  testimony  of  Gregory  X.)  was  reached  by  the  Christians  in  Palestine, 
whose  devotion  was  repaid  by  the  amplest  indulgences. 

4  Among  the  most  memorable  are  the  dish,  said  to  be  of  emerald,  but 
really  of  green  glass,  still  preserved  in  the  cathedral  of  Genoa,  whither  it 
was  brought  from  the  capture  of  Caesarea,  in  1101,  as  the  Holy  Grail 
used  in  our  Lord's  last  supper  (William  of  Tyre,  x.  16);  the  likeness  of 
the  Saviour  (vera  icon)  on  a  napkin,  the  name  of  which  was  at  last  trans- 


Chap.  XVII.  MULTIPLICATION  OF  SAINTS.  291 

relics  were  not  merely  reverenced  as  memorials,  but  (following  a 
heathen  superstition  of  high  antiquity)  they  were  trusted  in  as 
charms,  by  which  evils  might  be  warded  off  and  diseases  cured. 
More  important  than  a  vain  attempt  to  specify  the  vast  number  of 
such  relics  are  the  testimonies  borne  by  Councils1  and  by  writers 
of  high  character  to  the  many  gross  impostures,  for  the  sake  of 
gain,  as  well  as  the  protests  which  were  still  raised  against  the 
honours  paid,  not  only  to  the  relics  but  to  the  Saints  themselves, 
whose  number  was  now  so  vascly  multiplied,  that  one  writer 
likens  the  multitude  of  patron  saints  to  the  idolatries  of  the 
heathens  settled  in  Samaria :  "  Howbeit  every  nation  made  gods  of 
their  own,  and  put  them  in  the  houses  of  the  high  places,  every 
nation  in  their  cities  wherein  they  dwelt.2  Many  stories  were 
now  invented  to  supply  the  silence  of  Scripture  and  of  primitive 
Church  History  concerning  the  part  borne  by  the  Apostles  and 
their  contemporaries  in  the  conversion  of  the  several  nations;  such 
as  that  which  brought  Joseph  of  Arimathea  to  Britain  and  invented 
the  legend  of  the  sncred  thorn  of  Glastonbury,  with  many  others 
of  the  like  sort.     Churches  discovered  new  patrons,  and  the  monks 

muted  into  St.  Veronica  (see  Part  I.  p.  27)  ;  the  seamless  coat  of  Christ, 
which  (like  many  other  relics  single  in  their  nature)  was  multiplied  into 
several,  among  which  the  "Holy  Coat  of  Treves  "  raised  a  new  controversy 
not  long  ago  ;  the  bodies  of  the  three  Magi,  or  "  Kings,"  brought  first  to 
Milan,  and  translated  by  Archbishop  Reginald  to  Cologne,  where  also  the 
church  of  St.  Ursula  is  still  lined  with  the  bones  of  the  British  princess 
and  her  11,000  virgin  comrades  who  were  martyred  by  the  Huns,  a  legend 
conjecturedly  traced  to  the  "XL  M.  V."  (11  martyres  virgines)  of  some 
ancient  martyrology.  We  may  cite  among  the  more  grotesque  examples — 
a  feather  of  the  angel  Gabriel,  a  portion  of  Noah's  beard,  a  flame  of  the 
burning  bush,  and  the  sword  that  Balaam — wished  for  ! 

1  As  that  of  Poitiers  (1100),  the  Fourth  Lateran  (1215),  and  that  of 
Bordeaux  (1255):  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  334;  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  268. 
The  multiplication  of  false  relics  suggested  testing  their  genuineness  by 
the  ordeal   of  fire. -Mabillon,     Vet.  Analecta,  p.  568;  Hardwick,  p.  198. 

2  2  Kings  xvii.  29.  Guiberti,  abbot  of  Nogent  (f  1124),  ap.  Gieseler, 
vol.  iii.  pp.  334-5.  This  writer,  after  demonstrating  the  imposture  of  the 
tooth  of  Christ,  which  the  monks  of  St.  Medard  pretended  to  possess,  pro- 
ceeds to  an  uncompromising  denunciation  of  the  worship  not  only  of  relics, 
but  of  saints,  and  the  frequent  falsity  of  the  current  legends,  by  very 
many  of  which  (he  says)  their  preaching  among  the  heathen  would  rather 
be  blasphemed  than  glorified.  He  declares  avarice  to  be  the  chief  cause 
of  these  abuses,  and  implies  that  the  custodians  of  the  relics  made  use  of 
their  gold  and  silver  settings,  which  they  replaced  as  new  offerings 
came  in.  "  Assuredly  "  (he  says)  "  if  the  bodies  of  the  saints  had  the 
places  belonging  to  them  by  nature,  I  mean  their  sepulchres,  they  would 
have  been  spared  these  errors.  .  .  .  Let  each  man  say  what  he  thinks,  I 
feel  quite  sure  of  my  conclusion,  that  it  would  never  have  pleased  God  or 
the  saints  themselves,  that  any  of  their  sepulchres  should  be  opened,  or 
their  bodies  taken  away  piece  by  piece." 


292  PILGRIMAGES  AS  PENANCE.  Chap.  XVII. 

found  special  saints  to  glorify  their  respective  orders.  The  Crusades 
brought  into  the  Western  Church  saints  hitherto  unknown,  and 
some  who  probably  never  had  any  existence,  such  as  St.  Catherine 
of  Alexandria,  whose  alleged  relics  were  imported  by  Simeon  of 
Treves  (cir.  1030).1 

§  10.  Even  after  the  failure  of  the  Crusades,  the  practice  of  Pil- 
grimage  retained  its  popularity  as  a  proof  of  devotion  and  penitence, 
often  by  way  of  commutation  for  severer  forms  of  penance;  and  this 
also  was  connected  with  the  abuses  of  indulgences  and  forged  relics.2 
For  the  longer  pilgrimages — such  as  to  Rome  and  the  shrine  of 
St.  James  at  Compostella,  plenary  indulgences  were  granted,  as 
well  as  for  that  to  Jerusalem;  and  these  again  were  commuted  for 
easier  journeys.3  Against  reliance  on  such  acts  weighty  protests 
were  uttered,  especially  by  the  monastic  reformers,  who  held  it 
better  to  "  follow  Christ  in  His  burial  "  by  entering  a  convent 
than  to  run  after  His  burial-place  at  Jerusalem.4     They  also  re- 

1  Baronius,  ad  Martyr.  Bom.  d.  25  Nov. ;  Fleury,  Hist.  Eccles.  lib.  lix. 
s.  27;  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  334;  Hardwick,  pp.  198,  424.  Respecting 
the  various  forms  of  the  legend  of  St.  George,  who  supplanted  Edward  the 
Confessor  as  the  patron  saint  of  England,  see  the  Diet,  of  Christian  Biog. 
s.  v.  Many  of  the  most  extravagant  legends  in  the  Greek  hagiographies 
of  Simeon  Metaphrnstes  (fl.  cir.  900)  were  copied  into  the  works  which 
became  permanently  popular  in  the  West.  Among  these  the  title  of 
Golden  Legend  was  given  to  the  Lombard  History,  or  Legends  of  the  Saints, 
by  the  Dominican  Jacobus  de  Voragine  (i.e.  of  Viraggio  or  Varese), 
archbishop  of  Genoa  (b.  cir.  1292).  The  system  of  allegorizing  the  saints' 
lives  was  carried  to  absurd  lengths  in  the  Bationale  of  Divine  Offices  by 
William  Durantis,  or  Durandus  (b.  1237  ;  d.  1296),  an  eminent  Professor 
of  Law  at  Bologna,  and  afterwards  Bishop  of  Mende.  The  lasting 
popularity  of  his  Bationale  is  attested  by  the  fact  that  it  was  the  earliest 
work  printed  by  Fust. 

2  Pilgrims  became  naturally  carriers  of  false  relics,  but  some  also 
forged  them  in  order  to  claim  the  character.  "  Innocent  III.  complains 
that,  for  the  sake  of  the  privileges  connected  with  the  Compostella  pil- 
grimage, the  scallop-shells  which  were  the  tokens  of  it  were  counterfeited 
(Epist.  x.  78)." — Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  269. 

3  "Thus  Calixtus  II.  allowed  the  English  and  Scots,  instead  of  going 
to  Rome,  to  content  themselves  with  resorting  to  St.  David's  (William 
Malmesb.  Gest.  Beg.  435)."  Robertson  (/.  c),  quoting  old  Fuller  (i.  298), 
"Witness  the  ancient  rhyming  verse:  'Roma  semel  quantum  bis  dat 
Menevia  tantum  ' :  not  that  St.  David's  gives  a  peck  of  pardons  where 
Rome  gives  but  a  gallon,  as  the  words  at  the  first  blush  may  seem  to 
import,  but  that  two  pilgrimages  to  St.  David's  should  be  equal  in  merit 
to  one  pilgrimage  to  Rome."  A  favourite  pilgrimage  was  to  "St. 
Patrick's  Purgatory,"  the  place  in  Ireland  where  the  saint  had  carried 
more  than  one  visitor  beneath  the  earth,  whether  in  person  or  in  vision, 
to  see  the  terrors  of  Purgatory. 

'  Hildebert,  i.  5 ;  Peter  of  Clugny,  Epist.  ii.  15.  So  Anselm  "  held 
that  a  vow  of  pilgrimage  was  fulfilled  by  entering  a  monastic  order ;  that 


Chap.  XVII.  PRETENDED  MIRACLES.  293 

proved  the  neglect  of  ordinary  duties  consequent  on  these  long 
journeys.1 

But  only  a  few  of  the  more  daring  spirits  ventured  to  question 
the  Miracles2  which  were  now  multiplied  far  and  wide;  like 
Abelard,3  who  explains  the  cures  of  diseases  by  the  mixture  of 
ordinary  remedies  with  food  and  drink,  while  the  priests  made  a 
display  of  their  prayers  and  benedictions  and  sanctified  bread  and 
water;  and  he  cites  the  ridiculous  failures  of  those  who  took  on 
themselves  to  raise  the  dtad,  like  Norbert  and  his  fellow-apostle 
Farsitus;  every  failure,  great  or  small,  being  ascribed  to  want  of 
faith  on  the  part  of  the  people.  A  grammarian  at  Bologna,  Buon- 
compagno,  ventured  on  a  practical  ridicule  of  the  miracles  of  a 
Dominican  friar,  John.  He  gave  out  that  he  also  would  perform  a 
miracle ;  and  having  drawn  a  crowd  of  people  out  of  the  city  to  see 
him  fly,  he  kept  them  waiting  there  a  long  time,  and  then  dis- 
missed them  with  the  words,  "  Depart  with  the  divine  blessing, 
and  let  it  content  you  to  have  seen  the  face  of  Buoncompagno."4 

thus  to  vow  one's  whole  life  to  God  was  more  than  the  partial  vows  of 
pilgrims  {Epist.  iii.  33,  116)." — Robertson,  /.  c. 

1  Hildebert  to  Fulk,  Count  of  Anjou  {Epist.  xv.)  ;  Bernard,  Epist.  Iii., 
264,  399. 

2  The  accounts  of  such  miracles  were  collected  by  Peter  the  Venerable, 
of  Clugny  (de  Mirarulis  sui  Temporis,  lib.  ii.)  ;  Herbert,  archbishop  of 
Torre,  in  Sardinia;  and  Caesarius  of  Heisterbach  (cir.  1227  :  de  Miracidis 
et  Visionibus  sum  ^Etatis,  libri  xii.)  ;  besides  the  accounts  of  the  miracles 
of  St.  Thomas  of  Canterbury,  by  William  of  Canterbury  and  Benedict  of 
Peterborough.  Among  the  most  remarkable  of  these  miracles  were  those 
which  enforced  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation  by  the  visible  appearance 
of  flesh  (sometimes  dropping  with  blood)  assumed  by  the  consecrated 
wafer.     (See  further  in  Chap.  XIX.) 

3  Sermo  XXXI.  de  S.  Joanne  Baptisto  ;  Gieseler,  iii.  337. 

4  Chron.  Fr.  Salimbeni  de  Adam.  ad.  ann.  1229;  ap.  Gieseler,  iii.  337. 
It  would  certainly  seem  that  there  must  have  been  a  strong  popular  sym- 
pathy with  the  grammarian's  scepticism  to  allow  him  to  play  off  his  jest 
with  safety  to  himself. 


St.  Peter  Fishing.     (From  the  Cjlixtine  Catacomb.) 
II— P 


The  Virgin  Enthroned. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

SAINT-WORSHIP   AND   MARIOLATRY. 
HYMNOLOGY  AND  SACRED  ART. 

1.  Worship  of  Saints  and  Images — Progress  of  Mariohtry — Festivals 
and  Titles  of  the  Blessed  Virgin — Orders  in  her  honour — the  Servites 
and  Cistercians.  §  2.  Language  of  Peter  Damiani — Deification  and 
Mediation  of  the  Virgin.  §  3.  St.  Bernard — Views  of  the  Schoolmen  : 
doctrine  of  hyperdulia.  §  4.  Hymns  and  Office  of  St.  Mary — The  Ave 
Maria  —  The  Marian  Psalters  —  Scriptures  applied  to  the  Virgin. 
§  5.  Feast  of  the  Conception — Development  of  the  Doctrine — View  of 
Anselm — Opposition  of  Bernard  and  others.  §  6.  The  Immaculate 
Conception  rejected  by  Thomas  Aquinas,  but  maintained  by  Duns 
Scotus  and  the  Franciscans — Finally  promulgated  by  Pius  IX.  (1854). 
§  7.  Latin  Hymns:  Dies  Irte ;  Stabat  Mater;  Adam  of  St.  Victor. 
§  8.  Great  Impulse  to  Church-building.  §  9.  The  Architecture  mis- 
called Gothic — The  Romanesque  or  Norman  style — Pointed  Archi- 
tecture: Early  English;  Decorated;  Perpendicular.  §  10.  Carving, 
Painting,  and  other  works  of  art — The  Renaissance. 

§  1.  The  miraculous  powers  referred  to  in  the  preceding  chapter 
were  often  attached  to  the  images  and  pictures,  the  worship  of 
which  had  now  been  long  established  in  the  Latin  as  well  as  the 


Chap.  XVIII.  RISE  OF  MARIOLATRY.  295 

Greek  Church.1  The  worship  of  the  Saints,  as  if  they  were  the 
tutelar  divinities  of  persons  and  places,  assumed  a  form  scarcely 
distinguishable  from  polytheism;  and,  as  they  were  exalted,  the 
Virgin  Mary  was  exalted  higher  and  higher  above  them,  and 
nearer  and  nearer  to  an  equality  with  the  Godhead.  The  spirit  of 
Mariolatry  among  all  classes  betrays  a  strange  mixture  of  religious 
doctrine,  monastic  devotion,  popular  feeling,  and  chivalric  idealism, 
often  of  a  character  really  erotic.2  We  have  seen  the  germ  of  the 
virtual  deification  of  the  Blessed  Virgin3  in  the  early  use  of  the  title 
"  Mother  of  God  "  (eeoroKos),  which  provoked  the  great  Nestorian 
controversy  ;4  and  we  have  traced  the  growth  of  her  worship,  espe- 
cially in  the  Eastern  Church,  as  a  female  mediator,  replacing  in  the 
minds  of  men  and  women  the  lost  goddesses  of  heathenism.5  Its 
progress  is  marked  by  the  new  festivals  established  in  her  honour, 
especially  that  of  the  Assumption  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  (Aug.  15), 
which  commemorated  her  being  taken  up  into  heaven  without 
death,  as  if  to  equal  her  with  her  divine  Son  in  His  resurrection. 
This  feast  was  instituted  by  the  Council  of  Mainz  (a.d.  813).6 

The  great  development  of  Mariolatry  belongs  to  the  time  of 
Gregory  VII.,  in  connection  with  the  revived  energy  of  religious 
life  in  the  monasteries.  Among  the  new  orders,7  the  monks  of 
Clugny  chose  the  Virgin  as  their  patron,  in  conjunction  with  John 

1  See  Part  I.  Chap.  XXI. 

2  For  thc  popular  German  songs  in  honour  of  the  Virgin,  and  the 
mixture  of  knightly  courtesy  with  her  worship,  assuming  the  form  even 
of  love-songs  by  the  Troubadours,  see  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  pp.  339-341.  In 
some  cases  we  trace  a  sensuousness  little  short  of  Paphian. 

3  Her  usual  ecclesiastical  titles  are  Beata  Maria  or  Virgo  (or  both 
combined),  Sancta  Maria,  &c. 

4  Part  I.  Chap.  XV.  §  3,  p.  352.  s  Ibid.  p.  452. 

6  The  first  great  festival  of  the  Annunciation  (March  25th,  commonly 
called  Lady  Day)  is  referred  to  the  5th  or  even  the  4th  century:  and  it 
is  worth  remembering  that  this  (rather  than  the  birth  of  Christ,  Dec.  25) 
was  the  epoch  first  used  in  chronology  as  that  of  the  Incarnation.  The 
Nativity  of  the  Virgin  (Sept.  8)  was  celebrated  at  an  early  period  both  in 
the  East  and  West ;  and  while  the  growing  honour  paid  to  her  is  marked 
by  the  change  of  the  feast  of  Christ's  Presentation  in  the  Temple  into  the 
Purification  of  St.  Mary  (Feb.  2,  Candlemas),  her  own  Presentation  (her 
imaginary  dedication  to  the  service  of  the  Temple,  Nov.  21)  was  made, a 
feast  of  the  Greek  Church,  though  it  was  not  adopted  in  the  West  till  the 
14th  century.  The  legend  commemorated  by  the  feast  of  the  Assumption 
originated  in  a  mere  conjecture  of  Epiphanius  (Hxr.  lxxviii.  11)  that  she 
never  died,  supported  by  sermons  falsely  ascribed  to  Jerome  and  Augustine 
(see  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  pp.  231-2).  The  word  assumptio  (&c.  in  caelum) 
was  originally  applied  to  the  death  of  saints,  without  any  suggestion  of  a 
miracle  (Du  Cange,  s.  v.).  For  a  full  account  of  the  Feasts  of  the  Virgin 
see  the  Diet,  of  Christian  Antiqq.,  art.  Mary,  Festivals  of  ;  see  also  the 
article  Mary  (in  Art).  7  Respecting  these,  see  Chap.  XX. 


296  PROGRESS  OF  MARIOLATRY.  Chap.  XVIII. 

the  Baptist;  the  Carmelites  were  styled  the  "hermit  friars  of 
St.  Mary  ; "  the  Servites  adopted  their  name  to  express  their  servitude 
to  her  (servi  B.  Marise  Virginis) ;  but  the  Cistercians  are  described 
as,  from  their  first  foundation,  distinguished  above  all  the  other 
religious  orders  for  their  special  devotion  to  the  glorious  Virgin,1 
and  all  their  churches  were  dedicated  to  her. 

§  2.  The  extravagantly  hyperbolic  language,  with  which  writers 
and  especially  preachers  now  vied  in  inflaming  the  minds  of  men  with 
adoration  and  something  more,  is  flr.st  found  in  the  Sermons  of  the  rigid 
ascetic,  Peter  Damiani,  the  great  friend  of  Gregory  VII.2  Though 
regarding  Mary  as  a  created  being,  he  places  her  above  all  the  greatest 
of  God's  other  creatures,  both  in  the  excellence  of  her  nature  and  the 
special  object  of  her  existence.  "  The  works  of  God's  fingers  made 
nothing  so  excellent,  so  glorious."  "  When  God  made  all  His  works 
very  good,  He  made  this  one  (Maria)  better,  consecrating  in  her  for 
Himself" — a  relation  in  which  the  mystery  of  the  incarnation  is  ex- 
pressed in  language  too  daring  to  be  plainly  quoted.3  Following  up 
this  idea,  he  represents  God  as  announcing  the  design  of  man's  re- 
demption, and  the  renewal  of  all  creation,  to  a  council  of  admiring 
and  rejoicing  angels — not  as  in  Milton's  sufficiently  bold  description 
of  the  covenant  between  the  Father  and  the  Son,  but—"  from  the 
treasure  of  divinity  the  name  of  Mary  is  brought  out  (evoloitur), 
and  through  her,  and  in  her,  and  of  her,  and  with  her,  all  this  is 
decreed  to  be  done,  that,  as  without  Him  nothing  was  made,  so 
without  Her  nothing  should  be  made ! "  4 

And  as  her  part  in  the  new  creation  is  thus  made,  if  not  equal, 
certainly  co-ordinate  with  that  of  the  Father  and  the  Son,  so  her 
entrance  into  heaven  is  even  more  glorious  than  His.5  The 
Assumption  is  "  that  sublime  day,  on  which  the  royal  Virgin  is 
carried  to  the  throne  of  God  the  Father,  and,  enthroned  on  the 
very  seat  of  the  Trinity,  invites  also  the  angelic  nature  to  behold 
her  glory.  The  whole  concourse  of  Angels  is  gathered  arouud  to 
see  the  Queen  6  seated  on  the  right  hand  of  the  Lord  of  virtues 

1  These  are  the  express  words  of  the  Privilegium  granted  to  the  order 
by  Gregory  IX.  (Giesekr,  iii.  340). 

2  De  Nativitate  and  de  Annunciatione  Marise,  ap.  Gieseler,  vol.  ii.  p.  427. 

3  Sermo  xi.  de  Annnnciatione  B.  V.M.  Nor  is  Damiani  alone  in  thus 
applying  the  Song  of  Solomon  to  Mary,  who  is  thereby  made  the  bride  as 
well  as  the  mother  of  God.  4  Referring  to  John  i.  3. 

5  Sermo  xl.  de  Assumptione  B.  V.  M. 

6  The  constant  application  to  the  Virgin  of  the  title  Regina  coeli  not 
only  shows  the  growing  tendency  to  invest  her  with  a  co-ordinate  share 
of  God's  power  in  heaven  and  over  creation,  but  betrays  the  hankering 
after  the  old  heathen  idea  of  female  divinities,  the  "survival  "  of  which, 
perhaps,  formed  the  chief  root  of  Mariolatry.  She  was  also  called  Mother 
of  Mercy,  Blessed  Queen  of  the  World,  &c. 


Chap.  XVIII.    APOTHEOSIS  OF  THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN.  297 

in   her   golden   robe When    the   Lord   ascended,   all   that 

glorious  company  of  blessed  spirits  went  out  to  meet  Him.  Now 
lift  up  your  eyes  to  the  assumption  of  the  Virgin,  and — saving  the 
majesty  of  the  Son — you  will  find  the  concourse  of  this  procession 
even  much  more  worthy !  For  only  angels  could  meet  the  Redeemer, 
but  when  the  Mother  entered  the  palace  vf  heaven,  the  Son  himself 
going  out  in  state  to  meet  her,  with  the  whole  court  both  ot 
Angels  and  of  the  Just,  carried  her  to  the  assembly  of  the  blessed 
session,1  and  says  '  Thou  art  all  fair,  my  love ;  there  is  no  spot  in 
thee'  (Cant.  iv.  7)."2 

This  exaltation  is  distinctly  declared  to  be  a  real  apotheosis  of 
the  Virgin's  human  nature,  in  which  she  is  again  likened  to  the 
risen  Saviour  in  the  retention  of  human  sympathy.  In  a  direct 
apostrophe  to  her,  Damiani  says,3  "  Because  thou  art  thus  deified, 
hast  thou  forgotten  our  humanity  ?  By  no  means,  0  Lady  (Do- 
mino)," a  title  which  means  more  than  the  mere  reverence  of  "  our 
Lady." 

As  the  relations  of  God  to  man  were  made  more  and  more  an 
awful  mystery,  in  which  perfect  love  was  cast  out  by  fear,  and 
recourse  was  had  to  the  mediation  of  Saints,  what  mediation  could 
be  so  powerful  as  hers,  who  had  now  become  fully  recognized  as  the 
Mother  of  God,  and  who  had  womanly  sympathy  with  mankind? 
But  Damiani  goes  so  far  as  to  ascribe  to  her  a  sort  of  mediation, 
not  only  omnipotent  through  the  power  of  God,  but  even  directing 
His  power  by  her  authority !  Not  content  with  applying  to  her 
the  mediatorial  prerogative  of  the  Son — "All  power  is  given  to 
thee,  in  heaven  and  in  earth ;  nothing  is  impossible  to  thee,  to 
whom  it  is  possible  to  raise  up  the  despairing  to  the  hope  of 
blessedness " — he  adds  this  as  the  reason  :  "  For  how  can  that 
power,  which  took  its  origin  from  the  flesh  of  thy  flesh,  resist  thy 
power  ?  For  thou  approachest  to  that  golden  altar  of  man's  recon- 
ciliation,4 not  only  asking  hut  commanding,  as  a  mistress  (Domina), 
not  a  handmaid  (ancilla)." 

1  We  give,  as  safest,  the  literal  rendering  of  the  phrase  ad  beatse 
consistorium  sessionis ;  that  it  means  the  throne  of  the  Trinity  seems 
clear  from  the  first  sentence  above  :  "  Sublimis  ista  dies,  in  qua  Virgo 
regaiis  ad  thronum  Dei  patris  evehitur,  et  in  ipsius  Trinitatis  sede  repo- 
sita,"  &c. 

2  This  passage  of  the  Song  of  Solomon  was  afterwards  used  to  support 
the  dogma  of  the  Immaculate  Conception  of  the  Virgin  Mary. 

3  Sermo  xlv.  or  i.  de  Nativ.  Marix,  ap.  Gieseler,  vol.  ii.  p.  427. 

4  Referring  to  Hcbr<ws  ix.,  where  the  mediatorial  office  of  Christ  is  set 
forth  as  the  antitype  of  the  High  Priest's  entrance  into  the  Holy  of  Holies 
on  the  great  Day  of  Atonement ;  another  example  of  applying  to  Mnry 
what  belongs  in  Scripture  to  Christ  only. 


298  DULIA  AND  HYPERDULIA.  Chap.  XVIII. 

§  8.  The  like  ideas  were  afterwards  expressed  even  more  clearly  in 
the  more  measured  language  of  St.  Bernard,1  calling  on  his  hearers 
to  venerate  Mary  with  their  inmost  hearts  and  affections  and  all 
their  prayers,  because  God  "has  willed  that  we  should  have  all 
things  through  Mary."  He  represents  fallen  man  hiding  from  the 
face  of  the  Father  (Gen.  iii.  7,  10),  who  gives  him  Jesus  as 
Mediator  :  "  But  even  in  Him,  perhaps,  you  fear  the  Divine  Majesty, 
because  though  He  was  made  man,  He  still  remained  God.  Would 
you  have  an  advocate  also  with  Him  ?  Have  recourse  to  Mary.  .  .  . 
He  will  hejr  her  as  a  Son  his  Mother,  and  the  Father  will  hear  the 
Son-"2  and  the  impossibility  of  His  refusing  her  mediation  is 
argued  from  the  angelic  salutation,  "  Fear  not  Mary,  for  thou  hast 
found  favour  with  God"  (Luke  i.  30).  When  the  relation  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin  to  the  Son  and  the  Father  was  once  put  thus,  what 
limit  could  be  placed  to  her  power  with  God  on  behalf  of  man,  or 
to  the  honour  due  to  her  and  the  adoration  by  which  her  aid  was 
invoked? 

In  answering  this  question,  the  scholastic  divines  drew  a  dis- 
tinction, which  tended  rather  to  obliterate  than  define  the  limit. 
There  was  already  vagueness  enough  in  the  old  difference  attempted 
to  be  made  between  the  adoration  of  worship  (Aarpeia,  latria)  due  to 
God  alone,  and  the  adoration  of  service  (dovXeia,  dulia),  which  might 
be  rendered  to  the  Saints.  Peter  Lombard  was  the  first  to  imagine 
an  intermediate  form  of  adoration  (a  higher  dulia),  as  due  to  the 
human  nature  of  Christ,  full  worship  (latria)  being  reserved  for 
His  Divine  nature ;  but  from  this  higher  dulia  he  expressly  ex- 
cludes evert/  other  created  being.3  When,  however,  his  followers 
abandoned  this  distinction  as  applied  to  the  worship  due  to  Christ, 
they  claimed  the  higher  sort  of  dulia  for  the  Virgin,4  under  the 
name  of  hyperdulia,  which  is  thus  finally  explained  by  Thomas 
Aquinas  :  "  Since  then  the  Blessed  Virgin  is  a  mere  rational  creature, 
the  adoration  of  latria  is  not  due  to  her,  but  only  the  veneration 
of  dulia ;  but  yet  in  a  more  exalted  degree  than  to  other  creatures, 
inasmuch  as  she  is  the  Mother  of  God.  And  therefore  it  is  said 
that  what  is  due  to  her  is  not  any  mere  form  of  dulia,  but  hyper- 
dulia;" which  he  elsewhere  defines  as  "  a  mean  between  latria  and 
dulia.'"  6 

1  Sermo  in  Nativ.  B.  Marias,  ap.  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  340-1. 

2  Compare  the  language  of  the  Hsalterium  Majus  J>.  Maria  Vinjinis, 
Psalm  xciii. :  "God  is  the  Lord  of  vengeance,  but  thou,  Mother  of  Mercy, 
turuest  Him  to  pity  "  ! 

3  Sentent.  lib.  iii.  dist.  9,  ap.  Gieseler,  iii.  341. 

4  Alex.  Halesius,  Swnmi,  pars.  iii.  qu.  30;  Bonaventura,  Sentent.  lib. 
ii.  dist.  9,  art.  1,  qu.  3;  Thorn.  Aquin.    Sunma,   pars.  iii.  qu.  25,  art.  5. 

5  Secunda  secundae,  qu.  103,  art.  4. 


Chap.  XVIII.     FORMS  OF  WORSHIP  TO  THE  VIRGIN  299 

§  4.  This  attempted  refinement  vanishes  when  we  turn  to  the 
honours  actually  paid  to  the  Virgin  and  the  forms  of  worship 
addressed  to  her ;  beginning  in  the  monasteries,  and  afterwards 
adopted  throughout  the  Church.  As  early  as  the  tenth  century,  we 
find  in  the  convents  a  weekly  service  "  in  honour  of  Mary,  the 
Mother  of  God  -,"1  and  the  hymns  of  praise  to  her  were  developed 
into  a  form  of  service,  the  Officium  Sanctx  Marix,  which  is  still  in 
use.  Its  full  establishment  is  due  to  the  zealot  Peter  Damiani,2  who 
gives  the  assurance  of  eternal  hope  to  those  who  paid  their  daily 
vows  of  '* hours"  to  the  Blessed  Queen  of  the  World,  and  says  that 
it  was  already  a  good  old  custom  in  some  churches  to  celebrate 
offices  of  Masses  in  her  honour  every  Sabbath  (i.e.  Saturday); 
s.j  that  there  were  three  sacred  days  in  every  week  (besides  the 
Sunday),  one  in  commemoration  of  the  Cross  of  Christ,  another  of 
Mary,  and  another  of  all  the  Saints.  Damiani's  rule  was  resisted 
as  an  innovation  in  the  Italian  monasteries,  especially  by  Gozo,  a 
Benedictine,  who  even  persuaded  his  brethren  to  discontinue  their 
accustomed  hymns  to  the  Virgin ;  but  thereupon  the  convent  met 
with  great  disasters,  which  only  ceased  when  the  monks  promised 
unanimously  to  resume  the  wonted  praises  of  the  Mother  of  God. 
As  early  as  1095,  it  was  decreed  by  Urban  II.  at  the  Council  of 
Clermont  that  the  Hours  of  St.  Mary  should  be  said  daily,  and  her 
Office  on  Saturdays.  The  Council  of  Toulouse  (1229)  prescribed 
also  to  the  laity  devout  visits  to  their  churches  on  Saturday  even- 
ings in  honour  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary.  And  as,  besides 
Sundays,  the  great  feasts  were  dedicated  to  the  Lord,  so,  besides 
Saturdays,  their  vigils  were  consecrated  to  His  mother.3 

It  was  also  in  the  time  of  Damiani  that  the  "  Angelic  Saluta- 
tion," which  the  humble  Virgin  of  Nazareth  heard  with  fear  and 
tremVing,4  began  to  be  addressed  to  her  in  countless  repetitions 

1  See  Gebhard's  Life  of  Udalric.  bishop  of  Augsburg  (923-973),  ap. 
Gieseler,  vol.  ii.  p.  428.  For  the  general  u-e  of  the  service  in  monasteries 
from  the  time  of  Hildebrand  we  have  this  testimony  in  the  12th  century  : 
"  In  Cceuobiis  canticum  novum  celebratur,  cum  a  tempore  Papse  Sepiimi 
Gregorii  cursus  b.  Marias  frequentatur.  Gerhoh,  Comtn.  in  Ps,  xxxix.  4, 
ap.  Gieseler,  iii.  342. 

2  Damiani  himself  composed  an  Officium  8.  Marise. 

3  In  the  13th  century  many  kept  a  fast  of  forty  days  before  the  festival 
of  the  Assumption ;  aud  the  forms  of  devotion  to  the  Virgin  were  multi- 
plied in  the  convents.  See  the  examples  given  by  Robertson,  vol.  iii. 
p.  616. 

4  Luke  i.  27-30.  The  novelty  of  the  practice  is  proved  by  Damiani's 
mentioning  it  as  something  singular,  that  an  ecclesiastic  had  daily  saluted 
the  Virgin  with  the  words  of  the  Angel  (Luke  i.  28):  "A-e  Maria,  gratia 
plena,  Dominus  tecum,  benedicta  tu  in  mulieribus."  This  was  the  original 
formula  of  the  Ave  Maria]  the  fuller   form    was   framed  little  by  little 


300  THE  MARIAN  PSALTERS.  Chap.  XVIII. 

every  day,  and,  soon  afterwards,  by  the  aid  of  the  rosary,  Ave 
Marias  and  Pater  Nosters  divided  the  mechanical  form  of  prayer 
between  God  and  Mary. 

The  high  flown  language  of  these  forms  of  devotion  to  the  Virgin 
culminates  in  the  Marian  Psalters,  the  Lesser  and  the  Greater,1  the 
latter  being  for  the  most  part  a  parody  of  the  Psalms  of  David. 
The  mingling  of  female  perfections  with  divine  power  is  seen  in 
the  1st  Psalm :  "  Blessed  is  the  man  who  loves  thy  name,  0  Virgin 
Mary :  thou  shalt  comfort  his  soul  with  thy  grace.  .  .  .  Thou 
excellest  all  women  in  beauty:  thou . surpassest  Angels  and  Arch- 
angels in  the  excellence  of  thy  holiness."  Nor  does  the  imitator 
hesitate  to  apply  to  her  the  words  which  express  the  exaltation  of 
the  Son  of  God  above  all  created  beings 2  (Ps.  109)  :  "  The  Lord 
(Dominus)  said  to  our  Lady  (Domina),  Sit,  Mother,  on  my  right 
hand :  Goodness  and  holiness  have  pleased  thee :  therefore  thou 
shalt  reign  with  me  for  ever."  In  the  same  spirit  the  Bible  was 
searched  for  passages  to  be  transferred  from  Christ  to  Mary,  and  for 
figures,  the  application  of  which  is  often  either  ridiculous  or  pro- 
fane, or  both  combined.  Thus  she  was  said  to  be  the  Bock  on 
which  Christ  was  to  build  His  Church,  because  she  alone  remained 
firm  in  faith  during  the  interval  between  His  death  and  resurrection.3 
She  was  said  to  be  typified  by  the  tree  of  life,  by  the  ark  of  Noah, 
by  Jacob's  ladder  which  reached  to  heaven,  by  Aaron's  rod  that 
budded,  and  by  other  Scriptural  figures,  down  to  the  Apocalyptic 
woman  clothed  with  the  sun,  and  with  the  moon  under  her  feet. 

§  5.  Amidst  all  this  excess  of  reverence  and  adoration,  Mary  was 
still  acknowledged  to  be  a  created  being,  though  above  all  other 
creatures.  It  remained  still  further  to  distinguish  her  nature  from 
theirs,  and  to  make  it  equal  with  the  human  nature  of  Christ,  by  the 
doctrine  which  has  been  finally  developed  into  that  of  her  Immaculate 
Conception.  The  first  step  had  been  taken  long  before,  of  supposing 
the  Blessed  Virgin  free  from  any  taint  of  actual  sin  ; 4  but  it  was  still 

after  the  beginning  of  the  16th  century,  and  was  first  honoured  with 
universal  acceptance  by  the  Church  by  the  Brcviarium  Pii  IV — Gieseler, 
vol.  iii.  pp.  342-3. 

1  The  Psalterium  Minus  and  the  Psalterium  31ajns  B.  Marise  Virginis, 
both  of  which  were  ascribed  to  Bonaventura,  as  a  similar  work,  the  Biblia 
Mariana,  was  to  Albertus  Magnus,  but,  it  seems,  equally  without  good 
reason.     The  works,  however,  certainly  belong  to  their  age. 

2  Comp.  Ps.  ex.  1  with  Matt.  xxii.  44;  Mark  xii.  36;  Luke  xx.  42; 
Acts  ii.  34 ;  1  Cor.  xv.  2o ;  Heb.  ii.  13  ;  1  Pet.  iii.  22.  See  also  Ps.  xxxiii. 
5,  xlv.  6,  7. 

3  Bonaventura,  Speculum  B.  Virginis,  12;  a  work  full  of  the  most  high- 
flown  language  in  her  honour. 

4  The  primitive  doctrine,  down  to  the  end  of  the  5th  century,  taught 
not  only  Mary's  subjection  to  actual  as  well   as  original  sin,  but  that  she 


Chap.  XVIII.  FEAST  OF  THE  CONCEPTION.  301 

held  that  she  shared  with  all  humanity  the  guilt  of  original  sin, 
which  Anselm,  for  example,  emphatically  applies  to  her  in  the 
language  of  the  Psalmist,1  saying  that  "  though  the  conception  of 
Jesus  was  pure,  .  .  .  yet  the  Virgin  was  conceived  in  iniquity,  and 
in  sin  did  her  mother  conceive  her,  and  she  was  born  with  original 
sin,  because  she  herself  also  sinned  in  Adam,  in  whom  all  sinned."2 
And  this  continued  to  be  the  prevalent  opinion  among  the  great 
schoolmen  (with  the  exceptions  to  be  presently  noticed)  throughout 
the  Middle  Ages. 

It  seems  strange,  with  this  clear  expression  of  Anselm's  views 
before  us,  that  he  should  have  been  represented  as  sanctioning,3 
or  even  himself  instituting,  the  Feast  of  the  Conception  (Dec.  8)  in 
England  ;  but  this  account  is  legendary.  The  festival  does  not 
appear  in  history  till  the  following  century  (the  twelfth) ;  and  at 
first  it  was  only  a  commemoration  of  the  fact  of  the  conception  of 
St.  Mary,  the  Mother  of  Christ,  in  imitation  of  the  festival  of  the 
Annunciation,  which  commemorates  the  conception  of  her  Son.4 
The  superadded  idea  of  something  beyond  the  ordinary  case  of 
humanity  was  at  first  that  of  holy  conception,  that  is,  free  from  the 
guilt  of  original  sin,  but  not  supernatural  like  that  of  Christ ;  and 
when  the  latter  idea  was  first  started,  as  we  shall  presently  see, 
about  the  end  of  the  13th  century,  it  was  long  before  the  term 
immaculate  was  adopted.  The  opposition  to  the  new  festival,  as  exhi- 
biting the  new  doctrine  of  a  holy  conception,  was  led  by  no  less  a 

did  in  fact  fall  into  sins  of  infirmity.  (See  the  testimonies  of  Tertullian, 
Origen,  Basil,  Chrysostom,  &c,  cited  in  the  Diet,  of  Christian  Biog.  vol.  ii. 
p.  1145. 

1  Ps.  ii.  5. 

2  But  he  seems  to  regard  her  nature  as  freed  from  all  possibility  of  sin, 
though  her  sanctification  took  place  after  birth,  and  by  some  mysterious 
working  of  faith.     Cur  Deus  Homo,  ii.  16, 17, 18  ;  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  343. 

3  The  Le/jenda  Aurea  quotes  Anselm  as  the  authority  for  the  story 
that  the  Abbot  Helsinus,  being  sent  on  a  mission  to  Denmark  by  William 
the  Conqueror,  was  caught  in  a  storm  on  his  return,  and,  praying  for 
help  to  St.  Mary,  saw  a  vision  of  a  grave  ecclesiastic  on  the  waves,  who 
assured  him  of  safety  on  condition  of  his  founding  the  Feast  of  the  Con- 
ception of  St.  Manj  on  Dec.  8  (1067).  In  England  it  was  only  in  1328 
that  a  Council  at  London  accepted  its  imposition  by  Simon  Mepeham, 
archbishop  of  Canterbury,  who  then  ascribed  its  institution  to  Anselm, 
doubtless  on  the  authority  of  the  Legenda  Aurea.  The  passages  in  its 
favour  quoted  from  Anselm  by  recent  controversialists  are  really  in  work.* 
by  other  authors  or  interpolated.  (See  Diet,  of  Christian  Biog.  vol.  ii. 
p.  1145;  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  264.)  A  Council  at  Oxford,  in  1222,  had 
prescribed  the  keeping  of  "  all  the  feasts  of  S.  Mary,  except  that  of  the 
Conception,  the  celebration  of  which  is  not  imposed  of  necessity.'''' — Gieseler, 
vol.  iii.  p.  344. 

4  For  the  way  in  which  this  parallel  was  worked  out,  see  Gieseler, 
vol.  iii.  pp.  314—  5. 

II— P  2 


302  OPPOSITION  OF  ST.  BERNARD.  Chap.  XVIII. 

person  than  St.  Bernard,  who  condemned  it  as  alike  novel,  heterodox, 
and  unauthorized.  His  views  are  fully  expressed  in  a  letter  of  sharp 
rebuke  to  the  canons  of  Lyon,1  because  "some  of  them  had  wished 
to  change  what  was  already  excellent  by  introducing  a  celebration 
unknown  to  the  ritual  of  the  Church,  not  approved  by  reason,  nor 
recommended  b}^  ancient  tradition."  He  had  learnt  from  the  Church 
to  regard  the  birth  of  the  Virgin  as  undoubtedly  holy  and  to  be  kept 
as  a  feast,  "  holding  with  the  Church  that  she  received  in  the  womb 
the  privilege  to  be  born  without  sin."  Others  had  been  made  holy 
before  their  birth;2  but  he  will  not  venture  to  say  how  far  this 
sanctification  availed  against  original  sin.  "  Beyond  all  doubt  also 
the  Mother  of  the  Lord  was  holy  before  she  was  born  ; "  and  there- 
fore the  Church  is  right  in  keeping  the  day  of  her  birth  as  a  joyful 
festival  throughout  the  world,  because  "a  more  abundant  blessing 
of  sanctification  came  down  upon  her,  not  only  to  sanctify  har  own 
birth,  but  also  to  keep  her  life  thenceforth  free  from  all  sin ;  which 
is  believed  to  have  been  granted  to  none  else  of  those  born  of  women. 
What  (he  asks)c?o  we  suppose  is  still  to  be  added  to  these  honours  t" 
To  the  reply,  "  that  her  conception  should  be  honoured,  which  pre- 
ceded her  honourable  birth,"  he  rejoins;  "that  the  same  reason 
would  apply  to  all  her  ancestors  in  an  infinite  series."  As  to  the 
doctrine  itself,  he  adds:  "Although  it  has  been  given  to  some, 
however  few,  among  the  sons  of  men  to  be  born  holy,  yet  to  noue  to 
be  also  thus  conceived,  that  the  prerogative  of  a  holy  conception  might 
be  reserved  for  One  only,  who  should  sanctify  all  and  make,  a  cleans- 
ing of  sins,  being  Himself  the  only  one  who  comes  without  sin. 
It  is  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  alone  that  was  conceived  by  the  Holy 
Ghost,  for  He  alone  was  holy  before  His  conception.  Excepting 
Him,  the  humble  and  true  confession  (quoting  Ps.  li.  5)  applies  to 
every  one  else  of  Adam's  children.  Then  what  can  be  the  meaning 
of  a  Festival  of  her  Conception  ?  How  can  a  conception  be  said  to  be 
holy,  which  is  not  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  not  to  say,  which  is  of  sinf 
or  how  can  it  be  regarded  as  a  matter  for  festive  celebration,  when 
it  is  not  holy  ?  The  glorious  woman  will  be  ready  enough  to  go 
without  an  honour,  which  seems  either  to  honour  sin,  or  to  attribute 
a  holiness  which  did  not  exist." 

The  protest  of  Bernard  was  supported  by  various  eminent  contem- 
poraries ;s  and  the  general  rejection  of  the  festival,  up  to  or  beyond 

1  Efiist.  174,  cited  by  Gieseler,  vol.  Hi.  p.  343,  and  the  Rev.  F.  Meyrick, 
n  the  Diet,  of  Christian  Antiqq.  vol.  ii.  p.  1145. 

2  He  names  Jeremiah,  as  he  had  read  in  Jer.   ii.  5 ;  John  the  Baptist 
(Luke  i.  41)  ;  and  possibly  David  (on  the  ground  of  Ps.  Ixx.  6  ;  xxi.  11,  12). 

3  For   example:    Potho,  a   presbyter   of   Priim,    after    questioning    the 
reasonableness  of  introducing   the   Feast  of  the   Trinity  and  that  of  the 


Chap.  XVIIL        OPINION  OF  THOMAS  AQUINAS.  303 

the  end  of  the  12th  century,  may  be  inferred  from  the  language  of 
the  ritualist  Belethus : !  "  Some  have  sometimes  celebrated  the  Feast 
of  the  Conception,  and  still  perhaps  celebrate  it ;  but  it  is  not 
authorized  (or  genuine,  authenticum)  and  approved ;  nay,  it  seems 
that  it  ought  rather  to  be  prohibited,  for  she  was  conceived  in  sin ;" 
and  this  conclusion  is  expressly  adopted  by  his  follower  Durandus, 
the  great  ritualist  authority  of  the  13th  century.2 

§  6.  During  that  century,  however,  the  celebration  made  steady 
] >rogress ; 3 and  even  Thomas  Aquinas4  allows  that,  "although  the 
lioman  Church  does  not  celebrate  the  Conception  of  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
yet  she  tolerates  the  usage  of  some  churches  which  celebrate  that 
feast.  Wherefore  such  celebration  is  not  to  be  wholly  blamed." 
But  yet,  he  forthwith  adds,  it  must  not  be  understood  from  the 
fact  of  the  celebration,  that  the  Virgin  was  holy  in  her  conception  ; 
but,  because  it  is  unknown  at  what  time  she  was  sanctified,  the  feast 
of  her  sanctification,  rather  than  of  her  conception,  is  celebrated  on 
the  day  of  her  conception.  Of  her  sanctification  in  the  womb 
nothing  is  delivered  to  us  in  canonical  Scripture,  neither  does  it 
mention  her  Nativity;  but  the  doctrine  may  be  reasonably  in- 
ferred.5 He  defines  this  sanctification  to  be  a  cleansing  from  the 
original  sin  in  which  she  had  been  conceived ;  and  he  argues  that  if 
her  soul  (or  "  life,"  anima) 6  had  never  incurred  the  stain  of  original 

Transfiguration,  says  :  "  To  these  is  added  by  some  what  seems  more  absurd 
— a  feast  also  of  the  Conception  of  St.  Mary  {Be  Statu  Domua  Dei,  lib.  iii.). 
Peter  of  La  Celle,  abbot  of  St.  Remigius  at  Rheims,  defended  Bernard's 
views  against  the  vehement  attack  of  Nicolas,  a  monk  of  St.  Albans 
(cir.  1175).— Gieseler,  iii.  344. 

1  Divin.  Offic.  Explicatio,  c.  146  (ap.  Gieseler,  /.  c).  Belethus  appears 
to  have  flourished  at  Paris  or  Amboise  (or  both)  about  1182.  His  work 
is  frequently  appended  to  the  Rationale  of  Durandus  (J.b.  p.  313). 

2  Rationale,  lib.  vii.  c.  7  (Gieseler,  ib.  p.  345). 

3  See  the  examples  cited  by  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  344,  n.  18.  Observe 
that  it  was  still  simply  the  Feast  of  the  Conception,  without  any  such 
epithet  as  Immaculate  or  even  Holy. 

*  Summa,  pars  iii.  qu.  27  ;  ap.  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  pp.  345-6. 

5  Just  as  (he  says)  the  fact  of  her  being  taken  up  to  heaven  in  the  body 
may  be  reasonably  inferred,  for  which  he  quotes  Augustine  in  that 
{spurious)  Sermon  on  the  Assumption,  which  greatly  influenced  the  school- 
men's views  of  the  honours  due  to  the  Virgin.  As  to  the  little  weight 
given  to  the  authority  of  Scripture,  St.  Bernard  had  already  dismissed  the 
Scriptural  arguments  for  the  higher  view  of  the  doctrine  as  of  no  weight 
if  unsupported  by  reason  and  the  authority  of  the  Fathers:  "Ipse  mihi 
facile  persuadeo  script  is  talibus  mm  mover  i,  quibus  nee  ratio  supped  itare, 
nee  certa  invenitur  favere  auctoritas  "  (in  the  Epist.  174,  referred  to  above). 

6  This  was  the  point  on  which  the  controversy  turned,  Aquinas  holding, 
with  the  other  great  schoolmen  of  the  13th  century,  that  the  Virgin  was 
not  made  holy  ante  animationem  (see  the  passages  cited  by  Gieseler,  I.e.). 
Such  are  the  subtilties  of  the  scholastic  divinity! 


304  THE  FRANCISCANS  AND  DUNS  SCOTUS.     Chap.  XVIII. 

sin,  she  would  not  have  needed  the  redemption  and  salvation  which 
is  through  Christ,  which  would  derogate  from  the  dignity  of  Christ 
as  the  universal  Saviour  of  all  mankind.  As  to  her  own  sinlessness, 
he  concludes  that  "  it  is  simply  to  be  confessed  that  the  Blessed 
Virgin  committed  no  actual  sin,  so  that  thus  is  fulfilled  in  her,  what 
is  written  in  Canticles  iv.  7  :  '  Thou  art  all  fair,  my  love ;  there  is 
no  spot  in  thee.'  "  l 

In  these  views  the  "  Angelic  Doctor "  of  the  Dominicans  gave 
the  weight  of  his  authority  to  the  opinion  prevalent  in  the  13th  cen- 
tury, even  among  the  Franciscans,2  whose  "  subtile  Doctor,"  at  the 
end  of  the  century,  became  the  great  teacher  of  the  higher  doctrine, 
though  even  Duns  Scotus  did  not  venture  to  affirm  it  as  certain. 
He  states  this  threefold  alternative:3  "It  was  in  God's  power  to 
make  her  so  that  she  never  was  in  original  sin ;  or  only  for  one 
instant ;  or  that  she  was  in  sin  for  some  time,  and  was  cleansed 
from  it  at  the  last  moment  of  that  time.  Which  of  these  three  pos- 
sibilities took  place  in  fact,  God  knows;  but  it  seems  probable  to 
assign  to  Mary  that  which  is  the  more  excellent,  if  it  be  not  opposed 
to  the  authority  of  the  Church  or  the  authority  of  Scripture."* 
As  a  part  of  the  general  controversy  between  Thomists  and  Scotists 
the  Franciscans  henceforth  took  the  festival  and  doctrine  under  their 
special  protection;  and  from  the  14th  century  onwards,  the  belief  in 

1  As  he  quotes  from  the  Vulgate,  Tota  pulchra  es,  arnica  mea,  et  macnh 
non  est  in  te,"  where  the  word  macula  became  the  great  Scripture 
authority  for  the  doctrine  of  the  Immaculate  Conception. 

2  See  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  345,  n.  17.  Let  it  be  remembered  that, 
though  Aquinas  was  a  Dominican,  Alexander  of  Hales  and  Bonaventura 
were  both  Franciscans. 

3  Sentent.  lib.  iii.  dist.  3,  qu.  1,  §  9  ;  ap.  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  346. 

4  More  decisive,  but  still  brief,  is  the  passage  (dist.  18,  qu.  1,  §  13), 
"  Virgo  mater  Dei  nunquam  fuit  inimica  actualiter  ratione  peccati 
actualis,  nee  ratione  originalis  (fuisset  tamen,  nisi  fuisset  pra?servata)."  It 
appears  especially  strange  to  the  later  Franciscans  that  their  Duct  r 
Subtilis  is  so  short  on  this  head  ;  accordingly  they  consider  that  his  prin- 
cipal works  on  this  subject  must  have  been  lost  (e.g.  Hugo  Cavellus  in 
the  Vita  Scoti,  prefixed  to  his  Quzes'i >ne*). — Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  pp.  346-7. 
The  later  Franciscans  state  that  (about  1304)  Duns  Scotus  defended  the 
doctrine  of  the  Immaculate  Conception  against  200  Dominicans  in  a  public 
disputation  at  Paris,  and  thereby  induced  the  University  to  impose  on 
commencing  graduates  an  oath  to  defend  the  Blessed  Virgin  from  original 
guilt,  and  to  decree  the  annual  celebration  of  the  "  Feast  of  the  Im- 
maculate Conception."  But  the  earliest  authorities  for  this  are  late  in 
the  15th  century,  and  even  they  place  the  decree  no  earlier  than  1333; 
and  there  is  no  trace  of  it  in  the  Acts  of  the  University.  The  "  Gallic 
nation"  first  decreed  the  celebration  in  1380,  and  the  University  de- 
clared the  Immaculate  Conception  a  probable  opinion  in  1387. — Gieseler, 
i'nd.  The  reforming  Council  of  Basle  passed  a  decree  in  favour  of  the 
doctrine  (see  p.  182).     See  further  in  Chap.  XXII.  §  10. 


Chap.  XVIII.  LATIN  HYMNOLOGY.  305 

the  Latin  Church1  wavered  between  a  maculate  and  immaculate 
conception,  according  as  the  Dominicans  or  Franciscans  were  most 
powerful  at  Rome.  At  length,  under  the  Jesuit  influence  which 
prevailed  at  Rome  after  the  crisis  of  1848-9,  and  the  desire  to 
retrieve  the  temporal  losses  of  the  Roman  see  by  new  assertions  of 
spiritual  and  dogmatic  power,  Pius  IX.  promulgated  a  Bull  (Dec.  8, 
1854),  declaring  the  dogma  that  St.  Mary,  having  been  conceived 
immaculately,  was  absolutely  exempt  from  original  and  actual  sin, 
to  be  an  article  of  faith,  all  opposition  to  which  is  heresy.2 

§  7.  During  this  period,  and  especially  in  the  13th  century,  the 
worship  of  the  Church  was  enriched  with  some  of  the  noblest 
hymns  which,  either  in  the  Latin  original  or  translations,  have 
become  the  possession  of  the  universal  Church.  The  "Dies  Iix" 
is  ascribed  (but  doubtfully)  to  Thomas  of  Celano,  a  Franciscan  and 
one  of  the  biographers  of  St.  Francis,  and  the  "  Stabat  Mater  "  to 
another  Franciscan,  Jacopone  of  Todi.  In  the  highest  rank  of  this 
sacred  poetry  is  the  series  of  Latin  hymns  composed  for  the  great 
festivals  and  saints'  days— a  medieval  Christian  Year— by  Adam 
of  St.  Victor,  who  lived  at  the  famous  Victorine  convent  at  Paris 
through  the  greater  part  of  the  12th  century.3  These  devout 
utterances— which  owe  part  of  their  charm  to  the  novel  use  of 
rhythmic  cadence,  in  place  of  quantity,  and  of  rhyme— however 
strange  to  the  forms  of  classic  Latin  verse,  bear  witness  to  a  strain 
of  deep  and  pure  devotion  by  the  response  which  they  evoke  from 
devout  minds  in  every  age. 

§  8.  Among  the  causes  which  tended  to  intensify  religious  feeling 
or  outward  acts  of  devotion,  especially  about  the  beginning  of  the 
period  under  review,  were  those  millennial  speculations,  which  have 
had  a  sort  of  fearful  fascination  in  every  age  of  the  Church.     As, 

1  The  doctrine  is  regarded  by  the  Greek  Church  as  heretical  (see  Con- 
ference between  the  Archbp.  of  Syros  a  id  the  Bp.  of  Winchester,  Lond.  1871). 

2  The  fact  that  this  dogma  was  promulgated  by  the  immediate  pre- 
decessor of  the  Pope  (Leo  XIII.)  who  has  given  an  unlimited  sanction  to 
the  theology  of  Thomas  Aquinas,  is  the  more  remarkable  in  the  light  of 
the  establishment  of  the  doctrine  of  Papal  infallibility  under  Pius  IX. 
(1871).  It  is  well  asked  by  Dean  Milman  :  "Is  not  the  utter  and  total 
apathy  with  which  it  has  been  received  the  most  unanswerable  proof  of 
the  prostration  of  the  strength  of  the  Roman  Church  ?  There  is  not  life 
enough  for  a  schism  on  this  vital  point "  {Latin  Christianity,  vol.  ix. 
p.  76,  n.). 

3  See  "  Tne  Liturgical  Poetry  of  Adam  of  SK  Victor,  from  the  text  of 
Gautier  ;  with  Translations  in  the  original  metres  and  short  explanatory 
Notes  ;  by  Digby  S.  Wrangham,  Lond.  1^82  ;  "  and  an  article  on  Medio;',/ 
Hymns  in  the  Quarterly  Review,  July  1882.  The  probable  date  of  Adam 
is  from  before  1130  to  1192.  Respecting  the  Victorines,  see  below, 
Chap.  XXVIII.  §  14. 


306  IMPULSE  TO  CHURCH  BUILDING.        Chap.  XVIII. 

even  in  apostolic  times,  our  Lord's  sayings  were  misunderstood  as  a 
warning  of  His  immediate  coming  to  the  final  judgment,1  so  the 
apocalyptic  prophecies  of  a  millennium2  were  not  unnaturally 
interpreted  as  predicting  the  end  of  the  world  at  the  completion  of 
1000  years,  first  from  the  advent  of  Christ,  and,  when  that  epoch 
was  overpassed,  from  the  date  of  his  crucifixion  (1033).  Then,  as 
now,  few  were  able  to  regard  the  consummation  of  Christ's  media- 
torial work  with  joyful  anticipation  rather  than  fear;  and  the 
passage  of  each  epoch  was  hailed  as  a  relief  from  a  crisis  of  terror, 
almost  as  if  men  forgot  how  near  their  own  individual  end  must  be, 
at  the  longest. 

The  sense  of  gratitude  for  so  great  a  deliverance  is  assigned  by  a 
writer  of  the  age  as  one  chief  motive  for  the  great  impulse  which 
was  given  to  church-building,  as  if  (he  says) 3  "  the  world,  casting 
off  its  old  age,  and  renewing  its  youth  were  clad  everywhere  in  the 
white  robe  of  churches."  To  the  partial  truth  embodied  in  this 
fancy  several  other  causes  must  be  added.  Many  ecclesiastical 
foundations,  both  churches  and  monasteries,  were  the  fruit  of  servile 
fear  rather  than  cheerful  gratitude,  a  form  of  that  compromise  of 
penitence  spoken  of  above,  or  a  supposed  meritorious  sacrifice  to  be 
rewarded  hereafter.  But  many  are  monuments  of  the  purer  feeling 
which  led  a  king  or  noble  to  say  with  David,  "  See  now,  I  dwell  in 
an  house  of  cedar,  but  the  ark  of  God  dwelleth  within  curtains  :"4 
like  Edward  the  Confessor,  when  he  built  the  abbey  church  at 
Westminster.  And  that  minster  is  also  a  type  of  the  vast  number 
of  churches  that  sprang  up  as  necessary  adjuncts  to  the  growth  of 
monastic  life.  In  our  own  country,  especially,  the  destruction  of 
the  monasteries  causes  men  to  forget  how  many  of  our  noblest 
cathedrals,  besides  others  which  have  not  become  bishops'  sees, 
were  originally  conventual  churches  ;    not  only  those  whose  names 

1  Thess.  ii.  1,  2,  2  Rev.  xx.  1-6. 

3  Radulph,  Hist.  in.  4,  quoted  by  Hardwick,  p.  204.  The  "  white  robe" 
was  not  only  the  new  brightness  of  stone  and  marble;  but  the  brilliant 
aspect  of  the  church  amidst  the  landscape  was  due  to  the  custom  of  casing 
the  rough  materials  of  the  walls  and  towers  with  plaster  and  whitewash. 
u  Aesthetic  "  u  restorers  "  have  been  unable  to  distinguish  between  the  abuse 
of  whitewash  in  hiding  the  carved  work  within  a  church,  and  its  proper 
use  on  the  outside.  A  conspicuous  example  is  seen  in  the  raw  edges  of  the 
Roman  bricks  of  St.  Alban's  Abbey  Church  as  exposed  by  the  removal  of 
the  whitening  which  made  it  formerly  a  true  Koh-i-noor — mountain  of 
light — amidst  a  wide  expanse  of  country. 

4  2  Sam.  vii.  2.  This  spirit  of  genuine  devotion  had  been  recommended 
by  Charles  the  Great,  in  a  Capitulary  addressed  to  the  prelates  of  the 
Empire  (811)  reminding  them  that,  however  good  is  the  work  of  building 
fine  churches,  the  true  ornament  and  topstone  of  a  good  life  is  to  be 
put  before  any  buildings.     (Mansi,  xiii.  1073 :  Hardwick,  p.  93.) 


Chap.  XVIII.  ROMANESQUE  ARCHITECTURE.  307 

bear  witness  to  their  origin,  as  Westminster,  York  Minster, 
Wimborne  Minster,1  but  such  also  as  Canterbury,  Durham,  Ely, 
St.  Albans,  Christchurch  (Hants),  to  name  but  a  few  examples. 
While  the  growing  wealth  of  the  Church  at  large  supplied  means 
for  the  natural  passion  for  building,  the  monks,  vowed  to  poverty, 
found  in  this  an  excellent  use  for  their  common  revenues.  Suc- 
cessive abbots  rejoiced  to  enlarge  and  beautify  their  churches ;  and 
their  ambition  was  shared  by  the  princely  and  noble  men  and 
women  who  brought  their  wealth  to  the  cloister  in  which  they 
sought  refuge  from  the  world. 

§  9.  To  illustrate  these  statements  by  examples  would  require  us 
to  follow  the  erection  of  many  churches,  both  English  and  foreign  : 
and  even  to  trace  the  general  process  of  church  building  in  this  age 
would  lead  us  aside  into  the  history  of  architecture.2  A  very  brief 
sketch  must  suffice  us.  Few  students,  perhaps,  require  now  to  be 
warned  against  the  twofold  error,  prevalent  not  very  long  ago,  of 
supposing  that  there  was  a  particular  style  of  ecclesiastical  archi- 
tecture, and  that  that  style  was  especially  associated  with  the 
Church  of  Borne.  In  fact,  it  was  in  Italy,  and  especially  at  Rome, 
that  classic  architecture  held  its  ground  for  ecclesiastical  use ;  and 
to  this  day  the  churches — with  St.  Peter's  for  their  great  type — 
have  retained  the  form  and  style,  as  well  as  the  name,  of  the  old 
Roman  basilica.  With  regard  to  the  former  point,  in  a  rude  age 
when  houses  were  built  with  the  barest  regard  to  utility,  and  the 
general  building  of  castles  happened  to  be  simultaneous  with  the 
new  impulse  to  church  building,  the  new  style,  developed  for  civil 
and  domestic  use,  was  adopted  also  for  ecclesiastical  purposes, 
modified  in  each  case  by  the  practical  requirements  of  church  or 
castle,  palace,  house,  or  hall. 

The  Italians  of  the  Eenaissance,  in  the  contemptuous  spirit  of 
their  classic  revival,  gave  this  medieval  architecture  the  name  of 
Gothic,  from  the  mistaken  idea  that  it  was  the  native  creation 
of  the  northern  barbarians ;  and,  as  a  mere  technical  nomencla- 
ture, fixed  by  long  usage,  the  term  is  retained  as  a  broad  distinction 
from  the  Classic  and  other  types  of  architecture.  It  is  now  agreed 
that  its  earliest  form  was  derived,  not,  as  some  have  thought,  from 
the  Byzantine,  but  from  the  later  Roman,  called  distinctively 
Romanesque,3  which  spread  from  Italy  over  Western  Europe.     In 

1  Minster  is  merely  the  English  form  of  monaster  turn. 

2  For  all  that  needs  to  be  known  on  this  matter,  the  student  is  referred 
to  Fergusson's  History  of  Architecture,  and,  for  the  present  subject  in  parti- 
cular, Rickman's  English  Architecture,  newly  edited  by  the  late  John  Heron 
Parker,  C.B. :   it  is  somewhat  remarkable  that  Mr.  Rickman  was  a  Quaker. 

3  The  parallel  is  something   more  than  merely  fanciful,  between  the 


308  POINTED  ARCHITECTURE.  Chap.  XVIII. 

England,  it  is  known  as  Norman,  having  been  one  of  the  new 
elements  imported  from  Normandy  in  the  11th  century,  a  con- 
siderable time  before  the  Conquest.1  In  a  church  of  this  style, 
massive  columns  or  piers,  round  or  polygonal  (sometimes  with 
smaller  columns  round  them),  divide  the  nave  from  the  aisles, 
carrying  semicircular  arches,  which  support  the  lofty  walls,  covered 
in  with  a  roof,  in  the  oldest  examples  generally  of  timber,  but 
with  cylindrical  groined  ceilings  in  the  smaller  widths,  as  in  the 
aislt  s  and  porches.  The  round  arch  also  heads  the  windows  and 
doorways,  and  is  used  throughout  as  an  ornament;  but  the 
characteristic  forms  of  surface-ornament  and  mouldings  must  be 
left  to  special  works  on  architecture. 

The  lighter  style— characterized  by  the  pointed  arch  (which 
is  said  to  have  been  known  in  Provence  as  early  as  the  time 
of  Charlemagne),  and  by  the  clustered  columns,  from  which 
ribs  branch  out  to  support  a  groined  roof  —  began  to  come 
into  general  use  from  the  middle  of  the  12th  century.  The 
first  great  example  of  it  is  said  to  be  the  church  of  St.  Denys, 
near  Paris,  about  1144.  Brought  into  England  somewhat  later,  it 
formed  the  style  called  Early  English,  in  which  the  harmony 
of  beauty  and  dignity  has  attained  perfection ;  as  in  the  great 
examples  of  Salisbury  Cathedral  (1220-1258)  and  the  nave  and 
transepts  of  Westminster,  reared  by  tke  devotion  of  Henry  III. 

The  next  stage  of  Gothic  architecture,  called  from  its  richer 
ornamentation,  and  the  more  flowing  tracery  of  the  windows,  the 
Decorated,  belongs  chiefly  to  the  14th  century,  the  age  of  the 
Edwards  in  England,  where  it  is  seen  in  innumerable  churches.  It 
was  succeeded  by  the  style  characterized  by  superficial  florid  orna- 
mentation and  perpendicular  lines  (seen  especially  in  the  mullions 
of  the  windows),  whence  it  has  received  the  name  of  Perpen- 
dicular.2 In  England,  as  the  Early  English  is  associated  with 
Henry  II L,  so  is  the  Perpendicular  with  his  still  more  devout 
descendant  Henry  VI.,  in  such  works  as  the  Chapels  at  West- 
relations  of  the  Romanesque  architecture  to  the  Roman,  and  of  the  Romance 
languages  to  Latin. 

1  Among  its  finest  types  are  the  naves  of  Winchester,  Ely,  St.  Alban's, 
Peterborough,  Durham,  and  Christchurch,  the  two  last  built  (partly  at 
least)  by  Ralph  Flambard,  the  notorious  minister  of  William  Rufus, 
who  is  called  by  Peter  of  Blois  "omnium  virorum  in  terra  cupidissimus 
et  pessimus."  His  motive  in  the  rebuilding  of  Christchurch,  of  which 
he  was  prior,  is  said  to  have  beeu  that  he  might  keep  the  income  of 
the  canons  in  his  hands  during  the  progress  of  the  works,  after  he  was 
made  Bishop  of  Durham  (1099).  The  choir,  as  well  as  nave,  of  Durham  is 
Norman. 

2  Earlier  writers,  before  Rickman,  called  it  Florid. 


Chap.  XVIII.  SCULPTURES,  PAINTINGS,  &c.  309 

minster,1  Windsor,  and  King's  College,  Cambridge,  and  the  choirs 
of  many  cathedrals  and  abbey  churches. 

§  10.  The  churches  were  adorned,  as  an  essential  part  of  the 
design,  with  carving  which,  like  the  architectural  details,  shows  a 
growing  skill  and  freedom  in  the  artisans  who  worked  out  their 
spontaneous  ideas;  and,  while  the  workmen  produced  figures  of 
saints,  sepulchral  effigies,  and  those  more  sacred  subjects  which  it 
was  not  then  deemed  profanity  to  represent,  their  exuberant  imagi- 
nation revelled  in  most  extraordinary  efforts  of  grotesque  art.2 
Besides  the  rich  colouring  of  architectural  details,  painting  as  an 
art  went  hand  in  hand  with  sculpture,  on  the  inner  walls  of  the 
churches,  and  especially  in  the  windows  of  stained  glass,  which, 
with  all  their  imperfections  of  drawing  and  composition,  still  baffle 
imitation  for  the  purity  and  "  fastness "  of  their  colouring.  The 
like  art  was  lavished  on  the  illumination  of  manuscripts,  and  the 
embroidery  of  vestments,  altar-cloths,  and  other  tapestry.  Nor 
must  we  pass  over  the  works  in  metal,  the  genuine  product  of  the 
hammer  in  the  hand  of  an  artist-workman,  as  the  architecture  was 
of  the  mason  and  the  carver.  1  n  a  word,  all  the  work  of  the  age 
owed  its  life  to  this  creative  power  in  the  workmen  themselves, 
of  whom  it  may  generally  be  said,  as  of  the  first  sacred  artist, 
Pezaleel,3  that  they  were  filled  with  the  spirit  of  God,  because 
they  worked  by  the  nature  He  had  given  them,  and  with  all  their 
hearts,  "  in  wisdom,  and  in  understanding,  and  in  knowledge,  and 
in  all  manner  of  workmanship,  to  devise  cunning  works,  to  work  in 
gold,  and  in  silver,  and  in  brass,  and  in  cutting  of  stones, .  . .  and  in 
carving  of  timber,  to  work  in  all  manner  of  workmanship." 

We  have  had  occasion  to  refer  to  the  rise  of  those  new  forms  of 
art  which  culminated  in  the  great  masterpieces  of  the  Renaissance; 
but  the  subject  is  too  large  to  follow  here,  and  must  be  left  to  the 
special  Histories  of  Art. 

1  "  Henry  Vllth's  Chapel,"  though  finished  and  appropriated  by  that 
King,  was  planned  and  begun  by  Henry  VI.,  for  his  own  resting-place. 

2  Besides  the  familiar  gargoyles  and  masks  of  strange  monsters,  devils, 
and  the  damned  in  torture,  whose  place  outside  the  church  is  contrasted 
with  the  saints  within,  the  reader  has  only  to  turn  up  the  seats  of  the 
stalls  in  almost  any  ancient  choir,  to  see  carvings  which  will  excite  a 
strange  mixture  of  admiration  (in  both  senses  of  the  word)  and  of  amuse- 
ment.   Some  curious  examples  are  given  in  Wright's  History  of  Caricature. 

3  Exod.  xxxi.  3-5. 


Abbey  of  Corbey,  in  Westpbalia.    (The  Monastery  of  Radbert  and  Ratramn.) 

CHAPTER  XIX. 
THE  EUCHARISTIC  CONTROVERSY. 


LANFRANC   AND   BERENGAR— DOCTRINE   OF   TRANSCBSTANTIATION. 

1.  Doctrine  of  the  Eucharist — The  three  Views  of  Paschasius,  Ratramn, 
and  John  Scotus.  §  2.  Opinions  in  the  11th  century — Opponents  of 
Paschasius  Radbert— Heriger  and  JElfric.  §  3.  General  State  of 
Opinion.  §4.  Middle  View:  Ratherius  ;  Gerbert ;  Leutheric  ;  Fulbert. 
§5.  Berengar  of  Tours:  reproved  by  Adelmanu  and  Hugh— His 
remonstrance  with  Lanfranc  for  teaching  the  doctrine  of  Paschasius 
(1049).  §  6.  Lanfranc's  answer  :  Berengar  condemned  at  Rome  (1050)  ; 
imprisoned  by  Henry  I.  of  France ;  condemned  at  Vercelli — Popular 
fanaticism  against  him.  §  7.  Satisfies  Hildebrand  at  the  Synod  of 
Tours  (1054) — Council  at  Rome  under  Nicolas  II.  (1059) ;  Berengar's 
enforced  confession.  §  8.  His  Character — Renewed  Controversy  with 
Lanfranc.  §  9.  Guitmund — Various  Classes  of  Berengarians  :  Impo- 
rtation, &c.  §  10.  Real  nature  of  the  dispute — Statement  of  Bp. 
Bruno.     §  11.  Gregory    VII.    protects    Berengar — The    two    Roman 


G^nt.  IX.-XI.      THREE  VIEWS  OF  THE  EUCHARIST.  311 

Councils  (1078-9);  Berengar's  enforced  but  qualified  confession — 
Gregory's  Letter  in  his  favour — His  last  days  ;  honours  paid  to  his 
memory.  §  12.  Intellectual  Aspect  of  the  Controversy — Authority 
and  Reason;  Use  of  Dialectic  .  §  13.  Doctrine  of  the  12th  century — 
St.  Bernard — Popular  Feeling — Miracles — The  Schoolmen  —  Transuh- 
stantiation  enacted  under  Innocent  III.  (1215) — The  dogma  fixed  by 
Thomas  Aquinas.  §  14.  Discontinuance  of  Infant  Communion — The 
Cup  withdrawn  from  the  Laity.  §  15.  Elevation  of  the  Host — Festival 
of  Corpus  Christi — Infrequency  of  Communion. 

§  1.  The  materializing  tendencies  of  the  a_-e  under  review  reached 
their  climax  in  that  doctrine  of  the  Eucharist,  which  was  declared 
by  authority  as  the  faith  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  We  have 
related  the  controversy,  which  sprang  up  in  the  9th  century,1  between 
Paschasius  Radbert,  who  first  distinctly  taught  a  real  change  of  the 
bread  and  wine  into  the  body  and  blood  of  the  Lord,  and  Ratramn, 
who  advocated  a  spiritual  change,  producing  the  presence  in  truth 
and  in  figure  to  the  faithful  soul ;  while  John  Scotus  Erigena  seems 
to  have  held  that  the  Lord's  Supper  was  nothing  more  than  a  com- 
memorative ordinance,  in  which  the  bread  and  wine  were  only  the 
symbols  of  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ,  setting  forth  the  truth  of 
His  sacrifice  in  visible  signs. 

§  2.  The  last  opinion  was  condemned  as  heretical  by  the  chief 
disputants  on  both  sides  ;  and  the  general  acceptance  of  a  "  Real  Pre- 
sence "  in  some  form,  without  an  attempt  to  define  its  mode,  sus- 
pended the  controversy  during  the  10th  century  and  the  first  part 
of  the  11th.  The  doctrine  of  Paschasius  prevailed  more  and  more, 
and  was  received  (as  we  shall  see)  by  the  common  people,  always 
fond  of  mystical  power,  with  an  almost  fanatical  eagerness.2  But 
the  more  spiritual  views  of  Ratramn  had  numerous  adherents ;  such 
as  Heriger,  abbot  of  Taubes,  in  the  diocese  of  Liege,  who,  we  are 
told,  "  collected  in  opposition  to  Radbert  many  writings  of  the 
Catholic  Fathers  concerning  the  body  and  blood  of  the  Lord."3 
Such  were  the  views  that  seem  to  have  prevailed  in  England, 
which  was  always  slow  to  follow  the  extremes  of  the  Roman  and 
Frank  churches.      Thus  iElfric,4  whose    homilies  were    used   by 

1  Part  I.  Chap.  XXII.  §§  12,  13. 

2  The  popular  faith  was  stimulated  by  the  stories  of  miracles  (already 
referred  to)  in  which  the  consecrated  bread  assumed  the  form  of  flesh, 
sometimes  dripping  with  blood,  or  of  the  infant  Saviour,  and  so  forth, 
Such  confirmations  were  urged  as  early  as  by  Radbert  himself.  For 
examples  see  Acts  of  the  Synod  of  Arras  (1025) ;  Mansi,  xix.  433 ; 
Gieseler,  ii.  397. 

3  Sigebert  Gemblac.  op.  Gieseler,  vol.  ii.  p.  398. 

*  Vol.  II.  pp.  271-3,  ed.  Thorpe.  vElfric's  Homi'i-s  belong  to  the  early 
part  of  the  11th  century,  and  their  use  by  the  Anglo-Saxon  Church   is 


312  THE  EUCHARISTIC  CONTROVERSY.  Chap.  XIX. 

authority,  discourses  as  follows.  "  Of  the  Sacrifice  on  Easter 
day  :"  "  Great  is  the  difference  between  the  invisible  might  of 
the  holy  housel  and  the  visible  appearance  of  its  own  nature.  By 
nature  it  is  corruptible  bread  and  corruptible  wine,  and  is  by  the 
power  of  the  Divine  word  truly  Christ's  body  and  blood  ;  not,  how- 
ever, bodily,  but  spiritually.  Great  is  the  difference  between  the 
body  in  which  Christ  suffered  and  the  body  which  is  hallowed  for 
housel.  ...  In  His  spiritual  body,  which  we  call  housel,  there  is 
nothinn  to  he  understood  bodily,  but  all  is  to  be  understood  spiri- 
tually. It  is,  as  we  before  said,  Christ's  body  and  Bis  blood,  not 
bodily  but  spiritually.  Ye  are  not  to  enquire  how  it  is  done,  but 
to  hold  in  your  belief  that  it  is  done." 

§  3.  The  general  state  of  opinion  and  feeling  is  described  by  Dean 
Milman  with  characteristic  power  and  eloquence: — "This  Sacra- 
ment— the  Eucharist — from  the  earliest  times  had  been  withdrawn 
into  the  most  profound  mystery  ;  it  had  been  guarded  with  the  most 
solemn  reverence,  shrouded  in  the  most  impressive  ceremonial.  It  had 
become,  as  it  were,  the  Holy  of  Holies  of  the  religion,  in  which  the 
presence  of  the  Godhead  was  only  the  more  solemn  from  the  sur- 
rounding darkness.  That  presence  had  as  yet  been  unapproached 
by  profane  and  searching  controversy,  had  been  undefined  by  canon, 
neither  agitated  before  Council,  nor  determined  by  Pope.  During  all 
these  centuries  no  language  had  been  thought  too  strong  to  express 
the  overpowering  awe  and  reverence  of  the  worshippers.  The  oratory 
of  the  pulpit  and  the  hortatory  treatise  had  indulged  freely  in  the 
boldest  images  ;  the  innate  power  of  the  faith  had  worked  these 
images  into  realities.  Christ's  real  presence  was  in  some  indescribable 
manner  in  the  Eucharist ;  but  under  the  notion  of  the  real  Presence 
might  meet  conceptions  the  most  dissimilar,  ranging  from  the  most 
subtle  spiritualism  to  the  most  gross  materialism  ;  that  of  those 
whose  faith  would  be  as  profoundly  moved  by  the  commemorative 
symbols,  which  brought  back  upon  the  memory  in  the  most  vivid 
reality  the  one  sacrifice  upon  the  cross,  as  that  of  the  vulgar,  to 
whom  the  more  material  the  more  impressive  the  notion,  to  whom 
the  sacred  elements  would  be  what  the  fetiche  is  to  the  savage. 

"  Between  these  two  extremes  would  be  the  great  multitude  of 
believers,  who  would  contemplate  the  whole  subject  with  remote 
and  reverential  awe.  To  these  the  attempt  at  the  scrutiny  or  even 
the  comprehension  of  the  mystery  would  appear  the  height  of  pro- 
fane presumption  ;  yet  their  intuitive  apprehension  would  shrink, 

undoubted,  though  the  identity  of  the  writer  is  difficult  to  determine.  On 
this  question,  and  the  attempt  of  Dr.  Lingard  to  explain  away  his  testi- 
mony, see  Soames,  Th».  Creed  of  the  A  ig'o-Saxnn  Churc'i  (Oxford,  1835), 
and  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  652. 


Cent.  XI.  GENERAL  STATE  OF  OPINION.  313 

on  the  one  hand,  from  refining  the  holy  bread  and  wine  into  mere 
symbols,  on  the  other  from  that  transubstantiation  which  could 
not  but  expose  the  actual  Godhead  to  all  the  accidents  to  which 
those  elements,  now  not  merely  corporeal,  but  with  all  the  qualities 
of  the  human  flesh  and  blood,  but  actually  deified,  might  be 
subject."1 

§  4.  The  prevalent  disposition  to  accept  the  extreme  doctrine  as  an 
incomprehensible  mystery  of  faith,  is  thus  expressed  by  Ratherius, 
bishop  of  Verona  :2  — "  That  wine  is  made,  by  the  blessing  of  God, 
true  and  not  figurative  blood ;  and  the  bread,  flesh.  About  the  rest, 
I  pray  you,  do  not  concern  yourself,  since  you  are  told  that  it  is  a 
mystery,  and  that  of  faith.  For  if  it  is  a  mystery,  it  cannot  be 
comprehended :  if  of  faith,  it  ought  to  be  believed,  not  discussed. 
The  great  Gerbert3  (Pope  Sylvester  II.)  saw  no  great  difference 
between  the  doctrines  of  Paschasius  and  Ratramn.4  His  disciple 
Leutheric,  archbishop  of  Sens,  was  censured  by  King  Robert  I.  for 
administering  the  Eucharist  with  the  words,  "  If  thou  art  worthy, 
receive "  (1004) ;  and,  though  he  submitted  to  be  silenced,  we  are 
told  that  "  his  perverse  dogma  grew  in  that  age."5  A  more  eminent 
teacher,  Fulbert,  bishop  of  Chartres,  the  friend  of  Leutheric  and 
instructor  of  Berengar,  uses  language  very  similar  to  that  of  iElfric. 
The  Lord,  he  says,6  "  left  us  the  pledge  of  his  body  and  blood — 
a  fledge  of  salvation — not  the  symbol  of  an  empty  mystery.  The 
bread  consecrated  by  the  bishop  is  transfused7  into  one  and  the 
same  body  of  Christ.'"  But  he  goes  on  to  distinguish  this  from  the 
body  of  His   incarnation  in  these   remarkable  words:— "But   in 

1  Latin  Christ.  Bk.  VI.  c.  ii. ;  vol.  iii.  pp.  386-7.  In  the  first 
sentence  "  the  earliest  times  "  must  not  be  taken  too  literally  ;  but,  except 
for  the  apostolic  age,  they  are  hardly  too  strong.  See  Part  I.  Chap.  VIII. 
S§  5,  7. 

2  Epist.  6,  ad  Patricium,  in  D'Aehery,  Spicileg.  vol.  i.  p.  376  ;  Gieseler, 
vol.  ii.  pp.  397-8.  It  is  observable  that  he  ascribes  the  transmutation  of  the 
elements  not  to  the  direct  act  of  the  priest,  but  "  Dei  benedictione.  .  .  ." 
a  phrase  equally  significant  whether  we  understand  the  genitive  sub- 
jectively or  objectively.  Ratherius  (who  died  in  971)  was  distinguished 
for  his  efforts  to  reform  the  corrupt  Italian  clergy. 

3  See  Part  I.  Chap.  XXIII.  §  10,  foil. 

4  Corp.  et  Sang.  Christi,  in  Gieseler,  vol.  ii.  p.  398. 

5  Helgoldus,  Vita  Roberti,  ap.  Gieseler,  vol.  ii.  p.  398 ;  but  it  is  some- 
what doubtful  whether  the  censure  was  not  rather  for  his  use  of  the 
Eucharist  as  an  ordeal.  Another  writer  distinctly  ascribes  to  Leutheric 
the  origination  of  the  Berengarian  heresy:  "  Hujus  tempore  [i.e. 
John  XVII.,  1003]  Leuthericus  Senon.  Archiep.  haeresis  Berengarianae 
primordia  et  semina  sparsit."      Vit.  Johannis  X  I  11.,  Gieseler,  I.e. 

6  Epist.  1,  ap.  Gieseler,  /.  c. 

7  Transfunditur,  a  remarkable  word :  neither  transmutation,  nor  much 
less  transubstantiation. 


314  THE  EUCHARISTIC  CONTROVERSY.  Chap.  XIX. 

some  way  that  body,  which,  being  made  incarnate  in  the  Virgin's 
womb,  suffered  the  outrage  of  the  cross — the  memory  of  which  the 
bishop  seems  to  present  in  the  bread  imparted  by  the  presbyters — 
is  different  from  that  which  is  presented  in  the  way  of  mystery." 
Such  language  might  even  seem  to  come  down  to  the  low  view  of 
John  Scotus  Erigena,  but  for  the  distinct  statement  of  the  preceding 
sentence;  and,  in  the  ensuing  controversy,  some  of  Fulbert's  pupils 
evidently  believed  that  he  would  not  have  approved  of  the  views  of 
Berengar. 

§  5.  All  this,  however,  suffices  to  show  that  the  teaching  of 
Berengar  was  by  no  means  a  sudden  outburst  of  new  heresy,  but  the 
revival  of  an  unsettled  controversy.  It  is  remarkable  both  for  the 
part  taken  in  it  by  Gregory  VII.,  and  for  the  occasion  it  gave  for  the 
use  of  those  dialectic  subtilties  which  soon  afterwards  took  a  lasting 
form  in  the  scholastic  theology.1  Berengarius  or  Berengar  of 
Tours  (where  he  was  born  a.d.  1000),  after  studying  under  Fulbert 
at  Chartres,  returned  to  his  native  city  in  1031,  and  became 
treasurer  of  the  cathedral  and  master  of  its  school,  where  he  esta- 
blished so  high  a  character  as  a  teacher  and  theologian,  that  the 
Bishop  of  Angers2  made  him  archdeacon  of  that  city,  while  still 
holding  his  post  at  Tours.  Our  earliest  information  of  his  opinions 
on  the  Eucharist  is  derived,  not  from  his  own  writings,  but  from 
the  letters  of  remonstrance  on  the  scandal  caused  by  his  teaching, 
addressed  to  him  by  two  of  his  old  fellow-pupils  under  Fulbert, 
namely,  Adelman,  schoolmaster  of  Liege,  and  Hugh,  bishop  of 
Langres.3    As  to  the  result,  we  only  know  it  to  have  been  so  fruitless, 

1  In  the  18th  century  the  controversy  arquired  a  new  interest  through 
Lessing's  discovery,  among  the  MSS.  at  Wolfenbiittel,  of  Berengar's 
Treatise  De  Sacra  Coena,  which  had  been  only  known  before  through  the 
accounts  of  his  opponents,  and  on  which  Lessing  wrote  his  famous  vindi- 
cation of  Berengar,  Berengarius  Ticron.  od.  Ankiindig.  eines  icichtige/i 
Werkes  destelhen,  Braunschweig,  1770,  4to.  Lessing's  endeavour  to  prove 
the  identity  of  Berengar's  doctrine  with  that  of  Luther,  who  had 
vehemently  condemned  it  as  formerly  understood,  gave  great  offence. 
The  De  Sacra  Coena  was  first  edited  by  A.  F.  and  F.  Th.  Vischer,  Berol. 
1834.  The  knowledge  of  its  contents  had  been  previously  derived  chiefly 
from  Lanfranc's  work  against  Berengar,  De  Eucharistix  Sacramento  contra 
Berengarium  in  the  Bibl.  Pair.  vol.  xviii.  p.  763,  seq..  and  in  Dr.  Giles's 
edition  of  Lanfranc's  works,  Oxon,  1844.  The  personal  form  of  address 
in  both  works  adds  a  zest  to  the  controversy.  The  best  account  of  it  is  in 
Ebrard's  Das  Dogma  u.  Geschichte  des  hciligen  Abcndmahl,  Frankf.,  1844-6 
It  appears  from  internal  evidence  that  the  work  of  Lanfranc  was  written 
between  1063  and  1070,  and  that  of  Berengar  in  1070,  exactly  seven 
centuries  before  its  rediscovery. 

2  Either  Eusebius  Bruno  or  his  predecessor,  in  1040. 

8  Adelman,  de  Ve<itate  Co>p.  et  San/    D  mini,  ad  Berengar.  Epist.,  in 
Bibl.  Patr.  xviii.  438,  and  better  edited  by  C.  A.  Schmid  from  a  Wolfen- 


A.D.  1049.       LANFRANC  AND  BERENGAR.  315 

that  we  find  Berengar  in  his  turn  remonstrating  with  no  less  a 
person  than  Lanfranc,  then  abbot  of  Bee,1  on  a  report  brought 
to  him  by  a  certain  ingelran,  that  Lan franc  had  disapproved,  and 
even  held  as  heretical,  the  opinions  of  Joannes  Scotus  (meaning 
Ratramn)2  on  the  Sacrament  of  the  altar,  in  which  he  differed 
from  Paschasius,  whose  views  Lanfranc  had  adopted.  This  hasty 
opinion,  adds  Berengar,  was  unworthy  of  his  high  ability,  and 
betrayed  an  imperfect  study  of  Holy  Scripture,  from  which  he 
challenges  Lanfranc  to  defend  his  view.  Distinctly  adopting  the 
opinions  of  John  Scotus  (i.e.  Ratramn)  on  the  Eucharist  as  his 
own,  Berengar  tells  Lanfranc  that,  if  he  deemed  John  a  heretic,  he 
must  make  heretics  of  Ambrose,  Jerome,  and  Augustine,  not  to 
speak  of  others  (a.d.  1049). 

§  6.  Even  if  Lessing  goes  too  far  in  praising  this  letter  as  "  friendly, 
modest,  and  flattering,"  it  scarcely  deserved  the  hostile  reception 
which  appears  to  have  been  aggravated  by  an  accident.8  When 
Berengar's  messenger  arrived  at  Bee,  Lanfranc  had  left  for  Rome, 
and  the  letter  was  opened  by  certain  clerks,  whose  pious  zeal  was 
so  inflamed  at  the  scent  of  heresy,  that,  instead  of  simply  for- 
warding the  letter,  they  showed  it  to  others,  and  talked  about  the 
opinions  expressed  in  it  to  many  more.  The  result  was — to  use 
Lanfranc's  own  words — "  that  no  worse  suspicion  was  raised  against 
you  than  against  me,  to  whom   you  directed   such   a  letter : " — 

biiltel  MS.,  Bruns.  1770;  Hugonis  Ep.  Lingon.  Lib.  de  Corp.  et  Sang. 
Domini,  in  D'Acheiy,  Opp.  LnnfraiiC.  Append,  p.  68,  seq.,  Bibl.  Pair. 
xviii.  417.  The  date  of  Hugo's  work  must  have  been  before  1049,  when 
he  was  deposed  by  the  Council  of  Rheims  for  simony ;  that  of  Adelman 
was  probably  about  1047-8.  He  afterwards  became  Bishop  of  Brixen.  The 
letter  appears  to  have  been  answered,  after  some  time,  by  Berengar  in  a 
Porgatoria  Episto'a,  of  which  we  have  only  fragments;  ap.  Schmid,  op.  ct. 
p.  34,  se'j. ;  "Gieseler,  ii.  399.  The  rumour  which  had  reached  Liege,  as 
Hugo  tells  Berengar,  was  that  he  denied  the  "veium  corpus  Chri$tin  in 
the  Eucharist,  and  argued  that  it  was  only  present  in  "  a  sort  of  figure 
and  similitude." 

1  See  above,  Chap.  III.  §  14.  Guitmund,  the  pupil  of  Lanfranc,  and 
one  of  Berengar's  most  vehement  opponents,  accuses  him,  in  very  coarse 
terms,  of  being  moved  by  jealousy  of  Lanfranc's  rising  fame  as  a  teacher. 
De  Corp.  et  Sang.  Christi,  ap.  Bibl.  Pair.  xvii.  441  ;  Robertson,  ii.  655. 

2  Respecting  the  common  error,  by  which  the  work  of  Ratramn  was 
attributed  to  Joannes  Scotus,  see  Robertson,  ii.  306.  Gieseler  even 
supposes  that  Scotus  did  not  write  a  book  on  the  Eucharist. 

3  The  circumstances  are  related  by  Lanfranc  (de  Enchar.  c.  4) : 
"Tempore  S.  Leonis  [IX.]  P.  delata  est  It  wests  tua  ad  apostolicam 
sedem,"  &c.  It  is  supposed  that  Lanfranc  departed  for  Rome  in  the  suite 
of  Leo  IX.  after  the  Council  of  Rheims  ;  but  a  biographer  (Milo  Crispinus, 
Vit.  Lanfr.  c.  3)  says  he  w  ent  to  Rome  on  account  of  a  clerk  named 
Berengar,  who  dogmatized  on  the  sacrament  of  the  altar  otherwise  than 
as  the  Church  holds.     See  Lessing,  xii.  230  (Robertson,  vol.  ii.  pp.  655-56). 


316  THE  EUCHARISTIC  CONTROVERSY.  Chap.  XIX. 

a  sign,  it  may  be  observed  in  passing,  both  of  the  frankness  of  the 
letter  and  of  the  unsettled  state  of  opinion  on  the  question. 

When  the  letter  at  last  reached  Home,  it  was  read  before  a  synod 
presided  over  by  Leo  IX. ;  and  the  sentence  of  condemnation  was  at 
once  promulgated  against  Berengar  (1050).  The  Pope  then  called  on 
Lanfranc  to  clear  himself  of  the  stain  brought  upon  him  by  rumour ; 
to  state  his  belief,  and  to  prove  it  rather  by  sacred  authorities 
than  by  arguments — (was  this  a  rebuke  from  the  simple-minded 
Bruno  to  the  germs  of  the  scholastic  spirit?)  "Therefore" — he 
says — "  I  rose  up;  what  I  thought,  I  said;  what  I  said,  I  proved ; 
what  I  proved  pleased  all,  displeased  none."  Berengar  was  sum- 
moned to  a  synod  at  Vercelli,  in  September ;  where  the  question  was 
raised  as  to  the  supreme  jurisdiction  of  the  Eoman  see.  He  says 
that,  according  to  the  ecclesiastical  laws,  by  which  no  one  was  com- 
pelled to  go  for  trial  out  of  his  own  province,  his  fellow-churchmen 
and  his  friends  dissuaded  him  ;  but  from  respect  to  the  Pope,  he 
applied  for  a  safe-conduct  to  the  King  of  France  (Henry  I.)  as  his 
ecclesiastical  superior;1  but  the  King — we  are  not  told  on  what 
ground — handed  Berengar  over  to  the  custody  of  a  person  who 
stripped  him  of  all  his  property.2  Though  the  Pope  was  informed 
of  this,  the  accused  was  again  condemned  at  Vercelli  in  his  absence. 
Lanfranc  indeed  states  that  two  clerics  appeared  there  as  his 
envoys,  and,  though  wishing  to  defend  him,  "  in  primo  statim  aditu 
defecerunt  et  capti  sunt."  According  to  Berengar's  comment  on 
this  somewhat  obscure  phrase,  so  far  from  any  explanation  being 
made  to  the  synod  of  his  opinions  (on  which  indeed  his  own  mind 
was  not  made  up)3  one  of  the  two  clerks  was  sent,  not  by  him,  but 
by  the  clergy  of  Tours  to  move  the  Pope  to  compassion  for  his  state ; 
the  other  was  a  Normau  ecclesiastic,  and  the  part  they  took  was  spon- 
taneous. The  one,  on  hearing  a  member  of  the  Council  declare 
Berengar  a  heretic,  was  provoked  to  exclaim,  "Thou  liest!"     The 

1  That  is  as  Abbot  of  St.  Martin's,  of  which  the  cathedral  of  Tours 
was  the  conventual  church.     See  Gieseler,  ii.  400  ;  Robertson,  ii.  657. 

2  Respecting  the  doubtful  accounts  of  an  intended  synod  at  Paris,  to 
condemn  Berengar  and  his  patron  Bruno,  bishop  of  Angers,  which  Henry  I. 
was  persuaded  to  give  up,  and  of  Berengar's  condemnation  by  a  Norman 
synod  at  Brionne,  in  1051,  see  Gieseler,  vol.  ii.  p.  400,  Robertson,  vol.  ii. 
pp.  657-8. 

3  The  passage  is  doubly  interesting  as  the  frank  utterance  of  an 
enquiring  mind,  confirmed  in  its  convictions  by  persecution,  and  for  that 
appeal  which  Berengar  constantly  made  to  the  Scriptures : — "  Quod  sen- 
tentiam  meam  scribis  Vercellis  in  concessit  illo  expositam,  dico  de  rei 
veritate  et  testimonio  conscientia;  mese,  nullum  eo  tempore  sentential!) 
mean)  exposuisse,  quod  nee  mihi  eo  tempore  tanta  perspicuitate  const  ibat, 
quod  nondum  tanta  pro  vet  if  ate  eu  tempore  perpessus,  nondum  tarn  dilijenti 
in  Scriptnris  consideratione  sategeram." 


A.D.  1054.  HILDEBRAND'S  SYNOD  AT  TOURS.  317 

Norman,  whose  name  was  Stephen,  when  he  heard  the  book  of  Scotus 
condemned  at  the  bidding  of  Lanfranc,  was  moved  by  zeal  to  say  that 
any  book  of  St.  Augustine  might  be  condemned  by  the  like  incon- 
siderate haste.  Whereupon  the  Pope  ordered  both  into  custody ;  not, 
as  he  himself  afterwards  explained,  with  the  intention  of  doing  them 
any  harm,  but  to  protect  them  from  the  probable  violence  of  the  mob, 
— a  remarkable  testimony  to  the  popular  fanaticism  for  the  myste- 
rious doctrine,  which  was  again  displayed  at  the  council  of  Poitiers, 
in  1075,  when  Berengar  narrowly  escaped  being  killed  in  a  riot.1 

§  7.  On  the  other  hand,  the  fact  that  powerful  friends2  adhered  to 
Bruno,  goes  far  to  confirm  his  assertion  of  a  general  sympathy  with 
his  opinions  among  the  more  intelligent.  To  these  friends  was 
added  no  less  a  person  than  Hildebrand,  who,  as  papal  legate,  held 
a  numerous  council  of  bishops  at  Tours  (1054),  at  which  for  the 
first  time  Berengar  had  the  opportunity  of  making  his  defence. 
Lanfranc  indeed  says  that,  instead  of  defending  himself,  he  in 
presence  of  all  confessed  the  common  faith  of  the  Church,  which  he 
swore  to  hold  thenceforth,  as  he  did  aft/  r  wards  at  Rome.3  This 
Berengar  indignantly  denies,  and  appeals  for  the  truth  of  his  own 
account  to  Hildebrand,  whom  (he  says)  he  satisfied  by  arguments 
which  any  one  who  pleases  may  learn  (setting  himself  aside)  from 
Prophet,  Apostle,  and  Evangelist,  and  from  the  authentic*  writings 
of  Ambrose,  Augustine,  and  Gregory.  Hildebrand  persuaded  him  to 
go  to  Rome,  to  plead  his  own  cause  with  Leo  ;  and  meanwhile  the 
assembled  bishops  professed  themselves  satisfied  with  Berengar's 
confession,  which  he  swore  to  hold  from  the  heart : — "  The  bread 
and  wine  of  the  altar  after  consecration  are  the  body  and  blood  of 
Christ:" — a  formula  in  which  the  mode  was  left  as  open  as  before, 
and  not  a  word  was  said  of  any  change  of  substance,  or  even  of  a 
"  presence,"  corporeal  or  spiritual.5 

1  Chron.  S.  Maxentii  or  Malleacense,  ap.  Gieseler,  ii.  408. 

2  For  some  of  these,  besides  Bruno,  bishop  of  Angers,  see  Gieseler, 
vol.  ii.  p.  402,  n.  11.  We  are  not  told  how  Berengar  obtained  his  release 
from  custody. 

3  On  this  Canon  Robertson,  who  certainly  shows  no  partiality  for 
Berengar,  observes  (vol.  ii.  p.  659) :  "  The  enemies  of  Berengar  state  that, 
being  unable  to  defend  his  heresy,  he  recanted  it  at  Tours,  and  afterwards 
resumed  the  profession  of  it.  But  this  is  a  misrepresentation,  founded  on 
their  misconception  of  what  his  doctrine  really  was.  .  .  .  Lessing  (120) 
shows  that  Orderic  Vitalis  is  wrong  in  supposing  Lanfranc  to  have  been 
at  the  Council  of  Tours." 

4  Here  is  an  indication  that  certain  works  of  the  Fathers,  which  were 
cited  as  authorities,  were  already  regarded  by  some  as  spurious. 

5  Except  for  the  words  "after  consecration,"  the  formula  simply 
embodies  our  Lord's  words  of  institution  (Matt.  xxvi.  26;  Mark  xiv.  22; 
Luke  xxii.  19;  1  Cor.  xi.  23-25);  nor  are  the  words  "after  consecration" 

II— Q 


318  THE  EUCHARISTIC  CONTROVERSY.         Chap.  XIX. 

Very  different  was  the  confession  which  was  dictated  by  Cardinal 
Humbert  and  imposed  on  Berengar  five  years  later  by  a  council  at 
Rome,  whither  he  seems  to  have  gone  in  reliance  on  the  support 
of  Hildebrand,1  who  had  virtually  nominated  Pope  Nicolas  II. 
(1C59).  But  the  violence  of  his  opponents  carried  all  before  them  ; 
they  refused  to  hear  a  word  from  him  about  "spiritual  refreshment 
from  the  body  of  Christ ;"  and  they  were  deaf  to  his  request,  that 
they  would  either  listen  to  him  with  Christian  mildness  and 
fatherly  attention,  or,  if  not  to  him,  that  they  would  choose  persons 
fit  to  search  the  Scriptures  at  leisure  and  with  care.  Berengar 
confesses  his  weakness  in  having  yielded  through  fear  of  death,  but 
represents  his  acquiescence  as  entirely  passive.  He  was  made  to 
light  a  fire  and  cast  his  writings  into  it,  while  Cardinal  Humbert 
wrote  the  confession,  which  he  accepted  but  denies  that  he  signed  : 
"  I,  Berengarius,  anathematize  every  heresy,  especially  that  for 
which  I  have  hitherto  been  brought  into  ill  repute,  &c.  I  agree 
with  the  Holy  Roman  Church,  namely,  that  the  bread  and  wine, 
which  are  placed  on  the  altar,  are  after  consecration  not  only  a 
Sacrament,  but  also  the  true  body  and  blood  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  and  that  sensibly  (senstmliter),  not  only  as  a  Sacrament  but 
in  reality  (yeritate),  they  are  handled  by  the  hands  of  the  priests, 
broken  and  ground  by  the  teeth  of  the  faithful !  " 

§  8.  There  are  three  types  among  men  who  have  been  called  to 
suffer  for  what  they  believed  to  be  truth  :  those  who  unite  constancy 
to  their  opinions  with  the  courage  of  the  martyr  or  confessor  ;  those 
who  prove  themselves,  in  the  hour  of  trial,  destitute  of  both;  and 
those  whom  fear  impels  to  the  temporary  denial  of  the  convictions 
to  which  they  are  still  constant  in  heart,  like  Galileo  muttering  as 
he  rose  from  his  knees:  "And  yet  it  does  move."  To  this  third 
class — whom  the  world  is  apt  to  judge  more  harshly  for  their 
cowardly  compromise  than  the  second  for  their  cowardly  apostacy — 
Berengar  belonged  through  his  whole  career.  He  no  sooner  re- 
turned to  Tours  than  he  began  again  to  teach  his  old  opinions  ;  to 
counteract  which  Lanfranc  published  the  famous  work,2  in  which 

a  real  exception  to  the  parallel,  for  it  was  "  when  he  had  blessed  it  " 
or  "given  thanks"  that  Christ  said  "This  is  my  body,"  "This  is  my 
blood": — in  whit  sense,  and  what  was  the  force  of  the  consecration — still 
remained  to  be  decided. 

1  Whether  Lanfranc  himself  was  at  the  council  is  doubtful :  it  seems 
more  probable  that  he  was  not.     (See  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  660.) 

2  The  De  Corpore  et  Sanguine  Domini,  already  often  cited.  As  above 
stated,  the  date  of  this  work  is  somewhere  between  1063  and  1070,  the 
year  in  which  Lanfranc's  removal  from  the  Abbey  of  Bee  to  the  primacy 
of  England  appears  to  have  withdrawn  him  from  the  active  prosecution  of 
the  controversy  with  Berengar. 


A.D.  1073  GUITMUND  ON  THE  BERENGARIANS.  319 

he  gave  his  version  of  the  controversy  up  to  this  time,  and  to 
which  Berengar  replied  in  the  apologetic  treatise,  only  discovered 
in  its  integrity  a  century  ago.1  It  is  significant  of  the  open  state 
of  the  question,  that  through  the  long  pontificate  of  Alexander  II. 
(1061-1073)  no  attempt  was  made  to  put  down  Berengar  by  the 
authority  of  Rome ;  and  to  the  Pope's  friendly  remonstrances  he 
replied  that  he  was  resolved  to  adhere  to  his  opinions. 

§  9.  About  the  time  of  Hildebrand's  elevation  to  the  Papacy  as 
Gregory  VII.  (1073),  a  new  disputant  took  the  field  against  Berengar 
with  still  greater  violence  than  Lanfranc.  The  work  of  this  Guit- 
mund2  is  of  special  interest  for  his  statement  of  the  different  shades 
of  opinion  among  those  who  followed  the  views  of  Berengar.  He 
says  that,  while  all  the  Berengarians — (an  admission,  by  the  wTay, 
of  their  number)— agreed  that  the  bread  and  wine  were  not  changed 
in  substance  (essentialiter),  they  differ  much  in  this : — that  some 
say  there  is  in  those  sacraments  nothing  at  all  of  the  body  and 
blood  of  the  Lord,  but  that  they  are  only  shadows  and  figures ; 
while  others,  yielding  to  the  right  views  of  the  Church,  say  that 
the  body  and  blood  of  the  Lord  are  contained  there  in  truth,  but  in 
a  hidden  manner,  and  so  that  they  may  be  taken, — that  they  are, 
so  to  speak,  impanated : 3  and  this,  they  say,  is  the  more  subtile 
opinion  of  Berengar  himself.  Others  (he  adds) — these  not  Beren- 
garians, but  very  sharply  opposed  to  Berengar,  though  somewhat 
influenced  by  his  arguments  and  certain  words  of  the  Lord — used 
formerly  to  think  that  the  bread  and  wine  are  in  part  changed,  and 
in  part  remain :  while  others  hold  that  the  bread  and  wine  are 
indeed  wholly  changed,  but,  when  the  unworthy  come  to  communi- 
cate, the  flesh  and  blood  of  the  Lord  return  again  to  bread  and 
wine. 

This  enumeration  of  various  opinions  throws  a  flood  of  light  on 
the  whole  state  of  the  controversy  at  this  critical  epoch  before  the 

1  De  Sacra  Cani,  adv.  Lanfmncum  liber  posterior.  The  contents  of  his 
former  work  (the  liber"  prior)  against  Lanfranc  are  only  known  through 
the  fragments  quoted  by  Lanfranc  and  other  opponents  of  Berengar. 

2  De  Veritite  Corporis  et  Sanguinis  Christi  in  Eucharistia,  in  the  form  of 
a  Dialogue ;  Bibl.  Patrum,  xviii.  440-468.  "  The  date  varies  from  1073 
and  1077.  Guitmund  (who  was  a  Norman  monk)  had  refused  an  English 
bishopric  offered  to  him  by  the  Conqueror.  He  was  afterwards  nominated 
to  the  archbishopric  of  Rouen,  but  his  enemies  objected  that  he  was  the 
son  of  a  priest.  He  then  obtained  his  abbot's  leave  to  go  into  Italy, 
where  Gregory  made  him  a  cardinal,  and  he  was  consecrated  Archbishop 
of  Aversa  by  Urban  II.  (Orderic.  Vital,  iv.  13  ;  Anselm,  Epist.  i.  16  ; 
Hist.  Litt.  viii.  552,  ?eq<].)" — Robertson,  vol.  ii.  pp.  662-3. 

3  fmpanari,  i.e.  "embodied  in  the  bread,"  if  we  may  venture  at  all  to 
translate  the  word,  formed  from  the  analogy  of  incarnari,  to  express  an 
idea  of  the  Real  Presence  short  of  Transubstantiation. 


320  THE  EUCHARISTIC  CONTROVERSY.  Chap.  XIX. 

definition  of  the  Eucharistic  doctrine  by  the  Roman  Church.  It  is  a 
complete  misapprehension  to  regard  Berengar  as  a  heretic  rising  up 
— whether  wantonly  or  conscientiously — to  oppose  an  orthodox  doc- 
trine of  the  Catholic  Church.  In  the  older  stage  of  the  controversy 
the  real  innovator  was  Paschasius  Radbert,  whom  Lanfranc  and  his 
party  owned  as  their  master.  It  may  be  difficult  to  determine 
whether  the  responsibility  of  its  revival  rests  on  Berengar  or 
Lanfranc;  but  there  is  no  doubt  as  to  the  real  character  of  the 
struggle :  it  was  an  attempt  for  the  first  time  to  establish,  in  the 
form  advocated  by  Paschasius  and  his  followers,  a  doctrine  on 
which  the  Church  had  not  yet  pronounced  a  decision.  That  doc- 
trine seems  to  have  now  obtained  the  majority  of  adherents, 
especially  among  the  Noman  clergy,  the  monks,  and  the  common 
people.  But,  when  Lanfranc  claims  it  to  be  the  doctrine  of  the 
Church,  Berengar  protests  against  his  "  so  often  giving  the  name  of 
Church  to  a  multitude  of  foolish  persons ; "  and  adds  :  "  when  you 
say  that  all  hold  this  faith,  you  speak  against  your  conscience, 
which  cannot  but  tell  you — now  that  the  question  has  been  so 
freely  agitated — how  numerous,  nay  almost  unnumbered,  are  those 
of  every  rank  and  dignity,  who  execrate  your  error,  and  that  of 
Paschasius,  the  monk  of  Corbey,  about  the  sacrifice  of  the  Church." l 
§  10.  The  language  of  this  confident  appeal  may  be  exaggerated, 
but  it  could  not  have  been  made  without  some  strong  grounds  ;  and 
it  seems  clear  that  there  was  a  powerful  resistance  of  the  more 
thoughtful  and  spiritual  minds  against  a  current  swollen  by  popular 
fanaticism.  The  party  of  Lanfranc  had  the  advantage  of  main- 
taing  a  definite  view  of  actual  and  tangible  realities,  against  the 
more  subtile  and  vacillating  attempts  to  clothe  a  mystery  in 
language  which  should  express  the  whole  teaching  of  Scripture2 
and  the  Fathers.  It  is  as  needless  as  it  would  be  perplexing,  to 
trace  the  subtilties  and  inevitable  inconsistencies  of  such  a  tenta- 
tive process :  the  spirit  of  Berengar's  best  adherents  may  be  seen 
in  a  letter  addressed  to  him  by  his  bishop,  Bruno,  of  Angers : 3 
"  Leaving  the  turbid  rivulets  of  disputations,  we  say  it  is  necessary 
to  draw  from  the  very  fountain  of  truth,  which  is  '  The  Lord  Jesus, 
the  day  before  He  suffered,  &c.' 4     That  the  bread,  after  the  hal- 

1  De  Ccena,  p.  27  ;  ap.  Gieseler,  vol.  ii.  p.  407. 

2  This  is  one  very  interesting  feature  of  the  controversy.  We  have 
seen  how  constantly  Berengar  makes  his  appeal  to  Scripture ;  but  his 
friend  Paulinus  (Joe.  sup.  cit.)  remonstrates  with  him  for  "  throwing  the 
deep  sense  (profunditatem)  of  the  Scriptures  before  those  to  whom  he 
ought  not,  like  pearls  before  swine." 

3  Ap.  Gieseler,  vol.  ii.  p.  408. 

4  He  quotes  1  Cor.  xi.  23,  &c,  by  the  sense  rather  than  the  exact 
words. 


A.D.  107  COUNCIL  AT  ROME.  32 J 

lowing  of  the  consecrating  priest  according  to  these  words,  is  the 
true  body  of  Christ,  and  the  wine  in  the  same  manner  the  true 
blood,  we  believe  and  confess.  But  if  any  one  asks  in  what  way 
(qualiter)  this  can  take  place,  we  answer  him,  not  according  to  the 
order  of  nature,  but  according  to  the  omnipotence  of  God.  And  if 
any  one  enquires  of  us  what  our  Fathers  or  Doctors  think  of  this 
matter,  we  send  him  to  their  books,  that  he  may  read  diligently 
what  he  finds  in  them,  and  may  choose  for  himself  what  .he  thinks 
agreeable  to  evangelic  truth,  with  thankfulness  and  the  desire  of 
brotherly  concord."  Wide  as  is  the  scope  which  this  reference  to 
patristic  authority  leaves  to  the  individual  judgment,  it  is  given 
with  a  qualification  still  more  remarkable  for  that  age: — "More- 
over for  our  own  part — not  contemning  the  writings  of  the  Fathers, 
but  yet  neither  reading  them  with  the  same  assurance  (securitate)  as 
the  Gospel,  we  abstain  from  (introducing)  their  opinions  in  the 
discussion  of  so  great  a  subject,  lest  we  might  improperly  put 
forward  the  opinions  of  the  Fathers,  either  depraved  by  any 
accident,  or  not  well  understood  or  thoroughly  investigated  by 
ourselves." 

§  11.  We  could  scarcely  need  a  stronger. proof  of  the  open  state  of 
the  question,  than  that  such  a  Pope  as  Gregory  VII.  protected 
Berengar,  even  if  he  did  not  agree  with  him.  In  fact,  his  imperialist 
enemies  charged  him  by  implication  with  being  a  Berengarian  heretic. 
We  have  seen  the  part  taken  by  Hildebrand,  as  Legate  at  Tours, 
and  how  Berengar  went  to  Kome  in  reliance  on  his  friendship  (1059). 
In  1078  he  was  again  in  Rome  as  the  guest  of  Gregory  VII.,  who 
took  the  opportunity,  at  an  assembly  of  bishops  on  All  Saints' 
Day,  of  causing  Berengar  to  swear  to  a  confession  of  the  Real 
Presence  in  general  terms  ;  not  without  a  loud  d;ssent  (yociferatione 
multa),  to  which  the  Pope  replied  that  it  sufficed  to  give  babes 
milk,  not  solid  food,  that  Berengar  was  no  heretic,  that  he  took  his 
doctrine  from  the  Scriptures,  and  not  from  his  own  fancy,  and  that 
that  "  son  of  the  Church,"  Peter  Damiani,  had  not  agreed  with  the 
dicta  of  Lanfranc  about  the  Sacrifice.1     The  tumult  was  appeased, 

1  Berengar.  ap.  Martene,  Thes.  Anecdot.  xiv.  99,  seq. ;  Act.  Cone.  Rom 
(Mansi,  xix.  761);  Gieseler,  ii.  409.  Peter  Damiani,  the  great  monastic 
zealot  and  supporter  of  Hildebrand,  had  died  a  year  before  the  latter 
became  Pope  (1072).  This  account  of  Gregory's  appeal  to  his  authority 
is  given  by  Berengar ;  but  both  parties  claimed  Damiani.  His  opinions, 
as  expressed  in  the  Expositio  Carionis  Missx  (by  some  disciple,  probably 
soon  after  his  death)  come  much  nearer  to  Transubstantiation  ;  and  that 
word  is  said  to  occur  first  in  this  Treatise  (c.  7),  which  was  first  published 
by  Cardinal  Mai,  and  reprinted  in  the  Patrologia,  cxlv.  879,  seq.  (See  the 
passages  quoted  by  Gieseler,  vol.  ii.  p.  407  ;  among  them,  the  comparison 
of  the  daily  consumption  of  Christ's  flesh  and  blood  to  the  widow  of 
Sarepta's  barrel  of  meal  and  cruse  of  oil  :  1  Kings  xvii.) 


322  THE  ECJCHARISTIC  CONTROVERSY.  Chap.  XIX. 

bat  the  question  was  not  decided.  Gregory  sought  counsel,  as  was 
his  custom,  from  the  Blessed  Mar)',  who  revealed  to  a  young  monk 
(prepared  by  prayer  and  fasting)  that  nothing  ought  to  be  thought 
or  held  about  the  sacrifice  of  Christ,  except  what  was  contained  in 
authentic  Scriptures  (or  writings).1  But  the  opposite  party  urged 
the  Pope  to  detain  Berengar  at  Rome  till  the  Lenten  Synod,  which 
they  knew  their  supporters  would  attend  in  force  ;  and  accordingly, 
at  that  assembly  of  150  bishops  and  abbots,  Berengar  was  required 
to  sign  a  confession  declaring  in  strong  terms  the  substantial  conver- 
sion of  the  bread  and  wine  into  the  body  and  blood  of  Jesus  Christ. 
If  the  grounds  on  which  he  consented  betray  his  own  want  of  moral 
strength,  they  are  equally  a  satire  on  the  binding  power  of  such 
defining  formulas.  While  his  conscience  found  the  strange  subter- 
fuge, that,  "  substantially  "  {substantial iter)  might  mean  "  still  re- 
taining its  own  substance"  (salva  sua  substantia),  so  that  the  con- 
secrated bread  is  the  body  of  Christ,  not  losing  what  it  was,  but 
assuming  wliat  it  was  not, — he  discovered  that  the  authors  of  the 
formula  had  written  against  themselves  in  ascribing  the  efficacy  of 
consecration  to  "  the  mystery  of  prayer  "  (per  mysterium  orationis). 
The  assembly  insisted  on  his  swearing  to  interpret  the  confession 
thenceforth  according  to  their  sense,  and  not  his  own  ;  but  even 
here  he  found  a  loop-hole  by  replying,  that  he  held  what  the  Pope 
had  stated  to  him  a  few  days  before  ;  referring  to  the  revelation 
from  the  Blessed  Mary.  In  the  end,  he  signed  the  required  con- 
fession, he  tells  us,  through  fear  of  anathema  and  violence,  because 
God  did  not  give  him  constancy  ;  and  he  was  forbidden  to  teach 
in  future,  except  to  reclaim  those  whom  he  had  led  astray.  After 
all  this,  Gregory  sent  him  home,  as  an  honoured  guest,  with  his 
legate  Fulco,  bearing  a  commendatory  letter,  which  declared  to  all 
the  faithful  in  St.  Peter,  "  that  the  Pope  had  anathematized  all  who 
should  presume  to  do  any  injury  to  Berengar,  the  son  of  the  Roman 
Church,  or  who  should  call  him  heretic."  He  forthwith  revoked 
his  enforced  confession  ;  and,  still  protected  by  Gregory,  he  spent  the 
rest  of  his  life  in  quiet  retirement  on  the  island  of  St.  Come,  near 
Tours,  where  he  died  in  1088.  In  spite  of  his  perseverance  in  his 
opinions  to  the  last,  his  character  is  exalted  by  his  contemporaries, 
whose  testimony  is  confirmed  by  the  annual  festival  long  observed 
at  his  grave  at  Tours.  On  the  strength  of  this  reverence  for  his 
memoiy,  Romanists  claimed  him  as  a  convert  at  last  to  Lanfranc's 
arguments;    and,  before  the   discovery  of  his  own  work,  he  was 

1  "Nisi  quod  haberent  authenticae  Scriptural'  where  the  word 
authenticse  suggests  that  the  scriptune  are  the  writings  of  the  Fathers,  as 
well  as  the  Holy  Scriptures,  which  would  more  probably  have  been 
mentioned  without  the  qualification. 


Cent.  XI.  USE  OF  DIATICCELS.  323 

attacked  by  Luther  and  vindicated  by  Bishop  Cosin.  "  The  recovery 
of  his  Treatise,  and  of  his  other  writings,  has  placed  his  doctrines  in 
a  clearer  light ;  and  it  is  now  acknowledged  by  writers  of  the  Roman 
Church  that,  instead  of  supposing  the  Eucharist  to  be  merely 
figurative,  he  acknowledged  in  it  a  real  spiritual  change,  while  he 
denied  that  doctrine  of  a  material  change,  which  has  become  dis- 
tinctive of  their  communion."1 

§  12.  But,  besides  this  crisis  in  the  development  of  the  sacra- 
mental doctrine,  the  Berengarian  controversy  has  a  special  interest 
on  account  of  the  novel  intellectual  weapons  wielded  on  both  sides. 
It  is  perhaps  the  first  theological  dispute  in  which  reason — (we  are 
compelled  to  use  the  word  in  the  popular  sense  which  mixes  up  the 
free  exercise  of  the  faculty  with  the  art  of  reasoning)  was  opposed 
to  that  appeal  to  authority  by  which  alone  all  controversies  had 
hitherto  been  decided.  As  will  be  more  fully  seen  in  a  subsequent 
chapter,  we  stand,  in  the  middle  of  the  eleventh  century,  on  the 
threshold  of  that  new  intellectual  age,  in  which  the  method  of 
dialectics  (the  art  of  disputation  according  to  the  rules  of  logic)  was 
applied  to  theology  and  religious  controversy.  The  movement  had 
begun  in  the  great  monastic  schools  ;  and  (apart  from  all  imputa- 
tions of  personal  jealousy)  we  must  recognize  in  Lanfranc  and 
Berengar,  not  merely  contending  theologians,  but  the  heads  of  the 
rival  schools  of  Bee  and  Tours.2  In  the  judgment  of  Gieseler,3  "  the 
first  trial  of  the  new  science  was  in  the  dialectic  dispute  between 
them  concerning  the  Lord's  Supper."  Berengar's  bitter  opponent, 
Guitmund,  traces  the  origin  of  Berengar's  views  about  the  sacra- 
ments to  resentment  at  his  signal  defeat  by  Lanfranc  in  a  minor 
dialectic  dispute,  and  at  the  growing  success  of  the  school  at  Bee 
above  his  own.4  The  new  style  of  controversy  was  significantly 
hinted  at,  when  the  Council  at  Rome  (1050)  called  on  Lanfranc  to 
prove  his  case  "  rather  by  sacred  authorities  than  by  arguments ; " 
while  Lanfranc  himself  charges  Berengar  with  "leaving  sacred 
authorities,  and  taking  refuge  in  dialectics,"  and  apologizes  for  the 
necessity  of  following  him  into  that  field  with  a  proud  consciousness 
of  his  own  dexterity  in  the  art.5    Berengar  replies,  that  he  does  not 

1  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  665. 

2  The  fame  of  Lanfranc  and  Bee  (supported  by  that  of  Anselm)  has 
eclipsed  the  intellectual  reputation  of  Berengar,  who  is  described  as  "  in 
grammatica  et  philosophia  clarissimus,"  and  perhaps  also  in  physical 
science,  as  it  is  added  "  et  in  negromantia  peritissimus  "  (Chron.  Turon.  ap. 
Bouquet,  xii.  461-5).  Even  Guitmund,  in  violently  disparaging  Berengar, 
has  no  higher  praise  to  give  Lanfranc  than  as  a  man  of  the  greatest 
learning  equally  with  him.  3  Vol.  ii.  p.  396. 

4  Guitmund,  d<:  Corp.  e'  Sung.  Ckristi,  in  it. 

5  De  Eucharist,  c.  7.     This  very  interesting  passage,  which   is  too  long 


324  THE  EUCHARISTIC  CONTROVERSY.         Chap.  XIX. 

neglect  the  sacred  authorities,1  but  "no  one,  except  with  blind 
senselessness,  will  deny  the  evident  proposition,  that  the  use  of 
reason  in  the  perception  of  truth  is  incomparably  superior  ; "  and  he 
quotes  the  saying  of  Augustine  (whose  praise  of  the  art  had  been 
confessed  by  Lanfranc),  that  "  Human  authority  is  by  no  means  to 
be  preferred  to  the  reason  of  a  purified  soul,  which  attains  to  clear 
truth."  He  boldly  asserts  that  it  is  a  mark  of  the  largest  heart 
in  all  questions  to  resort  to  dialectics,  for  this  is  to  resort  to  reason, 
to  abandon  which  is  to  renounce  our  own  honour  and  our  daily 
renewal  in  the  image  of  God. 

§  13.  During  the  twelfth  century,  opinions  more  or  less  like  those 
of  Berengar  continued  to  be  held  by  a  respectable,  if  decreasing, 
minority.2  Abelard  distinctly  speaks  of  the  question — "  whether 
the  bread  which  is  seen  be  only  a  figure  of  the  Lord's  body,  or  be 
also  the  real  substance  of  the  Lord's  very  flesh" — as  being  yet 
undetermined.3  A  more  spiritual  view  even  than  that  of  Berengar 
is  expressed  by  St.  Bernard,4  who  defines  a  sacrament  as  a  sacred  sign 
or  sacred  secret,  and  declares  the  nature  of  all  the  sacraments  to  be 
such,  that  "  God  confers  an  invisible  grace  by  some  visible  sign ; " 
and  of  the  Eucharist  he  says,  "  To  this  day  the  same  flesh  is  given 
us,  but  spiritually,  not  carnally."  The  more  materialistic  view, 
however,  not  only  gained  ground  among  the  vulgar,  whose  faith 
was  quickened  by  alleged  miracles ; 5  but  it  steadily  prevailed  by 

for  quotation  here,  is  given  in  Gieseler,  vol.  ii.  pp.  405-6 ;  as  well  as  some 
particular  examples  of  the  highly  technical  application  of  dialectic  rules 
to  the  sacramental  controversy  by  Berengar,  with  Lanfranc's  criticisms  iu 
reply. 

1  These  "  sacred  authorities  "  are  evidently  the  Fathers,  rather  than 
the  Scriptures  ;  and  so  he  speaks  just  after  of  "  human  authority.'' 

2  See  the  evidence  cited  by  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  pp.  313,  314;  especially 
the  statement  by  Alger  of  Liege  (cir.  1130)  of  the  different  opinions  then 
held,  the  sacramental  sign,  impanation,  and  various  degrees  of  mutation. 

3  TheoL  Christ,  iv. 

4  Sermo  i.  in  Coena  Domini,  ap.  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  314.  So  wide  is  his 
sense  of  the  word,  that  he  includes  under  sacraments  the  washing  of  feet, 
with  the  reception  of  the  Eucharist  and  Baptism.  He  illustrates  what  he 
means  by  a  s  gn  by  the  ring,  which  has  in  itself  no  signification,  but  is 
given  as  a  sign  of  investment  with  an  inheritance,  so  that  he  who  receives 
the  ring  may  say  :  "The  ring  has  no  value,  but  the  inheritance  which  I 
asked  for." 

5  Such  are  found  already  in  the  writings  of  Paschasius.  As  to  these 
miracles,  such  as  the  apparition  of  the  flesh  of  Christ  in  its  own  form — 
for  example,  that  of  a  boy — or  of  bleeding  flesh,  or  of  a  finger,  or  some 
other  member,  Alexander  Hales  says  that  the  apparition,  when  from  the 
Lord,  is  that  of  the  Lord  Himself ;  adding,  "I  say  from  the  Lord,  because 
apparitions  of  this  kiwi  sometimes  take  place  by  human  and  perhaps  by 
diabolical  procuration ; "  but  he  gives  no  test  to  distinguish  the  three 
cases.     Where  money  wanted  for  a  church  (as  at  Walkenried,  in  1252) 


A.  D.  1215.  TRANS  INSTANTIATION  DECREED.  325 

the  authority  of  the  Schoolmen,  who,  in  the  emphatic  words  of 
Dean  Milman,  "  stripped  off  all  the  awfulness,  and  coldly  discussed  it 
in  its  naked  materialism."  At  length  the  Fourth  Lateran  Council, 
under  Innocent  III.  (T215),  formally  declared  Transubstantiation 
to  be  the  doctrine  of  the  one  universal  Church,  out  of  which  there 
is  no  salvation  :  namely  "  that  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ — himself 
both  the  priest  and  sacrifice — are  truly  contained  in  the  sacrament 
of  the  altar  under  the  outward  forms  (speciebus)  of  bread  and  wine, 
which  have  their  substance  changed  (transubstantiates)  into  the 
body  and  blood  by  the  power  of  God ;  and  this  sacrament  no  one 
can  accomplish,  except  the  priest  who  has  been  duly  ordained 
according  to  the  keys  of  the  Church,  which  Jesus  Christ  himself 
granted  to  the  Apostles  and  their  successors."  But,  even  after  this 
decree,  room  was  found  for  controversy  respecting  the  manner  of 
the  change  and  its  consequences,  till  the  doctrine  was  fixed  in  its 
most  positive  and  materialistic  form  by  the  authority  of  Thomas 
Aquinas.1 

§  14.  When  the  sanctity  of  the  Sacrament  was  thus  transferred 
from  the  truth  it  symbolized  to  its  material  elements,  some  changes 
naturally  followed  in  the  mode  of  celebration.  The  practice  of 
infant  communion  was  gradually  discontinued,  and  was  at  length 
expressly  forbidden  by  provincial  Councils.2  The  reverence  due 
more  especially  to  the  wine,  as  the  very  blood  of  Christ  (for  "  the 
blood  is  the  life  ")  suggested  special  precautions  against  spilling  it 
or  other  profanations  ;3   such  as  sucking  it  up  through  a  tube  or 

was  speedily  obtained  by  such  a  miracle,  he  would  perhaps  have  referred 
it  to  "human  procuration."     See  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  315. 

1  Respecting  the  various  questions  raised,  the  solutions  given  by 
different  schoolmen,  and  the  last  efforts  of  resistance,  especially  in  the 
University  of  Paris,  see  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  pp.  316  f.,  Robertson,  vol.  iii. 
pp.  603-605.  It  would  seem  impossible  to  push  the  materialistic  view 
further  than  in  the  question  whether,  if  an  animal  ate  the  consecrated 
host,  it  would  eat  the  Lord's  body,  which  Thomas  Aquinas  boldly  decided 
in  the  affirmative,  overruling  the  adverse  opinions  of  Peter  Lombard,  Pope 
Innocent  III.,  and  Bonaventura.  Such  an  accident  (said  Thomas)  no  more 
derogated  from  the  dignity  of  Christ's  body  than  its  crucifixion  by  the 
hands  of  sinners. 

2  Concil.  Burdegal.  ann.  1235,  and  Bajocense,  ann.  1306.  An  inter- 
mediate step  was  taken  by  giving  children  unconsecrated  wine,  to  avoid 
profanation  by  spilling;  but  Hugo  of  St.  Victor  sensibly  observed  that  it 
was  better  to  withhold  it;  and  Odo  of  Paris  (after  1196)  forbad  his 
clergy  to  give  even  the  unconsecrated  hosts  to  children. —  Gieseler,  vol.  iii. 
p.  318.  The  change  added  another  point  of  dispute  to  the  controversy 
between  the  Latin  Church  and  the  Greek,  which  retained  the  communion 
of  children. 

3  For  instance,  through  dipping  the  beard  into  the  cup,  or  through  the 
inability  of  sick  persons  to  swallow  the  wine. 

II-Q2 


326  THE  EUCHARISTIC  CONTROVERSY.  Chap.  XIX. 

giving  the  bread  dipped  in  the  wine,  instead  of  the  cup.  The 
latter  practice,  which  originated  in  the  communion  of  the  sick  and 
infants,  was  condemned  by  Urban  II.1  and  Paschal  II.,2  expressly 
on  the  ground  of  its  inconsistency  with  our  Lord's  example  in  the 
institution  of  the  Last  Supper ;  "  for  we  know  (says  the  latter  Pope) 
that  the  Lord  gave  the  bread  by  itself,  and  the  wine  by  itself ;" 
and  the  contrast  with  the  later  Roman  practice  is  made  the  more 
striking  by  the  sole  exception  which  the  latter  Pope  allows,  in  the 
case  of  "  infants  and  the  infirm,  who  cannot  swallow  the  bread  ; 
for  whom  it  is  sufficient  to  communicate  in  the  blood."  In  oppo- 
sition to  such  high  authority,  some,  like  Ernulph,  bishop  of 
Eochester  (1120)  maintained  the  right  of  the  Church  to  vary  the 
mode  of  obeying  the  Lord's  precept ;  and  defended  the  practice, 
which  held  its  ground  in  England,  till  it  was  forbidden  by  the 
Council  of  London  in  1175. 

The  next  step  in  superstitious  reverence  for  the  wine  as  the 
blood — the  withdrawal  of  the  cup  from  the  laity — began  in  the 
12th  century;  but  only  in  some  few  churches.  Though  the 
schoolmen  for  the  most  part  still  maintained  that  the  communion 
was  imperfect,  unless  in  both  kinds,3  Anselm  had  laid  down  the 
principle  that  the  whole  Christ  is  taken  in  either  kind ; 4  and  Thomas 
Aquinas  developed  this  view  under  the  name  of  sacramental  con- 
comitancy.  The  laity  were  gradually  accustomed  to  the  new  practice 
by  the  administration  of  unconsecrated  wine,  sometimes  with  a 
small  portion  of  consecrated  wine  left  at  the  bottom  of  the  chalice. 
Even  to  the  16th  century  communion  in  both  kinds  was  still 
practised  in  some  monasteries.5 

§  15.  The  elevation  of  the  host  in  the  Eucharist,  practised  in  the 
Eastern  Church  from  the  7th  century,  was  adoped  in  the  Western 
during  the  11th  ;  but,  in  both  only  as  a  symbol  of  the  exaltation 
of  Christ.  As  a  consequence  of  the  establishment  of  the  doctrine 
of  tiansubstantiation  by  the  Lateran  Council  (1215),  the  practice 
was  converted  into  adoration,  and,  both  at  the  celebration  and 
when  the  host  was  carried  through  the  streets,  all  were  ordered  to 
kneel  before  it.6     The  external  reverence  for  the  presence  of  Christ 

1  At  the  Council  of  Clermont,  1095. 

2  Epist.  32,  to  the  Abbot  Pontius  of  Clugny  (1110). 

3  Alex.  Hales,  Sentent.  lib.  iv.  qu.  53  ;  Albertus  Magnus,  ap.  Gieseler, 
vol.  iii.  pp.  321-2. 

4  "  In  utraque  specie  totum  Christum  sumi." — Epist.  lib.  iv.  107. 

5  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  324. 

6  Like  the  doctrine  itself,  this  practice  was  supported  by  miracles,  such 
as  that  persons  who  knelt  in  the  mud  in  reverence  to  the  host  found  that 
their  fine  clothes  were  not  injured. — Caesarius  Heisterbach  (cir.  1225), 
de  Miraiulis  et  Visionibus  sui  tempjris,  lib.  ix.  c.  51. 


A.D.  1311. 


FEAST  OF  CORPUS  CHRISTI. 


327 


in  the  Eucharist  culminated  in  the  festival  in  honour  of  the  Tody 
of  Christ,  that  is,  the  consecrated  host  {Corpus  Ohristi),  which 
began  to  be  observed  in  the  diocese  of  Liege  about  the  middle  of 
the  13th  century,  and  was  decreed  by  Pope  Urban  IV.  in  1264, 
and  finally  established  by  a  Bull  of  Clement  V.  in  1311.1  The 
mystery  which  obscured  the  great  commemorative  rite  of  the 
Church  tended  to  defeat  its  first  object  by  deterring  from  frequent 
communion.  "  Although  some  councils  endeavoured  to  enforce  the 
older  number  of  three  communions  yearly,  it  was  found  that  the 
canon  of  the  Lateran  Council,  which  allowed  of  one  yearly  re- 
ception as  enough  for  Christian  communion,  became  the  rule. 
Instead  of  personally  communicating,  people  were  taught  to  rely 
on  the  efficacy  of  masses,  which  were  performed  by  the  priests  for 
money ;  and  from  this  great  corruptions  naturally  followed.'" 2 

1  Respecting  the  story  of  the  origin  of  the  festival  from  the  visions 
seen  by  Juliana,  a  nun  of  Liege,  and  by  her  communicated  to  the  arch- 
deacon James,  afterwards  Pope  Urban  IV.,  see  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  325, 
Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  607.  2  Robertson,  /.  c.  vol.  iii.  p.  607. 


Archbishop  celebrating  Mass  "before  the  Table." 
From  an  Ivory  Diptych  at  Frank  ort-on-the-Main,  probably  of  the  9th  century. 


The  Abbey  of  Clugny,  in  Burgundy. 


BOOK   IV. 


THE  MONASTIC  ORDERS  AND  MENDICANT 
FRIARS. 


CHAPTER  XX. 
REFORMED  AND  NEW  MONASTIC  ORDERS. 

§  1.  Corruption  and  Decay  of  the  old  Orders — Lay  Usurpations — Spread 
of  the  Monastic  Spirit — Wealth  and  Dependents  of  the  Monks — Lay 
Brethren.  §  2.  Spirit  of  Independence — Alliance,  especially  of  the 
reformed  orders,  with  the  Papacy — Their  privileges  and  exemptions — 
Mitred  and  Cardinal  Abbots.  §  3.  Chi/ny  founded  by  Berno — Abbots 
Odilo  and  Hugh — Spread  and  organization  of  the  Cluniac  Congregation 
— Its  support  of  Hildebrand.  §  4.  Eremite  Societies — Nilus  in  Cala- 
bria— Grotto  Ferrata — Orders  of  Camaldoli,  founded  by  Romuald,  and 
Vallomhrosa,  by  Gualbert.  §  5.  Opposition  to  monastic  reform  in 
Germany — Archbishop  Hanno — The  Congregation  of  Hirschau — Culture 
of  learning  and  art.  §  6.  Stephen  of  Tigerno:  his  order  of  Grammont. 
§  7.  The  Carthusian  order  founded  by  Bruno— The  Grande  Chartreuse 
and  Charterhouse.     §  8.  The  order  of  Fontevraud  founded  by  Robert  of 


Cent.  IX.,  X.  MONASTIC  CORRUPTIONS.  329 

Arbrissel,  chiefly  for  women — Order  of  Sempringham.  §  9.  Robert 
of  Champagne  founds  the  Cistercian  order  at  Citeaux — Abbots  Alberic 
and  Stephen  Harding — Rules  of  the  order — "  Daughter  "  societies — 
St.  Bernard — General  Chapters — Spread  of  the  order.  §  10.  Corrup- 
tion of  Cathedral  Canons — Ivo,  bishop  of  Chartres — The  Canons  Regular 
of  St.  Augustine — Norbert,  founder  of  the  Prsemonstratensian  Order,  and 
Archbishop  of  Magdeburg.  §  11.  Degeneracy  of  the  New  Orders— T 
Papal  exemptions,  real  and  forged — Ambition  of  Abbots — Rivalry  of 
Monks  and  Canons — Relaxation  of  discipline  and  morality.  §  12.  Con- 
tests between  the  Cluniacs  and  Cistercians — Peter  the  Venerable  and 
Bernard — Lateran  decree  of  Innocent  III.  against  new  orders  (1215). 

§  1.  The  forms  of  Ecclesiastical  life,  which  we  have  been  tracing, 
were  moulded  by  new  intellectual  and  spiritual  forces,  which,  in 
their  mingled  co-operation  and  opposition,  are  among  the  most 
remarkable  in  the  history  of  the  human  mind.  The  development 
of  scholastic  theology,  and  the  rise  of  the  Universities ;  the  growth 
of  monasticism,  and  the  institution  of  new  orders  for  the  reforma- 
tion and  defence  of  the  Church ;  the  spiritual  opposition  to  the 
corruptions  of  religion,  and  the  claims  of  intellectual  freedom, 
which  (not  without  the  admixture  of  baser  elements)  gave  origin 
to  sects  then  deemed  heretical,  but,  in  part  at  least,  the  precursors 
of  the  Reformation ; — these  three  elements  are  so  connected  in  their 
action  on  each  other,  as  to  make  their  separate  treatment  no  easy 
task.  In  attempting  to  trace  the  great  intellectual  movement,  we 
are  brought  into  contact  with  the  efforts  of  the  mendicant  orders 
for  supremacy  in  the  Universities,  and  the  fact  that  the  greatest  of 
the  schoolmen  belonged  to  those  orders ;  which,  in  their  turn,  are 
to  be  traced,  in  great  measure,  to  the  demand  for  new  champions 
against  abuses  in  the  Church,  and  still  more  against  the  opposition 
which  those  abuses  provoked.  The  most  convenient  course  is,  to 
start  from  the  Monastic  Orders. 

Amidst  the  growing  tide  of  corruption  in  the  9th  and  10th 
centuries,  the  monasteries  suffered  both  from  internal  decay  and 
worldly  oppression.1  They  had  grown  rich  enough  to  be  made  the 
spoil  of  princes  and  nobles,  who  either  conferred  them  on  their 
chaplains  and  clerical  parasites,  or  even  took  possession  of  them, 
and  made  their  residence  in  the  cloister,  with  a  host  of  retainers,  who 
consumed  its  revenues,  or  sold  them  to  the  highest  bidder.  An  ex- 
press title  was  devised  for  laymen  who  held  such  estates :  they  were 
called  "  Abbot-Counts." 2   But  the  very  disorders  of  the  times  tended 

1  Peter  the  Venerable,  of  Clugny,  makes  the  striking  remark,  that  it 
was  easier  to  found  new  religious  societies  than  to  reform  the  old.  J'pitt. 
i.  23,  in  Patrol,  clxxxix. 

2  Abba-comit's :   see  Palgrave,  Hist,  of  the  Normans,  vol.   i.  p   184,  foil. 


330  THE  MONASTIC  ORDERS.  Chap.  XX. 

to  preserve  the  vitality  of  the  monastic  spirit :  the  young  renounced 
the  world,  in  which  they  heard  of  so  much  evil,  for  a  life  of  purity 
and  meditation  ;  and  those  who  had  experienced  its  troubles,  or 
were  remorseful  for  their  own  part  in  the  scene,  sought  a  haven  of 
penitence  and  rest.  More  worldly  motives  were  naturally  mingled 
with  the  spirit  of  devotion.  The  monks  took  pride  in  their  sever- 
ance from  the  secular  clergy  (a  name  itself  implying  a  somewhat 
invidious  contrast),  as  an  order  of  men  peculiarly  religious  (ordo 
and  religiosi).  A  devout  pride  was  felt  in  the  traditions  with 
which  most  monasteries  were  associated,  as  preserving  the  memory 
of  a  martyr,  like  Saint  Alban,  of  a  saintly  founder,  like  Benedict 
or  Cuthhert,  of  a  pious  patron,  like  King  Offa  at  1  eterborough,  or 
a  devout  lady,  like  Etheldreda  at  Ely;  of  spots  once  famed  for 
heathen  temples,  now  purged  and  sanctified  for  Christian  use,  or 
memorable  for  some  great  victory,  like  Battle  Abbey ;  or  the  site  of 
a  signal  miracle  or  of  more  sentimental  traditions.1  Supported  at 
first  by  the  diligent  labours  of  the  brethren,  and  afterwards  enriched 
by  the  fortunes  brought  in  by  those  who  devoted  their  properties 
with  their  lives,2  and  by  the  gifts  of  kings  and  nobles  from  pious 
generosity  or  penitential  fear,  they  became  the  centre  of  a  com- 
munity, generally  remote  from  civil  society,  but  sometimes  forming 
a  separate  quarter  .of  a  town.3     Besides  the  vassals  who  tilled  the 

The  French  bishops  complained  that  Charles  the  Bald  gave  away  religious 
houses,  from  various  motives  of  weakness  or  policy. 

1  For  example,  the  priory  of  the  deux  amoureux  at  Rouen. 

2  "  Such  persons  were  called  fratres  oblati.  The  first  example  occurs  at 
Clugny,  ann.  948  (Gieseler,  vol.  ii.  p.  417).  There  is  a  letter  of  Leo  IX. 
(Epist.  66;  Patrol,  cxliii.)  to  the  Italian  bishops,  complaining  that  monks 
persuaded  people  to  give  everything  to  the  monasteries.  "  The  Pope  orders 
that  any  person  wishing  to  turn  monk,  whether  in  life  or  on  his  death- 
bed, shall  give  half  of  what  he  intends  'pro  salute  animae'  to  the  church 
to  which  he  belongs."  (Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  782.)  The  monks  not  only 
intercepted  gifts  which  would  otherwise  have  been  made  to  the  secular 
clergy,  but  diverted  to  themselves  large  portions  of  the  settled  revenues 
of  the  Church,  by  persuading  laymen  who  had  usurped  them  to  make 
restitution,  not  to  the  church  which  had  been  robbed,  but  to  a  monastery. 
Even  tithes  and  other  ecclesiastical  dues  were  often  accepted,  in  violation 
of  the  express  rules  of  the  orders,  and  in  spite  of  the  prohibitions  of 
Councils,  as  those  of  Westminster  (1102),  the  1st  Lateran  (1123),  and 
London  (1125)  (ibid.).  Some  persons  obtained  privileges  of  the  monas- 
teries as  fratres  conscripti  or  confratres,  like  Conrad  I.,  and  Giesela,  wife 
of  Conrad  II.,  at  St.  Gall,  and  Henry  II.  at  Clugny.  Another  mode  of 
participating  in  the  spiritual  benefits  of  the  system  was  by  putting  on 
the  monastic  habit  in  dangerous  sickness,  too  often  with  the  result  cele- 
brated in  a  well-known  rhyme. — Gieseler,  vol.  ii.  p.  417. 

3  The  mark  of  religious  profession  by  a  peculiar  dress  was  (at  least  in 
most  cases)  not  an  original  distinction,  but  arose  from  the  continued  use 
of  what  was  at  first  the  common  dress,  after  it  had  become  obsolete  in 


Cent.  XL  THEIR  ALLIANCE  WITH  THE  PAPACY.  331 

conventual  lands  or  served  the  monastery  in  various  lorms  of  traffic, 
the  ancient  rule  of  common  labour  was  broken,  by  devolving  what 
we  now  call  menial  offices  and  the  management  of  secular  business 
on  lay  brethren  {conversi).1 

§  2.  The  spirit  of  independence,  which  was  beginning  to  stir  in 
the  towns,  had  its  counterpart  in  the  monastic  societies  which,  thus 
complete  in  themselves  and  their  own  resources,  elected  their  own 
abbots;  and  these  aspired  to  independence  of  episcopal  control, 
by  means  of  royal  charters,  and  still  more  of  papal  privileges.2 
For  this  desire  for  independence  cooperated  with  the  natural  dis- 
position of  devotees  to  carry  Catholic  principles  to  an  extreme,  and 
to  exalt  the  unity  of  the  Church  in  its  chief  Bishop,  in  making  the 
monks  the  chief  and  constant  supporters  of  the  authority  of  the 
Pope.  This  was  especially  the  case  from  the  time  of  the  revival 
of  the  monastic  spirit  in  the  11th  century,  which  gave  birth  to 
reformed  and  powerful  orders,  among  which  reforming  and  am- 
bitious Popes,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  history  of  Hildebrand3  had 
their  chief  supporters.  The  monks  "were  strictly  bound  to  the 
Papacy  by  ties  of  mutual  interest,  and  could  always  reckon  on  the 
Pope  as  their  patron  in  disputes  with  bishops  and  other  ecclesias- 
tical authorities.  A  large  proportion  of  the  papal  rescripts  during 
this  time  consists  of  privileges  granted  to  monasteries.  Many  were 
absolutely  exempted  from  the  jurisdiction  of  bishops;  yet  such 
exemptions  were  less  frequently  bestowed,  as  the  monastic  com- 
munities became  better  able  to  defend  themselves  against  oppres- 
sion.   .  .  .    Among  other  privileges  granted  to  monasteries  were 

ordinary  civil  society ;  and  such,  indeed,  is  the  origin  of  clerical  and 
other  professional  costumes  in  all  ages.  (See  the  lively  illustrations  of 
this  fact  in  Dean  Stanley's  Christian  Imtituti'-ns.)  But  certain  orders 
were  distinguished  by  the  colours  of  their  hoods  or  whole  dress,  which 
have  given  them  their  popular  names,  such  as  H  kite  Friars  for  the 
Carmelites,  Grey  Friars  for  the  Franciscans,  Black  Friars  for  the 
Dominicans. 

1  These  are  said  to  have  been  first  allowed  by  Guelbert,  at  Yallombrosa, 
in  order  that  the  monks  might  be  wholly  devoted  to  spiritual  concerns. 
At  Hirschau  (see  §  5)  and  elsewhere  they  were  distinguished  as  fratrcs 
barbati,  the  monks  not  being  permitted  to  wear  beards.  Martene,  how- 
ever, carries  back  the  institution  of  lay  brethren  to  the  5th  century,  at 
Lerins. 

2  We  have  already  seen  that,  amidst  the  prevalent  ignorance  and 
corruption  of  the  parish  priests,  the  ministrations  of  the  monks  were 
preferred  by  the  people  ;  their  intrusion  on  pastoral  functions  was  put 
down  by  the  prohibition  of  councils,  e.g.  the  1st  Lateran,  1123.  Robert- 
son, vol.  ii.  p.  783. 

3  See  Chap.  II.  The  powerful  tendency  of  the  movement  for  the  celibacy 
of  the  clergy  to  advance  the  power  of  the  monks  had  also  been  seen  in 
the  reforming  efforts  of  Dunstan  in  the  10th  centurv. 


332  THE  CLUNIAC  CONGREGATION.  Chap.  XX. 

exemption  from  the  payment  of  tithes  and  from  the  jurisdiction  of 
legates ;  exemption  from  excommunication,  except  by  the  Pope 
alone,  and  from  any  interdict  which  might  be  laid  on  the  country 
in  which  the  monastery  was  situated ;  permission  that  the  abbots 
should  wear  the  episcopal  ring,  gloves,  and  sandals,1  and  should  not 
be  bound  to  attend  any  councils  except  those  summoned  by  the 
Pope  himself.  The  Abbots  of  Clugny  and  Vendome  were,  by  virtue 
of  their  office,  cardinals  of  the  Roman  Church." 2 

§  3.  The  reformation,  instituted  by  Benedict  of  Aniane  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  9th  century,3  had  needed  a  renewal  at  the  beginning 
of  the  10th,  when  the  reformed  Benedictine  Order  of  Clugny  was 
founded,  in  912,  by  Berno,  previously  Abbot  of  Beaume  and  Gigni, 
on  the  invitation  of  William,  duke  of  Auvergne  or  Upper  Aquitaine, 
and  its  strict  rules  were  framed  by  his  successor,  Odo  (927-951).4 
The  close  relation  of  the  revised  monastic  system  to  Rome  is  seen 
in  the  fact  that  this  Cluniac  congregation  ('monaster ium  Cluniacum) 
was  placed  from  the  first  under  the  direct  authority  of  the  Pope. 
Its  reputation  was  so  maintained  and  advanced  by  a  succession  oi 
abbots,  among  whom  Odilo  (994-1048)  has  been  called  "  the  arch- 
angel of  the  monks," 6  that  most  of  the  French  cloisters  either 
embraced  the  Cluniac  rule  of  their  own  free  choice,  or  were  com- 
pelled by  their  princes  and  protectors  to  accept  it.  The  organiza- 
tion of  this  great  "  Congregation  of  Clugny "  was  effected  by  the 
sixth   abbot,   Hugh,   who  succeeded  Odilo  at  the  age  of  25,  and 

1  The  earliest  certain  case  of  one  of  the  "mitred  abbots"  (Abbates 
mitrati  s.  i'ifulat>)  is  that  of  the  abbot  of  S.  Maxim  in  at  Treves,  who 
received  the  mitre  from  Gregory  VII.     Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  220. 

2  Robertson,  ii.  782-4.  "  The  monks  of  Monfre  Cassino,  the  '  head  and 
mother  of  all  monasteries,'  claimed  liberties  even  against  the  Papacy 
itself,"  as  in  a  case  where  an  abbot,  Seniorectus,  elected  during  the  pon- 
tificate of  Honorius  II.,  refused  to  make  a  profession  of  fidelity  to  the 
Pope,  and,  on  being  asked  why  he  should  scruple  to  comply  with  a  form 
to  which  all  archbishops  and  bishops  submitted,  the  monks  replied  that 
it  had  never  been  required  of  their  abbots — that  bishops  had  often  fallen 
into  heresy  and  schism,  but  Monte  Cassino  had  always  been  pure.  Hono- 
rius II.  gave  way;  but  when  Reginald,  the  successor  of  Seniorectus,  had 
received  benediction  from  the  Antipope  Anacletus,  the  plea  for  exemption 
could  no  longer  be  plausibly  pretended,  and,  notwithstanding  the  vehe- 
ment opposition  of  the  monks,  Innocent  II.  afterwards  insisted  on  an  oath 
of  obedience  as  a  condition  of  their  reconciliation  to  the  Roman  church. 
See  what  is  there  added  about  the  extensive  use  of  forged  grants  in 
support  of  the  pretensions  of  monastic  bodies. 

3  See  Part  I.  Chap.  XXII.  §  2. 

4  Among  the  most  remarkable  of  the  rules  are  the  long  periods  of  strict 
silence  observed  in  the  church,  the  dormitory,  the  refectory,  and  even  the 
kitchen  ;  so  that  a  complete  code  of  signals  was  framed  for  the  intercourse 
of  the  brethren.  (These  are  described  in  c.  iv.  of  the  rules  as  written  out 
by  Ulrich.)  5  By  Fulbert  of  Chartres  ;  ap.  Bouquet,  x.  426. 


Cent.  XI.  EREMITES.— ORDER  OF  CAMALDOLI.  333 

governed  the  society  for  sixty  years  (1049-1109) ;  exercising  also  a 
vast  influence  in  the  affairs  of  the  whole  Latin  Church.  By 
the  middle  of  the  12th  century,  the  order  numbered  about  2000 
cloisters,  chiefly  in  France,  forming  one  great  congregation  under 
the  Abbot  of  Clugny,  who  was  elected  by  the  monks,  while  he 
appointed  the  friars  of  the  several  monasteries.  The  legislation 
and  oversight  of  all  were  conducted  by  a  general  chapter  held  every 
year  at  Clugny.  It  was  this  vast  organization  that  gave  the  chief 
impulse  to  the  reforms  of  Hildebrand,  who  was,  himself,  as  we  have 
seen,  a  monk  of  Clugny.1  Of  the  disorders  and  discords  which  set 
in  under  Pontius,  the  unworthy  successor  of  Hugh,  we  have  more 
to  say  presently. 

§  4.  The  monastic  establishments  of  this  age  were  chiefly  of  the 
eremite  type,  which  had  flourished  in  the  East  from  the  time  of 
St.  Anthony,  whose  fame  was,  as  we  have  seen,2  one  chief  source  of 
monasticism  in  the  West.  One  famous  establishment,  indeed,  was 
founded  by  a  Greek  hermit,  Nilus  the  younger,3  who  emulated  the 
sanctity  and  longevity  of  Anthony,  whose  life  he  had  read  as  a  boy, 
and,  at  the  age  of  nearly  ninety,  came  forth  from  his  retreat  in 
Calabria  to  intercede  with  Otho  III.  for  the  Antipope  John  (991).4 
After  his  death  on  the  slope  of  the  Latin  Mount,  his  disciples 
founded  over  his  grave  the  cloister  of  Grotto  Ferrata,  where  the 
Greek  rule  of  St.  Basil  flourished,  and  Greek  learning  was  culti- 
vated on  the  Papal  territory. 

Early  in  the  11th  century,  two  famous  eremite  communities  were 
founded  in  the  recesses  of  the  Apennines.     That  of  CamaJdoli5 

1  See  Chap.  I.  p.  6.  The  rites  and  customs  of  Clugny  were  first  com- 
mitted to  writing  in  the  11th  century  by  the  Cluniac  monk  Bernhard 
(Ordo  Cluniacensis  per  Bernhardum,  lib.  ii.,  in  Herrgott's  Vetus  Disci)  Una 
JMonasterica,  Paris,  1726,  p.  133)  ;  and  in  1070  by  the  monk  Ulrich  for 
William  of  Hirschau  (Anti</uiores  Consuetudines  Cluniac.  Monast.  lib.  iii., 
in  D'Achery,  Spicileg.  i.  641). 

2  Part  I.  Chap.  XII.  §  18.  The  words  hermit  and  anchoret  are  used  with 
some  distinction,  in  accordance  with  the  meaning  of  the  Greek  words. 
The  hermit  (ipT)/jLiT7]s)  went  forth  into  the  desert  (eprj^ia,  i.e.  any  unin- 
habited place),  either  alone  or  with  chosen  companions,  like  Basil  and 
Gregory,  or  gathered  them  about  him,  like  Benedict,  and  still  held  com- 
munion with  men  and  sought  to  benefit  them  ;  but  the  anchoret  (ava 
X(0pyT7)s,  from  dvax(opea>)  retired  into  complete  solitude.  The  monks 
who  lived  in  larger  communities  were  called  cexnobites  (from  koiv6s  fiios, 
"  common  life  "). 

3  In  contradistinction  to  Nilus,  the  pupil  of  Chrysostom,  who  founded 
the  famous  monastery  on  .Mount  Sinai  in  the  4th  century;  ibid.  p.  306. 

*  Ibid.  Chap  XXIII. 

5  Campus  Maldoli,  Camaldulum,  near  Arezzo.  The  life  of  Romuald  was 
written  by  Peter  Damiani,  0pp.  ii.  205,  ed.  Cajetaui ;  Mabillon,  Act.  SS. 
Saec.  VI.  pars  i.  p.  247. 


334  ORDER  OF  VALLOMBROSA.  Chap.  XX. 

owed  its  origin  to  Romuald,  of  the  ducal  house  of  Ravenna,  who, 
at  the  age  of  20,  was  reclaimed  from  a  dissolute  life  by  horror  at 
seeing  his  father,  Sergius,  slay  a  kinsman  in  a  dispute  about  some 
property.  Retiring  into  the  monastery  of  St.  Apollinaris  for  a  forty 
days'  penance,  he  was  led  by  visions  to  embrace  the  monastic  life. 
After  three  years  he  left  the  monastery,  to  place  himself  under  the 
tutorship  of  a  hermit  named  Marinus,  whose  severities  were  imi- 
tated by  Romuald  on  the  person  of  his  own  father,  to  prevent  his 
abandoning  the  monastic  life,  which  Sergius  also  had  embraced.1 
Romuald  spent  many  years  in  contests  with  the  monks  in  various 
places,  who  resisted  his  violent  means  of  reformation.  The  mar- 
tyrdom of  his  friend  Bruno,  in  Prussia,  moved  his  emulation  to 
undertake  a  mission  to  Hungary;  but  as  often  as  he  set  out,  a 
severe  sickness  warned  him  that  this  was  not  to  be  his  work.  He 
had  passed  his  110th  year  when  he  fixed  his  final  retreat  at  Camal- 
doli,  where  he  built  an  oratory  and  five  cells  (about  1018) ;  and 
here  he  died,  at  the  age  of  1-0,  a.d.  1027.2  The  severity  of 
Romuald's  rules  was  mitigated  by  Rudolf,  general  of  the  Camal- 
dolese  from  1082  ;  and  he  also  added  an  establishment  of  coenobites, 
who  degenerated  greatly  from  the  original  strictness.  Other  affiliated 
monasteries  sprang  up,  though  in  no  considerable  number,  and  the 
Order  has  continued  to  the  present  day. 

An  event  not  unlike  the  conversion  of  Romuald  led  John 
Gualbert,  a  noble  Florentine,  to  forsake  the  world  for  the  Convent  of 
St.  Miniato,  near  Florence,  in  spite  of  his  father's  reproaches  and 
threats.3  Ten  years  later  he  declined  the  abbacy  offered  by  the 
monks  in  admiration  of  his  ascetic  piety ;  and,  after  staying  for 
some  time  at  Camaldoli,  he  retired  to  found  an  eremite  cloister  on 
the  like  model  (1039) 

"  In  Vallombrosa,4  where  the  Etrurian  shades 
High  overarched,  embower." — (Milton). 

"  The  rigour  of  the  system  was  extreme  ;  novices  were  obliged 
to  undergo  a  year  of  severe  probation,  during  which  they  were 
subjected  to  degrading  employments,  such  as  the  keeping  of  swine, 
and  daily  cleaning  out  the  pigsty  with  their  bare  hands ;  and 
Gualbert  carried  his  hatred  of  luxury  so  far  as  to  condemn  the 

1  For  the  strange  but  amusing  details  given  by  Damiani,  see  Robertson, 
vol.  ii.  pp.  524,  525. 

2  From  a  vision  of  the  angels  on  Jacob's  ladder,  Romuald  adopted  a 
white  dress  for  his  monks,  that  of  the  Benedictines  being  black. 

3  For  the  details,  see  the  Lives  of  (iualhert,  by  Atto  (general  of  Vallom- 
brosa, ob.  1153),  in  Mabillon,  Acta  SS.  Sa?c.  VI.  pars  ii.  pra?f.  p.  xxxiv. ; 
and  by  Andreas,  Patrolog.  cxlvi.  ;  and  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  526. 

*    YalUs  umbrosa,  "  the  shady  valley,"  not  far  from  Florence. 


Ceht.  X.,  XI.       MONASTIC  REFORM  IN  GERMANY.  335 

splendour  of  monastic  buildings."1  After  reforming  many  monas- 
teries, it  was  only  in  obedience  to  the  Pope,  Alexander  II.,  that  he 
became  general  of  the  order  he  had  founded.     He  died  in  1093. 

§  5.  The  more  independent  spirit,  and  the  general  social  order, 
which  prevailed  in  Germany,  opposed  a  much  stronger  resistance 
to  monastic  reform  than  in  France  and  Italy.  The  feelings  of  the 
monks  are  expressed  by  one  of  themselves,  Widikund  of  Corvey 
(about  960).2  He  naively  complains  of  the  grievous  persecution 
raised  against  the  monks  by  certain  dignitaries,  who  thought  it 
better  that  the  monasteries  should  contain  a  few  distinguished  by 
their  lives  (claims  vita),  than  many  careless  ones ;  the  result  beino- 
that  many,  conscious  of  their  own  infirmity,  put  oft'  the  frock,  left 
the  monasteries,  and  shunned  the  heavy  burthen  of  the  priest- 
hood (as  if  he  held  it  better  to  be  a  bad  priest  or  a  monk  than  a 
layman  of  any  sort).  The  reformers,  in  his  judgment,  appealed  to 
have  forgotten  the  example  of  the  householder  in  the  parable,3 
who  forbad  his  servants  to  gather  up  the  tares  ;  and  he  adds  that 
some  imputed  to  the  Archbishop  of  Main/  the  corrupt  motive  of 
wishing  to  disgrace  the  venerable  Abbot  Hadumar,  who  was  faithful 
to  the  King.4  But  besides  the  interference  of  bishops,  several  cases 
are  on  record5  of  reforming  abbots  being  resisted  by  their  own 
monks,  who  beat  or  blinded  them,  and  plotted  against  their  lives, 
even  by  mixing  poison  with  the  Eucharist.  Other  monks  and 
canons  forsook  the  convents,  and  went  about  spreading  disorder 
through  districts  and  kingdoms.6 

Still  the  reformation  made  progress,  supported  by  Hanno,  arch- 
bishop of  Cologne,7  whose  example  was  generally  followed  by  the 
prelates  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine.  The  favour  which  the 
movement  found  with  the  German  princes  and  people  is  attested 
by  an  old  Benedictine,  Lambert,8  in  the  querulous  tone  of  the  anti- 

1  Andreas,  17 ;  Atto,  40 ;  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  527.  See  also  the 
account  of  the  impression  made  by  Gualbert's  anger  and  tenderness. 

2  Widikund,  de  Bebus  Gestis  Saxon,  ii.  37  ;  ap.  Gieseler,  ii.  415.  The 
time  referred  to  is  about  that  of  the  organization  of  the  Cluniac  congre- 
gation by  Odo.  3  Matth.  xiii.  24-33. 

4  Namely,  Otho  I.  The  then  state  of  German  politics  gives  colour  to 
the  accusation.  5  See  Gieseler,  vol.  ii.  p.  415. 

6  Lambert  (see  next  note)  says  that,  when  the  reformation  got  footing 
in  the  convents,  as  many  as  thirty,  forty,  or  fifty  monks  would  leave  at 
once  rather  than  submit  to  the  severer  rule  of  life. 

7  In  1068  Hanno  reformed  the  monastery  of  Siegburg,  which  he  had 
founded,  and  others  besides.  —  Lambertus,  ad  ann.  1075  ;  ap.  Pertz,  vii. 
238.  Lambert  had  been  for  a  long  time  in  the  monasteries  of  Siegburg 
and  Saalfeld,  for  the  purpose  of  learning  the  new  discipline  ;  and  he  came 
to  a  decided  conclusion  in  favour  of  the  old,  if  faithfully  carried  out,  with 
a  zeal  equal  to  the  new.  8  Ad  ann.  1071,  p.  i88. 


336  CONGREGATION  OF  HIRSCHAU.  Chap.  XX. 

reformer  in  every  age.  The  popular  mind,  always  eager  for  novelty 
and  astonished  at  the  unknown,  he  says,  held  us  whom  they  knew 
by  experience  <>f  no  account,  and  supposed  the  reformers  to  be  not 
men  but  angels,  not  flesh  but  spirit ;  and  he  adds  that  this  opinion 
sank  deeper  and  more  firmly  into  the  minds  of  the  princes  than 
of  private  persons.  The  chief  fruit  of  this  reformation  was 
the  establishment  of  the  Congregation  of  Hirschau1  (1069)  by 
William,  abbot  of  the  old  Benedictine  monastery  there,  on  the 
model  of  that  of  Clugny,  the  rules  of  which  were  written  down  for 
William  by  the  Cluniac  monk  ririch.2  At  Hirschau  itself  he  raised 
the  number  of  the  monks  from  15  to  150,  and  reformed  no  less 
than  100  monasteries,  besides  founding  new  ones.  He  died  in 
1091.  "  The  virtues  of  William  were  not  limited  to  devotion, 
purity  of  life,  and  rigour  of  discipline  ;  he  is  celebrated  for  his 
gentleness  to  all  men,  for  his  charity  to  the  poor,  for  the  largeness 
of  his  hospitality,  for  his  cheerful  and  kindly  behaviour,  for  his 
encouragement  of  arts  and  learning.  He  provided  carefully  for  the 
transcription  of  the  Bible  and  other  useful  books,  and,  instead  of 
locking  them  up  in  the  library  of  his  abbey,  endeavoured  to  circu- 
late them  by  presenting  copies  to  the  members  of  other  religious 
houses.  The  sciences  included  in  the  Quadrivium,  especially 
music  and  mathematics,  were  sedulously  cultivated  at  Hirschau, 
and  under  William  the  monks  were  distinguished  for  their  skill  in 
all  that  relates  to  the  ornament  of  churches — in  building,  sculpture, 
painting,  carving  of  wood,  and  working  in  metals."  3 

§  6.  The  supremacy  of  Hildebrand,  who  was  himself  a  Cluniac 
monk  and  relied  on  the  monks  to  support  his  reforms,  gave  a  fresh 
impulse  to  the  formation  of  monastic  societies.  In  the  first  year  of 
his  pontificate  (1074),  Gregory  VII.  gave  his  sanction  and  blessing 
to  the  foundation  of  a  new  society  by  Stephen,  son  of  the  Count  of 
Tigerno  or  Thiers,  in  Auvergne,  who  had  embraced  the  monastic 

1  Congregatio  Hirsaugiensis,  at  Hirschau,  in  the  Black  Forest,  where  the 
monastery  lasted  500  years  ;  and  the  elm,  which  broke  through  the  con- 
vent roof,  still  puts  forth  leaves  every  spring. 

2  See  above,  p.  333,  note  *.  S.  Wilhelmi  Constitutiones  Hirsaugirnses  ; 
in  Herrgott's  Veins  Disciplina  Momstica,  Paris,  1726,  pp.  375  seq. 
Respecting  the  life  of  William,  see  Bernoldi,  Chron.  ad  ann.  1091,  ap. 
Pertz,  vii.  451;  Jo.  Tuthemii  (oh.  1516)  Annates  ILrsaugienses. 

3  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  pp.  527.  528.  One  of  William's  rules  deserves 
especial  praise,  and  its  general  adoption  by  the  transcribers  of  MSS. 
would  have  earned  the  gratitude  of  critics.  Over  all  the  transcribers, 
amongst  whom  the  twelve  best  writers  worked  on  the  Scriptures  and  the 
books  of  the  Fathers,  was  set  "  one  monk,  most  learned  in  every  kind  of 
knowledge,  whose  duty  was  to  appoint  to  each  some  good  work  for  tran- 
scription, and  to  emend  the  faults  of  the  more  careless  writers.'7  (Annal. 
Hirsauj.  i.  227  ;  ap.  Gieseler,  vol.  ii.  p.  416.) 


A.D.  1074.  ORDER  OF  GRAMMONT.  337 

life  as  a  boy,  in  emulation  of  the  hermits  of  Calabria.1  He  went 
alone  into  a  rocky  wood  near  Limoges,  built  a  hut  of  branches,  and 
by  the  token  of  a  ring — the  only  remnant  of  his  property — devoted 
himself  to  the  Holy  Trinity  and  the  Virgin  Mother.  His  bed  was 
of  boards  sunk  in  the  earth,  like  a  grave,  without  even  straw  ;  his 
prayers  were  so  frequent  and  fervent,  that  he  sometimes  forgot  food 
and  sleep  for  days  together.  After  a  year,  Stephen  was  joined  by 
two  companions,  and  soon  afterwards  by  more,  over  whom  he  ruled 
as  "  corrector,"  humbly  refusing  the  title  of  abbot ;  and  he  exempted 
them  from  much  of  his  own  ascetic  discipline.  "  It  was  believed 
that  he  had  the  power  of  reading  their  hearts  ;  tales  are  related  of 
the  miracles  which  he  did,  and  of  the  wonderful  efficacy  of  his 
prayers ;  and  a  sweet  odour  was  perceived  to  proceed  from  his 
person  by  those  who  conversed  with  him."  2  On  his  death,  after 
59  years  of  this  hermit  life  (1124),  the  place  was  claimed  by  a 
neighbouring  monastery  ;  and,  directed  by  a  voice  from  heaven,  the 
brethren  carried  their  master's  remains  to  Grarnmont  (a  league 
distant),  which  place  gave  the  order  its  name.3 

Though  professedly  under  the  Benedictine  system,  but  with  a 
much  more  rigorous  discipline,  Stephen  had  declared  that  his  only 
rule  was  that  of  the  Christian  religion ;  and  the  order  had  no 
written  code  till  the  time  of  his  third  successor,  Stephen  of  Lisiac 
(1141),  under  whom  the  fraternity  reached  its  height,  and  numbered 
about  140  "  cells "  (as  their  convents  were  called),  subject  to  the 
prior  of  Grarnmont.  The  rule  imposed  obedience,  asceticism,  and 
the  strictest  poverty.  The  monks  were  to  accept  no  payment  for 
Divine  offices;  they  were  to  possess  no  churches,  and  no  lands 
beyonds  the  precincts  of  their  monasteries  ;  nor  were  they  allowed 
to  keep  any  cattle — "  for  (it  is  said)  if  ye  were  to  possess  beasts,  ye 
would  love  them,  and  for  the  love  which  ye  would  bestow  on 
beasts,  so  much  of  Divine  love  would  be  withdrawn  from  you," — a 
striking  contrast  to  the  teaching — 

"  He  prayeth  best  that  loveth  best 

All  things  both  great  and  small ; 
For  the  same  God  that  loveth  us, 

He  made  and  loveth  all." 


1  Vita  S.  Stephani,  by  Gerhard,  7th  prior  of  Grarnmont,  in  the  collec- 
tion of  Martene  and  Durand,  vi.  1050 ;  and  Patrvlog.  cciv. ;  Mabillon, 
A  nnal.  v.  65,  99 ;  Acta  SS.  Ord.  Benedict.  Ssec.  VI.  praef.  p.  xxxiv. 

2  Gerhard,  20-31  ;  Robertson,  ii.  763. 

3  Ordo  Grandiirvmtensis.  Stephen  was  canonized  by  Clement  III.  in 
1189.  The  place  of  his  burial,  which  the  monks  had  concealed,  was 
betrayed  by  the  miracles  wrought  there ;  and  the  distraction  of  the 
convent's  quiet  by  the  resort  of  pilgrims  only  ceased  when  the  prior 
threatened  his  deceased  master,  that  he  would  throw  his  relics  into  the 
river  if  the  miracles  continued  ! — Gerhard,  55  ;  Robertson,  ii.  763-4. 


338  THE  CARTHUSIAN  ORDER.        Chap.  XX- 

Only  when  they  had  been  without  food  for  two  days,  might  they 
send  out  brethren  to  beg,  and  then  only  for  one  day's  supply. 
Flesh  was  forbidden  even  to  the  sick ;  though  the  ornaments  of  the 
church  were  to  be  sold  rather  than  they  should  want  needful 
tendance.  As  in  the  Cluniac  rule,  a  code  of  signals  was  prescribed 
for  the  long  periods  during  which  strict  silence  was  enjoined.  The 
brethren  were  not  to  leave  the  wilderness  to  preach  ;  this  must  be 
done  by  their  life  there ;  and  its  effect,  so  long  as  they  preached  by 
self-denial,  is  attested  by  their  popular  name  of  the  "  Good  Men."  * 
But  they  were  ruined  by  the  relaxations  of  their  rules,  sanctioned 
by  the  Popes,2  and  especially  by  quarrels  between  the  monks  and 
the  lay  brethren ;  and  the  order  lost  its  independence  before  the 
end  of  the  13th  century. 

§  7.  Ten  years  after  Gregory  VI I. 's  commission  to  Stephen,  the 
Carthusian  Order  was  founded  by  Bruno  of  Cologne,3  Chancellor 
of  the  diocese  of  Hheims,  and  rector  of  the  cathedral  school,  in 
disgust  at  the  worldliness  and  tyranny  of  the  Archbishop  Manasses, 
who  was  deposed  by  Gregory.4 

Retiring,  with  six  companions,  into  the  mountains  above  Gre- 
noble, Bruno  built  a  monastery  in  a  cleft  of  the  rocks  of  the  Grande 
Chartreuse,  which  gave  its  name  to  the  order5  (1084).  Six  years 
after,  he  reluctantly  accepted  the  invitation  of  his  farmer  pupil, 

1  Du  Cange,  s.  v.  Boni  Homines.  Their  convents  were  called  Boni- 
hominiae.     Patrol,  cciv.  1001  ;  Robertson,  ii.  764—5. 

2  Especially  bv  Innocent  IV.  1245. 

3  Mabillon*  Annal.  v.  202;  Acta  SS.  Oct.  iii.  491;  Ata  SS.  Ord. 
Benedict.  Sa?c.  VI.  ii.  praef.  p.  xxxvii. 

4  The  legend,  adopted  by  the  Carthusian  order,  that  Bruno's  retire- 
ment was  caused  by  the  miraculous  revelation  of  the  lost  state  of  a  famous 
doctor  of  Paris,,  who  had  died  with  the  highest  reputation  for  piety,  is 
acknowledged  even  by  Catholic  writers  to  be  a  fabrication,  which  is 
applied  in  various  forms  to  various  saints.  It  is  fully  exposed  by  Io. 
Launoy,  Be  Vera  Causa  Secessus  S.  Brunonis  in  Ercmnm,  Paris,  1646 
(Opp.  II.  ii.  324);  Gieseler,  ii.  217;  Robertson,  ii.  765,' where  the  story 
is  given.  Other  legends  of  Bruno  are  related  in  the  Acta  SS.  Octob. 
torn.  iii.  p.  491.  The  true  origin  of  the  order  is  related  by  Bruno's  con- 
temporary, Guibert,  de  Vita  Sua,  lib.  i.  c.  11  (Opp.  ed.  D'Achery,  p.  467). 

5  Ordo  Carthusianus.  For  a  description  of  the  site  (4268  feet  above 
the  sea)  see  the  Handbook  for  France,  pp.  572,  foil.).  The  original 
convent  was  maintained  till  the  Revolution,  when  the  monks  were 
expelled  and  their  invaluable  library  destroyed  (1792).  They  were 
restored  in  1815;  and  the  name  has  become  curiously  familiar  by  the 
liqueur,  the  secret  of  which  is  preserved  by  the  monks,  an  ascetic  fraternity 
ministering  to  a  questionable  form  of  luxury !  The  memory  of  the  order 
in  England  is  preserved  by  the  name  of  the  Charterhouse  in  London,  with 
its  "poor  brethren"  and  famous  school  (the  "  Greyfriars  "  of  Thackeray), 
now  removed  to  Godalming,  and  succeeded  on  its  old  site  by  the  Merchant 
Taylors'  School. 


A.D.  1100.  ORDER  OF  FONTEVRAUD.  339 

Urban  IT.,  to  Rome ;  but,  soon  weary  of  the  life  in  the  great  city, 
he  retired  to  Calabria,  and  founded  a  second  Carthusian  convent 
(S.  Stefano  del  Bosco),  where  he  died  in  1101. 1  The  disciples  who 
had  followed  him  to  Rome  had  meanwhile  returned  by  his  desire  to 
the  Grande  Chartreuse,  where  the  order  was  re-united  in  1141.  It 
was  an  eremite  community  of  the  austerest  type;  but,  like  the 
Benedictines,  the  monks  used  the  time  not  occupied  in  devotion,  in 
the  study  and  preservation  of  literature.  The  wealth  which  flowed 
in  to  them,  though  their  rules  enjoined  the  strictest  poverty,  was 
employed  on  the  buildings  of  their  convents  and  the  decoration  of 
their  churches;2  but  they  still  preserved  themselves  from  per- 
sonal luxury  more  strictly  than  any  other  order ;  thus  they  escaped 
the  satire  which  was  profusely  lavished  on  monks  in  general,  and 
they  never  needed  a  reformation.3  There  were  also  Carthusian 
establishments  for  nuns ;  but  the  discipline  proved  too  severe  for 
women,  and  only  five  such  convents  survived  in  the  18th  century. 

§  8.  On  the  other  hand,  the  female  sex  was  the  special,  though  not 
exclusive,  object  of  the  Order  of  Fontevraud*  founded  by  Robert 
of  Arbrissel  (or  Albresac,  near  Rennes,  born  1047).  Having  studied 
at  Paris,  and  become  a  teacher  of  theology,  he  was  recalled  to  be 
vicar  to  the  Bishop  of  Rennes  (108<i),  where  his  labours  to  carry 
out  the  Hildebrandine  reforms  were  frustrated  by  the  canons ;  and, 
after  teaching  theology  for  some  time  at  Angers,  he  at  length 
retired  to  lead  a  hermit's  life  of  the  greatest  austerity  in  the  forest 
of  Craon.  Here  he  formed  the  disciples,  who  gathered  about  him, 
into  a  canonical  society,  called  "  the  poor  of  Christ "  (1094). 

In  1096,  Robert  was  summoned  from  his  retreat  by  Urban  IT., 
who  styled  him  the  "  Apostolic  Preacher,"  to  aid  in  preaching  the 
First  Crusade.  Besides  the  numerous  champions  whom  his  elo- 
quence impelled  to  take  up  the  cross,  many  of  both  sexes  left  their 
homes  to  follow  him  as  their  teacher;  and,  in  1100,  he  founded  the 
great  cloister  of  Fontevraud,5  in  the  rough  country  on  the  borders 

1  Bruno  was  canonized  by  Leo  X.  in  1513.  The  customs  of  the  order 
were  written  out  by  the  5th  prior,  Guigo  I.,  in  1128.  Patrol,  cliii.  631 
seqq. ;  Mabillon,  Acta  SS.  ix.  39.  For  the  details  of  the  Carthusian  dis- 
cipline, see  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  pp.  766-8. 

2  The  C;irthusian  house  of  Certosa,  near  Pavia,  is  still  described  as  "  the 
most  splendid  monastery  in  the  world."     Handbook  of  N.  Italy. 

3  Mabillon,  Annal.  v.  205.     See  further  below,  p.  366,  n.  '. 

4  Ordo  Fontis  Ebraldi.  Mabillon,  Annal.  v.  314  ;  Acta  SS.  Febr.  p.  593  ; 
Baldric.  Dal.   Vita  Robcrti,  ap.  Bouquet,  xiv.  163. 

5  Now  usually  written  Fontcvrault.  The  ruins  of  the  Abbey,  which 
was  suppressed  at  the  great  Revolution,  are  now  converted  into  a  large 
prison.  A  special  interest  belongs  to  the  church,  which  is  supposed  to 
have  been  built  by  Fulk,  5th  Count  of  Anjou  (1125  and  onward)  and 
became  the  burying-place  of  his  family,  and,  among  them,  of  our  Kings 


340  FEMALE  RULE  AT  FONTEVRAUD.  Chap.  XX. 

of  Maine  and  Touraine.  Entrusting  the  monks  to  two  of  his  chief 
disciples,  Robert  devoted  himself  especially  to  the  oversight  of  his 
three  nunneries — one  for  virgins  and  widows,  another  for  the  sick 
and  lepers,  and  a  third  for  fallen  women,  who  were  reclaimed  in 
numbers  by  his  preaching,  and  who  were  specially  devoted  to  the 
service  of  the  Queen  of  Heaven.  "  The  rule  was  very  strict ;  the 
female  recluses  were  not  allowed  to  talk,  except  in  the  chapter- 
house, because,  it  is  said,  Robert  knew  that  they  could  not  be 
restrained  from  idle  talk  except  by  an  entire  prohibition  of  speech." * 
Besides  the  graver  scandals,  which  so  peculiar  an  institution  could 
hardly  fail  to  provoke,2  we  find  Robert  charged  with  treating  some 
of  his  female  disciples  with  indulgence,  and  others  with  harsh 
severity,  and  with  allowing  his  convent  to  be  a  refuge  for  women 
who  had  forsaken  their  husbands,  and  whom  he  detained  in  defiance 
of  the  Bishop  of  Angers.  But  the  order  grew  in  favour,  and  was 
confirmed  by  Paschal  II.  in  1106  and  1113.  In  prospect  of  his 
death,  which  took  place  in  1117,  Robert  committed  the  super- 
intendence of  the  whole  order,  both  monks  and  nuns,  to  a  female 
superior,  citing  the  example  of  the  dying  Saviour,  who  commended 
St.  John  to  the  care  of  Mary  as  his  mother ; 3  and  the  society  con- 
tinued to  be  governed  by  women.  At  the  founder's  death,  besides 
the  monks,  Fontevraud  contained  3000  nuns,  and  the  number  soon 

Henry  II.  and  Richard  I.,  as  well  as  of  Eleanor,  wife  of  Henry,  and  Isabel, 
wife  of  John,  who  died  a  nun  in  the  Abbey.  Their  effigies  are  doubtless 
portraits,  and  still  give  the  impression  of  characteristic  likenesses,  though 
they  suffered  much  (especially  those  of  Henry  and  John)  in  the  sack  of 
the  Abbey  at,  the  Revolution. 

1  Regula  Sanctimon.,  Patrol,  clxii.  1079;  Will,  of  Malmesbury,  673; 
Robertson,  ii.  770. 

2  From  the  letter  of  Godfrey,  abbot  of  Vendome,  remonstrating  with 
Robert  as  to  his  treatment  of  his  female  disciples  (Epist.  iv.  47  ;  Bibl. 
Patr.  xxi.  49),  it  appears  that  he  had  revived  the  dangerous  practices  of 
certain  primitive  Gnostics  and  African  ascetics,  of  living  in  close  relations, 
purely  spiritual,  with  the  express  object  of  vanquishing  temptation,  with 
virgins  who  were  called  sisters,  with  the  epithets,  avveHraKTOi,  ayairrjToi, 
subintroductse,  extranese ;  a  practice  condemned  by  Cyprian  and  several 
synods.  (See  Gieseler,  i.  293-4,  iii.  218).  Canon  Robertson  observes  (ii. 
770)  that  "  it  is  not  immorality  but  indiscretion  that  Godfrey  imputes ; 
he  mentions  the  charges  merely  as  matters  of  hearsay,  and  is  known  to 
have  afterwards  treated  Robert  with  great  respect." 

3  John  xix.  26:  an  example  of  those  perverse  applications  of  Scripture 
for  which  the  age  is  remarkable  (especially  in  relation  to  the  Blessed 
Virgin)  ;  for  the  charge  to  Mary  "  Behold  thy  son,"  is  followed  by  that 
to  John,  "Behold  thy  mother:"  and  from  that  hour  that  disciple  took  ko- 
to his  own  house."  Mabillou's  denial  of  the  arrangement  (Annal.  v.  423) 
is  effectually  answered  by  the  testimony  of  Abelard  (Epist.  i.  14,  Patrol. 
clxxviii.),  and  by  the  fact  that  the  order  continued  to  be  governed  by 
women.     (See  Robsrtson,  ii.  771.) 


A.D.  1098.  THE  CISTERCIAN  ORDER.  341 

rose  to  between  4000  and  5000.  The  order  spread  chiefly  in  France, 
but  it  had  also  establishments  in  England  and  Spain  ;  and  some  lesser 
orders  branched  off  from  it,  such  as  those  of  Tiron  and  Savigny. l 

Another  order,  in  which  communities  both  of  nuns  and  monks 
were  under  female  government,  was  that  of  Sempringkam  or  the 
Gilbertines,  so  called  from  the  name  of  their  founder,  a  noble 
Englishman  named  Gilbert  (1131  or  1148). 

§  9.  Contemporaneously  with  Fontevraud,  another  Robert  founded 
that  which  became  the  most  powerful  of  all  the  new  orders  and 
rivalled  the  Cluniac  congregation.  This  Robert,  the  son  of  a 
nobleman  of  Champagne,  had  adopted  the  monastic  life  from  the 
age  of  fifteen;2  and,  after  vainly  seeking  a  house  strict  enough  for 
his  ideas,  he  became  the  Abbot  of  Molesme,  in  the  diocese  of  Langres. 
He  left  that  society  also,  in  indignation  at  its  corruption  by  the 
influx  of  gifts ;  and  he  returned  at  the  earnest  entreaty  of  the 
monks,  only  to  find  that  their  motive  was  but  to  win  back  the  popu- 
larity and  bounty  lost  by  his  departure.  At  length,  in  1098,  Robert 
withdrew  to  the  solitude  of  Citeaux  (Cistercmm),  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Dijon,  and  his  twenty  companions  became  the  nucleus  of 
the  far-famed  Cistercian  Order;*  the  Duke  of  Burgundy  giving 
the  site  of  the  building,  with  land  for  tillage  In  the  following 
year,  however,  owing  to  the  disordered  state  of  the  monastery  he 
had  left,  and  in  obedience  to  Urban  II.,  Robert  returned  to  Molesme, 
where  he  died  in  1110.  The  new  order  meanwhile  flourished  under 
his  successor  at  Citeaux,  Alberic,  who  drew  up  its  rules, 4  and  still 
more  under  the  stricter  rule  of  the  Englishman,  Stephen  Harding, 
one  of  Robert's  first  twenty  monks,  whose  code,  the  "  Charter  of 
Love,"5  was  sanctioned  by  Calixtus  II.  in  1119.  The  Cistercians 
were  to  observe  the  rule  of  St.  Benelict  in  all  its  strictness;6  and 

1  Martene,  Collect.  Ampliss.  vi.  pra?f. ;  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  771. 

2  We  have  his  Life  by  a  monk  of  Molesme  in  the  12th  century,  Patrol. 
clvii. ;  the  work  of  an  unknown  author,  Relatio  qualiter  incepit  Ordo 
Cisierciensis,  in  Dugdale's  Monasticon  ;  William  of  Malmesbury,  513  ;  Mabil- 
lon,  Annul,  v.  219,  393. 

3  Ordo  Cisierciensis.  The  site,  like  the  Grande  Chartreuse,  is  now- 
associated  with  luxury,  being  in  the  finest  wine  district  of  Burgundy. 
Attached  to  the  Abbey  was  the  enclosure  famed  as  Clos  de  Vougeut,  which 
produces  "the  prince  of  Burgundy  wines."  The  monks  cultivated  its 
produce  to  the  highest  perfection,  never  selling  the  wine,  but  giving  away 
all  that  they  did  not  consume.  The  estate  was  sold  on  the  suppression  of 
the  monastery  after  the  French  Revolution. 

4  Exordium  Cisterc.  in  Patrolog.  clvi.  9. 

5  This  Carta  Caritatis  relates  to  the  organization  of  the  order,  which 
in  other  matters  was  governed  by  the  Usns  Antiquiores,  of  unknown  date 
and  authorship.     Both  codes  are  printed  in  the  Patrologia,  clxvi. 

6  For  the  details,  see  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  772  fol. 

II— R 


342  SECULAR  CATHEDRAL  CANONS.  Chap.  XX. 

the  simplicity  of  their  services  contrasted  with  the  splendour  of  the 
Cluniac  ritual;  as  did  their  white  dress,1  significant  of  the  joy 
which  ought  to  be  felt  in  the  monastic  life,  with  the  black  habits 
adopted  by  other  orders  as  a  sign  of  humility. 

In  three  successive  years  (1113-15)  the  mother-cloister  sent  forth 
its  four  "earliest  daughters"  of  La  Ferte  (Firmitas),  Pontigny, 
Marimond,  and— that  made  the  most  famous  of  all  by  its  founder, 
St.  Bernard2 — Clairvaux.  Unlike  the  monarchical  government 
of  the  Cluniacs,  these  shared  in  an  aristocratic  constitution,  uniting 
in  the  election  of  the  Abbot  of  Citeaux,  and  in  the  annual  General 
Chapters  of  the  whole  order,  which  were  imitated  by  other  societies. 

In  addition  to  these  four  eldest  daughters,  the  order  increased 
so  rapidly  that,  at  the  General  Chapter  in  1151,  it  numbered 
upwards  of  500  monasteries,  and  it  was  resolved  that  no  further 
additions  should  be  admitted.  But  in  the  following  century  the 
number  had  grown  to  1800,  and  eventually  it  was .  much  greater. 
The  Cistercians  grew  rich,  and  reforms  became  necessary  among 
them ; 3  but,  until  the  rise  of  the  Mendicant  orders,  they  were  the 
most  popular  of  all  the  monastic  societies.  Towards  the  end  of  the 
12th  century  the  new  and  rigid  Cistercian  order  of  Fiore  (on  the 
Albula)  was  founded  by  the  Abbot  Joachim,  famous  for  the  visionary 
views  of  which  we  have  to  speak  presently  (see  Chap.  XXV.  §  3). 

§  10.  The  reformation  and  renewal  of  monasteries  was  extended 
also  to  the  system  of  Cathedral  Canons,  which  had  fallen  into  decay 
and  disorder  through  the  increase  of  their  wealth,  and  the  privilege 
they  had  obtained  of  managing  their  own  estates  uncontrolled  by 
the  bishop.  They  next  attempted  to  make  themselves  in  all 
respects  independent  of  the  bishop ;  and,  dividing  their  common 
property  among  the  individual  prebends,  they  discontinued  the 
canonical  rules  of  life,  except  that  they  lived  in  the  precincts  of 
the  cathedral  (but  no  longer  together)  and  ate  at  a  common  table. 
They  became  idle,  haughty,  and  corrupt ;  and  the  saintly  Ivo  of 
Chartres4  complains  (at  the  end  of  the  11th  century)  that  the 
common  life  had  fallen  into  disuse  in  almost  all  churches,  the 
charity  which  is  willing  to  have  all  things  in  common  had  waxed 
cold,  and  there  reigned  the  covetousncss  which  seeks  not  the  things 
of  God  and  one's  neighbour,  but  one's  own.     "  At  the  conclusion  of 

1  The  white  dress  gave  offence  to  other  orders,  as  if  meant  to  claim 
superior  righteousness.     (See  Rev.  xix.  8). 

*  See  above,  Chap.  IV.  §  4.  The  brethren  of  Clairvaux  and  its  branch 
monasteries  are  sometimes  distinguished  by  the  name  of  Bemardines. 

3  On  this  subject.,  and  the  jealous  rivalries  between  the  Cluniacs  and 
Cistercians,  see  below,  §  12. 

*  Epist.  215,  ap.  Gieseler,  vol.  ii.  p.  388. 


A.D.  1038  f.         CANONS  REGULAR  OF  ST.  AUGUSTINE.  343 

the  struggle  which  the  Church  maintained  against  the  civil  power 
respecting  the  episcopal  appointments,  nearly  all  the  bishops  were 
elected  absolutely  by  the  canons  of  the  cathedrals,  which  could  not 
fail  to  add  fresh  weight  to  their  pretensions.  They  exceeded  all  the 
other  clergy  both  in  rank  and  in  worldliness,  regarding  the  cathedra 
prebend  as  a  piece  of  private  income,  suited  more  especially  for  men 
of  noble  birth,  and  not  unfrequently  employing  substitutes  (called 
clerici  conducticii)  to  discharge  their  sacred  duties." 1 

Various  efforts  were  made  to  reform  these  "  secular  canons  " 
with  but  little  success; 2  and  in  the  llth  century  a  new  order  of 
canons  was  instituted  on  the  monastic  model  of  common  life  and  the 
renunciation  of  individual  property,3  in  fact,  very  nearly  resembling 
the  Benedictine  order.  Their  name,  the  Canons  Regular  of  St. 
Augustine,  indicated  the  design  of  reviving  that  great  Father's 
mode  of  life  with  his  clergy  at  Hippo ; 4  and  their  rules  were 
compiled  from  his  writings.5 

Early  in  the  12th  century,  a  stricter  order  of  reformed  canons 
attempted  tu  unite  the  monastic  life  with  the  cure  of  souls,  from 
which  it  had  been  kept  carefully  apart.  The  founder,  Norbert,  a 
noble  of  Xanten  on  the  Lower  Rhine  (b.  ab.  1080)  and  a  canon  of 
Cologne,  had  led  the  life  of  a  gay  worldly  churchman  at  the  court 
of  Henry  V.,  till  a  fall  from  his  startled  horse  in  a  thunder-storm 
seemed  to  his  excited  imagination  to  repeat  in  his  case  the  details 
of  the  conversion  of  i-'t.  Paul.6     He  withdrew  for  a  time  to  a 

1  Hardwick,  pp.  237-8. 

2  In  England  Dunstans  chief  method  of  reformation  was  by  the  substi- 
tution of  monks  for  degenerate  secular  canons  in  the  cathedral  chapters. 
In  the  Roman  synod  of  1009,  Nicolas  II.  enjoined  that  canons  should 
have  a  common  dormitory  as  well  as  a  common  table,  and  hold  their 
capitular  revenues  in  common,  though  they  were  not  required  to  give  up 
their  private  property  (Epist.  7-9  ;  in  I'atrolog.  cxliii. ;  Mansi,  xix.  897). 
After  the  institution  of  the  "  regular  canons,"  the  "  secular  canons " 
generally  abandoned  all  pretence  of  a  rule  ;  and  the  chapters  of  cathedrals 
were  called  "  canons"  even  where  they  had  never  been  under  canonical  rule. 

3  The  earliest  example  appears  to  be  that  of  some  clergy  who  esta- 
blished themselves  under  such  a  rule  in  the  church  of  St.  Rufus  at 
Avignon,  a.d.  1038.  (Martene,  Col.  An.pl.  vi.  pracf.  p.  7  ;  Robertson, 
vol.  ii.  p.  774.)  The  extension  of  the  system  is  ascribed  to  the  influence  of 
Ivo  of  Chartres  ;  but  it  took  root  chiefly  in  Britain,  where  the  Augustinian 
canons  possessed  most  of  the  Scottish  cathedrals  and  that  of  Carlisle.  The 
other  English  cathedrals  were  nearly  equally  divided  between  the  Bene- 
dictine order  and  secular  canons.  The  continental  cathedrals  remained  in 
the  hands  of  secular  canons,  with  few  exceptions. — Hardwick,  p.  238. 

*  See  Part  I.  Chap.  XIV.  §  5,  p.  339. 

5  See  Nat.  Alex.  xiii.  340  ;  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  774. 

6  Vita  S.  Norberti,  by  a  Praemonstratensian,  in  Pertz,  vol.  xii.  ;  the 
contemporary   works    of  the    monk    Hermann,   de    Miraculis   S.    Mariae, 


344  NORBERT  OF  XANTEN.        Chap.  XX. 

monastery,  whence  he  came  forth  to  fulfil  his  mission  as  a  preacher 
and  reformer  (1115).  The  sincerity  of  his  purpose  led  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Cologne  to  ordain  him  as  deacon  and  priest  on  the  same 
day  (he  was  as  yet  only  an  archdeacon)  ;  but  his  zealous  preaching, 
clad  only  in  a  sheep-skin  girt  round  him  with  a  cord,  brought 
on  him  from  the  worldly  clergy  charges  of  turbulence  and  eccen- 
tricity ;  and,  as  a  prophet  rejected  in  his  own  country,  he  resigned 
his  benefices,  sold  all  his  property,  giving  the  price  to  the  poor,  and 
went  forth  with  two  brethren  on  his  apostolic  mission  (1118). 
He  obtained  a  licence  to  preach  where  he  pleased  from  Gelasius  II., 
whom  he  met  in  Provence ;  and,  refusing  the  Pope's  invitation  to 
stay  with  him,  Norbert  made  his  way  through  the  length  of  France 
by  rough  roads  amidst  the  cold  and  storms  of  winter.1  A  t  Cambray, 
the  very  see  he  had  refused,  he  fell  dangerously  ill,  and  his  com- 
panions died  ;  but  their  place  was  supplied  by  a  devoted  friend, 
Hugh,  the  bishop's  chaplain.  After  a  first  repulse,  owing  to  their 
mean  appearance,  in  seeking  an  audience  of  Calixtus  II.,  who 
was  holding  the  Council  of  Rheims  (1119),2  they  obtained  his 
renewed  licence  to  preach,  through  the  Bishop  of  Laon,  w'ho  invited 
them  to  stay  with  him  and  reform  the  canons.  This  proved  a  hope- 
less task ;  and  Norbert,  consenting  to  remain  within  the  diocese, 
sought,  with  the  bishop's  guidance,  for  a  suitable  spot  at  which  to 
found  a  new  society,  as  the  nucleus  of  an  order  of  regular  canons. 
At  length,  passing  the  night  in  a  little  chapel  in  the  secluded 
valley  of  Premontre,3  in  the  forest  of  Coucy,  Norbert  had  a  vision 

Laudunensis  and  de  Restaur* itione  S.  Martini,  in  Patrolog.  clvi.  clxxx. ;  the 
Bihliotheca  Prsemonstratens:s,  ed.  Io.  le  Pa'ge,  Paris,  1633;  the  Ordhds 
Preem.  Annates,  ascribed  to  Hugh,  the  companion  of  Norbert,  Nancy, 
1734  ;  A.  Tenekhoff,  de  S.  Norb.  Madgeburg,  1855.  Norbert's  religious 
feeling  is  said  to  have  been  first  awakened  when  he  accompanied  Henry  V. 
to  Rome,  by  the  indignities  inflicted  on  Pope  Paschal  II.  (1111)  (see  above, 
Chap.  III.  §  7,  p.  30) ;  and  he  had  refused  the  bishopric  of  Cambray  from 
conscientious  scruples  about  investiture. 

1  Among  the  miracles  with  which  his  life  is  garnished,  his  German  being 
unintelligible  to  the  people,  Norbert  prayed  For  the  gift  of  tongues,  and 
found  himself  able  to  preach  in  French.  Afterwards,  in  his  retreat  at 
Premontre,  he  repeated  the  conflicts  of  Anthony  and  Benedict  with  the 
devil,  who  once  rushed  upon  him  in  the  form  of  a  bear,  but  was  forced 
to  vanish  ;  and  he  obliged  the  wolves  to  act  as  sheep-dogs. —  Vita  Poster, 
ap.  Pertz,  xii.  692  ;  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  777.  2  See  above,  p.  32. 

3  In  Latin  Pruemonstratum,  which  signifies  "  foreshown."'  from  Norbert's 
vision  of  the  Virgin,  as  some  suppose  ;  "  but  it  would  seem  that  the  name 
was  before  given  to  some  place  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood,  if  not  to 
the  very  site  of  Norbert's  monastery.  The  original  site  was  soon  after 
exchanged  for  one  on  an  adjoining  hill,  which  had  been  bestowed  by  a 
hermit  named  Guy  on  St.  Bernard,  and  by  him  w;is  given  up  to  the  Prae- 
monstratensians." — Robertson,  ii.  776  ;  and  the  authorities  there  cited. 


A.D.  1120.  THE  PR/EiMONSTRATENSIAN  ORDER.  345 

of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  who  showed  him  a  white  woollen  garment 
as  a  pattern  of  the  dress  of  the  Prsemonstratensian  Order,  which 
Norbert  founded  on  the  spot,  at  first  with  thirteen  companions 
(Kaster,  1120).  Their  number  quickly  grew  ;  the  cloister  obtained 
favour  and  support ;  other  convents  on  the  same  model  were  founded 
by  Norbert  in  France  and  Germany ;  and  the  discipline  and  pos- 
sessions of  the  order  were  confirmed  by  Honorius  II.  (1126).1 

In  the  same  year  Norbert  left  his  retreat  to  be  present  at 
the  marriage  of  Theobald,  count  of  Champagne,  whom  he  had 
advised  to  do  God's  will  in  the  world,  rather  than  gratify  his  desire 
to  join  the  new  society,  of  which  he  was  a  liberal  patron.2  On 
arriving  at  Spires,  where  the  Emperor  Lothair  III.  held  his  court, 
Norbert  happened  to  enter  the  church  where  the  two  papal  legates 
were  in  consultation  with  some  deputies  from  Magdeburg  about 
the  choice  of  an  archbishop,  and  he  was  at  once  hailed  as  the  fit 
person.  Yielding  to  the  urgency  of  the  Emperor  as  well  as  the 
legates,  Norbert  was  received  at  Magdeburg  with  the  pomp  due  to 
his  office ;  but  on  reaching  the  gate  of  his  palace,  last  in  the  pro- 
cession, barefooted  and  in  his  mean  monastic  dress,  the  doorkeeper 
took  him  for  a  beggar,  thereby — as  Norbert  told  the  man  dismayed 
at  his  mistake — judging  better  of  his  unfitness  than  those  who  had 
forced  him  to  accept  the  see.  He  used  his  new  dignity  to  establish 
an  example  of  his  reformed  order,  in  spite  of  strong  opposition, 
replacing  the  dissolute  canons  of  St.  Mary  by  a  college  of  Pra> 
monstratensians.  In  1131,  revisiting  Premontre,  in  company  with 
Innocent  II.,  he  found  it  flourishing  under  his  old  comrade  and 
successor  Hugh,  with  about  five  hundred  brethren.  Norbert  died 
in  1134,  and  was  canonized  by  Gregory  XIII.  in  1582. 

"  In  the  rule  of  the  Pramionstratensians,  the  rigid  life  of  monks 
was  combined  with  the  practical  duties  of  the  clerical  office.  The 
Cistercian  system  of  annual  chapters  was  adopted,  and  the  Abbot 
of  Premontre  was  elected  by  those  of  seven  other  houses,  of  which 
three  were  permanently  fixed,  while  the  others  were  variable.  The 
order  was  not  allowed  to  possess  tolls,  taxes,  or  serfs  ;  and  the 
members  were  especially  forbidden  to  keep  any  animals  of  the  more 
curious  kinds,  such  as  deer,  bears,  monkeys,  peacocks,  swans,  or 
hawks.  .  .  .  The  Pramonstratensians  spread  widely — even  in  the 
the  founder's  lifetime  they  had  houses  in  Syria  and  Palestine — and 

1  Norbert's  reputation  had  been  enhanced  by  his  success  in  reclaiming 
the  followers  of  the  fanatical  heretic,  Tanchelm,  in  1126.  (See  below, 
Chap.  XXXIV.  §  7.) 

2  Count  Theobald  was  also  a  great  friend  of  Bernard.  His  liberality  to 
convents  is  celebrated,  among  other  high  virtues,  by  Robert  of  Auxerre 
(jChron.  ap.  Bouquet,  xii.  291  ;  quoted  in  Robertson,  ii.  777). 


346  DEGENERACY  OF  THE  NEW  ORDERS.         Chap.  XX. 

they  long  kept  up  their  severity ;  but  in  the  course  of  years  their 
discipline  was  impaired  by  wealth,  and  the  order  has  become  extinct 
even  in  some  countries  of  the  Roman  communion  where  it  was  once 
established." 1 

§11.  In  the  natural  tendency  of  all  human  things  to  degradation 
and  decay,  not  only  does  every  reformation  soon  need  to  be  reformed, 
but  each  new  reform  contains  new  germs  of  corruption  ;  and  the 
new  orders,  which  sprang  chiefly  from  a  desire  to  reform  the  old, 
soon  became  subject  to  this  law.  Their  very  multiplication  and 
popularity  2  caused  the  rapid  development  of  monasticism  to  assume 
a  more  and  more  worldly  and  ambitious  form.  The  zeal  with 
which  the  movement  was  patronized  by  Gregory  VII.  and  his  suc- 
cessors invited  a  jealous  rivalry  among  the  monasteries  for  the 
papal  privileges  and  exemptions,  which  sometimes  even  professed 
to  make  them  independent  of  all  authority,  secular  as  well  as  eccle- 
siastical.3 When  such  bulls  and  letters  were  not  obtained,  they 
were  unscrupulously  forged  so  generally  that,  as  Peter  of  Blois 
declared  to  Alexander  III.,  "forgery  prevailed  in  almost  every 
exemption  of  monasteries,"  and  monks  on  their  death-beds  con- 
fessed to  the  wholesale  fabrication  of  such  documents.4  "The 
abbots  aimed  at  entire  independence  of  the  episcopal  authority, 
even  attempting,  like  the  lawless  barons  of  the  time,  to  pre- 
sent clerks  to  parish  churches  without  submitting  them  to  the 
bishop  of  the  diocese  for  institution.5     They  affected  the  use  of 

1  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  pp.  777-8.  Of  the  great  military  orders,  and  some 
new  ones  of  less  importance,  we  have  to  speak  in  the  next  Chapter. 

2  As  an  example  of  this  rapid  increase,  in  England,  where  there  had 
not  been  above  100  monasteries  before  the  Conquest,  upwards  of  300  were 
founded  under  Henry  I.  and  his  two  successors. 

3  Thus  Urban  II.,*  Epist.  10,  ad  abbatem  Cavensem  :  "Cavense  ccenobium 
.  .  .  .  ab  omni  tarn  saecularis  quam  ecclesiasticae  personae  jugo  liberum  esse 
omnino  decernimus."  For  the  whole  passage,  and  the  various  privileges 
granted  to  the  monastery,  see  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  pp.  213,  220. 

4  Peter  Bles.  Epist.  68 :  the  letter  is  written  in  the  name  of  Richard, 
archbishop  of  Canterbury :  see  other  cases  in  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  221.  and 
Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  78+.  Among  the  forgeries  confessed  to  by  the  dying 
monk  Guerno,  of  St.  Medard's  at  Soissons  (about  1130)  was  that  of  apos- 
tolical privileges  for  the  monastery  of  St.  Augustine's  at  Canterbury, 
whose  contests  with  the  monks  of  Christchurch  (Canterbury  Cathedral), 
and  those  of  both  with  the  archbishops,  as  well  as  of  other  monasteries 
with  their  bishops,  furnish  striking  examples  of  tlie  working  of  monastic 
ambition.     See  Canon  Perry's  Student's  English  Church  Histurif,  part  i. 

5  See  the  examples  and  complaints  in  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  222.  At  the 
Fourth  Lateran  Council  (1215)  Innocent  III.  pronouuced  against  the 
grave  excesses  of  certain  abbots  in  usurping  episcopal  functions,  taking 
cognizance  of  matrimonial  causes,  enjoining  public  penances,  granting 
even  letters  of  indulgence,  and  similar  acts  of  presumption,  which  led 
many  to  contemn  the  authority  of  the  bishops. 


Cent.  XL      AMBITION  AND  PROFLIGACY  OF  THE  MONKS.      347 

episcopal  ornaments,  and  the  episcopal  right  of  bestowing  bene- 
dictions." 1 

While  the  abbots  thus  aimed  to  become  equal  with  and  inde- 
pendent of  the  bishops,  the  monks  had  a  similar  rivalry  with  the 
canons,  both  secular  and  regular ;  contending  with  both  for  the 
possession  of  the  cathedrals,  and  with  the  latter  respecting  the 
superiority  of  their  respective  modes  of  life  and  the  exercise  of 
clerical  functions.  While  the  monks  claimed  the  favour  of  the 
people  as  being  holier  and  more  devoted  to  sacred  duties,  the  canons 
tried  to  keep  the  monks  to  their  convents,  and  denied  their  right  to 
preach.  In  the  warm  controversy  between  the  orders,  Abelard 
took  the  side  of  the  monks.2 

The  occupation  of  all  parties  with  these  ambitious  aims  and  con- 
troversies, and  the  increasing  freedom  of  the  monasteries  from 
episcopal  oversight,  could  not  but  tend  to  the  relaxation  of  dis- 
cipline; and,  while  abbots  and  monks  strove  with  bishops  and 
canons  for  rank  and  power,  they  often  vied  with  them  in  pride, 
worldliness,  luxury,  and  grosser  vices.3  Peter  of  Blois4  testifies 
that  the  monasteries  most  distinguished  for  holiness  were  those 
which  either  had  never  desired  the  privileges  in  question,  or  had 
voluntarily  resigned  them.  Bernard  is  vehement  in  his  complaints 
of  the  injury  done  to  monastic  piety  and  purity  by  the  system, 
which  (he  says)  only  made  the  bishops  more  insolent  and  the  monks 
more  dissolute ; 5  and  he  wished  that  he  might  sit  in  the  Pope's  seat 
for  three  years,  chiefly  to  effect  these  three  reforms — the  first,  to 
recal  bishops  to  subjection  and  obedience  to  their  Metropolitans 
and  the  exempted  abbots  to  their  bishops ;  the  second,  that  no 
ecclesiastic  should  hold  two  preferments ;  the  third,  that  no  monk 

1  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  pp.  247-8.  "Samson  of  St.  Edmund's  Bury  was 
the  first  English  abbot  who  obtained  the  privilege  of  giving  the  solemn 
episcopal  blessing,  wherever  he  might  be,  A.D.  1187.  (Jocelin  de 
Brakelonda,  41.) "  The  student  should  read  Mr.  Carlyle's  picture  of  the 
monastic  life  at  Bury  under  Abbot  Samson,  but  not  forgetting  the 
colouring  which  the  writer  imparts  to  it.  For  the  strong  language  of 
Bernard  (himself  an  abbot)  against  the  ambition  and  usurpations  of  the 
abbots,  see  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  pp.  222-3. 

2  Abelard,  Epist.  12,  in  JJ<itm/o:/.  clxxviii.  For  the  other  champions 
on  both  sides,  see  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  '_'.'>.">. 

3  "Opportunities  for  wanton  living  were  especiallv  given  when  there 
were  convents  for  both  sexes  under  one  roof  or  close  beside  each  other,  or 
when  in  an  establishment  for  monks  sorores  comer  sx  or  reclusas  were  to 
be  found.  (Raumer,  vi.  426;  Hurter,  iii.  527.)"  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  224, 
who  cites  satires,  such  as  the  Speculum  Stultorum   and  Land  of  Cockay<jne. 

4  Epist.  68,  ad  Alex.  II I. 

5  See  the  Extracts  from  his  tract  </«■  Mbribus  et  officio  Episcoi  orum,  and 
his  de  Consideratione  ad  Eugenium  Papxm  in  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  pp.  222,  223. 


348  RIVALRY  OF  CLUNIACS  AND  CISTERCIANS.    Chap.  XX. 

should  live  out  of  his  convent.  "  Godfrey  of  Vigeois  describes  the 
monks  of  his  day  as  spurious  heirs  of  the  older  coenobites ;  as  lax 
in  their  diet,  devoted  to  the  vanities  of  fashion,  and  otherwise 
unfaithful  to  the  true  idea  of  their  profession.1  Wibald  of  Stablo 
speaks  of  some  monastic  societies  as  careless  of  their  rule,  and 
engrossed  by  talk  of  '  canons,  decrees,  appeals,  councils,  rights, 
laws,  condemnations,'  and  the  like;  as  devoted  to  bodily  indul- 
gences and  temporal  good  things,  and  impatient  of  all  control 
from  their  superiors."2  Some  of  the  houses  are  called  "temples 
of  voluptuousness,  the  haunts  of  owls  and  hedgehogs,  sirens 
and  satyrs ; " 3  and  John  of  Salisbury  strongly  denounces  the 
practices  of  hypocritical  monks,  who  pretended  to  an  extreme 
severity  of  life,  in  order  to  cloak  their  ambition,  avarice,  and 
malignity."  4 

§  12.  The  degeneracy  which  soon  infected  the  new  orders,  and  the 
jealous  rivalries  which  arose  from  the  claims  of  some  of  them  to 
superior  sanctity,  are  especially  illustrated  by  the  contests  between 
the  Cluniacs  and  Cistercians.  The  former  order  had  fallen  into  the 
general  corruption  under  the  licentious  Abbot  Pontius,  who  suc- 
ceeded the  famous  Hugh  in  1109 ;  but,  on  his  death  in  1125,  the 
society  again  chose  a  worthy  head,  in  the  person  of  Peter  Maurice, 
surnamed  "  the  Venerable." 5  Meanwhile  the  disorders  of  the 
Cluniac  congregation  had  been  laid  hold  of  by  the  Cistercians  to 
vaunt  the  superior  purity  of  their  order  in  a  self-righteous  and 
uncharitable  spirit.6  It  was  in  the  form  of  a  rebuke  to  these 
detractors  that  Bernard  (who  had  founded  the  new  Cistercian 
monastery  of  Clairvaux  ten  years  before)  addressed  to  the  Cluniac 
abbot  William  of  St.  Thierry  7  an  apologetic  letter,  in  which,  while 
declaring  his  high  esteem  for  the  society,  he  faithfully  exposes  the 
abuses  which  (he  says)  "appear  to  exist  in  the  order,  though  God 
forbid  they  should  btlong  to  the  order."  He  wonders  whence  they 
could  have  become  infected  with  excess  in  eating  and  drinking,  in 
clothing  and  luxurious  couches,  in  the  pomp  and  trappings  of  their 
horses  and  retinue,  so  that  the  abbots  appeared  to  passers-by  like 
the  lords  of  castles  rather  than  fathers  of  monasteries ;  as  if  the 

1  Bouq.  xii.  450.  2  Epist.  105 ;  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  255. 

3  Walter  of  Albano,  Epist.  5,  ibid.  4  Pplicrat.  vii.  21;  ibid. 

5  See  above,  Chap.  IV.  §  4. 

G  Thus  Bernard  reproaches  his  Cistercian  brethren  with  forgetting  the 
parable  of  the  Pharisee  and  publican,  presuming  on  their  own  righteous- 
ness and  despising  others.     (Apoht/i<t,  c.  5.) 

7  Apologia  ad  Gxdielmum  S.  Theodorici  Abb* item  (written  about  1125), 
in  Patroloj.  clxxxii.  See  the  extracts  in  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  pp.227  fol. ; 
Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  243. 


A.D.  1125.      BERNARD  AND  PETER  THE  VENERABLE.  349 

more  display  they  made,  the  greater  was  their  religion.  "Fru- 
gality is  accounted  avarice,  sobriety  austerity,  silence  sadness ; 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  laxity  is  called  discretion,  prodigality 
liberality,  loquacity  affability,  grinning  laughter  pleasantness,  soft 
robes  and  equestrian  pomp  decency,  luxury  in  bedding  cleanliness 
or  neatness."  He  goes  on  to  censure  the  grandeur  and  ornaments 
of  the  Cistercian  churches  in  terms  which  show  how  old  is  the 
"ritualistic"  controversy.  The  immense  height,  the  immoderate 
length,  the  needless  breadth,1  the  sumptuous  polished  marbles,  the 
curious  paintings,  while  all  tending  to  attract  the  eye  and  hinder 
the  prayers  of  the  worshippers,  seemed  to  represent  the  ancient 
ritual  of  the  Jews.  But,  let  all  this  pass,  as  done  to  the  honour 
of  God,  what,  he  asks,  in  the  language  of  the  Roman  satirist, 
"  Dicite,  Pontifices,  in  sancto  quid  facit  anrum  ?  "  2 — not  without 
a  sarcastic  doubt  whether  he  can  truly  substitute  x>auPeres  for 
pontifices — "what  has  gold  to  do  in  the  sanctuary?"  Nor  does 
he  refrain  from  asking  plainly,  whether  all  this  does  not  spring, 
not  from  the  spirit  of  sacrifice,  but  from  "  covetousness,  which 
is  idolatry."  And  to  the  question — how  ? — he  answers  : — "  By 
such  kind  of  art  money  is  scattered,  that  it  may  be  multiplied. 
By  the  very  sight  of  sumptuous  vanities,  displayed  for  admiration, 
men  are  incited  rather  to  offering  than  to  prayer.  By  relics  covered, 
with  gold  the  eyes  are  feasted,  that  the  purses  may  be  opened.  .  .  . 
What,  think  ye,  is  sought  in  all  this?  the  contrition  of  penitents, 
or  the  admiration  of  beholders.  Oh !  vanity  of  vanities !  and  not 
more  vain  than  insane."  Nor  is  he  less  severe  on  the  exemption 
from  episcopal  jurisdiction,  which  was  the  privilege  of  all  the 
Cluniac  monasteries. 

Peter  the  Venerable,  the  new  and  devoted  Abbot  of  Clugny, 
defends  his  order  in  his  letters  to  Bernard,  who  was  his  intimate 
friend,  not  so  much  in  reply  to  the  remonstrances  of  the  latter,  as 
against  the  attacks  of  the  Cistercians.3  As  he  puts  the  case, 
it  is  the  old  contest  between  Christian  charity  and  Pharisaic  self- 
righteousness.  While  complaining  of  the  popular  preference  for 
the  younger  order,  Peter  claims  the  respect  due  to  the  Cluniacs 
of  his  day  as  the  restorers  of  the  ancient  discipline.  His  reply 
on   the   freedom   from    episcopal   oversight    is   equally   bold    and 

1  He  would  seem  to  have  chosen  the  epithet  "  supervacuas  latitudines  " 
as  implying  (according  to  its  original  sense)  empty  aisles,  useless  for  the 
worship  of  a  congregation. 

2  Persius,  Sat.  ii.  69. 

3  Petri  Ven.  Epist.  i.  28,  iv.  17,  among  Bernard's  works  as  Epist.  228. 
229  ;  also  Epist.  vi.  4,  ad  Bernard,  and  Epist.  15,  ad  Priores  Ord.  Cluniac, 
On  this  friendly  controversy,  see  Maitland's  Dark  Ages,  pp.  423  foil. 

II— R2 


350 


DECREE  AGAINST  NEW  ORDERS. 


Chap.  XX. 


suggestive  of  the  growing  devotion  of  the  monks  to  the  Papacy : 
while  free,  he  says,  to  use  the  ministration  of  the  bishops  they 
might  choose,  the  Cluniacs  were  subject  only  to  the  truest  and 
holiest  of  all  bishops,  the  Bishop  of  Home.  He  urges  a  spirit  of 
harmony  and  love;  but  the  rivalry  between  the  orders  was  not 
to  be  appeased  by  the  love,  or  even  the  authority,  of  a  Bernard 
and  a  Peter,  and  it  continued  after  their  death.1  Meanwhile,  the 
Cistercians  were  not  long  in  yielding  to  the  growing  corruption 
which  befel  all  the  monastic  orders ;  and  we  find  them,  point  by 
point,  incurring  the  very  same  censures  which  Bernard  had  brought 
against  the  Cluniacs,  till,  at  the  end  of  the  13th  century,  \\  alter 
Map  speaks  of  the  Cistercians  with  especial  abhorrence,  and  ridicules 
their  pretensions  to  superior  holiness  and  mortification.2 

Even  apart  from  positive  corruptions,  the  very  multiplication  of 
new  orders — with  their  various  rules,  forms  of  worship,  and  dis- 
cipline and  dress,  as  if  each  were  "a  law  to  itself" — was  so  great  a 
cause  of  scandal  and  doubt  about  the  virtue  of  the  whole  system, 
that  at  the  Fourth  Lateran  Council  (1215)  Innocent  III.  strictly 
forbad  the  foundation  of  new  orders,  and  decreed  that  any  one  who 
wished  to  devote  himself  to  a  "  religious  "  profession  should  take  one 
of  those  already  approved.3  But  even  a  Pope  who  claimed  Divine 
authority  on  earth  might  "  propose "  without  being  able  to 
"  dispose ;"  and  scarcely  had  the  decree  been  issued  when  the 
zeal  of  a  lowly  enthusiast  prevailed  on  Innocent  to  sanction  the 
latest  and  mightiest  development  of  monasticism  in  the  two  great 
orders  of  Mendicant  Friars.4 

1  Among  the  curious  literary  monuments  of  the  dispute  are  the  work  of  a 
German  Cistercian  against  the  Cluniacs  (written  between  1153  and  1173), 
entitled  Dialogus  inter  Cluniac.  Monachum  et  Cisterc.  de  diversis  utrii<sq»e 
Ordinis  observandis  (in  Martene,  Th'-saur.  v.  1569),  and  the  metrical 
dialogue  De  Clarevallensibus  et  Cluniacensibus,  attributed  to  Walter 
Mapes  (ed.  Wright,  pp.  237-242). 

2  De  Nugls  Curidiim,  32,  52,  &c.     (Robertson,  iii.  247.) 

3  Cone.  Lai.  iv.  c.  13.  4  See  below,  Chaps.  XXII.  and  XXIII. 


IX0YC  and  Anchor.    (A  gem  from  Martigny.) 


The  Temple,  Paris. 


CHAPTER  XX  T. 

THE  MILITARY  AND  MINOR  MONASTIC  ORDERS. 

1.  Orders  for  the  relief  of  sickness  and  suffering— The  Hospitallers  of  St. 
Anthony  at  Vienne— Hospitals  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  §  2.  The  Hospital 
Brethren  of  St.  John  at  Jerusalem— Raymond  du  Puy,  first  Grand 
Master.  §  3.  The  order  becomes  military— Rivalry  with  the  Templars- 
History  of  the  Knights  of  St.  John.  §  4.  Origin  of  the  Knights  Templars 
—Their  various  titles— Hugh  des  I 'ay  ens,  first  Grand  Master.  §  5. 
Bernard's  zeal  for  the  Order— He  draws  up  their  Statutes— Their 
classes,  general  chapters,  revenues,  preceptories— The  "Temple"  in 
Paris  and  in  London.  §  6.  Papal  Patronage  and  Exemptions— Inde- 
pendence and  turbulence  of  both  orders.  §  7.  Causes  of  their  degeneracy 
—Testimony  of  St.  Bernard— Their  peculiar  character  and  posith  n  in 


352  ORDERS  OF  HOSPITALLERS.      Chap.  XXI. 

the  East — Subjection  to  Oriental  influences.  §  8.  Reason  for  the 
different  fate  of  the  two  orders — Power  of  the  Templars  in  Europe 
— Destruction  of  the  Order.  §  9.  Similar  origin  of  the  Teutonic 
Knights — Henry  of  Walpot  and  Hermann  of  Salza  —  Conversion  of 
Prussia.  §10.  The  Cistercian  Military.  Orders  of  Calatrava,  Alcantara, 
Evora  or  Avis — Knights  of  St.  James  of  the  Sword — Military  Orders 
against  Heretics:  Milizia  Gaudente.  §11.  The  Carmelites  founded 
by  Berthold — Removal  to  and  wide  diffusion  in  Europe— The  Virgin's 
scapulary.  §  12.  The  Trinitarians  or  Mathurins  —  The  Hnmiiinti. 
§  13.  Continued  Degeneracy  during  the  14th  and  1 5th  centuries — 
The  old  orders  left  behind  by  the  times.  §  14.  Attempts  at  monastic 
reformation  —  Constance  —  Basle  —  Reform  of  Canons  in  Germany  — 
Windesheim,  &c. — Nicolas  of  Cusa.     §  15.  New  Congregations. 

§  1.  The  tendency  to  monastic  organization  was  impressed  on  those 
societies  for  the  relief  of  sickness  and  suffering,  which  Chris- 
tianity claims  as  peculiarly  her  own,  superimposing  on  the  word 
hospital  a  sense  unknown  to  its  Latin  original.1  In  1095,  an 
epidemic  in  France  of  the  disease  called  St.  Anthony's  fire 
(erysipelas)  led  Gaston,  a  rich  nobleman  of  Dauphine,  whose  son 
was  one  of  the  sufferers,  to  found  the  order  of  the  Hospitallers  of 
St.  Anthony 2  at  Vienne,  for  the  care  of  the  sick ;  the  members 
being  at  first  lay  brothers,  but  afterwards  regular  canons  of  St. 
Augustine.  The  example  was  followed  about  a  century  later  (1178) 
by  Guido's  foundation  of  the  Brethren  of  the  Hospital  at  Montpellier, 
who  received  from  Innocent  III.  a  house  at  Rome3  (1204),  which 
became  the  headquarters  of  numerous  Hospitals  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
in  various  cities. 

§  2.  Such  also  was  originally  the  humble  and  humane  object  of 
that  one  of  the  great  orders  of  monastic  chivalry  produced  by  the 
Crusades,  which  has  survived  to  our  own  day.  As  early  as  1048, 
certain  citizens  of  Amalfi,  who  traded  to  Palestine,  established  at 
Jerusalem  a  monastery,  with  hospitals  for  sick  and  destitute  pilgrims 
of  both  sexes,  an  institution  which  must  have  been  much  needed.  To 
the  hospital  for  men  was  attached  a  chapel,  first  dedicated,  very  appro- 
priately, to  the  Eastern  saint,  John  the  Almsgiver  (the  patriarch  of 

1  From  hospes,  signifying  equally  "host"  or  "guest"  (originally  a 
"  stranger,''  and  akin  to  hostis,  "  enemy  "),  came  hospitium,  any  place  for 
the  reception  of  strangers,  travellers,  or  guests  (especially  an  "  inn." 
French  h  spice) ;  also  the  adjective  hospitalis,  relating  to  a  hospes,  and 
substantively  "  a  guest  "  ;  in  the  neuter,  hospitale,  "a  place  for  a  guest  or 
stranger  ;  "  in  classical  Latin,  pi.  hospitalia,  "  apartments  for  guests." 

2  Hospitalarii  S.  Antrum  Ab'iatis.  Acta  Sanctorum,  Jan.  torn.  ii.  p.  160  ; 
Kapp,  de  Fratribus  S.  An'onii,  Lips.  1737,  4to. 

3  The  Hospitale  S.  Spiritus  in  Saxia  (Petri  Saulnier,  Diss,  de  Capite 
S.  Ordinis  8.  Spiritus,  Lyd.  Bat.  1694;  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  219). 


A.D.  1118.      KNIGHTS  OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  JERUSALEM.  353 

Alexandria  who  relieved  the  Christian  refugees  from  the  capture  of 
Jerusalem  by  Chosroes,  in  627),  but  afterwards  to  John  the  Bap- 
tist. After  the  capture  of  Jerusalem  in  the  First  Crusade  (1090), 
the  brothers  who  served  in  this  work  of  charity,  became  a  separate 
order,  independent  of  the  old  monastery,  by  the  name  of  the 
Hospital  Brethren  of  St.  John,  under  a  monastic  rule,  which  was 
confirmed  by  Paschal  II.  in  1113.  The  fame  of  their  piety  and 
charity  spread  through  European  and  Asiatic  Christendom,  and 
besides  the  rich  gifts  bestowed  on  them  by  kings  and  nobles,  they 
were  joined  by  many  knights  and  pilgrims,  who  had  gone  out  as 
Crusaders.  One  of  these  knights,  Kaymond  du  Puy,  became  master 
of  the  hospital  in  1118,  and  drew  up  a  rule  which  was  also  sanc- 
tioned by  Pope  Paschal  (1120).1  "  The  Hospitallers  were  to  profess 
poverty,  obedience,  and  strict  chastity ;  they  were  to  beg  for  the 
poor,  and  whenever  they  went  abroad  for  this  or  any  other  purpose, 
they  were  not  to  go  singly,  but  with  companions  assigned  by  the 
master.  No  one  was  to  possess  any  money  without  the  master's 
leave,  and,  when  travelling,  they  were  to  carry  a  light  with  them, 
which  was  to  be  kept  burning  throughout  the  night." 2 

§  3.  The  statutes  of  Raymond  say  nothing  of  that  military  charac- 
ter which  circumstances  impressed  on  the  order  from  the  very  epoch 
of  his  mastership.  For  in  that  same  year  (1118)  the  foundation  of 
the  Order  of  the  Temple  roused  the  chivalric  spirit  among  the  Hos- 
pitallers to  emulation  in  the  defence  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre.  Their 
great  wealth  enabled  Eaymond  to  offer  to  Baldwin,  King  of  Jeru- 
salem, the  gratuitous  services  of  the  knightly  members,  who  soon 
achieved  signal  deeds  of  valour  against  the  infidels.  Henceforth  the 
Hospitallers  were  divided  into  three  classes. — knights,  clergy,  and 
serving  brethren — the  last  consisting  of  persons  who  were  not  of 
noble  birth ;  and  both  these  and  the  knights  were  still  bound  to 
perform  the  original  purposes  of  the  order  when  not  engaged  in 
war.  This  new  organization  was  confirmed  by  Innocent  II.  in  1130. 
Henceforth  they  became  the  jealous  rivals  of  the  Templars,  not 
only  in  martial  prowess,  but  in  the  arrogance  engendered  by  fame  and 
wealth.  In  strange  contrast  with  their  humble  origin  and  charitable 
functions,  they  defied  all  authority,  insulted  the  Patriarch  of  Jerusa- 
lem, and  claimed  immunity  from  ecclesiastical  dues.  The  quarrels 
of  the  two  great  military  orders  with  each  other,  as  well  as  with  all 
other  powers  in  Church  and  State,  were  a  scandal  to  Christendnin, 
and  a  source  of  ruin  to  their  common  cause  in  the  Holy  Land  ;  while, 
in  the  West,  they  were  in  constant  collision  with  the  bishops  and 

1  Will.  Tyr.  Patrolog.  cci. ;  Dugdale,  Monast.  vi.  793-4 ;  Vertot,  Hist, 
des  Chevaliers  de  Malte. 

2  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  779. 


354  THE  HOSPITALLERS.  Ciiai*.  XXL 

clergy  through  their  claims  to  exemptions  and  privileges,1  such  as 
keeping  their  churches  open  in  times  of  interdict,  and  giving  the 
sacrament  to  excommunicated  persons.  The  redeeming  point  in 
both  orders  was  the  courage  and  constancy  with  which  they  fought 
out  the  losing  war  in  the  Holy  Land;  and  they  signalized  their 
valour  in  the  final  defence  of  Acre  (1290-91).  On  the  loss 
of  that  last  spot  of  Christian  ground  in  Palestine,  both  orders 
found  a  refuge  in  Cyprus,  under  King  John ;  but  in  1309  the  Hos- 
pitallers took  Rhodes,  and  held  it  against  a  great  siege  by  the 
Saracens  in  the  following  year.  On  the  suppression  of  the  Templars, 
in  1312,  a  large  part  of  their  property  was  conferred  on  the  Hos- 
pitallers.2 Their  eastern  branch  held  Rhodes  till  its  capture  by  the 
Sultan  Soliman  in  1522,  when  they  retired,  first  to  Crete,  and 
afterwards  to  Sicily.  Adrian  VI.  gave  them  Viterbo  for  the  head- 
quarters of  the  order,  which  was  transferred  to  Malta  by  the  grant  of 
Charles  V.  in  1533.3  They  defended  the  island  against  determined 
attacks  by  the  Turks  in  1551  and  1565;  but  it  was  taken  from 
them  by  Bonaparte  on  his  expedition  to  Egypt  (1798),  when  it  was 
found  to  be  stored  with  abundant  munitions  of  war  and  a  great 
treasure.  Since  the  death  of  the  last  Grand  Master  (1805),  the 
order  has  been  governed  by  a  lieutenant  and  College  at  Rome. 
Its  knighthood  is  now  chiefly  a  nominal  dignity;  but  the  order 
has  shown  itself  mindful  of  its  original  purpose  by  relief  rendered 
to  the  sick  and  wounded  in  recent  European  wars.4 

§  4.  The  rival  order  had  a  much  briefer,  but  far  more  brilliant 
career,  which,  brought  to  a  climax  by  their  tragic  fate,  has  made  the 
name  of  the   Templars  one   of  the  most  fascinating  in  medieval 

1  These  abuses  were  denounced  by  the  Third  Lateran  Council  (1179) ; 
and  in  the  same  year  Alexander  III.  had  to  compose  a  great  quarrel 
between  the  Templars  and  Hospitallers. 

2  Especially  in  England  by  the  statute  17  Edw.  II.  st.  iii ,  de  Tcrris 
Templar ioru in.  Among  these  was  the  "  Temple  "  in  London  (see  below,  §5). 
The  chief  priory  of  the  Hospitallers  in  Loudon  was  in  Clerkenwell,  where 
its  gateway  still  stands,  with  the  name  St.  John's  Gate,  famous  afterwards 
for  its  association  with  Dr.  Johnson  and  the  Gentleman's  Magazine.  (The 
priory  was  sold  on  the  suppression  of  the  order  in  England  in  1540) 
The  gate  has  been  repurchased  for  the  English  League  of  the  order 
(1874). 

3  From  their  chief  homes  after  quitting  Palestine,  the  order  is  often 
styled  the  Knights  of  Rhodes  and  Knights  of  Malta.  The  Peace  of  Amiens 
(1802)  provided  for  the  restoration  of  the  island  to  the  Knights;  but, 
through  distrust  of  Bonaparte's  designs,  it  had  not  been  surrendered 
when  the  war  was  renewed,  and  its  possession  was  confirmed  to  England 
by  the  treaties  of  1815. 

4  Of  course  the  order  must  not  be  confounded  with  charitable  societies, 
which,  formed  fur  purposes  like  its  original  object,  have  adopted  its  name, 
or  similar  titles. 


A.D.  1118.  THE  KNIGHTS  TEMPLARS.  355 

history.1  Like  the  Hospitallers,  the  order  originated  in  the  humble 
and  charitable  service  of  the  pilgrims ;  but,  unlike  the  other,  that 
service  was  military  from  the  first.  It  was  (as  already  stated)  in 
1118,  that  nine  French  knights  formed  themselves  into  a  society  for 
the  protection  of  the  pilgrims  who  were  harassed  by  the  Saracens 
on  the  way  from  Jerusalem  to  the  Jordan.  Presenting  themselves 
before  the  Patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  they  took  at  his  hands  a  vow  to 
defend  the  highways,  to  fight  for  the  faith  against  unbelievers,  and 
to  live  under  the  monastic  obligations  with  a  discipline  adopted 
from  the  Canons  of  St.  Augustine.  These  soldier-monks 2  took  the 
name  of  Brethren  of  the  Warfare  of  the  Temple,  Soldiers-  or  Knights- 
Templars,  or,  by  their  fuller  title,  Poor  Fellow-soldiers  of  Christ 
and  of  the  Temple  of  Solomon,3  from  the  home  granted  to  them  by 
King  Baldwin  II.  in  the  royal  palace,  on  the  supposed  site  of  the 
Jewish  temple.  The  chief  of  the  nine,  Hugh  des  Payens  (Hugo  de 
Paganis)  was  the  first  Grand  Master  (mayister  militias).  Their 
original  poverty  and  humility  is  said  to  have  been  such,  that  the 
Grand  Master  and  his  comrade,  Godfrey  of  St.  Omer,  had  but  one 
charger  between  them,  in  memory  of  which  the  seal  of  the  order 
displays  two  knights  seated  on  one  horse.4 

1  Another  reference  to  the  wonderful  pictures  drawn  by  Sir  Walter 
Scott  is  justified  by  the  solid  basis  of  knowledge,  the  fruit  of  his  omnivorous 
reading,  on  which  his  creative  genius  worked.  But  it  is  necessary  to 
remember  that,  while  the  whole  impression  of  the  times  and  characters 
presented  to  us  can  be  almost  completely  trusted,  he  used — avowedly  and 
must  properly  for  the  purpose  of  his  art — the  full  licence  of  a  romance- 
writer  in  the  selection  and  arrangement  of  the  facts.  Thus,  while  his 
Grand  Master  is  the  true  type  of  the  founders  of  the  order,  and  Sir  Brian 
de  Bois  Guilbert  the  ideal  of  the  fully-developed  Templar,  the  latter  cha- 
racter belongs  to  a  somewhat  later  age  than  the  end  of  the  12th  century. 
The  worst  vices  of  the  Templars  were  not  full  blown,  when,  as  Milman 
well  says  (vii.  187),  ''Richard  I.  bequeathed,  not  his  avarice  or  his  lust, 
but  his  pride,  to  the  Knights  of  the  Temple." 

2  It  is  an  error  to  suppose  (as  the  reader  of  fvanhoe  would  infer)  that 
the  Knights  were  all  priests ;  but  the  order  attracted  so  many  priests  as 
to  have  within  itself  all  the  means  of  divine  service,  independent  of  other 
clergy. 

3  Fratres  Militix  Templi ;  Milites  or  Equites  Tnnplarii ;  or,  in  the 
title  of  their  rules,  RcgiUa  pauperum  Commilitonum  Christi  Templique 
Salomoniaci.  William  of  Tyre,  xii.  7  ;  Jaen  de  Vitriaco,  Hist.  Ilierosol. 
c.  65;  P.  du  Puy,  Histoire  des  Templiers,  Paris,  1650,  Brussels,  1751; 
D'Estival,  Hist,  critique  et  apnlojetique  des  Chevaliers  du  Temple,  Par. 
1789;  W.  F.  Wilcke,  Gcs-h.  des  Tempelordens,  Leipz.  1820;  Wilcken, 
Gesch.  d  Krexziiige ;  Addison,  Hist,  of  the  Knights  Templars,  Lond.  1841  ; 
and  other  authorities  cited  by  Gieseler,  iii.  268,  and  Robertson,  ii.  780. 

4  The  device  is  perhaps  better  interpreted  as  a  symbol  of  brotherly 
union;  especially  as,  being  knights,  they  must  have  possessed  horses.  The 
statutes  of  the  order  limited  each  knight  to  three  horses,  "the  poverty  of 
God's  house  for  the  time  not  allowing  of  a  greater  number"  (Cap.  30); 


35G        ST.  BERNARD  AND  THE  TEMPLARS.    Chap.  XXI. 

§  5.  A  few  years  after  the  foundation  of  the  order  (1127)  Hugh  des 
Payens  and  some  of  the  brethren  visited  Europe,  where  their  cause 
was  warmly  espoused  by  the  eloquence  of  Bernard,who  was  a  nephew 
of  one  of  the  knights.1  His  own  zeal  for  the  enterprize,  and  the  spirit 
which  he  evoked  on  its  behalf,  may  be  judged  from  a  sermon  which 
he  preached  at  a  later  period  before  the  Templars  : — "  The  Christian 
who  slays  the  unbeliever  in  the  Holy  War  is  sure  of  his  reward, 
more  sure  if  he  is  slain.  The  Christian  glories  in  the  death  of  the 
Pagan,  because  Christ  is  glorified  ;  by  his  own  death  both  he  himself 
and  Christ  are  still  more  glorified." 2  Hugh  des  Payens  and  his 
brethren  received  the  formal  sanction  of  a  council  at  Troyes,  pre- 
sided over  by  the  Pope's  legate  (Jan.  13,  1128) ;  and  at  the  same 
time  a  code  of  statutes  was  given  to  the  order,  drawn  up  by  Bernard 
or  under  his  direction.  The  original  is  lost ;  but  the  substance  is 
contained  in  the  72  chapters  forming  the  Rule  of  the  Order.3  It 
inculcated  regularity  in  devotion,  self-denial  and  modesty,  with  a 
strict  discipline  and  mutual  oversight,  in  obedience  to  the  Grand 
Master.  Without  his  knowledge  they  were  to  receive  no  letters, 
even  from  their  nearest  relations,  and  they  were  to  read  all  letters 
in  his  presence.  They  were  to  have  no  locked  trunks,  and  never 
to  walk  alone.  They  were  to  receive  no  presents,  except  by  leave 
of  the  Grand  Master,  and  those  made  to  any  knight  might  be  trans- 
ferred at  his  pleasure  to  another;  but  they  might  hold  individual 
property.  Their  purity  was  to  be  so  guarded,  that  they  must  shun 
the  kisses  even  of  their  mothers  and  sisters  ;  married  brethren, 
however,  were  admitted  to  the  order,  on  condition  of  making  it 
their  heir;  but  they  were  not  allowed  to  wear  its  white  dress, 
to  which  Pope  Eugenius  III.  added  the  red  c?*oss  on  the  breast. 
They  were  not  allowed,  like  other  knights,  to  vary  their  military 

and  they  were  not  to  indulge  the  natural  pride  of  knights  in  splendid  or 
expensive  trappings. 

1  Bernard's  chief  eulogies  of  the  enterprize  are  contained  in  his 
Tractatus  de  Nova  Militia,  his  Exhortatio  ad  Milites  Templi,  and  his  later 
letters  (e.g.  Epist.  173,  392);  but,  as  early  as  1125,  he  writes  in  praise 
of  the  entrance  of  Count  Hugo  of  Champagne  into  the  order  (Epist.  31). 

2  Milman,  vol.  iv.  p.  394. 

3  See  the  title  above,  p.  355,  note  3.  First  edited  by  A.  Miraeus,  in  Chron. 
Cisterc.  Colon.  1614;  Luoae  Holstenii  Codex  Regulamm;  Mansi,  xxi.  359; 
and  often  reprinted.  The  Code  cannot  have  assumed  its  present  form  till 
1172.  Afterwards  the  order  imposed  on  itself  at  its  general  chapters 
special  rules,  intended  in  the  rirst  place  for  the  officers  of  the  order,  and 
only  partially  made  known  to  the  rest  of  the  knights,  so  far  as  was 
necessary  for  each  in  his  own  sphere.  A  collection  of  these,  made  between 
12+7  and  1266.  was  first  published  in  a  translation  in  Fr.  Miinter's 
Statutenbuch  of  the  order,  Berlin,  1794,  and  afterwards  in  the  original,  in 
the  Regie  et  Statuts  secrets  des  Tcmpliers,  publie'es  par  C.  H.  Mail  lard  de 
Chambure,  Paris,  1840.     Gieseler,  iii.  269. 


A.D.  1118  f.  CLASSES  OF  THE  TEMPLARS.  357 

service  with  the  amusements  of  hawking  and  hunting,  nor  even  to 
accompany  a  person  so  engaged,  except  for  the  purpose  of  defending 
him  from  infidel  treachery.  The  one  object  of  their  warfare  was 
set  before  them  by  the  injunction  "  always  to  smite  the  lion,"  *  that 
is,  Satan,  in  the  persons  of  the  enemies  of  the  faith ;  and  their 
banner,  called  Beauseant,  was  white  on  one  side  and  black  on  the 
other,  to  signify  that  they  were  fair  and  helpful  to  Christians,  but 
dark  and  terrible  to  the  infidels,  while  all  the  pride  of  martial  fame 
and  victory  was  rebuked  by  the  motto  inscribed  on  it :  "  Non  nobis, 
Domine,  non  nobis,  sed  Komini  tuo  da  gloriam  ;"  a  text,  it  is  hard 
to  say  whether  most  perverted  by  their  or  others'  abuse  of  it. 
When  the  nine  knights  (for  such  was  still  their  number)  who  re- 
ceived this  rule  from  Bernard,  were  rapidly  joined  by  numerous 
comrades  and  their  dependents,  the  order  was  divided  into  the  classes 
of  Knights  Chaplains  (Capellani),  Brothers  at  Arms  or  Servitors 
(armigeri  freres,  servans  d'armes),  and  attendants,  craftsmen,  or 
artificers  {famuli,  freres  servans  de  mestier).  The  system  of 
General  Chapters  was  adopted  from  the  Cistercians.  A  short  time  after 
the  foundation  of  the  order  it  numbered  300  knights  of  the  noblest 
families,  a  large  body  of  chaplains,  and  a  countless  train  of  servitors 
and  dependents  ;  and  it  enjoyed  a  princely  revenue  from  the  W  unty 
of  nobles,  kings,  and  the  Emperor.2  Its  "  preceptories  "  were  not 
only  monasteries,  but  strong  fortresses ;  such  as  the  gloomy 
"  Temple  "  in  Paris,3  from  which  Louis  XV 1.  passed  to  the  scaffold ; 
and  the  "  Temple  "  in  London,4  of  which  Spenser  5  sings  as 

1  Ut  semper  feriatur  leo,  or  leo  vorans — an  evident  reference  to  1  Peter 
v.  8.  2  William  of  Tyre,  xii.  7,  about  1180. 

3  We  are  expressly  told  that,  in  the  time  of  Philip  the  Fair,  the 
Temple  was  stronger  than  the  royal  palace  of  the  Louvre. 

4  Henry  I.  was  among  the  benefactors  of  the  order ;  but  it  was  from 
Henry  II.  that  they  received  their  earliest  gift  of  property  in  London,  at 
first  in  Holborn,  the  "Old  Temple,"  and  afterwards  (1184)  on  the  well- 
known  site  in  Fleet  Street,  the  "  New  Temple  "  which,  on  their  suppression 
(1313)  was  given  by  Edward  II.  to  Aymer  de  Valence,  earl  of  Pembroke, 
and  on  his  death  (1323)  passed  to  the  Knights  Hospitallers,  by  whom  the 
Inner  and  Middle  Temples  were  leased  to  the  students  of  the  common  law, 
and,  the  property  falling  to  the  crown  on  the  dissolution  of  the  religious 
houses,  James  I.  finally  conferred  it  on  the  Benchers  of  the  two  societies 
for  ever  (1608).  The  Temple  Church  remains  a  fine  monument  of  medieval 
character.  The  place  of  a  nave  is  occupied  by  the  "round  church  "  (one 
of  four  such  built  by  the  Templars  in  England  in  imitation  of  the 
Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  at  Jerusalem),  which  was  dedicated  by 
Heraclius,  patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  in  1185,  and  is  a  fine  example  of  the 
transition  from  Norman  to  Early  English.  It  contains  some  curious 
monumental  effigies  of  Knights  Templars,  distinguished  by  their  crossed 
legs.  The  choir,  finished  in  1250  (restored  in  1839-42)  is  a  very  pure 
example  of  Early  English.  5  Prothalumion. 


358  PRIVILEGES  OF  THE  TEMPLARS.  Chap.  XXL 

"  those  bricky  towers, 
The  which  on  Thames'  broad  aged  back  do  l'ide, 
Where  now  the  studious  lawyers  have  their  bowers 
There  whilom  wont  the  Templar  Knights  to  bide, 
Till  they  decayed  through  pride." 

§  6.  The  order  of  the  Temple  was,  from  the  first,  taken  under  the 
special  protection  of  the  Popes.  The  first  Bull  in  their  favour  was 
issued  by  Eugenius  III.  (1148),  and  Alexander  III.  conferred  the 
great  charter  of  their  privileges  by  the  Bull  "  Omne  datum  optimum  " 
(1172).1  When  the  accession  of  many  clerical  members  had  made 
the  body  complete  in  itself  for  the  celebration  of  religious  offices, 
Innocent  III.  released  the  chaplains  of  the  order  from  the  oath  of 
obedience  to  the  bishops,  "  because  they  are  subject  only  to  the 
Roman  Pontiff." 2  "  Honorius  III.  prohibited  all  bishops  from  excom- 
municating any  Knight  Templar  or  laying  an  interdict  on  their 
churches  or  houses.  Gregory  IX.,  Innocent  IV.,  Alexander  III., 
Clement  IV.,  maintained  their  absolute  exemption  from  episcopal 
authority .  .  .  Gregory  X.  crowned  their  privileges  with  an  exemption 
from  all  contributions  to  the  Holy  War,  and  from  the  tenths  paid  by 
the  rest  of  Christendom  for  this  sacred  purpose.  The  pretence  was, 
that  their  whole  lands  and  wealth  were  held  on  that  tenure."  3 

These  grants  were  for  the  most  part  the  confirmation  of  privileges 
which  the  Templars  had  already  usurped.  As  early  as  about  1180, 
William  of  Tyre,  in  describing  the  great  increase  of  the  Templars 
in  number,  says  that  they  had  already  degenerated  from  their  first 
object,  cast  off  their  humility,  withdrawn  their  obedience  from  the 
Patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  withheld  the  tenths  and  first-fruits  due  to 
the  Church,  and  made  their  chaplains  independent  of  episcopal  con- 
trol, besides  other  acts  of  gross  turbulence  and  disorder.4  The  same 
complaints  are  uttered  respecting  both  orders  by  the  very  Popes  who 
granted  them  new  privileges,  while  declaring  that  they  rather  de- 
served to  be  stripped  of  those  they  had.5 

1  Translated  in  Addison's  Knights  Templars,  p.  70. 

2  Epist.  i.  508  ;  ii.  35,  84,  257,  259.  3  Milman,  vol.  vii.  pp.  183-4. 

4  Loc.  sup.  cit.  Elsewhere  (xviii.  c.  3)  he  speaks  in  similar  language  of 
the  Hospitallers,  whose  insolence  to  the  Patriarch  of  Jerusalem  reached 
such  a  height  that,  when  he  preached  in  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre, 
to  which  their  house  was  opposite,  they  set  their  bells  ringing  to  preveut 
his  being  heard  by  the  people  !     Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  '111. 

5  So  writes  Innocent  III.,  in  1208,  to  the  Grand  Master  of  the  Templars 
(Epist.  x.  121).  See  the  letter  in  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  pp.  272,  273;  and 
the  equally  strong  complaints  of  Alexander  III.  and  Gregory  IX.  against 
both  the  orders ;  and  the  similar  threat  of  Henry  III.  of  England  to  the 
Master  of  the  Hospitallers  (1252),  who  had  the  insolence  to  answer,  "As 
long  as  you  observe  justice,  you  may  be  king ;  and  as  soon  as  you  infringe 
it,  you  will  cease  to  be  king." 


A.D.  1118  f.  THE  TEMPLARS  IN  PALESTINE.  359 

§  7.  The  seeds  of  this  degeneracy  were  innate  in  the  very  nature 
of  the  military  orders,  and  especially  of  the  Templars.  The  order 
was  singularly  captivating  to  the  three  great  passions  of  the  age, 
chivalric  pride  and  enthusiasm,  monastic  devotion,  and  zeal  against 
the  enemies  of  the  Cross  ;  and  the  rapid  growth  of  the  order  in 
numbers,  wealth,  and  power,  inflamed  the  worser  side  of  these 
passions,  and  hastened  the  corruption  which  led  to  its  ruin.  The 
martial  glory  of  the  enterprize,  the  fame  and  power  which  it 
brought  to  the  knights  banded  together  in  their  self-complete 
organization  and  fortified  houses,  and  holding  their  own  against 
bishops  and  kings,  the  assurance  of  atonement  for  all  past  sins 
and  certain  salvation  by  the  twofold  gratification  of  military  and 
spiritual  pride  in  cruelty  and  death  to  the  infidels, — all  this  at- 
tracted the  worst  social  elements  into  the  order.  The  character  of 
the  great  majority  of  its  members  is  betrayed  by  Bernard  himself 
in  the  "  sancta  simplicitas  "  of  his  exultation  over  its  adoption  by 
such  numbers  of  the  greatest  reprobates  that  (he  says)  1  "  the  joy 
over  them  is  double,  since  they  cause  as  much  rejoicing  to  their 
friends  by  going  away,  as  to  those  whom  they  help  by  their  arrival. 
In  fact  they  bring  advantage  both  ways,  not  only  by  succouring 
the  latter,  but  also  by  no  longer  oppressing  the  former.  Thus 
'  '"'gypt  is  glad  at  their  departure'  (profectione),2  and  Mt.  Sion  joys 
no  less  for  their  protection.  The  one  is  pleased  to  lose  her  most 
cruel  devastators  ;  the  other  glories  all  the  more  worthily  at  gain- 
ing freedom  at  their  hands."  When  such  elements  were  leagued  in 
a  proud  and  powerful  order,  and  brought  under  all  the  demoralizing 
influences  of  the  remote  scene  of  warfare,  intrigue,  and  Oriental 
temptations,  it  is  not  surprizing  that  the  Templars  became  the 
extreme  examples  of  the  sad  truth,  that  "  the  Christians  of 
Palestine  were  in  morals,  in  character,  in  habits,  the  most  licentious, 
most  treacherous,  most  ferocious  of  mankind."3  And,  while  other 
Crusaders  quickly  passed  away,  the  two  gieat  military  orders, 
like  all  permanent  institutions,  acquired  a  character  even  more 
fixed  and  decided  than  that  of  individuals.  That  character  is  ad- 
mirably drawn  by  D*.an  Milman  : 4 — "  The  Knights  Templars  fought 
in  the  Holy  Land  with  consummate  valour,  discipline,  activity,  and 

1  De  Nova  Militia,  5 : — "Quodque  cernittir  jucundius,  et  agitur  com- 
modius,  paucot  admodum  in  tanta  multitudine  hominum  illo  conflueve 
videas,  nisi  utiquc  sceleratos  et  impios,  raptores  et  sacritegos,  homicidas, 
perjuros,  adulteros,"  &c.  &c. 

2  Psalm  cv.  33.  This  making  "  Egypt  "  stand  for  Christian  Europe,  in 
oi-der  to  bring  in  Mt.  Sion  and  the  play  on  the  words  profectione  and 
protectione.  gives  another  example  of  the  mode  in  which  Scripture  was 
quoted  in  those  times  (to  say  nothing  of  others). 

3  Milman,  vol.  v.  p.  319.  *  Vol.  vii.  pp   184  f. 


360  ORIENTAL  INFLUENCES.  Chap.  XXL 

zeal ;  but  they  fought  for  themselves,  not  for  the  common  cause  of 
Christianity.  They  were  an  independent  army,  owning  no  sub- 
ordination to  the  King  or  Bishop  of  Jerusalem,  or  to  any  of  the 
sovereigns  who  placed  themselves  at  the  head  of  a  Crusade.  They 
supported  or  thwarted,  according  to  their  views,  the  plans  of  cam- 
paigns,1 joined  vigorously  in  the  enterprize,  or  stood  aloof  in  sullen 
disapprobation ;  they  made  or  broke  treaties.  Thus  formidable  to 
the  enemies  of  their  faith,  they  were  not  less  so  to  its  champions. 
There  was  a  constant  rivalry  with  the  Knights  of  St.  John,  not  of 
generous  emulation,  but  of  power  and  even  of  sordid  gain.  During 
the  expedition  of  Frederick  II.,  the  Master  of  the  Tempers  and 
the  whole  order  espoused  the  cause  of  the  Pope.  To  their  stubborn 
opposition  was  attributed,  no  doubt  with  much  justice,  the  failure 
or  rather  the  imperfect  success  of  that  Crusade.2 

"  The  character  of  the  war  in  the  East  had  also  changed,  unno- 
ticed, unobserved.  There  was  no  longer  the  implacable  mutual 
aversion,  or  rather  abhorrence,  with  which  the  Christian  met  the 
Saracen,  the  Saracen  the  Christian ;  from  which  the  Christian 
thought  that,  by  slaying  the  Saracen,  he  was  avenging  the  cause 
of  his  Redeemer,  and  washing  off  his  own  sins  ;  the  Saracen  that 
in  massacring  the  Christian  or  trampling  on  the  Christian  dog,  he 
was  acting  according  to  the  first  principles  of  his  faith,  and  winning 
Paradise.  This  traditionary,  almost  inborn,  antipathy  had  worn 
away  by  long  intermingling,  and  given  place  to  the  courtesies  and 
mutual  respect  of  a  more  chivalrous  warfare.3  ....  The  lofty 
toleration  of  Frederick  II.  might  offend  the  more  zealous  by  its 
approximation  to  indifference,  but  it  was  not  altogether  uncon- 
genial to  the  dominant  feeling.  How  far  had  that  indifference, 
which  was  so  hardly  reproached  against  Frederick,  crept  into  the 
minds  and  hearts  of  Frederick's  most  deadly  enemies  ?  How  far 
had  Mohammedanism  lost  its  odious  and  repulsive  character  to  the 
Templars,   and  begun  to  appear,  not  as  a  monstrous  and  wicked 

1  In  1155,  the  Templars  delivered  up  Nazireddin  to  his  enemies  for 
60,000  gold  florins,  though  he  was  on  the  point  of  becoming  a  Christian. 
(Will.  Tyr.  xviii.  9.)  For  this  and  other  examples,  see  Gieseler,  vol.  iii. 
p.  273;  also  the  vehement  remonstrance  of  Gregory  IX.  with  the  Grand 
Master  of  the  Hospitallers  (1238),  when  they  supported  the  Greek 
Emperor,  John  Vatazes,  against  the  Latin  Emperor  of  Constantinople. 

2  See  above,  Chap.  V.  §  11,  p.  75.  The  feud  of  both  the  great 
military  orders  against  Frederick  was  no  doubt  aggravated  by  the  favour 
he  showed  to  the  Teutonic  Order  (see  below,  §  9),  but  its  real  cause 
was  their  resolve  not  to  allow  the  power  of  the  Christian  Kingdom  of 
Jerusalem  to  be  re-established  at  the  expense  of  their  own  licence. 

3  This  feature  of  the  war  is  also  shown  vividly  by  Scott  (in  the  Talisman), 
who  is  true  to  history  is  ascribing  so  much  of  it  to  the  personal  character 
of  Saladin. 


AD.  1312.  DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  TEMPLARS.  361 

idolatry,  to  be  refuted  only  with  the  good  sword,  but  as  a  sublime 
and  hardly  irrational  Theism  ?  How  far  had  Oriental  superstitions, 
belief  in  magic,  in  the  power  of  amulets  and  talismans,  divination, 
mystic  signs  and  characters,  dealings  with  genii  or  evil  spirits, 
seized  on  the  excited  imaginations  of  those  adventurous  but  rude 
warriors  of  the  West,  and  mingled  with  that  secret  ceremonial, 
which  was  designed  to  impress  upon  the  initiated  the  inflexible  dis- 
cipline of  the  order  ?  How  far  were  the  Templars  orientalized  by 
their  domiciliation  in  the  East  ?  Had  their  morals  escaped  the  taint 
of  Oriental  license?  ....  If  even  Western  devotees  were  so  apt, 
as  was  ever  the  case,  to  degenerate  into  debauchery,  the  individual 
Templar  at  least  would  hardly  maintain  his  impeccable  virtue. 
Those  unnatural  vices,  which  it  offends  Christianity  even  to  allude 
to,  but  which  are  looked  upon,  if  not  with  indulgence,  at  least 
without  the  same  disgust  in  the  East,  were  chiefly  charged  upon 
the  Templars."  But  even  such  abominations  were  less  odious  to 
that  age  than  the  more  improbable  charge,  that  the  order  had 
become  a  great  antichristian  conspiracy,  the  test  of  admission  to  it 
being  a  formal  denial  of  Christ,  accompanied  by  spitting  or  trampling 
upon  the  Cross. 

§  8.  From  what  has  been  said  of  the  corruption  and  insolence  of 
both  the  great  military  orders,  it  may  naturally  be  asked  why  all  this 
odium  fell  on  the  Templars,  rather  than  on  the  Hospitallers.  Not 
to  enquire  minutely  into  the  real  distinctions  in  their  character,  the 
difference  in  their  fate  may  be  ascribed  chiefly  to  the  different 
courses  they  followed  when  they  were  driven  to  retire  from  the 
Holy  War  in  Palestine.  Both,  having  fought  the  losing  battle  to 
the  last  with  the  valour  which  was  their  "  one  virtue,"  distinguished 
themselves  in  the  final  defence  of  Acre  ;  and,  on  its  terrible  fall 
(1291),  both  withdrew  to  Cyprus,  where  they  were  received  by  the 
young  King  Henry  II.  But,  while  the  Hospitallers,  as  we  have 
seen,  established  themselves  at  Khodes,  and  earned  the  admiration 
and  gratitude  of  Christendom  by  holding  it  as  a  new  outpost  against 
Mohammedan  conquest,  the  Templars  drew  together  in  their  vast 
possessions  and  fortified  preceptories  in  the  states  of  Europe ;  where, 
whatever  might  be  the  truth  of  the  ambitious  designs  attributed 
to  them,  they  formed  an  imperium  in  imperio  too  formidable 
to  be  endured.  Opinions  are  still  divided  as  to  the  truth  of  the 
crimes  laid  to  their  charge  ;  but  the  verdict  of  history  is  that  their 
great  crime  was  their  wealth  and  power;  and  that  all  justice  was 
outraged  in  their  fall.1 

1  The  destruction  of  the  order  in  France  by  the  policy  of  Philip  the 
Fair  and  the  weak  consent  of  Clement  V.,  and  its  general  suppression  by 
the  edict  of  the  Council  of  Vienne  (1312),  have  been   already  mentioned 


362  THE  TEUTONIC  KNIGHTS.  Chap.  XXI. 

§  9.  A  third  great  order  of  military  rnonasticism  had  its  origin 
from  the  Crusades,  though  it  was  destined  to  display  its  prowess  on 
quite  another  field.  During  the  Third  Crusade,  after  the  death  of 
Frederick  Barbarossa,  and  when  the  Christian  army  was  wasting 
away  with  disease  and  famine  before  Acre  (1190),  some  burghers  of 
Bremen  and  Liibeck  made  a  hospital  for  the  sick  and  starving  under 
sails  brought  from  their  ships.  They  were  joined  by  the  brethren 
of  a  German  hospital,  whom  Saladin  had  permitted  to  remain  at 
Jerusalem;  and  they  were  taken  under  the  protection  of  Duke 
Frederick  of  Swabia,  who  saw  the  advantage  of  a  German  order,  not 
only  for  the  care  of  German  pilgrims,  but  for  more  general  interests. 
His  recommendation  secured  the  patronage  of  the  Emperor  Henry 
VI.,  and  of  Pope  Celestine  III.,  who  issued  a  Bull  confirming  the 
order.  The  number  of  the  Teutonic  Knights l  was  at  first  forty, 
with  Henry  of  Walpot  as  Grand  Master  ;  but  it  was  under  his  third 
successor,  H  ermann  of  Salza,  that  the  new  order  received  its  mili- 
tary constitution,  and  obtained  great  privileges  and  emoluments. 
Hermann  is  said  by  the  chronicler  of  the  order  to  have  "  had  the 
Pope,  and  the  Emperor,  with  other  princes  and  great  men,  in  his 
hand,  so  that  he  obtained  whatever  he  might  ask  for  its  honour  and 
advantage."  The  Emperor  here  referred  to  was  Frederick  II.,  to 
whom  Hermann  of  Salza  was  a  faithful  adherent.  Honorius  II \. 
conferred  on  the  order  the  same  privileges  as  on  the  Hospitallers  and 
the  Templars  (1220).  It  had  an  aristocratic  constitution  of  three 
grades,  knights,  priests,  and  serving  brethren,  governed  by  the 
Grand  Master,  provincials,  and  chapter  of  the  order ;  and  its  first 
house  was  at  Acre.2  But  as  early  as  1226  Hermann  led  his  fol- 
lowers to  a  new  enterprize  for  the  conversion  of  the  still  heathen 
people  of  Prussia,  the  issue  of  which  has  already  been  related.3 
Soon  after  his  death  the  order  numbered  2000  knights  of  the 
noblest  German  families. 

§  10.  The  great  crusading  orders  were  imitated  by  lesser  orders  of 
ecclesiastical  knighthood,  devoted  to  the  war  against  the  Moors  and 
the  protection  of  pilgrims,  in  Spain  and  Portugal.     They  were,  for 

(Chap.  VII.  §  4).  The  details  are  related  in  the  Student's  Hist,  of  Franre, 
pp.  186-9.  For  the  proceedings  in  England,  which,  though  equally  un- 
fair, were  free  from  the  atrocious  cruelties  of  the  French  king,  see  the 
Student's  English  Church  Hist.,  p.  413. 

1  Their  full  title  was  Eqtiites  Teutonici  hospitalis  S.  Marise,  Yirginis 
Jfierosolymita.  For  the  authorities,  see  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  275  ;  Robert- 
son, vol.  iii.  p.  256. 

2  Acre  was  also  the  seat  of  an  English  order  of  Hospitallers,  established 
in  honour  of  the  martyred  St.  Thomas  (Becket),  the  Ordo  Militias 
S.  Thomx  de  Aeon.     (Diceto,  654;  Monast.  Angl.  vi.  646.) 

3  Part  I.  Chap.  XXIV.  p.  603. 


Cent.  XII.  OTHER  MILITARY  ORDERS.  363 

the  most  part,  in  close  connection  with  the  Cistercians.1  The  Order 
of  Calatrava  was  named  from  the  city  granted  by  Sancho  III.  of 
Castile  to  the  Cistercian  Raymund  and  the  knights  whom  he  banded 
together  for  its  defence  when  besieged  by  the  Moors  (1158).  The 
Order  of  Alcantara  received  that  name  from  the  city  given  to  it  in 
1218 ;  but  it  had  been  founded  as  early  as  1176.  In  1162,  the 
Cistercian  abbot,  John  Cirita,  founded  a  Militia  Equitum  as  a  special 
branch  of  the  Cistercian  order,  who  were  called  Knights  of  Evora, 
from  the  castle  granted  to  them  by  Alphonso  I.  of  Portugal 
(1166),  and  the  Order  of  Avis,  from  the  castle  they  built  in 
118 1.2  The  purpose  assigned  to  them  by  their  founder  was  "to 
defend  religion  in  war,  to  practise  charity  in  peace,  to  preserve 
chastity,  and  to  lay  waste  the  land  of  the  Moors  with  constant 
incursions."  Any  knight,  who  might  happen  to  meet  a  Cis- 
tercian abbot,  was  to  dismount  and  ask  his  blessing,  and  offer 
him  his  escort.  When  any  such  abbot  arrived  at  a  fort  or 
city  held  by  soldiers  of  the  order,  the  commander  was  to  offer 
him  the  keys,  and  everything  was  to  be  governed  by  his  orders 
while  he  stayed  there.  An  order  not  connected  with  the  Cistercians 
was  that  of  St.  James  of  the  Sivord,3  which  arose  in  Galicia  (1161) 
for  the  protection  of  pilgrims  to  Compostella. 

The  example  of  this  holy  warfare  against  Mohammedans  was  fol- 
lowed in  the  crusade  incited  by  the  Dominicans  against  the  Albi- 
gensian  heretics  in  Southern  France ; 4  for  carrying  on  which  an 

1  They  formed  the  Militia  sacra  Ordinis  Cisterciensis,  for  the  constitution 
and  privileges  of  which  see  Chrysost.  Henriquez,  L'egida,  Constitutiones,  et 
Privilegia  Ordinis  Cister.  Antv.  1630.  On  these  orders  in  general  see 
Histoire  des  Mditaires,  Amst.  1721  ;  and  other  authorities  in  Gieseler, 
vol.  iii.  pp.  274-5,  and  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  257.  All  these  orders  were 
at  first  bound  by  the  full  monastic  vows ;  but  that  of  celibacy  was  after- 
wards relaxed,  except  for  the  Knights  of  Evora.  Alexander  III.  (1175) 
allowed  the  Knights  of  St.  James  to  have  married  brethren  in  the  order ; 
and  those  of  Calatrava  and  Alcantara  were  permitted  to  marry  by  Paul  III. 
(1540).  Besides  these,  there  was  the  very  short-lived  Order  of  the  Wing 
of  St.  Michael  (Milites  S.  Michaelis  or  Milites  de  Ala),  founded  by 
Alphonso  I.  of  Portugal  (1167  or  1171). 

2  Milites  Eborse  ;  Milites  de  Avis,  Ordo  Avisius. 

3  Militia  S.  Jacobi,  Fratrcs  de  Spathi,  now  the  Caballeria  d<'-  Sant  Jago 
de  la  Spada.  Jac.  a  Vitriaco,  Hist.  Occ.  c.  26.  For  their  privileges  con- 
ferred by  Alexander  III.  (1175)  and  renewed  by  Innocent  III.,  see  Alex. 
Epist.  20  (in  Mansi,  xxi.  1049),  and  Innoc.  Epist.  xiii.  11  ;  Gieseler,  loc.  n't. 

4  See  below,  Chap.  XXXVII.  It  is  convenient  to  mention  here  the 
military  organization,  of  a  religious  but  not  monastic  character,  started  in 
Auvergne  to  put  down  the  brigandage  of  the  disbanded  mercenaries,  com- 
bined with  profligate  persons  of  all  sorts,  whose  outrages  earned  the  name 
of  "hellish  legions."  In  1182,  a  carpenter  named  Durand  professed  to 
have  been  warned  by  the  Virgin  to  exhort  his  neighbours  to  restore  order; 


364  THE  CARMELITE  FRIARS.  Chap.  XXI. 

order  was  formed  under  the  name  of  Brethren  of  the  Warfare  of 
Jesus  Christ  (1220).1  The  chief  seat  of  the  order  was  transferred 
to  Northern  Italy  (1261),  where  it  took  the  name  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  but  was  more  generally  known  as  La  Milizia  Gaudente.2 

§  11.  The  two  great  military  orders  were  not  the  only  monastic 
societies  that  sprang  from  the  Crusades.  Mount  Carrnel,  the  place 
of  the  Prophet  Elijah's  retreat,  had  been  a  favourite  resort  of 
Greek  anchorets  from  very  early  times ;  and,  in  a  cavern  named  after 
the  prophet,  and  marked  by  the  ruins  of  an  ancient  monastery, 
Berthold,  a  Calabrian  crusader  (about  1156),  established  a  small 
society  of  hermits,  who  became  famous  as  the  Carmelite  Order.3 
They  received  a  very  strict  rule  from  Albert,  patriarch  of  Jerusalem 
(about  1209),  which  was  confirmed  by  Honorius  III.  (1226),  but 
mitigated  by  Innocent  IV.  (1247)  on  their  plea  that  they  were  no 
longer  hermits.  On  the  expulsion  of  the  Latin  Christians  from  the 
Holy  Land,  the  Carmelites  left  their  mountain  home,  warned  (as 
their  legend  goes )  by  the  Virgin,  who  gave  to  the  general  of  the 
order,  Simon  Stock,  her  own  scapulary  as  a  pattern  for  their  dress, 
with  the  assurance  that  whoever  died  in  it  would  be  safe  from  the 
fire  of  hell.  Eetiring  to  Europe,  the  order  spread  so  widely  that 
they  are  said  to  have  possessed  at  one  time  as  many  as  75,0  monas- 
teries, with  upwards  of  180,000  members.  As  one  of  the  four  great 
orders  of  Mendicants  (cf.  Chap.  XXV.  §  10)  they  were  distinguished, 
from  their  dress,  by  the  popular  name  of  the  White  Friars,  which 
is  still  preserved  by  the  site  of  their  old  monastery  in  London 
founded  in  1245,  between  the  Temple  and  Blackfriars  (the  old  seat 
of  the  Dominicans).  Further  relaxations  of  their  rule,  granted  in 
the  15th  century,  led  to  a  division  of  the  order  into  a  stricter 

and  men  of  all  classes,  clerical  and  lay,  formed  an  association  bound  both 
to  a  pure  life  and  warfare  against  the  wrongdoers.  Their  sole  monastic 
character  was  the  hood,  with  a  leaden  image  of  the  Virgin,  from  which 
they  were  called  Capuc kit i  or  White  Hoods.  Their  zeal  soon  led  them  into 
cruelties  and  other  dangerous  tendencies,  which  caused  their  suppression 
by  Philip  Augustus.  *  Fratres  dc  Militia  Jean  Christ). 

2  Ordo  Militias  B.  Virginis;  Fratres  Gaudentes;  Frati  Gaudenti.  See 
the  Tstoria  de*  Cavalieri  Gaudenti  di  F.  Donn.  Maria  Federici,  Vinz.  1787; 
Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  276. 

3  Fratres  Eremites  de  monte  Carmelo,  also  Eremites  8.  Marias  de  Carmelo. 
The  earliest  mention  of  them  is  in  a  description  of  the  Holy  hand  by  a 
Greek  writer,  John  Phocas  (1185,  in  Leon  Allatii  Symmicta),  when  there 
were  ten  brethren,  besides  the  chief,  who,  he  .says,  had  been  led  to  the 
place  by  a  revelation  of  the  prophet;  but  the  Carmelite  fiction  derived 
it  from  Elijah  himself,  through  a  long  line  including  the  Rechabites  and 
several  of  the  Hebrew. prophets,  a  pretension  which  caused  a  bitter  contro- 
versy between  the  Carmelites  and  the  Bollandists  in  t  lie  17  th  c  entury.  (For 
the  authorities  see  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  219  ;  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  pp.  240-242.) 


Cent.  XIII.  MINOR  AND  NEW  ORDERS.  365 

branch,  called  Barefoot&l  Friars  or  Observants,  and  the  Shod  or 
Conventuals,  who  adopted  the  milder  rule. 

§  12.  Among  the  many  who  pitied  the  miserable  state  of  the  Chris- 
tian captives  and  slaves  in  the  hands  of  Mohammedans,  especially 
those  taken  by  the  Barbary  pirates,  two  Provencal  hermits,  John 
de  Matha  and  Felix  de  Valois,  were  moved  (as  they  said)  by -a  vision 
of  a  white  stag,  with  a  cross  between  its  horns,  to  a  systematic  effort 
for  their  redemption.  Under  the  direction  of  Innocent  111.  they 
formed  the  Order  of  the  Trinitarians  or  Mathurins,1  in  1198, 
and  two  years  later  the  first  shipload  of  captives  ransomed  from 
Morocco  returned  to  their  homes.  The  order  spread  quickly  through 
Southern  Europe,  and  had  nunneries  connected  with  it ;  the  govern- 
ment being  in  the  hands  of  a  general  {minister  generalis)  and  a 
general  chapter  of  superiors  of  the  convents,  meeting  at  Gerfroi  in  the 
diocese  of  Meaux,  the  place  where  the  white  stag  appeared  to  the 
founders.     The  order  exists  to  the  present  day. 

To  these  lesser  orders  may  be  added  the  peculiar  institution  of  the 
Humiliati?  intermediate  between  the  cloister  and  the  world,  and 
having  only  a  local  existence  in  Lombardy.  It  arose  probably  in 
the  11th  century  from  a  society  of  Milanese  workmen,  who  had 
returned  from  Germany,  whither  they  had  been  carried  as  prisoners 
by  one  of  the  Emperors.3  "  In  their  exile  they  adopted  a  strict 
manner  of  life,  and  supported  themselves  by  cloth-weaving ;  and 
this  occupation  was  afterwards  continued  among  them;  their  skill 
in  the  art  being  famous,  and  much  of  their  cloth  being  given  to  the 
poor." 4  They  were  at  first  simply  a  society  of  men  and  women 
united  in  pious  deeds  and  common  labour,  for  mutual  help  and 
charity  to  those  about  them.  But  the  monks  and  nuns  and  priests 
who  joined  them  were  formed  into  a  religious  order,  and  placed  by 
Innocent  III.  under  the  rule  of  St.  Benedict  (1201);  and  a  Grand 
Master  was  set  over  the  order  in  1216.  In  course  of  time  the 
society  degenerated,,  like  all  the  religious  orders ;  and  the  attempt 

1  Ordo  sanctissimx  Trimtatis  de  redemtione  captivo7'um,  Mathurini,  also 
called  popularly  freres  aux  anes.  For  the  authorities,  see  Gieseler,  vol.  iii. 
p.  219;  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  257.) 

2  Their  history  has  been  written  by  Tiraboschi,  Vetera  Bumiliatorum 
Monumenta,  3  vols.  4to.,  Mediolani,  1766;  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  242. 
The  identity  of  name  has  caused  a  confusion  between  them  and  the  Wal- 
densian  Humiliati  or  I'm,,-  Men  of  Lyon.     (See  below,  Chap.  XXXVI.) 

6  By  Henry  II.,  in  1014,  according  to  Tiraboschi,  but  Helyat  places  the 
event  in  1117  under  Henry  V. 

4   Robertson,  loc.  cit.     It  can  hardly  be  decided  whether  the  community 
of  goods,  which  some  ascribe  to  them,  existed  in  any  other  sense  than  that 
charitable  distribution  "  as  every  one  had  need,"  which  was  the  practice 
of  the  first  Christians  (Acts  ii.  44,  45). 
II-S 


366  MONASTIC  DEGENERACY  AND  REFORM.     Chap.  XXI. 

of  Cardinal  Charles  Borromeo  to  reform  it  caused  riots  which  led  to 
its  suppression  by  Pius  V.  (1571). 

§  13.  During  the  14th  and  15th  centuries  the  degeneracy  of  the 
monastic  orders  was  more  and  more  notorious,  and  was  confessed 
as  a  chief  reason  for  the  need  of  a  "  reform  in  head  and  members." 
While  the  old  and  wealthy  congregations  were  generally  sunk  in 
sloth  and  luxury,  others  became  contemptible  for  the  poverty  to 
which  those  vices  had  reduced  them.  The  moral  profligacy,  especi- 
ally in  the  nunneries,  which  our  tolerant  age  is  apt  to  regard  as  a 
scandal  invented  by  enemies,  is  proved  by  clear  evidence.1  The 
labours  of  tillage  and  other  work,  of  charity  and  learning,  were 
generally  neglected  ;  and  the  decline  of  the  Benedictines  from  their 
special  virtues  is  attested  by  Boccaccio's  lamentable  account  of  the 
library  at  Monte  Cassino,  not  only  as  perishing  from  neglect,  but 
the  books  cut  up  by  the  monks  to  make  little  manuals  of  devotion, 
or  charms  for  sale  to  women.  The  few  who  wrote  at  all  contented 
themselves  with  works  on  morality  and  practical  religion,  leaving 
philosophy  and  theology  to  the  Mendicants  and  the  Universities. 
As  institutions  based  on  the  general  religious  feeling,  the  old  orders 
had  been  left  behind  by  new  social  wants  and  new  growths  of  intel- 
ligence, and  were  overshadowed  by  the  great  movement  which  those 
forces  called  forth,  as  we  shall  presently  see,  in  the  Mendicant  Orders. 

§  14.  A  step  towards  reform  was  taken  at  Constance  by  summon- 
ing a  chapter  of  the  German  Benedictines  to  be  held  under  the 
superintendence  of  the  Council  in  1417,  but  this  re mained  a  mere 
proposal ;  and  a  Cistercian  ventured  in  the  Council  itself  to  defend 
the  holding  of  private  property  by  the  monks.  At  Basle  more 
effective  measures  were  taken  for  the  reformation  of  the  regular 
canons  in  Germany  by  the  general  chapter  at  Windesheim,2  which 
became  the  centre  of  a  movement  spreading  to  Hildesheim  and 
other   monasteries,  as   well   as   to  some  of  the  Augustinian  and 

1  For  example,  by  Nicolas  de  Clamengis,  or  whoever  was  the  author 
of  the  De  corrupto  Ecclesise  statu  (see  above,  p.  141).  A  most  important 
contemporary  work  on  the  whole  subject  is  that  of  John  Busch  (canon  of 
Windesheim,  1420,  and  prior  of  Hildesheim,  ob.  1479),  he  Reformatione 
Monaster  iorum  >axonix.  As  has  been  said  above,  the  Carthusians  long 
remained  an  exception  to  the  prevalent  degeneracy,  owing,  as  the  leonine 
verse  said,  to  their  observance  of  the  three  great  points  of  discipline, 
solitude,  silence,  and  regular  visitation : 

"  Per  tria  So.  Si.  Vi.  Carthusia  permanet  in  vi." 

2  John  de  Huesden,  prior  of  Windesheim  (1391-1424)  is  named  as  one 
of  the  leaders  of  the  society  of  Brethren  of  the  Common  Life  (see 
Chap.  XXXIII.  §  16).  It  is  interesting,  as  an  omen  of  the  future,  to  find 
another  centre  of  the  reforming  movement  at  Wittenberg.  In  all  this 
work  John  Busch  took  a  leading  part,  as  prior  of  Hildesheim. 


Cent.  XV. 


NEW  CONGREGATIONS. 


367 


Benedictine  houses  in  France.  Kome  herself  recognized  the  need 
of  monastic  reform  as  one  object  of  the  mission  of  Cardinal  Nicolas 
of  Cusa  to  Germany  (1450-1) ;  and  the  bishops  and  secular  princes 
endeavoured  to  enforce  reformation  on  the  monks,  who  generally 
resisted  all  such  efforts. 

§  15.  Hence  it  resulted  that  the  reforming  party  among  the 
monks  themselves  generally  drew  off  into  separate  houses,  though 
still  in  connection  with  the  great  orders.  The  chief  of  these  in 
Italy  was  the  Benedictine  congregation  of  St.  Justina,  founded  by 
Louis  Barbo  at  Padua,  recognized  by  Martin  V.  in  1417,  and 
in  1504  absorbed  in  that  of  Monte  Cassino,  which  had  joined  the 
society  ;  as  was  also  a  similar  congregation  in  Sicily  (1506).  The 
congregation  of  St.  Bernard,  in  Tuscany  and  Lombardy,  was 
founded  in  14 97.1  In  Spain,  the  Benedictines  had  the  reformed 
congregation  of  Valladolid,  founded  by  Martin  de  Vargas  in  1425. 
But  the  most  powerful  of  the  new  orders  sprang  from  the  energetic 
life  of  the  Mendicants.2 

1  We  have  already  had  occasion  to  mention  the  short-lived  military 
orders  of  Jesus  and  "  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary  of  Bethlehem,"  founded  by 
Pius  II.  for  his  abortive  Crusade  (1458,  p.  209). 

2  The  independent  societies,  partaking  of  a  monastic  character,  for  ob- 
jects of  practical  religion  and  benevolence,  are  described  later,  in  connection 
with  Mysticism,  with  which  they  bad  a  close  affinity  (see  Chap.  XXXIII.). 


Monks.— Devotion  and  Labour.    One  at  prayer  and  two  basket-making. 
From  an  early  picture  (Bottari). 


Interior  of  Cordova  Cathedral. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 


THE  MENDICANT  ORDERS. 
ST.  DOMINIC  AND  THE  PREACHING  FRIARS. 


a.d.  1170,  et  seq. 

1.  Failure  of  the  old  Orders  and  Secular  Clergy  for  the  wants  of  the 
Age — Leading  idea  of  the  new  Orders  ;  activity  in  the  world  :  how 
varied  by  Dominicans  aud  Franciscans — Motive  of  antagonism  to  the 
sectaries.  §  2.  The  Spaniard  DOMINICTJS  (Domingo  Guzman)  :  his 
early  life  and  austerity.  §3.  Goes  to  Rome  with  his  bishop,  Diego: 
both  sent  to  Languedoc  against  the  Albigenses — Diego's  rebuke  of  the 
Cistercian  legates — The  work  continued  by  Dominic.  §  -i.  His  alleged 
part  in  the  Albigensian  Crusade  and  the  Inquisition.  §  5.  Real  charac- 
ter of  his  woik  — His  school  for  girls— He  founds  the  Order  of  Preachers: 
sanctioned  by  Innocent  III.  and  Honorius  III.- — Mastership  of  the  Sacred 
Palace— His  farewell  to  Languedoc.  §  G.  Dominic  at  Rome-  Spread  of 
the  Order — Their  names  of  Black  Friars  and  Jacobins — Their  first  General 
Chapters :  rule  of   poverty  adopted  from  the  Franciscans.      §  7.  The 


A.D.  1215.  NEW  IDEA  OF  THE  FRIARS.  369 

General,  Diffinitores,  and  provincial  friars.  §  8.  Class  of  Tertiaries. 
§  9.  Death,  Miracles,  and  Canonization  of  St.  Dominic — Spread  of  the 
Order — Missionary  zeal.  §  10.  Later  History  of  the  Dominicans — 
Their  special  spheres  of  work,  and  relations  to  the  Franciscans  and  the 
Papacy. 

§  1.  We  have  seen  how  the  power,  independence,  and  abuses  of  the 
Monastic  Orders  led  the  Fourth  Lateran  Council  to  forbid  their 
further  multiplication  (1215).1  Almost,  however,  at  the  moment 
when  this  canon  was  enacted,  Innocent  found  himself  impelled  to 
give  his  sanction  to  the  new  and  soon  famous  orders  of  Mendicant 
Friars,2  which  sprang  up  from  the  zeal  of  two  enthusiasts,  to 
supply  wants  which  were  neither  met  by  the  existing  orders  nor  by 
the  secular  clergy.  While  the  latter,  cold,  worldly,  and  corrupt, 
had  lost  their  hold  on  the  hearts  and  minds  of  men,  the  monks, 
living  apart  from  the  world,  had — with  a  few  bright  exceptions — 
become  unfit  for  the  active  exercise  of  public  religious  offices  and 
teaching,  from  which,  indeed,  they  were  precluded  by  their  con- 
stitution.3 An  age  of  growing  intellectual  activity  not  only  felt 
the  want  of  spiritual  guidance,  but  despised  its  proper  guides;4 
while,  to  increase  the  danger,  examples  of  the  self-denial  which  the 
monks  had  ceased  to  practise,  and  of  the  evangelic  activity  which 
the  clergy  had  disused,  and  especially  of  preaching  the  Word,  were 
to  be  found  among  the  sectaries  whom  the  Church  branded  as 
heretics.  The  new  idea,  which  found  expression  in  the  Mendicant 
Orders,  is  thus  described  by  Archbishop  Trench5: — "Hitherto  the 

1  Chap.  XX.,  fin.  p.  367. 

2  The  reader  is  reminded  that  there  is  no  essential  distinction  in  the 
name  of  Friars,  the  English  form  (through  the  French  frere  and  Old  English 
frere)  of  the  Latin  Fratres,  which  was  the  common  appellation  of  all 
members  of  religious  orders  ;  but  its  use  without  the  name  of  monks  gave 
rise  to  its  specific  application  to  the  Mendicant  Orders,  who  were  not 
separated  from  the  world,  like  the  monks.  The  common  prefix  Fra  to 
the  names  of  friars  is  the  abbreviation  of  the  Italian  Frate,  "  brother." 

3  Though  this  was  the  essential  character  of  monasticism,  we  have 
seen  that  the  ministrations  of  religion  were  not  only  practised  by  the 
monks,  but  very  generally  preferred  by  the  people.  But  such  inter- 
ference was  forbidden  by  express  decrees.  Thus  the  Council  of  Poitiers 
(1100)  ordered  that  no  monk  should  take  upon  himself  {prgesumare)  the 
parochial  ministry  of  presbyters,  namely,  baptism,  preaching,  and  giving 
penance  {Cone.  Pietav.  c.  11) ;  and  Calixtus  II.,  in  the  First  Lateran 
Council  (1123,  c.  17),  forbad  abbots  and  monks  to  give  public  penances, 
to  visit  the  sick,  administer  unctions,  and  sing  public  masses. 

4  See  the  admirable  remarks  on  the  complete  incompetency,  both  of 
the  secular  clergy,  whose  teaching  was  almost  wholly  through  the  ritual, 
and  of  the  monks,  who  lived  to  save  and  benefit  themselves,  and  not  the 
world,  in  Milman,  book  ix.  c.  ix.  vol.  vi.  pp.  1  seqq. 

5  Medieval  Church  History,  p.  231. 


370  MOTIVE  FOR  THE  NEW  ORDERS.  Chap.  XXII. 

monk,  in  his  ideal  perfection,  had  been  one  who,  withdrawing  from 
the  world,  had  sought  in  prayer,  penitence,  and  self-mortification, 
to  set  forward  the  salvation  of  his  own  soul ;  now  he  should  be  one 
who,  in  labours  of  self-denying  love,  in  dispensing  the  Word  of  life, 
should  seek  the  salvation  of  others.1  Hitherto  he  had  fled  from  the 
world,  as  one  who,  in  conflict  with  it,  must  inevitably  be  worsted ; 
now  he  should  make  war  upon  the  world  and  overcome  it — nothing 
doubting  that,  in  seeking  the  salvation  of  others,  he  should  best 
work  out  his  own."  This  ideal  was  so  far  common  to  the  two 
orders,  in  which,  however,  it  took  contrasted  forms,  as  remarkable 
as  their  simultaneous  rise.  The  pure  devotion  of  St.  Francis  aimed 
to  revive  the  old  monastic  self-renunciation  in  union  with  incessant 
evangelic  work ;  the  austerer  zeal  of  St.  Dominic  was  inflamed  by 
the  need  of  a  new  power  to  combat  heresy.  This  contrasted  spirit 
of  the  founders  was  impressed  upon  the  societies  they  formed. 
"  Each  of  those  orders  had  at  the  outset  its  distinctive  character : 
the  Dominicans,  severely  intellectual,  rigidly  orthodox,  and  tinged 
by  the  sternness  and  the  gloom  which  had  been  impressed  on  the 
religion  of  the  founder's  native  land ;  the  Franciscans,  milder  and 
more  genial,  addressing  themselves  less  to  the  intellect  than  to  the 
sentiments  and  the  affections." 2 

One  chief  motive  to  the  creation  of  the  new  orders  was  the  con- 
sciousness that  the  spiritual  work,  which  the  clergy  had  abandoned, 
and  which  the  monks  were  incompetent  to  perform,  had  passed 
away  into  the  hands  of  the  sectaries;  and  it  was  the  peculiar 
fortune  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  at  the  climax  of  its  power  under 
Innocent  III.,  to  enlist  into  her  service  the  very  elements  of  indi- 
vidual freedom,  mystical  enthusiasm,  and,  above  all,  the  supreme 
power  of  popular  preaching,  which  had  begun  to  threaten  her 
ascendancy.  While  both  orders  took  up  the  clergy's  work  of 
popular  instruction,  and  revived  the  ideal  of  monastic  poverty  and 
self-sacrifice,  but  for  the  benefit  of  others  and  no  longer  for  their 
own,  the  energy  of  spiritual  enthusiasm  found  a  new  expression  in 
the  life  and  influence  of  Francis,  while  the  power  of  preaching  and 
an  unflinching  conflict  with  heresy  were  the  great  aims  of  Dominic.3 

§  2.  The  order  founded  by  the  latter  took  its  peculiar  character  from 
the  fervid  zeal  of  the  South,  partly  in  his  own  Spanish  origin,4  and 

1  This  contrast  is  marked  in  the  Prologue  to  the  Rules  of  the 
Dominican  Order  (c.  3):  "  Onlo  noster  speciali'er  ob  praxlicationem  et 
animarum  salntem  ab  initio  noscitur  institutus  fuisse,  et  studium  nostrum 
ad  hoc  debet  principaliter  intendere,  nt  proximonim  animabus  possinvis 
utiles  esse.''  2  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  363. 

3  The  whole  subject  of  the  Heresies  of  this  age  is  tieated  below,  in 
Book  VI. 

*  See    Dean    Milman  (vol.    vi.    p.    10)  :  "  In  Dominic,  Spain  began  to 


A.D.  1170  f.  EARLY  LIFE  OF  ST.  DOMINIC.  371 

partly  by  way  of  antagonism  to  the  heretics  of  Languedoc,  with 
whose  history  his  own  is  inseparably  linked.1  Domingo  Guzman2 
(Lat.  Dominicus)  was  born  in  1170,  at  Calaruega,  a  village  in  the 
diocese  of  Osma,  in  Old  Castile.  Among  the  portents,  borrowed  from 
classical  and  ecclesiastical  antiquity,  which  foreshadowed  his  power 
and  eloquence  before  his  birth,  was  one  which  alluded  to  the  play 
upon  his  name,  in  which  his  followers  rejoiced,  as  Domini  canes  ("the 
Lord's  watch-dogs").3  Going  to  the  University  of  Falencia4  at  the 
age  of  fifteen,  he  spent  ten  years  in  study,  chiefly  of  theology ;  and 
here  his  self-devotion  shone  forth  in  a  gentler  light  than  afterwards 
invested  his  name.  During  a  famine,  to  feed  the  poor  he  sold  not 
only  his  clothes,  but  his  books,  the  value  of  which  to  him  in  that 
age  of  MSS.  was  enhanced  by  his  own  notes ;  and,  at  a  later  time, 
he  offered  to  sell  himself  for  the  redemption  of  another.5      But 

exercise  that  remarkable  influence  over  Latin  Christianity,  to  display 
that  peculiar  character,  which  culminated  as  it  were  in  Ignatius  Loyola, 
in  Philip  II.,  and  in  Torquemada,  of  which  the  code  of  the  Inqui- 
sition was  the  statutory  law,  of  which  Calderon  was  the  poet.  The  life 
of  every  devout  Spaniard  was  a  perpetual  crusade ;  by  temperament 
and  by  position  he  was  in  constant  adventurous  waifare  against  the 
enemies  of  the  Cross.  Hatred  of  the  Jew,  of  the  Mohammedan,  was  the 
herrban  under  which  he  served  ;  it  was  the  oath  of  his  chivalry.  That 
hatred,  in  all  its  intensity,  was  soon  and  easily  extended  to  the  heretic ; 
hereafter  it  was  to  comprehend  the  heathen  Mexican,  the  Peruvian. 
St.  Dominic  was,  as  it  were,  a  Cortez,  bound  by  a  sense  of  duty,  urged 
by  an  inward  voice,  to  invade  older  Christendom." 

1  See  below,  Chap.  XXXVII.  Of  the  many  Lives  of  St.  Dominic  the 
oldest  is  that  by  Jordanus,  his  successor  as  general  of  the  order,  in  the 
Acta  SS.,  August,  i.  545 ;  next,  the  one  in  use  by  the  order,  written 
about  1254  by  the  fifth  general,  Humbertus  de  Romanis,  ibid.  p.  358 ; 
also  the  Annates  Ordinis  Prxdicatorum,  by  Th.  M.  Mamachius,  and 
others,  Rom.,  1746  f. ;  Quetif  and  Echard,  Script.  Ord.  Prxd.,  Paris, 
1719  f . ;  Monumenta  et  Anting,  veteris  Disciplmx,  &c,  edited  by  Masetti, 
Rom.  1864;  Lacordaire,  Vie  de  S.  Dominic,  Paris,  1841  and  (ed.  5)  1855 
for  other  authorities  see  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  236. 

2  The  descent,  which  his  name  might  seem  to  imply,  from  one  of  the 
noblest  houses  of  Spain,  is  questioned  by  the  Bollandists. 

3  His  mother's  dream,  that  she  brought  forth  a  dog  with  a  torch  in  its 
mouth,  which  set  the  world  on  fire,  was  interpreted  by  his  followers  to 
signify  that  he  was  a  dog  barking  against  heretics,  and  the  torch  was 
either  the  light  of  knowledge  or  the  flame  of  charity. 

4  Afterwards  famous  at  its  new  seat  of  Salamanca. 

5  According  to  one  story,  a  slave  among  the  Moors ;  according  to 
another,  the  proposed  sacrifice  was  for  the  support  or  a  man  who  hesitated 
to  avow  his  conversion  from  heresy,  lest  he  should  forfeit  the  charity  on 
which  he  lived.  Archbishop  Trench  remarks  on  the  absence  in  Dominic 
of  those  tender  traits  which  so  much  attract  us  in  the  character  of  St. 
Francis:  "  Lven  those  who  exalt  him  the  most,  and  those  who  knew  him 
the  nearest,  sutler  this  to  be  seen.  Austere  is  the  epithet  which  in  a 
Papal  Bull  is  applied  to  him  ;  while  a  line  of  Dante's  about  him,  '  Good 


372  DIEGO  AND  DOMINIC    IN  LANGUEDOC.      Chap.  XXII. 

while  thus  displaying  his  natural  tenderness  even  towards  JewS  and 
infidels,  he  zealously  hardened  his  heart  against  heretics.  In  his 
twenty-fifth  year  he  was  enrolled  by  Diego  de  Azevedo  (Lat.  Dida- 
cus),  bishop  of  Osma,  as  one  of  the  canons  of  the  cathedral,1  among 
whom  he  was  distinguished  for  his  austerity.  "  His  life  was  rigidly 
ascetic ;  he  gave  more  of  his  time  to  prayer  than  to  sleep ;  and 
although  during  the  daytime  he  was  cheerful  in  his  conversation, 
his  nights  were  for  the  most  part  spent  in  severely  penitential 
exercises ;  he  flogged  himself  nightly  with  an  iron  chain,  once  for 
his  own  sins,  once  for  the  sinners  in  this  world,  and  once  for  those 
in  purgatory." 2 

§  3.  After  nine  years  of  this  obscure  life,  Dominic,  now  sub-prior, 
was  chosen  to  accompany  his  bishop  on  a  mission  to  Denmark, 
which  was  rendered  useless  as  soon  as  they  crossed  the  Pyrenees  ; 3 
and  they  proceeded  on  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome  (1203).  The  object  of 
the  pious  Diego  was  to  ask  the  Pope's  leave  to  give  up  his  quiet 
bishopric  for  the  dangers  of  a  mission  to  the  heathens  who  still 
occupied  a  part  of  Hungary,  in  which  Dominic  would  doubtless 
have  still  shared.  But  Innocent  III.  saw  the  need  of  such  spirits 
nearer  home ;  and  he  sent  the  bishop  back  to  his  diocese  with 
Dominic,  armed  with  a  commission  for  the  extirpation  of  the 
heresy,  which  had  already  vexed  their  souls  on  their  first  arrival  in 
Languedoc.4  They  returned  thither  (1205),  at  the  crisis  when  the 
mission  of  Cistercians,  who  had  been  sent  to  convert  the  Albi- 
genses,  were  despairing  of  success  ;5  and  when,  at  Montpellier,  they 
met  the  Papal  Legates  with  all  their  pompous  retinue  (for  so  had 
the  Cistercians  already  degenerated),  Diego  answered  their  com- 
plaints with  the  famous  rebuke  and  exhortation,  which  marks  him 
as  the  author  of  the  principles  which  were  afterwards  wrought  out 
by  Dominic  : — "  How  can  you  expect  success  with  this  secular 
pomp  ?  It  is  not  by  the  display  of  power  and  pomp,  cavalcades  of 
i  etainers  and  richly  houseled  palfreys,  or  by  gorgeous  apparel,  that 

to  his  friends  and  dreadful  to  his  foes  ' — crudo  is  the  word  used — may  be 
taken  for  praise  or  blame,  or  for  something  made  up  of  both,  as  we  will." 
(Medieval  Church  History,  p.  234.) 

1  The  bishop  had  changed  the  monastic  chapter  into  one  of  canons 
regular  of  St.  Augustin. 

*  Jordan,  45-6  ;   Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  364. 

3  By  the  death  of  the  Danish  princess,  whose  marriage  with 
Alfonso  VIII.  of  Castile  was  the  object  of  the  embassy. 

4  "No  sooner  had  they  crossed  the  Pyrenees  (on  their  journey  from 
Spain)  than  they  found  themselves  in  the  midst  of  the  Albigensian  heresy: 
they  could  not  close  their  eyes  on  the  contempt  into  which  the  clergy  had 
fallen,  or  on  the  prosperity  of  the  sectarians;  their  very  host  at  Toulouse 
was  an  Albigensian.  Dominic  is  said  to  have  converted  him  before  the 
morning."     (Milman,  vol.  vi.  p.  12.)  5  Comp.  Chap.  XXXVII.  §  3. 


A.D.  1205  f.         DOMINIC'S  WORK  AND  MIRACLES.  373 

the  heretics  win  proselytes ;  it  is  by  zealous  preaching,  by  apostolic 
humility,  by  austerity;  by  seeming,  it  is  true,  but  yet  seeming 
holiness.  Zeal  must  be  met  by  zeal;  false  sanctity  by  real  sanc- 
tity; preaching  falsehood  by  preaching  truth.  Sow  the  good  seed 
as  the  heretics  sow  the  bad.  Cast  off  those  sumptuous  robes,  send 
away  those  richly  caparisoned  palfreys ;  go  barefoot,  without  purse 
and  scrip,  like  the  Apostles ;  out-labour,  out-fast,  out-discipline 
these  false  teachers."  Enforcing  the  lesson  by  an  example  which 
the  legates  were  shamed  into  following,  Diego  and  Dominic  sent 
away  their  own  horses,  and  barefoot,  in  the  simplest  canonical 
dress,  led  the  way  in  a  course  of  preaching  and  disputation  in 
repeated  conferences.  When  Diego  returned  to  his  diocese  (1207), 
where  he  died  a  few  months  later,  Dominic  remained  to  carry  on 
the  work  ;  and  his  eloquence  is  said  to  have  been  enforced  by 
abundant  miracles.  Not  to  repeat  some  which  are  absurdly  ludi- 
crous, "  Dominic  raised  the  dead,  frequently  fed  his  disciples  in  a 
manner  even  more  wonderful  than  the  Lord  in  the  desert.  His 
miracles  equal,  if  not  transcend,  those  in  the  Gospel.  It  must 
indeed  have  been  a  stubborn  generation,  to  need  besides  these 
wonders  the  sword  of  Simon  de  Montfort." x 

§  4.  The  conduct  of  Dominic  during  the  Crusade  against  the  Albi- 
genses  is  a  problem  which  we  have  not  positive  historic  evidence  to 
solve.  His  earliest  biographers  are  silent  about  his  presence  with 
the  armies  (attended  by  miracles),  of  which  his  later  admirers  boast, 
but  which  still  later  apologists  again  deny,  according  as  opinion 
has  varied  on  the  character  of  such  deeds.2  So  too,  as  to  the  part 
he  is  said  to  have  taken  in  the  still  greater  judicial  cruelties  of 
the  tribunal  of  Toulouse,  and  the  doubtful  honour  of  being  the 

1  Milman  (vi.  14),  who  observes  that  the  miracles  of  Dominic  are 
largely  borrowed  from  the  lives  of  the  Saviour  and  those  of  the  saints. 
This  is  tiue  of  the  whole  mass  of  ecclesiastical  miracles  ;  but  the  imitators 
generally  try  to  improve  on  the  originals.  For  a  full  account  of  the 
miracles,  see  the  work  of  the  Bollandists. 

2  This  is  not  a  question  between  Catholics  and  Protestants,  nor  even 
between  different  parties  in  the  Roman  Church,  but  one  among  the 
Dominicans  themselves.  The  Bol.andists  maintain  their  founder's  title 
to  "that  bad  eminence''  in  such  language  as  that  of  Maloendia  :  "  What 
glory,  what  splendour  and  dignity,  belong  to  the  Order  of  Preachers, 
words  cannot  express!  for  the  Holy  Inquisition  owes  its  origin  to  St. 
Dominic,  and  was  propagated  by  his  faithful  followers  :  by  them  heretics 
of  all  kinds,  the  innovators  and  corrupters  of  Bound  doctrine,  were 
destroyed,  unless  they  would  recant,  by  tire  and  sword  :  "  quoting  which, 
Dean  Milman  adds  that  "  Calmer  enquiry  must  rob  him  of,  or  release  him 
from,  these  questionable  glories.  His  heroic  acts,  as  moving  in  the 
van  of  bloody  battles,  his  title  of  Founder  of  the  Inquisition,  belong 
to  legend,  not  to  history  "  (vol.  vi.  p.  16). 

II— S  2 


374  DOMINIC  IN  LANGUEDOC.  Chap.  XXII. 

Founder  of  the  Inquisition,  which  was  formally  confirmed  to 
Dominic  by  a  Bull  of  Sixtus  V.1  As  Dean  Milman  observes,  "It 
is  his  Order  that  has  thrown  back  its  aggrandizing  splendour  on 
Dominic."  His  character  and  deeds  have  been  confused  with  those 
of  his  followers,  who  were  more  Dominican  than  Dominic  himself.2 
When  the  Inquisition  was  fully  established  by  Gregory  IX.  (1233, 
twelve  years  after  the  death  of  Dominic),  its  administration  was 
entrusted  to  the  order,  who  became  thenceforth  the  zealous  agents 
( f  its  cruelties.3  They  rejoiced  in  the  title  of  "  Persecutor  of  the 
Heretics,"  conferred  on  their  founder  by  the  Inquisition  of  Tou- 
louse ;  and  the  story  of  his  interference  to  save  one  victim,  in  whom 
he  saw  some  hopes  of  reconciliation,  implies  his  habitual  severity. 
While  the  silence  of  his  earliest  biographers  as  to  his  sitting  on  the 
tribunals  of  Languedoc  leaves  such  stories  without  evidence,  they 
are  equally  silent  about  any  opposition  or  interference  on  his  part ; 
and  so,  with  regard  to  the  Crusade  "  all,  perhaps,  that  is  certainly 
known  is,  that  he  showed  no  disapprobation  of  the  character  or  of 
the  deeds  of  Simon  de  Montfort;  he  obeyed  his  call  to  bless  the 
marriage  of  his  son,  and  the  baptism  of  his  daughter."4  After  all, 
there  is  no  doubt  as  to  Dominic's  spirit ;  and  while  the  evidence 
points  only  to  his  activity  in  preaching,  it  may  be  that  "  his  words 
were  very  swords,"  sharpening  the  weapons  of  the  persecutors. 

§  5.  Turning  to  what  we  know  with  certainty  of  his  real  work, 
we  have  an  admirable  description  of  its  character  by  Archbishop 
Trench 5 : — "  Having  accompanied  his  bishop  on  a  preaching  mis- 
sion in  the  South  of  France  for  the  conversion  of  the  anti-Catholic 
sects  which  were  swarming  there,  he  became  aware  of  the  imminent 
danger  which  threatened  the  Papacy  from  the  wide-spread  revolt  of 
men's  spirits.  Nor  was  he  less  impressed  by  the  unfitness  of  the 
secular  or  parochial  clergy  to  contend  with  spiritual  weapons  against 
the  sectaries,  by  the  ignorance  and  sloth  of  the  lower  clergy,  the 
worldly  splendour  of  the  higher;  this  all  contrasting  most  un- 
favourably with  the  simplicity  in  life  of  their  adversaries,  their 
diligence  and  zeal  in  propagating  their  doctrines.  He  saw,  too, 
how  little  help  was  to  be  gotten  from  the  older  monastic  orders. 
Estranged  from  the  poor,  their  own  vows  of  poverty  eluded,  at  their 
best  seeking  first  and  chiefly  their  own  spiritual  welfare,  if  not 
seeking  this  alone,  they  wholly  failed  to  meet  the  needs  of  the 

1  Bulla  de  festo  S.  Petri  Martyris,  a.d.  1586,  in  Bullar.  Rom.  ii.  573, 
ed.  Luxemb.  1727. 

2  One  is  tempted  to  say,  with  reference  to  their  favourite  watchword, 
that,  if  Dominic  barked  at  the  stray  sheep  to  drive  them  into  the  fold,  the 
Dominic'ins  worried  and  mangled  them.  3  See  below,  Chap.  XXXVIII. 

4  Milman,  vol.  vi.  p.  15.  5  Medieval  Church,  p.  231. 


A.D.  1215-16.         ORDER  OF  PREACHING  FRIARS.  375 

time.  It  was  an  aggressive  order,  one  which  should  boldly  take  up 
the  challenge  which  the  sectaries  had  thrown  down,  that  the  crisis 
demanded.  Such  an  order  he  resolved  his  Preaching  Brethren — the 
name  expresses  the  central  idea  for  the  carrying  out  of  which  they 
existed — should  be ;  devoting  themselves  to  the  preaching  of  the 
Word,  to  the  spiritual  oversight  of  the  sheep  everywhere  scattered 
abroad  without  a  shepherd,  and,  as  another  aspect  of  the  same 
mission,  to  the  repression  and  extirpation  of  all  heresies." 

The  moral  power  on  which  Dominic  relied  is  seen  in  the  first 
institution  which  he  organized.  Observing  that  the  noble  ladies 
of  Languedoc  were  among  the  most  eager  hearers  of  the  heretics, 
whose  free  schools  kept  the  youth  under  their  influence,  he  founded 
a  school  and  retreat  at  Prouille,  for  the  daughters  of  the  poorer 
nobles  (1209).  But  this  was  only  a  subsidiary  work  ;  and  his  new 
Order  of  Preachers  was  first  formed  at  St.  Ronain,  near  Toulouse, 
of  sixteen  brethren,  most  of  whom  were  Provencals,  some  Spaniards, 
and  one  an  Englishman.  But,  though  it  sprang  from  the  conflict 
with  heresy  in  Languedoc,  the  order  was  to  have  the  world  for  its 
field.  In  1215  Innocent  III.  convened  the  Fourth  Lateran  Council; 
and  Fulk,  bishop  of  Toulouse,  took  Dominic  with  him  to  Rome  to 
obtain  the  Pope's  approval.  The  reluctance  of  Innocent  was  over- 
come by  wiser  counsels,  while  he  professed  to  yield  to  visions,  such 
as  had  already  warned  him  to  sanction  the  Franciscan  brotherhood.1 
The  difficulty  raised  by  the  canon  just  enacted,  forbidding  the 
creation  of  new  orders,  was  overcome  by  Dominic's  consent  to 
place  his  fraternity  under  the  rule  of  the  great  preacher  St.  Augus- 
tine. Dominic  returned  to  organize  his  society  at  Toulouse ;  but 
only  as  a  preparation  for  the  removal  of  its  head-quarters  to  Rome. 
In  the  first  year  of  the  new  pontificate  (1216),  Honorius  III.  con- 
firmed it  as  a  separate  order  by  the  title  of  Brethren  Preachers 
(Fratres  Prsedicatores),  or  to  use  the  popular  translation,  Preaching 
Friars,2  under  the  government  and  protection  of  the  Pope  ;  and  he 
granted  it  other  charters.  Besides  the  privilege  of  preaching,  that  of 
hearing  confessions  everywhere  was  the  source  of  enormous  power. 
"  On  Dominic  himself  the  Pope  conferred  the  Mastership  of  the 
Sacred  Palace — an  office  to  which  is  annext  the  censorship  of  books, 

1  See  the  following  Chapter. 

2  The  Bull  of  Honorius,  addressed  to  Dominic,  designates  them  as 
"  champions  (pugiles)  of  the  faith."  With  regard  to  the  possessions  con- 
firmed by  it,  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  order  had  not  yet  adopted 
the  principle  of  absolute  poverty.  It  is  almost  certain  that  they 
borrowed  this  from  the  Franciscans  in  1220;  but  it  is  very  doubtful 
whether,  as  the  Franciscans  assert,  Dominic  was  present  at  the  general 
Franciscan  chapter  in  1219.  He  is  affirmed  to  have  known  Francis  at 
Rome  in  1216  (Acta  88.  Aug.  4,  p.  442  ;  Oct.  4,  p.  605). 


376         THE  "  BLACK  FRIARS  "  AND  "  JACOBINS."      Chap.  XXII. 

and  which  has  always  been  retained  by  the  order." 1  If  his  farewell 
address  to  the  nuns  of  Prouille  is  genuine,2  after  all  that  was  fore- 
told of  his  successes  and  miracles  in  Languedoc,  Dominic  was  fain  to 
leave  the  fruit  of  his  ten  years'  labours  there  to  be  still  reaped  by 
the  sword  of  the  Crusaders : — "  For  many  years  I  have  spoken  to 
you  with  tenderness,  with  prayers,  and  tears  ;  but,  according  to  the 
proverb  of  my  country,  where  the  benediction  has  no  effect,  the  rod 
may  have  much.  Behold,  now,  we  rouse  up  against  you  princes  and 
prelates,  nations  and  kingdoms !  Many  shall  perish  by  the  sword. 
'J  he  land  shall  be  ravaged,  walls  thrown  down ;  and  you,  alas ! 
reduced  to  slavery.  So  shall  the  chastisement  do  that  which  the 
blessing  and  which  mildness  could  not  do !  " 

§  6.  At  Rome,  Dominic  took  up  his  abode  first  at  the  church  of 
St.  Sixtus,  which  he  afterwards  gave  up  to  the  nuns  of  the  order, 
and  fixed  the  headquarters  permanently  at  the  church  of  St.  Sabina. 
Among  his  firmest  friends  was  Cardinal  Ugolino,  the  future  Pope 
Gregory  IX.  The  pilgrims  who  resorted  to  Rome  carried  back  to 
every  land  the  impression  of  his  eloquence,  and  the  conviction  that 
this  new  power  of  preaching  was  what  the  Church  and  the  world 
most  needed.  The  order  quickly  spread,  especially  in  England, 
where  it  was  patronized  by  Archbishop  Langton,  and  in  France,3 
where  we  shall  presently  have  to  speak  of  its  influence  in  the 
University  of  Paris.  Their  popular  name  of  Black  Friars  still 
adheres  to  the  site  of  their  great  convent  in  London  ;  and  in  Paris 
they  obtained  the  name  of  Jacobins,  which  was  destined  to  pass  on 
to  a  society  only  less  terrible  for  the  cruelties  of  its  fanaticism.4 
Even  the  remotest  parts  of  Christendom  were  soon  invaded  by  the 
zeal  of  the  Preaching  Brothers :  two  Poles,  Hyacinth  and  Ceslas, 
carried  the  rules  into  their  own  country  :  convents  were  founded  at 

1  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  pp.  366-7. 

2  MS.  de  Prouille,  published  by  Pere  Perrin  ;  quoted  by  Lacordaire, 
p.  404;  and  Milman,  vol.  vi.  p.  18. 

3  In  1218  Philip  Augustus  bestowed  on  the  Dominicans  the  hospital  of 
St.  James  at  Paris,  whence  they  obtained  the  popular  name  of  Jacobin  Friars. 
On  the  suppression  of  religious  orders  at  the  Revolution,  this  house  became 
the  place  of  meeting  of  the  Jacobin  Club,  thus  linking  under  one  name  the 
extremes  of  ecclesiastical  and  infidel  fanaticism.  The  other  equally  violent 
club  inherited  the  name,  with  the  site,  of  the  Cordeliers  (i.e.  the  covd- 
v  earing  Franciscans).  In  England,  the  Dominicans  obtained  from  their 
dress  (a  black  cowl  worn  over  the  white  frock)  the  popular  name  of  Black 
Friars,  which  is  perpetuated  in  the  part  of  London  which  was  granted  to 
them  by  the  Corporation  in  1276  for  the  site  of  their  great  convent. 

4  Those  who  may  think  that  the  comparison  is  inverted  in  degree 
should  remember  that  where  the  Reign  of  Terror  slew  its  thousands 
(hundreds  would  be  more  exact),  the  Inquisition  slew  its  tens  of 
thousands. 


A.D.  1220.  ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  ORDER.  377 

Cracow  and  at  Kiev,  the  old  southern  capital  of  Russia.  Repre- 
sentatives from  Italy,  France,  Provence,  Spain,  England,  Ger- 
many, and  Poland,  met  at  the  two  General  Chapters  which  were 
held  by  Dominic  at  Bologna  before  his  death.  At  the  first,  in 
1220,  he  proposed  absolute  poverty  and  subsistence  by  the  alms  of 
the  faithful,  which  Francis  of  Assisi  had  made  the  very  foundation 
of  his  order.  Whether  from  a  conviction  of  its  apostolic  character, 
or  from  seeing  the  power  which  it  gave  to  the  Franciscans,  the 
principle  was  unanimously  adopted ;  but  it  was  not  without  much 
resistance  that  the  original  society  at  Toulouse  consented  to  resign 
the  endowments  which  Dominic  had  accepted  from  Bishop  Fulk. 
How  soon  both  orders  broke  these  new  vows  of  poverty,  as  the  older 
ones  had  broken  theirs,  will  appear  presently.  The  process  began 
almost  at  once,  by  the  acceptance  of  land  and  the  building  of 
monastic  houses,  instead  of  that  reliance  on  hospitality  which  was 
a  part  of  the  pattern  they  professed  to  follow ; l  and  wealth  and 
splendour  soon  followed. 

§  7.  At  this  first  general  chapter,  Dominic  wished  to  resign  the 
dignity  of  General ;  and  when  the  brethren  would  not  consent,  he 
insisted  on  the  appointment  of  a  council  of  diffinitores  (as  they 
were  called)  representing  the  whole  society,  whose  authority  was 
to  be  supreme,  even  over  the  Master  himself.  The  organization  of 
the  order  was  completed  by  a  second  general  chapter,  held  also  at 
Bologna  in  the  following  year.  It  was  divided  into  eight  provinces, 
namely,  Spain,  the  first  in  rank,  Provence,  France,  Lombardy, 
Rome,  Germany,  Hungary,  and  England ;  and  to  these,  four  were 
added  at  later  times.  Each  province — with  the  convents,  having 
their  several  priors  (priores  conventuales) — was  placed  under  a  Prior 
(priores  provinciates) ;  all  being  governed  by  the  General,  who  is 
called  both  Servant  and  Master  (minister  generates,  magister  ordinis) 
with  his  diffinitors.  The  supreme  legislative  power  was  vested  in  a 
general  chapter  of  the  order,  to  be  held  every  third  year.2 

§  8.  At  a  later  time,  besides  the  friars,  the  order — and  this  applies 

1  See  Matt.  x.  11-13;  Luke  x.  5-7,  where  the  last  words  gave  a  pre- 
text for  contradicting  all  the  rest.  It  may  be  observed,  in  passing,  how 
completely  the  temporary  character  of  the  mendicant  commission  (if  we 
may  so  speak)  to  the  disciples  whom  Christ  sent  forth  to  preach,  is 
marked  in  Luke  xxii.  35,  36.  The  Constitutions  of  the  order  prescribe 
u  moderate  and  humble  houses,"  in  which  there  are  to  be  "no  curiosities, 
superfluities,  sculptures,  pictures,  pavements,  or  the  like,  which  disfigure 
our  poverty ;  but  these  may  be  allowed  in  the  churches." 

2  The  Rules  of  the  order  (Constitutiones  fratrum  ordinis  Prsedicatorurn), 
collected  from  the  decrees  of  several  general  chapters  by  the  third 
general,  Raymundus  de  Pennaforti,  are  in  Holstenius,  vol.  iv.  p.  10,  ed. 
Brock  ie. 


378  THE  DOMINICAN  TERTIARIES.  Chap.  XXII. 

also  to  the  Franciscans — included  a  third  class  of  associates,  called 
Tertiaries* — "a  wider  and  more  secular  community,  who  were 
bound  to  the  two  former  by  bonds  of  close  association,  by  reverence 
and  implicit  obedience,  and  were  thus  always  ready  to  maintain 
the  interests,  to  admire  and  to  propagate  the  wonders,  to  subserve 
in  every  way  the  advancement,  of  the  higher  disciples  of  St.  Dominic 
or  St.  Francis.  They  were  men  or  women,  old  or  young,  married 
or  unmarried,  bound  by  none  of  the  monastic  vows,  but  deeply 
imbued  with  the  monastic,  with  the  corporate  spirit ;  taught  to 
observe  all  holy  days,  fasts,  vigils,  with  the  utmost  rigour,  inured 
to  constant  prayer  and  attendance  on  divine  worship.  They  were 
organized,  each  under  his  own  prior ;  they  crowded  as  a  duty,  as  a 
privilege,  into  the  church  whenever  a  Dominican  ascended  the 
pulpit,  predisposed,  almost  compelled  (if  compulsion  were  neces- 
sary) to  admire,  to  applaud,  at  least  by  rapt  attention.  Thus  the 
order  spread  not  merely  by  its  own  perpetual  influence  and  un- 
wearied activity ;  it  had  everywhere  a  vast  host  of  votaries  wedded 
to  its  interests,  full  to  fanaticism  of  its  corporate  spirit,  bound  to 
receive  hospitably  or  ostentatiously  their  wandering  preachers,  to 
announce,  to  trumpet  abroad,  to  propagate  the  fame  of  their  elo- 
quence, to  spread  belief  in  their  miracles,  to  lavish  alms  upon  them, 
to  fight  in  their  cause.  This  lay  coadjutary,  these  Tertiaries,  as 
they  were  called,  or,  among  the  Dominicans,  the  Soldiers  of  Jesus 
Christ,  as  not  altogether  secluded  from  the  world,  acted  more  widely 
and  more  subtly  upon  the  world.  Their  rule  was  not  rigidly  laid 
down  by  the  seventh  Master  of  the  order,  Munion  de  Zamora ;  it 
was  then  approved  by  the  Popes." 2 

§  9.  Ihe  death  of  Dominic,  on  the  fith  of  August,  1221,  was  said 
to  have  been  preceded  by  supernatural  warnings  and  attended  by  a 
vision,  in  which  a  brother  of  the  order  saw  the  Master  drawn  up  to 
heaven  on  a  golden  ladder,  which  was  held  at  the  top  by  the  Saviour 
and  the  Blessed  Virgin,  who  had  long  since  revealed  herself  to  him 
as  the  especial  protectress  of  the  order.3     Miracles,  greater  even  than 

1  Tertiarii  (and  »),  also  called  fratres  et  sorores  de  Militia  Jesu  Christi. 

2  Milman,  vol.  vi.  pp.  21,  22.  "Among  the  special  privileges  of  the 
order  (in  the  Bull  of  Honovius)  was  that  in  the  time  of  interdict  (so 
common  were  interdicts  now  become)  the  order  might  still  celebrate  mass 
with  low  voices  without  bells.  Conceive  the  influence  thus  obtained 
in  a  religious  land  everywhere  else  deprived  of  its  holy  services!" 

3  The  Virgin  is  said  to  have  shown  to  Dominic  in  a  vision  the  white 
frock  with  black  scapulary  and  hood.  (But  there  is  a  great  controversy 
about  the  original  dress  of  the  order;  see  Quetif  and  Echard,  ii.  71  f . ; 
Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  367.)  By  some  of  the  later  writers  (Bollandists) 
Dominic  is  all  but  deified  as  the  adopted  son  of  the  Virgin,  by  others  of 
the  Father  himself,  who  is  made  to  couple,  in  an  address  to  the  Virgin, 
his  adopted  son,  Dominic,  with  his  eternal  and  co-equal  Son,  in  a  vision 


A.D.  1221.  DEATH  OF  ST.  DOMINIC.  379 

those  he  had  wrought  while  alive,  followed  his  splendid  burial  by 
his  friend,  Cardinal  Ugolino,  who,  as  Pope  Gregory  IX.,  canonized 
St.  Dominic  in  1233.  "I  no  more  doubt,"  said  the  Pope;  "the 
sanctity  of  Dominic,  than  that  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul ; "  but  the 
saint's  later  worshippers  placed  him  above  St.  Paul,  as  well  as 
the  other  Apostles,  as  the  teacher  of  an  easier  way  of  salvation.1 
Such  was  the  progress  of  the  order  after  the  founder's  death  tl  at, 
when  its  fourth  general,  John  of  Wildeshausen  (in  Westphalia) 
held  a  general  chapter  at  Bordeaux,  it  reckoned  the  number  of  its 
monasteries  as  470;  in  Spain,  35 ;  in  France,  52  ;  in  Germany,  52  ; 
in  Tuscany,  32  ;  in  Lombardy,  46 ;  in  Hungary,  30 ;  in  Poland,  36  ; 
in  Denmark,  28  ;  in  England,  40.  The  missionary  zeal,  which  was 
one  great  characteristic  of  the  Dominicans,  was  already  spreading 
the  order  among  heathens,  as  well  as  into  the  Mohammedan  coun- 
tries of  Palestine,  Greece,  Crete,  and  even  as  far  as  Abyssinia. 

§  10.  The  subsequent  history  of  the  Dominicans  is  mixed  up 
with  that  of  the  other  great  order,  founded  about  the  same  time  in 
a  friendly  rivalry,  which  passed  ere  long  into  jealous  opposition.2 
We  have  to  speak  presently  of  their  philosophical  and  theological 
antagonism  in  the  great  scholastic  movement,  as  the  result  of 
which  the  scientific  divinity  of  the  great  Dominicans,  Albert  and 
Thomas  Aquinas,  gave  ultimately  the  law  to  the  Eoman  Catholic 
Church.  But  their  most  vehement  contest  was  waged  (as  we  have 
seen) 3  about  the  Immaculate  Conception,  of  which  the  Franciscans 
were  the  enthusiastic  advocates  ;  while  the  Dominicans,  not  yielding 
in  reverence  to  the  Blessed  Virgin, — in  whose  honour  they  adopted 
the  Rosary,4 — yet  withstood  the  dogma  when  all  other  Latin 
Christians  adopted  it.  For  th;s  resistance  they  were  expelled  from 
the  University  of  Paris  for  fourteen  years  (1395-1409).  But  it  is 
a  signal  proof  of  their  power,  that  the  Franciscan  Pope,  Sixtus  IV., 
in  confirming  the  dogma  by  two  Bulls,  forbad  either  party  to  de- 
nounce the  other  as  guilty  of  heresy  or  mortal  sin,  "  inasmuch  as 
the  matter  had  not  yet  been  determined  by  the  Roman  Church  or 
the  Apostolic  see  "  (1474).  In  the  age  of  "  pious  frauds  "  some 
over-zealous  Dominicans,  at  Frankfort  and  Berne,  got  up  a  pretended 
vision  of  the  Virgin  herself,  to  testify  to  Pope  Julius  II.  that  she 
had  been  conceived  in  sin,  but  a  papal  commission,  presided  over 
by  the  Dominican  provincial  himself,  sent  the   prior  and   three 

seen  by  St.  Catherine  of  Siena,  a  tertiary  of  the  order.  For  the  citations 
and  the  bold  representations  of  the  relation  of  the  Dominicans  to  the 
Virgin,  see  Milman,  vol.  vi.  pp.  22,  23  ;  Gieseler,  vol.  iv.  p.  147. 

1  See  the  Vita  S.  Dominici  (ap.  Bolland.  Aug.  4),  quoted  by  Milman,  ibid. 

2  The  Dominicans  were  also  specially  hostile  to  the  Templars. 

3  Chap.  XVIII.  §  6.  <  See  above,  Chap.  XVII.,  p.  288. 


380  LATER  HISTORY  OF  THE  DOMINICANS.     Chap.  XXII. 

monks  of  the  Dominican  convent  at  Berne  to  the  stake  for  their 
part  in  the  fraud.1 

The  divergent  characters  of  the  orders  are  further  seen  in  those 
different  spheres  of  activity,  which  helped  indeed  to  mitigate  their 
antagonism.  While,  as  we  have  seen,  Dominic  adopted  from 
Francis  the  rule  of  evangelic  poverty,  which  both  orders  soon 
broke,2  the  Dominicans  seem  never  to  have  regarded  it  as  so 
essential,  to  have  cast  it  off  the  more  easily.3  They  found  special 
exercise  for  their  influence  as  confessors  to  persons  of  high  rank, 
directing  the  affairs  of  great  men  and  the  councils  of  sovereigns, 
while  the  ministry  of  the  Franciscans  was  rather  to  the  common 
people.  But  the  special  power  of  the  Dominicans  was  in  their  ad- 
ministration of  the  Inquisition,  which  was  committed  to  them  by 
Gregory  IX.  in  1232  and  1233,  and  gave  them  an  impregnable  strong- 
hold even  under  the  several  Popes  who  were  Franciscans.  But  on 
principle  also  the  order  retained  that  fidelity  to  the  Papacy,  from 
which  we  shall  see  a  large  party  of  the  Franciscans,  the  "  spirituals," 
turning  away  into  bitter  hostility.4  Both  orders,  however,  were 
active  powers  in  the  Church,  from  the  early  time  when  Matthew 
Paris  said  (in  1243),  "  No  faithful  man  now  believes  he  can  be  saved, 
except  he  is  directed  by  the  counsels  of  the  Preachers  and  Minorites," 
to  the  complaint  of  Alexander  VI.  that  "  it  was  safer  to  offend  any 
powerful  king  than  a  Franciscan  or  Dominican."  5 

The  Dominicans  retained  their  eminence  as  preachers,  and  much 
of  the  old  religious  fervour,  which  is  attested  by  such  members  of 
the  order  as  the  mystic  Tauler  6  and  Savonarola.7  At  the  eve  of  the 
Reformation  they  were  the  vehement  opponents  of  the  "  humanist " 
Reuchlin  ;  the  chief  preachers  of,  and  traders  in,  indulgences  ;  and 
Luther's  principal  antagonists  were  Dominicans.  Of  their  fall  in 
popular  estimation  by  this  time,  in  common  with  the  other  friars, 
we  have  to  speak  hereafter. 

1  For  the  details,  see  Giesler,  v.  67-9  ;  Robertson,  vol.  iv.  p.  357-8. 

2  As  early  as  1243,  Matthew  Paris — the  champion,  be  it  remembered, 
of  the  monks  against  the  friars — gives  a  lively  picture  of  the  quarrels 
which  broke  out  between  the  orders,  "  to  the  astonishment  of  many  "  (he 
slily  observes),  "  because  they  seemed  to  have  chosen  the  path  of  perfec- 
tion, namely  that  of  poverty  and  patience,"  as  well  as  of  the  corruption 
of  the  Mendicants. 

3  About  1330,  Petrus  Paludanus,  a  Dominican  of  Paris,  published  a  tract, 
"  quod  fratres  praedicatores  possunt  habere  possessiones  et  redditus." 

4  See  Chap.  XXV.        5  Erasmus,  Exsej.  Seraph.,  Opera,  torn.  i.  p.  872. 
6  See  Chap.  XXXIII.  §  7.  7  See  Chap.  XIV.  §  14. 


St.  Francis  in  Glory. 
From  the  Fresco  by  Giotto,  on  the  Vault  of  the  Lower  Church  of  St.  Francis  at  Assisi. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

THE  MENDICANT  FRIARS— continued. 
ST.  FRANCIS  AND  HIS  ORDER. 

a.d.  1182-1226. 


§  1.  Birth,  Early  Life,  and  Character  of  St.  Francis — Religious  Ecstasies 
— Choice  of  Poverty.  §  2.  Vision  in  the  Church  of  St.  Dam i an — Quarrel 
with  his  father — Devotes  himself  to  Mendicancy — His  care  for  lepers. 
§  3.  Church  of  the  Portiuncula — Call  of  Francis — His  twelve  Disciples 
— Dress  of  the  Grey  Friars — Journey  to  Rome.  §  4.  Francis  and 
Innocent  III. — The  three  vows,  chastity,  obedience,  and  absolute  poverty 
— Hostility  to  Learning.  §  5.  The  brethren  licensed  to  preach  and 
ordain — Their  success  and  popularity — Their  churches  at  Assisi  and 
Rome — St.  Clare  and  her  sisterhood.  §  6.  Francis  a  missionary — 
First  two  Chapters  of  the  Order — Provincial  Ministers — Confirmation 
.  by  Innocent  III.  (1215).     §  7.  Francis  in.  Egypt  :  he  attempts  to  con- 


382  BIRTH  OF  ST.  FRANCIS.  Chap.  XXIII. 

vert  the  Sultan — Franciscan  Protomartyrs  in  Morocco.  §  8.  Charter  of 
Honorius  III.  to  the  Fratres  Minores  or  Minorites — Their  first  arrival 
in  England — Constitution  and  Rules  of  the  Order — Absolute  poverty  : 
no  property,  houses,  or  churches.  §  9.  Francis  discourages  asceticism  : 
inculcates  cheerfulness.  §  10.  His  principles  for  the  government  of 
the  order,  and  functions  of  the  Minister.  §  11.  Second  Order,  of  St. 
Clare  ;  third,  of  the  Tertiaries,  or  Brethren  of  Penitence.  §  12.  The 
Stigmata  sacra  of  St.  Francis — His  death,  Burial,  and  Canonization — 
Controversy  on  the  Stigmata — His  Character. 

§  1.  St.  Francis  of  Assisi  is  distinguished  from  other  saints  of 
the  same  name  by  the  appellation  of  the  romantic  Umbrian  town, 
13  miles  S.E.  of  Perugia,  where  he  was  born  twelve  years  later  than 
Dominic  (1182).  His  father,  Peter  Bemardini,  seems  to  have 
desired  to  commemorate  the  child's  birth  during  his  own  absence  in 
France  by  the  name  which,  on  his  return  home,  he  substituted  for 
that  of  John,  which  had  been  given  by  the  mother.1  The  mira- 
culous signs  attending  his  birth  are  only  to  be  noticed  as  examples 
of  the  legends  by  which  his  disciples  assimilated  their  founder's  life 
to  that  of  Christ,2  except  where  they  exalted  the  servant  above  the 

1  The  statement  of  Wadding  (i.  21)  and  others,  that  the  name  was 
given  to  him  later  on  account  of  his  fondness  for  the  French  language, 
seems  certainly  erroneous.  Among  the  mass  of  materials  collected  by 
Lucas  Wadding,  Annales  Minorum,  s.  Trium  Ordinum  a  S.  Francisco 
institutorum  (in  the  completest  edition,  18  vols.  fol.  Romae,  1731-1741), 
the  most  important  are  the  Life  of  S.  Francis,  written  by  Thomas  de  Celano, 
in  1229  {Acta  SS.,  Oct.,  torn.  ii.  p.  683),  enlarged  in"l246  by  the  "  Tres 
Socii  "  (Leo,  Angelus,  and  Rufinus,  ib.  p.  723),  and  completed  (1261)  as  the 
sacred  book  of  the  order,  from  its  records  and  legends  by  Bonaventura 
(ibid.  p.  742).  Other  chief  authorities  are  S.  Francisci  Opera,  Paris,  1641, 
Colon.  1849  ;  Legende  doree,  ou  Sommaire  de  mist,  des  Freres  meridians, 
Amst.,  1734;  C.  Vogt,  d.  h.  Franz  von  Assisi,  Tubingen,  1840;  Malan, 
Hist,  de  S.  Francis,  Par.  i841,  1855;  Hase,  Franz  von  Assisi,  Leipzig, 
1856.  On  the  influence  of  the  Franciscans  in  society,  literature,  and 
politics,  the  late  Mr.  Brewer's  preface  to  the  Monumenta  Franciscana, 
Lond.  1858,  in  the  "  Rolls  Series  "  ot  English  Chronicles,  is  invaluable  : 
a  second  volume  of  this  collection  of  original  documents  of  the  order  has 
been  edited,  with  an  excellent  Preface,  by  Mr.  Richard  Howlett,  1882. 

2  Thus  a  prophetess  (according  to  some  the  Erythrean  Sibyl)  foretold 
his  birth,  which  took  place,  by  the  suggestion  of  an  unknown  visitor,  in  a 
stable,  and  was  hailed  by  angels,  though  it  was  a  human  voice  that  pro- 
claimed peace  and  goodwill ;  and,  in  place  of  Simeon,  an  augel  held  the 
child  at  the  font.  He  was  foreshadowed  by  the  types  in  the  Old  ami  New 
Testaments ;  he  was  the  Apocalyptic  "  angel  ascending  from  the  earth, 
having  the  seal  of  the  living  God"  (Rev.  vii  2 ) ;  ami.  m>  long  as  harmony 
was  preserved  between  the  two  orders,  St.  Francis  and  St.  Dominic  were 
the  "two  staves,  Beauty  and  Bands,"  seen  by  the  prophet  Zechariah 
(xi.  7),  the  "Bands"  (in  the  Vulg.  funiculus)  being  the  cord  which  the 
Franciscans  used  as  a  girdle  ;  in  short,  they  are  symbolized  by  nearly  all 
the  sacred  couples  that  could  be  collected  from  the  Old  or  New  Testament. 


A.D.  1204  f.  HIS  CONVERSION  AND  CALL.  383 

Lord.  His  impulsive  and  gentle  nature  had  its  course  shaped  by 
the  indulgence  of  his  fond  mother,  Picca,  and  the  hard  practical 
worldliness  of  his  father,  a  rich  merchant  absorbed  in  trade.  From 
an  imperfect  education  by  the  clergy  of  St.  George's  Church,  Francis 
was  taken  to  assist  his  father  in  his  business ;  but  he  preferred  a  life 
of  idle  and  extravagant  pleasure  with  his  young  companions,  much 
of  his  prodigality,  however,  being  bestowed  on  the  poor.  At  the 
age  of  22,  serving  in  a  petty  local  war,  he  was  made  prisoner  for 
a  year  at  Perugia ;  and  the  sobering  influence  of  captivity  was 
enhanced  by  a  subsequent  illness.  He  saw  visions,  and  became 
rapt  in  religious  ecstasies ;  till  his  fervent  devotions  centred  in 
the  idea  of  absolute  poverty,  not  only  as  a  self-denying  discipline, 
but  in  order  to  "  make  many  rich."  When  he  talked  mysteriously 
of  his  future  bride,  he  meant  Poverty ;  and  he  resolved  never  to 
refuse  an  alms,  but  to  act  literally  on  the  precept,  "  G  ive  to  every 
one  that  asketh  thee."  He  made  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome,  and  laid 
all  his  little  stock  of  money  on  St.  Peter's  altar  ;  and,  on  his  return, 
he  exchanged  his  clothes  for  the  rags  of  the  filthiest  of  a  troop  of 
beggars.1 

§  2.  As  he  was  praying  in  the  church  of  St.  Damian,  he  heard  a 
voice  from  the  crucifix — "  Repair  my  church,  which  is  falling  to  ruin." 
Not  understanding  the  Lord's  call  to  his  future  work,  Francis 
resolved  to  repair  the  church ;  and,  on  being  sent  by  his  father  to 
sell  a  bale  of  cloth  at  Foligno,  he  took  the  money  to  the  priest  of 
St.  Damian,  and,  on  his  refusing  to  receive  it,  hid  it  in  a  hole  and 
himself  in  a  cave,  where  he  spent  a  month  in  solitary  prayer. 
After  trying  by  shutting  him  up  at  home  to  reclaim  him  from  his 
madness  or  dishonesty,  his  father  brought  him  into  court,  that  he 
might  be  compelled  to  renounce  the  patrimony  he  was  wasting. 
Francis  pleaded  that  he  was  devoted  to  the  service  of  God,  and  the 
magistrates  referred  the  case  to  the  bishop.  The  hidden  money 
had  been  found,  and  the  question  of  future  renunciation  alone 
remained.  "  I  will  give  the  very  clothes  I  wear,"  said  Francis,  as 
he  stripped  to  his  haircloth  shirt;  "Peter  Bernardini  was  my 
father ;  1  have  now  but  one,  my  Father  in  Heaven."  Henceforth, 
with  the  dress  of  a  hermit,  he  took  up  the  life,  not  only  of  poverty 
but  mendicancy ;  begging  at  the  doors  of  houses  and  the  gates  of 

These  and  many  other  "  conformities,"  drawn  also  from  profane  history 
and  mythology,  are  collected  in  the  Liber  Conformitatum  of  Barth.  Albizzi 
(1385," adopted  by  the  order  in  1399),  which  Luther  called  "  the  Eulenspiegel 
and  Alcoran  of  the  barefooted  monks."     (Hase,  p.  14). 

1  It  is  well  to  remember  that  St.  Francis  had  a  predecessor,  as  earnest 
if  less  enthusiastic,  in  his  principles  of  poverty  and  preaching,  namely 
Waldo.     (See  Chap.  XXXVI.) 


384  FRANCIS  AND  HIS  TWELVE  DISCIPLES.       Chap.  XXIII. 

monasteries,  and  discharging  the  lowest  offices.  Lepers,  who  were 
at  that  time  tended  in  houses  severed  from  the  world,  as  marked  by 
a  disease  the  type  of  sin,  were  the  special  objects  of  his  care.  He 
spent  some  time  among  them  in  the  hospital  at  Gubbio,  kissed 
their  sores,  and  washed  their  feet ;  and  in  one  case  he  had  a  mira- 
culous reward  by  the  healing  of  a  leper  with  a  kiss.1  These  out- 
casts of  humanity  became  the  peculiar  care  of  the  Franciscan 
brotherhood. 

§  3.  Returning  to  Assisi,  he  set  himself  to  the  redemption  of  his 
vow  to  repair  the  church  of  St.  Damian ;  begging  for  the  mere 
materials  where  money  could  not  be  got : — "  Whoever  will  give  me 
one  stone  shall  have  one  prayer  ;  whoever  two,  two ;  three,  three." 
The  people  mocked,  and  his  father  cursed  him  when  they  met :  his 
reply  was  to  ask  of  a  beggar,  "  Be  thou  my  father,  and  give  me  thy 
blessing."  The  hand  of  charity  opened  to  persevering  importunity  ; 
and,  besides  the  church  of  St.  Damian,  he  was  enabled  to  restore 
two  others,  those  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Maria  dei  Angeli.  The  latter, 
called  the  Portiuncula,  became  the  great  sanctuary  of  the  order, 
for  his  final  call  came  to  him  within  its  walls.  There  it  was  that 
he  one  day  heard  the  Saviour's  charge  to  the  disciples  whom  he 
sent  forth  to  preach :  "  Provide  neither  gold  nor  silver  nor  brass 
in  your  purses,  nor  scrip  for  your  journey,  neither  two  coats,  neither 
shoes,  nor  yet  staves." 2  He  had  already  no  purse  or  money ;  so  he 
threw  away  his  wallet,  staff,  and  shoes  ;  girded  a  coarse  grey  tunic  3 
about  him  with  a  cord,  and  went  through  the  city,  calling  men  to 
repentance.  One  by  one  he  gathered  a  band  of  eleven  disciples, 
whom  he  led  out  of  the  town  to  a  place  called,  from  its  position  at 
the  bend  of  the  river,  Rivo  Torto  ; 4  and  here  he  first  formed  his 
order,  for  which  a  rule  was  wanted.    Invoking  the  Holy  Trinity,  he 

1  Thorn.  Cel.  17  ;  Bonav.  11,  13,  22.  On  St.  Francis  and  the  Lepers, 
see  Mr.  Brewer's  Preface  to  the  Monumenta  Franciscana,  p.  xxiii.  seqq.  ; 
and  the  Translation  of  the  Testament  of  St.  Francis,  p.  592. 

-  Matt.  x.  9,  10. 

3  This  dress  (see  p.  415)  gave  the  Franciscans  the  popular  name  of  Grey 
Friars,  the  local  memorial  of  which  in  our  midst  (corresponding  to  those  of 
Blackfriars,  Whitefriars,  and  Austint'riars)  has  been  obscured  by  a  more 
famous  appellation  ;  for  it  was  on  the  site  of  the  Grey  Friars'  monastery  in 
London  that  Edward  VI.,  ten  days  before  his  death  (June  26th,  1553), 
founded  "Christ's  Hospital  "  for  poor  fatherless  children  and  foundlings, 
now  best  known  as  the  Bluecoat  School ;  the  colour  being  no  survival 
of  the  Franciscan  grey,  but  that  used  in  Edward's  time  for  servants. 

4  The  parallel  is  evident  to  Christ's  taking  His  disciples  apart  to  give 
them  the  new  law  of  His  kingdom  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Blount 
(Matt.  v.  1).  To  point  out  all  these  "conformities"  would  require  a 
note  on  almost  every  passage  of  the  Saint's  life;  but  it  is  well  to 
remember  that  the  events  may  have  been  moulded  to  the  conformities. 


A.D.  1212.  FRANCIS  AND  INNOCENT  III.  385 

thrice  opened  the  book  of  the  Gospels  which  lay  upon  the  altar, 
and  read,  the  first  time,  "If  thou  wilt  be  perfect,  sell  that  thou 
hast  and  give  to  the  poor ; " l  the  second,  "  Take  nothing  for  your 
journey;"2  the  third,  "If  any  will  come  after  me,  let  him  deny 
himself  and  take  up  his  cross,  and  follow  me."3  At  once  accepting 
both  the  rule  and  the  mission,  Francis  made  the  sign  of  the  cross, 
and  sent  forth  his  followers  in  four  bands  into  the  neighbouring 
villages,  east  and  west,  and  north  and  south, — a  sign  of  dividing 
the  world  for  their  field  of  labour.  This  was  done  on  St.  Luke's 
Day,  Oct.  18th,  1212.  Reassembling  at  Rivo  Torto,  they  set  forth 
to  Rome,  to  ask  the  sanction  and  blessing  of  the  Holy  Father; 
and  on  the  way,  the  sacred  number  of  twelve  disciples  was  com- 
pleted by  a  knight,  who  at  once  obeyed  the  call  of  Francis  to  lay 
aside  his  baldric  and  gird  him  with  a  cord ;  for  his  sword  to  take  up 
the  cross ;  and  to  exchange  his  gilded  spurs  for  dirt  and  mire. 

§  4.  "  Innocent  III." — so  Dean  Milman  describes  the  scene — "  was 
walking  on  the  terrace  of  the  Lateran,  when  a  mendicant  of  the 
meanest  appearance  presented  himself,  proposing  to  convert  the 
world  by  poverty  and  humility.  The  haughty  Pontiff  dismissed 
him  with  contempt."  But  wiser  councils  were  either  suggested,  or 
fortified,  by  a  dream,  in  which  he  saw  the  Church  in  danger  of 
falling,  and  Francis  propping  it  up.  Here,  though  the  connection 
is  less  direct  than  in  the  case  of  Dominic,4  we  may  trace  the  same 
idea  of  meeting  the  growing  danger  of  heresy  with  the  weapons  of 
the  heretics  themselves  ;  "  The  Poor  Men  of  the  Church  might  out- 
labour  and  out-suffer  the  Poor  Men  of  Lyon."  5  Innocent  received 
Francis  and  heard  his  proposal  in  the  midst  of  the  cardinals,  some 
of  whom  objected  to  the  difficulty  and  even  impossibility  of  the 
vows ;  but  the  Cardinal-Bishop  of  Sabina  replied,  "  To  suppose  that 
anything  is  impossible  with  God  is  to  blaspheme  Christ  and  His 

1  Matt.  xix.  21.  2  Mark  vi.  8.  3  Matt.  xvi.  24-. 

4  It  should  be  remembered  that  the  Dominican  order,  though  not 
sanctioned  till  three  years  later,  was  already  formed  and  in  full  operation 
in  Languedoc. 

5  Milman,  vol.  vi.  p.  30.  This  is  not  a  rhetorical  antithesis  of  the  his- 
torian's, but  the  account  distinctly  given  by  the  Chron.  Ursperg.  ad  ann. 
1212  (p.  243,  ed.  Argentorat.  1609):  "At  that  time,  when  the  world 
was  already  growing  old,  two  religions  (i.e.  orders)  sprang  up  in  the 
Church,  whose  youth  is  renewed  like  the  eagle's,  which  were  also  con- 
firmed by  the  apostolic  see,  namely,  those  of  the  Lessor  Brethren  and  the 
Preachers.  And  they  were  probably  approved  on  this  occasion,  because 
two  sects  formerly  rose  up  in  Italy  and  .still  survive,  of  whom  the  one 
called  themselves  humiliati,  the  others  the  Poor  Men.  of  Lyon\"  and  he 
goes  on  to  compare  the  Preachers  (i.  e.  Dominicans)  with  the  former, 
and  the  Minorites  (Franciscans)  with  the  latter.  See  the  whole  passage  in 
Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  pp.  232-3.    On  the  Poor  Men  of  Lyon,  see  Chap.  XXX VI. 


386  AUTHORITY  RECEIVED  FROM  INNOCENT.      Chap.  XXIII. 

Gospel."  In  that  first  stage  of  this  new  enthusiasm  it  is  quite  true 
that  "  in  the  difficulty,  the  seeming  impossibility  of  the  vows  was 
their  strength.  The  three  vital  principles  of  the  order  were, 
chastity,  poverty,  and  obedience.  For  chastity,  no  one  was  to 
speak  with  a  woman  alone,  except  the  few  who  might  safely  do  so 
(from  age  or  severity  of  character),  and  that  was  to  urge  penitence, 
or  to  give  spiritual  counsel.  Poverty  was  not  only  the  renunciation 
of  all  worldly  possessions,  but  of  all  property,  even  in  the  clothes 
they  wore,  in  the  cord  which  girt  them — even  in  their  breviaries.1 
Money  was,  as  it  were,  infected ;  they  might  on  no  account  receive 
it  in  alms,  except  (the  sole  exception)  to  aid  a  sick  brother.  No 
brother  might  ride,  if  he  had  power  to  walk.  They  were  literally 
to  fulfil  the  precept,  if  stricken  on  one  cheek,  to  offer  the  other ;  if 
spoiled  of  one  part  of  their  dress,  to  yield  up  the  rest.  Obedience 
was  urged  not  merely  as  obligatory  and  coercive :  the  deepest 
mutual  love  was  to  be  the  bond  of  the  brotherhood."  2 

§  5.  Innocent  III.  granted  to  Francis  and  his  brethren  authority 
to  preach  in  every  place,  and  at  the  same  time  they  received  the 
clerical  tonsure;3  but,  as  will  presently  be  seen,  the  full  confirma- 
tion of  the  order  was  not  made  till  some  years  later  by  Innocent's 
successor.  On  their  return  home,  the  power  of  their  preaching,  the 
novelty  of  their  enterprize,  and  the  miracles  of  their  chief,  gathered 
round  them  crowds  of  enthusiastic  hearers,  who  even  tore  the  dress  of 
Francis  in  pieces  to  possess  some  relics  of  him.  At  Assisi,  the  church 
of  the  Portiuncula,  which  Francis  had  restored,  and  in  which  he  had 

1  "  At  first,"  says  Bonaventura  ;  "  they  had  no  books  ,  their  only  book 
was  the  Cross."  "  Francis  greatly  dreaded  the  pride  of  learning.  His 
own  education  had  been  scanty,  but  it  was  supposed  that  the  knowledge 
of  divine  things  came  to  him  miraculously,  and  he  seems  to  have 
expected  his  followers  to  learn  in  the  same  manner.  When  one  of  them 
expressed  some  difficulty  as  to  parting  with  his  books,  he  told  him  that 
his  books  must  not  be  allowed  to  corrupt  the  Gospel,  by  which  friars  were 
bound  to  have  nothing  of  their  own.  From  another  he  took  away  even 
a  Psalter,  telling  him  that,  if  that  book  were  allowed  him,  he  would  next 
wish  for  a  breviary,  and  then  for  other  books,  until  he  would  become  a 
great  doctor  of  the  chair,  and  would  imperiously  thunder  out  to  his 
humble  companion  orders  to  fetch  such  books  as  he  might  require." 
(Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  372.)  Yet  in  a  few  years  the  order  was  to  hold 
University  chairs,  and  produce  such  writers  as  Hales  and  Bonaventura, 
Roger  Bacon  and  Duns  Scotus !  2  Milman,  vol.  vi.  pp.  30-1. 

*  Francis  was  afterwards  ordained  a  deacon,  but  at  what  time  is  uncer- 
tain. (See  Bonav.  8t> ;  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  370.)  For  the  home  of  the. 
order  in  the  environs  of  Rome,  the  Benedictines  of  Subiaco  gave  a  church, 
which,  like  that  near  Assisi,  bore  the  name  of  S.  Maria  dei  An/eli  or  delta 
Portiuncula.  When  Francis  himself  (in  1223)  visited  the  place  sacred  as 
the  first  retreat  of  Benedict,  he  is  said  to  have  changed  the  thorns,  in 
which  that  saint  used  to  roll  himself,  into  roses.    (Comp.  Part  I.  p.  406.) 


A.D.  1212.  SISTERHOOD  OF  ST.  CLARE.  387 

received  his  divine  commission,  was  given  up  to  the  new  order ; 
but  it  was  afterwards  eclipsed  by  the  conventual  church  dedicated 
to  St.  Francis  himself,  which,  in  strange  contrast  to  his  own  prin- 
ciples, became  one  of  the  most  splendid  in  Italy,  decorated  with  the 
masterpieces  of  reviving  art,  the  paintings  of  Cirnabue  and  Giotti.1 

The  preaching  of  Francis  and  his  companions,  less  formal  and 
more  dramatic,  more  popular  and  appealing  to  the  feelings,  than 
the  accustomed  style,  was  attractive  to  women  as  well  as  to 
men.  Under  his  influence,  a  noble  young  maiden  of  Assisi,  named 
Clara  Sciffi,  cast  off  the  ties  of  family  life  as  sinful  affections,  and 
became  the  foundress  of  the  poor  and  most  rigidly  severe  sister- 
hood of  St.  Clare  (1212).  She  is  said  to  have  preserved  constant 
cheerfulness  under  a  life  of  such  mortification  and  humility,  that 
she  never  raised  her  head  or  her  eyelids  far  enough  for  the  colour 
of  her  eyes  to  be  seen,  except  once,  to  receive  the  blessing  of 
Innocent  IV.,  who  visited  her  on  her  death-bed  in  1253.  She  was 
canonized  two  years  later  by  Alexander  IV.2 

§  6.  It  is  said  that  Francis  was  still  hesitating  between  the  contem- 
plative and  active  life — prayer  in  the  monastery  and  preaching 
throughout  the  world — when  his  choice  was  determined  by  a  sign 
from  heaven,  and  his  mind  was  especially  bent  on  missions  to  the 
infidel  Mohammedans  and  the  heathen.  In  accordance  with  the 
quadripart  division  made  at  Hivo  Torto,  while  brethren  went  forth 
north,  and  west,  and  south,  to  Germany,  Italy,  and  Spain,  Francis 
himself  embarked  for  Syria,  but  was  driven  back  by  storms.     Kext 

1  The  building  of  the  convent  and  church  was  begun  in  1228,  two 
years  after  the  death  of  St.  Francis,  under  the  direction  of  an  architect 
sent  from  Germany,  Jacopo  di  Alemannia  (also  called  Lapo),  in  con- 
junction with  the  friar  Fra  Filippo  di  Campbello.  The  convent  (now 
suppressed)  contains  some  frescoes  by  second-rate  artists;  among  them  a 
series  of  portraits  of  remarkable  men  of  the  order  by  Dono  Doni  (1595). 
The  double  church  of  S.  Francesco,  restored  in  1874,  is  one  of  the  most 
interesting  monuments  of  Italian  Gothic,  and  has  a  grand  and  singular 
appearance  as  seen  on  the  approach  from  Perugia.  (See  vignette,  p.  399.) 
It  consists,  in  fact,  of  two  churches,  reared  one  over  the  other  on  massive 
substructions  against  the  abrupt  side  of  the  hill  on  which  the  town  stands. 
Beneath  the  lower,  a  third — a  magnificent  sepulchral  crypt  in  the  form 
of  a  Greek  cross — was  excavated  around  the  place  where  the  supposed 
remains  of  the  saint  were  discovered  in  a  rude  stone  sarcophagus  in  1818. 
For  a  full  description  of  the  churches,  their  frescoes,  and  painted  windows, 
see  Murray's  Handbook  of  Central  Italy  (1880),  p.  373  f. 

2  The  order  of  nuns  of  St.  Clare  was-confirmed  by  a  Bull  of  Innocent  IV. 
Her  body  is  still  shown  in  the  crypt  beneath  the  high  altar  of  the  con- 
ventual church  of  Sta.  Chiara  at  Assisi,  built  a  few  years  after  her  death 
by  Fra  Filippo  di  Campello,  and  painted  by  Giotto  ;  but  the  greater  part 
of  the  church  has  been  replaced  by  modern  restorations.  A  reliquary  is 
shown  containing  the  hair  which  the  saint  cut  off  with  her  own  hand. 


388  FRANCIS  IN  EGYPT.  Chap.  XXIII. 

year  he  set  out  to  preach  to  the  Moors  in  Morocco ;  but  a  dangerous 
illness  compelled  him  to  return  when  he  had  got  as  far  as  Spain. 
At  the  first  general  chapter  of  the  order,  held  in  the  church  of  the 
Portiuncula,  provincial  Ministers  (such  was  the  humble  title  used 
instead  of  Master1)  were  appointed  for  Spain,  Provence,  France, 
and  Germany  (1215) ;  and,  in  the  same  year  in  which  he  also  con- 
firmed the  order  of  Dominic,  Innocent  III.  renewed  his  approval  of 
the  Franciscan  brotherhood.  Four  years  later  no  less  than  5000 
brethren  met  at  the  second  chapter  of  the  order  2  (1219). 

§  7.  In  the  same  year  the  Crusade  organized  by  Honorius  TIT.  gave 
Francis  another  opportunity  for  preaching  to  the  Mohammedan 
infidels.3  With  the  apostolic  number  of  twelve  companions,  he 
arrived  in  Egypt  just  after  the  Crusaders  had  taken  Damietta ;  and 
the  certain  failure,  which  he  predicted  from  their  dissensions,  did 
not  deter  him  from  his  own  more  peaceful  but  still  more  dangerous 
mission.  A  flock  of  sheep,  seen  on  his  way  to  the  Saracen  camp, 
recalled  his  Master's  words,  "  Behold,  I  send  you  forth,  as  sheep  in 
the  midst  of  wolves  ; "  4  and  his  temerity  may  have  won  the  respect 
with  which  Mohammedans  see  in  madness  a  share  of  Divine  in- 
spiration. The  Sultan  heard  him  with  attention,  but  declined  his 
challenge  to  enter  a  great  fire  with  the  priests  of  Islam,  or,  when 
they  refused,  to  let  him  expose  himself  alone  to  the  ordeal ;  for,  said 
Francis,  "  if  I  should  be  burnt,  you  will  impute  it  to  my  sins ;  should 
I  come  forth  alive,  you  will  embrace  the  Gospel."  Refusing  the  rich 
presents  offered  by  the  Sultan,  who  sent  him  back  with  honour  to 
the  camp,  Francis  returned  through  Palestine  and  the  kingdom  of 
Antioch  to  Italy.  The  like  toleration  was  not  shown  by  the  fiercer 
Moors  to  the  five  brethren  who,  about  the  same  time,  had  gone  to 
Spain,  and,  having  preached  without  effect  at  Seville,  passed  over 
into  Africa,  to  become  the  protomartyrs  of  the  order  by  the  cruelty 
of  King  Miramamolin.5  St.  Francis  received  the  sad  intelligence 
with  triumph,  and  broke  forth  in  gratulations  to  the  convent  of 

1  The  contrast  expressed  by  the  etymology  of  the  words  should  be 
remembered :  magister,  from  the  root  mag,  "  great ;  "  minister,  from 
min,  "  little." 

2  Bonaventura,  52;  Wadding,  vol.  i.  pp.  246,  257,  284-291. 

3  See  Chap.  V.  §  9,  pp.  71-2. 

*  Matt.  x.  16  ;  Luke  x.  3.  The  harmlcsmess  inculcated  in  the  same 
text  was  being  strangely  illustrated  by  the  Crusaders  both  in  the  East  and 
in  Languedoc. 

5  Wadding  a.d.  1219,  1220,  pp.  48,  38.  A  list  of  the  martyrs  of 
the  order,  to  1342,  is  given  in  the  Register  of  the  London  Franciscans, 
entitled  Prima  Fundatio  Fratrum  Minorum  Lcndonise  in  the  Monu- 
menta  Franciscana  (Rolls  Series,  pp.  526-8).  It  is  there  stated  that 
the  remains  of  the  five  protomartyrs  were  brought  back  by  Peter,  Infant 
of  Portugal. 


A.D.  1224.  ORDER  OF  THE  MINORITES.  389 

Alonquir,  whicn  had  thus  produced  the  first  purple  flowers  of 
martyrdom.1 

§  8.  In  1223  (or  1224)  Honorius  III.  granted  the  first  formal 
charter  to  the  order,  confirming  a  stricter  rule  which  had  been  drawn 
up  by  Francis ;  and  the  appointment  of  Cardinal  Ugolino  (afterwards 
Gregory  IX.),  to  the  office  of  "protector  et  corrector  ordinis "  is 
one  of  many  proofs  of  the  original  harmony  between  the  brother- 
hoods of  Dominic  and  Francis.  (Each  order  had  such  an  officer 
resident  at  Rome.)  The  deep  humility  of  the  founder  was  expressed 
in  the  name  of  the  brotherhood,  Fratres  Minores  (often  called 
Minorites),  not  only  as  claiming  a  lower  place  than  all  the  older 
religious  orders,  but  as  being,  like  the  great  preacher  among  the 
apostles,  "  less  than  the  least  of  all  saints,"  less  even,  as  later  Fran- 
ciscans loved  to  play  upon  the  title,  than  the  deepest  humiliation 
confessed  by  patriarchs  and  psalmists,  apostles  and  saints.3 

In  the  same  spirit,  Francis  desired  the  brethren  of  the  order  to  be 
called  by  the  diminutive,  Fraticelli  (that  is,  "  little  brothers  "),  and 
as  we  have  just  observed,  the  superiors  of  the  order  were  called 
Ministers.  Even  the  title  of  abbot  (i.e.  father)  was  avoided; 
the  superior  of  each  convent  being  a  Custos  (warden),  of  each  pro- 
vince a  Minister  Frovincialis,  and  of  the  whole  order  the  Minister 
Generalise     The  supreme  legislative  authority  wTas  vested  in  the 

1  Milman,  vol.  vi.  pp.  33-4. 

2  The  year  1224,  the  9th  of  Pope  Honorius  III.  and  the  8th  of  Henry  III. 
of  England,  and  also  the  year  of  the  arrival  of  the  Franciscans  in  England, 
is  the  date  given  by  Thomas  of  Eccleston,  de  Adventu  Minorum  in  Angliam, 
and  in  the  other  documents  printed  in  the  Monumenta  Franciscana,  pp.  7, 
493,  547,  631. 

3  See  the  passage  quoted  by  Brewer  (Mon.  Franc,  pref.  p.  ix.).  It 
should  be  remembered  that,  though  for  convenience  we  speak  of  Domi- 
nicans and  Franciscans,  the  contemporary  names  are  always  Frxdicatores 
and  Minores  (with  or  without  Fratres).  The  equivalent  name,  Fraticelli 
(little  brethren),  was  afterwards  adopted  as  distinctive  by  the  more  rigid 
Franciscans. 

4  The  convents  of  each  province  were  grouped  into  several  higher 
wardenships  (custodix).  Thus  England  was  divided  into  the  seven  warden- 
ships  of  London,  York,  Cambridge,  Bristol,  Oxford,  Newcastle,  and 
Worcester,  each  containing  7,  8,  or  9  convents,  each  wardenship  com- 
prising an  extensive  district.  London,  for  example,  had  the  nine  convents 
of  London  (St.  Francis's  near  Newgate,  now  Christ's  Hospital,  though 
then  much  larger),  Canterbury,  Winchelsea,  Southampton  (St.  Mary's), 
Ware,  Lewes,  Chichester  (St.  Peter's),  Salisbury  (St.  Francis's),  Winchester 
(St.  Francis's.).  See  the  full  list  in  the  Monumenta  Franciscana,  p.  579, 
where  will  also  be  found  lists  of  the  General  Ministers,  the  English  and 
Provincial  Ministers,  the  Popes,  cardinals,  bishops,  kings,  nobles,  princesses, 
and  other  distinguished  persons  of  the  three  orders,  besides  the  readers  in 
theology  at  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  for  the  13th  and  part  of  the  14th 
centuries;  with  other  verv  interesting  and  instructive  original  documents. 

II— T 


390  RULE  OF  ABSOLUTE  POVERTY.         Chap.  XXIII. 

General  Chapter  of  the  whole  order,  which  met  every  third  year, 
and  by  it  the  General  Minister  was  elected  or  deposed,  but  his 
deposition  must  be  confirmed  by  the  sentence  of  the  Pope,  to  whom 
the  order  owed  obedience.1  The  rule  enjoined  the  three  monastic 
vows ;  but  the  peculiar  distinction  of  the  order  (besides  its  special 
work  of  preaching)  was  the  literal  and  most  rigid  interpretation  of 
the  vow  of  poverty,  both  personal  and  collective.  The  Franciscan 
brother  was  to  have  absolutely  no  possession,  except  his  gray 
hooded  frock,  made  of  the  coarsest  materials,  and  the  cord  which 
girt  it  about  him ;  no  other  vestments,  nor  hat,  nor  shoes ;  no 
wallet,  purse  or  staff.  He  was  not  to  ride,  except  in  case  of  abso- 
lute necessity.  He  was  to  live  on  the  hospitality  of  those  who 
invited  him,  eating  and  drinking  what  they  might  give  him,  and 
keeping  nothing  for  the  next  day.  The  brethren  were  never 
to  take  alms  in  money,  nor  to  receive  the  temporal  goods  of 
novices,  as  was  customary  with  other  orders. 

They  were  to  have  "  neither  monasteries  or  churches,  nor  houses 
or  other  possessions,  nor  where  to  lay  their  heads ;"  2  but  this  rule 
was  almost  immediately  broken  in  practice.  While,  however,  their 
life  was  to  be  so  poor,  and  their  food  and  dress  the  simplest  and 
coarsest,  and  though  Francis  himself  practised  such  abstinence  as 
to  stint  himself  even  in  his  allowance  of  water,  yet  in  society  he 
conformed  to  the  usages  of  those  about  him ;  his  principle  being  not 
so  much  self-mortification  for  its  own  sake,  as  contentment  with 
whatever  hospitality  might  be  afforded;  according  to  the  precept, 
"  Eat  such  things  as  they  set  before  you." 

§  9.  St.  Francis  discouraged  all  extremes  of  ascetic  discipline  and 
austerity,  not  only  from  his  natural  gentleness,  but  because  they 

1  The  Bull  of  Honorius  expressly  recites  the  promise  of  obedience  made 
by  Francis.  The  order,  as  also  the  Dominican,  stood  in  connection  with 
the  Curia,  through  its  Protector  and  Corrector,  who  was  a  cardinal. 

2  Jacobus  de  Vitriaco,  Histor.  Occident,  c.  32.  An  interesting  example 
of  the  growth  of  a  Franciscan  convent  is  seen  in  the  account  of  bene- 
factions to  the  brethren  in  London,  and  the  building  of  their  church, 
from  their  first  arrival  in  1224.  After  landing  at  Dover  (Sept.  8),  five 
stayed  at  Canterbury,  and  there  founded  the  first  Minorite  convent; 
while  the  other  four  went  on  to  London,  and  were  hospitably,  received  by 
the  Dominicans  for  a  fortnight.  They  then,  through  their  spiritual 
friends,  hired  a  house  in  Cornhill,  and  constructed  in  it  small  cells,  in 
which  they  lived  till  the  following  summer,  gaining  favour  with  the 
citizens,  one  of  whom,  John  Swyn,  a  mercer,  gave  them  their  first  estate 
near  Newgate,  which  was  afterwards  enlarged  by  other  benefactions.  In 
this  second  year  (1225)  they  also  made  settlements  at  Oxford,  Cambridge, 
and  elsewhere;  and  in  the  32nd  year  (1255)  there  were  242  brethren 
living  in  49  places.  (Tliom.de  Eecleston  de  Adcentu,  &c,  pp.  7-10;  Prima 
Fundatio,  &c,  pp.  493  foil.) 


A.D.  1224.  GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  ORDER.  391 

savoured  of  spiritual  pride.  "  When  some  of  his  followers  had 
injured  themselves  by  their  severities,  he  forbad  all  '  indiscreet  ad- 
inventions  '  by  way  of  penance,  such  as  the  use  of  cuirasses,  chains, 
or  rings  confining  the  flesh,  and  all  endeavours  of  one  to  outstrip 
another  in  religion." *  While  other  religious  orders  had  vied  with 
one  another  for  the  repute  of  superior  holiness  by  their  multiplied 
fasts  and  vigils,  Francis  bade  his  followers  to  observe  only  those  pre- 
scribed by  the  Church :  on  other  days  they  might  eat  flesh  and  all 
kinds  of  plain  food.  He  used  to  say  that,  as  the  body  was  created 
for  the  soul,  and  the  flesh  ought  to  be  subdued  to  the  spirit,  so  the 
servant  of  God  ought  to  eat,  sleep,  drink,  and  satisfy  his  bodily 
requirements  with  discretion,  in  order  that  the  body  might  have 
no  cause  to  complain  that  it  could  not  stand  erect  or  pay  attention 
to  prayer,  because  its  wants  were  not  satisfied.  He  always  incul- 
cated that  cheerfulness,  which  he  himself  maintained  amidst  all  his 
humiliations  and  labours,  saying  that  it  was  the  sign  of  a  clean  heart, 
and  a  great  defence  against  the  devil.  And  in  this  rational  practical 
piety,  as  in  all  else,  he  kept  to  the  letter  of  his  Lord's  teaching ; 2 
as  when  he  rebuked  a  melancholy  brother :  "  Why  do  you  wear 
that  sad  and  gloomy  countenance  because  of  your  offences  ?  It  is 
enough  that  your  sorrow  should  be  known  between  you  and  your 
God.  Pray  for  His  mercy  to  spare  you  and  restore  that  cheerfulness 
to  your  soul  which  you  have  lost  by  your  own  demerits."  3 

§  10.  The  like  union  of  good  sense  with  Christian  kindness  and 
knowledge  of  human  nature,  is  shown  in  the  principles  he  laid 
down  for  the  government  of  the  order.  In  his  advice  on  the  choice 
of  a  minister  of  the  order,4  besides  insisting  on  high  personal  qualifi- 
cations and  a  strict  example  of  obedience  to  the  rules  of  the  order, 
he  exhorts  him  to  comfort  the  afflicted,  lest  they  be  driven  to  despair. 
"  To  win  the  perverse  and  proud  to  meekness,  let  him  humble  him- 
self, and  abate  somewhat  of  his  own  right,  to  gain  a  soul.  To  the 
runaways  of  his  order,  let  him  open  the  bowels  of  mercy,  as  to 
sheep  that  have  been  lost ;  let  him  never  refuse  to  pardon  them, 
well  knowing  that  their  temptations  are  very  strong,  and  if  the 
Lord  permitted  him  to  be  tried  he  might  perchance  fall  worse  than 
they."  While  insisting  that  the  minister  should  be  honoured  as 
the  Vicar  of  Christ,  and  that  all  should  make  provision  for  him  in 

1  Wadding,  vol.  i.  p.  294;  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  372.  In  this,  as  in 
other  respects,  the  piety  of  St.  Francis  was  too  simple  and  rational  for  his 
followers.  We  find  Thomas  of  Eccleston  (among  other  like  instances) 
recording  that  Peter  the  Spaniard,  one  of  the  first  Franciscans  in  England, 
"wore  an  iron  cuirass  next  his  flesh  and  showed  very  many  other  examples 
of  perfection."     (Monum.  Francisc.  p.  10.) 

2  Comp.  Matt.  vi.  16-18.  3  Monum.  Francisc.  pref.  p.  xxxiii. 
*  See  the  passage  in  full  in  Brewer,  ibid. 


392  THE  SECOND  AND  THIRD  ORDERS.        Chap.  XXIII. 

all  things  with  all  benevolence,  he  warns  him  "  not  to  be  exalted 
by  honours  and  favours  more  than  he  is  delighted  by  injuries,  or 
to  let  honours  change  his  manners  except  for  the  better."  He  gives 
advice  for  government,  which  might  well  be  studied  by  all  in 
authority: — "Let  him  regard  all  accusations  with  suspicion  at 
first,  until  the  truth  shall  be  known  by  diligent  enquiry.  Let  him 
give  no  heed  to  gossippers,  and  particularly  suspect  all  accusations  pro- 
ceeding from  such  persons,  and  be  slow  to  credit  them.  Let  him  not, 
from  desire  of  retaining  popularity,  refuse  or  relax  the  forms  of 
justice  and  equity ;  nor,  on  the  other  hand,  let  him  suffer  souls  to 
perish  from  overmuch  rigour.  Let  not  torpor  arise  from  excessive 
kindness,  nor  the  relaxation  of  discipline  from  over-indulgence; 
and  so  let  him  be  feared  by  all  who  love,  and  loved  by  all  who 
fear  him." 

§  11.  With  the  Minorite  Friars,  whether  clerical  or  lay,1  the  sister- 
hood of  St.  Clare  was  associated  as  a  "  second  order ;  " 2  and  a  third 
was  formed,  in  1221,  of  the  Tertiaries,  like  those  of  the  "  Preachers," 
but  with  the  characteristic  difference  that,  while  the  title  of 
Dominic's  third  order  was  militant,  that  of  Francis  was  penitential. 
Their  formation  was  not  only  a  great  accession  of  influence,  but  (as 
Dean  Milman  observes)  a  matter  of  necessity.  "  At  his  preaching, 
and  that  of  his  disciples,  such  multitudes  would  have  crowded  into 
the  order,  as  to  become  dangerous  and  unmanageable.  The  whole 
population  of  one  town,  Canari  in  Umbria,  offered  themselves  as 
disciples.  The  Tertiaries  were  called  the  Brethren  of  Penitence  ;3 
they  were  to  retain  their  social  position  in  the  world ;  but,  first, 

1  When  Mr.  Brewer  says  (pref.  p.  xxxv.)  that  "the  Franciscans  were 
to  all  intents  and  purposes  laymen,  bound  by  religious  vows,"  he  means 
that  their  main  work  was  not  that  of  clerical  ministration,  and  did  not 
need  clerical  orders  for  its  performance  (though  even  to  this  statement 
we  shall  find  an  exception  of  vast  importance,  in  the  case  of  the  con- 
fessors). The  Church  of  Rome,  always  more  versatile  than  many  freer 
religious  communities,  had  discovered  the  wisdom  of  not  fettering  the 
gift  of  preaching  by  the  requirement  of  ordination.  But  it  must  not  be 
understood  that  the  Franciscans  were  always  or  generally  laymen.  As 
we  have  seen,  Francis  himself,  and  his  original  companions,  received  the 
clerical  tonsure  from  Innocent  III.  Of  the  nine  brethren  who  first  came 
into  England  in  1224,  four  were  clerks  and  five  laymen. 

2  Under  the  head  "De  Secundo  Ordine  Sancti  Francisci,"  the  Prima 
Fundatio  (p.  543)  enumerates  five  sainted  women,  headed  by  "Beata 
Clara,  qui  in  vita  et  in  morte  miraculis  mirabiliter  claravit." 

3  Tertiarii,  Tertius  Ordo  de  Pcenitentia,  or  Frames  Conversi.  They  were 
of  both  sexes.  Among  the  eminent  persons  of  this  Third  Order  of  St. 
Francis,  the  Prima  Fundatio  enumerates  St.  Elizabeth,  princess  of  Hun- 
gary, St.  Brigida,  princess  of  Norway  and  Sweden,  St.  Eleazar,  count  of 
Alsace,  and  Louis  VIII.,  king  of  France,  who  is  also  called  Sanctus  in  the 
list.     (Monum.  Francisc.  p.  543.) 


A.D.  1224.  THE  STIGMATA  OF  ST.  FRANCIS.  393 

they  were  enjoined  to  pay  all  their  debts,  and  to  make  restitution 
of  all  unfair  gains.  They  were  then  admitted  to  make  a  vow  to 
keep  the  commandments  of  God,  and  to  give  satisfaction  for  any 
breach  of  which  they  might  have  been  guilty.  They  could  not  leave 
the  order,  except  to  embrace  a  religious  life.  Women  were  not  ad- 
mitted without  the  consent  of  their  husbands.  The  form  and 
colour  of  their  dress  were  prescribed,  silk  rigidly  prohibited.  They 
were  to  keep  aloof  from  all  public  spectacles,  dances,  especially  the 
theatre;  to  give  nothing  to  actors,  jugglers,  or  such  profane  per- 
sons. Their  fasts  were  severe,  but  tempered  with  some  lenity; 
their  attendance  at  church  constant.  They  were  not  to  bear  arms, 
except  in  the  cause  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  the  Christian  faith,  or 
their  country,  and  that  at  the  licence  of  their  ministers.  On 
entering  the  order  they  were  immediately  to  make  their  wills,  to 
prevent  future  litigation  ;  they  were  to  abstain  from  unnecessary 
oaths;  they  were  to  submit  to  penance,  when  imposed  by  their 
ministers."1  Except  in  the  articles  of  fasting  and  penance,  these 
rules  differed  very  little  from  the  conditions  (expressed  or  under- 
stood) of  church-membership  in  some  Protestant  communities, 
as  belonging  to  a  strict  Christian  life  in  the  world  but  not  con- 
formed to  it. 

§  12.  In  the  same  year  in  which  the  order  was  confirmed  by 
Honorius  III.  (1224),  Francis — according  to  his  own  belief,  ampli- 
fied into  the  legend  which  became  a  chief  article  of  the  Franciscan 
faith2 — received  the  crowning  divine  attestation  of  his  conformity 
to  his  Master  by  the  appearance  in  his  hands  and  feet  and  side  of 
five  wounds,  exactly  like  those  inflicted  on  the  Saviour  by  the  nails 
of  the  cross  and  the  soldier's  spear — the  famous  "  sacra  stigmata  of 

1  Milman,  vol.  vi.  p.  37.  Pope  Leo  XIII.  has  lately  iuvited  laymen  to 
cooperate  in  the  contest  with  infidelity  by  "  fostering  and  propagating 
the  Third  Order  of  St.  Francis,  as  well  as  other  pious  guilds  and  associa- 
tions, such  as  that  of  St.  Vincent  of  Paul  (Encyclical  against  Freemasonry, 
April  20,  1884). 

2  This  mode  of  stating  the  case  is  justified  by  the  great  diversity  in  the 
early  accounts.  While,  on  the  one  hand,  it  was  affirmed  that  the 
stigmata  were  seen  by  several  persons  during  the  saint's  life  (which  is 
hardly  consistent  with  his  efforts  to  conceal  them),  and  even  by  fifty 
disciples  at  once  (a  suspicious  "  conformity  "  with  the  500  and  more  who 
saw  the  risen  Saviour,  1  Cor.  xv.  6),  and  publicly  on  his  naked  body  after 
his  death ; — on  the  other  hand,  Roger  of  Wendover  places  the  appearance 
of  the  wounds  only  fifteen  days  before  the  death  of  Francis  ;  and,  though 
he  says  they  were  seen  flowing  with  blood  by  crowds  of  people  during  the 
fortnight,  he  adds  that  they  closed  and  disappeared  entirely  after  his  death, 
according  to  his  own  prediction  (Flores,  iv.  154  ;  s.  a.  1227).  Hase  (p.  143  f.) 
argues  no  one  but  Fra  Elias  (a  suspicious  witness,  as  will  presently  be 
seen)  pretended  to  have  seen  the  stigmata  during  the  life  of  Francis,  and 
that  the  legend  was  invented  immediately  after  his  death. 


394  DEATH  OF  ST.  FRANCIS.  Chap.  XXIII. 

St.  Francis."  As  the  story  is  told  by  his  earliest  biographer,1 
Francis  had  retired  for  a  time  to  a  hermit's  cell  on  Mt.  Aulma  (or 
Alvernia) 2  in  the  Apennines,  where  he  saw  in  vision  a  man,  like 
the  Seraphim,  with  six  wings,  standing  above  him,  fixed  to  a  cross 
by  his  outstretched  hands,  and  his  feet  joined  together.  While  he 
anxiously  considered  what  the  vision  might  mean,  without  being 
able  to  understand  more  than  a  deep  impression  of  its  novelty, 
there  began  to  appear  on  his  hands  and  feet  the  marks  of  nails,  such 
as  he  had  just  seen  on  the  man  crucified  above  him.  His  succeeding 
biographers  describe  the  marks  as  black  excrescences,  like  the  heads 
of  nails  on  one  side  of  his  hands  and  feet,  and  like  their  clenched 
points  on  the  other  side ;  and  besides  these  marks,  a  wound  broke 
out  in  his  side,  and  often  stained  his  garments.3  The  humility  of 
Francis  strove  to  conceal  the  miraculous  marks,  and  especially  the 
wound  in  his  side,  but  many  of  his  disciples  affirmed  that  they  had 
seen  them,  and  that  many  miracles  were  wrought  by  their  power ; 
and  when,  in  dying,  he  determined  literally  to  leave  the  world  naked 
as  he  came  into  it,  the  reality  of  the  marks  is  said  to  have  been 
proved  to  the  eyes  of  his  disciples.  Worn  out  with  illness,  he  had 
returned  to  die  at  Assisi,  and,  having  asked  to  be  carried  into  the 
church  of  the  Portiuncula,  he  "  solemnly  blessed  his  weeping 
brethren,  and  breathed  his  last,  lying  on  a  shirt  of  hair,  and 
sprinkled  with  penitential  ashes  (Oct.  4,  1226).  His  soul  was 
seen  in  the  form  of  a  star  more  dazzling  than  the  sun,  which  was 

1  Thomas  Celanus,  lib.  ii.  c.  i.  §  94-5  ;  comp.  III.  Socii,  69  ;  Bonav. 
191  f.  ;  Wadding,  ii.  89-90.  For  the  more  elaborate  account,  combined 
from  these  writers,  see  Milman,  vi.  38-9. 

2  As  the  other  authorities  call  it.  The  event,  with  its  place  and  time, 
is  commemorated  by  Dante,  who  was  born  in  the  fortieth  year  after  the 
death  of  St.  Francis  (Paradiso,  xi.  106-108): — 

"  Nel  crudo  Basso,  intra  Tevere  ed  Arno, 
Da  Cristo  prese  1'  ultimo  sigillo, 
Che  le  sue  membre  due  anni  portarno." 

3  Very  soon  the  admiring  believers  were  not  content  with  the  marks,  or 
even  with  the  effusion  of  blood.  According  to  Roger  of  Wendover  (/.  c), 
"  his  right  side  was  laid  open  and  sprinkled  with  blood,  so  that  the  secret 
recesses  of  his  heart  were  plainly  visible."  The  Franciscan  Pope  Nicolas  IV. 
affirmed  that  the  nails  were  not  only  on  the  outside  of  the  hands  :ind  feet, 
"  but  forced  into  the  inner  parts  through  the  flesh  and  sinews  and  bones  " 
(Wadding,  v.  267) ;  and  the  Liber  Conformitatum  (p.  298),  always  mag- 
nifying the  parallels  of  St.  Francis  with  the  Saviour,  says  that  the  nails 
were  divided  from  the  flesh,  in  which  they  were  movable  but  could  not  be 
removed,  though  St.  Clara  and  others  often  attempted  to  take  them  out ! 
This  manifest  growth  of  the  legend  vitiates  the  whole  chain  of  evidence  : 
for  it  is  impossible  to  mark  the  point  where  invention  begins,  and  sound 
criticism  (in  all  such  cases)  rejects  the  arbitrary  device  of  sifting  it  down 
to  a  credible  minimum. 


A.D.  1237.  QUESTION  OF  THE  STIGMATA.  395 

conveyed  in  a  luminous  cloud  over  many  waters  to  the  abyss  of 
brightness."  l  His  desire  to  be  laid  in  the  burial-place  of  criminals 
without  the  town  was  indeed  complied  with ;  but,  as  if  to  annul  his 
humility,  his  disciples  raised  over  his  tomb  the  splendid  church  of 
St.  Francis,  which,  with  their  convent,  was  enclosed  within  the  city 
walls.2  Two  years  after  his  death,  St.  Francis  was  canonized  by 
the  former  protector  of  the  mendicant  orders,  Pope  Gregory  IX., 
who  also  gave  an  authoritative  confirmation  to  the  miracle  of  the 
sacred  stigmata.3  But  the  three  Bulls,  which  the  Pope  issued  in 
1237,4  attest  also  the  doubts  which  needed  to  be  silenced.  The 
first,  addressed  to  all  believers  in  Christ,  while  asking  their  devout 
belief  in  the  miracle,  and  their  faith  in  the  saint's  intercession, 
exhorts  them  to  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  all  assertion  of  the  contrary ;  the 
second  denounces  the  sinful  unbelief  of  a  bishop,  who  had  asserted 
that,  as  the  Son  of  God  alone  had  been  crucified  for  man's  salvation, 
neither  Francis  nor  any  other  saint  ought  to  be  painted  with  the 
marks  of  crucifixion ;  while  the  third,  addressed  to  the  Provincial 
Priors  of  the  Preachers,  threatens  excommunication  against  a  Do- 
minican friar,  for  the  madness  and  impudence  with  which  he  had 
opposed  the  miracle,  publicly  calling  the  Franciscans.,  who  had  pro- 
mulgated the  "  pious  statements,"  questuaries  and  false  preachers.5 
The  opposition  of  the  Dominicans  is  expressed  more  moderately  by 
their  great  writer,  Jacobus  de  Voragine,  who  reverentially  accepts 
the  fact  of  the  stigmata,  but  explains  their  appearance  on  the 
body  of  St.  Francis  as  the  physical  effect  of  exalted  imagina- 
tion, combined  with  vehement  love,  admiration,  meditation,  and 
compassion.6 

This  explanation  is  accepted  by  Archbishop  Trench,  who  says  : 

1  Thorn.  Celan.,  98-110;  III.  Socii,  68;  Bonav.,  213;  Robertson, 
vol.  iii.  pp.  375-6.  2  See  above,  p.  387. 

3  Alexander  IV.,  another  ardent  supporter  of  the  mendicant  orders, 
further  decreed  that  any  one  who  should  speak  against  the  stigmata  of 
St.  Francis  was  to  be  excommunicated,  and  no  one  might  absolve  him  from 
the  offence  except  the  Pope  alone.     (Robertson,  /.  c.) 

4  Raynald.,  ann.  1237  ;  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  252. 

5  The  Franciscan  Pope  Nicolas  IV.  issued  a  Bull  silencing  a  Dominican 
who  had  dared  to  make  the  sarcastic  comparison  that  in  Peter  Martyr  (a 
Dominican)  there  were  signs  of  the  living  God,  in  St.  Francis  only  Dei 
mortui.     Raynald.  ann.  l'J'Jl  ;  Milman,  vol.  vi.  p.  39. 

6  Sermo  III.  de  S.  Francisco  (about  1290),  ap.  Gieseler,  ii.  252".  He 
confirms  his  explanation  by  parallel  cases,  which  belong,  however,  to  a 
another  and  well-attested  class  of  physical  effects,  from  the  impression  made 
on  the  mind  of  a  mother  during  pregnancy.  Archbishop  Trench,  however 
affirms  that  "  there  have  been  so  many  analogous  cases  verified  beyond  all 
doubt — some  eighty  at  least,  by  no  means  all  in  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church — that  it  is  idle  to  urge  a  physical  impossibility."  {Lectures 
on  the  Medieval  Church,  p.  243.) 


396  THE  STIGMATA  OF  ST.  FRANCIS.        Chap.  XXIII. 

"Assuming  their  existence  as  sufficiently  proved  by  contemporary 
evidence,1  I  must  wholly  reject  the  explanation  which  sees  in  them 
special  marks  of  divine  favour  miraculously  imprinted  on  his  body 
to  bring  him  into  closer  conformity  with  his  crucified  Lord ;  while, 
on  the  other  hand,  I  dismiss  with  scorn  the  suggestion  that  they 
were  marks  artificially  and  fraudfully  brought  about  by  the  Saint 
himself,  for  his  own  greater  glorification,  with  or  without  the  assist- 
ance or  connivance  of  others;"  and,  after  arguing  the  physical 
possibility,  he  comes  to  the  conclusion, — "  /  am  as  confident  that 
there  was  no  miracle,  as  1  am  that  there  was  no  fraud."  But  is 
this  the  sole  alternative?  May  not  that  pervading  idea  of  con- 
formity to  his  Lord  and  Saviour,  combined  with  his  constant  literal 
reading  of  the  divine  Word,  which  in  Francis  himself  was  as  far 
removed  from  any  desire  of  "his  own  glorification"  as  with  his 
followers  it  was  perverted  into  an  almost  blasphemous  equality 
with  Christ, — may  not  this  have  led  him,  in  one  of  his  ecstasies  of 
mystic  devotion,  not  only  without  a  fraudulent  purpose,  but  with  an 
imperfect  consciousness  of  the  mechanical  act  itself,  to  work  upon 
his  own  person  a  literal  fulfilment  of  the  Apostle's  words,  "  I  bear 
in  my  body  the  marks  of  the  Lord  Jesus  f  " 2  And  while  he  himself, 
in  deep  humility — possibly,  in  a  less  ecstatic  frame,  not  without 
misgiving — concealed  the  marks,  it  was  equally  in  full  accordance 
with  the  spirit  of  his  idolizing  disciples  to  magnify  and  exalt  them 
in  every  way,  as  the  crowning  example  of  the  "  conformities  "  which 
they  pushed  beyond  the  bounds  of  reason  and  reverence ; 3  so  that 

1  We  emphasize  this  passage  as  containing,  after  all,  a  considerable 
assumption  ;  and  when  Dr.  Trench  adds  that  "  There  is  no  a  priori  ground 
for  refusing  credit  to  the  statements  of  those  who  testified  that  they  had 
seen  these  uowid-prints  and  handled  them"  he  seems  to  imply  too  high  an 
estimate  of  the  evidence  itself,  apart  from  all  a  priori  objections.  Besides 
the  doubt  as  to  whether  they  did  "  see  and  handle  "  the  wounds  which 
Francis  himself  carefully  concealed,  and  besides  the  grave  discrepancies  in 
the  evidence,  the  most  positive  witnesses  labour  under  the  suspicion  of 
"  proving  too  much." 

2  Galat.  vi.  17.  The  probability  of  this  explanation  is  confirmed  by 
other  examples  in  the  same  age.  Thus  we  are  told  of  a  Marquis  of  Mont- 
ferrand,  who,  from  devotion,  "bore  in  his  body  the  maiks  {stigmata)  of 
the  Lord  Jesus,  with  other  penitential  inflictions  (pccnitentiis),  which  he 
used  to  make  in  memory  of  the  passion  of  the  Lord,  and  on  every  Friday 
he  pierced  his  flesh  with  nails  even  to  the  shedding  of  blood  "  (Steph.  de 
Borbone,  in  D'Argentre,  Collectio  Jxidicionun,  i.  85,  ap.  Gieseler,  vol.  iii. 
p.  253).  Another  case  is  mentioned  in  England  in  1222  (two  years  before 
the  stigmata  of  St.  Francis),  when  a  council,  held  by  Archbishop  Langton 
at  Oxford,  condemned  to  perpetual  imprisonment  a  rustic  "  who  had  made 
himself  Christ,  and  pierced  his  own  hands  and  side  and  feet."  (Annal. 
Dunstapl.  p.  76  ;  Trivet,  210-211  ;  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  375.) 

3  See  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  pp.  253-4,  for  examples  of  the  length  to  which 


A.D.  1226.  CHARACTER  OF  ST.  FRANCIS.  397 

they  might  at  length  silence  every  doubting  Didymus  who  was 
disposed  to  say,  "  Except  I  shall  see  in  his  hands  the  print  of  the 
nails,  and  put  my  finger  into  the  print  of  the  nails,  and  thrust  my 
hands  into  his  side,  I  will  not  believe." x 

But  Francis  himself  is  not  to  be  judged  by  the  faults  or  frauds 
of  his  followers.  His  character  has  been  admirably  drawn  by  Dean 
Milman  2 : — "  Of  all  saints,  St.  Francis  was  the  most  blameless  and 
gentle.  In  Dominic  and  in  his  disciples  all  was  still  rigorous,  cold, 
argumentative;  something  remained  of  the  Crusader's  fierceness, 
the  Spaniard's  haughty  humility,  the  Inquisitor's  stern  suppression 
of  all  gentler  feelings,  the  polemic  sternness.  Whether  Francis 
would  have  burned  heretics,  happily  we  know  not,  but  he  would 
willingly  have  been  burned  for  them :  himself  excessive  in  austeri- 
ties, he  would  at  times  mitigate  the  austerities  of  others.  Francis 
was  emphatically  the  Saint  of  the  people— of  a  poetic  people,  like 
the  Italians.  Those  who  were  hereafter  to  chant  the  Paradise  of 
Dante,  or  the  softer  stanzas  of  Sappho,  might  well  be  enamoured  of 
the  ruder  devotional  strains  in  the  poetry  of  the  whole  life  of 
St.  Francis.  The  lowest  of  the  low  might  find  consolation,  a  kind 
of  pride,  in  the  self-abasement  of  St.  Francis  even  beneath  the 
meanest.  ...  In  his  own  eyes  (says  his  most  pious  successor)  he 
was  but  a  sinner,  while  in  truth  he  was  the  mirror  and  splendour  of 
holiness.  It  was  revealed,  says  the  same  Bonaventura,  to  a  Brother, 
that  the  throne  of  one  of  the  angels,  who  fell  from  pride,  was 
reserved  for  Francis,  who  was  glorified  by  humility.  If  the  heart 
of  the  poorest  was  touched  by  the  brotherhood  in  poverty  and  low- 
liness of  such  a  saint,  how  was  his  imagination  kindled  by  his 
mystic  strains !  St.  Francis  is  among  the  oldest  vernacular  poets 
of  Italy.3  His  poetry,  indeed,  is  but  one  long  passionate  ejaculation 
of  love  to  the  Kedeemer  in  rude  metre ;  it  has  not  even  the  order 
and  completeness  of  a  hymn :  it  is  a  sort  of  plaintive  variation  on 
one  simple  melody — an  echo  of  the  same  tender  words,  multiplied 
again  and  again,  it  might  be  fancied,  by  the  voices  in  the  cloister 
walls.  But  his  ordinary  speech  is  more  poetical  than  his  poetry. 
In  his  peculiar  language  he  addresses  all  animate,  even  inanimate, 
creatures  as  his  brothers ;  not  merely  the  birds  and  beasts :  he  had 
an  especial  fondness  for  lambs  and  larks,  as  the  images  of  the  Lamb 

they  carried  the  principle,  which  they  expressed  in  the  words  of  the  son 
of  Sirach,  "  He  made  him  like  in  the  glory  of  the  saints  "  (Ecclus.  xlv.  2), 
nay,  even  asking  of  St.  Francis,  "  Who  is  like  God  among  the  sons  of 
God  ?  "    (Ubertinus  de  Casali,  about  A.D.  1312.) 

1  John  xx.  25.  2  Vol.  vi.  p.  34  fol. 

3  "  M.  de  Montalembert  is  eloquent,  as  usual,  on  his  poetry."     (Preface 
to  La  Vie  a"  Elisabeth  d'Hongrie.') 
II— T  2 


398  CHARACTER  OF  ST.  FRANCIS.  Chap.  XXIII. 

of  God,  and  of  the  Cherubim  in  heaven.1  I  know  not  if  it  be 
among  the  Conformities,  but  the  only  malediction  I  find  him  to 
have  uttered  was  against  a  fierce  swine,  which  had  killed  a  young 
lamb.  Of  his  intercourse  with  those  mute  animals  we  are  told  many 
pretty  peculiarities,  some  of  them  miraculous.  But  his  poetic 
impersonation  went  beyond  this.  When  the  surgeon  was  about  to 
cauterize  him,  he  said,  '  Fire,  my  brother,  be  thou  discreet  and 
gentle  to  me.'  In  one  of  his  Italian  hymns  he  speaks  of  his  brother 
the  sun,  his  sister  the  moon,  his  brother  the  wind,  his  sister  the 
water.  No  wonder  that,  in  this  almost  perpetually  ecstatic  state, 
unearthly  music  played  around  him,  unearthly  light  shone  round 
his  path.  When  he  died,  he  said  with  exquisite  simplicity,  *  Wel- 
come !  sister  Death.'  St.  Francis  himself,  no  doubt,  was  but 
unconsciously  presumptuous,  when  he  acted  as  under  divine  in- 
spiration, even  when  he  laid  the  ground-work  for  that  assimilation 
of  his  own  life  to  that  of  the  Saviour,  which  was  wrought  up  by  his 
disciples,  as  it  were  into  a  new  Gospel,  and  superseded  the  old. 
His  was  the  studious  imitation  of  humility,  not  the  emulous  ap- 
proximation of  pride,  even  of  pride  disguised  from  himself;  such 
profaneness  entered  not  his  thought.  His  life  might  seem  a  reli- 
gious trance.  The  mysticism  so  absolutely  absorbed  him,  as  to 
make  him  unconscious,  as  it  were,  of  the  presence  of  his  body. 
Incessantly  active  as  was  his  life,  it  was  a  kind  of  paroxysmal 
activity,  constantly  collapsing  into  what  might  seem  a  kind  of 
suspended  animation  of  the  corporeal  functions.2  It  was  even  said 
that  he  underwent  a  kind  of  visible  and  glorious  transfiguration." 3 

1  Bonaventura,  c.  8.  "  He  often  bought  off  lambs  which  were  on  their 
way  to  the  slaughter.  .  .  .  Once,  as  he  was  about  to  preach,  and 
found  that  some  swallows  were  making  a  noise,  he  addressed  them : 
1  Sisters,  you  have  spoken  enough  for  the  present,  and  it  is  my  turn ;  be 
silent,  and  listen  to  the  word  of  God.'  He  spoke  to  the  fishes,  to 
the  worms,  and  even  to  the  flowers.  ...  He  saw,  says  an  early  bio- 
grapher, the  Creator  in  all  His  creatures ;  and  it  has  been  conjectured 
that  the  pantheism,  with  which  the  order  was  afterwards  infected,  may 
perhaps  be  traced  to  the  founder's  love  of  nature,  and  to  his  fondness  for 
personifying  it  (Neander,  vii.  382)."  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  373,  where  see 
also  the  anecdote  of  his  taming  a  wolf  by  a  remonstrance  addressed  to 
"  Brother  Wolf"  for  his  cruelty. 

2  A  modern  biographer  of  St.  Francis  (Foligno,  1824)  says  that  he  was 
often  so  absorbed,  immersed,  swallowed  up,  and  concentrated  in  Jesus, 
that  sight,  hearing,  feeling,  and  the  actions  of  his  body  were  suspended, 
with  all  his  knowledge  and  recollection.  This  state  is  thus  illustrated  : 
"  he  was  riding  on  an  ass  ;  he  was  almost  torn  in  pieces  by  devout  men 
and  women,  shouting  around  him  ;  he  was  utterly  unconscious,  like  a 
dead  man,"  3  Bonaventura,  Vit.  Minor.  1 


Jp 


Assisi:   showing  the  Churches  of  St.  Francis. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

PROGRESS  OF  THE  FRANCISCANS. 

A.D.  1226-1256. 

§  1.  Place  of  the  Mendicants  in  the  Church — Dangers  from  Oriental  in- 
fluence— New  spirit  rising  in  the  towns — The  Franciscan  the  mission- 
ary of  the  town — Influence  of  their  poverty — Opposition  of  St.  Francis 
to  secular  learning.  §  2.  Special  character  and  power  of  the  Francis- 
can preaching.  §  3.  The  Friars  as  Confessors  :  their  consequent  power, 
and  complaints  of  the  clergy — Their  disparagement  of  the  old  orders — 
Intrusion  on  parochial  ministrations.  §  4.  Impossibility  of  the  Fran- 
ciscan ideal — The  rule  of  absolute  poverty — St.  Francis  on  churches 
and  houses — Decree  of  the  general  chapter — Necessity  above  the  law  : 
other  pretexts  for  its  breach.  §  5.  Course  of  the  English  Provincials, 
Agnellus  and  Haymo — Building  a  spoiling  of  preaching  and  devotion — 


400  MISSION  OF  THE  MENDICANTS.         Chap.  XXIV. 

Even  debts  might  be  contracted.  §  6.  Elias,  the  vicar  and  successor  of  St. 
Francis,  the  evil  genius  of  the  order — Contest  about  his  election — His 
breach  of  the  rule  of  poverty,  and  tyranny  over  the  Spirituals  or  Zealots 
of  the  Order — Chapter  for  the  reformation  of  the  order — Elias  deposed  by 
Gregory  IX. — His  subsequent  contumacy  and  league  with  Frederick  II. 
§  7.  Increasing  corruptions  of  the  rule — Innocent  IV.  sanctions  the 
possession  of  property,  under  the  Holy  See — Growing  dissensions — 
Resignation  of  the  General  Minister,  John  of  Parma  —Apologue  of 
Alexander  IV. :  the  two  walls  of  knowledge  and  morals. 

§  1.  A  medieval  historian1  regards  the  Mendicant  Orders,  and  espe- 
cially the  Franciscan,  as  a  fourth  institution,  added  by  the  Lord  in 
those  times  to  the  three  orders  of  Eremites,  Monks,  and  Canons, 
to  complete  the  square  and  solid  foundations  of  the  religious  life. 
But  if,  he  says,  we  consider  carefully  the  state  and  order  of  the 
primitive  Church,  Divine  Providence  did  not  so  much  add  a  new 
rule,  as  renew  the  old  one,  lift  it  up  from  its  fallen  condition,  and 
rouse  almost  from  a  state  of  death  the  religion  which  seemed  all  but 
setting  in  the  eventide  of  the  world,  when  the  age  of  the  son  of 
perdition  was  at  hand,  that  He  might  prepare  new  champions 
{athletes)  against  the  perilous  times  of  Antichrist,  and  strengthen 
the  Church  with  new  outworks.  This  view  of  the  work  of  the 
Friars,  in  its  relation  to  the  wants  of  the"  age,  finds  an  echo  in 
Mr.  Brewer's  able  and  interesting  essay  on  the  mission  of  the  Fran- 
ciscans.2 At  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century,  the  fabric  of 
Latin  Christianity,  in  the  form  which  it  had  assumed  under  the 
ascendancy  of  Home,  was  threatened  with  the  twofold  danger  of 
heresy  and  infidelity.  "  When  the  policy  of  Innocent  III.  seemed 
on  the  eve  of  being  crowned  with  success,  a  new  and  more  potent 
influence  had  started  up  to  threaten  the  faith  of  Christendom.  The 
genius  of  the  Papacy  had  provided  for  all  other  contingencies :  not 
for  this.  Slowly  had  it  come  to  be  recognized  as  the  central  and 
supreme  authority  of  the  West.     The  ideal  of  Gregory  VII.  had 

1  Jacobus  de  Vitriaco,  Hist.  Occident,  c.  32,  ap.  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  235. 

2  Preface  to  the  Monumenta  Franciscana  (1858),  in  the  "  Rolls  Series  " 
of  the  "  Chronicles,"  &c.  The  student  must  be  warned,  once  for  all, 
that  Mr.  Brewer's  picture  is  coloured  by  a  generous  sympathy  ;  but  it  is 
drawn  with  his  characteristic  faithfulness  to  facts.  The  author,  whose 
loss  is  recent  as  we  write,  was  not  of  those  who  allow  strong  opinions  to 
distort  the  essential  outlines  of  history.  In  placing  the  rich  matter  con- 
tained in  that  costly  work  within  reach  of  every  student,  we  prefer  for 
the  most  part  to  preserve  the  freshness  and  power  of  the  writer's  own 
language,  marking  the  passages  quoted,  though  compelled  to  omit  much 
of  the  highest  value.  An  able  and  impartial  estimate  of  the  good  and 
evil  of  the  mendicant  orders  is  given  by  Dean  Hook,  Lives  of  the  Arch- 
bishops of  Canterbury,  vol.  iii.  pp.  46  f. 


A.D.  1226.  NEW  DANGERS  TO  RELIGION.  401 

been  wrought  into  a  system ;  Italian  policy  was  playing  a  successful 
game  in  all  the  courts  of  Christendom.  But  a  new  difficulty  had 
arisen ;  the  Crusades,  fostered  by  the  Popes  to  support  the  Papacy, 
had  ended,  as  all  violent  antagonisms  do  end,  in  producing  the  most 
opposite  results  to  those  which  the  promoters  of  these  expeditions 
had  anticipated.  The  conversion  of  the  Saracens  had  not  been  secured ; 
it  seemed  much  more  likely  that  the  converters  would  become  con- 
verted. Oriental  habits,  tastes,  and  sciences,  Oriental  modes  of 
thought,1  and  with  them  the  moral  and  physical  diseases  of  the 
East,  were  advancing  with  a  fascination  and  rapidity  not  easily 
described.  The  simpler  people  were  falling  before  the  more  cul- 
tivated and  subtle." 

More  especially  was  this  the  case  in  the  towns,  which,  having 
been  long  the  refuge  of  the  people  from  feudal  oppression,  and 
having  thus  gathered  into  themselves  all  that  remained  unsubdued 
of  the  spirit  of  freedom  and  energy,  were  rising  into  power  through 
the  commerce  which  had  been  quickened  by  the  Crusades ;  but  com- 
paratively free  also  from  the  intellectual  and  spiritual  control  of  the 
clergy  and  monasteries.  "At  this  day  we  contrast  the  superiority 
in  point  of  intelligence  and  education  of  the  town  over  the  country. 
In  the  thirteenth  century  these  advantages  were  reversed.  Schools 
and  libraries,  all  that  survived  of  art  and  science  from  the  Teutonic 
and  Norman  deluge,  existed  only  in  the  great  monastic  societies. 
Like  colleges  or  universities  spread  throughout  the  country,  monas- 
teries diffused  learning  and  education,  habits  of  order  and  economy, 
among  the  tenants  of  the  soil.  The  inhabitant  of  the  town,  de- 
prived of  these  benefits,  had  to  struggle  on  to  light  and  order,  self- 
taught  and  self-sustained.  He  learned  from  early  times,  as  best  he 
could,  habits  of  independence.  The  same  spirit,  which  animated 
the  great  manufacturing  cities  in  the  south  of  France,  and  made 
them  the  centres  of  opposition  to  the  feudal  baron  and  equally 
feudal  bishop,  constituted  them  also  the  centres  of  all  freedom  of 
opinion,  of  all  subtle  and  obstinate  heresies ;  subtle,  because  the 
clergy  did  not  understand  them  ;  obstinate,  because  they  could  feel 
no  sympathy  for  those  who  entertained  them.  If  the  towns  sym- 
pathized with  any  faith,  or  any  forms  of  philosophy,  the  Oriental 
had  for  them  the  greatest  temptation.     It  was  most  opposed  to  that 

1  "The  facts  cannot  be  disputed," says  Mr.  Brewer  elsewhere  (p.  xxxix. 
note)  ;  "  strange  and  unaccountable  as  they  seem.  The  accusation  against 
the  Templars,  and  their  practice  of  magic,  will  occur  to  the  reader's 
mind.  To  these  must  be  added  the  charge  of  Manicha?ism,  imputed  to  the 
Albigenses  ;  the  two  infamous  books  of  the  age,  the  •  Eternal  Gospel '  and 
the  ;  Three  Impostors,'  the  latter  of  which  is  attributed  to  the  Emperor 
Frederick  II.  The  communistic  excesses  of  this  century,  especially  in 
France,  had  the  same  origin."     We  treat  all  these  in  their  places. 


402  MISSION  OF  THE  FRANCISCANS.        Chap.  XXIV. 

authority  which  they  disliked ;  it  was  most  intimately  connected 
with  their  commercial  prosperity. 

"It  was  fortunate,  then,  that  the  efforts  to  carry  Christianity 
among  the  masses  of  the  towns  proceeded  from  one  who  was  not 
an  ecclesiastic,  and  had  received  no  ecclesiastical  education.  Hap- 
pily for  the  objects  of  his  mission,  St.  Francis  had  early  oppor- 
tunities, through  his  mercantile  occupations,  of  coming  into  contact 
with  the  manufacturing  population ;  and  his  whole  life  shows,  as 
well  as  the  rule  which  he  gave  to  his  followers,  that  he  understood 
better  than  most  men  (whatever  else  might  be  his  failings)  the  true 
nature  of  his  mission,  and  the  character  of  the  people  with  whom 
he  had  to  deal.  .  .  .  The  Franciscan  is  the  missionary  of  the 
town.  .  .  .  He  is  the  poor  missionary  preaching  to  the  poor ; 
dependent  entirely  on  their  sympathies;  disappearing  when  those 
sympathies  are  withdrawn."  And  among  the  poor,  he  is  the 
poorest  and  most  miserable.  In  the  medieval  towns,  whose  dirty 
narrow  streets,  stagnant  ditches  and  ponds,  receiving  the  refuse 
of  the  kennels  and  shambles,  were  constant  sources  of  fever  and 
pestilence,  we  find  the  head-quarters  of  the  Franciscans  in  the 
poorest  and  most  neglected  suburbs ; x  and,  after  the  example 
of  their  founder,  the  lowest  depths  of  those  depths  of  misery 
were  reached  by  their  special  ministrations  to  the  outcast  lepers.2 
"  Repulsive  as  that  service  was  in  all  respects,  especially  to  men 
of  gentle  blood  and  education,  to  these  he  looked  for  converts, 
and  in  this  he  was  eminently  successful.  Unlike  other  and  earlier 
founders  of  religious  orders,  the  requisites  for  admission  into  his 
fraternity  point  to  the  better  educated,  not  to  the  lower  classes. 
'  He  shall  be  whole  of  body  and  prompt  of  mind ;  not  in  debt ;  not 
a  bondsman  born ;  not  unlawfully  begotten ;  of  good  name  and 
fame,  and  competently  learned.' 3     Such  were  the  early  disciples  of 

1  See  Mr.  Brewer's  illustrations  of  this  point  with  respect  to  the 
Franciscan  establishments  in  England  (p.  xvii.  f.).  In  London  the  sig- 
nificant name  of  Styngkyng-lane  occurs  again  and  again  in  the  documents 
relating  to  the  earliest  gifts  of  land  for  the  site  of  their  chief  convent 
near  Newgate.    (Priina  Ftmdatio,  &c,  pp.  495,  497,  499.) 

2  The  whole  subject  of  the  state  of  lepers  in  the  medieval  towns,  and 
the  self-denying  care  bestowed  on  them  by  St.  Francis,  is  richly  illustrated 
by  Mr.  Brewer,  pp.  xxi.-xxvii. 

8  These  are  among  the  twelve  qualifications  ordained  "in  the  General 
Chapter  called  Bercynonde,"  appended  to  the  English  "  Testament  of  St. 
Francis."  (Monum.  Fran:isc,  p.  574.)  But  to  the  requirement  "  that  he 
be  competently  learned,"  there  is  the  alternative,  "  or  else  that  he  be  of 
such  condition  that  he  may  profit  the  brethren  by  labour."  It  is  farther 
ordained  "  that  he  be  of  such  condition  that  his  reception  may  be  of  great 
edification  to  the  people."  The  other  qualifications  are  "  that  he  believe 
of  the  Catholic  faith  ;  that  he  be  suspect   of  no  error  ;  that   he  be   not 


A.D.  1226  f.         ST.  FRANCIS  AGAINST  LEARNING.  403 

the  Order.  The  effect  of  such  men  upon  the  neglected  masses  of 
the  population  may  be  easily  imagined." 

"But  the  poverty  thus  strictly  enjoined  had  another  and  not 
less  important  object.  It  was  intended  to  prevent  the  friars  from 
giving  themselves  up  to  the  popular  studies  of  the  age.  Logic 
and  the  canon  law  monopolized  the  clergy.  .  .  .  Possibly  the 
secular  training  and  occupations  of  St.  Francis  in  his  earlier  years 
may  have  kept  him  from  those  ecclesiastical  influences  under  which 
he  must  of  necessity  have  fallen,  had  he  at  first  proposed  to  himself 
the  career  of  a  preacher  against  heresy,  like  the  Dominican.  He 
had  no  temptation  to  magnify  pursuits  in  which  the  clergy  of  his 
days  universally  engaged ;  he  must  have  seen  how  little  suited  they 
were  for  his  Order,  how  little  calculated  to  accomplish  the  object  he 
desired.  Therefore  he  set  his  face  against  learning ;  he  would  have 
his  followers  like  the  poor,  not  in  dress  only,  but  in  heart  and 
understanding.  Total,  actual  poverty  secured  this ;  it  was  incom- 
patible with  the  possession  of  books  or  the  necessary  materials  for 
study.  When  the  stringency  of  the  rule  had  been  in  some  measure 
relaxed,  much  of  its  ancient  severity  remained.  Roger  Bacon  had 
to  carry  on  his  researches  and  experiments  without  books  or  in- 
struments, except  what  he  could  procure  from  his  friends.  He  tells 
the  Pope,  to  whom  he  dedicated  his  works,  that  he  possessed  no 
MSS.,  that  he  was  not  permitted  the  use  of  ink  or  parchment,  that 
nothing  but  a  distinct  order  from  his  Holiness  could  dispense  with 
the  stringency  of  the  rule.  In  the  letters  of  Adam  de  Marisco  the 
reader  will  see  other  instances  of  the  penuriousness  of  the  General 
Ministers,  and  their  reluctance  to  furnish  the  members  of  the  Order 
engaged  in  teaching  and  lecturing  with  the  requisite  means  of 
study." 

On  this  point  Francis  himself  was  inflexible.  "  I  will,  I  ought 
not,  I  cannot  allow  that  which  is  contrary  to  my  conscience  and 
the  profession  of  the  Gospel  which  we  have  both  embraced" — 
was  his  reply  to  a  provincial  minister,  who  asked  whether  he 
might  make  his  books  an  exception  to  the  renunciation  of  all 
his  property ; l  and  he  laid  down  the  rule,  "  A  man's  knowledge 
is  equal  to  his  works."      His   was   not   a   blind  fanatical  hatred 

bound  to  matrimony  ;  if  he  be  clerk  at  the  least  that  he  be  going  of  XVI 
year  of  age  " — an  exemplification  of  the  prevalence  of  juvenile  ordination. 
As  a  lay  brother  no  one  was  to  be  received  into  the  order  under  the  age  of 
twenty  or  over  forty,  unless  "he  be  so  notable  or  noble  a  person  that, 
through  his  receiving  great  edification  may  come  to  the  people."  Brethren 
of  other  mendicant  orders  were  not  to  be  received  ;  probably  to  prevent 
those  jealous  rivalries  which  speedily  broke  out. 

1  See  the  anecdote  of  the  novice  who  asked  his  permission  to  have 
a  Psalter,  p.  386,  note  «. 


404  DISTRUST  OF  A  LEARNED  DOCTOR.      Chap.  XXIV. 

of  learning ;  but  a  firm  belief,  not  unjustified  by  the  kind  of 
learning  then  pursued,  that  it  hindered  the  work  to  which  he  and 
his  followers  were  devoted.  "  Many  brethren,"  he  said ;  "  who 
bestow  all  their  time  and  thought  on  the  acquisition  of  philosophy, 
forsaking  their  proper  vocation,  and  wandering  in  mind  and  body 
from  the  way  of  prayer  and  humility,  when  they  have  preached  to 
the  people,  and  have  turned  some  to  repentance,  are  inflated  and 
conceited  at  the  result,  as  if  it  were  their  own  work,  and  not 
another's.  Whereas  it  happens  not  unfrequently  that  all  they  have 
done  is  to  preach  to  their  own  prejudice  and  condemnation.  In  the 
conversion  of  men  they  have  really  done  nothing ;  they  have  been 
no  more  than  the  instruments  of  those  by  whom  the  Lord  has  truly 
reaped  the  fruit."  When  it  was  told  him,  as  joyful  news,  that  a 
great  Doctor  of  the  University  at  Paris  had  been  received  into  the 
order,  greatly  to  the  edification  of  the  clergy  and  people  there,  he 
said  to  those  about  him,  "  I  am  afraid,  my  sons,  that  such  doctors 
will  be  the  destruction  of  my  vineyard.  They  are  the  true  doctors 
who,  with  meekness  of  wisdom,  exhibit  good  works  for  the  im- 
provement and  edification  of  their  neighbours.  A  man  has  no  more 
knowledge  than  he  works,  and  he  is  a  wise  man  only  in  the  degree 
in  which  he  loves  God  and  his  neighbour."  It  is  conjectured  that 
the  Parisian  Doctor  was  Alexander  Hales ;  and  we  shall  presently 
be  able  to  judge  how  far  the  saint's  doubts  and  fears  were  fulfilled 
in  the  Schoolmen  of  his  order.1 

§  2.  "A  style  of  preaching "  (says  Mr.  Brewer),2  "  founded  on 
meditation  and  experience  was  precisely  adapted  to  the  require- 

1  How  soon  the  spirit  which  Francis  dreaded  began  to  work  in  the 
order,  and  how  it  was  regarded  by  his  own  first  comrades  and  disciples,  is 
illustrated  by  what  we  are  told  in  the  Liber  Conformitatum  (i.  79)  of  the 
leader  and  first  Minister  of  the  Franciscans  in  England: — "This  Friar 
Agnellus  received  English  lads  into  the  Order,  and,  setting  up  schools  for 
the  poor,  was  zealous  for  study ;  but  afterwards  had  reason  for  regret, 
when  he  saw  the  Friars  bestowing  their  time  on  frivolities,  and  neglecting 
needful  things.  For  one  day,  when  he  wished  to  see  what  proficiency  they 
were  making,  he  entered  the  schools  whilst  a  disputation  was  going  on,  and, 
hearing  them  wrangling  and  questioning,  Utrum  sit  Deus,  he  cried  :  '  Woe  is 
me  !  Woe  is  me  !  Simple  brothers  enter  Heaven,  and  learned  brothers  dis- 
pute whether  there  is  a  God  at  all ! ' " 

2  Preface,  pp.  xxxiv.  f.  We  reluctantly  omit  what  is  added  on  the 
prominence  which  St.  Francis's  lively  imagination  and  sympathies  led 
him  and  his  followers  to  give  to  the  bodily  sufferings  of  Jesus  Christ, 
and  also  "to  exalt  the  Virgin  Mother,  to  present  her  as  an  actual  woman, 
endowed  with  every  grace  and  beauty,  to  the  degraded  population  whom 
they  addressed ;  to  set  her  before  men,  as  an  actual  object  of  faith,  hope, 
and  devotion,  as  sympathizing  in  human  sorrow  and  human  evils,  in 
sorrows  which  have  pierced  through  her  own  heart,  in  evils  from  which 
she  is  entirely  free." 


A.D.  1226.  PREACHING  OF  THE  FRIARS.  405 

ments  of  those  classes  of  the  community  for  whose  improvement 
and  welfare  St.  Francis  felt  the  deepest  sympathy ;  .  .  .  .  suited 
to  an  audience  consisting  as  much  of  women  as  of  men,  appeal- 
ing more  directly  to  the  feelings;  more  popular  and  more  dra- 
matic. This  is  one  of  the  common  accusations  brought  against 
the  Friars  by  the  Clergy,  partly  jealous  of  their  new  influence, 
partly  suspicious  of  the  result.1  They  are  loudly  condemned  by 
their  opponents  for  magnifying  preaching,  and  declining,  like  the 
older  Orders,  to  confine  themselves  exclusively  to  manual  labour, 
to  reading  and  prayer.  They  are  accused  of  studying  eloquence 
and  the  art  of  rhetoric  in  the  composition  of  their  sermons,  of 
making  their  addresses  agreeable  to  the  people,  of  communicating 
with  secular  persons,  of  derogating  from  the  dignity  of  the  clerical 
office,  and  bringing  a  scandal  on  the  Church.  .  .  .  Here  was  a 
body  of  religious  teachers,  supported  by  the  Head  of  the  Church, 
as  like  the  poorest  of  the  laity  in  all  respects,  learning  excepted, 
as  could  possibly  be  conceived.  The  Church,  hitherto  standing 
apart,  was  brought  home  to  the  people.  Cold,  and  distant,  and 
far  removed  from  their  sympathies,  it  now  appealed  to  them 
directly :  occupied  by  abstract  discussions  and  formal  statements 
of  doctrine,  it  passed  at  once  into  the  human,  the  sentimental, 
and  the  personal ;  a  great  advance  towards  the  sixteenth  century." 
In  this  character  of  the  Franciscan  teaching  the  writer  whom  we 
are  quoting  sees  an  antidote,  at  least  in  part,  to  the  Manichsean 
tendencies  of  the  times,  which  were  setting  in  upon  Christendom 
through  several  channels  of  Oriental  influence — the  Crusades  and 
commerce,  the  Moors  in  Spain,  and  Arabian  learning  affecting  the 
Universities. 

§  3.  How  the  mendicant  friars — and  in  England,  especially,  the 
Franciscans — added  to  their  work  among  the  people  that  of  teachers 
in  the  Universities,  and  how  they  became  the  leading  and  perma- 
nent authorities  in  systematic  theology — will  claim  our  attention 
presently.  Meanwhile  we  have  to  notice  another  most  powerful 
and  subtle  source  of  their  influence  with  all  classes,  which  tended 
to  bring  the  highest  affairs  of  Church  and  State  under  their 
control.  The  historian  of  the  Franciscan  settlement  in  England2 
tells  us  that  there  were  many  brethren  who,  though  not  holding 
the  office  of  preaching,  or  of  lecturing  in  the  Universities,  yet  by 
the  favour  of  the  prelates  and  the  appointment  of  the  provincial 
minister,   heard  the   confessions    both    of  religious    and  secular 

1  See  the  summary  of  the  complaints  against  the  Friars,  as  enumerated 
in  the  reply  of  Thomas  Aquinas,  in  Brewer,  pp.  xxxvi.  xxxvii. 

2  Thorn,  de  Eccleston,  Coll.  XI.     Ue  Institutione  Confessorum,  p.  41. 


406  FRANCISCANS  AS  CONFESSORS.  Chap.  XXIV. 

persons,  in  various  places.  Thus  in  London  a  certain  Fr.  Salomon 
became  the  general  confessor  both  of  the  citizens  and  the  courtiers ; 
and  a  friendly  controversy  with  the  bishop,1  who  required  of  him 
canonical  obedience,  was  decided  in  favour  of  the  order  by  a 
decretal  which  the  provincial  minister,  Fr.  Agnellus,  obtained 
from  Rome.2  Another  confessor,  at  Gloucester,  is  described  as  "  of 
such  abstinence  and  rigour  towards  himself,  and  such  sweetness 
and  sociality  to  those  under  him,  that  he  was  beloved  by  all  like 
an  angel ; "  and  the  writer  joyfully  records  the  success  of  these  con- 
fessors in  persuading  the  sick  and  penitent  to  enter  the  order.  The 
privilege  of  hearing  confessions  ev  ery where  gave  the  friars  a  share, 
not  only  in  the  secrets  of  all  classes,  but  in  the  councils  of  the 
highest,  which  led  to  their  employment  in  affairs  of  Church  and 
State.  The  power  obtained  by  this  mighty  means  of  influence, 
added  to  the  popularity  won  by  the  preaching  and  lives  of  the 
friars,  is  attested  by  the  complaints  which  were  raised  against 
them  by  the  clergy,  jealous  of  the  invasion  of  their  functions, 
and  especially  by  the  older  orders,  who  found  their  claims  to 
sanctity  and  popular  favour  eclipsed.3  "The  two  great  mendi- 
cant orders  surpassed  all  other  monastic  bodies  in  vigour  and 
popularity.  They  were  to  the  elder  orders  much  as  these  had  been 
to  the  secular  clergy — outshining  them  in  the  display  of  the 
qualities  which  were  most  admired,  and  endeavouring  to  surpass 
and  supersede  them  in  every  way.  Matthew  Paris  tells  us  that 
they  disparaged  the  Cistercians  as  rude  and  simple;  the  Bene- 
dictines as  proud  and  epicurean.  The  mendicants  increased  the 
more  readily,  because  they  were  able  to  dispense  with  costly 
buildings.  Their  numbers  were  recruited,  not  only  by  young  men 
who  flocked  into  the  mendicant  cloisters,  often  against  the  will  of 
their  parents,  but  by  many  members  of  the  older  orders;  and, 
while  the  friars  were  allowed  by  popes  to  receive  accessions  from 
other  orders,  it  was  forbidden  that  any  other  order  should  receive 
members  from  the  friars.  By  the  institution  of  Tertiaries  they 
were  so  widely  connected  with  the  laity,  that  a  writer  of  the  age 
speaks  of  almost  every  one  as  being  enrolled  on  the  lists  of  one  or 
other  of  the  orders.  And  while  the  mendicants  penetrated,  as 
none  had  done  before,  to  the  very  poorest  classes  of  men,  they 
knew  also  how  to  recommend  themselves  to  the  rich  and  great. 

1  Roger  Niger,  bp.  of  London  from  1229  to  1241. 

2  The  decretal  Ntmis  iniqua. 

3  It  must  be  remembered  that  Matthew  Paris,  from  whom  the  fol- 
lowing picture  is  chiefly  drawn,  represents  the  feeling  of  the  old  Bene- 
dictine community  of  St.  Albans,  which  was  thoroughly  hostile  to  the 
friars. 


A.D.  1226  f.  INTRUSION  ON  PARISHES.  407 

They  were  favoured  by  the  popes,  who  employed  them  in  business 
both  ecclesiastical  and  secular ;  they  were  familiar  with  the  courts 
of  princes,  and  were  trusted  by  them  with  offices,  and  with  the 
conduct  of  negociations,  which  might  have  seemed  strangely  in- 
congruous with  their  rigid  and  unworldly  professions.1  Bishops  of 
the  more  zealous  kind,  such  as  Grosseteste  of  Lincoln,2  employed 
them  in  their  dioceses,  to  make  up  for  the  deficient  zeal  and 
ability  of  the  secular  clergy  ;  and  they  soon  assumed  for  themselves 
authority  to  act  independently  of  episcopal  sanction,  and  were  so 
far  countenanced  by  the  privileges  which  they  acquired  from  popes, 
that  they  had  little  fear  from  the  opposition  of  bishops.  They 
invaded  parishes,  and  derided  the  ministrations  of  the  secular 
clergy,  while  they  endeavoured  to  draw  everything  to  themselves ; 
they  preached,  administered  the  sacraments,3  and  directed  con- 
sciences ;  they  persuaded  the  dying  that  bounty  to  their  fraternity, 
death  in  the  habit  of  their  order,  and  burial  in  their  cloisters,  were 
the  surest  means  to  salvation.  By  hearing  confessions,  they 
annulled  the  penitential  discipline;  for,  while  one  formal  con- 
fession a  year  to  the  parish  priest  was  considered  to  satisfy  the 
decree  of  the  Lateran  Council,4  the  intention  of  that  canon  was 
frustrated  by  the  system  of  confession  to  strangers  and  interlopers."5 

1  M.  Paris,  pp.  419,  518,  612,  727. 

2  This  great  light  of  the  English  Church  and  State  under  Henry  III., 
though  not  himself  a  member  of  the  order,  consented  to  lecture  (before 
he  became  bp.  of  Lincoln)  to  the  brethren  of  the  school  established  by 
Fr.  Agnellus  at  Oxford.  He  was  succeeded  in  that  office  by  the  Franciscan 
Adam  Marsh  (Ada  or  Adam  de  Marisco),  whose  Letters  in  the  Monumenta 
Franciscana  abound  with  interesting  information  respecting  the  order  in 
England  and  its  relations  to  Rome.  There  are  other  letters  by  Grosseteste 
himself,  and  other  eminent  men,  including  the  great  Simon  de  Montfort, 
earl  of  Leicester,  and  Richard,  earl  of  Cornwall,  the  King's  brother. 

3  "Gregory  IX.  and  Innocent  IV.  allowed  them  to  celebrate  the 
Eucharist  on  portable  altars,  '  omni  parochiali  jure  parochialibus  ecclesiis 
reservato '  (Wadding,  ii.  603 ;  iii.  97) ;  but  the  reservation  seems  to  relate 
to  money  matters  only." 

4  See  above,  Chap.  XVII.  §  5. 

5  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  pp.  590-2.  "  The  order  of  the  Lateran  Canon,  that 
any  one  wishing  to  confess  to  another  than  his  parish  priest,  should  obtain 
the  parish  priest's  leave,  was  neglected.  (Collier,  ii.  512.)  In  1287,  the 
Franciscan  Archbishop  Peckham,  as  protector  of  his  order  in  England, 
decreed  that  the  friars  might  receive  confessions  and  enjoin  penances 
without  the  leave  of  the  parish  priest,  and  even  against  his  protest. 
(Wilkins,  ii.  168.)  Boniface  VIII.  (in  1298)  interfered  with  the  mendi- 
cants by  ordering  that  any  one  who  confessed  to  them  should  confess  the 
same  sins  to  his  parish  priest;  but  Benedict  XL,  himself  a  Dominican, 
altered  this."  In  1321  the  same  question,  debated  at  Paris  between  John 
of  Billy,  a  doctor  of  the  Sorbonne,  and  Peter  Paludanus,  a  Dominican, 
was  decided  by  John  XXII.  in  favour  of  the  friars. 


408  THE  STRICT  RULE  IMPRACTICABLE.     Chap.  XXIV. 

All  this  is  in  striking  contrast  with  the  injunctions  of  Francis 
himself:  "  If  (he  said)  I  had  as  much  wisdom  as  Solomon,  and  hap- 
pened to  find  the  poorest  simplest  priests  in  the  world,  I  would  not 
preach  in  the  parishes  wherein  they  dwell,  without  their  will." 
The  Franciscans  were  always  to  show  profound  reverence  for 
the  clergy;  if  they  met  a  priest  riding,  they  were  to  kiss  his 
horse's  feet. 

§  4.  The  cardinal  who  at  first  advised  Innocent  III.  that  the  rule 
proposed  by  Francis  was  impossible,  gave  utterance  simply  to  a 
truth  respecting  human  nature,  which  had  been  confirmed  not 
only  by  the  whole  history  of  Monasticism,  but  more  and  more 
strongly  by  each  new  reforming  effort  to  raise  the  standard  higher 
and  higher,  and  which  was  most  signally  illustrated  in  this  last 
and  highest  effort.  The  Mendicant  Orders  gave  the  crowning 
example  of  the  failure  of  a  religious  system  pitched  too  high  and 
supported  only  by  an  artificial  power,  which,  like  the  wings  of 
Icarus,  fails  through  the  intenseness  of  the  test  to  which  it  is 
exposed,  and  ends  in  headlong  ruin ;  while  those  content  quietly 
to  walk  the  earth  in  the  discharge  of  common  duties,  secular  and 
religious,  move  safely  in  the  path  of  usefulness  and  honour : — "  the 
path  of  the  just,  shining  more  and  more  unto  the  perfect  day." 
Matthew  Paris,  writing  in  the  next  generation  after  St.  Francis, 
records  it  as  "  a  terrible  truth  and  sad  presage,  that,  during  more 
than  three  or  four  centuries  the  monastic  orders  had  not  made  such 
progress  in  the  downward  path,  as  the  order  of  friars  within  scarce 
twenty-four  years  from  their  entrance  into  England."  And  this, 
though  the  testimony  of  an  enemy,  agrees  but  too  closely  with  the 
records  of  the  earliest  Franciscans  themselves,  which  enable  us  to 
trace  the  downward  steps  with  curious  precision.  At  the  very 
threshold  of  their  course,  there  lay  a  twofold  stumbling-block,  in 
their  founder's  rules  of  absolute  poverty,  and  renunciation  of  all 
knowledge  save  that  of  the  first  elements  of  Christianity.  Of  the 
latter  point  we  have  said  something,  and  shall  have  presently  to 
return  to  its  later  developments.  As  to  the  former,  even  St.  Francis 
himself  seems  to  have  stopped  short  of  the  rigid  consequence  of  his 
principles,  which  would  have  forbidden  the  possession  of  any  property 
at  all,  even  for  homes  and  churches.  What  he  required  was  that 
the  cells  and  churches  of  the  brethren  should  be  of  the  humblest 
and  plainest  character.  "  We  full  gladly  dwelt  and  tarried "  (he 
says)1  "in   poor   desert   and  desolate    churches And  my 

1  Testament  of  St.  Francis  in  English  (Monum.  Francisc),  p.  564  ;  with 
the  spelling  modernized.  It  is  worth  while  to  notice  the  disclaimer  of 
any  novel  or  special  forms  of  worship: — "  Our  divine  service  the  clerks 
said  as  other  clerks,  and  the  lay  brethren  said  their  Pater  Noster."     But 


A.D.  1126.       ACQUISITION  OF  LANDS  AND  HOUSES.  409 

brethren  must  be  well  ware  and  advised  in  any  wise  that  they 
receive  no  churches,  nor  dwelling-places,  or  any  things,  but  if1  they 
be  as  seemeth  (becomes)  holy  poverty,  the  which  in  our  rule  we 
have  vowed  and  promised,  always  longing  and  abiding  there  in 
those  places  but  as  pilgrims  and  strangers.  1  command  also  sted- 
lastly  and  straitly  by  obedience  unto  all  my  brethren,  that,  where- 
soever they  be  and  abide,  they  be  not  so  bold  or  so  hardy,  either  by 
themselves  or  by  any  other  mean  person,  to  desire  or  ask  or  to  get 
or  purchase  any  letter  or  writing  from  the  Court  of  Home,  neither 
for  the  church  nor  for  any  manner  of  place,  neither  for  preaching 
nor  under  that  colour,  neither  yet  for  the  persecution  of  their 
bodies ;  but  wheresoever  they  be  not  received,  they  may  flee  away 
and  depart  thence  to  another  place,  to  do  penance  with  the  blessing 
of  God."  The  spirit  of  these  injunctions  is  quite  clear.  The 
brethren  sent  forth  into  the  world,  like  the  first  Evangelists  by 
Christ,  might  accept  not  only  temporary  but  more  permanent 
hospitality  in  such  form  as  to  provide  them  with  plain  churches 
and  humble  homes,  which  they  were  to  hold  with  the  light  grasp 
of  strangers  and  pilgrims,  nor  use  the  favour  of  the  Pope  to  obtain 
either  property,  exemptions,  or  privileges.  So,  in  the  second  general 
chapter  of  the  order,  it  was  decreed  that  the  churches  should  be 
poor  and  humble,  and  that  the  other  buildings  should  be  of  wood  or 
wattled  with  clay ;  and  any  costly  buildings  were  to  be  destroyed.2 

But  when  the  little  bands  of  wandering  brethren  began  to  settle 
in  strange  cities  and  foreign  lands,  where  numbers  soon  flocked 
into  the  order,  the  plea  of  necessity  began  to  assert  its  proverbial 
power  over  law ;  nay,  the  strict  necessity  was  amplified  by  more 
worldly  motives.  In  the  plain  language  of  the  historian  of  the 
mission  to  England,  not  only  did  the  rapid  growth  of  numbers 
require  larger  houses  and  plots  of  grounds  (arese)  ;  but  "  besides, 
by  the  Providence  of  God,  persons  of  such  quality  (tales)  often 
entered  the  brotherhood,  for  whom  it  seemed  (and  rightly  so)  that 
more  honourable  provision  ought  to  be  made."  3 

§  5.  The  Provincial  Minister,  Agnellus,  indeed,  would  only  allow 

the  later  Franciscans  could  not  let  even  the  Lord's  Prayer  alone,  without 
bringing  their  founder  into  it :    "  Pater  Noster  et  Beati  Francisci." 

1  I.e.  "  except,"  or  "  unless  they  be,"  or  "  but  such  as  be  :" — the  old 
English  but  =  be-out,  i.e.  without  or  except.  The  ensuing  injunction 
against  the  use  of  letters  from  Rome  is  a  significant  allusion  to  the 
practices  of  other  orders,  which  the  friars  themselves  were  not  long  in 
imitating. 

2  Wadding,  i.  302  ;  Vita  Franc.  89.  Yet  Francis  is  said  to  have  foreseen 
the  certain  infraction  of  the  rule,  throwing  the  responsibility  on  his  suc- 
cessors with  a  vague  hope  as  to  the  result  :  "  Sed  sufficit  in  tempore  illo 
quod  fratres  mei  custodiant  se  a  peccatis."     (Wadding,  i.  129.) 

3  Thorn,  de  Eccleston,  p.  34. 


410  PREACHING  SPOILT  BY  BUILDING.       Chap.  XXIV. 

such  enlargements  when  required  by  "  inevitable  necessity ;"  but  his 
second  successor,  Hay  mo  of  Feversham,  though  himself  also  a  com- 
panion of  St.  Francis,  and  one  of  the  stricter  party,  yet  avowed  the 
principle,  that  "  he  would  rather  the  brethren  should  have  large 
spaces,  and  till  them  that  they  might  be  able  to  have  pot-herbs  at 
home,"  than  (perhaps  he  meant)  betray  luxurious  tastes  by  begging 
for  more  than  bread ;  and  he  made  the  ingenious  apology  for  the 
concession,  "  that  the  buildings  ought  to  be  made  moderately  large, 
lest  future  brothers  should  make  them  too  large."  But  the  Minister 
had  the  roof  of  the  new  church  in  London  pulled  off,  and  the  wooden 
enclosure  of  the  cloisters  torn  down  ;  *  and  when  a  more  fastidious 
brother  threatened  to  complain  to  the  Minister- General  of  the  want 
of  an  enclosure,  he  replied,  "  And  I  will  answer  the  General,  that  I  did 
not  enter  the  order  to  build  walls."  The  zeal  of  such  opponents  was 
supported  by  St.  Francis  himself,  in  visions  and  miracles;  and  a 
famous  preacher  confessed  that  in  the  occupation  of  his  mind  about 
building  he  had  lost  his  former  power  of  preaching  and  devotion. 
In  like  manner,  brother  William  of  Abingdon  had  "  an  incomparable 
gift  of  preaching  "  before  he  erected  the  buildings  at  Gloucester,  but 
afterwards  his  mean  concern  about  temporalities  brought  on  this 
rebuke  from  Henry  III. :  "  Brother  William,  you  used  to  speak  so 
spiritually;  but  now  all  that  you  say  is, 'Give  I  Give!  Give!'" 
And  if  men  receive  because  they  ask,  the  words  may  seem 
confirmed  by  the  long  list  of  benefactions  to  the  order.2  Nor  was 
the  rule  of  poverty  infringed  only  by  the  possession  of  property, 
but  even  by  the  contraction  of  debts,  which  had  the  sanction  of  the 
fourth  provincial  minister  of  England,  William  of  Nottingham,  a 
man  of  the  highest  repute  for  piety. 

§  6.  Unfortunately  for  the  fair  trial  of  the  principles  of  Francis,  the 
very  person  next  to  him  in  the  order  was  one  for  whom  his  standard 
was  too  high.     As  a  native  of  Assisi,  Elias  (or  Helias)  was  among 

1  Sometimes  the  people  interfered  with  such  zeal,  as  when  the  second 
minister  in  England,  Albert  of  Pisa,  had  great  difficulty  in  destroying  the 
stone  cloister  at  Southampton,  on  account  of  the  objection  of  the  towns- 
men.    (Eccleston,  p.  55.) 

2  Prima  Fundatio,  &c.  A  letter  written  to  Henry  III.  in  the  name  of 
the  secular  clergy  of  England  makes  a  sarcastic  application  of  St.  Paul's 
words  to  contrast  the  profession  of  the  friars  with  their  practice: 
"  Although  having  nothing,  they  possess  all  things  ;  and  although  without 
riches,  they  grow  richer  than  all  the  rich."  (Peter  de  Vineis,  i.  37  ; 
Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  593.)  See  also  the  remarkable  letter  of  Adam 
Marsh  to  William  of  Nottingham  (fourth  provincial  minister  of  England), 
regretting  the  relaxation  of  discipline  in  the  order,  and  the  love  of  secular 
employments.  The  great  edifice  (he  says)  is  being  overthrown  from  its 
foundations,  not  so  much  through  negligence  as  wilful  waste  of  power. 
Epist.  ccii. ;  M<>n.  Francisc.  p.  361  f. 


A.D.  1231-9.  THE  GENERAL  ELIAS.  411 

Francis's  earliest  friends  and  converts,1  and  he  was  his  vicar  during 
his  almost  constant  journeys.  But,  from  his  connection  with  the 
University  of  Bologna,  he  probably  brought  into  the  order  a  spirit 
adverse  to  the  simple  faith  of  the  founder.2  Even  while  Francis 
was  yet  alive,  and  during  his  absence  in  Egypt,  Elias  took  advan- 
tage of  his  position  as  vicar  to  propose  a  mitigation  of  the  rule, 
alleging  that  the  grace  which  had  been  given  to  the  founder  was 
not  to  be  expected  of  his  successors.3 

On  the  death  of  Francis,  the  order  appears  to  have  been  divided 
between  the  claims  of  Elias,  as  their  founder's  chief  friend  and 
vicar,  and  the  higher  personal  character  of  Johannes  Parens, 
minister  of  Spain,  "a  wise  and  religious  man,  and  of  the  most 
rigorous  strictness."  It  would  seem  that  Elias  was  at  first  elected 
almost  as  of  course  (or  he  may  have  assumed  the  generalship  pro- 
visionally in  virtue  of  his  office  as  vicar) ;  but  that  the  more  deli- 
berate choice  of  the  general  chapter  fell  on  John  Parens,  in  favour 
of  whom  Elias  was  deposed.*  He  retired  to  a  hermitage,  allowed 
his  hair  and  beard  to  grow,  and  by  this  affectation  of  sanctity 
became  reconciled  to  the  brethren. 

At  the  general  chapter  held  for  the  translation  of  St.  Francis, 
Elias  contrived  to  secure  the  attendance  of  a  number  of  his  parti- 
sans, who,  silencing  the  opposition  of  the  provincial  ministers,5  made 
a  tumultuous  re-election  of  Elias,  to  which  John  Parens  yielded, 
for  peace-sake  (1231).  The  disregard  which  Elias  showed  for  the 
strict  rule  of  poverty,  both  in  his  own  habits  and  in  the  decoration 
of  the  new  church  of  St.  Francis  at  Assisi,  provoked  opposition 
from   the   stricter  brethren,6  which   he   punished  with  tyrannical 

1  His  claim  to  succeed  St.  Francis  as  minister-general  was  "  pra?cipue 
propter  familiaritatem  quam  habucrat  cum  beato  Francisco."  (Eccleston, 
p.  45 ;  and  again,  p.  46.)  But  the  same  writer,  moralizing  on  his  sub- 
sequent fall,  bears  testimony  to  his  high  reputation:  "  Quis  in  universo 
Christianitatis  orbe  vel  gratiosior  vel  famosior  quam  Helias?"  (p.  23). 

2  It  appears  that  Elias,  as  the  intimate  friend  of  Francis,  was  received  into 
the  order  without  taking  the  vow  of  absolute  poverty,  and  he  afterwards 
availed  himself  of  this  freedom  for  his  conscience. 

3  Wadding,  i.  331.  "St.  Francis  rebuked  Elias  for  dressing  too  well 
(ibid.  p.  340),  but  on  his  deathbed  he  especially  blessed  him  (T.  Celan. 
108)."     (Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  590.) 

4  For  the  details,  see  Thomas  of  Eccleston  (Coll.  xii.  p.  44),  and  the  list 
of  General  Ministers  in  the  Mon.  Francisc.  (p.  558).  But  as  the  list  in  the 
Prima  Fundatio  (pp.  532-533)  places  John  Parens  before  Elias,  we  may 
infer  that  he  was  almost  immediately  superseded  by  John  Parens. 

5  Eccleston,  p.  44.  Though  the  custodies  and  wardens  were  qualified  to 
be  present  at  the  general  chapters,  the  provincial  ministers  alone  had 
a  voice  in  the  election  of  a  general. 

6  They  were  called  the  Spirituales  or  Zelatores  Ordinis,  while  the  less 
rigid  party  adopted  the  title  of  Fratres  de  Communitate.    Eccleston  stamps 


412  GREGORY  IX.  AND  THE  ORDER.  Chap.  XXIV. 

severity;  and  in  this  he  was  for  a  time  supported  by  Gregory  IX., 
who  had  himself  sanctioned  a  relaxation  of  the  rule.  At  length  the 
whole  order  was  so  disturbed  by  the  "  carnality  and  cruelty " 1  of 
Elias,  that  the  zealots,  headed  reluctantly  by  Haymo  of  Fever- 
sham,  took  the  bold  step  of  obtaining  the  convention  of  a  general 
chapter,  which  was  held  by  the  vicar  of  the  order,  who  was  the 
"  penitentiary  "  of  Gregory  IX.  The  numerous  provincial  ministers 
who  were  opposed  to  Elias  were  assembled  with  the  most  approved 
of  the  Cismontane  (i.e.  Italian  brethren).2  After  long  discussion, 
brethren  were  elected  to  consider  the  reformation  of  the  order — this 
being  only  a  dozen  years  since  the  founder's  death.  Their  report 
was  presented  at  a  general  chapter  held  in  presence  of  the  Pope 
and  seven  cardinals ;  where  Elias  defended  himself  so  plausibly, 
that  the  Pope  refused  even  to  listen  to  Haymo  in  reply,  till  one  of 
the  cardinals  said,  "  My  lord,  this  old  man  is  a  good  man  ;  it  is 
good  that  you  should  hear  him,  because  he  is  brief  in  speech."  In 
a  tone  of  great  respect  for  his  superior,  Haymo  described  his 
luxury  in  such  plain  language,  that  Elias  interrupted  him  with 
the  "  lie  direct ; "  and  the  wrangling  of  the  partisans  on  both  sides, 
provoked  a  rebuke  from  the  Pope,  which  described  but  too  truly 
the  future  conduct  of  the  friars  :  "  This  is  not  the  manner  of  reli- 
gious persons."  Ultimately  the  Pope  gave  his  decision,  prefaced  by  a 
personal  commendation  of  Elias  and  a  reference  to  his  intimacy  with 
St.  Francis,  that  "  he  had  believed  his  ministry  to  have  been  ac- 
ceptable to  the  brethren,  but  since  the  contrary  was  now  proved,  he 
decreed  his  deposition  "  3  (1239).    He  then  held  a  new  election,  which 

Elias  with  the  title  of  turbator  Ordinis  ;  and  he  describes  the  complaints 
of  Haymo  against  him,  which  led  to  his  deposition,  as  "  propter  scandala 
quae  fecit,  et  tyrannidem  quun  in  zelatores  Ordinis  exercuit "  (p.  23). 

1  Eccleston,  p.  45. 

2  Eccleston,  p.  45.  It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  terms  Cis- 
montane and  Ultramontane  are  always  used  by  the  medieval  writers  as 
equivalent  to  the  classical  terms  Cisalpine  and  Transalpine,  the  point  of 
view  being  at  Rome.  The  opposite  use  of  Ult7*amontane  as  equivalent 
to  Roman  or  Italian  has  grown  up  gradually  from  the  point  of  view  of  the 
countries  of  Northern  and  Western  Europe.  Eccleston  says  (p.  48)  that 
the  corruption  (deformatid)  of  the  order  through  the  excesses  of  Elias  was 
greater  "  ultra  montes,"  meaning  chiefly  France  and  Germany  ;  for,  on 
the  other  hand,  Albert,  the  reforming  successor  of  Elias,  commended  the 
English  above  all  nations  in  respect  of  their  zeal  for  the  order.  The  like 
praise  was  given  by  John  of  Parma,  the  sixth  general,  when  he  visited 
England  (between  1247  and  1250);  but  this  was  after  he  had  "  brought 
back  the  brethren  to  unity  "  in  a  provincial  synod  held  at  Oxford. 

3  The  satisfaction  which  the  decision  gave  is  described  by  Eccleston, 
who  further  states  that  Albert,  on  his  election,  celebrated  the  first  mass 
ever  celebrated  by  a  minister  general — a  proof  that  St.  Francis  had  not 
performed  sacerdotal  functions. 


A.D.  1245.  INNOCENT  IV.  RELAXES  THE  RULE.  413 

fell  upon  Albert  of  Pisa,  a  strong  representative  of  the  rigid  party, 
who  had  succeeded  Agnellus  as  provincial  minister  of  England; 
and  the  latter  office  was  now  conferred  on  Haymo.1  In  the  retreat 
to  which  Elias  was  relegated  at  Cortona,  he  was  guilty  of  new 
violations  of  the  rule,  which  caused  Albert  to  summon  him  to 
Home,  to  obtain  the  grace  of  absolution.  He  disdained  com- 
pliance; and  when  the  Pope  declared  that  he  must  obey  the 
general  like  any  other  brother,  Elias,  unable  to  bear  his  humilia- 
tion, as  one  who  had  not  learnt  to  obey,  went  over  to  the  party  of 
Frederick  II.,  and  thereby  brought  on  himself  a  public  sentence  of 
excommunication  from  Gregory  IX.  "  for  his  disobedience  and  apo- 
stasy."2 Elias  spent  the  rest  of  his  life  at  the  court  of  the  Emperor, 
"  whose  hatred  of  the  Papacy  and  the  mendicant  orders  he  probably 
helped  to  exasperate."  3 

§  7.  We  have  related  this  affair  fully,  to  show  how  immediately 
the  ideal  of  St.  Francis  succumbed  to  the  inevitable  faults  of  human 
nature ;  and,  under  the  more  rigid  successors  of  Elias,  we  still  find  a 
constant  growth  of  the  more  worldly  elements,  alike  in  wealth, 
learning,  and  even  moral  corruption.  Measures  were  taken  again 
and  again  to  reform  the  rule,  notwithstanding  visions  of  St.  Francis 
himself  to  sanction  the  resistance  of  the  stricter  brethren  to  any 
change.4  The  possession  of  property  was  formally  sanctioned  by 
Innocent  IV. (1245)  in  a  form  which  strengthened  the  bond  between 
the  order  and  the  Papacy.  He  declared  that  the  property  of  the 
Minorites  belonged  to  the  Holy  See,  but  that  the  brethren  might 
appoint  prudent  men  to  manage  it  for  their  use.5  We  read  of 
frequent  dissensions,  which  led  to  the  resignation  or  deposition  of 
provincial  ministers  and  even  generals  ;  as  in  the  case  of  the  seventh 
General  Minister,  John  of  Parma,  in  whom  the  "spiritual"  party 
rejoiced   "as  a  second  St.  Francis."6     But,  with  his  zeal  for  the 

1  Scotland  was  now  reunited  to  England  under  the  administration  of 
Haymo  ;  the  minister  of  Scotland,  Robert  de  Ketene,  being  transferred  to 
Ireland.  2   Eccleston,  p.  23. 

3  Wadding,  ii.  241-2,  412;  iii.  21,  f.;  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  596. 
Wadding  says  that  he  repented  on  his  deathbed  ;  but  according  to  another 
account  he  had  refused  the  invitation  of  the  general,  John  of  Parma,  to 
return  to  the  order,  and  his  bones  were  taken  up  and  thrown  on  a  dung- 
hill (Salimb.  412).  4  See  an  example  in  Eccleston,  p.  49. 

5  In  the  bull  Quanto  Studioshis,  addressed  ad  Generalem  et  Provinciates 
Ministros  Fratrum  Minorum.  (Wadding,  vol.  iii.  pp.  129-131 ;  Gieseler, 
vol.  iii.  p.  255 ;  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  597.) 

6  "  Praecipuus  zelator  Ordinis  "  (Eccleston,  pp.  49,  50) :  he  had  lectured 
on  theology  at  Paris,  "  cursorie  legerat  sententias  (ibid.)"  He  is  also 
described  as  "  sanctae  memoria?,  magister  in  theologia,  et  lector  curiae,  de 
provincia  Bonouia?."  He  wrote  a  treatise,  addressed  to  Roger  Bacon,  as  "  In- 
nominato  Magistro."  (Prima  Fundatio,  &c.,  p.  533.)  Cf.  Chap.  XXXI.  p.  529. 

II— u 


414 


APOLOGUE  OF  ALEXANDER  IV 


Chap.  XXIV. 


purity  of  the  order,  John  carried  the  mystic  spirit  of  the  founder 
to  such  lengths,  as  to  adopt  the  apocalyptic  fancies  of  the  Abbot 
Joachim  of  Fiore,1  which  were  scarcely  consistent  with  loyalty  to 
the  Church  of  Rome.  His  resignation  (1256)  was  therefore  suggested 
by  Alexander  IV.,  ostensibly  on  the  ground  of  his  inability  to  con- 
trol the  disorders,  which  were  thus  confessed  to  prevail  in  the  order. 
The  Pope,  a  zealous  friend  of  the  order,  complained  of  its  state  in 
a  figurative  apologue,  that  "  whereas  the  order  was  built  up  with 
two  walls  —  moral  goodness  and  knowledge  —  the  brethren  had 
reared  the  wall  of  knowledge  to  the  height  of  heaven,  so  as  to  be 
asking  whether  God  exists  ;  but  they  had  allowed  the  wall  of  morals 
to  be  so  low,  that  it  was  great  praise  to  say  of  a  brother,  He  is  a 
safe  man  ; "  and  soon  few  would  give  them  even  this  praise.  His 
warning  that  they  should  protect  themselves  and  the  reverence  for 
their  profession  against  prelates  and  princes,  rather  by  their  manifest 
merits  than  by  apostolic  privileges,  was  pointed  by  a  contrast  between 
their  humble  name  and  their  actual  pretensions.2 

1  See  next  Chapter,  p.  419  f. 

2  "  Ut  essent  minores  inter  omnes  humilitate  et  mansuetudine." 


Christ  the  Good  Shepherd,  with  subjects  from  the  Old  Testament. 
An  archaic  bronze  Medallion,  found  in  the  Catacombs  at  Rome  (Buonarotti). 


Franciscan  Friar  and  Trinitarian  Monk. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

LATER  HISTORY  OF  THE  MENDICANT  ORDERS. 

1.  St.  Bonaventtjra  General  of  the  Franciscans — Conflict  with  the 
secular  clergy  and  Doctors — His  rebuke  of  the  corruptions  of  the  order. 
§  2.  Exactions,  backed  up  by  pious  frauds — Indulgence  of  the  Portiun- 
cula— Dying  in  the  cowl— Rivalry  of  the  orders  for  privileges  and 
exemptions— Charges  of  heresy.  §3.  Mystical  and  prophetic  views  of 
the  Franciscan  Spirituals  or  Zealots  —  The  Millennium  at  hand — 
Prophecies  of  Abbot  Joachim — His  three  states  of  the  world,  ending 
a.d.   1260 — Denunciations  of  the   Clergy,   Papacy,  and    Empire — The 


416  BONAVENTURA,  FRANCISCAN  GENERAL.     Chap.  XXV. 

Greek  and  Roman  Churches — Final  triumph  of  the  monks — Prophecy  of 
the  two  Mendicant  Orders,  a  Franciscan  forgery.  §  4.  Development  of 
his  views  by  the  extreme  Franciscans — The  Introduction  to  the  Ever- 
lasting Gospel — A  Third  Dispensation  from  a.d.  1260 — Its  antipapal 
spirit — The  three  angels:  Joachim,  St.  Dominic,  and  St.  Francis — 
Franciscan  authorship,  by  Gerardino.  §  5.  Schism  of  the  Fraticelli  or 
Spiritual  Franciscans.  §  6.  Relaxations  granted  by  Nicolas  III. — 
Opposition  of  Peter  John  Olivi — The  Celestine  Eremites — Secession  and 
persecution  of  the  Fraticelli  —  Condemnation  of  Olivi's  Postilla  in 
Apocalypsin — His  Seven  States  of  the  Church,  culminating  in  St. 
Francis — The  carnal  clergy,  papacy,  and  Antichrist — The  seventh  age. 
§  7.  Growth  of  the  Schism — Quarrel  with  John  XXII. — Persecution — 
Michael  Cesena — The  Chapter  at  Perugia — The  "  spirituals  "'  Ghibelline 
and  anti-papal — The  Conventuals  and  Observants.  §  8.  Progress  and 
corruption  of  the  order — They  become  champions  of  ignorance  and 
superstition.  §  9.  St.  Francis  of  Paola  and  his  order  of  Minims. 
§  10.  The  "  unbridled  multitude  "  of  Friars,  restricted  to  Four  Orders 
— Carmelites — Augustinian  Eremites — Martin  Luther — The  fifth  order 
of  Servites  of  the  Virgin.  §11.  Universal  influence  of  the  Mendicant 
Orders,  both  for  good  and  evil.  §  12.  Beguines  and  Beghards — Their 
origin  and  true  character — Secular  Canonesses — These  societies  confused 
with  the  Mendicants,  and  persecuted  as  heretics — Their  later  history. 

§  1.  The  Pope's  allusion  to  the  growth  of  learning  in  the  order  was 
strikingly  illustrated  by  the  successor, who  was  elected  on  the  recom- 
mendation of  John  of  Parma,  the  great  schoolman  Bonaventura.1 
But  the  "  Seraphic  Doctor's  "  learning  was  more  than  equalled  by 
his  piety  and  zeal  for  Franciscan  purity ;  and  under  him  the  order 
obtained  leave  from  Alexander  IV.  to  abolish  the 'interpretations  by 
which  Innocent  IV.  had  modified  the  rule,  except  in  so  far  as  they 
agreed  with  those  of  Gregory  IX.  It  was  at  the  very  time  when, 
in  the  person  of  Bonaventura  among  the  Franciscans,  and  Thomas 
Aquinas  among  the  Dominicans,2  the  mendicant  orders  had  placed 

1  John  of  Fidanza,  of  a  Tuscan  family,  called  "  de  Balneo  Regio  "  from 
his  birthplace  (now  Bagnorea),  and  by  the  conventual  name  of  Bona- 
ventura, was  the  8th  general  of  the  order,  and  held  the  office  18  years, 
till  his  death  at  the  Council  of  Lyon,  at  the  age  of  ,r>2  (1274).  He  taught 
theology  at  Paris,  where  he  was  known  as  the  Doctor  mellifluus  (as  well 
as  seraphicus),  and  was  made  Cardinal-Bishop  of  Albano  by  Gregory  X. 
He  was  canonized  by  the  Franciscan  Pope  Sixtus  IV.  (1482),  and  was 
ranked  by  Sixtus  V.  (1587)  as  the  sixth  in  order  among  the  great  teachers 
of  the  Church.  His  Life  of  St.  Francis  has  been  already  mentioned.  His 
great  master,  Alexander  Hales,  said  that  in  him  Adam  did  not  appear 
to  have  sinned ;  and  his  pure  piety  is  celebrated  by  the  less  partial 
testimony  of  Dante  (Paradiso,  c.  xii.  127-9). 

2  Concerning  the  scholastic  fame  of  these  great  representatives  of  the 
two  orders  and  the  contest  with  the  University  of  Paris,  see  below, 
Chaps.  XXIX.,  XXX. 


A.D.  1257.  HIS  REBUKE  OF  CORRUPTIONS.  417 

themselves  at  the  head  of  the  theological  learning  of  the  age,  that 
they  had  to  encounter  the  full  storm  of  opposition  from  the  com- 
bined elements  of  secular  learning  and  clerical  jealousy ;  a  com- 
bination all  the  more  powerful,  as  the  clergy,  whose  jealousy  was 
excited  on  the  grounds  of  the  superior  zeal  and  still  more  of  the 
special  privileges  of  the  friars,  were  the  chief  teachers  in  the  great 
seats  of  learning.  The  vehement  conflict  which  now  broke  out  at 
Paris  will  be  better  understood  when  we  have  reviewed  the  great 
intellectual  movement  of  the  age.  Meanwhile,  suffice  it  to  say  that 
in  the  controversy  between  William  of  St.  Amour,  as  the  chief 
assailant  of  the  friars,  and  their  champions  Bonaventura  and 
Aquinas,  the  attack  derived  its  whole  force  from  those  corruptions 
for  which  we  need  not  cite  the  bitter  censures  of  the  enemy,  because 
they  are  set  forth  even  more  forcibly  in  the  frank  calmness  with 
which  they  are  confessed  and  lamented  by  the  pious  Franciscan 
General  himself.  While  answering  the  accuser,  he  deemed  it  quite 
as  much  a  duty  to  address  a  circular  to  the  Provincial  Ministers,1 
plainly  stating  the  result  of  his  "  diligent  consideration  of  the  causes, 
why  the  splendour  of  our  order  is  somewhat  obscured."  His  mind 
had  been  struck 2  by  the  multiplicity  of  business  caused  by  money, 
the  greatest  enemy  of  the  order,  which  was  greedily  sought,  reck- 
lessly accepted,  and  more  recklessly  handled ; — the  idleness,  that 
sink  of  all  vices,  in  which  certain  brethren,  choosing  a  sort  of  mon- 
strous condition  between  the  contemplative  and  active  life,  cruelly 
rather  than  carnally  destroyed  the  blood  of  souls  ; — the  wandering 
life  in  which  very  many,  to  indulge  their  bodies,  made  their  visits  a 
burthen  to  those  whom  they  visited,  leaving  behind  them,  not 
examples  of  life,  but  stumbling-blocks  for  souls  ; — the  importunate 
begging,  which  made  travellers  abhor  and  fear  to  meet  friars  as 
much  as  robbers ; — the  sumptuous  and  artistic  construction  of 
buildings,  which  broke  the  peace  of  the  brethren,3  laid  burthens  on 
their  friends,  and  exposed  them  in  manifold  ways  to  the  perverse 
judgments  of  men.  Not  to  dwell  on  all  the  points  of  the  recital, 
he  mentions  the  invasion  of  the  province  of  the  clergy  ;  and  the 
imprudent  assumption  of  varied  functions,  which  laid  an  intolerable 
burthen  on  brethren  not  trained  to  tbem,  nor  qualified  for  them  by 
self-denying  habits  of  body  or  spiritual  strength.     Nor  does  he  con- 

1  Paris,  April  3,  1257  (in  Wadding,  s.  a.  No.  10);  similar  confessiors 
and  exhortations  are  in  his  tract  De  Eeformandis  Fratrihus. 

2  "Occurrit  mihi " — a  phrase  suggesting  offences  or  stumbling-blocks. 

3  When  Bonaventura  wrote  this  censure,  the  great  artists  of  the  dawning 
revival  were  engaged  on  the  decorations  of  the  church  of  St.  Francis  at 
Assisi.  The  phrase  quse,  fratrum  pacem  inquietat  is  illustrated  by  the 
dissensions  which  we  have  already  seen  arising  so  early  about  that  edifice. 


418  EXACTIONS  AND  PIOUS  FRAUDS.  Chap.  XXV. 

ceai  the  moral  scandals,  suspicions,  and  ill-repute,  arising  from 
the  intimacies  forbidden  by  the  rule,1  which  were  before  long  to 
make  the  friars  a  byword  for  corruption  and  a  danger  to  social  life. 
As  the  sum  and  root  of  all,  he  names  the  violation  of  that  poverty 
which  was  the  first  rule  of  the  order.  "  I  am  struck,  finally,  by  the 
sumptuous  expenditure  of  money  ;  for,  since  the  brethren  will  not 
be  content  with  few  things,  and  the  charity  of  men  has  grown  cold, 
we  have  become  burthensome  to  all,  and  we  shall  become  more  so  in 
future,  unless  a  remedy  be  quickly  opposed  to  the  disease"2 

§  2.  These  words  are  prophetic  of  the  fate  reserved  for  the  ideal 
poverty  which  repaid  the  bare  support  it  asked  from  pious  charity 
by  a  return  of  spiritual  wealth  and  life,  when  it  had  become  in  fact 
a  luxurious,  wealthy,  and  corrupt  system  of  ever-growing  exaction, 
killing  the  charity  on  which  it  preyed,  and  turning  it  into  hatred 
and  disgust.  As  the  source  of  willing  charity  ran  dry,  while  the 
demands  on  it  were  ever  growing,  new  means  had  to  be  found  for 
working  upon  fear  or  favour ;  and,  in  addition  to  papal  privileges, 
fables  and  frauds  were  resorted  to,  to  enhance  the  dignity  and 
spiritual  power  of  each  order.  "  The  more  they  degenerated,  the 
more  did  their  shamelessness  in  such  pious  frauds  increase ;  and 
thus  they  became  the  most  active  promoters  of  ecclesiastical  super- 
stition." 3  One  chief  means  used  by  the  Franciscans  for  attracting 
devotees,  was  the  plenary  indulgence  for  all  sins  to  contrite  visitors 
to  the  church  of  the  Portiuncula  at  Assisi  on  every  first  of  August, 
when  as  many  as  100,000  persons  are  said  to  have  often  assembled 
there.  This  privilege,  said  to  have  been  granted  to  the  founder's 
prayers  by  Pope  Honorius  III.,  but  unheard  of  during  the  life  of 
Francis,  was  first  attested  by  two  of  his  disciples  half  a  century 
later4  (1277),  and  another  added  that  it  was  confirmed  by  the  voice 

1  Those  who  are  inclined  to  regard  the  prevalent  immorality  of  the 
friars  as  a  libel,  should  ponder  these  words  ot'  the  pious  general  as  but 
the  keynote  of  a  vast  body  of  unanswerable  evidence  to  the  fact,  that 
human  nature  revenged  itself  on  a  system  pitched  too  high  for  all  but 
the  few  purest  spirits. 

2  These  confessions  and  rebukes  are  not  very  different  in  substance  from 
the  account  given  at  the  very  same  time  by  an  enemy,  Matthew  Paris 
(a.d.  1256,  p.  939)  of  the  popular  feeling  towards  the  friars  at  this 
time: — "The  people  ridiculed  them,  and  withheld  their  accustomed  alms, 
calling  them  hypocrites,  successors  of  Antichrist,  false  preachers,  flat- 
terers and  evil  advisers  of  kings  and  princes,  despisers  and  supplanters 
of  ordinary  preachers,  clandestine  intruders  into  the  bed-chambers  of 
kings,  and  prevaricators  of  confessions ;  men  who  vagabondized  through 
countries  where  they  were  unknown,  and  gave  encouragement  and  boldness 
to  sinners."  3  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  J47. 

4  Not,  however,  of  their  own  knowledge,  but  on  the  report  of  another 
friar,  that  he  had  heard  the  account  from  St.  Francis.     It  is  mentioned  by 


A.D.  1256  f.  MYSTICISM  OF  THE  "SPIRITUALS."  419 

of  God,  assuring  Francis,  as  he  left  the  Pope's  presence,  that,  as  thi 
indulgence  had  been  granted  to  him  on  earth,  so  it  was  confirmed 
in  heaven.  The  promise,  which  we  have  already  noticed  as  having 
originated  with  the  Carmelites,  of  sure  salvation  to  all  dying  in  the 
habit  of  the  order,  though  assumed  only  on  the  deathbed,  was 
adopted  by  all  the  mendicant  orders.  The  motive  for  such  inven- 
tions, to  exalt  the  sanctity  of  their  respective  orders,  was  enhanced 
by  the  bitter  rivalry  which  very  soon  sprung  up,  especially 
between  the  Franciscans  and  Dominicans.  United  at  first  by  the 
enthusiastic  adoption  of  evangelic  poverty,  and  by  the  zeal  which 
made  them  the  common  opponents  of  the  secular  clergy  and  the  old 
monastic  orders,  they  soon  naturally  became  rivals  on  their  own 
ground  of  fame  as  preachers  and  of  popular  favour ;  they  sought 
privileges  and  exemptions  at  one  another's  expense ;  and,  as  we 
shall  presently  see,  the  division  was  widened  by  the  formation  of 
antagonistic  theological  schools,  Dominican  and  Franciscan.  The 
rivalry  between  the  two  orders,  which  had  started  from  common 
principles  and  for  a  common  work,  became  as  vehement  as  that  of 
the  two  great  military  orders ;  and  the  parallel  extends  to  the 
charges  of  heresy  and  secret  profanity,  which  were  made  against  the 
friars,  especially  against  some  branches  of  the  Franciscans. 

§  3.  The  mystical  element,  which  was  predominant  in  Francis  him- 
self, became  a  general  characteristic  of  the  party  of  "  Spirituals  "  or 
"  Zealots,"  whose  opposition  we  have  seen  excited  by  the  first  in- 
fractions of  the  rule  of  poverty;  and  this  feeling  chimed  in  with 
the  idea,  prevalent  throughout  the  13th  century,  that  the  millennial 
consummation  of  all  things  was  at  hand.1  As  they  exalted  their 
founder  to  a  perfect  parallel  with  Christ,  and  wanted  but  little  of 
making  him  a  new  Messiah,  so  the  promise  of  an  approaching  reno- 
vation of  the  corrupt  church  and  ungodly  world  seemed  to  mark 
the  great  destiny  of  their  order.  The  famous  prophecies  of  the 
Abbot  Joachim  concerning  the  approaching  end  of  the  world,  had  a 
charm   even  for  the  most  rational  minds  of  the  order.2     Though 

none  of  his  early  biographers,  not  even  by  Bonaventura.  For  the  history 
of  the  pretension,  and  the  marvellous  additions  made  to  it  by  one  Fran- 
ciscan after  another,  see  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  pp.  245-6. 

1  As  has  been  said  above,  when  the  year  1000  passed  away  without  the 
expected  catastrophe,  a  new  millennial  period  was  imagined,  dated  from  the 
imperial  establishment  of  Christianity;  just  as,  in  our  day,  we  have  seen 
the  great  epoch  of  1260  prophetic  days  shifted  by  apocalyptic  theorists. 

2  Besides  the  case  of  John  of  Parma  already  noticed,  we  have  an 
example  of  this  in  the  strong  terms  used  by  the  great  Oxford  Franciscan, 
Adam  Marsh,  in  sending  to  Bp.  Grosseteste  some  of  the  "Expositions"  of 
Joachim,  which  had  been  brought  to  him  from  Italy  (Epist.  xliii.,  Monum. 
Francisc.  pp.  146,  147), 


420  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  JOACHIM.     Cha.p.  XXV. 

Joachim  died  (a.d.  1202)  before  Francis  founded  his  order,  and  his 
proper  place  is  among  the  visionaries  of  the  age,  the  adoption  of  his 
prophecies  by  the  Franciscan  zealots  requires  some  account  of  them 
in  this  place.  Joachim  was  a  native  of  Calabria,  a  land  of  monks 
and  hermits.1  Born  in  1145  (or,  some  say,  in  1130),  he  was  placed 
by  his  father  at  the  court  of  Roger  II.  of  Sicily ;  but  he  left  it  in 
disgust,  and  went  as  a  pilgrim  to  Egypt  and  Palestine,  where  for  a 
time  he  led  a  life  of  severe  asceticism.  On  his  return  he  became 
a  monk,  and  ultimately  abbot,  in  the  Cistercian  house  of  Carace, 
near  Squillace ;  and  after  retiring  for  a  period  of  solitary  and  strict 
meditation,  he  founded  at  Fiore,  near  the  confluence  of  the  rivers 
Albula  and  Neto,  a  new  society,  of  which  he  was  the  abbot.  The 
fame  of  his  piety,  and  especially  of  his  studies  in  the  obscurer 
prophecies  of  Scripture,  spread  over  Europe;  and  his  expositions 
captivated  the  minds  of  high  and  low,  excited  by  the  crisis  when 
the  false  prophet  seemed  again  triumphing  in  the  East,  and  when 
there  was  a  general  expectation  of  the  end  of  the  world.  Richard 
Coeur  de  Lion  and  Philip  Augustus  held  conferences  with  Joachim 
at  Messina,  on  their  way  to  the  Crusade ;  and  his  influence  checked 
the  cruel  ravages  of  Henry  VI.  in  Italy  (1191). 

In  the  ecclesiastical  world  his  expositions  seem  to  have  been  on 
the  whole  favourably  received,  though  opinions  were  divided.  His 
prophetical  studies  were  encouraged  and  approved  by  the  three 
Popes,  Lucius  II.,  Urban  III.,  and  Clement  111.,  perhaps  from  an 
imperfect  knowledge  of  his  attacks  on  the  Papacy,  which  were  only 
fully  apprehended  in  their  development  by  subsequent  enthusiasts, 
who  used  Joachim  in  a  character  which  he  himself  disclaimed,  as 
the  prophet  of  a  new  dispensation.2  Though  the  gift  of  miracles 
as  well  as  prophecy  was  claimed  for  him,  his  admirers  failed  to 
procure  his  canonization  in  1346.3 

Joachim 4  is  described  as  remarkable  not  only  for  piety,  but  for 

1  Joachim's  Life  is  in  the  Acta  Sanctorum,  29th  of  May,  torn.  vii.  p.  89. 
For  his  writings  see  ibid.  pp.  103,  129,  seq.  The  chief  are  De  Concordia 
Veteris  et  Novi  7'estamenti,  Libri  V. ;  Expositio  Apocalypsis  (pub.  Ventt. 
1519)  ;  Psalterium  decern  chordarum  (Venet.  1527)  ;  and  Commentaries  on 
Jeremiah  (Venet.  1525  ;  Colon.  1577),  Isaiah  (Venet.  1517),  Ezekiel,  Daniel, 
&c.  These  works  appear  to  represent  the  threefold  division  of  Scripture  into 
history,  prophecy,  and  psalmody.  There  are  some  important  articles  on 
Joachim,  and  the  other  prophetical  expositors  of  the  age,  by  the  late 
Hon.  Algernon  Herbert,  in  the  British  Magazine,  vol.  xvi.-xviii.  Extracts 
from  the  prophecies  of  Joachim  are  given  by  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  pp.  255-6. 

2  See  below  as  to  the  "  Everlasting  Gospel "  and  the  views  of  Olivi. 

5  Dante  makes  St.  Bonaventura  speak  of  Joachim  as  gifted  with  the 
spirit  of  prophecy. 

4  For  a  full  account  of  Joachim's  views,  see  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  pp.  202  f. 
We  give  only  the  most  essential  points. 


A.D.  1200.         HIS  THREE  STATES  OF  THE  WORLD.  421 

modesty.  The  gift  which  he  claimed  was  not  that  of  prophecy,  but 
of  understanding,  which  was  supposed  to  have  rendered  him  inde- 
pendent of  the  ordinary  means  of  learning,  for  it  is  said  that,  until 
supernaturally  enlightened,  he  was  wholly  illiterate;  and  hence  it 
was  natural  that  he  should  denounce  the  method  of  the  Schoolmen. 
His  attack  on  Peter  Lombard's  doctrine  as  to  the  Trinity  drew  on 
himself  the  censure  of  the  Fourth  Lateran  Council  (1215),  as 
having  vented  a  heresy  very  like  tritheism.  With  his  doctrine  of 
the  Trinity,  however,  was  connected  one  of  the  chief  parts  of  his 
prophetical  system — the  doctrine  of  the  Three  States,1  in  which  the 
government  of  the  world  was  conducted  by  the  Three  Persons  of 
the  Godhead  respectively.  These  states  were  not  wholly  distinct 
in  time  ;  for  one  was  said  to  -begin  when  another  was  at  its  height, 
and,  as  the  earlier  state  ended,  the  next  attained  to  its  height  of 
fructification  or  charity.  Thus,  the  first  state,  in  which  men  lived 
according  to  the  flesh,  reached  its  charity  in  Abraham,  and  ended 
with  Zacharias,  the  father  of  John  the  Baptist.  'I  he  second  state, 
which  is  divided  between  the  flesh  and  the  Spirit,  began  with  Elijah, 
and  reached  charity  in  Zacharias.  The  third  began  with  St.  Bene- 
dict, and  its  charity — the  outpouring  of  the  Spirit  upon  all  flesh — 
was  to  be  at  the  end  of  the  forty-second  generation  from  the 
Nativity — that  is,  in  the  year  1260.2  It  was  in  the  last  three  years 
and  a  half  of  this  time  that  Antichrist  would  come.  It  is  said  that 
Joachim  told  Richard  of  England  that  Antichrist  was  already  born 
at  Rome,  and  the  King  replied  that,  in  that  case,  he  must  be  no 
other  than  the  reigning  Pope,  Clement.  But  Joachim  looked  for 
Antichrist  to  arise  among  the  Patarenes,  and  expected  him  to  be 
supported  by  an  Antipope,  who  was  to  stir  him  up  against  the 
faithful,  as  Simon  Magus  stirred  up  Nero. 

Against  the  existing  clergy  Joachim  inveighed  in  the  strongest 
terms,  and  he  especially  denounced  the  corruptions  of  the  Roman 
cardinals,  legates,  and  court,  while  he  spoke  with  peculiar  reverence 

1  See  the  passages  cited  by  Gieseler  (I.e. )  from  the  Liber  Conrordige,  &c. 

2  The  42  generations  answer  to  the  42  months  of  the  celebrated  pro- 
phetic period,  which  has  so  much  exercised  the  whole  series  of  commenta- 
tors on  unfulfilled  prophecy,  variously  stated  as  1260  days  (lie v.  xii.  6, 
interpreted  by  assuming  the  universal  application  in  prophecy  of  Ezek.  iv.  6, 
"I  have  appointed  thee  each  day  for  a  year"),  or  42  months  (Rev.  xi.  2, 
xiii.  5,  that  is,  42  x  30  prophetic  days  =  1260  years),  or  a  time,  ti/nes,  and 
the  half  (or  dividing)  of  a  time  (Dan.  vii.  25;  xii.  7  ;  Rev.  xii.  14),  that  is 
1  4-  2  +  §  =  3J  years  =  3£  X  360  prophetic  days  =  1260  years.  Joachim 
most  naturally  dated  from  the  Nativity.  The  initial  epoch  (or  zero  of 
the  prophetic  chronology)  has  been  a  more  complex  problem  for  his  suc- 
cessors;  and  their  solutions  have  been  more  curious  than  edifying.  Then, 
as  we  have  seen  in  our  own  d-y,  when  the  critical  epoch  came  and  passed 
away,  a  new  starting-point  was  discovered. 

II-U2 


422  PROPHECY  OF  THE  TWO  ORDERS.        Chap.  XXV. 

of  the  Papacy  itself.1  He  regarded  Rome  as  being  at  once  Jeru- 
salem and  Babylon ;  Jerusalem  as  the  seat  of  the  Papacy ; 
Babylon,  as  the  seat  of  the  Empire — committing  fornication  with 
the  kings  of  the  earth.2  For  he  regarded  the  imperial  power 
with  especial  abhorrence,  and  denounced  all  reliance  of  the  Church 
on  secular  help:  the  bondage  of  the  Church  under  the  Empire 
was  the  Babylonian  Captivity ;  the  Popes,  in  relying  on  the  King 
of  France,  were  leaning  on  a  broken  reed,  which  would  surely 
pierce  their  hands.3  On  account  of  the  connection  with  the 
Byzantine  empire,  as  well  as  of  its  errors  as  to  the  Holy  Ghost,  he 
ver  v  strongly  censures  the  Greek  Church,  which  he  compares  to 
Israel,  while  the  Roman  Church  is  typified  by  Judah ;  yet,  accord- 
ing to  that  comparison,  he  supposes  the  Eastern  Church  to  contain 
a  remnant  of  faithful  ones,  like  those  seven  thousand  who  had  not 
bowed  the  knee  to  Baal.4  The  only  merit  which  he  acknowledges 
in  the  Greeks  is,  that  among  them  the  order  of  monks  and  hermits 
originated.  These  he  considers  to  be  figured  in  Jacob,  while  the 
secular  clergy  are  Esau.  The  seculars  were  to  perish  as  martyrs  in 
the  final  contest  with  Antichrist ;  and,  after  the  fall  of  Antichrist, 
the  monks  would  shine  forth  in  glory.  Thus  the  Papacy  was  to 
triumph,  but  its  triumph  was  to  be  shared  by  the  monks  only  ;  and 
Joachim's  view  of  the  final  state  of  liberty  and  enlightenment, 
through  the  immediate  agency  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  excluded  the  need 
of  any  human  teachers. 

That  Joachim's  works  have  been  largely  tampered  with,  appears 
to  be  unquestioned :  and  this  was  the  case  with  a  passage  in  which 
he  was  supposed  to  have  foretold  the  rise  of  the  Dominican  and 
Franciscan  orders.  In  its  original  shape,  the  prophecy  contained 
nothing  beyond  what  might  have  been  conjectured  by  his  natural 
sagacity :  he  speaks  of  two  individuals,  who  are  to  begin  the  contest 
with  Antichrist,  and  he  seems  to  expect  that  these  will  arise  from 
among  the  Cistercians.  But  in  its  later  form  the  two  men  become 
two  new  orders,  which  are  to  preach  the  Everlasting  Gospel,5 
to  convert  Jews  and  Mohammedans,  and  to  gather  out  the  faithful 
remnant  of  the  Greek  Church,  that  it  may  be  united  to  the  Roman  ; 
and  the  characteristics  of  the   Dominicans   and   Franciscans   are 

1  Mr.  Herbert  considers  Joachim's  system  as  a  deep  plot,  concerted 
with  the  Popes.     (Brit.  Mag.  xvi.  49-4.) 

2  But  he  also  applies  the  figure  to  the  Church  of  Rome: — Apoc.  xvii. 
"Mulier  auro  inaurata  indifferenter  cum  terras  principibus  fornicatur. 
Romana  ecclesia  ista  est,  quae  in  Babylonem  vita;  contusione  transtusa 
moechatur." 

3  The  figure  under  which  Hezekiah  was  warned  against  leaning  on 
Egypt  for  support  against  Assyria  (1  Kings  sviii.  21  ;    Isaiah  xxxvi.  6). 

4  1  Kings  xix.  18;   Romans  xi.  4.  5  Rev.  xiv.  6. 


A.D.  1254.  "THE  EVERLASTING  GOSPEL."  423 

marked  with  a  precision  which  proves  the  spuriousness  of  the 
passage.  And  as,  of  the  two  orders,  the  Franciscans  are  preferred, 
it  would  seem  that  the  forgery  is  rather  to  be  traced  to  them  than 
to  the  Dominicans. 

§  4.  In  the  mention  of  Joachim's  prophecies  by  Adam  Marsh,  as 
inspired  warnings  of  the  divine  judgments  coming  on  the  "  prelates 
and  clergy,  princes  and  people  "  of  that  age  of  extreme  wickedness, 
nothing  is  said  of  their  special  application  to  the  Franciscan  order. 
But  they  became  the  keynote  of  the  extreme  zealots,  who  were 
incensed  against  Rome  on  account  of  the  relaxation  of  their  founder's 
rigid  rule.  Thus  there  arose  among  the  strict  Franciscans  a  party 
of  apocalyptic  enthusiasts,  who  not  only  declared  the  state  of  the 
Church  at  that  time  to  be  corrupt,  but  also  regarded  the  whole 
work  of  Christ  as  nothing  more  than  a  preparation  for  a  more 
perfect  dispensation  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

This  view  was  most  fully  set  forth  in  the  famous  work,  commonly 
called  the  Everlasting  Gospel,  but  more  properly  an  Introduction 
to  the  Everlasting  Gospel,1  in  1254,  in  which  the  end  of  the  ex- 
isting dispensation,  to  give  way  to  the  final  and  everlasting  age 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  was  fixed  for  1260.  Though  certainly  not, 
as  -some  have  hastily  assumed,  the  work  of  Joachim  himself,  it 
may  be  safely  regarded  as  the  full  development  of  the  ideas 
thrown  out  in  his  prophecies,  to  which  it  professed  to  be  an  intro- 
duction. Though  there  was  long  a  great  dispute  about  its  author- 
ship, and  though  its  true  date  has  been  called  in  question,  it  is 
certain  that  the  book  first  attracted  public  notice  in  Paris  in  the 
year  1254,  when  the  theological  faculty  of  the  University  made 
a  representation  of  its  mischievous  teachings  to  Alexander  IV. 
The  Pope  issued  a  brief,  charging  the  Archbishop  of  Paris  to  de- 
stroy the  book  and  all  extracts  (scedulse)  from  it  (real  or  alleged) 
in  which  the  same  doctrines  were  set  forth,  under  pain  of  excom- 
munication on  all  who  kept  possession  of  them  (1255).  This 
will  account  for  the  non-existence  of  any  copies ;  but  several  ex- 
tracts are  extant,  either  from  the  work  itself  or  the  "schedules" 
referred  to  by  the  Pope,  and  the  Franciscans  stand  alone  in  im- 
pugning their  genuineness. 

According  to  these  extracts,  it  was  affirmed  that,  about  the  year 

1  rntrodnctorius  (sc.  libellus)  in  Evangelium  JEternum ;  which  is  re- 
garded by  Thmnas  Aquinas  as  an  Introduction  to  the  Works  of  Joachim ; 
and  it  is  so  described  in  the  brief  of  Alexander  IV.  The  title  is  taken 
from  Rev.  xiv.  6  ;  and  the  author  for  authors)  no  doubt  regarded  Joachim 
as  the  "angel  flying  in  the  midst  of  heaven,  having  the  Everlasting  Gospel 
to  preach  to  them  that  dwelt  on  the  earth,"  &c,  and  crying  with  a  loud 
voice  that  the  time  of  judgment  was  at  hand. 


424  "THE  EVERLASTING  GOSPEL."  Chap.  XXV. 

1200  a.d.  (the  crowning  epoch  of  Joachim's  life),  the  Spirit  of  life 
went  forth,  to  make  of  the  two  Testaments  the  Everlasting  Gospel, 
the  superior  excellence  of  which  is  set  forth  in  various  figures.  The 
Old  Testament  shone  with  the  brightness  of  the  stars,  the  New 
with  the  lustre  of  the  moon,  the  Eternal  Gospel  with,  the  splendour 
of  the  sun :  the  Old  was  the  outer  sanctuary,  the  New  the  Holy 
place,  the  Eternal  the  Holy  of  Holies  :  the  first  was  the  operation 
of  God  the  Father,  the  second  of  God  the  Son,  the  last  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  with  the  whole  power  of  the  Trinity.  The  Gospel  of 
Christ  was  literal,  the  Eternal  Gospel  is  spiritual,  fulfilling  the 
promise  of  the  prophet,  "  I  will  put  my  law  in  their  inward  parts, 
and  write  it  in  their  hearts ; "  *  and  this  third  state  of  the  world 
will  be  free  from  all  figures  and  enigmas,  according  to  the  saying  of 
the  Apostle,  "  For  we  know  in  part,  and  we  prophesy  in  part ;  but 
when  that  which  is  perfect  is  come,  then  that  which  is  in  part  shall 
be  done  away ;" 2  as  if  he  would  say,  Then  shall  all  figures  cease, 
and  the  truth  of  the  two  Testaments  shall  appear  without  a  veil : 
for  the  New  Testament  is  as  temporary  as  the  Old,  and  it  was  to 
last  only  till  the  year  1260.  This  consummation  was  to  be 
brought  about  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  but  instrumentally 
by  the  prevalence  of  the  writings  of  Joachim  ;  and  in  it  the  papal 
authority  was  to  have  no  place.  For  the  spiritual  understanding  of 
the  New  Testament  has  not  been  committed  to  the  Eoman  Pope, 
but  only  the  understanding  of  the  letter.  Hence  the  Church  of 
Eome  has  no  power  to  judge  of  the  spiritual  sense;  and  its  judg- 
ments are  random  (temeraria),  for  the  Eoman  Church  is  itself 
literal  and  not  spiritual.  The  Greek  Pope  walks  more  according  to 
the  Gospel  than  the  Latin  Pope,  and  is  nearer  to  the  state  of  those 
who  .shall  be  saved,  and  rather  to  be  adhered  to  than  the  Pope  or 
Church  of  Eome. 

In  all  those  utterances,  which  are  the  representations  preserved  by 
enemies,  we  see  the  vague  expression  of  that  mystic  spiritualism, 
exalted  by  fancies  concerning  the  near  fulfilment  of  the  apocalyptic 
prophecy,  and  deeply  imbued  with  a  sense  of  the  evils  of  the  Papal 
system,  which  had  begun  to  spread  far  and  wide  within  the  Church 
itself,  even  when  it  did  not  go  to  the  length  of  separation.  But  other 
passages  point  to  the  friars,  and  especially  the  Franciscans,  as  the 
chief  ministers  of  this  new  dispensation  of  the  Spirit  or  Everlast- 
ing Gospel.  In  the  spirit  of  their  favourite  "conformities"  we  find 
.that,  as  in  the  beginning  of  the  first  dispensation  three  great  men 
appeared — Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  with  his  twelve  (sons);  and 
as  in  the  beginning  of  the  new,  there  appeared  three— Zacharias, 

1  Jerem.  xxxi.  33.  2   1  Cor.  xiii.  9,  10. 


A.D.  1254.  ITS  FRANCISCAN  AUTHORSHIP.  425 

John  the  Baptist,  and  the  man  Christ  Jesus,  who  likewise  had 
twelve  with  Him ,-  so  in  the  beginning  of  the  third  there  would  be 
three  like  them,  and  these  are  found  in  the  Apocalypse  ;  namely, 
the  Angel  clothed  in  linen,1  the  Angel  having  a  sharp  sickle 
(Dominic),2  and  the  Angel  having  the  seal  of  the  living  God;3  and 
the  last  Angel  is  in  like  manner  to  have  twelve — the  mystic  number 
by  which  his  followers  were  likened  to  the  sons  of  Jacob  and  the 
Apostles,  and  to  the  tribes  both  of  the  natural  and  the  spiritual 
Israel.4  The  Everlasting  Gospel  is  entrusted  and  committed  princi- 
pally to  that  order  which  is  created  as  a  new  ministry,  and  which 
is  composed  alike  of  the  laity  and  the  clergy — which  the  book 
designated  as  the  "  Order  of  Independents."  5 

Here  we  seem  to  have  sufficient  internal  evidence  of  the  Fran- 
ciscan origin  of  the  work ;  that  is  to  say,  that  it  contained  ideas 
which,  put  forth  already  before  the  ministry  of  Francis  began,  were 
adopted  more  or  less  fully — not  indeed  by  the  ruling  party  in  the 
order — but  by  its  "  spiritual "  section  ;  and  its  authorship  seems  in 
fact  to  have  been  charged  upon  them  by  their  own  brethren  of  the 
ruling  party.6  For  a  long  time  it  was  ascribed  to  John  of  Parma, 
who  was  deposed,  as  we  have  seen,  for  his  leaning  to  the  doctrines 
of  Joachim ;  but  at  length  its  authorship  has  been  fixed  by  clear 
evidence  on  John's  friend  and  fellow-sufferer,  the  Franciscan 
"  zealot,"  Gerard  or  Gerardino  of  Borgo  San  Donnino,  who  was  con- 
demned by  his  superiors  as  a  follower  of  Joachim,  and,  after 
eighteen  years'  imprisonment,  was  buried  in  unconsecrated  ground.7 

1  The  idea  seems  to  be  a  comparison  of  Joachim  to  that  one  of  the  seven 
angels  clothed  in  linen  and  holding  the  vials  of  the  seven  plagues,  who 
acted  as  hierophant  or  interpreter  of  the  visions  to  St.  John.  (See 
Rev.  xv.  6,  7  ;  and  xvii.  1.) 

2  Rev.  xiv.  14.  3  Rev.  vii.  2. 

4  The  xii.  belonging  to  the  Angel  of  the  new  Gospel  are  evidently  (from 
the  context)  the  whole  body  of  friars,  starting  from  the  twelve  companions 
of  St.  Francis,  and,  as  it  seems,  not  excluding  the  Dominicans;  the  object 
being  to  exalt  the  system  rather  than  the  one  order. 

5  The  "  Ordo  Independent ium  "  seems  to  describe  their  independence  of 
clerical  orders  and  episcopal  jurisdiction. 

6  When  Matthew  Paris  (a.d.  1256,  p.  939),  in  his  account  of  the 
offence  given  by  the  "  Preacher  Brethren  "  to  the  University  of  Paris,  says 
that  they  composed  a  book  which  they  entitled  "  Here  begins  the  Eternal 
Gospel,"  he  is  clearly  not  ascribing  its  authorship  to  the  D<nninicans,  but 
using  a  phrase  which  had  come  to  designate  the  friars  in  general,  for  the 
Franciscans  were  as  great  preachers  as  the  other  order,  which  bore  that 
specific  name. 

7  Wadding,  s.  ann.  1256,  iv.  5  ;  Salimb.  102.  The  discovery  of  the 
authorship  was  made  by  Echard  (Scriptor.  Domin.  i.  202)  in  the  MS. 
Acta  Processus  in  Evangelium  xternum  of  the  Sorbonne.  (Gieseler,  vol.  iii. 
p.  257.)     "Salimbene's  evidence  (p.   233)  is  conclusive  as  to  Gerardino, 


426  SCHISM  OP  THE  FRATICELLI.  •    Chap.  XXV. 

§  5.  The  sentence  on  the  book,  which  the  University  of  Paris  ob- 
tained from  Alexander  IV.,  was  perhaps  hardly  more  their  triumph 
over  the  friars,  than  that  of  the  less  rigid  party l  over  the  "  spiri- 
tuals." But  the  latter  were  not  to  be  suppressed ;  and,  in  propor- 
tion as  they  were  discouraged  by  their  rulers  and  the  Popes,  they 
tended  more  and  more  to  become  a  distinct  sect,  and  indulged  more 
and  more  in  apocalyptic  denunciations  of  Home  as  the  mystic 
Babylon  and  harlot.  To  mark  their  adherence  to  the  strict  rule  of 
St.  Francis,  they  adopted  the  name  of  humility  which  he  had 
chosen  for  his  order,  calling  themselves  Fraticelli  instead  of 
Fratres.2  "  So  grew  this  silent  but  widening  schism.  rJ  he  Spiritu- 
alists did  not  secede  from  the  community,  but  from  intercourse 
with  their  weak  brethren.  The  more  rich,  luxurious,  learned,  be- 
came the  higher  Franciscans  ;  the  more  rigid,  sullen,  and  disdainful, 
became  the  lowest.  While  the  church  in  Assisi  was  rising  over 
the  ashes  of  St.  Francis  in  unprecedented  splendour,  adorned  with 
all  the  gorgeousness  of  young  art,  the  Spiritualists  denounced  all 
this  magnificence  as  of  this  world ;  the  more  imposing  the  services, 
the  more  sternly  they  retreated  among  the  peaks  and  forests  of  the 
Apennines,  to  enjoy  undisturbed  the  pride  and  luxury  of  beggary. 
The  lofty  and  spacious  convents  were  their  abomination;  they 
housed  themselves  in  tents  and  caves;  there  was  not  a  single 
change  in  dress,  in  provision  for  food,  in  worship,  in  study,  which 
they  did  not  denounce  as  a  sin — as  an  act  of  apostacy.  Wherever 
the  Franciscans  were,  and  they  were  everywhere,  the  Spiritualists 
were  keeping  up  the  strife,  protesting,  and  putting  to  shame  these 
recreant  sons  of  the  common  father."  3 

§  6.  In  1279,  Pope  Nicolas  III.  issued  a  Bull,4  revising  the  inter- 
pretations of  the  Franciscan  rule  concerning  property  by  Gregory  IX. 
and  Innocent  IV.  Under  the  form  of  a  high  assertion  of  the  prin- 
ciple of  poverty,  according  to  the  teaching  and  example  of  Christ, 
which  it  proceeds  ingeniously  to  explain  away,  chiefly  by  a  dis- 
tinction between  individual  and  common  ownership,  it  grants  the 

whom  he  knew  well  and  speaks  of  with  regard  (102,  236),  although  he 
resisted  all  Gerardino's  attempts  to  convert  him  to  Joachism."  (Robertson, 
vol.  iii.  p.  599.)  '  The  Fratres  de  Communitate. 

2  The  name  was  afterwards  extended,  as  a  sort  of  heretical  brand,  to 
various  parties  who  resembled  the  Franciscan  zealots  in  their  strict  views 
of  evangelic  poverty  or  in  their  apocalyptic  fancies  and  anti-hierarchical 
spirit. 

3  Milman,  vol.  vii.  pp.  345-6  ;  founded  on  a  passage  (cited  in  the  Italian 
in  a  note)  of  an  ancient  Carta  d'Apella  in  the  possession  of  the  author  of 
a  "  Vita  di  S.  Francesco,  Foligno,  1824." 

4  The  Bull  "  Exiit"  in  Sextus,  Decretal,  lib.  v.  tit.  12.  c.  3  ;  Wadding, 
iv.  74-5.     For  the  chief  passages  of  it,  see  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  259. 


A.D.  1279.  BULL  OF  NICOLAS  III.  427 

brethren  "  the  use — the  moderate  use — of  things  necessary ;"  an 
elastic  licence,  which  they  were  sure  to  stretch  to  the  measure  of 
the  liberal  practice  already  established.  This  decision  exasperated 
the  zealots,  who  found  a  new  chief  in  Peter  John  of  Olivi,  a 
native  of  that  region  of  Southern  France  where  the  apocalyptic 
fancies  were  most  prevalent.  Born  at  Serignan,  near  Narbonne,  in 
1247,  Olivi  was  devoted  to  the  Minorite  order  at  the  age  of  twelve, 
and  studied  at  Paris.  That  exaltation  of  the  Virgin,  which  the 
Franciscan  doctors  taught,  was  carried  by  him  to  such  extravagant 
lengths,  causing  so  great  a  scandal,1  as  to  incur  the  censure  of  the 
general,  Jerome  of  Ascoli  (afterwards  Pope  Nicolas  IV.),  who 
compelled  him  to  burn  his  writings  with  his  own  hand  (about 
1278).  His  attacks  on  the  mitigations  of  the  rule  subjected  him 
to  several  examinations  from  the  chiefs  of  the  order,  who  at  first 
condemned  his  doctrines  (1282),  but  were  satisfied  of  his  ortho- 
doxy 2  when  he  voluntarily  came  before  them  again  ;  but,  in  1290, 
under  directions  from  Nicolas  IV.,  to  the  general  of  the  Fran- 
ciscans, an  inquisition  was  held  against  the  "  brethren  of  Nar- 
bonne "  as  followers  of  Olivi,  and  several  of  them  were  imprisoned 
or  put  to  other  severe  penances.  Olivi  himself  is  said  to  have 
retracted  in  1292  ;  and  on  his  deathbed  (1297)  he  made  a  pro- 
fession which  was  accepted  as  satisfactory,  though  it  condemned, 
as  mortal  sin,  all  relaxations  of  the  rule  of  poverty  and  all  per- 
secutions of  those  who  maintained  its  strictness.3 

Shortly  before  Olivi's  death,  the  "  spiritual "  party  had  found  a 
period  of  rest,  and  peace  seemed  to  be  restored  to  the  whole  order, 
under  the  hermit-pope,  Celestine  V.  (1294-5),  who  formed  the 
Fraticelli,  in  conjunction  with  his  own  hermits,  into  a  new  society, 
under  the  name  of  the  Celestine- Eremites.*     Boniface  VIII.,  who 

1  The  Franciscan  annalist  Wadding  (v.  51,  2)  who  himself  wrote  in 
defence  of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  designates  these  utterances  of 
Olivi  as  "  not  praises,  but  fooleries,"  such  as  the  object  of  them  would 
herself  be  unwilling  to  accept.     (Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  600.) 

2  Wadding,  s.  ann.  1282,  1283,  1285,  1290,  1292.  Olivi's  defence  in 
his  first  examination,  disclaiming  the  errors  imputed  to  him,  is  still 
extant,  in  the  condemnation  called  the  "Book  of  the  Seven  Seals," 
because  it  was  attested  by  seven  inquisitors.  (D'Argentre,  i.  226,  227.) 
Notwithstanding  this  suggestive  title  (given  to  it  doubtless  by  Olivi's 
followers)  it  contains  nothing  of  his  apocalyptic  fancies. 

3  Wadding,  v.  379,  380  ;  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  pp.  260,  261.  Mr.  Herbert 
doubts  the  genuineness  of  the  two  deathbed  professions  thus  attributed  to 
Olivi.      {British  Maj.  xviii.  135.) 

4  Pauperes  E re mitx  Domini  Celestini ;  see  Raynaldus  and  Wadding,  s.  a. 
1294;  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  263.  Before  his  election  to  the  Papacy,  Peter, 
called  of  Murrone,  from  his  retreat  among  the  rocks  of  the  Abruzzi, 
had  there  formed,  under  the  sanction  of  Gregory  X.,  a  society  ©f  austere 


428       PETER  JOHN  OLIVI  AND  THE  FRATICELLI.      Chap.  XXV. 

detested  the  mendicants,  dissolved  the  new  order  (1302),  and 
banished  its  members  to  one  of  the  Greek  islands,  where  they  were 
not  allowed  to  remain.  From  this  time  a  large  portion  of  the 
Fraticelli  seceded  from  the  Franciscan  order,  and  renounced  the 
authority  of  the  persecuting  Pope.  "  One  of  Olivi's  disciples,  a 
Provencal,  is  said  to  have  been  elected  Pope  at  St.  Peter's  by  five 
men  and  thirteen  women  of  the  party ;  and  by  these  and  others 
their  doctrines  were  spread  into  Sicily,  Greece,  and  other  countries, 
acting  everywhere  as  a  leaven  of  opposition  and  discontent,  actively 
though  secretly  working  against  the  Papacy." 1 

The  ruling  party  showed  special  hostility  against  the  followers 
and  memory  of  Olivi.  The  reading  of  his  works  was  forbidden  in 
the  Franciscan  order;  the  Inquisition  of  Toulouse  pronounced  him 
a  false  prophet,  and  persecuted  his  followers,  who  kept  a  festival 
in  his  honour  as  their  great  prophet,  the  "  mighty  angel "  who  "  had 
in  his  hand  a  little  book  open,"  and  announced  the  end  of  time  and 
the  finishing  of  the  mystery  of  God  (Kev.  x.). 

Some  opinions  attributed  to  him  were  condemned  by  the  Council 
of  Vienne  under  Clement  V.,  in  1311.  The  chief  cause  of  offence 
was  given  by  the  prophetic  views  put  forth  in  Olivi's  Postilla  in 
A},ocalypsin,  which  was  solemnly  condemned  by  John  XXII., 
after  an  examination  by  eight  doctors  (1326);  but  the  condemna- 
tion was  rescinded  a  century  and  a  half  later  by  Sixtus  IV.  From 
the  sixty  articles  enumerated  by  the  eight  doctors,  which  contain 
all  that  is  extant  of  the  work,2  it  seems  to  have  followed  the  out- 
lines traced  in  the  prophecies  of  the  Abbot  Joachim  and  the  "  Ever- 
lasting Gospel."  In  the  visions  of  Ft.  John,  the  seven  seals 
symbolized  seven  states  of  the  Christian  Church :  the  first  was  the 
laying  of  its  foundations  in  Judaism  by  the  apostles  ;  the  second, 
its  probation  and  confirmation  by  martyrdom ;  the  third,  the 
doctrinal  exposition  of  the  faith  in  the  triumph  of  sound  reasoning 
over  heresies  as  they  arose  ;  the  fourth  was  that  of  the  early 
monastic  life,  from  St.  Antony  to  St.  Benedict ;  the  fifth,  that  of  the 
common  life,  divided  between  severe  zeal  and  worldly  conciliation, 
under  the  monks  and  clergy  holding  temporal  possessions.  The 
sixth  is  (for  the  tense  changes  to  denote  the  present  age)  that  of 

hermits,  whom  he  named  after  St.  Peter  Damiani,  but  the  designation 
was  changed  into  that  of  his  papal  name. 

1  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  603.  See  the  note  (ibid.)  for  various  accounts 
of  this  Pope's  relations  to  the  order.  It  is  quite  probable  that  Boniface 
may  have  used  and  favoured  the  ruling  party,  while  persecuting  the 
Fraticelli. 

2  Baluzii,  Miscellanea,  i.  213,  ii.  258;  see  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  261  f.  for 
full  extracts.     Postilla  signifies  a  running  Commentary. 


A.D.  1280  (or.).       HIS  "  P03TILLA  IN  APOCALYPSIN."  429 

the  renovation  of  the  evangelic,  and  conquest  of  the  antichristian 
life,  and  the  final  conversion  of  Jews  and  Gentiles,  or  the  renewed 
rebuilding  of  the  Church  as  in  the  first  age.  As  in  that  first  state, 
when  carnal  Judaism  and  the  old  dispensation  were  cast  aside,  "  the 
new  man  Christ  appeared,  with  a  new  law,  and  life,  and  cross,"  so  in 
the  sixth,  the  carnal  church  will  be  cast  aside,  and  the  law  and  life 
and  cross  of  Christ  renewed,  beginning  from  the  appearance  of 
"  the  man  our  father  Francis,  marked  with  the  wounds  of  Christ, 
and  completely  conformed  to  Christ  in  his  crucifixion  and  like- 
ness." Francis  is  the  Angel  who  opens  the  sixth  seal;1  as  well 
as  the  Angel  ascending  from  the  Fast,  having  the  seal  of  the 
living  God,2  renewing  the  evangelic  life  by  his  rule,  and  him- 
self the  greatest  pattern  of  that  life,  after  Christ  and  His  Mother. 
The  servants  of  God  sealed  by  that  Angel3  with  the  sign  of  Christ, 
"the  militia  of  Christ,"  are  those  awakened  to  the  spirit  of  Christ 
and  Francis,  in  the  time  when  his  rule  is  wickedly  and  sophistically 
impugned  and  condemned  by  the  church  of  the  proud  and  carnal, 
as  Christ  was  condemned  by  the  synagogue  of  the  Jews.  The 
parallel  was  even  pressed  to  a  crucifixion  of  Francis  in  the  Baby- 
lonish trial  of  his  order  (referring,  doubtless,  to  the  persecution  of 
the  Zealots),  to  be  followed  by  his  resurrection  in  glory,  bearing 
the  stigmata  with  which  he  was  marked  while  alive — a  resurrection 
as  needful  to  confirm  his  disciples,  as  that  of  Christ  was  for  the 
Apostles.  And,  as  those  fishermen  learned  that  they  could  not 
cast  the  Gospel  net  with  such  success  in  the  land  of  the  Jews  as  in 
the  heathen  seas,  so  that  Angel  will  find  success,  not  so  much  in 
the  carnal  church  of  the  Latins,  as  among  the  Greeks  and  SSaracens 
and  Tartars,  and  finally  the  Jews.  The  new  state  must  be  pre- 
ceded by  the  temporal  putting  away  (exter •minium)  of  the  Church, 
as  this  was  preceded  by  the  putting  away  of  the  Synagogue  :  that 
is  to  say,  the  whole  state  of  the  Church,  consisting  of  prelates, 
people,  and  the  "  religious  "  (the  monastic  orders),  will  be  overturned 
from  the  foundations,  except  what  shall  survive  hidden  in  the 
few  elect. 

Eesides  the  seven  states  or  ages,  Olivi  taught  that  there  were  three 
"general"  states  of  the  Church  ;  in  the  first,  God  revealed  Himself 
as  Fear ;  in  the  second  as  Wisdom,  in  the  third  as  Love ;  and  in 

1  Rev.  vi.  12.  This  identification  is  said  to  have  been  revealed  in 
vision  to  Bonaventura;  from  which  it  would  follow  that  it  was  later 
than  Joachim,  and  that  these  apocalyptic  fancies  were  indulged  in  to 
some  extent  by  the  ruling  and  scholastic  party  among  the  Franciscans,  as 
well  as  by  the  zealots.  In  fact  they  were  the  natural  offspring  of  the 
mystical  side  of  Francis's  own  mind,  and  of  his  manner  of  applying 
Scripture.  2  Rev.  vii.  2.  3  Rev.  vii.  'd. 


430  JOHN  XXII.  AND  THE  FRANCISCANS.       Chap.  XXV. 

tins  last  St.  Peter  was  to  give  way  to  St.  John.  The  beginning,  in 
the  full  sense,  of  the  third  general  state  of  the  Church,  including 
the  sixth  and  seventh  ages,  is  reckoned  either  from  its  solemn 
revelation  made  to  the  Abbot  Joachim,  or  from  the  foundation  of 
the  order  of  St.  Francis,  and  perhaps  some  others  of  his  contem- 
poraries, or  from  the  judgment  of  Babylon,  the  great  harlot,  the 
carnal  church,  and  her  destruction  by  the  ten  horns  of  the  beast, 
that  is,  by  ten  kingdoms.1  As  the  climax  of  this  carnal  system,  some 
suppose  that  the  Antichrist  will  be  a  false  Pope  and  false  prophet ; 
others,  that  he  will  call  himself  God  as  claiming  to  be  the  Messiah 
of  the  Jews.  From  the  slaying  of  Antichrist,  or  more  fully  from 
the  last  judgment  of  the  reprobate  and  the  elect,  will  begin  the 
seventh  age  of  the  Church,  which  has  a  two-fold  character  as  it 
respects  this  life  and  the  life  to  come  ;  in  this  life  it  is  a  certain 
quiet  and  wonderful  participation  of  future  glory,  as  if  the  heavenly 
Jerusalem  were  seen  to  come  down  upon  the  earth ; 2  but,  as  it 
respects  the  other  life,  it  is  the  general  state  of  the  resurrection, 
and  of  the  glorification  of  the  saints,  and  of  the  final  consummation 
of  all  things.3 

§  7.  From  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century,  the  Fraticelli 
became  mixed  up  with  the  Cathari  and  other  sects,  whose  predic- 
tions of  the  speedy  fall  of  the  Papacy,  from  the  imagery  of  the 
Apocalypse,  subjected  them  to  frequent  persecution.  They  were 
very  generally  identified  with  the  Beghards  (see  below,  §  12) ;  in 
fact,  many  of  them  left  the  order  to  join  that  sect. 

Their  relations  to  the  Papacy  were  brought  to  a  crisis  under 
John  XXII.,  whose  splendour  gave  the  "  Spirituals "  at  Avignon 
occasion  to  insist  anew  on  the  extreme  doctrines  of  absolute 
poverty.  That  party  abounded  in  the  south  of  France  as  well 
as  in  Italy ;  and  John  XXII.  took  up  the  feud  with  them,  which 
had  begun  under  Boniface  VIII.,  and  had  been  continued  under 
Clement  V.,in  violent  persecutions  both  of  the  Fraticelli  and  others 
who  held  similar  tenets.4  While  the  itinerant  friars  spread  far  and 
wide  their  testimony  against  John's  avarice  and  luxury  and  the 
corruption  of  his  court,  which  they  contrasted  with  their  evangelic 

1  Rev.  xvii.  16,  17.  For  the  further  application  of  the  prophetic 
imagery  to  the  clergy  and  Papacy,  see  the  extracts  given  in  Gieseler. 

2  Rev.  xxi.  2. 

3  Other  statements  of  the  apocalyptic  views  of  Olivi  are  given  by  his 
ardent  disciple  and  defender,  Ubertinus  de  Casali,  in  the  Apologia  tor  his 
master,  for  which  he  was  called  to  account  under  John  XXII.  (1317). 

4  For  the  movements  and  fate  of  Wilhelmina  of  Bohemia,  at  Milan, 
Pongilupo  of  Ferrara,  Sagarelli  of  Parma,  and  especially  Dol-cino  of 
Novara,  all  more  or  less  followers  of,  and  martyrs  to,  the  teaching  of 
Olivi,  see  Milman,  vol.  vii.  pp.  353-368. 


A.D.  1316  f.         PERSECUTION  OF  THE  FRATICELLI.  431 

rule  of  poverty,  and  familiarized  the  common  mind  with  the  notion 
that  the  Papacy  was  the  mystic  harlot  and  Babylon,  the  forerunner 
of  Antichrist,  the  Pope  followed  up  his  repeated  Bulls  *  against  them 
by  a  violent  persecution.  At  first  his  enmity  was  assisted  by  the 
schism  in  the  order,  and  its  General,  Michael  di  Cesena,  consented  to 
conduct,  with  seven  others,  an  inquisition  against  the  rebellious 
brethren  of  Narbonne  and  Beziers.  Twenty-five  friars  were  sen- 
tenced to  degradation  and  perpetual  imprisonment ;  and  some  of 
them,  who  boldly  protested  that  they  were  the  true  brethren  of  St. 
Francis,  and  their  persecutors  were  not  the  Church,  but  the  blind 
synagogue,  were  burned  at  Marseille  for  their  "  apostacy  "  and  the 
heresy  of  denying  the  Pope's  authority.2  The  cruelties  thus  begun 
by  the  Franciscans  themselves,  were  continued  with  the  added  zeal 
of  party  spirit  by  the  ordinary  inquisition  of  the  Dominicans,  of 
which  one  of  the  victims 3  declared  that  if  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul 
should  return  to  earth,  the  Inquisition  would  lay  hands  on  them  as 
damnable  heretics. 

In  one  of  these  trials,  before  the  Grand  Inquisitor  and  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Narbonne,  with  all  the  most  learned  clergy  of  the  province, 
the  court  was  about  to  condemn  a  Beghard  for  asserting  the  abso- 
lute poverty  of  Christ  and  His  Apostles,  when  Berenger  de  Talon, 
a  simple  reader,  but  whose  character  gave  weight  to  his  opinion, 
declared  the  tenet  to  be  sound,  catholic,  and  orthodox.  He  cited 
the  Bull  of  Nicolas  III.4  as  the  law  of  the  Church  on  the  subject, 
and  when  the  court  tried  to  put  him  down  by  clamour,  he  appealed 
to  the  Pope.  After  defending  his  position  before  John  XXII.  and 
the  cardinals,  Berenger  was  put  under  arrest,  and  a  Bull5  was 
issued,  not  indeed  going  the  length  of  reversing  that  of  Nicolas, 

1  The  Bull  Gloriosam  Ecclesiam  (dated  Avignon,  23rd  Jan.  1316) 
enumerates  the  five  errors  of  the  spiritual  Franciscans : — "  (i.)  Their 
assertion  of  the  two  Churches,  the  one  carnal,  oppressed  with  wealth, 
stained  with  crimes,  and  lorded  over  by  its  Roman  head  and  the  inferior 
prelates;  the  other  spiritual,  pure  in  its  frugality,  seemly  in  its  dress, 
girt  with  poverty,  (ii.)  That  the  acts  and  sacraments  of  the  clergy  of  the 
carnal  church  were  invalid,  (iii.)  The  unlawfulness  of  oaths,  (iv.)  That 
the  wickedness  of  the  individual  priest  invalidated  the  sacrament,  (v.)  That 
they  alone  followed  the  Gospel  of  Christ." — Milman,  p.  374. 

2  All  kinds  of  charges  were  preferred  against  them,  as  heresy,  magic, 
treason,  and  other  crimes.  Mosheim  (ii.  670)  has  a  list  of  113  persons  of 
both  sexes  who  were  put  to  death,  between  1318  and  the  pontificate  of 
Innocent  VI.,  for  their  adherence  to  the  rigorous  idea  of  Franciscan 
poverty.     He  supposes  that  about  2000  suffered  in  all. 

3  The  Franciscan  friar,  Bernard  Deliciosi,  of  Montpellier,  who  was  tried 
at  Toulouse  in  1319,  on  various  charges,  including  heresy,  magic,  treason, 
and  contriving  to  poison  Pope  Benedict  XI. 

4  The  famous  Bull  Qtns  exiit.     See  above,  §  6,  p.  426. 

5  De  Verborum  Significatione. 


432      SCHISM  OF  CONVENTUALS  AND  OBSERVANTS.    Chap.  XXV. 

but  suspending  his  anathema  against  all  who  should  reopen  the 
discussion.  Against  this  virtual  withdrawal  of  the  Papal  sanction 
of  their  fundamental  principle  the  General  Chapter  at  Perugia 
unanimously  protested,  appealing  both  to  the  Bull  of  ^Nicolas  and 
a  decree  of  the  Council  of  Vienne  (1322).  Its  president  was  the 
General,  Michael  di  Cesena,  who  had  so  lately  persecuted  the  Spiritu- 
alists, but  now  took  the  lead  against  the  Pope,  with  William  of 
Ockham,1  and  with  Bonagratia,  who  had  been  the  vehement  opponent 
of  U bertino  di  Casale,  the  follower  of  John  Peter  Olivi.  The  Pope 
replied  by  a  Bull  charging  the  chapter  with  heresy,  condemning 
and  annulling  the  legal  fiction  by  which  his  predecessors  had 
enabled  the  order  to  hold  property,  nominally  vested  in  the  see  of 
Rome,  and  bitterly  taunting  them  with  the  wealth  they  had  thus 
acquired.  The  Dominicans  joined  eagerly  in  the  condemnation  of 
their  rivals,  and  the  University  of  Paris  pronounced  an  elaborate 
judgment  against  the  Franciscan  doctrine  of  poverty.  The  papal 
party  in  the  order  elected  a  new  General2  in  place  of  Michael 
Cesena,  who  had  fled  from  Avignon  (1329);  and  who  now,  with 
the  extreme  Franciscans  as  a  body,  joined  the  Ghibelline  party. 
We  have  seen  the  services  which  he  and  Ockham,  and  other 
Schoolmen  of  the  order,  rendered  to  Louis  IV.  in  his  struggle  with 
John;3  and  how  they  charged  the  Pope  himself  with  heresy. 
Thus  that  order,  on  which  the  Popes  had  relied  as  their  surest 
support  and  instrument,  was  turned  in  great  part  into  dangerous 
opposition  to  their  interest.  Meanwhile  the  internal  schism 
widened,  till,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  14th  century,  the  order  was 
divided  into  two  distinct  bodies  : 4  the  Conventuals,  who  lived 
together  in  their  houses,  and  the  Observants,  whose  name  proclaimed 
their  adhesion  to  the  founder's  rule.  rlhe  latter,  after  undergoing 
some  persecution,  were  recognized  by  the  Council  of  Constance. 

§  8.  These  divisions  did  not  prevent  the  growth  of  the  order  by 
its  own  energy,  the  favour  it  long  enjoyed  with  the  people,  and  the 
protection  of  several  Franciscan  Popes.5  Meanwhile  it  more  and 
more  developed  the  natural  consequences  of  increasing  wealth  and 

1  Besides  his  great  work  in  defence  of  the  imperial  power  against  the 
Papacy,  William  of  Ockham  wrote  against  John  on  the  question  of  poverty, 
charging  him  with  thirty-two  errors  on  this  head. 

2  This  new  General,  Gerard,  attempted  to  procure  the  abrogation  of 
St.  Francis's  prohibition  against  the  acceptance  of  gifts  of  money  ;  but 
John  sternly  refused  his  consent.     Wadding,  s.  a.  1331. 

3  Chap.  VII.  §§  7,  9,  12.     Comp.  as  to  Ockham,  Chap.  XXXII.  §§  2.  3. 

4  The  spirit  of  independence  led  to  a  further  division  into  various 
classes.  Thus,  in  contradistinction  to  the  bare-footed  friars  were  those 
called  Soccolanti,  from  their  wearing  wooden  shoes  like  the  peasantry. 

i  For  the  special  case  of  Alexander  V.  see  Chap.  IX.  p.  14b. 


A.D.  1482.        ST.  FRANCIS  OF  PAOLA— THE  MINIMS.  433 

luxury,  ecclesiastical  assumptions  and  exemptions,  and  influence ' 
both  in  the  highest  affairs  of  state  and  the  most  private  concerns  of 
families.  In  these  several  relations,  the  Franciscans  earned  in  an 
ever-growing  measure  the  distrust  and  jealousy  of  civil  and  eccle- 
siastical powers,  contempt  and  dislike  from  the  people  for  their  high 
pretensions  and  low  morals,  and  a  well-founded  suspicion  of  the 
footing  they  gained  in  households.  An  historian  so  competent  and 
impartial  as  Von  Panke  has  pronounced  that,  at  the  time  of  the 
Reformation,  they  were  "  perhaps  the  most  profoundly  corrupted  of 
all  the  orders." *  In  spite  of  bitter  quarrels  with  the  Popes  about 
the  privileges  and  property  which  it  was  their  very  first  principle 
to  renounce,  they  united  with  the  Dominicans  in  support  of  the 
corrupt  Eomanism  in  the  contest  with  the  growing  spirit  of  reform  ; 
and  the  orders  which  had  produced  the  greatest  teachers  of  the 
Church  in  the  13th  and  14th  centuries  became  the  chief  enemies  of 
knowledge  "and  champions  of  superstition. 

§  9.  In  the  darkest  time  of  the  15th  century,  one  earnest  effort 
to  revive  the  founder's  rule  was  made  by  a  namesake  who  is  held 
in  scarcely  less  reverence.  Francis  of  Paola2  (so  called  from  his 
birthplace  in  Calabria)  was  devoted  to  the  order  of  St.  Francis  by 
his  mother's  gratitude  for  a  miracle;3  but,  following  the  example 
of  Peter  of  Murrone  (Pope  Celestine  V.),  he  retired  to  a  hermit's 
cave,  and  became  so  renowned  for  his  austere  sanctity  and  miraculous 
powers,  that  Louis  XI.  besought  the  King  of  Naples  and  Pore 
Sixtus  IV.  to  send  the  holy  man  to  calm  the  terrors  of  his  death- 
bed (1482).  On  his  way  through  Pome,  where  his  appearance 
caused  great  excitement,  Francis  obtained  from  the  Pope,  who  was 
himself  a  Francisjcan,  leave  to  found  a  society  of  "  Hermits  of  St. 
Francis,"  which  he  humbly  named  no  longer  Minors  but  Minims 
(Minimi).4  At  the  court  of  France  he  was  received  with  as  much 
honour  "  as  if  he  had  been  the  Pope  himself " — says  Philip  de 
Comines,  who  adds  that  the  Holy  Spirit  seemed  to  speak  from  his 
mouth,  though  he  was  quite  illiterate.  The  court  were  disposed  to 
ridicule  the  rude  hermit,  but  Louis,  with  abject  reverence,  entreated 
him  as  if  he  had  the  power  of  life  and  death.      Besides  other  rich 

1  Hist,  of  the  Popes,  translated  by  Mrs.  Austin,  vol.  i.  p.  172. 

2  The  name  is  often  written,  less  accurately,  Paula,  and  so  made  Paul. 

3  The  story  is,  that  he  was  born  with  only  one  eye;  but  his  mother 
vowed  that,  if  the  other  eye  might  be  granted  to  him,  he  should  wear  the 
habit  of  St.  Francis  for  a  year  at  least:  and  so  it  was.  Acta  SS.,  April  2, 
vol.  i.  p.  103.      His  earliest  biography  is  by  a  disciple,  A.n.  1502  (ibid.). 

4  Not  that  he  thereby  affected  to  transcend  the  humility  of  his  pattern, 
who — as  is  shown  by  a  remarkable  passage  in  his  Life — chose  the  title 
Minores  to  signify  what  St.  Paul  expresses  by  the  emphatic  comparative  of 
a  superlative,  iKax^rroTcpcf,  less  than  the  least  of  all  saints  (Ephes.  iii.  8). 


434  OTHER  ORDERS  OF  FRIARS.  Chap.  XXV. 

rewards,  the  King  founded  convents  for  the  new  order  at  Plessis 
and  Amboise.  Charles  VIII.  continued  these  royal  favours,  and, 
on  his  expedition  to  Italy,  he  founded  for  the  Minims  the  famous 
convent  of  Trinita  del  Monte  at  Rome,  which  remained  in  their 
possession  till  the  great  Revolution.  Francis  himself  died  at  Plessis, 
April  2,  1507,  and  was  canonized  by  Leo  X.  in  1519.  The  Minims, 
like  the  Minors,  comprised  the  three  classes  of  Brethren,  Sisters, 
and  Tertiaries.  Their  rule,  drawn  up  by  the  founder,  and  confirmed 
by  Alexander  VI.  and  Julius  II.,  added  to  the  three  Franciscan 
vows  a  fourth  of  the  Quadragesimal  Life,  that  is,  a  perpetual 
lenten  fast  of  abstinence  from  all  sorts  of  animal  food.1 

§  10.  It  remains  to  speak  of  the  less  famous,  but  not  unimportant 
orders  of  mendicant  friars.  The  new  enthusiasm  of  the  two  great 
orders,  their  speedy  popularity,  and  the  attraction  of  the  wandering 
life  of  mendicancy  for  those  of  idle  and  unsettled  habits,  raised 
up  so  many  imitators,  that  it  was  deemed  necessary  to  check  their 
"  unbridled  multitude,"  as  they  were  designated  by  the  second 
General  Council  of  Lyon,  under  Gregory  X.,  in  restricting  the  men- 
dicant friars  to  four  orders :  the  Dominicans,  Franciscans,  Car- 
melites, and  Augustinian  Eremites  (1274).  The  Carmelites,  whose 
origin  in  Palestine  has  been  related  above,  were  transplanted  into 
Europe  in  1238.2  The  brotherhood  of  Augustinian  Eremites  (Austin 
Friars)3  was  formed  in  1256  by  a  Bull  given  by  Alexander  IV., 
uniting  a  number  of  Italian  coenobite  establishments  in  this  one 
society,  under  the  rule  of  St.  Augustine.  This  order  spread  and 
grew  in  popularity,  till  at  the  time  of  the  Reformation  it  numbered 
30,000  friars ;  but  it  is  most  memorable  from  the  fact  that  one  of 
that  number  was  Martin  Luther.  The  restriction  did  not  pre- 
vent the  recognition  of  a  fifth  mendicant  order  in  the  Servites  (the 
"  Slaves  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary  "),  which  had  been  founded  at 
Florence  in  1233  under  the  rule  of  St.  Augustine.4  All  these 
orders  had  the  associated  class  of  tertiaries. 

§  11.  While  the  mendicant  orders  retained  the  first  impulse  of  their 
popularity,  they  absorbed  into  their  several  fellowships  all  that  was 
most  vigorous  in  the  religious  and  intellectual  life  of  the  Church. 
Amidst  all  their  differences  and  jealousies,  they  had,  even  in  a  far 

1  The  votum  vitx  Quadragesimal  is,  which  interdicted,  besides  flesh  itself, 
fat,  butter,  cheese,  and  .ill  preparations  of  milk. 

2  For  an  account  of  them,  see  Chap.  XXI.  §  11. 

3  Eremitse.  S.  Avgusbinii  the  Bull  Licet  F.cclesiK.    (Ihiflv.  Rom.  No.  vi.) 

4  Servi  B.  Marue  Virginis.  They  were  recognized  by  John  XXI.  (in 
1277),  only  three  years  after  the  Council  of  Lyon,  and  by  Benedict  XI. 
in  1304.  The  tertiaries  of  the  three  lesser  orders  were  not  confirmed  till 
comparatively  late  :  the  Angustines  by  Boniface  IX.  (1401),  the  Servites 
by  Martin  V.  (1424),  the  Carmelites  by  Sixtus  IV.  (1476). 


Chap.  XXV.   THEIR  INFLUENCE  FOR  GOOD  AND  EVIL.  435 

higher  degree  than  the  whole  body  of  the  clergy,  the  power  of 
a  universal  bond  of  fraternity  with  one  another  and  with  the  old 
monastic  orders.  "  This  all-comprehending  fraternization  had  the 
power,  and  some  of  the  mystery,  without  the  suspicion  and  hatred, 
which  attaches  to  secret  societies.  It  was  a  perpetual  campaign, 
set  in  motion  and  still  moving  on  with  simultaneous  impulse  from 
one  or  from  several  centres,  but  with  a  single  aim  and  object,  the 
aggrandisement  of  the  Society,  with  all  its  results  for  evil  or  for 
good." 1 

Here  is  another  side  of  the  picture,  showing  the  burthen  they  im- 
posed on  all  classes  of  the  people,  to  be  one  day  repaid  by  disgust  and 
hatred  :-*-**  Besides  all  the  estates,  tithes,  oblations,  bequests,  to  the 
clergy  and  the  monasteries,  reckon  the  subsidies  in  kind  to  the 
Mendicants  in  their  four  Orders — Dominicans,  Franciscans,  Augus- 
tinians,  Carmelites.  In  every  country  of  Latin  Christendom,  of 
these  swarms  of  Friars,  the  lowest  obtained  sustenance  ;  the  higher, 
means  to  build  and  to  maiDtain  splendid  churches,  cloisters,  houses. 
All  of  these,  according  to  their  proper  theory,  ought  to  have  lived 
on  the  daily  dole  from  the  charitable,  bestowed  at  the  gate  of  the 
palace  or  castle,  of  the  cottage  or  hovel.  But  that  which  was  once 
an  act  of  charity  had  become  an  obligation.  Who  would  dare  to 
repel  a  holy  Mendicant  ?  The  wealth  of  the  Mendicants  was  now 
an  object  of  bitter  jealousy  to  the  Clergy  and  to  the  older  Monastic 
Orders.  They  were  a  vast  standing  army,  far  more  vast  than  any 
maintained  by  any  kingdom  in  Christendom,  at  once  levying  sub- 
sidies to  an  enormous  amount,  and  living  at  free  quarters  through- 
out the  land.  How  onerous,  how  odious,  they  had  become  in 
England,  may  be  seen  in  the  prose  of  Wycliffe,  and  in  the  poetry  of 
Piers  Ploughman."2 

§  12.  Somewhat  related  to  the  orders  of  friars  in  spirit  and  by  the 
accidents  of  their  history,  though  quite  distinct  and  much  earlier 
in  their  origin,  were  the  societies  of  Beguines  and  Beghards,  "  these 
male,  those  feminine  "  (to  use  Milton's  phrase).  The  origin  of  both 
names  is  involved  in  a  maze  of  doubt  and  guesses ; 3  and  we  only 

1  Milman,  Lat.  Christ,  vol.  ix.  p.  27-8. 

2  "  Later,  Speed,  from  the  Supplication  of  Beggars,  asserts,  as  demon- 
strated, that,  reckoning  that  every  householder  paid  the  five  Orders  five- 
pence  a  year  only,  the  sum  of  43,000/.  6s.  8d.  was  paid  them  by  the  year, 
besides  the  revenues  of  their  own  lands." — Ibid.  p.  25. 

3  Setting  aside  derivations  manifestly  absurd  or  historically  false,  the 
choice  lies  between  the  Low  German  beggen  or  beggeren,  to  "  beg "  or 
"pray"  (the  latter  meaning  being  somewhat  arbitrarily  chosen,  because 
the  former  does  not  suit  these  non-mendicant  societies),  and  the  name  of 
their  reputed  founder  at  Liege,  Lambert  le  Begues  or  le  Beghe.  Gieseler 
prefers  the  latter  as  having  an  historical  ground  ;  but,  even  so,  it  remains 


436  BEGUINES  AND  BEGHARDS.  Chap.  XXV. 

know  for  certain  that,  in  the  cities  of  Belgium,  there  grew  up  during 
the  12th  century  societies  of  pious  ladies,  called  Beguines  (Beguinas 
or  Begutx),  united  in  a  religious  life  and  charitable  labours,  under 
a  rule  which  simply  governed  their  devotions,  without  imposing 
monastic  vows  or  restraints.  So  far  from  at  first  adopting  the  men- 
dicant principle  (which,  indeed,  came  into  vogue  much  later),  they 
maintained  themselves  by  their  own  property  and  the  work  of  their 
hands — and  devoted  their  spare  income  and  earnings  to  the  poor, 
the  sick,  and  strangers,  for  whom  they  established  hospitals.1  Each 
society  lived  together  in  a  small  house  with  a  court,  called  a 
Beguinage  (Beginagium).  The  earliest  clear  historic  testimony 
respecting  them  is  in  the  traditions  of  Liege,  which  ascribed  their 
institution  to  a  priest  of  the  city,  named  Lambert  le  Beghe,  or 
le  Begues,  about  1180.  In  imitation  of  them,  other  societies  were 
formed  exclusively  of  high-born  ladies,  the  daughters  of  nobles  and 
knights,  who  lived  together  like  the  regular  canons,  and  called 
themselves  Secular  Canonesses  ; 2  but  they  also  were  sometimes 
popularly  called  Beguines.  They  were  free  to  quit  the  society  and 
marry.  Similar  societies  of  men  grew  up  under  the  name  of 
Beghards  or  Beguines3  whose  earliest  known  house  was  founded  at 
Louvain  in  1220.     These  sisterhoods  and  brotherhoods  had  spread 

doubtful  whether  Lambert's  designation  was  a  family  name  or  an  epithet 
descriptive  of  this  very  society.  Mr.  Algernon  Herbert  thinks  that 
Beguine  was  derived  from  Lambert's  surname,  and  Beghard  from  beggcn, 
and  that  the  names,  originally  independent,  were  afterwards  confounded 
{Brit.  Mig.  xviii.  131).  William  of  St.  Amour  cites  the  puns  rather  than 
derivations  of  Beguines  from  bt,nigtias  or  bono  igne  ignitx.  (See  further, 
Mosheim,  de  Beghardis  et  Beguinnbus,  Lips.  1780 ;  Gieseler,  vol.  iii. 
p.  263  f. ;   Robertson,  vol.  iii.  pp.  567-8.) 

1  Very  interesting  is  the  testimony  of  Robert  Grosseteste,  with  all  his 
admiration  for  the  Franciscans.  After  preaching  to  their  chapter  at 
Oxford  on  the  almost  heavenly  virtue  of  mendicancy,  he  freely  told  their 
minister,  William  of  Nottingham,  that  there  was  still  a  higher  grade  of 
holy  poverty — to  live  by  one's  own  labour:  *'unde  dixit  quod  Beginx  sunt 
perfectissimse  et  sanctissimse  religionis,  quia  vivunt  propriis  laboribus,  et 
non  onerant  exactionibus  mundum."     (Thomas  de  Eccleston,  p.  69.) 

2  Jacobus  de  Vitriaco  (cir.  1220),  Hist.  Orient,  et  Occident,  lib.  ii. 
c.  31  ;  Canonicas  sxculares  seu  Domicellas  appellant,  non  enim  Moriidles 
nominari  volunt."  He  speaks  of  them  as  abundant  in  Germany  and 
Brabant.  A  chronicler  of  the  15th  century  (Theodorus  Engelhusius) 
ascribes  to  Henry  I.  numerous  foundations  of  churches  in  Germany  with 
secular  canonesses,  expressly  in  order  to  provide  for  the  support  of  the 
daughters  of  nobles  slain  by  the  infidels  for  the  faith  of  Christ,  that  they 
might  not  be  driven  to  beg  ;  but  (as  Gieseler  observes)  this  reason  points 
to  the  time  of  the  Crusades.  St.  Louis  established  such  societies  of  noble 
but  impoverished  females  at  Paris  and  elsewhere,  who  were  called 
Beguines. 

3  Beghardi,  Beguini,  also  called  in -France  Boni  Pucri  or  Boni  Valeti. 


Chap.  XXV.  THEIR  LATER  HISTORY.  437 

so  rapidly,  Matthew  Paris  tells  us,  especially  in  Germany,  that,  by 
the  middle  of  the  13th  century,  there  were  in  and  about  the  one 
city  of  Cologne  2000  such  devotees  of  both  sexes,  but  principally 
women.1 

The  number  of  women  who  were  bereft  of  fathers  and  brothers 
by  the  Crusades  doubtless  furnished  one  motive  for  these  societies ; 
but  they  also  shared,  in  a  very  high  degree,  in  the  same  spirit  of 
religious  enthusiasm  which  produced  the  mendicant  orders.  From 
the  first,  whether  from  a  real  excess  of  feminine  exaltation,  or  from 
not  having  secured— as  the  friars  did — the  special  protection  of  the 
Papacy,  they  seem  to  have  been  regarded  with  suspicion,  which 
soon  passed  into  persecution.  They  therefore  sought  refuge  in  the 
tertiary  class  of  the  mendicant  orders.  From  this  arose  a  remark- 
able double  application  of  the  name.  On  the  one  hand,  it  was  used 
as  almost  equivalent  to  the  tertiaries  or  even  the  mendicant  orders 
themselves.  Thus  Bonaventura,  in  his  defence  against  William  of 
St.  Amour,  calls  the  Franciscan  tertiaries  simply  Beguinse,  ; 2  and 
the  assailant  veiled  his  attack  on  the  friars  under  the  pretence  that 
it  was  directed  against  "  Beghards  who  were  not  sanctioned  by  the 
Pope,"  and,  if  others  took  it  to  themselves,  that  was  their  affair. 
But  the  identification  was  more  especially  made  with  the  extreme 
Franciscan  zealots,  or  Fraticelli ;  and  the  confusion  of  names 
was  connected  with  a  real  change  in  the  character  of  those,  at 
least,  who  assumed  them,  so  that  the  once  honoured  appellations 
of  Beguine  and  Beghard  came  to  signify  vagabond  mendicants, 
tainted  more  or  less  with  heresy.3  This  was  especially  the  case  in 
Germauy  and  France,  where  decrees  were  issued  against  them  ; 
and  they  were  treated  with  severity  by  the  Popes  of  the  14th 
century.  But  orthodox  societies  of  Beghards  continued  to  exist ; 
and  in  1650  they  were  placed  by  Innocent  X.  under  the  authority 
of  the  Franciscan  tertiaries.  In  Belgium,  however,  where  the 
Beguine  societies  were  first  founded,  they  seem  to  have  escaped 
degeneracy,  and,  under  the  sanction  and  regulation  of  Popes  and 
councils,  they  have  lasted  to  the  present  day. 

1  M.  Paris,  s.  a.  1250,  p.  611. 

2  Lib.  Apolaget.  qu.  6 ;  for  other  examples,  see  Mosheim,  op.  cit.  A 
little  later  we  find  the  Beguins  and  Beghards  identified  with  the  female 
and  male  tertiaries  (fratres  ya"dentes)  of  the  Dominicans. 

3  As  early  as  1259,  the  Council  of  Mainz  issued  a  decree  against  the 
sect,  and  dress,  and  meetings  (convent icula)  of  the  Beghards.  This  use  of 
the  name  was  carried  back  in  so  general  a  way,  that  we  find  the  Albigenses 
called  Begnini,  and  the  name  applied  to  a  heretic  who  lived  in  1176.  (See 
Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  267.)  Among  other  sects  persecuted  as  heretics  were 
the  Brethren  of  the  Free  Spirit,  who  mingled  evangelical  principles  with 
Pantheism  and  licentious  practices.  For  their  tenets  and  history,  see 
Robertson,  iii.  569;  iv.  314-15. 

II— X 


Tomb  of  the  Venerable  Bede  :  in  the  Galilee  of  Durham  Cathedral. 

BOOK   V. 
ECCLESIASTICAL  LEARNING,  THE  UNIVER- 
SITIES, AND  SCHOLASTIC  THEOLOGY. 

Centuries  XI.-XV. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 
RETROSPECT  OF  CENTURIES  VI.-X. 

§  1.  The  Middle  and  "  Dark"  Ages — Decline  of  Learning  from  the  fall  of 
the  Western  Empire — Corruption  of  the  Latin  language  and  literature 


Chap.  XXVI.  THE  MIDDLE  AND  "DARK"  AGES.  439 

— Neglect  of  classical  writers  —  Meagie  course  of  education — The 
Trivium  and  Quadrivium.  §  2.  Twofold  preservation  of  Learning  by 
the  Church  :  the  copying  of  MSS.  and  continuity  of  Latin.  §  3.  The 
Episcopal  schools — Gregory  the  Great — Gaul  and  Britain — Schools  of 
King  Sigbert  and  Bishop  Felix — Greek  taught  by  Archbishop  Theodore 
and  Abbot  Hadrian.  §  4.  Learning  in  Northumbria  :  Wilfrith  and 
Benedict  Biscop — Monastic  Libraries  at  Wearmouth  and  Jarrow — Bede  : 
his  works:  knowledge  of  Greek.  §  5.  Archbishop  Egbert's  Library  and 
Schools  at  York — Alcuin,  the  tutor  and  educational  minister  of  Charles 
the  Great,  who  restores  the  cathedral  and  conventual  schools — 
Intellectual  state  of  Europe  in  the  9th  and  10th  centuries.  §  6.  John 
Scotus  Erigena  and  Gerbert  (Sylvester  II.),  precursors  of  science 
and  the  scholastic  learning — Erigena's  Rationalism  and  Pantheism — His 
Greek  learning — At  the  court  of  Charles  the  Bald — The  Palatine  school 
at  Paris — His  works — Neo-Platonism — Use  of  dialectic  reasoning — 
Charged  with  heterodoxy. 

§  1.  The  common  confusion,  by  which  the  Middle  and  Dark  Ages 
are  spoken  of  as  almost  synonymous,  requires  correction,  not  only  as 
concerns  the  time  spoken  of,  but  as  to  the  degrees  of  light  and  dark- 
ness diffused  throughout  the  period  under  review.  There  are  those 
who  write  and  speak  as  if  the  intellectual  splendour  of  antiquity,  and 
the  purer  light  of  primitive  Christianity,  were  together  and  all  at 
once  overwhelmed  by  the  clouds  of  barbarian  conquest  and  cor- 
rupted religion,  nay,  even  all  but  extinguished,  to  be  rekindled  by 
the  new  light  of  intellect  at  the  "  Renaissance  "  and  of  spiritual  life 
in  the  Reformation.  But  in  truth  the  darkness  was  neither  so 
absolute  nor  so  universal ;  and  a  careful  survey  of  the  period 
enables  us  to  trace  the  light  always  shining  behind  the  passing 
clouds,  and  here  and  there  breaking  through  them  on  some  favoured 
spot,  till  it  bursts  forth  again  over  the  states  of  Europe  and  the 
Latin  Church  in  great  power,  long  before  it  attains  what  we  now 
regard  as  its  purity.  The  epoch  of  this  marked  revival  is  fixed  with 
tolerable  precision  about  the  middle  of  the  11th  century  ;  but  it 
can  only  be  properly  seen  by  tracing  its  earlier  course  while  it  was 
struggling  through  the  darkness,  though  never  extinguished. 

It  is  the  part  of  the  historian  of  the  whole  period  to  trace  the 
decline  of  learning  and  civilization,  consequent  on  the  fall  of  the 
Roman  Empire,  in  the  descending  scale,  "  from  ignorance  to  super- 
stition, from  superstition  to  vice  and  lawlessness,  and  from  thence 
to  general  rudeness  and  poverty."1     The  great  overturning   and 

1  We  quote  these  words  from  Hallam,  with  the  special  view  of  direct- 
ing the  reader's  attention  to  the  concluding  chapter  of  his  View  of  the 
State  of  Europe  during  the  Middle  Ages,  in  which  (part  i.)  he  follows  this 
decline  during  six  centuries  (the  6th-llth),  and  then  (part  ii.)  pursues 
an   inverted    order   in  passing  along   the    ascending   scale    through  the 


440  DECLINE  OF  LATIN  LITERATURE.        Chap.  XXVI. 

reconstruction  of  civil  and  political  society  was  attended  by  a  com- 
plete revolution  in  language  itself— the  organ  of  all  intelligence. 
The  corruption  of  the  Latin  tongue,  and  the  formation  of  new 
languages  derived  from  it,  side  by  side  with  the  languages  of  the 
conquering  tribes  (for  the  most  part  Teutonic)  which  were  without 
a  literature,  would  have  been  the  utter  destruction  of  learning,  had 
it  not  ridden  out  the  deluge  in  the  Church,  which  in  this  respect 
also  justified  its  own  favourite  figure  of  the  Ark.1  Even  before  the 
deluge  of  barbarism  came  down  upon  the  empire,2  Latin  literature 
had  lost  its  life  with  the  decline  of  Rome's  old  supremacy  and 
religion ;  and,  after  the  fall  of  the  Western  Empire,  the  last  flash  of 
the  spirit  of  her  classic  writers  died  with  Boethius  (a.d.  524).  So 
long  as  heathenism  retained  any  power — and  we  have  seen  that  it 
died  much  harder  than  many  think— the  controversy  with  it  made 
the  study  of  the  old  pagan  writers  necessary  for  the  teachers  of 
Christianity;  and  their  supreme  value  in  training  the  mind  had 
been  recognized  by  the  greatest  of  the  Latin  Fathers.  But  the  dis- 
like of  profane  literature  gradually  prevailed  in  the  Church ; 3  and 
the  study  of  secular  literature  was  for  the  most  part  confined  to 
meagre  epitomes  of  general  history,  compiled  with  a  pious  purpose,4 
and  bald  treatises  on  the  elements  of  an  ecclesiastical  education. 
"  That  encyclopedic  method,  which  Heeren  observes  to  be  a  usual 
concomitant  of  declining  literature,  superseded  the  use  of  the  great 
ancient  writers,  with  whom  they  were  themselves  acquainted  only 
through  similar  productions  of  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries. 
Isidore  speaks  of  the  rhetorical  works  of  Cicero  and  Quintilian  as 
too  diffuse  to  be  read.     The  authorities  upon  which  they  founded 

remaining  four  centuries  (the  12th-15th)  "  under  three  principal  heads 
— the  wealth,  the  manners,  and  the  taste  or  learning  of  Europe."  See 
also  the  first  chapter  of  his  Literary  History  of  Europe. 

1  For  an  account  of  the  symbolical  use  of  the  Ark  of  Noah  as  a  type  of 
the  Church,  see  the  article  Ark  in  the  Diet,  of  Christian  Antiquities'. 

2  It  must  be  remembered  that  we  are  now  speaking  of  the  Western 
Empire  and  the  Latin  Church.  The  state  of  Greek  learning  in  the  East 
requires  separate  consideration. 

3  This  is  strongly  shown  in  Gregory  the  Great,  whose  time  may  be 
regarded  as  marking  the  epoch  from  which  the  Middle  Ages  begin 
(A.D.  600),  especially  from  the  ecclesiastical  point  of  view. 

4  The  chief  example  of  such  works,  written  with  a  view  to  trace  the 
Divine  working  in  the  whole  course  of  history,  is  the  Universal  History  of 
the  Spanish  presbyter  Paulus  Orosius,  the  disciple  and  friend  of  Augustine 
and  Jerome,  and  the  opponent  of  Pelagianism,  in  the  5th  century.  It  was 
chiefly  from  this  work,  which  bears  the  significant  title  of  Histortarian 
adcersis  Paq  mos  Libri  I'll.,  that  the  early  medieval  writers  took  what 
they  knew  of  ancient  history.  When  Bede,  for  example,  quotes  Caesar,  it 
is  through  Orosius. 


Cent.  VI.-X.       LEARNING  PRESERVED  BY  THE  CHURCH.         441 

their  scanty  course  of  Grammar,  Logic,  and  Rhetoric,  were  chiefly 
obscure  writers,  no  longer  extant ;  but  themselves  became  the 
oracles  of  the  succeeding  period,  wherein  the  Trivium  and  Quadri- 
vium,  a  course  of  seven  sciences,  introduced  in  the  6th  century, 
were  taught  from  their  jejune  treatises."1 

§  2.  In  spite  of  this  rejection  of  all  but  the  driest  bones  of  secular 
knowledge,  the  Church  played  a  twofold  part  in  preserving  the 
treasure,  nay  more,  the  living  germs,  to  be  hereafter  restored  to  full 
vitality  and  fruitfulness — the  living  germ  of  language,  the  treasure 
of  literature.  The  former  might  have  perished  in  the  wide  preva- 
lence of  the  unlettered  northern  dialects,  and  the  transformation  of 
Latin  into  the  Romance  languages:  the  latter  might  have  been 
sacrificed  (like  the  Alexandrine  library)  to  religious  zeal.  But 
Divine  Providence  had  ordered  both  events  otherwise.  We  have 
seen  that  the  monks  of  the  order  of  St.  Benedict  used  their  leisure 
in  collecting  and  copying  books,  as  to  the  nature  of  which  their 
founder  had  fortunately  been  silent.  Not  merely  the  mechanical 
habit  of  such  work,  but  doubtless,  in  many  cases,  the  love  of  learn- 
ing kept  alive  by  their  studies,  prevailed  over  narrow-minded  zeal ; 
and  while,  on  the  one  hand,  the  scarcity  of  writing  materials  caused 
the  sacrifice  of  many  a  classic  work  to  the  multiplication  of  religious 
treatises,2  a  more  enlightened  zeal  caused  the  continued  reproduction, 

1  Hallam,  Lit.  Hist.  vol.  i.  p.  3  (cab.  ed.  1879).  We  shall  have 
presently  to  recur  to  this  famous  classification  of  studies  into  the  threefold 
and  fourfold  course  (the  Latin  words  signify  literally  the  meeting  of  three 
roads  -<,  and  of  four  -f ).  The  lower  Irivium  comprised  Grammar, 
Logic  {Dialectics),  and  Rhetoric;  i.e.  the  laws  of  language,  its  use  in 
reasoning,  and  "its  power  and  ornament  for  discourse.  The  higher 
Quadrivium  consisted  of  Arithmetic,  Geometry,  Music,  and  Astronomy; 
but  in  a  sense  immensely  below  the  modern  significance  of  the  terms.  The 
seven  were  summed  up  in  the  following  rude  hexameter  couplet,  as  an  aid 
to  the  memory  (observe  the  false  quantity  Ged.) : — 

Gramm.  loquitur;  Dia.  vera  docet;  Rhet.  verba  colorat  : 
Mus.  eanit;  Ait.  numerat;  Geo.  ponderat ;  Ast.  colit  astra. 

2  It  is  perhaps  superfluous  to  remind  the  reader  that  some  works 
of  great  value  have  been  recovered  from  these  "palimpsest"  MSS. 
(ira\(fj.\\/r)(rTa,  "  scraped  over  again  "),  in  which  the  bold  characters  of  the 
original  writing  had  been  erased  (fortunately,  only  imperfectly),  for 
another  work  to  be  written  over  it.  A  signal  example  is  Cardinal  Mai's 
discovery  (in  the  Vatican,  1822)  of  Cicero's  long-lost  work  I)e  Republica 
(perhaps  the  most  ancient  classic  MS.  in  existence)  beneath  a  copy  of 
St.  Augustine's  Commentary  on  the  Psalms,  written  over  it  at  some  time 
before  the  7th  century.  The  scarcity  of  writing  materials  was  greatly 
aggravated  at  the  beginning  of  the  7th  century  by  the  Arab  conquest  of 
Egypt,  putting  a  stop  to  the  export  of  papyrus ;  and  the  naturally  limited 
supply  of  parchment  was  of  course  especially  restricted  in  times  of  public 
disorder  and  rapine. 


442  THE  EPISCOPAL  SCHOOLS.  Chap.  XXVI. 

as  well  as  the  preservation,  of  the  ancient  masterpieces.  Then,  as 
regards  the  language,  the  Latin  Vulgate  was  the  authorized  form  of 
the  Holy  Scriptures ;  the  works  of  the  Latin  Fathers  were  regarded 
with  only  less  reverence ;  the  decrees  of  councils  and  the  whole 
body  of  church  law  were  constantly  referred  to ;  the  Latin  liturgy 
was  in  daily  use ;  and  Latin  was  the  common  language  of  corre- 
spondence among  ecclesiastics.  Thus  its  living  continuity  was 
preserved,  ready  to  be  applied  at  any  moment  to  the  revived  study 
of  ancient  literature. 

§  3.  Nor  must  it  be  supposed  that  learning  was  preserved  only  in 
the  monasteries,  as  a  germ  of  future  life.  It  was  still  imparted  to  the 
young  by  their  pastors,  especially  in  those  episcopal  schools,  which 
became  the  successors  of  the  old  imperial  schools.  At  the  very 
beginning  of  the  "  Dark  Ages,"  we  have  a  signal  testimony  to  the 
care  of  Gregory  the  Great  for  children.  "He  instructed  the 
choristers  of  his  convent  himself  in  those  famous  chants  which  bear 
his  name.  The  book  from  which  he  taught  them,  the  couch  on 
which  he  reclined  during  the  lesson,  even  the  rod  with  which  he 
kept  the  boys  in  order,  were  long  preserved  at  Eome ;  and,  in 
memory  of  this  part  of  his  life,  a  children's  festival  was  held  on  his 
day  as  late  as  the  17th  century."1  The  episcopal  schools  were 
numerous  in  Gaul  ;  and  it  was  from  that  neighbouring  province,  as 
well  as  through  the  mission  sent  to  the  English  by  Gregory,  that 
our  island  became  for  a  time  the  chief  home  of  the  learning  that 
decayed  elsewhere,  and  the  source  from  which  it  was  returned  to 
the  Continent.  In  this  respect,  as  in  so  many  others  throughout 
our  history,  the  saying  was  verified,  that  "  Britain  is  a  world  by 
itself."  It  appears,  indeed,  though  amidst  obscurity  and  exaggerated 
pretensions,  that  much  of  the  old  learning  was  preserved  by  the 
ancient  British  Church,  especially  in  the  monasteries  of  Ireland,  to 
which  students  are  said  to  have  resorted  from  the  Continent,  return- 
ing thither  to  diffuse  the  light  they  had  received  ;  and  doubtless 
this  source  of  influence  was  combined  with  the  new  impulse  from 
the  south,  to  raise  the  kingdom  of  Northumbria  to  the  distinction  it 
enjoyed  in  the  7th  and  8th  centuries.  But  we  are  on  safer  ground 
of  positive  evidence  as  to  the  results  of  the  new  conversion  of  Eng- 
land in  diffusing  learning  as  well  as  religion.  The  safe  assumption, 
that  Augustine  would  not  neglect  to  train  the  children  of  his 
converts,  is  confirmed  by  an  interesting  testimony.  About  the 
year  629  or  630,  Sigbert  succeeded  to  the  kingdom  of  East  Anglia, 
returning  from  banishment  in  Gaul,  where  he  had  embraced  the 

1  Stanley,  Memorials  of  Canterbury,  p.  23 ;  on  the  authority  of  Lappen- 
berg,  vol.  i.  p.  130.     (Eng.  trans.) 


Cent.  VII.  LEARNING  IN  ENGLAND.— GREEK.  443 

Christian  faith.  He  is  described  by  Bede  as  not  only  a  most 
Christian  but  a  most  learned  man,1  who  made  it  his  first  care  to 
copy  the  good  institutions  he  had  seen  in  Gaul.  With  this  view, 
"he  founded  a  school  for  the  instruction  of  boys  in  letters;2 
assisted  by  Bishop  Felix,  who  had  come  to  him  from  Kent,  and 
who  provided  for  them  (the  boys)  pedagogues  and  masters  after  the 
manner  of  those  at  Canterbury."  Thus  this  record  of  the  first 
foundation  of  schools  in  East  Anglia  before  the  middle  of  the  7th 
century  testifies  also  to  their  previous  existence  in  Kent,  and  that 
in  such  vigour  that  Canterbury  was  able  to  supply  teachers  for — 
tradition  would  fain  fill  up  the  unknown  site  with  the  name  of 
Cambridge.3  The  intellectual  progress  of  England  was  aided  by 
another  element  besides  the  Latin  language  and  literature — less 
widely  diffused,  indeed,  but  preserving  still  purer  and  more  powerful 
germs  of  that  life,  which  (next  to  divine  truth)  has  been  the  chief 
vivifying  principle  of  literature  in  every  age.  To  the  Greek  language 
belongs  the  twofold  excellence,  above  every  other  subject  of  study  ; 
first,  of  having  been  the  organ  of  the  highest  thoughts  of  the  ancients, 
and  the  chief  source  from  which  all  later  literature  and  science  have 
drawn  both  in  spirit  and  in  form  ;  secondly,  and  supremely,  when 
it  is  asked  "  What  advantage  have  Greek  letters,  and  what  profit  is 
there  in  learning  them  " — the  ready  answer  is,  "  Much  every  way, 
chiefly  because  that  unto  them  were  committed  the  oracles  of  God." 
From  this  source  it  has  been  the  happiness  of  England,  twice  in  her 
long  history,  to  receive  a  new  impulse  of  intellectual  and  spiritual 
life.  But  many,  who  know  how  much  the  study  of  the  Greek 
Testament  and  the  spirit  of  Greek  literature  did  to  advance  the 
Reformation  in  the  16th  century,  are  unaware  of  the  like  seed 
which  was  sown  nine  centuries  earlier,  when  the  fellow-countryman 
of  St.  Paul,  Theodore  of  Tarsus,  arrived  as  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, bringing  with  him,  not  only  his  native  Greek  learning,  but  an 
eager  zeal  for  its  diffusion  (a.d.  668) ;  a  work  effected  the  better 
because  he  was  also  the  primate  who  first  united  the  English 
Church.4     He  was  powerfully  aided  by  his  companion  Hadrian, 

1  IF.  E.  ii.  15:  praise,  without  exaggerating  its  significance,  especially 
rare  for  a  layman  in  those  days.  2  H.  A.  iii.  18. 

3  The  claim  of  Cambridge  to  be  the  site  of  the  school,  which  really  was 
founded  by  Sigbert  in  East  Anglia,  is  at  all  events  less  purely  fictitious 
than  that  of  Alfred's  foundation  of  Oxford,  which  rests  on  the  spurious 
testimony  of  the  false  Ingulphus.  While  rejecting,  in  both  cases,  the 
traditional  antiquity  of  the  University,  properly  so  called,  we  must  not 
forget  that  the  Universities  arose  out  of  schools;  and  so  the  tradition  may 
be  truer  in  spirit  than  in  tart. 

4  See  Part  I.  Chap.  XIX.  §$  18-20.  See  also  Bede's  account  of  Theodore 
and  Hadrian  in  his  History  of  the  Abbots  of  Wearmouth  and  J  arrow  (§  3), 


444  LEARNING  IN  NORTHUMBRIA.  Chap.  XXVI. 

whom  he  made  Abbot  of  St.  Peter's,  Canterbury,  and  who,  whether 
a  native  Greek  or  not,  was  equally  familiar  with  Greek  learning. 
Of  these  two,  Bede *  says  :  "  Both  of  them  being,  as  we  have  said, 
abundantly  instructed  at  once  in  sacred  and  secular  letters,  they 
gathered  a  crowd  of  learners,  whose  hearts  were  daily  watered  with 
the  streams  of  saving  knowledge  (scientise  salutaris)  which  flowed 
from  them  ;  so  that,  besides  the  volumes  of  the  sacred  writings, 
they  also  imparted  to  their  hearers  instruction  in  the  metrical  art, 
astronomy,  and  ecclesiastical  arithmetic.2  The  proof  of  this  is  seen 
in  those  of  their  disciples  still  living,  ivho  know  the  Latin  and 
Greek  languages  as  well  as  their  own  native  tongue."  The  last 
words  are  not  only  a  signal  proof  of  the  widely  diffused  study  of 
Greek  as  well  as  Latin,  but,  taken  with  the  emphasis  which  Bede 
lays  on  the  secular  learning  of  Theodore  and  Hadrian,  they  prove  a 
wider  range  of  study  than  the  merely  religious  and  ecclesiastical 
use,  to  which  all  was  certainly  subordinate.  Nor  was  there  want- 
ing the  most  essential  element  of  an  enthusiastic  love  of  learning  in 
the  disciples.  "  Never  before,"  exclaims  Bede,  "  since  the  Anglians 
first  came  to  Britain,  were  there  happier  times ;  when  ....  all 
who  desired  to  be  instructed  in  sacred  lessons  had  masters  ready  to 
teach  them." 

§  4.  The  northern  kingdom,  whose  kings  had  now  for  some  time 
held  the  supremacy  of  Britain,  was  equally  well  prepared  to  receive 
the  new  impulse  of  learning.  Trained  in  the  old  Scottish 3  monastic 
schools,  the  princes  of  Northumbria  were  only  too  much  disposed  to 
study  instead  of  action,  and  to  lay  aside  the  crown  for  the  cowl. 
While  Wilfrith,  bishop  of  York,  rivalled  Theodore  in  love  of  learning, 
his  early  friend,  a  Northumbrian  named  Biscop  and,  by  his  conven- 
tual name,  Benedict,  returned  in  company  with  Theodore,  to  carry 
on  the  work  in  his  native  land.  After  two  years'  service  as  Abbot 
of  St.  Peter's  at  Canterbury,  he  made  a  third,  and  soon  after  a  fourth 
journey  to  Rome,  whence  he  brought  back  "  not  a  few  books  of  all 
divine  learning,  either  purchased,  or  given  to  him  by  friends ;"  4  for 
which    he   made  a  home  in  the  two  famous  Benedictine  abbeys, 

where  we  have  incidental  testimony  to  the  learning  cultivated  at  Can- 
terbury before  Theodore's  arrival.  *  H.  A.  iv.  I,  2. 

2  That  is,  the  ait  of  calculating  the  Church  seasons,  which  is  the  subject 
of  Bede's  own  work  Be  liatione  Temporum.  The  metricse  artis  doubtless 
refers  chiefly  to  hymnology  and  sacred  music. 

3  This  word  is  used  in  the  proper  sense  of  that  age,  for  the  ecclesiastical 
system  of  Ireland  and  Scotland,  which  hail  its  centre  at  Iona. 

1  Bede,  Hist.  Abbot.  Uyremuth.  et  Gyruucns.  §  4.  Presently  afterwards 
he  (alls  them  divina  volumina ;  and  th.it  this  does  not  mean  only  (in 
modern  phrase)  books  of  divinity,  is  clear  from  the  further  description 
(sj  5):  "quod  innumerabilem  iibroruin  omnis  generis  copiam  apportavit." 


Cent.  VII.,  VIII.        BISCOP,  BEDE,  AND  ALCUIN.  445 

which  he  founded  at  the  mouths  of  the  Wear  and  the  Tyne— St. 
Peter's  at  Wearmouth,  and  St.  Paul's  at  J  arrow — which  were  united 
under  Abbot  Ceolfrith  (684).  Biscop  is,  in  fact,  the  first  known 
medieval  founder  of  a  great  library ;  for,  as  Bede  says  further,  "  he 
strictly  enjoined,  that  the  most  noble  and  most  copious  library, 
which  he  had  brought  from  Rome,  necessary  for  the  instruction  of 
the  Church,  should  be  carefully  preserved  entire,  and  neither  spoilt 
through  negligence,  nor  dispersed." 

The  monasteries,  which  possessed  these  materials  for  study,  were 
also  Schools,  the  centre  of  that  learning  and  civilization  for  which 
Northumbria  now  became  famous,  not  only  above  the  rest  of  Eng- 
land, but  of  all  Europe.  The  most  distinguished  type  of  the  learn- 
ing they  fostered  is  seen  in  the  pupil  of  Abbot  Ceolfrith,  for  ever 
famed  as  the  Venerable  Bede.1  Of  his  great  Ecclesiastical 
History  of  England,  and  his  other  writings,  we  have  spoken  in  their 
place :  here  we  are  concerned  with  his  life-long  work  as  a  student 
and  a  teacher,  which  is  summed  up  in  his  own  simple  words,  "  I 
have  always  found  my  pleasure  in  learning,  or  teaching,  or  writing."2 
We  have  the  distinct  testimony  of  Bede  that  several  of  the  English 
ecclesiastics  knew  Greek,  and  the  clear  evidence  of  the  list  of  his 
works  that  he  himself  was  of  that  number.3  It  is  quite  true  that 
the  bulk  of  his  works  was  scriptural  and  religious  ;  but  his  "  Eccle- 
siastical History  of  the  English  Nation  (Gentis  Anglorum)  "  is  also 
a  secular  history ;  and  among  his  other  works  we  find  treatises  on 
grammar,  rhetoric,  the  metrical  art,  chronology  (with  some  refer- 
ence to  attronomy),  and  the  "nature  of  things."  The  studious 
monk,  in  his  cell  at  J  arrow,  courted  the  Muses,  not  only  in  hymns, 
but  in  "a  book  of  epigrams,  in  heroic  or  elegiac  metre."  These 
were  in  Latin ;  but  we  possess  a  fragment  of  a  hymn  in  the  ver- 
nacular, sung  upon  his  deathbed,  which  might  be  called  "  The 
Dying  Christian  to  his  Soul." 

§  5.  The  library  and  schools  founded  by  Biscop  were  soon  after- 
wards eclipsed  by  those  of  York,  which  owed  their  chief  fame  to  the 
labours  of  Archbishop  Egbert  (ob.  766),  supported  by  the  power  of 
his  brother,  King  Eadbert ;  and  the  very  year  of  Bede's  death  was 
probably  that  of  the  birth  of  Egbert's  pupil  Alcuin,4  whose  wider 

1  Bede  was  born  (probably,  for  the  exact  date  is  doubtful)  iu  672  or 
673.     He  died  in  735.     (Comp.  Part  I.  Chap.  XIX.  §  20,  pp.  516  f.). 

2  H.  E.  v.  25 :  "  Semper  aut  discere  aut  docere  aut  scribere  dulce 
habui." 

3  H.  E.  v.  24 :  "  Librum  vita?  et  passionis  sancti  Anastasii,  male  de 
Grseco  translatum,  et  pejus  a  quodam  imperito  emcndatum,  prout  potui,  ad 
sensum  correxi."  Here  we  have  Bede,  not  only  reading  Greek,  but 
criticizing  and  correcting  the  translations  of  two  predecessors. 

4  Alcuinr.s  is  the  Latin  form  of  the  English  name  Ealwine. 

II— X  2 


446  SCHOOLS  OF  CHARLES  THE  GREAT.      Chap.  XXVI. 

and  deeper  learning  outshone  the  diligence  of  the  monk  of  Jarrow. 
And  now  Britain  repaid  the  light  she  had  received  from  the 
Continent,  at  the  crisis  when  order  was  restored  to  Western  Europe 
by  the  supremacy  of  Chari.es  the  Great,  to  whom  Alcuin  became 
at  once  his  own  tutor  and  the  director  of  the  system  of  education 
which  Charles  established  throughout  his  dominions.  The  effect 
of  these  establishments  cannot  be  described  better  than  in  the  words 
of  Hallam:1  "The  cathedral  and  conventual  schools,  created  or 
restored  by  Charlemagne,  became  the  means  of  preserving  that 
small  portion  of  learning  which  continued  to  exist.  ...  It  was 
doubtless  a  fortunate  circumstance,  that  the  revolution  of  language 
had  now  gone  far  enough  to  render  Latin  unintelligible  without 
grammatical  instruction.  Alcuin,  and  others  who,  like  him,  endea- 
voured to  keep  ignorance  out  of  the  Church,  were  anxious,  we  are 
told,  to  restore  orthography,  or,  in  other  words,  to  prevent  the 
written  Latin  from  following  the  corruptions  of  speech.  They 
brought  back  also  some  knowledge  of  better  classical  authors  than 
had  been  in  use.  Alcuin's  own  poems  could  at  least  not  have  been 
written  by  one  unacquainted  with  Virgil ;  the  faults  are  numerous, 
but  the  style  is  not  always  inelegant ;  and  from  this  time,  though 
quotations  from  the  Latin  poets,  especially  Ovid  and  Virgil,  and 
sometimes  from  Cicero,  are  not  very  frequent,  they  occur  sufficiently 
to  show  that  manuscripts  had  been  brought  to  this  side  of  the  Alps. 
They  were,  however,  very  rare:  Italy  was  still  the  chief  depository 
of  ancient  writings ;  and  Gerbert  speaks  of  the  facility  of  obtaining 
them  in  that  country."  The  centre  of  intellectual  light  was 
now  shifted  from  Italy  and  England  to  Germany  and  France  (to 
use  the  latter  name  in  the  sense  which  it  was  just  about  to  assume). 
Amidst  the  weak  barbarism  of  the  later  Merovingian  kings,  all 
liberal  studies  had  come  to  an  end ; 2  but  the  schools  founded  by 
Charles  the  Great  flourished  even  amidst  the  contests  of  his  suc- 
cessors, and  were  especially  fostered  by  Louis  the  Pious,  Lothair, 
and  Charles  the  Bald.  Meanwhile  Northern  Italy  was  ravaged  by 
the  Lombards,  who  destroyed  the  libraries  and  closed  the  schools  ; 
the  Roman  States  were  darkened  by  the  lowest  degradation  of  the 
Papacy ;  and  England  was  devastated  by  the  Danes.  The  mighty 
efforts  of  Alfred  to  revive  learning  reveal  the  depth  of  ignorance  to 
which  he  testifies  even  among  the  clergy  ;  and  the  light  he  kindled 

1  Lit.  Hist,  of  Europe,  ch.  i.  §  9.  He  says  in  a  note  :  "  The  reader  may 
find  more  of  the  history  of  these  schools  in  a  little  treatise  by  Launoy, 
He  Scholis  Celebrioribtis  a  Car.  Mag.  et  post  Car.  Mag.  instcturatis." 

2  "Ante  ipsum  Carol  am  regem  in  Gallia  nullum  fuerat  studium 
liberalium  artium  "  is  the  testimony  of  a  monastic  writer,  quoted  by 
Hallam  (Lit.  Hist.  vol.  i.  p.  6)  from  Launoy,  De  Scholis  Celebrioribus. 


Cent.  IX.,  X.       INTELLECTUAL  STATE  OF  EUROPE.  447 

was  soon  again  partially  eclipsed  by  the  troubles  of  the  State,  and 
the  general  apathy  of  the  Saxon  clergy.  On  the  10th  century  in 
general,  Hallam  makes  the  following  discriminating  remarks :  "  The 
10th  century  used  to  be  reckoned  by  medieval  historians  the 
darkest  part  of  this  intellectual  night.  It  was  the  iron  age,  which 
they  vie  with  one  another  in  describing  as  lost  in  the  most  con- 
summate ignorance.  This,  however,  is  much  rather  applicable  to 
Italy  and  England,  than  to  France  and  Germany.  The  former  were 
both  in  a  deplorable  state  of  barbarism ;  and  there  are,  doubtless, 
abundant  proofs  of  ignorance  in  every  part  of  Europe.  But,  com- 
pared with  the  7th  and  8th  centuries,  the  10th  was  an  age  of  illu- 
mination in  France;  and  Meiners,  who  judged  the  Middle  Ages 
somewhat,  perhaps,  too  severely,  .  .  .  has  gone  so  far  as  to  say 
that,  'in  no  age,  perhaps,  did  Germany  possess  more  learned  and 
virtuous  churchmen  of  the  episcopal  order,  than  in  the  latter  half 
of  the  10th  and  the  beginning  of  the  11th  century.'1  Eichhorn 
points  out  indications  of  a  more  extensive  acquaintance  with  ancient 
writers  in  several  French  and  German  ecclesiastics  of  this  period. 
In  the  11th  century  this  continues  to  increase;  and  towards  its 
close  we  find  more  vigorous  and  extensive  attempts  at  throwing  off 
the  yoke  of  barbarous  ignorance,  and  either  retrieving  what  had 
been  lost  of  ancient  learning,  or  supplying  its  place  by  the  original 
powers  of  the  mind." 

§  6.  Tt  is  in  the  point  touched  by  the  last  words,  that  the  distin- 
guished historian  just  quoted  finds  the  first  half  of  the  medieval 
period  most  signally  deficient.  "  The  mere  ignorance  of  letters  has 
sometimes  been  a  little  exaggerated,  and  admits  of  certain  qualifica- 
tions ;  but  a  tameness  and  mediocrity,  a  servile  habit  of  merely 
compiling  from  others,  runs  through  the  writers  of  these  centuries. 
It  is  not  only  that  much  was  lost,  but  that  there  was  nothing  to 
compensate  for  it — nothing  of  original  genius  in  the  province  of 
imagination ; 2  and  but  two  extraordinary  men,  Scotus  Erigena 
and  Gerbert,  may  be  said  to  stand  out  from  the  crowd  in  literature 
and  philosophy."  These  two  great  lights  of  the  9th  and  10th 
centuries  are  in  truth  the  precursors  and  types  of  the  two  chief 
directions  which  were  to  be  taken  by  the  revival  of  learning  in  the 
12th,  and  between  which  intellectual  activity  has  ever  since  been 
divided  ;  and  both  also  bear  witness,  in  their  early  training,  to  the 
sources  of  knowledge  which  were  still  flowing  amidst  the  prevailing 

1  "  Vergleichung  der  Sitten,  ii.  384." 

2  Fair  as  may  be  this  judgment  of  the  mass  of  the  Latin  literature,  it  is 
certainly  qualified  by  our  better  knowledge  of  the  vernacular  literature 
of  the  times,  which  produced  the  Lay  of  Beowulf,  the  songs  inserted 
in  the  English  Chronicle  and  the  sublime  effusions  of  Caedmon. 


448  GERBERT  AND  ERIGENA.  Chap.  XXVI. 

ignorance.  Gerbert,  a  native  of  Auvergne,  brought  up  first  in  the 
schools  of  France,  then  learnt  in  Spain  the  mathematical  and 
physical  science  which  the  Arabs  had  derived  from  the  Greeks,  and 
were  now  beginning  to  restore  to  Europe ;  and  he  first  introduced 
this  science  into  the  French  schools.  The  reputation  of  witch- 
craft is  a  testimony,  characteristic  of  the  age,  to  the  man  who  may 
be  regarded  as  the  father  of  physical  studies  at  the  end  of  the  10th 
century.1    (Fie  died  in  a.d.  1003.) 

A  century  earlier,2  we  have  in  John  Scotus  Erigena  the  fore- 
runner of  the  wide  and  bold  range  into  which  study  and  thought 
were  breaking  forth  in  the  whole  range  of  literature,  and  especially 
in  philosophy  and  its  application  to  theology.  In  spirit,  if  not  in 
direct  succession,  he  is  justly  regarded  as  the  earliest  type  of  the 
medieval  schoolmen;3  and  indeed,  like  most  prophets  of  a  new 
system,  he  went  far  ahead  of  his  followers  in  that  which  was,  in 
one  word,  their  great  common  principle,  the  attempt  to  lay  the 
foundations  of  truth  and  knowledge  in  reason  and  not  only  in 
authority.  To  use  the  words  of  Milman : 4  "  Erigena  was  a  philo- 
sopher of  a  singularly  subtle  mind :  men  wondered  at  this  subtlety, 
which  was  so  high  above  the  general  train  of  popular  notions,  as  to 
command  universal  reverence  rather  than  suspicion.  But  he  had 
not  only  broken  the  bonds  of  Latin  Christianity ;  he  went  almost 
beyond  the  bounds  of  Christianity  itself.  The  philosopher  dwelt 
alone  in  his  transcendental  world ;  he  went  fathoming  on,  fearless 
and  unreproved,  in  the  very  abysses  of  human  thought ;  and,  it  is 
not  improbable,  had  followed  out  his  doctrines  into  that  theory,  at 
which  men  in  whom  the  rationalistic  faculty  prevails,  and  who  are 
still  under  the  influence  of  a  latent  religiousness,  so  often  arrive. 
He  had  wrought  out  a  vague  Pantheism,  singularly  anticipative  of 
that  which  in  its  various  forms  now  rules  in  modern  Germany.  .  .  . 
Erigena  is  in  one  sense  the  parent  of  scholasticism,  but  of  scholas- 
ticism as  a  free,  discursive,  speculative  science,  before  it  had  been 

1  See  further  respecting  Gerbert  (Pope  Sylvester  II.)  and  his  connec- 
tion with  the  Emperor  Otho  III.,  Fart  I.  Chap.  XXIII.  §§.  10-14. 

2  John  Scotus  Erigena  died  about  A.D.  880. 

3  Archbishop  Trench,  in  speaking  of  Anselm  as  the  founder  of  scholastic 
theology,  says  :  "  But  even  he  was  not  without  forerunners.  Thus,  not 
t<>  speak  of  Augustine,  a  forerunner  in  every  great  and  fruitful  movement 
of  the  after  ages,  there  was  a  very  wonderful  and  mysterious  apparition 
in  the  9th  century  of  a  profound  and  original  thinker,  JOHN  SCOTUS 
ERIGENA,  whose  very  name,  not  to  speak  of  so  much  else  about  him,  is  an 
unsolved  riddle  ;  and  whose  writings  on  their  better  side — for  there  was 
a  worse  and  pantheistic — anticipated  much  of  what  was  most  charac- 
teristic in  the  Schoolmen."    (Lectures  on  Medieval  Church  History,  p.  209.) 

4  Li  tin  Christianity,  vol.  iii.  p.  388. 


Cent.  IX.  ERIGENA'S  GREEK  LEARNING.  449 

bound  up  with  rigid  orthodoxy  by  Aquinas,  Bonaventura,  and  Duns 
Scotus." 

John's  distinctive  name  of  Scotus  (the  Scot),1  and  the  later 
epithet  of  Erigena,  form  another  testimony  to  the  survival  of 
sacred  learning  in  the  old  Scoto-Irish  church,  the  more  interesting 
from  the  fact  that  John  was  learned  in  Greek.2  He  appears,  indeed, 
to  have  been  better  versed  in  Greek  than  in  Latin  theology,  and  he 
leaned  to  the  Eastern  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Spirit's  procession,  if 
not  even  to  a  preference  for  the  claims  of  the  patriarchate  of  Con- 
stantinople above  Rome.  It  was  probably  between  840  and  84G 
that  he  went  to  the  court  of  Charles  the  Bald,  who  honoured  John 
the  Scot  above  all  the  learned  men  he  loved  to  gather  about  him, 
and  his  teaching  revived  the  reputation  of  the  Palatme  School  at 
Paris.  In  his  Latin  translation  of  the  Greek  works  falsely  ascribed 
to  Dionysius  the  Areopagite  (the  patron  Saint  Denys  of  France), 
which  had  been  sent  as  a  present  by  the  Emperor  Michael  I.  to 
Louis  the  Pious,  as  well  as  in  his  original  works,3  Erigena  showed 
that  love  of  Neo-Platonism,  which  places  him  more  in  sympathy 
with  the  later  mystics  than  with  the  Aristotelian  schoolmen ; 
though  he  professed  to  reverence  Aristotle  4  equally  with  Plato.     In 

1  The  epithet  Scotus,  though  applicable  to  the  Scots  who  had  crossed  to 
the  western  ishs  and  shores  of  the  present  Scotland,  usually  denoted  at 
this  time  and  still  later  a  native  of  Ireland  ;  and  such,  in  fact,  John 
appears  to  have  been  ;  for  his  contemporary,  Prudentius,  says  that  Ireland 
sent  John  to  Gaul  (  Be  Pras'iebt.  14,  in  Patrolog.  cxv.  1194).  The  epithet 
Erigena  (born  from  Erin),  afterwards  added  to  his  name,  would  therefore 
seem  mere  repetition;  but  in  the  oldest  MSS.  it  is  Lrugena,  which  Dr. 
Floss  {Patrol,  cxxii.  Prasf.  xix.)  derives  from  the  well-known  epithet  of 
Ireland  (lepbs  vijaos),  after  the  analogy  of  Grajugena  ;  and  Dr.  Christlieb 
(Joh.  Scot.  Frig.  16,  17)  approves  the  derivation,  which  would  make  the 
full  name  to  signify  "John  the  Scot  from  the  Sacred  Island."  See 
Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  313. 

2  Canon  Robertson  (/.  c.)  states,  on  the  authority  of  Christlieb  (p.  22), 
that  Greek  was  then  an  ordinary  branch  of  education  in  Ireland,  as  well 
as  in  Britain. 

3  The  most  remarkable  of  these  bore  a  Greek  title,  Tlepi  Qvcrewv  Mepttr- 
fiov  (Be  Bivisione  Naturae).  It  was  burnt  by  a  decree  of  Honorius  III.  hi 
1225,  and,  when  published  by  Gale  (Oxon/ 1681),  it  was  placed  in  the 
Roman  Index  Expurgatorius.  It  has  been  edited  again  by  Schruter, 
Munster,  1838.  Respecting  the  mystic  Pantheism  and  Angelology  of  this 
book,  see  Milman  (Lat.  Christ,  vol.  iv.  pp.  333-4),  who  quotes  the  saying 
of  Haureau,  that,  though  Erigena  "  left  no  direct  inheritor  of  his  doctrines, 
yet  he  will  always  have  the  fame  of  having  heralded  and  preceded  Bruno, 
Vanini,  Spinoza,  all  the  boldest  logicians  who  have  ever  wandered 
beneath  the  plane-groves  of  the  Academy."  (Haureau,  Be  la  Philosophic 
Scholastique — "an  admirable  treatise,"  says  Milman.) 

4  But  the  works  of  Aristotle  were  not  at  this  time  sufficiently  known 
in  Europe  for  him  to  have  been  familiar  with  them. 


450  ERIGENA'S  PANTHEISM.  Chap.  XXVI. 

the  two  great  controversies  which  agitated  the  Frank  Church, 
Erigena  played,  as  we  have  seen,1  a  powerful  part ;  on  the  one 
hand  opposing  the  growing  tendency  to  a  materialistic  view  of  the 
Real  Presence  in  the  Eucharist ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  he  sup- 
ported the  ruling  party  in  their  reaction  against  the  Augustinian 
doctrine  of  predestination,  with  arguments  that  were  deemed  as 
dangerous  as  the  heresies  of  Gottschalk  himself.  For,  while 
hitherto  every  controversy  had  been  argued  on  the  authority  of 
Scripture  and  the  Fathers,  John  brought  theological  questions  to 
the  test  of  dialectic  reasoning,  and  aspired  to  harmonize  philosophy 
with  religion,  declaring  them  in  their  highest  sense  to  be  the  same. 
He  was  the  first  to  apply  this  method — at  least  in  the  form  of 
sustained  argument 2 — to  high  speculations  on  the  Divine  Being,  in 
which  he  appears  (as  Milman  says),3  "not  by  remote  inference,  but 
plainly  and  manifestly,  a  Pantheist.  With  him,  God  is  all  things, 
all  things  are  God.  The  Creator  alone  truly  m;  the  Universe  is 
but  a  sublime  Theophany,  a  visible  manifestation  of  God.  He 
distinctly  asserts  the  eternity  of  the  Universe ;  his  dialectic  proof 
of  this  he  proclaims  to  be  irresistible.  Creation  could  not  have  been 
an  accident  of  the  Deity :  it  is  of  his  essence  to  be  a  cause.  All 
things  flow  from  the  infinite  abyss  of  the  Godhead,  and  are  re- 
absorbed into  it."  Perhaps  Milman  overrates  the  effect  of  Erigena's 
work  "  on  the  whole  ecclesiastic  system  and  on  the  popular  faith ; " 
for  he  was  eminently  a  man  before  his  age,  soaring  above  the 
thoughts  of  his  contemporaries.  Meanwhile  it  is  not  surprising 
that  his  mode  of  serving  the  Frank  Church  in  controversy 4  was 
rewarded  by  charges  of  Pelagianism,  Origenism,  and  other  heresies  ; 
and  that  Pope  Nicolas  I.  desired  Charles  the  Bald  to  send  Erigena 
to  clear  himself  from  these  charges  at  Rome,  or  at  least  to  dismiss 
him  from  Paris ;  but  it  seems,  though  we  know  nothing  for  certain 
of  John's  last  years,  that  he  was  protected  by  Charles  till  his  death 
about  a.d.  880.5 

1  See  Part  I.  Chap.  XXII.  §§  13,  17. 

2  Without  this  qualification,  we  might  seem  to  overlook  many  argu- 
mentative sayings,  from  St.  Paul  downwards  through  the  Fathers.  It 
was,  for  example,  from  Augustine  that  Erigena  derived  the  fundamental 
proposition,  "  cogito  ergo  sum,"  which  Des  Cartes  in  his  turn  derived 
from  Erigena.     See  Milman,  /.  c.  p.  333.  3  Milman,  I.  c.  pp.  332-3. 

4  His  lost  work  on  the  Kucharist  is  said  to  have  been  composed  by  the 
desire  of  Charles  the  Bald,  and  that  on  Predestination  was  written  at  the 
request  of  Archbishop  Hincmar. 

5  The  storv  that  he  fled  to  England  after  the  death  of  Charles  the 
Bald  (a.d.  884),  and  aided  Alfred  in  his  educational  work,  and  in  founding 
the  University  of  Oxford  (!),  has  been  explained  by  a  confusion  between 
him  ami  another  John,  a  learned  monk  of  Saxony.  See  Robertson, 
vol.  ii.  p.  312. 


ifflinilivTIIIiimM, 


Tomb  of  Charles  the  Great,  at  Aix-la-Chapelle. 

CHAPTEE  XXVII. 
RISE  OF  SCHOLASTIC  DIVINITY. 


FROM  LANFRANC  AND  BERENGAR  TO  ANSELM — SECOND  HALF  OF  CENT.  XI. 

§  1.  New  Modes  of  Thought  and  Study — Dialectics  in  Theological  Con- 
troversy— Sources  of  intellectual  awakening  within  the  Church,  as  well 
as  from  without — Connection  of  the  Crusades  and  Scholastic  Theology. 
§  2.  Real  Character  of  the  Schoolmen — Ignorant  contempt  for  thern 
— Testimonies  of  the  best  authorities  in  their  favour.  §  3.  Limits  of 
enquiry,  and  fatal  faults  of  Scholasticism ;  but  a  training  for  future 
freedom.  §  4.  Impulses  to  the  revival  of  learning  in  the  11th  century 
— Intercourse  with  the  Greeks — Study  of  the  Civil  Law.  §  5.  Study 
of  Aristotle  ;  at  first  as  brought  back  from  Arabia.  §  6.  Grscco- 
Arabian  philosophy,  both  direct  from  the  East,  and  from  the  schools  of 
Spain  into  Southern  France — AviCRNNA  and  AVERRHOES:  their  Com- 
mentaries on  Aristotle  received  as  his  works.  §  7.  The  Dialectic  works 
of  Aristotle  only  known  as  yet — Latin  translations  from  Arabic  and 
Greek — Their  influence  on  the  Church.  §  8.  Epoch  of  the  intellectual 
Revival — Lanfranc  and  Berengar — Dialectics  in  the  cathedral  schools. 
§  9.  Scholasticism  a  gradual  growth — ANSELM,  the  father  of  Systematic 
Theology — Faith  and  understanding  co-ordinate.  §  10.  Anselm's  a.  priori 
proof  of  the  existence  of  God — His  Cur  Deus  Homo  ? 


452  RISE  OF  SCHOLASTICISM.  Chap.  XXVII. 

§  1.  Tn  every  age  of  the  Church,  some  special  controversy  calls  into 
activity  the  new  modes  of  thought  which  have  long  been  ripening 
in  comparative  obscurity :  and  thus,  as  the  bold  genius  of  Erigena 
was  brought  into  play  by  the  controversies  with  Radbert  and  Gott- 
schalk,  so  in  the  revived  Eucharistic  dispute  just  two  centuries  later, 
we  have  already  seen  the  champions  using  the  weapons  of  dialectics.1 
When,  at  the  Roman  synod  of  1050,  about  the  teaching  of  Berengar, 
Leo  IX.  called  on  Lanfranc  to  prove  his  belief  "  rather  by  sacred 
authorities  than  by  arguments"  we  see  the  evidence  of  a  new  mode 
of  thought  and  study,  of  which  the  sources  have  to  be  traced. 
They  will  be  found  partly  in  the  Church  itself,  and  partly  in  the 
progress  of  the  world ;  but  we  have  a  strong  conviction  that  the 
philosophic  historians,  who  have  diligently  sought  out  these  causes, 
have  hardly  allowed  weight  enough  to  one  of  the  most  powerful — the 
spontaneous  love  of  learning  and  earnest  enquiry  after  truth,  which 
was  kept  in  unbroken  life  in  the  cloister  and  the  church  schools, 
and  which  sustained  the  quiet  studies  of  very  many,  of  whose 
spirit  we  have  the  more  conspicuous  examples  in  men  like  Bede 
and  Alcuin,  Erigena  and  Lanfranc,  all  of  whom  lived  before  the 
new  external  impulses  came  into  operation.  When  we  are  told  of 
the  influence  of  the  Crusades  in  stirring  the  mind  of  Europe  and 
pouring  new  light  upon  it  from  the  East,  we  recal  the  simple  fact, 
that  the  first  decided  symptoms  of  intellectual  quickening  were  a 
still  earlier  expression  of  religious  zeal.  In  the  act  of  writing  this, 
we  meet  with  these  admirable  words  of  Archbishop  Trench  : 2  "  The 
passion  for  the  Crusades  and  for  the  Scholastic  Theology  may  be 
regarded  severally  as  the  outer  and  the  inner  expression  of  one  and 
the  same  movement  in  the  heart  and  mind  of  Western  Christendom. 
There  were  as  adventurous  spirits,  as  chivalrous  hearts,  in  the 
cloister  as  in  the  camp.  These,  too,  will  not  be  content  until  they 
have  grasped — not  by  faith  alone,  but  with  every  faculty  of  their 
being,  and  therefore  intellectually  no  less  than  morally  and  spirit- 
ually— that  entire  body  of  truth  taught  by  Christ  and  by  His 
Church.  WThat  they  have  taken  upon  trust,  upon  the  Church's 
word,  they  avouch  that  they  have  so  taken  in  the  fullest  assurance 
that  it  would  justify  itself  to  the  reason  as  well.  And  that  it 
could  so  justify  itself  throughout,  that  the  auctoritates  and  the 
rationes,  as  severally  they  were  called,  were  in  perfect  harmony 
with  each  other,  the  Schoolmen  made  it  their  task  and  their 
business  to  show." 

§  2.  We  cannot  refrain  from  extending  the  quotation  to  the  arch- 
bishop's admirable  definition  of  the  Schoolmen  and  their  character. 

1  See  above,  pp.  316,  323. 

2  Lectures  on  Medieval  Church  History,  Lect.  xiw  p.  201. 


Chap.  XXVII.        WHO  WERE  THE  SCHOOLMEN  ?  453 

"  But  the  Schoolmen — what  exactly  do  we  mean  when  we  speak  of 
these?  Who  were  they  ?  What  did  they  propose  to  themselves? 
Were  they  worthy  of  praise  or  blame  ?  of  admiration  or  contempt  ? 
The  name,  which  oftentimes  implies  and  reveals  so  much,  does  not 
materially  assist  us  here.  A  scholasticus l  in  medieval  Latin  might 
be  a  teacher,  or  he  might  be  a  learner ;  all  which  the  word  affirms 
is,  that  it  has  something  to  do  with  schools.  We  must  then  look 
further  for  an  explanation  of  what  the  schoolmen  were,  and  what 
they  intended.  Persons,  some  will  reply,  who  occupied  themselves 
with  questions  like  this,  How  many  angels  could  dance  at  the  same 
instant  on  the  point  of  a  needle  f  or  with  others  of  the  same  cha- 
racter. Totally  uninformed  of  the  conditions,  moral  and  intellectual, 
of  Western  Christendom,  which  gave  birth  to  these  schoolmen,  and 
which  at  the  same  time  left  room  for  no  other  birth,  never  having 
read  a  line  of  their  writings,  they  have  no  hesitation  in  passing  their 
judgment  of  contempt  upon  them.  Thus,  if  Albert  the  Great  is 
named,  their  ignorance  about  him  may  be  complete;  they  may 
never  so  much  as  have  seen  the  outsides  of  the  twenty-one  huge 
folio  volumes  which  contain  his  works  ;  but  they  will  not  let  him 
pass  without  an  observation  of  gratuitous  contempt,  to  the  effect 
that  there  was  nothing  great  about  him  but  his  name. 

"  This  contempt,  it  is  worth  remarking,  is  very  far  from  being 
shared  by  the  more  illustrious  thinkers  of  the  modern  world — not, 
for  example,  by  Hegel,  or  Alexander  von  Humboldt;  the  latter 
characterizing  the  disquisitions  of  this  same  unfortunate  Albertus 
on  the  subjects  with  which  he,  Humboldt,  was  chiefly  conversant, 
as  '  admirable  beyond  expression,  for  the  period  in  which  he  lived ;' 
while  Von  Raumer  declares,  under  like  reservations,  that  '  he  might 
be  called  the  Aristotle  or  Leibnitz  of  his  age.'  '  To  the  Schoolmen,' 
says  Sir  William  Hamilton,  '  the  vulgar  languages  are  principally 

1  The  word  (TxoKacrriKos  has,  however,  a  curious  history,  like  others 
which  Dr.  Trench  has  traced  with  well-known  skill  in  another  work  {The 
Study  of  11  ords).  It  is  a  remarkable  illustration  of  the  absurdity  of 
seeking  all  the  actual  meaning  0f  words  in  their  original  sense,  that  school 
is  the  Greek  word  (<rxoKT))  signifying  leisure,  rest,  ease;  not,  however,  as 
excluding  all  occupation,  but  in  contrast  to  ordinary  business.  Where 
freemen  were  proprietors,  and  manual  work  was  mostly  performed 
by  slaves,  the  right  occupation  of  the  leisure  thus  enjoyed  was  one 
chief  object  of  life  (to  (TxoAd^ii/  k  a  Aces,  in  opposition  to  that  ax°^i 
idleness,  which  is  called  repirvbu  kclkov  by  the  same  poet  who  describes 
a  special  call  for  attention  as  <rx°^vs  epyov);  and  among  these  objects 
the  word  was  specially  appropriated  to  study  and  instruction.  At  the 
same  time,  the  word  retained  also  the  bad  side  «>t'  its  meaning  ;  aud  (rxoAoo-- 
tik6s  signifies  at  once  a  scholar  in  the  highest  sense,  and  a  pedant  and 
tritier,  and  even  the  proverbial  simpletons,  whose  absurdities  enlivened 
our  old-fashioned  Greek  school-books. 


454  CHARACTER  OF  THE  SCHOOLMEN.        Chap.  XXVII. 

indebted  for  what  precision  and  analytic  subtlety  they  possess.' 
And  only  a  few  years  ago  one  lost  too  early  to  the  English  Church 
wrote  as  follows : — '  Through  two  eventful  centuries,  which  wit- 
nessed, as  they  passed,  the  formation  of  nationalities,  the  establish- 
ment of  representative  government,  the  birth  of  vernacular  literature, 
and  the  grand  climacteric  of  ecclesiastical  power,  the  philosophy  of 
the  Schools  held  on  its  way,  not  only  commanding  with  an  undis- 
puted sway  the  intellect  of  those  restless  times,  but  elaborating  its 
system,  extending  its  influence,  and  drawing  into  its  service  some 
of  the  highest  minds  that  the  Christian  world  has  produced.  For 
two  centuries  longer,  though  spent  in  vital  energy,  it  continued  to 
rule  on,  till  with  the  15th  century  came  the  resistless  onslaught, 
which,  with  the  revival  of  classical  letters,  broke  for  ever  the  spell 
of  its  dominion.' "  (Shirley.) * 

§  3.  Those  who  delight  to  represent  the  progress  of  knowledge  as 
a  perpetual  conflict  with  religion,  may  here  learn  that  this  great 
intellectual  movement  had  its  origin  within  the  Church  itself.  It 
was  by  no  fault  of  the  encpiirers  after  truth  that  their  studies  were 
confined  (though  not  quite  so  exclusively  as  is  commonly  stated) 
within  the  narrow  bounds  of  one  field  of  knowledge,  though  that 
was  at  once  the  most  profound  and  most  sublime  of  all ; 2  and  the 
limited  space  within  which  they  exercised  their  "  sharp  and  wits 
and  abundance  of  leisure " — to  use  Bacon's  phrase — furnished 
probably  the  best  training  for  taking  sure  possession  of  the  vast 

1  This  passage  forms  part  of  a  most  instructive  discussion  of  the 
Schoolmen,  especially  in  their  relation  to  Wyclif,  in  Mr.  Shirley's 
Preface  to  the  Fasciculi  Zizaniarum,  1858,  Rolls  Series.  To  these  names 
Dr.  Trench  is  able  to  add  that  of  Coleridge  from  his  own  recollection 
of  a  conversation,  or  rather  discourse,  on  the  intellectual  greatness  of  the 
Schoolmen,  from  whom  Coleridge  said  that  a  larger  amount  of  profit 
might  even  now  be  gotten  than  from  the  Fathers:  "The  manner  in 
which  Aquinas  had  met,  as  by  anticipation,  nearly  all  the  later  assaults 
on  the  miracles,  and  the  greatness  of  the  speculative  genius  of  our 
English  Ockham,  with  the  perilous  lines  on  which  his  speculation  was 
travelling  at  the  last,  were  the  special  subjects  of  his  discourse." 

2  Fuller's  quaint  comparison  (quoted  by  Dr.  Trench)  has  acquired 
much  more  force  in  our  own  day:  "As  such  who  live  in  London  and  like 
populous  places,  having  but  little  ground  for  their  foundations  to  build 
houses  on,  may  be  said  to  enlarge  the  breadth  of  their  houses  in  height, 
...  so  the  Schoolmen  in  this  age,  lacking  the  latitude  of  general 
learning  and  languages,  thought  to  enlarge  their  active  minds  by  mount- 
ing up  ;  "  and  though  he  justly  describes  their  "  towering  speculations  " 
as  "  some  of  things  mystical  that  might  not — more  of  things  difficult  that 
could  not — most  of  things  curious  that  need  not  be  known  to  us," — even 
such  exercise  of  the  faculties  may  have  had  a  profit  which  will  bear  com- 
parison with  the  "  diluted  omniscience  "  and  agnostic  philosophy  of  our 
own  age. 


Chap.  XXVII.  LIMITS  OF  FREE  ENQUIRY.  455 

realms  of  science  which  were  soon  to  be  laid  open  for  their  suc- 
cessors. And,  while  this  narrow  range  of  matter  concentrated  their 
powers,  it  was  probably  no  disadvantage  in  the  long  run — as  is 
confirmed  by  such  exceptions  as  Erigena  and  Abelard — that  the 
licence  of  speculation  was  curbed,  till  such  time  as  wider  and 
sounder  knowledge  justified  the  use  of  greater  freedom,  by  a  sense 
of  fidelity  to  the  received  truth.  "  It  was  the  how  and  the  why, 
never  the  what,  of  the  Church's  teaching,  which  the  Schoolmen 
undertook  to  discuss.  Doctores  they  claimed  to  be,  not  Patres  ;  not, 
as  fathers,  productive ;  not  professing  to  bring  out  of  their  treasures 
things  new,  but  only  to  justify  and  establish  things  old." x  We  may 
use  their  very  name  as  suggestive  of  their  position  in  the  march  of 
intellectual  progress :  for  their  work  was  like  the  proper  business  of 
the  School,  which  is  not  to  inform  the  pupil's  mind  with  encyclo- 
paedic learning,  but  to  train  his  powers  for  every  future  special  use, 
by  exercise  within  the  narrow  range  of  learning  prescribed  by  the 
general  consent  of  all,  as  concerned  with  truths  already  established 
and  most  necessary  to  be  known.  And,  as  the  real  fruits  of  such 
training  are  lasting,  after  the  subject-matter  of  its  exercise  may 
have  been  forgotten  or  even  have  become  obsolete,  so  has  the 
historic  place  of  the  Schoolmen  survived  the  fall 2  to  which  their 
system  of  philosophic  theology  was  doomed  by  its  inherent  defects, 
of  which  the  fatal  one  was  this,  "  that  the  medieval  Schoolmen 
started  with  the  assumption,  that  all  which  the  Church  in  their 
own  day  held  and  taught,  all  the  accretions  and  additions  to  the 
pure  faith  of  Christ  which  in  successive  ages  had  attached  them- 
selves to  it,  formed  a  part  of  the  original  truth  once  delivered,  or 
had  become  no  less  sacred  than  that  was,  and  were  as  such  to  be 
justified  and  defended." 

But  with  all  this  profound  submission  to  the  authority  of  the 
Church,  the  Schoolmen  themselves,  in  the  whole  principles  and 
processes  of  their  intellectual  activity  in  its  service,  were  uncon- 
sciously vindicating  and  preparing  the  coming  age  of  emancipation 
from  the  bonds  which  they  still  consented  to  wear.  This  character 
of  their  work  is  well  described  by  Dean  Milman 3 : — "  It  was  an  extra- 
ordinary fact  that,  in  such  an  age,  when  Latin  Christianity  might 

1  Trench,  loc.  cit.  p.  206.  See  all  of  what  follows  (partly  quoted  above), 
comparing  the  failure  of  these  intellectual  knights  of  Christianity  to  that 
of  the  Crusaders. 

2  This  is  of  course  written  from  onr  point  of  view.  In  the  Church  of 
Rome  the  scholastic  theology  still  reigns  supreme,  and  Pope  Leo  XIII. 
has  prescribed  the  full  and  faithful  teaching  of  the  Summa  Theologize  of 
Thomas  Aquinas  as  the  panacea  for  the  errors  of  these  evil  times. 

3  History  of  Latin  Christianity,  vol.  ix.  p.  151. 


456  TRAINING  FOR  FUTURE  FREEDOM.       Chap.  XXVII. 

seem  at  the  height  of  its  medieval  splendour  and  power,  the  age  of 
chivalry,  of  cathedral  and  monastic  architecture,  of  poetry  in  its 
romantic  and  religious  forms,  so  many  powerful  intellects  should  be 
incessantly  busy  with  the  metaphysics  of  religion ;  religion,  not  as 
taught  by  authority,  but  religion  under  philosophic  guidance,  with 
the  aid — they  might  presume  to  say  with  the  servile,  the  compul- 
sory aid — of  the  pagan  Aristotle  and  the  Mohammedan  Arabs,  but 
still  with  Aristotle  and  the  Arabians  admitted  to  the  honour  of  a 
hearing ;  not  regarded  as  odious,  impious,  and  godless,  but  listened 
to  with  respect,  discussed  with  freedom,  refuted  with  confessed 
difficulty.  With  all  its  seeming  outward  submission  to  authority, 
Scholasticism  at  last  was  a  tacit  universal  insurrection  against 
authority ;  it  was  the  swelling  of  the  ocean  before  the  storm ;  it 
began  to  assign  bounds  to  that  which  had  been  the  universal  all- 
embracing  domain  of  Theology.  It  was  a  sign  of  the  reawakening 
life  of  the  human  mind,  that  Theologians  dared,  that  they  thought 
it  their  privilege,  that  it  became  a  duty,  to  philosophize.  There 
was  vast  waste  of  intellectual  labour ;  but  still  it  was  intellectual 
labour.  Perhaps  at  no  time  in  the  history  of  man  have  so  many 
minds,  and  those  minds  of  great  vigour  and  acuteness,  been 
employed  on  subjects  almost  purely  speculative.  Truth  was  the 
object  of  research ;  truth,  it  is  true,  fenced  about  by  the  strong 
walls  of  authority  and  tradition,  but  still  the  ultimate  remote  object. 
Though  it  was  but  a  trammelled  reluctant  liberty,  liberty  which 
locked  again  its  own  broken  fetters,  still  it  could  not  but  keep 
alive  and  perpetuate  the  desire  of  more  perfect,  more  absolute 
emancipation.    Philosophy,  once  heard,  could  not  be  put  to  silence." 

§  4.  We  have  already  insisted  that  the  root  of  this  spirit  of  enquiry 
into  truth  for  its  own  sake  was  silently  germinating  and  gathering 
strength  in  the  aspirations  and  labours  of  great  men  who  were  in 
advance  of  their  age,  in  the  quiet  studies  of  the  cloister,  and  in  the 
practical  teaching  of  the  schools  attached  to  cathedrals  as  well  as 
monasteries.  And  when  the  foundation  of  Universities  is  named  as 
one  of  the  chief  causes  of  the  new  intellectual  movement,  it  is  too 
often  forgotten  that  the  name,  which  is  thus  invoked  as  a  sort  of 
magic  spell,  is  merely  the  formal  seal  set  by  competent  authority 
on  a  voluntary  society  of  teachers  and  students,  which  was  thus 
recognized  then,  and  only  then,  when  it  had  grown  up  into  vigorous 
life  through  the  ability  and  fame  of  the  teachers  and  the  sponta- 
neous love  of  learning  in  the  students.1 

But  if  the  light  and  love  of  learning  lived  on,  obscured  though 


1  The    origin    and    early    history    of   the    Universities    is    treated    in 
Chap.  XXIX. 


Cent.  XI.      IMPULSES  TO  THE  REVIVAL  OF  LEARNING.  457 

not  extinguished,  through  the  worst  period  of  the  "  dark  ages,"  a 
number  of  impulses  combined  to  revive  it  at  the  epoch  already 
indicated,  about  the  middle  of  the  11th  century.  The  renewed 
intercourse  with  the  Greek  Empire,  brought  about  by  the  Othos  in 
the  10th  century,  was  bearing  its  fruit  in  a  new  infusion  of 
Greek  learning  into  the  West.  The  ideal  of  a  Roman  Empire,  and 
the  growing  spirit  of  freedom  in  the  Italian  cities,  combined  to 
revive  that  study  of  the  Roman  Civil  Law,  which  found  its  chief 
seats  in  the  cities  of  Lombardy,  and  soon  afterwards  created  the 
world-wide  fame  of  the  University  of  Bologna.1  Not  only  was  this 
a  secular  study,  competing  for  attention  with  the  courses  of  the 
church  schools,  but  it  had  a  great  attraction  for  ecclesiastics.  Peter 
Damiani  complains  to  Alexander  II.2  of  the  whirl  of  mundane 
learning  in  which  the  rulers  of  the  Church  were  involved,  neglect- 
ing the  eloquence  of  the  Scriptures  for  the  subtilties  of  laws  and 
forensic  disputes.  By  such  studies  Lanfranc  sharpened  the  dialectic 
weapons  wThich  he  was  one  of  the  first  to  wield  in  theological 
controversy. 

§  5.  The  influence  which  is  usually  regarded  as  most  potent  in  de- 
termining the  character  of  scholastic  literature,  is  the  revived  know- 
ledge of  Aristotle,  followed  by  a  high  reverence  for  his  authority. 
But,  in  estimating  this  influence,  both  as  a  question  of  character 
and  time,  we  must  be  careful  to  observe  certain  distinctions  which 
are  often  confounded  under  the  great  name  of  the  Greek  philosopher. 
We  must  distinguish  between  the  use  of  his  dialectic  method  and 
the  adoption  of  his  metaphysical  system  ;  and  also  between  the 
philosophy  which  was  really  Aristotelian,  and  that  which,  under 
the  authority  of  his  name,  was  mixed  with  the  speculations  of  the 
Arabian  translators  and  commentators,  through  whom  his  writings 
became  first  generally  known  throughout  Latin  Christendom.  The 
circuit  by  which  ancient  Greek  learning  was  poured  into  medieval 
Europe  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  subjects  in  the  intellectual 
history  of  man.  "As  to  the  sea  returning  rivers  roll/'  having  col- 
lected their  waters  from  the  vapours  first  dissipated  in  mid-air,  and 
then  condensed  in  remote  regions, — so  the  Greek  science,  which, 
after  flourishing  for  ages  in  Western  Asia,  Egypt,  and  North  Africa, 

1  Here  is  one  of  the  cases  in  which  the  uncertain  origin  of  a  famous 
school  must  not  be  confounded  with  the  formal  constitution  of  the  uni- 
versity. We  have  other  clear  proofs,  besides  the  cases  of  Lanfranc  and 
Vacarius,  of  the  study  of  civil  law  at  Bologna  and  other  cities  of  North 
Italy  in  the  11th  century;  but  the  first  formal  grant  of  privileges  to 
Bologna  was  made  by  Frederick  Barbarossa  in  1158;  and  it  does  not 
appear  to  have  been  fully  constituted  a  university,  with  a  rector  and 
governing  body,  till  towards  the  end  of  the  12th  century. 

2  Epist.  15.*    (Between  a.d.  1061  and  1072.) 


458  ARISTOTLE  FROM  ARABIAN  SOURCES.      Chap.  XXVII. 

seemed  doomed  to  destruction  by  the  illiterate  fanaticism  of  the 
Mohammedan  conquerors,  asserted  the  proverbial  power  of  know- 
ledge over  mere  force,  and  the  Arab  succumbed  as  the  Roman  had 
of  old  when,  "  Grrecia  capta  ferum  victorem  cepit."  The  process 
is  described  in  the  eloquent  words  of  Dean  Milman :  "  The  Ara- 
bians, in  their  own  country,  in  their  free  wild  life,  breathing  the 
desert  air,  ever  on  horseback,  had  few  diseases,  or  only  diseases 
peculiar  to  their  habits.  With  the  luxuries,  the  repose,  the  in- 
dolence, the  residence  in  great  cities,  the  richer  diet  of  civilization, 
they  could  not  avoid  the  maladies  of  civilization.  They  were 
obliged  to  call  in  native  science  to  their  aid.  As  in  their  buildings, 
their  coinage,  and  their  handicraft  works,  they  employed  Greek 
or  Syrian  art,  so  medicine  wras  introduced  and  cultivated  among 
them  by  Syrians,  Greeks,  and  Jews.  They  received  those  useful 
strangers,  not  only  with  tolerant  respect,  but  with  high  and  grate- 
ful honour.  The  strangers  brought  with  them, — not  only  their 
medical  treatises,  the  works  of  H ippocrates  and  Galen,  and  besides 
these  the  Alexandrian  astronomy,  which  developed  itself  in  the 
general  Asiatic  mind  into  astrology — but  at  length  also,  and  by 
degrees,  the  whole  Greek  philosophy,  the  Neo-Platonism  of  Alex- 
andria, and  the  Aristotelian  dialectics  of  Greece." 

§  6.  It  would  carry  us  too  far  beside  our  subject  to  trace  the  two- 
fold growth  of  this  Gra?co- Arabian  philosophy,  under  the  Abbaside 
caliphs  in  the  East,  and  under  the  Ommiads  in  Spain,  where  great 
schools  grew  up  at  Cordova,  Granada,  Seville,  Toledo,  and  other 
cities.  What  concerns  us  is  the  effect  of  its  propagation  from  both 
those  quarters  into  Western  Christendom.  Here  also,  the  earlier 
stages  of  the  process  are  involved  in  obscurity :  its  silent  working 
is  only  traced  when  the  fruit  begins  to  mature,  as  we  have  seen 
already  in  the  10th  century,  in  the  Arab  learning  brought  by 
Gerbert  from  Spain  into  the  schools  of  France — a  case  doubtless 
representative  of  others  less  conspicuous.  When  this  influence 
assumes  a  positive  literary  form,  we  can  trace  it  chiefly  to  the 
works  of  two  Arabian  philosophers,  representatives  of  the  Eastern 
and  Western  schools,  who  are  commonly  mentioned  together, 
though  they  lived  a  century  and  a  half  apart.  Both  were 
physicians;  and  both  were  led  through  physical  science  to  the 
profound  study  and  further  development  of  the  whole  system  of 
Aristotle's  philosophy. 

A  vice  xn  a,1   born  near  Bokhara,  a.d.   980,  died  at  Hamadan, 

1  This  is  the  Latin  form,  through  the  Hebrew  Abcn-Sina,  of  his 
Arabian  patronymic  H.n-Sina;  his  full  name  being  Abu  Ali  Al-Ifossein 
fbn-Abdalldh  Ibn-Sina,  with  the  honorary  epithets  of  Al-Sheikh  ("the 
doctor"),  and  Al-Rayis  (-'the  chief"). 


Cent.  X.-XII.  AVICENNA  AND  AVERRHOES  459 

a.d.  1037,  having  served  the  sovereigns  of  Bokhara  and  Persia  as 
minister  and  physician.  His  education  embraced  the  whole  com- 
pass of  Mohammedan  theology,  Hindoo  arithmetic  and  algebra, 
Greek  mathematics  and  physics,  logic  and  philosophy ;  and, 
besides  his  "  Canon "  of  Medicine,  which  was  long  the  highest 
authority  in  Europe  as  well  as  the  East,  he  wrote  a  Commentary 
on  Aristotle's  Metaphysics,  which  was  translated  into  Latin  by 
Gerard  of  Cremona  at  Toledo. 

Averrhoes  x  was  born  at  Cordova,  as  is  commonly  said  in  1149, 
but  probably  much  earlier  in  the  century ;  as  he  is  said  to  have 
been  very  old  at  his  death,  1198.  He  succeeded  his  father  as  chief 
mufti  of  Andalusia,  and  afterwards  held  the  same  office  in 
Morocco,  where  he  was  deposed  for  a  time  on  a  charge  of  heresy,  but 
again  restored  to  his  post.  An  indefatigable  student  of  the  whole 
range  of  Arabian  learning  and  philosophy,  he  was  especially  devoted 
to  Aristotle,  several  of  whose  works  he  translated,  and  wrote  com- 
mentaries on  them,  as  well  as  on  the  Republic  of  Plato.  But  in 
reproducing  the  Aristotelian  philosophy,  he  mixed  up  what 
belonged  to  the  master  himself  with  the  views  of  his  commentators, 
Ammonius,  Themistius,  and  others  ;  and  it  was  this  compound, 
mingled  further  with  the  speculations  of  the  Arabian  philosophers 
themselves,  that  was  received  by  the  schoolmen  as  the  system  of 
Aristotle,  before  they  learned  better  from  the  original  Greek. 

§  7.  The  influence  of  Aristotle  on  Latin  Christendom  through  these 
channels  belongs  to  the  second  stage  of  Scholasticism,  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  12th  century  and  throughout  the  13th ;  but  his  fame 
and  an  imperfect  knowledge  of  his  dialectic  system  had  never 
ceased  to  be  preserved  and  honoured.  The  question,  how  and 
through  what  channels  Aristotle  rose  to  his  ascendancy,  is  answered 
as  follows  by  Dean  Milman : 2  "  During  all  the  earlier  period,  from 

1  This  is  a  curious  corruption  of  his  patronymic  Tbn-Rosh,  his  full  name 
being  Abut-  Walid  Mohammed  Ibn-Ahmed  Ibn-Mohammed  Ibn-Rosh. 

2  Lot.  Christ,  vol.  ix.  p.  Ill;  where  the  following  general  conclusions 
are  cited  as  having  been  determined  by  M.  Jourdain  (Rechcrchcs  sur  VAge 
et  VOrigine  des  Traductions  Latines  a'Aristote,  Paris,  18-13): — "I.  That 
the  only  works  of  Aristotle  known  in  the  West  until  the  12th  century 
were  the  treatises  on  Logic,  which  compose  the  Organon.  (The  Analytics, 
T< pics,  and  Sophistic  /refutations,  are  more  rarely  cited.)  II.  That  frdm 
the  date  of  the  following  century  the  other  parts  of  his  philosophy  were 
translated  into  Latin.  III.  That  of  these  translations,  some  were  from 
the  Greek,  some  from  an  Arabic  text."  These  last  retain  internal  evidence 
of  their  Arabic  source :  they  came  partly  from  Spain  and  the  south  of 
France,  partly  from  Sicily,  where  Frederic  II.  fostered  Arabic  Learning; 
and  it  was  under  his  auspices  that  the  famous  Michael  Scott  translated 
the  books  on  Natural  History.  Some  came  from  Arabic  through  Hebrew, 
the  fruit  of  the  great  Jewish  philosophic  school  of  Aben-Ezra,  Maimonides, 


460  EPOCH  OF  REVIVAL.  Chap.  XXVII. 

Anselm  and  Abelard  to  the  time  of  Albert  the  Great,  from  the 
11th  to  the  13th  centuries,  the  name  of  Aristotle  was  great  and 
authoritative  in  the  West,  but  it  was  only  as  the  teacher  of  Logic, 
as  the  master  of  Dialectics.  Even  this  logic,  which  may  be  traced 
in  the  darkest  times,  was  chiefly  known  in  a  secondary  form, 
through  Augustine,  Boethius,  and  the  Isagoge  of  Porphyry  ;  at  the 
utmost,  the  treatises  which  form  the  Organon,  and  not  the  whole 
of  these,  were  known  in  the  Church.  It  was  as  dangerously  pro- 
ficient in  the  Aristotelian  logic,  as  daring  to  submit  Theology  to 
the  rules  of  Dialectics,  that  Abelard  excited  the  jealous  apprehen- 
sions of  St.  Bernard.1  Throughout  the  intermediate  period,  to 
Gilbert  de  la  Porree,  to  the  ISt.  Victors,  to  John  of  Salisbury,  to 
Alain  de  Lille,  to  Adelard  of  Bath  [in  the  12th  century],  Aristotle 
was  the  logician  and  no  more.2  Of  his  Morals,  his  Metaphysics,  his 
Physics,  his  Natural  History,  there  is  no  knowledge  whatever. 
His  fame  as  a  great  universal  philosopher  hardly  lived,  or  lived 
only  in  obscure  and  doubtful  tradition."  The  commotion  produced 
by  his  new  revelation  in  this  character,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
13th  century,  will  claim  our  attention  presently. 

§  8.  Reverting  to  the  origin  of  the  Scholastic  Philosophy  and 
Theology,  we  repeat  that,  instead  of  being  created  suddenly  by 
external  impulses  rousing  the  intellect  from  the  deathlike  sleep 
of  the  dark  ages,  it  rather  emerges  from  the  obscurity  as  a  living 
growth,  which  had  been  long  maturing  in  the  church  schools,  and 
which  new  intellectual  forces  now  perfected,  and  the  more  settled 
political  state  of  Europe  fostered.3  The  epoch  at  which  the  revival 
assumes  the  special  character  now  under  consideration — the  middle 
of  the  eleventh  century — was  also,  as  we  have  seen,  that  which 
marks  the  beginning  of  the  new  style  of  medieval  church  archi- 
tecture. The  most  conspicuous  name  connected  with  the  new 
movement  is,  as  we  have  said,  that  of  Lanfranc,  to  whom  an 

and  Kimchi,  contemporary  with  the  later  Arab  school  of  Spain.  "  Among 
the  earliest  translations  from  the  Greek  was  the  Nicomachean  Ethics,  by 
no  less  a  person  than  Robert  Grosseteste,  bishop  of  Lincoln"  (f  1253). 
"The  greater  Thomas  Aquinas  has  the  merit  of  having  encouraged  and 
obtained  a  complete  translation  of  the  works  of  Aristotle  directly  from 
the  Greek."     (Rid.  p.  115.) 

1  See  the  following  Chapter.  The  terms  in  which  Abelard  confesses 
his  ignorance  of  the  Phi/sics  and  Metaphysics  show  that  those  works 
were  not  yet  translated  into  Latin,  and  only  known  by  name: — "Qua 
quidem  opera  ipsius  nullus  ailhuc  translata  linguae  Latinae  aptavit ; 
ideoque  minus  natura  eorum  nobis  est  cognita."      Op.  hied.  p.  200. 

2  "The  name  of  Aristotle  is  not  to  be  found  in  Peter  the  Lombard. 
Jourdain,  29." 

3  The  Emperor  Henry  III.  (a.d.  1039-1056)  was  a  great  patron  of 
learning. 


A.D.  1050.    CATHEDRAL  SCHOOLS:  LANFRANC,  BERENGAR.      461 

admiring  disciple  distinctly  attributes  the  revival  of  the  liberal  arts.1 
But  this  very  eulogy  is  given  in  a  connection  which  implies  that 
Lanfranc  was  not  a  light  suddenly  kindled  in  the  midst  of  darkness ; 
fur  Guitmund  represents  Berengar  as  practising  the  same  dialectic 
art  in  which  Lanfranc  surpassed  him.  In  claiming  for  Lanfranc  an 
equality  of  the  highest  learning  with  Berengar,  he  bears  witness  to 
the  standard  already  reached  in  one  of  the  French  schools  (doubtless 
a  type  of  others)  ;  and  the  spirit  of  scholastic  rivalry  is  already  s«  > 
keen,  that  Berengar's  defeat  in  the  dialectic  duel  forms  the  motive 
imputed  to  him  (justly  or  unjustly)  for  taking  up  the  new  weapons 
of  heresy  against  Lanfranc.  This  critical  example  proves  the  truth 
of  Dean  Milman's  account  of  the  progress  already  made  towards  the 
methods  of  Scholasticism  in  the  cathedral  and  monastic  schools  of 
this  period2 : — "In  these  schools,  the  parents  of  our  modern  V di- 
versities, the  thought,  which  had  been  brooded  over  and  perhaps 
suppressed  in  the  silence  of  the  cloister,  found  an  opportunity  of 
suggesting  itself  for  discussion,  of  commanding  a  willing,  often 
a  numerous  auditory ;  and  was  quickened  by  the  collision  of 
adverse  opinion.  The  recluse  and  meditative  philosopher  became 
a  teacher.  Dialectics,  the  science  of  Logic,  was  one  of  the  highest, 
if  not  the  highest,  intellectual  study.  It  was  part  of  the  Quadri- 
vium,  the  more  advanced  and  perfect  stage  of  public  education ; 
and,  under  the  specious  form  of  dialectic  exercises,  the  gravest 
questions  of  divinity  became  subjects  of  debate." 

§  9.  From  this  point  of  view,  the  Scholastic  Theology  must  be 
regarded  as  a  gradual  growth  rather  than  a  sudden  step,3  "  and  its 
precise  nature  varies  with  the  character  of  every  chief  doctor  of  the 
science.    One  of  its  noblest  types  is  seen  in  Anselm,4  who  is  generallv 

1  It  is  important  to  observe  the  connection  of  the  passage,  in  which 
Guitmund  says  of  Berengar  :  "  Postquam  a  dom.  Lanfranco  in  dialectica  de 
re  satis  parva  turpiter  est  confusus,  cumque  per  ipsum  d.  Lanfrancum, 
virum  seque  doctissimum,  liberates  artes  Deus  recalesrere  atque  optime 
reviviscere  fecisset :  desertum  se  iste  a  discipulis  dolens,  ad  eructanda 
impudenter  divinarum  Scripturarum  Sacramenta  sese  convertit."  (/<? 
Corp.  ct  Sanguine  Ckristi,  ap.  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  399.) 

2  Hist,  of  Led.  Christ,  vol.  iv.  p.  335. 

3  Hence  the  various  dates  assigned  to  its  origin  by  historians  of 
philosophy,  some  carrying  it  back  to  Erigena  in  the  9th  century  (who 
can,  however,  only  be  regarded  as  its  precursor);  while  others  apply  it 
only  to  the  great  schoolmen  of  the  13th  century,  beginning  with 
Alexander  of  Hales  (ob.  1245).  But  the  most  proper  epoch  seems  to  be 
that  marked  by  the  controversies  that  arose  towards  the  end  of  the 
11th  century,  namely,  that  between  Roscellin  and  Anselm  about  Nominal- 
ism and  Realism,  followed  by  that  between  Abelard  and  Bernard. 

4  Born  about  1033,  succeeded  Lanfranc  as  prior  and  master  of  the 
school  at  Bee,  1063,  became  abbot  in  1078,  on  the  death  of  Herlinus  tho 

II— Y 


462  ANSELM,  FATHER  OF  SCHOLASTICISM.     Chap.  XXVIII. 

regarded  as  the  founder  of  the  system ;  "  the  real  parent  of  medieval 
theology — of  that  theology  which,  at  the  same  time  that  it  lets  loose 
the  reason,  reins  it  with  a  strong  hand ;"  *  but  he  deserves  the  higher 
title  of  the  father  of  modern  Systematic  Theology.  He  has  been 
called  the  Augustine  of  the  Middle  Ages,  a  name  which  Archbishop 
Trench 2  pronounces  to  have  a  special  fitness,  "  for  in  him,  as  in 
Augustine,  there  met  an  eminent  dialectic  dexterity  and  subtilty  of 
intellect,  with  the  profoundest  humility,  the  most  ardent  piety,  and 
the  most  absolute  affiance  of  the  merits  and  righteousness  of  Christ." 
An  Italian,  like  Lanfranc,3  he  was  first  his  pupil,  and  afterwards  his 
successor,  in  the  school  which  Lanfranc  had  raised  to  renown  at 
Bee.  But  in  Anselm  the  controversial  spirit  was  subjected  to  the 
desire  for  truth,  and  the  dialectic  method  was  valued  only  as  the 
instrument  by  which  reason  was  made  the  ally  of  revealed  religion. 
Here  is  the  great  distinction — the  direct  antagonism  between  the 
Rationalism  of  John  Scotus  Erigena  and  the  rational  Theology  of 
Anselm.  The  former  taught  that  philosophy  was  theoretic  religion, 
and  religion  practical  philosophy,  in  a  sense  which  seems  hardly  to 
have  left  any  room  for  that  Revelation,  the  belief  of  which  was, 
with  the  latter,  the  foundation  to  be  confirmed  and  built  upon  by 
reason.4  He  followed  Augustine  in  taking  as  a  general  principle 
the  words  of  the  prophet :  "  If  ye  will  not  believe,  surely  ye  shall 
not  be  established  ;"  5  and  his  maxim  was,  "  I  do  not  ask  to  under- 
stand in  order  to  believe,  but  1  believe,  in  order  that  I  may 
understand."  That  which  was  at  first  received  by  faith,  under  the 
guidance  of  God,  was  afterwards  so  understood,  by  His  illumina- 
tion, that,  even  if  we  wished  to  disbelieve  His  existence,  the  under- 
standing would  make  such  an  attempt  impossible.6     But  that  this 

founder  of  the  monastery,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  1093;  died  1109. 
See  above,  Chap.  III.  §  16.  l  Milman,  Lot.  Christ,  vol.  ix.  p.  103. 

2  Medieval  Church  History,  p.  209. 

3  But  we  must  not  overlook  the  important  distinction  between  the 
learned  city  of  Pavia,  in  Lombardy,  the  native  place  of  Lanfranc,  and 
the  simpler  and  ruder  birthplace  of  Anselm,  at  Aosta,  amidst  the 
mountains  of  Piedmont.  Besides  the  original  authorities  and  modern 
church  historians,  there  are  two  important  works  on  Anselm  by  Charles 
de  Remusat  (Paris,  1853),  and  Dean  Church  (Lond.  1870).  We  have 
an  original  Life  of  Anselm  by  his  disciple  Eadmer,  a  monk  of  Canterbury. 
His  works  are  in  the  Benedictine  edition  of  Gerberon  (Par.  1675  and 
1721). 

4  The  reader  should  bear  in  mind  throughout  the  twofold  use  of  this 
word ;  for  what  the  metaphysicians  call  the  "  pure  reason,"  and  the 
process  of  reasoning,  or  understanding.  The  latter  is  chiefly  its  sense 
in  the  present  connection.  5  Isaiah  vii.  9. 

6  Proslog.  1.  But  it  should  be  observed  that  this  is  said  especially 
of  the  existence  of  God.     We    are  not  aware  that  Anselm  anywhere  goes 


A.D.  1100.  HIS  DEDUCTIVE  THEOLOGY.  463 

faith  and  understanding  were  to  be  co-ordinate  bases  of  truth, — 
not  antagonistic  principles,  of  which  one  must  succumb  to  the 
other — he  made  clear  by  such  words  as  the  following : — "  As  the 
right  order  demands  that  we  believe  the  deep  things  of  the  Christian 
faith,  before  we  presume  to  discuss  them  by  reason,  so  it  appears  to 
me  to  be  a  piece  of  negligence  if,  after  we  are  confirmed  in  the 
faith,  we  do  not  endeavour  also  to  understand  what  we  believe." 

§  10.  Here  we  see  that  the  proof  of  the  perfect  agreement  between 
reason  and  revelation  is,  with  Anselm,  no  mere  scholastic  exercise, 
but  a  Christian  duty  which  truth  imposes  on  the  believer.  In  the 
discharge  of  that  duty,  Anselm  made  of  reason  the  highest  demand 
that  has  ever  been  required  of  it,  the  a  priori  proof  of  the  existence 
of  God  himself.1  The  intellect  of  man,  created  in  the  image  of  God, 
bears  its  own  witness  to  his  Creator.  From  Augustine's  famous, 
Cogito,  ergo  sum,  Anselm  advanced  to  the  next  step, — "  The  idea 
of  God  in  the  mind  of  man  is  the  one  unanswerable  evidence  of  the 
existence  of  God."  2  Thus  he  is  the  true  parent  of  the  deductive 
branch  of  Natural  Theology.  This  position  is  the  foundation 
from  which  he  argues  out  the  whole  doctrine  of  man's  redemption 
through  the  perfect  atonement  made  for  sin  by  the  incarnate  Son 
of  God,  giving  to  Augustine's3  view  of  the  teaching  of  St.  Paul  the 
form  in  which  it  became  a  part  of  systematic  theology.  His  chain 
of  reasoning  is  briefly  as  follows  :  In  man's  consciousness  of  his 
own  existence  is  of  necessity  involved  his  consciousness  of  the 
being  of  God  :  in  his  sense  of  the  love  of  God,  his  own  immortality 
and  eternal  bliss  :  but  this  pure  religion  and  destiny,  lost  through 
sin,  could  only  be  restored  through  the  vicarious  sacrifice  made  by 
the  death  of  the  Divine  Man.  This  argument — set  forth  in  his 
tractate,  Cur  Deus  homo  ? — fixed  in  the  theology  of  the  Church 
that  view  of  the  Atonement,  which  regards  the  death  of  Christ  as 
a  perfect  satisfaction,  due  to  the  righteousness  of  God  for  all  the 
sins  of  that  human  nature  in  which  He  bore  the  penalty  of  death.4 

so  far  as  to  say  that  theological  doctrines  in  general  must  be  first  believed 
and  then  understood. 

1  For  a  full  elaboration  of  the  argument,  see  the  celebrated  Boyle 
Lectures  of  Dr.  Samuel  Clarke,  on  The  Being  and  Attributes  of  God  and 
The  Evidences  of  Natural  and  Revealed  Religion,  1704-5. 

2  In  his  Monologium  et  Proslogium,  on  the  Trinity  and  the  Incarnation 
of  Christ. 

3  How  closely  he  proposed  to  follow  the  authority  of  Scripture  and 
St.  Augustine,  he  tells  us  in  a  letter  to  Lanfranc  (Epist.  i.  68)  about  his 
Monologium. 

4  This  is  not  a  work  of  systematic  or  controversial  divinity  ;  but,  in 
speaking  of  this  view,  historically,  as  Anselm's  form  of  the  doctrine  of 
Augustine,  it  is  not  implied  that  it  is  anything  different  from  the  teaching 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  Word  of  God,  especially  in  St.  Paul's  Epistles." 


Vezelay — where  St.  Bernard  preached  the  Second  Crusade. 

CHAPTER  XX VEIL 

FIRST  AGE  OF  SCHOLASTICISM. 


REALISM    AND     NOMINALISM  :     ROSCELLIN,    ABELARD,    AND    ST.    BERNARD. 
THE  VICTORINES  AND  PETER  LOMBARD.       FIRST  HALF  OF  CENT.  XII. 

§  1.  The  old  and  perpetual  dispute  between  Realists  and  Nominalists — 
Its  bearing  on  Theology.  §  2.  Roscellin,  ch;impion  of  Nominalism, 
concerning  the  Trinity — Opposed  by  Anselm,and  condemned  at  Soissons. 
§  3.  William  of  Champeaux,  and  his  pupil  Peter  Abelard — Their 
friendship  and  rivalry.  §  4.  Abelard  in  the  school  of  Anselm  of  Laon — 
His  Lectures  on  Ezekiel — Great  success  at  Paris.  §  5.  Abelard  and 
Heloisa — Abelard  at  St.  Denys — His  rationalistic  teaching.  §  6.  His 
Introduction  to  Theolojy — He  is  denounced  by  Roscellin  and  others ; 
and  condemned  at  Soissons — He  retires  from  St.  Denys,  and  founds  the 
Paraclete.  §  7.  Opposition  of  Norbert  and  Bernard.  §  8.  Abelard 
abbot  of  St.  Gildas — His  reforms  embroil  him  with  his  monks — Letters 
of  Abelard  and  Heloisa,  now  abbess  of  the  Paraclete — The  History  of 
his  Misfortunes.  §  9.  Return  to  Paris — Lectures  at  Mt.  St.  Genevieve — 
Character  of  his  teaching.  §  10.  His  famous  work  Sic  et  Non,  compared 
with  the  Questions  of  the  later  Schoolmen.  §  11.  Bernard's  last  and 
decisive  attack — Abelard  condemned  at  Sens — Sentence  of  Innocent  II. 
§  12.  Abelard's  final  retreat  at  Clugny — His  Apology  for  his  Faith — 
His  character  by  the  Venerable  Peter — His  death,  and  place  in  Theology. 
§  13.  Gilbert  de  la  Porree— His  contest  with  Bernard.  §  14.  The 
Scholastic  Mysticism  of  the  Victorine  School — William  of  Champeaux — 
Hugh,  Richard,  and  Walter,  of  St.  Victor — Opposition  to  the  dialectic 


Chap.  XXVIII.  REALISM  AND  NOMINALISM.  465 

method.  §  15.  John  of  Salisbury  on  the  scholastic  tendencies  of  the 
age.  §  16.  Neglect  of  the  Scriptures — Mystical  and  manifold  interpre- 
tation— Positives,  Scholastics,  and  Sententiaries.  §  17.  Hubert  Pulleyn, 
the  first  compiler  of  Sentences.  §  18.  Peter  Lombard,  the  "Master 
of  Sentences  " — His  Four  Books  of  Sentences  contrasted  with  Abelard's 
Sic  et  Son.  §  19.  Charges  against  Peter  Lombard — The  Sentences  the 
Manual  of  Scholastic  Theology — Neglect  of  Scripture.  §  20.  Canon 
Law  summarized  in  Gratian's  Decretum—  Civil  Law  at  the  University 
of  Bologna — The  Decretals  of  Gregory  IX.  and  Boniface  VIII. 

§  1.  In  Anselm  philosophy  is  always  subordinate  to  religion  ;  and 
he  followed  the  study  of  Divine  truth  in  the  cloister  rather  than  in 
the  discussions  of  the  Schools.  He  only  entered  on  controversy  in 
defence  of  theological  doctrine  impugned  by  a  philosophy  which 
was  taught  in  the  true  spirit  of  scholastic  disputation  by  his 
contemporary  Roscellin.  It  is  this  revival  of  the  old  controversy 
between  the  Platonic  and  Aristotelian  philosophies  concerning  the 
existence  of  universal  ideas,  under  the  respective  titles  of  Realism 
and  Nominalism,  that  marks  the  opening  epoch  of  Scholasticism  in 
that  philosophic  aspect  Avhich  was,  however,  only  subordinate  to  its 
theological  applications. 

The  full  statement  of  this  great  dispute,  which  has  divided  the 
ancient  philosophers,  the  medieval  Schoolmen,  and  modern  meta- 
physicians, ever  since  men  studied  the  operations  of  their  own 
minds,  must  be  left  to  special  works  on  philosophy,  and  only 
touched  on  here  so  far  as  is  needful  for  the  understanding  of  its 
essential  bearing  on  the  philosophic  theology  of  the  Church.  It 
springs  out  of  the  necessary  classification  of  particular  things  under 
general  heads,  called  Universals^  expressed  by  common  names;  such 
as  individual  men  under  the  generic  idea  and  name  of  man,  true 
words  and  righteous  acts  under  truth  and  righteousness.  Are 
then  these  Universals  mere  abstract  names  invented  for  the  pur- 
pose of  classification,  or  have  they  a  real  existence,  as  the  arche- 
typal patterns  of  the  individual  things,  like  the  ideas  of  Plato's 
philosophy  ?  The  Realist  maintains  the  latter  position,  the  Nomi- 
nalist  the  former,  and  their  several  positions  are  summed  up  in  the 
respective  formula}  of  the  Realist,  that  Universals  are  before 
particulars,  of  the  Nominalist,  that  Universals  are  subsequent  to 
particulars.1 

1  "  Universal ia  post  rem  was  the  position  of  the  Nominalist :  Universalia 
ante  rem  was  that  of  the  Realist.  These  last  sometimes  advanced  so  far  to 
meet  their  opponents,  as  to  admit  this  statement,  Universalia  in  re,  which 
was  the  reconciling  via  media  of  the  Aristotelians;  even  as  Aquinas 
claimed  for  universals  no  more  than  an  immaterial  existence."  (Trench, 
whose  whole  exposition  of  the  subject  is  excellent,  Med.  Ch.  Hist.  p.  271  f.) 


466  R0SCELL1N,  THE  NOMINALIST.        Chap.  XXVIII. 

§  2.  Neither  of  these  philosophic  theories  is  inconsistent  with  the 
most  spiritual  views  of  God  and  His  relations  to  creation  and 
mankind  ;  but  such  views  have  certainly  a  more  natural  association 
with  the  one  than  with  the  other.  "  A  Nominalist  need  not  be 
a  Materialist ;  though  this  and  other  charges,  as  tritheist,  atheist, 
were  freely  laid  against  him,  as  natural  consequences  of  what  he 
held  ;  but  a  Realist  cannot  be  a  Materialist,  seeing  that,  if  there  be 
an  anterior  independent  world  of  thoughts  or  archetypal  ideas, 
there  must  be  a  Thinker,  who  can  be  none  other  than  God."  *  So 
far  as  the  great  teachers  of  the  Church  had  a  philosophy,  it  was 
that  of  Plato  ;  and  in  this  respect,  as  in  many  others,  the  authority 
of  Augustine  determined  the  orthodox  opinion  of  the  Latin  Church. 

But,  at  the  time  of  which  we  are  speaking,  there  was  in  the 
Schools  a  bold  revival  of  critical  enquiry  into  the  foundations  of 
knowledge ;  and  a  champion  of  Nominalism  arose  in  Roscellin, 
a  canon  of  Compiegne.  At  this  early  stage,  however,  the  whole 
importance  of  the  controversy  lay  in  its  application,  not  only  to 
Theology,  but  to  one  particular  doctrine  of  the  Church.  In 
denying  the  real  existence  of  Universals,  and  maintaining  that 
nothing  really  is  but  the  individual,  he  ventured  to  take  the 
highest  illustration  of  his  thesis  from  the  mystery  of  the  Holy 
Trinity.  So  far  as  we  can  understand  his  view,2  he  seems  to  have 
resolved  the  doctrine  into  the  individual  existence  of  the  three 
Divine  Persons,  representing  the  Triune  Godhead  as  the  merely 
nominal  universal  idea  derived  therefrom ;  and  Roscellin  stated 
that  he  had  maintained  this  opinion,  in  disputation  both  with 
Lanfranc  and  Anselm.  It  was  his  assertion,  that  they  in  some 
degree  consented  to  it,  that  provoked  the  public  controversy. 
Being  informed  of  the  whole  matter  by  a  monk  named  John, 
Anselm,   who  was  then   Abbut   of  Bee,  desired  Fulk,  bishop  of 

1  Trench,  loc.  cit.  p.  273.  In  the  very  beginning  of  the  revived  contro- 
versy, we  find  Anselm  charging  the  tendency  to  materialism  on  the 
Nominalists.  (See  the  passage  quoted  by  Milman,  Latin  Christianity, 
vol.  iv.  p.  387.) 

2  There  is  no  extant  treatise  of  Roscellin  himself,  if  indeed  he  ever  wrote 
any,  nor  are  even  the  Acts  of  the  Council  which  condemned  him  preserved. 
Our  knowledge  of  his  tenets  is  derived  from  a  letter  of  the  monk  John 
to  Anselm  (in  Baluz.  Miscellan.  lib.  iv.  p.  478),  and  from  Anselm's  work 
De  Fide  Trinitatis  et  de  Incarnatione  Verbi  contra  blasphemias  Ruzelini. 
See  the  passages  about  the  Trinity  quoted  by  Milman  (vol.  iv.  p.  337),  nnd 
more  fully  by  Gieseler  (vol.  iii.  p.  281).  The  only  known  writing  of 
Rosfdhn  is  a  Letter  to  Abelard,  discovered  by  Schmeller  in  the  Royal 
Library  of  Munich  (  Munchener  gel.  Anzeigen,  Dec.  1847),  and  printed  in 
recent  editions  of  Abelard's  works  (Kpist.  15).  It  contains  some  state- 
ments about  hi.*  views  of  the  Trinity ;  but  its  great  interest  is  in  the 
light  it  throws  on  the  relations  between  Roscellin  and  Abelard. 


A.D.  1100.  WILLIAM  OF  CHAMPEAUX.  467 

Beauvais,  to  clear  both  him  and  Lanfranc  of  the  charge  at  the 
Council  of  Soissons,  which  condemned  the  view  of  Roscellin,  as 
equivalent  to  tritheism,  and  obtained  his  retractation  (1092). 
When  he  renewed  the  teaching  of  his  doctrines,  declaring  that  he 
had  yielded  through  fear,  Anselm,  now  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
completed  the  work  On  the  Faith  of  the  Trinity  and  the  Incarna- 
tion of  the  Word,  which  gained  so  complete  a  victory  for  the  time, 
that  Nominalism  was  said  to  have  vanished  with  Roscellin.1 

Thus  the  victory  over  the  philosophy  heresy — accounted  such 
for  its  consequences  to  Theology — remained  with  Anselm ;  but  it 
was  only  a  first  victory  in  a  contest  which  the  champion  of  the 
Church  had  himself  helped  to  make  unceasing.  "  Anselm's  lofty 
enterprise,  the  reconciliation  of  divinity  and  philosophy,  had  been 
premature ;  it  had  ended  in  failure.2  .  .  .  Questions,  which  he 
touched  with  holy  dread,  were  soon  to  be  vexed  by  ruder  hands. 
Reason  had  received  an  admission  which,  however  timidly,  she 
would  never  cease  to  assert."  The  movement  begun  by  Roscellin 
was  followed  up  by  his  bolder  pupil,  the  famous  Abelard. 

§  3.  In  the  last  year  of  the  11th  century,  a  teacher  of  the  highest 
reputation,  William  of  Champeaux,3  archdeacon  of  Paris,  drew 
crowds  of  students  to  the  cathedral  school,  which  was  already 
becoming  the  germ  of  the  famous  University  of  that  capital. 
Among  his  pupils,  a  young  Breton  appeared,  with  his  great  genius 
already  fully  trained  by  dialectic  exercise,  to  wrest  the  sceptre  of 
learning  from  the  master.  Peter  Abelard  4  was  born  in  1079,  at 
Palais  or  Le  Pallet,  near  Nantes,  his  father,  Berengar,  being  the 
lord  of  the  place.  His  early  education  rapidly  ripened  the  impe- 
tuous and  sjlf-confident  Breton  character  which  he  possessed  in  the 
highest  degree.      In  the  remarkable  self-portraiture, — "  that  most 

1  So  says  John  of  Salisbury  (Metalog.  ii.  17).  As  to  Roscellin's  later 
career:  having  fled  from  France  to  England,  his  maintenance  of  the  strict 
Hildebrandine  views  of  clerical  celibacy,  and  his  personal  opposition  to 
Anselm,  caused  his  banishment  (1097);  and,  returning  to  France,  he 
was  received  kindly  by  Ivo,  bishop  of  Chartres,  and  became  a  canon  of 
St.  Martin's  at  Tours.     (See  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  27.) 

2  Milman  {Lat.  Ch>ist.  vol.  ix.  p.  103),  quoting  Haure'au  (i.  p.  318) 
"  L'entreprise  de  S.  Anselme  avait  echoue ;  personne  n'avait  pu  concilier 
la  pbilosophie  et  la  theologie."     Comp.  the  passage,  vol.  iv.  p.  340. 

3  In  Latin,  De  Campellis. 

4  Properly  Abailard,  in  Latin  Abxlardus.  The  chief  sources  of  information 
concerning  him  are  his  own  works  (especially  his  Letters  and  Ilistoria  Cala- 
mitatum), — besides  earlier  editions — in  Migne's  Patrologia,  vol.  clxxviii., 
and  by  MM.  Cousin  and  Jourdain  (2  vols.  4to.  Paris,  1849-59);  Lettres 
d'A' elard  <t  d' Heloise,  precedees  d'un  Essai  par  M.  et  Mm*  Guizot  (1839); 
Charles  de  Remusat,  Aboard  (1815);  J.  Jacobi,  Abalard  und  Heloise, 
Berlin,  1850  ;  Tosti,  Storia  di  Abelardo  e  dei  suoi  Tempi,  Napoli,  1851. 


468  PETER  ABELARD.  Chap.  XXVIII. 

naked  but  unscrupulous  biography,"  1 — entitled  the  "  History  of 
his  Misfortunes,"  he  tells  us  that  he  chose  very  early  to  sacrifice 
his  advantages  as  the  eldest  son  of  a  noble  to  distinction  in  the 
schools : — "  I  preferred  the  strife  of  disputations  to  the  trophies 
of  arms." 

When,  thus  trained  and  eager  in  the  dialectic  strife,  Abelard 
appeared,  at  the  age  of  twenty-one,  in  the  school  of  William  of 
Champeaux,  the  favour  which  his  ability  won  from  the  master  was 
soon  turned  into  disgust  at  the  pupil's  triumphs  in  disputation. 
Abelard  opened  a  school  of  his  own,  first  at  Melun,  a  royal 
residence,  where  he  seems  to  have  been  supported  by  the  court 
against  William's  attempt  to  silence  him,  and  afterwards  at  Corbeil. 
His  boldness  of  thought,  clearness  of  exposition,  and  powerful 
eloquence,  drew  crowds  of  pupils,  many  of  them  deserters  from  his 
former  master.  It  would  be  tedious  to  dwell  on  the  vicissitudes  of 
their  twelve  years'  rivalry,  especially  at  Paris,  which  was  ended  by 
William's  promotion  to  the  archbishopric  of  Chalons  on  the  Marne 
(a.d.  1113).2 

§  4.  From  his  signal  triumphs  as  a  philosophical  disputant,  it 
was  inevitable  that  Abelard  should  advance  to  the  master  science 
of  theology.  Like  many  others  who  had  already  been  teachers 
of  philosophy,  he  entered  the  school  of  Laon,  to  attend  the  lectures 
of  Anselm,  the  most  renowned  theologian  of  the  day  ;  "  of  whom  it 
was  said  that  he  had  argued  a  greater  number  of  men  into  the 
Catholic  faith,  than  any  heresiarch  of  his  time  had  been  able  to 
seduce  from  it."3  But  Abelard  conceived,  and  expressed,  the 
utmost  contempt  for  the  old-fashioned  traditional  teaching  of 
Anselm  ;  and,  likening  him  to  the  barren  fig-tree  cursed  by  Chrisr, 
he  says,  "  Having  made  this  discovery,  I  did  not  idle  away  many 
days  in  lying  under  his  shadow."  Challenged  by  his  fellow- 
students  to  produce  on  his  own  part  something  better  than  the 
glosses  which  he  treated  with  scorn,  he  began  a  course  of  lectures 

1  Mil  man,  Lat.  Christ,  p.  355.     See  his  whole  account  of  Abelard. 

2  See  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  pp.  28,  29,  for  the  details,  and  for  the  passage 
in  which  Abelard  describes  the  proposition  about  Universals,  in  which  he 
not  only  refuted  his  master,  but  compelled  him  to  retract  his  opinion. 
In  his  dialectic  conflicts,  Abelard  assailed  alike  the  Nominalism  of  Roscellin 
and  the  orthodox  realism  of  William.  His  own  position  is  that  described 
as  conceptualism,  "that  is,  holding  the  real  existence  of  universals  as 
matters  of  conception,  a  middle  view,  but  rather  inclined  to  Nominalism." 
(Remusat,  ii.  15  ;  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  33.)  Of  its  precise  character  and 
bearings  on  Theology,  we  have  to  speak  further  in  the  sequel. 

3  Anselm  of  Laon  died  in  1117,  six  years  after  Anselm  of  Canterbury. 
He  was  the  author  of  the  Glossa  Inter) inear is  on  the  whole  of  Scripture 
(Patrolog.  clxii.  180). 


AD.  1118.  ABELARD  AND  HELOISA.  469 

without  a  day's  preparation,  choosing  the  prophecies  of  Ezekiel  for 
their  difficulty.  As  much  from  fear  of  being  held  responsible  for 
his  bold  expositions,  as  from  jealousy  at  the  numbers  attracted  by 
their  brilliancy,  Anselm  put  in  force  his  right,  as  master  of  the 
school,  to  forbid  Abelard  to  teach  at  Laon.  But  the  result  was  to 
put  him  in  possession  of  the  principal  school  of  Paris  ;  and  here  he 
reigned  as  a  doctor  of  theology,  in  the  chair  from  which  he  had 
once  been  expelled  as  a  teacher  of  philosophy.1  The  crowds  of 
hearers  whom  he  attracted  from  all  the  provinces  of  France,  from 
Spain,  England,  and  even  Eome,  help  us  to  understand  the  spon- 
taneous growth  of  the  University  of  Paris.  "  Wealth,  as  well  as 
fame,  flowed  in  on  him  ;  his  personal  graces,  his  brilliant  conver- 
sation, his  poetical  and  musical  talents,  enhanced  the  admiration 
which  was  excited  by  his  public  teaching." 

§  5.  And  now,  when  Abelard  wras  nearly  forty  years  old,  he  plunged 
into  that  indulgence  of  passion,  which  has  been  elevated  to  one  of 
the  famous  romances  of  history  by  compassion  for  his  misfortunes 
and  admiration  of  the  brilliant  qualities  and  devotion  of  his  victim.2 
Heloisa  was  distinguished  alike  for  her  surpassing  beauty  and  for 
her  wonderful  talents  and  knowledge.  Her  uncle,  the  canon  Fulbert, 
was  so  infatuated  by  Abelard  as  to  allow  him  to  reside  in  his 
house  and  take  complete  charge  of  Heloisa's  studies  ;  and  Abelard 
makes  the  shameless  avowal :  "  I  was  no  less  astonished  at  his 
simplicity  than  if  he  had  entrusted  his  spotless  lamb  to  a  ravening 
wolf."  His  passion  was  openly  proclaimed  in  amatory  verses, 
which  were  the  admiration  of  all  Paris  ; 3  and  when  Fulbert's  eyes 
were  at  last  opened,  Abelard  sent  Heloisa  to  his  sister's  house  in 
Brittany,  where  she  gave  birth  to  a  son,  who  was  named  Astro- 
labius.4  Whether  from  remorse  or  fear  of  the  furious  threats  of 
Fulbert,  Abelard  consented  to  a  private  marriage,  in  spite  of  the 
remonstrances  of  Heloisa  herself  against  his  sacrificing  the  prospect 
of  preferment  in  the  Church.  When  the  secret  was  divulged  by 
Fulbert,  Heloisa  denied  the  marriage,  even  with  oaths,  and  took 
refuge  from  her  uncle's  cruelty  in  the  convent  of  Argenteuil. 
Fulbert,  eager  for  revenge,  and  fearing  that  Abelard  might  obtain 

1  It  is  uncertain  at  what  time  Abelard  took  orders  and  became  a  canon, 
either  at  Paris  or  Sens  or  Tours,  and  also  whether  he  was  ever  a  priest. 

2  The  whole  story  is  related  by  Abelard  himself  in  the  Hist.  Calamitatum. 

3  "Abelard  was  the  first  recorded  name,  who  taught  the  banks  of  the 
Seine  to  resound  to  a  tale  of  love."     Hallam,  Lit.  Hist.  vol.  i.  p.  32. 

4  This  curious  name  suggests  a  reference  to  astrology.  There  is  a  poem 
by  Abelard,  entitled  Monita  ad  Astrolabium.  There  can  be  little  doubt 
that  he  was  the  same  Astrolabius  who  was  a  canon  of  Nantes  in  1150.  as 
we  find  Heloisa  asking  Peter  of  Clugny  to  obtain  such  an  office  for  him. 
(Pet.  Clun.  Epist.  vi.  21,  22  ;  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  31.) 

II— Y  2 


470  ABELARD'S  THEOLOGICAL  TEACHING.     Chap.  XXVIII. 

release  by  persuading  Heloisa  to  take  the  veil,  hired  some  ruffians 
to  inflict  on  him  a  barbarous  mutilation,  which  would  disqualify 
him  for  all  ecclesiastical  advancement.  The  outrage  caused 
universal  sympathy  with  Abelard  and  indignation  against  Fulbert, 
who  was  deprived  of  his  preferments,  and  his  agents  received  an 
exemplary  punishment. 

Heloisa  now  took  the  monastic  vows,  at  Abelard's  desire,  while 
he  sought  to  hide  his  shame  and  grief  in  the  cloister  of  St.  Denys. 
His  new  zeal  as  a  monastic  reformer  embroiled  him  with  the 
dissolute  brethren  :  and  he  was  removed  to  a  dependent  cell. 
Here  he  resumed  his  teaching  of  philosophy  and  theology,  which 
attracted  such  crowds  that  (as  he  says)  "  neither  the  place  sufficed 
for  their  lodging,  nor  the  land  for  their  support."  His  envious 
opponents  called  on  the  ecclesiastical  authorities  to  interdict  his 
lectures,  partly  on  account  of  the  display  of  secular  learning  un- 
becoming in  a  monk,  and  also  because  he  had  presumed  to  teach 
as  a  master  in  divinity  without  the  countenance  of  any  master.1 

But  the  great  novelty  which  offended  the  orthodox  doctors,  and 
which  marks  his  teaching  as  an  epoch  in  Theology,  was  his  setting 
the  understanding  above  the  old  method  of  positive  doctrine 
deduced  from  Scripture  and  ecclesiastical  authority.  The  ratio- 
nalistic spirit  of  his  teaching  is  reflected  in  the  admiring  call  of  his 
hearers  for  the  satisfaction  of  their  reason,  because  (he  says) 
"  nothing  could  be  believed,  unless  it  was  first  understood  " — the 
direct  antithesis  to  Anselm's  Credo  ut  intelligam — "  and  it  was 
ridiculous  for  any  one  to  preach  to  others  that  which  neither  he 
himself,  nor  those  whom  he  taught,  comprehended  with  the 
understanding." 

§  6.  To  meet  this  demand  with  respect  to  the  mystery  of  the 
Trinity,  Abelard  composed  an  Introduction  to  Theology,  which  gave 
his  watchful  enemies  their  opportunity.  Among  the  foremost  of 
these  was  his  old  master  Roscellin,  who,  having  made  his  own  peace 
with  the  Church,  "  denounced  Abelard  as  a  Sabellian,  and  in  the 
grossest  terms  reflected  on  him  for  the  errors  and  misfortunes  of  his 
life,  while  Abelard  in  his  turn  reproached  his  former  master  as  alike 
infamous  for  his  opinions  and  his  character." 2     Alberic  and  Letulf, 

1  Hi<t.  Cat.  8.  Here  we  have  an  indication  of  the  original  sense  of 
the  degree  of  master,  one  authorized  to  teach.  "  In  the  University  of  Paris, 
somewhat  later,  a  bachelor,  after  having  been  licensed  to  teach,  gave  his 
lectures  for  a  time  under  the  superintendence  of  a  doctor;  and  from  this 
passage  it  appears  that  a  similar  rule  was  already  in  force."  (Robertson, 
vol.  iii.  p.  33.) 

2  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  33.  These  mutual  recriminations  are  contained 
in  the  two  Letters  referred  to  above  (Abadardi  Epist.  14,  15). 


A.D.  1121.  HIS  CONDEMNATION  AT  SOISSONS.  471 

who  had  been  his  chief  opponents  in  the  school  of  William  of 
Champeaux,  and  were  now  teachers  at  Reims,  denounced  him  to  the 
bishop  of  that  city  and  the  papal  legate  ;  and  he  was  summoned 
before  a  Council  at  Soissons  (1121).  Here  the  popular  feeling,  which 
we  have  seen  frequently  roused  by  the  religious  controversies  of  the 
age,1  was  so  excited  against  him  as  a  reputed  tritheist,  that  he  had 
a  narrow  escape  of  stoning  to  death  ;  but  the  eloquence  with  which 
he  expounded  his  doctrines  publicly,  during  the  session  of  the 
Council,  caused  a  reaction  that  alarmed  his  enemies.  rJ  hey  seem 
to  have  been  unable  to  make  out  a  case  from  his  book,  which  he 
placed  in  the  hands  of  the  legate ;  but  when  Bishop  Geoffrey  of 
Chartres,  like  a  Gamaliel  in  the  Council,  spoke  of  Abelard's  high 
fame  and  the  propriety  of  having  the  charge  clearly  stated  and  then 
hearing  him  in  reply,  the  cry  was  raised,  that  all  the  learning  in 
the  world  would  be  unable  to  disentangle  his  sophisms.  It  was 
enough  that  he  had  lectured  and  published  his  book  without  the 
sanction  of  the  Church  and  the  Pope  ;  and  those  who  had  denounced 
him  as  a  tritheist  now  condemned  him  as  a  Sabellian.  He  was 
made  to  recite  the  Athanasian  Creed,  and  to  cast  his  book  into  the 
fire,  shedding  abundant  tears — whether  of  contrition  or  rage.  The 
sentence  of  confinement  in  a  convent  at  Soissons  was  so  generally 
condemned,  that  he  was  permitted  to  return  to  his  cell  at  St.  Denys. 
But  here  his  restless  passion  for  critical  truth  soon  gave  a  worse 
offence  than  even  speculative  heresy,  by  denying,  on  the  authority 
of  Bede,2  the  identity  of  St.  Denys  with  Dionysius  the  Areopagite. 
Such  an  insult  to  the  patron  saint,  not  only  of  the  abbey  but  of 
France  itself,  was  denounced  to  Philip  Augustus  as  treasonable, 
and  the  Abbot  Adam  placed  Abelard  under  guard.  He  tells  us  it 
was  "  almost  in  desperation,  as  if  the  whole  world  had  conspired 
against  him,"  that  he  made  his  escape  by  night  to  the  cell  of 
a  friendly  prior  near  Provins.  On  the  speedy  death  of  Abbot 
Adam,  his  successor,  Suger,  consented  to  release  Abelard  from  his 
monastic  obedience ;  and  he  retired,  with  a  single  companion,  to 
a  refuge  near  Nogent  on  the  Seine.  But  the  conflux  of  admiring 
disciples,  who  were  content  to  live  on  bread  and  herbs  and  to  lie  on 
straw  in  that  wild  country,  tempted  him  to  adopt  and  paraphrase 
the  words  of  Scripture  :  "  Behold  the  whole  world  is  gone  after 
him  ;  by  our  persecution  we  have  prevailed  nothing  ;  we  have  but 
increased  his  glory."  The  rude  oratory,  which  he  built  on  a  site 
granted  him  by  Theobald,  Count  of  Champagne,  grew  in  three 
years  (1122-5)  into  a  monastery,  with  its  church,  which  he  con- 

1  As,  for  instance,  against  Berengar.     (See  Chap.  XIX.  p.  317.) 

2  The  passage  is  in  the  Commentary  on  the  Acts,  but  Bede  confounded 
the  Areopagite  with  Dionysius  of  Corinth. 


472     THE  PARACLETE— NORBERT  AND  BERNARD.   Chap.  XXVIII. 

secrated  by  the  name  of  the  Paraclete}  This  title  was  a  new 
offence,  both  as  being  presumptuous  and  because  there  was  no 
precedent  for  a  dedication  to  the  Holy  Ghost. 

§  7.  But  the  enmity  that  pursued  him  was  not  only  that  which 
he  "  had  excited  by  his  haughty  tone  and  vituperative  language, 
or  even  by  his  daring  criticism  of  old  legends.  His  whole  system  of 
teaching,  the  foundation,  and  discipline,  and  studies,  in  the  Para- 
clete, could  not  but  be  looked  upon  with  alarm  and  suspicion. 
This  new  philosophical  community, — a  community  at  least  bound 
together  by  no  religious  vow  and  governed  by  no  rigid  monastic 
rules, — in  which  the  profoundest  and  most  awful  mysteries  of 
religion  were  freely  discussed,  in  which  the  exercises  were  those  of 
the  school  rather  than  of  the  cloister,  and  dialectic  disputations 
rather  than  gloomy  ascetic  practices  the  occupation, — awoke  the 
vigilant  jealousy  of  the  two  great  reformers  of  the  age,  Norbert, 
the  archbishop  of  Magdeburg,  whose  great  achievement  had  been 
the  subjection  of  the  regular  canons  to  a  severer  rule,  and  Bernard, 
whose  abbey  of  Clairvaux  was  the  model  of  the  most  rigorous,  most 
profoundly  religious,  monastic  life.  Abelard  afterwards  scornfully 
designated  these  two  adversaries  as  '  the  new  apostles,  whom  the 
world  very  greatly  trusted  ;'  but  they  were  the  apostles  of  the  ancient 
established  faith,  himself  that  of  the  new  school,  the  heresy,  not 
less  fearful,  because  undefinable,  of  free  enquiry."  2  Without  as 
yet  attempting  to  bring  him  to  judicial  censure,  their  preaching 
and  influence  raised  such  an  opinion  against  him,  that  he  had  the 
feeling  of  .standing  alone,  and  the  fear  that  every  synod  he  heard  of 
was  summoned  for  his  condemnation.  "  Often  " — he  writes — "  God 
knows  that  I  fell  into  such  despair  as  to  be  disposed  to  pass  beyond 
the  bounds  of  Christendom  to  the  heathen  and  there,  in  peace 
secured  at  the  cost  of  any  tribute,  live  a  Christian  life  among  the 
enemies  of  Christ."  3 

§  8.  While  suffering  from  this  proscription  of  opinion,  it  was 
Abelard's  strange  fate  to  incur  new  dangers  by  emulating  the 
monastic  reforms  of  his  great  opponents.  In  1125,  he  was  invited 
to  return  to  his  native  Brittany,  as  abbot  of  the  ancient  monastery 

1  The  name  of  the  Holy  Spirit  (irapa.K\^Tos),  translated  in  the  Vulgate 
and  A.  V.  "the  Comforter"  (John  xiv.,  xv.,  xvi.),  though  some  would 
prefer  "Advocate,"  as  in  1  John  ii.  1  (where  it  is  applied  to  Christ). 
The  verb  irapaicaAfci)  and  the  substantive  irap<xK\r](TLS  are  used  very 
variously  in  the  N.  T.  with  the  senses,  exhort,  besrech,  comfort 

2  Milman,  vol.  iv.  pp.  352-3. 

3  Hist.  Calam.  12.  With  reference  to  the  words  "sub  quacunque 
tri'mti  pactione,"  Milman  suggests:  "Does  not  the  tribute  point  to  some 
Mohammedan  country?  Had  Abelard  heard  of  the  learning  of  the 
Arabs?" 


A.D.  1125.  ABELARD  ABBOT  OF  ST.  GILDAS.  473 

of  St.  Gildas,  at  Buys,  on  the  coast  of  Morbihan.  In  this  bleak 
and  desolate  region,  which  seemed  like  the  extremity  of  earth 
looking  out  upon  "  the  melancholy  ocean,"  amidst  a  rude  people 
whose  very  language  was  unknown  to  him,  Abelard  found,  instead 
of  a  quiet  though  sad  retreat,  a  band  of  boorish  and  licentious 
monks,  who  repaid  his  efforts  to  reform  them  by  plots  against  his 
life.  Without  the  walls  ruffians  lay  in  ambush  for  him,  while 
treachery  within  drugged  even  the  eucharistic  cup.  When  at 
length  he  took  refuge  in  a  remote  cell  with  some  of  the  better 
monks,  he  was  watched  by  hired  assassins. 

It  was  during  his  residence  at  St.  Gildas  that  Abelard  and 
Heloisa  had  the  correspondence  which  has  become  so  famous  in 
later  literature.1  The  convent  of  Argenteuil  had  been  successfully 
claimed  by  Abbot  Suger  as  the  property  of  the  monastery  of 
St.  Denys,  and  the  expulsion  of  the  nuns  was  justified  by  charges 
of  misconduct,  of  which,  however,  Heloisa,  now  their  prioress,  was 
pronounced  blameless.  To  her  and  such  of  the  sisters  as  chose, 
Abelard  offered  a  new  home  in  the  deserted  Paraclete,  and  the  gift 
was  confirmed  by  Innocent  II.  About  this  time  Abelard  had 
written  the  famous  History  of  his  Misfortunes,  in  the  form  of 
a  letter  to  a  friend.2  A  copy  of  the  work  fell  into  her  hands; 
and  "  that  most  naked  and  unscrupulous  autobiography  awakened 
the  soft  but  melancholy  reminiscences  of  the  abbess  of  the  Para- 
clete. Those  famous  letters  were  written,  in  which  Heloisa  dwells 
with  such  touching  and  passionate  truth  on  her  yet  unextinguished 
affection.  Age,  sorrow,  his  great  calamity,  his  persecutions,  his 
exclusive  intellectual  studies,  perhaps  some  real  religious  remorse, 
have  frozen  the  springs  of  Abelard's  love,  if  his  passion  may  be 
dignified  by  that  holy  name.  In  him  all  is  cold,  selfish,  almost 
coarse ;  in  Heloisa,  the  tenderness  of  the  woman  is  chastened  by 
the  piety  of  the  saint :  much  is  still  warm,  almost  passionate, 
but  with  a  deep  sadness,  in  which  womanly  amorous  regret  is 
strangely  mingled  with  the  strongest  language  of  religion." 3    While 

1  Mr.  Hallam  says  (Lit.  Hist.  vol.  i.  p.  33) :  "  These  epistles  of 
Abelard  and  Eloisa,  especially  those  of  the  latter,  are,  as  far  as  I  know, 
the  first  book  that  gives  any  pleasure  in  reading  which  had  been  pro- 
duced in  Europe  for  600  years,  since  the  Consolation  of  Boethius.  .  .  . 
Pope  has  done  great  injustice  to  Eloisa  in  his  unrivalled  Epistle,  by  putting 
the  sentiments  of  a  coarse  and  abandoned  woman  into  her  mouth.  Her 
refusal  to  marry  Abelard  arose,  not  from  a  predilection  for  the  name  of 
mistress  above  that  of  wife,  but  from  her  disinterested  affection.  .  . 
She  judged  very  unwisely,  as  it  turned  out,  but  from  an  unbounded 
generosity  of  character.  He  was,  in  fact,  unworthy  of  her  affection, 
which  she  expresses  in  the  tenderest  language." 

2  Reomsat  (i.  137)  supposes  this  form  to  be  only  imaginary. 

3  Mil  man,  /.  c.  p.  355. 


474  ABELARD'S  LECTURES  AT  PARIS.       Chap.  XXVIII. 

she  thus  pours  out  her  heart  to  her  former  husband,  "mingling 
her  admiring  love  with  self-reproach  for  having  been  the  sole 
cause  of  his  ruin,  he  prescribes  the  duties  of  the  cloister  as  the 
means  of  peace  and  pardon  for  her  former  sins ;  and  furnishes  her 
sisterhood  with  a  severe  Cistercian  rule,  forms  of  prayer  and  hymns, 
and  directions  for  their  studies.  His  occasional  visits  to  the  Para- 
clete became  infrequent  when  they  were  found  to  provoke  scandal. 

§  9.  In  the  course  of  nearly  ten  years  the  unruly  monks  of  Gildas 
had  been  brought  to  some  better  order,  when,  without  resigning  his 
office,  Abelard  finally  left  them  for  the  central  scene  of  his  former 
activity,  and  for  the  decisive  conflict  of  his  life.  Returning  to 
Paris  about  1134,  he  resumed  his  lectures  at  Mt.  St.  Genevieve. 
The  characteristics  of  his  teaching,  as  we  still  find  it  in  his  works, 
are  thus  summed  up  by  Canon  Robertson  :J — "  On  many  important 
subjects — the  mutual  relations  of  the  Divine  Persons,  and  other 
points  connected  with  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  ;  the  Divine 
attributes,  the  work  and  merits  of  the  Saviour ;  the  operations  of 
the  Holy  Ghost ;  the  sinfulness  of  man  ;  the  gift  of  prophecy ;  the 
inspiration  and  the  integrity  of  the  Scriptures ;  the  eucharistic 
presence ;  the  character  of  miracles  altogether,  and  the  reality  of 
those  which  were  reported  as  of  his  own  time ; 2  the  relations  of 
faith,  reason,  and  Church  authority  ;  the  penitential  system,  and 
the  absolving  power  of  the  priesthood ; — Abelard  had  vented 
opinions  which  were  likely  to  draw  suspicion  on  him.  To  this  was 
added  the  irritation  produced  by  his  unsparing  remarks  on  the 
faults  of  bishops  and  clergy,  of  monks  and  canons  ;  and,  in  addition 
to  the  books  which  he  had  himself  published,  the  circulation  of 
imperfect  reports  of  his  lectures  tended  to  increase  the  distrust  of 
him  which  was  felt.  Yet,  while  bitterly  complained  of  this  dis- 
trust, it  seems  as  if  he  even  took  a  pride  in  exciting  it.  Without 
apparently  intending  to  stray  from  the  path  of  orthodoxy,  he 
delighted  to  display  his  originality  in  peculiarities  of  thought  and 
expression ;  and  hence,  instead  of  a  harmonious  system,  there 
resulted  a  collection  of  isolated  opinions,  which,  stated  as  they 
were  without  their  proper  balances  and  complements,  were  certain 
to  raise  misunderstanding  and  obloquy."  3 

§  10.  The  crowning  offence  appears 4  to  have  been  given  by  his 

1  Vol.  iii.  pp.  37,  38.  We  have  already  had  occasion  to  cite  the  views  of 
Abelard  on  some  of  the  questions  here  enumerated. 

2  He  plainly  says,  "  praeterierunt  miracula."  (  Theol.  Christ,  iii.  col.  1212.) 

3  For  his  views  on  the  excellence  of  the  Greek  and  Brahminical  philo- 
sophy and  the  saving  faith  of  the  heathen,  see  the  sequel  of  the  passage 
here  quoted. 

*  This  qualified  phrase  refers  to  a  certain  degree  of  doubt  as  to  whether, 
or  how  far,  the  Sic  et  Nun  was  known  to  Bernard  and   his  friends  before 


A.D.  1139  (ct>.).        HIS  FAMOUS  "SIC  ET  NON."  475 

remarkable  collection  of  158  controverted  questions,  with  the  various 
decisions  of  Christian  authority  arrayed  over  against  each  other  in 
the  manner  indicated  by  the  title,  Sic  et  Non  (  Yes  and  No :  or,  as 
we  prefer,  Aye  and  No).  From  the  time  of  Abelard's  defeat  by 
Bernard,  the  worst  construction  appears  to  have  been  put  on  this 
work,  as  if  it  had  been  a  wantonly  mischievous  exposure  of 
irreconcilable  opinions  on  the  essential  points  of  the  Christian 
faith,  until  the  rediscovery  of  the  book  itself  enabled  the  present 
age  to  form  an  independent  judgment.1  All  agree  that  the  work 
itself  does  not  bear  out  the  evil  character  so  long  imputed  to  it ; 
but  there  is  enough  to  prove  its  dangerous  tendency.  In  its 
original  conception  it  was  probably  what  Dean  Milman  describes  as 
"  a  sort  of  manual  for  scholastic  disputation,  of  which  it  was  the 
rule,  that  each  combatant  must  fight,  right  or  wrong.  It  was  an 
armoury,  from  which  disputants  would  find  weapons  to  their  hands 
on  any  disputable  point ;  and  all  points  by  the  rule  of  this  warfare 
were  disputable." 2  But  this  clearly  shows  the  vast  change  made 
from  dogmatic  exposition  to  the  unbounded  freedom  of  dialectic 
debate.  The  spirit  of  the  work  is  perhaps  best  seen  by  comparing 
it  with  the  Qiiestions  of  the  later  Schoolmen,  of  which  it  may 
be  taken  at  first  sight  as  the  prototype  in  form.  But  the  vast 
difference  is,  that  a  writer  like  Aquinas  states  his  questions 
(almost  like  Euclid's  enunciations)  with  a  direct  view  to  the  so- 
lution which  he  then  labours  to  establish  ;  whereas  Abelard  sets 
the  views  of  the  host  of  Fathers  and  Doctors  on  all  manner  of 
doctrines  in  the  most  naked  opposition  ;  and  it  seems  a  fair  judg- 
ment that  he  did  so,  as  his  chief  object,  "  not  for  the  purpose  of 
exhibiting  their  agreement,  or  of  harmonizing  their  differences,  but 
in  order  that,  by  displaying  these  differences,  he  might  claim  for 
himself  a  like  latitude  to  that  which  the  teachers  of  older  times  had 
enjoyed  without  question."  3 

§  11.  We  must  leave  to  fuller  histories  *  the  details  of  the  last 
decisive  conflict  with  Bernard,  which  this  work  provoked;  the 
strange  scene,  as  described  by  his  disciple  Berengar,5  of  his  condem- 

the  Council  of  Sens.  It  seems  probable  that  the  work  itself  was  not 
in  circulation,  but  that  it  was  known  through  notes  of  Abelard's  lectures, 
of  which  it  formed  a  sort  of  syllabus. 

1  It  was  first  published  by  Cousin  (CEuvres  Lied.  Paris,  1836),  and 
more  completely  by  Henke,  Marburg,  1851,  reprinted  in  Migne's 
1'dtrologin.  2  Latin  Christ,  vol.  iv.  p.  369. 

3   Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  39. 

*  See  the  graphic  narrative  of  Milman,  iv.  p.  357  f. ;  and  Robertson,  I.e. 

5  In  a  letter  to  Anselm  himself,  printed  in  Abelard's  works,  p.  303; 
Patrolog.  clxxxviii.  1859.  He  describes  how  at  the  close  of  the  day,  the 
bishops,   overcome  with   the   long  session    and   with    wine,   were  hardly 


476  ABELARD  CONDEMNED  AT  SENS.        Chap.  XXVIII. 

na'ion  at  Sens,  in  presence  of  Louis  VIL,  notwithstanding  his 
appeal  to  Rome  (1140).  Bernard  added  his  own  vehement  personal 
appeal  to  the  Pope,  which  his  influence  made  almost  a  demand,  in 
one  letter,  while  in  another  he  addressed  through  him  to  all 
Christendom  a  "  full  view  of  Abelard's  theology  as  it  appeared  to 
most  of  his  own  generation."  '  Anything  that  might  have  been 
wanting  to  seal  Abelard's  fate  was  supplied  by  his  connection  with 
Arnold  of  Brescia,  who,  after  his  condemnation  by  the  Second 
Lateran  Council  the  year  before,  had  fled  across  the  Alps  and 
rejoined  his  old  master,  and  (whether  present  with  him  at  Sens  or 
not)  had  taken  up  his  defence  warmly  after  his  condemnation.  In 
obedience  to  the  requirements  of  Bernard,  and  without  waiting  to 
hear  the  appeal,  Innocent  wrote  a  letter  to  the  Archbishops  of 
Reims  and  Sens,  and  to  Bernard,  directing  them  to  see  that  "  Peter 
Abelard  and  Arnold  of  Brescia,  the  fabricators  of  perverse  dogma 
and  impugners  of  the  Catholic  faith,  should  be  shut  up  separately 
in  religious  houses,  and  their  books  be  burnt,  wherever  they  might 
be  found."  2 

§  12.  The  news  of  this  sentence  met  Abelard  when  he  had 
reached  Lyon  on  his  way  to  prosecute  his  appeal  at  Rome.  In  his 
distress,  aggravated  by  severe  illness,  he  was  offered  an  asylum  at 
Clugny  by  the  Venerable  Abbot  feter,  who  wrot^  to  the  Pope  on 
Abelard's  behalf,  praying,  "  that  you  would  order  him  to  spend  out 
the  remaining  years  of  his  life,  which  perhaps  are  not  many" — 
there  remained  for  him,  in  fact,  but  two — "  in  your  house  of 
Clugny,  and  not  allow  him,  through  the  urgency  of  any  persons,  to 
be  driven  out  or  removed,  like  a  sparrow  from  the  house,  or  a 
turtle-dove  from  the  nest,  which  he  rejoices  to  have  found."  The 
Abbot  Peter,  aided  by  his  brother  of  Citeaux,  even  effected  a  sort  of 
reconciliation  between  Abelard  and  Bernard ;  but  it  could  only  be 
outward  and  hollow,  where  the  difference  lay  so  deep.  In  an 
Apology  for  his  Faith,  Abelard  still  took  the  superior  tone  of 
blaming  his  adversary  for  meddling  with  matters  which  he  had  not 
been  trained  to  understand,  and  imputed  Bernard's  charges  against 
himself  to  malice  as  well  as  ignorance.  Bernard  deemed  it  his 
duty  to  scatter  abroad  warnings   against   contagion  of  Abelard's 

wakeful  enough  to  pronounce  their  Damnamus,  which  died  away  in  faint 
mutterings  of  namus.  "  From  a  second  letter  it  appears  that  Berengar  got 
into  trouble  on  account  of  it,  so  that  he  was  obliged  to  make  a  retracta- 
tion, and  did  not  venture  to  publish  (as  he  had  intended)  a  further  defence 
of  Abelard.    See,  as  to  him,  Hist.  Lit.  xii.  254-260."    (Robertson,  I.e.  p.  42.) 

1  Milman,  vol.  iv.  p.  361. 

2  Innocent  II.  Epist.  447-8,  July  16th,  1140;  Mansi,  xxi. ;  S.  Bernard. 
Opp.  App.  p.  76.     For  Arnold  of  Brescia,  see  Chap.  IV.  §§  7,  11. 


A.D.  1142.  HIS  LAST  YEARS  AND  DEATH.  477 

doctrines,  as  akin  to  those  of  the  worst  heresiarchs  :  "  When  he 
writes  of  the  Trinity,  he  has  a  savour  of  Arius;  when  of  grace,  of 
Pelagius;  when  of  the  person  of  Christ,  of  Nestorius."  These 
were  the  very  heresies  of  which  Abelard  had  repelled  even  the  least 
suspicion  in  his  Apology  ;  and  in  another  Confession,  drawn  up  for 
the  satisfaction  of  Heloisa,  he  disowned  much  of  what  had  been 
imputed  to  him — "  the  words  in  part,  and  the  meaning  altogether  " 
— and  protested  his  desire  to  adhere  in  all  points  to  the  Catholic 
faith.  Even  the  devout  behaviour  of  his  closing  years  only  drew 
from  Bernard  the  taunt  (in  a  letter  to  Ivo  of  Chartres) : — "  Though 
a  Baptist  without  in  his  austerities,  he  is  a  Herod  within."  Very 
different  is  the  judgment  of  the  Venerable  Peter  in  communicating 
to  Heloisa  the  tidings  of  his  death  : x — "  I  never  saw  his  equal  for 
humility  of  manners  and  habits.  St.  Germ  anus  was  not  more 
modest;  nor  St.  Martin  more  poor.  He  allowed  no  moment  to 
escape  unoccupied  by  prayer,  reading,  writing,  or  dictation.  The 
heavenly  visitor  surprised  him  in  the  midst  of  these  holy  works." 

Abelard  died  at  the  age  of  63  (April  21st,  1142)  in  the 
dependent  monastery  of  St.  Marcel,  near  Chalons-sur-Saone,  to 
which  he  had  been  removed  in  the  hope  of  restoring  his  health. 
His  absolution  by  the  Abbot  of  Clugny  was  hung  on  the  tomb  in 
which  he  was  laid  at  the  Paraclete,  by  the  request  of  Heloisa,  who 
was  buried  by  his  side  twenty-one  years  later.  His  importance  in 
the  history  of  theology  and  the  Church  has  been  exaggerated  by 
the  sympathetic  surprise  "  with  which  men  have  recognised  in  him, 
not  indeed  a  rationalist,  but  one  with  a  very  unmistakable  vein  of 
rationalism, — a  champion  of  '  free  enquiry '  in  the  ages  of  faith." 2 
But  the  very  ground  and  source  of  the  praise  betray  the  fatal  fault 
which  is  always  committed  where  great  intellectual  power  is  used 
for  universal  if  not  destructive  criticism,  instead  of  patient  labour 
to  build  up  the  harmonious  fabric  of  truth,  and  is  marred  by 
vanity,  arrogance,  and  passion.3 

§  13.  Another  scholastic  theologian  of  this  time,  far  less  distin- 
guished than  Abelard,  but  akin  to  him  in  the  use  of  dialectic  subtilty 
and  bold  dealing  with  traditional  dogmas,  for  which  he  also  incurred 
the  censure  of  Bernard,  was  Gilbert  de  la  Pokree  (Porretanus), 

1  Epist.  iv.  21.  Peter  wrote  an  epitaph  for  Abelard,  in  which  hi 
was  celebrated  at  once  for  his  intellectual  gifts,  and  for  that  better  philo- 
sophv  to  which  his  last  years  had  been  devoted. 

2  Trench,  Medieval  Church,  p.  212. 

3  For  a  full  estimate  of  Abelard's  position,  both  as  a  theologian  and  a 
philosopher,  and  in  particular  of  the  bearing  of  his  modified  Nominalism 
(Conceptualism)  on  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  see  Milman,  Hist,  of  Lat. 
Christ,  vol.  iv.  pp.  365-368. 


478  GILBERT  DE  LA  PORREE.  Chap.  XXVIII. 

who,  having  been  long  a  distinguished  teacher  at  Paris,  was  made 
Bishop  of  Poitiers  in  1141.  In  the  preceding  year  he  was  present  at 
the  Council  of  Sens,  where  it  is  said  that  Abelard  warned  him,  from 
the  proverbial  figure  of  Horace,1  that  he  would  be  the  next  victim 
of  orthodox  zeal.  We  learn  from  Gilbert's  pupil  and  admirer,  Otho 
of  Freising,  that  "  his  subtilty  and  acuteness  led  him  to  depart  in 
many  things  from  the  customary  way  of  speaking,  although  his 
respect  for  authority  was  greater  than  Abelard's,  and  his  character 
was  free  from  the  vanity  and  the  levity  which  had  contributed  so 
largely  to  Abelard's  misfortunes."2  In  1147,  Pope  Eugenius  III. 
was  met  on  his  way  to  France  by  two  of  Gilbert's  archdeacons  with 
a  complaint  against  their  bishop's  teaching  ;  but  the  chief  question, 
concerning  the  essence  of  the  Triune  Godhead,  proved  to  be  so 
subtle,  especially  when  treated  with  Gilbert's  dialectic  skill,  that  it 
was  dismissed  as  unintelligible  by  a  council  which  the  Pope  held 
at  Paris.  At  a  greater  council  held  next  year,  at  Reims,  the  like 
result  was  threatened  by  Gilbert's  able  defence,  with  a  multitude  of 
citations  from  the  Fathers,  when  the  Pope  broke  in  with  the  direct 
question  : — "  Brother,  you  say  and  read  a  great  many  things  which 
perhaps  we  do  not  understand ;  but  tell  us  plainly  whether  you 
own  that  supreme  essence  by  which  the  three  persons  are  God  to  be 
itself  God."  Wearied  with  the  discussion,  Gilbert  hastily  answered 
No !  and  his  reply  was  put  on  record.  But  many  of  the  cardinals 
were  on  his  side,  jealous  of  Bernard's  influence  with  the  Pope,  and, 
after  consulting  them,  on  the  next  day  he  laboured  to  explain  away 
his  denial;  and  when  Bernard,  in  arguing  against  him,  made 
a  statement  to  which  some  of  the  cardinals  objected,  Gilbert  ex- 
claimed, "  Let  that  too  be  written  down  !"  "  Yes !"  cried  Bernard, 
"with  an  iron  pen  and  a  nail  of  adamant."  Bernard,  having 
secured  the  support  of  a  number  of  French  ecclesiastics  against  the 
cardinals,  brought  forward  a  series  of  propositions  opposed  to  the 
teaching  of  Gilbert.  Upon  this  the  cardinals  denounced  the 
French  clergy  as  wishing  to  impose  a  new  creed,  which  not  even  all 
the  patriarchs  of  Christendom  could  do  without  the  authority  of 
Rome.  Bernard  disclaimed  the  assumption,  and  the  Pope  calmed 
the  dispute  by  a  compromise.  Gilbert  was  only  required  to  profess 
his  agreement  with  the  faith  of  the  Council  and  the  Church  of 
Rome;  and  the  issue  was  regarded  as  a  triumph  by  his  friends. 
He  died  at  an  advanced  age  in  1151. 

§  14.  We  have  thus  seen  the  contest  fully  opened,  between  the 
ancient  positive  theology,  combined  with  a  religious  fervour  tending 

1   "  Nam  tua  res  agitur,  paries  quum   proximus  ardet."     (Hor  Epist.  I. 
xviii.  84.)  2  De  Gestis  Frid.  i.  46,  50 ;   Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  66. 


Cent.  XII.  THE  SCHOLASTIC  MYSTICS.  479 

more  or  less  to  mysticism,  and  the  spirit  of  dialectic  criticism.  But 
here  it  is  essential  to  guard  against  the  vague  use  of  the  word  Mysti- 
cism.1 There  are  advocates  of  what  is  called  the  scientific  study  of 
truth,  to  whom  any  idea  of  spiritual  discernment,  or  even  any  spiritual 
feeling,  is  mysticism ;  while,  at  the  other  extreme,  the  spiritual 
consciousness  is  placed  in  opposition  to  and  supremacy  above  the 
teaching  of  the  understanding.  Hence  the  importance,  on  this  first 
use  of  a  word  which  plays  so  large  a  part  in  religious  history,  of 
distinguishing  between  that  degree  of  mysticism  which  is  seen,  for 
example,  in  St.  Bernard's  devout  piety,  and  such  extravagances 
as  those  of  the  later  German  mystics.  The  great  distinction 
between  the  dialectic  and  mystic  is  well  drawn  by  Archbishop 
Trench : 2 — "  Let  it  be  sufficient  here  to  say,  that  the  evidence  of 
divine  things,  which  the  Schoolman  found  in  -the  consonance 
between  faith  and  reason  reasonably  exercised,  each  sustaining  and 
confirming  the  other,  the  Mystic  sought  and  claimed  to  find  in 
a  more  immediate  fellowship  and  intercommunion  with  God,  in  an 
illumination  from  above  which  was  light  and  warmth  in  one." 
Like  other  principles  which,  at  first  co-ordinate,  have  been  so 
pushed  forward  at  each  extreme  as  to  be  forced  into  opposition, 
some  degree  of  harmony  between  these  two  was  recognized  by  the 
Schoolmen  themselves;  as  when  Alexander  Hales  suggested  that 
theology  should  be  treated  rather  as  wisdom  (sapientia)  than 
as  knowledge  (scientia). 

At  the  time  when  the  two  tendencies,  which  had  been  harmonized 
in  Anselm,  were  shown  in  violent  opposition  in  the  conflict  between 
Abelard  and  Bernard,  there  arose  the  famous  "  Victorine  "  school  of 
theology,  who  aimed  at  reconciling  the  scholastic  method  with 
a  higher  spiritual  knowledge.  Bejecting  the  dialectic  subtilties 
wrhich  were  the  fashion  of  the  time,  they  mingled  their  devotion 
with  a  tendency  to  mysticism,  which  became  stronger  with  the 
process  of  time,  and  hence  they  are  called  by  the  somewhat  vague 
appellation  of  Scholastic  Mystics.  The  school  originated  about  the 
beginning  of  the  12th  century,  with  the  famous  William  of 
Champeaux  (see  §  3),  when,  having  resigned  his  archdeaconry  in 
Paris,  he  became  a  canon  regular  of  the  Abbey  of  St.  Victor,  outside 

1  The  Greek  word  mystic  has  primary  reference  to  what  was  secretly 
taught  to  the  initiated ;  thence  it  is  applied  to  the  spiritual  knowledge 
which  is  supposed  to  come  from  a  subjective  insight,  whether  from  the 
working  of  the  devout  mind,  or  the  teaching  of  the  Divine  Spirit.  The 
vast  range  of  different  ideas  that  can  be  attached  to  the  term  is  illustrated 
in  the  whole  history  of  religion.  An  interesting  work  on  the  subject  is 
Alfred  Vaughan's  Hoars  with  the  Mystics. 

2  Medieval  Church  History,  p.  356.  Respecting  the  fuller  developments 
by  the  German  Mystics  of  the  14th  and  15th  centuries,  see  Chap.  XXXIII. 


480  THE  VICTORINE  SCHOOL.  Chap.  XXVIII. 

the  city  walls,  and  there  resumed  his  teaching.  But  the  first  of  the 
distinguished  theologians  specially  known  by  this  name  was  the 
monk  and  teacher  Hugh  of  St.  Victor,1  who  died  in  1141,  and 
who  would  have  been  intellectually  a  fitter  match  for  Abelard  than 
Bernard  was.  Of  his  chief  works  the  first  was  a  religious  text-book 
(Didascalia),  in  which  he  recognizes  the  value  of  the  dialectic 
method  as  a  preparation  for  that  higher  knowledge  of  the  Christian 
faith,  which  he  sets  forth  in  his  treatise  De  Sacramentis  Fidei 
Christians.  The  spirit  of  his  teaching  can  be  seen  from  the  two 
main  propositions  on  which  this  work  is  founded ;  that  what 
a  man  is  in  himself  is  the  measure  of  his  insight  of  the  truth,  and 
that  we  can  only  know  God  by  loving  Him.  The  mystical  ten- 
dency is  more  pronounced  in  the  prior  Richard  of  St.  Victor, 
a  Scot,  who  died  about  1170.  Besides  expositions  of  Scripture  and 
a  work  on  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  his  works 2  are  concerned 
chiefly  with  inward  and  contemplative  religion ;  and  his  great 
motto  was : — "  You  have  j  ust  as  much  power  as  you  have  grace." 
The  opposition  to  the  dialectic  method  (which  was  now  giving 
a  more  definite  character  to  scholastic  theology)  is  most  conspicuous 
in  the  work  of  the  next  prior,  Walter  of  St.  Victor,3  against  the 
four  masters  of  the  age,  whose  system  he  likens  to  the  labyrinth 
which  led  to  the  Minotaur,  that  monster  being  his  figure  for  "  their 
own  fantastic  Deity."  Among  four  whom  he  brands  as  "  sophists," 
he  joins  with  Abelard  and  Gilbert  de  la  Porre'e  no  less  a  person  than 
Peter  the  Lombard,  who  was  soon  accepted  as  the  great  master  of 
scholastic  theology,  and  his  less  eminent  disciple,  Peter  of  Poitiers. 
We  are  told  that  his  work  failed  to  make  an  impression  from  its 
extravagance  of  censure. 

§  15.  An  opposition  almost  equally  strong  to  the  dialectic  scholas- 
ticism, but  from  a  more  practical  point  of  view,  is  seen  in  the 
writings  of  John  of  Salisbury,4  the  friend  of  Pope  Adrian  IV.  and 

1  Hugo  a  S.  Victore.  Different  authorities  make  him  a  Saxon  and  a 
native  of  Ypres.     On  Adam  of  St.  Victor  and  his  Hymns,  see  p.  3u5. 

2  De  Statu  interioris  hominis ;  De  Przeparatione  Animi  ad  Cont  mpla- 
tionem,  s.  Benjamin  Minor ;  de  Gratia  Contemplationis,  s.  Benjamin  Major 
The  works  of  Hugh  and  Richard  are  in  the  Patrologia,  clxxv.,  cxcvi. 

3  Gualterus  a  S.  Victore,  Contra  quatuor  labgrinthos  G<dlix;  or,  more 
fully,  Contra  manifestas  et  damnatas  etiam  in  conciliis  h&reses,  quas 
sophistx  Abxlardus,  Lombardus,  Petrus  Pictavensis,  et  Gilbcrtxs  Porre- 
tanus  libris  sententiarum  sua>um  acuunt,  limant,  r<>bo-nnt.  (Gieseler,  vol.  iii. 
j».  293.)  We  only  possess  the  extracts  in  Bulsei  Hist.  Onivers.  Pa  is 
(vol.  ii.),  and  reprinted  in  Migne's  Patrologia,  cxcix.  The  spirit  of  the 
work  may  be  seen  in  some  passages  from  the  Prologue  given  by  Gieseler. 

4  John  is  also  known  by  the  epithet  of  Parvus.  He  was  made  Bishop 
of  Chartres  about  1176,  and  died  about  1182.  We  have  had  occasion  to 
refer  to  his  faithful  testimony  to  Adrian  IV.  concerning  the  corruptions 


A.D.  1175  (ctr.)  JOHN  OF  SALISBURY.  481 

the  faithful  adherent  of  Thomas  Becket,  whose  exile  he  shared 
This  distinguished  Englishman  is  one  of  the  lights  of  that  learning 
which  was  now  beginning  to  make  Oxford1  famous,  and  ho 
obtained  equal  renown  upon  the  Continent.  He  was  one  of  the 
pupils  of  Abelard  at  St.  Genevieve  (between  1134  and  1140).  His 
true  scholarship  and  earnest  desire  for  a  thorough  religious  reforma- 
tion disgusted  him  both  with  the  methods  and  results  of  the 
dialectic  treatment  of  theology  then  in  fashion.2  The  "  advanced 
thinkers"  of  the  12th  century  had  already  learnt  the  trick  of 
crying  down  all  respect  for  old  learning  and  established  beliefs  as 
out  of  date,  stupidly  "  prescientific "'  (as  the  catchword  goes  now). 
"  Poets  and  historians " — says  John—"  were  held  in  ill  repute, 
and  whoever  applied  himself  to  the  works  of  the  ancients  was 
a  marked  man  and  ridiculed  by  all,  not  only  as  slower  than 
an  Arcadian  ass,  but  more  obtuse  than  lead  or  stone.  All  were 
wrapt  up  in  their  master's  new  discoveries  and  their  own.  .  .  .  Lo ! 
all  was  made  new !  Grammar  took  a  new  shape,  logic  was  trans- 
formed, rhetoric  was  despised "  (observe  that  these  three  formed 
the  trivium),  "  and  for  the  whole  quadrivium,  annulling  the  old 
courses,  they  brought  out  new  ones  from  their  own  secret  shrines 
of  philosophy.  .  .  .  They  quickly  became  the  most  profound 
philosophers ;  for  the  unlettered  student  generally  took  no  longer 
a  course  in  the  schools  than  suffices  for  young  birds  to  grow  their 
feathers."  By  a  natural  compensation  "  the  Academicians 3  grow 
old  in  boyish  exercises ;  they  discuss  every  syllable,  nay  every  letter 
of  what  has  been  said  or  written,  doubting  upon  all,  ever  asking 

of  the  Church  (see  p.  261).  It  was  at  John's  instance  that  this  English 
Pope  granted  to  Henry  II.  the  sovereignty  of  Ireland  (1155).  His  know- 
ledge of  the  classical  Latin  authors  was  unrivalled  among  his  contempo- 
raries, and  lie  learned  some  Greek  from  a  Greek  whom  he  met  in  Apulia, 
when  on  a  mission  from  Archbishop  Theobald ;  but  so  little  that  he  was 
unable  to  understand  the  word  ousia  in  Ambrose.  (See  Schaarschmidt, 
Johannes  Sarisburiensis,  Leipzig,  1862  ;  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  294;  Robertson, 
vol.  iii.  p.  278.)  John's  works,  besides  303  letters,  are  Polioaticus,  s.  de 
Nugis  Curialium  et  vestigiis  Philosophorum,  Libri  viiL ;  Metalogicus, 
Libri  iv. ;  Entheticus,  De  Dogmate  Philosophorum. 

1  John  of  Salisbury  is  one  of  the  writers  who  mention  the  lectures  of 
Vacarius  at  Oxford.     (Policrat.  viii.  22.) 

2  The  most  interesting  passage  (Metcdog.  i.  3  :  a  great  part  of  which  is 
extracted  by  Gieseler,  I.e.)  is  his  description  of  the  school  of  a  professor 
called  Cornificius,  a  real  ancient  name  at  Rome,  but  perhaps  chosen  to 
describe  a  disputant  who  is  ever  fixing  his  opponents  on  the  horns  of  a 
dilemma  (Haureau,  i.  344:  Robertson,  iii.  281). 

3  Academici :  an  example  of  the  use  of  the  word  worth  noting.  The 
great  schools  of  learning  were  called  Academix,  as  places  of  study,  before 
they  became  Universitates  as  corporations. 


482  SCRIPTURE  AND  "SENTENCES."      Chap.  XXVIII. 

and  never  attaining  to  knowledge,  and  are  at  last  given  up  to 
empty  talk ;  and,  knowing  neither  of  what  they  speak  or  what 
they  affirm,  they  found  new  errors  and  are  either  too  ignorant  or 
contemptuous  to  follow  the  opinions  of  the  ancients." 

§  16.  Among  the  like  complaints,  echoed  by  John's  contemporaries, 
none  is  more  interesting  than  that  of  the  growing  neglect  of  the 
Scriptures  for  scholastic  studies.  Nor  was  this  only  from  a  pre- 
ference for  secular  studies,  such  as  philosophy  and  civil  law ;  but 
the  very  expositors  of  Scripture  thrust  its  pure  text  more  and  more 
aside  ;  and  that  in  two  different  ways.  The  more  devout,  unfitted 
for  patient  study  by  ignorance  of  the  original  languages,  aimed  at 
discovering  or  even  introducing  edifying  meanings  and  mystic 
interpretations ;  a  fancy  which  was  indulged  by  their  choice  of  the 
obscurest  books,  especially  the  Canticles,  Ezekiel,  and  the  Apo- 
calypse.1 The  more  critical  teachers  of  the  Schools — even  those 
who  followed  authority  rather  than  the  rationalizing  licence  of  men 
like  Abelard — in  their  desire  for  systematizing  all  knowledge, 
arranged  the  doctrines  of  Christianity  in  a  series  of  propositions, 
collected  from  the  opinions  of  the  Fathers  and  other  authorities, 
and  hence  called  Sentences  (Sententite),  which  in  a  very  great 
degree  supplanted  the  study  of  Scripture  and  the  appeal  to  its 
authority.  Thus  "  the  theologians  of  the  time  were  divided  into 
three  classes — those  who,  like  Bernard,  followed  the  ancient  ex- 
positors ;  the  more  speculative  and  adventurous  thinkers,  of  whom 
Abelard  is  the  chief  representative ;  and  a  middle  class  who,  after 
the  example  of  Lanfranc  and  Anselm,  endeavoured  to  combine  ori- 
ginal thought  with  a  deference  to  antiquity.  These  three  classes  were 
respectively  known  as  Positives,  Scholastics,  and  Sententiaries." 2 

§  17.  Among  these  last  (though  eclipsed  by  his  more  famous  suc- 
cessor) the  first  place  is  due  to  the  Engli-shman,  Robert  Pulleyn,3 

1  "  In  Migne's  Patrologia  there  are  at  least  fourteen  commentaries  on 
the  Canticles  by  writers  of  the  12th  century."  (Robertson,  vol.  iii. 
p.  279.)  The  great  Bernard,  and  Rupert,  abbot  of  Deutz  (ob.  1135),  are 
conspicuous  for  their  mystical  and  manifold  interpretation,  and  even 
John  of  Salisbury  speaks  of  the  fourfold  sense  of  Scripture,  which  was 
afterwards  embodied  in  the  following  metrical  canon — 

"  l.ittera  gesta  docet ;  quid  credas  Allegoria: 
Aforalis,  quid  agas  ;  quo  tendas,  Anagogia." 

2  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  279.  "  The  name  of  Sentences  had  been  before 
given  to  the  collections  of  ancient  authorities  which  had  been  popular 
since  the  7th  century.     (Remusat,  Abelard,  ii.  169.)  " 

3  Or  Pullen  (Pullenus  ;  in  French,  de  la  Poule).  His  eight  books  of 
Sentences  were  edited  by  the  Benedictine  Mathoud,  Paris,  1655.  Another 
great  English  divine  was  Robert  of  Melun  (so  called  from  his  lecturing 
there),  afterwards  Bishop  of  Hereford,  of  whose  Summx  Theologix  copious 
extracts  are  given  by  Bula?us,  Hist.  Univ.  Paris,  ii.  585-628. 


A.D.  1150.        ROBERT  PULLEYN— PETER  LOMBARD.  483 

an  eminent  teacher  and  preacher  both  at  Paris  and  Oxford,  who 
was  made  a  Cardinal  and  Chancellor  at  Rome  (1141),  and  died 
about  1150.  Bernard  praises  him  for  his  sound  doctrine.  At 
Oxford,  we  are  told,  "  he  lectured  for  five  years  on  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures, which  at  that  time  had  become  obsolete  (obsoluerant)  in 
England,  having  been  neglected  for  scholastic  studies  (prx  scho- 
lasticis),  and  every  Sunday  preached  the  Word  of  God  to  the 
people,  so  that  very  many  profited  by  his  teaching." * 

§  18.  But  the  man  whose  supremacy  in  this  form  of  teaching 
was  recognized  by  his  title  of  "  Master  of  Sentences "  was  Peter 
Lombard,2  a  native  of  Novara,  who  was  made  Bishop  of  Paris 
(1159),  after  he  had  long  been  held  in  the  highest  repute  as 
a  lecturer  in  the  University,  and  died  in  1164.  His  Four  Books 
of  Sentences,  published  about  1150,  were  designed  (he  tells  us  in 
the  Preface)  "  to  fortify  our  faith  against  the  errors  of  carnal  and 
unspiritual  men 3 — or  rather  to  show  it  fortified,  and  to  lay  open 
the  hidden  meanings  of  theological  enquiries,  as  well  as  of  the 
sacraments  of  the  Church."  As  to  his  method,  he  declares,  "  we 
have  built  up  the  volume  with  much  labour  and  sweat  of  the 
brow  from  testimonies  to  the  truth  based  on  eternal  foundations ; 
and  in  it  you  will  find  the  examples  and  doctrine  of  the  elders." 

These  professions  mark  the  broad  distinction  between  the  spirit 
of  Lombard's  Sentences  and  Abelard's  Sic  et  Non,  the  form  of  which 
may  perhaps  have  suggested  its  composition.4  The  testimonies, 
which  the  one  marshals  in  their  apparent  opposition,  the  other  seeks 

1  Wright,  Biog.  Brit.  ii.  182.  Here  is  an  example  of  the  sort  of  influence 
which  is  often  ascribed  exclusively  to  the  Mendicants. 

2  Petrus  Lombardus,  properly  "  Peter  the  Lombard  ;"  but  we  have 
now  reached  the  time  when  such  designations  were  becoming  surnames. 
Besides  earlier  editions,  his  works  are  printed  in  the  Patrologia,  vol. 
clxxxix.  There  are  four  books  of  Sentences  by  a  "  Master  Baudinus " 
(ibid,  cxcii.),  so  like  Peter's,  that  some  have  supposed  them  to  be  the 
original  which  he  amplified ;  but  they  seem  rather  to  be  an  epitome  of 
Peter's  work,  composed  perhaps  by  the  Bolognese  jurist  Bandinus  (ob. 
1218)  to  supply  law  students  with  the  necessary  knowledge  of  Theology. 
(Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  291.)  The  idea  of  Peter's  work  was  perhaps  taken  from 
that  of  John  of  Damascus  de  Fide  Orthodoxa  (see  Pt.  I.  p.  534),  which 
had  lately  been  translated  into  Latin.  (Hampden,  Hampton  Lectures,  p.  44, 
ed.  2 ;  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  279.) 

3  "Carnalium  atque  animalium  hominum,"  which  seems  taken  from 
St.  Paul's  ^vxiKos  fodpajTos  (in  opposition  to  spiritual,  irv€VfxariK6s),  2  Cor. 
ii.  14,  comp.  xv.  44,  46  ;  James  iii.  15 ;  Jude  19. 

4  Milman  (iv.  365)  says:  "The  Book  of  Sentences  of  Peter  Lombard  is 
but  the  Sic  et  Non  of  Abelard  in  a  more  cautious  and  reverential  form. 
The  relation  of  the  two  wor  ks  is  discussed  by  Remusat  (ii.  180).  Lombard's 
language,  quoted  above,  seems  to  us  to  suggest  an  intention  antagonistic 
to  Abelard,  as  one  of  the  "  carnalium  atque  animalium  hominum." 


484  PETER  LOMBARD.  Chap.  XXVIII. 

to  harmonize  as  the  varied  utterance  of  the  Church's  authoritative 
voice.  In  place  of  Abelard's  dialectic  audacity,  we  have  in  Lombard's 
"  widow's  mite  "  (such  is  his  modest  estimate  of  his  labours)  an 
almost  timid  deference  in  discussing  the  opinions  of  the  Latin  Fathers 
which  he  collects ;  and  he  is  equally  remote  from  the  later  scholastic 
method  of  reaching  firm  dogmatic  conclusions,  which  culminates  in 
Aquinas.1 

§  19.  With  all  his  caution  and  deference  to  authority  it  was  in 
the  very  nature  of  such  a  systematic  array  of  opinions,  that  the  com- 
piler of  sentences  should  put  forth  some  open  to  attack.  Here,  as 
before,  the  crucial  test  was  the  mystery  of  the  Trinity.  Peter 
Lombard  was  accused  by  his  pupil,  John  of  Cornwall,2  of  teaching 
the  "  Nihilanism  "  of  our  Lord's  human  nature — namely  "that 
Christ,  in  so  far  as  He  is  man,  is  nothing  " ; 3  and  it  was  on  this  ground 
especially  that  Walter  of  St.  Victor,  as  we  have  seen,  vehemently 
assailed  him  as  one  of  the  four  sophistical  teachers  of  the  age.  But 
the  work  made  its  way  to  the  position  of  the  first  manual  which 
was  accepted  as  the  basis  of  the  scholastic  theology ;  it  held  that 
place  in  the  schools  for  three  centuries ;  it  formed  the  text-book 
for  lectures  and  numerous  commentaries;  and  no  less  than  164 
writers  illustrated  its  propositions.  Thus  it  came  to  usurp  the 
place  of  the  fountain  of  truth.  That  this  was  the  result  in  the 
Universities,  we  have  the  emphatic  testimony  of  the  greatest  of 
the  schoolmen,  for  so  we  of  the  present  day  must  regard  Eoger 
Bacon  :4— "  The  bachelor  who  reads  the  Text  (of  Scripture)  succumbs 
to  the  reader  of  Sentences,  who  is  honoured  and  preferred  every- 
where and  in  all  things.  ...  He  who  reads  the  Summaries5  holds 
disputations  everywhere,  and  is  accounted  a  Master ;  the  other,  who 
reads  the  text,  is  not  allowed  to  dispute;  .  .  .  which  is  absurd. 
Manifestly  therefore,  in  that  faculty  (of  Theology)  the  Text  is 
subjected  to  the  magisterial  Summary  alone." 

§  20.  Simultaneously  with   this  systematizing   of  Theology  by 

1  Comp.  Trench,  Medieval  Church  History,  p.  274.  The  authorities 
quoted  by  Peter  Lombard  come  down  to  Bede ;  and  he  further  discusses 
questions  raised  as  late  as  the  time  of  Abe'ard,  but  without  naming  the 
authors  of  the  opinions  referred  to. 

2  "  This  writer's  remains  are  in  the  Patrologia  (vols,  clxxvii.  and 
cxcix.).     See  the  Hist.  Lit.  xiii."     Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  280. 

3  "  Quod  Christus  non  sit  aliquid,  secundum  quod  est  homo"  (Johann. 
Cornub.  Eulogium  ad  Alex.  1'ap.  TIL,  A..D.  1175).  Alexander  III.  con- 
demned the  doctrine  at  the  Lateran  Council  of  1179.  But  when  Joachim 
of  Kiore  charged  Peters  work  with  heterodoxy,  the  Fourth  Lateran 
Council  pronounced  in  the  Master's  favour  (1215). 

4  Opm  Majiis,  pars  ii.  c.  4,  p.  28.     Comp.  Chap.  XXXI.,  §  8. 

5  The  Summse  Theologix  of  the  great  Schoolmen. 


A.D.  1150  f.        THE  DECRETALS  OF  GRATIAN,  &c.  485 

the  first  scholastic  divines,  a  new  bulwark  was  framed  for  the 
Roman  Church  and  Papacy  by  the  reduction  of  the  Canon  Law  to 
a  system  in  the  famous  work  of  Gratian.  Undigested  collections 
of  the  Canon  Law  had  been  made  by  Regino,  abbot  of  Priim, 
Burkard,  bishop  of  Worms,  Ivo  of  Chartres,  and  others;1  but  a 
new  motive,  both  of  example  and  antagonism,  was  supplied  by 
the  work  of  the  great  civil  lawyers,  who  founded  the  University 
of  Bologna,  which,  specially  favoured  by  Frederick  Barbarossa,2 
supported  the  Ghibelline  side  in  the  contest  between  the  Hohen- 
staufen  and  the  Papacy.  It  was  a  monk  of  the  same  city,  named 
Gratian,  who  at  the  middle  of  the  lL'th  century  undertook  the 
work  in  the  same  harmonizing  spirit  that  guided  Lombard  in 
Theology,  as  is  implied  in  the  title  (which  was  perhaps  given 
to  his  digest  later),  A  Concordance  of  discordant  Rules?  "  In 
this,  the  matter  was  classified  under  proper  heads  ;  the  various 
sentences  of  Councils,  Popes,  and  Fathers,  were  cited,  and  harmony 
was  as  far  as  possible  established  between  them ;  while  Gratian, 
unlike  the  earlier  compilers,  added  to  the  usefulness  of  the  book  by 
introducing  his  own  views  and  dicta.  The  genuineness  of  the 
False  Decretals4  was  assumed,  and  their  principles  were  carried 
throughout  the  work,  which  thus  served  to  establish  those  prin- 
ciples instead  of  the  older  canonical  system."5  It  became  the 
text-book  for  the  Professorships  of  Canon  Law,  which  were  founded 
both  at  Bologna  and  at  Paris,6  and  were  used  by  the  Popes  as  the 
means  of  giving  currency  to  new  decretals.  The  great  number  of 
these  necessitated  a  new  digest,  which  was  compiled  by  the 
Dominican  Raymund  de  Pennaforti  under  Gregory  IX.  (1234),7 
and  enlarged  by  a  sixth  book  under  Boniface  VIII.  (1^98). 

1  These  are  in  the  Patrologia,  vols,  cxxxii.,  cxl.,  clxvi. 

2  The  first  rescript,  granting  privileges  to  the  students  of  law  at 
Bologna,  was  issued  by  Frederick  Barbarossa  from  Roncaglia  in  1158, 
about  the  time  when  Gratian "s  work  was  completed,  though  its  exact 
date  is  doubtful.  Tiraboschi  dates  the  book  in  1140;  Fabricius  in  1151  ; 
others  place  its  completion  under  Alexander  III.  (from  1159). 

3  Concordantia  discordant  him  Regularum,  more  commonly  known  as  the 
Decretum  Gratiani,  printed,  with  its  later  accretions,  in  the  Corpus  Juris 
Canonici.  The  most  important  works  upon  it  are  Boehmer,  Diss,  de  varia 
Decreti  Gratiani  fortuna,  reprinted  in  the  French  edition  of  the  Corp. 
./.  C. ;  Riegger,  de  Gratiani  Coll.  Can.,  &c,  1775-6  ;  Richter,  de  Emenda- 
toribns  Gratiani,  1835  ;  Savigny,  Gesch.  d.  Rom.  liechts. 

*  See  Part  I.  pp.  560-563. 

s  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  pp.  274-5. 

6  These  Professors  were  called  Decrctalistx  or  Decretistx. 

7  The  Dccretalium  Gregori  P.  IX.  Libri  V. 

II-Z 


Interior  of  Not'  e  Dame    Paris. 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 
SECOND  AGE  OF  SCHOLASTICISM. 


THE   UNIVERSITIES   AND   THE   SCHOOLMEN. — CENT.    XII.-XIII. 

1.  True  nature  of  Universities — Their  spontaneous  origin — Academic 
Republics  —  Degrees  as  titles  to  teach — Recognition  by  Popes  and 
sovereigns.  §  2.  Growth  and  privileges  of  the  "  General  School  '"  of 
Paris — "  Town  and  Gown  " — The  four  "  Nations  " — First  called  Uni- 
versity by  Innocent  III. — Date  of  the  name  at  Oxford  and  Cambridge 
— Civil  Law  taught  by  Vacarius  at  Oxford  (1149).  §  3.  Cathedral  and 
Monastic  Schools  generally  superseded — Papal  efforts  to  revive  them. 
§  4.  Study  of  Aristotle — David  of  Dinant  and  Amalric  of  Bena — Papal 
prohibition    of   Aristotle's  Physics   and   M  taphys'cs — Greek    tex.t    and 


Cent.  XII.  ORIGIN  OF  UNIVERSITIES.  487 

Latin  translations— Roger  Bacon  on  Aristotle.  §  5.  Use  of  Aristotle  by 
the  Friars— Franciscan  school  at  Oxford— Teaching  of  ROBERT  Grosse- 
teste— Practical  object  of  their  studies-Roger  Bacon  on  the  use  of 
Philosophy  for  the  Church.  §  6.  English  teachers  of  theology  on  the 
Continent,  especially  at  Paris  —  Thomas  Wallis  —  The  Franciscan 
Alexander  Hales,  the  "  Irrefragable  Doctor :  "  his  Summa  Theologix. 
§  7.  The  Dominican  Albert  the  Great,  the  "  Universal  Doctor  "— 
His  vast  acquirements,  industry,  and  versatility— Natural  and  practical 
science.  §  8.  Events  of  his  life  :  Padua,  Cologne,  Paris-Suspension  of 
the  University  of  Paris— Dominican  chair  of  Theology  at  the  Jacobin 
Convent— Fame  of  Albert's  Lectures— Suspicion  of  Magic.  §  9.  His 
return  to  Cologne— Visitation  of  the  monasteries— Bishopric  of  Ratisbon 
—Retirement  and  Death.  §  10.  Albert's  teaching  in  Philosophy 
Theology,  and  Science. 

§  1.  During  that  first  period  of  the  Scholastic  Theology,  which  we 
have  traced  from  the  time  of  Anselm  to  that  of  Peter  Lombard,  the 
great  Universities  had  been  fully  constituted.  Our  subject  is  es- 
pecially concerned  with  those  of  Paris  and  Oxford,  and  in  a  lesser 
degree  with  Cambridge;  the  first  having  been  the  chief  seat  of 
theological  learning  throughout  the  12th  century;  while  in  the 
13th  Britain  not  only  shared  its  fame,  but  contributed  several  of 
the  great  Schoolmen  who  taught  at  Paris  itself.1 

We  have  had  occasion  to  refer  to  the  spontaneous  love  of  learn- 
ing as  the  true  origin  of  the  great  societies  of  teachers  and  scholars, 
which  were  incorporated  as   Universities.2     The  modern   idea  of 

»  Of  those  commonly  ranked  as  the  six  greatest  schoolmen,  Alexander 

ieSr-n  rt  J  ~  ,Gl'eat'  Bonaventu™>  Thomas  Aquinas,  Duns  Scotus, 
and  William  of  Ockham,  the  first  and  last  two  were  natives  of  Britain 
and  to  them  must  be  added  the  great  Roger  Bacon,  besides  names  of  the' 
second  rank,  as  John  of  Salisbury,  Bradwardine  and  others;  and  nearlv 
I  wu     eTTWei'e  connected  with  0xf°rd.      Well  might  Anthony  Wood  ask— 

What  University,  I  pray,  can  produce  an  invincible  Hales,  an  admirable 
Bacon,  an  excellent  well-grounded  Middleton,  a  subtle  Scotus,  an  approved 
Burley,  a  resolute  Baconthorpe,  a  singular  Ockham,  a  solid  and  industrious 
Holcot,  and  a  profound  Bradwardin?— all  which  persons  flourished  within 
the  compass  of  one  century :"  and  if  we  have  regard  to  Erigena  in  the 
9th  century  as  well  as  Hales  in  the  13th,  he  but  slightly  exaggerates 
in  saying,  that  the  "  most  subtle  arguing  in  school  divinity  did  take  its 
beginning  in  England  and  from  Englishmen,  ...  so  that,  though  Italv 
boasted  that  Britain  takes  its  Christianity  from  Rome,  England  may 
truly  maintain  that  from  her  (immediately  by  France)  Italy  first  received 
her  school  divinity."     (Athem.  Oxon.  i.  p.  159.) 

2  The  proper  meaning  of  a  University  is  not  a  society  of  Colleges,  much 
less  a  body  whose  function  it  is  to  examine  and  grant  degrees  rather 
than  to  teach.  The  former  misconception  is  at  once  corrected  by  the 
simple  fact,  that  the  -colleges  were  attached  to  the  old  universities  lone 
after  the  latter  had  been  working  vigorously,  simply  as  residences  for 
the  students  who  flocked  to  the  universities,  and  with  endowments  for 


488  TRUE  NATURE  OF  UNIVERSITIES.       Chap.  XXIX. 

founding  a  university,  which  is  first  to  frame  its  machinery  and 
then  to  be  set  to  work  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  may  come  to  it,  is 
utterly  at  variance  with  the  historic  growth  of  the  old  universities 
of  Europe,  which  were  simply  schools  recognized  by  a  corporate 
name,  as  the  objects  of  privileges  granted  by  popes,  emperors,  and 
kings.  The  foundation  of  the  University,  under  that  name,  is  but 
an  accident  in  the  history  of  the  school ;  which  explains  the 
profitless  disputes  about  the  exact  age  of  the  most  famous  univer- 
sities. The  real  process  is  accurately  stated  by  Hallam : x — 
"Charters,  incorporating  the  graduates  and  students  collectively 
under  the  name  of  Universities,  were  granted  by  sovereigns,  with 
privileges  perhaps  too  extensive,  but  such  as  indicated  the  dignity 
of  learning  and  the  countenance  it  received.  It  ought,  however, 
to  be  remembered  that  these  foundations  were  not  the  cause,  but 
the  effect,  of  that  increasing  thirst  for  knowledge,  which  had  antici- 
pated the  encouragement  of  the  great.  The  schools  of  Charlemagne 
were  designed  to  lay  the  basis  of  a  learned  education,  for  which 
there  was  at  that  time  no  sufficient  desire.  But  in  the  12th  century 
the  impetuosity  with  which  men  rushed  to  that  source  of  what 
they  deemed  wisdom,  the  great  University  of  Paris,  did  not  depend 
upon  academical  privileges  or  eleemosynary  stipends,  which  came 
afterwards,  though  these  were  undoubtedly  very  effectual  in 
keeping  it  up.  The  University  created  patrons,  and  was  not 
created  by  them." 

the  aid  and  maintenance  of  poor  scholars.  In  the  English  universities 
in  particular,  endowments  and  the  revenues  derived  from  the  residents 
enabled  the  colleges  to  form  strong  internal  systems  of  government  and 
teaching,  which  to  a  great  degree  usurped  the  teaching  functions  of  the 
universities;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  their  examinations  for  degrees 
acquired  greater  importance.  Hence  arose  that  new  conception  of  a 
university,  as  having  the  special  function  of  examining  and  granting 
degrees,  which  it  has  been  found  convenient,  for  certain  social  and 
political  reasons,  to  embody  in  our  universities  recently  founded.  Another 
error  is  the  derivation  of  the  name  from  the  universal  range  of  studies 
naturally  pursued  at  a  great  seat  of  learning,  but  which  is  not  therefore 
so  called.  The  mistake  is  at  once  exposed,  as  a  reductio  ad  absurdmn, 
by  those  who  have  denied  the  name  to  the  famous  University  of  Bologna, 
because  it  was  specially  a  school  of  law.  The  word  Universiias  is  simply 
the  old  Latin  legal  name  for  a  corporation,  as  including  the  whole  of  its 
members  (universi)  ;  and,  in  the  case  in  question,  it  was  applied  to  the  wliole 
body  of  teachers  and  students  (Universitas  doctorum  et  scholar turn),  when 
they  were  incorporated  by  a  formal  act,  as  by  a  royal  charter.  We  find 
the  University  of  Paris,  before  its  incorporation,  called  by  the  name  of 
Studium  denerale.  Collegium,  which  is  merely  another  Latin  word  for  a 
corporate  body,  was  applied  to  the  houses  of  residence  or  halls  (as  some 
of  them  are  still  called),  when  they  were  incorporated,  and  also  to 
universities,  as  in  Scotland.  !   Lit.  Hist.  vol.  i.  p.  15. 


A.D.  1179.  UNIVERSITY  OF  PARIS.  489 

However  difficult  it  may  be  to  fix  a  precise  date,  at  which  the 
schools  of  Paris  and  Oxford  became  Universities,  that  character  had 
been  certainly  assumed  by  both  before  the  end  of  the  12th  century. 
But  even  from  the  beginning  of  that  century  Paris  deduces  its 
regular  succession  of  teachers  and  students  from  the  lectures  of 
William  of  Champeaux,  Abelard,  and  their  contemporaries.1  To 
the  old  course  of  the  Trivium  and  Quadrivium,  now  enlarged  by 
the  master  science  of  Theology,  there  were  gradually  added  chairs 
of  civil  law,  medicine,  and  afterwards  of  canon  law;  and  the 
union  of  these  formed  the  organized  body  of  teachers  and  students, 
which  was  at  first  called  Studium  Generate  and  afterwards  Univer- 
sitas.  The  thing  existed  before  the  name  ;  teachers  and  students 
formed  an  academical  republic,2  distinct  from  the  political  society 
around  it,  in  which  the  full  citizens,  whose  learning  qualified  them 
to  teach,  were  invested  with  the  right  by  the  title  of  Master 
(Magister)  in  Arts,  and  Doctor  in  the  other  Faculties.3  The  free 
constitution  of  the  Universities  was  established  from  the  time  when 
their  corporate  existence  was  recognized  by  their  own  sovereigns 
and  by  the  Pope,  from  whom  they  received  high  privileges,  and 
found  protection  against  the  arbitrary  acts  even  of  their  own 
authorities.  Thus,  when  the  Chancellor  of  St.  Genevieve  exacted 
a  high  price  for  admitting  Masters  to  teach,  Alexander  III.  decided, 
in  the  Third  Lateran  Council  (1179),  that  "every  competent  person 
ought  to  be  admitted  to  teach ;"  and,  in  the  next  year,  he  decreed 
that  "  whatsoever  fit  and  learned  men  should  be  willing  to  direct 
institutions  for  the  study  of  letters,  should  be  permitted  to  direct 

1  The  official  position  of  the  Chancellor  of  St.  Genevieve  as  Chancellor 
of  the  University  seems  a  "  survival  "  of  the  growth  of  the  latter  out  of 
the  ancient  school.  It  was  from  this  particular  case  that  the  title  of 
Chancellor  was  given  to  the  presiding  officer  of  other  Universities. 

2  The  University  of  Cambridge  is  still  called  in  its  Calendar  "  a  literary 
republic." 

3  These  titles  were  at  first  perfectly  equivalent,  and  signified  an  actual 
teacher.  The  body  of  teachers,  with  their  Chancellor,  gradually*assumed 
the  power  of  admitting  or  refusing  those  who  might  wish  to  teach.  The 
next  step  was  to  regulate  this  power,  so  that  the  licences  to  teach  were 
granted  as  the  result  of  examination ;  and  then  the  titles  became  the 
stamp  of  learning.  Finally,  the  superior  dignity  obtained  by  the  Doctors 
of  the  special  Faculties  above  the  Masters  of  Arts,  and  the  institution  of 
the  preparatory  grade  of  Bachelors  (baccalaurci),  who  also  taught  under 
the  direction  of  the  Masters  or  Doctors, — formed  an  advancing  scale  of 
titles,  which  were  therefore  called  Degrees  (Gradus,  "  steps ").  These 
were  always  conferred  by  the  Chancellor,  who  was  generally  elected  by 
the  members  of  the  University.  Thus  the  whole  process  of  earning 
and  awarding  the  Degrees  was  complete,  before  rights  and  immunities 
were  granted  to  their  holders  by  the  government  of  each  State  and  by 
the  universal  authority  of  the  Pope. 


490  PARIS :   OXFORD :   CAMBRIDGE.         Chap.  XXIX. 

schools  without  any  molestations  or  exactions." 1  No  words  could 
better  express  the  essential  idea  of  a  university. 

§  2.  By  the  end  of  the  century  the  influx  of  scholars  had  become 
so  great,  that  Philip  Augustus  enlarged  the  boundaries  of  the  city. 
The  students  are  even  said  (but  doubtless  this  is  an  exaggeration) 
to  have  outnumbered  the  citizens ;  and  the  quarrels  between  the 
two  bodies  led  to  a  grant  of  privileges  by  the  same  King  to  the 
ktudium  Generate,  in  which  the  office  of  Rector  is  acknowledged  as 
already  existing  (1201).2  The  resort  of  students  from  all  parts  of 
Christendom  to  this  medieval  Athens  is  already  attested  by  their 
division  into  the  four  "nations"  of  French,  English,  Picards,  and 
Normans,3  each  occupying  distinct  quarters  and  forming  a  separate 
society.  The  first  distinct  application  of  the  name  of  University  to 
the  "  General  School "  of  Paris  in  a  public  document  appears  to  be 
in  the  ordinance  which  Innocent  III.  issued,  by  his  Legate,  for  its 
regulation  in  1215  ;  but  a  letter  of  the  Pope  a  few  years  earlier  shows 
how  the  special  application  of  the  name  grew  up ;  it  is  addressed : 
— "  Doctoribus  et  universis  scholaribus  Parisiensibus  .  .  .  universi- 
tatem  vestram  rogamus."  In  the  oldest  existing  deed  of  the 
University  itself  (1221)  the  style  is  used: — "We  the  Universitas 
(i.e.  the  body  corporate)  of  the  Masters  and  Scholars  of  Paris." 

About  the  same  time  the  name  is  first  applied  to  the  schools  of 
Cambridge  in  a  public  document  of  1223 ;  but  those  of  Oxford 
are  called  a  University  in  the  first  year  of  the  century  in  a  charter 
of  King  John  (1201).  In  both  cases,  as  at  Paris,  the  name  is  but 
a  crowning  recognition  of  the  flourishing  bodies  to  which  it  is 
applied.  In  the  unknown  growth  of  Oxford,  the  first  distinct 
epoch  is  usually  considered  to  be  marked  by  the  teaching  of  civil 
law  there  by  the  Lombard  professor  Vacarius  under  the  patronage 
of  Archbishop  Theobald,  in  the  reign  of  Stephen  (1149).4     This 

1  These  two  decretals  are  the  earliest  positive  testimony  to  the  existence 
of  the  University  of  Paris  as  an  organized  body,  though  not  yet  under 
that  naifie.  So  130  years  later  Clement  III.  says,  in  his  Bull  found- 
ing the  University  of  Dublin  :  "  I  have  founded  a  general  school  in  every 
science  and  lawful  faculty,  to  flourish  in  Dublin  for  ever,  in  which 
Masters  may  freely  teach,  and  scholars  become  auditors  of  the  said 
faculties." 

2  The  Rector  is  styled  capitate,  i.e.  the  chief  executive  authority  ;  the 
Chancellor  being  the  supreme  head. 

3  The  French  nation  included  also  Spain,  Italy,  and  the  East ;  the 
English,  Germany,  Hungary,  Poland,  and  the  northern  kingdoms.  The 
latter  name,  which  of  itself  indicates  the  numbers  in  which  Englishmen 
resorted  to  the  university,  was  changed  into  German  in  1430.  It  is  to  be 
observed  that  the  Germans,  having  no  universities  of  their  own  till  the 
14th  century,  resorted  chiefly  to  Paris  and  Bologna. 

4  Gervas.  p.  16»>5;    Robert  de  Monte,  A.D.  1149.     (Patrol,  clx.) 


Cent.  XII.-XIII.      DECLINE  OF  CLERICAL  SCHOOLS.  491 

indication  that  Oxford  was  now  already  a  seat  of  learning  is  con- 
firmed by  the  intellectual  fame  of  such  scholars  and  teachers  as 
John  of  Salisbury,  Robert  Pulleyn,  and  Robert  of  Melun ;  as  well 
as  by  the  direct  testimony  of  Giraldus  Cambrensis,  who,  about 
1185,  speaks  of  Oxford  as  "  the  place  most  distinguished  in  England 
for  the  excellence  of  its  clerks." 

§  3.  As  the  universities  rose,  and  especially  as  they  became  great 
seats  of  theological  learning,  they  naturally  superseded  the  chief 
cathedral  schools,  and  the  monastic  schools  were  for  the  most  part 
closed.  As  early  as  1058,  the  school  of  the  head  Benedictine 
monastery  of  Monte  Cassino  had  been  closed  by  its  abbot,  Deside- 
rius ;  and  the  Venerable  Peter  closed  the  schools  at  Clugny  and  in 
all  the  Cluniac  cloisters.  The  Popes  endeavoured,  in  the  interests 
of  the  Church,  to  support  and  regulate  the  cathedral  schools, 
which  were  not  only  overshadowed  by  the  universities,  but  ruined 
by  their  own  abuses.  The  benefices  of  the  magister  schohirum 
were  lost  in  many  cathedrals,  and  in  others  the  licentia  docendi 
was  made  an  object  of  traffic.  To  remedy  this,  Alexander  III. 
decreed,  in  the  Third  Lateran  Council  (1179),  that  in  every  cathedral 
a  competent  benefice  should  be  provided  for  a  master,  who  was  to 
give  gratuitous  instruction  to  the  clergy  of  the  church  and  to  poor 
scholars,  and  that  no  price  should  be  exacted  for  the  licence  of 
teaching.  Innocent  III.  renewed  this  decree  at  the  Fourth  Lateran 
Council  (1215). 

§  4.  The  epoch  at  which  the  universities  were  fully  constituted, 
was  also  that  at  which  they  were  stirred  by  a  new  and  mighty  intel- 
lectual movement.  Aristotle,  as  we  have  seen,  had  been  hitherto 
little  more  than  a  name ;  the  logician  rather  than  the  philosopher ; 
known  only  through  secondary  channels  and  the  old  translations  of 
his  works  by  Victorinus  and  Boethius.  It  is  a  significant  fact, 
that  he  is  not  so  much  as  mentioned  by  Peter  Lombard.  "  On 
a  sudden,  at  the  beginning  of  the  13th  century,  there  is  a  cry  of 
terror  from  the  Church,  in  the  centre  of  the  most  profound  theo- 
logical learning  of  the  Church,  the  University  of  Paris  ;  and  the 
cry  is  the  irrefragable  witness  to  the  influence  of  what  was  vaguely 
denounced  as  the  philosophy  of  Aristotle.  It  is  not  now  pre- 
sumptuous Dialectics,  which  would  submit  theological  truth  to 
logical  system,  but  philosophical  theories,  directly  opposed  to  the 
doctrines  of  the  Church ;  the  clamour  is  loud  against  certain  fatal 
books  but  newly  brought  into  the  schools.1  .  .  .  But  the  secret  of 
all  this  terror  and  perplexity  of  the  Church  was  not  that  the  pure 

1  The  sentence  of  the  Council  of  Paris,  in  1209,  specifies  the  Xatural 
Philosophy  and  Comments  on  it. 


492  STUDY  OF  ARISTOTLE.  Chap.  XXIX. 

and  more  rational  philosophy  of  Aristotle  was  revealed  in  the 
schools  ;  the  evil  and  the  danger  more  clearly  denounced  were  in 
the  Arabian  comment,  which,  inseparable  from  the  Arabo-Latin 
translation,  had  formed  a  system  fruitful  of  abuse  and  error."  1 

The  immediate  cause  of  this  new  excitement  was  the  use  made 
(or  said  to  be  made)  of  Aristotle's  works  in  support  of  the  specula- 
tive Pantheism  and  other  mystical  heresies  taught  by  David  of 
Dinant  and  Amalric  of  Bena.2  It  is  certain  that  some  of  the 
doctrines  which  Amalric  was  said  to  have  taught  from  Aristotle 
were  taken  from  the  writings  of  John  Scotus  Erigena.3  In  1209 
a  synod  at  Paris  was  held  against  his  disciples,  several  of  whom 
were  delivered  to  the  secular  arm  (to  be  burnt)  and  others  con- 
demned to  perpetual  imprisonment ;  the  deceased  Amalric  was  ex- 
communicated, and  his  body  was  ordered  to  be  taken  out  of  the 
cemetery  and  thrown  into  unconsecrated  ground  ;  and  the  synod 
decreed  that  the  books  of  David  of  Dinant  should  be  brought  to 

1  Milman,  Latin  Christianity,  vol.  ix.  pp.  112-114.  Gieseler  (vol.  iii. 
pp.  301-302)  quotes  an  important  passage  from  Roger  Bacon  {Op.  Majus, 
pars  i.  c.  9),  who  not  only  testifies  that  the  opposition  at  Paris  was 
"to  the  Natural  Philosophy  and  Metaphysics  of  Aristotle  through  the 
expositors  Aviccnna  and  Averrhoes,"  but  ascribes  the  excommunication  of 
"  their  books  "  to  "  dense  ignorance,"  and  adds  that  "  we  moderns  approve 
the  aforesaid  men,"  regarding  all  the  additions  they  made  to  wisdom  as 
worthy  of  favour,  though  they  made  many  mistakes  and  needed  much 
correction.  The  Opus  Majus  was  written  in  1266-7.  Besides  the 
translations  from  the  Arabic,  we  are  told  that,  among  the  works  of 
Aristotle  read  at  Paris  at  the  beginning  of  the  century  were  the  Meta- 
physics, which  had  been  lately  brought  from  Constantinople,  and  translated 
out  of  Greek  into  Latin.  Gulielm.  Armor,  s.  a.  1209.  ap.  Gieseler,  I.e. 
William  the  Armorican  or  Breton  (Brito)  wrote  about  1220  a  continuation 
of  Rigord,  de  Gestis  Philippi  Augusti. 

2  Amalric  (Amalricus  or  Amauricus)  is  also  called  Amaury  of  Chartres. 
A  contempoi-ary  describes  him  as  of  a  most  subtile  but  evil  mind,  con- 
tradicting others  in  all  the  faculties  in  which  he  studied,  but  esteemed  of 
so  unblemished  a  character  that  he  was  the  companion  (perhaps  the  tutor) 
of  the  King's  son  Louis,  afterwards  Louis  VIII.  (Chron.  Anon.  Laudun. 
Canon.)  He  appears  to  have  taught  both  at  Chartres  and  Paris,  and  he 
died  in  1205.  Instead  of  David  of  Dinant  being  (as  some  say)  the  disciple 
of  Amalric,  we  learn  fi*om  the  same  writer  that  Amalric  derived  his 
errors  from  the  Quaternions  (Quaternuli)  of  David,  who  was  therefore 
condemned  with  Amalric.  David  seems  not  to  have  taught  at  Paris;  but 
to  have  maintained  himself  at  the  Papal  Court.  He  was  certainly  dead 
in  1209.  What  is  known  of  these  two  teachers  is  collected  by  Kronlein, 
Amalric  von  Bena  und  David  von  Dinant,  in  the  Studien  u.  Kritiken,  1847, 
pp.  271-330.     See  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  pp.  297  foil. 

3  In  particular  from  the  Periphysion  {irepi  (pvo-tu>i>)  or  De  Nat  urn  (Gerson, 
de  Concord.  Metaph.  cum  Log.  ap  Gieseler,  I.e.  p.  299).  The  followers  of 
Amalric  were  afterwards  merged  among  the  heretics  known  as  "  Brethren 
of  the  Free  Spirit.  ' 


Cent.  XIII.       VARIED  RECEPTION  OF  HIS  WORKS.  493 

the  Archbishop  of  Paris  to  be  burnt,  aud  that  "  neither  the  books 
of  Aristotle  on  Natural  Philosophy  nor  comments  (on  them)  should 
be  read  at  Paris  in  public  or  in  private." l  The  prohibition  was 
repeated  in  a  more  specific  form  (including  both  the  Physics  and 
Metaphysics,  while  sanctioning  the  Dialectics)  in  a  statute  made 
for  the  university  by  the  Papal  Legate  six  years  later  (1215).2 
But  a  different  tone  is  sounded  in  the  Bull  of  Gregory  IX.,  1231,3 
still  indeed  forbidding  the  use  of  works  of  Aristotle  at  Paris,  but 
only  "  till  they  should  have  been  examined  and  purged  from  all 
suspicion  of  error." 

By  this  time  the  Greek  text  of  Aristotle  was  becoming  known ; 
translations  were  soon  undertaken  by  some  of  the  most  eminent 
schoolmen, and  under  the  auspices  of  several  European  sovereigns;4 
and  henceforth  his  authority  was  established,  as  the  great  teacher 
of  a  philosophy  and  science  which  was  regarded  as  a  foundation 
for  the  superstructure  of  religious  truth.  The  one  of  all  the 
schoolmen,  who  had  the  truest  scientific  spirit  and  was  most  free 
from  slavish  deference  to  authority,  thus  sums  up  the  final  esti- 
mate of  the  great  Stagirite : — "  Aristotle  cleared  away  the  errors 
of  former  philosophers,  and  enlarged  philosophy,  aspiring  to  its 
completion,  .  .  .  although  he  could  not  perfect  all  its  several  parts. 
For  later  writers  have  corrected  him  in  some  things  and  have 
added  much  to  his  works,  and  much  will  still  be  added  to  the 
end  of  the  world,  because  there  is  nothing  perfect  in  human  in- 
ventions ;"  6 — a  prediction  strikingly  significant  as  coming  from  the 
one  great  medieval  forerunner  of  those  truer  principles  of  science, 

1  Martene,  Thesaurus,  iv.  166. 

2  Statutum  Eoberti,  &c,  in  Bulseus,  iii.  81. 

3  Bulseus,  iii.  140  ;  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  301. 

4  Among  these  were  Alphonso  X.,  king  of  Castile,  Manfred,  king  of 
Sicily,  and  especially  the  Emperor  Frederick  II. :  see  his  letter  sending  to 
the  University  of  Bologna  Latin  translations,  made  by  chosen  men  under 
his  directions  and  partly  by  himself,  of  "various  compilations  from 
Aris-totle  and  other  philosophers  anciently  put  forth  both  in  Greek  and 
Arabic  "  (in  Petr.  de  Vineis,  lib.  iii.  Epist.  67).  Among  these  translations 
we  may  suppose  to  have  been  those  of  which  Roger  Bacon  says  that 
"the  philosophy  of  Aristotle  gained  celebrity  among  the  Latins  in  the 
time  of  Michael  Scot,  who  in  a.d.  1230  made  known  certain  parts  of 
his  physical  and  mathematical  works  with  learned  expositions  "  (referring 
doubtless  to  the  Arabic  commentaries).  Michael  Scot  lived  as  astrologer 
at  the  court  of  Frederick  II. 

5  Roger  Bacon,  Opus  Majus,  ii.  8.  See  also  the  eulogy  of  Aristotle 
by  Averrhoes  {Prcxcm.  in  Aristot.  Physica)  quoted  by  Gieseler,  vol.  iii. 
p.  302,  and  the  poem  of  a  Cologne  divine  of  the  14th  century  (mentioned 
by  Cornelius  Agrippa),  who  regards  Aristotle  as  the  forerunner  of  Christ 
in  natural  things,  as  needful  to  the  Gospel  as  John  the  Baptist  was  in 
preparing  men's  hearts. 

II— Z  2 


494  USE  OF  ARISTOTLE  BY  THE  FRIARS.     Chap.  XXIX. 

which   his   great  namesake  was   to   substitute   for   the   perverted 
system  which  was  built  up  on  the  name  of  Aristotle.1 

§  5.  Among  the  students  of  Aristotle,  none  were  more  zealous 
in  bringing  his  philosophy  to  the  service  of  Theology  than  the 
Mendicant  Friars,  who  from  this  time  take  the  lead  in  the  develop- 
ment of  Scholasticism.  With  scarcely  an  exception,  all  the  great 
doctors  of  this  Second  Age  of  Scholasticism  were  either  Franciscans 
or  Dominicans.  They  were  connected  with  the  Universities  of 
Oxford  and  Paris,  the  former  contributing  many  of  the  great  lights 
who  made  the  latter  the  great  centre  of  theological  learning.2  We 
have  already  seen  how  soon  the  learning,  which  St.  Francis  rejected 
as  needless  for  the  spiritual  man,  was  cultivated  by  his  very  first 
disciples  as  a  needful  means  of  fulfilling  their  mission.  Even 
before  their  master's  death,  the  little  band  of  "  Minor  Brethren " 
who  came  over  to  England  (1224),  found  a  home  at  Oxford,  where 
the  Dominicans  were  already  settled ;  and  their  historian  gives  a 
graphic  account  of  the  growth  of  the  school  which  was  soon  to  be  as 
famous  abroad  as  at  home.3  Their  leader,  Fr.  Agnellus,  caused  a 
decent  school  to  be  built  at  Oxford ;  and,  as  its  first  teacher,  he 
obtained  the  services  of  the  great  man,  who  shines  above  all  his 
contemporaries  for  his  union  of  learning  and  pure  religious  zeal 
with  wise  patriotism,  Robert  Grossetkste4  (that  is,  Great-head), 
the  friend  and  faithful  (sometimes  sharply  faithful)  counsellor  of 

1  The  exact  place  occupied  by  Aristotle  in  Scholasticism  is  admirably 
described  by  Professor  Brewer  in  a  passage  too  long  to  be  quoted  here.  He 
regards  Aristotle  as  a  double  help  to  the  Schoolmen,  not  merely  for  that 
logical  method  of  which  he  was  the  master,  but,  primarily,  as  the  exponent 
of  natural  reason,  and,  secondly,  as  the  representative  of  the  whole  range 
of  Greek,  that  is,  of  all  philosophy.  He  adds  some  excellent  remarks  on 
the  results  produced  by  the  scholastic  use  of  Aristotle,  both  for  good  and 
evil :  the  chief  advantage  being  in  the  great  precision  of  their  method,  the 
exaggeration  of  which  led,  in  its  turn,  to  their  great  fault,  of  attempting 
to  state  every  question  in  a  set  of  definite  propositions,  with  solutions, 
which  often  leave  the  question  more  involved  than  it  was  before ;  the 
solution  being  not  only  unproved  but  suggestive  of  new  doubts  and  ques- 
tions involved  in  an  indefinite  series.     (Monum.  Francisc.  pref.  p.  Hi.  f.) 

2  Mr.  Brewer  observes  that  "  almost  every  Franciscan  schoolman  of 
note  came  from  these  islands,  Bonaventura  and  Lully  excepted.  We  are 
proportionally  scanty  in  the  names  of  Dominicans."  (Monum.  Francisc. 
pref.  p.  lvii.) 

3  Thomas  de  Eccleston,  de  Adventu,  &c. ;  in  Monum.  Francisc. ;  and  the 
other  records  (Prima  Fundatio,  &c.)  in  the  Appendix. 

4  In  Latin  Grossum  Caput.  The  name  is  spelt  in  a  variety  of  ways 
Gros-,  Gross-,  or  Grosse-,  teste  or  tete,  and  even  the  hybrid  Gross-head  (!) 
His  political  relations  with  Simon  de  Montfort,  Henry  III.,  &c,  belong  of 
course  to  the  History  of  England.  Several  very  interesting  anecdotes  of 
him  are  told  by  Eccleston,  and  he  plays  an  important  part  in  the  corre- 
spondence of  Adam  Marsh  in  the  M<mumenta  Fra»ciscana. 


A.D.  1224  f.     PRACTICAL  OBJECT  OF  THEIR  TEACHING.  495 

Simon  de  Montfort.  The  anecdotes  told  of  him  by  Eceleston 
"confirm  the  popular  estimation  of  his  character,  but  they  also 
present  him  in  a  new  light,  as  the  liberal  friend  and  supporter  of 
the  Minorite  friars,  fully  alive  to  the  importance  and  even  the 
necessity  of  their  mission." 1  On  his  removal  to  the  bishopric  of 
Lincoln  (1235,  ob.  1253),  he  was  succeeded  by  one  of  the  friars ; 
and  from  that  time  they  had  a  constant  succession  of  readers 
of  divinity  both  at  Oxford  and  Cambridge.2  Under  Grosseteste, 
we  are  told,  the  brethren  "made  incalculable  progress  both  in 
sermons  and  in  subtle  moralities  suitable  to  preaching ;"  for  it  is 
to  be  observed  that  their  studies  were  pursued  as  a  means  to  the 
great  end  of  their  practical  work.  Eceleston  draws  a  vivid 
picture  of  the  brethren  uniting  the  greatest  simplicity  of  life  and 
purity  of  conscience  with  such  zeal  for  study,  that  they  daily  went 
barefoot  through  the  cold  and  mire  to  the  divinity  schools,  however 
distant;  and  the  result  was  that,  the  Divine  grace  co-operating 
with  this  diligence  in  study,  they  were  in  a  short  time  promoted  to 
the  office  of  preachers.3  This  practical  purpose  of  their. studies  was 
emphatically  insisted  on  by  Grosseteste,  when,  urging  on  the  friars 
a  diligent  application  to  Theology,  he  assured  them,  "  or  else  for 
a  certainty  the  same  lot  will  befal  you,  as  has  befallen  all  the  other 
religious  orders,  who  are  walking  to  their  shame  in  the  darkness  of 
ignorance."  And  this  combination  of  ardent  study  with  practical 
work  was  the  cause  alike  of  the  commanding  influence  which  they 
obtained  in  the  universities,  as  the  chief  teachers  of  the  scholastic 
divinity,  and  of  their  success  as  preachers  at  home  and  missionaries 
abroad.  "  By  the  light  of  philosophy  " — says  Koger  Bacon,  at  the 
opening  of  his  Opus  Majus — "  the  Church  of  God  is  ordered,  the 
commonwealth  of  the  faithful  is  rightly  disposed,  the  conversion 
of  the  infidel  is  accomplished.  It  is  by  the  excellence  of  wisdom 
that  they  who  are  obstinate  in  malice  can  alone  be  repressed,  and 
they  are  better  repelled  from  the  borders  of  the  Church,  and 
further,  than  by  the  effusion  of  Christian  blood."  It  will  surprise 
many  to  read  these  words  of  a  Franciscan  friar  in  an  age  of  Crusades, 
not  only  against  the  infidel  in  the  East  but  the  heretic  in  France, 
and  at  the  very  time  when  the  rival  order  had  brought  the  Inquisi- 
tion into  full  play. 

1  Brewer,  Mon.  Francisc.  pref.  p.  lxxvi. 

2  See  the  lists  in  Eceleston,  coll.  x.,  pp.  37-41,  and  App.  pp.  552-547. 

3  See  the  powerful  development  of  this  practical  result  of  their  studies 
in  the  character  of  their  preaching  by  Mr.  Brewer  (Mon.  Francisc.  pref. 
pp.  l.-lii.),  whose  view  is  abundantly  illustrated  bv  the  letters  of  Adam 
Marsh  (himself  one  of  the  Franciscan  readers  at  Oxford,  and  the  close 
friend  of  Grosseteste)  in  the  same  volume. 


496  ALEXANDER  HALES.  Chap.  XXIX. 

§  6.  The  energy  developed  by  the  friars  in  England  was  quickly 
brought  to  stimulate  the  progress  of  scholastic  theology  on  the 
Continent.1  "  Foreigners  were  sent  to  the  English  school  as  supe- 
rior to  all  others.  It  enjoyed  a  reputation  throughout  the  world  for 
adhering  the  most  conscientiously  and  strictly  to  the  poverty  and 
severity  of  the  order ;  and  for  the  first  time  since  its  existence  as 
a  university,  Oxford  rose  to  a  position  second  not  even  to  Paris 
itself." 2  The  great  Parisian  school  of  theology,  which  occupies  the 
second  period  of  Scholasticism,  had  for  its  earliest  teachers  the 
Welshman  Thomas  Wallis3  and  the  more  famous  Englishman, 
Alexander  Hales,4  the  "Irrefragable  Doctor"  or  "Doctor  of 
Doctors."  His  brief  eulogy  in  a  list  of  the  great  men  of  the  order 5 
describes  him  as  doctor,  chancellor,  and  archdeacon  of  Paris,  and 
records  that,  giving  up  the  pomp  of  secular  life  (conversationis),  he 
took  the  habit  of  the  Minor  Brethren  in  the  year  1228,  in  which 
he  lived  17  years  "  virgo  et  doctor  irrefragabilis,"  and  died  at 
Paris  in  1245.  He  is  reckoned  by  some  historians  as  the  true 
father  of  Scholasticism ;  and  he  certainly  seems  to  have  been  the 
first  who  adopted  the  specially  scholastic  form  of  a  complete 
summary  of  theology,6  of  great  labour   and   bulk,  in  which  the 

1  Eccleston  (p.  38)  tells  us  that  the  fame  of  the  brethren  caused  Elias 
(the  successor  of  St.  Francis  as  Minister  General)  to  send  for  the  brethren 
Philip  of  Wales,  or  Wallis  (  Wallensis,  Waleys),  and  Adam  of  York,  to 
lecture  at  Lyon.  Others  taught  at  Cologne,  and  repeated  applications 
were  made  from  Ireland,  Denmark,  France,  and  Germany,  for  English 
friars.  (See  Letters  of  Adam  Marsh  in  the  Mon.  Francisc.  pp.  93,  354, 
365,  378.) 

2  Brewer,  Mon.  Francisc.  pref.  p.  lxxxi.  Besides  Alexander  Hales  and 
Thomas  Wallis,  Oxford  gave  Paris  its  most  popular  lecturer,  Richard  of 
Cornwall  (or  Richardus  Anglicus).  Mr.  Brewer  suggests  that  "  perhaps 
the  opposition  the  friars  incurred  in  that  university  arose  as  much  from 
national  as  professional  jealousy ;"  but  it  was  as  strong  against  the  con- 
tinental Dominicans  as  the  English  Franciscans. 

3  Thomas  Waleys  (  \\  allensis)  was  one  of  the  early  Franciscan  readers 
of  theology  at  Oxford,  and  afterwards  Bishop  of  St.  David's  (from  1248  to 
1255). 

*  Alexander  ah  Hales,  Halesius  or  Alesius,  is  said  to  have  taken  his 
surname  from  Hales  (or  Hailes)  in  Gloucestershire,  where  a  Franciscan 
monastery  was  built  by  Richard  of  Cornwall  and  dedicated  in  1251.  If, 
therefore,  as  some  say,  he  was  surnamed  from  his  residence  in  that 
cloister,  it  must  have  been  in  a  temporary  establishment,  like  several  of 
the  early  foundations  of  the  friars ;  but  this  seems  to  be  only  conjecture. 

5  Prima  Fundatio,  &c,  in  Man,  Francisc.  p.  542.  His  death  at  Paris, 
in  1245,  is  also  mentioned  in  a  letter  of  Bishop  Grosseteste,  who  had  gone 
with  Adam  Marsh  in  that  year  to  the  First  Council  of  Lyon.  {Ibid. 
p.  627.) 

6  Summa  Universx  TJicolotjix,  in  TV.  Lib.  Fcntentiarum  (printed  Venet. 
1475,  col.   1622).     Its    bulk    is    humorously  described   as    more    than    a 


A.D.  1193-1280.  ALBERT  THE  GREAT.  497 

doctrines  were  set  forth  as  a  series  of  propositions,  with  the  argu- 
ments marshalled  in  syllogistic  array.  In  Hales  the  influence  of 
Aristotle  becomes  fully  visible;  but  his  philosophy  is  combined 
with  a  practical  regard  for  the  ecclesiastical  system  of  his  age. 

§  7.  Contemporary  with  the  Franciscan  Hales,  whom  he  long 
survived,  was  the  Dominican  Albert,1  justly  surnamed  the  Great 
(Albertus  Magnus)  on  account  of  his  vast  acquirements,  which 
earned  for  him  the  title  of  the  "  Universal  Doctor,"  and  from  his 
enemies  the  nickname  of  "  Aristotle's  ape."  Born  about  1193 
(though  some  say  twelve  years  later)  of  the  noble  Swabian  house 
of  Bollstadt,  he  lived  till  1280  ;  but  the  eighty-seven  years  of  his 
life  seem  a  short  space  for  the  learning  and  labours  that  survive  in 
the  twenty-one  folio  volumes  of  his  works,2  besides  what  is  lost  of 
the  800  treatises  he  is  reported  to  have  written.  "  As,  besides 
composing  or  dictating,  he  was  incessantly  lecturing  as  a  professor, 
travelling  on  the  business  of  his  Order,  or  filling  high  offices  in  the 
Church,  among  which   were  those   of  the  Master   of  the  Sacred 

horse-load  of  divinity  by  Roger  Bacon,  who  says  that  it  was  not  really 
the  work  of  Alexander  Hales,  and  that  in  his  own  time  it  was  no  longer 
transcribed.  (Op.  Maj.  326;  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  624.)  Hales  is  said'to 
have  written  some  exegetical  works  and  (perhaps)  a  Commentary  on 
Aristotle's  Metaphysics.  Another  famous  Schoolman,  his  contemporary, 
was  William  of  Auvergne,  archbishop  of  Paris  from  1228  to  1249. 

1  It  is  convenient  to  remember  the  following  relations  between  the 
chief  Schoolmen  : — 

Franciscans. 

{^29?}   RoGER  Bacon 
-f-1315.  Raymund  Lully. 
+1347.  William  of  Ockham  (pupil  of 
Duns  Scotus). 

Dominicans. 
1280.  Albertus  Magnus,  and  his  pupil    |       -f-1274.  Thomas  Aquinas. 

It  is  also  worth  while  to  observe  their  chronological  relation  to 
St.  Francis  and  St.  Dominic.  Albert  the  Great  was  only  a  few  years 
younger  than  St.  Francis,  and  so  probably  was  Alexander  Hales  (the  date  of 
whose  birth  is  unknown;  Roger  Bacon  was  born  (1214)  seven  years  before 
the  death  of  Dominic  (1221),  Bonaventura  in  that  same  year  (1221), 
and  Thomas  Aquinas  about  1226,  the  year  of  the  death  of  Francis. 

2  Edited  by  P.  Jammy,  Lugd.  1651.  Of  the  twenty-one  vols.,  five  con- 
tain his  Commentary  on  Aristotle,  five  his  Commentary  on  Peter  I.omba:d, 
two  his  own  Summa  Theologix  ;  the  rest,  his  works  on  Natural  Science 
(Summa  Naturaliwm  de  Creaturis),  Scripture  interpretation,  and  Practical 
Theology.  Among  works  respecting  him  are  Rudolphus  Noviomag.,  de 
Vita  Alberti  Magni,  Col.  1490  f. ;  Quetif  and  Echard,  Script.  Ord.  Prxd. 
i.  162  f . ;  Sighart,  Alb.  Mag.  sein  Leben  ».  seine  Wissenschaft,  Regensb. 
1857  ;  C.  Haneberg,  zu  Erkenntnisslehre  von  Ibn  Sina  (Avicenna)  u.  Alb. 
Mag.,  Miinchen,  1866. 


-f-1245.  Alexander  Hales, 

and  his  pupil 
-j-1274.  Bonaventura. 
•j-1308.  John  Duns  Scotus. 


498  ALBERT  THE  GREAT.  Chap.  XXIX. 

Palace,  Bishop  of  Ratisbon,  and  Papal  Legate  in  Poland,  his  time 
would  appear  to  have  been  sufficiently  occupied,  even  without  his 
customary  recitation  every  day  of  the  entire  Psalter.  His  versatility 
was  no  less  remarkable  than  his  industry.  Besides  his  more 
strictly  professional  authorship,  he  was  an  original  writer  on 
various  branches  of  natural  history,  drew  plans  for  cathedrals  and 
churches,  made  experiments  in  chemistry,  devised  a  garden  in 
which  the  soft  airs  and  bright  flowers  of  summer  could  be  enjoyed 
in  the  depths  of  winter,  and  even  succeeded,  after  thirty  years' 
labour,  in  constructing  a  speaking  automaton,  which,  according  to 
tradition,  was  taken  by  the  youthful  Thomas  (Aquinas)  for  a 
mocking  demon,  and  was  forthwith  smashed  by  him  to  pieces." 1 

§  8.  Reverting  briefly  to  the  events  of  Albert's  long  life :  he 
studied  at  Paris  and  Padua ;  and  at  the  latter  city  he  was  led  by 
the  influence  of  Jordan,  the  general  of  the  Dominicans,  to  join  the 
order  (1223).  After  teaching  in  the  Dominican  school  at  Cologne, 
he  was  called  in  1228  to  the  chair  of  the  order  in  the  Jacobin 
convent  at  Paris.  It  was  at  the  critical  moment  when  the  new 
zeal  of  the  Mendicants  aspired  to  a  ruling  influence  in  education, 
and  their  ambition  was  favoured  by  the  disorders  of  the  University, 
which  was  at  fend  with  the  civil  authorities  about  its  exclusive 
jurisdiction  over  the  scholars.2  In  1228,  two  scholars  were  killed 
in  a  fight  by  the  city  guard ;  and,  on  the  refusal  of  satisfaction 
both  by  the  bishop  and   the   Queen-regent,3  the  university  sus- 

1  From  an  article  on  "Thomas  Aquinas"  in  the  Quarterly  Review, 
July  1881,  vol.  cliii.  pp.  114,  115.  As  with  his  predecessor  Gebhard 
(Sylvester  II.),  and  his  contemporaries,  Michael  Scott  and  Roger  Bacon, 
his  natural  science  was  sure  to  gain  him  the  reputation  of  a  wizard,  and 
in  modern  ignorance  of  the  "dark  ages,"  that  character  is  perhaps  still 
attached  to  his  name.  Bayle  has  collected  many  fabulous  stories  about 
him  (Diet.  art.  Albert).  "  It  is  said  that  he  had  no  capacity  for  learning, 
until  at  his  prayer  the  Blessed  Virgin  bestowed  on  him  a  special  endow- 
ment, together  with  the  gift  that  philosophy  should  not  seduce  him  from 
the  true  faith ;  and  that,  five  years  before  his  death,  according  to  his 
patroness's  promise,  he  forgot  all  his  learning  and  dialectical  subtlety,  in 
order  that  he  might  prepare  himself  for  his  end  'in  childlike  innocence 
and  in  sincerity  and  truth  of  faith  '  (Lud.  a  Valleoleti,  quoted  by  Qu&if, 
i.  169).  Henry  of  Hervorden  relates  that,  when  worn  out  with  age  and 
labour,  he  fell  into  dotage,  Sifrid,  archbishop  of  Mentz,  wishing  to  see 
him,  knocked  at  the  door  of  his  cell,  whereupon  Albert  answered  from 
within  '  Albert  is  not  here.'  '  Of  a  truth  he  is  not  here,'  said  the  arch- 
bishop, and  went  away  in  tears."  (Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  6J5.)  For  a 
full  account  of  the  theological,  philosophic,  and  scientific  teaching  of 
Albert  the  Great,  see  Milman's  Hist,  of  Lat.  Christ.,  vol.  ix.  pp.  122-180. 

2  For  the  details  see  Milman.  vol.  vi.  pp.  343-4. 

3  Blanche,  mother  of  Louis  IX.,  who  had  succeeded  to  the  throne  at 
the  aare  of  twelve  in  1226. 


A.D.  1280.  HIS  LIFE  AND  DEATH.  499 

pended  its  lectures,  and  the  professors  removed  with  many  of  the 
students  to  Reims,  Orleans,  Angers,  and  even  as  far  as  Toulouse. 
The  Dominicans  seized  the  opportunity  to  found  a  chair  of  Theo- 
logy, with  the  licence  of  the  bishop  and  the  chancellor.  Three 
years  later  the  university  was  re-established  at  Paris,  against  the 
opposition  of  the  bishop  and  the  crown,  by  the  authority  of 
Gregory  IX.  (1231) ;  but  the  friars  had  made  their  position  sure, 
and  we  shall  see  presently  how  the  jealousy,  suppressed  for  a 
time,  between  them  and  the  faculty  of  theology,  broke  out  twenty 
years  later. 

It  was  during  this  suspension  of  the  university  that  Albert 
lectured  at  the  Jacobin  convent.  "There,  though  his  text-book 
was  the  rigid  stone-cold  Sentences  of  Peter  the  Lombard,  his  bold 
originality,  the  confidence  with  which  he  rushed  on  ground  yet 
untrodden,  at  once  threw  back  all  his  competitors  into  obscurity, 
and  seemed  to  summon  reason,  it  might  be  to  the  aid,  it  might  be 
as  a  perilous  rival  to  religion.  This,  by  his  admirers,  was  held  as 
hardly  less  than  divine  inspiration,  but  provoked  his  adversaries 
and  his  enemies.  '  God,'  it  was  said,  '  had  never  divulged  so  many 
of  His  secrets  to  one  of  His  creatures.'  Others  murmured,  '  He 
must  be  possessed  by  an  evil  spirit :'  already  the  fame,  the  sus- 
picion, of  a  magician  had  begun  to  gather  round  his  name." 1 

§  9.  In  1231  Albert  returned  to  his  convent  and  school  at  Cologne, 
where  he  was  visited  with  marked  honour  by  the  Emperor  William. 
As  provincial  master  of  the  order  for  Germany,  he  was  commis- 
sioned by  the  Diet  of  Worms  to  visit  all  the  monasteries.  "  He 
severely  reproved  the  monks,  almost  universally  sunk  in  ignorance 
and  idleness;  he  rescued  many  precious  manuscripts,  which  in 
their  ignorance  they  had  left  buried  in  dust,  or  in  their  fanaticism 
cast  aside  as  profane." 2  Alexander  IV.  summoned  him  to  Piome, 
and  appointed  him  Grand  Master  of  the  Palace ;  but  he  soon  laid 
down  the  dignity  and  returned  to  Cologne.  In  1260  he  was  made 
Bishop  of  Ratisbon ;  but  he  resigned  the  see  after  three  years,  in 
order  to  end  his  life  as  a  simple  friar  and  teacher  at  Cologne. 

§  10.  The  most  conspicuous  features  of  his  teaching  are  thus 
described  by  Dean  Milman :  3 — "  Albert  the  Great  at  once  awed 
by  his  immense  erudition  and  appalled  his  age.  ...  He  quotes, 
as  equally  familiar,  Latin,  Greek,  Arabic,  Jewish  philosophers.    He 

1   Milman,  Latin  Christianity,  vol.  ix.  p.  123.  2  Ibid. 

3  Ibid.  p.  124,  following,  as  he  fully  acknowledges,  Ritteo-,  Christliche 
Philosophic,  vol.  viii.  pp.  181  f.,  and  Haureau,  De  la  Philosophic  Scho- 
lastiquc,  vol.  ii.  pp.  1  f.  We  quote  only  the  most  important  parts  of  the 
passage,  passing  over  some  remarks  on  his  fruitless  attempts  to  reconcile 
Aristotle  with  Plato,  and  both  with  Christianity. 


500        TEACHING  OF  ALBERT  THE  CREAT.   Chap.  XXIX. 

was  the  first  Schoolman  who  lectured  on  Aristotle  himself,  on 
Aristotle  from  Graco-Latin  or  Arabo-Latin  copies.  The  whole 
range  of  the  Stagirite's  physical  and  metaphysical  philosophy  was 
within  the  scope  of  Albert's  teaching.  .  .  .  One  of  his  Treatises 
is  a  refutation  of  Averrhoes;  .  .  .  the  commentators  and  glossators 
of  Aristotle,  the  whole  circle  of  the  Arabians,  are  quoted  with  the 
utmost  familiarity.  But  with  Albert  theology  was  still  the  master 
science.  The  Bishop  of  Ratisbon  was  of  unimpeached  orthodoxy ;" 
but  "  his  Christianity,  while  it  constantly  subordinates,  in  strong 
and  fervent  language,  knowledge  to  faith  and  love,  became  less  a 
religion  than  a  philosophy.  Albert  lias  little  of,  he  might  seem  to 
soar  above,  the  peculiar  and  dominant  doctrines  of  Christianity ;  he 
dwells  on  the  nature  of  God  rather  than  on  the  Trinity,  on  the  im- 
mortality of  the  soul  rather  than  on  redemption ;  on  sin,  on 
original  sin,  he  is  almost  silent.  .  .  .  The  close  of  all  Albert  the 
Great's  intense  labours,  of  his  enormous  assemblage  of  the  opinions 
of  the  philosophers  of  all  ages,  and  his  efforts  to  harmonize  them 
with  high  Christian  Theology,  is  a  kind  of  Eclecticism,  an  unre- 
conciled Bealism,  Conceptualise,  Nominalism,  with  many  of  the 
difficulties  of  each.1  .  .  .  Safe  in  his  own  deep  religiousness  and 
doctrinal  orthodoxy,  he  saw  not  how  with  his  philosophic  specula- 
tions he  undermined  the  foundations  of  theology. 

"  But  this  view  of  Albert  the  Great  is  still  imperfect  and  unjust. 
His  title  to  fame  is  not  that  he  introduced,  and  interpreted  to  the 
world,  the  Metaphysics  and  Physics  of  Aristotle,  and  the  works  of 
the  Arabian  philosophers  on  these  abstruse  subjects,  but  because  he 
opened  the  field  of  true  philosophic  observation  to  mankind.  In 
Natural  History,  he  unfolded  the  more  precious  treasures  of  the 
Aristotelian  philosophy,  he  revealed  all  the  secrets  of  ancient 
science,  and  added  large  contributions  of  his  own  to  every  branch 
of  it :  in  Mathematics,  he  commented  on  and  explained  Euclid ;  in 
Chemistry,  he  was  a  subtle  investigator ;  in  Astronomy,  a  bold 
speculator.  Had  he  not  been  premature, — had  not  philosophy 
been  seized  and  again  enslaved  to  theology,  mysticism,  and  worldly 
politics — he  might  have  been  more  immediately  and  successfully 
followed  by  the  first,  if  not  by  the  second,  Bacon." 2 

1  "On  the  great  medieval  question,  Albert  would  be  at  once  a  Realist, 
a  Conceptualist,  and  a  Nominalist.  There  were  three  kinds  of  Universals, 
one  abstract,  self-existing,  one  in  the  object,  one  in  the  mind." 

2  On  this  it  should  be  observed  that  Roger  Bacon,  who  was  only  twenty 
years  younger  than  Albert,  showed  no  disposition  to  be  deterred  from 
scientific  investigation  by  theological  trammels.  Whether  he  was  in  any 
degree  indebted  directly  to  Albert's  labours  or  example,  does  not  appear, 
at  least  so  far  as  we  know.     (See  Chap.  XXXI.) 


The  Great  B-nedictine  Abbey  of  Monte  Cassino. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

SCHOLASTIC  THEOLOGY— continued. 
THE  FRIARS  AND  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  PARIS. 

ST.  BONAVENTURA,  ST.  THOMAS  AQUINAS,  DUNS  SCOTUS.      A.D.  1221-1308. 

§  1.  Bonaventura  and  Aquinas  compared.  §  2.  John  of  Fidanza,  St.  Bona- 
ventura,  the  "Seraphic  Doctor  "  — Spirit  of  his  teaching.  §  3. 
St.  Thomas  Aquinas,  the  "Angelic  Doctor  " — At  Monte  Cassino  and 
Naples.  §  4.  Joins  the  Dominicans  —  Persecutions  of  his  family. 
§  5.  Placed  under  Albert  the  Great — The  "  Dumb  Ox  of  Sicily  "  sur- 
prizes the  Master.  §  6.  Lectures  at  Cologne — Removal  to  Paris  : 
lectures  on  the  Sentences — Contest  in  the  University — Foundation  of 
the  Sorbonne.  §  7.  Bull  of  Innocent  IV.  against  the  Friars,  revoked  by 
Alexander  IV. — William  of  St.  Amour  :  his  Perils  of  the  Last  Times. 
§  8.  Thomas  made  Doctor  and  Professor  at  Paris — Removal  to  Italy — 
Immense    intellectual    activitv  —  Exhaustion    and    visions:    death    and 


502  JOHN  OF  FIDANZA,  ST.  BONAVENTURA.    CirAP.  XXX. 

canonization — His  fervent  piety.     §  9.  Supremacy  of  his  philosophical 
Theology    in   the    Roman   Catholic   Church— Encyclical    of  Leo    XIII. 
§  10.  Symbolical  picture  of  St.  Thomas — Three  classes  of  his  works — 
(i.)  Expository  :   Catena  Aurea  of  the  Four  Gospels  ;  (ii.)  Philosophical : 
Commentaries  on  Aristotle— Aquinas  an  Aristotelian  Realist — Rationalism 
buttressing  Faith  ;  (iii.)  His  Systematic  Theology — The  fusion  of  Philo- 
sophy and  Divinity — Essential   fault  of  the  system.     §  11.  The  Summa 
Theologica — The  method  of  Questions—  Logic  in  place  of  truth — Real 
merits  of  the  Scholastic  system.     §  12.  His  other  theological  works  — 
Commentary  on  the   Sentences — Quaestiones  Disputatse   and    Quodlibets. 
§   13.  Polemical    Works:    Summa   contra    Gentiles   and    Summa   contra 
Grsecos — First  assertion  of  the  Pope's  infallibility — Forgeries  imposed 
on  Thomas — Defence's  of  the  Friars.    §  14.  Disputes  about  his  authority. 
§  15.  Rivalry  of   Thomists  and  Scotists — The  British  Franciscan  John 
Duns  Scotus,  the  "  Subtle  Doctor  :  "  his  Life  and  Works  —War  of  the 
two  Schools — Thomas  Bradwardine. 
§  1.  The  great  age  of  Scholasticism  culminated  in  the  famous  names 
of  Bonaventura  and  Ihomas  Aqutnas.     Nearly  of  the  same  age 
(the  former  was  born  in  1221,  the  latter  about  1226),  they  were 
united  in  close  friendship  and  defence  of  the  common  cause  of  their 
rival  orders,  as  in  sincere  piety  and  devoted  labour,  and  in  death  they 
were  not  divided.     Summoned  by  Gregory  IX.  to  the  great  Council 
of  Lyon  in  1274,  Bonaventura  only  just  lived  to  receive  the  dignity 
of  cardinal,  Aquinas  died  upon  the  journey.     But,  with  all  they 
had  in  common,  they  represent  the  opposite  poles  of  the  Scholastic 
Theology :  Bonaventura,  that  fervent  piety  always  hovering  on  the 
verge  of  Mysticism,  which  was  attested  by  his  title  of  the  "  Sera- 
phic Doctor ;"  Aquinas,  the  keenest  dialectic  treatment  of  doctrine, 
combined  with  the  most  laborious  constructive  power,  moulding  it 
into  the  system  which  the  Church  of  Rome  has  accepted  from  him 
to  the  present  day.     While  the  palm  of  knowledge  is  awarded  to 
Aquinas,  Bonaventura  has  the  higher  praise  of  supreme  regard  for 
Scripture,   and   a   constant   effort   to  harmonize   all   science  with 
practical  religion.     His   spirit  is  expressed  by  the  phrase  (which 
few  perhaps  know  to  be  his),  "  Sweetness  and  light.'''' 

§  2.  Having  traced  the  outlines  of  Bonaventura's  life  in  the 
history  of  the  Franciscan  order,1  it  will  suffice  here  to  add  Dean 

1  See  above,  Chap.  XXV.  p.  416.  His  works  were  published,  under  the 
direction  of  Sixtus  V.  at  Rome,  1588,  8  vols,  folio ;  Lugd.  1688,  8  vols.  fol.  ; 
Venet.  1751,  13  vols.  4to.  :  the  first  volume  of  an  elaborate  new  edition 
by  P.  Fidelis  a  Fanna,  was  published  at  Quarachi  (ad  Claras  Aquas),  near 
Florence,  1883.  The  most  important  of  them,  besides  his  Life  of  St.  Francis, 
are  Commentarii  in  Libris  iv.  Sententiarum  ;  two  handbooks  of  Divinity, 
namely,  Breviloquium  (edited  by  Hefele,  Tiibingen,  1845,  and  Antonio  da 
Vieenza,  2ud  ed.,  Freiburg,  1881),  and  Centiloquium,  the  latter  being  for 
beginners;  Iieductio Artium  ad  Theolojiam,  an  attempt  to  show  the  organic 


A.D.  1221-1274.      HIS  PHILOSOPHY  AND  THEOLOGY.  503 

Milinan's  estimate  of  his  spirit  and  teaching : ! — "  In  Bonaventura  the 
philosopher  recedes ;  religious  edification  is  his  mission.  A  much 
smaller  proportion  of  his  voluminous  works  is  pure  scholasticism  : 
he  is  teaching  by  the  life  of  his  holy  founder,  St.  Francis,  and  by 
what  may  be  called  a  new  Gospel,  a  legendary  life  of  the  Saviour, 
which  seems  to  claim,  with  all  its  wild  traditions,  equal  right  to 
the  belief  with  that  of  the  Evangelists.  Bonaventura  himself 
seems  to  deliver  it  as  his  own  unquestioning  faith.  Bonaventura, 
if  not  ignorant  of,  feared  or  disdained  to  know  much  of  Aristotle  or 
the  Arabians :  he  philosophizes  only  because  in  his  age  he  could 
not  avoid  philosophy.  The  philosophy  of  Bonaventura  rests  on 
the  theological  doctrine  of  Original  Sin  :  the  Soul,  exiled  from  God, 
must  return  to  God.  The  most  popular  work  of  Bonaventura, 
with  his  mystic  admirers,  was  the  Itinerary  of  the  Soul  to  God. 
The  love  of  God,  and  the  knowledge  of  God,  proceed  harmoniously 
together,  through  four  degrees  of  light :  the  external  light,  by 
which  we  learn  the  mechanic  arts ;  the  inferior  light,  which  shines 
through  the  senses,  by  these  we  comprehend  individuals  or  things ; 
the  internal  light,  the  Keason,2  which  by  reflection  raises  the  soul 
to  intellectual  things,  to  universals  in  conception ;  the  superior 
light  of  grace,  which  reveals  to  us  the  sanctifying  virtues,  shows  us 
universals  in  their  reality,  in  God." 

§  3.  Thomas  Aquinas,3  the  Doctor  Angelicus  of  the  Schools, 
derived  his  surname  from  the  noble  house  of  which  he  was  a  scion, 

relation  of  all  science,  including  the  teaching  of  the  Church,  and  a  monu- 
ment of  his  prodigious  knowledge  ;  practical  or  mystical  works,  as  Itine- 
rarium  mentis  in  Deum,  De  Septern  Gradibus  Contemplations,  &c. ;  and  a 
Biblia  Tauperum,  an  exposition  and  application  of  passages  of  Scripture, 
as  a  manual  of  popular  instruction  for  the  "  poor  in  spirit." 

1  Hist,  of  Lat.  Christ,  vol.  ix.  p.  138  f. 

2  Here  we  have  essentially  the  same  distinction  as  that  between 
Reason  and  Understanding  in  modern  transcendental  philosophy.  Bona- 
ventura is  a  Realist,  with  some  modification  from  Conceptualism. 

3  The  chief  authorities  for  his  life  are  the  Acta  SS.,  a.  d.  VII.  Mart.  i. 
655;  Quetif  and  Echard,  Script.  Ord.  JJrsed.  i.  271;  Vita  di  S.  Tovxaso 
oV  Aquino,  da  P.  Frigerio  Romano,  Roma,  1668 ;  La  Vie  de  St.  Ihomas 
cTAquin,  avec  un  Expose'  de  sa  Doctrine  et  ses  Outrages,  par  ie  P.  A. 
Touron  (Dominican),  Paris,  1734,  1737  ;  Bern,  de  Rubeis,  Dissert.  Crit.  et 
Apologet.  de  Gests  ac  Scriptis  et  Doctrina  S.  Thomse  Aquinatis,  Venet., 
1750  f.;  Histoire  de  St  Thomas  oVAquin,  par  M.  l'Abbl  Bareille,  Paris, 
1846  (a  summary  of  Touron's  work)  ;  The  Life  an  I  L  <b  urs  of  St.  Thonvis 
of  Aquin,  by  the  very  Rev.  Roger  Bede  Vaughan,  O.S.B.,  2  vols.,  London, 
1871-2:  the  last  work  has  since  been  published  in  an  abridged  form  : 
Thomas  Aquinas  and  the  Vatican  in  the  Quarter/;/  1,'eview,  vol.  1  .V_\ 
pp.  105  f.,  July,  1881.  Once  for  all,  we  make  special  acknowledgment  of 
the  use  made  of  this  most  able  article  in  the  present  Chapter,  generally  by 
direct  quotation  rather  than  affected  concealment  of  the  obligation,  and 
only  wishing  we  had  space  for  more. 


504  THOMAS  JOINS  THE  DOMINICANS.         Chap.  XXX. 

— the  counts  of  Aquino,  in  Apulia.  His  birth  took  place  about 
the  year1  in  which  St.  Francis  died  (1226),  whether  at  Aquino, 
or  some  other  of  his  father's  numerous  castles,  is  uncertain.  While 
his  two  brothers  were  trained  in  the  usual  military  accomplish- 
ments, the  young  Count  Thomas  seems  to  have  been  destined 
by  his  parents  to  succeed  his  uncle  in  the  dignity  of  Abbot  of 
Monte  Cassino ;  and  he  was  placed  in  that  monastery  for  educa- 
tion at  the  age  of  five.  On  this  ground  the  community,  of  which 
that  house  was  the  head,  claim  a  share  in  the  fame  of  this  greatest 
of  the  Dominicans ;  and  it  is  at  least  clear  that,  "  if  to  St.  Dominic 
belong  the  branches  and  fruit  of  this  splendid  tree,  the  root  and 
stem  are  no  less  due  to  St.  Benedict."  2  His  residence  at  Monte 
Cassino  was  cut  short,  at  the  age  of  ten,  when  the  troops  of 
Frederick  II.  sacked  the  monastery ;  and,  after  two  years  at  home, 
Thomas  was  sent  to  the  newly-founded  University  of  Naples,3 
where  he  studied  for  four  years.  It  is  related  that  when,  according 
to  the  custom  of  the  universities,  it  came  to  his  turn  to  reproduce 
the  professorial  lectures  as  an  exercise,  "  he  surpassed  the  original 
compositions,  and  repeated  them  with  greater  depth  of  thought 
and  greater  lucidity  of  method,  than  the  learned  professor  himself 
was  enabled  to  command." 

§  4.  The  Dominicans,  who  already  within  twenty  years  of  their 
founder's  death  had  got  possession  of  the  principal  chairs  at  Naples, 
marked  the  gifted  young  nobleman  as  a  fit  proselyte ;  and,  without 
even  the  knowledge  of  his  widowed  mother  or  his  brothers,  he  was 
received  into  the  order,  in  presence  of  an  immense  crowd,  at  the 
age  of  sixteen.  He  was  hurried  away  from  the  pursuit  of  his  in- 
dignant mother,  first  to  Eome,  and  thence  towrard  Paris ;  but  his 
flight  was  intercepted  by  his  brothers,  who  were  ravaging  Lom- 
bardy.  Brought  back  a  prisoner  to  one  of  the  family  castles,  he 
was  subjected  to  threats  and  solicitations,  amidst  which  his  own 
nearest  kindred  had  the  infamy  to  ply  him  with  the  temptation  of 
St.  Anthony ;  and  his  triumphant  resistance  won  him  the  honour 
of  being  the  special  patron  saint  of  chastity  and  its  votaries 
banded  in  the  fraternity  of  "  the  Angelic  Warfare." 

Even  when  he  was  released  by  the  Emperor's  authority  through 
the  influence  of  the  Pope,  his  mother  went  to  Rome  to  appeal  in 
person  against  the  vows  into  wThich  she  accused  the  Dominicans 
of  dishonestly  entrapping  her  son.  Celestine  IV.,  "  doubtful  in 
which  direction  it  would  be  most  politic  to  move,  postponed  his 
decision  till  he  heard  what  the  youth  had  to  say  for  himself.     He 

1  Different  authorities  give  1225,  1226,  or  1227. 

2  Quarterly  Review,  p.  111. 

*  The  university  was  founded  in  1220  by  Frederick  II. 


A.D.  1243  f.  "THE  DUMB  OX  OF  SICILY."  505 

was  accordingly  fetched  from  Naples,  and  pleaded  his  vocation 
with  such  combined  modesty  and  firmness,  that  the  whole  court 
was  filled  with  admiration,  and  with  tears  of  joy  congratulated 
Theodora  on  having  so  admirable  a  son.  To  make  things  pleasant 
to  both  parties,  the  Pope  went  so  far  as  to  offer  him  the  Abbacy  of 
Monte  Cassino,  with  permission  to  continue  a  Dominican  and 
wear  the  habit  of  the  Order ;  but  even  to  this  the  lad  was  inex- 
orable, and,  turning  a  deaf  ear  to  the  entreaties  of  his  family,  he 
implored  the  Pope  to  leave  him  alone,  and  suffer  him  henceforth 
to  follow  his  vocation  as  a  simple  friar.  Thus  after  two  years  of 
struggle,  the  conflict  ended,  and  at  the  age  of  eighteen  his  lot  was 
irrevocably  thrown  in  with  the  mendicant  brothers  of  St. 
Dominic  " x  (about  1243). 

§  5.  The  value  which  the  order  set  upon  their  prize  was  proved  by 
his  being  placed  under  the  care  of  their  General  and  famous  teacher, 
Albert  the  Great,  who  himself  took  charge  of  Thomas  on  the  journey 
to  Paris  and  Cologne.  Albert's  vast  and  versatile  learning  appears 
to  have  at  first  blinded  him  to  his  pupil's  powers.  "  For  Thomas 
is  said  to  have  been  a  singularly  reserved  youth :  large,  grave, 
taciturn,  and  so  frequently  absorbed  in  reverie  as  often  scarcely 
to  know  what  he  was  eating,  he  became  a  butt  to  his  fellow- 
students,  and  received  the  nicknames  of  the  '  Dumb  Ox  of  Sicily ' 
and  '  Pythagoras's  Wallet.' 2  How  the  illusion  was  dispelled  may 
be  read  in  the  old  Latin  memoir  of  him,  ascribed  to  a  contem- 
porary friar,  William  de  Thoco,  or  Tocco,  but  probably  written  in  the 
following  century,  and  printed  in  the  Eollandists'  Acta  Sanctorum. 
Albert  having  lectured  on  some  abstruse  question,  Thomas  for  his 
own  improvement  wrote  an  elaborate  essay  upon  it ;  and,  the  paper 
having  been  accidentally  dropped,  was  picked  up  and  carried  to  the 
Master,  whose  surprise  at  its  excellence  was  so  great,  that  he 
resolved  to  draw  out  the  silent  scholar  by  ordering  him  publicly 
to  defend  a  thesis  on  the  following  day.  Having  fortified  himself 
by  prayer,  the  lad  handled  the  thesis  with  such  ability  and  decision, 
that  the  master  cried  out,  '  Brother  Thomas,  one  would  think  that 
you  were  pronouncing  sentence  rather  than  sustaining  your  side.' 
'  Master,  I  know  not  how  to  speak  otherwise,'  was  the  humble 
answer.  Whereupon  the  Master  himself  tried  to  pose  him  with  a 
variety  of  objections,  the  subtlety  of  which  was"  such  that  he 
flattered  himself  he  had  completely  shut  up  the  youthful  respondent 
(omnino  se  eum  crederet  concludisse) ;  but  his  triumph  over  them 
all  was  so  manifest,  that  Albert  broke  up  the  session  with  the 

1  Quarterly  Review,  pp.  113,  114. 

2  The  idea  of  a  heavy  physique  is  not  at  all  borne  out  by  the  refiued 
and  almost  feminine  features  of  a  portrait  in  St.  Cuthbert's  College,  Ushaw, 
inscribed,  Vera  effig'es,  &?.,  but  the  painter  is  unknown. 


506  THOMAS  AT  COLOGNE  AND  PARIS.       Chap.  XXX. 

prophecy,  '  We  call  this  student  a  dumb  ox,  but  the  time  will  come 
when  such  shall  be  his  bellowing  in  doctrine,  that  it  will  sound 
throughout  the  whole  world.' " x 

§  6.  After  three  years'  study  under  Albert,  partly  at  Cologne  and 
partly  at  Paris,  Thomas  was  selected  to  accompany  the  master  on 
his  return  to  the  former  city,  where  he  was  appointed  Magister 
Studentium,  or  second  professor  of  the  new  Dominican  school. 
He  was  now  in  his  twenty-third  year,  and  the  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury, which  remained  till  his  early  death,  was  occupied  with 
constant  lecturing,  preaching,  and  writing.  The  one  great  event 
which  breaks  the  monotonous  record  of  his  labours,  is  the  famous 
struggle  of  the  University  of  Paris  against  the  ascendancy  of 
the  mendicant  teachers.  After  teaching  for  three  or  four  years, 
and  making  his  first  essays  as  a  metaphysical  writer  at  Cologne, 
where  he  received  priests'  orders,  he  was  sent  by  his  superiors  to 
Paris,  to  be  admitted  to  the  degree  of  Bachelor,  which  at  that  time 
was  no  mere  stamp  of  moderate  learning,  but  a  real  licence  to  teach, 
under  the  supervision  of  one  of  the  Dominican  professors.  "  It 
was  his  duty  to  expound  the  usual  divinity  text-book  of  the  time, 
the  Sentences  of  Peter  Lombard ;  his  lectures  on  which,  when  col- 
lected and  revised,  formed  the  earliest  of  his  great  theological 
treatises;  and,  his  renown  rapidly  spreading,  he  was  before  long 
made  a  Licentiate,  a  provisional  grade,  entitling  him  to  occupy  a 
professorial  chair  and  proceed  to  the  highest  degree  which  the 
University  could  confer."  2 

His  elevation  to  the  Doctorate  and  occupation  of  the  chair  were 
deferred  by  the  great  struggle,  which  was  to  decide  whether  the 
theological  teaching  of  the  university  was  to  be  governed  by  the 
mendicant  scholastics,  or  to  preserve  the  spirit  boasted  of  as  hitherto 
prevailing  "  at  Paris,  where  the  study  of  Holy  Scripture  flourishes"  3 
We  have  seen  how  the  conflicts  between  the  university  and  the 
civil  power,  provoked  by  the  turbulence  of  the  students,  opened 
the  way  for  the  school  of  theology  set  up  by  the  mendicants, 
which  existed  side  by  side  with  the  older  theological  faculty  in  a 
state  of  suppressed  jealousy,  increasing,  with  the  growing  influence 
and  popularity  of  the  friars.  About  1250,  the  theological  faculty 
was  strengthened  by  the  foundation  of  the  school  called  Sorbonne, 
a  society  of  ecclesiastics  devoted  to  study  and  gratuitous  teaching, 
which  derived  its  famous  name  from  its  founder  Robert,  a  native  of 
Sorbonne  in  Champagne,  a  canon  of  Paris  and  chaplain  to  Louis  IX. 
"  Although  it  is  a  mistake  to  speak  of  this  as  the  theological  faculty 

1   Quarterly  Review,  p.  115.  2  Ibid.  p.  116. 

a  William  of  St.  Amour,  de  Perk.  8  :  "  Parisiis,  ubi  viget  sacrae  Scrip- 
turac  studium." 


A.D.  1251  f.       THE  UNIVERSITY  AND  THE  FRIARS.  507 

of  the  University,  the  two  were  in  so  far  the  same  that  the  mem- 
bers of  one  were  very  commonly  members  of  the  other."  * 

§  7.  In  1251,  the  University  complained  that  of  the  twelve  chairs 
of  theology  at  Paris  (a  number  which  strikingly  attests  the 
pre-eminence  of  the  science),  the  Dominicans  held  two,  and  the 
Franciscans  one  ;  four  other  monastic  communities  had  one  each, 
and  the  canons  regular  of  Paris,  three,  leaving  only  two  for  the 
secular  clergy.2  Having  decreed  that  no  religious  order  should 
hold  more  than  one  chair,  they  proceeded  to  dismiss  one  of  the 
Dominican  professors.  The  order  made  their  appeal  to  the  Pope. 
Innocent  IV.,  who,  now  master  of  Italy  since  the  death  of  Fre- 
derick II.,  probably  felt  that  he  had  no  further  need  of  the  friars, 
issued  his  famous  Bull,  subjecting  the  mendicant  orders  to  epi- 
scopal jurisdiction  (Nov.  1254).  His  death  in  the  next  month  was 
claimed  by  them  as  a  judgment  in  answer  to  their  prayers ;  while 
the  public  feeling  found  utterance  in  the  proverb,  "  From  the 
Litanies  of  the  Preaching  Friars,  good  Lord  deliver  us." 

His  successor,  Alexander  IV.,  "was  not  the  protector  only,  he 
was  the  humble  slave  of  the  Mendicants."  3  Ten  days  after  his 
election  he  revoked  his  predecessor's  Bull,  and  declared  that  the 
Chancellor  of  Paris  might  appoint  professors  either  from  the  re- 
ligious orders  or  from  the  secular  clergy.  This  new  Bull,  the  first 
of  forty  which  Alexander  issued  in  favour  of  the  mendicants,  was 
promulgated  against  the  remonstrances  of  a  deputation,  one  of 
whose  members  became  famous  as  the  great  champion  of  the  uni- 
versity. William  of  St.  Amour  (Gulielmus  de  Sancto  Amore, 
surnamed  from  his  birthplace  in  Franche  Comte),  a  Doctor  of  the 
Sorbonne,  encountered  the  friars  with  their  own  great  power  of  ora- 

1  (Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  622  ;  Herzog,  Encyclop.,  art.  Sorbonne.)  The 
judgments  of  the  Sorbonne  were  constantly  appealed  to  as  of  European 
authority  from  the  14th  century  to  the  17th,  but  its  influence  was  on  the 
decline  when  the  society  was  broken  up  by  the  revolution  of  1789. 

2  The  chief  authorities  for  the  whole  story  of  the  conflict  are  Wadding. 
Bula;us,  and  Crevier,  to  which  are  to  be  added  the  contemporary  metrical 
satires  of  Rutebeuf,  La  Descorde  de  V  Universite' et  des  Jacobins,  Les  Ordres 
de  Paris,  La  Bataille  des  Vices  co>rtre  les  Vert'is,  Dit  de  Guillaume  de  St. 
Amour,  comment  il  fut  exile,  and  La  complainte  de  maistre  Guil.  de  St.  Amour. 
(QHuvres  completes  de  Rutebeuf,  par  Achille  Jubinal  ;  and  the  excellent 
article  by  M.  Paulin  Paris  in  the  Hist.  Lit.  de  la  France,  vol.  xx.  p.  710.) 
"Rutebeuf"  (says  Milman,  vi.  353,  n.),  "reads  to  me  like  our  own 
Skelton  ;  he  has  the  same  flowing  rapid  doggerel,  the  same  satiric  WW, 
with  not  much  of  poetry,  but  both  are  always  alive.  On  the  whole  of 
this  feud,  and  its  connection  with  Avenhoism,  read  the  very  remarkable 
pages  of  M.  Ernest  Renan,  Averroeset  V Averrdisme,  p.  259,  f.,  Paris,  1861." 

3  The  words  of  Crevier,  quoted  by  Milman,  vol.  vi.  p.  346.  The  new 
Pope  was  elected  on  Dec.  12th,  1254. 


508  WILLIAM  OF  ST.  AMOUR.  Chap.  XXX. 

tory.  He  veiled  his  attacks,  indeed,  under  the  form  of  denouncing 
the  Beghards,  who  were  unauthorized  by  the  Pope,  but  he  declared 
that  if  others  found  the  cap  to  fit,  it  was  their  own  affair.  Among 
the  charges  which  he  brought  against  the  mendicants,  was  their 
approval,  or  even  authorship,  of  the  Everlasting  Gospel,1  which 
was  published  in  1254.  Meanwhile  the  university  refused  obedience 
to  the  Papal  decrees,  and  determined  to  dissolve  itself  rather 
than  admit  the  Dominican  professors ;  but  this  extreme  measure 
was  not  fully  carried  out.  The  mendicants  arraigned  St.  Amour 
before  the  Bishop  of  Paris,  for  publishing  a  libel  defamatory  of 
the  Pope  ;  and  when  he  offered  to  clear  himself  by  a  canonical  oath, 
4000  scholars  came  forward  as  his  compurgators. 

In  1256  the  Pope  appealed  to  King  Louis  IX.  (St.  Louis),  him- 
self a  Fransciscan  tertiary,  demanding  the  banishment  of  St.  Amour 
and  three  other  chief  opponents  of  the  friars.  While  the  decision 
was  pending,  William  published  a  summary  of  his  sermons  against 
the  mendicant  orders,  in  his  famous  book  "  On  the  Perils  of  the 
last  Times."2  From  the  text  of  St.  Paul's  warning  to  Timothy, 
he  applies  the  characters  drawn  by  the  Apostle  to  the  professed 
zealots,  but  real  enemies,  of  the  Church.  In  their  pretended  state 
of  perfection,  seeking  temporal  honour  for  themselves  to  the  offence 
of  many,  they  were  "  lovers  of  their  own  selves  "  rather  than  of  God.3 
They  "  crept  into  houses,"  4  where  the  care  of  souls  did  not  belong 
to  them,  prying  into  family  secrets  as  unauthorized  confessors. 
Turning  to  the  Lord's  own  warning,  that  "  many  false  prophets 
shall  arise  and  shall  deceive  many,"  he  all  but  explicitly  identifies 
them  with  the  friars  who  took  upon  themselves  to  preach  ;  and 
boldly  controverts  the  whole  principle  of  mendicancy,  "  because 
those  who  choose  to  live  by  beggary  become  flatterers  and  slan- 
derers and  liars  and  thieves,  and  fall  away  from  justice."  To  the 
question,  how  the  perfect   man  is  to   live  when  he  has  left  all, 

1  See  Chap.  XXV.  p.  423. 

2  De  Periculis  Novissimorum  Temporum,  referring  to  2  Tim.  iii.  1  : 
"  This  know  also,  that  in  the  last  days  perilous  times  shall  come."  The 
work  is  in  the  form  of  two  sermons,  under  fourteen  heads.  It  is  printed 
in  the  Appendix  to  Edward  Brown's  Fasciculus  Rerum  expetendarum  et  fugi- 
endarum,  p.  18  f.,  and  the  Works  of  William,  edited  by  De  Flavigny,  Con- 
stantise  (Paris),  16.32.  For  an  abstract  of  the  work,  and  for  the  heads  of 
his  charges  against  the  friars,  see  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  pp.  243-4,  and  Brewer, 
Preface  to  Monum.  Francisc.  pp.  xxxvi.-vii.  Thomas  Aquinas  replied  in 
his  Opusculum  (xix.)  contra  impugnantes  Dei  cultum  et  relxgionem  ;  Bona- 
ventura  in  his  Liber  Apologcticus  in  eos  qui  Ordini  FF.  Mm.  adversantur, 
also  in  his  De  Paupertate  Christi  contra  Mag.  Gulielmum,  and  other  tracts 
in  vol.  vii.  of  his  works.  Tillemont  has  an  elaborate  essay  on  William  of 
St.  Amour  in  his  Vie  de  Louis  IX.,  pp.  133  f. 

3  1  Tim.  iii.  2.  *  Ibid.  6. 


A.D.  1256.  HIS  "  PERILS  OF  THE  LAST  TIMES."  509 

he  answers,  "  By  working  with  his  own  hands,  or  by  entering  a 
monastery."  The  plea,  that  such  mendicancy  had  been  licensed  by 
the  Church,  he  treats  as  of  no  avail,  because  "  they  do  it  against 
the  Apostle  and  other  Scriptures  ;"  and  he  boldly  asserts  the  prin- 
ciple that  the  Church  is  fallible  and  ought  to  confess  and  rectify 
its  errors : — "  Wherefore  even  if  it  had  been  confirmed  by  the 
Church  in  error,  it  ought  to  be  revoked  on  discovering  the  truth : 
for  we  do  not  deny  that  the  sentence  of  the  Roman  See  can  be 
changed  for  the  better." 

Such  doctrines  seem  to  have  been  too  bold  even  for  the  secular 
clergy  in  whose  defence  they  were  advanced,  or  the  influence  of 
the  court  and  the  friars  prevailed,  for  the  book  was  condemned  by 
an  assembly  of  bishops  at  Paris.  King  Louis  sent  it  to  the  Pope, 
who  handed  it  over  for  examination  to  four  cardinals,  one  of  whom, 
Hugo  de  St.  Cler,  was  a  Dominican,  and  so  a  judge  in  his  own  cause. 
At  the  same  time  the  University  sent  a  deputation,  consisting  of 
William  himself,  and  the  same  three  whom  the  Pope  had  before 
denounced  with  him.  The  Dominicans  also  sent  a  deputation,  of 
which  Thomas  Aquinas,  now  in  his  thirtieth  year,  was  a  member ; 
and  to  his  splendid  advocac}r  of  their  cause  the  victory  is,  in  a  great 
measure,  ascribed.  Alexander  was  at  Anagni,  and  on  William's 
arrival  there  he  found  that  his  book  had  already  been  condemned, 
not  as  heretical,  but  as  "  unjust,  wicked,  and  execrable,"  and  tending 
to  stir  up  hatred  and  scandal  against  the  mendicants ;  and  it  had 
been  burnt  in  the  Pope's  presence  before  the  cathedral.  After  de- 
fending himself  with  courage  and  address,  he  was  forbidden  to  return 
to  France,  and  withdrew  to  his  native  town  of  St.  Amour,  where 
he  remained  till  after  the  Pope's  death.1 

Notwithstanding  his  own  defeat,  William  and  his  colleagues 
struck  a  return  blow  at  the  Franciscans  by  obtaining  from  the 

1  Franche  Cow^was  not  yet  a  part  of  the  French  kingdom.  In  1263 
William  was  permitted  by  a  Bull  of  Urban  IV.  to  return  to  Paris,  where 
he  produced  an  improved  edition  of  his  book,  and  defended  it  against  the 
censures  of  Albert  the  Great,  Thomas  Aquinas,  and  Bonaventura,  the  last 
of  whom  really  confirms  many  of  William's  charges  in  his  tract  de  Refor- 
mandis  Fratribus,  and  his  letter  to  a  provincial  minister,  already  cited. 
The  new  edition  of  the  work,  entitled  Collectiones  Catholicx  et  Canonicas 
contra  Pericula  imminentia  Ecclesise  universali  per  hypocritas.  pseudo- 
prxdicatores,  §-c.,  was  sent  by  William  to  Clement  IV".  (1266),  whose 
letter,  after  reading  a  part  of  it,  cautions  the  writer  against  displaying 
his  old  animosity  (Epist.  394).  William  died  in  12'/ 0.  "We  are  told 
by  a  contemporary  Franciscan  writer  that  he  drew  away  manv  members 
from  the  mendicant  orders  (Salimb.  233):  and  the  popular  poetry  of  the 
time  gives  evidence  of  the  strong  impression  which  his  attacks  on  them 
had  made  on  the  general  mind.  See  Roman  de  la  Rose,  12,225  f.  ;  and 
Chaucer's  translation."  (Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  599.) 
II— 2  A 


510  AQUINAS  AT  PARIS  AND  IN  ITALY.       Chap.  XXX. 

Pope  the  condemnation  of  the  "  Everlasting  Gospel,"  which  was 
ordered  to  be  burnt  privately,  and,  if  possible,  without  bringing 
scandal  on  the  brethren ;  and  also  the  other  writings  which  were 
said  to  have  emanated  from  the  corrupt  source  of  Joachim.  So  says 
Matthew  Paris  (s.  a.  1256),  adding  that  "  by  the  vigilance  and  care- 
fulness of  Cardinal  Hugh  and  the  Bishop  of  Messina,  who  belonged 
to  the  order  of  Preachers,  this  was  done  cautiously  and  secretly,  so 
the  disturbance  was  quieted  for  a  time."  The  chronicler  represents 
the  popular  feeling  in  this  conflict  as  adverse  to  the  friars. 

§  8.  The  University  was  now  forced  to  submit,  and  to  induct  to 
their  chairs  and  the  doctor's  degree  the  representatives  of  the  two 
orders,  Aquinas  and  Bonaventura  (1257).  The  text  which  Thomas, 
struggling  with  deep  humility  and  prayer,  was  bidden  by  a  vision 
of  St.  Dominic1  himself  to  choose  for  his  act  (Psalm  civ.  13) — 
expounding  it  as  an  allegory  of  Christ  watering  his  Church  with 
grace  through  the  sacraments — is  applied  by  his  biographer  Touron 
as  a  prophecy  of  how  Thomas  himself  should  water  the  whole 
Church  with  the  showers  of  his  wisdom,  "  since  it  is  manifest  to 
every  one  throughout  the  whole  world,  that  among  the  Catholic 
faithful  nothing  is  taught,  whether  of  philosophy  or  theology,  in 
any  of  the  schools,  but  what  is  drawn  out  of  his  writings :" — ■ 
words  which  exactly  describe  the  place  lately  assigned  to  St.  Thomas 
by  the  encyclical  of  Leo  XIII. 

After  two  years  spent  at  Paris  in  the  work  of  his  chair  and  re- 
modelling the  Benedictine  schools,  he  was  summoned  by  the  Pope 
to  Italy,  where  he  spent  eight  or  nine  years  of  immense  intellectual 
activity.  "  At  Rome,  Civita  Vecchia,  Anagni,  Viterbo,  Perugia, 
and  perhaps  other  cities,  he  delivered  courses  of  theological  lectures 
with  brilliant  success,  and  constantly  preached  in  the  churches. 
Of  the  Holy  See  he  was  the  unfailing  counsellor  on  many  a  difficult 
question  ;  from  his  cell  an  incessant  stream  of  writings  was  poured 
forth.  In  the  earlier  part  of  this  period,  Clement  IV.  issued  a  brief 
conferring  on  him  the  archbishopric  of  Naples ;  but  the  prospect  of 
the  elevation  caused  him  such  profound  melancholy  and  anguish  of 
soul,  that  he  found  no  peace  till,  at  his  earnest  request,  the  brief 
was  withdrawn.  His  next  move  was  back  to  Paris,  where  he  was 
received  with  signal  honour  by  the  King,  then  on  the  eve  of  his 
second  crusade;  and  for  about  two  years  he  reoccupied  his  old 
chair  of  theology.  Only  one  more  sphere  of  work  was  allowed 
him.     Among  the  universities  which  competed  for  the  benefit  of  his 

1  It  is  almost  superfluous  to  add  that  the  saint's  whole  life,  from 
before  his  birth  to  his  death,  is  adorned  with  supernatural  signs.  For  a 
graphic  description  of  the  act  of  his  Doctorate,  see  the  Quarterly  Review, 
p.  117. 


A.D.  1274.  HIS  TEACHING  AND  DEATH.  511 

teaching,  the  preference  was  assigned  to  Naples ;  and  thus,  for  the 
brief  remainder  of  his  life,  he  presided,  as  the  greatest  living  master 
of  Theology,  in  the  place  where,  as  a  stripling  he  had  first  sat  on 
the  scholars'  bench." l  Here  he  was  soon  overtaken  by  that  prema- 
tuie  end,  described  by  his  biographer  in  the  spirit  of  the  time,  in 
terms  which  really  mean  that,  like  his  master  Albert,  but  at  a  much 
earlier  age,  "  his  overwrought  brain  began  to  give  way.  He  was 
leading  a  very  ascetic  life,  eating  only  once  a  day,  and  allowing 
himself  so  little  repose,  that  he  is  described  as  '  always  either  praying, 
teaching,  writing  or  dictating ;'  and  he  was  eagerly  pushing  on 
with  the  third  and  last  part  of  his  greatest  work,  the  Summa  Theo- 
logica,  which  was  approaching  completion,  when  he  began  to  see 
such  frequent  visions  as  to  give  the  impression  of  one  who  almost 
dwelt  in  the  unseen  world.  The  crisis  seems  to  have  come  in  the 
shape  of  a  strange  rapture  or  trance,  which  visibly  shook  and 
changed  his  whole  frame  as  he  was  celebrating  mass.  From  that 
time  the  pen  fell  from  his  idle  hands  ;  he  neither  wrote  nor  dictated  ; 
and,  although  urged  for  the  glory  of  God  and  the  illumination  of 
the  world  to  carry  on  his  great  treatise  to  a  conclusion,  to  every 
entreaty  he  replied,  that  'all  he  had  written  seemed  now  to  him 
but  so  much  rubbish,  compared  with  what  had  been  revealed  to 
him  in  his  trance.'  While  he  was  in  this  state,  he  was  ordered  by 
Pope  Gregory  X.  to  attend  the  Council  convoked  at  L^ons  for  the 
purpose  of  negociating  with  the  Eastern  Church,  and  to  bring  with 
him  his  famous  treatise  against  the  Greeks.  With  his  usual  obe- 
dience he  set  out,  but  fever  coming  on  he  took  refuge  in  the  Cis- 
tercian monastery  of  Fossa  Nuova,  near  Terracina,  where  after  a 
month's  gradual  wasting  he  peacefully  passed  away  on  March  7, 
1274,  the  day  afterwards  assigned  to  him  in  the  Roman  Calendar, 
being  probably  just  about  forty-eight  years  old."2 

Thus,  of  the  two  great  masters  of  Scholastic  Theology  and  the 
rival  orders,  the  one  died  on  his  way  to  the  Council  at  which  the 
other  only  just  lived  to  receive  the  dignity  of  a  cardinal ;  nor 
need  what  is  repulsive  in  the  systems  which  fettered  their  minds 

1  Quarterly  Review,  p.  118. 

2  Ibid.  pp.  119,  120.  There  is  no  contemporary  authority  or  real 
evidence  for  the  suspicion,  characteristic  of  the  age  and  alluded  to  bv 
Dante  (Purgat.  xx.  69),  that  Thomas  was  poisoned  by  the  contrivance  of 
Charles  of  Anjou,  whether  for  fear  of  his  reporting  to  the  Pope  the  King's 
cruelties,  or  from  the  apprehension  that  his  elevation  to  the  cardinalate 
would  enhance  the  power  of  the  family  of  Aquino.  St.  Thomas  was 
canonized  by  John  XXII.  in  1323;  and  in  ln67  the  Dominican  Pope 
Pius  V.  assigned  to  him  the  next  place  after  the  four  great  doctors  of 
the  West,  Ambrose,  Jerome,  Augustine,  and  Gregory  the  Great.  The 
sixth  place  was  assigned  to  Bonaventnra  by  Sixtns  V.  in  1587. 


512  SUPREMACY  OF  ST.  THOMAS.  Chap.  XXX. 

and  souls  make  us  shrink  from  using  the  words  first  pronounced- 
over  one  at  least  more  faulty :  "  they  were  lovely  and  pleasant  in 
their  lives,  and  in  their  death  they  were  not  divided."  The 
"  sweetness  and  light "  of  Bonaventura  has  a  parallel  in  the  cha- 
racter which  the  recent  essayist  has  drawn  of  Aquinas;1  that, 
notwithstanding  the  essential  error  of  the  monastic  idea  of  perfec- 
tion, "  he  was  really  one  of  those  elect  and  saintly  souls,  of  whom 
it  may  be  said  that  their  virtues  were  their  own,  but  their  defects 
those  of  their  time.  .  .  .  We  cannot  doubt  that  Thomas  of  Aquino 
was,  by  divine  grace,  a  man  of  rare  saintliness  both  of  temperament 
and  conduct." 

§  9.  The  system  of  philosophical  theology  set  forth  in  the  writings 
of  St.  Thomas  Aquinas  is  of  supreme  importance  in  Ecclesiastical 
History,  not  only  as  intellectually  perhaps  the  most  perfect  work 
of  the  Scholastic  age,  but  because  it  has  been  adopted  as  the 
authoritative  standard  of  doctrine  in  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 
Such  preeminence  is  reported  to  have  been  assigned  to  Thomas  by 
the  saying  of  his  great  master,  Albert,  that  he  had  "  put  an  end 
to  all  labour  even  unto  the  world's  end."  From  the  first,  the 
Dominicans  accepted  the  teaching  of  the  "  Angel  of  the  Schools  " 
as  their  standard  of  orthodoxy,  which  every  member  of  the  order 
was  bound  to  accept  and  to  defend.  We  shall  see  presently  how 
vehemently  this  theological  primacy  was  contested  on  behalf  of 
the  great  Franciscan  master,  Duns  Scotus;  but  the  decision  of 
the  Koman  Church  was  given  for  the  Thomists  against  the  Scotists. 
Kepeated  Papal  Bulls,  Decrees  of  Councils,  and  Statutes  of  Uni- 
versities and  Religious  Orders,  prescribed  the  writings  of  Aquinas 
as  the  most  perfect  guide  alike  of  faith  and  reason ;  and  at  the 
Council  of  Trent,  nearly  three  centuries  after  his  death,  a  copy 
of  his  Summa  Theologica  was  laid  on  the  secretary's  desk,  beside 
the  Holy  Scriptures  and  the  Pontifical  decrees,  as  containing  the 
orthodox  solution  of  all  theological  questions.  From  the  epoch 
when  the  Church  of  Rome  put  its  doctrine  into  formal  array  against 
the  reformed  faith,  another  three  centuries  found  her  rallying  her 
spiritual  forces  to  repair  her  temporal  humiliation.  Another  Gene- 
ral Council  had  tried  to  strengthen  St.  Peter's  rock  by  the  new 
foundation  of  Papal  Infallibility,  when  a  new  Pope  was  called  on 
to  devise,  if  possible,  a  standard  of  rational  faith,  which  should 
confirm  believers  and  present  an  impregnable  front  to  all  intel- 

1  Quarterly  Review,  pp.  118-119.  The  reader  is  referred  to  the  whole 
passage,  which  is  too  long  for  quotation  here.  For  the  rest,  the  reviewer 
has  treated  the  character  and  works  of  Thomas  Aquinas  so  fully  and  with 
such  consummate  ability,  that  little  remains  except  to  condense  what 
he  has  written,  referring  to  the  essay  itself  for  fuller  information. 


A.D.  1879.  ENCYCLICAL  OF  LEO  XIII.  518 

lectual  opposition : — a  remedy,  like  the  prophet's  healing  tree,  for 
"  the  bitterness  of  our  times,"  the  cause  of  which  he  found  in 
"  the  evil  teaching  about  things  human  and  divine,  which  has 
come  forth  from  the  schools  of  the  philosophers."  In  his  Encyclical 
Letter  on  the  Bestoration  of  Christian  Philosophy  in  Catholic 
Universities,  acordiug  to  the  mind  of  St.  Thomas  Aquinas,  the 
Angelic  Doctor,  Leo  XIII.  wrote  i1 — "  Far  above  all  other  scholastic 
doctors  towers  Thomas  Aquinas,  their  master  and  prince  .... 
So  far  as  man  is  concerned,  Reason  can  now  hardly  rise  higher 
than  she  rose,  borne  up  in  the  flight  of  Thomas,  and  Faith  can 
hardly  gain  more  helps  and  greater  helps  from  Reason,  than  those 

which  Thomas  gave  her We  therefore  exhort  all  of  you, 

Venerable  Brothers,  with  the  greatest  earnestness,  to  restore  the 
golden  wisdom  of  St.  Thomas,  and  to  spread  it  as  far  as  you  can, 
for  the  safety  and  glory  of  the  Catholic  faith,  for  the  good  of  society, 
and  for  the  increase  of  all  the  sciences.  Let  teachers  carefully 
chosen  by  you  do  their  best  to  instil  the  doctrine  of  Thomas 
Aquinas  into  the  minds  of  their  hearers,  and  let  them  clearly 
point  out  its  solidity  and  excellence  above  all  other  teaching.  Let 
this  doctrine  be  the  light  of  all  places  of  learning  which  you  have 
already  opened  or  may  hereafter  open.  Let  it  be  used  for  the 
refutation  of  errors  that  are  gaining  ground."  It  becomes,  therefore, 
of  supreme  importance  to  understand  the  system  thus  authorita- 
tively identified  with  the  doctrine  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
in  these  last  times. 

§  10.  In  the  Dominican  church  of  St.  Catherine  at  Pisa  is  to  be 
seen  a  picture  painted  in  honour  of  St.  Thomas  Aquinas,  in  the  age 
succeeding  his  own,  by  Francesco  Fraini,  a  pupil  of  Orcagna.  It  is 
thus  described  by  Father  Vaughan  : — "  The  Saint  is  in  the  centre ; 
above  him  is  represented  the  Almighty  in  a  sea  of  light,  sur- 
rounded by  choirs  of  angels ;  below,  in  the  clouds,  are  Moses,  the 
Evangelists,  and  St.  Paul.  From  the  Eternal  Father  lines  of 
light  shine  down  upon  these  men  of  God ;  and  from  them,  in  a 
threefold  ray,  concentrate  upon  the  forehead  of  the  Angelical.  On 
either  side  of  St.  Thomas,  somewhat  lower  down,  are  Plato  and 
Aristotle,  the  one  holding  the  Timxus  open  before  him,  the 
other  the  Ethics ;  and  from  each  of  these  a  beam  ascends  and 
fastens  itself  on  the  brow  of  the  Angelical,  harmonizing  with  the 
divine  illumination  which  proceeds  from  the  Everlasting  Father. 
The  Saint  himself  is  seated ;  the  Sacred  Scriptures  lie  open  before 

1  The  Encyclical  of  Leo  XIII.  is  published  in  an  English  translation  bv 
Father  Rawes,  D.D.,  with  a  Preface  by  the  Cardinal  Archbishop  of  West- 
minster, London,  1879. 


514  WORKS  OF  THOMAS  AQUINAS.  Chap.  XXX. 

him :  whilst  he,  calm,  gentle,  and  majestic,  points  to  the  first  word 
of  the  Summa  contra  Gentiles,  '  My  mouth  shall  meditate  truth,  and 
my  lips  shall  hate  the  impious  one.'  The  impious  one  is  Avcrroes, 
who  lies  prostrate  at  his  feet  with  the  Commentary  at  his  side,  struck 
by  one  of  the  flashes  which  shoot  from  the  pages  of  the  inspired 
writings  unrolled  upon  the  knees  of  the  Angel  of  the  Schools." 

The  symbolism  of  this  picture  is  accepted  by  the  essayist x  as  a 
fit  introduction  to  the  writings  of  St.  Thomas.  "  From  two 
sources,  Revelation  and  Reason,  the  one  having  the  Sacred  Writ- 
ings, the  other  the  Greek  philosophers,  for  its  organ,  the  Saint 
derives  this  illumination  ;  and  from  this  combination  of  the  super- 
natural with  the  natural  proceed  the  immortal  works,  in  which  he 
establishes  Theology  upon  an  impregnable  basis  of  Philosophy,  and 
overthrows  all  the  errors  of  heretics  and  unbelievers.  In  accord- 
ance with  this  representation,  the  writings  of  St.  Thomas  may  be 
broadly  divided  into  three  classes,  which  may  be  conveniently  de- 
signated the  Expository,  the  Philosophic  d,  and  the  Scholastic:  the 
first  commenting  on  Scripture,  setting  forth  its  doctrines  accord- 
ing to  the  received  traditions  of  the  Church  ;  the  second  establishing 
a  metaphysical  system  and  logical  method,  by  the  voice  of  Reason 
and  the  light  of  Nature ;  the  third  fusing  the  doctrines  of  the 
Church  with  the  philosophy  of  Reason,  so  as  to  present  the 
sum  total  of  Truth  in  an  organized  scientific  form,  purged  from 
every  kind  of  error,  and  standing  '  four-square  and  immovable  ' — to 
borrow  Cardinal  Manning's  phrase  in  his  Preface  to  the  Encyclical 
— against  all  the  Church's  enemies." 

(i.)  The  fi  st  class  of  his  writings  was  based  on  a  profound  know- 
ledge of  the  Sacred  Text ;  especially  if  we  are  to  believe  the  story 
that,  during  the  year  or  two  of  his  early  incarceration  by  his  brothers 
he  learnt  the  entire  Bible  by  heart.2  His  biographers  call  in  the 
power  of  miracle  to  explain  the  tenacity  of  memory  with  which  he 
used  the  materials  collected  with  vast  diligence  in  his  journeys  on 
foot  from  monastery  to  monastery  in  that  age  when  the  aid  of 
printing  was  unknown.  No  less  than  eighty  writers,  from  the 
earliest  age  of  Christianity  down  to  his  own  time,  were  laid  under 

1  Quarter?'/  Reriew,  pp.  121-2.  Besides  editions  of  separate  treatises, 
the  collected  Works  of  St.  Thomas  have  been  published  in  folio  at  Rome, 
1570,  17  vols.;  Antwerp,  1817,  18  vols.;  Paris,  1660,  23  vols.  ;  in  quarto, 
Venice,  1745,  28  vols.  ;  Parma,  1852,  seqq. ;  ami,  edited  bv  Migne, 
Patrotog.,  vol.  217,  seq.  ;  P.  P.  Frette  and  Mare,  Paris,  1871-80,"  33  vols. 
The  first  volume  of  a  new  and  spendid  edition  in  folio,  was  issued  in  1882 
from  the  press  of  the  Propaganda  at  Rome,  under  the  auspices  of 
Leo  X11L,  with  34-6  pages  of  Introduction,  &c. 

3  This  refers,  of  course,  to  the  Vulgate  ;  for  it  is  important  to  remember, 
with  regard  to  the  whole  range  of  Thomas's  works,  that  he  was  not  among 
the  Schoolmen  who  acquired  a  knowledge  of  Greek  and  Hebrew. 


A.D.  1274.  EXPOSITORY  AND  PHILOSOPHICAL.  515 

contribution  to  link  together  a  continuous  Exposition  of  the  four 
Gospels,  which  he  entitled  the  '  Gulden  Chain'  (Catena  Aurea). 
Among  the  Fathers  of  the  Church,  he  makes  most  use  of  ( >rigen, 
Hilary,  Chrysostom,  and  Augustine ;  and  after  them,  Remigius, 
Bede,  Alcuin,  Rabanus  Maurus,  and  Anselm.  The  extracted  pas- 
sages are  given  according  to  the  sense  rather  than  the  exact  words, 
and  are  woven  together  so  as  to  form  a  continuous  exposition  of  the 
text,  with  a  combination  of  deep  learning  and  clear  arrangement, 
which  has  led  Cardinal  Newman  to  pronounce  the  work  as  scarcely 
to  be  surpassed  for  "  masterly  and  architectonic  skill."  And  the 
Catena  is  but  one  of  St.  Thomas's  voluminous  Commentaries  on  a 
large  part  of  the  Bible. 

^ii.)  Of  his  philosophical  works,  by  far  the  most  important  are 
his  Commentaries  on  Aristotle,  in  which  he  pursues  the  example 
first  set  by  his  master,  Albert,  of  laying  the  scientific  foundation 
of  systematic  theology  in  the  method  and  doctrines  of  the 
Stagyrite.  "  Here  his  aim  was  to  build  up,  on  the  basis  of  reason, 
a  complete  science  or  theory  of  Being,  which  he  might  afterwards 
employ  to  illustrate  and  confirm  the  dogmas  taught  authorita- 
tively by  the  Church."  In  the  great  controversy  of  the  Schools. 
Aquinas  cannot  be  ranked  strictly  with  either  the  Eealists  or 
the  Nominalists :  his  position  has  been  described  as  an  Aristotelian 
Bealist.  "Like  the  orthodox  in  general, he  ranged  himself  with 
the  moderate  section  of  the  Realists,  who,  while  holding  that 
Universals — namely  genera  and  species — are  more  than  mere 
mental  abstractions,  and  have  a  real  existence,  yet  limited  them 
to  an  existence  in  the  individual,  and  refused  to  attribute  to  them 
any  antecedent  or  independent  existence."  The  philosophy  of 
Aquinas  is  the  culmination  of  the  process  which  we  have  traced 
siuce  the  beginning  of  the  century  as  to  the  acceptance  of  the  works 
of  Aristotle,  by  which  "  the  Schoolmen,  having  vindicated  them 
from  Mahommedan  and  Jewish  misuse,  and  remodelled  their 
teaching  so  as  to  bring  it  into  accordance  with  the  dogmas  of  the 
Church,  went  on  to  make  them  the  main  basis  and  support  of 
Christian  theology.  Thus  Rationalism,  against  which,  since  the 
days  of  Abelard,  a  fierce  struggle  had  been  waged,  was  now  attacked 
and  routed  by  its  own  weapons,  and  faith  was  wedded  to  reason  in 
an  alliance  which  it.  was  hoped  would  prove  indissoluble.  In  this 
work  of  buttressing  authority  by  philosophy,  and  vindicating  ortho- 
doxy by  the  light  of  nature,  as  the  way  was  led  by  Albert,  so  his 
greater  pupil  carried  it  on  to  perfection ;  and  the  consequence  has 
been,  that  the  stately  edifice  of  Systematic  Theology,  reared  in  the 
Church  of  the  West  by  the  labours  of  the  Schools,  reposes  on  the 
foundation  laid  by  the  great  luminary  of  Pagan  Greece." 


516        PHILOSOPHICAL  DIVINITY  OF  ST.  THOMAS.     Chap.  XXX. 

(iii.)  The  philosophy  of  Aquinas,  as  of  the  other  schoolmen,  was 
but  the  vestibule  to  the  inner  sanctuary  of  systematic  theology ; 
and  how  the  one  led  to  the  other  is  well  described  by  Bishop 
Hampden : 1 — "  The  object  of  the  Scholastic  Philosophy  was  to 
detect  and  draw  forth  from  the  Scripture,  by  the  aid  of  the  subtle 
analysis  of  the  philosophy  of  Aristotle,  the  mystical  truths  of  God 
on  which  the  Scripture  Revelation  was  supposed  to  be  founded." 
This  attempt  to  fuse  the  doctrines  of  Revelation  with  the  phi- 
losophy of  Reason,  aimed,  in  fact,  at  being  more  rational  in  form 
than  the  Divine  Revelation  itself,  and  more  binding  by  its  bein  g 
the  authoritative  utterance  of  the  voice  of  the  Church.  "  Under  his 
treatment,  Divinity  was  transmuted  into  Philosophy,  and  Philo- 
sophy was  absorbed  into  Theology.  Henceforth  Theology  was  to 
present  itself  to  mankind,  not  merely  as  the  queen  of  sciences,  the 
crown  and  completion  of  the  great  fabric  of  knowledge,  but  as  the 
total  sum  of  science,  a  philosophy  of  the  universe,  embracing  every- 
thing that  could  be  known  about  God,  angels,  men,  matter  and 
spirit,  and  exhibiting,  in  ordered  logical  connection,  the  nature,  rela- 
tions, and  destiny  of  all  existences Whereas,  in  Scripture, 

the  things  of  the  Spirit  are  set  forth  under  the  veils  of  symbols 
borrowed  from  the  natural  world,  and  metaphors  which  are  sugges- 
tive to  the  heart  rather  than  descriptive  to  the  intellect,  now,  in  the 
schools,  the  veils  were  plucked  aside,  the  figures  discarded,  and 
what  were  supposed  to  be  ultimate  and  naked  realities  and  essences 
were  brought  out  into  the  arena  of  dialectics." 2  Lord  Bacon  hit 
this  blot  in  the  Scholastic  Theology  in  one  of  his  pregnant  judg- 
ments : 3  "As  for  perfection  or  completeness  in  Divinity,  it  is  not 
to  be  sought,  which  makes  this  course  of  artificial  divinity  the  more 
suspect.  For  lie  that  will  reduce  a  knowledge  into  an  art,  will 
make  it  round  and  uniform ;  but  in  Divinity  many  things  must  be 
left  abrupt  and  concluded  with  this—'  0  the  depth  of  the  wisdom 
and  knowledge  of  God!  How  unsearchable  are  His  judgments, 
and  His  ways  past  finding  out ! '  So  again  the  Apostle  saith, 
'  We  know  in  part ;'  and  to  have  the  form  of  a  total  where  there 
is  but  matter  for  a  part,  cannot  be  without  supplies  by  supposition 
and  presumption." 

§  11.  This  judgment  strikes  at  once  at  the  whole  principle  involved 

1  Bampton  Lectures  on  the  Scholastic  Philosophy  considered  in  its  Hela- 
tion  to  Christian  Theology,  1832.     The  whole  is  well  worth  study. 

2  Quarterly  Review,  pp.  124—5.  See  also  his  development  of  the  idea, 
that  the  Scholastic  Theology  of  Aquinas  was  the  apotheosis  of  Rationalism, 
though  with  the  Church's  bit  in  its  mouth.  We  must  be  content  to  refer 
to  the  Essay  itself  for  the  elaborate  analysis  of  the  theological  works  and 
discussion  of  their  principles,  method,  and  style. 

*  Advancement  of  Learning. 


A.D.  1274.  HIS  "  SUMMA  THEOLOGICA."  517 

in  the  very  title  of  the  great  work,  which  was  the  crowning  achieve- 
ment of  St.  Thomas's  life  and  of  the  whole  teaching  of  the  School- 
men,— his  Summa  Theologica,  which  may  be  described  as  an 
encyclopedia  of  Scholastic  Divinity,  cast  into  three  divisions,  corre- 
sponding to  Entities,  Morals,  and  tiacramentals.  "  Under  the  first 
are  treated  the  arguments  for  the  existence  of  God,  now  distin- 
guished as  the  cosmological,  because  based  on  the  evidences  of 
causation  and  order  in  the  universe;  the  Divine  nature  and 
attributes ;  the  Trinity ;  the  creation  of  angels,  the  physical  world, 
and  mankind ;  the  Divine  Providence  and  government.  Under 
the  second,  the  end  for  which  man  was  created ;  the  nature  and 
causes  of  his  actions ;  his  virtues  and  vices.  Under  the  third,  the 
Incarnation,  its  mode  and  consequences,  as  being  the  source  of 
all  sacraments,  itself  the  sacrament  hid  from  eternity  in  God ;  the 
seven  sacraments  of  the  Church,  with  their  nature,  condition,  and 
effects ;  the  final  resurrection  and  consummation  of  all  things.  .  .  . 
The  part  which  most  closely  touches  the  earth,  and  has  a  practical 
basis  in  human  experience,  is  the  second ;  the  latter  half  of  which, 
treating  of  virtues  and  vices,  and  technically  known  as  the  Secunda 
Secundse,  was  for  at  least  three  hundred  years  the  ethical  code  of 
Western  Christendom,  and  had  the  merit,  to  borrow  Sir  James 
Mackintosh's  phrase,  of  '  laying  the  grounds  of  duty  in  the  nature 
of  man,  and  the  wellbeing  of  society.'  " 1 

The  method  of  the  work  is  that  common  to  all  St.  Thomas's 
theological  writings,  of  which  "  it  may  be  said  generally,  that  while 
they  differ  in  their  immediate  occasion  and  purpose,  they  have  such 
a  family  resemblance  in  the  nature  and  style  of  their  contents,  as 
to  make  it  difficult,  on  taking  a  page  at  hazard,  to  guess  to  which 
it  belongs.  The  plan  usually  adopted  by  him  is,  to  present  for 
discussion  some  Question  or  Proposition  ;  to  state  as  strongly  as  pos- 
sible the  arguments  which  have  been  or  may  be  advanced  in  favour 
of  a  wrong  answer  or  solution ;  to  follow  these  with  the  orthodox 
determination,  and  the  authorities  or  reasons  for  it,  whether  drawn 
from  the  Bible,  the  Fathers,  or  Aristotle,  who  always  figures  as  the 
philosopher,  par  excellence ;  and  lastly  to  reply  in  order  to  the 
opposing  arguments.  Thus  each  question  is  thoroughly  sifted  and 
threshed-out,  before  it  is  dismissed  for  the  next.  One  consequence 
of  this  method  is  that  these  volumes,  besides  containing  the 
grounds  for  the  beliefs  sanctioned  by  the  Church,  are  also  store- 
houses of  all  kinds  of  erroneous,  heretical,  and  infidel  opinions, 

1   Quarterly  Review,  pp.  136-7.     To  show  better  than  by  any  descrip- 
tion the  manner  in  which  Theology  is  treated  in  this  encyclopaedic  treatise, 
the  author  of  the  essay  collects  some  examples  of  the  questions  scattered 
here  and  there  over  its  thousands  of  pages. 
II— 2  A  2 


518  CHARACTER  OF  SCHOLASTIC  THEOLOGY        Chap.  XXX 

and  of  the  arguments  by  which  they  may  be  advocated,  and 
are  a  very  manual  of  heterodoxy  as  well  as  of  orthodoxy."  Not 
only  is  the  tone  throughout  that  of  cold,  calm,  passionless  logic ; 
but  we  feel  that  the  logical  deductions  from  the  propositions 
stated  are  offered  us  in  place  of  the  truth  we  are  supposed 
to  be  seeking,  and  so  the  judgment  is  sound  that  "the  Theology 
elaborated  by  the  Schoolmen,  just  so  far  as  it  is  scholastic  and 
philosophical,  is  not  in  any  real  sense  Theology  at  all,  but  is  simply 
an  exposition  of  the  farms  under  which  the  subject-matter  of 
Theology  is  conceived  by  the  human  mind.  .  .  .  After  we  have 
been  permitted  to  see  every  conceivable  dialectic  feat  performed 
with  such  terms  as  essence,  spirit,  yersonality ,  substance,  accidents, 
and  so  forth,  we  cannot  be  said  to  have  gained  any  addition  to  our 
knowledge  of  the  things  themselves  for  which  these  terms  stand; 
it  is  only  by  confusing  the  very  realities  themselves  with  the  pro- 
positions about  them,  which  are  merely  modes  of  our  own  under- 
standing, that  the  semblance  of  an  increase  in  our  knowledge  is 
produced.  To  discuss  the  properties  of  the  Godhead,  the  mode  of 
the  Incarnation,  the  action  of  divine  grace  on  the  human  will. 
the  difference  behveen  the  essence  of  an  angel  and  the  essence  of 
a  human  soul,  and  other  similar  topics,  through  a  thousand  pages 
of  subtle  analysis  and  irrefragable  deduction,  may  at  first  strike 
us  as  an  astonishing  display  of  intellectual  force,  and  impress  us 
with  the  idea  that  the  mysteries  of  Being  have  been  penetrated 
and  laid  open  to  our  gaze;  but,  when  we  seriously  examine  what 
trustworthy  additions  have  been  made  to  our  knowledge,  it  will 
probably  be  found  that  the  discussions  have  been  for  the  most 
part  a  mere  playing  with  words,  and  the  apparent  progress  in 
science  little  more  than  a  barren  round  within  the  circle  of  our  own 
definitions  and  conceptions. 

"  But  we  would  not  be  unjust.  In  its  own  line  and  way,  the 
embattled  and  mighty  fortress  of  Scholastic  Divinity,  reared  by 
Thomas  Aquinas  for  the  defence  of  the  faith  of  Christendom,  is  a 
wonderful  achievement.  It  shows  what  Logic  can  do  with  Theology, 
on  the  supposition  that  divine  and  spiritual  truths  can  be  profit- 
ably handled  by  its  methods ;  it  sums  up,  with  an  unparalleled 
lucidity  of  arrangement,  the  wholy  body  of  knowledge  and  thought 
about  the  Universe,  to  which  the  orthodoxy  of  the  Middle  Ages 
had  attained  :  it  was  the  instrument  of  training  the  intellect  of 
Europe  for  centuries ;  and  it  became  the  starting-point  from  which 
the  human  mind  essayed  fresh  flights,  when  it  came  to  discern  more 
clearly  the  difference  between  the  realities  of  existence  and  the 
modes  and  forms  under  which  the  understanding  conceives  them. 
Giants'    work    the    whole    structure    may   justly   be    called  ;    and 


A.D.  1274.  OTHER  WORKS  OF  ST.  THOMAS.  519 

although  in  our  altered  circumstances  its  pertinency  has  passed 
away,  and  the  stir  of  life  has  vanished  from  its  empty  halls,  it 
stands  for  ever  as  an  imperishable  landmark  in  the  development  of 
human  culture." ! 

§  12.  It  remains  to  make  brief  mention  of  the  other  theological 
works  of  Thomas  Aquinas,  of  which  the  Summa  Theologica  was  the 
last  crowning  achievement.  All  of  them,  including  this  last  and 
greatest,  fall  into  three  classes,  according  to  their  particular  pur- 
pose: the  Academical,  consisting  mainly  of  professorial  lectures 
and  disputations  ;  the  Polemical,  directed  against  particular  errors  ; 
and  the  Systematic  or  Synoptical,  exhibiting  the  whole  body  of 
truth  in  a  scientific  arrangement.  Though  in  the  last  class  the 
Summa  Theologica  stands  alone,  several  others  are  less  complete 
essays  of  the  same  kind.  Such  is  the  earliest  and  largest  of  his 
academical  works,  the  voluminous  Commentary  on  the  Sentences  of 
Peter  Lombard,  comprising  the  teaching  of  Thomas  from  his  chair 
of  divinity  at  Paris.  Next  to  the  refined  ontological  questions 
about  the  Deity  and  the  Trinity,  perhaps  the  most  curious  part  of 
this  work  is  the  "  Distinctions  concerning  Angels ;  an  extremely 
favourite  subject  with  the  Schoolmen,  whom  we  might  imagine  to 
have  possessed  as  accurate  an  acquaintance  with  the  structure, 
properties,  and  habits  of  angelic  beings  as  our  most  skilful  anato- 
mists and  physiologists  can  pretend  to  have  acquired,  by  long 
observation  and  experiment,  with  the  human  body.  Among  a 
host  of  questions  proposed  for  solution,  and  triumphantly  worked 
out  to  definite  conclusions,  we  find  these  :— Whether  angels  are 
compounded  of  matter  and  form.  Whether  they  possess  personality. 
Whether  there  is  a  definite  number  of  angels.  Whether  every  angel 
forms  a  distinct  species.  Whether  all  angels  belong  to  the  same 
genus.     Whether  an  angel  differs  in  species  from  a  human  soul." 

Equally  curious  and  difficult  are  his  collection  of  academical 
discussions  on  difficult  questions,  entitled  Quxstiones  Disputatx, 
and  the  .smaller  supplementary  collection  of  Miscellaneous  Ques- 
tions (Quxstiones  Quodlibetahs  i.e.  What  you  please),  which  ap- 
pears to  have  originated  in  the  problems  submitted  to  St.  Thomas 
for  solution  by  persons  who  desired  to  profit  by  his  faculty  for 
subtle  argumentation,  and  deals  with  matters  which  for  the  most 
part  may  be  pronounced  as  unedifying  as  they  are  certainly 
curious. 

§  13.  Of  the  Polemical  division  of  St.  Thomas's  theological  writ- 
ings, the  most  important  is  that  entitled  Sumrr.a  cohtra  Uentiles,ov 
"  Concerning  the  truth  of  the  Catholic  Faith  against  the  errors  of 

1    Quarterly  Review,  pp.  127-129. 


520  APOLOGETIC  WORKS  OF  ST.  THOMAS.      Chap.  XXX. 

Heathens  and  Infidels."  We  have  spoken  before  of  the  prevalence 
of  pantheistic  and  other  heretical  doctrines  with  which  Western 
Christendom  had  been  overspread  by  the  Arabian  and  Jewish 
philosophy  introduced  from  the  East  and  the  Moorish  schools  of 
Spain,  and  which  the  friars  deemed  it  a  special  part  of  their 
mission  to  counteract.  The  Spanish  Dominican  Raymund  had 
urged  the  general  of  the  order  to  enlist  the  abilities  of  their  ablest 
divine  in  defence  of  the  orthodox  creed  ;  and  at  his  request  Thomas 
undertook  the  work.1  "It  was  begun  in  1261,  and  occupied  about 
three  years.  It  is  remarkable  for  its  scientific  order  and  logical 
compactness.  Of  the  four  books  into  which  it  is  divided,  the  first 
treats  of  the  nature  of  God;  the  second,  of  His  relation  to  the 
creature;  the  third,  of  His  providence  and  grace  ;  and  the  last,  of 
the  Trinity,  the  Incarnation,  and  the  Sacraments.  It  thus  sweeps 
across  the  whole  field  of  Theology ;  and  as  it  deals  its  strokes  at 
the  earlier  heresies,  as  well  as  those  of  the  Saracenic  and  Jewish 
schools  which  were  its  immediate  occasion,  it  soon  became  a  con- 
venient armoury  of  weapons  to  equip  orthodox  controversialists  for 
their  battles  with  the  enemies  of  the  Church."  But  it  furnishes 
another  example  of  those  faults  of  the  scholastic  method,  which 
make  it  of  as  little  permanent  use  in  apologetic  as  in  systematic 
divinity. 

The  Summa  contra  Grsecos  deals  with  that  old  controversy 
between  the  Eastern  and  Western  Churches,  in  the  vainly-hoped- 
for  settlement  of  which  Thomas  was  summoned  to  Lyon  as  a  chief 
champion,  when  he  died  on  the  way.  But  it  had  been  written 
several  years  before,  under  circumstances  which  are  of  special  interest 
as  accounting  for  the  appearance  for  the  first  time,  in  this  work  of  so 
cautious  a  theologian,  of  the  claim  of  the  personal  infallibility  of 
the  Roman  Pope.  In  the  discussions  connected  with  the  Vatican 
Council  of  1870,  where  the  authority  of  St.  Thomas  was  invoked 
as  decisive,  the  true  story  was  told  by  the  able  opponent  who  wrote 
under  the  name  of  Janus : — "  A  Latin  theologian,  probably  a 
Dominican,  who  had  resided  among  the  Greeks,  composed  a  catena 
of  spurious  passages  of  Greek  Councils  and  Fathers,  St.  Chrysostom, 
the  two  Cyrils,  and  a  pretended  Maximus,  containing  a  dogmatic 
basis  for  these  novel  Papal  claims.     In   1261   it  was  laid  before 

Urban   IV Urban,    evidently   deceived   himself,   sent   the 

document  to  Thomas  Aquinas,  who  inserted  the  whole  of  what 
concerned  the  Primacy  into  his  work  against  the  Greeks,  without 

1  See  the  analysis  in  the  Quarterly  Review,  pp.  132-3.  The  story  that 
he  wrote  this  treatise  in  shorthand  on  waste  scraps  of  paper  is  illustrated 
by  the  frequent  complaints  of  the  want  of  writing  materials  in  the  letters 
of  Adam  de  JVlavisco,  in  the  Monurn.  Francisc. 


A.D.  1274  f.  JUDGMENTS  ABOUT  HIM.  521 

the  least  suspicion  of  its  not  being  genuine It  left  no  doubt 

on  his  mind,  that  the  great  Councils  and  most  influential  bishops 
and  theologians  of  the  4th  and  5th  centuries  had  recognized  in  the 
Pope  an  infallible  monarch,  who  ruled  the  Church  with  absolute 
power.  ...  It  was,  then,  on  the  basis  of  fabrications  invented  by 
a  monk  of  his  own  Order,  and  on  the  forgeries  found  in  Gratian, 
that  St.  Thomas  built  up  his  Papal  system."  To  which  the  essayist 
adds: — "  There  is  reason  for  believing  that  St.  Thomas  afterwards 
became  aware  of  the  cheat  which  had  been  put  upon  him  ;  for,  as 
Father  Gratry  remarks  in  his  pungent  letters,  where  also  the  story 
is  told,  the  doctrine  of  the  Pope's  infallibility  not  only  finds  no 
place  in  the  saint's  final  and  complete  Summary  of  the  Church's 
faith,  but  the  language  used  there  about  the  Pope  and  the  episcopal 
order  is  incompatible  with  it." 

Of  the  numerous  minor  polemical  tracts  of  Aquinas,  it  is  only 
necessary  to  mention  the  two  which  he  wrote  as  the  champion  of 
the  friars  in  their  conflict  with  the  University  of  Paris  and  William 
of  St.  Amour : — namely,  "  Against  those  who  attack  Religion  and 
the  worship  of  God,"  and  "Against  the  pestilential  doctrine  of 
those  who  dissuade  men  from  entering  into  Religion."  "  These 
books  were  esteemed  so  masterly  a  defence  of  the  principles  of  the 
Religious  or  Monastic  life,  that  they  not  only  carried  the  Friars 
triumphantly  through  the  storm,  but  have  ever  since  been  regarded 
by  the  Regulars  of  the  Church  of  Rome  as  a  sort  of  Charter  of 
Monasticism."  * 

§  14.  It  is  not  surprising  to  find  that  his  contemporaries  were  far 
from  ready  to  make  a  unanimous  award  of  that  supremacy  to  which 
he  ultimately  attained.  The  persistent  opposition  of  the  Doctors  of 
the  University  of  Paris  was  shared  by  the  Franciscans,  both  at 
Paris  and  Oxford,  while  his  cause  was  undertaken  by  his  own 
order.  Immediately  after  his  death,  a  powerful  antagonist,  Hen- 
ricus  Gandavensis,  called  forth  a  defence  by  Robert,  an  Oxford 
Dominican.2  In  1276,  Tempien,  bishop  of  Paris,  and  a  chief 
member  of  the  theological  faculty,  condemned  some  propositions 
from  the  writings  of  Aquinas,  and  the  University  of  Oxford  con- 
curred in  the  censure.3  In  1285,  a  Franciscan,  William  de  Lamare, 
wrote  at  Oxford  a  fieprehensorium,  Fr.  Thomse,4  to  which  several 
Dominicans  replied.  On  the  other  hand,  in  1286,  a  General  Chapter 
of  the  Dominicans  at  Paris  prescribed  to  the  order  the  advancement 
and  defence  of  the  doctrine  of  Aquinas,  and  decreed  suspension 
against  all  dissentients.     After  the  canonization  of  St.  Thomas  by 

1  Quarterly  Review,  p.  134. 

2  Protector  him  Thomse,  Aquinatls,  Bulauis,  iii.  4<"9  ;  Gieseler,  iii.  304. 
*  Bulseus,  iii.  448,  4V2.  *   D'Arcentre,  i.  2l£. 


522  JOHN  DUNS  SCOTUS.        Chap.  XXX. 

John  XXII.,  Stephanus  de  Borreto,  bishop  of  Paris,  abrogated  the 
adverse  decisions  of  his  predecessors  (1325) ;  and  a  few  years  later 
(1342)  a  Dominican  chapter  at  Carcassonne  recited  the  approval  of 
the  Angelic  Doctor's  teaching  by  the  Apostolic  see,  the  chief 
doctors  of  the  Church,  and  the  University  of  Paris,  as  a  reason  for 
imposing  it  on  all  lecturers  and  students  as  the  rule  of  orthodoxy, 
according  to  which  they  were  to  determine  all  questions  and  dovMs.1 
As  late  as  1387,  however,  the  University  of  Paris,  in  a  letter  to  the 
Pope,  still  found  much  to  censure  in  the  writings  of  St.  Thomas.2 

§  15.  For  some  time,  in  fact,  after  his  death,  there  were  two  rival 
schools  of  Scholastic  Theology,  named  after  their  two  great  masters, 
TJiomists  and  Scotists,  the  one  Dominican  and  the  other  Franciscan, 
representing  the  opinions  prevalent  respectively  at  Paris  and  at 
Oxford.  Of  the  British  Franciscan,  John  Duns  Scotus,3  the  Subtle 
Doctor,  who  thus  vied  with  Thomas  for  the  sceptre  of  the  divinity 
schools,  so  little  unfortunately  is  known,  that  his  name  has  been 
punned  on  to  symbolize  the  obscurity  (o-kotos,  darkness).  If  we 
are  to  accept  the  chief  positive  testimony  as  to  his  age,  that  he  was 
only  34  at  his  death  in  1308,  his  birth  would  fall  in  the  very  year 
in  which  Thomas  Aquinas  and  Bonaventura  died.  And,  however 
improbable  it  may  seem  that  one  who  died  so  early  should  have 
written  the  wonderful  works  which  fill  13  folio  volumes  (not  in- 
cluding his  Sermons  and  voluminous  Commentaries),  yet  there  is 
clearly  no  mention  of  his  fame  till  the  end  of  the  13th  century 
and  the  beginning  of  the  14th.  The  circumstance,  too,  that  many 
of  his  arguments  take  the  form  of  a  direct  answer  to  those  of 
Thomas,  tends  to  confirm  their  relation  in  point  of  time.  Had 
they  been  contemporaries,  their  conflict  would  have  filled  the 
schools  and  re-echoed  through  after  ages. 

As  a  student  at  Oxford  (where  he  may  very  possibly  have  been 
a  pupil  of  Koger  Bacon),  he  is  said  to  have  shown  a  genius  for 
mathematics ;  and  he  taught  with  immense  popularity  as  a  Doctor 
of  Theology  there,  and  afterwards  at  Paris  and  Cologne,  where  he 
died.      Of  his  philosophical  works,  the  chief  are  his  voluminous 

1  Holsten,  ed.  Brockie,  iv.  114. 

2  Launoy,  de  varii  Aristotelis  in  Acad.  Paris,  fortuna,  c.  10. 

3  The  chief  authorities  are  his  Life  prefixed  to  his  Works,  by  Wadding, 
12  vols,  folio,  Lugd.  1649  ;  F.  Albergoui,  Reso'utio  Doctrinse  Scoticx, 
Lugd.  1643;  Baumgarten-Crusius,  de  Theol.  Scoti,  Jena?,  1826.  Even 
the  place  which  gave  him  his  surname  is  doubtful  :  whether  Duns  in  the 
Merse  (Berwickshire),  as  is  said  by  Spotswood  (ann.  1328),  or  Dunston 
near  Alnwick.  Some  even  (very  improbably)  understand  the  epithet 
Scotus  in  its  old  sense  of  Irish.  It  is  a  curious  sign  of  the  contempt  of  the 
next  age  for  the  Schoolmen,  that  the  wittiest  among  them  (as  Hooker  calls 
him)  bequeathed  the  word  dunce  to  our  language. 


A.D.  1308.  HIS  PHILOSOPHY  AND  THEOLOGY.  523 

Commentaries  on  Aristotle;  in  theology,  his  great  work  was  in  the 
form  of  Questions  on  the  four  books  of  Peter  Lombard's  Sentences,1 
besides  a  supplement  of  Quxstiones  Quodlibetales,  like  the  similar 
collection  of  Aquinas.  The  Franciscans  raised  this  "Doctor  of  the 
Order,"  as  he  is  called  by  his  pupil  Ockham,  to  the  same  supreme 
place  of  authority,  as  the  standard  of  orthodoxy,  both  philosophical 
and  theological,  that  the  Dominicans  assigned  to  Thomas ; 2  and 
the  schools  were  thenceforth  divided  into  the  rival  parties  of 
Thomists  and  Scotists :  the  one  Aristotelian,  the  other  Platonist ; 
the  one  Augustinian,  the  other  Semi-Pelagian  ; 3  the  one  cautiously 
resisting,  while  the  other  embraced  with  Franciscan  fervour,  the 
new  dogma  of  the  Virgin's  Immaculate  Conception. 

The  great  historian  of  philosophy,  Ritter,  characterizes  Duns 
Scotus  as  "  without  doubt  the  acutest  and  most  penetrating  spirit 
of  the  Middle  Ages  ; "  and  Dean  Milman  4  pronounces  "  the  toil  and 
rapidity  of  this  man's  mental  productiveness  perhaps  the  most 
wonderful  fact  in  the  intellectual  history  of  our  race.  The  vast 
writings  of  Duns  Scotus  spread  out  as  the  dreary  sandy  wilderness 
of  philosophy ;  .  .  .  without  an  image,  perhaps  without  a  super- 
fluous word,  except  the  eternal  logical  formularies  and  amplifica- 
tions. The  mind  of  Duns  might  seem  a  wonderful  reasoning 
machine :  whatever  was  thrown  into  it  came  out  in  syllogisms ;  of 
the  coarsest  texture,  yet  in  perfect  flawless  pattern.  Logic  was  the 
idol  of  Duns ;  and  this  logic-worship  is  the  key  to  his  whole  phi- 
losophy. Logic  was  asserted  by  him  not  to  be  an  art,  but  a 
science :  ratiocination  was  not  an  instrument,  a  means  for  dis- 
covering truth ;  it  was  an  ultimate  end,  its  conclusions  were  truth. 
Even  his  language  was  Logic-worship ....  his  Latinity  is  a  bar- 
barous jargon.  His  subtle  distinctions  constantly  demanded  new 
words :  he  made  them  without  scruple.  Scotus  has  neither  the 
philosophic  dignity  nor  the  calm  wisdom  of  Thomas ;  he  is  rude, 
polemic,  and  does  not  want  theological  hatred.     Duns  Scotus  is  an 

1  Quaestiones  in  Libros  IV.  Sententiarum.  The  work  exists  in  two 
forms  :  the  Opus  Parisiense  and  the  more  complete  Opus  Oxonicnse  s.  Aw 
glicanum,  edited  by  Hugo  Cavellus.  Antwerp,  1620,  2  vols,  folio. 

2  Thus  Wadding  says  {Annates  Minorum,  s.  a.  1308,  §  64)  :  "  In  aliquot 
comitiis  generalibus  statutum  est,  ut  lectores  omnes  et  magistri,  tarn  in 
cursu  philosophico  quam  theologico,  ejus  sententiam  sequerentur  ;  "  but 
he  does  not  say  when  this  rule  was  first  adopted. 

3  Duns  Scotus  himself  regarded  Pelagianism  as  a  heresy  just  as 
much  as  Thomas  di  1,  but  he  denned  its  nature  differently.  For  extracts, 
exhibiting  the  views  of  Thomas  and  Scotus,  see  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  pp.  308-9. 

4  Lat.  Christ.,  vol.  ix.  p.  141.  It  may  suffice  to  refer  the  student  to 
the  Dean's  analysis  of  Duns's  very  abstruse  philosophy  and  theology,  of 
which  the  central  doctrine  is  the  universality  and  eternity  of  matter,  but 
saved  from  heresy  by  his  peculiarly  subtle  distinctions. 


524  THOMISTS  AND  SCOTISTS.  Chap.  XXX. 

Aristotelian  beyond  Aristotle ;  a  Platonist  beyond  Plato :  at  the 
same  time  the  most  sternly  orthodox  of  Theologians. l 

"  The  war  of  Scotists  and  Thomists  long  divided  the  Schools,  not 
the  less  fierce  from  the  utter  darkness  in  which  it  was  enveloped. 
It  is  not  easy  to  define  in  what  consisted  their  implacable,  unfor- 
given  points  of  difference.  If  each  combatant  had  been  compelled 
rigidly  to  define  every  word  or  term  which  he  employed,  concord 
might  not  perhaps  have  been  impossible ;  but  words  were  their 
warfare,  and  the  war  of  words  their  business,  their  occupation,  their 
glory.  The  Conceptualism  or  Eclecticism  of  St.  Thomas  admitted 
so  much  Realism  under  other  forms  of  speech ;  the  Realism  of 
Duns  Scotus  was  so  absolutely  a  Realism  of  words,  reality  was 
with  him  something  so  thin  and  unsubstantial;  —  the  Augus- 
tinianism  of  St.  Thomas  was  so  guarded  and  tempered  by  his  high 
ethical  tone,  by  his  assertion  of  the  loftiest  Christian  morality ;  the 
Pelagianism  charged  against  Scotus  is  so  purely  metaphysical,  so 
balanced  by  his  constant,  for  him  vehement,  vindication  of  Divine 
grace,  only  with  notions  of  its  mode  of  operation  peculiar  to  his 
philosophy,  and  with  almost  untraceable  distinctions  as  to  its  mode 
of  influence ; — that  nothing  less  than  the  inveterate  pugnacity  of 
Scholastic  teaching,  and  the  rivalry  of  the  two  Orders,  could  have 
perpetuated  the  strife.  That  strife  was  no  doubt  heightened  and 
embittered  by  their  real  differences,  which  touched  the  most  sensi- 
tive part  of  the  Medieval  Creed,  the  worship  of  the  Virgin.  This 
was  coldly  and  irreverently  limited  by  the  refusal  of  the  Dominican 
to  acknowledge  her  immaculate  conception  and  birth  ;  wrought  to  a 
height  above  all  former  height  by  the  passionate  maintenance  of  that 
tenet  in  every  Franciscan  cloister,  by  every  Franciscan  theologian."2 

1  Ritter  says  (p.  336) :  "  The  direction  which  he  gave  to  his  science  is 
thoroughly  ecclesiastical."  "  He  adopts  the  phrase  ascribed  to  St.  Augus- 
tine, that  he  would  not  believe  the  Gospel  but  on  the  witness  of  the 
Church.  The  power  of  the  keys  he  extends _not  only  to  temporal,  but  to 
eternal  punishments,  adding,  however,  that  in  "This,  as  in  other  things,  the 
priest  acts  only  as  the  instrument  of  God,  who  could  use  the  ministry 
even  of  an  evil  angel  to  complete  a  valid  baptism  "  (!). 

*  One  of  the  most  distinguished  opponents  of  the  Scotist  Pelagianism 
was  Thomas  Bradwardine,  the  Doctor  Profundus,  who  was  reader  of 
Theology  at  Oxford  (1348  f.),  and,  having  been  made  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  was  carried  off  by  the  Black  Death  within  the  year  (1349); 
In  his  work  De  Causa  Dei  adv.  Pelagium  Libri  III.  (ed.  Savile,  Loud. 
1618)  he  complains  that,  like  the  850  priests  of  Baal,  all  the  world  had 
gone  after  the  error  of  Pelagius  ;  but  we  are  told  that,  in  that  age, 
absorbed  in  scholastic  subtilties  and  ignorant  of  Augustine,  even  Brad- 
wardine's  strong  predestinarianism  failed  to  rouse  any  excited  opposition 
(Raynaldus,  ann.  1372).  There  is  a  monograph  on  this  great  and  pious 
English  Schoolman,  or.  as  others  consider  him,  opponent  of  Scholasticism, 
by  G.  V.  Lechler,  De  Thoina  Bradwardino  Coimnentatio,  Lips.  1863. 


Merton  College,  Oxford. 
The  College  of  Rog^r  Bacon,  William  of  Ockham,  and  Bradwardine.* 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 
THE  GREATEST  OF  THE  SCHOOLMEN. 


ROGER   BACON.      FROM   ABOUT    1214   TO   AFTER    1292    A.D 

1.  Danger  of  seekers  for  truth — The  "  Wonderful  Doctor":  his  family 
and  early  life — Studies  at  Oxford  and  Paris — Becomes  a  Franciscan — 
Labour  and  cost  of  his  lifelong  studies.  §  2.  Spirit  of  his  teaching  at 
Oxford — Hampered  by  the  rules  of  his  order — The  "  unnamed  master  " 
of  John  of  Parma.  §  3.  Writes  his  three  great  works  by  desire  of 
Clement  IV.  (1266-7) — Difficulties  from  want  of  means — Rapidity  of 
their  execution — Vast  compass  of  the  Opus  Majus — Want  of  all  help, 
even  of  skilled  transcribers.  §  4.  His  reward  in  persecution — No 
evidence  for  the  charge  of-magic — Confused  accounts  of  his  imprisonment, 
release,  and  death.  §  5.  Many  of  his  works  lost — Their  one  great  object, 
the  reformation  of  knowledge — The  Opus  Majus  the  Encyclopaedia  and 
Novum  Organum  of  the  13th  century.  §  6.  The  supplemental  Opus 
Minus  or  Secunda  Scriptura.  §  7.  The  Opus  Tertium  at  once  a  pre- 
amble and  supplement — Projected  encyclopaedic  work — The  Compendium 
Philosophise.  §  8.  His  supreme  regard  for  Theology  —  Compendium 
Studii  Tlieologise — Scriptural  study  contrasted  with  the  Scholastic  Divi- 
nity.      §  9.    Bacon's  relation  to  the  other  Schoolmen  —  Impediments 


1  The  tradition  of  the  College  also  claims  Duns  Scotus  and  Wyclif 
among  its  scholars  and  teachers  ;  but  it  is  now  proved  that  the  John 
Wvcliffe  of  Merton  was  a  different  person  from  the  great  Schoolman  and 
Reformer.     (See  Chap.  XXXIX.). 


526  ROGER  BACON.  Chap.  XXXI. 

to  wisdom  ;  chiefly  moral  —  The  seven  sins  of  Theology  —  Criticism 
of  Alexander  Hales,  and  of  a  living  Schoolman.  §  10.  Want  of  know- 
ledge of  original  languages  —  Youthful  and  self-sufficient  teachers, 
§  11.  Pretence  of  sanctity  among  the  Friars — Universal  corruption  in 
Church  and  State — Preaching  and  divine  knowledge  without  theology. 
§  12.  Worldliness  and  Ignorance  of  the  secular  clergy — The  friars  cor- 
rupted by  pride  of  learning — Knowledge  not  self-acquired — Verdict  on 
the  Scholastic  Theology — Roger  and  Francis  Bacon — Bacon's  practical 
science  and  inventions. 

§  1.  Scholasticism,  we  have  said,  was  a  real  quest  of  truth,  and  a 
tacit  insurrection  against  that  authority  which  it  obeyed  in  the 
bonds  of  orthodoxy.1  Meanwhile  it  was  at  their  own  peril  if  any 
of  the  nobler  minds,  which  such  a  time  of  awakening  stimulates  to 
pursue  truth  for  its  own  sake,  dared  to  think  and  write  as  if  truth 
were  indeed  the  supreme  object  of  research.  Such  was  the  English 
Franciscan,  Koger  Bacon,2  the  Wonderful  Doctor,  whose  life  con- 
siderably overlapped  at  both  ends  those  of  Aquinas  and  Bonaven- 
tura.  Born  of  a  good  family,3  at  Ilchester,  about  1214,  he  dis- 
tinguished himself  at  Oxford  4  for  his  devotion  to  mathematical 
and  philosophical  studies.     At  Paris  he  pursued  these  and  other 

1  See  Chap.  XXVII.  p.  456. 

2  The  name  is  also  spelt  Bacun  ;  Eccleston,  de  Adventu,  &c,  Mon. 
Francisc.  p.  56.  Almost  all  that  is  known  with  any  certainty  of  his  life 
is  contained  in  the  account  of  him  in  Wood's  Antiquities  of  the  University 
of  Oxford,  as  reprinted  wi  h  notes  and  corrections  by  Mr.  Brewer,  who 
observes  that  Wood's  article  "  had  the  advantage  of  being  derived  from 
a  careful  perusal  of  Bacon's  MSS.,  some  of  which  have  since  disappeared, 
aud  others  have  been  destroyed  in  the  fire  in  the  Cottonian  Library.''  Mr. 
Brewer  observes:  "  Whilst  so  large  a  portion  of  his  works  exists  only  in 
MSS.  widely  dispersed  in  different  libraries,  it  would  be  useless  to  enter 
upon  an  extended  sketch  either  of  his  life  or  his  literary  history." — Pre- 
face, p.  lxxxiii.  f.,  to  his  edition  (in  the  Rolls  Series)  of  "  Fr.  Rogeri 
Bacon  Opera  qusedam  hacteuus  Inedita,  vol.  i.,  containing  :  (i.)  Opts 
Tertium  ;  (ii.)  <>p>s  Minus  ;  (iii.)  Compendium  Ph:l»sophise,  London,  1859." 
See  also  an  article  by  Prof.  E.  H.  Plumtre,  Contemporary  Review,  July, 
1866. 

3  In  the  factions  of  Henry  III.'s  reign,  Bacon's  brothers  and  all  his 
family  were  decided  royalists,  and  suffered  heavy  losses  of  property  in  the 
King's  cause — a  circumstance  which  doubtless  helped  to  predispose 
Clement  IV.  in  his  favour.  His  own  share  of  the  family  wealth  is 
attested  by  his  expenditure  of  2000/.  (a  very  large  sum  in  those  days)  on 
his  studies.  When  he  wanted  aid  for  the  expense  of  preparing  his  works 
for  the  Pope,  his  "rich  brother"  was  unable  to  help  him,  having  been 
exiled  with  his  mother  and  other  brothers,  and  reduced  to  poverty  by 
fines  in  redeeming  his  conficated  property.     (Opus  Tertium,  p.  16.) 

4  An  important  passage  of  the  Compendium  Studii  Tlieologise  quoted 
below  (p.  536,  n.  3)  seems  to  place  Bacon's  studies  at  Oxford  at  the  time 
when  Aristotle  was  first  read  there  by  Edmund  Rich,  probably  before  he 
was  made  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  in  1234. 


A.D.  1227  f.  HIS  FORTY  YEARS'  STUDIES.  527 

branches  of  learning  with  that  marvellous  success  which  earned 
his  distinctive  title  among  the  Schoolmen ;  and  here  he  proceeded 
to  the  degree  of  Doctor  or  Master  in  Divinity.  He  is  said  to  have 
had  for  his  fellow-student  and  intimate  friend  at  Paris  the  famous 
Kobert  Grosseteste,  and  at  his  persuasion  to  have  made  his  profes- 
sion as  a  Franciscan  friar ;  but  this  account  may  perhaps  confuse 
him  with  a  namesake  of  considerable  repute  in  the  rival  order.1 
The  familiar  designation  of  Friar  Bacon  tends  rather  to  conceal 
the  fact,  to  which  he  more  than  once  refers,  that  he  had  been  a 
devoted  student  and  scientific  investigator  long  years  before  he 
took  the  vows,  which  not  only  proved  a  hindrance  to  his  work, 
but  brought  him  under  the  persecution  of  his  jealous  and  bigoted 
superiors.  In  that  account  to  Clement  IV.  of  his  great  work,  which 
forms  the  chief  authority  for  his  intellectual  history,  he  tells  the 
Pope  that  he  had  spent  forty  years 2  in  the  study  of  science  and 
the  languages.  "  I  have  laboured  (he  says) 3  from  my  youth  up  at 
the  sciences  and  the  tongues ;  I  have  sought  the  friendship  of  all 
men  among  the  Latins  who  had  any  reputation  for  knowledge ;  I 
have  caused  youths  to  be  instructed  in  the  languages,  in  geometry, 
in  arithmetic,  in  the  formation  of  tables  and  instruments,  and  in 
many  needful  things  besides.  I  have  examined  all  that  is  requisite ; 
I  know  how  to  proceed,  what  aids  are  required,  and  what  are  the 
impediments ;  but  I  cannot  proceed  for  want  of  means.  And  yet, 
if  any  other  man  had  expended  as  much  as  I  have,  certainly  a 
large  portion  of  the  desired  results  might  have  been  achieved.  For 
during  the  twenty  years  that  I  have  especially  laboured  in  the  at- 
tainment of  wisdom,  abandoning  the  vulgar  path,4  I  have  spent 
vpon  these  pursuits  more  than  2000?.,  not  to  mention  the  cost  of 
secret  books,  of  various  experiments,  languages,  instruments,  tables, 
and  the  like ;  add  to  all,  the  sacrifices  I  have  made  to  procure  the 
friendship  of  the  wise,  and  to  obtain  assistants  instructed  in  the 
tongues,  in  geometrical  figures,  tables,  and  instruments." 

§  2.  The  chief  scene  of  Bacon's  labours  was  at  Oxford,  where  his 

1  Namely,  the  Dominican  Robert  Bacon,  who  is  known  as  a  friend  of 
Grosseteste.  (See  Tanner's  Bibliotheca,  under  the  two  names.)  In  the 
Hist.  Joh.  Rossi  (p.  82,  ed.  Hearne)  Robertas  Bacon  is  named  where  Roger 
is  evidently  meant.  Wood  quotes  a  grammatical  work  of  Robert  Bacon, 
which  had  been  attributed  to  Roger  (ap.  Brewer,  p.  xcix.). 

2  Evidently  a  round  number.  The  date  of  the  work,  1267,  carries  the 
time  back  to  1227,  when  Bacon  would  be  13  years  old. 

3  Op.  Maj.  p.  58. 

4  Neglecto  sensu  vulgari.  Have  we  not  here  a  brief  but  pointed  avowal 
of  his  severance  from  the  scholastic  methods,  which  we  shall  presently 
find  him  condemning  ?  For  the  sens-is  vu'g-n-is  must  be  the  prevalent 
spirit  of  the  learning  of  his  time,  not  that  of  the  ignorant  common  people. 


528  ROGER  BACON  AT  OXFORD.  Chap.  XXXI. 

profession  as  a  friar  seems  to  have  been  made.  Such  powers  and 
learning  as  his  were,  of  course,  employed  by  the  order  in  the  work  of 
teaching,  in  which,  Wood  tells  us  from  the  evidence  of  his  own 
writings,  "  he  was  actuated  by  such  a  generous  spirit,  that  he  not 
only  freely  disclosed  to  his  pupils  the  most  precious  and  abstruse 
results  of  his  enquiries,  but  never  more  congratulated  himself  than 
when  he  fell  in  with  any  one  who  had  genius  or  inclination  to 
receive  his  instructions.  His  lectures  were  eagerly  attended  by 
the  members  of  the  University,  especially  on  physical  subjects ;  he 
acknowledges,  however,  that  some  students,  especially  the  Spaniards, 
received  them  with  ridicule ;  and  that  was  especially  the  case  when 
he  lectured  from  the  faulty  Latin  translations  of  Aristotle  and  the 
Arabic  philosophers."  All  this  labour  and  sacrifice  on  learning  for 
its  own  sake  and  imparting  it  to  others  was  free  from  the  least 
admixture  of  the  stimulus  of  the  professional  pursuit  of  letters  or 
ambition  for  the  reward  of  fame ;  for,  when  the  opportunity  came 
to  him  at  the  Pope's  call,  he  had  to  make  this  excuse  for  a  short 
delay  : *  "  When  your  Holiness  wrote  to  me  on  the  last  occasion, 
the  writings  you  demanded  were  not  yet  composed,  though  you 
supposed  they  were.  For  whilst  I  was  in  a  different  state  of  life,2 
/  had  written  nothing  in  philosophy,  nor  in  my  present  condition 
had  I  ever  been  required  to  do  so  by  my  superiors ;  nay,  on  the 
contrary,  a  strict  prohibition  had  been  made,  under  penalty  of  for- 
feiture of  the  book,  and  many  days'  fasting  on  bread  and  water,  if  any 
writing  made  in  our  house 3  should  be  communicated  to  others." 

Here  we  see  the  Franciscan  rules  of  poverty  and  obedience  used 
to  suppress  a  liberty  of  thought  which  was  the  real  object  of  dislike. 
When  he  wished  to  write  books  at  the  Pope's  desire  (which  was  a 
secret  he  was  not  permitted  to  plead  as  his  reason),  his  superiors 
"  insisted  with  unspeakable  violence  that  he  should  obey  their  will 
like  the  rest."  4  Should  this  seem  inconsistent  with  the  labours  of 
men   like   Albert,   Bonaventura,  and  Aquinas,  there  was  all  the 

1  Opus  Tertium,  c.  ii.  p.  13. 

2  In  alio  statu — that  is,  before  his  profession  as  a  friar. 

3  Bacon  adds  some  statements  which  throw  an  interesting  light  on  the 
production  of  books  in  that  age,  and  the  genuineness  of  the  MSS.  handed 
down  to  us :  "  Nor  could  I  get  a  fair  copy  made  (Jittera  bona,  the  term 
used  in  the  Pope's  letter  of  request)  except  by  employing  transcribers 
unconnected  with  our  order  [the  friars  did  not  transcribe  MSS.,  as  the 
monks  did]  ;  and  then  they  would  have  copied  my  works  to  serve  them- 
selves or  others  without  any  regard  to  my  wishes;  as  authors'  works 
are  often  pirated  by  the  knavery  of  the  transcribers  at  Paris."  Here  is  a 
proof  of  the  corruption  of  MSS.  at" the  source  ;  copies  being  sent  out  with 
the  necessary  haste  and  carelessness  of  such  piratical  transcribers,  and 
wanting  the  supervision  of  the  author. 

*   Opus  Majus,  p.  2  ;  Brewer,  pref.  p.  xix. 


A.D.  1266.  HIS  WORKS  FOR  CLEMENT  IV.  529 

difference  between  a  general  of  the  Franciscans  and  the  chosen 
doctors  of  the  Dominicans  expounding  philosophy  in  obedience  to 
the  Church,  and  as  the  champions  of  their  order  in  the  schools, 
and  the  friar  working  in  his  cell  according  to  his  own  view  of 
truth.  Nor  can  we  tell  how  far  party  spirit  may  have  been  at  the 
root  of  Bacon's  long  persecution.  He  may  have  suffered  for 
his  political  connections ;  and  we  find  a  hint  that  he  may  have 
been  at  least  suspected  of  sympathy  with  the  "  spiritual "  Fran- 
ciscans and  the  deposed  general,  John  of  Parma.1 

§  3.  Such  a  light,  however,  could  not  be  hidden  under  the  bushel 
by  which  the  Franciscan  rulers  meted  out  truth  and  wisdom ;  and 
the  person  who  most  desired  it  to  shine  forth  was  the  Pope  himself. 
In  1263  or  1264  the  Cardinal-Bishop  of  Sabina,  Guy  le  Gros  (or  de 
Foulques),  had  been  despatched  by  Urban  IV.  on  a  vain  mission  to 
mediate  in  the  civil  dissensions  between  Henry  III.  and  the  Barons, 
which  had  then  reached  their  climax.  This  seems  to  have  been 
the  occasion  which  brought  Bacon  under  the  cardinal's  notice ;  and 
even  before  his  elevation  to  the  Papacy  in  1265,  he  had  made  a 
request  through  one  Raymund  of  Laon,  a  clerk,  through  whom  he 
appears  to  have  heard  of  the  friar's  learning — that  Bacon  would 
send  him  a  work  embodying  the  results  of  his  long  studies  and 
researches.2  As  Pope  Clement  IV.  he  repeated  the  request,  or 
mandate,  which  bore  the  fruit  of  the  three  great  works,  entitled 
Opus  Majus,3  Opus  Minus,4  and  Opus  Tertium,  by  the  Doctor  Mi- 
rabilis  himself,  whose  claim  to  the  title  would  be  alone  established 
by  the  rapidity  with  which  they  were  composed.  The  Pope's  letter 
is  dated  from  Viterbo,  June  22,  1266,  and  the  year  which  saw  the 
end  of  the  Barons'  War,  and  the  birth  of  the  true  parliamentary 
system,  by  the  Dictum  of  Kenilworth,  forms  a  no  less  memorable 
epoch  in  the  history  of  English  literature  and  science.  The 
command  found  Bacon  in  the  depth  of  discouragement,  and,  if  we 
interpret  his  words  aright,  of  disgrace  with  his  superiors.  For  ten 
years,  he  says,  he  had  been  in  exile  from  any  hope  of  reputation  for 
his  studies,5  unheard  of  by  the  world,  and  as  if  already  buried  and 

1  We  are  not  aware  whether  any  writer  has  noticed  the  passage  referred 
to  in  the  Prima  Fundatio,  &c,  p.  533  :  "  Fr.  Johannes  de  Provincia  (i.  e. 
John  of  Parma)  sanctae  memoriae,  &c.  Hie  etiam  scripsit  fratri  Rogero 
Bakon  tractatum,  qui  incipit,  *  Innominate  Magistro  '?"  We  should  like 
to  know  the  exact  meaning  of  this  title.  Is  it  a  mysterious  symbol  of 
sympathy?  a  recognition  of  merit  hidden  under  the  discouragement  of  the 
"  unnamed  master's  "  superiors  ? 

2  See  Clement  IV.'s  letter  of  1266  to  Roger  Bacon  (p.  1,  Brewer). 
*  Bacon  calls  it  also  Scriptura  Major. 

4  Also  the  Opus  Secundum  or  Secunda  Scriptura. 

5  Opus   Tertium-,  c.  i.  p.  7.     See  the  amplification  of  his  feelings  by 


530  ROGER  BACON.  Chap.  XXXI. 

blotted  out  in  oblivion ;  and  he  compares  his  delight  at  the  Pope's 
mandate  to  that  expressed  by  Cicero  when  recalled  from  banishment. 

Unfortunately  the  Pope  had  prescribed  the  work,  like  one  whose 
word  is  law,  without  thinking  of  ways  and  means,  difficulties 
and  obstacles.  "  You  forgot,"  Bacon  gently  reminds  him,1  "  to  write 
to  my  superiors  in  my  excuse  ;  and,  as  I  could  not  make  known 
to  them  the  secret,  they  threw  obstacles  in  my  progress,"  possibly 
none  the  less  so  if  they  had  unofficial  knowledge  of  the  wish  of  a 
Pope  who  was  not  a  Franciscan.2  "  There  was  another  obstacle," 
he  adds,  "  which  had  nearly  proved  subversive  of  the  whole  business  ; 
and  that  was  want  of  money,"  which  was  needed  especially  to  pro- 
vide skilful  transcribers,  who  could  construct  tables,  draw  diagrams, 
and  knew  something  of  Greek  and  Hebrew.3 

These  difficulties  are  humbly  pleaded  by  Bacon  as  apologies  for 
an  unavoidable  delay, — but  what  delay  ?  Receiving  the  Pope's 
letter  some  time  after  Midsummer  1266,  and  having,  before  writing 
a  line,  to  collect  a  band  of  competent  transcribers  and  to  raise  the 
money  to  pay  them,  he  nevertheless  completed  his  three  encyclo- 
pedic works  within  less  than  eighteen  months;  for  in  the  Opus 
Tertium  he  repeatedly  mentions  1267  as  the  current  year.4  The 
first  and  chief,  the  Opus  Majus,  occupies  474  folio  pages,5  besides 
the  seventh  part ;  of  the  second,  the  Opus  Minus,  we  have  unfortu- 
nately only  a  fragment,  so  that  we  know  nothing  of  its  extent ; 
and  the   Opus  Tertium,  though  meant  only  for  a  summary  and 

Brewer,  preface,  p.  xxvi.  It  is  of  the  greatest  importance  to  remember 
that  Roger  Bacon  wrote  what  we  may  perhaps  be  allowed  to  call  his 
philosophic  trilogy  at  the  time  when  Albert  the  Great,  Bonaventura, 
and  Aquinas,  were  all  at  the  height  of  their  fame,  seven  years  before  the 
death  of  the  two  latter,  and  thirteen  years  before  the  death  of  Albert. 
This  adds  greatly  to  the  point  of  his  remarks  on  the  learning  of  his  age, 
as  well  as  of  certain  personal  criticisms  to  be  cited  presently. 

1  Opus  Tertium,  p.  15. 

2  Bacon  hints  at  greater  intrigues  than  the  pretext  of  conventual  dis- 
cipline. The  whole  subject  of  Bacon's  treatment  by  his  superiors  is 
obscure,  most  writers  having  been  content  to  follow  the  loose  state- 
ments of  Bale.  But  the  common  account,  that  their  hindrances  to  his 
work  were  not  confined  to  the  threats  which  he  mentions  above,  is  sup- 
ported by  a  passage  (if  genuine)  quoted  by  Wood  from  the  Opus  Minns 
(but  not  to  be  found  in  the  imperfect  MS.  now  extant),  in  which  he 
states  that  the  superiors  and  brethren  kept  him  on  bread  and  water  in 
solitary  imprisonment  to  prevent  the  communication  of  his  writings  to 
any  one  except  the  Pope  and  themselves.     (Wood,  ajy.  Brewer,  p.  xciv.) 

3  Comp.  Brewer,  preface,  pp.  xxxvi.,  xxxvii. 

4  See  the  discussion  of  the  Calendar  at  pp.  227-8  ;  and  again  at  p.  290. 

5  In  the  edition  of  Dr.  Samuel  Jebb  (1733),  which  does  not  contain  the 
Seventh  Part.  For  a  notice  of  the  editor,  see  Brewer,  pref.  (p.  x.)  The 
Opus  Majus  was  reprinted  at  Venice,  1750,  with  a  Vindication  of  Bacon 
by  the  Franciscan  editor  (see  Brewer,  app.  ii.  p.  552). 


A.D.  1266-7.  DIFFICULTIES  OF  HIS  WORKS.  531 

supplement  to  the  other  two,  is  a  work  of  considerable  size.1  But  it 
is  not  mere  magnitude  that  makes  this  feat  "  unparalleled  in  the 
annals  of  literature,"  as  Mr.  Brewer  truly  calls  it.2  "The  Opus 
Majus  embraced  the  entire  scope  of  the  physical  sciences  as  then 
understood.  In  the  treatise  on  Optics,  the  author  entered  minutely 
into  a  description  of  the  anatomy  of  the  eye,  besides  discussing 
those  problems  which  would  now  be  considered  as  more  strictly 
Avithin  the  province  of  optical  science.  In  his  remarks  on  Mathe- 
matics, he  occupies  at  considerable  length  the  field  of  descriptive 
Geography.  In  the  chapters  on  the  reformation  of  the  Calendar, 
he  had  to  form  minute  calculations  on  an  intricate  subject,  little 
understood,  and  to  pass  in  review  not  only  the  methods  of  com- 
putation as  used  in  his  own  days,  but  the  Hebrew,  the  Roman,  and 
the  early  ecclesiastical  notation.  He  had  to  construct  tables,  to  illus- 
trate his  meaning  by  diagrams,  to  treat  abstruse  scientific  questions, 
in  an  age  unaccustomed  to  scientific  demonstration.  To  gain  the 
ear  of  the  Pope,  whom  he  was  anxious  to  enlist  in  the  cause  of 
philosophy,  he  had  to  descend  to  a  style  and  manner  clear  and 
popular  enough  to  suit  the  ordinary  capacity  of  one  whose  sym- 
pathies and  good  wishes  constituted  his  only  claim  to  be  an  arbiter 
of  science.  No  help  was  at  hand ;  no  friends  to  advise ;  neither 
tables  nor  instruments  to  verify  or  abridge  his  calculations.  The 
translations  from  scientific  works  of  the  Greek  and  Arabian  were 
utterly  worthless ;  MSS.  of  the  originals  not  to  be  procured.  The 
copies  of  Paeon's  own  works,  as  they  exist  in  the  present  day, 
afford  unmistakeable  evidence  of  the  obtuseness  of  his  transcribers, 
ignorant  of  every  language  but  the  Latin,  unaccustomed  to  scien- 
tific terms,  indifferent  to  criticism.  Friendless,  unaided  by  his 
family,  thwarted  by  his  superiors,  if  not  discountenanced  by  the 
very  Pope  who  had  enjoined  the  task,  he  had  nothing  but  the 
force  of  his  own  genius  and  his  unconquerable  love  of  the  truth, 
wherewith  to  surmount  these  overwhelming  difficulties." 

§  4.  That  love  of  the  truth,  so  far  gratified  by  the  opportunity  of 
telling  it  to  the  world,  was  not  merely  its  own  sole  reward,  but  it 
brought  on  him  persecution  instead  of  honour.  The  worldly-minded 
and  cold-blooded  Clement  IV. — notwithstanding  Bacon's  praise  of  his 
learning  aad  virtues — is  unlikely  to  have  taken  any  interest  in  the 
humble  friar's  works,  beyond  curiosity  about  the  deep  science,  of 
which  he  had  heard  the  fame ;  and  any  benefit  from  his  protection 
was  speedily  lost  by  his  death  in  1268.  No  one  who  reads  Bacon's 
ree  utterances  on  controverted  questions  of  theology,  and  his  plain 

1  It  occupies  above  300  large  8vo.  pages  in  the  Rolls  edition. 

2  Preface,  p.  xlvi 


532  PERSECUTION  OF  ROGER  BACON.        Chap.  XXXI. 

speaking  about  the  state  of  religion  and  the  Church,  the  abuses  of 
the  mendicant  orders  and  the  false  learning  of  the  schoolmen,  can 
wonder  at  the  anger  of  his  superiors,  which  seems  to  have  been 
especially  visited  upon  him  by  the  General  Minister,  Jerome  of 
Ascoli,  afterwards  Pope  Nicolas  IV.  But  we  get  no  light  from  his 
own  writings  or  those  of  his  contemporaries  as  to  the  details  which 
have  been  accepted  in  the  common  story  of  the  "  Martyrs  of 
Science ; "  and  those  who  only  know  of  Bacon  as  a  man  whose 
science  was  confounded  with  magic,  may  be  surprised  to  learn 
that  we  have  no  evidence  that  this  charge  was  brought  against 
him.  The  chief,  if  not  only,  historical  authority,  is  the  Chro- 
nicle of  Antoninus,  archbishop  of  Florence  in  the  15th  cen- 
tury,1 who  mentions  the  election  of  Jerome  of  Ascoli  as  general 
of  the  Franciscans  in  1274  ;2  and,  under  the  first  year  of  the 
papacy  of  Nicolas  III.  (1277),  goes  on  to  relate  that  "  this 
Jerome,  in  counsel  with  many  of  the  brethren,  condemned  the 
teaching  (dectrinam)  of  the  Englishman,  Roger  Bachon  (sic), 
Master  of  Sacred  Theology,  as  containing  some  suspected  novelties,3 
on  account  of  which  the  same  Roger  was  condemned  to  prison  ;  and 
he  enjoined  on  all  the  brethren  that  none  should  hold  it,  but  shun 
it  as  reprobated  by  the  order.  Moreover  he  also  wrote  to  Pope 
Nicolas  (III.),  asking  for  that  perilous  teaching  to  be  totally 
suppressed  by  his  authority."  If  this  account  is  to  be  accepted, 
Bacon  was  imprisoned  neither  by  Nicolas  III.  nor  Nicolas  IV. ; 
but  by  the  latter  as  General  of  the  Order,  eleven  years  before  he 
became  Pope.  We  have  only  confused  accounts  of  Bacon's  release, 
and  of  an  alleged  second  imprisonment ;  and  a  vain  appeal  to 
Nicolas  IV.,  who  kept  him  in  closer  custody  than  ever.4  Wood, 
who  tells  the  story  thus,  adds  that  "  some  say  he  was  restored  to 
his  liberty  by  the  intercession  of  certain  noblemen  ;  others  that  he 
died  in  prison,  either  from  sickness  or  bad  treatment.  It  is  certain 
however,  that  he  survived  Nicolas  IV.  some  months,  probably  a 
year  and  a  half.     However,  he  lived  till  he  was  seventy-eight,  or 

1  Antonini  Chron.  pars  iii.  p.  779,  ed.  Venet.  1586.  Followed  by  Bale, 
Cent.  iv.  §.55.  The  common  story  is  told  by  Wadding  "and  a  host  of 
later  and  inferior  authors,  most  of  whom  abuse  and  follow  Bale."  (Brewer, 
p.  xciii.  n.).  2  In  succession  to  Bonaventura. 

3  Mr.  Brewer  observes  that  the  phrase  continentem  aliquas  novitates 
suspectas  cannot  by  any  ingenuity  be  distorted  into  a  charge  of 
necromancy. 

4  "There  is  no  authority  whatever  for  this  statement.  It  is  impro- 
bable on  the  face  of  it.  If  Bacon  had  already  been  condemned  by  his 
general,  Hieronymus  de  Asculo,  and  Nicolas  III.,  is  it  credible  that  he 
would  have  appealed  to  his  old  opponent  when  created  Nicolas  IV.?" 
(Brewer's  not?,  p.  xcv.) 


A.D.  1267  f.       THE  GREAT  OBJECT  OF  HIS  WORKS.  533 

thereabouts,  and  died  on  the  feast  of  St.  Barnabas,  and  was  buried 
in  the  Grey  Friars  Church  in  Oxford."  Much  of  this  is  very 
doubtful.  Nicolas  IV.  died  in  April  1291,  and  Bacon  composed 
his  treatise  De  Studio  Theologize  as  late  as  1292,  at  least ;  but  as  to 
how  much  longer  he  lived  we  know  nothing,  nor  does  his  last  work 
bear  any  indication  of  the  treatment  he  is  said  to  have  received. 

§  5.  The  many  works  which  attest  Koger  Bacon's  vast  labour 
exist  in  MSS.  scattered  among  so  many  libraries,  that  Leland  pro- 
nounces it  easier  to  collect  the  leaves  of  the  Sibyl  than  the  titles 
of  his  books.  Wood  suspects  that  "  even  the  titles  of  many  of 
the  books  which  Bacon  composed  have  been  lost,  and  the  copies 
which  remain  cannot  be  found  without  extreme  difficulty.  Their 
existence  is  not  known  through  the  envy  or  ignorance  of  their 
possessors.''  He  adds,  what  has  been  confirmed  by  the  experience 
of  editors,  that  "  the  works  of  Bacon  which  are  generally  found  are 
deficient  in  many  places,  or  else  redundant ;  and  this  may  be  said 
of  those  which  are  reckoned  perfect."  He  describes  their  subjects 
as  embracing  "  theology,  medicine,  perspective,  geometry,  [natural] 
philosophy,  of  which  he  divulged  many  secrets.  He  published  a 
Latin,  Greek,  and  Hebrew  grammar ;  he  treated  of  chemistry, 
cosmography,  music,  astronomy,  astrology,  metaphysics,  logic,  and 
moral  philosophy.  And  besides  these  treatises,  in  which  he  dis- 
closed the  various  methods  of  study  pursued  in  his  days,  he  made 
many  discoveries  which,  but  for  him,  might  not  even  now  have 
seen  the  light."  In  fact  the  whole  of  this  vast  range  of  existing 
knowledge  and  original  research  is  embodied  in  the  encyclopaedic 
triad  which  he  wrote  at  the  desire  of  Clement  IV.  From  the  nature 
of  the  case,  we  should  expect  the  lonely  eager  student  to  seize  the 
opportunity  of  pouring  forth — at  least  in  an  outline  as  full  as  time 
permitted  and  the  Pope  might  be  expected  to  read — all  his  stores 
of  accumulated  learning,  and  his  far  greater  wealth  of  original 
thought  and  discovery.  For  Bacon's  true  fame,  and  his  special 
claim  on  the  student  of  Church  history,  consists  in  his  deep  sense 
of  what  was  false  and  corrupt  in  his  time,  even  in  its  boasted 
learning  and  devotion,  and  in  his  labours  to  show  a  better  way. 
"  The  Opus  Majus?  says  Whewell,1  "  is  a  work  equally  wonderful 
with  regard  to  its  general  scheme,  and  to  the  special  treatises  with 
which  the  outlines  of  the  plan  are  filled  up.  The  professed  object 
of  the  work  is  to  urge  the  necessity  of  a  reform  in  the  mode  of 
philosophizing,  to  set  forth  the  reasons  why  knowledge  had  not 
made  greater  progress,  to  draw  back  attention  to  the  sources  of 
knowledge  which  had  been  unwisely  neglected,  to  discover  other 

1   Philosophy  of  the  Inductive  Sciences,  bk.  xii.  c.  7. 
II— 2  B 


534       THE  "  OPUS  MAJUS  "  AND  "  OPUS  MINUS."    Chap.  XXXI. 

sources  which  were  yet  almost  untouched,  and  to  animate  men  in 
the  undertaking  by  a  prospect  of  the  vast  advantages  which  it 
offered.  In  the  development  of  this  plan,  all  the  leading  portions 
of  science  are  expounded  in  the  most  complete  shape  which  they 
had  at  that  time  assumed ;  and  improvements  of  a  very  wide  and 
striking  kind  are  proposed  in  some  of  the  principal  of  these  depart- 
ments. Even  if  the  work  had  had  no  leading  purpose,  it  would 
have  been  highly  valuable  as  a  treasure  of  the  most  solid  knowledge 
and  soundest  speculation  of  the  time ;  even  if  it  had  contained  no 
such  details,  it  would  have  been  a  work  most  remarkable  for  its 
general  views  and  scope.  It  may  be  considered  as  at  the  same  time 
the  Encyclopaedia  and  the  Novum  Organum  of  the  thirteenth 
century."  * 

§  6.  After  despatching  his  great  work  to  the  Pope,  Bacon  naturally 
bethought  himself  of  some  things  which  he  might  have  expressed 
more  clearly  ;  and  mindful  also  of  the  danger  that  his  precious 
MSS.  might  be  lost  on  the  road,  he  composed  a  second  treatise,  to 
serve  as  an  abstract  and  specimen  of  his  greater  work.  Of  this 
Opus  Minus  or  Secunda  Scriptura,  we  possess  unfortunately  only 
a  fragment ; 2  but  its  purpose  and  character  are  clearly  described  by 
Bacon's  frequent  references  to  it  in  his  Opus  Tertium.  He  tells  us 
that  "owing  to  the  weakness  of  his  memory,  burthened  by  a 
multitude  of  things,  he  had  inserted  in  this  work  passages  and 
discussions  omitted  in  the  first ;  that,  in  consequence  of  the 
removal  of  certain  obstacles  during  the  interval  of  the  two  books, 

1  Dr.  Whewell  gives  the  following  summary  of  the  contents  of  the 
Opus  Majus :  "  Part  I.  On  the  four  causes  of  human  ignorance : 
authority,  custom,  popular  opinion,  and  the  pride  of  supposed  knowledge. 
Part  II.  On  the  causes  of  perfect  wisdom  in  Holy  Scripture.  Part  III. 
On  the  usefulness  of  Grammar.  Part  IV.  On  the  usefulness  of  Mathe- 
matics : — i.  In  human  things  (published  separately  as  the  Specula 
Mathematical: — ii.  In  divine  things:  (1)  This  study  has  occupied  holy 
men  ;  (2)  Geography ;  (3)  Chronology  ;  (4)  Cycles,  the  golden  number, 
&c. ;  (5)  Natural  phenomena,  as  the  rainbow;  (6)  Arithmetic;  (7) 
Music: — iii.  In  ecclesiastical  things:  (1)  The  certification  of  faith; 
(2)  The  correction  of  the  Calendar: — iv.  In  the  state:  (I)  Climates; 
(2)  Hydrography ;  (3)  Geography ;  (4)  Astrology.  Part  V.  On  Per- 
spective (Optics),  published  separatively  as  Perspectiva :  (1)  The  organs 
of  vision  ;  (2)  Vision  in  straight  lines;  (3  Vision  reflected  and  refracted; 
(4)  De  Multiplicatione  Specierum  (on  the  propagation  of  the  impressions  of 
light,  heat,  &c).  Part  VI.  On  Experimental  Science."  To  this  summary 
must  be  added  Tart  VII.  De  Moral i  ]'/n'/<>so/>hi<u  which  exists  in  MSS.  un- 
known to  Dr.  Jebb.     (See  Brewer,  preface,  pp.  xxviii.,  xlv.) 

2  Printed  for  the  first  time  by  Mr.  Brewer  (op  cit.  1859'  from  the 
only  known  MS.  of  the  14th  century,  in  the  Bodleian  Library,  Digby, 
No.  218,  written  by  a  most  incompetent  transcriber.  (See  the  descrip- 
tion in  Brewer,  preface,  pp.  xxx.,  xxxi.-xxxviii.) 


A.D.  1267.  THE  « OPUS  TERTIUM."  535 

he  was  enabled  to  add  what  he  considered  necessary  ;  for  the  more 
he  reflected  on  the  admirable  and  sublime  nature  of  the  work  before 
him,  the  clearer  and  fuller  it  broke  upon  his  mind." x  The  most 
striking  fruit  of  that  greater  freedom,  which  he  enjoyed  in  writing 
this  second  work,  is  seen  in  the  bold  censure  of  the  dominant 
scholasticism,  to  which  we  shall  presently  revert. 

§  7.  Looking  back,  as  an  author  always  does,  from  the  end  of  his 
work  to  a  clearer  view  of  the  whole  from  the  beginning,  Bacon  wrote 
his  Opus  Tertium,2  to  serve  both  as  a  preamble  and  a  supplement 
to  the  Opus  Majus  and  Opus  Minus.  "  Inferior  to  its  predecessors 
in  the  importance  of  its  scientific  details  and  the  illustration  it 
supplies  of  Bacon's  philosophy,  it  is  more  interesting  than  either 
for  the  insight  it  affords  of  his  labours,  and  of  the  numerous 
obstacles  he  had  to  contend  with  in  the  execution  of  his  work. 
The  first  twenty  chapters  detail  various  anecdotes  of  Bacon's 
personal  history,  his  opinions  on  the  state  of  education,  the  impedi- 
ments thrown  in  his  way  by  the  ignorance,  the  prejudices,  the 
contempt,  the  carelessness,  the  indifference,  of  his  contemporaries. 
From  the  twentieth  chapter  to  the  close  of  the  volume  he  pursues 
the  thread  of  the  Opus  Majus  supplying  what  he  had  there  omitted, 
correcting  and  explaining  what  had  been  less  clearly  or  correctly 
expressed  in  that  or  in  the  Opus  Minus ;  .  .  .  but  with  so  much 
vigour  of  thought  and  freshness  of  observations,  that,  like  the  Opus 
Minus,  the  Opus  Tertium  may  be  fairly  considered  an  independent 
work." 3  An  interesting  light  is  thrown  on  the  composition  of  the 
three  works  by  the  chapter  (fifty-second),  in  which  he  apologizes 
for  having  inserted  a  discussion  of  three  abstruse  subjects,  vacuum, 
motion,  and  space,  mainly  in  regard  to  their  spiritual  significance. 
"  As  these  questions,"  he  says,  "  are  very  perplexing  and  difficult, 
I  thought  I  would  record  what  I  had  to  say  about  them  in  some 
one  of  my  works.  In  the  Opus  Majus  and  Opus  Minus  I  had  not 
studied  them  sufficiently  to  prevail  on  myself  to  commit  my 
thoughts  about  them  to  writing ;  and  I  was  glad  to  omit  them, 
owing  to  the  length  of  those  works,  and  because  1  was  much  hurried 
in  their  composition" 4 

We  find,  in  fact,  that  the  vast  labour  and  comprehensive  scope 
of  these  three  works  were  but  a  foretaste  and  specimen,  for  the 
satisfaction  of  Clement's  curiosity,  of  a  great  encyclopaedic  work  in 
which  Bacon's  views  of  philosophy  were  to  find  full  expression,5 

1  Brewer,  p.  xxxiv. 

2  Frequently  cited  by  Dr.  Jebb  and  others,  but  first  published  by  Mr. 
Brewer  (op.  cit.)  from  MSS.  described  in  his  preface,  p.  xxxviii.  f. 

3  Brewer,  preface,  pp.  xliv.-xlv.  *  Opus  Tertium,  p.  199. 
5  See  Opus  Minus,  p.  315  ;  Opus  Tertium,  c.  vii.  p.  23. 


536  BACON'S  TWO  "  COMPENDIA."  Chap.  XXXI. 

comprising  the  whole  grammar  of  the  Latins  and  h.gic,  natural 
philosophy,  and  metaphysics,  and  speculative  alchemy,  and  the  four 
speculative  mathematics,  not  to  speak  of  the  practical  (mathe- 
matics)." 1  Such  is  the  outline,  sketched  in  1267,  of  the  work 
which  Bacon  composed  in  1271,  but  still  in  the  modest  form,  as 
he  says  in  the  first  sentence,  of  "  a  summary  and  compendium, 
by  way  of  introduction,  until  some  better  opportunity  should  arise 
for  entering  on  each  subject  in  particular,  in  its  due  course ; "  and, 
in  accordance  with  this  statement,  the  transcriber  of  the  one  MS. 
we  possess  has  entitled  the  work  a  "  Compendium  of  Philosophy."  2 
§  8.  It  is  a  great  error  to  suppose  that  Bacon's  freedom  of  thought 
and  devotion  to  natural  science  led  him  to  disparage  or  neglect 
Theology,  which  he  calls  the  chief  of  all  studies  (studium 
principale).  More  truly  even  than  his  great  scholastic  contempo- 
raries did  he  honour  it  as  the  Science  of  Sciences,  by  laying  its 
foundations  deep  in  the  free  investigation  of  all  knowledge,  and  by 
insisting  that  the  superstructure  should  be  raised  from  the  teaching 
of  God's  word  rather  than  from  the  refinements  of  man's  wisdom. 
The  idea  that  a  sound  philosophy  is  only  to  be  discovered  through 
a  true  theology  is  embodied  in  the  very  title  of  the  latest  work  of 
his  old  age,  Compendium  Studii  Theologize  et  per  consequens 
Philosophise,  written   in  1292.3     Bacon's  views   of  the    right   and 

1  For  the  correspondence  of  this  outline,  sketched  in  the  Opus  Ter- 
tium,  to  the  contents  of  the  Compendium  Philosophise,  as  described  by- 
Bacon  in  the  work  itself,  see  Brewer,  pp.  l.-liv.  For  the  internal 
evidence  which  fixes  the  date  of  the  work  to  the  autumn  of  1271,  just  after 
the  election  of  Pope  Gregory  X.,  see  pp.  liv.,  lv. 

2  The  work  is  published  from  the  unique  MS.  in  the  British  Museum 
(Tiberius,  cv.)  in  Mr.  Brewer's  volume.  Its  great  value  consists  in  the 
full  statement  of  Bacon's  leading  principles  with  regard  to  the  causes  of 
the  corruption  of  learning  and  the  means  of  its  reformation. 

3  This  work,  which  exists  in  MS.  in  the  Royal  Library,  must  not  be 
confounded  with  the  Compendium  Studii  Philosophise.  Bacon  himself 
gives  the  date  in  a  passage  of  great  importance  for  the  history  of  the  study 
of  Aristotle  (circa  finem,  quoted  by  Brewer,  p.  lv.)  :  "  Slowly  has  any 
portion  of  the  philosophy  of  Aristotle  come  into  use  among  the  Latins. 
His  Natural  Philosophy  and  his  Metaphysics,  with  the  Commentaries  of 
Averrhoes  and  others,  were  translated  in  my  time  (nostris  tempordms),  and 
interdicted  at  Paris  before  the  year  1237.  because  of  the  eternity  of  the 
world  and  of  time,  and  because  of  the  book  of  Divination  by  Dreams,  .  .  . 
and  because  of  many  passages  erroneously  translated.  Even  his  Logic 
was  slowly  received  and  lectured  on ;  for  St.  Edmund,  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury  (Rich,  archbp.  1234-44),  was  the  first  who  in  my  time  read 
the  elements  at  Oxford.  And  I  have  seen  Master  Hugo,  who  first  read 
the  book  of  Posterior  (Analytics).  ...  So  there  were  but  very  few,  con- 
sidering the  multitude  of  the  Latins,  who  were  of  any  account  in  the 
philosophy  of  Aristotle  ;  nay,  very  few  indeed  and  scarcely  any  up  to  this 
year  of  gra:e  1292."     (Comp.  the  passage  quoted  at  p.  49 '>.) 


A.D.  1292.  PROPER  STUDY  OF  THEOLOGY.  537 

wrong  study  of  Theology  are  set  forth  in  the  beginning  of  the 
work.1  After  stating  that  he  had  been  much  importuned  and  long 
expected  to  write  something  useful  for  Theology,  but  had  been 
hindered  in  many  ways,  he  urges  his  favourite  subject  of  the  causes 
and  remedies  of  human  ignorance  in  general,  and  proceeds  to 
examine  those  which  militated  against  Theology  in  particular. 
"  Although  the  principal  study  of  the  theologian  ought  to  be  in 
the  text  of  Scripture,  yet  for  the  last  fifty  years  theologians  have 
been  principally  occupied  with  questions,  as  all  know,  in  tractates 
and  summx — horseloads  composed  by  many — and  not  at  all  with 
the  most  holy  text  of  God.  And  accordingly  theologians  give  a 
readier  reception  to  a  treatise  of  scholastic  questions  than  they  will 
give  to  one  about  the  text  of  Scripture.  For  this  reason  I  desire 
to  oblige  them  first  in  that  which  they  love  most,  as  it  is  the  first 
step  of  wisdom  to  have  regard  to  the  persons  to  whom  a  man  speaks. 
Though,  beyond  all  comparison,  it  demands  a  much  greater  pro- 
fundity, and  it  is  a  more  difficult  task,  to  expound  the  Text  than  to 
handle  Questions.  Again,  according  to  Aristotle,  the  natural  way 
of  knowledge  is  from  the  more  easy  to  the  more  abstruse,  from 
things  human  to  things  divine.  I  call  them  human,  because  the 
greater  part  of  these  questions  introduced  into  Theology,  with  all 
the  modes  of  disputation  and  solution,  are  in  the  terms  of  philosophy, 
as  is  known  to  all  theologians,  who  have  been  well  exercised  in 
philosophy  before  proceeding  to  theology.  Again,  other  questions 
which  are  in  use  among  theologians,  though  in  terms  of  Theology, 
namely,  of  the  Trinity,  of  the  fall,  of  the  incarnation,  of  sin,  of 
virtue,  of  the  sacraments,  &c,  are  mainly  ventilated 2  by  authorities, 
arguments,  and  solutions  drawn  from  philosophy.  And  therefore 
the  entire  occupation  of  theologians  nowadays  is  philosophical, 
both  in  substance  and  method.  Therefore  I  propose  to  set  forth 
all  the  speculative  philosophy  now  in  use  among  theologians,  adding 
many  necessary  considerations  besides,  with  which  they  are  not 
acquainted." 

§  9.  In  this  most  pregnant  passage  we  have  the  answer  to  the 
question  which  often  perplexes  the  student,  whether  Roger  Bacon 
should  be  ranked  as  one  of  the  Schoolmen,  or  as  their  opponent. 
He  was  among  them,  second  to  none  in  their  own  manner  of  philo- 
sophizing, but  their  superior  in  the  many  necessary  considerations 

1  Chap.  I.  §  1  ;  ap.  Brewer,  p.  lvi. 

2  We  use  his  own  word,  ventilantur,  not  assuredly  in  the  sense  of 
modern  semi-slang  ;  but  we  take  it  to  refer  to  the  Apostle's  figure  of  the 
childish  learner  "  tossed  to  and  fro  and  carried  about  with  every  wind  of  doc- 
trine, by  the  sleight  of  men  and  cunning  craftiness,  whereby  they  lie  in 
wait  to  deceive  '*  (Eplies.  iv.  14). 


538  SPIRIT  OF  BACON'S  WHOLE  WORK.     Chap.  XXXI. 

with  which  they  were  not  acquainted ;  yet  in  spirit  he  was  nof  of 
them.  Taking  his  stand  on  the  high  principle,  that  Scripture  is  the 
only  supreme  authority,  he  comes  down — like  Moses  legislating  for 
the  hardness  of  the  people's  hearts — to  meet  them  on  their  own 
"  human  "  ground,  and  to  turn  philosophy  to  the  best  account  in 
the  service  of  Theology.  But  this  wise  and  necessary  condescension 
to  the  spirit  of  his  age  even  adds  force  to  the  protest  which  is 
especially  interesting  to  us.  It  is  the  spirit  rather  than  the  sub- 
stance of  all  Bacon's  work,  that  gives  him  his  special  place  in  the 
history  of  the  Church  and  of  intellectual  progress.  While  his  great 
contemporaries  were  labouring  to  construct  systems  in  which  the 
received  philosophy  should  solve  all  religious  questions  in  the  sense 
approved  by  the  Church,  Bacon  makes  it  his  first  object  to  detect 
and  expose  the  prevalent  causes  of  ignorance  and  false  knowledge, 
in  order  to  find  the  right  method  of  discovering  and  establishing 
the  truth.  In  the  forefront  of  all  his  works  we  find  the  same 
constant  insistance  on  the  intellectual,  moral,  and  political 
hindrances  to  knowledge  and  wisdom ;  the  greatest  of  all  being 
the  moral,  and,  of  the  intellectual,  the  reluctance  to  confess 
ignorance.1  Of  seven  faults  (or  sins)  affecting  Theology,  the  first  is 
that  this  "mistress  (domino)  of  the  sciences,  the  knowledge  of  God 
which  leads  to  life  eternal,  was  dominated  by  philosophy."  He 
illustrates  this  in  language  directly  applicable  to  Thomas  Aquinas, 
whom  we  find  all  but  named  in  the  citation  of  the  title  of  his  great 
work  and  the  examples  of  subtle  questions,  of  which  Bacon  says 
that  it  does  not  belong  to  theologians  to  investigate  these  diffi- 
culties as  their  chief  object ;  they  ought  only  to  recite  briefly  the 
truths  determined  about  them  by  philosophy. 

The  second  fault  was,  that  theologians  neglected  the  kinds  of 
knowledge  most  excellent  and  most  serviceable  to  theology ;  as 
the  grammatical  knowledge  of  the  foreign  languages  from  which 
all  theology  comes  (namely,  Greek,  Hebrew,  and  Arabic),  mathe- 
matics, and  physical  and  moral  science.  This  ignorance  ex- 
posed them  to  the  third  fault,  an  implicit  trust  in  the  authority  of 
the  Schoolmen,  whose  Surnmx  Theologix  were  vitiated  by  their 
never  having  learnt  these  four  necessary  sciences.     He  illustrates 

1  Passages  to  this  effect  might  be  collected  from  every  part  of  the 
three  Opera  and  the  two  Compendia.  The  moral  impediments  to  wisdom 
and  the  necessity  of  the  mens  sana  ii  corpore  sano  (et  pnro)  are  admirably 
treated  in  the  Compendium  St'idii  Philosophise  (cap.  ii.  pp.  404-413),  while 
in  the  work  on  Theology  he  enumerates  the  seven  faults  (peccata) — (may 
not  the  number  be  meant  to  suggest  deadly  sins  ?) — which  beset  the  study 
as  pursued  in  the  Scholastic  Philosophy.  Our  reluctant  submission  to  the 
limits  of  space  is  qualified  by  the  conviction  that,  like  all  great  authors, 
Bacon,  among  the  chief,  must  be  read,  instead  of  being  read  about. 


A.D.  1267  f.      SINS  OF  THE  SCHOLASTIC  THEOLOGY.  639 

this  general  statement  by  a  bold  criticism  of  two  great  Doctors  of 
Theology,  both  belonging  to  his  own  order,  the  one  living  and  the 
other  dead.  The  latter  was  the  renowned  Alexander  ab  Hales, 
of  whom  he  speaks  with  great  personal  respect ;  while  of  the  living 
teacher,  who  was  held  in  high  but  undeserved  repute,  he  draws  a 
vivid  character  in  pungent  terms,  which  he  repeats  in  the  Opus 
Tertium  ;l  not  as  one  whose  faults  were  merely  personal,  but  who 
was  "  quoted  by  the  whole  herd  of  madmen  at  Paris,  as  if  he 
were  an  Aristotle,  or  an  Avicenna,  or  an  Averrhoes." 

§  10.  That  the  character  was  meant  for  a  fair  and  striking  example 
of  the  philosophical  theology  then  dominant  in  the  Schools,  especially 
at  its  great  centre  in  Paris,  is  plain  from  what  he  adds  about  the 
injury  to  Latin  theology  from  ignorance  of  the  original  languages 
of  Scripture  and  philosophy.2  After  speaking  of  the  necessity 
of  such  knowledge,  and  the  utter  incompetency  of  the  existing 
translations,  he  goes  on :  "  But  the  above-named  incompetent 
author  has  no  more  real  acquaintance  with  philosophy  than  the 
rest  of  the  vulgar.  There  are  not  Jive  men  in  Latin  Christendom 
who  are  acquainted  with  the  Hebreiv,  Greek,  and  Arabic  grammar." 
And  while  he  shows  how  philosophers  and  their  pupils  were  misled 
by  the  worthless  Latin  versions  of  Aristotle  and  his  Arabian  com- 
mentators, he  does  not  shrink  from  an  ample  exposure  of  the  errors 
in  the  Vulgate  itself,  and  insists  on  a  knowledge  of  Holy  Scripture 
in  the  original  languages,  as  the  only  sound  foundation  of  theo- 
logy.3 He  shows  how  ignorance  of  the  true  sense  of  the  letter  led 
to  a  complete  misunderstanding  of  the  spiritual  teaching  of  the 
Bible ;  and  it  is  to  this  point  that  he  applies  the  whole  wealth  of 
scientific  knowledge  which  has  made  his  name  famous  above  all  the 
scholars  of  the  Middle  Ages.4 

Among  the  impediments  to  theological  learning,  he  lays  special 
stress  on  the  intrusion  into  the  chairs  of  divinity,  during  the  last  forty 
years,5  of  youths  and  mere  boys,  without  any  learning  or  experience 

1  Opus  Minus,  pp.  327-8  ;  Opus  Tertium,  p.  30  f. ;  for  it  may  safely  be 
assumed  that  the  two  passages  related  to  the  same  person.  The  por- 
trait demands  careful  study.  He  was  a  Franciscan,  and  therefore  (besides 
other  clear  characteristics)  neither  Albeit  nor  Aquinas.  Mr.  Brewer 
supposes  Richard  of  Cornwall  (see  p.  496)  to  be  the  person  referred  to. 
(Preface,  p.  xxxiv.) 

2  Opus  Tertium,  c.  x.  p.  32  f. 

3  The  Opus  Minus  contains  an  elaborate  account  of  the  various  versions 
of  Scripture  in  existence  at  that  time. 

4  To  pursue  this,  the  most  generally  interesting  aspect  of  Roger  Bacon's 
work,  belongs  rather  to  the  history  of  philosophy  and  science  than  of  the 
Church.  The  student  is  referred  to  Whewell's  Inductive  Sciences  and 
Brewer's  Preface  to  the  Opera  Tnedita. 

5  I.e.  since   1230.     Camp.  Stud'i  Phi'os.  c.  v.  p.  425  f.      Whoever  the 


540  CORRUPTION  IN  CHURCH  AND  STATE.     Chap.  XXXI. 

of  the  world.  The  source  of  this  evil  was  in  the  facility  with  which 
the  two  great  mendicant  orders  received  boys  from  ten  to  twenty 
years  old,  too  young  to  have  any  real  knowledge,  many  of  them 
unable  to  read  their  Psalter  or  Donatus,  who  were  nevertheless 
at  once  put  to  study  theology.  He  proceeds  to  draw  a  striking  pic- 
ture of  the  study  and  teaching  of  Theology  in  the  hands  of  the  two 
orders.  "  From  the  very  beginning  of  our  order,  namely  from  the 
time  when  learning  (studiuni)  first  flourished  in  the  orders,  the 
first  students  were  such  as  the  later  are ;  they  devoted  them- 
selves to  theology,  which  demands  all  human  wisdom.  And  it 
necessarily  followed  that  they  in  no  way  profited,  chiefly  because 
they  did  not  procure  instruction  for  themselves  in  philosophy,  after 
they  entered  the  orders.  And  above  all  because  in  the  orders  they 
presumed  to  investigate  philosophy  by  themselves  without  a  teacher ; 
so  that  they  were  made  masters  in  philosophy  and  theology  before 
being  disciples;  and  therefore  unbounded  error  reigns  among  them, 
though  it  is  not  apparent  for  certain  reasons,  by  the  permission 
of  God  and  the  procuration  of  the  Devil !  " 

§  11.  This  plain  speaking  is  followed  by  a  still  bolder  exposure  of 
the  pretences  which  covered  the  corruptions  incident  to  the  very 
system  of  profession.  "  One  cause  of  this  appearance  is  that  the 
orders  have  a  great  show  (speciem)  of  sanctity,  and  the  world 
therefore  accepts  it  as  probable  that  men  in  a  holy  state  of  life 
would  not  take  upon  themselves  what  they  were  unable  to  perform. 
But  yet  we  see  all  states  too  deeply  corrupted  in  these  times."  1 
Here  he  brings  in,  as  one  proof  of  the  corruption  of  theology,  some 
remarks  on  preaching^  which  have  a  deep  interest  for  all  ages  of  the 
Church.  There  are  many  things,  he  says,  easy  to  be  understood, 
which  belong  to  man's  salvation,  such  as  the  apprehension  of  vir- 
tues and  vices,  the  bliss  of  heaven  and  the  pains  of  purgatory  and 
hell ;  of  which  not  only  "  the  religious,"  as  theologians,  but  all 
clergymen  and  laymen  and  common  people  know  much  from  the 
natural  testimony  of  conscience  and  the  experience  of  life.      And 

professor  censured  before  may  be,  in  this  passage  ho  distinctly  mentions 
Albert  and  Thomas  by  name. 

1  A  passing  allusion  must  suffice  to  Bacon's  frequent  lamentations  over 
the  moral  corruptions  both  of  the  Church  and  the  world  in  his  times. 
Diligently  considering  all  the  states  in  the  world  (Compend.  Studii  Philos  , 
p.  398  f.),  he  finds  infinite  corruption  everywhere,  showing  itself  first  at 
the  head,  in  the  Curia  Romana ;  thence  extending  to  prelates,  clergy,  and 
men  of  learning  ;  infecting  princes,  barons,  and  soldiers  ;  while  of  the  rest 
he  says  that  the  people,  hating  their  princes,  kept  no  faith  with  them,  and, 
corrupted  by  their  example,  gave  themselves  up  to  luxury  and  gluttony. 
Of  the  merchants  and  workpeople  nothing  need  be  said,  because  fraud  and 
craft  and  falsehood  beyond  measure  reigns  in  all  their  words  and  deeds. 


A.D.  1267  f.  PREACHING  AND  THEOLOGY.  541 

through  the  accustomed  teaching  of  the  Church,  all  Christians  have  a 
great  knowledge  of  the  things  that  belong  to  their  salvation  ;  so  that 
it  is  no  great  thing  for  the  students  of  those  orders  to  speak  to  the 
people  about  virtues  and  vices,  punishment  and  glory  ;  especially  as 
in  the  Sacred  Text  many  things  are  most  plain  to  every  man  who 
knows  letters,  and  studies  in  the  books  of  the  saints.  Preaching 
belongs,  not  to  the  professional  theologian,  but  to  the  ecclesiastical 
office,  by  commission  from  the  prelates,  whose  duty  it  is  to  expound 
to  the  people  the  articles  of  faith  and  morals,  of  which  the  Church 
has  knowledge  without  the  study  of  tluohgy,  and  had  it  from  the 
h  ginning  through  the  doctrine  of  the  Apostles.  This  distinction 
between  professional  theology  and  practical  teaching  was  confirmed 
by  daily  experience.  "  Kay,  we  know  for  certain  and  see  every- 
where that  a  simple  brother  (or  friar,  frater),  who  has  never  heard 
a  hundred  lectures  on  theology,  and  has  not  cared  for  them  if  he 
heard  them,  yet  preaches  incomparably  better  than  the  greatest 
masters  of  theology.  Hence  it  is  manifest  that  preaching  does  not 
depend  on  the  study  of  theology,  but  on  the  doctrine  of  the  Church, 
which  is  known  to  any  one,  and  on  the  knowledge  of  vices  and 
virtues,  punishment  and  glory,  and  the  like  truths  pertaining  to 
salvation,  of  which  the  knowledge  is  written  on  the  heart,  as  the 
result  of  the  rites  of  the  Church.  And  for  this  reason  preaching 
prcc<  des  the  study  of  theology  ;  although,  to  be  sure,  it  would  be 
undeniable  that  a  good  theologian  ought  to  preach  much  better,  but 
in  fact,  as  I  have  said,  we  see  the  contrary  everywhere.  And  this 
is  a  great  proof  that  the  learning  of  the  theologians  is  corrupt, 
when  they  who  have  the  more  authority  preach  the  worse. "  * 

§  12.  As  a  further  reason  why  the  world  was  imposed  on  by  the 
outward  show  of  sanctity  and  learning  in  the  orders,  Bacon  says  the 
secular  clergy  had,  for  the  last  forty  years,  neglected  the  study  of 
theology  and  philosophy.  Absorbed  in  the  lusts  of  luxury,  riches, 
and  honours,  and  corrupted  by  the  causes  of  ignorance  already 
named,  the  modern  seculars  had  forsaken  the  paths  of  ancient 
wisdom,  to  which  but  a  few  still  adhered.2  Hence  for  the  last 
forty  years  the  seculars  had  produced  not  a  single  treatise  in 
theology,  and  did  not  even  think  they  could  know  anything,  with- 
out going  through  a  ten  years'  course  of  lectures  from  the  young 

1  He  enlarges  further  on  the  low  condition  of  preaching  in  the  Opus 
Tertium  (pp.  303-310),  and  says  that  bishops  and  others,  for  want  of 
proper  instruction  in  the  practice  of  preaching,  borrowed  their  sermons 
from  young  friars  (pueri),  who  introduced  all  sorts  of  childish  affectation 
into  their  discourses. 

2  Few,  whether  of  the  seculars  or  regulars  ;  for  among  the  illustrious 
exceptions  named  by  him  are  Robert  (Grosseteste),  bishop  of  Lincoln 
(stncta'.  memorise),  and  the  friar  Adam  de  Marisco. 

II— 2  B  2 


542  ROGER  BACON'S  SCIENCE.  Chap.  XXXI. 

professors,  whom  he  contemptuously  calls  the  boys,  of  the  two 
orders,  as  was  seen  at  Paris  and  everywhere  else.  "  No  wonder," 
he  exclaims,  "  if  the  orders  lift  up  their  horns  and  make  a  wonderful 
show  in  learning.  And  yet  it  is  most  certainly  true,  that  they 
bring  no  useful  knowledge  to  the  study  of  theology,  nor  are  they 
willing  to  learn  from  others;  but  they  study  by  themselves  in  all 
subjects ;  and  it  is  impossible  for  a  man  to  acquire  difficult  sciences 
by  himself.  For  in  no  one  age  was  any  science  (scientia)  ever 
discovered,  but  knowledge  (sapientia)  has  grown  from  the  begin- 
ning of  the  world,  and  is  not  yet  complete  in  this  life.  Wherefore 
unbounded  pride  has  possessed  those  orders,  because  they  take  upon 
themselves  to  teach  before  they  learn ;  and  the  necessary  conse- 
quence is,  that  their  doctrine  ends  in  corruption."  Such  is  the 
verdict  pronounced  on  the  Scholastic  Theology,  by  the  contemporary 
who  tried  it  by  the  test  of  that  real  science,  which  he  stood  alone 
in  pursuing  in  a  spirit  which  made  him  the  true  forerunner  of 
the  great  namesake  who  fully  constructed,  three  centuries  later, 
the  method  which  he  had  indicated.1 

1  A  mere  reference  must  suffice  to  Mr.  Brewer's  masterly  comparison 
of  Roger  and  Francis  Bacon,  and  the  relation  of  both  to  Aristotle's  phi- 
losophy (preface,  p.  lxxxi.  f.).  Dean  Milman  says  (vol.  ix.  p.  154-)  that 
Roger  Bacon  "dared  to  throw  off  entirely  the  bondage  of  the  Aristotelian 
logic.  When  he  judged  Aristotle,  it  should  seem,  only  by  those  parts  of 
his  works  matured  in  the  Dialectics  of  the  schools,  he  would  have  been 
the  Omar  of  Aristotle  ;  he  would  willingly  have  burnt  all  his  books  as  causes 
of  error  and  a  multiplication  of  ignorance."  But  Bacon  says  this  only  of 
the  grossly  faulty  and  misleading  Latin  translations  both  of  Aristotle  and 
his  Arabian  commentators  ;  and  the  outburst  occurs  in  the  midst  of  a 
passage  in  which  he  is  insisting  on  the  necessity  of  reading  him  in  the 
original  Greek  {Compend.  Stud.  Phil.  pp.  469  f.).  For  his  exalted  esti- 
mate of  Aristotle's  Laws,  Eth:cs,  and  Politics,  see  ibid.,  pp.  422-5.  It 
is  quite  true  that  Bacon  sets  little  value  on  the  Aristotelian  logic,  but,  as 
Milman  himself  adds,  "Aristotle  as  a,  philosopher,  especially  as  commented 
by  Avicenna,  after  Aristotle  the  prince  of  philosophers,  is  the  object  of  his 
profound  reverence-" 

Though  our  concern  with  Roger  Bacon  is  in  his  relation  to  the 
Church  and  its  learning,  we  cannot  quite  pass  over  those  remarkable 
points  of  physical  science  which  are  popularly  connected  with  his  name 
His  extraordinary  anticipations  of  later  inventions  ought  to  be  read  in  his 
own  words,  in  the  Epistola  Fr.  Rogerii  Baconis  de  Secretis  Operibus  Artis  et 
Xaturse,  et  de  Xullitate  Magise,  (Brewer,  Op.  Lned.  app.  i.  p.  524),  where 
the  last  three  words  at  once  dispose  of  one  of  the  most  persistent  false 
traditions  about  him,  and  show  how  far  he  was  in  advance  of  his  own  and 
later  ages.  The  very  purpose  of  the  letter  is  to  answer  the  enquiries  of  a 
friend  and  disciple  about  magic  bv  showing  the  vanity  of  its  pretensions, 
and  explaining  it  by  the  skill  of  art  in  using  the  powers  of  nature. 
Another  common  error  is  to  ascribe  to  him  as  practical  inventions  the  ex- 
amples which  he  gives  as  possibilities  of  science  and  art  (possunt  fieri), 
some  indeed,  ho  tells  us,  actual,  others  wonderfully  prophetic. 


i*^w 


The  Konigsstuhl  at  Rhense  on  the  Phine. 
Electoral  Meeting-place,  restored  1844  (cf.  p.  121). 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 
LAST  AGE  OF  SCHOLASTICISM. 


WILLIAM   OF   OCKHAM   AND   THE   LATER   SCHOOLMEN. 
PROM   THE   END   OF   CENT.   XIII.   TO   THE   END   OF   CENT.   XV. 

1.  The  Dominican  William  Durandus,  "Doctor  Resolutissimus,"  on 
the  Sacraments  and  the  authority  of  SS.  §  2.  The  English  Franciscan 
William  of  Ockham,  pupil  of  Duns  Scotus,  teaches  at  Paris  and 
Boulogne — Supports  Philip  the  Fair  against  Boniface  VIII. — Anti-papal 
champion  of  the  rights  of  sovereigns — Disputatio  Clerici  et  Mititi*. 
§  3.  Provincial  Minister  for  England — Quarrel  of  John  XXII.  with  the 
"  Spirituals  " — Chapter  at  Perugia — Ockham  is  deposed,  and  becomes 
the  councillor  of  Louis  IV. — His  Work  of  Ninety  Days — Dialogue  between 
a  Master  and  a  Disciple.  §  4.  Ockham  revives  Nominalism  —  His 
Theology — Transubstantiation  :    the   Church    preferred   to   Scripture. 


544  WILLIAM  DURANDUS.  Chap.  XXXII. 

§  5.  Later  Schoolmen  —  Burley —  Buridan  —  Growing  influence  of 
Nominalism  —  Gabriel  Biel.  §  6.  Decline  of  Scholasticism  —  The 
work  it  had  accomplished.  §  7.  Study  of  Holy  Scripture — The  Francis- 
can Nicoi.aus  de  Lyra,  the  "  Doctor  planus  et  utilis  " — His  influence 
on  Wyclif  and  Luther — His  PostHlx  on  the  whole  Bible  —  Manifold 
senses ;  but  chief  concern  for  the  literal — Supreme  importance  of 
determining  the  original  text.  §  8.  Raymund  Lully,  the  scholastic 
missionary  —  His  General  Art  for  the  persuasion  of  unbelievers  — 
Foundation  of  chairs  for  Hebrew  and  oriental  languages. 

§  1.  Though  Bacon  was  too  deeply  concerned  with  the  discussion 
of  the  first  principles  of  reformation  in  philosophical  and  theological 
teaching  to  take  an  active  part  in  ecclesiastical  politics,  his  freedom 
of  thought  must  have  given  an  impulse  to  the  more  decided  an- 
tagonism to  ruling  systems,  which  was  developed  in  the  next  gene- 
ration, especially  among  the  "  spiritual  "  Franciscans.  But  even 
among  the  Dominicans  also,  the  revolt  at  once  against  philoso- 
phical and  ecclesiastical  orthodoxy — against  Realism  and  Rome — 
found  some  champions,  of  whom  the  chief  was  William  Durandus 
de  S.  Portiano  (of  St.  Pourcain  in  Auvergne),  a  professor  at 
Paris  and  Avignon  from  1313,  and  Bishop  of  Meaux  from  1326 
to  his  death  in  1333.  His  boldness  in  solving  all  questions,  or 
the  free  utterance  of  his  opinions  upon  them,  earned  for  him  the 
title  of  Doctor  Iiesolutissimus.  In  philosophy  he  was  at  least  in- 
clined to  a  sceptical  form  of  nominalism,  and  he  appealed  from  the 
authority  of  Aristotle  to  regard  for  truth  alone  ;  while  in  theology, 
after  being  a  decided  Thomist,  he  ventured  to  reject  some  of  his 
master's  cardinal  doctrines.1  His  sacramental  theory,  especially,  is 
what  would  now  be  called  ultra- Protestant.2  He  held  it  to  be  the 
ancient  opinion,  and  in  accordance  with  the  writings  of  holy  men, 
that  the  sacraments  have  no  inherent  power  of  giving  grac°  ;  but,  by 
the  Divine  covenant  or  ordinance,  the  partaker  of  the  sacrament 
receives  grace,  unless  he  interposes  an  obstacle ;  he  receives  grace 
not  from  the  sacrament,  hut  from  God.  Without  venturing  to 
deny  transubstantiation,  he  pronounces  the  doctrine  in  one  mode  of 
statement  to  be  possible,  but,  as  commonly  held,  unintelligible;3 
and  he  insists  on  the  duty  of  endeavouring,  not  to  add  all  sorts  of 

1  See  the  extracts  in  Gieseler  (vol.  iv.  pp.  168-170)  from  Durand's 
Commentary  or  Lectures  on  the  Sentences  of  Peter  Lombard  (Opus  super 
Sententi  is  Lombardi,  Paris,  1508;  Venet.  1571).  Compare  Durandi  de 
S.  Portiano  temerarix  Opiniones,  quae  in  Scholis  communiter  improbantur,  in 
D'Argentre's  Collectio  Judiciorum  de  Novis  Erroribus,  vol.  i.  p.  330. 

2  ■'  Utrum  in  sacramentis  novte  legis  sit  aliqua  virtus  inharens  causativa 
gratine?"    (Lib.  iv.  (list,  i.  qu.  4). 

3  He  guards  his  orthodoxy  by  adding:  "  Nee  unus  istorum  (modorum) 
est  magis  per  Ecclesiam  approbatus  vel  reprobatus,  quam  alius." 


Cent.  XIV  WILLIAM  OF  OCKHAM.  545 

difficulties  to  faith,  but  rather  to  elucidate  obscurities  by  the 
authority  of  Scripture.  In  discussing  the  question  whether  mar- 
riage is  a  sacrament,1  he  distinguishes  between  "  the  earlier  and 
more  common  view,"  that  a  sacrament  is  a  sign  of  a  sacred  thing, 
which,  however,  is  not  only  signified  but  contained  in  it,  and  the 
other  definition  of  a  sacrament  as  any  corporal  or  sensible  sign 
applied  to  man  from  without  to  the  effect  of  spiritual  sanctification. 
This  full  sense  of  "  a  sacrament  strictly  and  properly  so  called,"  he 
seems  to  accept  as  a  point  of  orthodox  duty,  while  he  certainly 
leaves  on  us  the  impression  that  he  himself  would  approve  the 
former  and  more  scriptural  view.2 

§  2.  But  the  great  opposition  to  the  prevalent  orthodox  Scholasti- 
cism sprang  from  the  union  of  freedom  of  thought  with  political 
Ghibellinism  among  the  "  spiritual  "  Franciscans.3  "  The  mortal 
enemy  of  the  Franciscan  Scholasticism  was  in  the  Franciscan  camp. 
The  religious  mysticisms  of  Bonaventura  were  encountered  by  a 
more  dangerous  antagonist.  The  schism  of  Franciscanism  was 
propagated  into  its  philosophy;  the  Fraticelli,  the  Spiritualists, 
must  have  their  champion  in  the  schools,  and  that  champion  in 
ability  the  equal  of  those  without  and  those  within  their  Order,  of 
Aquinas,  Bonaventura,  Duns  Scotus."4  William  of  Ockham,* 
surnamed  from  his  birthplace  in  Surrey,6  is  said  to  have  sprung 
from  the  common  people.  How  early  he  made  his  profession  as  a 
Minorite  friar  we  are  not  told ;    but  he  was  sent  to  study  under 

1  The  whole  discussion  (Lib.  iv.  dist.  26,  qu.  3,  ap.  Gieseler,  I.e.)  is 
very  interesting,  especially  as  an  example  of  the  way  of  reconciling 
"  broad  "  views  with  orthodoxy. 

2  His  Tractatns  de  Statu  Animarum  Sanctarum  postnuam  resolutse  sunt 
a  Corpore  was  written  against  the  view  of  John  XXII.,  that  departed 
souls  do  not  see  God  till  after  the  resurrection  and  the  last  judgment,  an 
opinion  which  the  Pope  was  obliged  to  retract  as  heretical  (cf.  p.  118). 

3  See  Chap.  XXV.  §  7,  p.  430  f. 

4  Milman,  LatinChrist.  vol.  ix.  p.  146.  In  another  place  (viii.  p.  157), 
about  the  great  names  of  Merton  College,  Oxford,  after  Duns  Scotus  and 
Roger  Bacon,  he  speaks  of  William  of  Ockham  as  "the  Locke  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  in  his  common-sense  philosophy,  and  in  the  single-minded 
worship  of  truth.  .  .  .  The  bold  and  rigid  Nominalism  of  Ockham 
struck  at  the  root  of  all  the  mystic  allegoric  theologv  ;  it  endangered 
some  of  the  Church's  doctrines.  His  high  Imperialist  Apologies  shatter.. I 
the  foundations  of  the  Papal  Supremacy,  and  reduced  the  hierarchy 
below  the  Throne."  s  Often  spelt  Occam. 

6  The  date  of  his  birth  is  not  given,  but,  from  his  part  in  the  contest 
between  Boniface  VIII.  and  Philip  the  Fair,  he  must  have  been  of  full 
age  before  the  end  of  the  13th  century,  and  would  be  born,  probably. 
about  or  before  the  deaths  of  Aquinas  and  Bonaventura  in  1274.  This 
would  make  him  between  70  an!  80  at  his  death,  which  is  common/y 
said  to  have  taken  place  at  Munich,  in  1343  or  1347. 


546  OCKHAM'S  IMPERIALISM.  Chap.  XXXII. 

Duns  Scotus  at  Paris,  and  became  himself  a  teacher  both  there  and 
at  Bologna.  He  must  have  been  still  in  his  first  manhood  when  we 
find  him  supporting  the  cause  of  Philip  the  Fair  in  his  contest  with 
Boniface  VIII. ,  the  enemy  of  the  order,  and  especially  of  the 
English  Franciscans.1  "  How  far  William  of  Ockham  was  then 
possessed  by  the  resentment  of  his  order,  how  far  he  had  inclined 
to  the  extreme  Franciscanism,  does  not  clearly  appear.  He  took 
up  boldly,  unreservedly,  to  the  utmost  height,  the  rights  of  temporal 
sovereigns.  In  his  Disputation  on  the  Ecclesiastical  Power,2  he 
refused  to  acknowledge  in  the  Pope  any  authority  whatever  as  to 
secular  affairs.  Jesus  Christ  himself,  as  far  as  He  was  man,  as  far 
as  He  was  a  sojourner  in  this  mortal  world,  had  received  from  His 
heavenly  Father  no  commission  to  censure  kings;  the  partisans 
of  the  Papal  temporal  omnipotence  were  to  be  driven  as  heretics 
from  the  Church."3 

§  3.  That  patriotism  was  an  element  in  the  position  thus  taken 
up  by  Ockham,  seems  confirmed  by  his  election  as  Provincial  Minister 
for  England  in  1322.4  In  the  same  year  he  took  a  prominent  part 
in  the  general  chapter  at  Perugia,  which  brought  the  quarrel  of  the 
order  with  the  Papacy  to  a  climax.5  The  violent  measures  of 
John  XXII.  naturally  strengthened  the  Ghibellinism  which  had 
long  been  growing  among  the  more  rigid  Franciscans,  and  threw 
their  leaders  into  the  arms  of  the  Emperor  Louis  (IV.)  of  Bavaria.6 
In  1328,  William  of  Ockham,  Michael  de  Cesena,  and  Bonagratia, 
were  arraigned  and  cast  into  prison  at  Avignon.  They  escaped 
to  the  court  of  the  Emperor  Louis,  to  whom  William  of  Ockham 
is  reported  to  have  said,  "  Defend  me  with  the  sword,  and  I  will 
defend  you  with  the  word."  Condemned  by  the  Pope,  and  cast 
off  from  his  order  by  a  chapter  held  at  Perpignan,  he  became  a 

1  See  above,  Chap.  VI.  §  12  f. 

2  This  tract,  Bisputatio  Clerici  et  Militis,  is  published  in  Goldastus,  De 
Monarchia,  vol.  i.  pp.  13  f.  3  Milman,  vol.  ix.  p.  147. 

4  We  have  already  seen  that  Mr.  Brewer  suggests  a  large  national 
element  in  the  conflict  of  the  Franciscans  with  Boniface  VIII.  and  his 
successors.  In  the  absence  of  information  about  the  intervening  twenty 
years  of  Ockham 's  life,  we  may  assume  that  he  had  been  teaching  his 
philosophic  Nominalism  and  maintaining  the  primitive  rule  of  St.  Francis, 
and  that  his  election,  therefore,  besides  testifying  to  the  distinction  he 
had  won,  indicates  the  opinion  of  the  English  Franciscans  in  both  respects. 
But  it  seems  also  to  prove  that  he  could  not  have  been  a  declared 
adherent  of  the  Fraticelli.  Whether  he  was  in  England  or  in  Italy  at  the 
time  of  his  election  does  not  clearly  appear. 

5  See  Chap.  VII.  p.  113,  and  Chap.  XXV.  §  7. 

6  The  great  victory  of  Louis  over  his  rival,  Frederick  of  Austria,  at 
Miihldorf,  was  won  in  the  same  year  in  which  the  chapter  of  Perugia  was 
held,  1322. 


Cent.  XIV.  OCKHAM'S  NOMINALISM.  547 

chief  counsellor  of  the  Emperor,  and  redeemed  his  promise  by 
works  "of  an  enormous  prolixity  and  of  an  intense  subtlety, 
such  as  might,  according  to  our  notions,  have  palled  on  the 
dialectic  passions  of  the  most  pugnacious  university,  or  exhausted 
the  patience  of  the  most  laborious  monk  in  the  most  drowsy 
cloister." '  His  Work  of  Ninety  Days  (so  called  to  record  the  short 
time  in  which  it  was  written)  was  occupied  in  great  part  with  an 
exposure  of  the  heretical  tenets  of  John  XXII. ; 2  while  the  whole 
question  between  the  ecclesiastical  and  civil  powers  is  debated  fully 
in  the  Dialogue  between  a  Master  and  a  Disciple,  and  decided  in 
favour  of  the  claims  of  the  Emperor  and  General  Councils  to  be  above 
the  Pope.3  William  of  Ockham  even  maintained  that  the  Emperor 
had  power  to  dissolve  marriages  and  to  grant  dispensations. 

§  4.  In  philosophy,  the  "  Doctor  Singularis  et  Invincibilis,"  the 
"Venerabilis  Inceptor  "  (such  are  the  titles  that  distinguish  Ockham 
among  the  Schoolmen)  revived  the  Nominalism  of  Koscellinus 
from  the  disfavour  under  which  it  had  lain  for  two  centuries.  But 
his  was  a  Nominalism  improved  in  form  and  strengthened  by 
reasoning ;  no  mere  refinement  of  verbal  distinctions,  but  a  meta- 
physical system,  resting  essentially  on  the  same  foundations  as 
the  moderate  "  sensational  philosophy "  of  modern  times.  The 
result  of  his  system  is  summed  up  by  Milman : 4  "  Thus  may 
William  of  Ockham  seem,  with  fine  and  prophetic  discrimination, 
to  have  assigned  their  proper,  indispensable,  yet  limited  power 
and  office  to  the  senses ;  to  have  vindicated  to  the  understanding 
its  higher,  separate,  independent  function;  to  have  anticipated 
the  famous  axiom  of  Leibnitz,  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  in- 
tellect but  from  the  senses,  except  the  intellect  itself;  to  have 
anticipated  Hobbes,  foreshadowed  Locke — not  as  Locke  is  vulgarly 
judged,  according  to  his  later  French  disciples,  but  in  himself — to 
have  taken  his  stand  on  the  same  ground  with  Kant.  What 
Abelard  was  to  the  ancestors  of  the  Schoolmen,  was  Ockham  to 
the  Schoolmen  themselves.     The  Schoolmen  could  not  but  even- 

1  Milman,  vol.  vii.  p.  410.  The  Diilogus  and  the  Opus  Nonatjinta 
Dierum  occupy  nearly  1000  pages  of  very  close  print  in  Goldast  (De  Mo- 
narchia,  vol.  ii.)  ;  besides  several  other  anti-papal  tracts. 

2  Compendium  Errorum  Papse  Joannis  XXII. 

3  For  a  summary  of  the  contents,  see  Robertson,  vol.  iv.  p.  78.  "  A 
portion  of  the  book,  at  least,  in  which  Pope  John's  errors  are  discussed,  and 
in  which  the  form  of  dialogue  is  discarded,  was  written  under  Benedict  XII." 

4  For  a  full  account  of  Ockham's  views  see  the  whole  passage,  vol.  ix. 
pp.  149-151.  Ockham's  chief  philosophical  and  theological  works  are: 
Summa  totius  Logicse,  ed.  Oxon.  1675;  Quzestiones  et  Decisiones  super  IV. 
Libros  Scntentiarum ;  Centilogium  Theologicum,  thcologiam  speadativam 
sub  centum  conclusionibus  complectens ;   ed.  Lugd.  1495. 


548  OCKHAM'S  THEOLOGY.  Chap.  XXXII. 

tuate  in  William  of  Ockham  ;  the  united  stream  could  not  but 
endeavour  to  work  itself  clear ;  the  incessant  activity  of  thought 
could  hardly  fail  to  call  forth  a  thinker  like  Ockham." 

Of  the  theological  side  of  Ockham's  opinions,  Archbishop  Trench 
says  that,  "  taking  advantage  of  the  excesses  into  which  the 
Realists,  so  long  undisputed  masters  of  the  field,  had  run,  he 
found  in  a  Nominalism  by  him  revived,  and  with  its  weak  points 
strengthened,  engines  for  the  assailing  of  the  Church's  teaching, 
such  as  needed  only  to  be  advanced  a  little  further,  and  not  the 
human  outworks  merely  of  the  heavenly  Temple,  but  the  Sanctuary 
itself,  would  have  come  within  the  range  of  his  assaults." !  This  is 
true  rather  of  the  tendency  of  Ockham's  teaching  than  of  his  own 
statements  of  doctrines,  which  are  couched  with  elaborate  caution 
in  an  orthodox  form.  His  reserve  in  speaking  of  the  Divine  Being 
— so  strikingly  contrasted  with  the  free  discussion  of  the  great 
Schoolmen — may  be  regarded  either  as  an  excess  of  reverence  or  an 
approach  to  philosophical  "  Agnosticism." 

On  the  question  of  tran substantiation  Ockham2  observes  that, 
of  the  different  opinions,  the  one  which  held  that  the  substance  of 
the  bread  and  wine  remained  there,  and  that  the  body  of  Christ 
was  in  the  same  place  and  under  the  same  outward  form,  would 
be  most  reasonable,  had  not  the  Church  determined  the  contrary. 
The  preference  of  the  orthodox  view  to  that  which  has  been 
declared  to  be  more  rational  and  scriptural  is  reconciled  by  the 
theory  of  a  revelation  still  continued  to  the  Church,  in  virtue  of 
which  it  has  decided  for  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation. 

§  5.  The  teaching  of  Ockham  was  the  signal  for  a  new  conflict 
between  Nominalism  and  Realism  in  the  Schools,  which  lasted 
through  the  14th  and  15th  centuries.  Besides  many  able 
champions,3  Realism  was  supported  by  the  authority  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Paris,  in  its  repeated  condemnations  of  the  tenets  of 
Ockham  and  his  disciples,4  who  seem  to  have  pressed  their  master's 

1  Medieval  Church  History,  p.  273.      Comp.  Milman,  vol.  ix.  p.  148. 

2  De  Sacramento  Altaris,  c.  5.  This  theory  of  importation,  so  nearly 
identical  with  the  Lutheran  doctrine  of  consubstantiation,  naturally  com- 
bined with  Ockham's  antipapal  views  to  predispose  Luther  in  his  favour. 
(See  Luther,  De  Captiv.  Babylon.,  and  Rettberg's  Occam  und  Luther,  in  the 
Theo/.  Studien  und  Kritihen,  1839,  i.  69.) 

3  One  of  the  most  distinguished  was  Walter  Burley,  of  Oxford,  the 
Doctor  Perspicuus  of  the  Schools,  who  had  been  a  fellow-student  with 
Ockham.     For  Thomas  Bradwardine,  see  p.  542. 

*  Jons  Buridan,  rector  of  the  University  in  1327,  a  chief  disciple 
of  Ockham,  and  an  eminent  lecturer  on  Aristotle  (Works,  ed.  Oxon. 
16  >7-40),  appears  to  have  been  aimed  at  in  the  decision  of  the  Faculty  of 
Arts    (1339),   prohibiting    the    "  doctrinam  Gulielmi    dicti    Occam,"  and 


Cent.  XV.  DECAY  OF  SCHOLASTICISM.  549 

views  to  conclusions  more  and  more  sceptical.  The  Ockhamists 
formed  a  school,  which  became  more  and  more  influential,  espe- 
cially in  Germany  and  England  ;  and  one  who  may  be  considered 
the  last  of  the  distinguished  Schoolmen,  Gabriel  Biel,  whose  life 
ended  almost  with  the  15th  century,  was  a  most  devoted  adherent 
of  Ockham.1 

§  6.  By  this  time,  however,  Scholasticism  had  lost  its  power  over 
thoughtful  minds,  and  had  sunk  into  contempt  with  the  people.2 
But  it  would  take  no  new  impressions ;  and  all  attempts  to  correct 
served  only  to  lay  barer  its  faults,  and  to  augment  its  discredit, 
and  to  hasten  its  fall.  Its  epitaph  has  been  written  by  Lord 
Bacon :  "  Notwithstanding,  certain  it  is  that,  if  these  Schoolmen 
to  their  great  thirst  of  truth  and  unwearied  travel  of  wit  had 
joined  variety  and  universality  of  reading  and  contemplation, 
they  had  proved  excellent  lights  to  the  great  advancement  of 
all  learning  and  knowledge."3  The  reactionary  judgment  passed 
on  the  Schoolmen  by  the  age  that  followed  them  needs  to  be 
modified  by  considerations  which  have  been  admirably  put  by 
Mr.  Brewer : 4  "  That  popular  contempt  was,  however,  an  after- 
threatening  teachers  of  it  with  a  year's  suspension  from  lecturing.  This 
was  followed  next  year  by  a  more  comprehensive  edict,  prohibiting 
Masters  from  contradicting  the  standard  text-books  on  which  they 
lectured,  and  maintaining  Nominalist  propositions.  As  late  as  1473,  the 
Realists  obtained  a  royal  decree  for  the  locking-up  of  their  opponents' 
books,  but  this  was  rescinded  in  1481.  (Bulaeus,  iv.  257,  265;  v.  706, 
739 ;  Gieseler,  iv.  172 ;  Hardwick,  p.  353.) 

1  Gabriel  Biel,  of  Speyer,  lectured  at  Tubingen  on  Aristotle's  Ethics, 
joined  the  "  Brethren  of  the  Common  Life,"  and  died  in  1495.  His  chief 
works  are,  Collectorium  ex  Occamo  in  Libr.  Sentent.  and  Expositio  Canonis 
Missze.  On  his  place  as  a  precursor  of  the  Reformation,  see  H.  W.  Biel, 
De  Gabrielo  Biel cele'ierrimo  Papista  Antipapista,  Vitemb.  1719.  "Biel  Was 
succeeded  by  Cortesius,  'the  Cicero  of  the  Dogmatists,'  on  whom  see 
Schrockh,  xxxiv.  217,  seq."     (Hardwick,  p.  354.) 

2  On  its  decline,  and  the  vain  attempts  of  Gerson  and  others  to  revive 
it  by  the  infusion  of  Mysticism,  see  Trench,  Medieval  Church  Bistort/, 
pp.  276-7  ;  and  on  Wycliffe's  close  relation  to  the  Schoolmen,  himself 
indeed  a  Schoolman  at  Oxford,  see  Shirley's  Preface  to  the  Fasciculi 
Zizaniorun. 

3  The  concluding  words  of  an  admirable  passage  too  long  for  quotation 
here.  Observe  how  exactly  Bacon  hits  the  same  essential  fault  which  his 
great  namesake  exposed  three  centuries  before.     (See  above,  p.  540.) 

4  Monum.  Franc,  pief.  p.  lvii.-lx.  We  reluctantly  abstain  from  quoting 
this  important  passage  on  the  work  really  done  by  the  Scholastics,  not 
only  in  Philosophy  and  Theology,  but  also  (and  especially  in  England) 
in  the  development  of  political  ideas,  concluding  thus : — "  The  unre- 
servedness  with  which  the  Schoolmen  ranged  through  every  region  of 
metaphysics  and  divinity  led,  in  turn,  to  equal  freedom  of  discussion, 
equal  unreservedness  in  political  discussions.  The  true  sources  of  our  civil 
wars    in  the   15th   century  are  to  be  found  rather   in   the   teachings  of 


550  THE  WORK  DONE  BY  SCHOLASTICISM.      Chap.  XXXII. 

thought ;  it  sprang  not  out  of  a  more  philosophical  spirit  of 
enquiry  or  profounder  method,  but  from  mere  weariness  and 
distaste.  The  work  of  the  Schoolman  ivas  accomplished.  IJe  had 
formed  the  mind  of  Christendom  for  the  great  events  to  come" 
Thus  it  was,  as  so  often  happens  with  the  most  laboured  efforts 
of  man,  that  the  lasting  work  done  by  the  Schoolmen  was  very 
different  from  that  for  which  they  toiled  and  thought  and  taught. 
Implicit  as  was  their  obedience  to  the  Church,  their  system  of  uni- 
versal questioning  sowed  the  seeds  of  fuller  and  freer  enquiry, 
which  then  only  began  to  germinate  when  the  vain  solutions, 
which  were  the  fruit  of  their  toil,  were  dead  and  rotten.  "  Sic  vos, 
non  vobis " — words  too  often  quoted  as  the  utterance  of  selfish 
discontent,  but,  as  the  poet's  own  examples  show,  embodying  the 
great  law  of  nature  expounded  by  its  Divine  Author — "  Other  men 
have  laboured,  and  ye  have  entered  into  their  labours."  They  set 
an  example  to  the  world  of  boundless  freedom  in  discussing  the 
highest  and  deepest  questions  that  concern  man;  and  that  free 
discussion  resulted  in  the  religious  and  political  changes  of  the 
15th  and  16th  centuries. 

§  7.  The  most  characteristic  difference  between  the  Schoolmen  and 
the  reforming  theologians  was  that  the  former,  while  acknowledging 
the  Holy  Scriptures  as  the  supreme  rule  of  faith  and  the  ultimate 
foundation  of  Theology,  threw  them  more  and  more  into  the  back- 
ground. In  the  Schools  they  were  superseded  by  the  authoritative 
"  Sentences "  and  "  Sums  of  Theology ; "  to  the  common  people 
they  were  forbidden  as  the   armoury  of  heresy.1     But  still   even 

Wycliffe  and  his  followers  than  in  the  rival  claims  of  Yorkist  or  Lancas- 
trian ;  and  Wycliffe  is  the  genuine  descendant  of  the  friars,  turning  their 
wisdom  against  themselves,  and  carrying  out  the  principles  he  had 
learnt  from  them  to  their  legitimate  political  conclusions."  Hallam 
(Lit.  Hist.  iv.  201)  points  out  the  remarkable  fact  that  Sir  Robert 
Filmer,  the  high  royalist  author  of  Patriarcha  (under  Charles  I.  and  II.) 
"refers  the  tenet  of  natural  liberty  and  the  popular  origin  of  gnvern- 
.  ment  to  the  Schoolmen."  A  writer  of  a  very  different  school,  Comte 
(Philos.  Posit.  1.  vi.  c.  10),  fixes  on  the  opening  of  the  14th  century  as 
the  origin  of  the  revolutionary  process,  which  has  from  that  date  been 
participated  in  by  every  social  class,  each  in  its  own  way ;  and  Capefigue 
(ii.  163)  says  of  the  same  epoch,  "On  commencait  une  epoque  de  curiosite 
et  d'innovation."  Mr.  Brewer  has  some  admirable  remarks  on  the 
scholastic  spirit  in  Dante,  the  contemporary  of  the  later  great  Schoolmen 
(ob.  1321). 

1  Justice  must  however  be  done  to  the  supreme  regard  of  the  best  of 
the  Schoolmen  for  the  Bible.  This,  which  we  have  seen  in  Roger  Bacon, 
is  conspicuous  in  another  great  English  Franciscan,  the  "illustrious 
doctor,"  Adam  Marsb,  who  writes  (for  example)  to  Simon  de  Montfort, 
urgently  exhorting  him  and  his  wife  to  seek  comfort  and  tranquillity  in 
the  frequent  reading  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  (Epist.  cxl.  p.  268.) 


A.D.  1291  f.  SCRIPTURE.     NICOLAS  OF  LYRA  551 

within  the  Church  there  were  some  whose  whole  powers  were 
devoted  to  the  patient  critical  study  of  the  sacred  text.  The 
method  insisted  on  by  Roger  Bacon  was  carried  out  by  the  younger 
brother  of  his  order,  Nicolaus,  surnamed  de  Lyra  1  from  his  birth- 
place in  Normandy ;  the  lyre  to  whose  tune  one  of  Luther's 
opponents,  with  a  strange  forgetfulness  of  the  very  lesson  of  the 
parable,  sneered  at  him  for  dancing  :  "  Si  Lyra  non  lyrasset,  Luthe- 
rus  non  saltasset  " — for  the  Reformer  thankfully  acknowledged  the 
help  derived  from  Lyra's  labours  in  his  translation  of  the  Bible.2 
This  Doctor  planus  et  utilis — as  he  has  been  called,  in  contrast  to 
the  proud  titles  of  the  Schoolmen — joined  the  Franciscan  order 
(1291),  and  lectured  on  the  interpretation  of  Scripture  in  their 
school  at  Paris,3  bringing  his  Hebrew  and  Rabbinical  learning  to 
the  elucidation  of  the  sacred  text.  His  labours  were  embodied  in  a 
great  work,  entitled  Postillse  Perpetuse  in  Universa  Biblia  (whence 
he  is  often  called  the  Postillator).41  In  a  prefatory  essay,5  De  Libris 
Biblise,  Canonicis  et  non  Canonicis,  he  speaks  of  the  prevalent 
ignorance  which  regarded  all  the  books  of  the  Bible  as  of  equal 
authority,  and  lays  down  the  distinction,  that  "  the  canonical  books 
were  composed  with  the  dictation  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  but  of  the 
non-canonical  or  apocryphal,  it  is  not  known  when  or  by  whom 
they  were  written."  In  the  Prologue 6  he  maintains  the  principle 
that  the  one  letter  of  SS.  comprehends  manifold  senses  ;7  but,  for  this 
very  reason,  all  profitable  study  must  begin  from  the  clear  under- 
standing of  the  literal  sense.  Among  the  causes  which  obscure  this 
sense,  he  mentions  the  errors  introduced  into  the  text  both  by  tran- 
scribers and  correctors,  and  the  faults  of  the  Vulgate  Latin  Version. 
His  one  standard  is  the  original  text  of  Scripture.  After  censuring 
the  traditional  method  of  mystical  interpretation,  with  an  evident 

1  The  common  statement,  that  he  was  a  Jew  by  descent,  appears  to  have 
no  foundation  save  in  his  knowledge  of  Hebrew. 

2  Luther  followed  the  example  of  Wyclif  's  Bible,  in  the  Prologue  to 
which  (by  Purvey)  Nicolas  of  Lyra  is  named  as  one  of  the  principal 
commentators  consulted. 

3  His  birth  is  commonly  placed  in  1270,  and  his  death  in  1340,  but 
some  say  1351. 

4  Printed  in  5  vols,  folio,  Roma?,  1471 ;  best  edition,  Lugd.  1590 ;  and 
in  the  Biblia  Glossata.  The  Jewish  proselyte  and  Dominican,  Paul,  bishop 
of  Burgos  (ob.  1435),  enriched  his  copy  of  the  Postils  with  Notes  and  Addi- 
tions of  considerable  value,  but  frequently  blaming  Nicolas  for  preferring' 
his  own  interpretations  and  those  of  the  Jewish  writers  to  the  authority 
of  the  Fathers  and  of  St.  Thomas  Aquinas.  The  vindication  of  Lyra  was 
taken  up  by  Matthew  Doring,  Franciscan  Provincial  Minister  for  Saxon v, 
in  his  Replicx  defensive  Postillx ;  and  this  was  added  to  the  other  points 
of  eager  controversy  between  the  rival  orders. 

s  See  the  passages  quoted  by  Gieseler,  vol.  iv.  pp.  195,  196,  n.  14. 

6  Prolog,  i.,  De  Commendatione  Sacrge  Scri/.turas  in  generali. 

7  He  classifies  these  under  four  heads,  in  the  couplet  quoted  on  482  p. 


552  RAYMUND  LULLY.  Chap.  XXXII. 

though  cautious  reference  to  the  great  Schoolmen,  he  avows  his 
intention  to  occupy  himself  with  the  literal  sense,  larely  inter- 
posing some  very  few  and  brief  mystical  expositions;  and  to  rely 
on  the  authority,  not  only  of  Catholic  but  of  Hebrew  Doctors,  and 
chiefly  of  Rabbi  Salomon.1  Lyra  is  especially  careful  to  reconcile 
his  improvements  in  the  sacred  text  and  its  interpretation  with 
dutiful  submission  to  the  Church,  though  in  such  terms  as  to  assert 
the  supreme  authority  of  Scripture.  Modestly  confessing  that  he 
may  have  erred  from  imperfect  knowledge,  both  of  Hebrew  and 
Latin,  he  protests  his  intention  to  affirm  nothing  except  in  accord- 
ance with  what  has  been  manifestly  determined  by  Holy  Scripture 
or  the  authority  of  the  Church ;  all  else  he  asks  to  be  accepted  only 
as  a  scholastic  exercise ; 2  and  finally,  submittin  g  all  he  had  said, 
or  may  say,  to  the  correction  of  Holy  Mother  Church  and  of  every 
wise  man  (a  noteworthy  co-ordination  of  opinion  with  authority), 
he  asks  for  a  pious  reader  and  a  charitable  corrector.  We  need  not 
"  read  between  the  lines "  either  covert  irony  or  much  less  insin- 
cerity, but  the  genuine  conflict  of  awakening  religious  science — for 
the  knowledge  of  Scripture  is  the  true  science  of  religion — with  the 
bonds  which  it  was  ere  long  to  burst. 

§  8.  Connected  also,  though  but  indirectly,  with  the  advance- 
ment of  Scriptural  learning,  were  the  labours  of  an  earlier  Francis- 
can, who  united  the  master's  fervent  missionary  zeal  with  Roger 
Bacon's  application  of  philosophy  to  the  work ;  though,  like  Bacon 
himself,  vulgarly  known  by  the  false  repute  of  an  alchemist.3 
Ravmund  Lully  (Lullus)  is  a  remarkable  example  of  the  School- 
man labouring  to  convert  unbelievers  by  the  persuasions  of  learn- 
ing, when  he  had  seen  the  failure  of  force  in  the  Crusades.  Born 
in  Majorca,  about  1235,4  he  led  a  licentious  life  at  the  court  of 
Arragon  till  he  was  suddenly  converted  by  a  striking  incident, 
as  to  the  nature  of  which  his  biographers  differ ;  and  a  sermon 
preached  on  St.  Francis's  day  led  him  to  sell  his  property,  save  just 
enough  to  support  his  wife  and  children,  and  devote  himself  to  the 
conversion    of  Jews  and  Saracens.     His  biographers  must   needs 

1  Rabbi  Salomon  Jarehi  or  Raschi,  of  Troyes  (06.  after  1105)  was  one 
of  the  Jewish  scholars  who  greatly  advanced  the  study  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. Others  were  R.  Aben  Esra,  of  Toledo  (ob.  1167),  R.  David  Kimehi, 
of  Narbonne  (ob.  about  1230),  R.  Moses  ben  Maimon  (Maimonides),  of 
Cordova  (died  at  Cairo,  1205).     (See  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  311.) 

2  A  device  for  reconciling  scientific  teaching  with  orthodoxy,  which  has 
been  used  by  others,  as  for  example  the  Jesuit  editors  of  Newton's 
Principia. 

3  Comp.  p.  495.  In  his  works  there  is  not  even  any  mention  of  his 
having;  experimented  in  chemistry. 

*  The  chief  authorities  for  him  are  the  Acta  SS.  Jan.  vol.  v.  p.  633  f., 
and  Wadding. 


Cent.  XIV.        SCHOOLS  OF  ORIENTAL  LANGUAGES.  553 

supplement  (but  why  not  have  superseded?)  the  Arabic  lessons 
of  his  purchased  slave  by  a  miraculous  gift  of  tongues.  It  is  to 
special  revelation  also  that  they  ascribe  the  universal  knowledge 
which,  in  months  of  solitary  preparation  for  his  work,  he  embodied 
in  a  treatise  called  the  Art  of  Arts  or  General  Art,1  with  the 
object  of  confronting  and  converting  all  infidels  with  a  complete 
and  irresistible  proof  of  Christianity.  He  persuaded  King  James 
of  Arragon  to  found  a  monastery  in  Majorca,  for  training  thirteen 
Franciscans  to  preach  to  the  Mussulmans  in  Arabic  (1287).  Armed 
with  his  all-convincing  treatise,  he  crossed  twice  to  North  Africa 
(1291  and  1306)  ;  but  his  challenges  to  arguments  were  so  met 
that  he  had  to  fly  for  his  life.  Meanwhile  he  journeyed  to  the 
East  as  far  as  Armenia,  disputing  with  Mohammedans,  Nestorians, 
and  Jacobites  ;  and  he  travelled  through  France  and  Italy,  teaching 
his  Great  Art,  and  trying  to  move  Popes  and  sovereigns  to  found 
monastic  schools  for  the  study  of  oriental  languages.  At  length  he 
obtained  from  Clement  V.,  at  the  Council  of  Vienne  (1311,  see 
p.  108),  a  decree  establishing  chairs  of  Hebrew,  Chaldee,  and 
Arabic,  for  the  instruction  of  missionaries,  in  the  four  Universities 
of  Paris,  Bologna,  Oxford,  and  Salamanca,  as  well  as  in  any  city 
where  the  Pope  might  he  residing.  In  1314  Raymund  became  a 
Franciscan  tertiary;  but  next  year,  having  sailed  again  for  Africa, 
he  perished  in  a  tumult  at  Bougiah,  where  the  people,  who  had  been 
unmoved  by  his  universal  art  of  persuasion,  stoned  him  when  he 
threatened  them  with  Divine  vengeance  (1315). 

A  school  of  followers,  called  Lullianists,  styled  him  Doctor 
Admirabilis,  and  the  Franciscans  revered  him  as  a  saint ;  but  the 
Dominicans  found  heresy  in  his  writings,  though  in  his  Be  Secretis 
Naturse  he  followed  their  great  Albert  in  the  mixture  of  meta- 
physical divinity  with  cabalistic  theosophy  and  physics.  He  is 
said  to  have  written  120  books,  many  of  them  in  Arabic. 

1  Ars  Generalis,  also  called  Ars  Magna  s.  Un'versalis,  and  popularly  the 
M  Lullian  Art,"  of  which  Lord  Bacon  speaks  as  mere  sciolism  under  an 
ostentatious  show  of  knowledge  (Dc  Auijm.  Scient.  vi.  2,  fin.)  His  extant 
works  are  published  as  "  R.  Lulli  Opp.  qux  ab  ipso  inventam  artem  univer- 
salem  pertinent  "  Argent.  1598;  Mogunt.  1792  ;  10  vols.  4to.  There  is  a 
special  work  on  him  by  Adolf  Helfferich,  It.  Lull.  u.  die  Anfange  der 
catalonischen  Literatur,  Berlin,  1858  (or  1859). 

Among  other  Schoolmen  worthy  of  a  passing  mention  are,  the  strict 
Franciscan  Scotist,  Franz  Mayuon,  "Doctor  Illuminatus  or  Acutus," 
who  died  at  Paris  in  1323,  and  the  Thomist  Dominican  General,  Hi;i:\  l  is 
Natalts  (06.  1323).  But  the  truly  evangelical  Commentary  on  St.  PauTs 
Epistles  ascribed  to  the  latter  (printed  in  Anselm's  Works,  Paris,  1544) 
belongs  to  a  forgotten  worthy  of  the  12th  century,  the  Benedictine  monk 
Herveus  of  Bourgdieu  (oh.  about  1130).  who  also  wrote  a  Commentary  on 
Isaiah  (first  printed  by  Petz,  Thesaur.  Anecdot.  No'iss.  Tom.  III.  pars  IV. 


Strassburg. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 


MYSTICAL  THEOLOGY  AND  THE  MYSTICS. 


CENTURIES   XIV.    AND   XV. 


1 .  The  Scholastic  and  Mystical  Elements  :  development  of  the  latter — 
Definition.  §  2.  Impulses  to  Mysticism — Troubles  of  the  14th  century. 
§  3.  Popular  movement  in  Germany  and  the  Low  Countries — Ver- 
nacular Literature  and  Preaching — The  friai-s  Conrad  and  Berthold — 
The  Beghards  and  other  enthusiasts.  §  4.  Two  elements  in  the  teach- 
ing of  the  Mystics — Their  orthodoxy — Mostly  Dominicans.  §  5.  Henry 
Eckart — Heresies  imputed  to  him.  §  6.  Nicolas  of  Basle  and  the 
Friends  of  God.  §  7.  The  Dominican  John  Tauler,  the  "  Enlightened 
Doctor  " — At  Paris  and  Strassburg — The  Great  Interdict — His  preach- 
ing. §  8.  His  interview  with  Nicolas  of  Basle,  and  its  results — New 
character  of  his  preaching — His  German  tracts — The  Imitation  of 
Christ's  Life  of  Poverty — His  part  during  the  Black  Plague — His  Death, 
and  influence  down  to  Luther.  §  9.  Suso — His  autobiography — Book 
of  Eternal  Wisdom.  §  10.  The  speculative  Mysticism  of  John  Ruvs- 
broek — His  claim  to  inspiration — Charged  with  Pantheism.  §  11.  The 
German  Theology — Its  great  influence  on  Luther.  §  12.  Union  of 
Scholasticism  and  Mysticism — John  Charlier  Gerson — His  Theologia 
Mystica  and  other  works — His  reforming  contemporaries.  §  13.  Rav- 
mund  of  Sabunde's  Natural  Theology — Its  mystical  element.  §  14. 
The  Mysticism  of  Practical   Benevolence — Societies  misrepresented   as 


Chap.  XXXIII  f.        SCHOLASTICISM  AND  MYSTICISM.  555 

heretics:  the  Lollards.  §  15.  Brethren  of  the  Common  Life :  their  two 
objects — Their  founder  Gerard  Groot — His  preaching  at  Deventer — 
His  self-supporting  brotherhood — Its  rules — Secular  studies  rejected  for 
Scriptui'e  and  the  Fathers,  §  16.  Klorentius  Radewini,  its  second 
founder,  as  a  regular  order — The  canons  of  Windesheim  and  society  of 
Deventer — Canons  of  St.  Agnes  at  Zwoll — Practical  work  and  main 
object  of  the  Brethren.  §  17.  Thomas  a  KEMPisand  the  De  Imitatione 
Christi. 

§  1 .  The  open  rebellion  of  those  who  either  threw  off  the  yoke  of  the 
Church,  or  were  driven  out  of  her  by  persecution,  will  be  traced  in 
our  next  chapters :  meanwhile  the  more  emotional  form  of  religion 
within  her  pale  found  utterance  independently  of  the  Schools.1 
We  have  seen  how,  in  the  earlier  age  of  Scholasticism,  the  mys- 
tical element,  which  was  combined  with  the  dialectic  in  Anselm 
and  prevailed  over  it  in  Bernard,  predominated  in  the  theology  of 
the  Victorines  2  and  had  a  large  share  in  the  theology  of  Bonaven- 
tura.  In  fact,  as  Milman  observes,  "it  is  an  error  to  suppose 
Mysticism  as  the  perpetual  antagonist  of  Scholasticism :  the  Mys- 
tics were  often  severe  Logicians ;  some  Scholastics  had  all  the 
passion  of  Mystics.  Nor  were  the  Scholastics  always  Aristotelians 
and  Nominalists,  or  the  Mystics  Realists  and  Platonists.  The  logic 
was  often  that  of  Aristotle,  the  philosophy  of  Plato."  Still  the  two 
tendencies,  which  lie  deeper  in  human  nature  than  can  be  expressed 
by  the  teaching  of  any  master — the  logical  and  the  intuitional — 
were  ever  asserting  their  essential  antagonism,  the  conflict  of  know- 
ledge and  feeling,  of  that  intellectual  belief  and  emotional  faith, 
which  the  language  of  Latin  Christianity  has  confused  under  one 
word.  We  have  seen  how  Alexander  Hales  attempted  to  reconcile 
them  by  maintaining  that  theology  should  be  treated  not  as  scien- 
tia  but  as  sapient ia ;  but  Mysticism  gradually  assumed  an  inde- 
pendent development  of  its  own,  and  an  antagonism  for  the 
most  part  unconscious  ;  till  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries, 
in  which  Scholasticism  is  fast  declining,  present  the  full  develop- 
ment of  the  Mystic  theology.  Its  essential  character  is  defined 
by  Archbishop  Trench  in  the  brief  statement,  that  "  the  evidence 
of  Divine  things,  which  the  Schoolman  found  in  the  consonance 
between  Faith  and  Reason  reasonably  exercised,  each  sustaining 
and  confirming  the  other,  the  Mystic  sought  and  claimed  to  find 
in  a  more  immediate  fellowship  and  intercommunion  with  God, 
in  an  illumination  from  above  which  was  light  and  warmth  in 
one."3      Whether  that  fellowship   is   to   be   maintained   through 

1  Comp.  Milman,  I.at.  Christ.,  vol.  ix.  p.  160. 

2  See  Chap.  XXVIII.  §  14. 

3  Med.  Ch.  H  st.  pp.  356-7.     The  whole  Lecture  is  admirable. 


556  IMPULSES  TO  MYSTICISM.  Chap.  XXXIII. 

the  ordinances  and  forms  of  religion,  or  independently  of  them  ; 
whether  the  revelation  of  God  is  to  be  found  in  His  Word,  or  in 
His  likeness  in  the  heart  of  man  created  in  His  image  :  is  the 
distinction,  broad  in  principle  but  easily  overpassed  by  enthusiasm, 
which  divides  the  Mystic  spirit  of  which  St.  Augustine  is  a  leading 
type,  from  that  which  forms  the  sole  religion  of  myriads  without  the 
Church,  and  which  is  always  working  more  or  less  within  it. 

§  2.  While  from  the  philosophical  point  of  view  the  current  of 
medieval  mysticism  may  be  traced  to  the  philosophy  of  Plato,  or 
rather  to  the  Neo-Platonism  which  tended  to  a  pantheistic  view 
of  the  relation  between  man  and  God — its  striking  development 
from  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century  was  rather  popular 
than  scholastic.  At  that  epoch  there  were  special  causes  to  call 
forth  a  principle  so  deeply  seated  in  human  nature  ;  causes  in  the 
Church  and  the  world  even  more  powerful  than  the  reaction 
against  the  dominant  Scholasticism.  The  deep  and  general  corrup- 
tion of  the  ecclesiastical  system,  with  its  head  renewing  claims  to 
authority  in  the  inverse  proportion  of  his  lost  power  ;  the  frightful 
sufferings  inflicted  on  Christendom  by  the  great  conflict  between 
John  XXII.  and  the  Emperor  Louis  IV.,  culminating  in  the  priva- 
tion of  the  rites  of  the  Church  by  the  "  Long  Interdict," 1  and  fol- 
lowed by  the  terrors  of  the  pestilence  called  the  "  Black  Death  " 
(1347-1353)  ;  all  tended  to  make  earnest  men  seek  deeper  sources 
of  light  and  life  than  they  found  in  the  common  teaching  and  minis- 
trations of  the  Church.  "  The  Councils,  towards  which  men  were 
already  looking,  might  or  might  not  reform  and  renew  the  out- 
ward face  of  the  Church ;  but  the  true  Mystic  would  fain  reform 
and  renew  what  was  more  within  his  power,  and  what  he  felt  more 
nearly  to  concern  him,  namely,  himself  and  his  own  heart.  If  every 
external  basis  and  support  for  government  and  religion  had  given 
way,  we  have,  they  said,  at  least  ourselves  left  us.  Within  the 
circle  of  our  own  thoughts  we  have  enough  to  content  us.  There, 
if  we  seek  it,  we  can  find  order  and  peace  and  holy  quiet,  and  God 
the  Author  of  these." 2 

§  3.  The  causes  which  stimulated  this  movement  of  religious  feel- 
ing, from  the  beginning  of  the  14th  century,  were  especially  at  work 
in  Germany  and  the  Low  Countries,  where  the  calamities  of  the  age 
were  most  felt,  and  where  the  rise  of  the  great  and  wealthy  com- 
mercial cities  had  created  a  new  class  with  aspirations  for  religious 
as  well  as  civil  freedom.  Those  aspirations  had  long  been  fostered 
by  the  growing  use  of  the  vernacular  tongue  as  the  vehicle   of 

1  This  began  in  1324;  its  exact  termination  is  doubtful.   (See  p.  114.) 
3  Trench,  loc.  cit.  pp.  358-9. 


Cent.  XIII.  VERNACULAR  PREACHING.  557 

independent  Teutonic  thought,  not  only  in  popular  poetry,  but  in 
preaching  ;  and  the  adoption  of  this  vernacular  language  by  the 
Mystics,  instead  of  the  usual  ecclesiastical  Latin,  is  a  strong  sign  of 
the  popular  character  of  the  movement.1  The  first  great  impulse 
was  given  by  the  Mendicant  Orders,  whose  most  famous  preachers 
in  Germany  were  the  Dominican  Inquisitor,  Conrad  of  Marburg 
(1232),2  and  the  Franciscan,  Berthold  of  Winterthur  (1247-1272), 
whose  "  sermons,  taken  down  by  the  zeal  of  his  hearers,  were 
popular  in  the  best  sense  ;  he  had  the  instinct  of  eloquence  ;  he  is 
even  now  by  the  best  judges  set  above  Tauler  himself"  (Milman). 
Preaching  was  also  the  great  instrument  of  those  enthusiasts  who 
stood  on  doubtful  ground  between  the  Church  and  the  dissidents, 
such  as  the  Beghards  and  the  "  Brethren  of  the  Free  Spirit,"  who 
swarmed  in  Alsace  at  the  beginning  of  the  14th  century. 

§  4.  The  teaching  of  the  Mystics  comprehended  the  two  elements, 
whether  in  union,  or  the  one  prevailing  over  the  other,  of  reforma- 
tion in  an  ascetic  spirit,  and  contemplative  or  intuitive  speculation  : 
the  striving  after  a  higher  practical  life  or  a  deeper  spiritual  reve- 
lation :  but  the  former  element  found  its  motive  and  source  of 
strength  in  the  latter,  which  is  summed  up  in  the  one  expressive 
German  word  Tnnigkeit  (inwardness).  It  was  natural  that  such 
a  phase  of  religion  should  be  rather  individual  than  sectarian ; 
though  like-minded  disciples  formed  societies  which  the  ecclesias- 
tical rulers  identified  with  obnoxious  sects,  and  many  modern 
writers  have  sought  affinities  between  them.  But  the  Mystics 
themselves  were  careful  to  keep  their  speculations  within  the  bounds 
of  orthodoxy,  and  even  when  we  must  judge  that  they  transgressed 
those  limits,  they  still  professed  a  dutiful  submission  to  the  Church 
and  obedience  to  the  Roman  see.  It  is,  indeed,  remarkable  that, 
while  the  Franciscan  zealots  became  fierce  Ghibellines,  and  the 
Franciscan  Schoolmen  revived  Nominalism,  the  chief  teachers  of 
Mysticism  sprang  from  the  Dominicans.3 

1  Be&ides  their  published  works,  numerous  MSS.  of  their  sermons  in 
the  vulgar  tongue  are  laid  up  in  the  libraries  of  Germany.  On  the  whole 
growth  of  this  vernacular  preaching  see  Milman,  Hist,  of  Latin  Christ. 
vol.  ix.  pp.  254-5.  2  See  Chap.  XXXVIII.  §  4. 

3  Besides  the  ordinary  text-books,  the  chief  modern  sources  of  informa- 
tion concerning  the  Mystics  are  the  following  :  Gottfried  Arnold.  Hist. 
Theol.  Mysticx,  Frank  f.  1702;  Charles  Schmidt,  Essai  sur  lea  Mystique&du 
14c  sieole,  Strasb.  1836,  and  the  same  author's  Joannes  Tauler  von  Strass- 
burg,  1841,  and  Die  G  ottesfreunde  im  Wten  Jahrh.,  Jena,  1854;  Bohringer, 
Die  Kirchengeschichte  in  Biographien,  vol.  ii.,  Die  deu&seheu  Mystiker  des 
14.  u.  15.  Jahrh.,  Zurich,  1855;  Alfred  Vaughan,  Hours  u-ith  the  Mys- 
tics: and  the  (incomplete)  collections  of  their  works:  Deutsche  Mystiker 
des  14.  Ja>>rh..  edited  by  Pfeiffer,  2  vols.,  Leipz.  1845-57  ;  Mystische  u. 
abcetische  Bibliothek,  Koln,  1849-57. 
II— 2  C 


558  WASTER  HENRY  ECKART.  Chap.  XXXIII. 

§  5.  First,  not  only  in  order  of  time,1  but  as  representing  the  boldest 
speculative  side  of  Mysticism,  stands  Master  Henry  Eckart,2 
a  native  of  Saxony,  elected  Saxon  Provincial  of  the  Dominicans  in 
1304,  and  Vicar-General  of  the  Order  in  Bohemia  in  1307.  Thence 
he  went  to  the  Rhine  and  lived  chiefly  at  Cologne,  but  travelled 
up  and  down  the  country,  attracting  crowds  of  hearers  to  his  ser- 
mons in  the  language  of  the  common  people.  We  have  too  little 
information  to  decide  whether  it  was  his  personal  character  or  his 
influence  in  the  Order  that  shielded  him  from  the  consequences  of 
the  suspicion  with  which  his  teaching  was  regarded,  as  having 
much  in  common  with  the  sectaries  called  Brethren  of  the  Free 
Spirit.3  On  this  ground,  when  he  was  a  Prior  at  Frankfurt-on-the- 
Main,  and  his  teaching  was  called  in  question  by  order  of  the 
Dominican  General  (1324),  and  three  years  later  by  the  Archbishop 
of  Cologne,  who  collected  twenty-eight  propositions  from  his  writings 
for  censure,  Eckart  disavowed  every  sense  of  his  words  that  might 
be  contrary  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Church ;  but,  on  being  required 
to  make  a  more  specific  retraction,  he  appealed  to  Pope  John  XXII., 
whose  Bull  condemning  the  impugned  aphorisms  appeared  in  1320, 
after  Eckart's  death.  But  his  memory  was  still  held  in  honour  by 
the  Dominicans  in  the  Rhineland,  and  he  is  named  with  reverence 
by  Tauler  and  Suso,4  who  were  free  from  any  leaven  of  the  heresies 
imputed  to  their  master. 

In  late  years  Eckart  has  been  ranked  with  Erigena  and  Hegel  as 
the  three  leaders  in  pantheistic  speculation  of  the  modern  world ; 
and  eertainly  he  was  the  leading  spirit  among  the  speculative 
Mystics  of  his  own  age.  "  Not  unacquainted  with  Aristotle,  but 
holding  more  closely  to  Plato,  or  perhaps  rather  to  the  Neo- 
Platonists;  nourished  by  the  mystical  element  so  largely  to  be 
found  in  Augustine,  but  lacking  Augustine's  wholesome  doctrine 
of  sin  and  of  the  Fall ;  working  up  into  his  philosophy  all  which 

1  Observe  that  the  leading  Mystics,  Eckart  and  Tauler,  are  contem- 
porary (more  or  less)  with  the  later  names  among  the  great  schoolmen, 
Duns  Scotus  and  William  of  Ockham. 

2  For  his  life,  see  Quetif  et  Echard,  Scriptores  Ordinis  Prazdicatorum, 
i.  p.  507  f. ;  Raynaldi  Annate*,  ann.  1329,  No.  7 ;  Schmidt,  Meister 
Eckart,  in  Theol.  Stud.  u.  Krit.  1839,  vol.  iii. ;  Martensen,  Meister  Eckart, 
Hamb.  1842.  His  extant  works  consist  of  Sermons,  a  Tract  of  Divine 
Consolation,  and  other  short  Essays.  Of  the  twenty-eight  aphorisms  selected 
for  condemnation  in  the  Bull  of  John  XXII.  (1329),  most  are  to  be  found 
in  his  Sermons.     (See  the  extracts  in  Gieseler,  vol.  iv.  p.  179.) 

3  Gieseler  supposes  that  the  work  called  Nine  Spiritual  Rocks,  from 
which  five  of  the  twenty-eight  condemned  aphorisms  are  taken  was  not 
really  Eckart's,  but  a  perversion  of  his  doctrines  disseminated  under  his 
name  by  the  Brethren  of  the  Free  Spirit,  respecting  whom  see  p.  437. 

4  See  the  passages  in  Gieseler,  vol.  iv.  p.  181. 


A.D.  1330.  NICOLAS  OF  BASLE.  559 

he  could  assimilate  from  Erigena  and  from  the  writings  ascribed  to 
Dionysius  the  Areopagite,  but  attaching  himself  still  more  closely 
to  Amalric  of  Bena ;  and  cultivating  relations  full  of  danger  with 
the  Brethren  of  the  Free  Spirit — Eckart  is  not  for  all  this  a 
mere  eclectic,  picking  out  portions  from  other  men's  schemes  of 
philosophy,  and  piecing  these  ingeniously  together.  All  of  most 
characteristic  which  we  find  in  the  later  Mystics,  we  find  already 
in  the  bud,  often  in  the  full  flower,  in  him." x 

The  little  of  his  writings  that  has  come  down  to  us  is  yet  sufficient 
to  sustain  the  charges  of  Pantheism  brought  against  him ;  not, 
however,  the  deification  of  nature — for,  indeed,  those  ages  con- 
cerned themselves  very  little  about  nature — but  a  Pantheism  far 
more  perilous  and  portentous,  a  deification  of  man.2  Still  there 
are  passages  in  Eckart's  writings  which  assert  with  all  clearness 
the  distinction  between  God  and  the  creature ;  and  hence  he  is 
claimed  as  a  profound  teacher  by  two  schools  of  followers  so  diver- 
gent as  orthodox  Churchmen  and  speculative  Pantheists. 

§  6.  The  year  after  the  death  of  Eckart  (1330)  marks  the  first  ap- 
pearance of  the  special  representative  of  Mysticism  in  its  practical 
energy,  Nicolas  of  Basle,3  who  believed  that  by  his  ascetic  exer- 
cises he  had  attained  to  a  complete  renunciation  of  the  world  and  his 
own  will,  and  to  an  inward  intercourse  with  God  as  well  as  visions 
and  revelations,  and  devoted  his  life  to  guide  others  into  the  same 
communion  with  God.     If  he  did  not  originate,  he  was  the  chief 

1  Trench,  Med.  Ch.  Hist.,  pp.  358  f.     See  his  summary  of  Eckart's  views. 

2  For  further  illustration  of  this,  and  especially  of  the  relation  of  Christ 
on  the  one  hand  to  God,  see  the  extracts  in  Gieseler,  who  thus  sums  up 
Eckart's  teaching  (vol.  iv.  p.  177):  "God  is,  according  to  him,  the  only 
essence:  the  eternal  generation  of  the  Son  is  the  production  of  essential 
ideas.  These  are  that  divinity  which  exists  in  all  creatures ;  everything 
finite  is  only  a  phantom.  The  godlike  in  the  soul  must  separate  itself 
from  the  finite  according  to  the  pattern  of  Christ,  that  by  the  con- 
templation of  God  man  may  become,  like  Christ,  a  son  of  God."  Milman 
(ix.  256)  says  that  "  Master  Eckhart  is  the  parent  of  German  metaphysical 
theology." 

3  All  that  is  known  of  him  and  his  followers  is  collected  in  Schmidt's 
Joannes  Tauler  and  Die  Gottesfreunde.  The  original  sources  of  information 
are  the  Historia  des  eh"\  D.  Tauleri,  written  by  Tauler  and  finished  by 
Nicolas,  prefixed  to  Tauler's  Sermons,  and  the  Buck  von  den  fiinf  Mdnnen, 
i.e.  of  Nicolas  and  the  four  original  companions  of  his  coenobite  life.  Of 
his  works  there  are  extant,  a  Letter  to  Christendom,  to  call  it  to  re- 
pentance, occasioned  by  a  vision  on  Christmas  night,  1356,  and  one  to  the 
Johannites  of  Strassburg  in  1377  ;  both  in  Schmidt's  Tauler,  pp.  220,  233. 
(Gieseler.  vol.  iv.  p.  181.)  Trench  describes  Nicolas  as  "the  invisible  Pope 
of  an  invisible  Church,"  who,  "evermore  hunted  by  the  Inquisition,  passed 
up  and  down  through  Western  Christendom,  everywhere  ministering  to  a 
hidden  people  who  owned  his  spiritual  sway.  '   {Med.  Ch.  Hist.  p.  369.) 


560  THE  "  FRIENDS  OF  GOD."  Chap.  XXXIII. 

leader  of  that  remarkable  association  which  adopted  the  title 
"  Friends  of  God, "  from  the  words  of  Christ  to  His  disciples.1 
The  title  appears  both  as  a  general  recognition  of  brotherhood 
among  the  Mystics,  and  as  the  special  name  of  a  society,  more  or 
less  organized,  chiefly  on  the  Upper  Rhine,  about  Strassburg  and 
Basle,  but  in  correspondence  also  with  brethren  at  Cologne,  in  the 
Low  Countries,  and  in  Switzerland.  The  idea  of  their  connection 
with  the  Waldenses  or  other  sectaries  has  been  disproved.2  "While 
relying  on  visions  or  revelations,  they  did  not  question  the  doctrine 
of  the  Church.  They  were  devoted  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  reve- 
renced saints  and  relics,  and  held  the  common  belief  in  purgatory. 
This  society  included  monks  and  clergy,  nobles,  merchants,  men 
and  women  of  all  classes,  even  down  to  tillers  of  the  soil.  They 
had  priests  to  administer  the  Eucharist,  but  in  other  respects 
did  not  attach  importance  to  ordination.  Thus  Nicolas  of  Basle, 
a  layman,  who  had  founded  the  party,  was  regarded  as  its  chief 
and  its  most  enlightened  member ;  and  one  of  its  characteristics 
was  the  principle  of  submission  to  certain  men,  whose  superior 
sanctity  had  raised  them  to  the  highest  grade.  While  professing 
to  be  purely  scriptural,  they  interpreted  the  Scriptures  allegorically 
and  mystically,  and  some  parts  of  their  system  were  concealed 
from  the  lower  grades  of  believers  by  being  disguised  in  a  sym- 
bolical form.  They  denounced  the  subtilties  and  the  dryness  of 
Scholasticism,  and  regarded  the  mixture  of  philosophy  with  religion 
as  pharisaical.  Their  preachers  were  distinguished  by  the  warmth, 
the  earnestness,  and  the  practical  nature  of  their  discourses ;  in- 
stead of  contenting  themselves  with  warning  against  the  grossest 
sins  by  the  fear  of  hell,  they  rather  dwelt  on  the  blessedness  of 
heaven,  and  exhorted  to  the  perfection  of  the  Christian  life,  and 
to  union  with  God.  The  way,  they  taught,  is  entire  resignation 
to  the  Divine  will ;  if  this  were  attained,  men  would  pray  neither 
for  heaven  nor  for  deliverance  from  hell,  but  for  God  Himself  alone. 

1  John  xv.  15 ;  adopted  by  Tauler  in  the  general  sense  (ap.  Gieseler, 
vol.  iv.  p.  177).  Other  titles :  Brothers  in  Christ,  Peace  on  Earth,  Children 
of  God,  and  so  forth,  were  used  just  as  the  primitive  Christians  used  the 
names  of  Brethren,  Disciple*,  Those  of  the  Ha//,  &c.  They  were  bound 
toother  by  community  of  feeling,  rather  than  by  any  external  union; 
anv  one  could  take  up  or  lay  down  this  brotherhood  on  his  own  authority. 

2  Kspecially  by  Gieseler  (iv.  182),  who  specifies  these  clear  distinctions, 
proving  that  Nicolas  could  not  have  been  a  Waldensian  preacher:  (1)  He 
remained  continually  in  possession  of  his  own  property ;  (2)  He  worshipped 
the  Virgin  Mary  and  the  saints;  (3)  He  believed  in  Purgatory;  (4)  Those 
ecstasies  and  visions,  which  the  five  men  believed  that  they  had,  were  as 
unknown  to  the  Waldenses  as  their  revelling  in  inward  suffering  and  self- 
inflictions.  The  following  account  of  their  tenets  is  condensed  from 
Robertson,  vol.  iv.  pp.  320-3J2. 


A.D.  1393.  MARTYRDOM  OF  NICOLAS.  561 

It  was  held  that  the  highest  reach  of  love  was  to  prefer  the  salva- 
tion of  another  to  our  own. 

The  history  of  Nicolas  himself  is  obscure.  He  was  a  man  of 
wealth,  which  he  did  not  renounce  but  devoted  to  religious 
purposes.  He  appears  to  have  had  at  first  four  associates,  and 
eventually  the  number  of  those  admitted  to  the  highest  grade  was 
thirteen.  The  chief  seat  of  the  association  was  a  house  built  by 
Nicolas  on  a  mountain  within  the  Austrian-Swiss  territory ;  and 
the  inmates  were  not  subject  to  any  monastic  rule.  In  1377,  when 
the  return  of  Gregory  XI.  from  Avignon  appeared  to  open  prospects 
of  reform,  Nicolas  and  one  of  his  brethren  repaired  to  Rome  and 
sought  an  interview  with  the  Pope,  whom  they  urged  to  heal  the 
evils  of  the  Church.  On  Gregory's  professing  himself  unequal  to 
such  a  work,  Nicolas  threatened  him  with  death  within  a  year,  and 
foretold  the  coming  schism.  At  the  moment  when  his  predictions 
were  being  fulfilled,  Nicolas  and  his  followers  prayed  together, 
from  the  17th  to  the  25th  of  March,  1378,  that  <Jod  would  dispel 
the  dark  clouds  which  overhung  the  Church.1  "  They  were 
directed  to  wait.  The  time  of  ivaiting  lasted  to  March  25th,  1383. 
In  the  meantime  they  scrupled  not  to  speak  with  the  utmost 
freedom  of  the  Pope  and  the  clergy.  They  disclaimed  both  Popes. 
Many  awful  visions  were  seen  by  many  believers ;  many  terrible 
prophecies  were  sent  abroad.  At  length  Nicolas  and  some  of  his 
chief  followers  set  out  as  preachers  of  repentance.  In  1393, 
Martin  of  Mainz  was  burned  in  Cologne ;  others  in  Heidelberg ; 
Nicolas,  with  two  of  his  chief  and  constant  disciples,  at  Vienne,  in 
Dauphiny.'' 2 

§  7.  The  twofold  influences  of  Eckart's  speculative  theology  and 
the  practical  zeal  of  Nicolas  and  the  Friends  of  God  were  concen- 
trated in  John  Tadler,  of  Strassburg,3  the  most  famous  and  per- 
manently influential  of  the  Mystics.     Jt  was  not  perhaps  without 

1  Gregory  died  in  1378,  on  the  27th  of  March  (see  p.  135). 

2  Milman,  vol.  ix.  pp.  258-9. 

3  For  his  life  and  writings,  see  Quetif  and  Eehard,  Script.  Ord.  Prxdicat. 
vol.  i.  p.  667  f. ;  Oberlin,  Diss  de  Tauhri  dictione  vernacula  et  mystica, 
Argent.  1786 ;  Ullmann,  Die  Reformatoren  vor  der  Reformation,  vol  ii. 
p.  222  ;  and  especially  C.  Schmidt,  Johannes  Twder  von  Strassbunj,  Ham- 
burg, 1841,  and  his  article  Tauter  in  Herzog's  Encyelopxdie.  The  Historic 
des  ehwr.  D.  Taideri  (see  above,  p.  559,  n.  3)  is  the  narrative  of  his  conver- 
sion and  death.  Of  his  sermons  and  tracts,  the  best  edition  is  that  of  .John 
Rynman,  Basle,  1521 ;  the  latest,  in  modern  German,  Frankf. -on-Main, 
1826  (with  an  Introduction  on  his  Life  and  Writings).  The  most  remark- 
able of  his  ascetic  works,  Die  Sa>  /i/o'yuny  des  >>r»ien  l.ehcns  Christi,  was 
first  published  by  Dan.  Suderman,  1621  ;  last  by  Schlosser,  Frankf.-on- 
Main,  1833.  Some  of  his  sermons  have  been  translated  into  English  by 
Miss  Winkworth,  with  an  Introduction  on  his  Life  and  Times,  Lond.,  1857 


562  JOHN  TAULER  OF  STRASSBURG.     Chap.  XXXIII. 

a  covert  satire  on  the  titles  of  the  great  schoolmen,  that  Tauler's 
disciples  called  him  the  "  Enlightened  Doctor  "  {Doctor  IUuminatus). 
Born  at  Strassburg  in  1290,  he  entered  the  Dominican  order  at  the 
age  of  eighteen,  and  went  to  study  at  Paris,  where  he  was  disgusted 
at  the  unspiritual  teaching  of  the  scholastic  doctors,  who  (he 
said),  while  ever  turning  over  the  leaves  of  huge  books,  cared  not 
fur  the  one  Book  of  Life.1  He  turned  in  preference  to  the  mystic 
scholasticism  of  the  Victorines,  and  the  spurious  writings  of  the 
Areopagite,  but  above  all  the  teaching  of  St.  Augustine.  It  was 
probably  at  Paris  that  Tauler  received  the  Doctorate  and  holy 
orders.  It  seems  to  have  been  on  his  return  to  Strassburg  that  he 
came  under  the  influence  of  Eckart's  teaching  ;  but  his  disposition 
to  practical  work  rather  than  speculation  attracted  him  more 
strongly  to  the  "  Friends  of  God,"  whose  numbers  were  rapidly 
swollen  and  their  zeal  stimulated  by  the  state  of  public  affairs. 
Strassburg  was  a  chief  seat  of  the  conflict  between  John  XXII. 
and  Louis  of  Bavaria.  The  Bishop,  John  of  Ochsenstein,2  laid 
the  papal  interdict  on  the  city  ;  the  Magistrates  declared  that  the 
Clergy  who  would  not  perform  their  functions  must  be  driven 
from  the  city  ;  the  Clergy,  Monks,  and  Friars,  were  divided.  While 
the  Dominicans  generally  obeyed  the  interdict,  Tauler  not  only 
continued  his  ministrations  at  Strassburg,  but  became  famous  as 
a  preacher  throughout  the  Rhineland,  from  Basel  to  Cologne,  where 
Kuysbroek,  the  disciple  of  Eckart,  was  at  the  height  of  his  fame 
and  influence  as  a  teacher  of  speculative  mysticism. 

§  8.  He  had  reached  the  height  of  popularity,  and  was  in  his 
fiftieth  year  (1340),  when  an  incident,  of  which  we  have  his  own 
graphic  narrative,  decided  his  choice  between  the  attractions  of 
speculation  and  practical  teaching.3  He  esteemed  it,  in  fact,  as 
his  true  conversion.  A  stranger,  who  was  no  other  than  Nicolas, 
had  heard  Tauler  preach  at  Basle,  and  had  travelled  to  Strass- 
burg on  purpose  to  win  him  to  higher  spiritual  life.  With  pro- 
found respect  for  his  office  and  renown,  the  layman  rebuked  the 
preacher's  lofty  but  self-righteousness  mysticism  ;  counselled  him 
to  abstain  from  preaching  and  hearing  confessions,  to  deny  himself, 
and  to  meditate  on  the  life  and  death  of  Christ,  till  he  had 
attained  humility  and  regeneration.      Tauler  obeyed  the  spiritual 

1  Tauler,  Sermon  in  Schmidt,  p.  3. 

2  This  bishop  had  made  a  violent  persecution  of  the  Friends  of  God  in 
1317. 

3  See  the  graphic  account  given  by  Milman  (ix.  259)  from  Schmidt, 
who  has  taken  it  from  the  original  narrative  of  "  a  Teacher  of  Holy 
Scripture  and  a  Layman,"  who  was  certainly  Nicolas  of  Basle,  though 
his  name  is  not  mentioned.  It  is  translated  in  Miss  Winkworth's  Life  and 
Times  of  Tauler. 


A.D.  1340.  TAULER  AND  NICOLAS  OF  BASLE.  563 

experience  which  was  the  only  authority  recognized  among  the 
Friends  of  God,  and,  mocked  at  by  his  former  friends,  went  through 
the  exercises  prescribed  by  Nicolas,  who  contributed  to  his  support. 
His  old  self-assurance  was  so  humbled,  that  on  his  first  attempt 
to  preach,  at  the  end  of  the  two  years,  he  broke  down  and  burst 
into  tears.  He  was  now  again  suspended  from  preaching,  this 
time  by  his  superiors,  who  supposed  that  he  had  lost  his  senses  ; 
but,  when  Nicolas  thought  his  disciple  sufficiently  humbled,  he 
directed  him  to  ask  leave  to  preach  in  Latin  before  the  brethren 
of  his  Order,  who  so  admired  the  sermon  that  they  took  off  the 
prohibition.  From  this  time  Tauler's  preaching,  now  in  German 
only,  was  marked  by  a  new  unction  of  life  and  warmth  ;  and 
we  are  told  that,  at  his  first  public  discourse,  twelve  persons  were 
struck  down  as  it  were  dead.1  Besides  these  sermons  in  the  Ian oruace 
of  the  people,  he  addressed  to  them  tracts  also  in  German,  among 
which  his  famous  work  on  the  Imitation  of  Christ's  Life  of 
Poverty, 2  taught  a  spiritual  self-denial  above  the  unattainable 
outward  perfection  of  the  mendicants.  His  teaching  was  diffused, 
and  in  some  cases  exaggerated,  by  the  many  who  took  him  for 
their  spiritual  director,  amongst  whom  special  mention  is  made 
of  a  wealthy  retired  merchant,  Eulman  Merswin;  who  founded  the 
Johanniterhaus  at  Strassburg,  and  wrote  a  book  entitled  the  Nine 
Hocks,3  a  mystic  representation  of  the  soul's  ascent  to  God. 

In  1348-9  the  misery  so  long  suffered  from  the  Interdict  was  in- 
tensified by  the  Black  Death,  which  swTept  oft'  in  Strassburg  16,000, 
in  Basle  14,000  victims.  Tauier,  with  others  like-minded,  addressed 
a  remonstrance  to  the  clergy,  that  the  poor,  innocent  people  were 
left  to  die  untended,  unabsolved,  under  the  Interdict ;  and  another 
tract  denounced  the  abuse  of  the  spiritual  sword,  and  asserted 
the  rights  of  the  Electors.4  The  maxim  was  boldly  laid  down, 
that  "  he  who  confesses  the  true  faith  of  Christ,  and  sins 
only  against   the   person  of  the  Pope,  is  no  heretic."     For  these 

1  Schmidt,  Tauier,  pp.  41-3. 

2  Die  Nachfolgun  i  des  armen  Lehens  Christi, 

3  This  is  a  very  different  work  from  the  Nine  Spiritual  Rocks  already 
mentioned  (p.  558,  n.  3).  It  was  written  in  1352,  and  is  printed  with 
Suso's  works.  After  complaining  of  degeneracy,  luxurv,  and  contempt  of 
spiritual  things,  as  prevailing  among  all  classes  of  the  clergy,  from  the 
Pope  downwards,  amongst  monks  and  friars,  Beghards  and  laity,  he 
describes  the  Nine  Rocks,  each  of  which,  as  it  rises  higher,  is  steeper 
and  harder  to  climb,  peopled  by  persons  who  have  overcome  some  sins, 
fewer  and  fewer  at  each  stage,  till  on  the  last  only  three  men  appear, 
and  these  seem  as  if  wasted  by  their  toil,  although  inwardly  shining  like 
angels  from  the  love  that  is  in  them. 

4  See  the  full  account  in  Milman,  vol.  ix.  pp.  261,  262. 


564  HENRY  VON  BERG,  CALLED  SUSO.       Chap.  XXXIII. 

bold  opinions  Tauler,  with  two  of  his  friends,  fell  under  the  sus- 
picion of  the  new  bishop,  Berthold,  and  was  called  to  render  an 
account  of  his  faith  before  Charles  IV.  "  the  Priests'  Emperor."  No 
longer  safe  at  Strassburg,  he  went  to  Cologne,  and  there  preached 
against  the  Pantheistic  tenets  of  the  Beghards,  and  even  of  those 
dreamy  fanatics  who  would  yield  up  their  passive  souls  to  the 
working  of  Divine  grace.  He  returned  to  Strassburg  only  to  die, 
and  was  buried  in  the  cloisters,  amid  the  respectful  sorrow  of  the 
whole  city  (June,  1361).1 

§  9.  Of  a  more  visionary  spirit,  without  the  manly  strength  of  Tauler, 
was  the  Dominican,  Henry  von  Berg,  of  Ulm  and  Constance,  better 
known  by  his  assumed  name  of  Suso,2  who  died  at  the  age  of  seventy 
in  1365.  Famous  as  a  powerful  preacher,  his  teaching  was  mingled 
with  misty  fancies  and  trifling  superstitions.  For  the  instruction 
of  one  of  those  nuns,3  amongst  whom  the  Mystics  found  their  most 
devoted  disciples,  he  dictated  to  her  an  autobiography,  which  seems 
to  betray  an  imaginative  element.  When  brought  to  death's  door 
by  a  course  of  ascetism  and  bodily  torture,  persevered  in  from  his 
eighteenth  to  his  fortieth  year,  it  was  revealed  to  him  by  an  angel 
that  he  had  studied  long  enough  in  the  lower  school,  and  that  he 
was  now  to  be  transferred  to  the  higher  discipline  of  suffering,  no 
longer  self-inflicted,  but  to  be  brought  on  him  plentifully  by  men 
and  devils.     His  prayer  for  direction  to  his  life's  work  received  the 

1  See  Milrnan  (Joe.  cit.)  for  a  full  estimate  of  his  preaching  and  teaching, 
the  wholly  personal  character  of  his  religion,  and  his  lasting  influence 
down  to  the  time  of  Luther.  These  are  the  terms  in  which  Luther  speaks 
of  Tauler  (the  italics  are  his  own): — "  I  know  indeed  that  this  teacher  is 
unknown,  and  probably,  therefore,  despised  in  the  schools  of  those  Theo- 
logians \Theologorum — the  Latin  is  significant];  but  I  have  found  in  them 
[his  discourses  in  German]  more  of  profound  and  clearer  Theology  [mehr 
von  griindlicher  und  lauterer  Theologie']  than  any  one  has  found  in 
all  the  School-doctors  together  who  have  taught  in  all  the  Universities 
or  can  find  in  their  Sententige."  (Luther's  Bestreitung  des  papstl.  Ablass, 
vol.  xvii.  p.  52,  of  his  Werke,  ed.  Leipz.  1732.) 

2  He  adopted  this  Latin  form  of  his  mother's  name,  Sduss,  the  rather  for 
its  likeness  to  siiss  ("  sweet  ").  On  his  life,  see  Quetif  and  Echard,  Script. 
Ord.  Prsed.  i.  653 ;  Ullmann,  Die  Refomiatoren  vor  der  Reform,  ii.  204 ; 
C.  Schmidt,  Etudes,  &c,  p.  172,  also  Der  Mystiker  Heinr.  Suso  in  Stud.  u. 
Krit.  1843,  iv.  8:^5,  and  in  Herzog's  Encyclop.,  art.  Suso ;  and  F.  Bricka's 
Henri  Suso,  Strassb.,  1854.  His  whole  works  (tracts  and  sermons)  in 
German  were  published  at  Augsburg,  1482  ;  Ulm,  1512  ;  translated  into 
Latin  by  L.  Surius,  Colon.,  1555  ;  in  modern  German,  by  Melch.  Diepen- 
brock,  Ratisbnn,  1829.  Extracts  from  his  Book  of  Eternal  Wisdom,  in  the 
original  old  German,  are  given  in  A.  Jahn's  Lesefruchten  alt.  deutscher 
Theologie,  Bern,  1838.     (Gieseler,  vol.  iv.  p.  185.) 

3  Her  name  was  Elizabeth  Stauglin.  The  life,  written  down  by  her 
from  Suso's  narrative,  was  published  by  him  after  her  death,  of  which  he 
had  warned  her  as  revealed  to  him. 


A.D.  1293-1381.  JOHN  RUYSBROEK.  565 

aDswer,  that  the  less  one  does  the  more  hath  he  really  done — that 
men  ought  not  to  act  for  themselves,  but  to  cast  themselves  wholly 
on  the  promises  of  God.  The  one  great  principle,  of  entire  self- 
abandonment  and  resignation  to  the  Divine  will,  is  inculcated  in 
Suso's  "  Book  of  Eternal  Wisdom,"  which  represents  the  Saviour  as 
conversing  with  His  servant,  and  recounting  the  bodily  and  spiritual 
sufferings  of  His  passion.  His  favourite  position  is,  that  a  redeemed 
man  must  be  set  free  from  the  form  of  the  creature,  formed  anew 
with  Christ  and  transformed  into  the  Godhead.  Among  other 
pantheistic  indications,  he  relates  how  he  saw  his  deceased  spiritual 
daughter  "  passing  gloriously  into  the  pure  dignity ;  "  and,  besides 
his  visions,  he  lays  claim  to  miracles.  But  the  visionary  characte  : 
of  Suso's  opinions  is  redeemed  by  the  life  and  warmth  of  his  desire 
for  the  salvation  of  the  lost. 

§  10.  The  speculative  mysticism  was  taught,  after  Eckart,  by 
John  Ruysbroek,  the  Doctor  Ecstaticus,  whose  long  life  was  con- 
temporary with  the  teachers  already  described.  He  died  in  1381, 
at  the  age  of  88.  Described  as  originally  "  a  man  reputed  to  be 
devout,  but  of  little  learning,"1  he  retired  at  the  age  of  60  to  the 
monastery  of  regular  Canons  at  Grondal,2  near  Brussels,  and  be- 
came their  prior.  To  the  woods  of  this  "  green  valley  "  he  was 
wont  to  retire,  to  meditate  and  write,  when  he  felt  moved  by  the 
power  of  Divine  grace  ;  and  once,  we  are  told,  the  Canons,  uneasy 
at  his  long  absence,  found  him  surrounded  by  a  supernatural  light, 
half  unconscious,  "  inebriated  by  the  glow  of  the  divine  sweetness." 
To  such  direct  inspiration  did  he  trace  all  that  he  knew  and  taught. 
When  visited  by  Gerard  Groot,  he  avowed  to  him,  "  Master  Gerard, 
know  ye  verily  that  I  have  set  down  no  words  anywhere  in  my 
books,  save  as  I  was  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost,"  or,  according  to 
another  version,  "  save  in  presence  of  the  Holy  Trinity."  But  the 
unconscious  influence  of  Eckart  betrays  itself  throughout ;   and, 

1  John  of  Trittenheim,  De  Script  Eccles  p.  332.  See  the  life  of 
Ruvsbroek,  by  a  canon  soon  after  his  time,  prefixed  to  his  works  by 
Surius ;  Dr.  J.  G.  B.  Engelhardt's  Richard  von  St.  Victor  and  Joh  Rays- 
brock,  Erlangen,  1838;  Ullmann's  Reformatoren  vor  der  Reform,  ii.  36; 
C.  Schmidt,  Etudes,  &c,  p.  213  ;  De  Wette,  Christliche  Sittenleh  e,  II.  ii. 
237.  "The  works,  which  he  wrote  in  the  Low  Dutch  of  Brabant,  have 
only  been  published  in  the  paraphrased  Latin  translation  of  Laur.  Surius 
(Colon.  1552);  but.  they  are  still  extant  in  their  original  language  in 
nineteen  MSS.  of  the  Royal  Library  at  Brussels.  The  translation  into 
High  German,  which  was  made  as  early  as  the  14th  century,  and  of 
which  there  are  MSS.  at  Munich  and  Strassburg,  is  not  quite  faithful. 
More  faithful  are  the  MSS..  in  the  dialect  of  the  Lower  Rhine,  from  which 
A.  von  Arnswaldt  published  four  works  by  John  Ruysbroek,  with  a  Pre- 
face by  Ullmann,  Hannov.  1848."     (Gieseler,  vol.  iv.  pp.  185-6.) 

2  See  the  Liber  de  Origine  Monast.   Viridis  Vallis,  cited  by  Gieseler,  I.e. 

II— 2  C  2 


566  THE  "  GERMAN  THEOLOGY."         Chap.  XXXIII. 

though  Ruysbroek  would  have  had  Pantheists  burnt,  his  opinions 
were  censured  by  the  famous  Gerson  as  pantheistic.1 

§  11.  The  like  speculative  spirit  pervades  the  anonymous  book, 
made  famous  through  its  publication  by  Luther  under  the  title  of 
"  German  Theology,"  2  the  year  before  his  own  revolt  from  Rome. 
It  is  certainly  later  than  Tauler,  to  whom  it  was  erroneously 
ascribed ;  but  of  its  real  author  we  only  know  that  he  belonged  to 
the  society  of  the  Friends  of  God.  His  theme  is  "  divine  truth, 
and  the  high  and  beautiful  state  of  a  perfect  life."  It  is  a  work,  as 
Milman 3  observes,  "  of  which  the  real  character  and  importance 
cannot  be  appreciated  without  a  full  knowledge  of  the  time  at 
which  it  originally  appeared.  It  was  not  so  much  what  it  taught 
as  'German  Theology,'  but  what  it  threw  aside  as  no  part  of 
genuine  Christian  faith."  Luther  esteemed  it  one  of  the  most 
precious  bequests  made  by  the  later  Middle  Ages  to  after  times. 

5  12.  The  opposite  tendencies  of  Scholasticism  and  Mysticism, 
which  had  long  before  been  united  in  Bonaventura,  were  now  again 
reconciled  in  John  Charlier  Gerson4  (ob.  1429),  the  famous 
Chancellor  of  Paris,  of  whose  reforming  spirit  and  part  in  the 
Council  of  Constance  we  have  already  spoken.  This  "  Doctor 
Christianissimus  "  was  the  worthy  representative  of  the  traditions 
of  that  old  Parisian  school,  which  had  resisted  the  yoke  of  the 
scholastic  mendicants,  and,  having  now  adopted  the  prevalent 
Nominalist  philosophy,  sought  for  a  reformation  of  theology,  in 
which  the  loss  of  the  old  realistic  spiritualism  should  be  compen- 
sated by  a  new  power  of  warmth  and  life.  This  they  found  in 
Mysticism,  but  a  mysticism  very  different  from  the  speculations 
of  Eckart  and  Ruysbroek  (which  Gerson  vehemently  censured  as 
pantheistic),  and  rather  the  revival  and  extension  of  that  of  St. 
Bernard  and  the  Victorines.  Like  those  learned  and  devout  men, 
Gerson  and  the  new  French  school  did  not  reject  dialectic  methods 

1  In  this  controversy,  after  the  death  of  Ruysbroek,  his  views  were 
defended  by  John,  a  canon  of  Grondal,  on  the  ground  (among  others)  that 
Gerson  relied  too  much  on  the  Latin  translation.  John's  tract  and 
Gerson's  rejoinder  are  in  Ruysbroek's  Works,  i.  63  f. 

2  With  the  original  title,  "  Theologia  deutsch,  die  leret  gar  manchen 
lieblichen  underscheit  gotlicher  wahrheit  und  seit  gar  hohe  uud  gar  schone 
ding  von  einem  volkomen  leben " :  tirst  edited  by  Luther,  1516;  re- 
printed from  the  only  known  MSS.  by  Pfeiffer,  Stuttg  1851  ;  2nd  ed., 
with  a  modern  German  translation,  1855.  Luther  says,  in  his  Preface, 
that  the  author  was  "  a  German  gentleman,  a  priest  and  warden  in  the 
house  of  the  Teutonic  Order  at  Frankfurt."  According  to  Joh.  Wolf 
(Led  Memorah.  i.  863), his  name  was  Eblendus  or  Eblandus.  Two  English 
transitions  of  the  book  have  appeared.  3  Vol.  ix.  p.  266. 

4  So  named  from  his  birthplace  near  Reims.  He  was  a  teacher  in  the 
University  of  Paris  from  1381,  and  Chancellor  from  1395  (cf.  Chap.  X.). 


A.D.  1429.  JOHN  CHARLIER  GERSON.  567 

in  favour  of  contemplative  speculation,  but  exalted  the  communion 
with  God  through  faith,  and  the  inward  experience  of  its  enlighten- 
ing and  sanctifying  power,  above  the  mere  logical  conception  of 
divine  truth.  This  light  of  truth,  regulated  by  the  teaching  of  the 
Church,  is  vivified  by  union  with  the  warmth  of  Mysticism. 
Using  this  word  in  its  proper  sense — not  for  that  which  is  obscure 
and  unintelligible — but  for  the  hidden  light  and  power  which 
works  secretly  in  order  to  be  revealed  in  its  effects,  he  regards  the 
"  Mystic  Theology,"  which  he  adopts  for  the  title  of  his  work,1  as 
that  internal  teaching  by  which  God  is  revealed  in  the  experience 
of  devout  souls.  But  Gerson  utterly  condemns  the  licence  of  that 
individual  speculation,  which  despised  alike  the  rules  of  dialectic 
reasoning  and  the  authority  of  the  Church.2  The  higher  but  rarest 
type  of  theologians  he  finds  in  "  those  who  have  been  adorned  by 
both  kinds  of  training,  the  one  of  the  intellect,  the  other  of  the 
affections,  such  as  Augustine,  Hugo  (of  St.  Victor),  St.  Thomas 
(Aquinas),  Bonaventura,  William  of  Paris,  and  of  the  rest  a  very 
few  " : — a  choice  of  worthies  which  illustrates  the  comprehensive 
spirit  of  Gerson's  theology.3 

1  Considerationes  de  Theologia  Mystica  :  quid  et  qualiter  studere  debcat 
novus  Theologu*. 

2  While  thus,  on  the  one  hand,  opposed  to  unregulated  enthusiasm,  the 
new  French  theology  is  to  be  distinguished,  on  the  other  hand,  from  that 
of  the  English  and  Bohemian  reformers,  of  Wycliffe  and  of  Huss — Huss,  in 
whose  martyrdom  Gerson  took  part.  The  reforming  doctors  of  the  Sor- 
bonne  agreed  with  the  new  leaders  at  Oxford  and  Prague  in  condemning 
the  form  of  religion  prevalent  in  the  Church  ;  but,  as  we  have  seen,  the 
former  aimed  only  at  abating  the  abuses  of  worldliness,  formalism,  and 
superstition,  and  relied  chiefly  on  the  religious  consciousness  for  the  better 
guidance  which  the  latter  sought  in  Scripture  and  the  primitive  state  of 
the  Church.  The  essenti  il  difference  was  that  between  reverting  or  not 
reverting  to  these  fountain-heads  of  Christian  light  and  life  in  Biblical 
criticisim  and  primitive  Church  history.  This  fundamental  distinction 
was  a  fatal  hindrance  to  their  union,  and  forbids  our  ranking  Gerson  and 
his  associates  among  the  early  reformers  in  the  usual  sense  of  the  word. 

3  Besides  Gerson's  Considerations  on  Mystic  Theology,  a  similar  essay, 
De  Vita  Spirituali  Animse,  and  his  tracts  on  practical  and  ascetic  reli- 
gion, he  wrote  several  important  works  in  favour  of  a  reformation  of  the 
Church,  and  maintaining  the  authority  of  Councils  in  opposition  to 
Papal  usurpations.  Among  numerous  essays  on  his  life  and  writings  (for 
which  see  Gieseler,  iv.  189),  the  most  important  are  :  Gence,  J.  Gerson 
restitue'  et  explique  par  lui-meme,  Paris,  1837;  Jourdain,  Doctrina  Jo. 
Gersonii  de  Theologia  Mystica,  Piiris,  1838;  C.  Schmidt,  Essai  sur  J. 
Gerson,  Strasb.  1839  ;  Schwab,  ./.  Gerson,  Wurzb.,  1858.  His  works  were 
published  by  Du  Pin,  Antwerp,  170G,  5  vcls.  folio.  A  mere  mention 
must  suffice  for  his  colleagues  in  the  University  of  Paris  and  fellow- 
labourers  in  the  cause  of  theological  and  ecclesiastical  reform.  Petrus 
dk  Alliaco  (d'Ailly),  of  Compiegne,  who  preceded  Gerson  as  Chancellor, 


568  RAYMUND  DE  SABUNDE.  Chap.  XXXIII. 

§  13.  A  still  more  complete  reconciliation  between  the  forms  of 
theology  recognized  by  Gerson — in  a  word,  between  the  teaching 
of  God  in  Scripture  and  the  Church,  and  in  Nature  in  the  widest 
sense — was  attempted  by  the  realist  philosopher,  Kaymund  de 
Sarunde,  a  native  of  Barcelona,  who  taught  natural  science  as 
well  as  theology  and  philosophy  at  Toulouse  (about  1430).  He 
may  claim  to  be  regarded  as  in  some  sense  the  founder  of  "  Natural 
Theology  "  by  his  work  with  that  title.1  God,  he  says,  has  given 
man  the  book  of  Nature,  in  which  every  creature  is  a  character 
inscribed  by  God,  both  the  outward  objects  and  the  inward  work- 
ings of  the  human  mind.  This  divine  book  caDnot  be  in  contra- 
diction with  Holy  Scripture  and  the  true  doctrine  of  the  Church  : 
common  and  ever  near,  it  is  open  for  all  to  read,  laymen  as  well 
as  priests,  nor  can  it  be  falsified  by  heretics.  From  it,  therefore, 
all  knowledge  must  begin ;  but  the  highest  knowledge  is  the  love 
of  God,  the  only  gift  of  his  own  that  man  has  to  offer  to  the 
Deity  ;  and  through  the  heartfelt  communion  with  Him,  which 
needs  a  higher  illumination  than  artificial  science,  the  teaching  of 
the  Church  is  best  understood.  It  will  be  at  once  seen  how  far 
the  mystical  element  severs  Raymund's  "  Natural  Theology  "  from 
the  modern  scientific  treatment  of  the  subject. 

§  14.  The  movement  of  religious  life,  which  produced  the  mystical 
theology  and  philosophy — the  conflict  of  feeling  with  knowledge, 
of  emotional  faith  with  intellectual  belief — found  another  expres- 
sion in  a  Mysticism  of  Practical  Benevolence,  apart  from  all  specula- 
tion. This  ideal  of  Christian  life  had  always  existed  in  the  Church, 
and  characterized  individuals ;  but  now — amidst  the  decay  of  Scho- 
lasticism and  the  growth  of  Mysticism,  the  increased  energy  of  free 
thought  and  the  compassion  for  suffering  in  troubled  times — it  not 
only  gained  strength,  but  found  a  practical  embodiment  in  special 
organizations.    The  tendency  to  such  organization  received  a  strong 

and  was  afterwards  Archbishop  of  Cambray  (1396)  and  Cardinal  (1411, 
oh.  1425),  wrote  Recommendatio  Scriptural  Sacrse,  De  Potestate  Ecclesias- 
tica,  and  De  Difficult  ate  Reformationis  in  Concilio  Universalis  published 
in  Hardt's  Concil.  Const,  and  in  Du  Pia's  edition  of  Gerson's  works. 
NlCOLAUS  BE  C.LAMENGIS  (of  Clamenges,  in  the  diocese  of  Chalons), 
called  the  Cicero  of  his  age,  rector  of  the  University  of  Paris  r1393), 
private  secretary  to  Benedict  XIII.  (1401),  lived  in  retirement  from  1408 
to  his  death  (before  1440 ;  cf.  p.  143).  His  works,  De  Studio  Theologico, 
De  Cor>~upto  Ecclesiai  Statu,  &c,  were  edited  by  Jo.  Mart.  Lydius,  Ludg. 
Bat.  1613,  4to.,  and  Hardt.,  Concil.  Const.  (See  Ad.  Miintz,  Nicolas  de 
Clemanges,  sa  Vie  et  ses  E  rits,  Strasb.  and  Paris,  1846.) 

1  Liber  Creaturum,  s.  Thcologia  NaturaKs,  Argent.  1496.  Frank f.  1635 ; 
Amst.  16 ">9,  Solisb.  1852;  De  Xatura  et  Ob'i tatione  Hominis,  s.  Viola 
Animss,  Colon.  1700.  For  works  on  him,  see  Niedner,  Lehrbuch  der  Kir- 
chcngcschichte,  p.  580 ;  Hase,  p.  345. 


A.D.  1309  f.      BENEVOLENT  SOCIETIES.     LOLLARDS.  569 

impulse  both  from  the  example  of  monasticism,  and  still  more  from 
its  failure  to  accomplish  its  purpose,  and  from  the  discredit  into 
which  it  had  fallen,  especially  in  its  later  form  of  mendicancy.  As 
the  monks  had  tried  the  experiment  of  cultivating  their  own  piety 
in  separation  from  the  world  ;  and  as  the  friars,  in  their  turn,  seeing 
the  evils  and  scandals  that  sprang  from  the  monastic  form  of  life 
and  possession  of  property,  threw  themselves  into  and  upon  the 
world,  only  to  see  their  higher  ideal  fall  into  a  deeper  disgrace ;  the 
new  movement  reversed  both  experiments  in  a  life  of  practical 
benevolence  and  self-support,  without  severance  from  the  world  in 
the  form  of  a  separate  order.  Amidst  the  spiritual,  moral,  and 
practical  benefits,  found  for  themselves  and  conferred  upon  the'r 
fellow-men,  it  was  but  natural  that,  however  loyal  to  the  Church, 
lamenting  her  corruptions  (as  did  all  the  mystics  of  this  age)  and 
yearning  for  their  reformation,  they  should  be  regarded  with  sus- 
picion by  her  rulers  and  with  special  jealousy  by  the  monks  and 
friars,  and  that,  like  the  Beghards  before  them,  they  should,  more 
or  less,  come  to  be  regarded  as  heretics.  This  is  exemplified  in  the 
fate  of  a  society  which,  at  first  formed  for  labours  of  self-denying 
benevolence,  like  the  Beguines  and  Beghards,  saw  their  name 
likewise  turned  into  a  common  and  more  lasting  term  of  heretical 
reproach. 

About  the  beginning  of  the  14th  century  *  there  were  formed, 
first  at  Antwerp  and  soon  afterwards  throughout  the  Netherlands 
and  Western  Germany,  societies  for  pious  works  of  kindness, 
especially  the  tending  of  the  sick  and  burial  of  the  dead.     Called  at 

1  A.D.  1309  (Raym.  1318,  44).  All  their  names  are  of  doubtful  origin: 
Ft  aires  Cellitee,  either  from  their  visiting  the  sick  in  their  own  rooms 
(<  ellx),  or  from  the  chambers  in  which  they  met  privately  ;  Alexiani, 
from  the  name  either  of  their  patron  saint  or  their  founder;  both  seem- 
ingly mere  guesses,  like  the  derivation  of  their  more  famous  name  of 
Lollards  from  an  unknown  Walter  Lollard,  said  to  have  been  burnt  at 
Cologne.  There  is  little  doubt  that  the  true  etymology  of  Lollard  or 
Lullard  is  from  the  German  lullen,  "  to  sing  softly  "  (comp.  Engl,  lull  and 
lullaby),  referring  to  their  gentle  chants ;  in  fact,  Loll -harden  (singing- 
brethren)  is  a  precise  analogue  of  Bcg-harden  (praying-brethren).  The 
derivation  from  lolium  or  lollium,  "tares,"  inverts  the  application,  which 
was  soon  made  to  them,  of  our  Lord's  parable  (Matt.  xiii.  2">  if.).;  but 
when  once  made,  it  became  a  favourite  byword,  as  in  the  title  of  the 
work.  Fasciculi  Zizaniorum  Magistri  Johannis  Wyclif  c  m  Tritico,  edited 
by  Mr.  Shirley  (Rolls  Series  of  Records,  1859).  It  was  not  that  Lol- 
lard was  derived  from  lolium,  but  this  term  was  used  opprobriously  as 
a  play  on  the  former  name,  and,  this  once  done,  it  was  soon  wrongly  sup- 
posed to  be  the  real  etymology  (as  early  as  1382,  and  in  official  documents, 
1387  and  onward).  We  find  the  parable  of  the  tares  used  not  only 
against  Wyclif  and  his  followers,  but  by  him  for  Romish  corruptions 
(injratum  lollium  and  zizania,  Fasc.  Ziz.  pp.  257,  270). 


570  FRATRES  VITjE  COMMUNIS.  Chap.  XXXIII. 

first  Fratres  Cellitse  and  Alexiani,  they  were  afterwards  known  by 
the  name  of  Lollards  ;  and,  from  the  jealousy  of  priests,  monks, 
and  especially  friars,  which  derived  countenance  from  their  avowed 
desire  from  reformation,  as  well  as  in  part  from  their  own  gradual 
corruption,  this  name  became,  like  that  of  Beghard,  a  synonym  for 
heretics  in  general,  and  especially  for  the  followers  of  Wyclif.  But 
even  after  it  had  got  this  ill-repute,  and  men  were  burnt  in  England 
as  Lollards,  the  original  Lollards  of  the  Netherlands  and  Germany 
were  protected,  as  harmless  and  beneficent  members  of  the  Church, 
by  several  Popes  during  the  15th  century.1 

§  15.  Famous  as  their  name  has  become  in  this  wider  sense,  the  ori- 
ginal Lollards  were  of  less  importance,  and  of  far  less  lasting  influence, 
than  another  society,  the  Brethren  of  the  Common  Life  (Fratres 
Vitse  Communis),  whose  very  name  implies  their  aim  to  fulfil  the 
ideal,  of  which  monasticism  had  failed :  not  that  of  a  community 
severed  from  the  world,  but  devoted  in  it  to  all  that  constitutes  the 
common  life  of  Christians.  Its  two  great  practical  objects  were,  the 
cultivation  of  this  life  among  its  members,  and  the  training  of  minis- 
ters of  the  word  who  should  be  free  from  the  corruptions  of  the  men- 
dicants, on  the  one  hand,  and  from  the  presumption  of  lay  intruders 
on  the  other.  It  was  founded  by  two  clergymen  in  the  northern  Ne- 
therlands, after  the  middle  of  the  14th  century.  Greet  (Gerard) 
Groot  2  (or,  as  his  name  was  I  .atinized,  Gerardus  Magnus),  a  deacon 
of  Deventer,  after  studying  theology  at  Paris,  where  he  was  disgusted 
with  Scholasticism,  and  lecturing  with  distinction  at  Cologne, 
devoted  his  life  to  religious  exercises  and  the  work  of  a  minister  of 
the  word.  The  disciple  and  biographer,  who  has  brought  the 
society  its  chief  fame,  tells  us  that  the  churches  were  thronged  by 
crowds  of  people  who  left  their  business  and  their  meals  to  hear  the 
sermons  preached  by  Gerard,  often  twice  a  day,  and  for  three  hours 
at  a  time.  Having  no  fixed  cure,  he  was  compelled  by  the  jealous 
hierarchy  to  cease  preaching  ;  and  he  turned  to  the  work  of  organi- 
zation, though  at  first  with  no  idea  of  founding  an  order.     He 

1  See  Mosheim,  de  Beghardis,  p.  272 ;  Lechler,  art.  Lollarden,  in 
Herzog's  Encg '.lopadie. 

2  This  Dutch  name,  meaning  great,  has  since  been  made  famous  by 
Hugo  Grotius  and  George  Grote.  The  lives  of  Groot  and  his  successor  in 
the  work  were  written  by  the  famous  disciple  of  the  latter,  Thomas  a 
Kempis,  Gerardi  M  tgni  et  Florentii  Vitte,  in  his  Works,  ed.  H.  Sommalii, 
Antwerp.  1607.  Other  authorities  are  :  Jo.  Buschius,  Chronicon  Can<>ni- 
corum  Bejular.  ord.  S.  August ini  capita! i  \\  indesemcnsis,  Antw.  1621 
(written  in  1464  :  Busch  was  a  canon  of  Windesheim  from  1419  ;  oh.  1479)  ; 
Del  prat,  Verhandeling  ovr  de  B  oedirsch  ip  van  G.  Groote,  Utrecht,  1830, 
translated  into  German  by  Mohnike,  Leipzig,  1840;  and,  besides  several 
German  works,  the  recent  excellent  account  by  the  Rev.  S.  Kettlewell, 
Thomas  a  Kempis  and  the  Brothers  of  the  Common  Life,  Lond.  1882. 


Cent.  XIV.  GERARD  GROOT— HIS  RULES.  571 

gathered  about  him  at  Deventer  young  clergymen  of  different 
nations,  who  had  been  moved  by  his  piety  and  preaching,  for  reli- 
gious exercises  and  study  in  all  that  would  fit  them  for  their  work. 
It  was  his  principle x  that  no  one  should  be  received  into  the  con- 
gregation, unless,  after  the  example  of  St.  Paul,  he  was  willing  to 
work  with  his  own  hands ;  and  he  found  them  occupation,  profitable 
in  a  double  sense,  in  the  transcription  of  books,  besides  other 
mechanical  arts  and  even  ordinary  manual  labour.  From  the 
profits  of  their  work,  and  their  private  property  freely  devoted  so 
far  as  need  required,2  they  derived  their  common  support,  and  men- 
dicancy was  utterly  renounced.  This  "  common  life  "  was  entirely 
free  from  monastic  vows,  in  place  of  which  Gerard  laid  down  prin- 
ciples such  as  these,  which  may  be  regarded  as  the  fundamental  rule 
of  the  society :  the  brother  purposed  to  regulate  his  life  for  the 
glory  and  honour  and  service  of  God,  and  the  salvation  of  his  soul, 
preferring  to  this  no  temporal  good,  whether  of  the  body  or  honour 
or  fortune  or  knowledge.  Not  only  was  profit,  but  even  fame  and 
the  reputation  of  learning,  to  be  renounced  as  the  object  of  studying 
any  art,  or  writing  any  book,  undertaking  any  kind  of  work,  or 
practising  any  science  ;  and  all  public  disputation  was  to  be  shunned 
and  abhorred,  as  mere  wrangling  for  triumph  and  display :  witness 
the  schools  of  theology  and  arts  at  Parii.3  He  might  not  waste 
time  in  such  studies  as  geometry,  arithmetic,  rhetoric,  dialectics, 
grammar,  the  lyric  poets,  and  judicial  astrology.4  The  root  of 
all  his  study,  and  the  mirror  of  his  whole  life,  was  to  be  first  the 

1  Thos.  a  Kempis,  Vit.  Florcnt.  14;  where  we  have  some  interesting 
details  of  the  book-manufacture  of  that  age. 

2  That  this  sort  of  communism  (like  that  of  the  first  Christians : 
Acts  iv.  32-35,  and  v.  4)  consisted  in  voluntary  offerings,  not  the  absolute 
renunciation  of  property,  appears  from  the  case  stated  for  the  opinion  of 
the  faculty  of  law  at  Cologne  (in  1398)  about  the  persons  who  were  even 
thus  early  persecuted  as  Gerardini  (as  well  as  Beghards).  The  faculty 
decided  that  such  a  common  life,  without  monastic  vows,  was  lawful ; 
but  this  opinion  was  rejected  by  the  Belgian  Inquisition,  on  the  ground 
that,  though  their  life  was  good  and  laudable,  it  was  not  lawful  unless 
sanctioned  by  the  apostolic  see  and  put  under  the  rule  of  some  approved 
order.     (Mosheim,  de  Beghardis,  pp.  433,  443  ;  Gieseler.  iv.  pp.  166-7.) 

3  "  Sicut  sunt  omnes  dispu'ationes  theologorum  et  artistarum  Parisiis  "  is 
the  emphatic  utterance  of  Groot's  experience  as  a  student. 

4  Observe  how  nearly  this  enumeration  corresponds  to  the  trkium  and 
quadrivium  of  the  schools,  as  well  as  to  the  course  of  study  laid  down  bv 
Roger  Bacon.  The  censure,  which  seems  to  us  so  narrow-minded,  was  in 
that  age  the  natural  reaction  of  a  spiritual  mind  against  that  scholas- 
ticism, of  which  little  was  left  but  the  dry  bones.  Like  all  such  reactionarv 
utterances,  it  is  an  extreme  statement  of  feelings  which  find  vent  in 
words  rather  than  govern  practice ;  and  the  education  given  in  the  ex- 
cellent schools  of  the  brethren  was  nr'.ch  more  liberal. 


572  FLORENTIUS  RADEW1NI.  Chap.  XXXIII. 

Gospel  of  Christ,  because  Christ's  life  is  there ;  and  then  the  Scrip- 
tures and  the  writings  of  the  Fathers,  the  enumeration  of  which, 
followed  by  the  injunction  to  hear  mass  daily,  denotes  Groot's 
loyalty  to  the  Church. 

§  16.  This  society  of  "  Brethren  "  or  "  Clergy  of  the  Common  Life," 1 
called  also  "  Brethren  of  Good  Will,"  and,  from  their  devotional 
exercises  in  the  vernacular,  "  Brothers  of  Conference,"  originally 
clerical,  soon  received  laymen  of  every  condition ;  and  sisterhoods 
were  formed,  each  with  a  "  Martha  "  and  "  Submartha  "  at  its  head ; 
a  name  evidently  denoting  their  practical  character.  The  organi- 
zation was  completed  after  the  death  of  Gerard  Groot,  in  1384,  by 
his  chief  disciple  and  associate,  Florentius  Radewini,  vicar  of  the 
principal  church  in  Deventer.2  Foreseeing  doubtless  the  discredit  and 
persecution  which  would  fall  on  his  unauthorized  society  (if  indeed 
it  had  not  already  begun  in  his  lifetime),  Gerard,  upon  his  death- 
bed, recommended  his  followers  to  form  an  order  approved  by  the 
Church,  "to  the  members  of  which  all  the  devout  of  either  sex 
could  have  a  safe  recourse  in  all  their  needs,  and  obtain  counsel 
and  aid,  protection  and  defence." 3  The  question  was  entertained, 
of  union  with  the  Carthusians  or  Cistercians,  the  only  orders  which 
were  now  comparatively  uncorrupted,  but  their  rules  were  too  strict 
to  allow  the  desired  freedom  to  brethren  beyond  their  walls.  Flo- 
rentius, therefore,  founded  the  society  of  regular  canons,  under  the 
Augustinian  rule,  at  Windesheim,  in  Zwoll  (1386) ;  4  and  ten  years 
later  a  pious  widow  at  Deventer  gave  the  society  a  house,  which 
was  made  the  chief  home  for  the  brethren  ( Fraterhaus).  A  still 
more  famous  establishment  was  their  cloister  of  regular  canons  on 
Mt.  St.  Agnes  at  Zwoll,  founded  in  1471.  They  gave  special  atten- 
tion to  the  instruction  of  the  young,  especially  teaching  them  to 
read  the  Bible  in  their  own  language,  and  they  distributed  religious 
tracts  in  German.  The  brethren  quickly  spread  over  the  Nether- 
lands and  Northern  Germany,  and  fell  under  suspicion  and  perse- 
cution in  common  with  the  Beghards  and  Lollards;  and  we  find 
both  these  names  applied  to  them.     Both  their  principles  and  their 

1  Fratres  and  Clerici  [devoti]  de  Communi  Vita  ;  also  Fratres  Bonfe 
Voluntatis,  Fratres  Collati  >n  irii  (from  collatio  in  sense  of  a  meeting  lor 
devotional  exercises,  like  the  modern  French  conference),  and  in  German 
Cullatienbriider,  Fraterherrn.  Some  of  their  congregations  were  called, 
from  the  patron  saints,  Fratres  Hieronymiani  or  Gregoriani 

2  Florentius  died  A  n.  14-00.  3  Busch,  i.  5. 

*  From  the  shape  of  their  special  hood  (citculla)  these  canons  were 
called  Kujelherren  and  Kappelherren.  We  have  seen  how,  under  the 
prior  John  de  Huesden  (1391—14-2  4-),  the  next  leader  of  the  Brethren  of 
the  Common  Life  after  Groot  and  Radewini,  Windesheim  became  a  centre 
of  monastic  reformation  in  Germany  (Chap.  XXI.  §  14). 


Cent.  XIV.-XV.      WORK  OF  THE  BROTHERHOOD.  573 

practice  made  the  Mendicant  Friars  their  especial  enemies.  A 
Dominican,  Mathew  Grabow,  wrote  a  big  book  against  the  brethren, 
and  accused  them  to  the  Bishop  of  Utrecht,  where  their  chief 
nunnery  was  established.  Repulsed  by  the  bishop,  Grabow  appealed 
to  the  Pope,  and  the  case  came  before  the  Council  of  Constance, 
where  Gerson  and  D'Ailly  gave  their  earnest  support  to  the  brethren. 
Pope  Martin  V.  not  only  confirmed  their  institutions,  but  gave  those 
trained  in  their  clerical  schools  the  right  to  priestly  ordination. 
They  were  protected  by  his  successor,  Eugenius  IV. ;  but  the  hos- 
tility of  the  mendicants  drove  many  of  them  to  take  refuge  among 
the  Franciscan  Tertiaries.  The  brotherhood  was  finally  absorbed 
in  the  Pieformation,  and  the  last  traces  of  their  institutions  disappear 
in  the  17th  century. 

We  may  sum  up  their  character  and  work  in  the  words  of  Archbp. 
Trench.  "  These  Brethren  were  honourably  distinguished  by  the 
same  freedom  of  spirit  which  characterized  the  Mystics  more  strictly 
so  called ;  but  they  were  more  practical,  and  were  wholly  exempt 
from  the  dangerous  excesses  into  which  so  many  of  those  others  ran. 
The '  Common  Life,'  from  which  they  drew  their  name,  had  monastic 
features  about  it ;  but  at  the  same  time  it  was  a  manner  of  life 
freer  than  that  of  the  established  Orders,  being  one  without  vows. 
In  many  ways  these  Brethren  did  excellent  service  during  the  tran- 
sition period  between  the  later  Middle  Ages  and  the  modern  world ; 
above  all  by  the  schools  which  they  founded,  and  the  education,  at 
once  scholarly  and  Christian,  of  the  young,  which  they  freely  and 
zealously  imparted."1  Just  as  is  this  tribute  to  the  practical  work 
of  the  brotherhood,  we  must  not  forget  that  its  primary  object  and 
chief  ideal  was  the  spiritual  culture  of  the  Christian's  own  soul, 
after  the  likeness  of  Christ,  that  so  each  in  his  own  heart  might  find 
"joy  and  peace  in  believing."  It  is  this  pervading  character  that 
assigns  them  their  place  among  the  mystics  ;  and  it  is  this  that  is 
exemplified  throughout  the  work  in  which  the  biographer  of  their 
founders  has  embodied  a  far  more  lasting  monument  of  their  spirit.2 

1  Medieval  Church  History,  pp.  367-8.  Besides  the  great  example  of 
Thomas  a  Kempis,  he  adds:  "It  was  in  a  school  of  these  brethren  that 
Erasmus  obtained,  at  least  in  part,  his  early  education,  possibly  from  them 
his  intelligent  love  for  the  great  writers  of  the  ancient  classical  world." 

2  Hase  (p.  344)  describes  the  De  Imitatione  as  "  the  rose  in  the  cloister- 
garden  of  the  brethren  of  the  Common  Life."  About  its  authorship  bv 
Thomas  a  Kempis  Trench  says — ufor  his  work,  and  not  that  of  any 
Gerson  or  Gersen,  we  may  confidently  affirm  it  to  be."  The  arguments, 
which  fully  justify  this  decision  of  a  controversy  lately  renewed,  will 
be  found  in  Mr.  Kettlewell's  work.  (See  also  Gieseler,  vol.  v.  p.  73, 
and  his  authorities ;  C.  Schmidt,  art.  Thomas  A  Kempis,  in  Herzog's 
Encyklojoadie.)     The   direct   evidence  in   favour  of  Thomas  is  complete, 


574  THOMAS  A  KEMPIS.  Chap.  XXXIII. 

§  17.  Thomas  Hemerken,1  of  Kempen,  in  the  diocese  of  Cologne, 
known  by  the  Latin  form  of  his  name  and  birthplace,  Thomas 
a  Kempis,  was  born  in  1380  and  lived  to  1471.  He  has  himself 
related,  how,  being  sent  to  Deventer  at  the  age  of  13  for  education 
in  the  school  of  the  brotherhood,  he  was  received  by  Florentius, 
who  directed  his  studies,  gave  him  books,  and  placed  him  in  a 
house  where  about  twenty  clerics  lived,  having  a  common  purse 
and  table.  Here  he  learned  to  write,  to  read  Holy  Scripture, 
was  taught  pure  morals,  and  listened  to  the  reading  of  devout 
tracts.  What  he  earned  as  a  copyist  was  given  up  for  the  common 
expenses,  and  all  his  wants  were  supplied  by  the  large  piety 
and  paternal  care  of  his  beloved  master,  Florentius.  Having 
joined  the  order  of  Canons  of  Mt.  St.  Agnes,  he  was  twice  sub- 
prior  and  master  of  the  novices,  and  was  tried  in  the  office  of 
steward,  in  the  expectation  that  so  kind-hearted  a  man  would  be 
a  good  almoner ;  but  he  proved  too  amiable  for  the  post.  With  a 
character  which  the  continuer  of  his  chronicle  has  described  as 
inward  (interior)  and  devout,  his  life  was  quite  uneventful ;  and 
the  paucity  of  details  need  not  be  regretted ;  for  he  is  one  of  the 
men,  such  as  the  like-minded  author  of  the  Christian  Year,  whose 
works  so  perfectly  reflect  their  character,  as  to  contain  nearly  all 
we  care  to  know  about  them. 

The  supreme  place  held  by  the  De  Imitatione  as  the  culmi- 
nating point,  not  only  of  Mysticism,  but  of  Medieval  religion,  is 

beginning  with  the  positive  statement,  made  during  his  lifetime  by  his 
personal  friend  and  brother  in  the  order,  John  Busch  (Chron.  Wind. 
in  1464).  The  book  was  first  printed  anonymously,  soon  after  1470;  and 
the  fame  it  soon  acquired  caused  the  French  to  claim  it  for  John  Gerson, 
then  the  most  famous  of  the  Mystics.  A  mere  corruption  of  his  name  in 
those  MSS.  (in  the  forms  Geesen,  Gessen,  and  Gescn),  combined  with  an 
error  about  the  age  of  the  work  (founded  on  a  supposed  quotation  in  a 
treatise  falsely  ascribed  to  Bonaveutura),  prompted  the  Benedictines  to 
claim  it  for  John  Gersen,  an  abbot  of  their  order  at  VerceUi  between 
1220  and  1240. 

1  A  low  German  diminutive  form,  in  High  German  lliimmerlein,  in 
Latin  Malleolus.  There  is  an  autobiographical  notice  in  his  Ch  onic  n 
C'tnonxorwn  Regularium  Montis  S.  Agnitis  (at  the  end  of  Busoh's  Chroni- 
con,  #c,  Antwerp.  1821);  and  a  life  of  him  by  Jodocus  Badius  Ascensius 
(oh.  1535)  is  prefixed  to  the  edition  of  his  works  by  the  Jesuit  Henry 
Sommalius,  Antwerp,  1607  (an  earlier  edition.  Colon.  1560;  the  original 
edition  is  that  printed  Nuremberg,  1494).  These  works,  besides  the  De 
Imit  itione,  with  which  they  agree  in  style  and  spirit,  show  their  character 
of  mystical  devotion  by  their  very  titles;  Soliloqnium  Animas ;  Hortulns 
Rosarum;  Vallis  Liliorum;  De  Tribus  Tabernaculis ;  Doetrina  Juvenum  ; 
De  vera  Cordis  Comitwctione ;  De  Solitud>'ne  et  Silentio.  (See,  besides 
Mr.  Kettlewell's  work,  Bahring,  Thomas  von  Kempen  nach  s.  iiussern  u. 
innem  Leber*,  Berlin,  1849  ;  J.  Mooren,  Thomas  von  Kempen,  Cref.,  1855.) 


A.D.  1470.  THE  "  DE  IMITATIONE  CHRISTI."  575 

best  described  by  the  historian  of  Latin  Christianity.1  "  In  one 
remarkable  book  was  gathered  and  concentered  all  that  was  elevat- 
ing, passionate,  profoundly  pious,  in  all  the  older  Mystics.  Gerson, 
lluysbroek,  Tauler,  all  who  addressed  the  heart  in  later  times,  were 
summed  up,  and  brought  into  one  circle  of  light  and  heat  in  the 
single  small  volume,  the  Imitation  of  Christ.  That  this  book  sup- 
plies some  imperious  want  in  the  Christianity  of  mankind,  that  it 
supplied  it  with  a  fulness  and  felicity  which  left  nothing,  at  this 
period  of  Christianity,  to  be  desired,  its  boundless  popularity  is  the 
one  unanswerable  testimony.  No  book  has  been  so  often  reprinted, 
no  book  has  been  so  often  translated,  or  into  so  many  languages, 
as  the  Imitation  of  Christ.2 

"The  Imititioii  of  Christ  both  advanced  and  arrested  the  deve- 
lopment of  Teutonic  Christianity;  it  was  prophetic  of  its  approach, 
as  showing  what  was  demanded  of  the  human  soul,  and  as  endea- 
vouring in  its  own  way  to  supply  that  imperative  necessity ;  yet 
by  its  deficiency  as  a  manual  of  universal  religion,  of  eternal  Chris- 
tianity, it  showed  as  clearly  that  the  human  mind,  the  human 
heart,  could  not  rest  in  the  Imitation.  It  acknowledged,  it  endea- 
voured to  fill  up,  the  void  of  personal  religion.  The  Imitation  is 
the  soul  of  man  working  out  its  own  salvation,  with  hardly  any 
aid  but  the  confessed  necessity  of  Divine  grace.  .  .  .  But  the  Imita- 
tion of  Christ,  the  last  effort  of  Latin  Christianity,  is  still  monastic 
Christianity.  It  is  absolutely  and  entirely  selfish  in  its  aim,  as  in  its 
acts.  Its  sole,  single,  exclusive  object  is  the  purification,  the  ele- 
vation of  the  individual  soul.  .  .  .  The  simple  exemplary  sentence, 
'  He  went  about  doing  good,'  is  wanting  in  the  monastic  gospel  of 
this  pious  zealot.  Of  feeding  the  hungry,  of  clothing  the  naked,  of 
visiting  the  prisoner,  even  of  preaching,  there  is  profound,  total 
silence.  The  world  is  dead  to  the  votary  of  the  Imitation,  and  he 
is  dead  to  the  world,  dead  in  a  sense  absolutely  repudiated  by 
the  first  vital  principles  of  the  Christian  faith.  Christianity,  to  be 
herself  again,  must  not  merely  shake  off  indignantly  the  barbarism, 
the  vices,  but  even  the  virtues,  of  the  Medieval,  of  Monastic,  of 
Latin  Christianity." 

Milman,  vol.  ix.  pp.  160  f.  The  passage  is  too  long  for  full  citation. 
2  The  number  of  editions  and  translations  is  between  2000  and  3000. 
The  earliest  English  translation  exists  in  (imperfect)  MSS.  in  the  Uni- 
versity Libraries  of  Dublin,  Cambridge,  and  Oxford.  The  work  was  fir^t 
printed  in  English  by  Wynkyn  de  Worde ;  the  first  three  parts 
translated  by  Atkynson  (1502),  and  the  fourth  in  a  more  florid  style  by 
Queen  Margaret  (1504).  See  Prof.  Ingram's  paper  read  before  the  Irish 
Academy  on  "The  earliest  English  Translation  of  the  De  Imitatione 
Christi,"  2882. 


Interior  of  the  Court  of  a  Greek  Monastery. 

A  monk  is  calling  the  Congregation  to  prayers  by  beating  a  board  called  a  Simandro, 
which  is  used  instead  of  bells.    (From  Curzon's  Monasteries  of  the  Levant.) 

BOOK   VI. 

SECTS   AND   HERESIES   OF    THE 
MIDDLE    AGES. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 
ORIGIN    OF    THE    MEDIEVAL    SECTS. 

RETROSPECT. CENTURIES    VII.-X1I. 

1.  Historical  use  of  Heresy  and  Heretics — Two  senses  commonly  con- 
fused. §  2.  Eastern  source,  and  Gnostic  and  Manichoan  tenets,  of  the 
Albigensian  sects.  §  3.  History  and  tenets  of  the  Pitulicians  in  Armenia 
and  Thrace — Sects  connected  with  them — Spread   to  Western  Europe. 


Chap.  XXXIV.  SENSES  OF  "HERESY."  577 

§  4.  "Manichean  sects  in  S.  France  and  Germany  in  the  11th  century — 
Bishop  Wazo  against  persecution.  §  5.  Influence  of  the  Crusades — The 
Bogomili  and  Cathari.  §  6.  Other  sources  of  spontaneous  revolt  against 
the  Church.  §  7.  Individual  heretics :  Tanchelm  and  Eon  de  Stella — 
Peter  of  Bruis  and  the  Petrobusians  —  •  Henry  of  Lausanne  and  the 
Henricians — Note  on  Visionaries :  St.  Hildegard  and  St.  Elizabeth  of 
Schonau. 

§  1.  It  may  be  well  to  remind  the  reader  that  the  words  at  the  head  of 
this  division  are  used  in  a  purely  historical  and  ecclesiastical  sense ; 
not  at  all  as  pronouncing  on  the  truth  or  falsehood  of  the  opinions, 
or  the  good  or  bad  character  of  the  persons,  whose  designation  as 
heretical  was  fixed  on  them  by  the  Church,  which  had  assumed  the 
opposite  title  of  Catholic,  that  is  to  say,  for  the  period  now  under 
review,  and  so  far  as  Western  Christianity  is  concerned,  by  the 
Church  of  Rome.  At  the  same  time,  though  it  be  not  the 
historian's  province  to  decide  between  the  truth  and  falsehood  of 
the  opinions  technically  described  by  the  term,  it  is  his  duty 
to  distinguish  between  two  classes  of  heresies,  those,  namely,  which 
were  branded  with  the  opprobrious  name  by  the  enmity  of  the 
ruling  powers  whose  corruptions  they  opposed,  and  those  which 
justly  incur  the  censure,  in  the  apostolic  sense  of  the  word  heresy, 
as  striking  at  the  very  foundations  of  the  Christian  faith.  Difficult 
as  it  may  be  to  draw  the  line  of  demarcation  with  precise  accuracy, 
or  even  with  perfect  fairness,  it  is  for  this  very  reason  the  more 
important  to  recognize  the  distinction  in  a  broad  and  general  sense. 
For,  while  Roman  Catholics  have  made  it  a  principle  to  rank 
all  opponents  of  their  system  as  enemies  of  the  Christian  faith, 
Protestants  have  been  too  much  disposed  to  assume  the  evangelic 
character  of  every  movement  against  Rome  ;  while  both  are  apt  to 
pay  too  little  regard  to  the  perplexing  phenomenon  of  the  great 
intermixture  of  the  two  elements  in  the  formation  and  development 
of  the  medieval  sects,  and  of  that  principle  of  human  nature  which 
disposes  minds  justly  discontented  to  seek  a  remedy  in  fanatical 
extremes  of  whose  real  character  they  are  ignorant. * 

§  2.  The  distinction  thus  drawn  lies  at  the  very  root  of  the  proper 
understanding  of  the  sects  which  are  characteristic  of  the  period 
between  the  10th  century  and  the  Reformation ;  which  were  no 

1  With  characteristic  fairness,  Hallam  observes  that  "  many  of  these 
heresies  were  mixt  up  with  an  excessive  fanaticism  :  but  they  fixt  them- 
solves  so  deeply  in  the  hearts  of  the  inferior  and  more  numerous  classes, 
they  bore,  generally  speaking,  so  immediate  a  relation  to  the  state  of 
manners,  and  they  illustrate  so  much  that  more  visible  and  eminent 
revolution  which  ultimately  rose  out  of  them  in  the  16th  century,  that  1 
must  reckon  these  among  the  most  interesting  phenomena  in  the  progress 
of  European  society  "     (Midd.  Ages,  iii.  378.) 


578  SECTS  OF  EASTERN  ORIGIN.  Chap.  XXXIV. 

longer  parties  holding  heterodox  views  on  certain  definite  points, 
to  be  dealt  with  by  the  Church  in  its  General  Councils,  but  societies 
that  grew  and  spread,  and  threatened  the  very  foundations  of  the 
Church  of  Rome,  till  she  combatted  them  with  the  Crusader's 
sword,  the  processes  of  the  Inquisition,  the  terrors  of  torture  and 
the  stake.  Is  it  to  be  at  once  assumed  that  all,  or  most,  of  those  who 
thus  rebelled  and  suffered,  were  martyrs  for  pure  faith  and  reforming 
zeal  ?  The  partisan  of  Rome  replies  by  branding  them,  generally, 
with  the  odious  name  of  Manicheism;  and  impartial  history 
decides  that,  however  grossly  exaggerated  and  generalized,  this  was 
without  dispute  one  element  in  the  opinions  held  by  sects  which 
provoked  the  great  outburst  of  persecution  under  Innocent  III. 
Those  sects,  various  and  scattered,  which  came  to  be  known  indis- 
criminately, from  the  mere  local  name  of  a  petty  town,  as  Albigenses, 
can  be  traced,  both  in  historical  succession,  and  by  the  character  of 
some  of  their  most  essential  tenets,  to  that  anti-Christian  philo- 
sophy which,  present  in  every  age  of  the  Church,  had  taken  deep 
root  in  the  East  under  the  different  phases  of  Gnosticism  and 
Manicheism. 

§  3.  So  clearly,  indeed,  is  the  origin  of  the  western  Albigenses 
traced  to  the  Eastern  sect  known  by  the  name  of  Paulicians,  that  the 
apologists  of  the  evangelical  purity  of  the  former,  without  denying 
the  connection,  claim  the  like  character  for  the  latter,  denying  their 
Manichean  tenets.1  The  truth  seems  to  be  that,  like  the  ancient 
Gnostics,  these  sectaries  united  with  their  wild  speculations  a 
regard  for  what  they  deemed  Christian  simplicity,  and  a  preference 
for  certain  portions  of  Scripture,  as  giving  the  grounds  for  their 
opinions.  Thus,  while  they  rejected  the  Old  Testament,  they  used 
their  liberty  of  selection  among  the  books  and  teachers  of  the  New 
Testament ; 2  and,  while  denouncing  St.  Peter  as  the  betrayer  of 
his  Lord  and  of  the  truth,  they  especially  accepted  the  teaching 
of  St.  Paul,  and  called  themselves  by  his  name.3 

1  See  the  letters  of  the  Rev.  G.  S.  Faber  in  the  British  Magazine, 
vols,  xiv.-xv.;  and,  on  the  other  side,  Maitland,  Facts  and  Documents, 
illustrative  of  the  History,  Doctrines,  and  Kites  of  the  ancient  Albigenses 
and  Valdenses,  Lond.  1832.  We  revert  here  to  the  history  of  the  Pau- 
licians to  repair  an  accidental  omission  in  our  former  volume. 

2  They  accepted  the  Gospels  (but  afterwards  they  seem  to  have  rejected 
Matthew  and  Mark)  and  the  Acts,  and  the  Epistles  of  James,  John, 
and  Jude. 

3  Gibbon,  Hallam,  Neander,  Dollinger,  and  others,  agree  in  regarding 
this  as  the  true  origin  of  the  name  Paulician  (which  all  agree  to  be  a 
barbarous  derivative  from  Paul),  not  from  Paul  of  Samosata,  with  whom 
they  had  nothing  in  common,  or  other  Pauls  who  have  been  alleged  as 
their  founder.  The  chief  authorities  for  their  history  and  doctrines  are 
Petrus  Siculus,  who  visited  them,  about  870,  at  their  chief  city  of  Tephrice, 


Cent.  VII.  RETROSPECT :  THE  PAULICIANS.  579 

The  sect  had  its  origin  in  Armenia,  where  various  forms  of  Gnostic 
and  Manichean  heresies,  driven  from  other  parts  of  the  Eastern 
Empire,  were  confused  under  the  general  name  of  Manicheans. 
About  653,  a  leader  of  one  of  these,  named  Constantine,  received  as 
his  guest  a  deacon,  returning  from  captivity  among  the  Saracens, 
who  requited  his  hospitality  by  the  gift  of  a  copy  of  the  Gospels 
and  St.  Paul's  Epistles.  By  the  perusal  of  these  he  was  led  to 
renounce  many  of  his  old  opinions,  and  to  burn  the  forbidden  books 
of  Manes  (whom  his  later  followers  did  not  hesitate  to  anathema- 
tize), and  in  their  place  he  "  put  forth  a  system  which,  by  means 
of  allegorical  and  other  evasions,  he  professed  to  reconcile  with  the 
letter  of  the  New  Testament,  while  in  reality  it  was  mainly  derived 
from  the  doctrines  of  his  hereditary  sect." 1 

When,  during  twenty-seven  years,  Constantine  had  gathered 
many  converts  at  Cibossa,  in  Armenia,  the  Emperor  Constantine 
Pogonatus  sent  an  officer  named  Simeon  to  suppress  the  sect.  The 
only  one  of  the  disciples  found  to  obey  the  order  to  stone  their  chief 
was  his  own  adopted  son  Justus  ;  and  the  result  of  Simeon's  con- 
fere  aces  with  the  sectaries  was  his  own  conversion  ;  but  both  Justus 
and  Simeon  were  afterwards  burnt  with  many  of  their  followers  on 
one  large  pile,  by  order  of  Justinian  II.  (about  690).  The  sect 
revived  under  an  Armenian  named  Paul ;  but  it  would  be  tedious 
to  trace  the  details  of  their  internal  history  and  persecutions  by 
successive  emperors,  till  the  Empress  Theodora,  the  restorer  of 
image-worship,  undertook  their  suppression,  and  100,000  of  them 
are  said  to  have  been  put  to  the  sword,  beheaded,  drowned,  or 
impaled.  The  result  was  an  open  revolt,  under  Carbeas,  an  impe- 
rial officer,  whose  father  was  among  the  victims.  With  5000 
followers  he  sought  a  refuge  among  the  Saracens,  and,  protected  by 
the  Caliph  on  the  condition  of  conformity  to  Islam,  he  fixed  his 
adherents,  increased  by  numbers  who  nocked  to  him  from  all 
quarters,  in  fortified  towns,  of  which  Tephrica  was  the  chief,  and 
the  head-quarters  of  an  open  war  against  the  empire.  After  other 
successes,  a  mixed  army  of  Paulicians  and  Saracens  overran  Asia 

near  Trebizond,  as  the  envoy  of  the  Emperor  Basil  the  Macedonian,  in  his 
work  Historia  Manicheorum,  edited  by  Gieseler,  Gotting.  1846-50,  and  that 
of  Photius,  irepl  rrjs  Mavixamu  ava^\a(rrr](Te<as  (Gallandi,  xiii.  603  f.), 
with  Three  Discourses  against  the  Manicheans,  also  bv  Pet r us  Siculus 
(reprinted  in  Patrol.  Grxc.  vol.  civ.  from  Mai's  J\ov.  Collect.).  Besides 
the  principal  Church  historians,  Gibbon  has  an  excellent  account  of  the 
Paulicians  (chap.  34). 

1  See  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  p.  178  f.,  for  their  tenets  and  usages— the 
mixture  of  Manicheism  with  Scriptural  doctrine  and  ascetic  practices, 
tlip.ir  rejection  of  the  Sacraments,  opposition  to  the  Catholic  hierarchy, 
absence  of  any  special  order  of  teachers,  &c. 


580  PAULICIANS  IN  THE  WEST.  Chap.  XXXIV 

Minor  as  far  as  Ephesus  ;  but  their  leader,  Crocheir,  the  son-in-law 
of  Carbeas,  refused  the  peace  offered  by  Basil,  unless  the  Emperor 
would  give  up  the  East  to  "  the  servants  of  the  Lord."  His 
arrogance  was  rebuked  by  a  turn  in  the  tide  of  success ;  his  head 
was  carried  to  the  Emperor  (871),  and  Tephrica  was  destroyed ;  but 
the  sect,  though  no  longer  formidable,  maintained  its  independence 
for  another  century  in  Armenia.  For  their  spread  to  the  West  we 
must  look  to  another  of  their  branches. 

Among  the  various  attempts  to  subdue  the  Paulicians  by  con- 
ciliation or  force,  Constantine  Copronymus  had  been  brought  into 
contact  with  them  during  an  expedition  into  Armenia,  about  the 
middle  of  the  8th  century.  The  fanatical  iconoclast  may  have 
been  disposed  to  favour  the  sect ;  and  with  their  own  consent  he 
transported  a  body  of  Paulicians  into  Thrace,  and  settled  them  as 
a  colonizing  garrison  adjoining  the  heathen  Bulgarians.1  In  the 
10th  century  (about  969)  they  were  reinforced  by  a  more  powerful 
colony  of  fellow  believers,  whom  John  Zimisces  transferred  from 
Pontus  to  the  Balkan,  as  a  guard  for  the  frontier  of  his  empire. 
"  Their  exile  in  a  distant  land  was  softened  by  a  free  toleration  : 
the  Paulicians  held  the  city  of  Philippopolis  and  the  keys  of 
Thrace  ;  they  occupied  a  line  of  villages  and  castles  in  Macedonia 
and  Epirus ;  and  many  native  Bulgarians  were  associated  to  the 
communion  of  arms  and  heresy." 2  Thus  they  were  established  on 
the  high  route  followed  by  commerce,  and  afterwards  more  fully 
opened  up  by  the  Crusades,  between  the  East  and  West,  along  the 
course  of  the  Danube,  into  Hungary,  Bohemia,  and  Germany,  as 
well  as  into  Lombardy,  Switzerland,  and  the  south  of  France.  To 
what  extent  they  may  have  found  any  older  Manichean  elements 
surviving  in  those  countries,  is  very  doubtful :  it  would  rather  seem 
that,  as  late  as  the  end  of  the  10th  century,  lurking  remnants 

1  The  conversion  of  the  Bulgarians  did  not  take  place  till  a  century 
later  (see  Pt.  1.  p.  545)  ;  and  it  was  to  guard  the  newly-formed  church 
against  the  heretical  infection  that  Peter  of  Sicily  addressed  his  account  of 
the  Paulicians  to  the  patriarch  of  Bulgaria. 

2  Gibbon.  The  semi-independent  position  of  the  Paulicians  on  the  frontier 
made  them  naturally  a  refuge  lor  various  sects  that  were  persecuted  in 
the  Kastern  Empire,  without  necessarily  sharing  their  jSlanichean  views. 
Among  these  are  mentioned  the  Athinrjdni,  the  Children  of  the  Sun,  and 
the  Praying  People  (called  in  Greek  Euchitse,  and  Eiphemitas,  ami  in  Syriac 
Messahans,  a  word  of  the  same  sense),  a  sect  as  old  as  the  4th  century, 
whose  excellent  name  conceals  the  Manichean  idea  that  every  man  has 
within  him  a  demon,  who  must  be  kept  down  by  incessant  prayer.  (For 
particulars  respecting  these  sects,  see  Gieseler,  vol.  ii.  p.  458  f.  ;  Diet,  of 
( 'hrist.  Biog.,  &c.,  art.  Euchitks).  All  this  throws  light  upon  the  curious 
mixture  of  Manicheism,  puritanism,  and  ascetic  practices,  found  among 
the  Western  s-icts  whose  origin  is  ascribed  to  the  Paulicians. 


Cent.  XI.  PERSECUTION  OF  MANICHEANS.  581 

of  Paganism  broke  out  into  movements  which  were  denounced  and 
punished  as  heresies.1 

§  4.  Early  in  the  11th  century  we  have  the  first  distinct  account 
of  the  discovery  and  punishment  of  sects  designated  as  Manichean, 
in  Aquitaine  (1017),  at  Orleans  (1022),  at  Arras  (1025),  at  Tou- 
louse, at  Monteforte  near  Turin  (1044),  and  at  Goslar,  among  the 
Harz  mountains  (1052).2  In  all  these  cases,  the  opinions  re- 
ported bear  a  general  resemblance  to  those  which  are  described  as 
held  by  the  Paulicians :  there  is  the  like  mixture  of  Manichean 
principles  with  simple  scriptural  doctrine,  ascetic  practices,  and 
enmity  to  the  whole  ecclesiastical  and  sacramental  system,  as  well 
as  to  the  superstitions  and  corruptions  of  the  Church.  Their 
leaders  w^ere  generally  clergymen,  who,  protected  by  noble  con- 
verts, spread  their  doctrines  among  the  people,  and  were  put  to 
death  by  fire  or  the  gallows  as  heretics  and  perverters  of  the 
faithful.  One  interesting  proof  of  the  energy  roused  among  their 
disciples  is  the  testimony  of  Roger,  bishop  of  Chalons-sur-Marne, 
that  even  the  most  uneducated  persons,  when  perverted  to  this  sect, 
became  more  fluent  in  their  discourse  than  the  most  learned  clerks. 
The  reply  of  the  famous  Wazo,  bishop  of  Liege,  whose  advice  for 
dealing  with  them  was  asked  by  Roger,  stands  out  in  that  age  as  a 
memorable  testimony  against  persecution  for  false  belief.  Though, 
he  says,  these  opinions  are  abhorrent  to  the  Christian  religion,  yet, 
in  imitation  of  its  Saviour,  it  is  commanded  to  have  some  toleration 
for  them  meanwhile.3  In  reply  to  Roger's  question,  whether  he 
should  invoke  the  power  of  the  earthly  sword,  Wazo  replies,  in 
terms  directly  opposed  to  the  papal  doctrine  of  the  "  two  swords," 
"  We  ought  to  remember  that  we,  who  are  called  bishops,  do  not 
receive  the  sword  at  our  ordination  ;  and  therefore  we  are  enjoined, 
by  the  authority  of  God,  not  to  kill,  but  to  make  alive:  we  must 
therefore  be  content  to  prevent  the  diffusion  of  the  leaven  by 
excluding  the  heretics  from  the  Church."  4 

§  5.  The  more  direct  evidence  of  an  influence  of  the  so-called 
Manichean  sectaries  of  Thrace  and  Bulgaria  on  the  West  dates  from 
the  time  of  the  Crusades  which  infused  many  an  Oriental  element 
into  Europe.5    Besides  the  general  evidence  of  probability  and  resem- 

1  As  in  the  cases  of  Leutard,  at  Chalons-sur-Marne  (ab.  1000)  and 
Vilgard,  a  grammarian  of  Ravenna,  put  tc  death  fur  reviving  classical 
paganism.     For  particulars,  see  Robertson,  ".  447-8. 

2  See  Robertson,  vol.  ii.  pp.  447-454;  and  especially  the  extracts  from 
the  original  authorities  in  Gieseler,  vol.  ii.  pp.  493-8.     Wazo  died  1048. 

3  His  quotation  of  the  parable  of  the  tares.  (Matt.  xiii.  24  f.)  is  inte- 
resting as  an  early  example  of  the  application  of  zizania  to  heretics. 
Roger,  in  his  letter,  had  quoted  the  parable  of  the  leaven. 

4  Gesta  Episcop.  Leodensium,  59-64,  in  Pertz,  vol.  viii. 

5  See  Mr.  Brewer's  account  of  the  progress  of  Oriental  influence,  both. 

II — Z  U 


582  THE  BOGOMILI  AND  CATHARI.        Chap.  XXXIV. 

blance,  the  Paulicians  of  Thrace  appear  in  direct  connection  with 
the  First  Crusade,  when  they  showed  their  spirit  of  independence 
and  enmity  to  the  Greek  Church  by  deserting  Alexius  Comnenus 
in  his  contest  with  the  Latins  (1081-5).  The  Emperor  took  the 
first  opportunity  of  punishing  their  desertion ;  and  he  afterwards 
(1116)  took  up  his  residence  for  a  time  at  Philippopolis  in  order  ot 
reclaim  them  by  argument,  punishments,  and  rewards ;  and 
founded  the  rival  city  of  Alexiolopolis  as  a  stronghold  for  the 
penitent  and  orthodox.  Special  interest  attaches  to  the  sect  called 
Bogomili  (a  Slavonian  name  signifying  Friends  of  God),1  who  were 
a  branch  or  development  of  the  Euchitse.  They  were  detected  by 
the  Emperor  first  by  the  torture  of-  a  disciple  and  then  by  a 
treacherous  conference  with  their  leader  Basil,  whom  he  burned  in 
the  hippodrome  at  Constantinople.  Their  tenets  so  closely  resemble 
those  of  the  western  Cathari,  of  whom  we  have  presently  to  speak, 
as  to  form  a  strong  point  in  the  evidence  for  the  eastern  derivation 
of  the  Albigensian  sects. 

§  6.  To  all  this  must  be  added  the  spontaneous  revolt  against  the 
corruptions  of  the  Church,  and  against  the  growing  spiritual  claims 
and  temporal  exactions  of  the  clergy,  and  the  Koman  see  above  all ; 
the  quarrels  between  the  secular  and  ecclesiastical  powers,  weaken- 
ing the  hold  of  both  upon  the  people,  making  opposition  to  the 
Church  a  national  or  party  cause,  and  inclining  powerful  laymen  to 
protect  her  enemies ;  and  the  growing  spirit  of  independence  in  the 
commercial  towns.  Nor  must  we  overlook  the  humbler  but  ener- 
getic power  of  individual  dissent,  often  commanding  adhesion  by 
its  evident  sincerity  and  self-sacrifice,  and  forming  the  nucleus 
round  which  a  mass  of  unsettled  opinion  crystallized  into  vigorous 
bodies. 

§  7.  With  all  allowance  for  the  probable  unfairness  of  hostile  wit- 
nesses, and  perhaps  because  they  only  record  the  more  extravagant 
forms  of  opposition,  the  more  moderate  differences  being  kept  with- 
in the  pale  of  the  Church,  it  would  seem  that  individual  revolt 
from  her  teaching  at  this  time  was  for  the  most  part  wild  and 
fanatical,  as  in  the  case  of  four  teachers  of  a  revolt  against  the 
hierarchy  and  Catholic  doctrine  in  the  first  half  of  the  1 2th  century. 
A  mere  mention  may  suffice  for  Tanchelm,  at  Antwerp,  and  Eudo 
or  Eon  de  Stella,  in  Brittany.2     Of  greater  and  more  lasting  in- 

from  the  East  and  Spain,  on  the  towns  and  Universities,  as  well  as  the 
Templars.     (Man.  Francisc.  preface,  p.  xxxix.) 

1  Euthymius  Zagadenus  gives  a  full  account  of  the  Bogomiles  in  his 
Pannplia  of  the  Orthodox  Faith,  written  by  command  of  Alexius  Com- 
nenus (see  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  pp.  485,  495-6). 

2  For  particulars  respecting  these  fanatics  and  their  followers,  see 
Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  pp.  388-393.  It  was  by  reclaiming  the  followers  of 
Tanchelm  that  Norbert  gained  much  of  his  high  reputation  fsee  p.  345). 


Cent.  XII.  PETER  AND  THE  PETROBUSIANS.  583 

fluence  was  Peter  of  Bruis,  the  founder  of  the  sect  called  after 
him  Petrobusians,  whose  career  and  tenets  are  known  from  the  work 
written  against  them  by  the  Venerable  Peter  of  Clugny.1  Peter  was 
a  priest,  who,  having  been  deprived  of  his  cure  for  some  unknown 
reason,  appeared  as  an  independent  teacher  in  four  Alpine  dioceses 
of  Dauphine.  Driven  thence,  he  repaired  to  Gascony,  a  ground,  we 
are  told,  already  prepared  by  the  prevalence  of  heretical  opinions; 
and  whereas  his  former  success  was  attributed  to  the  ignorance  of 
the  mountaineers,  he  is  now  described  as  "  no  longer  whispering  in 
hamlets,  but  openly  preaching  to  multitudes  in  towns."  One  chief 
scene  of  his  success  was  the  commercial  city  of  Toulouse,  which  was 
now  becoming  a  focus  of  the  Oriental  influences  pouring  in  across 
Europe  and  from  Spain,  and  was  destined  to  be  the  centre  of  the 
conflict  with  heresy  just  a  hundred  years  later.2 

The  practical  result  of  this  teaching,  in  the  excited  passions  of 
the  populace  and  their  ultimate  reaction  on  the  teacher,  is  deeply 
significant  of  the  social  condition  of  the  age.  After  a  course  of 
signal  success  for  twenty  years,  he  was  seized  by  the  populace  of 
St.  Gilles  in  Provence,  and,  in  vengeance  for  his  outrages  against 
the  cross,  was  himself  burnt  to  death.3 

He  had  a  successor  in  Henry  of  Lausanne,  a  deacon  and  formerly 
a  Cluniac  monk,  whose  followers,  the  Jhnricians,  became  famous 
chiefly  through  St.  Bernard's  zeal  in  reclaiming  them.4     Though 

1  Epist.  (addressed  to  the  bishops  of  the  infested  parts  of  Dauphine) 
adv.  Petrobusianos  hsereticos,  in  the  Palrolog.  clxxxix.  It  is  a  defence 
of  the  whole  system  of  the  Church,  and  is  especially  interesting  in  one 
respect — the  argument  for  the  truth  of  Scripture  from  the  agreement  of 
the  Epistles  with  the  narrative  parts  of  the  New  Testament,  anticipating 
Paley's  argument  in  the  Horx  Paulina}.  Peter  of  Bruis  is  mentioned,  in 
connection  with  Tanchelm,  by  Abelard  {Introd.  ad  Thcvl.  ii.  4),  who  (in 
1121)  speaks  of  him  as  dead;  and  hence,  as  twenty  years  are  assigned 
to  his  career,  he  must  have  appeared  at  or  before  the  beginning  of  the 
century.  (Some  historians,  however,  date  the  twenty  years  from  110-1  to 
1124.)  The  birthplace  indicated  by  his  surname  is  supposed  to  have 
been  Bruis,  near  Montelimar,  in  Dauphine.  Peter  of  Clugny  enumerates 
five  heads  of  his  heresy:  (1)  "  Believers'  baptism,"  in  opposition  to  the  sal- 
vation of  infants  by  the  rite  ;  Against  (2,  3)  the  use  of  churches  and 
crosses,  (4)  the  efficacy  of  the  Eucharist ;  (5)  prayers  and  oblations  for 
the  dead,  and  the  use  of  hymns  in  divine  worship. 

2  Toulouse  (Tolosa)  had  been  the  capital  of  the  Avian  Gothic  kingdom, 
and  heresy  is  said  to  have  always  lingered  in  the  region.  We  shall  have 
to  speak  presentlv  of  the  special  causes  that  favoured  its  spread  in 
Languedoc.     (See  Chaps.  XXXV.  and  XXXVII.) 

3  For  details  see  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  177. 

4  He  is  mentioned  as  the  associate  and  successor  of  Peter  of  Bruis  by 
Peter  of  Clugny  (pp.  cit.);  also  in  the  Letters  of  Bernard  and  Hildebert  ; 
Gaufrid.  Yit.  Bernard;  Hildebert's  Life  in  the  Gesta  Epist.  Cenomann.  ; 
in  Mabillon's  Analetta.     (See  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  pp.  391-3.) 


584  HENRY  AND  THE  HENRICIANS.         Chap.  XXXIV. 

affecting  an  extreme  asceticism,  he  was  accused  of  licentiousness 
and  fondness  for  gaming ;  but  his  eloquence  is  described  as  such 
that  none  but  a  heart  of  stone  could  resist  it.  He  appeared  first  at 
Lausanne,  and  afterwards  at  Le  Mans  (1116),  where  he  abused  the 
permission  of  Bp.  Hildebert  to  preach,  by  exciting  a  popular  tumult 
against  the  clergy.  Driven  out  thence,  he  met  with  Peter  of  Bruis 
in  the  South  of  France  ;  and,  on  that  heresiarch's  death,  Henry  took 
his  place.  At  the  Council  of  Pisa  (1135),  on  the  accusation  of  the 
Archbishop  of  Aries,  he  was  condemned  by  Innocent  II.,  forced  to 
retract  his  heresies,  and  committed  to  the  custody  of  Bernard.  After 
a  short  detention  as  a  monk  at  Clairvaux,  he  was  released  on  a  pro- 
mise which  he  broke  by  resuming  his  preaching  in  the  South  of 
France.  The  passionate  letter  of  Bernard  to  Henry's  protector 
Ildefonsus,  count  of  St.  Gilles  and  Toulouse,  is  perhaps  coloured  by 
indignation,  while  it  bears  witness  to  the  heresiarch's  power  over 
the  people,  who  had  deserted  the  churches  and  sacraments,  rejected 
the  services  of  the  priests,  withheld  their  dues  and  wonted  reverence. 
Bernard's  letter  heralded  a  mission  which  he  undertook,  at  the 
request  of  Cardinal  Alberic,  who  had  been  deputed  by  Eugenius  III. 
to  combat  the  sect  ( 1 1 47).  The  first  scene  of  his  signal  success  was 
the  town  of  AIbi,  that  chief  seat  of  the  heresy  which  afterwards  gave 
the  sectaries  the  common  name  of  Albiyenses.  Here,  though  the 
cardinal  had  been  insulted  only  a  few  days  before,  Bernard,  fresh 
from  his  triumph  in  preaching  the  Crusade,  was  received  with 
enthusiasm,  and  his  miracles  completed  the  discomfiture  of  the 
heretic.  Deserted  by  the  people,  Henry  found  protectors  among 
the  nobles,  rather  from  their  dislike  of  the  clergy  than  any  sym- 
pathy with  his  doctrines,  but  they  too  yielded  to  Bernard's  influence  ; 
and  the  heretic  was  given  up  in  chains  to  the  Bishop  of  Toulouse. 
Nothing  more  is  heard  of  him,  and  the  sect  speedily  decayed,  or 
rather,  perhaps,  its  distinctive  name  was  merged  in  the  widespread 
collective  heresies  to  which  we  now  turn.1 

1  To  these  heretics  of  the  age,  whose  place  in  history  is  chiefly  per- 
sonal, must  be  adiled  Arnold  of  Brescia,  whose  career  we  have  had  to 
trace  in  his  signal  but  success  brief  at  Rome  (see  Chap.  IV.  §§  7,  11). 
It  is  convenient  here  to  notice  certain  visionaries  within  the  pale  of  the 
Church,  who  vied  with  heretics  in  denouncing  her  corruptions,  and  pro- 
phesying her  downfall  if  their  warnings  were  neglected.  Such  utterances 
were  not  held  to  forbid  the  canonization  of  two  famous  German  abbesses 
in  the  12th  century,  St.  Hilukgard  and  Sr.  Elizabeth  of  Sciionau, 
for  whose  lives,  see  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  pp.  65,  20o-7.  We  have  already 
had  occasion  to  speak  of  the  prophecies  of  the  Abbot  Joachim  of  Fiore. 
(Chap.  XXV.  §  6.) 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 
THE  MANICHEAN  SECTS: 

CATHARI,    ALBIGENSES,    ETC. CENT.    XII.,    XIII. 

§  1.  Various  names  of  these  sects,  merged  in  that  of  Albigenses.  §  2.  The 
Caihari  and  Pvhlicani  persecuted  in  Western  Europe — Their  treatment 
in  England  by  Henry  II. — Bernard  against  the  burning  of  heretics — ■ 
General  indisposition  to  extreme  measures.  §  3.  Peculiar  influences 
in  Languedoc  and  Provence,  predisposing  to  the  growth  of  heresy. 
§  4.  Councils  against  the  heretics  of  Toulouse— Their  Pope,  and 
Syno(i — Prevalence  of  the  heresy.  §  5.  Mission  of  Cistercians :  their 
failure  at  Toulouse.  §  6.  A  Crusade  decreed  by  the  Third  Later  an 
Council.  §  7.  Manicheism  of  the  Albigensian  sects — Their  doctrine  as 
to  creation  and  redemption  ;  the  Old  and  New  Testaments.  §  8.  Reverence 
for  the  Scriptures — Versions — Practical  teaching:  ascetic  and  puritanic 
— Opposition  to  the  Church.  §  9.  Their  own  church  system,  hierarchy, 
and  ritual — The  sacrament  of  Consolation— The  two  classes  of  Perfect 
or  Elect,  and  Imperfect  or  Federated — Their  evil  and  good  repute. 

§  1.  The  odious  appellation  of  Manicheans  was  given  by  the 
Catholic  churchmen  and  chroniclers  to  a  variety  of  sects  diffused 
throughout  Western  Christendom,  from  the  Hellespont  to  the  Ebro 
and  from  Sicily  to  Britain,  who  arc  distinguished,  though  often 
very  vaguely,  by  many  names  in  their  several  localities.  It  was 
chiefly  in  Germany  that  they  bore  the  title  of  Cathari.  doubtless 


586  THE  CATHARI  AND  ALBIGENSES.         Chap.  XXXV. 

assumed  to  denote  their  principles,  and  doubly  interesting  as  the 
Greek  equivalent  of  our  word  Puritan  and  the  etymological  source 
of  the  German  Ketzer,  "  a  heretic." *  They  called  themselves 
Apostolici  and  Boni  Homines ;  and  popular  usage  very  generally 
allowed  the  name  of  Bonshommes  to  their  harmless  and  ascetic 
character ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  most  odious  imputations 
were  associated  with  the  appellation  of  Bourgres  (Bulgari,  Bugari), 
which  points  to  their  connection  with  the  Paulicians  and  Bogomiles 
of  Bulgaria,  like  that  of  Popelicani  or  Publicani,  by  which  they 
were  known  in  France,  till  these  various  appellations  were  merged, 
first  in  the  common  title  of  heretics,  and  afterwards  of  Albigenses, 
from  the  district  (the  Albigeois),  which  was  the  chief  scene  of  the 
crusade  against  them  at  the  beginning  of  the  13th  century.2 

§  2.  Under  these  various  names,  as  well  as  the  common  designa- 
tion of  Manicheans,  bodies  of  sectaries,  whose  tenets  agree  in 
general  with  those  of  the  Cathari,  appear  in  the  12th  century  at 
many  places  in  Germany  and  the  Netherlands,  France,  Burgundy, 
and  Aquitaine.3  Their  prevalence  in  the  manufacturing  towns  is 
significant  of  the  growing  spirit  of  independent  thought  and  will 

1  Eckbert  (Serrn.  I.  adv.  Catharos,  about  1163)  says  distinctly,  "  Hos 
Germania  nostra  Catharos  appellat."  The  Lombard  and  Italian  variety 
of  the  word,  Gazari,  is  supposed  by  some  to  be  the  immediate  source  of  the 
German  Ketzer,  which  was  already  used  by  the  Minnesingers  at  this  time. 
The  names  Cathari  and  Catharistx  were  handed  down  from  the  early 
Eastern  Church,  with  special  reference  to  Manichean  claims  to  ascetic 
purity  (Augustin.  de  Hseres.  c.  46).  The  names  Pobelicani,  Popidicani, 
Publicani (in  Flanders,  Piphles),  are  probably  corrupted  forms  of  Pauliciani, 
but  naturally  suggesting  the  odious  sense  of  Publican,  as  well  as  the  pre- 
valence of  the  heresy  among  the  popidace.  Jn  Patari  and  Paterini  and 
Paternii,  again,  some  find  another  form  of  Cathari :  others  a  term  of 
reproach  for  their  rejection  of  clerical  celibacy,  while  Dr.  Maitland, 
pointing  out  that  the  original  form  is  patrini  (i.e.  godfathers),  connects  it 
with  their  baptism  of  their  converts.  (On  all  these  questions,  see  further 
in  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  pp.  393  f.;   Robertson,  vol.  iii.  pp.  182-3.) 

2  Albi  or  Alby  (Albiga),  the  chief  town  of  the  Albigeois  district  (Albi- 
gesiuiri),  is  on  the  river  Tarn,  about  forty  miles  north-east  of  Toulouse.  It 
is  still  a  considerable  manufacturing  town.  The  various  names  of  the 
sectaries  are  seen  in  connection  with  their  special  seats  in  the  South  of 
France  in  the  decree  of  the  Third  Lateran  Council  (c.  27,  A.D.  1179).  It 
is  clear  that  the  name  Albigenses  arose  gradually  from  the  prevalence  of 
heresy  in  the  Albigeois  district,  rather  than,  as  Roger  of  Wendover  says 
(ii.  267),  from  the  mere  fact  that  the  first  processes  against  them  were 
held  at  Albi.  It  seems  to  have  been  fixed  in  use  in  place  of  the  general 
name  "  heretics  "  by  the  foreign  soldiers  in  the  campaign  of  1208.  There 
are  many  other  names,  partly  from  ancient  sects,  partly  local,  and  partly 
from  classes  of  the  community,  such  as  that  of  Tisseraivh  (weavers)  in 
Flanders,  significant  of  heresy  among  the  workers  in  towns. 

3  For  the  particular  places,  see  Gieseler  and  Robertson,  11.  cc. 


Cent.  XII.       BERNARD  AGAINST  BURNING  HERETICS.  587 

in  these  rising  communities ;  but  the  less  instructed  classes  were 
often  violent  against  them  ;  and  many  of  them  perished  in  popular 
tumults,  as  well  as  by  the  judgment  of  priests  and  sovereigns. 
Spain  was  infested  by  them ;  and  in  Italy  they  extended  as  far 
south  as  Calabria.  In  Lombardy,  where  we  have  already  seen  them 
at  Monteforte,  and  where  opposition  to  clerical  authority  had  long 
been  vigorous,  they  are  described  as  abounding  in  cities  and  suburbs, 
villages  and  castles,  and  teaching  without  fear  or  hindrance.  In 
England,  a  party  of  some  thirty  Publicans  was  discovered  at  Oxford 
about  1160,  and  condemned  by  a  Council  at  which  Henry  II.  was 
present.  By  his  sentence  they  were  branded  in  the  face,  severely 
flogged,  and  driven  out  of  the  town  to  perish  of  cold  and  hunger, 
as  the  people  would  hold  no  communication  with  them.1  But  even 
these  "tender  mercies  of  the  cruel"  must  be  regarded  as  dis- 
tinguishing the  King  of  England  favourably  from  the  civil  and 
ecclesiastical  authorities  of  the  Continent ;  for  the  chronicler  tells 
us  that,2  "  while  the  Publicans  were  burnt  in  many  places  through- 
out France,  King  Henry  would  by  no  means  allow  this  in  his 
dominions,  although  there  were  many  of  them  there."  A  policy, 
in  which  contempt  for  superstition  and  jealousy  of  ecclesiastical 
jurisdiction  had  doubtless  no  small  share,  was  sanctioned  by  the 
purer  principles  advocated  by  the  pious  Abbot  of  Clairvaux.  In 
1146,  Bernard  was  applied  to  by  Everwin,  provost  of  Steinfeld, 
concerning  certain  Manichean  (Petrobusian  or  Henrician)  sectaries 
at  Cologne,  who,  after  a  public  discussion  with  the  clergy,  had 
been  tumultuously  burnt  by  the  mob.  The  provost  regrets  this 
violence,  and  asks  for  arguments  and  authorities  against  the  errors 
which  he  reports.  Upon  this  Bernard  composed  two  sermons 
on  the  text,  "  Take  us  the  foxes,  the  little  foxes,  that  spoil  the 
vines;"3  that  is,  he  says,  while  vehemently  denouncing  their 
opinions  and  practices,  "  They  are  to  be  taken  to  us,  not  with  arms 
but  with  arguments ;  and,  if  possible,  they  are  to  be  reconciled  to 
the  Catholic  Church,  and  recalled  to  the  true  faith."  Not  that  he 
would  allow  them  free  licence  and  impunity,  an  idea  quite  incon- 
sistent with  the  ecclesiastical  discipline  of  that  age.  They  might  be 
taken  and  imprisoned,  to  prevent  their  wasting  the  Lord's  vineyard, 
and  as  erring  brethren  to  be  reclaimed,  but  not  cut  off  to  the  death 
of  soul  as  well  as  body.  Indeed,  through  the  12th  century,  we 
may  still  trace  a  certain  hesitation  in  carrying  out  the  extreme 
severity  which  we  have  seen  applied  to  the  scattered  heretics. 

1  Will.  Neubrig.  (ii.  13),  who  approves  the  punishment  of  what  he  notes 
as  the  first  outbreak  of  heresy  in  England  since  that  of  Pelagianism. 

2  Roger  of  Hoveden,  p.  352,  b. 

3  Bernard,  Serm.  in  Cantic.  (ii.  15)  65,  66 


588  STATE  OF  LANGUEDOC.  Chap.  XXXV. 

§  3.  It  must  be  remembered  that,  in  the  chief  seats  of  heresy 
of  which  we  have  now  to  speak,  in  Languedoc,  there  was  no 
supreme  authority,  like  that  of  the  Emperor  or  the  King  of  France, 
to  enforce  a  decided  policy,  while  its  social  and  political  condition 
demanded  a  specially  prudent  policy  on  the  part  of  the  Church. 
The  historian  of  Latin  Christianity  *  has  described  the  state  of  that 
beautiful  land  of  the  South,  Languedoc  and  Provence,  advanced  in 
civilization,  art,  and  luxury  beyond  any  other  part  of  Europe,  under 
princes  who,  distinguished  in  the  Crusades,  had  brought  back 
Oriental  ideas  and  tastes,  who  gave  themselves  full  licence  in 
manners  and  morals,  whose  religion  was  chivalry,  and  their  re- 
creation the  amatory  and  satiric  song  of  the  troubadour  ;  with 
powerful  manufacturing  towns,  where  the  spirit  of  free  thought  and 
even  turbulence  grew  with  wealth,  and  Eastern  heresies  had  been 
brought  in  with  commerce;  all  classes  uniting  in  such  contempt 
f«  >r  the  clergy  that,  "  instead  of  the  old  proverb  for  the  lowest  abase- 
ment— '  I  had  rather  my  son  were  a  Jew ' — the  Provencals  said, 
'  I  had  rather  he  were  a  priest.'  The  knights  rarely  allowed  their 
sons  to  enter  into  orders,  but,  to  secure  the  tithes  to  themselves, 
presented  the  sons  of  low-born  vassals  to  the  churches,  whom  the 
bishops  were  obliged  to  ordain  for  want  of  others.  .  .  .  The  devout 
found  their  religious  excitement  in  the  new  and  forbidden  opinions. 
There  was  for  the  more  hard  and  zealous  an  asceticism  which  put 
to  shame  the  feeble  monkery  of  those  days  ;  for  the  more  simply 
pious,  the  biblical  doctrines;  and  what  seems  to  have  been  held 
in  the  deepest  reverence,  the  consolation  in  death,  which,  admin- 
istered by  the  Perfect  alone  (men  of  tried  and  known  holiness), 
had  all  the  blessing,  none  of  the  doubtful  value,  of  absolution 
bestowed  by  the  carnal,  wicked,  worldly,  as  well  as  by  the  most 
sanctified,  priest." 

§  4.  Since  the  burning  of  some  Manicheans  at  Toulouse,  at  the 
beginning  of  the  12th  century,  the  growth  of  heresy  in  this  region 
had  been  so  serious  as  to  call  forth  the  edict  of  a  General  Council, 
besides  being  denounced  in  provincial  councils  under  the  personal 

1  Milman,  vol.  v.  pp.  403-408.  The  reader  must  not  forget  that  we  are 
dealing  with  a  time  before  Languedoc  was  united  to  France,  and  while  it 
was  still  held  by  several  counts,  each  independent  in  his  own  county. 
Under   the    suzerainty   of   the   Count    of  Toulouse   were    the    five    fiefs : 

I.  Narbonne,  whose    count    possessed  the  most  ample  feudal    privileges. 

II.  Beziers,  under  which  viscounty  the  Counts  of  ^4/6*  and  Carcasonne  held. 

III.  The  countship  of  Foix,  with  six  territorial  vassalages.  IV.  The 
countship  of  Montpellier,  now  devolved  on  Pedro,  king  of  Arragon. 
V.  The  countship  of  Quercy  and  .Rhodez.  For  signal  illustrations  of  the 
prodigal  luxury  and  ostentation  of  these  princes,  see  the  Hist,  de  Lan- 
guedoc, iii.  37  (quoted  by  Milman,  p.  407). 


Cent.  XII.  TENETS  OF  THE  HERETICS.  589 

presidency  of  Popes  ; x  and  its  persistence  furnishes  a  comment  on 
the  accounts  of  St.  Bernard's  miraculous  success.  In  1165,  a 
synod  of  bishops  at  Lombers,  near  Albi,  endeavoured  to  reclaim  a 
number  of  the  "  good  men  "  (boni  homines),  who  maintained  their 
right  to  free  argument,  and  refused  to  answer  concerning  their  faith 
under  compulsion  ;  and  no  attempt  was  made  to  enforce  against 
their  persons  the  sentence  passed  on  their  opinions.2  Two  years  later 
(1 167),  "we  read  of  a  council  held  by  the  heretics  themselves  at 
St.  Felix  de  Caraman,  near  Toulouse,  under  the  presidency  of  a 
person  styled  Pope  Niquinta,  a  name  which  has  been  identified 
with  that  of  one  Nicetas,  who  is  said  by  a  writer  of  the  time  to  have 
come  from  Constantinople  into  Lombardy.  A  vast  multitude  of 
both  sexes  nocked  to  receive  from  him  the  mystical  rite  which  was 
styled  consolamentum.  Representatives  of  several  Catharist  churches 
appeared  ;  bishops  were  chosen  and  ordained  for  these  communities  ; 
and,  with  a  view  to  the  preservation  of  harmony  among  the  sec- 
taries, Niquinta  told  them  that  all  churches  were,  like  the  seven 
churches  of  Asia,  originally  independent  of  each  other,  that  such  was 
still  the  case  with  their  brethren  of  Bulgaria,  Dalmatia,  and  the 
East ;  and  he  charged  them  to  do  so  in  like  manner."  3 

This  account  contains  three  points  of  special  interest :  the  recog- 
nition of  a  connection  with  the  Bulgarian  sectaries ;  the  existence 
of  an  ecclesiastical  organization  among  the  heretics  ;  and  their 
assertion  of  the  principle  of  congregational  independency.  A  devout 
(or,  at  least,  orthodox)  Troubadour 4  laments  that  "  this  heresy 
(which  the  Lord  cursed)  had  in  its  power  the  whole  Albigeois,  Car- 
cassonne, and  Lauragais,  from  Beziers  to  Bordeaux.  Churches  were 
in  ruins,  baptism  refused,  the  Eucharist  in  execration,  penance 
despised,  sacraments  abolished,  the  doctrine  of  two  principles 
introduced." 

§  5.  The  lord  of  the  country — Raymond  V.,  count  of  Toulouse — 
applied  to  the  powerful  and  devout  brotherhood  of  Cistercians,  as 
the  force  best  fitted  to  restore  the  religious  peace  of  his  dominions 
(1177).  At  the  same  time,  and  probably  in  consequence  of  the 
count's  appeal,  the  Kings  of  France  and  England  (Louis  VII.  and 
Henry  II.)  induced  the  Cistercians  to  undertake  the  task  by  means 
of  a  fully  organized  mission,  headed  by  the  legate  Peter,  cardinal  of 
St.  Chrysogonus,  and  other  high  ecclesiastics ;  among  them,  Henry, 

1  Namely,  a  council  held  by  Callixtus  II.  at  Toulouse  (1119);  the 
Second  Lateran  Council,  by  Innocent  11.(1139);  the  Council  of  Reims, 
by  Eugenius  III.  (1148);  and  that  of  Tours,  by  Alexander  III.  (1163). 

2  For  details,  see  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  403. 

3  Boug.  xiv.  448-9  ;   Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  188. 

4  Fauriel,  ap.  Milman,  v.  407. 

II— 2  D  2 


590  MISSION  OF  CISTERCIANS.  Chap.  XXXV. 

abbot  of  Clairvaux,  who  has  left  a  graphic  account  of  the  heresy 
and  the  vain  attempt  to  suppress  it.1  Amidst  a  rhetorical  description 
of  the  heretics  as  lords  among  the  clergy  as  well  as  the  people,  he 
bears  an  interesting  testimony  to  their  ecclesiastical  organization, 
and  especially  their  system  of  popular  preaching  by  Evangelists, 
which  seemed  to  him  still  more  audacious.  On  their  entry  into 
Toulouse,  the  missionaries  were  pointed  at  and  mocked  in  the  streets, 
and  called  hypocrites,  apostates,  heretics.  A  severe  example  was 
made  of  their  chief  supporter  in  the  town,  Peter  Moran,  an  old  man  of 
great  wealth  and  powerful  connections,  who  is  said  to  have  called 
himself  John  the  Evangelist.  Though  he  abjured  his  errors,  he 
was  repeatedly  flogged,  amerced  of  all  his  property,  and  sent  on  pil- 
grimage to  the  Holy  Land.  Roger,  viscount  of  Be'ziers,  who  fled  into 
an  inaccessible  part  of  his  dominions  when  called  on  to  release  the 
Bishop  of  Albi  from  the  custody  of  the  heretics,  was  declared  a 
perjured  heretic  and  traitor.  Henry  declares  it  to  have  been  the 
general  opinion  in  Toulouse  that,  if  the  visitation  had  been  delayed 
for  three  years  longer,  scarcely  any  one  would  have  been  found  in 
the  city  to  call  on  the  name  of  Christ ;  which  he  urges  as  a  reason 
for  instant  action,  applying  the  figure  used  by  St.  Paul  in  a  very 
different  spirit 2 — that  "  a  great  and  evident  door  stood  open  for  the 
Christian  princes,  to  avenge  the  wrongs  of  Christ."  Such  was  the 
first  call  to  a  crusade  upon  Christian  heretics,  raised  by  an  abbot 
of  Clairvaux,  as  if  in  emulation  of  his  sainted  predecessor's  preaching 
against  the  unbelieving  Saracens. 

§  6.  The  common  "  Father"  and  Church  of  Western  Christendom 
responded  at  once  (1179)  in  a  decree  of  the  Third  Lateran  Council 
against  "the  damnata  perversitas  of  the  heretics  in  Gascony,  the 
Albigeois,  and  the  parts  about  Toulouse,  called  Cathari  or  Patareni 
or  Publicani,  or  by  other  names,  who  were  openly  and  no  longer 
secretly  practising  their  wickedness  and  proclaiming  their  error, 
and  attracting  the  simple  and  weak  to  their  fellowship."3  An 
anathema  was  pronounced  alike  on  them  and  all  who  should  pro- 
tect or  harbour  them  in  their  houses  or  on  their  lands,  or  have 
any  dealings  with  them.  All  the  faithful  were  enjoined,  in  order 
to  the  remission  of  their  sins,  "  to  oppose  such  calamities  like  men, 
and  to  protect  the  Christian  people  against  them  by  arms.  Let  their 
goods  be  confiscated,  and  let  the  princes  be  at  liberty  to  reduce 

1  The  chief  authority  is  Roger  of  Hoveden,  who  gives  the  letters  of 
Henry  and  Peter.  (See  the  extracts  in  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  pp.  403-4.)  The 
complete  failure  of  the  mission  is  recorded  in  the  few  terse  words  of 
Robert  de  Monte,  et  parum  profecerunt.     (C'hron.  s.  a.  1178.) 

2  Acts  xiv.  27  ;   1  Cor.  xvi.  9 ;  2  Cor.  ii.  12. 

3  Alexander  III.  at  the  Cone.  Lit.  iii.  c.  27,  ap.  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  404. 


A.D.  1179.  CRUSADE  OF  ALEXANDER  III.  591 

men  of  this  sort  to  slavery."  To  all  the  faithful  who  took  up  arms, 
the  decree  granted  a  relaxation  of  penance  for  two  years  or  longer, 
according  to  the  duration  of  the  campaign,  at  the  discretion  of  the 
bishops,  to  whom  the  execution  of  the  mandate  was  committed, 
while  all  who  refused  were  to  be  excluded  from  the  Eucharist.  The 
Archbishop  of  Narbonne  followed  up  the  mandate  given  to  his 
order  by  requiring  his  suffragans  to  publish  the  ban  every  Sunday 
against  the  heretics  and  their  protectors,  including  by  name  Koger, 
count  of  Beziers,  and  four  viscounts.  The  Abbot  Henry  himself, 
who  was  created  at  the  Council  Cardinal-Bishop  of  Albano,  returned 
to  the  country  as  papal  legate  (1181)  with  an  army,  which  per- 
petrated much  bloodshed  and  devastation,  but  failed  to  suppress 
the  heresy.  Before  relating  the  more  thorough  effort  for  their 
extirpation,  made  by  Innocent  III.  at  the  beginning  of  the  13th 
century,  it  is  necessary  to  enquire  more  fully  into  their  tenets,  with 
a  special  view  to  their  discrimination  from  the  Waldenses,  who 
had  arisen  at  the  same  time  in  the  South  of  France,  and  whose 
confusion  with  the  Albigenses  has  been  the  source  of  much  error.1 

§  7.  It  is  now  generally  admitted,  as  we  have  seen,  that  the  charge 
of  Manicheism,  against  the  sects  included  under  the  general  names 
of  Cathari  and  Albigenses,  rests  on  a  substantial  foundation.2  Per- 
haps the  matter  is  best  summed  up  in  Baxter's  terse  estimate  of 
the  Albigenses,  as  "  Manichees  with  some  better  persons  mixed."  3 
Their  speculative  tenets  were  based  on  the  theories  of  Dualism  and 
Emanation,  the  irreconcilable  antagonism  between  spirit  and 
matter;  and  the  formation  of  the  present  material  world  by  the 
bad  principle,  as  is  proved  by  its  evils  and  imperfections.  Adam 
and  Eve  were  formed  by  the  devil,  with  souls  of  light  imprisoned 
within  their  fleshly  bodies.  And,  as  the  material  world,  so  the 
unspiritual  dispensation  of  the  Old  Testament,  the  Mosaic  ritual 

1  Superficial  readers  are  often  led  into  this  confusion  by  the  mere 
juxtaposition  of  the  names  Albigenses  and  Wnldenses  in  the  titles  even  of 
works  in  which  they  are  carefully  discriminated. 

2  For  the  ancient  authorities,  see  Gieseler  (vol.  iii.  pp.  404-8),  who,  as 
usual,  gives  full  extracts.  The  most  important  are  the  two  contemporary 
historians  of  the  Albigensian  Crusade,  the  monk  Peter  of  the  Cistercian 
abbey  of  Vaux  Cernay,  in  the  diocese  of  Paris  (Hist.  Albigensium.  down  to 
1218),  and  Gulielmus  de  Podio  Laurentii  (William  of  Puy-Laurent), 
chaplain  of  Raymund  VII.  (super  Hist.  Negot.  Franeorum  adv.  Albigenses, 
down  to  1272).  The  chief  modern  works  are  :  Maitland,  Facts  and  Docu- 
ments, &c.  (already  cited,  p.  578,  n.  '),  and  Eight  Essays,  Lond.  1852; 
C.  Schmidt,  Hist,  et  Doctrines  de  la  Secte  des  Cathares,  Paris,  1849;  and 
especially  Hahn,  Gesch.  der  Ketzer  im  Mittelalter.  See  also  Milman,  Hist. 
of  Lat.  Christ,  bk.  ix.  c.  8  ;  Robertson,  bk.  v.  c.  12  ;  Hardwick,  Ch.  Hist. 
Mid.  Age,  pp.  285  f.  ;  Trench,  Medieval  Ch.  Hist,  lecture  xv. 

H  Trench,  p.  220. 


592  MANICHEISM  OF  THE  ALBIGENSES.         Chap.  XXXV. 

and  the  utterances  of  the  old  prophets  were  the  work  of  Satan ; 
for  the  God  of  the  Old  Testament  is  changeable,  false,  and  cruel. 
The  fall  of  the  rebel  angels,  and  its  fruit  in  these  their  works, 
necessitated  the  coming  of  Christ,  who  was  a  glorious  emana- 
tion from  the  Father.  As  the  Son  of  God,  He  was  but  the 
highest  angel,  and  was  inferior  to  the  Father,  as  the  Holy  Ghost 
was  to  the  Son.  The  incarnation  appears  to  have  been  generally 
denied  ;  and  "  the  bodily  form  of  the  Saviour,  His  actions  and  suf- 
ferings, were  explained  on  the  Docetic  principle ;  the  Gospel 
miracles  were  said  to  have  been  wrought  in  no  other  than  a  spiritual 
sense — such  as  feeding  spiritual  hunger,  healing  the  diseases  of  the 
soul  or  raising  from  the  death  of  sin ;  and  in  this  sense  the  sec- 
taries claimed  for  themselves  a  continuance  of  miraculous  power,  by 
virtue  of  the  Saviour's  promise."  x  The  redemption  of  the  world  by 
Christ  was  to  be  accomplished  in  the  eventual  recovery  of  the 
human  souls  from  their  imprisonment  by  Satan  in  the  flesh,  to 
resume  their  spiritual  bodies,2  and  the  return  of  the  material  world 
into  the  chaos  out  of  which  the  power  of  evil  shaped  it.  Hence 
there  was  of  course  no  place  for  the  resurrection  in  their  system  ; 
and  the  souls  of  men  were  held  to  be  the  fallen  angels  who  had 
lost  their*  spiritual  bodies,  and  were  doomed  to  the  penance  of  passing 
through  seven  forms  of  terrestrial  bodies.  In  regard  to  the  whole 
history  of  the  world  and  man,  they  seem  to  have  held  the  doctrine 
of  absolute  predestination. 

§  8.  With  all  their  Manichean  disparagement  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment,3 the  Cathari  vindicated  their  puritanic  claims  by  their 
thorough  knowledge  of  and  reverence  for  the  Scriptures  they 
received.  They  had  vernacular  versions  made  from  the  Greek ; 
another  indication  of  their  origin.4 

In  their  practical  teaching,  both  moral  and  ecclesiastical,  we  trace 
a  mixture  of  principles  :  ascetic  based  on  Manicheism,  and  puritanic 
in  opposition  to  the  corruptions  of  the  Church.  Of  the  former  kind 
was  their  objection  to  marriage,  as  at  best  a  necessary  evil,  and  to 

1  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  191.  "The  later  miracles  of  the  Church  were 
denied,  and  members  of  the  sect  sometimes  threw  ridicule  on  them  by 
applying  to  some  famous  worker  of  miracles  for  the  cure  of  a  pretended 
ailment,  and  afterwards  exposing  the  imposture." 

2  So  they  interpreted  the  new  resurrection  body  of  1  Cor.  xv. 

3  They  seem  to  have  accepted  the  poetical  and  some  of  the  prophetical 
books,  and  to  have  regarded  the  quotations  of  the  Old  Testament  in  the 
New  as  stamped  with  divine  authority. 

4  The  Catharic  translation  of  the  N.  T.  is  extant  in  a  Romaic  dialect, 
but  not  yet  printed.  As  far  as  can  be  judged  from  the  style  of  the  writ- 
ing, this  MS.  belongs  to  the  12th  or  13th  century.  For  au  account  of  it, 
see  Gieseler,  iii.  pp.  407-9. 


Cent.  XII.  THEIR  ORGANIZATION.  593 

the  idea  of  connecting  spiritual  grace  with  what  they  regarded  as 
evil  matter  in  the  Sacraments,  the  use  of  water  in  baptism,1  and  of 
bread  and  wine  in  the  Eucharist ;  much  more,  therefore,  to  transub- 
stantiation.  But  on  more  general  grounds  they  rejected  the  whole 
sacramental  and  disciplinal  system — confirmation  and  confession, 
penance  and  absolution,  ordination  and  the  ritual  of  worship — nay, 
the  very  constitution  of  the  Church.  For  they  not  only  called  the 
Church  of  Rome  a  cave  of  robbers  and  the  harlot  of  the  Apocalypse, 
but  they  denied  that  a  house  built  with  hands  was  a  Church,  for 
that  name  belonged  to  every  good  man  or  woman  or  congregation 
of  both ;  and  they  carried  out  this  principle  by  profaning  and 
destroying  churches,  with  their  furniture,  sacred  vessels,  and  vest- 
ments. They  held  all  war  and  capital  punishment  to  be  murder, 
and  denounced  the  Pope  and  bishops  as  murderers  for  counte- 
nancing wars,  especially  those  of  religion  and  persecution. 

§  9.  On  the  other  hand,  they  had  a  church  system  and  hierarchy, 
sacraments  and  ritual,  of  their  own ;  they  claimed  to  possess  the 
true  priesthood,  and  held  the  necessity  of  membership  in  their 
communion  to  salvation,  as  decidedly  as  did  the  Catholic  Church 
itself;  so  that  even  their  orthodox  adversaries  charged  them  with 
denying  the  power  of  faith.  The  statement  that  the  sectaries  of 
Bulgaria  had  a  Pope,  whose  authority  was  acknowledged  in  the 
West,  is  doubtful ;  but  they  certainly  had  orders  of  bishops  and 
deacons,  and  a  gradation  of  membership,  not  unlike  a  division 
between  the  initiated  and  uninitiated.2  The  great  sacrament  of 
their  fellowship  was  that  which  they  called  the  Consolation  (con- 
solamentum),  because  it  bestowed  the  gift  of  the  consoling  Spirit, 
the  Paraclete ;  the  baptism  of  fire,  which  restored  to  him  who 
received  it  the  heavenly  soul  which  had  been  lost  by  the  Fall.  It 
was  administered  not  only  by  the  clergy,  but  by  any  one  who  had 
received  it,  and,  in  case  of  necessity,  even  by  a  woman  ;  but 
sinfulness  in  the  minister  made  the  rite  void.  The  other  sacraments 
were  the  Blessing  of  Bread  at  their  daily  food,3  Penance,  and  Ordi- 
ation.  Those  who  had  received  the  Consolation  formed  the  higher 
class  of  the  Perfect   (perfecti)   or  Elect ;  and  were  pledged  to  a 

1  This  objection  seems  to  have  been  mixed  up  with  the  theory  of 
"  believers'  baptism ; "  for  Eckhart  says  that  they  openly  deuied  the 
baptism  of  infants,  but  more  secretly  denied  all  water  baptism  (i.  2). 

2  This  distinction  may  perhaps  have  involved  an  esoteric  and  exoteric 
teaching,  which  might  go  far  to  account  for  the  difficulty  of  discrimina- 
ting the  Manichean  and  puritanic  principles  ;  the  one  the  system  of  the 
leaders;  the  other  the  simpler  faith  of  the  common  people. 

3  It  is  said  that  they  regarded  the  food  thus  blessed  as  conveying  the 
spiritual  nourishment  of  the  Lord's  body,  so  that  every  meal  was  a 
euchanstic  sacrament. 


594  THE  PERFECT  AND  FEDERATED.  Chap.  XXXV. 

severely  ascetic  life ;  abstaining  from  all  animal  food,  eggs,  milk, 
and  cheese,  and  renouncing  marriage,  which  was  declared  to  be  so 
fatal  that  no  married  persons  could  be  saved,  unless  they  were 
separated  before  death.  The  breach  of  any  of  these  rules  by  the 
Perfect  was  a  mortal  sin,  which  could  only  be  remitted  by  a  repeti- 
tion of  their  Consolation ;  but  for  venial  sins  absolution  was  ob- 
tained by  a  solemn  monthly  confession,  called  apj.areilamentum. 
The  Perfect  belonged  no  longer  to  themselves,  but  were  bound  to 
travel  and  labour  for  the  service  of  the  sect ;  and  they  were  inde- 
fatigable in  obtaining  proselytes.  They  renounced  all  property, 
after  the  pattern  of  Christ  and  his  Apostles,  and  were  constant  in 
their  invectives  on  the  wealth  of  the  clergy. 

The  lower  order  of  adherents  were  called  the  imperfect,  or,  as  not 
being  full  members,  the  federated  (fcederati)  ;  *  but,  as  there  was  no 
hope  of  salvation  out  of  the  sect,  they  were  required  to  receive  the 
Consolation  on  their  death-beds.2  With  the  prospect  of  this  final 
rite,  and  freedom  from  its  obligations  during  life,  the  federated  are 
charged  by  their  enemies  with  great  laxity  of  morals,  and  many  of 
the  Perfect  are  said  to  have  regretted  not  having  taken  advantage  of 
their  former  immunity  to  indulge  more  freely  in  sin.  Other  writers 
bring  against  the  Cathari  accusations  of  magic,  incest,  and  other  abo- 
minations, such  as  are  usually  laid  to  the  charge  of  heretical  parties. 
Though  oaths,  and  even  affirmations,  such  as  "  truly  "  or  "  certainly," 
were  strictly  forbidden,  and  it  is  said  that  the  Perfect  would  rather 
die  than  swear,  they  are  accused  of  swearing  as  freely  as  they  lied ; 
and  for  their  habitual  use  of  equivocation,  especially  in  evading 
questions  concerning  their  tenets,  they  are  likened  to  "  eels,  which, 
the  more  tightly  they  are  squeezed,  the  more  easily  they  slip  away.* 
Notwithstanding  their  renunciation  of  property,  they  are  charged 
with  being  fond  of  money,  and  practising  usury  and  other  unscru- 
pulous means  of  obtaining  it,  and  with  neglecting  the  poor,  partly 
from  avarice,  and  partly  from  disbelief  in  the  merit  of  alms.  Yet 
we  are  told  the  reputation  for  sanctity  won  by  the  rigid  lives  of  the 
Catharists  was  one  chief  source  of  their  wide-spread  influence  ; 
and  many  nobles  of  the  land  showed  them  the  confidence  of  en- 
trusting them  with  the  education  of  their  children. 

1  According  to  some,  these  were  called  Hearers,  and  the  Perfect  Believers. 

2  "Many  entered  into  an  agreement,  known  as  La  Convenenza  (the 
Covenant),  that  it  should  be  administered  to  them  in  their  last  moments  ; 
and  some,  after  having  received  it,  starved  themselves  to  death,  lest  they 
should  again  be  defiled  by  a  relapse  into  sin.  Besides  this,  which  was 
styled  endura,  suicide  was  allowed  in  various  cases,  such  as  that  of 
extreme  persecution  ;  and  it  is  said  that,  in  order  to  obtain  for  receivers 
of  clinical  consolation  a  higher  place  in  glory,  it  was  usual  for  then- 
friends  to  starve  or  to  strangle  them."     (Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  195.) 


Church  of  St.  Ainay,  Lyon. 

CHAPTER  XXXVI. 
THE  WALDENSES,  OR  POOR  MEN  OF  LYON. 


CENTURIES   XII. -XV. 

1.  Confusion  of  the  Waldenses  with  the  Albigenses — Their  freedom  from 
Manicheism  and  all  doctrinal  heresy — Popular  misconceptions  of  their 
name  and  character.  §  2.  Their  real  foundation  at  Lyon  by  Waldo 
(1170) — His  one  desire  for  Scriptural  knowledge  and  life — Translations 
of  SS.  and  extracts  from  Fathers  —  Preaching  of  himself  and  his 
followers:  forbidden  by  the  Archbishop.  §  3.  Appeal  to  Alexander  III. 
rejected — Walter  Map's  account — Condemnation  by  the  Council  of 
Verona,  by  the  name  of  Humiliati  or  Poor  Men  of  Lvo.v.  §  4.  Popular 
success  and  wide  diffusion — Patronage  of  princes- Their  schools.  §  5. 
Their  constant  use  of  the  vernacular  Scriptures — Testimony  of 
Innocent  III.  and  others  to  their  orthodoxy.  §  '3.  Errors  imputed  to  them. 
§  7.  Progress  of  their  opposition  to  Rome.  §  8.  Their  moral  and  social 
virtues — Labour  and  simplicity  of  life.  §  9.  Their  extant  writings, 
mingled  with  their  later  views  —  Poems — The  Noble  Lesson  (15th 
century.) 


596  THE  WALDENSES  NOT  ALBIGENSES.     Chap.  XXXVI. 

§  1.  From  the  heterogeneous  tenets  and  doubtful  character  of  these 
sectaries, — obscured  as  both  have  been  by  the  evidence  of  their 
contemporary  enemies,  and  the  partial  views  of  their  modern 
apologists, — it  is  a  relief  to  turn  to  the  one  body  in  which  we  clearly 
recognize  the  main  principles  of  a  scriptural  and  evangelical  effort 
to  reform  the  corruptions  of  the  Church,  which  only  the  Church 
itself  forced  into  heretical  opposition  ;  the  society,  rather  than  sect 
(to  call  them  by  their  own  proper  name)  of  the  "  Poor  Men  of 
Lyon"  (Pauperes  de  Lugduno).  Even  here  we  have  first  to  dis- 
miss views  now  clearly  proved  to  be  unfounded,  but  long  held  by 
the  most  opposite  parties,  which  confused  the  Waldenses  with  the 
Albigenses ;  the  one  party  desiring  to  involve  both  in  the  common 
odium  of  Manicheism;  the  other  making  both  equally  pure  reformers. 
Without  doubt  they  had  so  much  in  common,  that  the  purest 
motives  influenced  individuals  found  in  both,  and  both  necessarily 
agreed  in  condemning  certain  glaring  corruptions  of  the  Church, 
nay  more,  both  opposed  a  great  part  of  her  doctrine,  constitution, 
and  ritual,  on  the  same  puritan  grounds.  But  the  distinction  is 
broad  and  clear  in  respect  of  their  fundamental  principles  and  histo- 
rical derivation,  at  least  in  respect  of  those  darker  features  which 
formed  one  element  in  the  system  of  the  Catharist  or  Albigensian 
sects.  We  have  the  pregnant  admission  of  contemporary  Catholic 
opponents  of  the  Waldenses,  that  they  were  far  less  perverse  than 
other  heretics  ;  that  they  were  sound  in  their  faith  as  to  the  doc- 
trines that  relate  to  God,  and  received  all  the  articles  of  the  Creed ; 
so  that,  in  the  South  of  France,  they  were  sometimes  allied  with  the 
clergy  in  defence  of  these  truths  against  Manichean  and  other 
heretics.1  While  they  exalted  the  Gospel  above  the  law,  it  was  in 
no  spirit  of  Manichean  disparagement  of  the  older  Scriptures.  And, 
although  they  did  not  escape  the  popular  charges  of  secret  and 
abominable  rites,  or  the  imputation  of  hypocrisy,  the  general  purity 
of  their  morals  is  allowed   by    their   opponents. 2     The  result  of 

1  The  Waldenses  even  spoke  of  the  Manichean  sectaries  as  "  devils." 

2  For  the  authorities  for  these  statements,  see  Robertson,  vol.  iii. 
pp.  205-206;  Gieseler,  ch.  vii.  §  88,  vol.  iii.  pp.  411  f.  On  the  Waldenses 
in  general  the  principal  sources  of  information  are  :  some  Waldensian  31SS. 
in  the  libraries  of  Geneva.  Dublin,  Cambridge,  &c.  (see  Herzog,  inf.  cit.) ; 
the  works  of  their  Catholic  opponents,  the  records  of  the  Inquisition  of 
Toulouse  (Limbosch,  Hist.  Inq.") ;  Bernardus,  Abbas  Fontis  Calidi  (ob. 
before  1200),  Adv.  Yaldensium  sectam  {Patrol,  cciv.) ;  Walter  Map,  De 
lVugis  Curialium;  Steph.  de  Borbone  (ob.  1250),  De  Septcm  Donis  Spiritus 
Sancti;  Alanus  ab  Insulis,  Contra  Hxret.  sni  Temporis :  Rainerius  Sac- 
choni  (first  »  Cithanst  and  then  an  Inquisitor),  Summa  de  Catharis  et 
Lconistis ;  Moneta,  Summa  adv.  Catharos  et  Valdenses ;  Yvonetus  (a 
Dominican,    1270-1280),  De    Hxresi   Pauperum   De    Lugduno  (Martene, 


A.D.  1170  f.  FREE  FROM  MANICHEISM.  597 

modern  research  is  summed  up  in  the  calm  and  emphatic  judgment 
of  Hallam,1  on  the  heretics  of  this  age :  "  Those  who  were 
absolutely  free  from  any  taint  of  Manicheism  are  properly  called 
Waldenses  ;"  and  in  Archbishop  Trench's  eloquent  application  to 
them  of  the  principle  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest :  "  Of  all  the 
bodies  which  thus  in  the  Middle  Ages  joined  hands  in  a  revolt 
against  the  authority  of  Rome,  and  which  had  their  hostility  to  her 
in  common,  the  Waldenses,  weak  in  numbers  as  compared  with  so 
many  of  the  others,  alone  survived  to  greet  the  dawning  of  a 
brighter  day.  One  would  not  willingly  utter  a  single  word  which 
even  malice  could  pervert  into  an  apology  for  the  persecutors  ;  yet 
allegiance  to  the  truth  leaves  me  no  choice  but  to  say  that  the 
Waldenses  alone  survived  because,  resting  on  a  Scriptural  founda- 
tion, they  alone  were  worthy  to  survive."  2 

Nor  is  this  a  mere  matter  of  opinion,  but  a  judgment  confirmed  by 
the  known  history  of  the  body,  which  is  as  free  from  any  trace  of 
the  Eastern  derivation,  as  it  is  from  any  admixture  of  the  Oriental 
doctrines,  of  the  Albigenses.  For  it  may  safely  be  pronounced 
a  fond  fancy,  which,  with  the  aid  of  a  mere  play  on  the  name,3 
would  trace  their  origin  to  a  primitive  remnant  of  Evangelical 
Christians  in  the  Alps  of  Piedmont  and  Savoy  ;  a  notion  impressed 

vol.  v.).  For  the  modern  works  see  Gieseler,  Robertson,  Niedner, 
Hase,  &c. :  besides  those  of  Maitland  already  quoted,  the  most  important 
are,  A.  Dieckhoti',  Die  Waldcnser  im  Mittelalter,  Got  tin  gen,  1851  ;  Herzog, 
Die  romanisclien  W.,  ihre  vorreform,  Zustande  u.  Lehren,  Halle,  1853; 
W.  Preger,  Zur  Gesch.   d.  W.  (in  the  Akad.  d.   H  iss.),  Miinchen,  1875. 

1  Lit.  Hist.  vol.  iii.  p.  382. 

2  Medieval  Ch.  Hist.  p.  229. 

3  The  easy  transformation  of  VI  aldensis  or  Valdensis  (the  V  and  W 
being  interchangeable  in  the  Latin)  into  Vallensis  is  further  complicated 
by  the  resemblance  to  Vaudois.  the  name  of  one  of  the  districts  where  the 
sect  has  survived,  and  possibly  (though  this  is  little  more  than  a  guess) 
the  local  origin  of  Peter  Waldo's  surname.  The  very  likeness  would  be 
a  ground  for  suspecting  one  of  those  frequent  plays  of  words,  of  which 
we  have  seen  an  example  in  Popelicani  and  Pvhlicuni.  if  the  argument 
were  one  of  probability  only.  But,  with  the  known  origir  of  the  sect  from 
Peter  Waldo  as  its  founder,  the  conclusion  is  quite  clear,  that,  "  when  it 
is  sought  to  get  rid  of  their  relation  to  him,  as  embodied  in  the  very 
name  which  they  bear,  and  to  change  this  name  into  Vallenses,  the  Men 
of  the  Valleys  or  the  Dalesmen,  it  is  a  transformation  which  has  no 
likelihood,  philological  or  historic,  to  recommend  it."  (Trench,  p.  250.) 
The  only  early  writer,  in  whom  we  find  the  name  Vallenses,  used  it  as  a 
plav  of  words :  Ebrard  (Lib.  antihseresi<,  c.  25):  "  Quilam  autem,  qui 
Vallenses,  &c,  appellant,  eo  quod  in  valle  lacrymanim  manent  ;"  and  in 
like  manner  the  Abbot  Bernard  (Adv.  Waldenses)  doubles  the  pun,  saying 
they  are  caUed  Valdenses  "  nimirum  e  valle  densa,  eo  quod  profundis  et 
densis  errorwn  tenebris  involvuntur  "  (evidently  alluding  to  the  German 
word  Wald,  Lat.   Valda,  "  a  wood  "j. 


598  FOUNDATION  BY  PETER  WALDO.        Chap.  XXXVI. 

on  the  popular  mind  by  Milton's  immortal  protest  against  the 
massacre  of  their  descendants  in  that  region  in  1665  : — 

"Avenge,  0  Lord,  thy  slaughter'd  saints,  whose  bones 
Lie  scatter  d  on  the  Alpine  mountains  cold  ; 
Ev'n  them  v;ho  kept  thy  truth  so  pure  of  old. 
When  all  our  fathers  worshipt  stocks  and  stones." 

The  popular  misconception  is  aided  by  the  idea,  which  such  words 
naturally  tend  to  perpetuate,  of  a  perfect  agreement  (or,  to  use, 
under  protest,  the  expressive  modernism  solidarity)  of  the  strong 
Protestant  faith  of  these  people  since  the  Reformation  with  the 
original  theology  of  the  Waldenses.  "  What  the  Waldenses  learnt 
to  hold  and  teach  after  contact  with  the  Hussites  in  the  15th 
century,  and  still  more  after  communications  held  in  the  16th 
with  some  chief  continental  reformers,  has  been  regarded  as  that 
which  they  held  from  the  beginning."  1 

§  2.  The  positive  historical  testimony  of  all  the  writers  who  were 
nearly  contemporary  with  the  first  appearance  of  the  sect  ascribes  its 
foundation,  in  the  year  1170,  to  a  wealthy  merchant  of  Lyon,  whose 
name,  or  rather  appellation,  is  most  commonly  given  Waldo,  in 
Latin  Waldus,  but  also  Waldensis,  and  other  forms,  the  origin  of 
which  is  a  matter  of  mere  conjecture.2  Some  ascribe  to  the  sudden 
death  of  a  fellow-citizen,  at  a  meeting  of  the  chief  inhabitants  of 
the  town,  that  strong  religious  impression,  which  all  agree  to  have 
been  free  from  fanaticism  or  wilful  heresy.     His  one  desire — we  tell 

1  Trench,  pp.  257-8.  The  whole  passage  is  important.  On  the  relation 
claimed  for  them  to  the  very  earliest  opponents  of  abuses  in  the  Church 
see  pp.  250-1.  To  the  argument  for  the  high  antiquity  of  the  sect  from 
their  writings  which  are  preserved  in  MS.,  the  general  reply  is  that  these 
Avorks  belong  to  the  15th  century,  or  later,  and  are  affected  by  that 
Hussite  influence  to  which  reference  is  made  above.  The  most  plausible 
of  these  arguments  has  been  derived  from  the  metrical  work  (in  the 
Romance  language),  entitled  "  The  Noble  Lesson  "  (Nobla  Leyczon),  the 
opening  lines  of  which  (in  the  first  printed  edition)  give  the  date  of  1100 
years  since  Christ,  and  also  the  name  of  Vaudcs ;  whence  it  has  been 
inferred  that  the  sect  existed  under  that  name,  nearly  a  century  before 
Waldo.  But  an  inspection  of  the  MS.  in  the  Cambridge  University  Library 
has  proved  the  true  reading  to  be  1-400  years  ("  mil  et  4  cent  ans  "  instead 
of  "  mil  e  cent  ans  "),  thus  bringing  the  date  of  the  poem  down  to  the 
15th  century.  This  poem  and  most  of  the  other  Waldensian  MSS.  are 
printed  in  Hahn  (op.cit.);  Herzog,  Die  romanischen  Wal denser ;  and  Todd's 
Books  of  the  Vaudois. 

2  The  name  of  PErER  is  first  given  to  him  in  the  15th  century.  For 
the  various  forms  and  explanations  of  his  name,  see  the  authorities  cited 
above.  Besides  the  name  derived  from  their  founder,  his  followers  are 
called  LeonistiB  from  I.eona,  Lyon),  Subati,  Xabatenses,  Inzdbbattati,  from 
the  sabot  or  wooden  shoe  of  the  lower  classes,  to  which  they  chiefly 
belonged. 


A.D.  1170.        SCRIPTURAL  STUDY  AND  PREACHING.  599 

the  story  as  it  is  told  by  a  Dominican  Inquisitor  ' — was  to  have  a 
fuller  knowledge  of  Holy  Scripture  than  he  could  obtain  from 
hearing  the  lessons  read  in  church,  and  to  regulate  his  life  by  the 
example  and  precepts  of  Christ  and  His  Apostles.  Being  himself 
illiterate,  he  employed  two  priests  of  the  city,  the  one  to  translate, 
and  the  other  to  transcribe,  in  the  vernacular  Eomance  tongue, 
many  books  of  the  Bible,  as  well  as  a  large  selection  of  passages 
of  the  Fathers  and  churchmen  relating  to  Christian  doctrine  and 
practice,  arranged  under  heads,  like  the  Sentences  of  the  School- 
men :  a  selection  which  at  once  indicates  his  loyalty  to  the  Church. 
Their  repeated  perusal  and  meditation  moved  him  to  desire  a  life 
of  Evangelic  perfection,  such  as  the  Apostles  led ;  and  his  first 
step  was  to  sell  all  his  goods,  and  to  cast  away  the  despised  worldly 
dross  to  the  poor.  Thus  far  his  course  was  that  of  St.  Francis  a 
few  years  later ;  and  the  precedence  of  Waldo  is  a  fact  of  no  little 
moment.  But,  with  the  more  unfettered  senseof  duty  to  God  alone, 
the  layman  of  Lyon  took  for  his  maxim,  "  We  cannot  but  speak 
the  things  that  we  have  seen  and  heard."  At  this  point  he 
parted  from  the  ruling  Church,  without  any  desire  of  separation; 
not,  as  his  opponents  allowed,  in  the  spirit  of  heresy,  but  of 
disorder — "  running  before  they  were  sent,"  was  the  condemna- 
tion of  the  WaJdenses  by  Pope  Lucius  III.  As  the  Dominican 
historian  puts  it,  "  he  usurped  and  took  on  himself  the  office  of 
the  Apostles,  preaching  the  Gospels,  and  the  things  he  had  laid 
up  in  his  heart,  through  the  streets  and  villages,  calling  about  him 
many,  both  men  and  women,  to  do  the  same,  confirming  them  in 
the  knowledge  of  the  Gospels."  He  draws  a  vivid  picture  of  men 
and  women,  ignorant  and  illiterate,  running  about  through  the 
villages,  making  their  way  into  houses,  preaching  not  only  in  the 
streets  but  even  in  the  churches,  and  inciting  others  to  do  the 
same  ;  and  he  alleges  the  consequent  spread  of  errors  and  scandals 
as  the  ground  on  which  the  Archbishop  of  Lyon  forbad  them  to 
intrude  on  the  office  of  preaching  and  expounding  Scripture.  Their 
reply  was  that  of  the  Apostles  to  the  Jewish  Sanhedrin,  "  We 
ought  to  obey  God  rather  than  men,  who  commanded  His  Apostles  to 
preach   the  Gospel  to  every  creature"*     For  this  presumption  in 

1  Stephanus  de  Borbone  (at  Lyon  about  1225). 

2  Acts  v.  29  ;  Mark  xvi.  15.  The  references  are  given  by  Stephen,  who 
is  scandalized  at  the  presumption  of  Valdensis  in  usurping  the  part  of 
Peter.  (Is  it  possible  that  we  have  here  the  origin  of  Waldo  being  called 
Peter?)  The  Dominican's  comment  is  well  worth  adding,  as  it  defines 
the  original  offence  of  the  Waldenses  against  ecclesiastical  obediences — 
"As  if  the  Lord  had  said  to  them  what  He  said  to  the  Apostles,  who  yet 
did  not  take  on  themselves  to  preach  till  they  were  endued  with  power 
from  on  high.     They  then,  I  mean  Valdensis  and  his   followers,  first  by 


600  APPEAL  TO  ALEXANDER  III.  Chap.  XXXVI. 

usurping  the  office  of  the  Apostles  the  Archbishop  excommunicated 
and  silenced  them ;  and  many  of  them  were  thus  driven  out  of 
Lyon,  and  began  to  preach  in  the  country  round  as  far  as  the 
Alpine  valleys  which  became  long  afterwards  the  chief  home  of  the 
community. 

§  3.  In  all  this  there  was  on  their  part  no  wilful  separation  from, 
much  less  hostility  to,  the  ruling  Catholic  Church  ;  we  do  not  even 
read,  thus  early  in  their  course,  of  any  direct  denunciation  of  her 
corruptions.  The  whole  question  at  issue  was,  to  use  the  famous 
phrase  of  a  later  age,  of  the  "  Liberty.of  Prophesying  " — of  preaching 
the  Gospel  and  teaching  its  truths  without  the  necessity  of  ordina- 
tion or  the  commission  of  the  bishops.  So  confident  was  Waldo  of 
his  right  and  duty,  that  he  appealed  against  the  Archbishop's  sen- 
tence to  Alexander  III.,  who  was  then  holding  the  Third  General 
Council  of  the  Lateran.  Two  of  his  followers  appeared  before  the 
Council,  with  the  urgent  petition  that  the  right  of  preaching  might 
be  confirmed  to  them.1  They  presented  to  the  Pope  a  book  in  the 
vernacular  of  Southern  France,  containing  the  text,  with  glosses, 
of  the  Psalter,  and  most  of  the  books  of  both  Testaments.  As  to 
orthodoxy,  they  avowed  their  adhesion  to  the  four  doctors  of  the 
Church — Ambrose,  Augustine,  Gregory,  and  Jerome.  The  Pope 
referred  them  and  their  books  to  a  commission,  one  member  of 
which,  Walter  Map,  or  Mapes,  archdeacon  of  Oxford,  famous  for 
his  somewhat  licentious  Latin  verses,  in  which  the  clergy  are  freely 
satirized,  has  left  an  account  of  the  proceedings.  The  petition 
of  these  "  ignorant  and  illiterate  men  " 2 — as  the  Council  styled 
them  in  the  phrase  of  the  Jewish  Sanhedrin,  though,  less  wise, 
they  did  not  "  take  knowledge  of  them  that  they  had  been  with 
Jesus  " — was  contemptuously  rejected ;  but  a  deeper  motive  of  dis- 
like and  fear  is  expressed  by  the  Archdeacon.  After  describing 
the  indefatigable  labours  and  apostolic  poverty  of  these  itinerant 
evangelists,  he  adds,  "  They  now  begin  in  the  humblest  manner, 
because  they  cannot  get  a  footing ;  but,  if  we  once  let  them  in,  we 
shall  be  turned  out."  But  it  is  most  significant  of  the  totally 
different  light  in  which  they  were  regarded,  as  compared  with  the 
Manichean  sectaries,  that  they  were  not  included  in  the  condemna- 
tion  and  crusade  denounced   by  the  Council  against  the  latter.3 

presumption  and  usurpation  of  the  apostolic  office  fell  into  disobedience,  then 
into  contumacy,  then  into  the  sentence  of  excommunication." 

1  Walter  Map,  De  Nugis  Cnrialvmi,  ap.  Gieselor.  iii.  415. 

2  For  the  Archdeacon's  complacent  account  of  his  victory  in  the  argu- 
ment, see  Trench,  p.  253.  He  quotes  Acts  iv.  13  (homines  idiotas  et 
illiteratos),  unconscious  of  the  irony  on  himself  and  the  Council. 

3  See  Chap.  XXXV.  §  6. 


A.D.  1179  f.  THEIR  WIDE  DIFFUSION.  601 

Perseverance  in  their  unlicensed  work,  however,  brought  down  on 
them,  five  years  later,  the  anathema  of  Lucius  III.  and  the  Council 
of  Verona  (1184),  by  a  decree  which  includes,  with  the  Cathari 
and  Paterini,  "  those  who  mendaciously  call  themselves  by  the 
false  name  of  Hurniliati,  or  Poor  Men  of  Lyon."  !  The  last  was 
evidently  the  name  chosen  for  themselves  ;  that  of  Waldenses,  and 
the  rest,  being  applied  to  them  by  common  usage. 

§  4.  Thus  cast  off  by  the  Western  Church,  and  thrown  into  a  posi- 
tion of  unwilling  antagonism  by  the  resolve  to  obey  God  rather  than 
men,  the  Waldenses  soon  showed  that  their  enforced  independence 
was  a  new  source  of  power.  Two  chief  causes  prepared  the  way 
for  their  success  with  the  people,  as  for  that  of  the  Franciscans  a 
few  years  later.  Their  simple  fervid  preaching  supplied  one  of  the 
most  grievous  deficiencies  of  the  Church,  and  their  plain  Scriptural 
teaching  was  the  best  antidote  to  those  prevalent  heresies,  which 
derived  their  life  and  strength  from  the  corrupt  ecclesiastical  system 
and  doctrine.  So  far  from  the  Waldenses  being  leagued  with  the 
Albigenses  in  common  heresy  and  hatred  of  the  Church,  we  are 
told  that  they  disputed  with  the  greatest  acuteness  against  the 
Arian  and  Manichean  sectaries.2  Before  the  end  of  the  12th 
century,  we  have  particular  accounts  of  their  rapid  spread  in  Lan- 
guedoc  and  Gascony,  Lorraine  and  Burgundy,  Northern  Italy 
(especially  at  Milan 3),  and  Spain,  where  a  decree  of  Alphonso  II., 
King  of  Arragon,  denounced  the  wrath  of  God  and  his  own,  not 
only  on  themselves,  but  on  all  who  should  receive  or  listen  to 
them,  and  ordered  all  such  to  be  punished  as  traitors  (1194). 
The  earliest  positive  evidence  of  their  connection  with  Piedmont  is 
in  1198,  when  the  Bishop  of  Turin  obtained  authority  from  Otho  IV. 
to  take  forcible  measures  for  their  suppression.  The  efforts  of  the 
clergy  to  extirpate  them  were  impeded  by  the  protection  of  power- 

1  Lucii  III.  P.  Decretvpi  contra  Hsereticos  {Deer.  Greg.  v.  7,  9;  Mansi, 
xxii.  476).  In  the  enumeration  of  sects  denounced,  they  ore  named 
next  after  the  Cathari  and  Paterini,  and  before  the  Passaging  Jose- 
phini  and  Amoldistde,  all  reputed  Manicheans.  But  it  does  not  follow 
from  this  list  in  the  usual  form  that  all  were  condemned  on  the  same 
ground  ;  and,  from  all  that  goes  before,  we  are  justified  in  applying  to 
these  "  Poor  Men  of  Lyon  "  the  next  sentence  of  the  decree,  against  those 
who,  under  the  guise  of  piety,  took  upon  for  themselves  the  power  of 
preaching  without  licence,  according  to  the  words  of  the  Apostle,  though 
the  same  Apostle  says,  "How  shall  they  preach  except  they  be  sent?" 
(Rom.  x.  15).  To  this  they  rejoined  in  the  words  of  St.  James  (iv.  17): 
"To  him  that  knoweth  to  do  good,  and  doeth  it  not,  to  him  it  is  sin." 

2  Gulielm.  de  Podio  Laurent,  in  Prologo. 

3  The  favour  they  received  here  from  the  municipality  is  proved  bv  the 
grant  of  a  site  for  their  school,  which  was  also  used  for  their  religious 
meetings.   The  order  of  the  Archbishop  for  its  destruction  was  disregarded. 


602  INNOCENT  III.  ON  THE  WALDENSES.     Chap.  XXXVL 

ful  patrons ; *  and  the  youth  of  all  classes  were  trained  in  their 
schools,  which  in  Provence  and  Lombardy  were  more  numerous 
than  those  of  the  Catholics. 

§  5.  The  chief  source  of  their  influence  was  that  familiar  knowledge 
and  constant  use  of  Holy  Scripture  in  the  vernacular,  to  which 
their  enemies  bear  a  testimony  not  free  from  admiration.  They 
read  and  taught  them  to  all  classes ;  and  when  the  day's  work  was 
over,  labourers  and  artizans  gave  their  evenings  to  study.  On  this 
point  we  have  the  most  interesting  evidence  and  judgment  of  In- 
nocent III.,  in  a  letter  addressed  to  all  Christians  in  the  city  and 
diocese  of  Metz  (1199).2  The  bishop  had  informed  the  Pope  that 
a  large  number  of  laymen  and  women,  drawn  by  a  desire  for  the 
Scriptures,  had  caused  the  Gospels,  the  Epistles  of  Paul,  the  Psalter,3 
and  many  other  books,  to  be  translated  in  the  Gallic  speech^  which 
laymen  and  women  presumed  to  "  belch  out "  to  one  another  in 
secret  meetings,  and  to  preach  by  turns.  The  Pope  does  not  hesitate 
to  admit  that  "  a  desire  to  understand  the  Divine  Scriptures,  and 
zeal  in  exhorting  according  to  them,  is  not  blameworthy,  but  rather 
to  be  commended ; "  what  he  censures  is  the  secresy  of  their  meet- 
ings, their  assumption  of  the  office  of  preaching,  their  mocking  the 
"  simplicity  "  of  the  priests,  and  their  despising  the  fellowship  of 
those  who  did  not  adopt  their  views.  But  this  was  all  he  had  to 
say  against  them  ;  for  in  another  letter  to  the  Archbishop  we  have 
the  testimony,  most  remarkable  as  borne  by  such  a  Pope  as  Innocent, 
that  the  archbishop  had  not  accused  them  of  erring  in  the  faith,  or 
disagreeing  from  the  doctrines  essential  to  salvation.4 

§  6.  This  witness  to  their  orthodoxy  is  confirmed  by  those  ad- 
versaries, on  whom  we  are  obliged  to  rely  for  much  of  our  know- 
ledge of  their  opinions  and  practices ;  and  Ebrard  of  Bethune 
even  makes  it  an  aggravation  of  their  heresy  by  treachery :  "  Be- 
cause you  hold  some  things  in  common  with  us,  and  in  others 
do    not    disagree    with    us,    you   are   like   enemies    in   our   own 

1  Thus  in  1194  we  find  the  Bishop  of  Bo'ziers  exacting  a  promise  from 
the  guardians  of  the  young  viscount,  whose  father  had  been  the  chief 
protector  of  the  Albigenses,  not  to  harbour  "the  heretics  or  Yaldenses" 
(the  distinction  is  significant). 

2  Lib.  iii.  Epist.  141  ;  also  in  Deer.  Greg.  v.  7,  12  ;  Gieseler,  vol.  iii. 
p.  417. 

3  He  also  mentions  "  moralia  Jobi"  meaning,  perhaps,  Job  and  the 
other  specially  moral  books. 

4  As  the  result,  apparently,  of  this  correspondence,  certain  abbots  were 
appointed  to  preach  against  them  ;  these  burnt  their  vernacular  books, 
and,  we  are  told,  "  extirpated  the  sect."  (Alberici,  Chron.  aim.  1200.) 
But  nevertheless  it  existed  in  the  diocese  twenty  years  later  (Cses.  Heister- 
bach,  de  Mirac.  et  Vision,  sui  Temporis,  v.  20).    Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  417. 


A.D.  1200  f.       TESTIMONIES  TO  THEIR  ORTHODOXY.  603 

house.1  Peter  of  Vaux-Cemay  pronounces  tne  Waldenses  evil, 
but  by  comparison  far  less  perverse  than  other  heretics ;  "  for 
they  agreed  with  us  in  many  things,  but  in  some  they  dis- 
sented ; "  and  he  names,  as  their  four  chief  errors,  the  wear- 
ing of  sandals,  like  the  Apostles;  their  denying  the  lawfulness 
of  oaths,  or  of  taking  human  life  on  any  ground  ;  and  their  asser- 
tion that  any  one  of  them,  without  episcopal  ordination,  "could 
make  the  body  of  Christ." 2  Writers,  who  discuss  their  tenets  more 
particularly,  tell  us  that  they  were  led  on  in  the  downward  course 
of  error  to  hold  that  deceased  believers  are  not  profited  by  the 
alms,  fasts,  and  prayers,  of  the  living,  or  even  by  solemn  masses 
performed  on  their  behalf;3  that  holy  orders  confer  no  power  to 
consecrate  and  bless,  or  to  bind  and  loose ;  that  no  one  is  bound 
to  confess  to  a  priest,  if  a  layman  is  at  hand,  which  seems  to  make 
confession  the  natural  act  of  Christians,  and  not  a  priestly  function  ;  * 
that  the  general  absolutions  made  by  bishops  in  the  various  offices 
of  the  Church  are  not  ratified  (by  God).5  It  seems  strange,  but 
significant  of  ecclesiastical  casuistry,  to  find  their  regarding  all  lying 
as  mortal  sin  treated  as  heresy,  together  with  their  disallowance 
of  oaths  and  the  taking  of  human  life.  Their  alleged  denial  of  the 
efficacy  of  baptism,  especially  in  the  case  of  infants,6  may  probably 
have  been  rather  (as  we  have  seen  with  the  Cathari)  an  insistence 
on  personal  faith  as  the  essential  condition  of  its  efficacy.  All 
their  religious  services  were  conducted  in  the  vernacular  tongue. 

§  7.  After  their  excommunication,  the  Waldenses  naturally  be- 
came more  opposed  to  the  clergy  and  the  whole  order  of  the  Roman 

1  Liber Antihseresis,  c.  25. 

2  Petrus  Mon.  Vail.  Cernagi,  c.  2.  It  may  be  doubted  how  far  this 
phrase  represents  the  Waldensian  view  of  the  Eucharist,  or  merely  the 
writer's  mode  of  putting  their  celebration  of  the  sacrament.  But  the 
truth  seems  to  be  that  the  early  Waldenses  (at  least)  avoided  theorizing 
on  this  as  on  other  Catholic  doctrines.  The  distinct  recognition  of  only 
two  sacraments.  Baptism  and  the  Eucharist,  in  their  own  Confession  of 
Faith,  seems  to  belong  to  a  later  time,  in  opposition  to  the  doctrine  of 
seven  sacraments,  which  was  only  fully  established  in  the  12th  century. 
It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  these  anti- Waldensian  writers  of  the  13th 
century  refer  to  a  time  when  the  views  of  the  sect  had  been  developed 
under  the  influence  of  their  excommunication  and  persecutions. 

3  Bernard.  Abb.  Fontis  Calidi,  adv.  Waldenses,  c.  9;  Ciieseler.  iii.  421. 

4  According  to  James  v.  16. 

5  This  seems  to  reserve  the  function  of  absolution  for  particular  sins, 
whether  pronounced  by  a  priest,  or,  as  would  appear  to  be  inferred  from 
the  preceding  article,  by  all  Christians  on  confession  to  one  another.  The 
article,  ''Quod  Pra?dicatores  non  debent  laborare  manibus,"  seems  to  refer 
to  the  support  of  tlieir  ministers  by  voluntary  contributions,  which  other 
writers  represent  as  mendicancy. 

6  Reimer,  Summa,  1775;  c.   Wald.  265;   Yvonet,  1779. 


604  LATER  ENMITY  TO  ROME.  Chap.  XXXVI. 

Church,  which  they  declared  to  be  the  beast  and  harlot  of  the 
Apocalypse,  apostate,  and  divested  of  spiritual  power  from  the 
time  of  its  union  with  the  Empire  under  Pope  Sylvester,1  though 
there  had  ever  been  within  it  a  remnant  who  held  the  true  faith 
and  were  heirs  of  salvation.  "  They  denounced  the  penitential 
system  of  the  Church,  as  alike  burdensome  and  unavailing,  and 
contrasted  it  with  the  fall  and  free  forgiveness  which  their  own 
sect  offered,  after  the  example  of  the  Saviour's  words,  '  Go  and  sin 
no  more.'  They  denied  the  doctrine  of  Purgatory,  and  the  lawful- 
ness of  the  practices  connected  with  it — some  of  them  believing  in 
an  intermediate  state  of  rest  or  of  punishment,  while  others  held  that 
souls,  on  leaving  the  body,  go  at  once  to  their  final  abode.  They 
denied  the  miracles  of  the  Church,  and  pretended  to  none  of  their 
own,  although  in  later  times  some  of  them  professed  to  see  visions. 
.  .  .  Unlike  the  Cathari,  they  held  it  lawful  to  eat  meat,  even 
on  days  when  it  was  forbidden  by  the  Church ;  and  they  held 
marriage  to  be  lawful,  although  they  regarded  celibacy  as  higher."  2 
§  8.  Such  is  the  account  of  their  opinions  by  prejudiced  adver- 
saries, whose  witness  also  to  their  moral  and  social  character  is 
the  more  remarkable  for  the  confession  of  their  vast  superiority  in 
character  to  the  clergy  and  dignitaries  of  the  Church  ;  a  contrast 
which  was  one  chief  cause  of  their  gaining  converts.  Here  again 
we  have  the  testimony  of  Pope  Innocent  III. ; 3  and  a  chief  censor 
of  the  Waldenses  represents  them  as  saying  with  truth:  "The 
Apostles  did  not  live  so,  nor  do  we,  who  are  imitators  of  the 
Apostles."  4  The  same  writer  draws  the  following  picture  of  their 
character  and  mode  of  life.  The  heretics  are  known  by  their 
manners  and  their  speech :  in  manners  they  are  sedate  and  modest ; 
they  have  no  pride  in  their  dress,  because  it  is  neither  costly  nor 
mean.     They  practise  no  trades,  in  order  to  avoid  lies,  oaths,  and 

1  The  statement  about  the  apostacy  of  the  Papacy  from  the  time  of 
Sylvester  is  found  in  the  Noble  Lesson :  no  Pope  since  Sylvester  can 
forgive  sin.  Sylvester  was  identified  with  the  little  horn  of  the  prophet 
Daniel  (vii.  8).     See  the  authorities  cited  by  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  203. 

2  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  pp.  204—5.  3  Lib.  vii.  Epist.  75. 

4  Pseudo-Rainerii  Summa,  c.  3 ;  ap.  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  444.  This  is 
the  fourth  of  seven  causes  assigned  for  the  heresy,  the  others  being : 
(I)  "  Inanis  gloria;"  (2)  The  incessant  zeal  of  all,  men  and  women,  small 
and  great,  in  teaching  and  learning,  by  night  and  day  ;  (3)  Their  teaching 
and  learning  of  Holy  Scripture  in  the  vernacular  (the  writer  himself  had 
seen  a  rustic  who  recited  the  book  of  Job  from  memory,  and  many  knew 
the  N.  T.  perfectly) ;  (4)  The  scandal  from  the  evil  example  of  certain 
persons;  (5)  The  insufficient  learning  of  some  (Catholics),  who  preached 
Avhat  was  frivolous  or  false  ;  (6)  The  irreverence  with  which  some  ministers 
of  the  Church  performed  the  Sacraments  ;  (7)  Hatred  towards  the  Church 
(and  no  wonder,  with  such  good  reasons). 


Cent.  XIII.  MORAL  AND  SOCIAL  VIRTUES.  605 

frauds ;  but  they  live  by  labour  only,  like  workmen  ;  their  very 
teachers  are  shoemakers  and  weavers.  They  do  not  multiply 
riches,  but  are  content  with  necessaries.  They  are  chaste,  especi- 
ally the  Leonistaj ;  and  temperate  in  food  and  drink.  They  go 
neither  to  taverns  nor  dances  nor  other  vanities.  They  refrain 
from  anger ;  they  are  always  at  work ;  and  therefore  they  pray 
little — an  inference,  of  which  the  meaning  is  easily  seen ;  and  we 
may  accept  his  valuable  testimony  to  their  regular  use  of  the 
services  of  the  Church,  without  the  base  motive  to  which  he  im- 
putes it.1  They  are  known  also  by  the  precision  and  moderation 
of  their  words.  They  keep  themselves  watchfully  from  scurrility 
and  slander,  from  levity  of  speech,  and  lies  and  oaths ;  not  even 
saying  Verily  (were)  or  Surely  (certe),  for  they  account  these  as 
oaths.  The  desire  of  their  enemies  to  entrap  them  in  their  words 
may  account  for  any  foundation  of  truth  in  his  imputation  of 
habitual  evasiveness  in  answering  questions ;  as,  when  asked,  "  Do 
you  know  the  Gospel  or  Epistles  ?  •'  they  answer,  "  Who  could  have 
taught  me  ?  "  A  modern  Catholic  Church  historian  admits  that, 
even  in  the  ages  of  the  fiercest  fanaticism,  it  would  have  been  quite 
impossible  to  get  up  a  crusade  against  them. 

§  9.  With  these  testimonies  to  the  essential  orthodoxy  and  moral 
excellence  of  the  Waldenses,  **  their  enemies  themselves  being 
judges,"  we  are  fortunately  able  to  compare  some  remains  of  their 
own  writings.  In  these,  however,  as  we  have  said,  their  earliest 
views  are  mixed  up  with  a  more  decided  anti-Catholic  development ; 
but  they  are  no  less  remarkable  for  the  points  in  which  they  stop 
short  of  the  theology  of  the  Protestant  Reformers.5  The  most 
important  of  them  is  the  Noble  Lesson,  which  is  now  ascertained  to 

1  "  Item  ad  ecclesiasm  ficte  vadunt,  offerunt  et  confitentur,  et  commu- 
nicant, et  intersunt  pr&'dicationibus ;  sed  ut  prsedicantem  capiant  in 
sermone  " — a  result  very  probable  from  this  writer's  own  account  of  the 
sermons  often  heard,  but  not  therefore  their  motive, 

2  This  is  well  brought  out  by  Trench,  whose  account  of  the  work  we 
quote.  {Medieval  Ch.  Hist.  pp.  258  f.)  This  poem,  La  Nohla  Leyczon, 
was  first  printed  in  Raynouard's  Choix  des  Poesies  originates  des  Trou- 
badours, ii.  73  ;  and  again  in  Hahn's  Gesch.  der  Kctzer  im  MiUelaltcr,  ii.  628, 
with  most  of  the  other  old  Waldensian  poems,  viz.  La  Barca  (i.e.  the  Ship 
of  the  Church),  Lo  novel  Sermon,  Lo  novel  Comfort,  Lo  Pagre  (Le.  1'irc) 
Eterncl,  Lo  Despreczi  del  Mont  (i.e.  Contempt  of  the  \\  orld).  L'avan  eli  de 
li  quatre  scmen.cz,  founded  on  the  Parable  of  the  Sower.  Other  works 
are  a  Catechism,  a  Confession  of  Faith,  on  Antichrist,  on  Purgatory,  and  on 
the  Calling  of  the  Saints,  printed  by  Leger  (Histoire,  &c).  with  dates  in 
the  early  part  of  the  12th  century  (1100  to  1120),  which  seem  to  have 
been  affixed  by  the  later  Waldenses  as  representing  what  they  regarded 
as  their  primitive  opinions.  They  bear  evident  traces  of  later  controversial 
developments.     (Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  419.) 

II-2E 


606  <•  THE  NOBLE  LESSON."  Chap.  XXXVI. 

belong  to  the  beginning  of  the  15th  century,  that  is,  above  two 
centuries  after  their  historic  origin.  "  This  tractate,  written  in 
verse,  is  an  earnest  summons  to  repentance,  to  amendment  of  life, 
to  the  exercise  of  Christian  graces,  to  the  doing  of  good  works,  all 
this  in  view  of  the  shortness  of  this  present  life ;  the  greatness  of 
the  rewards,  and  the  terribleness  of  the  penalties,  which  after  death 
severalty  await  those  who  have  done  good  or  done  evil;  with  a 
solemn  warning  against  that  peace  which  is  no  peace,  against  all 
those  spiritual  drugs  by  which  the  Church  of  Home  quieted,  or 
rather  stupefied,  the  consciences  of  men  in  regard  to  judgment  to 
come.  But  what  is  most  remarkable  is  this :  that,  while  Christ's 
sufferings  and  death  are  there  set  forth,  as  proof  that  as  many  as 
will  live  godly  must  suffer  persecution,  there  is,  in  all  the  500  and 
more  lines  that  make  up  this  poem,  only  a  single  line  which  con- 
tains a  reference,  and  that  but  historically,  to  the  death  of  Christ 
as  a  redemptive  act ;  no  word  at  all  of  the  duty  and  blessedness  of 
making  by  faith  the  benefits  of  that  atoning  death  our  own.  .  .  . 
"  And  yet,  marvellous  indeed  is  the  sustaining,  quickening,  bind- 
ing power  of  the  Word  of  God.  With  a  complex  of  doctrine  theo- 
logically incomplete  ;  having  only  imperfectly  extricated  themselves 
from  errors  which  had  in  the  lapse  of  centuries  overgrown  the 
Church ;  and,  even  where  they  got  rid  of  Roman  error,  not  always 
having  seized  with  firm  hand  the  truth  whereof  this  was  the  cari- 
cature or  the  denial ;  they  yet  lived  on  from  age  to  age,  a  light  in 
a  dark  place.  They  lived  on,  too,  which  from  one  point  of  view  is 
the  more  to  their  honour,  without  having  produced,  so  far  as  we 
know,  a  single  theological  genius  or  other  pre-eminent  leader  of 
their  own.  The  Friends  of  God  could  boast  their  Nicolas  of 
Basle  ;  the  Pantheistic  Mystics  could  claim  an  Amalric  of  Bena, 
-and  one  half  of  our  Eckart;  the  Apocalyptic  enthusiasts  their 
Joachim  of  Floris ;  the  Moravian  Brethren  their  Luke  of  Prague ; 
the  Brethren  of  the  Common  Life  their  Gerhard  Groot ;  other  re- 
ligious bodies,  too,  had  their  single  spokesman  or  champion,  who 
stood  high  above  the  crowd ;  but  no  one  stands  out  as  a  pre- 
dominant spirit  among  these ;  they  hold  the  championship  of  that 
truth,  which  was  given  them  to  keep  in  common  ;  the  honour  of 
guarding  it  is  shared  alike  among  them  all." 


Gateway  of  Carcassonne. 

CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

THE  ALBIGEXSIAN  CRUSADE. 

a.d.  1198-1229. 


1.  Prevalence  of  heresy  at  the  epoch  of  Innocent  lll.'s  accession  (1198) 
— Steps  for  its  suppression  in  Italy  and  France — "  Deliverance  to  the 
secular  arm."  §  2.  Religious  Revolt  of  Languedoc — Heretics  pro- 
tected hy  the  Princes— Character  of  Raymond  VI.,  Count  of  Toulouse. 
§  3.  Policy  of  Innocent  III. —  Mission  of  Cistercians:  Peter  of 
Castelnau  and  Arnold  of  Citeaux — Diego  and  Dominic.  §  4.  Durr*n- 
dus  of  Osca  attempts  to  reconcile  the  Waldenses — Order  of  Pauperes 
Catholici.  §  5.  Bishop  Kulk — Excommunication  of  Raymond  and 
murder  of  the  legate  Peter — Innocent  declares  that  no  faith  is  to  be  kept 
with  heretics.      §  6.  The  Crusade  proclaimed — Various  motives  of  the 


608  INNOCENT  III.  AND  THE  HERETICS.     Chap.  XXXVII. 

adventurers — The  leaders — Simon  de  Montfort.  §  7.  Submission  and 
penance  of  Raymond — The  Pope's  double  dealing.  §  8.  The  Crusade 
continued — Taking  and  massacres  of  Beziers  and  Carcassonne — Fate  of 
Raymond  Roger.  §  9.  Reward  of  De  Montfort — Cruel  war — Massacre 
of  Minerve.  §  10.  Count  Raymond  at  Rome — New  terms  imposed  on 
him — Revolt  of  Toulouse — Intervention  of  Peter  of  Arragon  :  his  defeat 
and  death  at  Muret — Simon  de  Montfort  made  Prince  of  Languedoc 
— The  Fourth  Lateran  Council  (1215).  §11.  Louis  of  France  in 
Languedoc — Capture  of  Toulouse — Return  of  the  Raymonds  and  new 
revolt — Deaths  of  Simon  de  Montfort  and  Raymond  VI,  §  12. 
Louis  VIII.  again  in  Languedoc — His  death — Raymond  VII.  submits 
to  the  Pope  and  Louis  IX. — His  penance — Later  history  of  Languedoc 
till  its  union  with  France. 

§  1.  At  the  epoch  of  Innocent  III.'s  accession  to  the  papal  throne, 
three  years  before  the  close  of  the  12th  century  (Jan.  1198)  the 
forms  of  heretical  opinion  and  organization  which  we  have  de- 
scribed were  rife  in  every  state  and  province  of  Latin  Christendom. 
The  Cathari  were  powerful  in  the  papal  territory  itself.  At  Orvieto 
they  were  not  suppressed  till  after  they  had  murdered  the  young 
governor,  whose  zeal  had  staked  his  life  on  their  entirpation  (1199). 
At  Viterbo,  a  sedition  of  the  Patarenes  formed  one  of  the  first  claims 
on  the  Pope's  energy,  and  it  was  not  put  down  till  he  visited  the 
town  in  person  several  years  later  (1207).  "  The  Patarenes  took 
to  flight ;  but  this  did  not  prevent  the  Pope  from  enquiring  into  the 
matter,  and  he  ordered  that  their  property  should  be  confiscated, 
that  their  houses  should  be  demolished,  and  that  all  heretics, 
especially  the  members  of  this  sect,  should  be  delivered  to  the  secular 
arm — a  phrase  which  now  occurs  for  the  first  time,  in  order  to 
punishment."1  Innocent  urged  like  measures  on  the  authorities 
at  Faenza,  Bologna,  Florence,  Verona,  Trevisa,  and  other  places, 
particularly  Milan.  We  read  of  heretics  in  Dalmatia,  Bosnia,  and 
the  Tyrol ;  at  Strassburg,  where  about  eighty  were  put  to  the 
ordeal  of  hot  iron,  and  most  of  them  were  convicted  and  burnt ;  and 
of  similar  executions  at  Paris,  Troyes,  Rouen,  Langres,  and  in 
various  places  of  Northern  France  and  Belgium. 

§  2.  But  it  was  especially  in  Languedoc  that  Innocent  "  found  a 
whole  province,  a  realm,  in  some  respects  the  richest  and  noblest  of  his 
spiritual  domain,  absolutely  dissevered  from  his  Empire,  in  almost 
universal  revolt  from  Latin  Christianity."2     The  heresies  prevalent 

1  Innocent  III.  P.  Epist.  x.  105,  209  ;  Gesta,  123  ;  Robertson,  iii.  p.  345. 

2  Milman,  vol.  v.  p.  409.  The  chief  authorities  for  the  history  of  the 
Albigensian  Crusade  are  :  (1)  Peter,  a  monk  of  Vaux-Cernay,  who 
attended  his  uncle,  the  abbot,  and  was  chaplain  to  Simon  de  Montfort. 
His   bigotry  against  the   heretics  is  furious,  and   his  statement   of  their 


A.D.  1194  f.       RAYMOND  VI.,  COUNT  OF  TOULOUSE.  609 

among  the  common  people  were  fostered  and  protected  by  the 
princes,  but  rather  through  contempt  and  hatred  of  the  clergy  than 
from  religious  convictions  of  their  own.  Foremost  among  those 
charged  with  being  oppressors  of  the  bishops  and  clergy  were  the 
counts  of  Beam  and  Comminges,  the  young  viscount  of  Beziers — 
who,  following  his  father's  steps,  fell  one  of  the  earliest  victims  of 
the  crusade, — and  the  still  more  powerful  count  of  Foix,  whose  wife 
and  one  of  his  two  sisters  are  said  to  have  been  Waldensians,  and 
his  other  sister  a  Catholic.  But  the  most  powerful  (next  to  the 
King  of  Arragon,1  who  divided  with  the  King  of  France  the 
■Suzerainty  of  the  country)  was  the  ill-fated  Raymond  VI.,  Count  of 
Toulouse,  who  was  destined  to  lose  both  his  territory  and  fame  in 
the  coming  struggle,  though  far  from  being  a  worthy  confessor  for 
religion.  His  character  "  is  darkly  coloured  by  the  hatred  of  the 
sterner  among  the  writers  of  the  Church  of  Rome  as  a  concealed 
heretic,  as  a  fautor  of  heretics,  as  a  man  of  deep  dissimulation  and 
consummate  treachery.  He  appears  to  have  been  a  ga)%  voluptuous, 
generous  man,  without  strength  of  character  enough*  to  be  either 
heretic  or  bigot.  Loose  in  his  life,  he  had  had  five  wives,  three 
living  at  the  same  time,  the  sister  of  the  Viscount  of  Beziers,  the 
daughter  of  the  King  of  Cyprus,  the  sister  of  Richard  of  England ; 
on  the  death  of  the  last,  he  married  the  sister  of  King  Pedro  of 
Arragon.  The  two  latter  were  his  kindred  within  the  prohibited 
degrees.  This  man  was  no  Manichean!  Yet  Raymond,  even 
though  his  wives  were  thus  uncanonically  wed,  is  subject  to  no 
high  moral  reproof  from  the  Pope ;  it  is  only  as  refusing  to  execute 
the  Papal  commands  against  his  subjects  (towards  him  at  least 
unoffending),  that  he  is  the  victim  of  excommunication,  is  despoiled 
of  realm,  of  honour,  of  salvation."  2 

§  3.  Raymond  had  incurred  suspicion  by  his  association  with  here- 
tics in  early  life ;  and  when,  at  the  age  of  thirty-eight,  he  succeeded 
his  father  (1194),  he  was  very  soon  excommunicated  by  Celestine  III. 
for  aggression  on  the  rights  of  the  abbey  of  St.  Gilles.     But  one  of 

opinions  is  very  suspicious.  (2)  A  poem  by  an  anonymous  Troubadour, 
published  by  Fauriel  (Docum.  Ined.  sur  VHist.  de  France,  Paris,  1837). 
The  Troubadour  is  at  first  strongly  against  the  heretics,  but  takes  the 
other  side  when  the  cause  is  that  of  the  nation  against  De  Montfort. 
(3)  A  prose  version  of  this  poem,  published  in  the  Hist,  de  Lannuedoc, 
vol.  iii.,  and  in  Bouquet,  vol.  xix.,  and  sometimes  cited  as  the  Anon,  Lan- 
guedoc.  (4)  William  de  Puy-Laurens  (de  I'odio  Laurentit),  in  Bouquet, 
vol.  xix. 

1  Peter  (Pedro")  II.  became  King  of  Arragon  in  1196,  and  fell,  as  we 
shall  presently  set,  in  the  most  decisive  battle  of  this  crusade  (1213). 

2  Milman,  vol.  v.  p.  414.  Joanna,  daughter  of  Henry  II.,  was  the 
mother  of  Raymond  VII.  She  died  soon  after  her  brother  Richard  (Sept. 
1199),  and  was  buried  with  him  at  Fontevraud. 


610  CISTERCIAN  MISSION  TO  LANGUEDOC.     Chap.  XXXYIL 

the  first  acts  of  Innocent  III.  was  to  remove  this  sentence ;  as 
it  was  the  Pope's  policy  to  claim  the  aid  of  the  princes  in  root- 
ing out  heresy  from  their  dominions.  For  this  purpose,  in  the 
first  year  of  his  pontificate,  he  addressed  a  letter  to  the  prelates, 
princes,  nobles,  and  all  the  Christian  people  of  the  region,1  calling 
on  them  to  assist  and  obey  the  two  Cistercians,  Kainer  and  Guy, 
whom  he  sent  as  legates  to  put  down  the  heresies  of  "  the  Cathari, 
Valdenses,  and  Paterini."  He  declared  the  civil  and  religious  out- 
lawry of  the  heretics  :  they  were  to  be  banished  and  their  property 
confiscated  ;  and  the  extreme  penalty  of  death  seems  to  be  implied 
in  the  assertion,  that  heresy  is  the  murder  of  the  soul.  The  reluctance 
of  the  princes  to  become  the  executioners  of  such  orders  on  their  own 
people  was  expressed  in  the  answer  of  Raymond  :  "  We  have  been 
brought  up  with  them  ;  we  have  relations  among  them,  and  we  know 
that  their  life  is  honest."  Rainer,  soon  falling  sick,  was  succeeded 
by  another  Cistercian,  Peter  of  Castelnau,  and  the  envoys  were 
armed  with  the  new  power  of  dealing  with  heresy  independently  of 
the  bishops,  and  even  of  suspending  such  bishops  as  showed  any  re- 
luctance to  work  under  two  simple  monks.  In  1204,  Arnold,  the 
supreme  Abbot  of  Citeaux,  a  bitter  and  unscrupulous  hater  of 
heretics,  was  added  to  the  mission,  with  twelve  members  of  his 
3rder.  Their  first  efforts  to  reclaim  the  heretics  by  conference 
were  met  by  arguments  drawn  especially  from  the  scandalous  lives 
of  the  clergy ;  and  we  have  already  had  occasion  to  relate  hoAv  the 
pomp  with  which  they  travelled  through  the  land  was  rebuked  by 
the  Spanish  bishop,  Diego  of  Osma,  who  began  the  work  which  was 
carried  on  by  his  disciple  Dominic  and  the  order  of  Preaching  Friars.2 
§  4.  Another  Spanish  ecclesiastic,  Durandus  of  Osca,  made  a  sincere 
effort  for  the  reconciliation  of  the  Waldenses,  who  were  as  yet  in 
no  direct  doctrinal  opposition  to  the  Church,  by  transforming  their 
society  into  a  Catholic  order  ;  in  fact,  anticipating  in  intention  the 
work  soon  afterwards  performed  by  St.  Francis.  The  "  Poor  Men 
of  Lyon "  were  to  be  absorbed  in  an  order  of  "  Catholic  Poor  " 
(Paaperes  Catholici),  under  strict  monastic  rules  of  poverty  and 
obedience  to  the  Church.  The  idea  was  approved  by  Innocent,  who 
prescribed  a  confession  of  orthodoxy,  and  severely  reproved  the 
bishops  who  were  unwilling  to  receive  the  converts  won  by 
Durandus  from  the  Waldenses.3  But  the  difference  was  too  deeply 
rooted  in  principle,  and  the  order  soon  came  to  an  end. 

1   Innoc.  Epist.  i.  94.  2  See  above,  Chap.  XXII.  §  X 

3  For     the     letter     of    Innocent     concerning    the     whole     movement 

(a.d.  1210)  see  Gieseler  (iii.  462),    who  finds  in  the  spirit  shown   by  the 

Pope  in  this  matter  one  reason  why  St.  Francis  did  not  become  a  heretic. 

Helyot  (iii.  22,  f.)  supposes  the    Pauperes   C  itholicl  to   have   ultimately 

joined  the  Augustinian  Friars. 


A.D.  1208.  MURDER  OF  PETER  OF  CASTELNAU,  611 

§  5.  Toulouse,  where  the  civil  authorities  opposed  a  steady  re- 
sistance to  the  mission,  had  become,  in  1205,  the  see  of  a  new 
bishop,  Fulk,  or  Folquet,  who  was  as  bigotted  and  merciless  as  the 
Abbot  Arnold.  The  son  of  a  rich  Genoese  merchant  at  Marseilles, 
he  had  spent  a  wandering  youth  as  a  licentious  Troubadour, 
till  the  shock  of  his  mistress's  death  drove  him  to  the  cloister, 
when  he  came  forth  hardened  into  a  character  conspicuous  among 
the  churchmen  of  the  age  for  treachery  and  cruelty.1 

In  1206,  the  legate,  Peter  of  Castelnau,  excommunicated  Count 
Raymond  for  refusing  to  abandon  a  war  with  his  vassals  in  Pro- 
vence and  to  turn  his  arms  against  the  heretics ;  and  Innocent 
called  on  the  kings,  nobles,  and  Christian  people  of  France,  to  en- 
force the  sentence  (1207).2  Raymond  submitted,  promising  to  aid 
the  persecution  ;  but,  on  the  ground  of  his  reluctance  to  act  against 
the  heretics,  Peter  renewed  the  excommunication.  Some  threaten- 
ing words  uttered  by  Raymond  in  an  angry  conference  at  St.  Gilles 
were  followed  by  the  murder  of  the  legate,  who  was  pierced  by  one 
of  the  Count's  men  with  a  spear  as  he  was  embarking  on  the  Rhone 
(January  15th,  1208).  It  seems  that  Raymond  was  innocent  of  the 
crime;3  but  the  Pope  at  once  assumed  his  guilt  in  a  vehement 
letter  to  the  bishops  of  the  country,  ordering  them  to  proclaim  on 
every  Sunday  and  holiday  the  excommunication  of  Raymond  of 
Toulouse,  the  murderer,  and  all  his  accomplices.  The  Pope  did  not 
hesitate  to  declare  that  no  faith  was  to  be  kept  with  him  who  does 
not  keep  faith  with  God.*  The  only  terms  on  which  Raymond 
could  be  admitted  to  repentance,  were  the  expulsion  of  all  heretics 
from  his  dominions. 

§  6.  While  this  sentence  was  fulminated  against  the  Count  him- 
self, the  murder  of  Peter  was  seized  as  a  fit  occasion  for  the  complete 
extirpation  of  the  heretics  in  Languedoc.  We  are  still  in  the 
midst  of  the  age  of  the  Crusades ;  when  each  Pope  was  ready  to  pro- 
claim one  ;  when  Christendom  was  longing  to  emulate  the  deeds  and 
avenge  the  failure  of  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion  and  his  comrades  ;  when 
Europe  was  full  of  soldiers  trained  in  that  school  of  cruelty  and 
licence ;  and  princes  and  nobles  could  be  tempted  by  conquests 
easier  and  nearer  at  hand  than  those  which  had  failed  them  in  the 
East.  Here  was  an  enemy  of  the  Christian  faith  in  the  fairest  part 
of  Christendom,  whose  wealth  and  provinces  were  already  coveted 

1  See  his  character  drawn  by  Milman,  vol.  v.  p.  412.  His  amorous 
songs  are  still  extant. 

2  Innoc.  Epist.  x.  61,  140. 

3  For  the  evidence,  see  Milmun,  v.  419. 

4  Innoc.  Epist.  xi.  26:  "Cum  juxta  Sanctorum  Patrum  canonicas  sanc- 
tiones,  qui  Deo  fidem  non  servat,  fides  servanda  nun  es£." 


612  THE  ALBIGENSIAN  CRUSADE.        Chap.  XXXVII. 

by  the  princes  and  nobles  of  northern  and  central  France.  Cardinal 
Gualo  was  sent  to  organize  the  Crusade  which  Innocent  had  pro- 
claimed even  before  the  murder  of  Peter ;  and  the  Pope's  vehement 
appeal  combined  the  civil  and  spiritual  powers  of  Moses  and  St. 
Peter,  "  the  Fathers  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,"  and  the 
favourite  image  of  the  "  two  swords,"  to  typify  the  holy  alliance  of 
France  and  Kome.  Thus  he  wrote  to  Philip  Augustus :  "  Up, 
soldiers  of  Christ !  Up,  most  Christian  king !  Hear  the  cry  of 
blood ;  aid  us  in  wreaking  vengeance  on  these  malefactors !  Up, 
in  the  same  tone  cried  the  Pope  to  all  the  adventurous  nobles 
and  knights  of  France,  and  offered  to  their  valour  the  rich  and 
sunny  lands  of  the  South."1  The  Crusade  was  proposed  by  Gualo, 
in  a  great  national  assembly  at  Yilleneuve  on  the  Yonne.  Thilip 
Augustus,  whose  conflict  with  John  of  England  and  the  Empire 
was  but  suspended  for  a  time,  excused  himself  and  his  son  on 
the  ground  that  they  were  threatened  by  those  "  two  great  lions ; 
but  he  contributed  a  force  of  15,000  men,  and  gave  all  his  sub- 
jects leave  to  join  in  the  holy  war.  The  clergy  voted  a  subsidy  of 
a  tenth ;  and  nobles  and  commons  displayed  a  zeal  stimulated  by 
the  offer  of  the  same  indulgences  as  for  a  Crusade  to  Palestine, 
and  by  tempting  baits  of  conquest  and  spoil.  The  warlike  bishops 
of  France,  themselves  threatened  by  the  heretics,  made  common 
cause  with  their  brother  prelates  of  the  South  ;  and  in  the  first 
ranks  of  the  Crusade  appear  the  archbishops  of  Reims,  Sens,  and 
Rouen.  Adventurers  of  all  classes  were  tempted  by  the  hope  of 
plunder  and  the  promise  of  salvation.  The  clergy  and  monks 
everywhere  preached  this  new  way  of  attaining  everlasting  life ; 
and  the  numbers  gathered  for  the  Crusade  were  too  large  for  any 
accurate  computation.2 

Among  the  lay  captains  of  the  host  were  the  Dukes  of  Burgundy 
and  Nevers,  and  the  baron  who  became  the  chief  commander  and 
chief  gainer  in  the  enterprise — Simon  de  Montfdrt — a  na       after- 

1  Milman,  vol.  v.  p.  421.  See  his  description  of  the  political  motives 
mingled  with  the  Crusade,  especially  the  reduction  of  Langnedoc  under 
the  full  sovereignty  of  France.  The  difference  still  existing  between 
Gallic  France  and  Aquitaine  must  be  remembered.  "Throughout  the 
war,  the  Crusaders  are  described  as  the  Franks,  as  a  foreign  nation  invad- 
ing a  separate  territory." 

2  See  Milman,  vol.  v."  pp.  421-2.  Some  mention  500,000.  The  Troubadour 
estimates  them  at  20,0^0  knights  and  200,000  common  soldiers,  not 
reckoning  the  townsmen  and  clerks;  but  (says  he)  "God  never  made  the 
clerk  so  learned  who  could  count  the  half  or  the  third  of  their  crosses,  ban- 
ners, and  barbed  horses,  or  write  the  names  of  the  priests  and  abbes  only." 
(Fauriel,  15.)  Peter  of  Vaux-Cernay  gives  the  number  of  men-at-arms 
as  50,000. 


A.D.  1207.  SIMON  DE  MONTFORT.  613 

wards  invested  with  a  nobler  fame  by  his  son.1  This  veteran 
Crusader  was  chosen  general,  with  solemn  invocation  of  the  Holy 
Ghost.  "  Simon  was  now  about  sixty  years  of  age,  and  was 
regarded  as  a  model  of  the  chivalry  of  the  time.  In  person  he  was 
tall,  strong,  and  active;  as  a  leader  he  was  at  once  daring  and 
skilful ;  and  his  affable  and  popular  manners  contributed  to  secure 
for  him  the  enthusiastic  love  and  confidence  of  his  followers.  The 
sincerity  of  his  devotion  to  the  Church  had  been  shown  in  the  late 
Crusade.  ...  He  was  remarkable  for  his  regularity  in  the  exer- 
cises of  religion,  daily  hearing  mass  and  the  offices  of  the  canonical 
hours ;  and  he  was  upheld  by  a  lofty  confidence  in  the  protection 
of  Heaven.  .  .  .  But  with  Simon's  better  qualities  were  combined 
some  of  the  vices  which  not  uncommonly  seek  their  sanctification 
from  high  religious  professions ; — a  vast  ambition,  a  daring  un- 
scrupulousness  as  to  the  means  of  pursuing  his  objects,  a  ruthless 
indifference  to  human  suffering,  and  an  excessive  and  undisguised 
rapacity."2  Few  contrasts  could  be  stronger  than  that  of  the 
characters  of  the  leaders  on  the  two  sides. 

§  7.  Raymond  of  Toulouse  again  bowed  before  the  storm,  rejecting 
the  bolder  counsel  of  his  nephew,  the  viscount  of  Beaucaire,  to  hold 
out  in  their  castles  against  the  invaders.  He  sent  to  Rome  an 
embassy  of  bishops  and  abbots  (for  some  churchmen  still  adhered 
to  him),  and  humbly  requested  the  Pope  to  appoint  a  new  legate 
to  deal  with  him,  as  he  considered  Arnold  of  Citeaux  his  personal 
enemy.  Innocent,  whose  letters  constantly  avow  the  use  of  fraud 
in  dealing  with  heretics  in  general  and  with  Raymond  of  Toulouse 
in  particular,  did  not  wish  to  drive  the  Count  to  desperation  till  his 
great  vassals  were  first  subdued.  He  seemed  to  grant  his  request, 
while  he  mocked  its  sense,  by  the  appointment  of  his  own  secretary 
Milo,  whose  known  moderation  led  Raymond  to  say  that  he  was  a 
legate  after  his  own  heart,  not  knowing  that  Milo,  and  his  sterner 
colleague  Theodisc,  were  both  placed  under  the  orders  of  Arnold : 
the  deception  being  avowed  in  the  Pope's  own  instructions  to  Milo. 
The  new  legate  was  the  bearer  of  the  terms  obtained  by  Raymond's 

1  Simon's  title  was  taken  from  the  place  of  his  birth  (ab.  1150),  Monfort 
1'Amaury,  in  the  Isle  de  France,  in  which  barony  he  succeeded  his  father 
(1181),  and  was  afterwards  made  its  count,  being  also  by  inheritance 
Count  of  Evreux.  The  earldom  of  Leicester  was  acquired  by  his  marriage 
with  Amicia  de  Bellomont,  daughter  and  coheiress  of  the  last  earl  (who 
died  in  1204).  He  was  confirmed  in  it  by  King  John  in  1207,  but  after- 
wards banished  and  deprived  of  the  earldom  for  his  treatment  of  the 
younger  Count  Raymond  (VII.).  The  title  was  restored  to  his  second  son, 
the  famous  Simon  de  Montfort  of  English  history,  with  the  consent  of 
the  elder  brother  (Amalric  or  Amaury,  who  succeeded  his  father  in 
Languedoc),  by  Henry  III.  in  1230.  -  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  pp.  350-1. 

II— 2  E  2 


614  TAKING  AND  MASSACRE  OF  BEZIERS.       Chap.  XXXVII. 

envoys  at  Rome,  if  we  may  believe  the  Troubadour,  "  by  fair  words 
and  many  presents.'"  He  must  purge  himself  of  complicity  in  the 
murder  of  Peter  of  Castelnau,  swear  obedience  to  the  Pope  and  his 
legate,  giving  up  seven  castles  in  pledge,  besides  other  stringent 
conditions,  and  penalties  in  case  of  their  non-fulfilment.  To  all 
this  he  pledged  himself  in  a  solemn  act  of  penance  before  the  high 
altar  of  St.  Gilles,  to  which  he  was  led  up  with  a  rope  round  his 
neck,  scourged  on  his  naked  shoulders  as  he  went ;  and  it  was  con- 
trived that,  in  leaving  the  church,  he  should  pass  by  the  tomb  of 
the  murdered  legate,  to  which  he  was  forced  to  pay  respect  (June  1 8, 
1209).  Nor  was  this  all:  his  humiliation  was  completed  by  sub- 
mission to  the  new  demand  that  he  should  himself  take  up  the 
cross  against  his  own  loyal  subjects ;  and  he  remained  with  the 
army  till  after  the  fall  of  Carcassonne. 

§  8.  The  submission  of  Raymond  gave  no  check  to  the  Crusade ;  for 
it  was  declared  to  have  been  set  in  motion  not  against  the  Count  of 
Toulouse,  but,  as  one  of  its  apologists  writes,  "  such  mighty  arma- 
ments must  not  have  been  prepared  in  vain."  Next  to  Raymond 
among  the  suspected  princes,  and  even  more  obnoxious  for  his 
courage  and  resolution,  was  his  young  nephew,  Raymond  Roger, 
viscount  of  Beziers.  Having  in  vain  counselled  his  uncle  to  resist- 
ance, in  self-defence  rather  than  from  sympathy  with  the  heretics,1 
he  now  waited  on  the  legates  at  Montpellier  to  clear  himself  of  the 
suspicion  of  heresy.  His  excuses  were  rejected  with  derision ;  and 
he  threw  himself  with  his  main  force  into  Carcassonne,  while  the 
crusading  army  advanced  against  Beziers.2  This  first  act  of  the  war 
revealed  its  national  rather  than  religious  character.  The  people, 
in  their  prince's  absence,  refused  to  surrender  at  the  advice  of  their 
bishop,  who  was  in  the  crusader's  camp — advice  which  Arnold  per- 
mitted, probably  with  a  treacherous  motive — and  Catholics  joined 
with  heretics  in  declaring  that,  rather  than  surrender,  they  would 
be  drowned  in  the  sea — they  would  eat  their  wives  and  children. 
"  Then  " — replied  the  abbot  Arnold — "  there  shall  not  be  left  one 
stone  upon  another ;  fire  and  sword  shall  devour  men,  women, 
and  children:"  and  when  the  city  was  taken  by  storm,  and  the 
legate  was  asked  how  the  Catholics  should  be  distinguished,  he 
answered,  "  Slay  all !     God  will  know  his  own."     (July  22,  1209). 

1  "  The  Troubadour  praises  the  Viscount  very  highly,  and  says  that  he 
could  bring  many  clerks  and  canons  to  attest  his  orthodoxy  (p.  26).'' 
(Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  352.) 

2  Beziers  stands  north-east  of  Narbonne  on  the  little  river  Orb,  which 
runs  into  the  Gulf  of  Lyon.  The  city  is  described  as  strong,  exceedingly 
rich,  and  very  populous,  relying  on  its  armed  citizens  and  numerous 
soldiers.      (Gul.  Brito,  ap.  Milman,  vol.  v.  p.  429.) 


A.D.  1209        FATE  OF  ROGER  RAYMOND,  615 

The  Crusaders  advanced  through  a  country  deserted  by  the  people, 
to  the  strong  town  of  Carcassonne,  standing  on  a  steep  hill,1  with 
fortifications  lately  strengthened  (as  the  monk  relates  with  horror) 
with  the  materials  of  ecclesiastical  buildings,  but  badly  provisioned. 
After  the  repulse  of  two  assaults,  in  which  both  Simon  de  Montfort 
and  the  young  viscount  of  Beziers  displayed  singular  courage,  Peter 
of  Arragon  came  to  offer  his  mediation,  as  a  Catholic  king  who  had 
lately  proved  his  orthodoxy  by  the  expulsion  of  all  heretics,  and  as 
suzerain  of  the  viscount,  for  whose  own  sound  belief  he  vouched, 
while  pleading  his  youth.  Arnold  would  only  permit  Raymond 
Roger  to  retire  with  eleven  knights,  all  the  rest  being  required  to 
surrender  at  discretion ;  and  the  viscount  declared  he  would  rather 
be  flayed  alive  than  desert  the  least  of  his  subjects.  But  a  week 
later  their  distress  through  famine  and  pestilence  induced  him  to 
accept  the  legate's  safe  conduct  in  the  hope  of  making  terms;2  and 
he  was  detained  as  a  prisoner,  while  the  people  were  allowed  to 
leave  the  town  (says  the  monk)  "naked,  carrying  nothing  with 
them  but  their  sins"  (Aug.  J 5),  and  400  of  them  were  hanged  or 
burnt  as  heretics.  The  speedy  death  of  Raymond  Roger  in  his 
dungeon,  at  the  age  of  twenty-four,  was  laid  to  the  charge  of 
Simon  de  Montfort,  who  alone  reaped  its  fruit. 

§  9.  At  all  events,  De  Montfort  now  proved  that  his  chivalric 
merit  and  religious  zeal  were  not  crowned  by  the  disinterested 
virtue  which  is  its  own  reward.  When  the  Duke  of  Burgundy  and 
the  Counts  of  Nevers  and  St.  Pol  declined  the  vacant  fief,  Simon 
de  Montfort,  a  week  after  the  fall  of  Carcassonne,  was  elected 
viscount  of  that  place  and  Beziers  by  the  abbot  Arnold  and  a  few 
assessors,  as  tributary  to  the  Holy  See  ;  and  Innocent,  in  confirm- 
ing the  act,  invested  him  with  all  the  lands  conquered  or  to  be  con- 
quered during  the  Crusade  :  a  promise  of  fearful  omen  to  Count 
Raymond.  An  immediate  effect  of  this  grant  was  to  infuse  a 
national  spirit  into  the  resistance  which  became  general  through  the 
country,  while  the  great  French  nobles,  disgusted  with  the  cha- 
racter of  the  war,  withdrew  with  their  vassals,  whose  forty  days' 
term  of  service  had  expired.  De  Montfort  found  it  hard  to  hold  his 
ground  during  the  winter,  in  a  war  of  exasperated  cruelty  on  both 
sides  ;  but  his  ascendancy  was  restored  by  reinforcements  which  his 
countess  brought  to  him  in  the  spring  of  1210.  The  capture  of 
Minerve,  a  strong  fortress  among  the  rocks  of  the  Cevennes,  was 

1  Carcassonne  (now  a  town  of  above  20,000  inhabitants)  stands  on  the 
upper  course  of  the  Aude,  about  forty  miles  west  of  Narbonne,  among  the 
hills  which  join  the  Cevennes  to  the  northern  spurs  of  the  Pyrenees. 

2  The  accounts  differ  as  to  whether  he  gave  himself  up  as  a  hostage  or 
was  treacherously  seized  during  a  conference. 


616  REVOLT  OF  TOULOUSE.  Chap.  XXX VII. 

marked  by  a  signal  act  of  the  abbot  Arnold's  perfidy,  in  which  De 
Montfort  acquiesced.  The  garrison  and  people,  reduced  by  famine, 
accepted  a  capitulation  so  artfully  worded  that,  when  a  fierce 
Crusader  protested  against  its  leniency,  Arnold  replied,  "  Fear  not, 
few  there  will  be  whose  lives  will  be  spared  ; "  and  his  promise 
was  made  good  when  his  preaching  was  rejected  by  the  women  even 
more  obstinately  than  the  men.  "  A  hundred  and  forty  of  the 
Perfect  spared  their  persecutors  the  trouble  of  casting  them  on  the 
vast  pile ;  they  rushed  headlong  of  their  own  accord  into  the 
flames  "(July,  12 10).1 

§  10.  Meanwhile  Raymond,  who  had  returned  to  Toulouse,  was 
assailed  with  new  demands  by  the  legate,  who  again  excommunicated 
him  when  he  answered  that  he  appealed  to  the  Pope  (September 
1209).  He  took  what  seemed  the  desperate  resolution  of  going  to 
Rome  at  the  very  moment  when  Innocent  was  heaping  favours  on 
Simon.  Passing  through  France,  he  obtained  letters  to  the  Pope 
on  his  behalf  from  the  king  and  some  of  the  great  nobles ;  and, 
though  at  first  received  with  vehement  reproaches,  he  won  at  least 
the  show  of  favour  from  Innocent,  who  seems  to  have  begun  to  have 
misgivings  about  the  acts  of  the  Crusaders.  Together  with  presents 
of  a  rich  mantle  and  a  ring  from  the  Pope's  own  finger,  he  received 
ibsolution  on  the  condition  of  a  canonical  purgation  before  the 
egates  Arnold  and  Theodisc  (his  supposed  friend  Milo  having  died). 
Perhaps  it  was  by  secret  instructions  from  Rome  that  the  proposed 
purgation  was  insultingly  refused  him  at  St.  Gilles  (September 
1210).  In  the  ensuing  February,  he  was  cited  to  a  council  at  Aries, 
and  required  to  submit  to  terms  such  as  he  declared  all  his  territory 
would  not  satisfy.2  Their  publication  roused  the  spirit  of  resist- 
ance at  Toulouse  and  through  all  the  towns  of  his  dominion,  the 
people  declaring  that  they  would  all  die,  they  would  eat  their  own 
children,  ere  they  would  abandon  their  injured  sovereign.3  But 
all  this  enthusiasm,  under  the  weak  and  irresolute  Raymond, 
availed  little  against  such  a  practised  warrior  as  De  Montfort,  and  the 
military  adventurers  by  whom  he  was  reinforced.4  Even  the  re- 
monstrances to  which  Innocent  was  moved  by  the  excesses  of  the 
Crusaders,  and  the  complaints  of  Philip  Augustus  and  Peter  of 
Arragon,  were  of  no  avail,  and  the  Pope  soon  revoked  his  orders  for 
greater  justice  and  mercy  to  the  princes  and  people.     Toulouse  was 

1  Milman,  v.  437.       2  See  the  fourteen  articles  in  Milman,  v.  439,  440. 

3  Fauriel,  102  ;  Milman,  v.  441. 

4  We  must  be  content  to  refer  to  Milman,  Robertson,  &c,  for  the  details 
of  the  war,  with  the  horrible  devastation  and  cruelties  perpetrated  by  De 
Montfort,  not  (says  Peter)  that  he  had  pleasure  in  such  things,  "  for 
of  all  men  he  was  the  mildest,"  but  on  the  plea  of  retaliation. 


A.D.  1215.  CONQUEST  OF  LANGUEDOC.  617 

divided  between  the  partisans  of  the  Count  and  Bishop, — the 
"  black  band  "  of  the  citizens,  and  the  "  white  band  "  organized  by 
Fulk  for  the  extirpation  of  Jews,  usurers,  and  heretics.  When  l)e 
Montfort  appeared  before  the  city,  the  whole  clergy  went  out  to  his 
camp,  carrying  the  consecrated  host.  Vigorous  sallies  and  want  of 
supplies  forced  him  to  raise  the  siege,  mercilessly  wasting  the 
country  as  he  retired  (June  1211) ;  but,  by  the  end  of  the  follow- 
ing year,  Raymond,  having  lost  all  but  Toulouse  and  Montauban, 
fled  to  the  King  of  Arragon,  whom  the  great  victory  of  Navas  de 
Tolosa  had  set  free  to  take  an  active  share  in  the  contest.1  He  first 
interceded  in  vain  on  Raymond's  behalf  at  the  great  council  of 
Pamiers,  where  De  Montfort  appeared  as  a  sovereign  prince,  and 
the  French  nobles  and  churchmen  divided  their  spoil.  (November 
1212.)  His  appeals  to  the  Pope  called  forth  new  letters  of  remon- 
strance from  Innocent  to  Arnold  and  Simon ; 2  but  a  council  held 
by  the  Legates  at  Lavaur  decided  (more  in  accordance  with  the 
Pope's  old  policy  than  his  new  professions)  to  come  to  no  terms  with 
the  "  tyrant  and  heretic  of  Toulouse ; "  and  Innocent  threatened  the 
King  of  Arragon  with  a  new  Crusade. 

In  1213  Peter  crossed  the  Pyrenees  with  a  force  vastly  superior 
to  that  of  Simon,  who  had  only  1000  men-at-arms  and  400 
squires,  and  laid  sisge  to  Muret.  Rebuking  the  fears  of  his  wife 
and  friends,  and  only  replying  to  a  proposal  to  count  his  force, 
"  We  are  enough,  by  God's  help,  to  beat  the  enemy,"  De  Montfort 
won  a  decisive  victory,  and  the  King  of  Arragon  was  left  dead  upon 
the  field,  from  which  the  two  Raymonds  fled  (September  12, 1213). 
The  Pope's  new  legate,  Cardinal  Peter  of  Benevento,  received  the 
complete  submission  of  the  princes  of  Languedoc  (1214)  ;  but  only 
to  give  De  Montfort  time  to  finish  the  conquest,  if  we  are  to  believe 
the  monk  Peter's  boast,  "  Oh  the  pious  fraud  of  the  Legate  !  Oh  his 
fraudulent  piety !  "  A  great  council  at  Montpellier  (January  8, 1215), 
chose  Simon  de  Montfort  prince  and  sovereign  of  all  Languedoc ;  and 
this  decision  was  confirmed  by  the  Fourth  General  Council  of  the 
Lateran,  after  vehement  protests  from  the  dispossessed  princes  and 
much  vacillation  on  the  part  of  Innocent.3     (November,  121f>.) 

1  Besides  having  a  sister  married  to  Count  Raymond,  Peter  had  now 
given  another  in  marriage  to  the  younger  Raymond.  The  battle  in  the 
plain  of  Navas  de  Tolosa  (or  Muradal),  near  the  Sierra  Morena,  in  which 
the  Kings  of  Castile,  Arragon,  and  Navarre,  won  a  victory  over  the  Moors, 
which  checked  their  progress  in  Spain,  as  that  of  Charles  Martel  had 
done  long  before  in  France,  was  fought  on  the  16th  of  July,  1212. 

-  Innoc.  Epist.  xv.  212,  213.     For  the  substance,  see  Milman,  v.  447-8. 

3  For  the  details  and  secret  history  of  the  Council,  an  1  the  favour 
shown  by  the  Pope  to  young  Count  Raymond  (VII.),  see  Milman,  vol.  v. 
pp.  452-458.  We  have  already  noticed  the  decrees  of  the  Council  against 
heretics  (Chap.  V.  §  8). 


618  NEW  WAR  IN  LANGUEDOC.         Chap.  XXXVII. 

§11.  Meanwhile  the  war  in  Languedoc  went  on;  the  army  of 
the  Crusaders  was  swollen  by  new  adventurers,  and  the  enterprise 
was  joined  by  Louis,  son  of  Philip  Augustus,  who  was  present  at  the 
taking  of  Toulouse,  the  last  refuge  of  the  defeated  party.  Its 
bishop  and  pastor,  Fulk,  urged  the  destruction  of  the  city,  out  De 
Montfort  saved  his  new  capital,  demolishing  its  fortifications. 
Louis  only  remained  with  the  army  for  forty  days,  in  performance 
of  a  vow;  and  his  politic  father  received  his  report  of  Simon's 
greatness  with  significant  silence.  In  the  following  year  (1216), 
Simon  went  to  receive  investiture  in  his  conquests  from  the  King  of 
France  as  his  suzerain  ;  and  was  met  on  his  journey  by  processions 
of  the  clergy  and  people  with  the  welcome,  "  Blessed  be  he  that 
cometh  in  the  name  of  the  Lord !  "  But  his  triumph  was  short- 
lived. Young  Raymond  undertook  the  enterprise,  to  which  even 
Innocent  is  said  to  have  encouraged  him ;  and  returned  with  his 
father  to  a  people  ready  to  welcome  them. 

Toulouse  revolted  from  its  new  lord,  was  reconquered,  revolted 
again,  was  coaxed  by  the  treacherous  promises  of  bishop  Fulk  into 
submission,  which  De  Montfort  repaid  with  severities  that  draw 
from  the  Troubadour  the  cry,  "  0  noble  city  of  Toulouse !  thy  very 
bones  are  broken." l  In  the  summer  of  1217,  during  the  absence  of 
De  Montfort,  the  elder  Raymond  appeared  suddenly  before  the 
town  with  a  body  of  Spanish  soldiers,  and  was  received  with 
enthusiasm  :  the  nobles  threw  themselves  with  their  followers  into 
the  walls ;  and  preparation  was  made  for  a  vigorous  defence.  On 
hearing  the  news,  Simon  hastened  to  the  scene,  swearing  a  prophetic 
oath,  that  he  would  press  the  siege  till  he  took  the  place  or  perished. 
Bishop  Fulk,  who  had  been  driven  out  of  Toulouse  with  the 
countess,  hastened  to  rouse  Northern  France  to  the  new  Crusade 
proclaimed  by  the  Pope,2  whose  legate  denounced  extermination  for 
the  whole  people  of  Toulouse.  The  siege  had  lasted  nine  months, 
when,  in  answer  to  a  successful  sally  of  the  defenders,  a  grand 
assault   was   led   by   Simon    and   Guy   de    Montfort.      Guy   fell, 

1  Milman,  vol.  v.  p.  460.  The  sympathy  of  the  Troubadour,  which 
was  at  rirst  with  the  Crusaders,  is  now  entirely  with  the  insurgents 
in  this  new  national  war  against  De  Montfort. 

2  Honorius  III.,  who  had  succeeded  Innocent  III.  in  July  1216.  The 
words  of  the  Troubadour,  if  imaginary,  are  doubtless  even  the  truer  for 
that  to  the  spirit  of  the  legate's  threat: — "  The  fire  of  hell  has  again 
kindled  in  this  city,  which  is  full  of  sin  and  crime.  The  old  lord  is  again 
within  its  walls,  against  whom  whosoever  will  wage  war  will  be  saved 
before  God.  You  are  about  to  reconquer  the  city,  to  break  into  the 
houses,  out  of  which  no  single  soul,  neither  man  nor  woman,  shall  escape 
alive  !  not  one  shall  be  spared,  in  church,  in  sanctuary,  in  hospital !  It  is 
decided,  in  the  secret  councils  of  Rome,  that  the  deadly  and  consuming 
fire  shall  pass  over  them  !  "     (Milman,  loc.  cit  ) 


A.D.  1218  DEATH  OF  DE  MONTFORT,  619 

covered  with  wounds,  and,  as  Simon  was  lamenting  over  his 
brother's  body,  he  was  struck  by  a  stone  from  an  engine,  and  died, 
commending  himself  to  the  mercy  of  God  and  the  Virgin1 
(June  25th,  1218).  The  besiegers  retreated,  pursued  by  the  ex- 
asperated people,  and  many  of  the  banished  heretics  took  courage 
to  return.  But  the  cause  of  Simon's  heir,  Amaury  de  Montfort, 
was  supported  by  the  Pope  with  new  indulgences  for  the  Crusaders,3 
among  whom  prince  Louis  made  another  brief  and  successful  ex- 
pedition, distinguished  only  by  the  capture  and  atrocious  massacre 
of  Marmande  (1219).  Three  years  later  Raymond  VI.  died  at 
Toulouse  in  peace,  but  still  pursued  by  the  strange  vicissitudes  of 
his  fate ;  for,  though  proofs  of  his  penitence  and  faith  were  laid  by 
his  son  before  the  Pope,  the  legate  closed  a  long  inquest  by  an 
adverse  decision,  and  the  last  Christian  rites  were  not  performed 
till  the  body  had  lain  for  three  centuries  in  the  sacristy  of  the 
Knights  Hospitallers  at  Toulouse. 

§  12.  Philip  Augustus,  on  the  excuse  of  declining  health,  withstood 
to  the  last  the  solicitations  of  the  Pope,  and  even  Amaury's  offer  to 
make  over  his  rights  in  Languedoc  to  the  king ;  but  at  his  death 
he  made  a  bequest  of  money  for  the  extirpation  of  heresy  in  the 
south  (July  1223)  His  son,  Louis  VIII.,  was  now  free  to  accept 
the  renewed  offer  made  by  Amaury,  when  he  was  driven  out  of 
Languedoc  (Feb.  1224)  ;  but  a  war  with  Henry  III.  of  England 
engaged  his  attention  for  two  years.  The  sanction  of  the  Church 
was  given  to  the  new  crusade  by  a  council  at  Bourges  (Nov.  30, 
1225),  where  Raymond  vainly  offered  to  submit  to  the  Holy  See  in 
all  things  and  to  devote  himself  to  the  extirpation  of  heresy.  In 
the  spring  of  1226,  Louis  led  a  vast  army  to  effect  his  own  coveted 
conquest  in  the  name  of  the  crusade.  The  towns  all  opened  their 
gates,  except  Avignon ;  and  its  three  months'  siege  was  attended 
by  a  sickness  in  the  French  army,  which  broke  down  the  king's 
own  health,  and  he  died  at  Montpensier  (Nov.  8,  1226). 

While  Queen  Blanche,  as  regent  for  her  young  son,4  was  occu- 
pied in  maintaining  her  authority  against  the  disaffected  nobles, 

1  While  his  admirers  arraign  the  Divine  justice  of  the  loss  of  their 
martyred  saint,  his  opponents  retorted  that  he  could  not  be  a  saint  who 
had  died  without  confession.  (See  the  passages  cited  by  Mil  man,  lor.  cit.) 
Peter  of  Vaux-Cernay  adds  to  the  fatal  blow  five  wounds  with  arrows, 
which  he  likens  to  the  stigmata  of  Christ. 

2  Amalric(us)  is  the  Latin  form  of  the  name,  which  was  derived  from 
the  old  seat  of  the  family.     (See  p   613,  n.) 

3  Honorius  also  allowed  ;i  part  of  the  money  raised  for  the  crusade  in 
Palestine  to  be  diverted  to  the  Albigensian  war,  and  founded  a  new 
military  order  of  the  "  Holy  Faith  "  to  fight  against  the  heretics. 

4  Louis  IX.  (St   Louis)  was  twelve  years  old  at  his  father's  death. 


620 


LANGUEDOC  JOINED  TO  FRANCE. 


Chap.  XXXVII. 


Raymond  held  out  in  Languedoc ;  but,  overmatched  by  numbers, 
he  was  glad  to  accept  the  terms  of  peace  dictated  at  Paris  by  the 
papal  legate  (April  12,  1229).  The  greater  part  of  his  territories 
were  given  up  to  the  king  of  France;  and  the  small  portion 
reserved  to  him  as  a  fief  was  to  pass,  upon  his  death,  to  one  of  the 
king's  brothers,  who  was  to  be  married  to  the  Count's  only 
daughter,  Jeanne.1  Raymond  swore  fealty  to  the  king  of  France 
and  obedience  to  the  Church,  giving  the  former  possession  of  the 
citadel,  and  the  latter  a  new  university 2  at  Toulouse ;  and  bound 
himself  to  strict  measures  against  heresy.  Though  himself  blessed 
by  the  late  Pope  and  never  adjudged  a  heretic,  he  was  only  absolved 
from  the  excommunication  laid  on  him  for  defending  his  rights, 
after  a  penance  in  the  cathedral  of  Notre  Dame,  where,  like  his 
father  at  St.  Gilles,  he  was  led  up  to  the  altar  under  the  scourge. 

1  The  bride  and  bridegroom  were  both  infants,  and  the  marriage  of 
Jeanne  to  Alfonso,  Count  of  Poitou  and  Navarre,  did  not  take  place  till 
1241.  Raymond  VII.  died  in  1249  ;  and  his  daughter  and  her  husband 
were  victims  to  the  fatal  crusade  in  which  St.  Louis  lost  his  life  on  the 
voyage  back  from  Tunis;  they  both  died  at  Savona  (1270);  and,  as  they 
left  no  heir,  Languedoc,  with  the  whole  possessions  of  the  Counts  of 
Toulouse,  reverted  to  the  crown  of  France,  with  the  important  exception 
of  Avignon  and  its  territory,  forming  the  little  county  of  Venaissin,  con- 
cerning which  see  p.  106  and  Chap.  VIII.  §  5. 

2  It  is  important  to  observe  the  time,  just  when  Scholasticism  was 
becoming  supreme  at  Paris,  the  only  university  in  France  till  now ;  so 
that  the  foundation  of  the  university  of  Toulouse,  under  clerical  teachers, 
expressly  for  the  counteraction  of  heresy,  was  in  fact  the  subjugation  of 
the  old  free  spirit  of  southern  learning,  the  literature  of  the  langue-d'uc, 
to  the  Scholasticism  of  the  North.     (Robertson,  iii.  437.) 


The  Three  Children  in  the  Fiery  Furnace.     (Bottari.) 
From  the  Ometery  of  St.  Hermes. 


Prison  ot  the  InquiBition  at  Cordova. 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 


THE  INQUISITION:  FROM  A.D.  1229. 


§  1.  Council  of  Toulouse  for  the  extinction  of  Heresy — Prohibition  of  the 
Scriptures  to  the  laity,  especially  in  the  vernacular — Canons  against 
the  suspicion  or  common  report  of  heresy — Disabilities  and  penalties — 
Inquisition  ordered  by  bishops,  abbots,  and  lords.  §  2.  Virtual  origin 
and  actual  foundation  of  the  Inquisition  :  entrusted  to  the  Domini- 
cans by  Gregory  IX. — Rules  of  evidence,  and  penalties — Handing  over 
to  the  secular  arm — Laws  of  Louis  IX.,  Frederick  II.,  and  Raymond  VII. 
§  3.  First  proceedings  in  Provence  and  Languedoc  —  Ingenuity  of 
torture.  §  4.  The  Inquisition  in  Germany  stopped  by  the  murder  of 
Conrad  of  Marburg.  §  5.  The  Inquisition  in  Spain — Proceedings 
against  Jews,  Mohammedans,  and  heretics — Ferdinand  and  Isabella — 
Bull  of  Sixtus  IV.— Thomas  of  Torquemada.  §  6.  Revival  of  the 
Inquisition  by  the  Bulls  of  Paul  III.,  Paul  IV.,  and  Pius  V.— Its 
general  decline — Never  established  in  Britain. 

§  1.  While  the  territorial  spoils  of  Lnnguedoc  were  appropriated 
by  the  victors  in  the  Crusade,  an   ecclesiastical   council  met   at 


622  COUNCIL  OF  TOULOUSE.  Ch^p.  XXXVIII. 

Toulouse  to  devise  a  more  subtle  and  permanent  machinery  for 
the  extirpation  of  the  heresy  which  was  still  unsubdued  (Nov. 
1229).  It  enacted  forty-five  canons  for  the  extinction  of  heresy 
and  "  the  re-establishment  of  peace  " — in  the  sense  of  the  ruling 
powers.  The  laity  were  now,  for  the  first  time,  forbidden  even 
to  possess  the  Books  of  the  Old  or  New  Testament  (except  "  per- 
chance "  the  Psalter  and  passages  contained  in  books  of  devotion), 
with  a  "  most  stringent "  prohibition  of  their  possession  in  a 
vernacular  translation,1  and  this  was  soon  made  a  presumptive 
test  of  heresy.  No  heretic,  or  person  suspected  of  heresy  (for  the 
example  was  now  set  of  those  laws  of  suspicion  which  became,  long 
after,  the  disgrace  of  a  system  at  the  opposite  extreme)  was  to  be 
allowed  to  practise  as  a  physician,  or  to  approach  the  sick  and 
dying  ;  and  all  wills  were  to  be  made  in  presence  of  a  priest.  No 
office  of  trust  was  to  be  held  by  any  one  who  was  in  evil  fame  as  a 
heretic,  and  this  elastic  phrase  was  defined  to  mean  those  who  were 
so  by  common  report,  or  so  declared  by  good  and  grave  witnesses 
before  the  bishop.  All  persons,  from  the  ages  of  fourteen  for  males 
and  twelve  for  females,  were  to  make  oath  of  their  Catholic  faith 
and  abjuration  of  heresy ;  all  absentees,  who  did  not  appear  within 
fifteen  days,  being  placed  in  the  class  of  suspects,  which  included  also 
all  who  neglected  confession  and  taking  the  Eucharist  three  times  a 
year.  But  the  punishment  of  open  heresy,  whether  known  or  only 
suspected,  was  not  enough  :  it  was  to  be  huDted  down  by  a  system 
of  persecution,  "  which  penetrated  into  the  most  intimate  sanctuary 
of  domestic  life,  and  made  delation  not  merely  a  merit  and  a  duty, 
but  an  obligation  also,  enforced  by  tremendous  penalties.  The 
archbishops,  bishops,  and  exeEipt  abbots,  were  to  appoint  in  every 
parish  one  priest  and  three  or  more  lay  inquisitors,  to  search  all 
houses  and  buildings  in  order  to  detect  heretics,  and  to  denounce 
them  to  the  archbishop  or  bishop,  the  lord  or  his  bailiff,  so  as  to 
ensure  their  apprehension.  The  lords  were  to  make  the  same  in- 
quisition in  every  part  of  their  estates.  Whoever  was  convicted  of 
harbouring  a  heretic  forfeited  the  land  to  his  lord,  and  was  reduced 
to  personal  slavery.  If  he  was  guilty  of  such  concealment  from 
negligence,  not  from  intention,  he  received  proportionate  punish- 

1  Concil.  Tolosanum,  c.  14.  The  Council  of  Tarraco  (1234)  extended  the 
latter  prohibition  to  clergy  as  well  as  laity,  on  pain  of  suspicion  of  heresy  ; 
and  whoever  had  copies  of  either  Testament  (m  Bom-mico)  was  ordered 
within  eight  days  to  bring  them  to  the  bishop  to  be  burnt.  The  Council 
of  Beziers  (1246)  prohibited  in  mor«  general  terms  the  possession  of  theo- 
logical books  in  Latin  by  laymen,  and  both  to  them  and  the  clergy  in  the 
vulgar  tongue.  But  certain  translations  were  made  and  allowed  to  be 
in  use  with  the  express  view  of  counteracting  heresy  ;  for  which  see 
Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  441. 


A.D.  1229.  ORIGIN  OF  THE  INQUISITION.  62ri 

ment.  Every  house  in  which  a  heretic  was  found  was  to  be  razed 
to  the  ground,  the  farm  confiscated.  The  bailiff  who  should  not  be 
active  in  detecting  heretics  was  to  lose  his  office,  and  to  be  inca- 
pacitated from  holding  it  in  future.  Heretics,  however,  were  not 
to  be  judged  but  by  the  bishop  or  some  ecclesiastical  person.  Any 
one  might  seize  a  heretic  on  the  lands  of  another.  Heretics  who 
recanted  were  to  be  removed  from  their  homes  and  settled  in 
Catholic  cities ;  to  wear  two  crosses  of  a  different  colour  from  their 
dress,  one  on  the  right  side,  one  on  the  left.  They  were  incapable 
of  any  public  function,  unless  reconciled  by  the  Pope  or  by  his 
legate.  Those  who  recanted  from  fear  of  death  were  to  be  immured 
for  ever." x 

§  2.  In  the  inquisitorial  provisions  of  the  Council  of  Toulouse  it  is 
usual  to  trace  the  origin  of  that  terrible  instrument  of  Romish  priest- 
craft, the  Inquisition,  or  "  Holy  Office."  It  is  perhaps  more  accu- 
rate to  say  that  the  Statutes  of  Toulouse  embodied  the  spirit  of  what 
may  well  be  described  in  Milton's  words — the  "  devilish  counsel,  first 
devised  by"  Innocent  III.  "and  in  part  proposed"  in  the  Lateran 
Council  of  1215,  or  rather  still  earlier  by  Lucius  III.  (1184)  ;2  but  the 
inq-uisitorial  system  directed  by  those  Popes  and  by  the  Council  of 
Toulouse  was  strictly  episcopal,  and  the  Inquisition,  properly  so- 
called,  was  only  cast  into  its  definite  form  when  Gregory  IX. 
constituted  the  Dominican  order  as  the  standing  Papal  Inquisitors, 
claiming  the  co-operation  of  bishops,  but  directed  only  by  the  Holy 
See.3  Though  the  bishops  had  for  the  most  part  thrown  aside 
their  former  reluctance  to  pursue  heresy  with  severe  punishments 
even  to  the  death,  they  still  fell  below  the  standard  of  the  new-born 

1  Milman,  vol.  v.  pp.  466-7.  The  inefficiency  of  these  tremendous  penal- 
ties is  shown  by  the  still  more  stringent  edicts  of  the  Councils  of  JMelun 
and  Beziers  a  few  years  later  (1233)  ;  and  the  increased  exasperation  of  the 
contest  is  testified  by  the  enactment  of  the  former  against  the  murderers, 
and  harbourers  of  murderers,  of  the  persecutors  of  heretics. 

2  The  decree  of  the  4th  Lateran  Council  (c.  3,  §  7 :  for  the  text  see 
Gieseler,  iii.  432)  is  taken  word  for  word  from  that  of  Lucius  III.  (1184, 
cited  above,  p.  601).  The  chief  authorities  on  the  Inquisition  are  :  Nicolai 
Eymerici  (Inquisitor-General  in  Arragon,  ob.  1399),  Dircctorium  Inqmsi- 
torum,  ed.  cum  Comm.  Francisci  Pegnae,  Roma;,  1578,  and  often  re- 
printed ;  Ludovici  de  Paramo  de  Origine,  de  Officio,  et  Progressu  8.  Tnquisi* 
tionis,  Libri  III.  Madr.  1598  f.,  Antv.  1619  f .  ;  Phil,  a  Limborch.,  Hist. 
Inquisitionis,  Amst.  1692  f.  ;  Llorente,  Hist.  Crit.  de  V Inquisition  d'Espagne 
(the  original  in  Spanish,  translated  by  A.  Pellier),  Paris,  1817,  4  vols. 
This  great  work  is  based  on  original  "documents  in  the  Archives  of  the 
Holy  Office.  There  is  an  abridged  free  translation  into  English,  I.ond. 
1826.  The  only  English  work  on  the  whole  subject  is  the  History  of  the 
Inquisition,  by  the  Rev.  W.  H.  Rule,  2  vols.,  Lond.  1874. 

3  This  took  place  in  Germany,  Austria,  and  Arragon  in  1232,  in 
Lombardy  and  Languedoc  in  1233. 


624  LAWS  AGAINST  HERETICS.        Chap.  XXXVIII. 

zeal  of  the  friars ;  and  the  tribunal  was  not  to  be  hampered  by  the 
ordinary  processes  of  ecclesiastical  or  civil  law,  nor  by  the  common 
rules  of  fairness  and  safeguards  of  innocence.  In  seeking  for  suspected 
as  well  as  known  heretics,  it  received  the  testimony  of  criminals 
and  infamous  persons,  who  were  disqualified  as  witnesses  in  all  other 
courts;  their  unsupported  evidence  overbore  the  denials  of  the 
accused ;  even  their  names  were  kept  secret,1  and  their  evidence  was 
believed  against  the  dead  as  well  as  the  living.  Ensnaring  questions 
were  put,2  and  torture  was  employed  to  wring  out  confession  and 
recantation,  as  well  as  promises  of  mercy,  which  were  often  broken 
on  the  plea  that  no  faith  ought  to  be  kept  with  those  who  had 
denied  the  faith.  The  penalties  inflicted,  even  on  those  who  re- 
canted, according  to  the  degrees  of  their  heresy,  were  various  forms 
of  penance,  forfeiture  of  goods,  imprisonment  often  perpetual ;  nor 
did  recantation  always  save  them  from  the  dreadful  death  by  fire, 
to  which  obstinate  heretics  were  doomed.  But  as  the  Church  would 
not  shed  blood,  she  handed  over  those  condemned  by  her  to  the 
secular  power,  with  the  mockery  of  a  recommendation  to  mercy ; 
and  such  sentences  were  armed  with  the  authority  of  the  state  in 
the  severe  laws  enacted  against  heresy  by  Louis  IX.  from  pious  zeal 
(1228),  by  Frederick  II.  from  policy  and  to  turn  aside  suspicion 
from  himself  (1232),  and  by  Raymond  VII.  as  a  part  of  his  abject 
submission  (1233).3  The  severe  laws  of  Frederick  II.  against  here- 
tics appear  to  have  been  political  engines  designed  to  strengthen 

1  It  would  be  an  easy  step  from  this  secresy  for  an  unscrupulous  in- 
quisitor to  suborn  false  witnesses  ;  and  the  actual  doing  of  this  is  a  charge 
brought  by  King  Philip  the  Fair  against  Fulco,  in  his  decree  concerning 
the  proceedings  of  that  inquisitor  at  Toulouse  in  1291  (See  the  passage 
in  the  Hist,  de  Languedoc,  vol.  iv.  p.  118,  and  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  435.) 

2  For  seme  striking  examples  of  questions  in  which  two  alternatives 
were  put  in  such  a  manner  that  either  answer  was  pronounced  heretical, 
see  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  434.  The  Liber  Sententiarun  Inquisitioni*  Tolosanx, 
a  collection  of  its  sentences  from  1307  to  1323,  gives  some  idea  of  its 
frightful  activity  (published  with  Limborch's  Hist,  de  I'Inquis.).  Similar 
collections,  from  an  earlier  date,  are  extant  in  MS. 

3  Louis  IX. 's  Ordonnance,  Capientes,  is  in  Lauriere's  Ordonnances  des 
Ttois  de  France,  Paris,  1723.  Frederick  II. 's,  re-enacted  more  than  once, 
and  finally  in  the  three  laws  promulgated  at  Padua,  Feb.  22,  1839,  are  in 
Pertz,  vol.  iv.  pp.  287,  326,  and  Petrfde  Vineis,  Lib.  I.  Epist.  25-27.  The 
Statuta  Raimundi  super  Hxresi  Albigensi,  which  gave  effect  to  the  decrees 
of  the  Council  of  Toulouse,  is  in  Mansi,  vol.  xxiii.  p.  265.  The  unhappy 
Raymond  was  frequently  compelled  to  take  part  in  severities  which  he 
abhorred,  and  which  he  vainly  strove  to  mitigate;  and  so  he  purchased 
the  favour  of  his  suzerain  and  of  Rome.  In  1242  Louis  IX.  forgave  his 
renewed  rebellion,  Gregory  IX.  released  him  from  his  enforced  crusading 
vow,  and  he  afterwards  acted  as  .  mediator  between  Innocent  IV.  and 
Frederick  II.  Shortly  before  his  death,  in  1249,  he  proved  his  loyalty  to 
the  Church  by  presiding  over  the  execution  of  eighty  Cathari  at  Agen. 


A.D.  1232  f.  FATE  OF  CONRAD  OF  MARBURG.  625 

his  power  in  Italy  and  Sicily,  rather  than  to  coerce  his  German 
subjects.  We  even  find  the  freethinking  emperor  taunting  the 
Popes  with  their  allowance  of  all  sorts  of  heresy  among  their 
allies  at  Milan,  and  the  authorities  of  that  anti-Ghibelline  city 
vindicating  their  orthodoxy  by  active  persecution.  In  1233  a 
chronicler  records  that  "  the  Milanese  began  to  burn  heretics  in 
the  third  year  of  the  Lord  Archbishop  William  of  Ruzolo,"  and 
the  Podesta  celebrated  in  a  Latin  verse  both  his  erection  of  a  public 
building  and  that  he  had  done  his  duty  in  burning  Cathari. 

§  3.  The  account  of  the  first  proceedings  of  the  archbishop 
and  Dominicans  as  Inquisitors  at  Narbonne,  given  in  a  letter 
from  the  Consuls  of  that  city  to  those  of  Nismes,  recalls  to 
mind  the  famous  epistle  of  the  churches  of  Lyon  and  Vienne, 
describing  the  great  persecution  of  heathen  Rome  in  the  same 
region.1  Persons  held  in  no  ill  repute,  and  not  even  known  to  be 
suspected  of  heresy,  were  arrested  and  their  goods  seized  and  dis- 
tributed; some  were  set  free,  stripped  of  their  property;  others 
were  put  to  death  in  prison,  without  trial  and  without  the  promul- 
gation of  any  sentence  on  their  faith.  This  tyranny  provoked 
risings  at  Narbonne  (1234),  Albi,  and  other  towns ;  the  inquisitors 
were  driven  out  from  Toulouse  (1235),  and  several  of  them  were 
put  to  death  by  the  populace.2  Through  the  provinces  of  France 
Louis  IX.  enforced  the  sentences  of  the  Dominican  Inquisitors ;  but 
Philip  the  Fair,  the  champion  of  national  liberties  against  the 
Papacy,  endeavoured  to  check  their  zeal,  and  especially  to  mitigate 
the  persecution  in  Languedoc.3 

§  4.  In  Germany,  the  career  of  the  Inquisition  was  cut  short 
by  the  excesses  of  the  very  first  inquisitor  whom  Gregory  IX.  sent 
into  the  country  (1232).  Conrad  of  Marburg  had  gained  by  his 
preaching  the  spiritual  power  which  he  abused  by  his  almost  in- 
credible cruelties  as  confessor  to  Saint  Elizabeth  of  Hungary,  whom 
he  had  harassed  to  death  in  her  twenty-fourth  year.4     The  atrocious 

1  Part  I.  p.  77.     See  the  extracts  in  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  434. 

2  At  Avignonnet,  in  Languedoc,  three  Dominican  inquisitors  were  mur- 
dered in  1239,  and  four  in  1242,  when  Raymond  Vll.  made  his  last  vain 
attempt. 

3  See  his  charge  to  his  seneschal  (in  1291)  to  use  prudence  in  the 
arrests  required  by  the  Inquisitors,  and  his  decree  (already  cited)  con- 
cerning the  inquisitor  Fulco  at  Toulouse.  (/fist,  de  Languedoc^  vol.  iv. 
pp.  98.  118.)  In  these  documents  the  king  refers  to  that  horrible  inge- 
nuity of  torture  for.which  the  Inquisition  became  infamous. 

*  She  was  the  daughter  of  the  King  of  Hungary,  and  widow  of  Louis, 
landgrave  of  Thuringia.  She  was  canonized  in  1235.  There  is  a  sermon 
on  her  by  Bonaventura,  and  we  have  her  life  bv  Theodoric,  and  the 
modern  work  of.Iusti,  Elizabeth  die  Heilije,  2nd  edit.  Marburg,  1835. 


626  THE  SPANISH  INQUISITION.        Chap.  XXXVIII. 

proceedings,  which  he  began  at  Strassburg,  against  the  "  Poor  Men 
of  Lyon"  and  the  " Manicheans,"  are  attested  by  the  letter  of 
complaint,  which  Sifrid,  archbishop  of  Mainz,  found  it  necessary 
to  address  to  Gregory  IX.  On  the  evidence  of  suborned  witnesses 
and  the  confessions  of  pretended  heretics,  to  whom  the  names  of 
the  persons  to  be  accused  were  dictated,1  many,  first  of  the  lower 
orders  and  then  of  the  highest  rank,  were  condemned  to  the  fire  or 
compelled  to  accept  the  tonsure,  without  any  opportunity  of  defence 
being  allowed  them.  Confessions  were  required,  not  only  of  heresy, 
but  of  dealings  with  evil  spirits,  in  the  form  of  a  cat  or  toad,  with 
obscene  rites ;  and  many  sound  Catholics  chose  the  fiery  death  on 
Conrad's  assurance  that  it  was  a  martyrdom  if  they  were  really 
innocent,  while  others  saved  their  lives  by  a  false  confession.  A 
single  day  often  sufficed  for  the  accusation,  sentence,  and  execu- 
tion ;  and  this  facile  procedure  was  turned  to  purposes  of  private 
revenge  and  the  short  settlement  of  disputes  about  property.  It 
was  in  vain  that  the  archbishop  of  Mainz,  supported  afterwards  by 
those  of  Cologne  and  Treves,  admonished  Conrad  to  use  greater 
moderation ;  he  set  the  bishop  at  defiance  by  preaching  a  crusade 
at  Mainz.  Before  the  Pope  had  time  to  act  on  the  archbishop's 
letter,  Conrad  was  killed  in  a  popular  tumult  near  Marburg2 
(July  30,  1233) ;  and  no  further  attempt  was  made  to  establish 
a  permanent  Inquisition  in  Germany. 

§  5.  It  was  in  Spain,  the  native  country  of  St.  Dominic,  that  the 
Inquisition  became  most  firmly  established  ;  but  the  terrible  fame 
of  the  Spanish  Inquisition  belongs  to  a  much  later  time,  when  the 
final  conflict  with  the  Moors  added  a  strong  political  motive  to 
religious  zeal  for  the  suppression  of  everything  anti-Catholic.  For 
the  original  purpose  of  extirpating  the  Cathari,  the  Inquisition  was 
established  in  Arragon  in  1233,  and  in  Castile  towards  the  end  of 
the  century.  As  the  Christian  reconquest  of  the  peninsula  ad- 
vanced, and  baptisms  of  Jews  and  Mohammedans  became  frequent, 
a  new  object  for  its  energies  was  found  in  the  detection  and  punish- 
ment of  the  nominal  converts  who  had  either  secretly  retained  or 
relapsed  to  their  old  faith.  For  the  same  high  authority,  which 
forbad   conversion   to   Christianity  by  force,    held   the   breach  of 

1  The  makers  of  these  false  confessions  are  represented  as  saying: 
"  Nescio  quern  accusem,  dicite  mihi  nomina  de  quibus  suspicionem  habetis** 

2  Among  other  cases  of  popular  vengeance  on  inquisitors,  the  genius 
of  Titian  and  Guido  has  celebrated  the  assassination  of  Peter  of  Verona, 
"  virgo,  doctor,  et  martyr,  corona  triplici  laureatus,  "'who  was  canonized 
as  St.  Peter  Martyr  by  Innocent  IV.  in  the  same  year  (1252).  (Bern. 
Ouidonis  in  Bouquet,  xxi.  696-8;  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  p.  564.)  For 
the  episode  of  the  Crusade  against  the  Frisian  people  called  Stedinger  in 
1233-4,  see  Gieseler,  vol.  iii.  p.  436  7,  and  Robertson,  vol.  iii.  pp.  565-6. 


A.D.  1483.  THOMAS  DE  TORQUEMADA.  627 

Christian  prufession  to  be  a  crime  punishable  even  by  death.1 
During  the  whole  period  of  the  Middle  Ages,  the  Jews,  by  their 
learning  as  well  as  their  wealth,  had  exercised  a  great  and  civilizing 
power  in  the  Christian  kingdoms  of  the  peninsula,  and  had  even 
been  counsellors  of  the  sovereigns.  The  popular  envy  caused  by 
their  prosperity  and  advancement,  and  the  hatred  of  them  as  extor- 
tioners, were  inflamed  by  stories  of  their  desecration  of  Christian 
rites,  and  even  sacrifice  of  Christian  children,  in  their  secret 
assemblies.  It  was  especially  about  the  end  of  the  fourteenth 
century  that  they  were  assailed  by  riots,  spoliation,  and  massacre, 
followed  up  by  severe  laws,  which  severed  them  from  the  society  of 
Christians  and  prohibited  their  pursuit  of  the  professions  for  which 
they  were  specially  qualified.  Their  only  refuge  from  this  persecu- 
tion was  the  profession  of  Christianity ;  and  many  of  the  new 
converts  were  raised  to  high  office  in  the  Church  as  well  as  the 
State.  Conversions  so  profitable,  and  so  suspicious  from  their 
suddenness,  furnished  the  clergy,  and  especially  the  Dominicans, 
with  the  pretext  for  sounding  an  alarm  ;  and,  after  the  union  of 
Arragon  and  Castile,  the  counsels  of  Ferdinand,  prompted  by  the 
prospects  of  spoil  from  confiscations,  as  well  as  by  the  urgency  of 
the  friars  and  the  Papal  legate,  prevailed  over  the  more  liberal 
policy  of  Isabella.  On  the  1st  of  November,  1479,  Sixtus  IV. 
issued  a  bull  authorizing  the  two  sovereigns  to  appoint  inquisitors 
for  the  detection  and  suppression  of  heresy  throughout  their 
dominions;  and  the  terrible  persecution  that  ensued,  directed 
chiefly  against  the  Jews,  but  embracing  also  Mohammedans  and 
Christian  heretics,  was  brought  to  a  climax  by  the  appointment  of 
Thomas  de  Torquemada,  who  had  been  confessor  to  Isabella,  as 
Inquisitor-General  for  Castile  and  Arragon,  with  power  to  frame 
a  new  constitution  for  the  "  Holy  Office  "  (1483).2     This  revived 

1  Thomas  Aquinas,  Summn,  ii.  2,  qu.  10. 

2  The  terrible  history  of  the  Spanish  Inquisition,  with  its  army  of 
secret  spies,  its  dungeons  and  tortures,  and  its  "acts  of  faith  "  (mttos  da 
fe),  as  the  public  executions  were  called,  is  a  subject  requiring  a  special 
treatise.  Its  historian,  Llorente,  gives  the  following  account  of  its  victims 
during  the  three  centuries  of  its  power  (1481-1784)  : — 

Persons  burnt  alive    ..  ..  ..  ..        31,912 

„  „      in  effigy  17,659 

condemned  to  severe  penances  ..      291,450 

Total      ..      3  +  1,021 
The  Spanish   Inquisition   was  suppressed  by  an  edict  of  Napoleon  (1808), 
and  by  a  vote  of  the  Cortes  (1813),  restored  by  Ferdinand    VII.  (1814), 
and  finally  abolished  by  the  Cortes  (1820).     It  must   be  recorded  to  the 
honour  of  the  famous  Cardinal  Ximenes,  Archbishop  of  Toledo  and  Recent 


628  CONSTITUTION  OF  PIUS  V.        Chap.  XXXVIII. 

Spanish  Inquisition  was  in  close  connection  with  the  State  ;  the 
sovereigns  appointed  and  dismissed  its  members  ;  and  the  property 
of  the  victims  was  confiscated  to  the  Crown.  It  was  in  vain  that 
the  Cortes,  and  even  Popes,  endeavoured  to  mitigate  its  severity : 
the  irresponsible  power  of  the  inquisitors  proved  too  strong  for 
them,  and  some  ameliorations  ordered  by  papal  bulls  were  revoked 
after  the  Reformation. 

§  6.  One  means  of  combatting  the  great  revolt  from  Rome  was 
sought  in  the  general  revival  of  the  Inquisition,  which  had  long  died 
out  except  in  Spain.  In  July  1542,  Paul  III.  issued  a  bull,  appoint- 
ing six  cardinals  as  inquisitors-general  "in  all  Christian  countries 
whatsoever ;"  their  leading  principle  being  that  "  to  heretics,  and 
especially  to  Calvinists,  no  toleration  must  be  granted."  This  was 
the  maxim  of  one  of  the  six,  and  the  chief  prompter  of  the  measure, 
Cardinal  Caraffa,  who,  after  his  elevation  to  the  papal  throne  as 
Paul  IV.  (1555),  confirmed  the  institution  with  still  greater 
stringency.1  "  In  a  constitution  of  Pius  V.  (1566)  a  fresh  demand 
was  made  of  absolute  obedience  to  the  mandates  of  the  Inquisitor- 
general  :  princes,  judges,  and  all  secular  magistrates,  were  earnestly 
implored  to  lend  their  help,  and  under  the  succeeding  Popes  the 
organization  of  this  merciless  tribunal  was  still  more  developed, 
and  treatises  drawn  up  for  the  instruction  of  the  various  officials 
now  employed  in  carrying  out  its  sanguinary  objects." 2  Yet  the 
harshness  and  inhumanity  of  these  measures  often  issued  in  their 
own  defeat.  A  few  southern  states  of  Christendom  alone  accepted 
the  intervention  of  the  Holy  Office,  the  rest  excluding  it,  either 
from  religious  principle,  or  from  a  dread  lest  the  atrocities  which  it 
perpetrated  should  provoke  a  general  rising  of  their  subjects,  and 
imperil  the  established  forms  of  faith  and  worship." 

It  is  to  be  recorded  to  the  lasting  honour  of  the  British  Churches 
and  States,  that  even  in  the  severest  contest  with  heretics,  and 
especially  the  Lollards,  neither  England  nor  Scotland  ever  admitted 
the  Inquisition. 

of  Castile  (ob.  1517),  that  he  became  chief  inquisitor  in  order  to  mitigate 
the  severity  of  the  tribunal. 

1  See  his  bull  of  March  1,  1559,  in  Raynald.  s.  a.  Another  proof  of  his 
zeal  in  the  cause  was  given  by  his  institution  of  a  feast  of  St.  Dominic.  In 
the  same  year  Paul  IV.  endeavoured  to  cut  off  the  intellectual  sources  of 
heavy  by  the  publication  of  an  Index  Librorum  Prohibitomm. 

2  Hard  wick,  Jfi-it.  of  the  Christum  Church  durin  /  the  Reformation, 
p.  303:  "Two  of  these  treatises  were  the  Light  of  the  Inquisition,  by 
Bernard  of  Como,  with  Annotations  by  Francis  Pegna  (Rom.  1584),  and 
in  the  following  year  Eymeric's  Directory  of  the  Inquisitors,  with  the 
Commentaries  of  Pegna.  Other  works  relating  to  the  subject  will  be 
found  in  a  collection  entitled  Tractatus  Illustrium  Jurisconsultorum  de 
Crim  nations  Inj}iisitionis,  Venet.  1584." 


Preaching  at  Paul's  Cross. 

BOOK   VII. 
THE  REFORMATION   AND  ITS  PRECURSORS. 


CHAPTER    XXXIX. 
WYCLIF   AND   THE   LOLLARDS. 

A.D.  1324  (?)-1384,  et  seq. 

1.  The  Reformation  dates  from  John  Wyclif — Neglect  of  his  Memory 
— Contemporary  Information — Quincentenary  of  his  Death.  §  2.  Im- 
perfect Ideas  of  him— Wyclif  as  a  great  Schoolman.  §  3.  His  Life  at 
Oxford  and  his  Livings — Lutterworth.  §  4.  Three  stages  of  his  teaching 
— Epoch  of  his  Doctor's  Degree — The  "  Tares  among  the  Wheat."  §  5.  The 
first  stage,  chiefly  Scholastic — Controversy  with  the  Friars — Philosophy, 
Scripture,  and  Authority.  §  6.  Second  stage  :  Ecclesiastical  Politics 
II— 2  F 


630  JOHN  WYCLIF.  Chap.  XXXIX. 

— Tribute  demanded  by  Urban  V. — Refusal  supported  by  Wyclif — His 
Theory  of  Dominion :  the  first  epoch  of  the  English  Reformation — Para- 
doxical and  real  meaning.  §  7.  The  Poor  Priests — Wyclif,  St.  Francis, 
and  Waldo — The  Lollards.  §  8.  Negociations  with  Rome — Wyclif  at 
Bruges — John  of  Gaunt,  the  Black  Prince,  and  the  Good  Parliament. 
§  9.  Lancaster,  Wykeham,  and  the  Convocation — First  Process  against 
Wyclif— Protected  by  John  of  Gaunt— Death  of  Edward  III.— Bulls 
against  Wyclif — His  state-paper  for  Richard  II.  §  10.  Second  process 
— Sudbury  and  Courtenay — Wyclif  at  Lambeth — Protected  by  Court 
and  People.  §11.  Effect  of  the  Papal  Schism — Cade's  Rebellion;  results 
to  Wyclif  and  the  Lollards — New  Charge  of  Heresy — Wyclif  s  denial  of 
Transubstantiation — His  Doctrine  of  the  Eucharist.  §  12.  Proceedings 
against  him  at  Oxford.  §  13.  The  "  Earthquake  "  Council  of  London — 
Submission  of  the  University— Wyclif  retires  to  Lutterworth.  §  14. 
Translation  of  the  Bible — Trialogus — Tracts — His  English  Style.  §  15. 
Citation  to  Rome,  and  Answer  to  Urban  VI.  §  16.  His  Death  and  Cha- 
racter— Condemnation  at  Constance,  and  burning  of  his  bones — The 
Lollards  after  his  Death — Persecution  by  the  Lancastrian  Kings. 

§  1.  Like  all  great  epochs  in  the  course  through  which  it  is  the 
work  of  History  to  trace  God's  dealings  with  the  Church  and  the 
world,  the  Reformation  in  the  sixteenth  century  may  be  regarded 
either  as  the  climax  of  all  that  went  before  it,  or  as  the  beginning 
of  a  new  age  with  a  complete  history  of  its  own.  From  the  latter 
point  of  view  the  subject  would  require  another  volume  like  the 
present,  the  limits  of  which  have  been  barely  adequate  to  the  con- 
densed review  of  the  Medieval  Church  ;  and  in  the  small  space 
remaining  we  can  but  attempt  a  sketch  of  the  Reformation  as  the 
culminating  epoch,  in  which  the  elements  of  a  purer  religion  and 
freer  search  for  divine  knowledge  cast  off  the  bondage  of  a  corrupt 
ecclesiastical  system.  And  the  mode  of  treatment  thus  prescribed 
by  the  conditions  of  our  work  may  be  not  without  some  use  in 
guarding  against  errors  which  spring  from  too  great  a  severance  of 
the  new  age  from  the  old  one  of  which  it  was  the  product ;  for  there 
is  a  truth  even  amidst  all  the  pseudo-scientific  harping  upon  "  evo- 
lution "  as  applied  to  history. 

The  saying  of  Niebuhr  that  "  no  present  can  be  stable,  and  no 
future  bear  fruit,  unless  its  roots  be  firmly  fixed  in  the  past,"  is 
signally  illustrated  in  John  Wyclif  ; 1  for  it  is  from  him — after  all 

1  Once  for  all  as  to  the  spelling.  There  is  no  question  of  right  or 
wrong  for  an  age  in  which  the  orthography  of  names  was  quite  unsettled  ; 
and,  as  a  matter  ot  fact,  we  have  above  a  dozen  different  forms  of  the 
name,  in  which  the  changes  are  rung  between  i,  ie,  ee,  and  y ;  c,  cc,  and 
ck ;  f,  f,  and  v  ;  with  or  without  the  final  e.  We  adopt  the  form  likely  to 
prevail  from  its  use  by  Mr.  Shirley  and  the  "Wyclif"  Society;  though  for 
Wycliffe  there  is  the  plea  of  old-established  use  and  the  accepted  form  of 


Cent.  XIV.  EPOCH  OF  THE  REFORMATION.  631 

that  we  have  seen  of  the  various  efforts  for  reform  through  the 
whole  history  of  the  Church — that  the  beginning  of  what  we 
understand  by  "  the  Reformation "  must  be  dated.  Not  only 
would  he  deserve  that  place  from  the  character  of  his  teaching  and, 
above  all,  his  great  work  in  the  translation  of  the  Bible,  even  if  his 
efforts  had  been  as  premature  as  they  have  usually  been  regarded  ; 
but  we  now  know  that  there  was  a  real  and  vital  continuity  in  the 
labours  of  Wyclif  and  of  Luther,  with  John  Hus  and  his  followers 
for  the  middle  link.1  And  for  his  connection  with  the  past,  which 
is  the  key  to  all  Wyclif's  teaching,  it  is  a  disgrace  rather  than  a 
wonder  that  this  has  only  been  lately  understood,  owing  to  the 
strange  neglect  with  which  he  and  his  works  have  been  treated  for 
five  centuries  ;  little  more  being  known  of  him  than  the  reverence  due 
to  his  memory  as  our  first  great  Reformer,  translator  of  the  Bible, 
and  framer  of  English  prose  in  the  same  age  in  which  Chaucer  cast 
the  mould  of  English  poetry.  Truly  a  zeal  for  his  name;  but 
"  not  according  to  knowledge"  As  one  chief  reviver  of  his  true  fame 
has  said  of  his  own  age :  "  No  friendly  hand  has  left  us  any,  even  the 
slightest  memorial  of  the  life  and  death  of  the  great  reformer ; " 2 

the  name  of  the  place,  respecting  which  some  interesting  particulars  will 
be  found  in  the  Handbook  for  Yorkshire. 

1  This  is  fully  proved  and  illustrated  in  the  important  work  by  Dr.  Jo- 
hann  Loserth,  Hus  und  Wiclif :  zur  Genesis  der  Hussitischen  Lehre ;  Prag, 
1883.  Another  recent  and  valuable  German  work  is  Professor  Lechler's 
John  Wiclif  and  his  English  Precursors,  translated  by  Peter  Lorimer,  D.D., 
Lond.  1878.  New  Edition,  with  Supplement  by  S.  G.  Green,  D.D., 
Lond.  1884. 

2  Page  xlv.  of  the  truly  invaluable  Preface  to  the  volume  of  the  Rolls 
series  of  Chronicles,  entitled  :  "  Fasciculi  Zizaniorum  Magistri  Johannis 
Wyclif  cum  Tritico.  Ascribed  to  Thomas  Nettkr  of  Walden,  Provin- 
cial of  the  Carmelite  Order  in  England,  and  Confessor  to  Henry  V.  Edited 
by  the  [late]  Rev.  W.  W.  Shirley,  &c,  Lond.  1858."  Walden  was  one  of 
Wyclif  s  chief  opponents  at  Oxford,  and  was  active  in  the  processes  against 
his  followers;  and  the  "motive"  of  the  work  is  indicated  by  the  motto 
"  Inimicus  homo  hoc  fecit "  (Matt.  xiii.  28),  and  the  opening  explanation 
that  "  the  reapers  of  Christ  " — such  as  the  Carmelites  who  withstood 
Wyclif — first  gathered  up  the  tares,  and  bound  them  in  bundles  "  by  the 
invincible  rope  of  authority  and  unloosable  knot  of  reason,  to  hand  them 
over  to  the  judgment  of  the  faithful  to  be  bwnt"  (p.  2).  The  work  con- 
sists of  a  series  of  original  documents,  with  a  slight  connecting  thread  of 
narrative,  illustrating  the  controversy  of  the  Church  with  Wyclif  and  his 
followers,  down  to  the  year  1423.  It  is  in  seven  parts,  of  which  the  Rolls 
volume  contains  only  the  first  two.  With  regard  to  the  authorship, 
Mr.  Shirley  shows  the  probability  that  it  was  put  together  from  Walden's 
papers  after  his  death,  of  which  the  largest  part  and  basis  of  the  whole  was 
the  compilation  of  an  earlier  opponent  of  the  Lollards,  Stephen  Patryugton, 
his  patron  and  predecessor  as  provincial  of  the  Carmelites  (p.  Ixxvii.). 
Of  other  original  authorities,  the  chief  are  the  Chronicles  of  Walsingham, 
(Historia  Anglicana),   Knighton   (JDe   Eventibus    Anglise   usque    1395,    in 


632  THE  WYCLIF  QUINCENTENARY.       Chap  XXXIX. 

his  story  has  been  told  by  bitterly  hostile  chroniclers  ; l  and  of  the 
chief  contemporary  account  of  himself  and  followers,  compiled  under 
the  title — then  terribly  suggestive — of  the  "  tares  of  Master  John 
Wyclif  bound  together  in  bundles  to  burn  them,"  we  can  emphati- 
cally say,  "  An  enemy  hath  done  this."  For  half  a  millennium  his 
works  have  remained  for  the  most  part  scattered  and  un printed, 
till,  in  this  age  of  centenary  celebrations,  the  approach  of  the  five- 
hundredth  anniversary,  or  "  quincentenary,"  of  his  death,  on  the 
last  day  of  the  present  year  (1884),  suggested  the  effort  to  crown 
the  half-millennium  by  the  only  worthy  monument  of  a  complete 
edition  of  his  works.2  This  enterprize  is  itself  the  best  proof  of 
the  impossibility  of  giving  at  present  any  full  and  satisfactory 
account  of  Wyclif 's  Life  and  Writings — the  latter  being  the  chief 
evidence  for  the  former.  Meanwhile  the  few  leading  events  of  his 
life  have  long  become  a  part  of  English  history ;  and  our  present 
concern  is  to  shew  the  connection  of  his  teaching  with  those  who 
preceded  him  and  those  who  took  up  his  interrupted  work.3 

§  2.  The  popular  conception  of  Wyclif  as  a  religious  reformer  of 
a  type  even  purer  than  those  of  the  sixteenth  century,  though  so 
far  true,  is  most  imperfect  from  pardonable  ignorance,  an  excuse 
which  cannot  be  pleaded  for  reactionary  Protestants  who  sneer  at 
the  Reformation  and  treat  him  as  a  political  partisan  and  a  dangerous 
socialist.  It  is  true  that  his  religious  position  must  not  be  severed 
from  that  of  the  whole  chain  of  witnesses  for  a  purer  faith  and 

Twysden's  X.  Scriptt.),  or  rather  pseudo-Knighton  (for  Mr.  Shirley  shows 
that  his  5th  Book  is  not  genuine,  p.  524  n.),  and  Capgrave  (De  llen- 
ricis,  Rolls  Series).  Of  modern  works  (for  a  list  of  which,  see  Shirley, 
pp.  531-3)  the  most  important  are  the  Lives  by  Lewis,  1720  (the  first  and 
still  the  best,  says  Shirley)  ;  Vaughau,  1828,  2d  ed.  1832,  and  a  Mono- 
graph, 1853  ;  Le  Bas,  1832. 

1  As  an  example  of  their  spirit,  take  the  character  drawn  by  Walsing- 
ham,  the  monk  of  St.  Alban's,  who  exults  over  Wyclif's  death  as  a  divine 
judgment,  and  calls  him  "  organum  diaboli,  bostis  ecclesia?,  confusio  vulgi, 
haereticorum  idolum,  hypocritarum  speculum,  schismatis  incensor,  odii 
seminator,  mendacii  fabricator  "  (ii.  119).  The  pseudo-Knighton's  equal 
bitterness  is  the  more  remarkable,  as  he  must  have  obtained  his  documents 
from  John  of  Gaunt  (see  Shirley,  p.  xxvi.  n.,  and  the  passages  he  cites). 

2  The  interest  of  this  celebration  is  increased  by  its  following  close  on 
the  "  quatercentenary  "  of  Luther's  birth  (1883).  The  first  fruit  of  the 
Wyclif  Society  h;is  been  :  "John  Wyclifs  Polemical  Works  in  Latin.  For 
the  first  time  edited  from  the  MSS.,  with  Critical  and  Historical  Notices. 
By  Rudolf  Buddensieg."     2  vols.,  Lond.  1884. 

3  We  are  spared  the  necessity  of  much  detail  by  Canon  Perry's  two 
chapters  on  Wyclif  and  the  Lollards,  in  the  Student's  English  Church  His- 
tory, chaps,  xx.  xxi.  It  is  almost  superfluous  to  refer  to  our  usual  text- 
books, especially  the  eloquent  narrative  of  Milman  (vol.  viii.)  and  the 
careful  account  of  Robertson  (vol.  iv.  chap.  vi.). 


Cent.  XIV.  PARIS  AND  OXFORD.  633 

practice  than  that  which  prevailed  in  the  Catholic  Church,  and  that 
his  own  labours  culminated  at  last  in  the  simple  work  of  a  doc- 
trinal reformer  and  popular  teacher  ;  but  the  primary  keynote  of 
his  whole  career  is  struck  by  Mr.  Shirley  :  "  It  was  less  the  reformer 
or  the  master  of  English  prose,  than  the  great  Schoolman  l  that 
inspired  the  respect  of  his  contemporaries;  and,  next  to  the  deep 
influence  of  personal  holiness  and  the  attractive  greatness  of  his 
moral  character,  it  was  to  his  supreme  command  of  the  weapons  of 
scholastic  discussion  that  he  owed  his  astonishing  influence." 2  He 
studied  and  taught  at  Oxford  at  a  time  when  the  scholastic  theology 
of  Paris  had  worn  itself  out  by  its  own  elaboration,  and  men  turned 
to  the  bolder  and  more  subtile  genius  of  the  English  school ;  when 
a  contemporary 3  mourns  the  departure  of  the  Palladium  for  the 
shores  of  Britain,  which  in  learning,  as  in  polity,  was  a  microcosm 
(Shakspeare's  "  world  by  itself").  The  intellectual  empire  of  Paris 
passed  over  to  Oxford,  and  the  four  great  Schoolmen  of  the  four- 
teenth century  were  the  Englishmen,  Duns,  Ockham,  Bradwardine, 
and  Wyclif.4  Wyclif'  speaks  with  profound  respect  of  that  great  light 
of  Oxford  and  England,  Grosseteste,  and  in  one  remarkable  passage 
he  declares  that  he  had  entered  on  the  labours  of  Grosseteste, 
William  of  St.  Amour,  and  Ockham.     But  while  Wyclif 's  political 

1  His  enemies  themselves  being  judges,  e.g.  the  ps.-Knighton  (ap.  Twys- 
den,  p.  2644):  "In  philosophia  nulli  reputabatur  secundus,  in  scholasticis 
disciplinis  incomparabilis." 

2  Fasc.  Zizan.  pref.  p.  xlvii.  Mr.  Shirley  refers  to  the  testimonies 
cited  by  Bale  and  Lewis.  One  of  the  most  remarkable  is  the  account  by 
Thomas  de  Ettino,  Prior  of  the  Dominican  convent  at  Bonn,  of  a  meeting 
of  Doctors  from  Bonn,  Paris,  and  Oxford,  held  at  Bologna  in  the  house  of 
Cardinal  Colonna,  afterwards  Martin  V.  (Nov.  25th,  1410),  which  decided 
against  the  burning  of  his  books,  already  perpetrated  at  Prague  (see 
p.  665),  as  "it  would  be  absurd  and  opposed  to  truth  to  deprive  students 
and  scholastics  of  the  logical,  physical,  moral,  and  theological  books  of  the 
said  Master  John,  in  which  are  contained  many  things  true,  good,  and 
useful."  Observe  here  the  scholastic  subjects  of  the  books,  and  that  even 
the  theological  are  included  in  the  favourable  judgment.  The  assembled 
Doctors  were  content  with  a  warning  against  certain  propositions  in  some 
of  the  books.  And  this  was  only  six  years  before  the  Council  of  Constance 
ordered  the  burning  of  Wyclif s  books  and  bones. 

3  I'hilohiblon,  c.  ix.  p.  38.  This  work  is  printed  under  the  name  ot 
Richard  of  Durham,  Oxford,  1598;  hut  it  was  really  written  by  Holkoth, 
in  1344.  (See  Warton,  Hist,  of  Poetry,  vol.  i.  p.  90;  and  Shirley,  pp. 
xlviii.,  li.). 

4  See  Mr.  Shirley's  most  admirable  discussion  of  Scholasticism  in  rela- 
tion to  Wyclif,  introduced  by  the  words,  "  So  long  as  the  history  of  scho- 
lastic philosophv  in  this  country  is  unwritten,  so  long  must  we  be  content 
to  want  an  essential  element,  not  only  in  the  portraiture  of  Wyclif's  cha- 
racter, but  in  the  history  of  the  English  Reformation  "  (Fasc.  Zizan.  pref. 
p.  xlvii.  /.). 


634  WYCLIF  AT  OXFORD  AND  HIS  CURES.     Chap.  XXXIX. 

views  were  near  akin  to  Ockham's,  his  philosophy  was,  on  the 
contrary,  decidedly  Realist ;  and  in  his  Augustinian  theology  he 
was  nearer  to  Aquinas  than  to  Scotus.  Old  Fuller  is  at  least  partly 
right  in  tracing  the  source  of  his  reforming  spirit  to  the  two  facts, 
that  he  was  a  pupil  of  Bradwardine  and  a  secular  priest. 

§  3.  The  events  of  Wyclif 's  early  life  as  commonly  received  are 
few,  and  some  of  them  wrong.  His  family  doubtless  belonged  to 
the  village  "  of  that  ilk  "  in  Yorkshire ;  and  the  place  of  his  birth 
was  probably  Hipswell,  about  a  mile  from  Richmond.  Lewis's 
date  of  1324  is  unauthenticated ; x  and  Merton  must  resign  the 
honour  of  his  Fellowship  to  Balliol,  of  which  College  we  find  him 
Master  or  Warden  in  1361,  and  in  the  same  year  resigning  that 
office  for  the  rectory  of  Fylingham  in  Lincolnshire,  which  he 
exchanged,  in  1368,  for  Ludgershall  in  Bucks,  and  finally  he  was 
presented  by  the  Crown  to  Lutterworth  in  Leicestershire,  in  1374. 
While  generally  residing  at  his  cures,  and  labouring  as  we  shall 
see  presently,  he  retained  his  active  connection  with  Oxford,  where 
we  find  him  at  various  dates  renting  rooms  in  Queen's  College ; 
and  he  makes  frequent  mention  of  his  disputations  "  in  the  Schools 
and  elsewhere,"  and  especially  of  his  sermons  before  the  University. 

§  4.  In  Wyclif 's  teaching  at  Oxford  and  by  his  pen,  Mr.  Shirley 
traces  three  well-marked  stages ;  which,  though  all  imbued  with 
the  scholastic  spirit,  may  be  distinguished,2  the  first  as  purely 
scholastic,  but  with  regard  to  theology  as  the  supreme  science, 
the  second  political,  in  respect  chiefly  of  the  relation  between 
Church  and  State ;  the  third  pre-eminently  religious,  an  earnest 
effort  to  reform  the  doctrine  and  practice  of  the  Church.     How  he 

1  Though  some  passages  of  his  works  seem  to  point  to  a  longer  life  than 
60  years,  all  the  indications  of  age  are  very  doubtful  (see  Shirley,  p.  xii.). 
For  the  proof  that  he  was  a  different  person  from  John  de  Whyteclyve  or 
Why tcliff,  the  fellow  of  Merton,  rector  of  Mayfield,  and  (probably)  Warden 
of  Canterbury  Hall,  see  Shirley's  note,  pp.  513,  /.  As  to  some  other 
current  statements,  Mr.  Shirley  observes  :  "That  in  1356  he  published  his 
first  work,  The  Last  Age  of  the  Church ;  and  that  in  1360  he  took  up  the 
pen  of  the  dying  Archbishop  Fitz-Ralph  of  Armagh,  in  his  memorable  con- 
troversy with  the  Mendicants,  are  facts  only  by  coui'tesy  and  repetition." 
The  Last  Age  of  the  Church  was  one  of  those  current  prophetical  tracts 
which,  like  the  Prophecies  of  Joachim  and  the  Everlasting  Gospel  in  the 
preceding  century,  indicated  an  anti-papal  spirit ;  and  it  was  fathered 
upon  Wyclif  in  common  with  half  the  other  tracts  of  the  14th  and  15th 
centuries. 

2  This  is  Mr.  Shirley's  division,  who  says  (p.  xl.)  that  "  the  first  period 
includes  the  whole  of  Wyclifs  logical,  physical)  and  philosophical  works  ;  in 
the  second  he  first  appears  as  a  reformer,  but  a  reformer  rather  of  the 
constitution  than  the  doctrines  of  the  Church  ;  the  theological  element  is 
closely  connected  with  the  political,  and  his  literary  is  subordinate  to  his 
practical  influence." 


A.D.  1363  (prob.)      EPOCH  OK  HIS  DOCTOR'S  DEGREE.  635 

was  shut  up  to  this  best  part  of  his  work  during  his  last  three  or 
four  years,  from  1381,  we  shall  see  in  due  course.  The  division 
between  the  first  two  stages  is  marked  by  the  statement  intro- 
ducing his  controversy  with  his  first  chief  opponent,  the  Carmelite 
friar  Cunningham,1  that  the  evil  seeds  secretly  sown  at  Oxford  had 
grown  gradually  through  the  sufferance  of  his  fellow-students,  but 
it  was  when  Wyclif  took  his  degree  of  Doctor  in  Divinity  2  that  he 
boldly  uttered  open  blasphemies  from  his  chair,  and  at  this  time  of 
the  harvest  Christ  inspired  his  reapers  (the  Carmelite  friars)  to  act 
on  the  commission,  "  Colligite  primum  zizania,  et  alligate  ea  in 
fasciculos  ad  comburendum." 3  This  critical  epoch  in  Wyclif 's 
career  (which  Bishop  Bale  assumed  to  be  1372)  is  shewn  by 
Mr.  Shirley  to  have  been  between  1361  and  1366,  very  probably 
in  1363.4 

§  5.  The  gradual  growth  of  the  tares  before  that  harvest-time 
implies  that  earlier  teaching  in  which  Wyclif  would  certainly 
engage,  according  to  University  custom ;  and  we  are  distinctly  told 
of  his  lecturing  on  the  Sentences  as  Master  of  Arts  and  his  respon- 
sions  as  Bachelor  of  Divinity,  already  broaching  the  philosophical 
elements  of  his  later  doctrine  of  the  sacraments.5  It  is  as  the  sum 
of  this  first  period  of  his  teaching  that  Cunningham  binds  up  the 
bundles  in  thirteen  propositions,  which  shew  its  distinctly  scho- 
lastic nature,  but  at  the  same  time  its  vital  bearing  on  questions 

1  Fasc.  Zizan.  p.  2.  The  first  three  pieces  in  the  book  contain  the  dis- 
putations of  this  "  Frater  Johannes  Kynyngham  "  (or  Kylyngham)  against 
Wyclif,  with  an  introductory  narrative.  How  the  style  of  Wyclif  in  the 
first  two  as  Master,  but  as  Doctor  in  the  third,  helps  to  fix  the  critical 
epoch  of  his  Doctorate,  is  shown  by  Shirley,  pp.  xvi.  xvii.  For  the  fuller 
statement  of  another  opponent,  Wodeforde,  confirming  the  account  of  the 
growth  and  outburst  of'  WycliPs  heresy,  see  ibid.  p.  xv.  note. 

2  "  Cum  cathedram  doctoris  audax  arriperet  ":  where  the  emphatic  pre- 
dicate is  audax,  not  arri/eret,  as  if  he  had  usurped  the  cathedra  ;  the  right 
to  teach  being  conferred  by  the  doctorate,  which  writers  forgetful  of  the 
old  constitution  of  Universities  have  converted  into  an  appointment  to  a 
professorship.  The  word  arriperet  seems  to  indicate  the  friar's  jealousy  of 
the  secular  priest's  teaching ;  and  doubtless  this  was  a  main  element  of 
the  controversy,  in  which,  however,  it  appears  that  the  friars  attacked 
Wyclif,  rather  than  he  the  friars,  as  is  the  traditional  account. 

3  Observe  another  example  of  the  prevalent  perversion  of  Scripture,  not 
only  in  the  Carmelites'  assuming  to  themselves  the  commission  to  the  angel- 
reapers,  at  a  harVest-time  of  their  own  choosing  instead  of  "  the  end  of  the 
world  ";  but  the  complete  inversion  of  the  whole  lesson  of  the  parable — 
present  forbearance  in  the  prospect  of  God's  judgment — into  a  pretext  for 
their  own  judgment  and  persecution. 

4  Preface,  pp.  xvi.  xvii. 

5  Wodeford,  LXXfl    Qusestiones  de  Sacramento  Eucharistiir,  MS.  Bodl 
703,/.,  ap.  Shirley,  p.  xv.  n. 


636  WYCLIF'S  SCHOLASTIC  WORKS.        Chap.  XXXIX. 

of  theology  and  church,  government  and  property,  in  a  sense 
tending  against  the  received  dogmas.  The  Church  of  that  age 
might  well  be  excited  by  such  propositions  as  these  r1  that  no  one, 
who  is  in  a  state  of  mortal  sin,  can  be  lord  or  priest,  or  bishop  ; 
that  no  priest  can  exercise  civil  rule ;  that  no  ecclesiastic  can  hold 
property  for  his  subsistence  (yivere  proprietarie);  that  temporal 
lords  have  the  right  to  take  temporalities  from  ecclesiastics  ;  that 
no  one  is  bound  to  pay  tithes  or  oblations  to  profligate  (discolis) 
curates.2 

The  exposition  of  Wyclif 's  philosophical  views  is  beyond  our 
province  here;  they  must  be  left  for  careful  study  in  his  own 
works,  which  are  as  yet  inadequately  known ;  and  it  is  from  this 
part  of  the  labours  of  the  Wyclif  Society  that  we  may  expect  most 
novelty.  We  must  be  content  to  indicate,  in  general,  how  his 
philosophy  leads  up  to  his  theology  and  his  work  of  reformation. 
We  find  Wyclif  here  in  perfect  accord  with  Roger  Bacon.3  In  his 
controversy  with  Cunningham  he  describes  the  positions  held 
against  the  artifices  of  heretics,  the  subtilties  of  sophists,  and  the 
carnal  wisdom  of  the  worldly,  as  three  nests  in  which  he  and  the 
other  unfledged  chickens  of  Christ  are  nourished  by  the  fruit  of  the 
trees  of  Scripture.  The  first  nest  is  partly  logical,  by  which  Scrip- 
ture generally  verifies  its  own  sense ;  the  second,  and  higher,  is 
natural,  that  is  (to  translate  his  dialectic  terms)  the  natural  reason 
by  which  we  learn  the  truth  and  sense  of  Scripture  ;  the  third,  and 
highest,  is  metaphysical,  by  which  we  learn  the  eternity  of  God,  to 
whom  all  things  past  and  future  are  present ;  and  by  means  of 
that  truth  we  solve  the  perplexed  doubts  about  free  will,  necessity, 
and  the  contingency  of  future  things,  and  uphold  the  truth  of 

1  Nos.  9-13. 

2  On  this,  which  was  one  ground  of  the  charge  that  Wyclif's  teaching 
trenched  on  the  rights  of  property,  it  should  be  observed  that  the  obliga- 
tion of  tithe,  as  part  of  the  consideration  for  which  property  was  held,  was 
not  then  so  clearly  settled  as  it  is  now.  In  Wyclifs  view  it  had  still  its 
original  eleemosynary  character;  besides  that  what  he  savs  refers  to 
its  payment  to  the  unworthy  priest,  the  alternative  being,  not  to  with- 
hold it,  but  to  increase  the  share  of  the  poor.  (See,  as  to  the  appor- 
tionment of  tithes,  Chap.  XVI.  §  9.)  What  he  meant  to  oppose  was,  the 
crying  evils  condemned  by  the  most  Catholic  reformers,  of  an  idle  and 
unworthy  clergy,  secured  in  its  position  by  its  property  ;  what  he  con- 
tended for  was  an  evangelic  ministry,  dependent  for  its  humble  necessary 
subsistence  on  the  offerings  of  the  faithful. 

3  See  above,  p.  537.  For  what  follows  we  possess,  fortunately,  not  only 
Cunningham's  statement  of  Wyclif's  views  (Fasc.  Ziran.  p.  14,  /.),  but  two 
of  his  own  tracts  in  the  controversy  (ibid.  ]>.  453,  /.).  It  is  worth  while 
to  note  the  courtesy  of  both  champions  in  this  early  conflict,  which 
Wyclif  describes  as  an  academic  tournament.  We  condense  the  statement, 
translating  its  technical  philosophic  terms  into  more  familiar  language. 


A.D.  1365  f.  ECCLESIASTICAL  POLITICS.  637 

Holy  Scripture  in  the  force  of  its  own  language  (de  vi  sermonis) 
against  the  pompous  subtilties  of  the  sophists.1 

We  choose  this  one  example  of  Wyclif  s  early  teaching,  to  shew  how 
he  used  the  chief  branches  of  scholastic  philosophy  to  subserve  the 
one  great  end  of  maintaining  the  plain  truth  and  supreme  authority 
of  Holy  Scripture.  Accordingly  his  Carmelite  opponent,  amidst 
much  subtile  argument,  not  without  keen  humour,  fixes  on  this 
as  the  main  point  at  issue,  contending  that  the  plain  sense  of 
Scripture  is  not  always  to  be  found  in  the  letter  (ex  vi  sermonis), 
and  that  where  the  truth  is  not  obvious,  either  from  some  difficulty 
involved,  or  from  some  apparent  contradiction,  we  must  give  faith 
to  the  received  glosses  and  to  the  expositions  of  the  Doctors ;  the 
faith  demanded  being,  beyond  all  question,  not  readiness  to  learn 
and  study,  but  obedience  to  the  authority  of  the  Doctors  recognized 
by  the  Church.  Such  was  the  issue  joined  between  Wyclif  and  his 
opponents  in  this  first  stage  of  his  career.2 

§  6.  In  the  second  stage  we  find  him  drawn  into  the  arena  of 
ecclesiastical  and  national  politics,  as  the  champion  at  once  of 
England  against  Eome,  and  of  the  temporal  power  against  the 
encroachments  of  the  spiritual ;  but  in  both  cases,  and  this  is  the 
supremely  important  point,  resting  his  whole  case  on  the  deep 
foundation  of  the  subjection  of  all  human  authority  to  the 
sovereignty  of  God.  It  was  in  1365  that  Urban  V.  claimed  thirty- 
three  years'  arrears  of  the  tribute  which  John  had  covenanted  to 
pay  as  the  Pope's  vassal,  but  which  had  been  refused  by  Edward  I., 
and  again  by  Edward  III.3     We  have  seen  the  discontent  roused 

1  We  venture  to  describe  this  as  the  Pauline  and  Augustinian  doctrine 
set  in  the  reconciling  light  of  reason,  and  a  view  essentially  the  same  as 
that  of  the  famous  Sermon  (on  the  "  must  &c,"  of  Matthew  xvi.  21),  in 
which  Bp.  Horsley  argues  that  a  paradox  is  not  necessarily  a  contradiction, 
till  it  is  made  such  by  pushing  one  of  two  co-ordinate  truths  to  an  ex- 
treme ;  and  that  Divine  predestination  and  human  free-will  are  such 
truths,  each  resting  on  its  own  evidence  in  reason  and  revelation,  para- 
doxical to  us,  who  "  know  in  part,"  but  not  therefore  contradictory,  as 
will  be  seen  seen  when  "  we  shall  know  even  as  we  are  known."  We  could 
cite  the  experience  of  one  who  just  fifty  years  since  found  in  this  doctrine 
a  "  nest "  in  which  his  faith  has  since  reposed,  however  often  shaken  by 
"  winds  of  doctrine." 

2  It  is  very  interesting  to  find  him  thus  early  calling  in  question  the 
bequest  of  dominion  by  St.  Peter  to  his  successors,  and  in  this  connection 
hinting  at  those  views  of  dominion  which  afterwards  formed  a  cardinal 
point  of  his  teaching,  but  which  he  postpones  for  another  occasion: 
"  Ista  est  pulchra  via  ad  introducendum  materiam  de  dominio,  sed  oportet 
ab  ilia  supersedere  ad  tempus,  ne  materia  accepta  pra?  manibus  emittatur  " 
(Fasc.  Zizan.  p.  456).  Hence  it  is  clear  that  the  theory  was  not  first 
invented  to  meet  the  political  crisis  of  1366. 

3  The   details  of  this   and   the   subsequent    political   affairs,   in   which 

11—2  F  2 


638  BEGINNING  OF  THE  REFORMATION.       Chap.  XXXIX. 

through  Christendom  by  the  exactions  of  the  Popes  at  Avignon ; 
but  in  England  the  demand  was  received  as  that  of  a  virtual  vassal 
of  the  French  king  for  treasure  which  would  go  in  part  to  support 
our  deadly  enemy.  The  claim  was  finally  and  for  ever  rejected  by 
Parliament  in  1366 ;  and  the  decision  made  at  Westminster  was 
sustained  in  the  schools  of  Oxford  by  Wyclif,  who  now  describes 
himself  as  a  royal  chaplain.1  His  whole  argument  was  based  on 
that  famous  Theory  of  Dominion,  the  publication  of  which  is 
regarded  by  Mr.  Shirley  as  the  true  epoch  of  the  beginning  of  the 
English  Reformation.2 

The  doctrine  expounded  in  his  great  works  on  Divine  and  Civil 
Dominion  was  made  the  occasion  of  bitter  censure,  which  is 
perhaps  more  excusable  in  the  passions  of  his  age  than  the 
apologies  made  in  our  own  by  "  candid  friends  "  who  fail  to  see  it 
from,  the  right  point  of  view.  It  is,  as  he  himself  has  emphatically 
warned  us,  an  ideal  theory,  not  a  rule  for  the  guidance  of  civil 
polity ;  the  work  of  a  Schoolman,  not  of  a  practical  statesman, 
though  involving  very  practical  applications ;  of  one  of  those  English 
Schoolmen,  whose  bold  and  subtile  acuteness,  in  marked  contrast 
with  the  safer  solidity  of  the  Parisians,3  led  them  to  exaggerate  the 
forms  of  ingenious  paradox  by  which  all  the  Schoolmen  delighted  to 
give  point  to  their  propositions.4  That  Dominion  is  founded  in 
Grace,  and  that  God  must  obey  the  Devil,  are  startling  propositions, 
especially  standing  side  by  side,  till  we  see  that  they  really  mean 
the  same  as  One  is  your  Master,  even  God,  and  Let  every  soul  be 
subject  to  the  higher  powers,  as  Paul  was  to  Nero,  and  Christ 
himself  to  Caiaphas  and  Herod  and  rilate,  nay,  to  Satan  in  His 
temptation ;    and   the    second    and   more   paradoxical  proposition 

Wyclif  was  concerned,  may  be  read  in  the  Student's  English  Churoh  His- 
tory, the  text-books  of  English  History,  and  the  admirable  summary  in 
Mr.  Shirley's  Preface. 

1  In  the  Dcterminaiio  de  Dominio,  printed  by  Lewis  (p.  363,  /.)  which  is 
perhaps  a  fragment  of  his  great  work  De  Dominio  Divino.  Mr.  Shirley 
places  its  writing  in  1366,  or  next  year  at  the  latest  (p.  xvii.).  Wyclif, 
who  appears  to  have  been  present  at  the  Parliament,  and  is  by  some  sup- 
posed to  have  been  consulted  on  the  question,  recites  the  opinions  given 
by  seven  lords,  probably  the  earliest  extant  report  of  a  parliamentary 
debate.     (Shirley,  p.  xix.) 

2  Mr.  Shirley  (p.  xl.)  says  this  of  the  preface  to  the  De  Dominio  Divino, 
"  published  at  the  latest  in  1368  ";  but  he  adds  that  this  date  is  conjec- 
tural, and  probably  a  year  or  two  later  than  the  truth.  The  second  great 
work  on  the  same  subject,  De  Dominio  Civili,  he  refers,  on  internal  evi- 
dence, to  1371  (p.  xxi.  n.). 

3  See  the  interesting  testimonies  cited  by  Mr.  Shirley,  p.  xlviii. 

4  Or,  as  would  be  said  in  German  (a,nd  in  Anglo-German  slang),  to  "  ac- 
centuate "  (betonen)  their  meaning. 


A.D.  1366.  WYCLIF'S  THEORY  OF  DOMINION.  639 

is  the  qualification  of  the  first.  Nor  should  it  be  forgotten  that,  in 
introducing  feudal  language  in  such  a  discussion,  Wyclif  was  not 
only  addressing  a  feudal  society,  but  arguing  on  a  demand  which 
sprang  out  of  feudalism.  The  very  term  Dominion  must  be  under- 
stood, not  simply  as  rule  or  government,  but  in  the  Latin  and 
medieval  sense  of  overlordship  and  ultimate  possession,  as  well  as 
authority.  This  was  the  right  and  dignity  which,  Wyclif  main- 
tained, God  had  given  to  no  vicar  upon  earth,  whether  Pope  or 
Emperor,  prince  or  bishop,  priest  or  magistrate;  but  such  lawful 
dominion  as  each  had  was  given  by  His  grace,  complete  in  its  own 
sphere,  the  civil  as  well  as  the  ecclesiastical ;  only  properly  exer- 
cised by  true  Christians  in  a  state  of  grace ;  while  for  all  His  people 
the  ultimate  appeal  is  to  Him,  their  supreme  Lord,  whom  they 
must  obey  rather  than  man. 

The  theory  supplied  a  rational  foundation  for  resisting  all  un- 
righteous claims  to  authority,  possessions,  and  exactions,  such  as 
that  of  the  Pope's  suzerainty  over,  and  tribute  from,  a  nation ;  the 
famous  power  of  "  the  two  swords  " ;  the  intrusion  of  the  clergy  on 
the  province  of  civil  government  by  the  claim  of  divine  right ;  their 
support  in  idleness,  luxury,  and  even  vice,  and  their  refusal  to  bear 
their  share  of  taxation ;  the  exactions  of  mendicants  upon  society. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  it  was  an  ideal  theory,  which  must  be 
modified  in  its  practical  application  to  a  society  where  God,  in  His 
providential  government,  suffered  the  authority  and  oppressions, 
usurpations  and  exactions,  of  wicked  men.  Here  comes  in  the 
supremacy  of  law  and  social  order  :  "  the  powers  that  be  are  ordained 
of  God :  therefore  he  that  resisteth  the  power  resisteth  the  ordinance 
of  God  ";  and  in  this  sense  God  must  obey  the  devil.1 

One  is  almost  tempted  to  say  that  Wyclif  gave  a  signal  example 
of  such  an  act  of  obedience,  when  his  zeal  for  civil  rights  against 
clerical  usurpation  leagued  him  with  the  selfish  and  overbearing 
policy  of  John  of  Gaunt,  the  prince  whose  son  and  grandson  sent 
Wyclifs  followers  to  the  stake.  Assuredly,  in  maintaining  his 
scholastic  thesis,  he  never  suspected  that  it  might  be  used  in  a  seuse 
hostile  to  law  and  property,  or  imputed  to  him  as  giving  a  pretext 
for  the  peasants'  insurrection.  In  short,  it  was  a  theory  of  the  re- 
lations of  Church  and  State,  designed  to  maintain  the  freedom  of 
the  one  without  invading  the  spiritual  province  of  the  other ;  and 
a  theory  of  personal  and  social  life,  protecting  the  rights  and  liberty 

1  The  apology,  that  this  doctrine  was  not  Wyclifs  own,  but  the  infer- 
ence of  his  enemies,  is  as  unfounded  as  it  is  superfluous  ;  for  he  himself 
reiterates,  defends,  and  clearly  explains  it,  in  terms  which  ought  to  silence 
his  self-constituted  apologists.  (See  a  MS.  Sermon,  ap.  Shirley,  pp.  lxiv 
lxv.). 


640  WYCLIF'S  POOR  PRIESTS.  Chap.  XXXIX. 

of  the  individual,  as  subject  to  the  law,  but  in  the  crisis  of  highest 
and  ultimate  appeal  bound  "  to  obey  God  rather  than  man  "  : — "  Ye 
call  me  Lord  (Dominus)  and  Master,  and  so  I  am  ":  "  Thine  is 
the  power  and  Dominion  "  :  "  Thy  will  be  done  on  earth,  as  it  is 
in  Heaven." 

§  7.  But  to  see  the  best  part  of  Wyclifs  labours  for  the  one 
great  end,  we  must  turn  from  Westminster  and  Oxford  to  his  work 
as  a  country  parson,  in  which  character  some  would  fain  trace  the 
portrait  immortalized  by  Chaucer.1  To  this  second  period  of  his 
career  belongs  the  institution  by  which,  while  combating  the 
friars  in  scholastic  debate  and  scathing  their  corruptions  in  his 
writings,2  he  met  them  on  their  original  strong  ground  of  itinerant 
preaching,  combined  with  evangelic  poverty,  to  do  the  work  for 
which  the  parochial  clergy  were  generally  incompetent  as  well  as 
unwilling.  Here  again  it  seems  to  some  that  Wyclif  needs  an 
apologist — (or  is  the  apology  for  the  friars,  or  half  and  half  for  both?) 
— to  remind  us  that  he  had  much  in  common  with  their  founders. 
Yes ;  but  with  this  vital  difference,  that  in  his  order  of  Poor 
Preachers,  or  Simple  Priests,  the  poverty  was  not  a  work  of  merit, 
but  only  a  mode  of  life  to  aid  the  power  of  their  preaching ;  and  he 
utterly  rejected  the  vice  of  mendicancy,  which  had  brought  the 
friars  to  what  they  had  now  become.  Except  for  that  unhappy 
error,  St.  Francis  might  have  seen  in  Wyclifs  itinerant  evangelists, 
going  about  two  and  two  in  russet  gowns',  the  very  ideal  of  his  own 
Minorites;  but  their  truer  prototype  was  in  the  Poor  Men  of  Lyons, 
though  there  is  no  trace  of  any  Waldensian  influence  upon  Wyclif.3 

1  The  truth  seems  to  be  that,  as  with  all  great  literary  artists,  the 
ideal  character  contains  personal  traits,  some  of  which  may  be  drawn 
from  Wyclif.  The  whole  subject  of  Chaucer's  relations  to  Wyclif,  with 
whom  he  shared  the  favour  and  protection  of  John  of  Gaunt,  belongs  to 
the  history  of  English  Literature ;  but  at  all  events  the  poet  was  no  Lol- 
lard. The  sum  of  the  matter  is  "  that,  though  he  sympathized — as  is 
shown  by  a  thousand  satirical  passages  in  his  poems — with  Wyclifs  hos- 
tility to  the  monastic  orders  and  abhorrence  of  the  corruptions  of  the 
clergy  and  the  haughty  claims  of  papal  supremacy,  the  poet  did  not  share 
in  the  theological  opinions  of  the  reformer,  then  regarded  as  a  dangerous 
heresiarch  "  {Student's  English  Literature,  p.  34). 

2  For  example,  in  the  Two  short  Treatises  against  the  Begging  Friars, 
ed.  James,  Oxford,  1608.  But  we  cannot  stay  to  follow  to  details  of  the 
conflict.  One  example  of  his  satire  is  the  tracing  of  their  pedigree  to  the 
first  murderer  (Caimitica  fnstitntio),  whose  name  he  finds  in  the  initials  of 
the  four  orders,  Carmelites,  Angustinia7is,  lacobites,  TLinorites,  adding  that 
the  voice  of  Abel  cries  to  the  Lord  against  them. 

3  Here  are  two  passages  worth  quoting:  "As  the  Mendicant  Friars 
had  sought  to  take  this  weapon  of  popular  preaching  out  of  the  hands  of 
the  Poor  Men  of  Lyons,  so  these  Poor  Priests  in  their  turn  sought  to 
wrest  the  same  out  of  theirs."  (Trench;  Med.  Ch.  Hist.   p.  318).     Again: 


A.D.  1371.  CONTEST  ON  TAXING  THE  CLERGY.  641 

It  was  his  own  spontaneous  effort  to  carry  the  Gospel  to  the  people, 
in  the  spirit  of  the  Apostle — "  when  the  world  through  wisdom 
knew  not  God,  it  pleased  God  through  the  foolishness  of  preaching 
to  save  them  that  believe."  !  The  Church — especially  our  own — 
may  well  ponder  the  fact  that  this  village  itinerancy  was  instituted 
by  the  last  of  the  great  English  Schoolmen.  What  effect  it  produced, 
before  its  early  suppression  through  the  influence  of  the  friars,2  is 
testified  even  by  the  exaggeration  of  a  hostile  witness,  soon  after 
Wyclifs  death,  that  every  other  man  in  England  was  a  Lollard.3 

§  8.  The  renewal  of  war  with  France,  in  1369,  was  followed  by 
the  disastrous  turn  of  affairs  in  Gascony  and  the  return  of  the 
Black  Prince  in  shattered  health  (1371).  For  these  reverses  the 
churchmen  who  held  the  government  were  made  responsible,  and 
the  clergy  were  looked  to  as  a  source  of  supply  for  the  financial 
exigencies  to  which  the  state  was  brought.  The  chancellor, 
William  of  Wykeham,  and  his  ecclesiastical  colleagues,  were 
replaced  by  laymen  of  the  old  feudal  party,  with  John  of  Gaunt  at 
their  head ;  and  the  decision  of  Parliament  to  lay  fresh  taxes  on 
the  lands  and  income  of  the  clergv  was  defended  by  Wyclif  at 
Oxford.4     The  complete  failure  of  the  new  government  made  it 

"  It  is  idle  to  conjecture  what  might  have  been  ;  but,  if  Wyclif  had  died 
before  his  denial  of  transubstantiation, — strange  dream  as  it  seems,  it  is 
less  strange  than  the  real  life  of  Francis  of  Assisi, — his  name  might  have 
come  down  to  us  in  another  form,  and  miracles  have  been  wrought  at  the 
tomb  of  their  founder  by  the  brother  preachers  of  St.  John  Wyclif." 
Shirley,  p.  xli.,  where  a  note  is  added :  '•  In  the  4th  Book  of  the  Tria- 
logus  there  is  a  great  deal  which  illustrates  the  constitution  of  the  order. 
(See  also  the  Sex  Jw/a  and  the  De  Ecclesia.)  " 

1  1  Cor.  i.  21.  To  the  charge  of  "  disorder,"  to  which  the  apologists  so 
readily  confess,  it  is  enough  to  reply  that  the  Poor  Priests  throughout  trie 
immense  diocese  of  Lincoln  were  under  Episcopal  sanction  (Shirley,  p.  xl.). 
Their  labours  seem  to  have  extended  to  other  parts,  particularly  the  diocese 
of  London  (ibid.  note).  But  Wyclif  himself,  like  St.  Francis,  did  not  regard 
episcopal  ordination  as  necessary  for  preaching. 

2  See  the  passage  of  the  Trialogus  (iv.  37)  quoted  by  Shirley,  who 
places  the  suppression  between  the  Couucil  of  London  (1381)  and  the 
writing  ()f  that  book  (1382  or  1383). 

3  If,  as  Gieseler  says  (iv.  p.  246),  the  appellation  of  Lollards  was  first  given 
by  adversaries  to  these  Poor  Priests,  it  confirms  what  has  been  said  ol  the 
origin  of  the  nickname  in  England  (p  509,  n.).  People  familiar  with  the  term 
abroad,  through  the  constant  intercourse  with  the  Low  Countries,  would 
catch  at  a  name  which  had  already  acquired  an  heretical  savour,  and 
apply  it  in  the  same  loose  way  in  which  Beghard  had  been  used  on  the 
Continent,  and  as  Methodist  has  been  misapplied  in  our  own  davs.  The 
connection  between  zizania  and  lollium  is  found  in  Jerome  (Comm.  in  Matt. 
xiii.  28):  "  Inter  triticum  et  zizania,  quod  nos  appellamus  lollium,  quam- 
diu  herba  est,  .  .  .  grandis  similitudo  est." 

4  In  a  passage  of  the  MS.  De  Dominio  Civili,  quoted  by  Shirley,  p.  xxi. 


642  LANCASTER,  WYKEHAM,  AND  WYCLIF.      Chap.  XXXIX. 

necessary  to  open  negociations  with  the  Pope,  Gregory  XI.  (1373), 
and  Wyclif  was  a  member  of  the  second  commission  sent  to  Bruges 
for  that  purpose  (1374),  with  colleagues  of  views  very  different 
from  his.  The  lay  ministers  who  had  displaced  the  clerics  con- 
sented to  a  repeal  of  the  statute  against  provisions,  and  the  Pope 
mediated  a  short-lived  truce  with  France  (1375).1  Indignation  at 
all  this  mismanagement,  inflamed  by  the  long-standing  discontent 
at  the  abuses  of  the  royal  household  and  the  influence  of  the 
King's  mistress  Alice  Perrers,  now  united  the  commons  and  clergy 
against  the  Crown  and  nobles,  and  the  Black  Prince  came  forward 
to  redress  the  state  by  the  measures  of  the  "  Good  Parliament " 
(1376),  which  were  still  in  progress  when  the  Prince's  death 
(July  8th)  restored  John  of  Gaunt  to  power. 

§  9.  In  the  new  Parliament,  which  met  in  January  1377,  the 
Duke  of  Lancaster  obtained  the  reversal  of  his  brother's  reforms, 
and  incurred  fresh  odium  by  the  unprecedented 2  impost  of  a  poll- 
tax,  nearly  such  as  provoked  Wat  Tyler's  rebellion  four  years 
later.  But  he  met  with  a  great  check  in  Convocation,  where  Wyclif 
appeared  as  his  supporter.  The  Duke's  special  enmity  to  William 
of  Wykeham  had  been  shewn  by  his  exclusion  from  the  general 
amnesty  proclaimed  at  the  King's  jubilee,  and  the  seizure  of  his 
temporalities.3  The  clergy  refused  to  vote  a  supply  till  their 
petition  on  the  bishop's  behalf  was  heard,  and  the  Duke  had  to 
consent   to   a  compromise.      The   Convocation   followed   up   this 

For  the  details  and  the  apologue  of  the  birds  stripping  the  owl  of  the 
feathers  they  had  lent  him,  when  they  wanted  the  means  of  flight  from  the 
hawk,  and  for  VVyclif's  part  in  the  political  events  that  ensued,  see  the 
Student's  Enj.  Ch.  Hist.  p.  417,/. 

1  It  was  at  the  end  of  this  year  that  Wyclif  became  rector  of  Lutter- 
worth, on  the  presentation  of  the  Crown  in  right  of  a  patron  who  was 
under  age. 

2  "  Taxa  hactenus  inaudita,"  says  Walsingham,  p.  191. 

3  The  pretext  for  the  proceedings  against  the  bishop  was  for  acts  of 
peculation,  &c,  committed  during  the  chancellorship  which  he  had  re- 
signed six  years  before.  For  further  details  see  Shirley  (p.  xxv.),  and  also 
his  remarks  on  the  strange  alliance  between  Lancaster  and  Wyclif,  the  one 
aiming  to  humiliate  the  Church,  which  the  other  wished  sincerely  to 
purify.  "  A  staunch  friend  of  the  mendicants,  choosing  for  his  confessors 
more  than  one  of  Wyclif's  theological  opponents  (Cunningham  and  others), 
regarding  almost  with  sympathy  the  court  of  Rome  as  the  natural  coun- 
terbalance to  the  power  of  the  bishops  at  home,  corrupt  in  his  life,  narrow 
and  unscrupulous  in  his  policy,  John  of  Gaunt  obtained  some  of  his  ablest 
and  best  support  from  a  secular  priest  of  irreproachable  character,  the 
sworn  foe  of  the  mendicants,  whose  views  of  government  towered  above 
intrigue,  too  often  above  sober  reality,  into  a  lofty  idealism.  .  .  .  From 
points  so  opposite,  and  with  aims  so  contradictory,  were  they  united  to 
reduce  the  wealth  and  humble  the  pride  of  the  English  hierarchy." 


A.D.  1377.  WYCLIF  AT  ST.  PAUL'S.  643 

success  by  attacking  Lancaster  through  Wyclif,  who  was  cited 
before  tine  Bishop  of  London,  to  answer  articles  of  heresy  found*  d 
on  his  views  of  ecclesiastical  policy ;  and  the  character  of  the 
proceeding  is  shewn  by  the  absence  of  any  allusion  to  the  doctrinal 
errors  with  which  he  had  even  before  this  been  charged.1  The 
moment  chosen  was  most  favourable,  not  only  from  John  of 
Gaunt's  unpopularity,  but  from  the  new  position  of  the  Pope,  when 
the  return  of  Gregory  XI.  to  Rome  (Jan.  1377  ;  see  p.  135)  broke  the 
long  spell  of  the  subjection  of  the  papacy  to  France  ;  and  a  statement 
of  Wyclif  s  errors  had  been  already  sent  to  the  Pope.  The  Bishop's 
court,  before  which  Wyclif  appeared  at  St.  Paul's  (Feb.  23),  was 
bearded  by  John  of  Gaunt,  and  broken  up  by  the  irruption  of  the 
citizens,  from  whom  the  unpopular  Duke  was  hardly  rescued ;  but 
the  death  of  the  King  (June  21si)  altered  the  whole  state  of 
affairs.  The  City,  whose  Charter  was  threatened  for  the  late  dis- 
order, hastened  to  make  their  peace  with  John,  whose  temporary 
retirement  from  court,  to  avoid  the  suspicion  of  such  designs  as  his 
son  Henry  afterwards  effected,  restored  his  popularity.  The  Bulls 
issued  from  Rome  on  the  30th  of  May  did  not  arrive  till  after  the 
death  of  the  late  king,  to  whom  one  of  them  was  addressed,  with 
others  to  the  Archbishop,  the  Bishop  of  London,  and  the  Univer- 
sity of  Oxford,  which  was  commanded  to  forbid  the  teaching  of  the 
impugned  doctrines,  and  to  arrest  Wyclif  and  bring  him  for  trial 
before  the  Archbishop  and  Bishop.  The  University  resented  this 
interference  with  their  jurisdiction,  and  the  disposition  of  the  Court 
towards  Wyclif  was  shewn  by  the  request  of  Richard  and  his 
Great  Council  for  his  opinion  on  the  question,  whether  the  realm  of 
England  may  legitimately,  under  necessity  for  her  own  defence, 
forbid  treasure  to  be  carried  abroad,  even  to  our  lord  the  Pope. 

i  a  Wyclif  had  long  ago  been  accused  of  heresy  on  the  subject  of  the 
Incarnation,  but  this  was  not  mentioned  ;  his  doctrine  of  the  imperisha- 
bility of  matter  had  been  actually  condemned  by  Archbishop  Langham,  it 
was  not  alluded  to ;  he  had  been  accused  of  reviving  the  necessitarian 
tenets  of  Bradwardine.  but  neither  were  these  touched  upon.  The  object 
of  the  prosecution  was  to  proclaim  to  the  world  that  society  was  endan- 
gered by  the  political  principles  which  John  of  Gaunt  was  putting  in 
practice  against  the  Church  "  (Shirley,  p.  xxvii.).  It  appears  from  Wal- 
singham  that  the  charges  forwarded  to  the  Pope  were  the  same  in  sub- 
stance as  the  19  articles  presented  by  Wyclif  to  the  first  parliament  of 
Richard  II.,  for  which  see  the  Fasc.  Zizan.  p.  245,  /".,  and  Stud.  Ch.  Jli.st. 
p.  421-2.  And  so  the  Pope's  rescript  to  the  University  of  Oxford  insists, 
not  on  any  doctrinal  error,  but  on  the  identity  of  Wyclifs  views  with  those 
maintained  by  Marsilius  of  Padua  and  John  of  Jaudun  against  John  XXII. 
Fasc.  Zizan.  p.  243,  where  the  note  on  the  date  at  p.  xxviii.  must  be 
observed.     (Comp.  above,  Chap.  VII.  §  7). 


644  WYCLIF  AND  RICHARD  II.  Chap.  XXXIX. 

His  answer  in  the  affirmative,1  leaving  the  strictly  legal  question 
to  experts,  is  sustained  by  arguments  from  reason,  from  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  Gospel,  and  from  the  law  of  conscience,2  inasmuch  as 
our  fathers  left  endowments  to  the  Church  of  England,  not  to  the 
Church  in  general ;  besides  patriotic  reasons  from  the  mischief  of 
compliance ;  and  he  advises  that  even  an  interdict  should  be  dis- 
regarded, as  Grod  takes  no  account  of  such  censures.  But,  passing 
on  to  his  special  views  of  evangelical  simplicity,  and  willing  to  give 
the  Pope  what  his  office  requires,  but  not  to  support  him  in  worldly 
pomp,  he  proceeds  to  apply  the  same  rule  to  the  true  dignity  of  the 
priest  at  home.  The  danger  that  the  treasure  kept  back  from  the 
Pope  might  tempt  our  own  clergy  to  petulance,  wantonness,  and 
avarice,  is  to  be  met  by  restoring  the  endowments  of  the  founders 
to  their  rightful  heirs,  with  only  a  residuum  reserved  as  a  founda- 
tion for  the  true  peace  of  the  Church  ;  and  here  he  maintains  that 
tithes  and  other  offerings  should  be  given  only  to  worthy  priests. 
This  state-paper  concludes  with  some  very  interesting  remarks  on 
the  want  of  perseverance  in  the  English  character,  and  the  first 
necessity  of  training  the  nation  to  unanimity  and  endurance,  before 
attempting  the  great  work  of  providing  that  neither  personal  favour 
nor  private  gain  shall  henceforth  hinder  the  common  advantage  of 
the  realm.  In  these  last  words  we  see  the  reformer's  politics  in 
their  most  practical  aspect. 

§  10.  Besides  this  state-paper,  Wyclif  issued  three  other  pieces 
in  his  defence,  but  their  dates  and  order  are  uncertain.3  Mean- 
while the  Primate  and  the  Bishop  of  London  acted  on  the  Pope's 

1  This  most  important  document,  dated  in  the  first  year  of  Richard  FI., 
is  printed  in  the  Fasc.  Zizan.  p.  258,  /.  It  was  doubtless  prepared  with 
a  view  to  the  deliberations  of  the  new  Parliament,  which  met  in  October, 
1381.  The  whole  subject  of  WycliPs  relations  to  the  court  during  this 
reign  needs  further  light ;  but  it  seems  that  John  of  Gaunt's  influenca  did 
not  cease  during  his  temporary  retirement.  The  good  will  of  the  young 
king's  mother  was  proved  by  her  interference  at  Lambeth ;  and  when 
Richard  married  the  sister  of  the  Emperor  Wenceslaus  (1382),  the  "good 
queen  Anne  "  proved  herself  a  decided  favourer  of  Wyclif  and  a  link 
between  the  reforming  movements  in  Kngland  and  Bohemia. 

2  One  argument  under  this  head  is  what  is  due  to  the  souls  of  the 
founders  in  purgatory  — an  indication  of  WycliPs  position  towards  Catholic 
doctrine. 

3  Two  of  these  are  given  in  the  Fasc.  Zizan.  pp.  245,  481 ;  and  the 
third  by  Walsingham,  p.  206.  Respecting  their  order  and  date,  see 
Shirley,  p.  xxxi.  For  the  further  quarrel  between  John  of  Gaunt  and  the 
Church  about  his  violation  of  sanctuary  in  the  atfair  of  the  Count  de 
Denia,  see  ibid.  p.  xxxv.,  f.  Also  for  the  failure  of  Lancaster's  attempt  to 
cripple  the  Church  in  the  Parliament  of  Gloucester,  and  WycliPs  writings 
in  his  defence,  p.  xxxvi.  /. 


A.D.  1378.  WYCLIF  AT  LAMBETH.  645 

bull ; x  but  when,  upon  their  citation,  he  appeared  at  Lambeth 
early  in  the  year  (1378),  a  message  from  the  Princess  of  Wales 
forbad  the  bishops  to  proceed,  and,  while  they  hesitated,  the  court 
was  broken  up  by  the  London  rabble,  which  had  interfered  on  the 
opposite  side  at  St.  Paul's  the  year  before.  Thus  Wyclif  now 
"  owed  to  the  popularity  of  his  cause  the  protection  which  he  had 
before  so  strangely  obtained  by  the  unpopularity  of  his  patron." 2 

§  11.  But  now  another  vast  change  in  the  Papacy  affected  the 
whole  state  of  parties  in  England.  The  death  of  Gregory  XL 
(March  27,  1378)  was  followed  by  the  double  election  of  Urban  VI. 
and  Clement  VII.  and  the  Papal  Schism.3  This  scandal  to 
Christendom,  and  the  abuses  that  sprang  from  it,  gave  a  great 
impulse  to  the  anti-papal  views  of  Wyclif,  who  called  the  Popes  at 
Eome  and  Avignon  the  two  halves  of  the  one  Antichrist.  But,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  English  nation  was  disposed  to  favour  Urban 
as  against  the  rival  who  was  under  the  wing  of  France.  This 
change  of  feeling  rendered  hopeless  the  practical  reform  of  the 
Church,  which  had  thus  far  been  Wyclif 's  chief  aim :  just  as  his 
religious  opinions  became  more  decided,  his  political  position  was 
shaken  ;  and  it  received  a  fatal  blow  from  the  insurrection  of  Jack 
Cade  (1381).  Henceforth  it  was  easy  to  identify  Lollardism  with 
the  socialist  views  of  the  insurgents,  which  were  represented  as  the 
genuine  fruit  of  Wyclif 's  theory  of  dominion.4  The  decisive  blow 
to  the  long  misgovernment  of  Richard's  minority  caused  John  of 
Gaunt  to  retire  for  a  time  in  disgust,  and  henceforth,  having  made 
all  the  political  use  he  could  of  Wyclif,  he  refused  to  support  him 
in  the  conflict  about  religion.  Moreover,  as  the  excesses  of  a  revolt 
are  imputed  to  all  who  are  supposed  to  have  given  it  the  least  im- 
pulse, the  murder  of  Archbishop  Sudbury  cast  a  shadow  even  on  the 
innocence  of  Wyclif ;  Courtenay  was  a  successor  eager  to  take  up 
the  quarrel,  and  the  occasion  was  ready  to  his  hand.  Wyclif 
had  now  begun  (though  the  exact  date  is  uncertain)  to  disseminate 

1  The  Archbishop  (Simon  Sudbury)  was  lukewarm  in  the  cause,  if  not 
favourable  to  Wyclif,  with  whom  he  had  been  on  friendly  terms ;  and 
when  Bishop  of  London  he  had  even  condemned  the  pilgrimage  to  the 
shrine  of  St.  Thomas  at  Canterbury  (at  least  if  the  document  is  genuine : 
Hook's  Archbishops,  vol.  iii.  p.  250).  But  the  Bishop  of  London.  William 
Courtenay,  haughty  and  proud  of  his  high  descent,  was  a  thorough  High 
Churchman,  and  vehemently  hostile  both  to  Wyclif  and  John  of  Gaunt. 

2  Shirley,  p.  xxxiii.  Respecting  the  attempt  to  renew  the  proceedings 
after  the  recognition  of  Urban  VI.  see  the  note,  ibid. 

3  See  Chapter  IX. 

4  One  special  example  is  the  confession  (if  genuine)  of  the  notorious 
priest  John  Balle,  who  acknowledged  that  he  had  been  a  disciple  of 
Wyclif,  and  ascribed  his  errors  to  his  teaching.  (See  the  document  in 
Fasc.  Zizun.  p.  273.) 


646  WYCLIF  ON  THE  EUCHARIST.         Chap.  XXXIX. 

those  racy  vernacular  tracts  which,  besides  their  religious  influence, 
gave  a  permanent  character  to  English  prose ;  and  he  had  already- 
entered  on  the  crowning  work  of  his  life — the  translation  of  the 
Bible  (1380).  But  the  distinct  handle  which  he  now  gave  for  the 
charge  of  heresy  was  on  the  crucial  doctrine  of  the  "  Sacrament  of 
the  Altar."  From  a  very  early  period  he  had  discussed  the  subject 
in  a  highly  scholastic  form,  with  a  growing  tendency  against  tran- 
substantiation ; x  but  in  the  spring  of  1381  he  put  forth  a  paper 
containing  twelve  propositions,  in  which  that  dogma  was  expressly 
denied.2  His  views  are  more  fully  stated  in  the  memorable  "  Con- 
fession "  which  he  afterwards  published  in  his  defence.3  The  one 
essential  point  may  be  briefly  expressed  as  follows  :  that  the  bread 
and  wine  become,  by  the  act  of  consecration,  the  body  and  blood  of 
Christ,  but  in  such  a  manner  that  the  material  bread  and  wine 
still  remain.  Denying  the  absolute  change  which  transubstantia- 
tion  affirmed,  he  held  not  only  a  "  real  presence  "  in  the  fullest 
sense,  but  recognized  it  as  effected  by  the  act  of  consecration.4 
Wyclif  avowed  the  essential  agreement  of  his  view  with  that  of 
Berengar,5  the  only  Doctor  whom  he  excepted  from  the  charge 
of  universal  error  on  the  question  since  the  year  1000.  The 
essence  of  the  heresy  consisted  in  the  point  which  was  made  the 
crucial  test  in  the  ensuing  persecution  of  the  Lollards ;  to  whom 
we  find  the  question  put — whether  the  bread  and  wine  remain  in 
the  sacrament  after  consecration — and  those  who  refused  to  deny 
this  proposition  as  false  and  heretical  were  forthwith  sent  to  the 
stake. 

§  12.  For  reasons  not  perfectly  known,  the  attack  on  Wyclif  was 
opened  cautiously,  first  at  Oxford,  where  the  "  Twelve  Conclusions  " 
were  condemned  by  the  Chancellor  and  twelve  chosen  doctors.6 

1  The  materials  for  studying  the  whole  subject  are  the  documents 
printed  in  the  Fasciculi  Ziianiornm,  with  Mr.  Shirley's  preface  (p.  lx.). 
The  scholastic  nature  of  the  whole  discussion  is  signally  marked  by  one 
sentence,  which  at  the  same  time  attests  WvcliPs  consciousness  of  ortho- 
doxy :  "  Illud  autem  quod  de  eucharistia  fides  orthodoxa  arctat  nos  credere, 
potest  catholicus  philosop'iice  sustinere." 

2  "  Conclusiones  Wycclyff  de  Sacramento  Altaris,"  with  three  other  "  Con- 
clusions" appended,  and  his  arguments  in  their  support  (Fa^c.  Zi-.an. 
pp.  105-109).  3  Ibid  p.  115. 

1  The  theory  is  not,  as  has  been  stated,  identical  with  the  Lutheran 
consubstantiation ;  but  this,  with  all  details,  must  be  left  for  the  theo- 
logical student's  further  research. 

5  See  Chap.  XIX.  The  date  is  connected  with  a  curious  view  of  the 
Millennium,  viz.  that  at  the  end  of  the  first  thousand  years  since  Christ 
the  devil  was  let  loose  to  mislead  and  corrupt  the  Church,  and  especially 
the  "  Master  of  Sentences  "  and  his  theological  followers  (see  Rev.  xx.  1-3). 

6  The  text  is  in  Fasc.  Zizan.  110-113.  The  composition  of  the  court  is 
significant.     Half  of  the  twelve  assessors  were  friars  of  the  four  orders, 


A.D.  1382.  THE  "EARTHQUAKE  COUNCIL."  647 

The  sentence  was  publicly  promulgated  in  the  presence  of  Wyclif, 
who  replied  that  neither  the  Chancellor  nor  his  accomplices  could 
refute  his  opinion,  thus  (says  the  Carmelite  narrator)  proving 
himself  an  obstinate  heretic,  and  aggravating  his  contumacy  by 
appealing,  "  not  to  pope  or  bishop  or  ecclesiastical  ordinary,  but 
to  the  king,  cleaving  as  a  heretic  to  the  secular  power  for  the 
defence  of  his  error  and  heresy."  John  of  Gaunt,  whom  the  friar 
now  highly  lauds,1  came  down  to  Oxford,  only  to  order  Wyclif  to 
submit  and  hold  his  tongue ;  but  he  replied  by  putting  forth  the 
famous  Confession  already  mentioned. 

§  13.  The  friars  had  again  roused  the  jealousy  of  the  University 
for  its  independence ;  the  elections  for  the  next  year  brought  in 
a  Chancellor  and  Doctors  friendly  to  Wyclif;  and  it  was  not  with 
him,  but  the  University,  that  the  battle  was  fought  out.  The 
friars  and  their  party  appealed  to  the  Primate,  who,  as  soon  as  he 
had  received  the  bull,  summoned  a  Council  at  the  convent  of  the 
Black  Friars  in  Holborn  (May  1382).  Wyclif  often  mentions  it  as 
the  "  Council  of  the  Earthquake "  from  the  shock  at  its  opening, 
which  alarmed  the  fathers  as  an  evil  omen,  but  which  the  resolute 
Courtenay  interpreted  as  a  sign  of  God's  wrath  at  the  heresies  pre- 
vailing in  the  land.  The  friars  had  a  preponderance  in  the  Council ; 
and  Wyclif,  sarcastically  recalling  the  long-standing  enmity  be- 
tween them  and  the  bishops,  says  that  Herod  and  Pilate  were  made 
friends  on  that  day.  He  himself  was  not  summoned,  but  twenty- 
four  propositions  were  selected  from  his  writings  for  condemnation  ; 
the  authorities  of  Oxford  were  ordered  to  make  search  for  his  works, 
and  to  banish  him  from  the  University.2  After  a  keen  resistance  to 
the  publication  of  the  decree,  the  Chancellor  and  his  chief  supporters 
were  summoned  to  Lambeth,  and  found  it  necessary  to  make  sub- 
mission ;  while  Wyclif  remained  at  Lutterworth  to  the  end,  un- 
molested though  not  un threatened.3 

§  14.  These  last  three  years  of  his  life  bore  some  of  its  richest 
fruits,  especially  the  translation  of  the  Bible  from  the  Vulgate, 

two  wore  monks,  making  eight  regulars  to  two  seculars  and  professors, 
with  two  doctors  of  laws. 

1  "  Nobilis  dominus,  dux  egregius,  et  miles  strenuus,  sapiensque  con- 
siliarius  Dux  Lancastrian,  sacra?  ecclesia?  filius  fidelis." 

2  A  full  account  of  the  Council  and  the  ensuing  proceedings  at  Oxford 
and  London  is  given  in  the  Fasc.  Zizan.,  pp.  272-333,  which  -Mr.  Shirley 
pronounces  "  certainly  the  most  interesting  part  of  the  volume."  A  suffi- 
cient summary  is  given  in  the  Stud.  Eivf.  Ch.  Jlist.  pp.  432,  t. 

3  It  does  not  appear  certain  whether  his  final  retirement  followed  on 
the  Council  of  London  or  the  proceedings  at  Oxford  the  year  before.  The 
story  of  his  appearing  (Nov.  1382)  before  the  primate  and  other  bishops  at 
Oxford,  and  stating  his  opinions  in  terms  which  justified  them  in  dismissing 
him,  seems  very  doubtful. 


648  WYCLIF'S  BIBLE  AND  "  TRIALOGUS."      CHAr.  XXXIX. 

which  he  completed  with  the  assistance  of  his  curate  Purvey,  who, 
alas !  abjured  Lollardism  during  the  Lancastrian  persecution.1 
Next  in  importance,  as  containing  the  final  exposition  of  his  views 
as  a  reformer,  is  the  Trialogus*  in  the  form  of  a  dialogue  between 
Aletheia  (Truth),  a  solid  philosopher,  Pseustis  (Falsehood),  a 
captious  infidel,  and  Phronesis  (Reflection),  a  subtile  and  ripe 
theologian — the  descriptions  are  Wyclif  s  own.  He  continued  also 
to  pour  forth  those  English  tracts,  of  which  only  two  or  three  have 
yet  been  printed ;  and  yet,  besides  their  religious  value,  it  is  in 
them  that  he  appears  as  the  true  father  of  English  prose.  "  It  is 
not  by  his  translation  of  the  Bible,  remarkable  as  that  work  is, 
that  Wyclif  can  be  judged  as  a  writer.  It  is  in  his  original  tracts 
that  the  exquisite  pathos,  the  keen  delicate  irony,  the  manly 
passion,  of  his  short  nervous  sentences,  fairly  overmasters  the 
weakness  of  the  unformed  language,  and  gives  us  English  which 
cannot  be  read  without  a  feeling  of  its  beauty  to  this  hour. ' 3 

§  15.  His  health,  worn  out  through  constant  labour,  was  already 
broken  down  by  a  stroke  of  palsy,  when  his  enemies  planned  an 
attack  meant  to  be  decisive,  and  he  received  a  citation  to  appear 
before  Urban  VI.  at  Home  (1384).  It  seems  that  Richard  II., 
who  at  least  deserves  the  praise  of  protecting  Wyclif  and  his 
followers,  would  not  allow  him  to  obey  ;  but  he  had  the  still 
stronger  excuse  of  physical  inability.  With  that  calm  style  of 
serious  irony,  which  is  one  mark  of  the  best  writers,  he  answered,4 
that  he  rejoiced  to  shew  plainly  to  any  one  the  faith  he  held, 
especially  to  the  Roman  pontiff,  because  (he  says)  "I  suppose 
that,  if  it  be  orthodox,  he  will  confirm  it  with  all  humility ;  and  if 

1  The  work  in  its  final  form  is  the  second  edition,  revised  after  WycliPs 
death  by  Purvey,  who  wrote  the  Prologue,  which  is  often  erroneously 
ascribed  to  Wyclif,  but  doubtless  describes  the  plan  and  method  on  which 
he  himself  proceeded.  A  splendid  edition  of  both  versions  has  been  issued 
from  the  Clarendon  Press,  entitled  :  "  The  Wycliffite  versions  of  the  Holy 
Bible,  edited  by  the  Rev.  Josiah  Forshall  and  Sir  Frederic  Madden,  4  vols, 
imp.  8vo,  Oxford,  1850." 

2  Let  not  the  reader  suspect  a  "  bull,"  for  this  title  is  really  formed  by 
a  false  analogy  from  Dialogue,  as  if  8jo  were  equivalent  to  8vo,  whereas  it 
allows  of  any  number  of  interlocutors.  The  error  is  pointed  out  by  Dr. 
Lechler,  the  editor  of  the  best  edition,  Leipzig,  1869.  The  "  Dialogue, 
sive  Speculum  Ecclesiae  Militantis  "  is  a  different  work.  For  all  that 
remains  to  be  said  of  Wyclifs  works  and  opinions,  it  must  suffice  to  refer 
to  Robertson,  iv.  p.  215,/.,  and  the  Stud.  Eng.  Ch.  Hist. 

3  Shirley,  pref.  p.  xlvii. 

4  The  letter  is  given  in  the  Fasc.  Zizan.  p.  351,  confirmed  by  a  passage 
from  his  tract  De  Citationibus  Frivolis,  now  printed  for  the  Wyclif  Society, 
in  which  he  puts  the  case  of  "a  certain  feeble  and  lame  man  cited  to  that 
court,  but  hindered  from  going  by  the  royal  prohibition,  and  effectually 
prevented  by  the  will  and  necessity  laid  him  on  by  the  King  of  Kings." 


A.D.  1384,  Dec.  31.  DEATH  OF  WYCLIF.  649 

it  be  erroneous,  he  will  correct  it " ;  for  the  Pope  is  of  all  men  most 
bound  to  keep  God's  law ;  but  he  has  learnt  from  Scripture,1  that 
he  ought  not  to  follow  the  Pope  or  any  of  the  saints,  except  so  far 
as  he  himself  follows  Christ;  whence  he  exhorts  him  to  give  up 
temporal  dominion  to  the  secular  arm,  and  to  enjoin  the  same 
effectually  on  his  clergy.  Having  thus  disposed  of  the  claim  to 
jurisdiction,  he  adds  that  he  would  have  humbly  visited  the  Pope 
had  he  been  able  to  go  to  Pome ;  but  God  had  compelled  him  to 
the  contrary  ;  though  (in  the  same  spirit  of  irony,  if  we  mistake 
not)  he  abstains  from  saying  explicitly  whether  the  necessity  is 
physical  or  conscientious.  The  letter  can  only  be  understood  by 
a  sympathetic  knowledge  of  his  style  as  well  as  his  spirit, 

§  16.  The  Benedictine  chronicler  notes  with  exultation,  that 
Wyclif  was  seized  with  the  fatal  stroke  of  palsy  while  saying  mass 
on  the  day  of  the  saint  whom  he  doubtless  meant  to  malign  in  his 
sermon  2;  but  pilgrims  as  devout  as  those  to  Canterbury  still  visit 
the  church  where  his  pulpit,  table,  and  gown  are  reverentially  pre- 
served, with  a  portrait  which,  whether  authentic  or  not,  agrees 
with  the  lineaments  described  by  his  contemporaries :  "  A  spare, 
frail,  emaciated  frame,  a  quick  temper,  a  conversation  most  inno- 
cent, the  charm  of  every  rank ;  such  are  the  scanty  but  significant 
fragments  we  glean  of  the  personal  portraiture  of  one  who  possessed, 
as  few  ever  did,  the  qualities  which  give  men  power  over  their 
fellows." 3  Wonderful  as  it  may  seem  that  he  did  not  die  a  martyr, 
it  is  a  new  wonder  to  find  the  punishment  of  heresy  visited  on  his 
remains  by  those  who  were  labouring  to  reform  the  Church  in  head 
and  members.  The  Council  of  Constance  sentenced  the  dead  Wyclif 
to  the  same  fate  as  the  living  Hus;  but  it  was  not  till  1428  that 
Martin  V.  ordered  Wyclifs  former  Iriend,  Fleming,  bishop  of  Lin- 
coln, to  have  his  bones  burnt ;  and  the  ashes  were  thrown  into  the 
Swift.  At  that  time  the  nVry  persecution,  which  Henry  IV.  began 
and  his  son  continued,  to  gain  the  support  of  the  clergy  to  their 
doubtful  title,  had  raged  since  1400,  and  was  continued  till  Lollardy 
seemed  suppressed.  But  the  feeble  remnant  still  met  for  prayer  and 
study  of  the  Scriptures  to  the  very  eve  of  the  Reformation,  which 
owes  more  to  their  survival  than  is  commonly  believed.4 

1  Citing  Matt.  viii.  20,  and  2  Cor.  viii.  9. 

2  Dec.  28,  the  martyrdom  of  St.  Thomas  Becket ;  hut  also  of  the  Holy 
Innocents,  a  fitter  type  of  Wyclif  and  his  followers.  He  died  three  days 
later.  Dec.  31. 

3  Shirley,  pp.  xlv.  xlvi.  Yet  that  he  was  no  ascetic  is  testified  by  his 
own  frank  and  interestingr  confession  (#.  note). 

4  The  history  of  the  Lollards  after  the  death  of  Wyclif  is  given  with  suf- 
ficient fulness  in  the  Stud.  Enq.  Ch.  Hist.,  chap,  xxi.,  to  which  the  next 
chapter  (xxii.)  on  Bp.  Pecocke,  is  an  essential  supplement. 


Old  Town-hall  (Rathhaus)  at  Prague. 


CHAPTER  XL. 

JOHN   HUS,    JEROME    OF    PRAGUE, 

AND  THE  RELIGIOUS  CONFLICT  IN  BOHEMIA. 

FROM  THE   XIVTH   CENTURY   TO  THE   PEACE  OF   WESTPHALIA   (A.D.  1648). 

§  1.  Bohemia  to  the  14th  century.  §  2.  The  Emperor  Charles  IV . — 
University  of  Prague — Connection  with  Oxford.  §  o.  Precursors  of 
Reformation :  Conrad  ;  Milicz  ;  Stitny  ;  Mathias  of  Jaxow. 
§  4.  Bohemia  and  England — Queen  Anne  and  Wyclif—  Translations  of 
the  Bible.  §  5.  John  Hus — His  chapel  Bethlehem — King  Wenceslaus 
and  Queen  Sophia.  §  6.  Jerome  of  Prague  — WycliPs  Works  in 
Bohemia.  §  7.  Hus's  Theology — Latin  work  on  the  Eucharist — First 
qualified  opinion  of  Wyclif 's  books — Jerome  on  Wyclif— Doctrinal  Ortho- 
doxy of  Hus  and  Jerome — Issue  with  the  French  Reformers.  §  8.  Arch- 
bishop Zbynek  and  Hus.  §  9.  Contest  in  the  University,  and  secession 
of  the  Germans.  §  10.  Papal  Bulls  against  Wyclif's  books  and  preaching 
in  the  Bethlehem— Hus's  appeals  to  Alexander  V.  and  John  XXIII. 
— Burning  of  Wyclif's  books:  beginning  of  the  civil  conflict— Death 
of  Zbynek.  §  11.  Indulgence  for  the  Crusade  against  Ladislaus  of 
Naples— Burning  of  the  Bulls— The  first  three  Martyrs.  §  12.  Hus 
retires  from  Prague — His  De  Ecclesia  and  Bohemian  Works.  §  13.  Hus 
summoned    to   CONSTANCE  — Foresight   of  his  fate — Certificates    of   his 


Chap.  XL.        THE  LAND  OF  BOHEMIA.  651 

orthodoxy — His  answers  to  the  evidence — The  safe-conduct  and  Sigis- 
mund's  perfidy.  §  14.  His  Journey,  Trial,  and  Martyrdom — Reasons 
for  the  hostility  of  the  "  reformers."  §  15.  Jkrome  of  Prague — His 
recantation^  trial,  and  martyrdom — Testimonies  of  /Eneas  Sylvius  and 
Poggio  Bracciolini.  §16.  Religious  Revolt  of  Bohemia  — Communion  in 
both  kinds — Calixtines  or  Utraquists,  and  Taborites — Death  of  Wen- 
ceslaus  and  rebellion  against  Sigismund.  §  17.  Civil  War — John  Ziska 
— Crusade  of  Martin  V. — Defeats  of  Sigismund,  Beaufort,  and  Cesarini 
— The  Compactata  of  Basle — Defeat  and  Decline  of  the  Taborites. 
§  18.  Sequel — George  Podiebrad — The  house  of  Austria— The  Royal 
Charter—  The  Thirty  Years'  War  and  Peace  of  Westphalia  —  The 
Moravian  Brethren. 

§  1.  BoHEMrA,  lying  in  the  heart  of  Europe,  between  Germany 
and  Hungary,  shares  with  England  the  distinction  of  leading  the 
van  of  the  purer  reformation  founded  on  the  supreme  authority  of 
Scripture  and  the  teaching  and  usages  of  the  primitive  Church.  To 
some  degree,  indeed,  this  plateau  of  the  upper  Elbe,  environed  by 
mountains  on  all  sides,  and  peopled  by  a  race  singularly  proud  of 
their  distinct  nationality  and  language,  formed  like  Britain  "  a  world 
by  itself  " ;  but  these  elements  of  independence  were  greatly  modified 
by  the  early  political  and  ecclesiastical  connection  with  Germany 
and  the  Empire.  The  country,  which  derived  from  the  emigrant 
Celtic  Boii  the  name  which  it  has  borne  since  the  time  of  Tacitus,1 

1  Bo'emum  {Boiemi  nomen :  Tac.  Germ.  28 ;  in  German  Bohmen),  also 
Boiohemum,  i.e.  "  the  home  of  the  Boii,"  who  were  driven  back  by  the 
Romans  beyond  the  Alps.  It  is  only  of  late  that  we  have  had  a  trust- 
worthy history  of  Bohemia.  The  standard  Chronicle  of  Hajek,  published 
in  1541  after  the  complete  subjection  of  the  nation  to  Austria,  is  one- 
sided and  of  no  authority  when  uncorroborated.  But  in  consequence  of  the 
recovery  of  political  freedom  in  our  own  times,  the  Estates  of  Bohemia 
appointed  a  native  historiographer,  the  late  Dr.  Francis  Palacky, 
who  has  given  a  history  of  the  country  and  of  the  reforming  movement 
from  original  documents.  (For  an  account  of  his  several  works,  see  the 
Preface  to  Wratislaw's  John  Hus.)  The  work  of  Dr.  Jordan  {Die  Vurldufer 
des  Hussitenthums  in  Bohmen,  Leipz.  1846)  is  a  translation  of  a  paper  by 
Palacky,  which,  after  long  detention  by  the  censorship  at  Vienna,  the 
author  published  in  1869.  Of  many  other  works  on  the  subject  (for  which 
see  Hase,  p.  366),  the  most  important  are :  Hist,  et  Monum.  Johan.  Hus  et 
Hieron.  Prag.  Nor.  (Nuremberg),  1558,  Francof.  1715,  2  vols,  fol.,  con- 
taining Hus's  Latin  works,  with  an  Introduction,  neither  complete  nor 
impartial ;  Mn.  Sylvius,  De  Bohemorum  Origine  ac  Gestis,  Rom.  1475 
(/Eneas  Sylvius  visited  Bohemia  and  conferred  with  both  the  parties, 
1450-1  ;  and  as  Pope  Pius  II.  he  revoked  the  Compactata  made  by  the 
Council  of  Basle)  ;  the  Histories  of  the  Councils  of  Constance  and  Basle, 
by  Von  der  Hardt  and  Lenfant  (see  p.  150,  n.) ;  Lenfant,  Hist,  de  la  Guerre 
des  Hussites,  Amst.  and  Pressb.  1731  and  1783,  with  Supplement  by 
Beausobre,  Laus.  1745;  Hotter,  Gesch>chtsschreiber  d.  husit.  Beurgung, 
Wien,  1856-66  ;  Tomek's  Histories  of  the  University  and  City  of  Prague 
(in  Bohemian),   1849  and  1875;  the   Bohemian  Works  of  Hus,  first  col- 


652  CHARLES  IV.  KING  OF  BOHEMIA.  Chap.  XL. 

was  overrun  about  the  sixth  century  by  the  Slavonian  Czechs,  who 
form  the  bulk  of  the  population  to  the  present  day.  The  country 
was  subjugated  to  the  new  Eoman  Empire  by  the  successors  of 
Charles  the  Great,  and  more  effectually  by  Otho  the  Great  (950),  in 
consequence  of  which  the  bishopric  of  Prague,  founded  in  973,  was 
dependent  on  the  metropolitan  see  of  Mainz.1  The  hold  of  Germany 
and  Rome  on  the  country  was  strengthened  under  Otho  III.  by  the 
prohibition  of  the  Gr«co-Slavonic  liturgy,  which  had  been  intro- 
duced from  Moravia.  A  more  thorough  conquest  was  effected  by 
Henry  III.,  but,  during  the  troubles  of  his  successors,  the  dukes 
of  Bohemia  extended  their  power  over  the  neighbouring  Slavonic 
nations,  and  their  royal  title  was  recognized  both  by  Emperor  and 
Pope  at  the  beginning  of  the  13th  century.  The  confusion  of  the 
"  Great  Interregnum  "  (1 253,  f.)  allowed  King  Ottocar  II.  to  extend 
his  power  far  and  wide,  to  Austria  on  the  one  side  and  Poland  on 
the  other ;  but  he  was  vanquished  by  Rudolf  of  Hapsburg,  and  fell 
in  battle  at  Marchfeld  (Aug.  26,  1278).2  From  that  time  Bohemia 
was  held  in  close  connection  with  the  Empire  ;  the  German  element 
grew  stronger  and  stronger,  especially  in  the  towns;  and  the  beautiful 
capital  of  Prague  became  almost  as  much  German  as  Bohemian. 

§  2.  In  1305  the  death  of  the  last  king  of  the  old  royal  line, 
Wenceslaus  V.,  led  to  dynastic  troubles,  amidst  which  his  younger 
daughter  Anne  fled  to  the  emperor  Henry  VI L,  who  married  her  to 
his  son  John  (the  blind  hero  of  Crecy),  then  14  years  old,  and  sent 
him  to  take  possession  of  the  kingdom,  which  remained  in  the  elec- 
toral and  imperial  house  of  Luxemburg  for  a  century  and  a  quarter 
(1310-1437).  We  have  already  seen  how  his  son,  Charles  IV.,  pur- 
sued a  policy  which  had  more  regard  for  the  aggrandizement  of 
Bohemia  than  for  the  welfare  of  the  Empire.3  The  influence  of 
the  "priests'  Emperor"  with  Clement  VI.  procured  the  release  of 
Bohemia  from  dependence  on  the  see  of  Mainz,  and  the  erection  of 
Prague  into  an  archbishopric  (1344)  ;  but  the  act  which  had  a  vital 

lected  by  R.  J.  Erben,  1865-8;  Bezold,  Zur  Gesch.  des  Hussitenthums, 
1875;  Loserth,  Hus  und  Wiclif  (comp.  above,  p.  631,  n.).  An  excellent 
account  of  the  Life  and  Martyrdom  of  Hus  and  Jerome,  with  historical 
illustrations,  is  given  in  the  Rev.  J.  H.  Wratislaw's  John  Hus,  London, 
1882  (S.  P.  C.  K.).  In  using  this  work,  we  do  not  multiply  references,  but 
give  them  only  for  the  verification  of  important  points. 

1  For  the  earlier  stages  in  the  Christianizing  of  Bohemia,  and  the  fame 
of  Bp.  Adalbert,  see  Part  I.  Chap.  XXIV.  §  12. 

2  It  is  important  for  our  subject  to  remember  that  Moravia  remained 
permanently  annexed  to  Bohemia,  forming  a  marquisate  under  the 
kingdom. 

3  Chap.  VIII.  §  9,  p.  133.  The  emancipation  of  the  see  of  Prague  is 
ascribed  to  the  desire  to  humiliate  the  Archbishop  of  Mainz,  Henry  of 
Virnburg,  who  had  supported  Louis  IV.  in  his  contest  with  the  Papacy. 


A.D.  1348.  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  PRAGUE. :  653 

influence  on  the  events  now  under  review  was  the  foundation  of  the 
"University  of  Prague  in  1348.  Charles  intended  it  to  be  the  great 
University  of  the  Empire,  and  of  all  the  nations  on  its  frontier  to 
which  German  influence  had  reached ;  and  the  epoch  was  favourable 
to  this  national  scheme,  when — as  we  have  seen — the  Palladium  of 
learning  had  migrated  from  Paris,  and  the  vigorous  spirit  of  English 
scholasticism  was  affecting  Germany  through  Ockham  and  others.1 
So  truly  was  this  imperial  University  German,  that  of  the  four 
"nations"  into  which  it  was  divided  (after  the  example  of  Paris) 
the  Teutonic  element  predominated  in  all  but  one,  owing  to  the 
flourishing  German  towns  which  had  grown  up  even  in  countries 
otherwise  Slavonic.  There  was  doubtless  substantial  truth  in  the 
eulogy  addressed  to  Sigismund  by  the  Council  of  Constance  (though 
with  a  purpose  allowing  of  some  exaggeration)  of"  that  splendid  Uni- 
versity of  Prague,  counted  among  the  greater  jewels  of  our  world ; 
for  of  all  the  Universities  of  the  German  nation  it  bore  not  undeser- 
vedly the  character  of  being  the  greatest."2  Here  must  have  been 
at  once  a  centre  of  the  same  philosophy  which  was  gaining  ground' 
at  Oxford,  and  an  impulse  to  a  vein  of  native  thought,  more  or  less 
free  alike  from  the  orthodox  scholasticism  and  the  recent  nomi* 
nalism  of  Paris,  as  well  as  to  the  cultivation  of  a  native  literature 
on  the  purely  Bohemian  "  side  "  of  the  University. 

§  3.  How  far  this  intellectual  spring  wrought  with  the  spirit  of 
Czech  nationality  and  the  general  sense  of  the  corruptions  of  the 
Papacy  and  Church  to  stimulate  an  independent  movement  of 
reform,  can  only  be  conjectured  from  what  we  know  of  the  spirit  of 
the  age.3     Certain  as  is  the  influence  of  Wyclif  upon  Hus  himself, 

1  It  is  asserted,  we  know  not  on  what  evidence,  that  Oxford  had  a  part 
in  the  foundation  of  the  new  University  ;  but,  be  this  as  it  may,  the 
international  fellowship  of  the  University  system  of  Europe  makes  it 
certain  that  Oxford  scholars  would  visit  Prague,  as  we  find  them  doing  in 
the  time  of  Hus.  The  four  "  nations  "  at  Prague  were  :  (1)  The  Bohemian, 
including  the  Moravians,  Hungarians,  and  South  Slavonians ;  (2)  the 
Bavarian,  including  the  Austrians  and  Western  Germans ;  (3)  the  Polish, 
including  the  Silesians,  Lithuanians,  and  Russians;  (4)  the  Saxov,  in- 
eluding  also  the  Scandinavians  ;  each  nation  having  an  equal  voice  in  the 
election  of  officers  and  other  questions.  The  importance  of  this  constitu- 
tion to  our  subject  will  appear  presently. 

2  Wratislaw,  pp.  121—2.  The  rest  of  the  passage  bears  an  interesting 
witness  to  that  spontaneous  love  of  learning  which  was  the  loadstone  of 
true  University  life. 

3  The  theory  that  the  objections  of  the  Bohemian  reformers  to  the 
Church  of  Rome  on  some  points,  such  as  the  marriage  of  the  clergv,  the 
use  of  a  vernacular  liturgy,  the  giving  the  cup  to  the  laity  in  the 
Eucharist,  were  a  remnant  of  the  influence  of  the  Greek  Church,  has  no 
historical  foundation,  nor  does  it  accurately  represent  their  opinions. 
Both  arguments  applv  also  to  a  supposed  influence  of  the  Waldenses  j  for, 

II-2G 


654  PRECURSORS  OF  REFORMATION.  Chap.  XL. 

it  is  no  less  clear  that  it  could  not  have  affected  those  Bohemian  re- 
formers who  began  their  work  even  before  Wyclif ;  but  in  them,  as 
in  him,  it  is  easy  to  trace  the  spontaneous  effect  of  Scriptural  study, 
moral  sense  and  love  of  a  simple  life,  and  the  desire  to  preach  the 
Gospel ;  with  a  zeal  inflamed  by  indignation  at  the  corruptions  of 
the  Church.  What  these  were  we  learn  from  the  testimony  of  one 
of  Hus's  most  bitter  opponents:  "In  the  clergy  there  was  no 
discipline  whatever  ;  in  the  courts  of  the  pontiffs  there  was  public 
simony ;  in  the  monastic  state,  if  I  may  use  the  term,  there  was 
unbounded  covetousness  ;  and,  to  make  an  end,  there  was  no  vice 
among  the  lay  people  which  the  clergy  had  not  practised  first  and 
most  notoriously."1 

The  emperor  Sigismund  said  to  the  fathers  at  Constance,  on 
Hus's  trial,  "  Verily  I  was  still  young  when  that  sect  arose  and  be- 
gan in  Bohemia" ;  but  even  before  his  birth  (1366)  we  find  earnest 
preachers  of  reformation.2  Such  was  the  Austrian,  Conrad  of 
Waldhausen,  an  Augustinian  monk,  whose  learning  and  eloquence 
caused  Charles  IV.  to  invite  him  to  Prague,  where  he  preached  in 
German  against  cold  and  mechanical  worship,  the  exaction  of  money 
for  clerical  offices,  the  practice  of  simony,  the  abuses  of  relics  and 
indulgences,  and  especially  the  mendicant  friars ;  and,  though  these 
presented  articles  against  him  (1364),  he  went  on  unmolested  and 
with  wonderful  success,  till  his  death  in  1369. 

Contemporary  with  him  was  the  Moravian  Milicz  of  Kremsier, 
from  before  1350  to  1363  a  high  court  official  and  dignified  eccle- 
siastic, who  resigned  all  his  preferments  for  the  work  of  a  poor 
preacher,  addressing  the  people  in  their  native  tongue  as  often  as 
three  or  five  times  a  day.  We  find  in  him  the  captivating  prophetic 
element,  derived  from  his  study  of  the  Hebrew  prophets  and  the 
Apocalypse.  He  gave  a  present  date  to  the  coming  of  Antichrist, 
whom  he  regarded  as  a  corrupt  principle  variously  personified  ;  for  at 
one  time  he  told  Charles  IV.  to  his  face  that  he  was  Antichrist ; 
at  another,  when  he  had  gone  to  Rome  to  await  the  return  of 

though  thousands  of  them  founl  a  refuge  in  Bohemia,  Moravia,  and 
Hungary,  there  is  not  the  least  reference  to  their  teaching  in  the  works 
of  Hus  and  his  followers,  whose  theology,  in  fact,  as  we  have  already 
said  of  the  later  reformers,  was  decidedly  in  advance  of  the  Waldensian 
(cf.  Chap.  XXXVI.  fin,). 

1  Andrew  of  BroJ,  Tractatus  de  Origine  Hxresis  Hussitarum,  fin. 
(Wratislaw,  p.  49.) 

2  As  a  sign  of  the  feeling  prevalent  among  the  nobles  of  Bohemia 
(though  this  may  have  been  more  political  than  religious)  Charles  IV. 
found  it  impossible  to  enforce  the  severe  laws  against  heresy  in  his  code, 
called  Carolina  (Robertson,  iv.  315).  For  details  respecting  the  pre- 
cursors of  Hus,  see  Gieseler,  iv.  p.  234,  /. ;  Robertson,  iv.  p.  226,  /. ;  and 
Wratislaw,  chap.  iii. 


A.D.  1350  f.       CONRAD,  MILICZ,  STITNY,  MATHIAS.  655 

Urban  V.  from  Avignon,  he  affixed  to  the  door  of  St.  Peter's 
a  placard  that  Antichrist  is  come.  But  this  denunciation  of  cor- 
ruptions was  made  in  all  loyalty  to  the  Pope,  who  treated  him  with 
honour.  After  years  more  of  labour  at  Prague,  with  the  fruit  of  a 
great  moral  reformation,  Milicz  was  summoned  to  answer  a  charge 
of  heresy  at  Avignon,  where  he  died  in  1374.  His  disciple  Thomas 
of  Stitny  prepared  the  way  for  the  coming  movement  by  a  series 
of  works  which  formed  and  consolidated  the  Bohemian  language.1 

Another  disciple  of  Milicz,  Mathias  of  Jaxow,  son  of  a 
poor  Bohemian  knight,  is  still  more  important  for  his  works, 
though  his  fame  is  sullied  by  a  more  worldly  spirit  and  eclipsed  by 
a  recantation.2  After  studying  at  Prague  under  Milicz,  he  spent 
six  years  at  Paris  and  took  his  Master's  degree,  whence  he  is  com- 
monly cited  as  Magister  I'arisiensis.  V\  ith  the  desire  for  honour 
and  riches,  to  which  he  himself  afterwards  confessed  when  he  had 
become  an  opponent  of  papal  Reservations,  he  went  to  Rome  to 
urge  his  suit  for  preferment,  and  obtained  from  Urban  V.  a  bull 
in  virtue  of  which  he  was  elected  a  canon  of  the  church  of  St.  Vitus, 
now  the  cathedral  of  Prague,  in  the  palace  called  Hradschin  (1381). 
He  also  held  the  office  of  confessor  there  (and  he  is  said  to  have 
been  the  confessor  of  Charles  IV.)  till  his  death  in  1393,  when  he 
was  buried  in  the  cathedral. 

Unlike  his  two  predecessors,  Mathias  was  rather  a  writer  than  a 
preacher.  His  views  are  chiefly  set  forth  in  his  five  books,  De 
Reg  alts  Veteris  et  Novi  Testament  i,  which  Dr.  Palacky  would 
rather  style,  from  the  nature  of  their  contents,  "  The  Books  of  True 
and  False  Christianity."  Like  all  these  early  reformers,  Mathias 
solemnly  declared  his  loyalty  to  the  Catholic  Church,  and  dis- 
avowed any  intention  of  quitting  it  or  breaking  its  unity.  He 
attacked  the  worldliness  and  profli.acy  of  a  corrupt,  covetous,  and 
simoniacal  clergy,  and  of  a  Pope  usurping  both  temporal  and 
spiritual  supremacy,  ami  he  inveighed  especially  against  the 
mendicant  orders.  Like  Milicz,  he  is  fond  of  apocalyptic  imagery; 
but  with  him  also  Antichrist  is  rather  a  principle  than  a  person — 
"the  spirit  of  Antichrist" — full  of  concupiscence  and  pestilential 
pride,  striving  with  great  zeal  afrer  riches,  fame,  and  the  honours 
of  this  world;  and  the  friars  are  "the  abomination  that  maketh 
desolate."3    He  described  the  threefold  schism  of  the  East,  Rome, 

1  Wratislaw,  pp.  60-1. 

2  This  recantation,  which  is  a  recent  discovery  by  Palacky,  is  given  by 
Wratislaw,  pp.  66-7.  Portions  of  Mathias's  works,  discovered  early  in 
the  16th  century,  were  mistaken  for  Hms's,  and  printed  among  his  works. 

1  His  work  he  Abominatione  Desolation's  has  been  ascribed  erroneously 
both  to  Wvclif  and  Hus,  and  is  one  of  those  printed  among  Hus's  Works, 
vol.  i.  p.  376,  f. 


656  BOHEMIA  AND  ENGLAND.  Chap.  XL. 

and  Avignon,  as  fulfilling  our  Lord's  warning  against  those  who 
should  say,  "  Lo,  here  is  Christ !  or,  lo,  there ! r'  whereas  few  can  say- 
where  out  of  these  three  the  Church  is  and  where  Christ  is x ;  while 
the  Son  of  Man — the  true  Christian — hath  not  where  to  lay  his  head. 
He  protests  strongly  against  image-worship  and  the  miracles  con- 
cocted to  support  it ;  and,  while  condemning  superfluous  rites  and 
ceremonies,  he  especially  urges  frequent  communion  by  the  laity, 
as  an  essential  part  of  Christian  worship.2  This  teaching  was  one 
of  the  special  points  of  charge  at  a  synod  in  1388,  which  suspended 
him  partially  for  half  a  year ;  but  there  is  no  ground  for  imputing 
to  him  any  heresy  as  to  the  Eucharist  itself.  But  the  mainspring  of 
his  new  views  is  to  be  found  in  his  regard  for  the  supreme  authority 
of  the  Bible,  his  constant  companion  from  youth  even  to  old  age, 
and  his  refuge  for  defence  and  consolation,  instead  of  the  relics 
which  others  carried  with  them.3  There  he  sought  light  from 
Jesus  himself,  and  therefore,  he  says :  "In  these  my  writings  I 
have  throughout  made  most  use  of  the  Bible  and  its  actual  manu- 
scripts, and  but  little  of  the  sayings  of  the  doctors " — a  principle 
which  he  learnt  from  "the  blessed  Augustine  and  Jerome,  saying 
that  the  study  of  the  texts  of  the  most  Holy  Bible  is  the  beginning 
and  the  end  above  all  things  useful  to  one  desiring  to  attain  to  know- 
ledge of  theological  truth,  and  is  and  ought  to  be  the  fundamental 
thing  to  every  well-instructed  Christian." 

§  4.  Besides  their  intrinsic  weight,  these  words  may  well  supply 
a  link  in  the  reciprocal  influence  of  England  and  Bohemia.  It 
was,  as  we  have  seen,  in  1381,  the  same  year  in  which  Mathias 
began  his  work  at  Prague,  that  Anne  of  Bohemia  came  to  Eng- 
land as  the  queen  of  Richard  II.  We  have  ample  testimony  to  the 
influence  she  had  received  from  the  reformers  who  had  taught  at 
Prague  under  the  protection  of  Charles  IV.;  and  on  her  early 
death,  twelve  years  later,  the  funeral  sermon  of  Archbishop  Arundel 
bore  witness  to  her  pious  exercises  and  study  of  the  Scriptures. 

1  At  the  same  time  he  distinctly  affirms  his  own  belief  that  "Christ  is 
in  that  portion  which  has  joined  the  Romans'';  and  he  is  speaking  rather 
of  the  careless  ignorance  of  Christians  than  against  the  Papacy.  (See  the 
whole  passage,  with  other  important  extracts,  in  Wratislaw,  c.  iii.) 

2  It  is  interesting  to  observe  that  the  infrequent  communion  which  he 
censured  was  monthly.  The  frequent  statement,  that  Mathias  advocated 
communion  by  the  laity  in  both  kinds,  is  an  error  to  which  we  have  to 
revert  presently.  The  acts  of  the  synod  of  1388  are  not  preserved  ;  but 
it  was  clearly  not  the  occasion  of  his  abjuration,  as  he  maintains  his 
objections  to  image-worship  in  explicit  opposition  to  its  authority 
(Wratislaw,  p.  71). 

3  See  the  whole  very  important  extract  in  Wratislaw,  pp.  68,  89.  The 
words  emphasized  above  show  how,  like  Bacon  and  Wyclif,  Mathias  made 
all  hang  on  an  accurate  knowledge  of  the  letter  of  Scripture. 


A.D.  1381.  ANNE  OF  BOHEMIA.  657 

Now  1381  was  the  time  when  Wyclif  had  fully  embarked  in  his 
great  work  of  translating  the  Bible,  and  in  defence  of  it  from 
so  august  a  precedent,  he  puts  the  case1  that  the  Queen  of 
England  and  sister  of  the  Ca3sar  might  have  the  Gospel  in  the  three 
languages — Bohemian,  German,  and  L^itin  ;  on  which  ground  an  in- 
ference of  heresy  might  be  cast  upon  her.  Whether  such  a  charge 
was  hinted  or  not,  we  cannot  doubt  her  influence  in  the  protection 
of  Wj^clif  by  the  court ;  nor  that  her  Bohemian  attendants  would 
carry  back,  after  her  death,  ideas  imbibed  in  England.  We  have 
another  and  more  definite  testimony  by  Hus  himself  (in  1411)  that 
he  and  other  members  of  the  University  of  Prague  had  read  the 
writings  of  Wyclif  for  more  than  twenty  years 2  (i.e.  before  1391). 
§  5.  John  of  Hdsinetz,  called  Hus3  by  abbreviation,  from  the 
name  of  his  native  town  in  southern  Bohemia,  was  born  of  poor 

1  This  supremely  important  passage,  so  often  referred  to,  is  first  printed 
textually  by  Dr.  Buddensies;.  It  is  in  the  tract  Be  iriplici  Vinculo  Amoris 
(i.  p.  168):  "Nam  possibile  est,  quod  nobilis  regina  Anglie,  soror  cesaris, 
habet  ewangelium  in  lingua  triplici  exaratum,  scilicet  in  lingwa,  boemica,  in 
lingwa  teutonica  et  latina,  et  hereticare  ipsam  propterea  implicite  foret 
luciferina  superbia.  Et  sicut  Teutonici  volunt  in  isto  racionabiliter  de- 
fendere  lingwam  propriam,  sic  et  Anglici  debent  de  racione  in  isto  defen- 
dere  lingwam  suam."  The  last  sentence,  shewing  clearly  the  writer's 
argument,  disposes  at  once  of  Milman's  conjecture  that  "the  "Teutonic 
tongue"  meant  "English."  Nor  is  there  much  more  reason  in  Loserth's 
explanation  of  possibile  as  putting  a  mere  hypothetical  case.  The  cautious 
schoolman  puts  it  hvpothetically  for  the  sake  of  argument ;  but  such  an 
argument  would  be  .worthless  if  only  an  hypothesis,  and  we  know  that  it 
was  founded  on  fact.  Besides  other  evidence  of  early  German  versions, 
there  still  exists  at  Vienna  a  German  Bible  which  belonged  to  Wenceslaus, 
who  was  himself  suspected  of  heresy;  and  what  is  thus  clear  about  the 
"  lingwa  teutonica "  may  be  inferred  about  the  "  lingwa  boemica,"  if, 
indeed,  the  mention  of  this  first  does  not  imply  special  knowledge  of  its 
existence.  Nor,  we  think,  would  the  words  "  hereticare  ipsam,''''  &c,  be 
used  without  reference  to  the  hint  of  some  such  charge  against  the  queen 
(implicit  6r). 

2  This  must  be  understood  chiefly  of  Wyclif's  philosophical  works ;  for, 
on  his  trial  at  Constance,  Hus  spoke  of  what  he  had  said  about  Wyclif 
"  ticeloe  years  ago,  before  his  theological  works  were  brought  into  Bohemia." 
But  this  must  be  understood  of  authentic  copies  of  his  chief  writings;  for 
it  would  be  absurd  to  draw  a  distinct  line  between  the  two  classes  of 
works  when  intercourse  was  going  on.  Hus  added  that  he  was  much 
pleased  with  the  philosophical  works,  and  confessed  the  charge  that  he 
had  wished  his  soul  might  be  where  WycliPs  was, — a  strong  proof,  surely, 
of  the  hold  gained  by  the  English  reformer  on  more  than  Hus  himself. 

J  We  adopt  the  spelling  prevalent  with  recent  writers,  as  not  only 
the  more  accurate,  but  more  convenient.  The  pronoun  us  shows  that 
euphony  does  not  demand  the  doubling  of  the  final  s.  The  surname 
thus  accidently  acquired  is  the  Bohemian  for  goose,  on  which  he  often 
played,  calling  himself  "  Poor  Goose."  His  countrymen  have  subscribed 
to  restore  the  house  in  which  he  was  born. 


658  H US  PREACHER  AT  "BETHLEHEM."  Chap.  XL. 

parents,  July  6th,  1369,  when  "Wyclif  had  already  reached  the 
height  of  scholastic  fame.1  While  attending  the  schools  at  Prague, 
he  maintained  himself  by  chanting  and  other  services  m  the  church. 
In  1396  he  took  the  degree  of  Master,2  and,  after  serving  as  Dean  of 
the  Faculty  of  Arts  for  half-a-year  in  1401-2,  he  was  elected 
Hector  of  the  University  in  1403.  Having  been  ordained  priest, 
probably  in  1400,  he  began  to  preach  in  the  following  year ;  having 
evidently  imbibed  much  of  the  spirit  and  teaching  of  Mathias  of 
Janow.  It  was  his  practice  to  write  his  sermons  and  have  them 
copied  for  publication,  so  that  they  became  widely  known  beyond 
the  immediate  circle  of  his  hearers.  In  1402  he  was  appointed 
resident  preacher  at  a  chapel  founded  (1390)  by  a  merchant  of 
Prague,  under  the  significant  name  of  Bethlehem  ("the  house  of 
bread  "),  with  the  purpose  of  dispensing  spiritual  food  to  the  people 
by  preaching  in  the  Bohemian  language.  The  founder  was  a  coun- 
sellor of  King  Wenceslaus,3  in  whose  weak  and  impulsive  but  not 
ungenerous  character,  impatience  of  the  power  of  the  clergy  seems 
to  have  been  mingled  with  higher  motives  for  the  protection  which 
he  gave  to  the  reformers.4  His  second  wife,  Sophia,  was  a  stedfast 
friend  of  Hus,  whose  farewell  letter  from  Constance  to  his  friends 
expressed  his  heartfelt  gratitude  in  the  simple  Avords,  "  Thank  the 
queen,  my  gracious  lady,  from  me  for  all  the  good  that  she  has 
done  me."  Even  his  enemies  allow  the  attractiveness  which  Hus's 
general  spirit  and  pleasing  manners  added  to  the  respect  felt  for 
his  pure  and  ascetic  life ;  and  none  could  question  the  last  witness 
borne  by  his  disciple  Jerome,  when  bound  to  the  stake :  "  1  knew 

1  See  Chap.  XXXIX.  §  4,  p.  635. 

*  He  is  not  mentioned  as  Bachelor  of  Divinity  till  1404,  and,  probably 
for  reasons  that  will  appear  presently,  he  never  became  Doctor. 

3  Here  it  should  be  remembered  that  Wenceslaus  had  succeeded  to  the 
crown  of  Bohemia  in  1378,  having  been  also  elected  King  of  the  Romans 
in  the  lifetime  of  his  father,  Charles  IV.  The  Electors  deposed  him  in 
1400  in  favour  of  Rupert ;  but  Wenceslaus  still  maintained  his  title  to 
the  imperial  dignity,  even  after  he  had  taken  part  in  the  election  of  his 
brother  Sigismund  (1411,  comp.  p.  152),  whom  he  affected  to  regard  as 
his  junior  colleague,  and  he  continued  to  hope  for  his  own  coronation  at 
Rome.  Meanwhile  Sigismund,  as  heir  to  the  Bohemian  crown,  interfered 
in  his  brother's  kingdom  ;  but  these  complicated  details,  as  well  as  the 
relations  of  both  to  the  other  princes  of  Bohemia,  must  be  left  to  civil 
history.  Sigismund  obtained  the  crown  of  Hungary  by  marriage  in  1387, 
and  was  heir  to  that  of  Bohemia  on  his  brother's"  death  in  1419.  (But 
comp.  §  16-17.)  After  his  election  as  King  of  the  Romans  we  call  him 
Emperor  for  brevity's  sake,  though  he  was  not  crowned  at  Rome  till  1433. 

4  The  whole  matter  was  mixed  up  with  the  growing  jealousy  between 
the  Germans  and  Bohemians;  and  Wenceslaus  was  doubtless  resentful  for 
his  deposition  from  the  German  throne.  We  shall  soon  see  that  the 
Bohemian  movement  took  a  character  thorouehlv  national. 


A.D.  1379  f.  JEROME  OF  PRAGUE.  659 

the  Master  from  my  youth  up,  that  he  was  an  honourable  and 
noble  man,  and  a  preacher  of  the  faith  of  God's  law  and  of  the 
Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ." 

§  6.  Besides  their  close  personal  connection  and  fellowship  in 
the  martyr's  fiery  death,  Jerome  of  Praguk1  claims  notice  thus 
early  in  Hus's  career  on  account  of  his  part  in  making  "Wyclifs 
works  known  in  Bohemia.  He  is  truly  described  by  Trench  2  as 
his  elder  comrade's  "  superior  in  eloquence,  in  talents,  in  gifts, — 
for  certainly  Hus  was  not  a  theologian  of  the  first  order,  specu- 
lative theologian  he  was  not  at  all ; — but  notably  his  inferior  in 
moderation  and  practical  good  sense ;"  and  Hus  wrote  with  gentle 
humour  of  his  friend  whose  rash  fidelity  had  involved  him  in  his 
fate  as  "  the  Longbeard  (Barbatus)  who  would  not  take  advice." 
The  beard,  which  Jerome  wore  as  a  layman,  added  to  his  fine 
features,  tall  stature,  and  choice  dress,  to  win  admiration  in  the 
courts  he  visited  ;  while  his  powers  of  mind  and  speech  are  attested 
by  his  disputations  at  the  chief  Universities  of  Europe  and  the 
testimony  of  the  accomplished  Florentine  who  was  present  at  his 
trial  at  Constance.  "  I  own" — writes  Poggio3 — "  that  I  never  saw 
any  one,  who  in  pleading  a  cause,  especially  one  for  life  and  death, 
approached  more  nearly  to  the  eloquence  of  the  ancients,  whom  we 
admire  so  much.  It  is  marvellous  to  have  seen  with  what  words, 
what  eloquence,  what  arguments,  what  expression  of  countenance, 
what  visage,  what  confidence,  he  answered  his  adversaries  and 
finally  concluded  the  pleading  of  his  cause."4  The  man  who 
could  speak  thus,  with  health  broken  by  a  year's  imprisonment 
in  heavy  chains — what  must  he  have  been  at  his  best? 

Jerome  was  some  ten  years  younger  than  Hus,  having  been  born 
about  1379  of  a  family  in  a  good  position  in  Prague,  though  not 
noble,  as  is  commonly  stated.      We  find  him  already  connected 

1  In  Latin  Hieronymus  de  Praga.  Besides  the  few  notices  of  him  in 
the  accounts  of  Bohemian  affairs  and  the  Council  of  Constance,  we  had 
but.  one  vivid  portraiture  of  the  man  in  the  famous  letter  from  the 
Florentine  scholar  Poggio  Bracciolini  to  Leonardo  Arretjno,  describing  the 
life  and  martvrdom  of  Jerome  (Epist.  ad  Arretin.  in  Von  der  Hardt. 
iii.  64,  and  edited  by  Orelli,  Zurich,  1835;  see  also  Shepherd's  Life  of 
Poggio),  till  the  recent  republication,  by  Dr.  Jaroslaw  Goll  (Prague,  1878), 
of  a  Bohemian  narrative  of  the  same  scenes.  (For  a  fuller  account  of  the 
MS.  and  its  contents,  see  Wratislaw,  p.  377.) 

2  Med.  Ch.  Hist.  pp.  325-6. 

3  For  the  full  extract,  see  Wratislaw,  p.  406.  Remember  that  the 
half-heathen  man  of  letters  had  no  predisposition  in  Jerome's  favour. 

*  See  further  §  15.  On  both  trials,  as  in  other  medieval  controversies, 
we  are  struck  with  the  knowledge  shewn  without  access  to  books.  In 
those  days,  before  printing,  scholars  were  not  content  with  "  the  know- 
ledge of  reference,"  but  could  say,  "  Omnia  raca  mecum  porto." 


660  WYCLIF'S  WRITINGS  IN  BOHEMIA.  Chap.  XL. 

with  Hus  during  his  studies  at  Prague,  whither  he  returned  in 
1401  from  two  years'  travel  after  taking  his  Bachelor's  degree. 
Next  year  he  visited  England  and  Oxford,  where  he  copied 
Wyclif  s  Dialogue  and  Trialogue  with  his  own  hand.  We  are  not 
told  whether  he  returned  to  Prague  before  he  visited  Palestine  in 
in  the  following  year ; l  but  what  has  been  said  may  be  viewed  in 
the  light  of  the  repute  assigned  to  Jerome  as  the  first  who  brought 
Wyclifs  theological  writings  to  Bohemia,  compared  with  Hus's 
own  statement  which  marks  the  year  1402  as  the  epoch  of  their 
introduction.2  Not  that  Wyclifs  theological  views  had  been 
unknown  there  before,  for — besides  all  probability  and  other  evi- 
dence— his  opinions  on  the  Eucharist  were  debated  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Prague  soon  after  his  death.3  But  the  epoch  now  in 
question  is  clearly  that  at  which  full  and  authentic  copies  of  his 
theological  works  were  first  brought  to  Bohemia,  and  chiefly,  it 
would  seem,  by  Jerome  of  Prague ;  the  epoch,  namely,  at  which 
Hus  was  becoming  conspicuous  as  a  religious  teacher.  We  have 
already  seen  his  admiration  of  the  philosophy  of  Wyclif,4  whom  he 
called  "  the  Master  of  deep  thought,"  and  with  whom  he  agreed  in 
the  Realism  which  (remembering  what  had  once  been  orthodoxy) 
it  seems  startling  to  find  imputed  to  him  at  Constance  by  a  Parisian 
doctor  as  a  heresy.5  Hut  a  closer  consideration  of  the  proceedings 
at  Constance  shows  a  strong  element  of  hostility  to  Eealism 
among  the  French  and  German  doctors,  who  were  now  Nomina- 

1  It  is  convenient  here  to  follow  Jerome's  course  till  it  falls  in  again- 
with  that  of  Hus.  In  1405  we  rind  him  at  Paris,  where  he  took  the 
Master's  degree,  and  maintained  in  a  public  disputation  the  doctrine  (held 
by  Wyclif)  that  God  cannot  annihilate  anything,  the  recantation  of 
which  Gerson  demanded  with  an  energy  that  caused  Jerome  to  take  to 
flight ;  and  in  the  same  way  he  had  to  beat  a  retreat  from  the  Universities 
of  Cologne  and  Heidelberg,  where  he  had  also  taken  the  degree  of  Master 
(1406).  Having  taken  the  same  degree  at  Prague  (1407),  he  paid  a 
second  visit  to  Oxford,  where  he  was  only  saved  from  arrest  by  a  powerful 
protector  who  is  not  named.  We  find  him  taking  part  in  the  critical 
events  at  Prague  in  1409.  These  movements  illustrate  the  active 
communication  of  medieval  students  and  scholars. 

2  The  arguments  for  this  precise  year  are  given  by  Loserth. 

3  See  further  on  this  point,  Wratislaw,  p.  87. 

4  MSS.  of  Wyclifs  works  were  among  Hus's  final  bequests;  and  there 
are  some  still  extant  transcribed  by  his  own  hand.  But  the  whole  mass 
ot  direct  evidence  as  to  Hus's  diffusion  and  imitation  of  Wyclifs  writings, 
and  the  doubts  as  to  which  of  the  two  wrote  certain  works,  may  be  best 
studied  in  the  books  of  Loserth  and  Buddensieg ;  and  further  light  may 
be  expected  as  the  labours  of  the  Wyclif  Society  proceed. 

5  The  Doctor  from  Paris  urged  that  Hus,  as  a  Realist,  could  not  hold  a 
right  opinion  about  the  Eucharist ;  to  which  Hus  replied  by  citing  the 
example  of  St.  Anselm. 


A.I).  1401  f.  HITS  ON  WYCLIF'S  BOOKS  661 

lists,  and  that  especially  towards  Jerome,  who  had  disputed  in  their 
schools.1 

§  7.  Now  it  was  just  at  the  epoch  of  1401  that  Hus  wrote  his 
first  Latin  treatise.  About  his  theology  in  general,  we  have  his 
own  statement  that  the  writers  he  most  revered  were  St.  Augustine 
and  Bishop  Grosseteste, — conspicuous  links  with  the  English  school 
of  Bradwardine  and  Wyclif.  But  on  the  particular  subject  of  this 
first  treatise,  on  the  Sacrament  of  the  Altar,  he  adhered  from  first 
to  last  to  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation,  consist*  ntly  rejecting 
the  view  of  Wyclif,  though  it  was  as  persistently  imputed  to  him  at 
Constance.  It  is  related  that  he  advised  a  student,  who  showed 
him  one  of  the  books  newly  brought  into  Bohemia,  to  burn  it  or 
throw  it  into  the  river  Moldau,  lest  it  should  fall  into  hands  in 
which  it  might  do  mischief;  and,  when  charged  at  Constance  with 
his  opposition  to  the  burning  of  Wyclif  s  books,  he  rebutted  (he 
inference  of  full  agreement  with  their  doctrines.  Still  more  sig- 
nificant was  the  opinion  pronounced  before  the  University  of 
Prague  as  late  as  1410  by  so  earnest  a  Wyclifite  as  Jerome.2  He 
said  he  had  read  and  studied  them  like  those  of  any  other  Doctor, 
and  had  learned  much  that  was  good  from  them ;  but  that  he  was 
far  from  holding  as  matters  of  faith  everything  that  he  read  in 
them,  for  that  was  due  to  Holy  Scripture  only.  He  therefore 
counselled  students  to  re:id  these  books  frequently  and  study  them 
diligently,  especially  such  of  them  as  bore  upon  the  Faculty  of 
Arts;  but,  if  they  found  therein  anything  that  they  could  not 
understand,  to  put  it  aside  till  a  riper  age,  for  there  were  some  things 
in  them  that  appealed  to  be  contrary  to  the  faith.  These  things, 
therefore,  they  should  neither  hold  nor  defend,  but  submit  to  the 
faith ;  and  they  should  also  refrain  from  lending  the  books  to 
people  who  were  incapable  of  understanding  them.  This  pro- 
fession of  doctrinal  orthodoxy,  and  readiness  to  submit  to  the 
teaching  of  the  Church,  is  the  one  position  maintained  by  Hus 
and  Jerome  on  their  trials,  and  reiterated  by  both  with  tm  ir  last 
breath.  They  were  practical  rather  than  doctrinal  reformers;  ami 
the  path  in  which  they  followed  Wyclif  was  the  assertion  of  the 
supreme  authority  of  Scripture,  the  spiritual  nnture  of  the  true 
Church,  with  Christ  for  its  head,  and  the  ultimate  appeal  to  God 
by  the  conscience  of  the  believer,  as  the  governing  principles  of 

1  These  relations  may  illustrate  the  spirit  in  which  Gerson  said, 
"Jerome,  when  thou  wast  at  Paris,  thou  didst  imagine  thyself  an  angel 
in  thine  eloquence,  and  didst  set  the  whole  University  in  an  uproar" — a 
signal  testimony  to  his  power;  and  doctors  from  Cologne  and  Heidelberg 
charged  him  with  having  taught  errors  in  those  Universities. 

2  Wratislaw,  p.  381. 

II— 2  G  2 


662  HUS  AND  ARCHBISHOP  ZBYNEK.  Chap.  XL. 

the  reformation  which  the  corrupt  Church  of  that  age  needed. 
This  was  the  head  of  their  offence  in  the  eyes  of  those  who  con- 
fessed the  corruptions,  but  whose  "  reform  ki  head  and  members " 
meant  the  transfer  of  the  Pope's  autocracy  to  a  sacerdotal  and 
theological  oligarchy.1  And  herein  lies  the  key  to  the  paradox, 
that  men  like  Gerson,  D'Ailly,  and  their  fellows,  burnt  Hus  and 
Jerome,  after  treating  them  with  tyrannous  insolence  and  even 
personal  animosity  on  their  trials.  The  reform  they  wanted  was 
from  above,  not  from  below ;  and  D'Ailly  bitterly  reproached  Hus 
for  preaching  to  the  people  about  the  vices  of  the  Cardinals,  as  if 
the  Cardinals  would  have  heeded  his  reproof! 

§  8.  To  return  to  the  order  of  events.  Zbynek  Zajitz,  who 
became  Archbishop  of  Prague  in  1403,  was  a  young  man  of  the 
world,  who  had  done  good  military  service  to  King  VVenceslaus, 
but  was  little  conversant  writh  theology,  or  indeed  any  learning.2 
As  an  active  man  of  business,  and  perhaps  to  please  the  king,  he 
set  to  the  work  of  practical  reform,  and  commissioned  Hus  to 
make  known  to  him  any  ecclesiastical  abuses  or  defects.  The  first 
result  was  the  exposure  of  a  local  pretence  of  miracles  of  healing 
performed  on  pilgrims  by  a  portion  of  the  blood  of  Christ,  concern- 
ing which  Hus  wrote  a  tract 3  against  the  superstitious  craving  for 
relics  and  miracles,  and  the  frauds  of  the  clergy  who  supplied  them 
for  money.  But  as  the  denunciations  of  corruption  were  multi- 
plied, and  pressure  was  put  upon  Zbynek  by  the  clergy  and  even 
from  Rome,  his  feelings  and  conduct  changed.  Disciples  of  Hus 
were  cited  before  him,  censured,  and  threatened  with  imprisonment. 
The  Archbishop  carried  his  complaints  of  heresy  to  Wenceslaus,  who 
is  said  to  have  replied  :  "  So  long  as  Master  Hus  preached  against 
us  laymen,  you  rejoiced  at  it ;  now  your  turn  is  come,  and  you 
must  be  content  to  bear  it."  Still,  shrinking  from  the  consequences 
of  having  his  realm  declared  heretical,  the  king  consented  to  an 
enquiry,   as   the   result   of  which,   the  Archbishop  and   a   synod 

1  Compare  what  has  been  said  of  the  principles  of  the  leaders  at  Con- 
stance, Chap.  X.  §  7,  and  Chap.  XII.  §  10.  The  reader,  who  might  suspect 
the  phrases  that  follow  in  the  text  of  being  rhetoric  rather  than  simple 
truth,  is  referred  to  the  records  of  the  trials,  especially  for  the  part  taken 
by  Cardinal  d'Ailly. 

2  The  statement  that  he  learnt  his  letters  after  being  made  a  bishop  is 
no  doubt  a  mere  literal  rendering  of  the  epigram  published  when  he  burnt 
Wyclif's  books  : — 

"  Zajitz,  bishop  A,  B,  C.        "  Burnt  the  books,  but  ne'er  knew  he 
"  What  in  th^m  was  written." 

3  "On  the  Glorified  Blood  of  Christ."  For  other  examples  of  Hus's 
preaching  against  abuses,  and  Zbynek's  approval  of  his  course,  see  Wratis- 
law,  chap.  iii. 


A.D.  1409.  SECESSION  OF  THE  GERMANS.  663 

declared  Bohemia  free  from  any  taint  of  Wyclif 's  heresy ;  but  all 
the  copies  of  his  books  were  ordered  to  be  given  in  for  examination, 
and  it  was  forbidden  that  any  one  should  lecture  in  the  University 
on  such  of  his  tenets  and  works  as  were  deemed  heretical  (July  17, 
1404).1 

§  9.  At  the  same  time  the  quarrel  was  Drought  to  a  crisis  in  the 
University,  in  which,  as  we  have  seen,  the  Germans  had  a  majority 
of  three  nations  to  one,  the  Germans  also  being  Nominalists,  while 
the  Bohemians  were  Realists ;  and,  as  early  as  1403,  and  again 
in  1408,  forty- five  propositions  ascribed  to  Wyclif  were  condemned 
by  the  University.  But  another  question  was  now  raised  about 
the  proposed  Council  of  Pisa,  to  end  the  great  Papal  Schism.2 
Wenceslaus,  who  had  from  the  first  supported  the  Council,  and  was 
now  encouraged  by  France  to  hope  for  his  restoration  to  the 
Empire,  wished  Prague  to  join  with  other  Universities  in  declaring 
for  neutrality  between  the  rival  Popes ;  but  the  German  majority  of 
nations  pronounced  for  Gregory  XIL,  with  whom  Archbishop 
Zbynek  was  now  leagued  in  opposition  to  the  reforming  party.3 
Hus  and  Jerome  seized  the  opportunity  to  redress  the  balance,  of 
wrhich  the  Bohemians  had  so  long  complained ;  and  the  king's* 
resentment  gave  effect  to  their  scheme.4  A  royal  decree  gave  three 
votes  to  the  Bohemian  nation,  and  one  only  to  the  three  others 
jointly  (Jan.  1409)  ;  the  Germans  backed  their  petition  against  it 
by  a  threat  of  secession,  and  refused  obedience  at  the  elections  on 
St.  George's  Day  (April  23)  ;  and,  when  the  king  filled  up  the 
vacant  offices  by  his  own  authority,  they  left  Prague  in  a  body.5 

1  The  Dialogus,  Trialogus,  and  book  on  the  Eucharist,  were  specified  ; 
while  on  others  opinion  was  divided  in  the  University.  This  was  in  fact 
a  compromise,  in  accordance  with  a  vote  already  passed  by  the  Bohemian 
nation  in  the  University,  and  supported  by  Hus,  forbidding  the  teaching 
of  the  impugned  works  and  doctrines  "in  their  heretical,  erroneous,  or 
offensive  sense." 

2  For  the  whole  course  of  events  which  led  to  this  Council,  see  Chap.  IX. 
§§  7-9. 

3  He  suspended  Hus  and  all  the  Masters  who  declared  for  neutrality 
from  their  priestly  functions  in  the  diocese. 

4  At  first  he  vented  angry  threats  at  Hus  and  Jerome  for  continually 
creating  disturbances  ;  but  his  councillors  overcame  his  reluctance.  For 
the  procedure,  which  seemed  rather  to  invert  than  redress  the  injustice, 
it  was  argued  that  at  Paris  the  French  nation  had  three  votes  against  one 
jointly  by  the  others,  and  so  with  the  Italians  in  their  Universities.  The 
plausible  plan  of  an  equal  division  could  onlv  have  produced  a  deadlock. 
But  the  question  of  fairness  was  overborne  by  what  was  in  fact  a  national 
revolutionarv  stroke. 

5  .Eneas  Sylvius  says  that  the  seceders  numbered  2000,  followed  by 
3000  more ;  and  another  writer  says  that  out  of  7000  students  only  20UO 
were    left.     Palacky    thinks    the    total    of  7000    too   low ;    while    other 


^04  HUS  IN  CONFLICT  WITH  THE  POPE.         Chap.  XL. 

Archbishop  Zbynek  persevered  in  his  struggle  on  behalf  of 
Gregory  XII.,  punishing  several  of  Hus's  adherents,  while  the 
king  punished  the  priests  who  obeyed  the  interdict  which  was  laid 
on  Prague.  At  length  the  Archbishop  found  it  necessary  to 
announce  his  adhesion  to  Pope  Alexander  V.1  (Sept.),  and  in 
October  John  Hus  was  elected  Rector  of  the  University  for  the 
remainder  of  the  year  ending  on  St.  George's  Day,  1410. 

§  10.  It  proved  for  Hus  a  "  Pyrrhic  victory,"  and  the  beginning 
of  new  troubles  which  beset  him  to  the  end.  The  seceding 
Germans  spread  abroad  the  story  of  his  heresy,  and  we  cannot 
doubt  that  many  avenged  at  Constance  their  expulsion  from 
Prague.2  In  that  city  too  Hus's  influence  was  shaken  by  the  loss 
of  so  many  profitable  residents.  The  new  Pope,  devoted  to  the 
friars  (see  p.  148),  and  a  tool  in  the  hands  of  Balthasar  Cossa,  was 
easily  persuaded  to  withdraw  the  proceedings  he  had  begun  against 
Zbynek  for  his  support  of  Gregory,  and  to  support  the  new  attack 
opened  against  Hus  on  the  charge  of  Wycliffism.  A  bull  was 
obtained  by  Zbynek's  envoys  (Dec.  1409)  commissioning  the 
Archbishop  to  institute  a  new  enquiry,  to  demand  the  surrender  of 
Wyclif 's  books,  and — what  was  the  most  direct  blow  at  Hus,  as  the 
chaplain  of  the  Bethlehem — to  forbid  all  preaching,  except  in 
cathedral,  collegiate,  conventual,  or  parish  churches.  Further,  he 
was  to  proceed  against  all  who  resisted  any  portion  of  the  decree, 
by  penal  measures,  excluding  all  right  of  appeal.  Hus,  however, 
appealed  at  once  to  Rome,  on  the  ground  that  the  Pope  was  ill- 
informed  about  the  state  of  Bohemia;  and,  on  the  death  of 
Alexander  V.  (May  1410),  he  renewed  the  appeal  to  his  successor 
John  XX III.  At  the  same  time  Zbynek,  having  held  the  enquiry 
with  assessors  who  condemned  the  books,  published  his  sentence 
requiring  obedience  to  the  bull  on  pain  of  excommunication 
(June  10). 

On  the  following  Sunday  Hus  preached  to  a  large  and  excited 
audience  at  Bethlehem,  denying  that  there  was  any  heresy  in 
Bohemia,  protesting  against  the  intended  burning  of  Wyclif's 
books,  and  calling  on  the  people  to  support  him  in  a  new  appeal,  to 
which  they  responded,  "  We  will  and  do  stand  by  you ! "     For 

accounts  are  evident  exaggerations.  But  even  the  lowest  estimates  illus- 
trate the  nourishing  state  of  medieval  Universities  in  general,  and  of 
Pngue  in  particular.  One  result  of  the  secession  was  the  foundation  of 
the  famous  University  of  Leipzig  by  the  Margrave  of  Meissen. 

1  Respecting  his  election  at  Pisa,  see  p.  147. 

2  That  this  is  no  mere  conjecture,  is  proved  by  the  stress  laid  henceforth, 
and  at  Constance,  on  the  charge  that  Hus  fomented  quarrels  between 
Germans  and  Bohemians,  and  by  the  letter  of  the  Council  to  Sigismund  on 
the  ruin  of  the  Universitv  of  Prague. 


A.I).  1410.  BURNING  OF  WVCLIF'S  BOOKS.  665 

himself  he  declared  that  he  would  not  cease  preaching,  even  though 
he  were  driven  into  exile  or  were  to  die  in  prison,  and  finally,  in 
words  which — whether  intended  to  kindle  the  flame  of  material  or 
merely  moral  resistance 1 — found  an  echo  among  all  classes  through- 
out Bohemia,  he  exhorted  them  to  stedfastness,  "  for  a  need  was 
arising,  even  as  in  the  Old  Testament,  according  to  the  ordinance 
of  Moses,  to  gird  on  the  sword  and  defend  the  word  of  God." 
Three  days  later  an  appeal  to  John  XXIII.  was  published  in  the 
names  of  John  Hus,  a  leading  Bohemian  noble  and  M.A.,  and 
other  members  of  the  University ;  while  the  Archbishop  sent  a 
report  of  the  sermon  to  Kome,  asking  for  further  powers,  and  in 
particular  the  citation  of  Hus  to  the  papal  court.  On  July  16th, 
in  direct  violation  of  a  promised  delay  obtained  from  him  by  the 
king  at  the  instance  of  the  University,  Zbynek  summoned  the 
prelates  and  other  ecclesiastics  to  the  episcopal  palace,  and  there, 
with  doors  guarded  by  armed  men,  set  fire  with  his  own  hand  to 
the  pile  of  Wyclif 's  books.2 

Well  might  a  contemporary  annalist  say  that  the  priests  sung 
the  Te  Deum  and  rung  a  funeral  knell  over  the  flames,  "  in  the 
expectation  that  they  had  now  the  end  of  all  troubles,  whereas  by 
the  permission  of  God,  the  righteous  Judge,  the  troubles  had  but 
first  taken  their  beginning."  That  knell  was  the  death-note  of 
peace  and  religious  liberty,  which  were  not  restored  even  when  the 
fire  of  civil  strife  was  quenched  by  the  Peace  of  Westphalia  (1648). 
But  we  cannot  stay  to  relate  the  early  scenes  of  the  strife,  from  the 
letters  of  mingled  indignation  and  entreaty  written  by  the  king, 
queen,  and  nobles,  to  the  Pope,  to  the  outbreaks  of  the  people,  and 
the  acts  of  violence  with  which  they  were  punished  by  the  clergy 
and  monks.3 

Hus  continued  preaching  pending  his  appeal,  while  his  envoys  to 
Bologna  could  obtain  no  hearing ; 4  and,  on  the  expiration  of  the 

1  We  regard  the  latter  sense  as  the  more  consistent  with  the  whole 
spirit  and  course  of  Hus's  life  ;  but  in  such  a  crisis  it  is  useless  to  put  the 
preacher's  fervid  words  into  the  scales  of  criticism  with  the  weights  of 
another  age  and  nation  ;  nor,  viewing  his  career  as  a  whole,  can  we 
sympathize  with  those  who  deem  it  necessary  to  write  of  him,  as  of 
Wyclif,  in  the  tone  of  apology. 

2  It  was  in  consequence  of  the  appeals  made  against  this  proceeding  to 
the  papal  court,  then  at  Bologna,  that  a  meeting  of  Doctors  at  that  city 
gave  the  opinion  on  Wyclif  s  writings  already  quoted  (p.  633,  n.  2). 

3  The  details  may  be  read  in  Wrati.-daw,  ]>.  140,  f. 

4  Some  of  them  were  imprisoned  and  otherwise  ill-treated  ;  in  particu- 
lar, two  of  Hus's  strongest  and  more  advanced  supporters,  but  after- 
wards his  bitterest  enemies,  STEPHEN  OF  Palecz  and  Stanilaus  of 
Znaim.  Their  change  of  sides,  which  was  declared  in  the  dispute  about 
indulgences,  is  ascribed  to  their  terror  of  the   Pope's  power,  which  they 


6G6  BURNING  OF  THE  POPE'S  BULLS.  Chap.  XL 

term  for  his  personal  appearance  there,  a  new  excommunication 
was  pronounced  against  him,  with  an  interdict  upon  any  place 
where  he  might  be  residing  (Feb.  1411).  The  king's  indignation 
and  the  Archbishop's  obstinacy  involved  both  in  acts  of  severity 
and  retaliation,  till  Zbynek  consented  to  a  compromise,  but  with 
more  than  doubtful  sincerity ;  for  he  was  on  his  way  to  invoke 
the  intervention  of  Sigismund,  now  King  of  the  Eomans,  when 
he  died  on  September  28,  1411.1 

§  11.  The  installation  of  the  new  Archbishop,  Albik,  who  had 
been  the  king's  physican  and  was  elected  by  his  influence,  was  the 
occasion  of  a  new  crisis.  The  legates  who  brought  his  pall  were  the 
bearers  of  the  Pope's  bulls  for  the  crusade  against  Ladislaus,  King  of 
Naples,  with  a  large  indulgence  to  all  who  would  aid  it  (May  14 12).* 
Indulgences  had  been  in  ill  odour  at  Prague  since  the  great  jubilee  of 
1  390,  and  the  scandalous  bargains  now  offered  caused  general  indig- 
nation. Hus  preached,  wrote,  and  disputed  in  the  University,  not 
only  against  the  indulgence,  but  denouncing  the  sin  of  offering  it  for 
making  war  on  a  Christian  prince.  The  growing  resistance  was 
mingled  with  acts  of  ridicule,  culminating  in  a  mock  procession,  in 
which  papers  like  the  bulls  were  carried  with  insult  and  burnt  under 
the  gallows  (June  24th).  Though  the  scene  was  got  up  by  one  of 
the  King's  favourites,3  Wenceslaus  seems  to  have  become  alarmed 
for  the  public  order  and  the  consequences  of  the  Pope's  anger;  and, 
while  forbidding  any  to  speak  against  the  bulls,  under  pain  of  death, 
he  asked  the  advice  of  the  Faculty  of  Theology,  whose  opinion,  ad- 
adverse  to  Wyclif  and  Hus,  was  urged  chiefly  by  Hus's  former 
friends,  Stephen  Palecz  and  Stanilausof  Znaim.  Encouraged  by  the 
king's  new  attitude,  the  aldermen,  who  were  chiefly  of  the  German 
party,  arrested  three  youths  who  interrupted  the  preachers  of  the 
indulgence.  Hus  pleaded  for  them,  saying  that  he,  if  any  one, 
ought  to  suffer  as  the  leader  of  the  resistance ;  but  no  sooner  had 
they  quieted  his   remonstrances   and  the   popular   ferment  by   a 

had  felt  at  Bologna.  Stanilaus  died  during  the  preparations  for  the 
Council,  at  which  Stephen  was  one  of  the  chief  concoeters  of  the  articles 
against  Hus. 

1  Sigismund  had  been  elected  in  July,  with  the  support  of  Wenceslaus. 
For  the  evidence  of  Zbynek's  hostile  intentions  towards  Wenceslaus,  in 
seeking  the  "intercession"  of  Sigismund,  see  Wratislaw,  pp.  156-8.  We 
must  be  content  to  refer  to  the  same  work  (pp.  159-161)  for  an  episode  of 
some  importance  with  reference  to  the  relations  of  England  to  Bohemia, 
namely  the  arrival  of  envoys  from  Henry  IV.,  who  used  strong  language 
against  Wyclif,  and  Hus's  disputations  with  them. 

2  Concerning  the  contest  between  John  XXIII.  and  Ladislaus,  see  p.  151. 

3  The  Lord  Woksa  of  Waldstein.  Afterwards  at  Constance  the  whole 
blame  was  thrown  on  Jerome  of  Prague.  Hus  himself  appears  to  have 
had  no  part  in  it. 


A.D.  1413.  HUS  ON  THE  CHURCH.  667 

promise  of  mercy,  than  the  youths  were  led  forth  to  execution.1 
Their  fate  exasperated  the  people,  and  Hus  proclaimed  them  mar- 
tyrs from  the  pulpit ;  while  Wenceslaus,  enraged  at  the  defiance 
of  his  authority,  threatened  to  behead  a  thousand  such  rioters  if 
they  were  found. 

§  12.  In  this  state  of  affairs,  when  the  renewed  sentence  of  ex- 
communication against  Hus,  and  of  interdict  on  any  place  where  he 
might  be  staying,  arrived  from  Bologna  (Aug.  1412),2  Hus  made 
that  final  appeal  Appeal  to  Christ,  which  was  charged  upon  him  at 
Constance  as  a  heresy,  and,  after  some  further  proceedings,  he  with- 
drew from  Prague  to  save  the  city  from  the  interdict  (Dec.  1412). 
His  departure  was  followed  by  further  attempts  of  the  King  for  a 
reconciliation,  on  the  one  hand,  and  fresh  condemnation  by  the 
Theological  Faculty  on  the  other;  and  at  Candlemas  (Feb.  2, 1413) 
a  Council  at  Rome  confirmed  the  excommunication  and  interdict, 
and  condemned  the  works  of  Wyclif.  From  his  refuge  with  a 
Bohemian  nobleman,  at  a  spot  near  the  later  stronghold  of  the 
Taborites,  Hus  kept  up  intercourse  with  Prague ;  and,  among  the 
many  works  in  Latin,  Bohemian,  and  German,  which  occupied  his 
enforced  leisure,  he  now  wrote  his  most  important  treatise,  I)e 
Ecclesia,  in  reply  to  an  attack  on  his  views  by  Stephen  Palecz.  We 
can  but  give  a  few  leading  points  of  this  remarkable  work,  which 
must  be  judged  by  the  light  of  its  age,  rather  than  of  ours. 
Against  the  claim  that  the  Pope  is  the  head  of  the  Church  and  the 
Cardinals  its  body,  he  maintains  that  the  only  true  Church  is  the 
whole  body  of  believers  predestined  to  life,  in  the  patt,  the  present, 
and  the  future,  embracing  the  three  states  of  the  Church  triumphant, 
militant,  and  dormant.3  This  theory  of  a  purely  invisible  Church, 
resting  on  a  rigid  doctrine  of  predestination,  does  not  exclude  the 
recognition  of  the  visible  Church.  There  are  many  in  the  Church, 
who  are  not  of  it;  there  are  others  out  of  the  Church  (as,  for  ex- 
ample) by  ecclesiastical  censures,  who  are  yet  of  it ;  and  as  without 
special  revelation  no  one  can  know  that  he  is  predestined,  so  none 
can  know  this  of  another  ;  and  hence  the  power  of  binding  and 
loosing  is  of  no  effect  except  so  far  as  it  agrees  with  the  judgment 
of  God.     The  only  head  of  the  Church  is  Christ ;    but  the  Pope  is 

1  These  were  the  first  lives  taken  in  the  long  religious  conflict  in 
Bohemia. 

2  The  details  of  the  progress  of  the  case  at  the  Papal  court  may  be  read 
in  Wratislaw,  chap.  vi. 

3  We  have  one  illustration  of  the  doctrinal  orthodoxy  which  Hus 
always  professed,  in  his  consistent  belief  in  Purgatory,  which  forms  a 
remarkable  part  of  his  argument.  Fuller  accounts  of  this  and  Hus's 
other  Latin  works,  than  our  space  allows,  will  be  found  in  Wratislaw, 
chap,  xi.,  on  "  John  Hus  as  a  School  Divine." 


668  HUS'S  BOHEMIAN  TRACTS.       Chap.  XL. 

His  vicar  if  he  follows  the  example  of  Peter,  the  chief  of  the 
Apostles ;  but  if  he  be  covetous  and  corrupt,  then  is  he  the  vicar  of 
Judas  Iscariot.  Of  the  bodies  which  claim  to  be  the  visible 
Church,  he  decides  in  favour  of  Rome  (another  proof  that  he  in- 
tended no  schism  or  separation).  He  traces  the  source  of  world - 
liness,  corruption,  and  simony  in  the  Church,  to  the  donation  of 
Constantine  (which  he  assumes  as  genuine),  and,  like  Wyclif,  seeks 
the  remedy  in  poverty,  humility,  and  obedience  to  the  teaching  of 
Holy  Scripture.  To  the  charge  urged  against  him  at  Constance, 
that  he  nullified  the  Sacraments  of  the  Church,  by  making  them 
dependent  on  the  holiness  of  the  minister,  he  replied  by  the  qualifi- 
cation (on  which  he  shewed  that  his  works  insist)  tliat,  though  no 
unworthy  priest  can  be  in  himself  a  true  minister,  yet  instru- 
mentally  his  ministrations  are  valid  by  the  Divine  power  •*  and  thus, 
in  the  Eucharist,  he  affirmed  the  reality  of  consecration  by  the  power 
of  Grod,  while  denying  any  such  power  in  the  priest.2  The  rule  of  the 
Church  for  faith  and  practice  is  the  supreme  authority  of  Scrip- 
ture ;  but  there  is  never  a  suggestion  that  a  clean  sweep  should  be 
made  of  the  doctrine  and  tradition  of  the  Church,  to  build  up  a  new 
system  from  Scripture.  He  stedfastly  professed  his  willingness  to 
accept  the  doctrine  of  the  Church,  and  his  desire  to  be  taught  if  he 
was  in  error.  The  vehement  attack  of  Gerson  in  the  following 
year,  especially  upon  the  work  On  the  Church,  and  his  letter  to 
Conrad,  the  new  Archbishop  of  Prague,3  urging  him  to  the  rooting 
out  of  heresy,  were  true  signs  of  the  answer  which  was  to  be  given 
at  Constance. 

To  the  same  period,  both  before  and  during  his  exile,  belong  the 
most  important  of  his  tracts  in  the  Bohemian  language,  which,  but 
lately  made  known  to  the  world,  have  for  the  first  time  revealed  his 
power  and  character,  and  thrown  quite  a  new  light  on  the  practical 
side  of  his  teaching.4  "We  can  now  understand  this  extraordinary 
man,  not  only  as  school  divine  and  a  controversialist  among  theolo- 
gians, but  as  a  living  and  moving  power  in  his  own  country."  5   Chief 

1  Here  we  trace  the  influence  of  Wyclif 's  theory  of  dominion. 

2  We  have  in  this  controversy  another  example  of  his  orthodoxy  with 
respect  to  the  reverence  due  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  in  his  reply  to  the 
boast  of  certain  priests,  that,  whereas  she  once  gave  birth  to  Christ,  they 
could  create  hiin  at  their  pleasure. 

3  Albik  had  resigned  before  the  end  of  1412,  to  escape  the  growing 
troubles  of  his  diocese. 

4  After  the  fatal  epoch  of  1620,  the  Jesuit  missionaries  were  active  in 
the  destruction  of  Bohemian  books. 

5  VVratislaw,  chap,  xii.,  where  a  full  account  is  given  of  Hus's  Bohemian 
works.  The  almost  complete  absence  of  his  predestinnrian  theory  in  these 
works  shows  that  it  belonged  to  his  scholastic  divinity  rather  than  his 
view  of  practical  religion  ;  but  he  dwells  on  election. 


A.D.  1414.  SIGISMUND'S  SAFE-CONDUCT.  669 

of  these  are  the  longer  and  shorter  expositions  of  the  Creed,  the  Ten 
Commandments,  and  the  Lord's  Prayer,  exhibiting,  as  he  sets  forth 
in  his  preface,  the  three  things  necessary  for  salvation  :  faith  (that 
is,  chiefly,  belief  of  the  truth),  obedience  to  God's  law,  andprayer  to 
God.  In  the  latter  part  of  1413  he  completed  his  Postilla,  or  Expo- 
sitions of  the  Gospels  for  the  Sundays  and  Saints'  Days  of  the  eccle- 
siastical year.  He  is  seen  in  his  more  polemical  aspect  in  his  work 
On  Simony,  an  unsparing  exposure  of  the  corruptions  of  the  clergy, 
mingled  with  bitter  reflections  on  passing  events ;  and  in  his  tract 
On  Six  Errors,  whicli  he  composed  during  a  visit  to  Prague  in  the 
spring  of  1414,  and  inscribed  on  the  walls  of  Ids  chapel  (Beth- 
lehem) to  be  constantly  before  the  eyes  of  the  people.  His  former 
protector  having  now  died,  he  made  bis  last  retreat  to  the  castle  of 
another  friendly  nobleman  at  Krakovetz. 

§  13.  We  have  traced  the  events  which  forced  John  XXIII.  to 
concur  with  Sigismund  in  convening  the  Council  of  Constance.1 
At  the  interview  at  Lodi  the  Pope  and  Caisar  would  doubtless 
discuss  the  heresy,  which  was  one  chief  question  to  be  laid  before 
the  Fathers;  and  there  seems  no  reason,  at  this  first  stage,  to 
doubt  Sigismund's  sincere  desire  to  have  the  question  settled  by 
the  hearing  of  Hus  before  a  Council  of  professed  reformers,  to 
which  he  had  been  summoned   by  the   Tope.2     The  negociations 

1  See  Chap.  X.  §  4. 

2  On  the  great  question  of  the  imperial  safe-conduct,  a  few  words  must 
be  added  to  the  note  on  p.  155.  It  has  been  said  that  it  was  only  a  pro- 
tection against  illegal  violence,  needed  especially  on  the  journey  through 
Germany,  but  with  the  very  object  of  abiding  by  the  judgment  of  the 
Council.  To  which  the  reply  is  :  (1)  From  the  avowed  purpose  of  the 
promise  under  which  Hus  left  the  powerful  protection  of  VVenceslaus  and 
the  Bohemian  nobles.  (2)  From  the  express  terms  of  the  document — "  ut 
ei  transire,  stare,  morari,  redire  permittatis,1" — the  granting  of  which, 
with  the  reservation  suggested,  would  have  been  even  worse  perfidy  than 
its  actual  violation.  (3)  The  plain  sense  is  confirmed  by  contrast  with  the 
safeguard  offered  by  the  Council  to  Jerome,  expressly  resercing  any  sentence 
they  might  pass  on  him.  (4)  If  the  suggested  meaning  had  been  even  so  much 
as  thought  of,  where  was  there  any  ground  for  Sigismund's  first  indigna- 
tion, and  all  the  urgency  and  casuistry  by  which  his  consent  was  gained? 
(5)  Not  only  did  he  himself  never  plead  so  simple  and  perfect  a  justification, 
but  he  refused  even  to  avail  himself  of  the  excuse  that  Hus  went  without 
waiting  for  the  safe-conduct,  and  he  acknowledged  its  full  force.  (6)  The 
allegation  that  Hus  never  appealed  to  it  is  simply  untrue,  for  he  did  so  on 
both  occasions  when  the  king  was  present  at  his  trial,  on  the  hist  day  fixing 
his  eyes  on  Sigismund  ;  and,  as  the  eye-witnesses  tell  us,  the  King  blushed 
visibly.  (7)  The  conscience  of  wrong  which  that  blush  betrayed  is  traced 
in  Sigismund's  own  conduct;  for  it  is  not  enough  to  say  that  he  left  Hus 
to  be  dealt  with  by  the  Council :  he  urged  them  to  make  an  end  of  the 
obstinate  heretic,  joined  in  browbeating,  taunting,  and  upbraiding  him,  as 
choosing  his  fate  ;  and  finally  gave  the  sentence  of  death  with  his  own  lips. 


670  THE  COUNCIL  OF  CONSTANCE.  Chap.  XL. 

were  conducted  through  Bohemian  nobles  who  favoured  Hus,  and 
had  the  confidence  of  the  king,  two  of  whom  deserve  remembrance 
for  their  stedfast  adherence  to  him  to  the  end :  the  Lords  Wences- 
laus  of  Dubna  and  John  of  Chlum.  King  Wenceslaus  consented 
to  his  brother's  application  for  the  attendance  of  Hus;  but  his 
little  sympathy  with  the  Council  seems  proved  by  his  sending 
no  envoys,  so  that  the  lords  who  attended  Hus  were  unable  to 
offer  any  official  remonstrance.  Hus  himself  had  always  pro- 
fessed his  desire  to  appeal  to  a  General  Council  and  to  abide  by  its 
decision,  and  his  course  was  determined  by  the  same  conscience 
and  resolve  not  to  bring  scandal  on  the  cause,  which  we  shall  find 
governing  his  final  choice  of  the  death  he  had  even  now  in  prospect. 
For,  besides  the  warnings  of  his  friends,  we  have  several  other 
indications  of  the  foresight  which  led  him  to  write  that  he  in- 
tended humbly  to  risk  his  life,  and  appear  at  Constance  under  the 
protection  of  the  king's  safe-conduct  (August).  Going  first  to 
Prague,  he  presented  himself  before  a  synod  held  by  the  Arch- 
bishop, who  declared  that  he  had  no  charge  of  heresy  to  bring  against 
him,  and  he  also  obtained  certificates  of  orthodoxy  from  the  king 
and  the  papal  inquisitor,  to  whom  he  submitted  himself  for  exa- 
mination. The  enemies,  who  would  not  confront  Hus  before  the 
Archbishop,  procured  written  evidence  against  him  from  alleged 
private  conversations  as  well  as  his  public  teachings ;  and,  having 
obtained  copies  of  this  evidence  from  friends,  he  again  showed 
what  sort  of  a  trial  he  expected  by  drawing  up  answers,  to  be  read 
after  his  departure,  proving  them  to  be  false  or  garbled,  and  dis- 
avowing the  opinions  imputed  to  him.  The  same  foresight  was 
shewn  in  a  farewell  letter  to  his  friends  "  in  order  that,  knowing 
his  opinions,  they  might  not  be  dispirited  if  he  were  condemned 
for  any  imputed  heresy  "  (Oct.  10).  * 

§  14.  Travelling  through  Germany,  with  the  lords  John  and 
Henry  of  Chlum,  while  Wenceslaus  of  Dubna  went  to  Sigismund 
for  the  promised  safe-conduct,2  Hus  held  frequent  discussions,  and 
was  well  received,  notwithstanding  the  national  feud  at  Prague. 
We  have  seen  his  reception  at  Constance,3  where  a  chief  instigator 

1  In  his  sermon  at  Jerome's  sentence,  the  Bishop  of  Lodi  stated  the 
principles  of  evidence  against  heretics  :  '"Any  witnesses  whatever,  even  of 
evil  repute,  as  ruffians,  thieves,  harlots,  ought  to  he  received  against  them  ; 
yea,  if  that  were  not  enough,  they  ought  to  he  tortured  rcith  various 
tortures  until  they  acknowledged  their  errors." 

2  Sigismund  granted  the  safe-conduct  at  Spires  on  the  14th  of  October, 
though  it  did  not  reach  Constance  till  after  Hus's  arrival. 

3  See  pp.  155,  158,  and  the  general  account  of  the  Council  (Chap.  X.). 
The  full  details  of  his  imprisonment  and  trial  may  be  read  in  Wratislaw, 
chaps,  viii.-x. 


A.D.  1415.  TRIAL  OF   HUS.  671 

of  the  steps  taken  against  him  was  his  renegade  friend,  Stephen 
Palecz.  After  six  months'  close  and  wearing  imprisonment,  he 
was  brought  before  the  Council  on  three  days x  for  the  mockery  of 
a  trial,  perhaps  unexampled  even  in  the  history  of  heresy ;  a  trial 
which  has  been  called,  by  no  rhetorical  figure,  "  not  hearing,  but 
jeering ; "  the  French  "  reforming "  Doctors,  headed  by  Cardinal 
D'Ailly,2  being  foremost  in  browbeating  and  clamorous  interruption. 
The  spirit  of  the  whole  proceeding  was  exposed  by  Jerome  on  his 
trial,  when,  having  cited  the  persecutions  of  philosophers,  apostles, 
prophets,  and  martyrs,  he  added,  "  And  forsooth  if  it  is  unrighteous- 
ness when  this  is  done  by  foreigners  or  natives  to  an  ordinary 
person,  it  is  a  greater  unrighteousness  when  one  priest  suffers  from 
another,  and  the  greatest  unrighteousness  when  a  priest  is  given 
up  to  death  by  a  council  of  priests  from  malice  and  hatred"  This 
is  the  peculiarity  of  these  two  cases  amidst  the  long  records  of 
religious  persecution.  We  can  understand  the  zeal  which  puts  the 
clear  issue  on  some  distinct  doctrine  or  observance  deemed  necessary 
to  salvation.  But  few,  perhaps,  who  revere  the  names  of  Hus  and 
Jerome  as  martyrs  for  the  truth,  are  aware  that  that  issue  was 
not  the  real  one  throughout  their  trials.  Of  doctrinal  censure 
there  was  scarcely  a  pretence,  much  less  of  the  corrective  argument 
to  which  Hus  offered  to  submit.  His  exposure  of  the  false  and 
garbled  evidence — like  the  false  witnesses  at  Jerusalem  who  could 
not  even  agree  together 3 — by  reference  to  his  real  statements,  his 
declarations  of  his  true  opinions,  and  protestations  of  conscience, 
were  overborne  by  the  rule,  "  In  the  mouth  of  two  or  three 
witnesses  shall  every  word  be  established/'  while  not  a  witness  was 
heard  in  his  behalf.  In  fine,  all  came  to  this  one  point,  that  he 
must  confess  and  abjure  all  that  was  charged  against  him  by 
the  witnesses,  whether  he  had  held  and  taught  it  or  not.  When 
Sigismund  plainly  stated  the  two  ways  open, — to  abjure,  recant,  and 
submit  to  the  mercy  of  the  Council,  or,  if  he  held  to  his  errors,  "  the 
Council  and  Doctors  have  their  laws  as  to  what  they  ought  finally 
to  do  with  you,"  Hus  summed  up  his  whole  case  in  the  reply, 
"  Most  serene  Prince !  I  do  not  wish  to  hold  any  error,  but  to 
submit  to  the  determination  of  the  Council ;  only  not  to  offend  my 

1  June  5th,  7th,  and  8th,  1415,  besides  the  day  of  final  sentence  and 
execution,  July  6th. 

2  D'Ailly  repeatedly  interrupted  Hus's  statement  and  the  explanatory 
extracts  from  his  works  by  the  exclamation,  "  See  how  much  worse  it  is 
than  what  hath  been  articled." 

3  Matt.  xxvi.  59-62;  Mark  xiv.  55-60.  The  parallel  is  the  more 
striking,  as  the  Doctors  and  the  King  rested  the  whole  case  on  this 
evidence,  reiterating,  like  the  High  Priest,  "  What  is  it  which  these  witness 
against  thee  ?  " 


672  THE  MARTYR  TO  CONSCIENCE.  Chap.  XL. 

conscience  by  saying  that  I  have  held  errors  which  I  have  never 
held,  and  which  never  entered  into  my  heart."  It  was  not  a 
question  of  true  or  false  belief,  but  of  submission  to  the  will  of  the 
ecclesiastical  aristocracy,  who  had  deposed  three  Popes  -,1  and  if 
ever  there  was  a  martyr  to  the  pure  principle  of  conscience,  rather 
than  to  any  dogma,  it  was  John  Hus.  Even  when  friendly 
mediators  suggested  an  escape  by  the  abjuration  of  the  heresies 
charged,  without  admitting  that  he  had  held  them,  he  saw  the  fallacy 
of  the  subterfuge,  which  he  rejected  because  such  an  abjuration 
would  combine  perjury,  apostacy,  and  scandal.  Referring  to  the 
example  of  Eleazar,2  "  a  man  of  the  old  law,  who  would  not  lyingly 
admit  that  he  had  eaten  flesh  forbidden  by  the  law,  lest  he  should 
act  against  God  and  leave  an  evil  example  to  posterity"  he  asked, 
"  How  should  I,  a  priest  of  the  new  law,  though  an  unworthy  one, 
for  fear  of  a  punishment  which  will  soon  be  over,  be  willing  to 
transgress  the  law  of  God  more  grievously,  (1)  by  withdrawing 
ffom  the  truth ;  (2)  by  committing  perjury ;  (3)  by  scandalizing 
my  neighbours.  Indeed  it  is  better  for  me  to  die  than,  by  avoiding 
a  momentary  punishment,  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  Lord,  and 
perhaps  afterwards  into  fire  and  everlasting  reproach."  Kor,  pro- 
bably, did  he  believe  that  recantation  would  save  him  from  such 
perfidy  as  afterwards  befel  Cranmer.3  These  efforts  were  made  during 
a  pause  occasioned  by  a  letter  of  remonstrance  to  Sigismund,  bearing 
250  seals  of  the  Bohemian  nobles  ;4  and  later  events  proved  how 

1  It  is  noteworthy  that  Cardinal  Zabarella,  the  leader  of  the  Papal 
partv,  shewed  a  better  disposition  towards  Hus  than  the  French  and 
German  reforming  doctors.  He  it  was  who,  on  the  last  day  of  the  trial, 
made  the  offer  of  a  qualified  form  of  submission. 

2  2  Maccabees  vi.  This  is  from  Hus's  letter  in  reply  to  the  confession 
drawn  up  for  him  by  the  friendly  "  father  "  (see  the  whole  in  Wratislaw, 
pp.  312-315).  Observe  also  the  simple  emphasis  of  his  reply  to  Sigismund's 
suggestion:  "Listen,  Hus!  Why  should  you  refuse  to  abjure  all  the 
erroneous  articles  of  which  you  speak  because  witnesses  have  deposed 
wrongfully  against  you  ?  /  am  willing  to  abjure  all  errors  ;  yet  because  I 
do  not  wish  to  hold  any  error,  it  is  not  necessary  that  I  have  previously 
held  one."  Hus  replied  :  "  Lord  King  !  This  is  not  the  meaning  of  the 
word  '  to  abjure.'  "  If  there  is  something  of  the  schoolman  here,  there  is 
mo  e  of  honest  truth  and  enlightened  conscience. 

3  For  his  farewell  letters  to  Bohemia,  in  the  sure  prospect  of  death,  see 
Wratislaw,  pp.  316-319.  One  passage  is  prophetic:  "I  think  that  after 
mv  death  there  will  be  a  great  persecution  in  the  land  of  Bohemia  of  those 
who  serve  God  faithfully,  if  God  doth  not  apply  His  hand  through  the 
secular  lords,  whom  He  has  enlightened  in  His  law  more  than  the  spiritual 
ones.'' 

4  The  letter  was  read  at  the  session  of  June  12th.  Palecz  took 
advantage  of  the  absence  of  the  King's  participation  in  this  act,  and 
it  is  not  known  whether  Wenceslaus  made  any  effort  on  Hus's  behalf. 
Wratislaw  cites  a  document,  to  prove  that  he  probably  did  so  (p.  321), 


A.D.  U15.  BURNING  OF  JOHN  HITS.  673 

much  reason  Siuismund  had  to  fear  the  resentment  of  his  future 
subjects.  But  the  danger  of  breaking  up  the  Council  was  instant ; 
and  we  can  trace,  both  in  king  and  Council,  the  passion  influenced 
by  resistance, — "  odisse  quern  Imseris." 

On  the  1st  of  July  Hus  briefly  repeated  in  writing  the  grounds  of 
his  decision  to  a  commission  charged  to  receive  his  final  answer,  and 
on  the  6th  he  was  brought  up  for  sentence  at  the  15th  session  in  the 
Cathedral.1  His  final  appeal  to  God  was  denounced  as  heresy ;  his 
prayer  for  the  pardon  of  his  enemies  wTas  treated  with  derision.  The 
sermon  was  preached  by  the  Bishop  of  Lodi  from  the  text,  "  Thit 
the  body  of  sin  may  be  destroyed  "  (Horn.  vi.  6)  ;  and  when  they  com- 
mitted his  soul  to  the  devil,  he  replied,  "  But  I  commit  it  to  God, 
the  righteous  judge."  After  an  insulting  degradation  from  the 
priesthood,  he  was  led  forth  to  a  meadow-  outside  the  town,  amidst 
a  crowd  of  people  to  whom  he  declared  his  faith  and  innocence; 
and  some  said  to  one  another,  "  What  or  what  manner  of  things 
he  hath  done  or  said  formerly,  we  know  not ;  but  now  we  see  and 
hear  that  he  prayeth  and  speaketh  holy  words."  To  a  last  offer  of 
mercy,  before  the  faggots  piled  round  him  to  the  neck  were  kindled, 
he  replied,  "God  is  my  witness,  that  I  have  never  taught  or 
preached  the  things  which  have  been  laid  to  my  charge  by  false 
witnesses ;  but  the  principal  intention  of  my  preaching  and  of  all 
my  other  actions  and  writings  has  simply  been  to  draw  men  back 
from  sin,  and  in  that  truth  of  the  Gospel,  which  I  have  written, 
taught,  and  preached,  according  to  the  sayings  of  the  holy  Doctors, 
I  am  willingly  joyfully  this  day  to  die."  The  flames  soon  cut 
short  his  last  prayers ;  and  his  death  was  speedy.  His  clothes  were 
thrown  into  the  fire,  and  every  vestige  of  his  remains  reduced  to 
ashes  and  thrown  into  the  lUiine,  "that  nothing  might  remain  on 
earth  of  so  execrable  a  heretic."  2 

§  15.  Nearly  twelve  months  later  the  like  scene  was  repeated  on 

and  he  was  certainly  much  grieved  at  Hus's  fate.  The  letter  of  the 
nobles  was  accompanied  by  one  from  the  University  of  Prague  to  the 
Cardinals,  interceding  both  for  Hus  and  Jerome. 

1  We  cannot  omit  the  noble  advice  of  his  stedfast  friend  John  of  Chlum, 
who  went  to  the  prison  the  day  before  with  the  Lord  Weuceslaus  and 
four  bishops,  to  receive  Hus's  decision  at  the  last  moment :  "  See,  Master 
John!  We  are  laymen  and  cannot  advise  you;  look  therefore  if  you 
feel  yourself  guilty  in  any  of  the  matters  laid  to  your  charge,  that  you 
fear  not  to  be  instructed  with  regard  to  them  and  recant.  Jf,  however, 
your  conscience  tells  you  that  you  are  not  guilty,  do  not  in  any  wise  act 
against  your  conscience  or  lie  in  the  sight  of  God  but  rather  stand  even 
unto  death  in  the  truth  which  you  have  known."  When  Hus  answered  as 
before,  one  of  the  bishops  said,  *;  See  how  obstinate  he  is  in  his  heresy  !  " 

2  The  details  of  Hus's  trial  and  execution  are  derived  chiefly  from  an 
eye-witness,  his  secretary  Mladenowitz. 


674  JEROME  OF  PRAGUE.  Chap.  XL. 

the  same  spot ;  and  the  victim  was  of  a  spirit  as  noble  if  less 
innocent.  Not  that  the  more  impulsive  character  of  Jerome  was 
ever  sullied,  except  by  the  two  acts  of  his  breach  of  faith  and  his 
recantation.  In  one  of  his  journeys  to  proclaim  his  principles  alike 
to  kings  and  people,  he  visited  Vienna  at  the  time  of  the  measures 
taken  against  the  Wyclifite  heresy  by  Alexander  V.  and  continued 
by  John  XXIII.  (1410).  He  was  arrested,  but  shewing,  it  is  said, 
signs  of  recantation,  he  was  released  on  a  solemn  oath  to  abide  his 
trial ;  but  he  escaped  into  Moravia,  and  repaid  the  confidence  of  the 
bishop's  official  by  a  letter  of  excuse  for  not  keeping  a  promise 
extorted  from  him  by  force.  The  censure,  which  we  must  pass 
on  his  breach  of  faith,  would  ill  beseem  those  who  themselves  acted 
on  the  principle,  that  no  faith  should  be  kept  with  heretics.  After 
the  burning  of  the  bulls  at  Prague,  Jerome  visited  Lithuania  and 
Poland,  causing  at  Cracow,  we  are  told, "  more  sensation  among  the 
clergy  and  people  than  had  been  excited  in  that  diocese  within  the 
memory  of  man."  These  visits  led  to  the  twofold  charge,  of  sympathy 
with  the  Greek  heresy,  and  of  seeking  converts  to  his  own. 

Notwithstanding  the  dissuasion  sent  by  Hus  to  the  zealous 
friends  who  were  eager  to  join  him  when  the  news  of  his  arrest 
reached  Prague,  Jerome  appeared  at  Constance  early  in  April  1415  ; 
but  he  wras  persuaded  to  retire  to  a  neighbouring  town,  whence  he 
addressed  letters  to  Sigismund  and  the  Council,  requesting  a  safe- 
conduct  and  hearing.  After  waiting  some  days,  he  had  started  on 
his  return  to  Bohemia,  when  the  Council  published  in  Constance  a 
citation,  to  which  was  added  a  safe-conduct  against  violence,  but 
not  against  due  course  of  law ;  and,  when  charged  with  contumacy 
on  his  trial,  he  declared  that  he  would  gladly  have  obeyed  the 
citation  had  he  known  of  it.  He  was  recognized  and  arrested  at 
Hirschau,  in  the  dominions  of  the  Count  Palatine,  John  (son  of 
Rupert,  the  late  emperor  and  enemy  of  Wenceslaus),  who  sent  him 
back  to  Constance,  where  he  was  brought  in  heavy  chains  before  the 
Council  (May  23rd);  and,  as  wTe  have  had  occasion  to  mention, 
he  was  assailed  with  special  animosity  by  Gerson  and  others 
whom  he  had  formerly  met  in  scholastic  disputations.  He  now 
offered  to  defend  the  same  opinions  before  the  Council,  adding 
(like  Hus),  "  if  it  be  proved  that  there  is  aught  erroneous  therein, 
I  will  gladly  amend  it,  and  also  humbly  receive  better  instruction." 
The  cry  was  raised,  "  Burn  him !  burn  him  I"1     "  No  !  "  said  the 

1  We  have  a  curious  record  of  Sigismund's  feeling  towards  Jerome  in  a 
conversation  (on  the  last  day  of  Hus's  trial,  June  8th)  with  some  of  the 
cardinals  and  bishops,  whom  the  King  advised  to  put  no  faith  in  recanta- 
tions, which  would  only  be  followed  by  a  new  diffusion  of  heresy  in 
Bohemia,  Poland,  &c.     "Therefore,"  he  said,  "make  an   end  also  with 


A.D.  1416.  HIS  RECANTATION  AND  TRIAL.  C75 

English  bishop  of  Salisbury,  Robert  Hallam ;  "  for  it  is  written, 
*  I  will  not  the  death  of  a  sinner,  but  rather  that  he  should  be 
converted  and  live.' "  The  wish  seemed  to  be  fulfilled,  when,  after 
Hus's  execution  and  an  examination  of  the  articles  framed  against 
Jerome  (July  19th),  fear  and  physical  distress  from  his  severe 
imprisonment  broke  down  his  fortitude,  aod  he  twice  made  a  public 
recantation,  renouncing  the  doctrines  of  Wyclif  and  declariug  the 
righteousness  of  Hus's  condemnation  (Sept.  11th  and  23rd).  He 
promised  to  write  to  the  same  effect  to  the  King  and  Queen  and 
Lords  of  Bohemia.1  Cardinals  d'Ailly  and  Zabarella,  who  were  of 
the  commission  named  to  judge  him,  were  in  favour  of  his  release; 
but  this  was  opposed  by  "  the  faithless  renegade,"  Stephen  Palecz, 
and  by  the  powerful  voice  of  Gerson,  who  wrote  a  treatise  to  show 
that  recantation  must  always  leave  a  man  under  suspicion  of  heresy. 
The  two  cardinals  retired  in  disgust 2  from  the  commission  (Feb. 
1416),  and  Jerome,  refusing  to  give  answers  satisfactory  to  the 
more  hostile  judges,  demanded  a  public  hearing  before  the  Council. 
One  pregnant  sentence  of  his  sums  up  the  whole  nature  of  Hus's 
trial  as  well  as  his  own  :  "  Ye  wish  to  condemn  me  wrongfully  and 
miserably,  without  any  certain  charge."  This  was  the  exact  truth, 
though  no  less  than  107  articles  "were  preferred  against  him  on  his 
two  days'  trial  (May  23rd  and  26th),  of  which  we  have  the  two 
vivid  reports  of  eye-witnesses,  in  Latin  and  Bohemian.3  We  have 
cited  Poggio's  admiring  testimony  to  his  eloquence  and  ability  (§  6), 
but  that  is  not  all:  "Many  he  smote  with  jests;  many  with 
invectives  ;  many  he  frequently  compelled  to  laugh  in  what  was  no 

his  other  secret  disciples  and  favourers,  because  I  am  soon  about  to  depart, 
and  especially  with  that  fellow  who  is  detained  here  in  prison."  They  said, 
44  Jerome  ?  "  He  said,  4*  Yes,  Jerome  !  We'll  make  a  finish  with  him  in 
less  than  a  day.  It  will  be  an  easier  matter,  for  the  other  is  his  master, 
and  that  Jerome  his  scholar."  Then  he  added  :  44  Verily  I  was  still  young 
when  that  sect  arose  and  began  in  Bohemia,  and  see  to  what  magnitude 
it  has  grown  and  multiplied!"  Here  the  King  is  clearly  regarding  the 
reformers  with  animosity  as  political  disturbers. 

1  We  have  his  letter  to  the  lords  (in  Wratislaw,  pp.  394—5)  ;  the  others 
he  delayed,  and  finally  refused  to  write.  The  letter,  addressed  to  one  of 
the  three  lords  of  the  Bohemian  union,  is  the  only  extant  piece  of  his 
writing  in  Bohemian.  His  remains  iu  Latin  are  printed  in  the  Acta  et 
Monumenta,  &c. 

2  Dr.  Naz  (Nasus,  i.e.  "Nosey"),  one  of  Hus's  and  Jerome's  bitterest 
enemies,  insinuated  that  they  were  bribed  by  Wenceslaus  and  the  heretics. 
Is  it  not  l'easonable  to  suppose  that  Jerome's  ability — perhaps,  too,  the 
conviction  that  the  questions  at  issue  were  more  scholastic  than  religious 
— inspired  them  with  a  generous  feeling  which  is  conspicuously  wanting 
in  their  colleague,  Gerson,  the  4'  Doctor  Christianissimus  "  ? 

3  The  substance  of  the  Bohemian  narrative,  which  agrees  in  all  essential 
points  with  Poggio's,  is  given  by  Wratislaw,  chap.  xiii. 


676  BURNING  OF  JEROME.  Chap.  XL. 

laughing  matter,  by  jeering  at  the  reproaches  made  to  him  by  his 
adversaries.  .  .  .  This,  however,  was  a  token  of  the  greatest 
intellectual  power,  that,  when  his  discourse  was  frequently  inter- 
rupted and  he  was  assailed  with  various  outcries  by  some  who 
carped  at  his  sentiments,  not  one  of  them  did  he  leave  unscathed, 
and,  chastising  them  all  alike,  compelled  them  either  to  blush  or  to 
hold  their  peace.1  .  .  .  His  voice  was  sweet,  clear,  and  sonorous ; 
with  a  certain  dignified  oratorical  gesticulation,  either  to  express 
indignation  or  to  move  compassion,  which,  however,  he  neither 
asked  for  nor  wished  to  obtain."  It  seems,  indeed,  that  he  might 
have  had  it  for  the  asking;  for,  in  the  early  part  of  his  defence, 
many  felt  themselves  inclined  to  his  liberation. 

But  Jerome  had  come  there  (like  Cranmer  at  St.  Mary's)  with 
quite  another  purpose.  After  a  glowing  eulogy  of  Hus,  he  summed 
up  his  confession  by  avowing  that  "  whatsoever  Master  John  Hus 
and  Master  John  Wyclif  had  preached  against  the  wickedness, 
pride,  malice,  ruffianism,  and  avarice  of  the  priesthood,  all  this  he 
held  and  would  hold  unto  death.  As  regarded  the  other  articles  of 
the  Christian  faith,  he  held  and  believed  them  all  according  to  the 
Holy  Catholic  Church  of  Christ,  assenting  to  no  error  or  heresy." 
Finally,  confessing  the  sin  most  heavy  on  his  conscience,  he  said, 
standing  "  in  that  villainous  and  accursed  pulpit,  wherein  in  his 
recantation  for  fear  of  death  he  had  assented  to  the  unrighteous 
condemnation  of  Master  John  Hus,  a  holy  man,  he  cancelled, 
annulled,  and  revoked  that  recantation."  At  this  they  raised  the 
ery,  "Now  hath  he  condemned  himself!''  and  after  two  days, 
during  which  Zabarella  and  others  made  a  hist  effort  to  overcome 
his  resolution,  he  was  brought  into  the  cathedral  on  the  Saturday 
before  Ascension  Day  (May  30th) ;  where,  called  on  to  abide  by 
his  first  recantation,  he  repeated  his  belief  of  "  all  the  articles  of 
the  Christian  faith,  as  the  Holy  Catholic  Church  holds  and  be- 
lieves," and,  declaring  that  his  exposure  of  the  vices  of  the  clergy 
was  the  motive  of  his  death,  as  of  the  condemnation  of  the  two 
Masters,2  he  ended,  "  God's  will  be  done  :  but  I  will  not  act  against 
my  conscience;  for  I  know  that  in  what  they  have  written  against 
the  disorders  and  unrighteousness  of  the  priesthood,  they  have  set 

1  Thus,  when  one  of  them  insultingly  replied  to  his  denial  of  any  agree- 
ment with  Wyclif's  doctrine  of  the  Eucharist,  "  Why  deniest  thou  this  ? 
Anyhow  it  is  a  manifest  thing,"  Jerome  shouted,  "Silence!  hypocritical 
monk  !  "  This  one  being  silenced,  another  said  with  a  great  outcry,  "  I 
swear  it  on  my  conscience,  as  to  what  thou  deniest,  that  it  is  so !  "  Jerome 
retorted,  "Thus  to  swear  on  one's  conscience  is  often  the  safest  way  to 
deceive." 

2  Remember  that  the  Council  had  condemned  Wyclif  s  works,  and 
ordered  the  burning  of  his  bones. 


A.D.  1415  f.  UPRISING  OF  BOHEMIA.  677 

down  the  truth."  He  walked  cheerfully  to  the  stake,  chanting  the 
Catholic  Creed,  and  singing  other  hymns,  both  of  the  Mother  of  God 
and  of  other  saints,  and  from  the  very  spot  where  Hus  had 
suffered  he  reiterated  to  the  people  his  belief  in  the  faith  he  had 
just  chanted,  and  the  true  cause  of  his  death,  because  he  would  not 
condemn  that  "  honourable  and  holy  man  and  preacher  of  the  faith 
of  God's  law  and  of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ."  Like  Hus,  he 
prayed  aloud  till  "  the  flame  struck  him,  and  he  prayed  within 
himself  a  good  while,  and  thus  doing  he  died."  If  the  admiration 
of  iEneas  Sylvius  and  Poggio  is  tinged  with  the  growing  heathenism 
of  the  age,  it  is  at  least  impartial  and  sincere.1 

§  16.  The  ashes  of  Jerome,  like  those  of  Hus,  were  thrown  into  the 
Rhine,  lest  a  relic  of  the  martyrs  should  remain.  Rather  might  we 
imagine  them  "sprinkled  towards  heaven"  by  the  prophet's  hand, 
to  break  forth  throughout  all  the  land  of  Bohemia  ;2  but  we  can  only 
glance  at  the  plague  of  religious  war,  of  which  the  germs  were  cast 
abroad  at  Constance.3  The  indignation  of  the  people  was  vehement. 
Medals  were  struck  in  honour  of  Hus,  and  a  yearly  festival  was 
established  to  commemorate  both  martyrs.  The  faithlessness  of 
Sigismund  had  provoked  the  firm  resolve,*  "  we  will  not  have  this 
man  to  reign  over  us  " ;  and  the  death  of  Wenceslaus,  three  years 
later,  brought  the  Bohemian  reformers  into  conflict  with  Hungary, 
the  Empire,  and  the  Papacy.  But  the  religious  and  national 
uprising  did  not  await  that  signal.  The  communication  from  the 
Council  of  its  dealings  with  Hus  was  answered  in  a  letter  of  vehe- 
ment reproach  by  a  meeting  of  Bohemian  and  Moravian  noblemen, 
who  bound  themselves  by  an  engagement  for  six  years  to  uphold 
true  and  scriptural  doctrines  (Sept.  1415).  But  what  did  this 
mean  ?  We  are  dealing  with  an  age  when  not  even  the  teaching 
of  Hus  had  imbued  the  popular  mind  with  abstract  religious  prin- 
ciples, such  as  Luther's  "  article  of  a  standing  or  falling  Church," — 
Justification  by  Faith.  The  supreme  authority  of  Scripture,  free- 
dom to  preach  the  Gospel,  and  reform  of  the  corruptions  of  the 
Church,  were  indeed  their  cardinal  principles,  but  a  more  concrete 

1  "He  stood,"  says  Poggio  of  Jerome,  "fearless  and  dauntless,  not 
merely  despising,  but  even  desiring  death,  so  that  you  would  have  said 
he  was  another  Cato " ;  and  iEneas  Sylvius  testifies  of  both  martyrs, 
"Nemo  philosophorum  tarn  forti  animo  mortem  pertulisse  traditur,  quam 
isti  incendium  "  (Hist.  Bohem.  c.  36). 

2  See  Exodus  ix.  8,  9. 

3  The  details  may  be  read  in  Gieseler  (vol.  v.),  who,  as  usual,  gives 
valuable  extracts  from  the  original  authorities ;  and  in  Robertson, 
rol.  iv. 

4  He  made  an  attempt  at  conciliation  by  a  letter  assuring  the  Bohe- 
mians that  he  had  been  unable  to  protect  Hus. 

II— 2  H 


678  THE  CALIXTINES  AND  TABORITES.  Chap.  XL. 

and  tangible  symbol  was  wanted,  and  was  at  hand.  One  of  the  false 
charges  brought  against  Hus  at  Constance  was  the  advocacy  of 
"  communion  in  both  kinds,"  instead  of  the  administration  of  the 
bread  only  to  the  laity  (see  p.  326).  The  practice  had  in  fact  been 
begun  (late  in  1414)  by  his  friend  Jacobellus,1  after  his  own 
departure  for  Constance ;  but  he  approved  and  maintained  it 
when  questioned ;  and  it  was  formally  condemned  by  the  Council 
(June  14th,  1415),  but  supported  by  the  University  of  Prague.2 
While  Wenceslaus  only  partly  allayed  the  excitement  by  giving  up 
some  churches  for  the  administration  of  the  Eucharist  in  both  kinds, 
the  Council  sent  forth  new  decrees  and  emissaries  to  enforce  them  ; 
and  the  new  Pope,  Martin  V.  entrusted  his  bull  for  the  suppression 
of  heresy  (Feb.  1418)  to  a  legate  whose  violence  only  exasperated 
the  Bohemians.  The  contest  began  to  assume  the  aspect  of  a  civil 
war ;  for,  though  the  reforming  party  was  by  far  the  more 
numerous,  the  Catholics  were  strong  among  the  greater  nobles  and 
the  burghers  of  German  origin  ;  and  both  sides  proceeded  to  deeds 
of  violence.  As  usual  in  such  a  crisis,  an  extreme  party  arose 
among  the  reformers ;  and  while  the  more  moderate  were  known, 
from  the  chief  symbol  common  to  all,  as  Calixtines  or  Utraquists,3 
the  zealots,  who  rejected  most  of  the  traditional  system  of  the 
Church,  assumed  the  name  of  Taborites*  from  their  stronghold 
on  the  hill  near  Aust  (the  former  retreat  of  Hus),  where  a  vast 
multitude  assembled  in  the  open  air  to  celebrate  the  communion 
at  300  uncovered  altars  with  wooden  chalices  (July  22nd,  1419). 

1  Jacobellus  de  Misa  (James  of  Mies),  .En.  Sylv.,  flist.  Bohem.  c.  35. 
He  is  said  to  have  been  influenced  by  some  expressions  thrown  out  by 
Mathias  of  Janow. 

2  For  Hus's  declaration,  see  Wratislaw,  p.  311.  Von  der  Hardt  gives 
the  decree  of  the  Council  (iii.  646),  and  the  Apologia  of  Jacobellus  in  reply- 
to  it  (iii.  591,/.).  The  manifesto  of  the  University  (March  10,  1417)  is 
in  the  Acta  et  Monum.  ii.  539. 

3  From  caliv,  the  "  cup  "  or  "  chalice,"  and  sub  utraque  specie,  "  under 
both  kinds."  Their  strength  lay  in  the  University  and  city  of  Prague  and 
among  the  reforming  nobles. 

4  The  name  was  applied  to  the  hill  from  the  booths  (in  Bohemian,  Tabor) 
which  sheltered  the  assembled  people  ;  but-the  coincidence  with  Tabor  in 
Palestine  (the  traditional  Mount  of  Transfiguration)  was  eagerly  wel- 
comed,  and  Scriptural  names  were  applied  to  other  places  in  Bohemia. 
With  theTaborites  were  mingled  many  Waldensians  who  had  found  refuge 
in  Bohemia,  and  other  sectaries  called  by  the  name  of  Beghards,  corrupted 
into  Picards.  But  this  name  was  chiefly  used  to  stigmatize  those  who 
denied  any  real  presence  in  the  Eucharist,  and  regarded  the  elements  as 
mere  bread  and  wine — a  doctrine  which  even  the  Taborites  zealously 
rejected,  expelling  such  "  Picards  "  from  Mount  Tabor.  Some  of  the  ex- 
tretner  fanatics  were  even  massacred  by  Ziska  (1421)  ;  but  for  all  this 
tin'  onemies  of  the  Taborites  fastened  on  them  the  odious  name  of  Picards. 


A.D.  1420  f.  RELIGIOUS  WAR  IX  BOHEMIA.  679 

Thence  they  marched  on  Prague  by  night,  plundered  some  convents, 
drove  the  magistrates  out  of  the  town-hall,  killing  several  of  them,  and 
had  a  fierce  fight  with  the  Catholic  people  of  the  Old  Town.  The 
shock  of  these  scenes  brought  on  Wenceslaus  a  fatal  fit  of  apoplexy  ; 
and  he  was  hastily  buried  with  scant  ceremony  (Aug.  1419). 

§  17.  Sigismund  was  too  sharply  pressed  in  the  defence  of  Hun- 
gary against  the  Turks,  to  enforce  his  rights  as  his  brother's  successor ; 
and  Bohemia  became  a  prey  to  a  ferocious  war  of  fact'ons.  The 
Taborites  had  a  leader  of  ability  matched  only  by  his  ruthlessness, 
in  John  of  Trocnow,  surnamed  Ziska,  who  had  been  a  page  of 
Wenceslaus,  and  had  acquired  experience  in  the  Polish  wars,  where 
he  is  said  to  have  lost  an  eye ;  but  even  his  total  blindness  (in 
1421)  gave  no  check  to  his  career.  He  taught  his  undisciplined 
followers  to  make  a  fortified  camp  of  their  waggons,  and  to  use 
their  clubs  and  flails  with  effect  against  lance  and  sword.  His 
ability,  and  the  power  he  infused  into  his  followers,  were  proved  in 
the  thrice-repeated  defeats  of  the  vast  armies  which  Sigismund  led 
into  Bohemia  on  a  Crusade  proclaimed  by  Pope  Martin  V.  (1420) ; 
and,  after  Ziska's  death  of  the  plague  (1424),  the  like  successes  were 
gained  by  the  new  leaders,  the  Great  and  Lesser  Procopius,  against 
the  crusading  armies  led  by  the  English  Cardinal  Beaufort  (1427), 
and  by  the  legate  Julian  Ca3sarini,  whose  signal  overthrow  at  Tauss 
(Aug.  14, 1431) 2  led  to  the  admission  of  Bohemian  delegates  to  the 
Council  of  Basle,  where  the  chief  demands  of  the  Calixtine  party 
were  conceded  by  the  agreement  called  Compact ata  (1433). 3  The 
resistance  of  the  Taborites  was  quelled  in  battle  at  Lipan  by  the 
Calixtines  (1434),  and  Sigismund,  at  length  recognized  as  king, 
had  begun  to  betray  his  old  faithlessness,  when  his  death  renewed 
the  conflict  (Dec.  1437) ;  but  we  must  leave  to  special  histories 
the  details  of  the  struggle,  which  lasted  for  two  centuries. 

1  For  the  atrocities  committed  in  the  ensuing  war,  by  Sigismund  on 
the  one  side  and  Ziska  on  the  other,  and  the  destruction  inflicted  on  the 
flourishing  state  of  Bohemia,  see  Robertson,  vol.  iv.  pp.  389,  390. 

2  See  Chap.  XI.  §  5,  p.  172.  We  are  compelled  to  pass  over  the  en- 
tangled details  of  the  internal  struggles  of  parties  who  united  against  the 
common  enemy. 

3  The  Compactata  were  founded,  though  with  considerable  modifica- 
tions, on  the  Four  Articles  of  Prague,  drawn  up  by  the  moderate  party  in 
1420,  after  Sigismund's  first  great  defeat,  and  accepted  (at  least  pro- 
visionally) by  him  and  Archbishop  Conrad  :  (1)  Freedom  of  preaching  the 
word  of  God  ;  (2)  the  Eucharist  in  both  kinds  ;  (3)  the  clergy  to  be  de- 
prived of  secular  lordship  and  temporalities  ;  (4)  all  deadly  sins  and  other 
disorders  to  be  forbidden  and  extirpated,  especially  those  of  a  public  kind, 
including  the  exaction  of  fees  by  the  clergy.  The  Compactata  were 
annulled  by  Pope  Pius  II.  (^Eneas  Sylvius),  but  little  regard  was  paid  to 
his  decree  (1462). 


680  SEQUEL  OF  THE  CONFLICT.       Chap.  XL 

§18.  The  crown  of  Bohemia  was  elective  ;  and  it  was  only  by 
force  of  arms  that  Albert  of  Austria  was  established  as  Sigismund's 
successor  (1438).  He  died  next  year ;  and  another  civil  contest 
resulted  in  the  acknowledgment  of  his  posthumous  son  Ladislaus, 
under  the  regency  of  a  native  noble,  George  of  Podiebrad,  who 
was  elected  king  on  the  early  death  of  Ladislaus  (1458).  Be  held 
an  even  balance  between  the  two  religious  parties,  and  successfully 
withstood  the  encroachments  of  Pius  IT.  and  the  crusade  proclaimed 
by  Paul  III.  His  death  in  1471  gave  the  signal  for  new  troubles, 
till  the  crown  came  finally  to  the  house  of  Austria  by  the  election 
(1527)  of  Ferdinand  (brother  of  Charles  V.  and  his  successor  in  the 
empire),  who  had  married  the  sister  of  the  late  king.  The  Catholic 
zeal  of  Ferdinand  I.  and  his  successor  Maximilian  II.  was  moder- 
ated by  policy  ;  but  Kudolf  II.,  a  pupil  of  the  Jesuits,  provoked  a 
revolt,  which  wrung  from  him  the  Royal  Charter  (Majestatsbrief), 
securing  religious  freedom  (1609).  At  this  time  we  are  told  that 
out  of  every  hundred  Bohemians  scarcely  one  or  two  were  Catholics. 
But  under  the  Emperor  Matthias  (1612)  and  his  brother  Fer- 
dinand II.,  who  was  elected  King  of  Bohemia  in  1617,  the  attempt 
to  evade  the  Charter  provoked  the  revolt  which  began  the  Thirty 
Years'  War  (1618).  The  unfortunate  Elector  Palatine,  Frederick, 
the  "  Winter  King,"  whom  the  Bohemians  chose  in  1619,  was 
utterly  defeated  at  Prague  within  a  year,  and  Bohemia  was  finally 
subjected  to  the  house  of  Austria,  to  whose  mercy  its  civil  and 
religious  liberties  were  left  by  the  Peace  of  Westphalia  (1648). 
The  Calixtines  were  for  the  most  part  re-united  to  the  Catholic 
Church,  while  the  remnant  of  the  Taborites,  mingled  with  Walden- 
sian  refugees,  and  purified  by  persecution  and  adversity,  still  survive 
in  the  Evangelic  sect  of  the  Bohemian,  afterwards  absorbed  in  the 
Moravian  Brethren,1  which  has  been  illustrated  in  our  time  and 
country  by  the  poetry  of  James  Montgomery  and  the  science  of 
Michael  Faraday,  whose  varied  gifts  were  harmonized  in  their 
simple  piety. 

1  Or,  according  to  their  own  proper  name,  Unitas  Fratrum.  Their 
society  was  first  formed  about  1450,  and  separated  from  the  Catholic 
Church  in  1457,  distinctly  on  the  ground  of  evangelical  doctrine  (as  they 
wrote  to  the  Archbishop  of  Prague,  "  non  propter  caerimonias  aliquas 
et  ritus,  sed  propter  malam  et  corruptam  doctrinam  ").  Their  leading  prin- 
ciples were  the  authority  of  Scripture  and  the  law  of  love.  For  their 
view  of  the  Eucharist  as  simply  commemorative,  rejecting  any  "  real 
presence  "  save  purely  spiritual,  they  were  stigmatized  by  Luther  as  here- 
tical, but  he  afterwards  regarded  them  more  favourably.  (Camerarius, 
Narratio  de  Fratrum  Orthodox.  Ecclesiis  in  Bohem.  et  Mor.iv.  (about  1570), 
Heidelb.  1605  ;  Carpzov,  Religions  untersuchungen  d.  Bohm.  u.  Mdhr. 
Briider,  Leipz.  1742  ;  and  other  works  cited  by  Hase,  p.  369.) 


Council  of  Trent. 


Fr<>ni  a  photograph  of  an  old  picture  which  used  to  hang  in  the 
Church  of  Santa  Maria  Maggiore  at  Trent. 


CHAPTER    XLI. 

SUMMARY  OF  THE  PROTESTANT  REFORMATION. 


CENTURY   XVI. 

1.  "  Where  was  Protestantism  before  Luther  V — His  own  Answer — 
Causes  of  the  Reformation :  not  mechanical,  but  spontaneous.  §  2. 
State  of  Western  Christendom  at  the  epoch  of  Luther's  Birth. 
§  3.  Reformers  between  Hus  and  Luther — Luther  "  a  Hussite  without 
knowing  it.  §  4.  The  Humanists — Erasmus's  Greek  Testament — The 
Indulgence  of  Leo  X. — Luther's  95  Theses — Philip  Melanch  i  ik>n. 
§  5.  Luther's  Three  Primary  Works — He  burns  the  Pope's  Bull. 
§  6.  The  Diets  of  Worms,  Spires,  and  Augsburg — The  Augsburg  Con- 
fession— League  of  Schmalkald  and  Peace  of  Nuremberg.  §  7.  The 
Swiss  Reformation  :  Ulrich  Zwingli — Luther  and  Zwingli.  §  8.  The 
Reformation  in  France  and  at  Geneva — John  Calvin:  his  Institutes. 
§  9.  Roman  Catholic  Reformers — Failure  of  the  Conference  at  Ratis- 


682  THE  PROTESTANT  REFORMATION.  Chap.  XLI. 

bon.  §  10.  Loyola,  Xavier,  and  the  Society  of  Jesus.  §  12.  The 
Council  of  Trent — The  Schmalkaldic  War — Peace  of  Augsburg — 
Sequel  down  to  the  Peace  of  Westphalia. 

§  1.  In  the  history  of  the  five  hundred  years  traversed  in  this 
volume,  or  rather  of  the  fifteen  centuries  of  the  Christian  Church, 
we  have  the  answer  to  the  challenge,  so  often  put  with  an  air  of 
triumph — "  Where  was  Protestantism  before  Martin  Luther?" 
Nor  can  a  better  reply  be  given  than  his  own : '  "  And  now  I 
perceive  for  the  first  time  that  some  of  our  learned  divines  at 
Wittenberg  speak  boastfully  as  though  we  had  made  a  new 
discovery,  as  if  there  had  not  been  men  before  now  in  other 
places.  Truly  there  have  been  such  men ;  but  the  wrath  of  God, 
caused  by  our  sins,  has  n<>t  suffered  us  to  be  wrorthy  to  see  and 
hear  them.  For  it  is  clear  that  in  the  Universities  no  such 
questions  have  been  handled ;  hence  it  followed  that  the  Word  of 
God  has  not  only  been  laid  on  the  shelf,  but  almost  destroyed  by 
dust  and  moths." 

We  have  seen  how,  in  the  whole  system  of  the  Church,  iu  the 
teaching  of  the  Schoolmen,  in  the  failure  of  the  Councils,  the 
deliberate  refusal  of  reformation  brought  to  a  crisis  the  elements 
of  revolution,  which  gathered  in  a  portentous  mass  from  all  the 
various  quarters  of  the  social,  political,  and  ecclesiastical  horizon. 
It  is  for  the  general  historian  to  trace  the  wide  and  deep  secular 
movements  of  the  age,  in  the  progress  of  civilization,  commerce, 
and  the  desire  of  liberty  ;  the  breaking  down  of  feudalism  and  the 
beginning  of  emancipation  among  the  peasantry ;  the  separation 
of  the  European  states  from  the  Empire  of  Rome,  a  sure  sign  of 
revolt  from  her  spiritual  supremacy  and  the  formation  of  national 
churches ;  and  the  marvellous  re-awakening  of  intellectual  life. 
What  we  are  more  especially  concerned  with  is  the  twofold  current 
of  ecclesiastical  and  doctrinal  development ;  the  climax  of  abuses, 
after  a  vain  effort  to  reform  them — vain  because  on  principles  essen- 
tially faulty — culminating  in  the  most  corrupt  and  wicked  state 
of  the  Papacy ;  simultaneous  with  the  silent  and  steady  progress, 
though  outwardly  suppressed,  of  a  genuine  reformation  on  spiritual 
and  scriptural  principles,  far  more  searching  than  even  the  most 
thorough  ecclesiastical  amendment.2 

1  In  his  Preface  to  the  Theohqia  Germanica,  to  which  he  owns  his 
obligations  as  next  to  the  Bible  and  St.  Augustine.     (See  p.  566.) 

2  In  this  brief  summary  we  make  no  attempt  to  cite  the  vast  array  of 
works  on  the  Reformation  (the  chief  titles  are  given  by  Gieseler  and 
Hase)  ;  but,  besides  the  ordinary  text-books,  special  mention  may  be  made 
of  two  convenient  and  excellent  manuals — Archdeacon  Hardwick's 
second  vol.,  Hist,  of   the  Christian  Church   during    the  Reformation,  and 


A.D.  U8;;.  EPOCH  OF  LUTHER'S  BIRTH.  683 

Ami  here  it  is  well,  once  for  all,  to  expose  the  fallacy,  that  the 
mighty  changes  of  the  sixteenth  century  could  have  been  caused 
by  any  external  forces,  whether  the  energy  of  Luther,  the  subtilty 
of  Calvin,  the  tyrannous  will  and  corrupt  motives  of  Henry  VIII. 
Such  causes  were  as  inadequate  as  the  command  of  Canute  to  the 
sea;  nor  could  any  mere  mechanical  impulse  have  been  lasting, 
even  if  momentarily  successful.  The  much-abused  word  evolution 
— fallacious  as  it  is  when  prating  of  effects  without  causes,  and 
setting  aside  moral  law  and  providential  government — may  be  pro- 
perly applied  to  the  long  train  of  events  in  the  Medieval  Church,  of 
which  we  have  now  to  trace  the  consequences  in  the  era  of  the 
Reformation.  This  is  the  present  terminus  of  our  work — not  to 
embark  on  the  wide  history  itself — but  only  to  mark  it  in  brief 
outline  as  the  culminating  epoch  of  Medieval  Christianity ;  the  new 
starting  point  from  which  modern  ecclesiastical  history  branches 
out  at  once  into  that  of  the  various  national  Churches,  and  of  the 
various  religious  bodies  and  opinion*,  both  without  and  within  the 
Church  which  still  claims  the  name  of  Roman  Catholic.1 

§  2.  The  new  state  of  Western  Christendom2  during  the  closing 
years  of  the  fifteenth  century  is  marked  by  some  coincidences  w^ell 
worth  noting.  The  epoch  of  Luther's  birth  (Nov.  10th,  1483)  was 
also  that  of  the  death  of  Louis  XL  and  of  Edward  IV.  and  the 
transition  from  the  last  struggles  of  feudalism  to  the  reign  of 
despotic  monarchy  in  France  and  England ;  the  final  stage  of  the 
long  decline  of  the  imperial  power  under  Frederick  III. ;  the  climax 
of  the  new  splendour  of  art  and  letters  at  Florence  and  Rome,  and 
also  of  the  abominations  of  the  Papacy  under  Sixtus  IV.  It  had 
been  lately  preceded  by  the  invention  of  printing,  and  was  imme- 
diately followed  by  the  discovery  of  America. 

§  3.  We  have  seen  that  the  efforts  for  a  pure  and  scriptural 
reformation  survived  in  the  Waldenses,  the  Lollards,  and  the 
Bohemians,  besides  other  centres  of  spiritual  light ;  and  there  are 
some  names  worthy  of  special  commemoration,  bridging  over  the 

Seebohm's  Era  of  the  Protestant  BevoluVon.  A  general  outline  is  given  in 
the  Student's  Hist,  of  Modern  Europe,  and  of  the  English  and  French 
Reformations  in  the  Student's  Hume  and  the  Student's  History  of  France. 

1  Once  for  all,  we  adopt  this  name  in  preference  to  the  ambiguous 
"Catholic,"  as  both  inoffensive  and  strictly  accurate;  for  the  same  claim 
which  assumes  the  title  of  Catholic  connects  it  inseparably  with  the 
see  of  Rome;  and,  besides,  the  title  is  the  one  recognized  bv  the  law  of 
England. 

2  The  Eastern  Churches  are  now  thrown  back  into  obscurity  by  the 
progress  of  Mohammedan  conquest  and  the  capture  of  Constantinople 
(1453),  and  what  might  be  said  of  them  is  rather  matter  of  curiosity  than 
general  interest. 


684  REFORMERS  BETWEEN  HUS  AND  LUTHER.       Chap.  XLI. 

interval  between  Hus  and  Luther.  Such,  among  others,  were 
John  of  Goch,  rector  of  a  cloister  of  nuns  at  Mechlin  (b.  about 
1400,  d.  1475) ;  John  of  Wesel,  a  professor  at  Erfurt  and  preacher 
at  Worms,  conspicuous  for  his  Augustinian  theology  (b.  between 
1400  and  1420,  d.  1481) ;  and  John  Wessel,  of  Groningen,  who 
united  the  characters  of  schoolman,  mystic,  and  humanist,  with 
that  of  scriptural  reformer  (p.  about  1429,  d.  1489),  thus  over- 
lapping the  life  of  Luther,  who  professed  special  obligations  to  his 
teaching. 

Through  all  this  period  runs  the  powerful  chain  to  which  Luther 
bore  his  emphatic  testimony  when  he  came  to  read  the  works  of 
Hus:1  "Unknown  to  myself  (Ego  imprudens),  I  have  both  taught 
and  held  all  (the  tenets)  of  this  John  Hus;  John  Staupitz  too  has 
taught  them  without  knowing  it ;  in  brief,  we  are  all  Hussites 
unawares;  in  fine,  Paul  and  Augustine  are  Hussites  to  the  very 
letter  (ad  verbum)."  Nor,  in  recognizing  this  bond  of  realist 
philosophy  and  Augustinian  theology,  must  we  exclude  Aquinas 
and  Bacon  among  the  schoolmen,  or,  on  the  other  hand,  Calvin, 
much  as  they  differed  from  Luther ;  for  all  held  the  Augustinian 
doctrine  of  faith,  though  Luther  was  its  great  champion  as  the 
"  articulus  stantis  aut  labentis  Ecclesise." 

§  4.  Another  mighty  movement,  which  had  intimate  though 
various  relations  to  the  great  era  of  religious  reformation,  was 
that  of  the  ardent  scholars  called  Humanists,  among  whom  are 
numbered  names  so  various  as  Reuchlin  and  Erasmus,  Dean  Colet 
and  Sir  Thomas  More;2  but  we  must  here  be  content  to  record 
the  mighty  impulse  which  Luther  received  from  the  reading  of 
Erasmus's  edition  of  the  Greek  Testament  in  his  cell  at  Wittenberg 
(1516).  Next  year  the  crisis,  which  had  been  ripening  in  his  mind, 
was  brought  to  a  head,  when  the  Dominican  Tetzel  came  to  the 
neighbourhood  of  Wittenberg,  preaching  the  Indulgence3  pro- 
claimed by  Leo  X.  for  the  building  of  St.  Peter's.4     On  the  Eve  of 

1  In  his  letter  to  Spalatinus,  Feb.  1520. 

2  In  this  brief  review  we  are  relieved  from  all  necessity  of  treating  the 
whole  subject  of  the  English  Reformation,  including  the  Oxford  School  of 
Reformers,  and  Erasmus's  connection  with  England,  by  Canon  Perry's 
Student's  English  Church  History,  Period  II.  Erasmus  was  some  sixteen 
years  older  than  Luther,  having  been  born  at  Rotterdam  about  1467. 
Colet  was  about  the  same  age  (6.  1466).  More  (6.  1480)  was  only  three 
years  older  than  Luther. 

3  Observe  the  remarkable  coincidence  with  the  opposition  to  the  Indul- 
gence and  the  burning  of  the  Pope's  bull  at  Prague  in  1412.  (See 
Chap.  XL.  §  11.) 

4  Comp.  Chap.  XV.  §  14,  p.  247.  For  Luther's  first  works,  and  a  full 
account  of  his  embarking  on  the  Reformation,  see  "  The  First  Principles 
of   the   Reformation,  or,  the  Ninety-five    Theses   and  the   Three  Primary 


A.D.  1520.  BURNING  OF  THE  POPE'S  BULL.  685 

All  Saints  (Oct.  31,  1517)  he  nailed  to  the  palace  door,  to  be  read 
by  the  people  flocking  to  the  great  festival,  his  famous  Ninety-five 
Theses,  addressed  to  the  Archbishop  of  Mainz  ;  and  his  action  was 
sustained  by  his  sovereign,  Frederick  the  Wise,  Elector  of  Saxony. 
In  the  disputations  which  followed  with  the  Dominicans,  Luther 
was  joined  by  Philip  Melanchthon  '  (1518),  whose  profound 
learning  and  gentle  spirit,  united  with  the  firmest  attachment  id 
the  same  principles,  made  him  alike  the  support  and  moderator  of 
his  vehement  leader. 

§  5.  In  1520,  the  Pope's  decision  to  issue  his  Bull  against  Luther 
caused  the  publication  of  his  Three  Primary  Works.  The  first  was  an 
Address  to  the  German  Nation,  assailing  the  "  three  walls  of  the 
Romanists,"  namely  the  supremacy  of  the  ecclesiastical  over  the 
temporal  power,  the  Pope's  sole  claim  to  interpret  the  Scriptures, 
and  his  sole  right  to  summon  a  Council;  adding  twenty-seven 
articles  of  Reform  ition.  The  second  was  a  Letter  to  Leo  X.  on  the 
Liberty  of  the  Christian  man;  in  the  third,  On  the  Babylonish 
Captivity  of  the  Church,  he  attacked  the  whole  scholastic  doctrine 
of  the  Seven  Sacraments,  virtually  denying  the  sacramental  charac- 
ter of  all  but  the  Eucharist  and  Baptism.  As  to  the  former,  h^  de- 
cisively rejected  Transubstantiation,  while  firmly  holding  the  "real 
presence "  in  that  form  of  "  Consubstantiation,"  which  became 
thenceforth  a  distinctive  article  of  the  Lutheran  Creed.  When, 
after  an  interval  of  hesitation,  the  Bull  arrived  at  Wittenberg,  Luther 
carried  it  in  procession  outside  the  walls,  and  burnt  it  together  with 
a  complete  set  of  the  books  of  Canon  Law  (Dec.  10th,  1520). 

§6.  This  act  was  Luther's  final  breach  with  Rome;  and  it 
remained  for  the  young  Emperor  and  the  German  princes  to  choose 
their  part  in  the  Diet  summoned  at  Worms  (Jan.  1521),  to  consider 
the  grievances  of  Germany  and  the  case  of  Luther.  The  reformer 
obeyed  the  summons  with  courage  proof  against  the  fate  of  Hus  and 
Savonarola;  and  Charles  V.  was  too  politic  to  yield  to  the  insti- 
gations to  repeat  the  perfidy  of  Sigismund.  But  on  the  main  ques- 
tion his  policy  sacrificed  the  interests  and  peace  of  Germany,  to  gain 
the  support  of  the  Pope  against  the  rivalry  of  France,  and  the  edict 
issued  against  Luther  at  Worms 2  was  finally  ratified  at  the  Second 

Works  of  Dr.  Martin  Luther,  translated  into  English.  Edited  with 
Theological  and  Historical  Introductions  by  Henrv  Wace,  D.D.,  and  C.  A. 
Buchheim,  Ph.D.  bond.  1883." 

1  Melanchthon  (let  the  student  eschew  the  corruption  Melanctho  )  is 
the  Greek  form  of  his  name  (Schwarzrrd,  i.e.  "  black  earth  "),  assumed 
according  to  the  custom  then  usual  with  scholars.  He  was  at  this  time 
only  twenty-one  (b.  1497). 

2  We  must  leave  to  fuller  narratives  the  residence  of  Luther,  under  the 
protection  of  the  Elector,  in  the  castle  of  the  Wartburg,  where  he  began  the 

II-  2  H  2 


686  THE  SWISS  REFORMATION.  Chap.  XLI. 

Diet  of  Spires,  in  spite  of  the  Protest  of  the  reforming  princes, 
which  established  the  famous  name  of  Protestants  (1529).  Next 
year  Charles  V.,  at  the  summit  of  his  power,  having  made  pence 
with  France,  become  master  of  Italy,  and  received  the  imperial 
crown  at  Bologna  (see  p.  253),  presided  at  the  Diet  of  Augsburg, 
where  the  Protestant  princes  presented  the  famous  Confession 
of  Augsburg  (Confessio  Augustana),  drawn  up  by  Luther  and 
Melanchthon1  (June  25th,  1530).  During  the  interval  granted 
them  before  the  power  of  the  Empire  should  be  put  forth  to  crush 
the  Lutheran  heresy,  they  formed  the  defensive  League  of 
Schmalkald  (1531).  But  civil  war  was  postponed  by  the  irruption 
of  a  vast  host  of  Turks  into  Hungary,  and  Charles  promulgated 
the  religious  Peace  of  Nuremberg,  with  the  promise  of  a  General 
Council  (1532). 

§  7.  A  glance  must  here  be  thrown  on  another  scene.  The 
cantons  of  Switzerland,  which  had  heroically  freed  themselves 
from  the  power  of  Austria,  Burgundy,  and  the  Empire,  might  have 
expected  (at  least,  according  to  our  modern  ideas)  to  throw  off  the 
yoke  of  Rome.  But  the  simple  faith  of  the  peasantry  in  the 
"  Forest  Cantons  "  kept  them,  with  the  Cantons  more  nearly  con- 
nected with  Italy,  to  the  old  faith;2  while  the  more  enlightened 
and  commercial  people  of  Zurich  and  Bern  espoused  the  Reforma- 
tion. The  leader  of  the  movement  was  Ulrich  Zwingli  (born 
the  year  after  Luther),  who  had  been  educated  at  Bern,  Basle,  and 
Vienna,  and  had  studied  Plato  and  the  Greek  Testament.  Re- 
turning from  Marignmo,  where  he  had  been  an  army  preacher,  full 
of  disgust  at  the  Swiss  mercenary  system,  he  preached  reforming 
doctrines  at  Zurich,  which  threw  off  the  yoke  of  the  Bishop  of 
Constance  (1424),  and  was  soon  followed  by  Bern.  Zwingli  fell 
in  the  ensuing  civil  war  (1531),  which  was  ended  by  the  Peace  of 
Cappel,  leaving  each  Canton  to  settle   its  own  religious  system. 

translation  of  the  Bible,  which,  with  his  German  works,  fixed  the  standard 
of  the  language  ;  the  peasants'  insurrection  and  fanatical  outbreaks,  which 
he  joined  the  princes  in  putting  down  ;  and  the  temporary  compromise  at 
the  First  Diet  of  Spires  (1526),  where  the  Emperor,  in  the  midst  of  his 
quarrel  with  Clement  VII.  (see  pp.  251-2),  consented  that  "each  state 
should,  as  regards  the  Edict  of  Worms,  so  live,  rule,  and  bear  itself,  as  it 
thought  it  could  answer  it  to  God  and  the  Emperor."  The  reversal  of  this 
decree  at  the  Second  Diet  was  the  consequence  of  Charles's  reconciliation 
with  the  Pope. 

1  Their  leaders  were  "  John  the  Constant,"  who  had  succeeded  to  the 
electorate  of  Saxony  on  the  death  of  his  brother  Frederick  (March  1525) 
and  Philip  of  Hesse.  The  Elector  John  died  in  1532,  and  was  succeeded 
by  his  son  John  Frederick  "  the  Magnanimous." 

2  This  is  not  meant  as  an  exact  statement  of  the  divisions  of  the 
cantons,  on  the  details  of  which  we  cannot  enter  here. 


A.D.  1534  f.  CALVIN  AND  HIS  INSTITUTES.  687 

Meanwhile  no  small  influence  was  produced  in  Germany  by  the 
views  of  the  kindred  Swiss;  for  Zwingli,  besides  being  not  so 
earnest  an  Augustinian  as  Luther,  regarded  the  Eucharist  as  only 
a  commemorative  ordinance."1  To  Luther  this  was  rank  heresy, 
and  his  passionate  denunciations  of  Zwingli  and  his  followers  had 
an  unfortunate  influence  on  the  common  cause  of  the  German 
reformers.2 

§  8.  The  old  imperial  city  of  Basle,  now  the  most  powerful  of  the 
Swiss  states,3  accepted  the  Reformation  preached  (1522  f.)  by  (Eco- 
lampadius,4  the  friend  of  Erasmus  and  Melanchthon,  after  a  strong 
opposition  from  the  Bishop  and  a  party  in  the  University.  The  re- 
formation in  the  free  city  of  Geneva?  which  had  a  powerful  influence 
on  other  lands,  sprang  from  the  movement  in  France,  with  which  the 
city  was  linked  by  language  and  old  connections.  The  work  begun 
by  William  Farel,  in  1532-3,  was  carried  on  by  John  Calvin  (the 
Latin  form  of  his  name  Ghauvin),6  who  was  born  at  Xoyon  in 
Picardy  (July  10,  1509),  and  acquired  in  the  schools  of  Paris, 
Orleans,  and  Bourges,  that  deep  learning  and   dialectic   subtilty, 

1  Abstaining,  as  is  our  duty  here,  from  any  theological  discussion, 
we  point  out  the  two  sides  of  the  question,  as  set  forth  in  one  and  the 
same  passage  (1  Cor.  xi.  24-26)  :  "  This  is  my  body  ;  .  .  .  this  is  the  new 
testament  (covenant)  in  my  blood ;  .  .  .  this  do  in  remembrance  of  me ; 
for  as  often  as  ye  eat  this  bread  and  drink  this  cup,  ye  do  shew  forth 
(KaTa77e'AAeTe)  the  Lord's  death  till  he  come." 

2  Erasmus  also  was  at  issue  with  Luther  on  the  sacramental  question,  as 
well  as  on  that  of  predestination  and  free-will,  about  which  they  had  a 
violent  controversy.  Notwithstanding  the  impulse  given  to  the  new  move- 
ment by  his  bitter  satire  on  abuses,  especially  on  the  monks,  in  his  Praise 
of  Folly  (Moopias  'Eynafiiov)  and  his  Greek  Testament,  Erasmus  was  opposed 
to  separation,  and,  after  his  controversy  with  Luther  (1524)  he  withdrew 
from  the  Reformation,  and  strove  to  act  the  part  of  mediator,  with  the 
result  described  by  himself,  shortly  before  his  death  (1536) :  "Discerptus 
est  ab  utraque  parte,  dum  utrique  studet  consulere." 

3  Basle  had  joined  the  Confederation  in  1501. 

4  The  Greek  foi-m  of  his  German  name  Hausschein  (i.e.  "House-light  "). 

5  Geneva,  a  city  of  ancient  Gaul,  had  in  1518  formed  a  league  with 
Freiburg,  and  soon  after  with  Bern,  against  the  claims  of  the  Dukes  of 
Savoy,  who  (since  1401)  had  secured  the  bishopric  in  their  family.  The 
Reformation  gave  a  pretext  for  a  new  attack  by  Duke  Charles  (1534), 
whose  defeat  by  the  aid  of  Bern  caused  the  final  acknowledgment  of  the 
city's  freedom,  with  new  territory  at  the  expense  of  Savoy.  It  was  united 
to  the  Swiss  Confederacy  by  the  treaties  of  1815.  For  the  outline  of  the 
Reformation  and  Religious  Wars  in  France,  to  the  establishment  of 
toleration  by  Henry  IV/s  Edict  of  Nantes  (1598 ;  revoked  by  Louis  XIV. 
1685),  it  is  only  necessary  to  refer  to  the  Student's  France,  from  p.  305 
onwards.  The  first  leader  was  Jacques  Lefevre,  in  the  diocese  of  Meaux, 
soon  after  1512. 

6  Among  a  host  of  works  that  might  be  cited,  special  mention  may  be 
made  of  Dr.  Dyer's  Life  of  Calvin,  Lond.  1850. 


688  LOYOLA,  XAVIER,  AND  THE  JESUITS.        Chap.  XLI. 

which  his  influence  impressed  on  the  widespread  theology  called 
by  his  name  in  France,  England,  Scotland,  and  America.  From 
the  persecution  provoked  by  the  excesses  of  the  reformers  at  Paris 
(1534)  he  fled  first  to  Basle,  where  he  wrote  the  first  draft  of  his 
great  manual  of  the  Augustinian  Theology  reduced  to  the  severest 
loo-ical  form,  and  also  of  church  discipline,  the  Institutio  Christians^ 
Religion  is. }  Warmly  welcomed  by  Farel  at  Geneva,  he  enforced 
discipline  with  a  severity  which  caused  the  banishment  of  both 
(1538),  but  he  was  recalled  in  1541,  and  ruled  the  republic  as  a 
sort  of  evangelical  pope  till  his  death  in  1564. 

§  9.  While  Germany  paused  over  the  civil  conflict,  which  Luther 
always  desired  to  avert,2  a  hope  of  accommodation  sprang  up  from 
Rome  itself.  The  Papacy  had  recovered  from  the  depths  of  pro- 
fligacy, warlike  ambition,  and  half-heathen  luxury,  which  had  made 
it  the  scandal  of  Christendom;3  and  the  counsels  of  reformation 
given  by  such  men  as  Ximenes,  Morton,  and  Wolsey,  were  now 
urged  by  Juan  de  Valdez  (the  brother  of  Charles  V.'s  secretary), 
Reginald  Pole,  the  Venetian  noble  Gaspar  Contarini,  and  others  of 
the  highest  distinction,  even  courtly  ladies  as  well  as  eloquent 
preachers.  We  have  seen  (p.  270)  that  Pope  Paul  III.  issued  a 
commission  of  cardinals  to  enquire  about  "  the  amendment  of  the 
Church"  (1538);  and  in  1541  he  allowed  Contarini  to  confer  with 
Melanchthon  at  the  Diet  of  Batisbon,  where  (strange  as  some  may 
now  think  it)  a  basis  of  reunion  was  laid  in  the  doctrine  of  justifica- 
tion by  faith.  But  Luther  held  aloof  in  distrust,  while  Francis  I. 
persuaded  the  Pope  that  the  concord  of  Germany  would  make  the 
Empire  dangerously  strong,  and  all  was  thrown  back  for  the  ex- 
pected Council. 

§  10.  But  meanwhile  the  zeal  of  an  enthusiast,  like  Francis  and 
Dominic  three  hundred  years  before,  had  called  into  being  a  new 
power,  which  was  destined  to  mould  the  character  and  policy  of 
the  Roman  Church  for  another  three  centuries  and  more,  down  to 
our  own  time.     The  young  Spanish  nobleman,  Ignatius  Loyola 

1  In  his  doctrine  of  the  Eucharist,  Calvin  held  a  "real  presence,"  but  in 
a  purely  spiritual  sense,  quite  distinct  from  the  Lutheran  consubstan- 
tiation.  We  need  only  refer  to  the  great  blot  on  his  fame,  the  burning 
of  the  Spanish  physician,  Servetus  (Miguel  Servede)  as  an  anti-Trinitarian 
and  Pantheistic  heretic  (1553),  as  a  conspicuous  proof,  among  many  for 
long  centuries,  that  the  principle  of  religious  toleration  was  rejected  alike 
by  all  but  a  very  few.  Theodore  Beza,  the  eminent  colleague  and  suces- 
sor  of  Calvin,  defended  the  deed  in  a  tract,  "  De  Hxreticis  a  Civili  Magi* 
stratu' puniendis.' ' 

2  His  heart  was  set  on  the  union  of  Christendom  against  the  Turks, 
whom  he  coupled  with  the  Pope  in  one  of  his  best-known  hymns  to  the 
"Pope  and  Turk  tune."  3  See  Chaps   XIV.  and  XV. 


A.D.  1545  f.  THE  COUNCIL  OF  TRENT.  689 

(Inigo  Lopez  de  Recalde),  wounded  at  the  siege  of  Pampeluna 
(1521,  see  p.  249),  employed  his  hours  of  pain  and  sickness  in 
contrasting  the  lives  of  the  saints  with  the  romances  of  chivalry, 
till,  inspired  by  visions,  he  vowed  to  be  a  soldier  of  the  Church, 
commissioned  by  the  Virgin  to  lead  new  spiritual  armies  against 
all  her  foes.  To  prepare  himself  by  study,  he  went  to  Paris,  where 
he  met  a  noble  fellow-countryman,  Francis  Xavier,  who  soon 
after  undertook  that  part  of  the  enterprise  which  led  him  to  the 
work  and  death  of  a  missionary  in  the  East  (ob.  1552).  Recruits 
of  all  classes  were  soon  enrolled  in  Loyola's  army,  under  the 
banner  of  the  strictest  discipline,  absolute  devotion  to  the  cause 
of  the  Catholic  faith,  unquestioning  obedience  to  the  superior 
authority,  without  regard  to  any  human  ties  or  interest  to  the 
contrary.  The  whole  order  was  to  be  directed  by  a  General,  resi- 
dent at  Rome.  This  Society  of  Jesus  was  sanctioned  by  Paul  111. 
in  1540,  and,  before  the  death  of  Loyola  (in  1546),  he  had  founded 
more  than  a  hundred  Jesuit  colleges  and  an  immense  number  of 
schools,  and  had  established  thirteen  provinces,  besides  the  Roman, 
in  Europe  (chiefly  the  south),  Africa,  India,  and  Brazil.  Their  power 
in  the  north  of  Europe  dates  chiefly  from  the  counter-reformation. 

§  12.  The  influence  of  the  Jesuits  was  at  once  felt,  in  opposition 
to  the  party  of  conciliation,  at  the  mteting  of  the  Council  of 
Trent  (in  the  Tyrol),  the  Nineteenth  (Ecumenical  Council  of  the 
Romans  (Dec.  13th,  1545).  Its  long  history  of  twenty-five  ses- 
sions, extending,  with  interruptions,  over  eighteen  years  (to  Dec.  3rd, 
1563)  may  be  summed  up  in  a  few  ecclesiastical  amendments,  but 
the  more  distinct  and  rigid  confirmation  of  the  doctrines  called  in 
question  by  the  Reformers.1 

The  death  of  Luther,  two  months  after  the  Council  met  (Feb.  18, 
1546),  was  followed  by  the  terrible  Schmalkaldic  War,  in  which 
the  Protestant  princes  were  crushed  at  Miihlberg  by  the  Spanish 
troops  of  Charles  V.  (April  24,  1547).  John  Frederick  was  taken 
prisoner,  and  was  succeeded  in  Saxony  by  his  imperialist  cousin, 
Maurice.  But  five  }  ears  later  Maurice  changed  sides,  and  made  an 
alliance  with  France  against  what  was  in  effect  a  Spanish  yoke 

1  The  chief  authorities  are  the  Italian  Histories  of  the  Council  by  Sarpi 
(P.  Soave  Polano),  Loud.  1620  (translated  into  French  by  Courayer,  Amst. 
1751),  and  Pallavicini,  Rom.  165o,  reprinted  at  Augsburg,  1836,  f.  ;  with 
important  criticisms  on  both  works  by  Uanke  (///>■/.  of  the  Popes).  Besides 
earlier  editions  of  its  Ads  and  Decrees,  they  have  been  published  from  the 
original  archives  by  Aug.  Theiner,  Zagrab.  et  Lips.  1875.  (For  other 
works,  see  Hase,  Kirchenge*ch.  p.  475).  The  Jubilee  of  the  Council  was 
celebrated  in  186:>  by  Pius  EX.,  who  seven  years  later  held  the  20th 
(Ecumenical  Council  at  the  Vatican,  to  promulgate  the  dogma  of  Papal 
Infallibility,  which  was  rejected  by  the  Father-  at  Trent. 


690 


SEQUEL  TO  THE  PEACE  OF  WESTPHALIA.  Chap.  XLI. 


imposed  on  Germany;1  and  Charles,  worsted  in  the  contest,  was 
forced  to  grant  the  Peace  of  Augsburg  (1555),  by  which  the 
division  of  Germany  into  Catholic  and  Protestant  states  was 
established  on  the  principle  "  cujus  regio,  ejus  religio  f  a  semblance 
of  toleration,  which  left  the  Catholic  princes,  notably  in  the  do- 
minions of  the  house  of  Hapsburg,  to  enforce  the  adhesion  to  Rome 
which  was  henceforth  their  stedfast  policy.2  We  must  leave  to  the 
general  history  of  Europe  the  fruit  which  this  principle  afterwards 
bore  in  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  which  ended  in  a  similar  arrange- 
ment by  the  Peace  of  Westphalia  (1648). 

1  On  this  point,  see  Chap.  XV.  §  15,  p.  249. 

2  For  the  abdication  of  Charles  and  the  religious  war  of  his  son.  Philip  II. 
of  Spain,  with  the  Netherlands,  as  well  as  the  sequel  of  the  contest  in  other 
countries,  see  the  Student's  History  of  Europe. 


Castle  of  the  Wartburg  in  Thuringia,  where  Luther  made  his  translation  of  the  Bible. 


INDEX. 


ABBOT 


BACON 


Abbot-Counts,  329. 

Abbreviators,  college  of,  212. 

Abelard,  Peter,  denounces  in- 
dulgences, 284 ;  on  the  Eu- 
charibt,  J24 ;  rivalry  with 
William  of  Chanipeaux,  468  ; 
lectures  on  Ezekiel,  469 ; 
love  for  Heloisa,  469;  re- 
tires to  St.  Denys,  470 ;  con- 
demned at  Soissons,  471  ; 
founds  the  monastery  ot  the 
Paraclete,  472  ;  abbot  of  St. 
Gildas,    47}  ;    letters    ir<m 

-  Heloisa,  47 j  ;  leaves  St 
Gildas  for  Paris,  474 ;  his 
famous  '  sic  et  mm,'  475 ; 
condemned  at  Sens,  476 ; 
finds  an  asylum  at  Clugny, 
476 ;  death,  477. 

Absolution,  sacerdotal,  doc- 
trine of,  278;  by  laymen, 
279;  new  formula,  280. 

Adrian  IV..  English  Pope,  50; 
crowns  Frederick  1.  Em- 
peror,  51 ;  death,  52. 

V.,  Pope,  92. 

■ VI.,   P<>pe,    250  ;    denies 

the  doctrine  of  Papal  Inlalli- 
biliiy,  250:  death,  251. 

jElfric.  his  Homilies,  jii  ;  on 
the  Fucharist,  312. 

Agnes,  the  Empress,  convenes 
a  council  of  German  bishops 
to  excommunicate  Nicolas 
II.,  ij;  becomes  a  nun,  14 

d'Ailiy.  Cardinal,  his  sermon 
at  the  Council  of  Constance, 
158;  and  Hus,  671. 

Albert  of  Pi.-a,  412. 

Albert  II.,  King  of  the  Po 
mans,  181,  680. 

Albert  us  Magnus  on  absolu- 
tion, 279 ;  his  Learning  and 
labours,  497  ;  at  the  Jacobin 
Convent,  Paris,  498;  returns 
to  Cologne,  40,9;  Bishop  of 
Ratisbon,  499. 

Albigenses,  the,  586 ;  doctrine 
of   Creation,    591 ;    and    re- 


demption, 592 ;  organization, 
59J  ;  the  two  classes,  594. 

Albigensian  Crusade,  the,  612. 

Albik,  Archbishop,  666. 

Alcantara,  Order  of,  j6j. 

Alcuin,  445  ;  tutor  and  director 
of  Charles  the  Great,  446. 

Alexander  11.,  Pope,  14. 

111.,  Pope,  52;  acknow- 
ledged at  the  Council  at 
Tours,  54 ;  receives  Frede- 
rick Barbarossa's  submission, 
56;  death,  57. 

IV.,  Pope,  82  ;  death,  8j. 

V.,  Pope,  147  ;  death,  148 

VI.,  Pope,  221 ;  his  family, 

222;  profligacy  and  corrup- 
tions, 225 ;  death,  2J2. 

Alexius  Comnenus,  his  alliance 
with  Henry  IV.,  22. 

Alfonso  X.  of  Castile,  82. 

Amalric  of  Bena,  491. 

d'Amboise,  Card.,  2?4- 

St.  Amour,  William  of,  507 ; 
his  4  Perils  of  the  last  Times,' 
508 ;  death,  509. 

Anacletus  11.,  anti-pope,  43 ; 
death,  47. 

Anastasius  IV.,  Popo,  50. 

Ancren  Riwle,  the,  282,  v. 

Andrew  of  Hungary.  125. 

Annates,  266. 

Anne  of  Bohemia,  644,  «., 
656. 

Anselm  made  Primate,  36; 
receives  the  pall  Irom  li<  me, 
38  ;  goes  to  Rome  and  re- 
mains in  Italy,  }8;  recalled 
to  England,  j8 ;  retuses  In- 
vestiture and  Homage,  j8  ; 
retires  to  Lyon,  39;  again  in 
Fngland,  death,  59;  the  fa- 
ther of  modern  systematic 
theology,  462;  his  deduc- 
tive theology.  46J. 

Apulia,  invasion  of,  7?. 

Aquinas,  Thomas,  on  absolu- 
tion, 280;  at  Monte  Cassino 
and  Napi<  s.  504;  received 
into  the  Order  of  the  Domi- 
nicans, 594 ;  studies  under 
Albeit  the  Great,  505;  at 
Cologne     and     Paris,     506  ; 


summoned  to  Italy,  510  ; 
teaching  and  death,  511; 
system  of  philosophical  theo- 
logy. 5 '2  ;  Encyclical  of 
Leo  A  III.,  51};  symlolical 
picture  at  Pisa,  51  j;  three 
classes  of  his  writings,  514- 
516;  his  'Summa  Theolo- 
gical 517-521  ;  canoniza- 
tion, 521  ;  rival  Schools  of 
Thomists  and  Scotis^s,  522, 
5?4- 

Archdeacons,  264-5. 

Architecture,  Romanesque, 
307  ;  Norman,  308;  pointed, 
Early  English,  decorated, 
perpendicular,  J08. 

Aristotle,  influence  of  his  writ- 
ings on  Latin  Christendom, 
459;  study  of  his  works,  40,1  ; 
his  !  ooks  prohibited  at  Paris, 
49?,  translations,  ib.  v. 

Arnold  of  Brescia,  47;  ba- 
nished, 47  ;  returns  to  Rome, 
48;  execution,  50. 

Aschaflenburg,  Concordat  of, 
I9J- 

Augsburg  the  Diet  of,  686. 

Confession  of,  686. 

,  Peace  of,  690. 

Ave  Maria,  first  instituted, 
299,  joo. 

Averrhoes,  his  commentary 
on  Aristotle,  459. 

Avici  una,  458;  his  commen- 
tary on  Aristotle,  459. 

Avignon,  the  Papal  Court  re- 
moved to,  106. 


B. 
Babylonian     Captivity,     the, 

loo;  end  of,  I  {}. 
Bacon,  Poger,  526 ;  studies  at 
Oxford  and  Paris,  526;  ac- 
count of  his  forty  year*' 
studies,  ^27;  Lai  ours  at  Ox- 
ford, 528;  his  three  v  orks 
written  by  Pope  Clement 
IV. '8  desire,  5J0,  5J1;  im- 
prisoned, released,  5*2  ; 
dea  h,  5jj;  the  great  object 


692 


INDEX. 


of  his  works,  5J)  ;  his'Opus 
A/ajus,'  5 }  j ;  '  (jpus  Minus,' 
5J4;  'Opus  Tertium,'  5J5 ; 
views  on  the  proper  study  of 
theology,  5  J7  ;  impediments 
to  theological  learning,  5J9; 
m  >ral  coi  ruption  in  Church 
and  State,  540. 

Bajazet,  S  dtan,  trea  y  wiih 
Innocent  VIII.,  2:0 

Base,  Council  ot,  17?. 

Beaufort,  Cardinal  Henry,  16?. 

Becket,  Thomas,  54;  mur- 
der, 5;. 

Bede,  the  Venerable,  on  the 
secular  learning  of  Theodore 
and  Hadrian,  444;  his  writ- 
ings and  teaching,  445. 

Beghards,  the,  455. 

Bgumes,  the,  4??. 

Ben  diet  VIII.,  Pope,  }. 

IS..,  Pope,  4,  5. 

X.,  Pope,  11. 

XI.,  Pope,  101 ;  concession 

to  France,  101 ;  death,  102. 

XII..  Pope,  efforts  for  re- 
form, 120  ;  refuses  Louis 
IV. 's  offer  of  submissi  n, 
121 ;  death,  12J. 

X 1 1 1 . ,  Pope,  142  ;  be- 
sieged at  Avignon,  142 ;  re- 
jected by  France,  144;  de- 
posed, 162. 

B.rengar  of  Tours,  on  the  Eu- 
charist, 314;  summoned  to 
Vercelli,  jio;  his  enforced 
confession,  Ji8;  his  confes- 
sion before  Gregory  VII., 
j 22  ;  retires  to  St.  Come, 
death,  522;  his  rivalry  with 
Lan  franc,  461. 

St.  Bernard  of  Clairvaux,  44 ; 
his  influence  in  favour  of 
Innocent  ill.,  45;  da  h, 
43  ;  on  the  mediation  of  the 
Virgin  Mary,  298  ;  on  the 
Eucharist,  $24 ;  cetisur  s  the 
abuses  among  the  Cister- 
cian-, J48;  zeal  for  the  Tem- 
pers. {56;  opposed  to  burn- 
ing heretics,  587. 

St.  Bernard,  Congregation  of, 
J67. 

Berno  founds  the  Benedictine 
ord  r  of  Clugny,  ??2. 

Berthold  of  Wituerthur  on  the 
'  penny  preach  rs.'  289;  his 
popular  sermons,  557. 

Bi •ssaiion,  Cardinal,  20j. 

Bible,  the  Mazarine.  204,  n 

Bi  1, 1  rabriel,  of  Sp  yer,  549,  *>. 

Biscop  (Benedict)  founds  the 
ahbevs  at  Wear  mouth  and 
Javrow,  445. 

Bishops,  appointment  of,  26J  ; 
titular  or  suffragan,  264. 

Black  Death,  the.  of  IJ47-8, 
T>,  c6|. 

Black  Friars,  the,  $76. 


Bogomill  sect,  the,  582. 

Bohemia  in  the  14th  century, 
651 ;  religious  war  in,  679. 

Bollandists,  the,  their  Acta 
Sanctorum,  27?. 

Bologna,  university  of,  457. 

St.  Bonaventura,  416;  circular 
to  the  Provincial  Ministers, 
417;  Dean  Milman's  esti- 
mate ot  his  spirit  and  teach- 
ing, 50  J. 

Boniface  VIII.,  Pope,  94;  per- 
secutes the  Colonnas,  94; 
policy  in  Italy  and  Ger- 
many, 95  ;  confli  ts  with 
England  and  France,  9; ;  the 
Bull  '  Clericis  laicos,'  9? ; 
the  Jubilee,  96 ;  claims  su- 
zerainty in  Scotland,  96; 
reply  of  the  Knglish  Parlia- 
ment. 97  ;  four  Bulls  against 
Philip  IV  ,  97  ;  excommuni- 
cates him,  100;  imprison- 
ment, release,  and  ileath,  ico. 

IX.,   Pope,  140;   simon^ 

and  exactions,  141;  death, 
Hi- 
Borgia,  Caesar,  222 ;  mission 
to  France,  274;  his  designs 
on  Central  ltily,  225;  ex- 
pulsion and  death,  2?6. 

,  John,    Duke   of  Gandia, 

222 ;  murdered  in  Rome, 
224. 

,  Lucrezia,  222. 

,  Roderigo,  207  (see  Alex- 
ander VI.). 

Bourbon,  Charles,  Duke  of,  his 
defection  from  Francis  1., 
251 ;  deith  252. 

Bradwardine,  Thomas,  an  op- 
ponent of  the  Scotist  Pela- 
gianism,  524,  n. 

Breaksp  ar,  Nicolas,  50  (see 
Adrian  IV.). 

Brethren  of  Common  Life, 
Society  of,  570;  or  Brethren 
of  Good  Will,  572;  their 
character  and  work,  57?. 

St.  Bridget,  of  Swed  n,  1  ?4. 

Bruno  of  Cologne,  founds  the 
Carthusian  Order,  ?;8. 

Bulls : — Auscultafili,  97  ;  Cle- 
ricis laicos,  9s  ;  l  nam 
Sanctam,  99;  Eiecrabilia, 
?io ;  Exiit,  426  ;  burning  of, 
at  Prague,  666;  by  Luther, 
685. 

Burdinus  Archbishop orBiasra, 
elected  anti-pope,  ?i;  de- 
graded and  imprisoned  by 
Calixtus  II.,  jj  (see  Gre- 
gory VIII.). 

Burid  in,  John,  Rector  of  Ox- 
ford, 548  n. 

Burley.  W  Iter,  of  Oxford, 
548.  n 


c. 

Cade's  insurrection,  its  effect 
on  Wyclif,  645. 

Calatrava,  Order  of,  ?6?, 

Calixtines,  the,  or  Utraquists, 
678. 

Calixtus  IT.,  Pope,  ?2;  inter- 
view with  Henry  I.  of  Eng- 
land, ?j. 

III.,  Pope,  206 ;  his  Cru- 
sade, 206 ;  nepotism,  207. 

,  anti-pope,  56. 

Calvin,  John,  687;  his  Insti- 
tutes, 688. 

Camaldoii,  the,  order  of,  ?jj. 

Cambray,  League  of,  237. 

,  the  Peaee  of,  25?. 

Canons,  Cathedral,  reformation 
of  the,  342. 

,  Regular  of  St.  Augus- 
tine, J4?. 

,  Secular,  262,  n. 

Canossa.  c  istle  or',  where  Gre- 
gory VII.  received  Henry 
IV. 's  submission  anU  pen- 
ance, 2o. 

Capistrano,  John,  preach  s  the 
crusade  against  the  Turks, 
202  ;  death,  207,  n. 

Capuciati,  the,  or  White 
Hoo  Is,  Order  of,  J64,  n. 

Cardinal-bishops,  12. 

Cardinals,  the  College  of,  11. 

Carmelite  Ord^r,  the,  564. 

Carthusian  Order,  the,  JJ8. 

Carving  iu  churches,  {09. 

Cast  lnau,  f'eter  of,  611 ;  mur- 
dered, 611. 

Catal  ns,  the,  207. 

Cathari  Sect,  the,  ;8?,  58V 

St.  C  itherine  of  Siena,  1 35,  n, 

Celestine  II. ,  Pope,  47. 

III.,  Pope,  59;  death,  60. 

IV.,  Pope,  78. 

V.,  Pope,  9? ;  res;gns,  9?. 

Celestine-Eremites,  the,  427; 
banished  by  Boniface  VI II., 
428. 

Celibacy,  Clerical,  enrorced  by 
Gregory  VII.,  16.  269,  n. 

Cencius,  his  outrage  upon  Gre- 
gory VII..  18. 

Cerularius,  his  letter  denounc- 
ing the  heresies  of  the  Latin 
Church,  8. 

Cesarini,  Cardinal  Julian,  171 ; 
defeated  at  Tanas,  172; 
opens  Council  of  Basle,  ib. ; 
leaves  Basle,  179;  at  the 
Council  o!  Florence,  187 ; 
declines  the  patriarchate  of 
Constantinople.  189:  joins 
the  Crusade  against  tne 
Turks,  death,  190. 

O'alons  on  th"  Marne,  Con- 
te.ence  at,  jo. 


INDEX. 


EVERLASTING 


693 


Charles  the  Great  restores  the 
cathedral  and  conventual 
schools,  446. 

IV.,    Emperor,  crowned 

at  Home,  13}  ;  his  'Golden 
Bull,'  1?}  ;  King  of  Bohemia, 
652  ;  his  policy,  652  ;  founds 
the  university  of  Prague, 
65}. 

V.,  birth,  2?i;  accession 

in  Spain,  246  ;  el  ction,  248  ; 
ciowned  at  Bologna,  25 1  ; 
and  the  Reformers,  685-6; 
abdication,  690. 

I.    of    Anjon,    King    of 

Naples  and  of  Sicily,  84. 

-  II.  of  Naples,  92;  loses 
Sicily,  9J,  124,  n. 

-  III.  of  Naples,  imprisons 
Pope  Urban  VI.,  1^9  ;  death, 
139,  n. 

■ VII  [.  of  France,  at  Rome, 

223  ;  death,  224. 
'Charter  of  Love,'  the,  341. 
Church-building,  impulse  given 

to,  506. 
Cistercian  Order,  the,  341 ;  its 

'  daughters,'  342. 
Cistercians,     mission    of,     to 

Toulouse,  589  ;  failure,  590. 
St.   Clare,  the  Sisterhood    of, 

387,  392. 
Clement  II.,  Pope,  4;  death,  5. 
111.,  anti-pope,  22  ; crowns 

Henry  IV.,  22;  driven  from 

Rome,  24;  death,  28. 

III.,  Pope.  59. 

IV.,  Pope,  84;  death,  85. 

V.,    Pope,    105;    death, 

no. 

VI.,  Pope,  I2j  ;   refuses 

to  go  to  Rome,  12?;  ani- 
mosity to  Louis  IV.,  124; 
death,  132. 

VII.,  anti-pope,  138. 

VIII.,  Pope,  251. 

Clergy,  tax  ition  ol  the,  26;. 
Clermont,  Council  of,  26. 
Clugny,  the  Benedictine  Order 

of,  founded  by  Berno,  332. 

Cluniacs  and  Cistercians,  con- 
tests between,  348. 

Covtjaactata,  the.  679. 

Conception,  Feast  of  the,  ?oi- 
304  ;  the  Immaculate,  305. 

Conclave,  meaning  of  the  word, 
91,  n. 

Concordat,  of  Worms,  34;  of 
Asehaff  nburg.  19?;  be- 
tween Leo  X.  and  Francis  L, 

Confession,  auricular,  rendered 

obligatory,  71  ;  doctrine  of, 

established,  27V 
Conrad   II,  first  of  the  Fran 

couian  dynasty,  j;  crowned 

King  of  Paly,  4. 
ill.  of  Hohenstaufen,  46 ; 

death,  48. 


Conrad  IV.,  77,  80. 

of  Marburg,  his  preaching, 

557 ;  his  cruelties,  625 ; 
death,  626. 

of  Waldhausen,  654. 

Conradin,  his  first  efifoits  to  re- 
cover his  father's  kingdom, 
84  ;  trial  and  execution,  85. 

Constance,  Council  of,  154  ;  its 
special  character,  157  ;  depo- 
sition of  the  rival  Popes, 
162. 

Constantine  XIII.,  PaLeologus, 
190;  slam  at  Constantinople, 
202. 

Constantinople  taken  by  Ma- 
homet II.,  202. 

Conventuals,  Order  of  the,  4?2. 

Corpus  Christi,  Festival  of,  in- 
stituted, 127. 

Corvinus,  Matthia«,  King  of 
Hungary,  209. 

Councils  :— Basl  ■,  17?,  19  j  ; 
Clermont,  26 ;  Constance, 
154;  Ferrara,  187;  Florence, 
187  ;  Guastala,  29  ;  I  ateran, 
*4»  47.  57-  7o,  240:  Lyon, 
79,  91 ;  Mainz,  7 ;  Melti, 
1  ? ;  Pa  via,  5  j.  1 70 ;  Hacenza, 
26;  Pisa,  146;  Reims.  7; 
Rome,  99;  Siena.  170;  Tou- 
louse, 53;  Tours,  54; 
Vienne,  108  ;  Wiirzburg,  54 ; 
List  of  (Ecumenical,  xliv. 

Courtney,  Bit-hop,  and  W'yclif, 
644. 

Crown,  the  Iron,  of  Lombardy, 
176,  n. 

Crusade,  the  First,  26 ;  Second, 
48;  Third,  59;  Fouith,  60; 
Fifth,  68;  Sixth,  72;  the 
Last,  88. 

propose  d  and  frustrated, 

108. 

against  the  Turks,  189. 

Crusades,  their  results  favour- 
able to  the  cleigy  and 
Papacy,  27. 

Curia  Jiomana,  the,  2^2. 

< 'usuii us,  Nicolas,  17};  his 
•  <  'at  holic  Agreement, '  174; 
defection  from  Basle,  178. 


D. 

Damasus  II.,  Pope,  5. 

Damlani,  Peter,  the  ti>ol  of 
Hildebrand,  7 ;  advycates 
flagellation,  282  ;  sermons 
on  the  Virgin  Mary,  2</> ; 
establishes  the  '  Offictum 
Sanetat  Mar  a,'  299. 

I'aiitc,  exile  of,  94. 

David,  the  Scotch  historian,  31. 

of  Pinant,  492 

Decretals  of  '-Jratian,  485  ;  of 

Gregory    IX.,    76.    485;    of 

Boniface  VHP,  485. 


'  Defensor  Pads,'  the,  n }. 
Dialectics,  use  of,  32 ?. 

Dictate,  of  Gregory  VIP,  15. 

St.  Dominic,  eany  life,  $71 ; 
accompanies  Bishop  Diego  to 
R«me,  372;  in  Langu<doc, 
ib.  ;  his  works  and  mii- 
acles,  373;  school  for  the 
daughters  of  poor  noble*;, 
375;  founds  the  Older  of 
Preaching  Friars,  575  ;  their 
popular  nam*  s,  376  ;  General 
of  the  Order,  37*7 ;  death, 
378;  canonization,  379. 

Duns  Sc  tus,  522;  his  philo- 
sophy and  theology,  523. 

Durandus,  William,  his  sacra- 
mental theory,  544. 

Durantis  of  Mende,  and  the 
Templars,  108;  on  Councils, 
109. 


E. 

'  Earthquake     Council,'     the, 

647. 
Ecclesiastic  learning,  458. 
Eckhart,  Henry,  Master,  558; 

his  imputed  heresies,  559. 
Edward     I.     of     England     in 

I  alestine,  88 ;   conflict  with 

Pope  Boniface  VIII.,  9?. 

III.,  alliance  with  Louis 

ag.dnsi  Philip  VI.,  122. 

Egbert,  Archbishop, his  schools 
at  York,  445. 

Elias,  succ  ssor  of  St.  Francis 
as  General,  41",  411;  de- 
posed, 412;  exc  ommunicattd, 
4'J- 

Eremites,  the,  ?jj- 

Erigena,  John  Scoti'S,  447  ;  his 
rationalism  and  Pantheism, 
448;  Greek  learning,  449; 
charged  with  heterodoxy, 
45o. 

Emlinri-t,  the,  doctrine  of, 
311  ;  withdrawal  uf  the  cup 
fnaii  the  laity,  J26. 

Eucharistic   controversy,   the, 

Eugenius  IIP,  Pope,  48. 

IV.,     Poje,     171  ;     en- 

deav  urs  to  postpone  the 
Council  of  Basle,  172;  de- 
Douncee  it,  1  ~ > ;  escapes  from 
Rome,  1-7 ;  returns,  177 ; 
opens  a  Count  il  at   Ferrara, 

178  ;   the  Council  transient  d 

to  Florence,  187;  hist'onrv- 

eil  at  Pome,  1 8iy  ;  proclal  S 
a  crusade  against  the  Turks, 
iqo;  employs  .Eneas  Syl- 
vius, nyi  ;  death,  19?. 
■  Kvet  lasiing  Go-pel,'  the,  42} ; 
its  Franciscan  ori-in,  425. 


694 


INDEX. 


HENRY" 


F. 

Felix  V*.,  anti-pope,  183;  re- 
signs, 19  j. 

Ferdinand  of  Arragon,  223,  n., 
230,  24'),  627. 

II.,  of  Naples,  223. 

I.,  Emperor,  680. 

II.,  Emperor,  680. 

Flagellants,  the,  132. 

Flagellation,  282. 

Florence,  Council  of,  188. 

Foix,  Gaston  de,  death  of,  240. 

Fontevraud,  the  Order  of,  339. 

Francis  I.,  accession,  245 ; 
capture  at  the  battle  of  Pavia, 
251 ;  concordat  with  Leo  X.., 
245. 

St.  Francis  of  Assisi,  382 ; 
early  life,  383  ;  care  of  lepers, 
384;  his  disciples,  384;  rule 
of  his  Order,  385  ;  at  Rome, 
385  ;  the  three  vows,  386  ; 
rec  ives  the  tonsure,  j 86;  in 
Egypt,  interview  with  the 
Sultan,  j 88  ;  Minorites  and 
Fraticelli,  389  ;  the  rule  of 
absolute  poverty,  390;  go- 
vernment of  the  Order,  391  ; 
Second  and  Third  Orders, 
392 ;  the  stigmata,  393  ; 
death,  394;  cha  act*  r,  397; 
opposed  to  learning,  403  ;  on 
the  cells  and  churches  of  the 
brethren,  408. 

Francis  of  Paola,  433  ;  founds 
Order  of  the  Minims,  433 ; 
at  the  Curt  of  Louis  XL, 

4JJ- 

Franciscans,  progress  of,  399. 

Frank  ort.  Diet  at,  122. 

Fraticelli,  or  spiritual  Fran- 
ciscans, schism  of  the,  426  ; 
persecution  of,  430. 

J-ratres  ublati,  $30. 

Frederick  I.,  Barbarossa,  his 
character  and  work,  49 ; 
alliance  with  Comntnus,  49  ; 
first  expedition  to  Lombardy, 
50;  crowned  Emperor,  51 ; 
takes  Milan,  53  ;  and  Rome, 
55;  defeated  at  Legnano, 
56 ;  s  bmission  to  Alex- 
ander III.,  56 ;  /  eichsfest 
at  Mainz,  57 ;  death,  59. 

II.,   King  of  Sicily,  64; 

recalled  to  Germany,  67 ; 
crowned  Emperor,  72 ;  his 
character,  73;  excommuni- 
cated, 74  ;  at  Jerusalem,  75  ; 
reconciled  to  Innocent  ill., 
75;  marries  Isabella,  sister 
cf  Henry  III.  of  England, 
76 ;  refuses  to  submit  to  the 
sentence  of  excommunica- 
tion, 77;  hard  terms  of 
peace,   78;  death,  79. 


Frederick  III.,  Kmperor,  cha- 
racter, 183;  marriage,  and 
coronation,  201. 

of  Austria.    112;   taken 

prisoner,  113  ;  alliance  with 
Louis  IV.,  114;  death,  117. 

the  Wise,  of  Saxony,  248. 

Free  Companies,  the,  134. 


Gaunt,  John  of,  639 ;  and 
Wyclif,  641,  642. 

Oeb  iard.  Chancellor,  9  (see 
Victor  II.). 

Gelasius  II.,  P  >pe,  31. 

George  of  Podiebrad,  680. 

Geraldi,  Hugh,  executed,  no. 

Gerbert  (Sylvester  II.),  on  ihe 
Eucharist,  313;  precursor  of 
science  and  scholastic  learn- 
ing, 447- 

'German  Theology,'  edited  by 
Luther,  566. 

Germany  opposed  to  monastic 
reform,  335. 

Gerson  (John  Charlier),  on 
Couicils  and  Popjs,  144; 
exile  and  death,  166 ;  his 
*  Theo'ogia  Mystica,'  and 
other  works,  567. 

Gilbert  de  la  Porree,  477  ;  con- 
test with  Bern  ird,  478. 

Grajco  -  Arabian  philosophy, 
458. 

Grammont,  the  Order  of,  337. 

Granada,  conquest  of,  220. 

Gratian's  Decretum,  485. 

Giavamina,  of  Germany,  2?8. 

Greek  literature,  influence  of, 
in  England,  443. 

Greeks,  influx  of,  into  Italy, 
203. 

Gregory  VI.,  Pope,  4. 

VII.,     Pope,     15  ;     his 

'Dictate,'  15  ;  efforts  against 
simony,  16  ;  enforces  clerical 
celibacy,  16  ;  decree  .  gainst 
investitures,  17,  18;  outrage 
cf  Cencius,  18;  cites  Henry 
IV.  to  appear  at  Rome,  18  ; 
depo-ed  by  the  Synods  of 
Worms  and  Piacenza,  19; 
at  the  Lenten  Synod  at 
Rome,  19  ;  receives  Henry's 
submis>lon  at  Canossa,  20; 
clears  himself  of  the  charges, 
21  ;  renews  the  sentence 
against  Henrv,  21 ;  retires 
to  St.  Angelo,  22 ;  death  at 
Salerno,  23. 

VII L,  anti-pope,  ?i. 

IX  ,  Pope,  7} ;  ecclesias- 
tical laws,  7s;  new  Decre- 
tals, 76 ;  death,  77. 

X.,    Pope,  89;   a'tempts 

to  reconcile  the  Greek  and 
Latin  Churches,  «,o. 


Gregory  XL,  Pope,  ends  the 
'Babylonian  Captivity,'  135. 

XII.,  Pope,  14?,  162. 

Grey  Friars,  the,  384,  n. 

Groot,  Gerard,  570;  his  rules 
for  the  Brethren  of  Common 
Life,  571. 

Grosseteste,  Robert,  494. 

Gualbert,  John,  founds  the 
Order  of  .Vallombrosa,  334. 

Guastalla,  Council  at,  decrees 
against  investitures,  29. 

Guelph  and  Ghibelline  fac- 
tions, the,  46. 

Guiscard,  Robert,  his  ireaty 
with  Nicolas  II.,  13  ;  sacks 
Rome,  23. 

Guitmund  on  the  Berengarian 
controversy,  319. 


Hadrian,  Abbot,  Greek  taught 
by  him,  444. 

Hales,  Alexander,  496. 

Hanno,  Archbishop  of  Cologne, 
opposed  o  Nicolas  II.,  13; 
plots  to  obtain  possession  of 
Henry  IV.,  14;  commits  his 
education  to  Adalbert,  15; 
his  monastic  reforms,  335. 

Haymo  and  Elias  before  Gre- 
gory IX.,  412. 

Heloisa,  her  connection  with 
Abelard,  469;  takes  the 
monastic  vows,  470 ;  letters 
to  Abelard,  473  ;  death,  477. 

Henricians,  the,  583  ;  down- 
fall of  the  sect,  584. 

Henry  II.,  Emperor,  2; 
crowned  by  Benedict  VIII., 
3. 

III.,  Emperor,  his  vigor- 
ous relorm<  in  the  Church, 
4;  crowned  by  Clement  II., 
4;  appoints  his  cousin  Bruno 
Pope,  5  ;  and  his  chancellor 
Gebhard,  9 ;  death,  9. 

IV.,    Emperor,    9;    his 

abduction  by  Hanno,  14  ; 
committed  to  the  care  of 
Adalbert,  15;  his  misrule, 
18;  cited  to  Rome,  18;  sen- 
tence of  deposition  and  ex- 
communication, 19;  does 
penance  at  Canossa,  20; 
reaetion  in  his  favour.  21  ; 
excommunication  renewed, 
21;  victory  over  Rupert,  22; 
elects  Guibert  as  Pope  Cle- 
ment III.,  22;  offers  peace 
to  tie-  Saxons,  22;  crowned 
by  the  anti-pope,  22;  ex- 
pels the  hostile  bishops,  26; 
troubles  with  his  sou  Con- 
rad, 26;  efforts  for  Peace, 
28  ;  announces  his  intention 
of  abdicating,  28;  imprisoned 


INDEX. 


KNIGHTS 


695 


by  his  son,  29;  escape  and 
death,  29 ;  character,  29. 

Henry  V.,  Emperor,  imprisons 
his  father,  29;  crowned  ;>t 
Mainz,  29 ;  contest  with 
Pope  Paschal,  }o;  crowned 
at  Rome,  }i;  excommuni- 
cated, 31;  negociates  with 
the  Pope,  31;  returns  to 
Rome  and  confirms  the  elec- 
tion ot  the  Antipope  Gre- 
gory, }i;  anathema  pro- 
nounced against  him  l>y 
the  Council  at  Reims,  32 ; 
death,  54. 

- — VI.,  Emperor,  ami  his  wife 
Constance,  crowned  by'Pope 
Celestine,  59 ;  conquers 
Sicily,  59;  his  infant  son 
elected  king  of  the  Romans, 
60 ;  death,  60. 

VII.,     Emperor,     107 ; 

death,  112. 

I.  of  England,  32,  33. 

II.,   his    submission    to 

Pope  Alexander,  55 ;  gifts 
of  property  to  the  Templars, 

351,  »■ 

VIII.,  of  England,  inter- 
cedes with  Pope  Julius  II. 
for  the  Venetians,  23*7; 
'  Defender  of  the  Faith,'  249. 

of  Thuringia,  79. 

Heresy  and  Heretics,  historical 
use  c4  the  terms,  577. 

Heretics,  crusades  agamst,  57, 
69.  71;  laws  against,  624. 

Heriger  of  Taubes  en  the  liu- 
charist,  jii. 

Hildt  bert  on  penitence,  276. 

Hildt- brand,  5;  early  years,  6; 
begins  the  conflict  between 
the  Papacy  and  the  Lm- 
perors,  6;  sub -deacon  to 
Leo  IX.,  offered  the  Papacy, 
9;  declines  and  suggests 
Chancellor  Gebhard.  9;  the 
Eucharistic  controversy,  j  17 
(see  Gregory  VII.). 

Hirschau,  the  Congregation  of, 
Jj6. 

Hohenstaufen,  the  House  of, 
and  the  Papacy,  40,  42,  61. 

Holy  League,  the,  239. 

Honorius  II.,  anti-pope,  14; 
excommunication  and  death, 

M- 

II.,  Pope,  4?. 

HI..  Pope,  71. 

IV.,  Pope,  9}. 

Hospital,  origin  of  the  name, 

352,  «. 

Hospitallers  of  St.  Anthony, 
and  ohers,  352. 

Hospital  Brethren  of  St.  John 
at  Jerusalem,  353;  new 
t  rganization  of,  35? ;  rivalry 
with  the  Templars,  353 ; 
at  Rhodes,  354. 


Host,  elevation  of  the,  first 
practised,  326. 

Hugh  des  Payens,  Grand  Mas- 
ter of  the  Templars,  355. 

Humanists,  the,  684. 

Humbert,  the  papal  legate  to 
Constantinople,  9. 

llumiliati,  the,  Order  of,  36? 

ILiniades,  John,  repulses  Ma- 
homet from  Belgrade,  207. 

Hus,  John,  657 ;  ordained 
priest,  658;  his  chapel 
'  Bethlehem,'  658 ;  tract 
against  the  superstitious 
craving  for  relics,  662  ; 
Rector  of  the  university  of 
Prague,  664  ;  protests  against 
the  burning  of  Wyclif's 
books, 665;  preaches  against 
indulgences,  666;  withdraws 
from  Prague,  667;  his  writ- 
ings, 667;  Bohemian  Tracts, 
668 ;  summoned  to  Con- 
stance, 160,  669;  trial,  158, 
671 ;  execution,  673. 

Hymnology,  Latin,  305. 

i.yperdulia  of  the  Virgin 
Mary,  298. 


I. 

Impanation  in  the  Holy  Eucha- 
rist, jig. 

Indulgences,  plenary  and 
special,  283;  lesser,  288. 

Infallibility,  Papal,  first  claims 
of,  259  ;  decreed,  259,  305,  n. 

Infant  Communion  forbidden, 
32S. 

Innocent  II.,  Pope,  43;  re- 
stored to  Rome,  47. 

III.,  anti-pope,  57. 

III.,  Pope,  his   previous 

career,  works  and  character, 
6? ;  reforms,  64 ;  guardinn  to 
Frederick,  King  of  Sicily, 
64;  wide  power,  67 ;  con- 
firms the  Order  of  the  Fran- 
ciseans,  ;86;  on  the  tenets 
of  the  Waldenses,  602. 

IV.,  Pope,  his  Council  at 

Lyon,  78 ;  death,  80. 

V.,  Pope,  92. 

VI.,  Pope,  132,  in. 

VII.,  Pope,  14?. 

VI II.,  Pope,  219;  his  cor- 
ruptions, 219;  war  with 
Naples,  alliance  with  the 
Medici,  220;  death,  221. 

Inquisition,  origin  of  the,  62? ; 
laws  against  heretics,  624; 
in  Germany,  625 ;  estab- 
lished in  Spain,  626  ;  num- 
ber of  victims,  627. 

Interdict,  first  example  of  its 
use,  50,  n. 

,  the  Long,  114,  121,  <;6?. 

Investitures,    Gregory    Yll.'s 


decree  agaimt,   17,  3;;    re- 
sult of  the  conflict,  41. 
Isidore,  Cardinal,  his  mission 
to  Rome,  190. 


St.  James  of  the  Sword,  Order 
of,  ?6j. 

Jerome  of  Prague,  659  ;  copies 
Wyclif's  writings,  660 ;  first 
Latin  treatise,  661 ;  cited  to 
Constance,  674;  recantation 
and  trial,  675;  condemna- 
tion, 676;  execution,  677. 

Jews,  the,  persecuted  by  John 
XXII.,  no,  in;  protected 
by  Clement  VI.,  1  ji. 

Joachim,  Al  bot.  prophecies  of 
tlie  .Millennium,  419;  his 
three  states  of  the  world, 
421;  denounces  the  corrup- 
tions of  Rome,  421. 

Joanna  of  Naples,  125;  sells 
Avignon  to  the  Papacy,  126. 

Joasaph,  Patriarch,  188. 

John  MX.,  Pope,  ?. 

XXI.,  Pope,  92. 

XXIL,  Pope,  no;  perse- 
cutes lepers,  magicians,  and 
Jews,  in;  claims  the  vica- 
riate of  the  Empire,  n?; 
inteidict  against  Louis  IV., 
1 14  ;  charged  with  heresy, 
117;  death,  118;  quarrel 
with  the  Franciscans,  43c, 
54'>- 

XXIII.,   Pope,    150;   his 

character,  150,  151;  at  Con- 
stance, 155;  deposed,  162. 

John  of  Parma,  General  of  the 
Franciscans,  413;  resigns, 
414. 

Jubilee,  the,  in  1300,  96  ;  in 
1350,  ij2  :  in  1390  and  1400, 
141 ;  in  1450,  199  ;  in  1475, 
217;  in  1500,  226. 

Julius  II.,  Pope,  235  ;  portrait 
and  character,  235;  con- 
quests in  the  R.  .magna,  2?6; 
rupture  with  Louis  XII., 
237;  siege  of  Mirandola, 
239;  death,  241. 

St.  Justina,  Congregation  of, 
it-]. 


a  Kempis,  Thomas,  his  '  Dt 
Tmifationt  Christi,'  574. 

Keys  of  St.  Peter,  the,  285,  «.,- 
power  of,  287. 

Knights  of  Evora,  Order  of, 
163. 


696 


LADISLAUS 


INDEX. 


MORAVIAN 


Ladislaus,  king  of  Naples, 
crusade  against,  151,  666. 

Lambert  on  the  monastic  re- 
forms in  Germany,  335. 

Lanfranc,  Abbot  of  Bee, 35,^14; 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
his  reforms,  35  ;  supports  the 
king's  policy  of  independ- 
ence, 36;  death.  36;  con- 
test with  Berengar  on  the 
Eucharist.  J15  ;  use  of  dia- 
lectics, 316,  323,  452;  his 
revival  of  the  liberal  arts, 
460. 

Languedoc,  influences  against 
the  Clergy,  588 ;  religious 
revolt  in,  608. 

Lateran  Councils:— the  First 
General,  34;  the  Second, 
47 ;  the  Third,  57 ;  the 
Fourth,  70;  the  Filth,  240; 
end  of  it,  247. 

Latin  Literature,  decline  of, 
440. 

Legates,  papal,  their  power, 
260;  resisted  in  England, 
261,  n. 

Legnano,  battle  of,  56. 

Leo  IX.,  Pope,  his  reforms, 
councils,  7  ;  judgments  and 
mildness,  7  ;  defeated  at 
CMtella  and  made  prisoner, 
8  ;  returns  to  Rome  to  die,  8. 

■ X.,  Pope,  24? ;  splendour, 

luxury,  and  extravagance, 
24? ;  instability  and  selfish- 
ness of  his  policy,  244 ;  con- 
cordat with  Francis  I.,  245  ; 
death,  249. 

XIII.,  Pope,   Encyclical 

of,  5U- 

,  Archbi>hop  of  Achrada, 

letter  denouncing  the  here- 
sies of  the  Latin  Church,  8. 

Lollards  etymology  of  the 
name,  569,  n. ;  society  of, 
570;  in  England,  649,  11. 

Lombard  League,  the,  55. 

Lombard,  Peter,  Master  of  Sen- 
tences, 48  j ;  on  penitence, 
276;  absolution,  278;  hyper- 
dulia  of  the  Virgin,  298. 

Lothair  11.,  Emperor,  43,  46. 

Louis  IV.,  of  Bivaria,  112; 
Emperor,  contested  election 
of,  opposed  by  John  XXII., 
H2;  victory  at  Muhldorf, 
11;;  vt  Trent,  115;  o  >rona- 
ti  11  at  Rome,  116;  sentence 
of  deprivation  against  John 
XXII.,  116;  retreat  from 
Rome,  116;  assembly  nt 
Pisa  117;  Benedict  XII. 
and  Philip  VI.,  120;  efforts 
for   a   reconciliation,     121  ; 


alliance  with  England,  121; 
hostility  of  Clement  VI.. 
124  ;  rival  election  of 
Charles  IV.,  124;  death,  125. 

Louis  VIII.,  or  France,  in  Lan- 
guedoc, death,  619. 

IX.,  St.,    of  France,  his 

first  crusade,  85  ;  captivity 
in  Egypt,  86  ;  ecclesiastical 
policy,  86  ;  Fragmatic  Sanc- 
tion, 87  ;  treatment  of  Here- 
tics and  Jews,  87  ;  second 
crusade,  88 ;  death,  88. 

XII.,  of  France,  divorced 

from  his  wife  Jeanne,  224; 
rupture  with  Julius  11.,  237 ; 
death,  24;. 

Loyola,  Ignatius,  founds  the 
Socieiy  of  Jesus,  249,  689. 

Lucius  ill.,  Pope,  57. 

Lullianists,  the,  553. 

Lully,  Raymond,  552 ;  his  Ars 
Generalis,  55  j  ;  devotes  him- 
self to  the  conversion  of 
Jews  and  Saracens,  ib. ; 
school  of  followers,  ib. 

Luther,  Martin,  publishes  his 
95  theses,  247,  685 ;  his 
three  Primary  Works,  685; 
burns  the  Pope's  Bull,  685. 

Lyon,  the  First  Council  of,  79 ; 
the  Second,  91. 


Machiavelli,  Niccolo,  230,  n. 

Mahomet  II.,  190;  takes  Con- 
stantinople, 202. 

Manfred,  regent  in  Italy,  80; 
Kinn  of  Sicily,  8?. 

Manichean  element  in  the 
medieval  heresies,  578,  581, 
582,  58;. 

Mantua,  Congress  of,  209. 

Marinnano,  battle  ot,  245. 

Mariolatry,  development  of, 
295. 

Mark,  Archbishop,  at  the 
Council  of  Florence,  187  ; 
refuses  to  sign  the  'Defini- 
tion,' 189. 

Martin  IV.,  Pope,  9?. 

V.,  Pope,  163  ;  first  brief,  j 

164;     concordats,     165;    at 
Rome,  169;  death.  171. 

Mary,  the  Virgin,  festivals 
and  titles,  295;  deification, 
296;  mediation,  298  ;  hymns 
and  office,  299;  Ave  Maria 
and  Marian  Psalters,  300; 
immaculate  conception,  300- 
305. 

Ma-ter,  degree  of,  its  original 
sense,  470. 

Matltias  of  Janow,  65?. 

Matthias  (see  Corvinus). 

Emperor,  680. 


Matilda,  Countess  of  Tuscany, 
20;  Henry  IV.  rtceived  at 
her  castle  of  Canossa,  20; 
her  marriage  with  Welf,  son 
of  the  Duke  of  Bavaria,  26 

Maximilian  I.,  222;  'Emperor 
Elect,'  237  ;  joins  the  Holy 
League,  240. 

Medici,  Lorenzo  de',  attempted 
assassination,  217;  alliance 
with  Innocent  VilL,  220 ; 
death,  221. 

,  John  de',  242  (see  Leo  X.) 

,  Catherine  de',  253,  n. 

Medieval  Church,  the,  consti 
tution,  wot  ship  and  doc 
irines  of,  25?. 

Melanchtlion,  Philip,  685. 

Melfi,  the  Code  ot,  75. 

,  Council  at,  13. 

Mendicant  Friars,  the,  369/.; 
their  exertions  during  the 
'Black  Death,'  131;  privi- 
leges granted  by  Alexandei 
V.,  148;  their  place  in  the 
Church,  400 ;  preaching,  405  ; 
as  confessors,  406  ;  failure  oi 
their  system,  408  ;  acquisi- 
tion ot  lai.ds  and  houses, 
409 ;  possession  of  property 
sanctioned  by  Innocent  IV., 
413  ;  champions  of  ignorance 
and  superstition,  433 ;  re- 
stricted to  lour  Orders.  434; 
their  influence  and  wealth, 
4J5- 

Michael  VIII.,  Pakeologus, 
Emperor,  90. 

Michael  di  Cesena  persecutes 
the  'Fraticelli,'  451;  joins 
the  Ghibelline  party,  432. 

Milicz  of  Kremsier,  654. 

Military  and  Minor  Monastic 
Orders,  351. 

Milizia  Gauiente,  La,  Order 
of,  364. 

Minims,  the,  founded  by 
Francis  of  Paola,  433. 

Minorites,  Onlc  of  the,  389; 
arrival  in  England,  390,  n. 

Miracle  play-,  Mysteries,  and 
Mock  lestivals,  274. 

Miracles,  multiplication  of, 
29J. 

Mirandola,  siege  of,  239. 

Monastic  Orders  and  Mendi- 
cant Friars,  3^8  ;  spirit  of 
independence,  331 ;  alliance 
with  the  Papacy,  331. 

Monks,  their  ambition  and 
profligacy,  347. 

Montfort,  Simon  de,  612;  his 
character,  61 J  ;  take-  Carcas- 
sonne, 61;  ;  elect  d  Viscount 
of  Beziers,  6i<;;  captures 
M 'nerve,  615,  chosen  prince 
and  sover  igo  of  Languedoc, 
617;  death,  619. 

Moravian  Brethren,  the,  680. 


INDEX. 


697 


Mystical    Theology    and    the 

Mystics,  554. 
Mysticism,  impulses  to,   556  ; 

teaching,  557. 
Mystics,  the  Scholastic,  479. 

N. 

Nicolas  II.,  Pope,  11 ;  holds  a 
Council  at  Melfi,  13 ;  his 
treaty  with  Robert  Guiscard, 
13 ;  excommunicated  by  a 
council  of  German  bishops, 
13  ;  death,  14. 

III.,  Pope,  92  ;  issues  a 

Bull  concerning  the  Fran- 
ciscan rules  of  property,  426. 

IV.,  Pope,  9J. 

V.,  anti-pope,  116;  sub- 
mission and  seclusion  at 
Avignon,  117. 

V.,  I'ope,  19?;  character, 

198 ;  death,  202 ;  love  of 
letters,  20 3. 

of  Basle,  559  ;  his  associa- 
tion of  the  '  Friends  <>f  God,' 
560;  martyrdom  at  Vienne, 
561. 

Nicolaus  de  Lyra,  his  PostiUee 
on  the  whole  Bible,  551  ; 
influence  on  Wyclif  and 
Luther,  551,  n. 

Nilus  the  Younger,  331. 

Nogaret,  William  of,  takes 
Pope  BonifaceVIII.  prisoner, 
100;  excommunicated,  102. 

Nominalism  taught  by  Hos- 
cellin,  465  ;  revived  by  Ock- 
him,  547;  long  coi  flict  with 
Realism,  548. 

Norbert,  founder  of  the  Pr«- 
monstiatensian  Order,  J45. 

Nuremburg,  the  Peace  of,  686. 


Observants,  the,  412. 

Ockham,  William  of,  545 ; 
supports  Philip  the  Fair  in 
his  contest  with  Boniface, 
546;  Provincial  Minister  of 
England,  546 ;  joins  Louis 
IV.  against,  John  XXII., 
11?,  4J2,  546;  his  Nominal- 
ism, 547 ;  various  works, 
547- 

OZcumenical  Councils  of  the 
Romans  (see  Councils). 

Olivi,  Peter  John,  his  I'osWJa 
in  Apncalypsin,  427,  428. 

Orient  il  Influence  derived  from 
the  Crusades.  401. 

Oshor,  Synod  at,  14. 

Otho  IV.,  65;  crowned  Em- 
peror, 66  ;  unpopularity,  66; 
excommunicated,  66. 

0  ran  to  taken  by  Mahomet, 
218. 


P. 

Painting,  J09. 

Pabvologus  John  I.,  134. 

,  John  II.,  186. 

Palecz,  Stephen  of,  665,  n. 

Papacy,  the,  conflict  for  supre- 
macy, 2  ;  exaltation  of,  62  ; 
triumph  of,  and  beginning  of 
its  decline,  85;  elections, 
rules  for,  91  ;  turning  point 
in  its  fortune,  104 ;  claims, 
climax  of,  259;  Legates, 
260;  election  of  bishops, 
26?  ;  exactions,  266 ;  in  the 
age  of  the  Renaissance,  214  ; 
of  the  Reformation,  233. 

Papal  Schism,  the  Great,  IJ7. 

Paris,  University  of,  489  /.  ; 
suspended,  498 ;  contest  with 
the  Mendicants,  507 ;  en- 
deavours to  end  the  Papal 
Schism  in  1394,  141. 

Parliament,  the  English,  reply 
to  Pope  Boniface's  claim  of 
suzerainty  over  Scotland,  97. 

Parochial  Clergy,  degraded 
state  of  the,  269. 

Paschal  II.,  Pope,  23;  excom- 
municates Henry  IV.,  28  ; 
compromise  about  investi- 
tures, jo;  contest  with 
Henry  V.,  30 ;  imprisoned, 
?o ;  extorted  treaty,  ji  ; 
flight  and  death,  31. 

Paschal  III.,  Pope,  54. 

Paschasius  Radbert  on  the 
Eucharist,  311. 

Pastoureaux,  Crusade  of  the, 

Paul   II.,   Pope,   212 ;    death, 

213. 
Paulicians,    the,    history    of, 

578;     spread    to    Western 

Europe,  580. 
Pavia,  battle  of,  251. 
Pavia,  Council  of,  transferred 

to  Siena,  170. 
Pazzi,  conspiracy  of  the,  217. 
Penance,  281  ;   commutations 

of,  282. 
Peter  of  Arragon,  defeat  and 

death  at  Muret,  617. 
of  Bruis,  and  the  Petro- 

busians,  58}. 
'  the  Venerable,' of  Clugny, 

45;  defends  his  Order,  349 ; 

describes  Abelard's  charac- 
ter, 477. 
St.    Peter's,    Rome,    building 

commenced  by  Nicolas  V., 

204. 
Petit,  Jean,  case  of,  165, 
Petrarch,  one  of  the  Deputies 

to    Clement    VI.,     i;;;    at 

Avignon,  127  ;  crowned  with 

laurel  in  the  Capitol,  128. 


Philip  I.  of  France,  27. 

II.,  65  ;  murdered,  65. 

III.,  88. 

IV.,  conflict  with    Pope 

Boniface,  95;  burns  the 
Bull  Ausculta  fin,  98;  as- 
sembles the  States  General, 
98;  excommunicated,  100; 
demands  his  suspension  and 
trial,  100  ;  death,  no. 

VI.,  of  Valois,   proposes 

a  Crusade,  117;  "ppoMtion 
to  the  Emperor  Louis  IV., 
120/. 

Piacenza,  Council  of,  26. 

Picards  (Beghards),  the,  678. 

Piccolomini,  ^Eneas  Sylvius, 
179;  early  life,  180;  at 
Basle,  180;  recovers  from 
the  Plague,  182;  becomes 
secretary  to  Frederick  III., 
184;  to  Eugenius  IV.,  191; 
his  book  on  Germany,  207 
(see  Pius  1 1.). 

Pilgrimages,  practice  of,  292. 

Pisa,  Council  of,  146 ;  de- 
poses both  Popes,  1 46. 

,  Schismatic    Council  at, 

2*9. 

Pius  II.,  Pope,  208;  devotion 
to  the  Crusade,  208;  zeal 
for  the  Papacy,  210 ;  his 
Bulls,  210;  invites  Ma- 
homet II.  to  embrace  Chris- 
tianity, 211  ;  sets  out  for 
the  crusade,  death,  212. 

III.,  Pope,  232. 

Platina,  Bart.  Sicchi,  perse- 
cuted by  Paul  II.,  2ij. 

Pluralities,  multiplication  cf, 
268. 

Porcaro,  Stephen,  his  conspi- 
racy, 201 ;  execution,  201. 

Portiuncula,  church  of  the,  at 
Assisi,  384,  387 ;  Indul- 
gence of,  418. 

Pra>monstratensian  Orde>',  545. 

Praemunire,  statutes  of,  140. 

Pragmatic  Sanction,  the,  of 
Bourges,  181  ;  annulled,  246. 

Prague,  University  of,  founded, 
653 ;  connection  wiih  Ox- 
ford, 653,  n. ;  secession  of 
the  Germans,  66j. 

Preaching  Friars,  Dominican, 
Order  of,  375. 

Printing,  invention  of,  204 ; 
first  use  ut,  mi  Rome,  21  ,\ 

Protest  mts.  the  name  first, 
used,  686. 

Provence,  influences  against 
the  Clergy  in,  588. 

Psalter*,  the  Mariana  ;co. 

Publicans,  the,  586;  their  per- 
secution, 587. 

Pulleyn,  Robert,  his  books  of 
Sentences,  482. 


698 


QUADRIVITJM 


INDEX. 


Quadrivium,  the,  441. 
Questuaries,  289. 


R. 

Rade  vvini.     Florentius,      572; 

second  founded  ot  the  Order 

ot  the  Brethren  of  Common 

Life,  572. 

Ratherius  on    the  Eucharist, 

311. 
Rati>bon,  the  Diet  at,  688. 
Ratramn    on    the    Eucharist, 

jii. 
Ravenna,  battle  of.  240. 
Raymond  V.  of  Toulouse  ap- 
plies to   the   Cistercians   to 
restore  religious  pence,  589. 
VI.,    609;    excommuni- 
cated for  the  murder  of  Pe ter 
of  Cstelnau,  611;  submis- 
sion and  penance,  614;  re- 
turns   to     Toulouse,    618 ; 
death,  619. 

VII.,  swea-s  fealty  to  the 

King  of  France,  620. 
,  Roger,  defence  of  Car- 
cassonne ai  d  death,  615. 
du  Puy,  first  Grand  Mas- 
ter of  the  Hospital  Brethren 
of  St.  John,  353. 

de  Sabunde,  his  '  Natural 

Theology,'  568. 
Realism  and  Nominalism,  465. 
Reform,  the  Clerical  party  o*, 

v 
Reformation,    the,    beginning 

of,  6  jo,  682/. 
Reginald  of  Cologne,  54. 
Reims,  Council  of,  32 
Relics,  traffic  in,  290. 
Repentance,  doctrine  of,  276. 
Rhense    on    the    Rhine,  first 

Electoral  Union  at,  121. 
Riario,  Peter  and  Jerome,  217. 
Rienzi,    Nicholas,    birth   and 
early  life,   128 ;    Papal    No- 
tary, 128;  Tribune  ol  Rome, 
129;  imprisoned  at  Avignon, 
1  ?o ;    released    by   Innocent 
VI..  1 J2 ;  death,  i}?. 
Robert    of    Arbrissel,   founds 
the    Order    of   Fontevraud, 
339;  for  women,  340. 
Robert  the   Wite,   of  Naples, 

112,  124. 
linger  of  Sicily,  47. 
Home  Backed  by  Guiscard,  2? ; 

by  the  Germans,  252. 
Rome     and     Constantinople, 
complete  and  final  schism,  8. 
lioniuald,  founder  of  the  Order 

of  Cam  a 'tin  i,  334. 
Roncaglia,  Assembly  at,  52. 


Rosarv,  the,  its  use  first  esta- 
blished, 288. 

Roscellin,  the  champion  of 
Nominalism,  465. 

Rose,  the  Golden,  given  to 
Sigismund,  161. 

Kud'lf  I.  of  Hap.-burg,  King 
ot  the  Romans,  89. 

Rupert,  Count  Palatine,  King 
of  the  Romans,  142. 

Ruysbroek,  John,  565 ;  his 
claim  to  inspiration,  56;. 


Sacraments,  the  Seven,  275. 
Saints,    Lives    of    the,    271  ; 

multiplication  of,  291,  294. 
Salisbury,    John    of,   on    the 
behaviour    of    the     Legate 
Jordanus,  261  ;  the  scholastic 
tendencies  of  the  age,  480. 
Samson,    Abbot    of    St.    Ed- 
mund's Bury,  347,  n. 
Savonarola,  Jerome,    226;    at 
Florence,  227  ;    bis    •  Sacri- 
fice of  Vanities,'   228 ;    ex- 
communicated, 229 ;  resumes 
his  preaching,  229  ;  proposed 
ordeal  by  fire,  2jo  ;  executed. 
230. 
Schmalkald,  League  of,  686. 
Schmalkaldic  War,  the,  689. 
Scholastic  Divinity,  451. 
Scholasticism,   453,  /.  ,•    Fir.-t 
Age  of,  464;    Second   Age, 
486 ;  Third  Age,  543  ;  decline 
of,  549;  its  work,  550. 

and  Mysticism,  555. 

Schools,  Clerical,  441,  /. ;  de- 
cline of,  441. 
Scotists,  the,  512,  522. 
Scotus,  John. m  the  Eucharist, 

3 1 1  (see  Erigena). 
Sci  iptures,     the,     vernacular 
translations  of,  273  ;  neglect 
of,    lor    scholastic    studies, 
482. 
Sects     and     Heresies    of    the 

Middle  Ages,  576. 
Sempringham,  or  the  Gilber- 

tines,  Order  of,  341. 
Sentences,'  books  of,  274,  482. 
'Sicilian  Monarchy,'  the,  27. 

Vespers,  the,  9?. 

Sigbert,  King,  founds  a  school 

in  Fast  Anglia,  44?. 
Sigismund,  Emperor,  152; 
convokes  the  Council  of  Con- 
stance, K4;  his  safe-con- 
duct to  Hus,  1 55, 670  ;  at  the 
Council,  158,  671 ;  revolt  of 
Bohemia  against  him,  679; 
in  Italy,  175  ;  coronation, 
176;  at  Basle,  176;  acknow- 
ledged in  Bohemia,  679; 
death,  679. 


Simony,  268. 

Sixtus  IV..  Pope,  216;  depra- 
vity, corruption,  and  oppres- 
sion, 217  ;  death,  219. 

Solyman  II.,  his  conquests, 
25i- 

Sorbonne,  School  of  the, 
founded,  506. 

Spires,  the  Diet  of.  686. 

'  Spirituals,'  or  Zealots,  the 
Franciscan,  419. 

Stephen  IX.,  Pope,  9. 

,  Abbot  of  Obaize,  refuses 

to  grant  indulgences,  284. 

of  Tigerno,  founds   the 

Order  of  Grammont,  337 ; 
canonized,  331,  n, 

Stigmata  >acra,  the,  of  St. 
Francis,  393  ;  controversy 
on,  395. 

Stitny,  Thomas  of,  65;. 

Supererogation,  Treasury  of, 
286. 

Supremacy,  conflict  for,  be- 
tween the  Church  and  the 
Empire,  2. 

Suso  (Henry  von  Berg),  his 
autobiography,  564. 

Sylvester  II.,  Pope,  448. 

III.,  Pope,  4. 


Taborites,  the,  678. 

Talmud,  the,  copies  of,  des- 
troyed, in. 

Tauler,  John,  561 ;  at  Paris 
and  Strassburg,  562;  his 
conversion,  562;  writings, 
563 ;  death,  564. 

Tauss,  battle  of,  172. 

Templars,  Order  of  the,  354, 
355;  Rule  of  the  Orde>,  356; 
various  ranks,  35-;  de- 
generacy, 358 ;  abolished, 
108. 

Tertiaries,  the.  j-8,  392. 

Tetzel,  and  the  Indulgence  of 
Leo  X.,  247. 

Teutonic  Knights,  the,  Order 

of,  3^2. 
I'h'  odore    of    Tarsus,    Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  44;; 
his  teaching.  444. 

Thirty  Years'  War,  beginning 
of  the,  680. 

Tl  omists,  the,  512,  522. 

Tithes,  267. 

Torquemada,  Thomas  de,  627. 

Toulouse,  Council  of,  prohibi- 
tion of  the  Scriptures,  274  ; 
Canons  of,  for  the  extinction 
of  heresy,  622;  origin  of  the 
Inquisition,  623. 

heretics   at,    588;    their 

Pope  N  quinta,   589;    mis- 
sion against,  590. 


TOURS 


INDEX. 


G99 


Tours,  National  Ass  mbly  at, 
2j8. 

Transubstantiation,  the  doc- 
trine of,  established  for  the 
first  time,  71  ;  decreed,  325. 

Trent, anti-japal  assembly  at, 
115  ;  Council  of,  689. 

Tribur,  Assembly  of  German 
princes,  prelates,  &c.  at,  19. 

Trinitarians  or  Matburins,  Or- 
der of,  365. 

Trivium,  the,  441. 


u. 

Universities,  origin  and  na- 
ture of,  48-7. 

University  of  Cambridge,  the 
name  first  applied  to  its 
school,  490. 

ot  Oxford,  first  called  so, 

49°. 

■ of  Paris  (see  Paris). 

Urban  II.,  Pope,  election  and 
character,  25 ;  directs  the 
first  Crusade  to  the  Holy 
Land,  26;  the  second,  27; 
recovers  Rome  from  the 
anti-pope,  27 ;  capture  of 
Jerusalem,  27;  death,  27. 

III.,  Pope,  58. 

IV.,     Pope,    offers    the 

Crown  of  Sicily  to  Charles  of 
Anjou,  8};  death,  84. 

V.,   Pope,   133  ;   g°es  to 

Eome,  death,  154;  claims 
arrears  of  tribute  from 
England,  637. 

VI.,  Pope,  137  ;  im- 
prisoned at  Nocera,  and  es- 
capes to  Genoa,  139;  re- 
turns to  Rome,  140. 


V. 

Valla,  Lanrentius,  204. 
Varna,  battle  of,  190. 


Vatican,  the,  building  corn- 
men,  ed  by  Nicolas  V.,  205. 

Venice  and  the  Papacy,  218, 
236,  237,  239,  244. 

Vernacular  preaching  and 
teaching,  272  ;  translations 
of  the  Scriptures,  273. 

Victor  II.,  Pope,  9. 

III.,  Pope,  25. 

IV.,  Ai.ti-pope,  52. 

Victor,  Adam  of,  his  Liturgi- 
cal Poetry,  305. 

,  Hugh  ot,  480. 

,  Richard  of,  480. 

,  Walter  of,  480. 

Victorine  School,  279,  479. 

Vienne,  Council  of,  108. 

Vigne,  Peter  delle,  75. 

Visconii,  the,  of  Aiilan,  112, 
154,  u;. 

Vitelle?chi,  John  of,  177. 


w. 

Waldenses,  the,  or  Poor  Men 
of  Lyon,  596;  free  from 
Manicheism,  597 ;  founda- 
tion of  the  sect,  598  ;  study 
of  the  Scriptures  and  preach- 
ing, 599;  wide  diffusion, 
601 ;  teach  the  Scriptures  in 
the  vernacular,  602  ;  ortho- 
doxy, 60} ;  moral  and  social 
virtues,  605  ;  writings,  605. 

Wazo,  Bishop  of  Liege,  581. 

Wesiphalia,  Peace  of,  690. 

White  Friars,  the,  364;  divi- 
sions ot  the  Order,  365. 

Widikund  of  Corvey  on  Mon- 
astic reforms  in  Germany, 
115- 

Wilfrith,     Bishop     of    York, 

444- 

William  the  Conqueror,  his 
ecclesiastical  policy,  ;;. 

Rufus,  rapacity  and  ex- 
travagance, 36. 


William  of  Champeaux,  467. 

of  Holland,  79. 

—  of  Nottingham  and  Henry 
III.,  410. 

Windesheim,  Society  of  Canons 
at,  572. 

Worms,  Concordat  of,  34. 

the  Diet  of,  68;. 

Wi'nzburg,  the  Diet  of,  4,. 

Wyclif,  John,  630;  lit."  at 
Oxford,  tii ;  three  stages  of 
his  leaching,  634;  bis  Doc- 
tor's Degree,  6j£ ;  Scbola-tlc 
works,  636;  ecclesiastical 
and  national  politics,  637  ; 
opposes  Urban  V.'s  demand 
of  tribute,  637;  Old  r  of 
'Poor  Priests,'  640  ;  opposes 
the  taxes  on  the  Clergy, 
641 ;  sent  to  Bruges,  642  j 
at  St.  Paul's,  643  ;  state- 
paper  for  Hi  hard  II.,  644; 
at  Lambeth,  645 ;  on  ibe 
Eucharist,  '46;  charges  of 
heresy,  647;  translatts  the 
Bilib,  648;  death,  '49-, 
burning  01  his  works  at 
Prague,  665. 

Wykeham,  William  of,  641  ; 
bis  temporalities  seized,  642. 


X. 

Xavier,  Francis,  689. 


Zbynek  Zajitz,  Archbishop, 
662;  opposes  the  reforming 
party,  663  ;  burns  Wyclif  a 
books,  665  ;  death,  660. 

Ziska,  John  of  Trocnow,  679. 

Znaim,  Stanislaus  of,  665,  n. 

Zwingli,  Ulrich,  686. 


Date  Due 

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£8 

A 

MR?  2 

'48 

MR  8-  '49 

'"f-fcj 

» d  o  0     '^0 

i 

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BW901  .S657 

The  history  of  the  Christian  Church 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary-Speer  Library 


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