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Ctlmm?  itt 
Pitsrntfi*  Ini 

■  y/-y    '/.      /     '.     '///r.y,;;/. 

XV  59/3  4 


3  /  f 


HISTORY 


OF 


LATIN    CHRISTIANITY; 


INCLUDING   THAT   OF 


THE    POPES 


TO 


THE   PONTIFICATE   OF  NICOLAS   V. 


By   HENRY   HART  MILMAN,  D.D. 

>E  IN  OF  ST.  PAUL'S. 


EIGHT  VOLUMES  IN  FOUR. 
VOLS.  V.,  VL 


NEW    YORK 

A.    C.    ARMSTRONG    AND    SON 

714   Broadway 
1889 


v:  i 

Slnibcrsttg  ^ress: 
John  Wilson  and  Son,  Cambrj 


CONTENTS 


THE  FIFTH  VOLUME. 


BOOK  IX.     {continued.) 

CHAPTER   V 

Innocent  and  England. 

A.D.  PAGl 

Richard  I. 14 

1199  John's  accession,  divorce,  and  marriage 15 

1200  Contest  with  Philip  Augustus 16 

Death  of  Arthur 17 

1 206       Loss  of  Norman  dominions 20 

1205  Quarrel  with  the  Pope  about  Archbishopric  of  Can- 

terbury   %b. 

1206  Election  —  Appeal 22 

Stephen  Langton 24 

Fury  of  John 25 

He  persecutes  the  Clergy 26 

Excommunication  of  John 30 

1211       Subjects  released  from  allegiance 31 

1213       His  throne  offered  by  the  Pope  to  any  conqueror^  •  32 

Offer  accepted  by  Philip  Augustus 33 

John's  desperation 34 

Pandulph  Legate >j 35 

1213       Treaty  with  the  Pope 3  7 

Surrender  of  the  kingdom  to  the  Pope ib. 

Wrath  of  Philip  Augustus 41 

John  embarks  for  Poitou 43 

Nobles  refuse  to  accompany  him ib. 

Second  surrender  at  St.  Paul's,  London  •  •  •  • 45 

1211       Meeting  at  St.  Edmondsbury 4  7 


VI  CONTENTS   OF  VOL.   V. 

A.D.  *AGB 

1215       Magna  Charta 50 

Pope  Innocent's  letter*  • 51 

Langton  in  Home  •  • . . . 54 


CHAPTER  VI. 
Innocent  and  Spain. 

1212       Battle  of  Naves  de  Tolosa 61 

King  of  Portugal •  •  •  •  ib. 

King  of  Leon 63 

King  of  Navarre * 66 

1204       King  of  Arragon  in  Rome 68 

Lesser  Kingdoms  of  Europe 70 

Andrew  of  Hungary   71 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Innocent  and  the  East. 

1199       Innocent  urges  the  Crusade 7a 

Fulk  of  Neuitly 81 

Venice 87 

1201  Villehardouin's  Treaty 89 

1202  Crusaders  at  Venice 90 

Proposal  to  attack  Zara 91 

Alexius  Comuenus 92 

Crusade  sets  sail • 96 

Taking  of  Zara 97 

Treaty  with  Alexius 99 

Innocent  condemns  the  treaty • 101 

1203  Taking  of  Constantinople 103 

Partition ib. 

Establishment  of  Latin  Christianity 105 

Plunder  —  Relics 108 

Election  of  Emperor 109 

Latin  Patriarch HO 

1906       Constitution  of  Clergy 120 


CONTENTS   OF   VOL.   V.  vn 

it  PAOB 

Captivity  of  Emperor  Baldwin 120 

Innocent's  letters  to  King  of  Bulgaria 1 23 

Effects  of  conquest  of  Constantinople 125 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Innocent  and  the  Anti-Sacerdotausts. 

Crusade  against  heretics 131 

Apparent  quiet  under  Innocent  III. 133 

The  Sectaries 135 

Three  classes • 141 

I.  Simple  Anti-Sacerdotalists ib. 

Peter  de  Brueys  —  The  Petrobussians 142 

Henry  the  Deacon 143 

Tanchelin 147 

Eudo  de  Stella  —  Heretics  in  Vezelay 148 

n.  Biblical    Anti-Sacerdotalists 149 

Peter  Waldo 150 

The  Noble  Lesson • 155 

III.  Manichean   heretics • 156 

The  Paulicians • 158 

Western  Manicheism 159 

Languedoc 161 

1198       Innocent's  letter  to  Archbishop  of  Auch 166 

1200       Cistercian  Legates 167 

Fulk  Bishop  of  Toulouse 170 

Count  Raymond  of  Toulouse ■ 171 

Peter  de  Castelnau  Legate 1 74 

1208  Murder  of  Peter  de  Castelnau 176 

Crusade  against  Count  Raymond 1 79 

1 209  Penance  of  Count  Raymond 182 

Raymond  joins  the  Crusade 184 

Three  armies 185 

Peter  de  Vaux  Cernay 186 

Siege  of  Beziers  —  of  Carcassonne 187 

Simon  de  Montfort 192 

Continued  persecution  of  Raymond ib. 

Raymond  in  Rome 193 

1210  Progress  of  Crusade  —  Siege  of  Minerve « •  1 94 


Viii  CONTENTS  OF  VOL.    V. 

A.D.  rAOS 

New  demands  on  Count  Raymond 197 

1212  Raymond  takes  up  arms*  •  ?. 200 

Siege  of  Lavaur 202 

De  Montfort  Sovereign  Prince 205 

Ibid.       King  of  Arragon 206 

1213  Battle  of  Muret 208 

1214  Simon  de  Montfort  Master  of  Languedoc 210 

1215  Fourth  Lateran  Council 211 

1216-1 7  War  renewed  in  Languedoc 218 

Count  Raymond  in  Toulouse 220 

Death  of  Simon  de  Montfort 221 

1222       Crusade  of  Louis  VIII.  of  France 222 

1228  Treaty  of  Paris 223 

1229  Council  of  Toulouse 225 


CHAPTER    IX. 

New  Orders.    St.  Dominic. 

Preaching  rare  —  The  Ritual 230 

Monasticism* 232 

Intellectual  movement • 234 

Heresy ib. 

St.  Dominic  and  St,  Francis 237 

1170       Birth  of  Dominic  —  Education 240 

1203-5  In  Languedoc 241 

Dominic  in  the  war  —  On  the  tribunal 244 

1217       Foundation  of  Order  of  Friar  Preachers 246 

1220  First  Chapter ib. 

1221  Second  Chapter  —  Death  of  Dominic 250 

CHAPTER    X. 

St.  Francis. 

1182       Birth  and  youth 254 

1206       Embraces  mendicancy 257 

His  followers 258 

Before  Innocent  III. 259 

Foundation  of  the  Order 260 


CONTENTS  OF  VOL.   V.  ix 

A  •»•  PAGE 

Foreign  missions 261 

St.  Francis  in  the  East  —  Martyrs 262 

Poetry  of  St.  Francis 264 

Tertiaries 266 

1224       The   Stigmata 26  7 

Rule  of  St.  Francis 272 

Close  of  Innocent  III.'s  Pontificate 275 


BOOK  X. 

CHAPTER  I. 

Honorius  III.    Frederick  II. 

1216       Election  of  Honorius 284 

His  mildness 285 

Crusade  of  Andrew  of  Hungary 287 

Death  of  Otho 288 

1219  Correspondence  with  Frederick  II. 291 

1220  Diet   of  Frankfort  —  Election  of  Henry  King  of 

the  Romans 292 

Frederick's  laws  in   favor  of  ecclesiastics ;    against 

heretics 296 

Loss  of  Damietta 299 

1229       Meeting  at  Veroli  —  at  Ferentino 300 

1225  Meeting  at  San  Germano 30 1 

Frederick's  marriage  with  the  Princess  Iolante-  ••  •  302 

1226  Angry  correspondence 306 

1227  Death  of  Honorius 308 

CHAPTER    II. 

Honorius  III.  and  England. 

Pope  protects  Henry  III. 312 

Peter's  Pence 314 

Benefices   held  by  Italians 315 

Tenths  319 


CONTENTS  OF  VOL.   V. 


CHAPTER    III 


Frederick  II.  and  Gregory  IX. 

a.d.  pa  on 

1227  Gregory  IX. 321 

Frederick  II. 322 

The  Court 323 

The  Crusade  urged  on  Frederick 324 

Preparations 335 

Return  of  Frederick 337 

Excommunication  of  Frederick ib. 

Second  excommunication 344 

Gregory  driven  from  Rome 345 

1228  Frederick  sets  sail  for  the  Holy  Land 348 

In   Palestine 355 

Sultan  Kameel  of  Egypt ib. 

Treaty 358 

Frederick  at  Jerusalem 359 

Anger  of  Mohammedans  at  the  Treaty 363 

Condemned  by  the  Pope 365 

Frederick  leaves  Palestine 370 

Election  to  Archbishopric  of  Canterbury 371 

1229  Return  of  Frederick 373 

Christendom  against  the  Pope 3  74 

1230  Peace 378 

Frederick  as  Legislator 381 

Laws  relating  to  religion 384 

Civil  Constitution 386 

Cities,  Peasants,  etc. 387 

Intellectual  progress 392 

Gregory  IX.  and  the  Decretals 398 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Renewal  of  Hostilities  between  Gregory  IX.  and  Frederick  II. 

Persecution  of  Heretics 401 

1230-1 239  Gregory  and  the  Lombards 404 

1236       Lombards  Leagued  with  Princes 410 


CONTENTS   OF  VOL.   V.  xi 

A.D.  PAOE 

1237  Battle  of  Corte  Nuova 413 

1238  Gregory  against  Frederick 416 

Excommunication ih. 

Frederick's  reply 418 

Appeal  to  Christendom 422 

Gregory's  reply • \  •  •  •  r  427 

Public  opinion  in  Christendom  —  England 432 

Empire  offered  to  Robert  of  France 436 

Germany  —  Albert  von  Behain 437 

The  Friars 442 

John  of  Vicenza*  •  •  ■ 443 

1239  War 446 

1240  Advance  of  Frederick  on  Rome 449 

Council  summoned 451 

Battle  of  Meloria • 454 

1 241  Fall  of  Faenza 455 

Death  of  Gregory  IX. 456 

Coelestine  IV. 458 


CHAPTER    V. 

Frederick  and  Innocent  IV. 

1243       Accession  of  Innocent  IV. 460 

Defection  of  Viterbo 462 

Negotiations 463 

Flight  of  Innocent  to  France 465 

Innocent  excommunicates  the  Emperor 468 

Martin  Pope's  Collector  in  England 470 

1245  Council  of  Lyons 473 

Thaddeus  of  Suessa 476 

Frederick  deposed -* 479 

Frederick  appeals  to  Christendom 480 

Innocent  claims  both  spiritual  and  temporal  power-  •  483 

1246  Mutual  accusations 485 

Innocent  attempts  to  raise  Germany 488 

Albert  von  Beham  —  Otho  of  Bavaria 489 

1247  Election  and  death  of  Henry  of  Thuringia 492 

1248  Siege  of  Parma • 495 


Xii  CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  V. 

A.D.  PAOB 

King  Enzio 496 

Peter  de  Vine* 499 

1250  Death  of  Frederick  II. 500 

Character 502 

Papal  Legates 506 

1251  Innocent's  return  to  Italy 509 

Kingdom  of  Naples 510 

Brancaleone 512 

1253  Death  of  Prince  Henry 515 

Manfred 516 

in    revolt 521 

1254  Death  of  Innocent ib. 

Robert  Grostete,  Bishop  of  Lincoln, 524 

Vision  to  Innocent 529 


HISTOEY 


LATIN    CHRISTIANITY, 


BOOK    IX.  —  (Continued.) 
CHAPTER  V. 

INNOCENT  AND  ENGLAND. 

Innocent  had  humbled  the  ablest  and  most  arbi- 
trary King  who  had  ruled  in  France  since  the  days  of 
Charlemagne  ;  Philip  Augustus  had  been  reduced  to 
elude  and  baffle  by  sullen  and  artful  obstinacy  the 
adversary  whom  he  could  not  openly  confront.1  But 
beyond  the  general  impression  thus  made  of  the  awful- 
ness  of  the  Papal  power,  the  contest  with  Philip  led 
to  no  great  results  either  in  the  history  of  France  or  of 
the  Church.  In  England,  the  strife  of  Innocent,  first 
with  King  John,  afterwards  with  the  barons  and 
churchmen  of  England,  had  almost  immediate  bear- 
ings on  the  establishment  of  the  free  institutions  of 
England.  During  the  reign  of  John,  disastrous,  hu- 
miliating to  the  King  and  to  the  nation,  were  laid 
the  deep  foundations  of  the  English  character,  the 
English  liberties,  and  the  English  greatness ;  and  to 

1  Innocent  consented  to  the  legitimation  of  Philip's  sons  by  Agnes  of 
Meran,  Nov.  2. 


14  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

this  reign,  from  the  attempt  to  degrade  the  kingdom  to 
a  fief  of  the  Roman  See,  may  be  traced  the  first  signs 
of  that  independence,  that  jealousy  of  the  Papal 
usurpations,  which  led  eventually  to  the  Reforma- 
tion. 

On  the  accession  of  Innocent,  so  long  as  Richard 
Richard  i.      lived,  England  was  in  close  alliance  with  the 
Apostolic  See.     Richard  was  the  great  supporter  of  the 
Papal  claimant  of  the  Empire.     At  his  desire  Innocent 
demanded  of   Philip,  whom   he   still   called  Duke  of 
Swabia,  as  having  succeeded  to  his  brother's,  the  Em- 
peror Henry's,  patrimonial  domains  and  treasures,  the 
restitution  of  the  large  ransom  extorted  from  Richard. 
Philip  was  bound   to  this  act  of  honor  and  justice.1 
The   Duke  of  Austria  was   also   threatened   with  ex- 
communication, if  he  did  not  in  like  manner,  for  the 
welfare  of  his  father's  soul,  who  had  taken   an   oath 
to  make  restitution,  refund   his  share  of  the  ransom 
money.     The  language  of  Innocent,  when  he  assumes 
the  mediation  between   France  and  England,  though 
impartially    lofty    and    dictatorial    to    both,    betrays   a 
manifest  inclination   towards  England.     The  long  ac- 
count of   insults,   injuries,  mutual  aggressions,   whicl 
bad  accumulated  during  the  Crusade,  on  the  way  t< 
the  Holy  Land,  in  the  Holy  Land,  seems  to  perple: 
his  judgment.     But  in  France  Philip  Augustus  is  con 
detuned  as  the  aggressor ;  and  peremptorily  ordered  t 
restore  certain  castles  claimed  by  Richard.2     But  Rich 
ard  fell  before   the  castle  of  a  contumacious  vassal. 
His  brother  John,  by  the  last  testament  of  Richard,  b) 
the  free  acclamation  of  the  realms  of  England  and  of 

i  Epist.  i.  242.  2  Epist.  i.  230.  a  Richard  died  April  6,  1199. 


Chap.  V.  JOHN'S   DIVORCE  AND  MARRIAGE.  15 

Normandy,  succeeded  to  the  throne.  The  Pope  could 
not  be  expected,  unsuinmoned,  to  espouse  the  claims  of 
Arthur  of  Bretagne,  the  son  of  John's  elder  brother  ; 
for  neither  did  Arthur  nor  his  mother  Constance  appeal 
to  the  Papal  See  as  the  fountain  of  justice,  as  the  pro- 
tector of  wronged  and  despoiled  princes  ;  and  in  most 
of  tht,  Teutonic  nations  so  much  of  the  elective  spirit 
and  form  remained,  that  the  line  of  direct  hereditary 
succession  was  not  recognized  either  by  strict  law  or 
invariable  usage.  That  the  cause  of  Arthur  was  taken 
up  by  Philip  of  France,  then  under  interdict,  or  at 
least  threatened  with  interdict,  was  of  itself  fatal  to  his 
pretensions  at  Rome.  But  neither  towards  the  King 
John,  in  whom  he  hoped  to  find  a  faithful  ally  and  a 
steady  partisan  of  his  Emperor  Otho,  does  Innocent 
arm  himself  with  that  moral  dignity  which  will  not 
brook  the  violation  of  the  holy  Sacrament  of  Mar- 
riage :  the  dissolution  of  an  inconvenient  tie,  which  is 
denied  to  Philip  Augustus,  is  easily  accorded,  or  at 
least  not  imperiously,  or  inexorably  denied,  to  John. 
There  was  a  singular  resemblance  in  the  treatment 
of  their  wives  by  these  sovereigns ;  except  that  in 
one  respect,  the  moral  delinquency  of  John  John's  di 
was  iar  more  flagrant ;  on  the  other  hand,  marriage. 
his  wife  acquiesced  in  the  loss  of  her  royal  husband 
with  much  greater  facility  than  the  Danish  princess 
repudiated  by  Philip  of  France.  John  had  been  mar- 
ried for  twelve  years  to  the  daughter  of  the  Earl  of 
Gloucester ;  an  advantageous  match  for  a  younger 
prince  of  England.  On  the  throne,  John  aspired  to  a 
higher,  a  royal  connection.  He  sought  a  dissolution  of 
his  marriage  on  the  plea  of  almost  as  remote  affinity. 
The    Archbishop   of    Bordeaux    was   as    obsequious   to 


16  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

John  as  the  Archbishop  of  Rheims  had  been  to  Philip 
Augustus.  Negotiations  had  been  concluded  for  an 
alliance  with  a  daughter  of  the  King  of  Portugal, 
when  John  suddenly  became  enamored  of  Isabella,  the 
betrothed  wife  of  the  Count  de  la  Mark.  Isabella  was 
dazzled  by  the  throne  ;  fled  with  John,  and  was  mar- 
ried to  him.  Such  an  outrage  on  a  great  vassal  was  a 
violation  of  the  first  principle  of  feudalism  ;  from  that 
day  the  Barons  of  Touraine,  Maine,  and  Anjou  held 
themselves  absolved  from  their  fealty  to  John.  But 
although  this  flagrant  wrong,  and  even  the  sin  of  adul- 
tery, is  added  to  the  repudiation  of  his  lawful  wife, 
no  interdict,  no  censure  is  uttered  from  Rome  either 
against  the  King  or  the  Archbishop  of  Bordeaux. 
The  Pope,  whose  horror  of  such  unlawful  connections 
is  now  singularly  quiescent,  confirms  the  dissolution  of 
the  marriage,  against  which,  it  is  true,  the  easy  Havoise 
enters  no  protest,  makes  no  appeal ; 2  for  John,  till 
bought  over  with  the  abandonment  of  Arthur's  claim 
to  the  throne  by  the  treacherous  Philip  Augustus,  is 
still  the  supporter  of  Otho :  he  is  the  ally  of  the 
Pope,  for  he  is  the  ally  of  the  Papal  Emperor. 

Philip,  embarrassed  by  his  quarrel  with  the  Pope, 
contest  with  and  the  wavering  loyalty  of  his  own  great 
Augustus,  vassals,  who  had  quailed  under  the  interdict, 
though  he  never  lost  sight  of  the  great  object  of  his 
ambition,  the  weakening  the  power  of  England  in  her 
Continental  dominions  and  her  eventual  expulsion,  at 
first  asserted  but  feebly  the  rights  of  Arthur  to  the 

1  Epist.  v.  19,  contains  a  sort  of  reproof  to  John  for  his  propensity  to  the 
3ins  of  the  flesh,  and  gently  urges  repentance ;  but  to  the  divorce  I  see  no 
allusion,  as  Dr.  Paulli  seems,  after  Hurter,  to  do. —  Geschichte  Englands, 
p.  304. 


Chap.  V.  DEATH   OF  ARTHUR.  17 

throne  ;  he  deserted  him  on  the  earliest  prospect  of 
advantage.  In  the  treaty  confirmed  by  the  marriage 
of  Louis,  the  son  of  Philip,  with  John's  kinswoman, 
Blanche  of  Castile,  Philip  abandoned  the  a.i>.  1200. 
claims  of  Arthur  to  all  but  the  province  of  Bretagne 
John  covenanted  to  give  no  further  aid  in  troops  or 
money  to  Otho  of  Brunswick  in  his  strife  for  the 
Empire.1 

But  the  terrors  of  the  interdict  had  passed  away. 
Philip  Augustus  felt  his  strength  :  the  Barons  of  An- 
jou,  Touraine,  Poitou,  Maine,  were  eager  to  avenge 
the  indignity  offered  to  Hugh  de  la  Mark.  De  la 
Mark  appealed  to  his  sovereign  liege  lord  the  King  of 
France  for  redress.     Philip  summoned  John  John  sum- 

1      1  n         a         '      '  '      1  •     nioned  to 

to  do  homage  tor  Aquitaine ;  to  answer  in  his  do  homage. 
courts  of  Paris  for  the  wrong;  done  to  De   la  Mark. 
Nor  did  John  (so  complete  was  the  theory  of  feudal 
subordination)  decline  the  summons.     He  promised  to 
appear  ;  two  of  his  castles  were  pledged  as  surety  that 
he  would  give  full  satisfaction  in  the  plenary  court  of 
his  sovereign.     But  John  appeared  not ;  his  castles  re- 
fused to  surrender  ;  Philip  renewed  his  alliance  with 
Arthur  of  Bretagne,  asserted  his  claim  to  all  the  conti- 
nental possessions  of  the  King  of  England,  contracted 
Arthur  in  marriage  with  his  own  daughter,  as  yet  but 
of  tender  age.     The  capture,  the  imprison-  Death  of 
ment,  the  death  of  Arthur,  raised  a  feeling  Arthur- 
of  deep  horror  against   John,"  whom   few   doubted   to 
have   been  the  murderer  of  his  nephew.2     Philip  of 

1  See  instructions  to  the  Legate,  the  Bishop  of  Ostia,  to  break  the  dan- 
gerous alliance  growing  up  between  the  kings  of  France  and  England.  — 
Epist.  i.  697,  and  letter  to  John,  urging  the  support  of  Otho  by  money, 
ibid,  and  i.  714-720.     Innocent  declared  John's  oath  null  and  void. 

2  Wendover  at   first    merely   says,  "non   multo   post   subito  evanuit.' 
vol.  v.  2 


18  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

France  now  appeared  in  arms  under  the  specious  title, 
not  only  of  a  sovereign  proceeding  against  a  wrong-doing 
war.  and  contumacious  vassal,  but  as  the  avenger 

of  a  murder  perpetrated  on  his  nephew,  it  was  said  by 
some  by  the  hand  of  John  himself.1  John  had  been 
summoned,  at  the  accusation  of  the  Bishop  of  Rennes, 
to  answer  for  this  crime  before  the  Peers  of  France  at 
Paris.  Again  John  appeared  not;  the  Court  delivered 
its  sentence,  finding  John  Duke  of  Normandy  guilty  of 
felony  and  treason  for  the  murder  of  the  son  of  his  elder 
brother,  a  vassal  of  France,  within  the  realm  of  France. 
John  had  thereby  violated  his  oath  of  fealty  to  the  King 
of  France,  and  all  the  fiefs  which  he  held  by  that  hom- 
age were  declared  forfeited  to  the  Crown.  Philip  broke 
into  Normandy,  and  laid  siege  to  Chateau  Gaillard,  the 
key  of  the  province.  John,  at  Rouen,  as  though  to 
drown  his  fears  or  his  remorse,  indulged,  in  the  society 
of  his  young  bride,  in  the  most  careless  and  prodigal 
gayety,  amusement,  and  debauchery;  affected  to  despise 
the  force  of  Philip,  and  boasted  that  he  would  win  back 
in  a  day  all  that  Philip  would  conquer  in  a  year.  But 
Dec.  6.  at  the  approach  of   Philip,   even  before  the 

fall  of  Chateau  Gaillard,  he  fled  to  England.  He  ap- 
pealed to  the  Pope  ;  he  demanded  that  ecclesiastical 
censures  should  be  visited  on  the  perjured  Philip  Au- 
gustus, who  had  broken  his  oaths  to  maintain  peace. 
At  the  commencement  of    the  war  Innocent  had  in- 


"  Utinam,"  adds  Matt.  Paris,  "  non  rtt  fama  refert  invida."  Radulph  de 
Coggeshal  is  bolder  (he  wrote  in  France).  From  his  relation,  through 
Holinshed,  Shakspeare  drew  his  exquisitely  pathetic  scene. 

1  "  Adeoquidem  ut  rex  ^oKarines  buspecttis  hkbebatuV  ab  omnibus,  quasi 
ilium  manu  propria  peremisset.  unde  raulti  animos  avertentes  a  re#e  sempef 
deinceps,  lit  ausi  sunt,  nigerrimo  ipsum  bdio  perstrinxerunt." —  Wendovf 
led.  Coxe),  p.  171. 


(hap.  V.  HIGH  LANGUAGE  OF   INNOCENT.  19 

structed  the  Abbot  of  Casama<wiore  to  command  the 
adverse  monarchs  to  make  peace.  u  It  was  ui^h  ian- 
li Is  duty  to  preach  peace.  How  would  the  innocent. 
Saracens  rejoice  at  the  wrar  of  two  such  kings !  He 
would  not  have  the  blood  which  might  be  shed  laid  to 
his  account."  Philip  Augustus,  at  a  full  assembly  of 
Barons  at  Nantes,  coldly  and  haughtily  replied,  that 
the  Pope  had  no  business  to  interfere  between  him  and 
his  vassal.  But  he  avoided,  either  from  prudence  or 
respect,  the  reproach  that  the  head  of  Christendom  was 
standing  forward  as  the  protector  of  a  murderer.  The 
reply  of  Innocent  from  Anagni  was  the  boldest  and  full- 
est declaration  of  unlimited  power  which  had  yet  been 
made  by  Pope.  He  was  astonished  at  the  language  of 
the  King  of  France,  who  presumed  to  limit  the  power 
in  spiritual  things  conferred  by  the  Son  of  God  on  the 
Apostolic  See,  Avhich  wTas  so  great  that  it  could  admit 
no  enlargement.1  "  Every  son  of  the  Church  a.d.  1203. 
is  bound,  in  case  his  brother  trespasses  against  him,  to 
hear  the  Church.  Thy  brother  the  King  of  England 
has  accused  thee  of  trespass  against  him ;  he  has  admon- 
ished thee ;  he  has  called  many  of  his  great  Barons 
to  witness  of  his  wrongs :  he  has  in  the  last  resort  ap- 
pealed to  the  Church.  We  have  endeavored  to  treat 
you  with  fatherly  love,  not  with  judicial  severity ;  urged 
you,  if  not  to  peace,  to  a  truce.  If  you  will  not  hear 
the  Church,  must  you  not  be  held  by  the  Church  as  a 
heathen  and  a  publican  ?  Can  I  be  silent  ?  No.  I 
command  you  now  to  hear  my  legates,  the  Archbishop 
of  Bourses  and  the  Abbot  of  Casamaoxnore,  who  are 
empowered  to  investigate,  to  decide  the  cause.  We  en- 
ter not  into  the  question  of  the  feudal  rights  of  the  King 

1  Epist.  vi.  163. 


20  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

of  France  over  his  vassal,  but  we  condemn  thy  trespass 
—  thy  sin  —  which  is  unquestionably  within  our  juris- 
diction. The  Decretals,  the  law  of  the  Empire,  declare 
that  if  throughout  Christendom  one  of  two  litigant  par- 
ties appeals  to  the  Pope,  the  other  is  bound  to  abide  by 
the  award.  The  King  of  France  is  accused  of  perjury 
in  violating  the  existing  treaty,  to  which  both  have 
sworn,  and  perjury  is  a  crime  so  clearly  amenable  to  the 
ecclesiastical  courts,  that  we  cannot  refuse  to  take  cog- 
nizance of  it  before  our  tribitnaL1?  But  Philip  was  too 
far  advanced  in  his  career  of  conquest  to  be  arrested  by- 
such  remonstrances ;  nor  did  the  Pope  venture  on  more 
vigorous  interference  ;  there  was  no  further  menace  of 
Loss  of  interdict  or  excommunication.     John,  indeed, 

Normandy.  T  . 

a.d.  1203.  as  the  sagacious  Innocent  may  have  per- 
ceived, was  lost  without  recovery  —  lost  by  his  own 
weakness,  insolence,  and  unpopularity.  His  whole 
Continental  possessions  were  in  revolt  or  conquered  by 
Philip ;  a  great  force  raised  in  England  refused  to  em- 
bark. He  tried  one  campaign  in  Aquitaine:  some  suc- 
juiy  9, 1206.  cesses,  some  devastations,  were  followed  by  a 
disgraceful  peace,  in  which  Philip  Augustus,  having 
nearly  accomplished  his  vast  object,  the  consolidation 
of  the  realm  in  one  great  monarchy,  condescended  to 
accept  the  Papal  mediation.  From  that  time  the  King 
of  England  ceased  to  be  the  King  of  half  France. 

Normandy  was  not  yet  lost,  peace  not  yet  reestab- 
A .n  1205.       lished  with  Philip  Augustus,  when  John  was 

Quarrel  with  .        ,   .  _  .  •  i      i  •         n 

ti„.  pope  involved  in  a  fierce  contention  with  his  ally, 
bishopric  Pope  Innocent.  It  arose  out  of  the  death  of 
\iuryl" »  Hubert,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  Who 
should  fill  the  throne  of  Thomas  a  Becket — who  hold 
the  primacy   of   England  ?     The   question  of  investi- 


Chap.  V.  QUARREL   WITH   THE  PORE.  21 

tures  had  hardly  reached  England,  or  had  died  away 
since  the  days  of  Anselm.  The  right  of  nominatinc 
to  the  bishoprics  remained  nominally  in  the  chapters  ; 
but  as  the  royal  license  was  necessary  before  they 
could  proceed  to  the  election,  and  the  royal  approval 
before  the  consecration  and  the  possession  of  the  tem- 
poralities, the  Kings  had  exercised  controlling  power,  at 
least  over  all  the  greater  sees.  The  Norman  kings  and 
the  Plantagenets  had  still  filled  all  the  great  benefices 
with  Norman  prelates,  or  prelates  approved  by  the 
Court.  Becket  himself  was,  in  fact,  advanced  by 
Henry  II.  Some  of  the  English  sees  had  grown  out 
of  or  were  connected  with  monasteries,  which  asserted 
and  exercised  the  rights  of  chapters.  The  monks  of 
Christchurch  in  Canterbury  claimed  the  election  to  the 
Metropolitan  See.  The  monks  were  at  the  same  time 
most  obstinately  tenacious  of  their  rights,  and  least  ca- 
pable of  exercising  them  for  the  welfare  of  the  Church 
and  of  the  kingdom.  At  this  present  time  there  were 
on  one  side  deep  and  sullen  murmurs  that  the  Church 
of  England  had  sunk  into  a  slave  of  the  King.  Becket 
had  laid  down  his  martyr  life  in  vain.1  On  the  other 
hand,  the  King  rejoiced  in  the  death  of  Hubert,  whom 
he  suspected  of  secret  favor  towards  his  enemy  the 
King  of  France.  The  second  prelate  of  the  kingdom, 
Geoffrey  Archbishop  of  York,  the  brother  of  the  King, 
had  refused  to  permit  a  thirteenth,  exacted  by  the  King 
for  the  recovery  of  his  French  dominions,  to  be  levied 
in  his  province ;  he  had  fled  the  realm,  leaving  behind 


1  "  Licet  beatus  Thomas  archepiscopus  animam  suam  pro  ecclesiastic^ 
posuerit  libertate,  nalla  taraen  utilitas  quoad  hoc  in  sanguine  ejus  erat, 
quoniam  Anglicana  ecclesia  per  principum  insolentiam  in  profunda  servi- 
tute  ancillata  jacebat."  —  Gesta,  ch.  oxxxi.  Matt.  Rar. 


22  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX 

him  an  anathema  against  all  who  should  comply  with 
the  King's  demands.1  The  privilege  of  the  monks  of 
Christchurch  in  Canterbury  to  elect  the  Primate  had 
been  constantly  contested  by  the  suffragan  prelates, 
who  claimed  at  least  a  concurrent  right  of  election.2 
At  all  the  recent  elections  this  strife  had  continued  : 
the  monks,  though  overborne  by  royal  authority,  or  by 
the  power  of  the  prelates,  never  renounced  or  aban- 
doned their  sole  and  exclusive  pretensions. 

Immediately  on  the  death  of  Hubert,  the  younger 
a.d.  1205.  monks,  without  waiting  for  the  royal  license, 
in  the  narrow  corporate  spirit  of  monkhood,  hastily 
elected  their  Sub-prior  Reginald  to  the  See.  In  order 
to  surprise  the  Papal  sanction,  under  which  they  might 
defy  the  resentment  of  the  King,  without  whose  license 
they  had  acted,  and  baffle  the  bishops  who  claimed  the 
concurrent  right,  they  had  the  precaution  to  take  aii 
oath  from  Reginald  to  maintain  inviolable  secrecy  till 
he  should  arrive  at  Rome.  The  vanity  of  Reginald 
induced  him,  directly  he  reached  Flanders,  to  assume 
the  title,  and  to  travel  with  the  pomp  of  an  Archbishop 
Elect.  On  his  arrival  at  Rome,  Innocent  neither  re- 
jected nor  admitted  his  pretensions.  Among  the  monks 
of  Christchurch,  in  the  mean  time,  the  older  and  more 
prudent  had  resumed  their  ascendency  ;  they  declared 
the  election  of  Reginald  void,  obtained  the  royal  per- 
mission, and  proceeded  under  the  royal  influence  to 
elect  in  all  due  form  John  de  Gray,  Bishop  of  Nor- 
wich, a  martial  prelate  and  the  great  leader  in  the 
councils  of  the  King.3     The  suffragan  bishops  acqui- 

1  Wendover,  pp.  154-209. 

2  Compare  Lingard,  Hist,  of  England,  in  loco. 

3  Wendover,  p.  194.    R.  de  Coggeshal. 


Chap  V.         ELECTION  OF  PRIMATE.  23 

esced  in  this  election.  The  Bishop  of  Norwich  was 
enthroned  in  the  presence  of  the  King,  and  invested  in 
all  the  temporalities  of  the  see  by  the  King  himself. 

On  the  appeal  to  Rome,  upon  this  question  of  strict 
ecclesiastical  jurisdiction,  all  agreed.  Reginald,  the 
Sub-prior  and  his  partisans  were  already  there ;  twelve 
monks  of  Christchurch  appeared  on  the  part  a.d.  1206. 
of  the  King  and  the  Bishop  of  Norwich  ;  the  suffra- 
gan bishops  had  their  delegates  to  maintain  their  right 
to  concurrent  election.  The  Pope,  in  the  first  place, 
took  into  consideration  the  right  of  election.  He  de- 
cided in  favor  of  the  monks.  Against  their  prescrip- 
tive, immemorial  usage,  appeared  only  pretensions  es- 
tablished in  irregular  and  violent  times,  under  the  pro- 
tection of  arbitrary  monarchs.1  Many  decisions  of 
the  Papal  See  had  been  in  favor  of  elections  made  by 
the  monks  alone ;  none  recognized  the  necessary  con- 
currence of  the  bishops.  Policy  no  doubt  commingled 
in  this  decree  with  reverence  for  ancient  custom  ;  the 
monks  were  more  likely  to  choose  a  prelate  of  high 
churchman-like  views — views  acceptable  to  Rome  ;  the 
bishops  to  comply  with  the  commands,  or  at  least  not 
to  be  insensible  to  the  favor  of  the  King. 

The  Court  of  Rome  proceeded  to  examine  the  va- 
lidity of  the  late  election.  It  determined  at  once  to 
annul  both  that  of  Reginald  the  Sub-prior  and  that  of 
John  de  Gray :  of  Reginald,  because  it  was  irregularly 
made,  and  by  a  small  number  of  the  electors ;  of  De 
Gray,  because  the  former  election  had  not  been  declared 
invalid  by  competent  authority.  The  twelve  monks 
were  ordered  to  proceed  to  a  new  election  at  Rome. 
John  had  anticipated  this  event,  and  taken  an  oath  of 

1  Wendover,  p.  188. 


24  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

the  monks  to  elect  no  one  but  John  de  Gray.  They 
were  menaced  with  excommunication  if  they  persisted 
Stephen  m  the  maintenance  of  their  oath  ;  they  were 
Langton.  commanded  to  elect  Stephen  Langton,  Car- 
dinal of  St.  Chrysogonus.  Innocent  could  not  have 
found  a  Churchman  more  unexceptionable,  or  of  more 
commanding  qualifications  for  the  primacy  of  England. 
Stephen  Langton  was  an  Englishman  by  birth,  of  ir- 
reproachable morals,  profound  theologic  learning,  of  a 
lofty,  firm,  yet  prudent  character,  which  unfolded  it- 
self at  a  later  period  in  a  manner  not  anticipated  by 
Pope  Innocent.  Langton  had  studied  at  Paris,  and  at- 
tained surpassing  fame  and  honorable  distinctions.  Of 
all  the  high-minded,  wise,  and  generous  prelates  who 
a.d.  1207.  have  filled  the  see  of  Canterbury,  none  have 
been  superior  to  Stephen  Langton ;  and  him  the 
Church  of  England  owes  to  Innocent  III.  And  if  in 
himself  Langton  was  so  signally  fit  for  the  station,  he 
was  more  so  in  contrast  with  his  rivals  —  Reginald, 
who  emerged  from  his  obscurity  to  fall  back  immedi- 
ately into  the  same  obscurity  ;  the  Bishop  of  Norwich, 
a  man  of  warlike  rather  than  of  priestly  fame,  immersed 
in  temporal  affairs,  the  justiciary  of  the  realm,  in 
whom  John  could  little  fear  or  Innocent  hope  to  find 
a  second  Becket.  The  monks  murmured,  but  pro- 
ceeded to  the  election  of  Langton.  Elias  of  Brant- 
field  alone  stood  aloof  unconsenting  ;  he  tried  the  ef- 
fect of  English  gold,  with  which  he  had  been  lavishly 
supplied.  Innocent,  it  is  said,  disdainfully  rejected  a 
bribe  amounting  to  three  thousand  marks.1 

Innocent,  aware  that  this  assumption  of  the  nomina- 
tion to  the  archbishopric  by  the  Pope,  this  intrusion  of 

1  Wendover  p.  212. 


Chap.  V.  RAGE  OF  KING  JOHN.  25 

a  prelate  almost  a  stranger,  would  be  offensive  to  the 
pride  of  the  English  King,  had  endeavored  to  propiti- 
ate John  by  a  suitable  present.  Among  the  weak- 
nesses of  this  vain  man  was  a  passion  for  precious 
stones.  He  sent  him  a  ring  of  great  splendor,  with 
many  gems,  accompanied  with  a  letter  explaining  their 
symbolic  religious  signification.1  The  letter  was  fol- 
lowed by  another,  recommending  strongly  Stephen 
Langton,  Archbishop  elect  of  Canterbury,  as  a  man 
incomparable  for  theologic  learning  as  for  his  character 
and  manners  ;  a  person  who  would  be  of  the  greatest 
use  to  the  King  in  temporal  or  in  spiritual  affairs.  But 
the  messengers  of  the  Pope  were  stopped  at  Dover. 
At  Viterbo,2  the  Pope  proceeded  to  the  consecration  of 
the  Primate  of  England.  The  fury  of  John  ^  of 
knew  no  bounds  :  he  accused  the  monks King  John' 
of  Canterbury  of  having  taken  his  money  in  order  to 
travel  to  Rome,  and  of  having  there  betrayed  him. 
He  threatened  to  burn  their  cloister  over  their  heads  ; 
they  fled  in  the  utmost  precipitation  to  Flanders ;  the 
church  of  Canterbury  was  committed  to  the  monks  of 
St.  Augustine  ;  the  lands  of  the  monks  of  Christchurch 
lay  an  uncultivated  wilderness.  To  the  Pope  he  wrote 
in  indignation  that  he  was  not  only  insulted  by  the  re- 
jection of  the  Bishop  of  Norwich,  but  by  the  election 
of  Langton,  a  man  utterly  unknown  to  him,  and  bred 
in  France  among  his  deadly  enemies.  The  Pope  should 
remember  how  necessary  to  him  was  the  alliance  of 
England ;  from  England  he  drew  more  wealth  than 
from  any  kingdom  beyond  the  Alps.    He  declared  that 

•  Matt.  Par. 

2  Innocent  passed  the  summer  and  autumn  of  1207  at  Viterbo.  —  Hur- 
ler, ii.  p.  39. 


26  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

he  would  cut  off  at  once  all  communication  between 
his  realm  and  Rome.1  Innocent's  tone  rose  with  that 
of  John,  but  he  maintained  calmer  dignity.  He  en- 
larged on  the  writings  of  Langton  :  so  far  from  Lang- 
ton  beino;  unknown  to  the  Kino;,  he  had  three  times 
written  to  him  since  his  promotion  to  the  cardinal- 
ate.  He  warned  the  Kino-  of  the  danger  of  revolt- 
ing  against  the  Church  :  "  Remember  this  is  a  cause 
for  which  the  glorious  martyr  St.  Thomas  shed  his 
blood." 

John  had  all  the  pride,  in  the  outset  of  this  conflict 
lie  showed  some  of  the  firm  resolution,  of  a  Norman 
sovereign.  The  Bishop  of  Norwich,  in  his  disappointed 
ambition,  inflamed  the  resentment  and  encouraged  the 
obstinacy  of  the  King.  u  Stephen  Langton  at  his  peril 
should  set  his  foot  on  the  soil  of  England."  Innocent 
proceeded  with  slow  but  determinate  measures.  All 
expostulation  having  proved  vain,  he  armed  himself 
with  that  terrible  curse  which  had  already  brought  the 
Kino;  of  France  under  his  feet.  England  in  her  turn 
must  suffer  all  the  terrors  of  interdict.  William  Bishop 
of  London,  Eustace  Bishop  of  Ely,  Mainger  Bishop 
of  Worcester,  had  instructions  to  demand  for  the  last 
time  the  royal  acknowledgment  of  Langton  ;  if  refused, 
to  publish  the  interdict  throughout  their  dioceses.2  The 
King  broke  out  into  a  paroxysm  of  fury ;  he  uttered 
the  most  fearful  oaths  —  blasphemies  they  were  called 
—  against  the  Pope  and  the  Cardinals  ;  he  swore  "  by 
the  teeth  of  God,"  that  if  they  dared  to  place  his  realm 

i  The  letter  in  Wendover,  216.  —Matt.  Paris. 

2  See  in  Rymer  a  letter  of  remonstrance  by  Pope  Innocent.  John  an- 
swvrs  the  bishop  that  he  will  obey  the  Pope,  salva  dignitate  regia  et  liber- 
latibus  regiis.  —  i.  p  99. 


Chap.  V.  ENGLAND  UNDER  INTERDICT.  27 

under  an  interdict  he  would  drive  the  whole  of  the 
bishops  and  clergy  out  of  the  kingdom,  put  out  the 
eyes  and  cut  off  the  noses  of  all  Romans  in  the  realm, 
in  order  to  mark  them  for  hatred.  He  threatened  the 
prelates  themselves  with  violence.     The  prel-  interdict. 

March  24 

ates  withdrew,  in  the  ensuing  Lent  published  1208. 
the  interdict,  and  then  fled  the  kingdom,  and  with 
them  the  Bishops  of  Bath  and  Hereford.  "  There 
they  lived,  says  the  historian,  in  abundance  and  lux- 
ury, instead  of  standing  up  as  a  defence  for  the  Lord's 
house,  abandoning  their  flocks  to  the  ravening  wolf."  } 
Salisbury  and  Rochester  took  refuge  in  Scotland.2 
Thus  throughout  England,  as  throughout  France, 
without  exception,  without  any  privilege  to  church  or 
monastery,  ceased  the  divine  offices  of  the  Church. 
From  Berwick  to  the  British  Channel,  from  the 
Land's-End  to  Dover,  the  churches  were  closed,  the 
bells  silent ;  the  only  clergy  who  were  seen  stealing 
silently  about  were  those  who  were  to  baptize  new- 
born infants  with  a  hasty  ceremony  ;  those  who  were 
to  hear  the  confession  of  the  dying,  and  to  administer 
to  them,  and  to  them  alone,  the  holy  Eucharist.  The 
dead  (no  doubt  the  most  cruel  affliction)  were  cast 
out  of  the  towns,  buried  like  dogs  in  some  unconse- 
crated  place  —  in  a  ditch  or  a  dung-heap  —  without 
prayer,  without  the  tolling  bell,  without  funeral  rite. 
Those  only  can  judge  the  effect  of  this  fearful  maledic- 
tion who  consider  how  completely  the  whole  life  of  all 
orders  was  affected  by  the  ritual  and  daily  ordinances 
of  the  Church.  Every  important  act  was  done  under 
the  counsel  of  the  priest  or  the  monk.  Even  to  the 
less  serious,  the  festivals  of  the  Church  were  the  only 

1  Wendover,  p.  224.  2  Bower.  Continuat.  Fordun.  viii. 


28  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

holidays,  the  processions  of  the  Church  the  only  spec- 
tacles, the  ceremonies  of  the  Church  the  only  amuse- 
ments. To  those  of  deeper  religion,  to  those,  the  far 
greater  number,  of  abject  superstition,  what  was  it  to 
have  the  child  thus  almost  furtively  baptized,  marriage 
unblessed,  or  hardly  blessed ; *  the  obsequies  denied  ; 
to  hear  neither  prayer  nor  chant ;  to  suppose  that  the 
world  was  surrendered  to  the  unrestrained  power  of 
the  devil  and  his  evil  spirits,  with  no  saint  to  intercede, 
no  sacrifice  to  avert  the  wrath  of  God ;  when  no  single 
image  was  exposed  to  view,  not  a  cross  unveiled :  the 
intercourse  between  man  and  God  utterly  broken  off; 
souls  left  to  perish,  or  but  reluctantly  permitted  abso- 
lution in  the  instant  of  death  ? 

John  might  seem  to  encounter  the  public  misery,  not 
with  resolute  bravery,  but  with  an  insolence  of  disdain  ; 
to  revel  in  his  vengeance  against  the  bishops  and  priests 
who  obeyed  the  Pope.  The  Sheriffs  had  orders  to  com- 
pel all  such  priests  and  bishops  to  quit  the  realm,  scorn- 
fully adding  that  they  might  seek  justice  with  the  Pope. 
He  seized  the  bishoprics  and  abbeys,  and  escheated 
their  estates  into  the  hands  of  laymen.  Some  of 
the  monks  refused  to  leave  their  monasteries ;  their 
lands  and  property  were  not  the  less  confiscated  to  the 
King's  Exchequer.  All  the  barns  of  the  clergy  were 
closed  and  marked  as  belonging  to  the  royal  revenue. 
The  clergy  of  England  were  open  to  persecution  of  a 
more  cruel  nature.  The  marriage  of  the  clergy  still 
prevailed  to  a  wide  extent,  under  the  opprobrious 
name  of  concubinage.     The  King  seized  these  females 

1  Dr.  Lingard,  from  Dunstable,  c.  51,  says  that  sermons  were  preached 
'n  the  church-yards,  marriages  and  churchings  performed  in  the  church- 
porch.  -  •  vol.  iii. 


^HAr.  V.  OPPRESSIONS   OF  THE  CHURCH.  29 

throughout  the  realm,  and  extorted  large  sums  for  their 
ransom.1  The  ecclesiastics,  as  they  would  not  submit 
to  the  King's  law,  were  out  of  the  protection  of  the 
King's  law ;  if  assaulted  on  the  high  road,  plundered, 
maltreated,  they  sought  redress  in  vain.  It  was  said 
that  when  a  robber  was  brought  bound  before  the  King 
who  had  robbed  and  slain  a  priest,  John  ordered  his  re- 
lease :  "  He  has  rid  me  of  one  enemy."  Yet  through- 
out all  these  oppressions  of  the  Church,  three  prelates 
—  his  minister  Peter  of  Winchester,  Gray  of  Norwich 
(Deputy  of  Ireland),  and  Philip  of  Durham  —  were 
the  firm  partisans,  the  unscrupulous  executors  of  all  the 
King's  measures.2 

l "  Presbyterorum  et  clericorum  focarise  per  totam  Angliam  a  ministris 
regiis  captae  sunt  et  graviter  ad  se  redimendum  compulse."  —  Wendover, 
p.  223. 

2  See,  on  the  bishops,  the  very  curious  Latin  song  published  by  Mr. 
Wright, '  Political  Songs.'  Stephen  is  expected  to  be  a  second  Becket. 
"  Thomam  habes  (Cantia)  sed  alterum.  Sed  cum  habebis  Stephanum  — 
Assumes  tibi  tympanum  —  Chelyn  tangens  sub  modulo."  Bath  is  accused 
of  inordinate  rapacity  as  a  collector  for  the  king's  exchequer.  "  Tu  Nor- 
wicensis  bestial  —  Audi  quid  dicat  Veritas  —  Qui  non  iutrat  per  ostia  — 
Fur  est,  an  de  hoc  dubitas  —  Heu !  cecidisti  gravius  —  Quam  Cato  quondam 
tertius;  Cum  praesumpta  electio  —  Justo  ruat  judicio.  Empta  per  dolum 
Simonis  —  Wintoniensis  armiger  —  Praesidet  ad  Scaccarium  —  Ad  compu- 
tandum  impiger — Piger  ad  evangelium  —  Regis  revolvens  rotulum  —  Sic 
lucrum  Lucam  superat  —  Marco,  Marcam  praeponderat —  Et  librae  librum 
subjicit."  John  (William?)  of  London,  Ely,  and  Worcester  (the  successor 
of  St.  Wulstan),  are  named  as  the  three  who  are  to  beat  down  the  three  im- 
pious ones,  "Ely,  parcens  paucis  vel  nemini."  Salisbury  and  Rochester 
are  named  with  more  meagre  praise.  —  P.  10,  et  seq.  There  is  a  spirited 
anti-papal  song  on  the  other  side.     It  is  chiefly  on  the  avarice  of  Rome  — 

"  Romanorum  curia  non  est  nisi  forum." 
It  does  not  abstain  from  the  Pope  — 

"  Cum  ad  Papam  veneris,  habe  pro  constanti, 
Non  est  locus  pauperi,  soli  favet  danti." 

Mr.  Wright  suggests  that  the  lion  in  the  fourth  verse  means  King  John  — 
a  strange  similitude !  —  the  bishops  the  asses 


30  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Rook  IX. 

These  exactions  from  the  clergy  enabled  John  to 
conduct  his  campaigns  in  Scotland,  Wales,  and  Ireland 
with  success.  After  above  a  year  Innocent  determined 
to  strike  at  the  person  of  the  King,  to  excommunicate 
him  by  name  in  the  most  solemn  manner.  Stephen 
Lank  ton  had  obtained  a  relaxation  of  the  interdict  so 
tar  that  Divine  service  might  be  performed  once  a 
week  in  the  conventual  churches.  The  Pope  issued  his 
commission  to  the  fugitive  Bishops  of  London,  Ely,  and 
Worcester,  to  pronounce  the  sentence  of  excommunica- 
tion, and  to  transmit  it  for  publication  to  the  few  prel- 
ates who  remained  in  the  land.  Every  Sunday  and 
every  feast  day  it  was  to  be  repeated  in  all  the  conven- 
tual churches  of  England.  Not  a  prelate  dared  to  un- 
dertake the  office  ;  the  whole  clergy  wTere  dumb.  Yet 
the  awful  fact  transpired  ;  men  whispered  to  each  other 
that  the  King  was  an  excommunicated  person  ;  it  was 
silently  promulgated  in  market-places,  and  in  the  streets 
of  the  cities.  One  clergyman,  Geoffrey,  Archdeacon 
of  Norwich,  who  was  employed  in  the  royal  exchequer, 
was  seized  with  conscientious  scruples  as  to  serving  an 
exeommunicatd  King.  He  retired  to  Norwich.  The 
King  sent  after  him,  ordered  him  to  be  loaded  with 
chains,  and  afterwards  cased  in  a  surcoat  of  lead  :  he 
died  in  prison. 

It  is  remarkable  that  while  the  interdict  of  one  year 
H.sisfmce  reduced  the  more  haughty  and  able  Philip 
of  .John.  Augustus  to  submission,  the  weak,  tyranni- 
cal, and  contemptible  John  defied  for  four  years  the 
whole  awful  effects  of  interdict,  and  even  for  some  time 
of  personal  excommunication.  Had  John  been  a  popu- 
lar sovereign,  had  he  won  to  his  own  side  by  wise 
conciliation,  by  respect  to  their  rights,  by  a  dignified 


Chap.  V.  RESISTANCE  OF  JOHN.  81 

appeal  to  their  patriotism,  the  barons  and  the  people  of 
England ;  had  he  even  tempted  their  worse  passions, 
and  offered  them  a  share  in  the  confiscated  property  of 
the  Church,  even  the  greatest  of  the  Popes  might  have 
wasted  his  ineffectual  thunders  on  the  land.  Above 
two  years  after  the  interdict,  and  when  the  sentence  of 
excommunication  was  well  known,  King  John  a.d.  ]2io 
held  his  Christmas  at  Windsor ;  not  one  of  the  great 
barons  refused  to  communicate  with  him  :  even  later, 
when  Innocent  proceeded  to  release  his  subjects  from 
their  oaths  of  allegiance,  he  counted  among  a.d.  1211. 
his  steadfast  adherents  three  bishops,  Henry  of  Win- 
chester, Philip  of  Durham,  and  John  of  Norwich ;  the 
Chancellor  and  a  great  number  of  the  most  powerful 
barons  were  firm  in  their  loyalty.  But  while  he  de- 
fied the  Pope  and  the  hierarchy,  he  at  the  same  time 
seemed  to  labor  to  alienate  the  affections  of  all  orders 
in  the  country.  He  respected  no  rights  ;  nothing  was 
sacred  against  his  rapacity  and  his  lust.  His  profligate- 
habits  outraged  the  honor  of  the  nobles ;  his  passion  for 
his  Queen  Isabella  had  burned  out;  not  one  of  the 
wives  or  daughters  of  the  highest  barons  was  safe  from 
his  seductions  or  violence  ;  against  the  lower  orders  he 
had  reenacted  and  enforced  with  the  utmost  severity 
the  forest-laws.  An  obscure  person  ("  a  false  theolo- 
gian "),  Alexander  the  Mason,  had  noAV  found  his  way 
into  the  councils  of  the  King.  Alexander  is  charged 
with  encouraging  at  once  the  tyrannous  and  iriuligious 
disposition  of  the  King.  He  declared  that  kings  were 
d'signed  by  God  as  scourges  of  their  subjects  ;  that 
he  should  govern  them  with  a  rod  of  iron.  He  averred 
at  the  same  time  that  the  Pope  had  no  right  to  interfere 
in  ternporal  matters  ;  that  God  had  given  only  ecclesi- 


32  LATIN  CIIEISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

astical  powers  to  St.  Peter.  John  heaped  benefices, 
which  he  wrested  from  their  right  owners,  on  this  con- 
genial adviser ;  he  was  afterwards  reduced  by  the 
Pope's  interposition  to  the  lowest  beggary ;  the  clergy 
triumphed  in  his  misery.1  The  exactions  and  barbari- 
ties of  the  King  against  the  Jews  would  move  but 
a.ik  1210.  slight  sympathy,  even  if  not  viewed  with 
approbation ;  they  were  seized,  imprisoned,  tortured, 
without  any  avowed  charge,  with  the  sole,  almost  os 
tentatious  design,  of  wringing  money  from  their  obsti- 
nate grasp.  The  well-known  story  of  the  Jew  who 
lost  his  teeth,  one  every  day  for  seven  days,  before  he 
would  yield,  and  on  the  eighth  redeemed  what  were 
left  by  ten  thousand  marks,  even  if  wholly  or  partly 
a  fiction,  is  a  fiction  significant  of  terrible  truth.2  But 
the  whole  people  was  oppressed  by  heavy  and  unpre- 
cedented taxation.  At  length,  when  time  had  been 
given  for  the  estrangement  of  the  nobles  and  people  to 
grow  into  disaffection,  almost  into  revolt,  Innocent  pro- 
ceeded to  that  last  act  of  authority  which  the  Papal 
See  reserved  against  contumacious  sovereigns.  The 
Interdict  had  smitten  the  land  ;  the  Excommunication 
desecrated  the  person  of  the  King  ;  the  subjects  had 
been  absolved  from  their  fealty  ;  there  remained  the 
act  of  deposition  from  the  throne  of  his  fathers.  The 
sentence  was  publicly,  solemnly  promulgated  against 
ad.  1213.  the  King  of  England  ;  his  domains  were 
declared  the  lawful  spoil  of  whoever  could  wrest  them 
from  his  unhallowed  hands. 

There  was  but  one  sovereign  in  Europe  whom  his 
own  daring  ambition,  and  his  hatred  of  John,  might 
tempt  tc  this  perilous  enterprise.     Philip  Augustus,  who 

i  Wendover,  p.  229.  2  Wendover  231. 


Chaf.V.        JOHN  DECLARED  DEPOSED.  33 

had  himself  so  bitterly  complained  of  the  insolence  of 
the  Pope  in  interdicting  his  realm,  excommu-  Phi"p 

.  .  ■■  .  .  Augustus 

nicatinff    his    person,   absolving    his    sub  ects  undertakes 

&  r  .     .  ,  -,   to  dethrone 

from  their  fealty,  was  now  religiously  moved  King  John, 
to  execute  the  Papal  sentence  of  deposition  against  his 
rival.  He  had  won  the  continental  dominions,  he 
would  possess  himself  of  the  insular  territories  of  Jo] in. 
The  policy  of  Pope  Innocent  with  regard  to  the  King 
of  France  had  undergone  a  total  revolution.  Otho,  the 
Emperor,  the  kinsman  of  John,  who  owed  to  the  wealth 
of  John  his  success  in  his  struggle  for,  if  not  his  con- 
quest of  the  Empire,  was  now  the  armed  enemy  of  the 
Pope ;  France  was  the  ally  of  Frederick  the  Sicilian, 
whose  claims  to  the  Empire  were  befriended  by  Inno- 
cent. The  interests  of  the  Pope  and  the  King  of 
France  were  as  intimately  allied  as  they  had  been  im- 
placably opposed.  At  a  great  assembly  in  Soissons 
appeared  Stephen  Langton,  the  Bishops  of  April  8, 1213. 
London  and  Ely,  newly  arrived  from  Rome,  the  King 
of  France,  the  bishops,  clergy  and  people  of  that  realm. 
The  English  bishops  proclaimed  the  sentence  of  depo- 
sition ;  enjoined  the  King  of  France  and  all  others, 
under  the  promise  of  the  remission  of  their  sins,  to 
take  up  arms  ;  to  dethrone  the  impious  King  of  Eng- 
land ;  to  replace  him  by  a  more  worthy  sovereign. 
Philip  Augustus  accepted  the  command  of  this  new 
crusade.  Great  forces  were  levied  for  the  invasion  of 
England  ;  secret  negotiations  carried  on  with  the  dis- 
contented nobles.  The  measures  of  John  were  not 
wanting  in  vigor  or  subtlety.  He  raised  an  immense 
force,  which  encamped  on  Barham  Downs.  The  sheriffs 
had  been  ordered  to  summon  every  man  capable  of 
bearing  arms  ;  every  vessel  which  would  hold  six  horses 

VOL.  V.  3 


34  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

was  to  assemble  in  Portsmouth  harbor.  He  assumed 
the  aggressive,  captured  some  ships  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Seine,  and  burned  Fecamp  and  Dieppe.  The  army 
was  so  vast  as  to  be  unwieldy,  and  could  not  be  sup- 
plied with  provisions  :  but,  even  reduced,  it  amounted 
to  60,000  men.1  Yet  in  all  that  army  there  were  few 
whom  John  could  trust,  except,  perhaps,  the  Irish, 
1500  foot  and  a  strong  force  of  cavalry,  brought  over 
by  his  fast  friend  the  Bishop  of  Norwich,  the  Deputy 
of  Ireland  ;  and  the  Flemish  mercenaries,  sc  long  as 
they  received  their  pay.  It  was  universally  believed, 
Desperation    it  became  matter  of  grave  history,  that  John 

of  King  !  P  Ml  f»    1       1 

John.  took  a  step  of  still  more  awful  desperation  ; 

the  outcast  of  Christendom  would  take  refuge  in  Mo- 
hammedanism. He  meditated  a  bold  revolt  to  Islam. 
He  despatched  a  secret  embassy  to  Mohammed  el  Nas- 
ser, the  Emir  al  Mouenim,  the  Caliph,  as  he  was  called, 
of  the  Mohammedans  of  Spain  and  Africa,  offering  to 
embrace  the  faith  of  the  Korftn,  to  own  himself  the 
vassal  of  the  representative  of  the  false  prophet.  It 
was  still  more  unaccountably  believed  that  the  haughty 
Mohammedan  treated  his  advances  with  disdain,  and 
refused  to  honor  the  renegade  Christian  with  his  alii- 
ance.  It  is  true  that  the  abhorrence,  the  contempt  of 
the  Christian  world  had  become  allayed  rather  than 
inflamed  by  the  Crusades ;  noble  Christian  knights  and 
Christian  kings  had  learned  to  honor  chivalry  and  gen- 
erosity in  their  unbelieving  foes.  The  strife  of  Richard 
and  Saladin  had  been  that  of  kings  who  admired  the 
lofty  qualities  each  of  his  rival  ;  Philip  Augustus  was 
said  in  his  wrath  to  have  expressed  his  envy  of  the 
Mohammedan  Noureddin,  who  had  no  Pope  to  control 

1  See  in  Wendover  the  orders  to  the  sheriffs,  p.  244. 


Uhap.  V.  PANDULPH  LEGATE.  35 

him.  Frederick  II.  is  about  to  appear  even  in,  more 
suspicious  friendly  approximation  to  the  misbeliever. 
It  is  more  probable  that  John  may,  in  his  impotent  pas- 
sion, have  threatened,  than  had  the  courage  to  purpose 
such  act  of  apostasy.  The  strong  argument  against  it 
is  his  cowardice  rather  than  his  Christian  faith.  Even 
John  must  have  had  the  sagacity  to  see  that  such  alli- 
ance could  give  him  no  strength  :  would  arm  embattled 
Christendom  against  him.  His  anger  might  madden 
him  to  bold  words,  it  would  not  support  him  in  delib- 
erate acts.  But  that  the  story  was  widely  spread, 
eagerly  believed,  is  of  itself  a  significant  historical 
fact.1  But  the  better  and  wiser  hope  of  John  was  in 
detaching  the  Pope  himself,  by  feigned  or  by  tempo- 
rary submission,  from  the  head  of  his  own  league  ;  in 
making  a  separate  peace  with  the  Pontiff.  He  had  sent 
the  Abbot  of  Beaulieu,  with  five  other  ecclesiastics,  to 
Rome  ;  they  had  not  been  allowed,  on  account  of  cer- 
tain informalities,  to  proceed  in  their  negotiations  ;  but 
the  Subdeacon  Pandulph,  an  ecclesiastic  high,  in  the 
confidence  of  Innocent,  was  commanded  to  proceed  to 
England  as  Legate.  Without  any  communication  with 
the  King  of  France,  Pandulph  presented  himself  at 
Dover  before  King  John.2 

John  by  this  time  had  passed  from  the  height  of  in- 
solence to  the  lowest  prostration  of  fear.  Not  only  did 
everything  tend  to  deepen  his  mistrust  of  his  own  sub- 
jects and  his  suspicions  of  the  wavering  fidelity  of  his 
army,  but,  like  most  irreligious  men,  he  was  the  slave 
of  superstition.     One   Peter,   a  hermit,   had   obtained 

1  Matth.  Paris,  p.  169.     Compare  Lingard,  who  is  disposed  to  think  the 
story  not  incredible. 

2  Pandulph  was  not  cardinal. 


86  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX 

great  fame  among  the  people  as  a  prophet :  of  all  his 
prophecies  none  had  made  greater  noise,  or  been  re- 
ceived with  more  greediness,  than  a  saying  relating 
to  the  King  ;  that  before  Ascension  Day  John  would 
cease  to  be  King  of  England.  Peter  had  been  seized 
and  imprisoned  in  Corfe  Castle,  and  now,  just  at  this 
perilous  crisis,  the  fatal  Ascension  Day  was  drawing 
on ;  there  wanted  but  three  days.  Pandulph  was  an 
Italian  of  consummate  ability.  He  was  ushered  into 
the  presence  of  the  King  by  two  Knights  Templars. 
His  skilful  address  overawed  the  shattered  mind  of 
John  to  a  panic  of  humiliation.  He  described  in  the 
most  vivid  terms  the  vast  forces  of  the  King  of  France, 
darkened  the  disloyalty  of  the  English  barons ;  King 
Philip  had  declared  that  he  had  the  signatures  of 
almost  all  of  them  inviting  him  over.1  From  the 
hostility  of  France,  of  the  exiled  bishops,  of  his  own 
oarons,  he  had  everything  to  fear ;  everything  to  hope 
from  the  clemency  of  Rome.  John,  once  humbled, 
knew  no  bounds  to  his  abject  submission  ;  he  was  as 
recklessly  lavish  in  his  concessions  as  recklessly  obsti- 
May  is,  1213.  nate  in  his  resistance.  He  was  not  even  sat- 
isfied with  subscribing  the  hard  terms  of  the  treaty 
dictated  by  Pandulph ;  he  seemed  to  have  a  desper- 
ate determination  by  abasing  himself  even  below  all 
precedent  to  merit  the  strongest  protection  from  that 
irresistible  power  which  he  had  rashly  provoked,  and 
before  which  he  was  now  bowed  down  ;  he  could 
not  purchase  at  too  high  a  price  his  reconciliation  to 


1 "  Jactat  in  prseterea  idem  rex  chartas  habere  omnium  fere  Angliae  mag- 
natum  de  iidelitate  et  subjeetione." — Wendover,  p.  47.  Yet  John  had 
great  names  on  his  side,  —  William,  Earl  of  Salisbury,  his  bastard  brother? 
Reginald,  Count  oi*  Boulogne;  W&tennes,  de  Veres. 


Chap.  V.  SUBMISSION  OF  JOHN.  87 

the  See  of  Rome  ;  perhaps  he  contemplated,  not  with- 
out satisfaction,  the  bitter  disappointment  of  his  ene- 
my Philip  Augustus,  in  thus  being  deprived  of  his 
prey. 

The  treaty  with  the  Pope  acknowledged  the  full 
right  of  Langton  to  the  Archiepiscopal  See  ;  it  re- 
pealed the  sentence  of  banishment  against  the  clergy, 
and  reinstated  them  in  their  functions  and  their  es- 
tates ;  it  promised  full  restitution  of  all  moneys  con- 
fiscated to  the  royal  use,  and  compensation  for  other 
wrongs  ;  a  specific  sum  was  to  be  paid  to  the  Arch- 
bishop, and  to  each  of  the  exiled  bishops  ;  it  released 
from  imprisonment  all  who  had  been  apprehended 
during  the  contest ;  it  reversed  every  sentence  of  out- 
lawry ;  and  guaranteed  the  clergy  for  the  future  from 
such  violent  abuse  of  the  power  of  the  Crown.  Four 
barons  swore  to  the  execution  of  these  stipulations 
on  the  part  of  the  King  ;  the  Legate,  on  that  of  the 
Pope,  that  on  their  due  fulfilment  the  interdict  and 
the  excommunication  should  be  removed ;  and  that 
the  bishops  should  take  a  new  oath  of  allegiance.  But 
Ascension  Day  was  not  yet  passed  ;  it  wanted  still 
two  days :  and  during  those  two  days  John  had  un- 
consciously fulfilled  the  prediction  of  the  Hermit.  On 
the  vigil  of  that  day  appeared  the  Legate  Submission 
in  his  full  pomp  in  the  church  of  the  Tern- of  John- 
plars.  On  the  other  side  entered  the  King  of  Eng- 
land, and  placed  an  instrument  in  the  Legate's  hands, 
signed,  sealed,  and  subscribed  with  his  own  name, 
with  that  of  the  attesting  witnesses.  —  "  Be  it  known 
to  all  men,"  so  ran  the  Charter,  "  that  having  in  many 
points  offended  God  and  our  Holy  Mother  the  Church, 
as  satisfaction  for  our  sins,  and  duly  to  humble  ourselves 


38  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

after  the  example  of  Him  who  for  our  sake  humbled 
himself  to  death,  by  the  grace  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
with  our  own  free-will  and  the  common  consent  of 
our  barons,  we  bestow  and  yield  up  to  God,  to  his 
holy  apostles  Peter  and  Paul,  to  our  Lord  the  Po]  3 
Innocent,  and  his  successors,  all  our  kingdom  of  Eng- 
land and  all  our  kingdom  of  Ireland,  to  be  held  as  a  fief 
of  the  Holy  See  with  the  payment  of  1000  marks, 
and  the  customary  Peter's  pence.  We  reserve  to 
ourselves,  and  to  our  heirs,  the  royal  rights  in  the 
administration  of  justice.  And  we  declare  this  deed 
irrevocable ;  and  if  any  of  our  successors  shall  attempt 
to  annul  our  act,  we  declare  him  thereby  to  have 
forfeited  his  crown."  The  attesting  witnesses  were 
one  archbishop  (of  Dublin),  one  bishop  (De  Gray  of 
Norwich),  nine  earls,  among  them  Pembroke  and 
Salisbury,  and  four  barons.  The  next  day  he  took 
the  usual  oath  of  fealty  to  the  Pope;  he  swore  on 
the  Gospels.  It  was  the  oath  of  a  vassal.  "  I,  John, 
by  the  Grace  of  God,  King  of  England  and  Lord  of 
Ireland,  from  this  day  forth  and  forever,  will  be  faith- 
ful to  God  and  to  the  ever  blessed  Peter,  and  to  the 
Church  of  Rome,  and  to  my  Lord  the  Pope  Innocent, 
and  to  his  Catholic  successors.  I  will  not  be  accessory, 
in  act  or  word,  by  consent  or  counsel,  to  their  loss  of 
life,  of  limb,  or  of  freedom.  I  will  save  them  harm- 
less from  any  wrong  of  which  I  may  know ;  I  will 
avert  all  in  my  power ;  I  will  warn  them  by  myself 
or  by  trusty  messengers,  of  any  evil  intended  against 
them.  I  will  keep  profoundly  secret  all  communica- 
tions with  which  they  may  intrust  me  by  letter  or  by 
message.  I  will  aid  in  the  maintenance  and  defence 
of  the  patrimony  of  St.  Peter,  specially  this  kingdom 


Chap.V.   SURRENDER  OF  ENGLAND  TO  THE  POPE.     39 

of  England  and  Ireland,  to  the  utmost  of  my  power, 
against  all  enemies.  So  help  me  God  and  his  holy 
Gospels."1  Every  year,  besides  Peter's  pence,  the 
realm  was  to  pay  to  the  Holy  See,  as  sign  of  vas- 
salage, 1000  marks  —  700  for  England,  300  for  Ire- 
land. 

By  this  extraordinary  proceeding  it  is  difficult  to 
decide  to  what  extent,  according  to  the  estimation  of 
the  time,  John  degraded  himself  and  the  realm  of 
England.  His  first  act  showed  that  he  was  himself 
insensible  to  all  its  humiliating  significance.  That  first 
act  was  to  revenge  himself  on  Peter  the  Hermit.  As- 
cension Day  passed  over;  he  instantly  ordered  Peter 
and  his  son  to  be  dragged  at  the  tails  of  horses,  and 
hung  on  gibbets,  as  false  prophets.  But  the  popular 
feeling  vindicated  the  truth  of  the  prediction  :  John 
had  ceased  to  reign  by  the  surrender  of  his  kingdom 
to  the  Pope.  It  was  afterwards  among  the  heaviest 
charges  made  by  Louis  of  France,  when  he  claimed 
the  crown  of  England ;  it  followed  the  accusation  of 
the  murder  of  his  nephew  Arthur,  that  John  had  un- 
lawfully surrendered  the  realm  to  the  Pope.2  The 
attesting  witnesses  were  some  of  the  greatest  nobles 
in  the  land ;  they  were  chiefly  the  attached  partisans 
of  John,  the  Bishop  of  Norwich,  and  the  King's  bas- 
tard brother,  Salisbury  ;  Pembroke  and  Warenne  were 
afterwards  among  the  barons  who  extorted  the  great 
Charter. 

1  Compare  the  copies  of  the  submission  and  the  oath  in  Wendover  with 
those  in  Rymer.  In  Wendover  secundarius  has  been  substituted  (by  the 
copyist)  for  feudatorius. 

2  The  passage  cited  by  Dr.  Lingard,  that  he  did  this  under  compulsion 
from  the  barons,  coactus,  will  bear  another  interpretation.  He  was  com* 
pelled  not  by  the  counsel  or  control  of  those  around  him,  but  by  the  per- 
fidious league  of  the  others  with  France. 


40  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX 

Innocent  had  added,  by  this  act  of  John,  another 
Effects  of  and  a  more  powerful  kingdom  to  that  great 
misSsion.  feudal  monarchy,  half  spiritual,  half  tempo- 
ral, which  the  later  Popes  had  aspired  to  found  in 
Rome  ; x  that  vague  and  undefined  sovereignty  which 
gave  the  right  of  interfering  in  all  the  affairs  of  the 
realm,  as  Suzerain,  as  well  as  Spiritual  Father.  He 
had  succeeded,  by  accident  in  truth,  and  to  his  loss 
and  discomfiture,  in  imposing  an  Emperor  on  Ger- 
many ;  but  still  he  had  fixed  a  precedent  for  the  de- 
cision of  the  Pope  against  a  majority  of  the  German 
electors.  He  held,  at  least  he  claimed  to  hold,  the 
greater  part  of  Italy.  He  did  hold  the  kingdom  of 
Sicily,  as  a  fief  of  the  Papacy  ;  the  patrimony  of  St. 
Peter,  and  the  inheritance  of  the  Counts  of  Tuscany, 
as  actual  Lord.  In  France  the  Popes  asserted  the 
reigning  family,  the  descendants  of  Hugh  Capet,  to 
have  received  the  throne  by  their  award.  The  Pope 
had  transferred  it  as  from  the  Merovingian  to  the 
Carlovingian  :  so  from  the  house  of  Charlemagne  to 
that  of  Capet.  In  Spain,  the  kingdom  of  Arragon 
owned  feudal  allegiance.  The  Latin  Empire  of  Con- 
stantinople, though  won  in  direct  prohibition  of  his 
commands,  was  yet  subject  to  his  undefined  claim  of 
sovereignty.  Over  all  kingdoms  conquered  from  the 
infidels  he  asserted  his  right  of  disposal,  as  well  as 
over  all  islands:  England  held  Ireland  by  his  sov- 
ereign grant. 

Pandulph  had  received  the  fealty  of  the  King  of 
Pandniph  England ;  the  8000Z.  sterling,  which  had 
France.         been  stipulated  as  the  compensation  for  the 


i  During  many  pontificates  the  papal  bulls  and  briefs  speak  of  England 
i  a  vassal  kingdom  held  of  Rome. 


Ohap.V.        INDIGNATION  OF  PHILIP  AUGUSTUS.  41 

exiled  prelates,  had  been  paid  into  his  hands ;  he  is 
said  likewise  to  have  received  a  sum  of  money  as  the 
first  payment  of  the  tribute  to  Rome,  and  to  have 
trampled  it  contemptuously  under  his  feet.  But  it 
was  not  Pandulph's  policy  to  insult  further  the  de- 
graded John  ;  and  Pandulph  was  a  man  who  acted 
throughout  from  wary  policy.  It  is  possible  that 
in  order  to  take  a  high  tone,  and  remove  that  sus- 
picion of  rapacity  which  attached  to  all  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  Court  of  Rome,  he  may  have  declined  to 
receive  these  first  fruits  of  his  conquest ;  but  what  he 
did  carry  to  France  was  not  the  fee-farm  payment  to 
Rome,  but  the  restitution  money  to  the  English  prel- 
ates.1 He  appeared  before  the  King  of  France,  and 
in  the  name  of  the  Pope  briefly  and  peremptorily  for- 
bade him  from  proceeding  to  further  hostilities  against 
John,  who  had  now  made  his  peace  with  the  Fury  of 
Church.  Philip  Augustus  burst  into  fury.  Phiiip- 
"  Had  he  at  the  cost  of  sixty  thousand  pounds  assem- 
bled at  the  summons,  at  the  entreaty  of  the  Pope,  one 
of  the  noblest  armaments  which  had  ever  met  under 
a  King  of  France  ?  Was  all  the  chivalry  of  France, 
in  arms  around  their  sovereign,  to  be  dismissed  like 
hired  menials  when  there  was  no  more  use  for  thdr 
services  ?  "  His  invectives  against  the  Pope  passed  not 
only  all  the  bounds  of  respect,  but  of  courtesy.  But 
the  defection  of  Ferrand  Count^of  Flanders  was  more 
powerful  in  arresting  the  invasion  of  England,  than 
the  inhibition  of  Pandulph.  Ferrand,  whose  conduct 
had  been  before  doubtful,  and  who  had  entered  into  a 
secret  league  with  the  King  of  England,  diverted  on 
his  own  dominions  the  wrath  of  Philip,  to  whom  the 

1  Sismondi  has  confounded  the  two  kinds  of  payment. 


42  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

more  alluring  plunder  of  the  rich  Flemish  towns 
seemed  to  offer  a  conquest  more  easy  and  profitable 
than  the  realm  of  England.  Flanders,  he  swore,  shall 
be  France,  or  France  Flanders.  But  the  fleets  of 
England  joined  the  Flemings,  and  the  attempted  con- 
quest of  Flanders  by  Philip  Augustus  ended  in  dis- 
graceful discomfiture. 

If  the  dastardly  mind  of  John  was  insensible  to  the 
shame  of  having  degraded  his  kingdom  into  a  fief  of 
Rome,  he  might  enjoy  an  ignominious  triumph  in  the 
result  of  Philip's  campaign.  From  himself  he  had 
averted  all  immediate  danger;  he  had  arrested  the 
French  invasion  of  England,  and  the  menaced  revolt 
of  his  barons ;  he  had  humbled  his  implacable  enemy 
by  his  successes  in  Flanders.  He  had  secured  an  ally, 
faithful  to  him  in  all  his  subsequent  tyrannies,  humil- 
iations, and  disasters.  The  vassal  of  the  Roman  See 
found  a  constant,  if  less  powerful  protector,  in  his  lord 
the  Pontiff  of  Rome.  As  elate  in  transient  success  as 
cowardly  in  disaster,  John  determined  to  resume  the 
aggressive ;  to  invade  his  ancient  dominions  in  Poitou. 
But  he  was  still  under  excommunication  (Pandulph 
had  prudently  reserved  the  absolution  till  John  had 
fulfilled  the  terms  of  the  treaty  by  the  reception  of  the 
exiled  prelates).  The  barons  refused  to  follow  the 
banner  of  the  kingdom,  raised  by  an  excommunicated 
monarch.  John  was  compelled  to  fulfil  his  agreement 
July  20, 1213.  to  the  utmost ;  to  drink  the  dregs  of  humilia- 
ret'sbay.  tion.  The  exiled  prelates,  Stephen  of  Can- 
terbury, William  of  London,  Eustace  of  Ely,  Hubert 
of  Lincoln,  Giles  of  Hereford,  landed  at  Dover ;  they 
proceeded  to  Winchester : 1  there  they  were  met  before 

i  Wendover,  p.  260. 


Chap.  V.  ABSOLUTION  OF  JOHN.  43 

the  gates  by  John  ;  he  fell  at  their  feet  and  shed  tears. 
The  prelates  raised  him  up,  mingling,  it  is  said,  their 
tears  with  his  ;  they  conducted  him  into  the  church  ; 
they  pronounced  the  absolution.  King  John  swore  on 
the  Gospels  to  defend  the  Church  and  the  priesthood ; 
he  swore  also  to  reestablish  the  good  laws  of  his  prede- 
cessors, especially  those  of  King  Edward  ;  to  abrogate 
the  bad  laws  ;  to  judge  every  man  according  to  his 
right.  He  swore  also  to  make  ample  restitution,  un- 
der pain  of  a  second  excommunication,  of  all  which 
he  had  confiscated  during  the  exile  of  the  prelates. 
He  again  swore  fealty  to  the  Pope  and  his  Catholic 
successors. 

John,  now  free  from  ecclesiastical  censures,  embarked 
for  Poitou  in  the  full  hope  that  the  realm  of  England 
would  follow  him  in  dutiful  obedience.  Most  of  the 
barons  stood  sullenly  aloof;  those  who  embarked 
abandoned  him  at  Jersey.  This  was  the  first  overt 
act  in  the  momentous  strife  of  the  Barons  of  England 
for  the  liberties  of  England,  which  ended  in  the  signa- 
ture of  the  great  Charter ;  and  at  the  head  of  these 
Barons  was  Stephen  Langton,  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury. Henry  II.  when  he  raised  Becket  to  the  Pri- 
macy of  England,  in  order  by  his  means  to  establish 
the  temporal  supremacy  of  the  King  over  the  Church, 
had  not  more  completely  mistaken  the  character  of  the 
man,  than  Innocent  when  he  raised  Langton  to  the 
same  dignity,  to  maintain  all  the  exorbitant  pretensions 
of  Rome  over  England.  Langton,  a  more  enlightened 
churchman,  remembered  not  only  that  he  was  an  Arch- 
bishop, but  that  he  was  an  Englishman  and  a  noble  of 
England.  He  had  asserted  with  the  Pope  the  liberties 
of  the  Church  against  the  King ;  he  asserted  the  liber- 


44  LATIK  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

ties  of  England  against  the  same  King,  though  sup- 
ported by  the  Pope.  Almost  the  first  act  of  Langton 
was  to  take  the  initiative  in  the  cause  of  the  barons. 
John  returned  from  Jersey  in  fury  against  the  contuma- 
cious nobles ;  he  declared  his  determination  to  revenue 
himself,  he  summoned  troops  to  execute  his  vengeance. 
Langton  sought  him  at  Northampton,  and  remonstrated 
at  his  arming  against  his  barons  before  they  had  been 
arraigned  and  found  guilty  in  the  royal  courts,  as  a 
violation  of  the  oath  sworn  before  his  absolution. 
The  King  dismissed  him  with  scorn,  commanding 
him  not  to  meddle  in  state  affairs.  But  Langton 
followed  John  to  Nottingham ;  threatened  to  excom- 
municate every  one  who  should  engage  in  this  war 
before  a  fair  trial  had  taken  place,  excepting  only 
the  King  himself.1  The  King  sullenly  consented 
to  convoke  a  plenary  court  of  his  nobles.  One 
meeting  of  the  Primate  and  the  nobles  had  taken 
place  at  St.  Albans ;  a  second,  ostensiblj'  to  regu- 
late the  claims  of  the  Church  upon  the  crown,  was 
convened  in  St.  Paul's,  London.  Langton  there 
produced  to  the  barons  the  charter  of  Henry  I.  ; 
the  barons  received  it  with  loud  acclamations,  and 
took  a  solemn  oath  to  conquer  or  die  in  defence  of 
their  liberties.2 

At  Michaelmas  arrived  the  new  legate,  Nicolas 
Cardinal  of  Tusculum  :  his  special  mission  was  the 
settlement  as  to  the  amount  to  be  paid  by  the  king  for 
the  losses  endured  by  the  clergy.  He  was  received, 
though  the  interdict  still  lingered  on  the  realm  till  the 
king  should  have  given  full  satisfaction,  with  splendid 

1  Wendover,  p.  261. 

2  Wendover,  p.  263.    See  the  charter. 


Chap.  V.       SECOND  SURRENDER  OF  THE  REALM.  45 

processions.1  His  first  act  was  to  degrade  the  Abbot 
of  Westminster,  accused  by  his  monks  of  dilapidation 
of  their  estates,  and  of  incontinence.  The  citizens  of 
Oxford  were  condemned  for  the  murder  of  two  clerks 
(not  without  provocation)  :  they  were  to  present  them- 
selves at  each  of  the  churches  of  the  city  naked  to 
their  shirts,  with  a  scourge  in  their  hand,  and  to  request 
absolution,  reciting  the  fiftieth  psalm,  from  the  parish 
priest.  The  Cardinal,  who  travelled  at  first  with  seven 
horses,  had  soon  a  cavalcade  of  fifty.  The  amount  of 
just  compensation  to  the  clergy  it  was  impossible  to 
calculate.  Their  castles  had  been  razed,  their  houses 
burned,  their  orchards  and  their  woods  cut  down.  John 
offered  the  gross  sum  of  100,000  marks.  The  Legate 
urged  its  acceptance,  but  was  suspected  of  favoring  the 
King.  The  bishops  received  in  advance  1,500  marks, 
and  the  affair  was  for  the  present  adjourned.  On  the 
payment  of  this  sum  the  interdict  was  raised,  but  what 
further  compensation  was  awarded  to  the  inferior  claim- 
ants does  not  appear.  Still  meeting  after  meeting  took 
place,  at  length  the  business  was  referred  to  the  Pope, 
who  awarded  to  the  Archbishop,  the  Bishops  of  London 
and  Ely,  the  sum  of  40,000  marks.  At  St.  Paul's  the 
King  gave  greater  form  and  pomp  to  his  disgraceful 
act  of  vassalage.2  Before  the  high  altar,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  clergy  and  people,  John  deposed  second  sur- 

,   .  •  i         i  i  p       i  t  i  render  of 

Ins  crown  in  the  lianas  or    the  .Legate,  and  the  realm. 
made  the  formal  resignation  of  the   kingdom  of  Eng- 
land and  Ireland.3     The  golden  seal  was  affixed  to  the 

1  Wendover,  p.  275. 

2  u  Ilia  non  formosa  sed  famosa  subjectio."  —  M.  Paris. 

3  "  Archiepiscopo  conquerente  et  reclamante."  —  M.  Paris.  But  the 
words  are  not  in  Wendover.  Could  it  be  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin?  The 
French   translator  of  Matthew   Paris,    Mons.   lluillard   Breholles,   would 


40  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX 

dee  1  of  demission  and  consigned  to  the  Pope.  John 
did  actual  homage  to  the  Legate  for  the  kingdom  of 
England.  It  was  said  that  Stephen  Langton  had  pro- 
tested even  at  Winchester  against  this  act  of  national 
humiliation;  But  if  Langton  bore  this  second  act  in 
silence,  it  was  manifest  that  he  had  fallen  in  the  favor 
of  the  Pope.  The  Pope  was  determined  to  support 
his  vassal,  whatever  his  iniquities,  vices,  crimes.  Lang- 
ton had  now  openly  espoused  the  cause  of  his  country's 
liberties.  The  Legate  was  empowered,  without  con- 
sulting the  Primate  or  the  Bishops,  to  appoint  to  all 
the  vacant  benefices ;  he  travelled  through  the  country 
attended  by  the  royal  officers  and  the  clergy  attached 
to  the  King ;  he  filled  the  churches  with  unworthy 
men,  or  men  at  least  thought  unworthy  ;  he  suspended 
many  ecclesiastics,  and  tauntingly  told  them  to  carry 
their  complaints  to  Rome,  while  he  seized  their  property 
and  left  them  nothing  to  defray  the  expenses  of  their 
journey.1  He  trampled  on  the  rights  of  patrons,  and 
appointed  his  own  clerks,  many  probably  foreigners,  to 
English  preferments.  His  progress,  instead  of  being  a 
blessing  to  the  land,  was  deemed  a  malediction.  His 
final  raising  of  the  interdict  was  hardly  a  compensation 
for  his  insolent  injustice.  The  Pope  no  doubt  shared 
in  the  unpopularity  of  these  proceedings.  Stephen 
Langton  the  Primate  summoned  a  council  of  his  bish- 
ops at  Dunstable ;  and  sent  certain  priests  to  inhibit 
the  Legate  from  inducting  prelates  and  priests  within 
the  realm.     Both  appealed  to  the  Pope.     The  Legate 

transfer  these  complaints  as  if  spoken  at  Dover,  to  this  second  transaction. 
This  is  taking  great  liberty  with  a  text;  but  it  is  clear  that  they  were  not 
made  by  Stephen  Langton  at  Dover;  he  had  not  then  arrived  in  England. 
1  f*  Spreto  archepiscopi  et  episcoporum  regni  consilio."  —  Wendrver,  p. 
277. 


Chap.  V.  RETURN  OF  JOHN  FROM  POITOU.  47 

sent  the  politic  Pandulph,  Stephen  Langton  Simon  his 
bold  brother,  who  afterwards  held  the  archbishopric  of 
York  in  despite  of  papal  prohibition,  to  the  court  of  In- 
nocent. But  the  charter  of  John's  submission  weighed 
down  all  the  arguments  of  Simon  Langton.1 

The  great  battle  of  Bou vines  in  Flanders,  which  an- 
nihilated the  hopes  of  the  Emperor  Otho,  and  placed 
the  Count  of  Flanders,  as  a  prisoner,  at  the  mercy  of 
the  merciless  Philip  Augustus,  recalled  John  July  23, 1214. 
from  Poitou,  where  he  had  made  a  vigorous,  and  for 
a  time  successful  descent.  He  returned  discomfited, 
soured  in  temper,  to  confront  his  barons,  now  pre- 
pared for  the  deadly  strife  in  defence  of  their  liberties. 
Throughout  the  contest,  so  long  as  he  was  in  England, 
the  Primate  maintained  a  lofty  position.  With  the 
other  higher  clergy  he  stood  aloof  from  the  active 
contest,  though  he  was  known  to  be  the  real  head  of 
the  confederacy.     He  was  not  present  at  the  Meeting  at 

J         0         „  ,  -x *  .  St.  Edmonds- 

great  meeting  at  ot.  Edmonds  bury  ;  he  ap-  bury. 

peared  not  in   arms ;    he  does   not  seem  to  a.d.  1214. 
have  left  the  court ;  the  demand  for  the  charter  of 
Henry  I.  came  entirely  from  the  lay  barons.     On  the 
presentation   of   that   address    he   consented,  Address. 
with  the  bishop  of  Ely  and  William  Mares-  1215. 
chal  Earl  of  Pembroke,  to  be  the  king's  sureties  that 
he  would  hear  and  take  into  consideration  the  demands 
of  his  subjects,2  and  satisfy,  if  he  might,  their  discon- 
tents.    While  the  appeal  to  arms  was  yet  in  suspense, 
John,  with  that   craft  which  in  a  nobler  mind  might 
have  been  wise  policy,  endeavored  to  detach  the  church 
from  the  cause  of  the  national  liberties.     The  clergy 
had  been  indemnified  for  their  losses,  but  still  there  was 

1  Wendover,  p.  279.  2  Wendover,  p.  296. 


48  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX 

an  old  and  inveterate  grievance,  the  despotic  power  ex- 
ercised by  the  Norman  princes  in  the  nomination  to 
vacant  bishoprics  and  abbacies.  On  the  rare  occasions 
in  the  early  part  of  his  reign,  when  he  gave  the  royal 
license  for  the  election  of  a  bishop  or  great  abbot,  the 
electors  were  summoned  before  the  king  ;  an  election 
in  the  royal  presence  was  not  likely  to  be  against  the 
royal  will.  During  the  interdict  John's  revenge  (it 
was  probably  the  source  of  the  enormous  wealth  which 
he  had  at  his  command)  had  seized  the  revenue  of  these 
unfilled  benefices.  On  his  reconciliation  with  the  Ro- 
man See,  elections  were  to  be  in  his  presence,  whether 
he  were  in  England  or  on  the  continent.  This  he 
relaxed  only  on  the  remonstrance  of  the  Archbishop, 
to  permit  them  to  take  place,  during  his  absence,  before 
commissioners.  But  still  the  nomination  was  virtually 
in  him,  and  him  alone.  He  was  now  seized  with  an 
access  of  pious  liberality,  granted  a  charter  of  free  elec- 
tion to  all  chapters  and  conventual  churches :  the 
charter  declared  that  the  royal  license  would  always  be 
granted  ;  if  not  granted,  was  no  bar  to  the  free  elec- 
tion ;  he  renounced  all  royal  influence,  and  promised 
the  royal  approbation  unless  the  King  could  allege 
lawful  objection.1  That  he  might  secure  still  further 
the  protection  of  the  church,  John  took  the  cross, 
and  declared  his  intention  to  proceed,  when  relieved 
from  his  pressing  cares,  to  the  recovery  of  the  Holy 
Land. 

Each  party  endeavored  to  obtain  the  support  of 
Rome.  The  barons  had  aided  powerfully  the  cause  of 
the  Church  in  the  former  contest,  and  now  the  Church, 
at   least  the  Primate,   made  common  cause  with  the 

1  The  document  is  in  Rymer. 


CHAP.  V.  AUTI10KITY  OF  THE  POPE.  4i) 

barons.  But  Innocent  reserved  liis  gratitude  for  tlie 
vassal  who  had  laid  the  crown  of  England  at  his  feet. 
"  We  must  maintain  the  rights  of,  repel  all  insurrec- 
tion against,  a  king  who  is  our  vassal."  1  In  truth  he 
understood  not  the  nature,  no  more  than  he  foresaw 
the  remote  consequences  of  the  conflict.  That  the 
Church  should  resist,  control,  dictate  to  the  temporal 
sovereign,  was  in  the  order  of  things :  that  other  sub- 
jects should  do  the  same,  whatever  the  iniquities  of  the 
sovereign  or  the  invasion  of  their  natural  or  chartered 
rights,  unless  in  defence  of  the  Church,  bordered  on 
impiety.  Langton  received  a  severe  rebuke  ;  he  was 
accused  as  the  secret  ringleader  in  this  rebellion  ;  he 
was  commanded  to  labor  for  the  reconciliation  of  the 
king  and  his  subjects.  The  barons  were  censured  for 
daring  to  attempt  to  extort  privileges  by  force  from  the 
crown  —  privileges  to  be  obtained  only  as  a  free  gift 
from  the  King ;  the  Pope  condescended  to  promise  his 
good  offices  in  their  behalf  if  they  humbled  themselves 
before  their  sovereign.  Of  his  sole  authority  the  Pope 
annulled  all  their  leagues  and  covenants.  The  Pope 
rebuked,  censured,  promised  in  vain. 

Arms  must  decide  the  strife.  At  the  great  meeting 
of  the  barons  at  Brackley,  Langton  and  the  Earl  of 
Pembroke  (the  Bishop  of  Ely  was  now  dead)  again 
appeared  in  the  King's  name  to  receive  the  final  de- 
mands of  the  barons.  So  high  were  their  demands, 
that    the    king    exclaimed  in   a  fury : 2     "  They  may 

1  Such  were  the  plain  words  of  a  memorable  letter  of  Pope  Innocent 
(published  by  Prynne  from  the  original  in  the  Tower,  p.  28).  He  adds: 
"  Contra  dominum  suuni  arraa  movere  temeritate  nefaria  prresumpserunt 
quodque  nefandum  est  et  absurdum  cum  ipse  rex  quasi  perversus  Deum  et 
Ecclesiam  offendebat,  illi  assistebant  eidem,  cum  autem  conversus  Deo  et 
Ecclesia;  satisfecit,  ipsum  impugnare  prsesumunt." 

a  Wendover,  p.  298. 

vol.   v.  4 


50  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book   IX. 

as  well  ask  my  kingdom;  think  they  that  I  will  be 
their  slave  ? "  But  though  the  barons  foiled  before 
Northampton,  Bedford  and  London  opened  their  gates. 
The  great  barons  Pembroke,  Warenne,  and  many 
others  who  had  still  appeared  at  least  to  be  on  the 
king's  side,  joined  Fitzwalter  and  his  party,  the  North- 
ern Barons  as  they  were  called.  London  was  the 
headquarters  of  the  King's  adversaries.  The  whole 
realm  was  one.  The  King  was  compelled  to  submit 
Magna  to  the  great  Charter.     Among  the  witnesses 

Cliiirta. 

1215,  June  15.  to  that  Charter,  the  first  were  Stephen  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  and  Henry  Archbishop  of  Dub- 
lin. The  first  article  guaranteed  the  rights  of  the 
Church,  not  indeed  more  strongly  than  by  the  charter 
before  granted  by  the  King,  and  which  had  received 
the  ratification  of  the  Pope.  The  Papal  envoy  Pan- 
dulph  was  present  at  the  august  ceremony.  Pope  In- 
nocent saw  in  this  movement  only  the  turbulence  of  a 
few  factious  barons  ;  he  received  the  representations  of 
John's  ambassadors  with  great  indignation  ;  he  knit  his 
brow  (so  writes  the  historian),  and  broke  out  into  the 
language  of  astonishment : 2  "  What,  have  the  barons 
of  England  presumed  to  dethrone  a  King  who  has 
taken  the  cross,  and  placed  himself  under  the  protec- 
tion of  the  Apostolic  See  ?  Do  they  transfer  to  others 
the  patrimony  of  the  Church  of  Rome  ?  By  St.  Peter, 
we  cannot  leave  such  a  crime  unpunished."  If  such 
unseemly  language  was  attributed  to  the  Pope,  the 
formal  acts  of  Innocent  might  almost  justify  such  re- 
ports of  his  conduct.  In  his  Bull2  he  attributes  the 
rebellion  of  the  barons,  after  John  had  been  reconciled 

i  Wendover,  p.  313. 
2  Rymer,  i.  p.  135. 


Chat.  V.  INNOCENT'S  LETTER.  51 

to    the    Church,   to    the   enemy  of  mankind.     He    is 
astonished   that  the  barons  have  not  humbly  brought 
their  grievances  before  his  tribunal,  and   implored  re- 
dress.     The  act  describes  the  conduct  of  the  Kins  as 
throughout  just,    conciliatory.      "  Vassals,   they   have 
conspired    against    their    lord  —  knights    against    their 
king :  they  have   assailed  his  lands,  seized  his  capital 
city,  which  has  been  surrendered  to  them  by  treason. 
Under   their   violence,   and  under  fears  which  might 
shake  the   firmest  man,  he  has  entered  into  a  treaty 
with   the   barons ;    a   treaty  not   only  base  and  igno- 
minious, but  unlawful  and  unjust ;  in  flagrant  violation 
and  diminution  of  his  rights  and  honor.     Wherefore, 
as  the  Lord  has  said  by  the  mouth  of  his  condemned 
prophet,  — 4 1  have  set   thee   above  the  na-  innocent. 
tions,  and  above  the  kingdoms,  to  pluck  up  and  to  de- 
stroy, to  build  up  and  to  plant ;  '  and  by  the  mouth  of 
another  prophet,  —  4  break  the  leagues  of  ungodliness, 
and  loose  the  heavy  burthens  ; '  we  can  no  longer  pass 
over  in  silence  such  audacious  wickedness,  committed 
in  contempt  of  the  Apostolic  See,  in  infringement  of 
the  rights  of  the  King,  to  the  disgrace  of  the  kingdom 
of  England,  to  the  great  peril  of  the  Crusade.     We 
therefore,  with  the  advice  of  our  brethren,  altogether 
reprove  and  condemn  this  charter,  prohibiting  the  king, 
under  pain  of  anathema,  from  observing  it,  the  barons 
from   exacting   its    observation ;    we    declare    the   said 
charter,  with  all  its  obligations  and  guarantees,  abso- 
lutely null  and  void."  1 

The  letter  of  Innocent  to  the  Barons  was  no  less 
lofty  and  commanding.     He  informed  them  Innocent>g 
that  as  they  refused  all  just  terms  offered  by  letter 

1  Dated  Anagni,  Aug.  4. 


52  LAT[N   CHRISTIANITY.  Bouk  IX. 

the  King,  and  a  fair  judgment  in  the  court  of  Rome,  the 
King  had  appealed  to  him  his  liege  lord.  He  urged 
them  to  make  a  virtue  of  necessity,  themselves  to  re- 
nounce this  inauspicious  treaty,  to  make  reparation  to 
the  King  for  all  losses  and  outrages  perpetrated  against 
him,  "  so  that  the  King,  appeased  by  their  reverence 
and  humility,  might  himself  be  induced  to  reform  any 
real  abuses."  M  For  if  we  will  not  that  he  be  deprived 
of  his  right,  we  will  not  have  you  oppressed,  nor  the 
kingdom  of  England,  which  is  under  our  suzerainty, 
to  groan  under  bad  customs  and  unjust  exactions." 
They  were  summoned  to  depute  representatives  to  the 
court  of  Rome,  and  await  the  final  decision  of  that  tri- 
bunal. 

The  Great  Charter  of  the  liberties  of  England  was 
absolutely,  peremptorily  annulled,  by  the  supreme  au- 
thority of  the  Pope,  as  Pope  and  as  liege  lord  of  the 
realm.  The  King  was  absolutely  released  from  his  oath 
to  the  statute  ;  the  King  threatened  with  anathema  if 
he  observed,  the  barons  if  they  exacted  the  observance.1 
Still  the  rebukes,  promises,  threats  of  spiritual  censure, 
the  annulling  edict,  were  received  with  utter  disregard 
by  the  sturdy  barons.  They  retorted  the  language  of 
the  Scripture,  the  phrase  of  Isaiah  is  said  to  have  been 
current  among  them,  —  u  Woe  unto  him  who  justifieth 
the  wicked  for  reward  !  " 

The  war  had  broken  out ;  the  King,  with  the  aid  of 
war.  two   of  his  warlike  bishops,  the   Chancellor 

Bishop  of  Worcester,  and  John  de  Gray  of  Norwich, 

1  Magna  Charta  the  Pope  describes  as  "  compositionem  non  solum  vilem 
et  turpem,  verum  etiam  illicitam  et  iniquam,  in  nimiam  diminutionem  et 
derogationem  sui  juris  pariter  et  honoris."  The  documents  in  Ryiner,  sub 
aim. 


Chap.  V.    CHARTER  ANNULLED  BY  THE  POrE.       53 

had  levied  hosts  of  mercenary  troops  in  Flanders  ;  free- 
booters from  all  quarters,  from  Poitou  and  other  parts 
of  France,  crowded  to  win  the  estates  of  the  English 
barons,  which  were  offered  as  rewards  for  their  valor. 
John  was  pressing  the  siege  of  Rochester,  which  the 
remissness  of  the  barons  allowed  to  fall  into  his  hands. 
He  was  only  prevented  by  the  prudence  of  one  of  his 
foreign  captains,  who  dreaded  reprisals,  from  ordering  a 
general  massacre  of  the  garrison.  The  bull  of  excom- 
munication against  the  barons  followed  rapidly  the  abro- 
gation of  the  Charter.  It  was  addressed  to  Peter  Bishop 
of  Winchester,  the  Abbot  of  Reading,  and  the  Papal 
Envoy.  It  expressed  the  utmost  astonishment  and 
wrath,  that  Stephen  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and 
his  suffragans,  had  shown  such  want  of  respect  to  the 
Papal  mandate  and  of  fidelity  to  their  King  ;  that  they 
had  rendered  him  no  aid  against  the  disturbers  of  the 
peace  ;  that  they  had  been  privy  to,  if  not  actively  en- 
gaged in  the  rebellious  league.  "  Is  it  thus,  that  these 
prelates  defend  the  patrimony  of  Rome ;  thus  that  they 
protect  those  who  have  taken  up  the  cross  ?  Worse  than 
Saracens  they  would  drive  from  his  realm  a  King  in 
whom  is  the  best  hope  of  the  deliverance  of  the  Holy 
Land."  All  disturbers  of  the  King;  and  of  the  realm 
are  declared  to  be  in  the  bonds  of  excommunication  ; 
the  Primate  and  his  suffragans  are  solemnly  enjoined 
to  publish  this  excommunication. in  all  the  churches  of 
the  realm,  every  Sunday  and  festival,  with  the  sound 
of  bells,  until  the  barons  shall  have  made  their  absolute 
submission  to  the  King.  Every  prelate  who  disobeys 
these  orders  is  suspended  from  his  functions. 

The  Bishop  of  Winchester,  the  Abbot  of  Reading, 
and  Pandulph  in  a  personal  interview  with  the  Primate 


54  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX 

communicated  the  injunctions  of  the  Pope.  Stephen 
Langton  demanded  delay ;  he  was  about  to  proceed  to 
Rome,  being  summoned  to  attend  the  Lateran  Council. 
He  firmly  refused  to  publish  the  excommunication,  as 
obtained  from  the  Pope  by  false  representations.1  The 
Papal  Delegates  declared  the  Primate  suspended  from 
his  office,  and  proceeded  to  promulgate  the  sentence  of 
excommunication.  The  sentence  was  utterly  without 
effect.  An  incident  of  the  time  shows  how  strongly 
the  sympathies  of  the  clergy  were  with  Langton.  The 
Canons  of  York  after  a  long  vacancy  of  the  archbishop- 
ric,2 rejecting  Walter  de  Grey  Bishop  of  Worcester, 
the  Chancellor  and  partisan  of  John,  chose  Simon 
Langton,  the  brother  of  the  Primate.  Two  brothers, 
for  the  first  and  last  time,  held  these  high  dignities. 
The  Pope,  it  is  true,  prohibited  the  elevation  of  Lang- 
a.d.  1215.  ton  ;  but  his  election  was  a  defiance  of  the 
King  and  of  the  Pope.  The  Primate,  strong  in  the 
blameless  dignity  of  his  character,  in  the  consciousness 
that  he  was  acting  as  a  Christian  prelate  in  opposing  a 
lustful,  perfidious,  and  sanguinary  tyrant  like  John,  in 
his  dignity  as  Cardinal  of  the  Roman  Church,  feared 
Nov.  1215.  not  to  confront  the  Pope,  and  to  present  him- 
Rome.  '  self  at  the  great  Lateran  Council.  The  favor, 
however,  with  which  the  Pontiff  and  the  Council  heard 


1  "  Dissensiones  .  .  .  dissimulastis  hactenus,  et  conniventibus  oculis  per- 
transitis  ....  nonnullis  suspicantibus  ....  quod  vos  illis  prsebetis  aux- 
ilium  et  favorem."  — Rymer,  sub  ann.  1215.  John  had  complained  to  the 
Pope:  "Dominus  vero  Cantuarensis  Archiepiscopus  et  ejus  suffraganei 
mandata  vestra  executioni  demandare  supersederunt  .  .  .  Archiepiscopus 
respondens,  ut  quod  senteutiam  excommunicationis  in  eos  nullo  modo  pro- 
ferret,  qui  bene  sciebat  mentem  vestram." — Langton  agreed,  however,  if 
John  would  revoke  his  orders  for  his  foreign  mercenaries,  to  pronounce  the 
excommunication.  —  Rymer,  1215. 

2  From  1212. 


Chap.V.  STEPHEN  LANGTON  AT  ROME.  55 

his  accusers,  the  envoys  of  King  John,  the  Abbot  of 
Beaulieu,  Thomas  of  Herdington,  and  Geoffrey  of  Cra- 
combe,  the  unbending  severity  of  the  Pope  himself, 
covered  him,  it  is  said,  with  confusion  ;  at  least  taught 
him  the  prudence  of  silence :  the  sentence  of  suspen- 
sion was  solemnly  ratified  by  Pope  and  Council,  and 
even  when  it  was  subsequently  relaxed,  it  was  on  the 
condition  that  he  should  not  return  to  England.  Ste- 
phen  Langton  remained  at  Rome  though  not  in  cus- 
tody, yet  no  less  a  prisoner.  The  Canons  of  York 
were  informed  that  the  Pope  absolutely  annulled  the 
election  of  Simon  Langton  ;  they  were  compelled  to 
make  a  virtue  of  necessity,  to  affect  joy  at  being  per- 
mitted to  elect  the  Bishop  of  Worcester,  a  man  they 
acknowledged,  it  should  seem,  of  one  rare  virtue  — 
unblemished  chastity.  De  Grey  returned  Archbishop 
of  York,  but  loaded  with  a  heavy  debt  to  the  court  of 
Rome,  10,000Z.  sterling.1 

When  John  let  loose  his  ferocious  hordes,  of  adven- 
turers from  Flanders,  Brabant,  Poitou,  and  other  coun- 
tries like  wild  beasts  upon  his  unhappy  realm ;  when 
himself  ravaged  in  the  north,  his  bastard  brother  the 
Earl  of  Salisbury  in  the  south ;  when  the  whole  land 
was  wasted  with  fire  and  sword  ;  when  plunder,  mur- 
der, torture,  rape,  raged  without  control ;  when  agri- 
culture and  even  markets  had  absolutely  ceased,  the 
buyers  and  sellers  met  only  in  church-yards,  because 
they  were  sanctuaries  ;  2  when  the  clergy  were  treated 
with  the  same  impartial   cruelty   as    the   rest   of  the 


1  Wendover,  p.  346.  He  adds:  —  "  Itaque  accepto  pallio  episcopus  me- 
moratus,  obligatur  in  curia  Romana  de  decern  miilibus  libris  legalium 
Bterlingorum." 

2  Wendover,  p.  351. 


56  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

people,  John  was  still  the  ally,  the  vassal,  under  the 
special  protection  of  the  Pope.  These  terrible  tri- 
umphs of  his  arms  were  backed  by  the  sentence  of 
June,  1216.  excommunication  against  the  barons  and  all 
their  adherents.1  Many  of  the  noblest  barons  were 
anathematized  by  name ;  above  all,  the  citizens  of 
London  and  the  Cinque  Ports,  for  the  capital  boasted 
itself  as  the  head-quarters  of  the  champions  of  freedom. 
The  citizens  of  London  however  treated  the  spiritual 
censure  with  utter  contempt,  the  services  went  on  unin- 
terrupted and  exactly  in  the  usual  manner  in  all  the 
churches. 

So  also  when  the  Barons  in  their  desperation  offered 
the  crown  to  Louis,  the  son  of  Philip  Augustus  of 
France.  The  Legate  Gualo,  then  on  his  way  to  Eng- 
land, solemnly  warned  Louis  not  to  dare  to  invade  the 
patrimony  of  St.  Peter,  a  menace  not  likely  to  awe  a 
son  of  Philip  Augustus  with  such  a  prize  before  him. 
Louis  indeed  showed  a  kind  of  mockery  of  deference 
to  the  Pope,  in  submitting  to  the  Holy  See  a  statement 
of  the  title  which  he  set  up  to  the  throne  of  England.2 
This  rested  on  the  right  of  his  Queen,  even  if  the 
house  of  Castile  had  any  claim,  a  younger  daughter  of 
that  house.  Its  first  postulate  was.  the  absolute  exclu- 
sion of  John,  as  attainted  for  murder  during  the  reign 
of  his  brother  Richard,  and  incapable  thereby  of  inher- 
iting the  crown  ;  and  for  the  murder  of  his  nephew, 

1  Wendover,  p.  353.  The  three  acts  of  excommunication  against  tho 
barons,  of  suspension  against  Stephen  Langton,  the  special  anathema  on 
certain  barons,  with  their  names,  are  in  Rymer. 

2  See  Rymer  for  the  document  in  which  Louis  alleged  his  title  to  the 
throne  of  England.  Louis  asserts  the  truth  of  the  account,  that  Archbishop 
Hubert  publicly  announced  that  on  the  accession  of  John  "  non  ratione  suc- 
cession'^, sed  per  electionem  ipsum  in  regem  coronabat."  —  Rymer,  sul 
aim.  1216. 


Chap.  V.  DEATH   OF  INNOCENT  AND  JOHN.  57 

of  which  he  had  been  found  guilty  in  the  court  of  the 
King  of  France.  With  the  original  flaw  in  the  title 
of  John  fell  of  course  his  right  to  grant  the  island  to 
St.  Peter ;  and  so  the  claim  of  Louis  to  the  throne  was 
an  abrogation  of  that  of  Innocent  to  the  suzerainty  of 
the  land.  No  wonder  then  tha+  the  sentence  of  ex- 
communication was  launched  at  once  against  Louis 
himself,  and  all  who  should  invite,  assist,  support  his 
descent  upon  England.  The  last  act  of  Innocent  was 
to  command  an  excommunication  as  solemn  of  the 
King  of  France  himself,  for  guiltily  conniving  at  least 
at  an  invasion  of  England,  to  be  pronounced  July  16, 1216. 
at  a  great  synod  at  Melun.  The  French  prelates  in- 
terposed delay  ;  and  the  death  of  Pope  Innocent  sus- 
pended for  a  time  the  execution  of  this  mandate. 

The  death  of  Innocent  was  followed  in  but  a  few 
months  by  that  of  John,  under  fierce  affliction  for  the 
loss  of  his  baggage  and  part  of  his  wild  freebooting 
army,  which  had  remorselessly  ravaged  great  part  of 
the  kingdom,  by  sudden  floods,  as  he  passed  from 
Lynn  in  Norfolk  into  Lincolnshire.  John  reached  the 
Abbey  of  Swineshead.  Intemperate  indulgence  in 
fruit  excited  his  fever ;  he  there  made  his  will,1  left 
his  young  son  to  the  tutelage  of  the  new  Pope  Hono- 
rius  III.,  and  dragged  his  weary  and  exhausted  body 
to  Newark.  There  he  died  in  peace  with  the  Church, 
Having  received  the  holy  Eucharist,  commending  his 
Dody  and  his  soul  to  the  intercession  of  the  pious  St. 
Wulstan    in    Worcester,   under   the    tutelar   shade   of 

1  The  attesting  witnesses  to  his  will  were  the  Cardinal  Legate  Gualo,  the 
Bishops  of  Winchester,  Chichester,  Worcester,  Aimeric  de  St.  Maur,  or 
Mareschal,  Earl  of  Pemhroke,  Earl  of  Chester,  Earl  of  Ferrars,  Wm. 
Browne,  Walter  de  Lacy,  John  de  Monmout,  Savary  de  Mauleon,  Fulk  de 
Breaute" 


58  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

whose  cathedral  he  wished  his  ashes  to  repose.  John 
died  in  peace  with  the  Church,  it  was  of  course  be- 
Oct.  19.  lieved  with  Heaven,  leaving  Stephen  Lang- 
ton  the  Primate,  a  Cardinal  of  the  church,  suspended 
from  his  holy  functions,  in  a  kind  of  stately  disgrace, 
an  exile  from  his  See  ;  the  greater  part  of  the  higher 
clergy  under  virtual  excommunication  as  communicat- 
ing with  the  proscribed  barons ;  almost  the  whole  no- 
bility under  actual  excommunication,  and  so  in  peril  of 
eternal  perdition. 

Thus  closed  the  eventful  reign  of  the  meanest  and 
most  despicable  sovereign  who  ever  sat  on  the  throne 
of  England.  Political  passions,  the  pride  of  ingenuity, 
the  love  of  paradox,  have  endeavored  to  lighten  the 
burden  of  obloquy  which  has  weighed  down  the  mem- 
ory of  most  of  our  least  worthy  sovereigns.  Richard 
III.  has  found  an  apologist.  But  John  has  been  aban- 
doned utterly,  absolutely,  to  execration  and  contempt. 
Yet  from  the  reign  of  John  dates,  if  not  the  first  dawn, 
the  first  concentrated  power  of  the  liberties  of  England. 
A  memorable  example  of  the  wonderful  manner  in 
which  Divine  Providence  overrules  the  worst  of  men 
to  its  noblest  and  most  beneficent  designs !  From  this 
time,  too,  the  impulses  of  religious  independence  began 
to  stir  in  the  hearts  of  men.  The  national  English 
pride  had  been  deeply  wounded  by  the  degradation  of 
the  realm  to  a  fief  of  the  See  of  Rome ;  and  the  am- 
bition of  Rome  had  overleaped  itself.1     Future  Popes 

1  The  historians,  all  ecclesiastics,  are  undeniable  witnesses.  We  have 
heard  Wendover.  Westminster  describes  the  charter  of  surrender  as  "  om- 
nibus earn  audientibus  lugubrem  et  detestabilem." — Ann.  1213,  p.  93. 
Knighton  says,  "  De  libero  fecit  se  servnm,  de  dominante  servientem,  ter- 
ramque  Anglicanam  qme  solebat  esse  libera  et  ab  omni  servitnte  quieta. 
fecit  tributariam  et  ancillam  pedissequam." —  De  event.  Angliie,  1.  ii.  c.  25 


Ctap.  V.  RELIGIOUS   INDEPENDENCE.  59 

were  tempted  to  lay  intolerable  taxation  upon  the 
clergy,  which  was  felt  by  the  whole  kingdom ;  and  to 
inflict  the  almost  more  intolerable  grievance,  the  filling 
up  the  English  benefices  by  foreign  ecclesiastics  —  if 
not  resident,  hated  as  draining  away  their  wealth  with- 
out condescending  to  regard  any  duties ;  if  resident, 
hated  still  more  profoundly  for  their  pride,  ignorance 
of  the  language,  and  uncongenial  manners.  Our  his- 
tory must  show  this  gradual  alienation  and  estrange- 
ment of  the  national  mind  from  the  See  of  Rome,  the 
silent  growth  of  Teutonic  freedom. 


GO  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

INNOCENT  AND  SPAIN. 

The  three  great  Sovereigns  of  Western  Europe,  the 
Kings  of  Germany,  of  France,  and  England,  had  seen 
their  realms  under  Papal  interdict,  themselves  under 
the  sentence  of  excommunication  ;  but  the  Papal  power 
under  Innocent  not  only  aspired  to  humble  the  loftiest : 
hardly  one  of  the  smaller  kingdoms  had  not  already 
been  taught,  or  was  not  soon  taught,  to  feel  the  awful 
majesty  of  the  Papacy.  From  the  Northern  Ocean  to 
Hungary,  from  Hungary  to  the  Spanish  shore  of  the 
Atlantic,  Innocent  is  exercising  what  takes  the  lan- 
guage of  protective  or  parental  authority,  but  which  in 
most  cases  is  asserted  by  the  terrible  interdict.  The 
sunshine  of  Papal  favor  is  rarely  without  the  black 
thunder-clouds  looming  heavily  over  the  land,  breaking 
or  threatening  to  break  in  all  their  wrath.  Nowhere 
is  he  more  constantly  engaged,  either  as  claiming  feudal 
sovereignty,  as  regulating  the  ecclesiastical  appoint- 
ments, as,  above  ail,  the  arbiter  in  questions  of  mar- 
riage, than  among  the  sovereigns  of  the  petty  king- 
doms of  Spain.  These  kingdoms  had  gradually  formed 
themselves  out  of  conquests  from  receding  Mohamme- 
danism. Spanish  Christianity  was  a  perpetual  cru- 
sade ;  and  the  Head  of  Western  Christendom  might 
still  watch  with  profound  anxiety  these  advances,  as  it 


Chap.  VI.  KINGDOM  OF  PORTUGAL.  61 

were,  of  Christendom.  There  was  nothing  to  prevent 
another  inroad  from  Africa,  ruled  by  powerful  Moham- 
medan potentates ;  nothing,  till  the  great  battle  of 
Naves  de  Tolosa,  to  guarantee  Western  Christendom 
from  a  new  invasion  as  terrible  as  that  under  Tarik. 
A  second  battle  of  Tours  might  be  necessary  to 
rescue  Europe  from  the  dominion  of  the  Crescent. 
Innocent  had  the  happiness  to  hear  the  July  16, 1212 
tidings  of  Naves  de  Tolosa,  where  the  Crescent  fell 
before  the  united  armies  of  the  three  Kings  of  Castile, 
Arragon,  and  Navarre.  To  each  of  these  Peninsular 
kingdoms  —  Portugal,  Leon,  Castile,  Arragon,  and 
Navarre,  Innocent  speaks  in  the  tone  of  a  master; 
each,  except  perhaps  Arragon,  is  in  its  turn  threat- 
ened with  interdict,  his  one  ordinary  means  of  com 
pulsion. 

Portugal  had  been  formed  into  a  Christian  State  by 
the  valor  of  a  descendant  of  the  house  of  Henryof 
Capet ;  it  had  been  organized  by  the  wisdom  Portusal- 
of  his  son  Sancho.  The  Popes  had  already  asserted 
the  strange  pretensions  that  territories  conquered  from 
the  Unbelievers  were  at  their  disposal,  and  that  they 
had  the  power  of  raising  principalities  into  kingdoms. 
Alexander  III.  had  advanced  Portugal  to  that  dignity 
on  condition  of  an  annual  tribute  to  the  See  of  Rome. 
The  payment  was  irregularly  made,  if  not  disclaimed. 
Innocent  instructs  his  Legate,  the  Brother  Rainer,  a 
man  of  great  discretion  and  trust,  employed  on  all  the 
affairs  of  Spain,  to  demand  the  subsidy  ;  if  refused,  to 
compel  it  by  the  only  authority — ecclesiastical  censure. 
The  King  of  Portugal  is  to  be  reminded  that  he  may 
expect  great  temporal  as  well  as  spiritual  advantage 
from  his  filial  submission  to  the  Supreme  Pontiff;  but 


fjU  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  iioou  IX 

if  God  is  offended  by  the  withholding  their  rightful 
dues  from  other  churches,  how  much  more  grievous  a 
sin,  how  heinous  a  sacrilege  is  it,  to  deprive  of  its 
ill II  rights  the  Church  which  is  the  mistress  of  all 
Churches!1  In  the  same  arbitrary  manner,  and  by 
the  same  means,  Rainer  was  to  compel  the  Kings  of 
Portugal  and  Castile  to  maintain  a  treaty  of  peace,  on 
which  they  had  agreed,  and  to  resist  the  intrigues  of 
turbulent  men,  who  endeavored  to  plunge  them  again 
into  war. 

In  the  affairs  of  Leon  and  Castile  Innocent  inter- 
posed in '  his  character  as  supreme  arbiter  on  all  ques- 
tions of  marriage.  On  the  death  of  Alfonso  the  Em- 
peror,2 the  great  kingdom  of  Leon  had  been  divided 
between  his  two  sons,  the  Kings  of  Leon  and  Castile, 
Fernando  and  Sancho.  The  second  generation  was 
now  on  each  throne ;  both  the  princes  bore  the  name 
of  Alfonso.  But  instead  of  urging  the  war  against 
the  common  enemy,  the  Unbeliever,  these  princes  had 
turned  their  arms  against  each  other.  Alfonso  of 
Leon  had  married  the  daughter  of  the  Kino;  of  Portiv- 
gal.  These  sovereigns  were  connected  by  some  remote 
tie  of  consanguinity  ;  the  incestuous  union  was  declared 
void.  Coelestine  III.  placed  under  interdict  the  two 
kingdoms  of  Portugal  and  Leon,  and  the  marriage, 
though  Teresa  had  borne  him  three  children  (one  son 
and  two  daughters),  was  absolutely  annulled.  The 
repudiated   Teresa  returned  to  her  native   Portugal  3 


i  Epist.  i.  99,  449. 
2  Mariana,  xi 


Mariana,  xi. 

Innocent's  language  is  express  as  to  the  revocation  of  the  marriage: 

.  iliam  .  .  .  Portugallia;  regis,  incestuose  praesurapserat  copulare 

uncle  quod  illegitiine  factum  erat,  est  penitus  revocatum." — Epist.  ii.  75 


Chap.  VI.  THE  KING  OF  LEON.  63 

But  Alfonso  of  Leon  broke  off  this  wedlock  only  to 
form  another  more  obnoxious  to  the  ecclesias-  The  Ki 
tictil  canons.  He  married  Berengaria,  the  of  Leon' 
daughter  of  his  cousin-german  the  King  of  Castile. 
The  nobles  of  both  realms  rejoiced  in  this  union,  as 
a  guarantee  for  peace  between  Castile  and  Leon. 
They  would  entertain  no  doubt  that  the  Papal  dis- 
pensation might  be  obtained  for  a  marriage,  though 
within  the  prohibited  degrees,  yet  by  no  means  offen- 
sive to  the  natural  feelings  in  the  West,  and  of  so  much 
importance  in  directing  the  united  arms  of  Leon  and 
Castile  against  the  Mohammedans.  But  to  this  devia- 
tion from  the  sacred  canons  the  Pope  Ccelestine  had 
expressed  his  determination  not  to  accede ;  he  sent  the 
Cardinal  Guido  of  St.  Angelo  to  prohibit  this  second 
profane  wedlock.  .  The  Cardinal  was  to  pronounce  the 
interdict  against  both  realms,  excommunication  against 
both  Sovereigns,  unless  the  hateful  contract  were  an- 
nulled. Under  this  sentence  were  included,  as  abettors 
of  the  sin,  the  Archbishop  of  Salamanca,  the  Bishops 
of  Zainora,  Astorga,  and  Leon.  The  Bishop  of  Ovie- 
do  w^s  persecuted  by  the  King  of  Leon,  as  inclined  to 
obey  tue  Pope  ratlur  than  his  temporal  sovereign.1 
Innocent  was  not  likely  to  be  indulgent  where  his  pred- 
ecessor had  been  severe.  To  this  marriage  he  applies 
the  strongest  terms  of  censure :  it  is  incestuous,  abom- 
inable to  God,  detestable  in  the  sight  of  man.  The 
Brother  Rainer  is  ordered  to  ratify  in  the  most  solemn 
manner  the  interdict  of  the  kingdoms,  the  excommuni- 
cation of  the  Kings.     Rainer  cited  the  Kings  to  appear 

"  Verum  dictus  Rex  Legion,  ad  detenora  raanum  extendens." —  Compare 
Mariana,  xi.  17. 
i  Epiat.  i.  58,  97,  125. 


0*4  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

before  him.  The  King  of  Leon  paid  no  regard  to  the 
summons  ;  the  King  of  Castile  averted  the  interdict  for 
a  time  by  declaring  his  readiness  to  receive  back  his 
daughter.  But  he  had  no  intention  to  restore  certain 
castles  which  he  had  obtained  as  her  dowry.  The 
Archbishop  of  Toledo,  and  the  Bishop  of  Palencia  on 
the  part  of  the  King  of  Castile,  the  Bishop  of  Zamora 
on  that  of  the  King  of  Leon,  appeared  in  Rome. 
They  could  hardly  obtain  a  hearing  from  the  inexorable 
Pontiff.  But  their  representations  of  the  effects  of  the 
interdict  enforced  the  consideration  of  the  Pope.  They 
urged  the  danger  as  to  the  heretics.  When  the  lips  of 
the  pastors  of  the  people  were  closed,  the  unrefuted 
heretics  could  not  be  controlled  by  the  power  of  the 
King.  New  heresies  spring  up  in  every  quarter.  How 
great,  too,  the  danger  as  to  the  Saracens !  The  relig- 
ious services  and  the  religious  sermons  alone  inflamed 
the  valor  of  the  people  to  the  holy  war  against  the  mis- 
believers ;  their  devotion,  now  that  both  prince  and 
people  were  involved  in  one  interdict,  waxed  cold. 
Nor  less  the  danger  as  to  the  Catholics,  for  since  the 
clergy  refused  their  spiritual  services,  the  people  refused 
their  temporal  payments  ;  offerings,  first-fruits,  tithes, 
were  cut  off;  the  clergy  were  reduced  to  beg,  to  dig, 
or,  worse  reproach,  to  be  the  slaves  of  the  Jews.  The 
Pope,  with  great  reluctance,  consented  to  relax  the 
severity  of  the  interdict,  to  permit  the  performance  of 
the  sacred  offices,  except  the  burial  of  the  dead  in  con- 
secrated ground  ;  this  was  granted  to  the  clergy  alone 
as  a  special  favor.  But  the  King  himself  was  still 
under  the  ban  of  excommunication  ;  whatever  town  or 
village  he  entered,  all  divine  service  ceased ;  no  one 
was  to  dare  to  celebrate  an  act  of  holy  worship.     This 


Chap.  VL  INTERDICT  OF  LEON.  65 

mandate  was  addressed  to  the  Archbishop  of  Com- 
postella  and  to  all  the  Bishops  of  the  kingdom  of 
Leon.1 

But  his  wife  had  been  still  further  endeared  to  the 
King  of  Leon  by  the  birth  of  a  son  ; 2  and  so  regard- 
less were  the  Leonese  clergy  of  the  Papal  decree,  that 
the  baptism  of  the  child  was  celebrated  publicly  with 
the  utmost  pomp  in  the  cathedral  church  of  Leon. 
Innocent  had  compared  together  the  royal  line  of  the 
East  and  of  the  West.  In  the  East,  Isabella,  the  heir- 
ess of  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem,  had  contracted  two 
incestuous  marriages  within  the  prohibited  degrees. 
God  had  smitten  with  death  her  two  husbands,  Con- 
rad of  Montferrat  and  Henry  of  Champagne.  He 
would  even  inflict  worse  vengeance  on  the  a.d.  1199. 
transgressors  of  the  West,  if  they  persisted  in  their 
detestable  deed.  His  vaticination  was  singularly  unfor- 
tunate. The  son  of  this  unblessed  union  grew  up  a 
king  of  the  most  exemplary  valor,  virtue,  and  pros- 
perity ;  and  after  his  death  the  canonized  Ferdinand 
was  admitted  into  the  holy  assembly  of  the  Saints. 
Nor  was  it  till  Berengaria  had  borne  five  children  to 
Alfonso  of  Leon  that  her  own  religious  scruples  were 
awakened,  and  she  retired  from  the  arms  of  her  hus- 
band to  a  peaceful  retreat  in  the  dominions  of  her 
father.  The  ban  under  which  the  kingdom  had  la- 
bored for  nearly  five  years  was  .annulled  ;  the  five 
children  were  declared  legitimate  and  capable  of  in- 
heriting the  crown.  The  dispute  concerning  the  bor- 
der castles  was  arranged  by  the  intervention  of  the 
bishops. 

1  Epist.  ii.  75. 

2  The  son  by  Teresa  had  died  in  infancy.    Mariana,  he.  ctt. 

VOL.    V.  5 


QQ  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

The  King  of  Navarre  had  incurred  the  interdict  of 
a.d.  1204.  Innocent  on  more  intelligible  grounds.  He 
Navane.  had  made  an  impious  treaty  with  the  Infi- 
dels ;  he  had  even  undertaken  a  suspicious  visit  to 
the  Miramamolin  in  Africa ;  he  was  supposed  to  be 
organizing;  a  league  with  the  Mohammedans  both  of 
Spain  and  Africa  against  his  enemies  the  Kings  of 
Arragon  and  Castile :  on  him  and  on  his  realm  Brother 
Rainer  was  at  once  to  pronounce  the  ban,  and  to  give 
lawful  power  to  the  King  of  Arragon  to  subdue  his 
dominions.  Sancho  of  Navarre,  however,  averted  the 
subjugation  of  the  realm :  he  entered  into  a  treaty  with 
the  allied  Kings  of  Arragon  and  Castile.  It  was  stip- 
ulated in  the  terms  of  the  treaty  that  Pedro  of  Arra- 
gon should  wed  the  sister  of  Navarre.  But  again  was 
heard  the  voice  of  the  Pope,  declaring  that  the  mar- 
riage, though  the  pledge  and  surety  of  peace,  and  of 
Sancho's  loyalty  to  the  cause  of  Christendom,  being 
within  the  third  degree  of  consanguinity,  could  not  be. 
The  oath  which  Sancho  had  taken  to  fulfil  this  stipula- 
tion was  worse  than  perjury ;  it  was  to  be  broken  at  all 
cost  and  all  hazard.1 

But  thus  inexorable  to  any  breach  of  the  ecclesias- 
a.d.1199.  tical  canons,  so  entirely  had  these  canons 
Amfgon.  usurped  the  place  of  the  higher  and  immu- 
table laws  of  Christian  morals,  here,  as  in  the  case  of 
John  of  England,  Innocent  himself  was,  if  not  accom- 
modating, strangely  blind  to  the  sin  of  marriage  con- 
tracted under  more  unhallowed  auspices.  Pedro  of 
Arragon  was  the  model  of  Spanish  chivalry  on  the 
throne.  He  aspired  to  be  the  leader  of  a  great  cru- 
*.d.  1204.       sading  league  of  all  the  Spanish  kings  against 

1  Epist.  i.  556.     Compare  Abarca,  Anales  de  Aragon,  xviii.  7. 


ohap.  VI.         PEDRO  OF  ARRAGON.  67 

the  Unbelievers.  Innocent  himself  had  the  prudence 
to  allay  for  a  time  the  fervor  of  his  zeal.  The  court 
of  Pedro,  like  that  of  his  brother,  the  Count  of  Prov- 
ence, was  splendid,  gay,  and  dissolute  :  the  troubadour 
was  welcome,  with  his  music  and  his  song,  to  the  joyous 
prince  and  the  bevy  of  fair  ladies,  who  were  not  insen- 
sible to  the  gallant  King  or  to  the  amorous  bards.  But 
Pedro,  while  he  encouraged  the  gay  science  of  Prov- 
ence, was  inexorable  to  its  religious  freedom.  He  was 
hitherto  severely  orthodox,  and  banished  all  heresy 
from  his  dominions  under  pain  of  death.  The  king- 
dom flourished  under  his  powerful  rule  :  the  King's 
peace  was  proclaimed  for  the  protection  of  widows  and 
orphans,  roads  and  markets,  oxen  at  the  plough  and 
all  agricultural  implements,  olive-trees,  and  dove-cots. 
The  husbandman  found  a  protector,  his  harvests  secu- 
rity under  the  King's  rule.1 

The  Kings  of  Arragon  had  never  been  crowned  on 
their  accession ;  they  received  only  the  honor  of 
knighthood.  From  Counts  of  Barcelona,  owing  alle- 
giance to  the  descendants  of  Charlemagne,  they  had 
gradually  risen  to  the  dignity  of  Kings  of  Arragon. 
But  the  last  sign  of  kingship  was  wanting,  and  Pedro 
determined  to  purchase  that  honor  from  the  hand 
which  assumed  the  power  of  dispensing  crowns :  he 
would  receive  the  crown  at  Rome  from  the  Pope  him- 
self, and  as  the  price  of  this  condescension  hesitated 
not  to  declare  the  kingdom  of  Arragon  feudatory  to 
the  See  of  Rome,  and  to  covenant  for  an  annual  trib- 
ute to  St.  Peter.  On  his  journey  to  Rome  he  visited 
his  brother  at  his  court  in  Provence.  The  beauty  and 
the  rich  inheritance  of  Maria,  the  only  daughter  of 

1  Hurter,  p.  598. 


68  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

the  Count  of  Montpellier,  whose  mother  was  Eudoxia, 
the  daughter  of  the  Emperor  of  the  East,  attracted 
the  gallant  and  ambitious  Pedro.  There  was  an  im- 
pediment to  the  marriage,  it  might  have  been  supposed, 
more  insuperable  than  the  ties  of  consanguinity.  She 
was  already  married,  and  had  borne  two  children,  to 
the  Count  of  Comminges ; 1  she  afterwards,  indeed, 
asserted  the  nullity  of  this  marriage,  on  the  plea  that 
the  Count  of  Comminges  had  two  wives  living  at  the 
time  of  his  union  with  her.  But  the  easy  Provengal 
clergy  raised  no  remonstrance.  Innocent,  if  rumors 
reached  him  (he  could  hardly  be  ignorant),  closed  his 
ears  to  that  which  was  not  brought  before  him  by  regu- 
lar appeal.  The  espousals  took  place  at  Montpellier,2 
Nov.  8, 1204.  and  Pedro  set  forth  again  for  Rome.  He 
sailed  from  Marseilles  to  Genoa,  from  Genoa  to  Ostia. 
He  was  received  with  great  state :  two  hundred  horse- 
men welcomed  him  to  the  shore ;  the  Senator  of  Rome, 
the  Cardinals,  went  out  to  meet  him ;  he  was  received 
by  the  Pope  himself  in  St.  .Peter's ;  his  lodging  was 
with  the  Canons  of  that  church. 

Three  days  after  took  place  the  coronation  of  the 
new  feudatory  king  (thus  was  an  example  set  to  the 
King  of  England)  in  the  Church  of  San  Pancrazio 
beyond  the  Tiber,  in  the  presence  of  all  the  civilians, 
ecclesiastical  dignitaries  of  Rome,  and  of  the  Roman 

1  "  Si  bien  Dona  Maria  di  Mompeller  fue  en  santitad  y  valor  ornamento 
de  el  estado  de  Reynas,  y  traia  en  dote  tan  ricos  y  oportunos  pueblos." 
Abarea,  indeed,  says,  "  Ella  ni  era  hermosa  ni  doneella."  He  adds  that  she 
had  been  forced  to  this  marriage  neither  legitimate  nor  public,  with  the 
Count  of  Comminges;  see  also  on  her  two  daughters,  and  the  count's  two 
wives.  —  i.  p.  2'25. 

2  He  soon  repented  of  his  ill-sorted  marriage.  Abarea  says  he  set  off 
"para  salir  el  bien  de  ellos  (desvios  de  el  Rey  con  la  Reyna);  y  alexarse 
aias  dc  ella,"  and  hoped  to  get  a  divorce  from  the  Pope. 


Chap.  VI.   FEUDAL  SURRENDER  OF  ARRAGON.        (J9 

people.1  He  was  anointed  by  the  Bishop  of  Porto, 
and  invested  in  all  the  insignia  of  royalty  —  the  robe, 
the  mantle,  the  sceptre,  the  golden  apple,  the  crown, 
and  the  mitre.  He  swore  this  oath  of  allegiance: — "  I, 
Pedro,  King  of  Arragon,  profess  and  declare  that  I 
will  be  true  and  loyal  to  my  lord  the  Pope  Innocent, 
and  to  his  Catholic  successors  in  the  See  of  Rome  ; 
that  I  will  maintain  my  realm  in  fidelity  and  obedience 
to  him,  defend  the  Catholic  faith,  and  prosecute  all 
heretical  pravity;  protect  the  liberties  and  rights  of 
the  Church ;  and  in  all  the  territories  under  my  do- 
minion maintain  peace  and  justice.  So  help  me  God 
and  his  Holy  Gospel." 

The  King,  in  his  royal  attire,  proceeded  to  the 
Church  of  St.  Peter.  There  he  cast  aside  his  crown 
and  sceptre,  surrendered  his  kingdom  into  the  hands  of 
the  Pope,  and  received  again  the  investiture  by  the 
sword,  presented  to  the  Pope.  He  laid  on  the  altar  a 
parchment,  in  which  he  placed  his  realm  under  the 
protection  of  St.  Peter ;  and  bound  himself  and  his 
successors  to  the  annual  tribute  of  two  hundred  gold 
pieces.2  So  was  Arragon  a  fief  of  the  Roman  See  ; 
but  it  was  not  without  much  sullen  protest  of  the  high- 
minded  Arragonese.  They  complained  of  it  as  a  base 
surrender  of  their  liberties ;  as  affording  an  opening  to 
the  Pope  to  interfere  in  the  internal  affairs  of  the 
kingdom  with  measures  more  perilous  to  their  honor 
and  liberty.  Their  discontent  was  aggravated  by  heavy 
burdens  laid  upon  them  by  the  King.  They  com- 
plained that  in  his  private  person  he  was  prodigal,  and 

1  St.  Martin's  day.     Gesta,  c.  120. 

2  They  bore  the  Moorish  name  of  Massirnute,  from  the  King  Jussuf 
Masemut;  each  was  worth  six  solidi. 


70  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

rapacious  as  a  ruler.  When  these  proceedings  were 
proclaimed  at  Huesca,  they  were  met  with  an  outburst 
of  reprobation,  not  only  from  the  people,  but  from  all 
the  nobles  and  hidalgos  of  the  kingdom.1  Pedro  of 
Arragon  will  again  appear  as  Count  of  Montpellier,  i 
right  of  his  wife,  if  not  on  the  side  of  those  against 
whom  the  Pope  had  sanctioned  a  crusade  on  account 
of  their  heretical  pravity;  yet  as  the  mortal  foe,  aa 
falling  in  battle  before  the  arms  of  the  leader  of  that 
crusade,  Simon  de  Montfort. 

The  lesser  kingdoms  of  Europe,  Bohemia,  Hungary, 
Poland  —  those  on  the  Baltic  —  were  not  beyond  the 
sphere  of  Innocent's  all-embracing  watchfulness,  more 
especially  Bohemia,  on  account  of  its  close  relation  to 
March  1  tne  Empire.  The  Duke  of  Bohemia  had 
120L  dared  to  receive  the  royal  crown  from  the 

excommunicated  Philip.2  The  Pope  lifts  up  his  voice 
in  solemn  rebuke.  The  Bohemian  shows  some  disposi- 
tion to  fall  off  to  Otho  ;  the  great  prelates  of  Prague 
and  Olmutz  are  ordered  to  employ  all  their  spiritual 
power  to  confirm  and  strengthen  him  in  that  cause. 
Hopes  are  held  out  that  Bohemia  may  be  honored  by 
a  metropolitan  see. 

To  the  King  of  Denmark  Innocent  has  been  seen 
as  the  protector  of  his  injured  daughter ;  throughout, 
Denmark  looks  to  Rome  alone  for  justice  and  for  re- 
dress. Even  Thule,  the  new  and  more  remote  Thule, 
is  not  inaccessible  to  the  sovereign  of  Christian  Rome. 
We  read  a  lofty  but  affectionate  letter  addressed  to  the 

1  Mariana,  lib.  xi.  p.  362.  "  Solo  alegre  para  los  Romanos ;  y  despues  in- 
feliz  y  triste  para  los  Aragoneses."  — Abarca.  King  Pedro  did  not  succeed 
in  getting  rid  of  his  wife. 

2  Epist.  i.  707 


Chap.  VI.  ANDREW  OF  HUNGARY.  71 

bishops  and  nobles  of  Iceland.1  A  legate  is  sent  to  that 
island.  They  are  warned  not  to  submit  to  the  excom- 
municated and  apostate  priest  Swero,  who  aspired  to 
the  throne  of  Norway.  Yet,  notwithstanding  the  Pope, 
Swero  the  apostate  founded  a  dynasty  which  for  many 
generations  held  the  throne  of  Norway. 

The  kingdom  of  Hungary  might  seem  under  the 
special  protection  of  Innocent  III. :  it  was  his  aim  to 
urge  those  warlike  princes  to  enter  on  the  Crusades. 
Bela  III.  died,  not  having  fulfilled  his  vow  of  proceed- 
ing to  the  Holy  Land.  To  his  elder  son  Emeric  he 
bequeathed  his  kingdom  ;  to  the  younger,  Andrew,  a 
vast  treasure,  accumulated  for  this  pious  end,  and  the 
accomplishment  of  his  father's  holy  vow.  Andrew 
squandered  the  money,  notwithstanding  the  Pope's  re- 
bukes, on  his  pleasures  ;  and  then  stood  up  in  arms 
against  his  brother  for  the  crown  of  Hungary.  His 
first  insurrection  ended  in  defeat.  The  Pope  urged  the 
victorious  Emeric  to  undertake  the  Crusade ;  yet  the 
Pope  could  not  save  Zara  (Jadara),  the  haven  of  Hun- 
gary on  the  Adriatic,  from  the  crusaders,  diverted  by 
Venice  to  the  conquest.  Andrew,  ere  long  was  again 
in  arms  against  his  royal  brother ;  the  nobles,  the  whole 
realm  were  on  his  side  ;  a  few  loyal  partisans  adhered 
to  the  King.  Emeric  advanced  alone  to  the  hostile 
van  ;  he  threw  off  his  armor,  he  bared  his  breast ;  "  who 
will  dare  to  shed  the  blood  of  their  King?  "2    The  army 

1  Epist.  i.  On  all  these  minor  transactions,  for  which  I  have  not  space, 
Hurter  is  full  and  minute.  Hurter,  I  think,  is  an  honest  writer;  hut  sees 
all  the  acts  of  Innocent  through  a  haze  of  admiration,  which  brightens  and 
aggrandizes  them.  Never  was  the  proverb  more  fully  verified,  proselytes 
are  always  enthusiasts. 

2  Compare  Mailath,  Geschichte  der  Magyaren,  especially  for  the  striking 
scene  of  Emeric  in  the  army  of  his  brother.  —  v.  i.  p.  141.     a.d.  1203. 


72  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

of  Andrew  fell  back,  and  made  way  for  the  King,  who 
confronted  his  brother.  He  took  the  rebel  by  the  hand, 
and  led  him  away  through  his  own  hosts.  Both  armies 
broke  out  in  loyal  acclamations.  Andrew  was  a  pris- 
oner, and  sent  to  a  fortress  in  Croatia :  Emeric,  before 
he  undertook  the  Crusade,  would  have  his  infant  son 
Ladislaus  crowned  ;  a  few  months  after  he  was  dying, 
and  compelled  to  intrust  his  heir  to  the  guardianship 
of  his  rebel  brother.  Erelong  the  mother  and  her 
royal  son  were  fugitives  at  Vienna ;  but  the  timely 
death  of  the  infant  placed  the  crown  on  the  head  of 
Andrew.  After  some  delay,  Andrew  atoned  in  the 
sight  of  the  Pope  for  all  the  disobedience  and  ambition 
of  his  youth,  by  embarking  at  the  head  of  a  strong 
Hungarian  army  for  the  Holy  Land.  The  King  of 
Hungary  could  not  overawe  the  fatal  dissensions  among 
the  Christians,  which  thwarted  every  gallant  enterprise. 
He  returned  after  one  ineffective  campaign.  Yet  An- 
drew of  Hungary  left  behind  him  the  name  of  a  val- 
iant and  prudent  champion  of  the  Cross.  He  returned 
to  his  kingdom  in  the  year  of  Innocent's  death.1  The 
Golden  Bull,  the  charter  of  the  Hungarian  liberties, 
was  the  free  and  noble  gift  of  Andrew  of  Hungary. 

Innocent  extended  his  authority  over  Servia,  and 
boasted  of  having  brought  Bulgaria,  even  Armenia 
(the  Christian  Crusader's  kingdom),  under  the  domin- 
ion of  the  Roman  See. 

i  a.d.  1216.    On  Andrew's  crusade  see  Michaud  and  Wilken,  in  foe 
Brequigny  ii.  487,  489. 


Chap.  VII.  FAILURE  OF  THE  CRUSADES.  73 


CHAPTER   VII. 

INNOCENT  AND  THE  EAST. 

Innocent  III.,  thus  assuming  a  supremacy  even 
more  extensive  than  any  of  his  predecessors  innocent 
over  the  kingdoms  of  the  West,  was  not  the  East. 
Pontiff  to  abandon  the  East  to  its  fate ;  to  leave  the 
sepulchre  of  Christ  in  the  hands  of  the  Infidels ;  to 
permit  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem,  feeble  as  it  was,  to 
perish  without  an  effort  in  its  defence  ;  to  confess,  as  it 
were,  that  God  was  on  the  side  of  Mohammedanism, 
that  all  the  former  Crusades  had  been  an  idle  waste  of 
Christian  blood  and  treasure,  and  that  it  was  the  policy, 
the  ignominious  policy  of  Christendom  to  content  itself 
with  maintaining,  if  possible,  the  nearer  frontier,  Sicily 
and  Spain. 

Yet  the  event  of  the  Crusades  might  have  crushed  a 
less  lofty  and  religious  mind  than  that  of  In-  FaUure  ot 
nocent  to  despair.  Armies  after  armies  had  Crusades- 
left  their  bones  to  crumble  on  the  plains  of  Asia  Minor 
or  of  Galilee  ;  great  sovereigns  had  perished,  or  re- 
turned discomfited  from  the  Holy  Land.  Of  all  the 
conquests  of  Godfrey  of  Bouillon  remained  but  Antioch, 
a  few  towns  in  Palestine,  and  some  desert  and  unculti- 
vated territory.  The  hopes  which  had  been  excited  by 
the  death  of  Saladin,  and  the  dissensions  between  his 
sons  and  his  brother,  Melek  al  Adhel,  had  soon  been 


74  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

extinguished.  The  great  German  Crusade,  in  which 
the  Archbishops  of  Mentz  and  Bremen,  the  Bishops 
of  Halberstadt,  Zeitz,  Verden,  Wurtzburg,  Passau  and 
Ratisbon,  the  Dukes  of  Austria,  Carinthia  and  Bra- 
bant, Henry  the  Palgrave  of  the  Rhine,  Herman  of 
Thuringia,  Otho  Margrave  of  Brandenburg,  and  many 
more  of  the  great  Teutonic  nobles  had  joined,  had 
ended  in  disgraceful  failure.  The  death  of  the  Em- 
peror Henry  gave  them  an  excuse  for  stealing  back 
ignominiously,  single  or  in  small  bands,  to  Europe; 
they  were  called  to  take  their  share  in  the  settlement 
of  the  weighty  affairs  of  the  Empire ;  the  Archbishop 
of  Mentz  lingered  to  the  last,  and  at  length,  he  too 
turned  his  back  on  the  Holy  Land.  The  French,  who 
had  remained  after  the  departure  of  Philip  Augustus, 
resented  the  insufferable  arrogance  of  the  Germans  ; 
the  Germans  affected  to  despise  the  French.  But  their 
only  achievement,  as  Innocent  himself  tauntingly  de- 
clared, had  been  the  taking  of  undefended  Berytus ; 
while  the  unbeliever  boasted  that  he  had  stormed  Joppa 
in  the  face  of  their  whole  host,  with  infinite  slaughter  of 
the  Christians.  All  was  dissension,  jealousy,  hostility. 
The  Kino;  of  Antioch  was  at  war  with  the  Christian  Kino- 
of  Armenia.  The  two  great  Orders,  the  only  power- 
ful defenders  of  the  land,  the  Hospitallers  and  the 
Templars,  were  in  implacable  feud.  The  Christians  of 
Palestine  were  in  morals,  in  character,  in  habits,  the 
most  licentious,  most  treacherous,  most  ferocious  of 
mankind.  Isabella,  the  heiress  of  the  kingdom,  had 
transferred  the  short-lived  sceptre  to  four  successive 
husbands.  It  rested  now  with  Amalric,  King  of  Cy- 
prus. Worst  of  all,  terrible  rumors  were  abroad  of 
suspicious    compliances,    secret   correspondences,    even 


Chap.  VII.        INNOCENT  URGES  THE  CRUSADE.  75 

secret  apostasies  to  Mohammedanism,  and  not  only  of 
single  renegades.  If  those  rumors  had  not  begun  to 
spread  concerning  the  dark  dealings  of  the  Templars 
with  forbidden  practices  and  doctrines,  which  led  dur- 
ing the  next  century  to  their  fall,  Innocent  himself  had 
to  rebuke  their  haughty  contempt  of  the  Papal  au- 
thority. In  abuse  of  their  privilege,  during  times  of 
interdict  whenever  they  entered  a  city  they  commanded 
the  bells  to  ring  and  the  divine  offices  to  be  publicly 
celebrated.  They  impressed  with  the  sign  of  the  cross, 
and  affiliated  to  their  order  for  a  small  annual  payment 
of  two  or  three  pence,  the  lowest  of  mankind,  usurers 
and  other  criminals,  and  taught  them  that,  as  of  their 
order,  whether  they  died  in  excommunication  or  not, 
they  had  a  right  to  be  buried  with  the  rites  of  the 
Church  in  consecrated  earth ;  it  was  said  that  the 
guilty,  licentious  and  rapacious  order  wore  not  the  sec- 
ular garb  for  the  sake  of  religion,  but  the  garb  of  re- 
ligion for  the  sake  of  the  world.1 

But  the  darker  the  aspect  of  affairs,  the  more  firmly 
throughout  his  Pontificate  seemed  Innocent  to  be  per- 
suaded that  the  Crusade  was  the  cause  of  God.  Among 
his  first  letters  were  some  addressed  to  the  Patriarch  of 
Jerusalem,  and  to  Conrad  of  Mentz  with  the  Crusaders 
of  Germany.  In  every  new  disaster,  in  every  discomfi- 
ture and  loss,  the  Popes  had  still  found  unfailing  refuge 
in  ascribing  them  to  the  sins  of  the  Christians:  and 
their  sins  were    dark    enough  to    justify  the  innocent 

i  n   t  m         l         t»         urSes  the 

strongest  language  of  Innocent.      1  o  the  Pa-  crusade. 

luDum  utentes  doctrinis  djemoniorum  in  cujusque  tructanni  pectore 
Crucifixi  signaculum  imprimunt  .  .  .  asserentes  quod  quicunque  duobus 
vel  tribus  denariis  annuis  collatis  eisdem,  se  in  eorum  fraternitatem  contu- 
lerint,  carere  de jure  nequeant  ecclesiastica  sepultura  etiamsi  interdicti."  — 
Epist.  x.  121.     This  letter  belongs  to  the  year  1208. 


76  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX, 

triarch  he  pledges  himself  to  the  most  earnest  support, 
exhorts  him  and  his  people  to  prayer,  fasting,  and  all 
religious  works.  It  needed  but  more  perfect  faith, 
more  holiness,  and  one  believer  would  put  to  flight 
twelve  millions ;  the  miracles  of  God  against  Pharaoh 
and  against  the  Philistines  would  be  renewed  in  their 
behalf.  For  the  first  two  or  three  years  of  Innocent's 
Pontificate,  address  after  address,  rising  one  above 
another  in  impassioned  eloquence,  enforced  the  duty 
of  contributing  to  the  Holy  War.  In  the  midst  of  his 
contest  with  Markwald,  his  strife  concerning  the  Em- 
pire, his  interdict  against  the  King  of  France,  he  forgot 
not  this  remoter  object.  This  was  to  be  the  principal, 
if  not  the  exclusive  theme  of  the  preaching  of  the 
clergy.1  In  letters  to  the  Bishop  of  Syracuse,  to  all 
the  Bishops  of  Apulia,  Calabria,  and  Tuscany,  he 
urges  them  to  visit  every  city,  town,  and  castle  ;  he 
exhorts  not  only  the  nobles,  but  the  citizens  to  take  up 
arms  for  Jesus  Christ.  Those  who  cannot  assist  in 
person  are  to  assist  in  other  ways,  by  furnishing  ships, 
provisions,  money.  Somewhat  later  came  a  more  ener- 
getic epistle  to  all  archbishops,  bishops,  abbots,  priors, 
and  princes  and  barons  of  France,  England,  Hungary, 
and  Sicily.  He  spoke  of  the  insulting  language  of  the 
enemies  of  Christ.2  "  Where,"  they  say,  "  is  your 
God,  who  cannot  deliver  you  out  of  our  hands  ?  Be- 
hold, we  have  defiled  your  sanctuaries.  We  have 
stretched  forth  our  arm,  we  have  taken  at  the  first  as- 
sault, we  hold,  in  despite  of  you,  those  your  desirable 
places,  where  your  superstition  had  its  beginning.  We 
have  weakened  and  broken  the  lances  of  the  French, 
we  have  resisted  the  efforts  of  the  English  ;  we  have 

i  Epist.  i.  302.  2  Epist.  i.  336. 


Chap.  VII.  CONTRIBUTIONS  REQUIRED.  77 

repressed  the  strength  of  the  Germans.  Now,  for  a 
second  time  we  have  conquered  the  brave  Spaniards. 
Where  is  your  God  ?  Let  him  arise  and  protect  you 
and  himself."  The  Pope  bitterly  alludes  to  the  cam- 
paign of  the  Germans,  the  capture  of  defenceless  Bery- 
tus,  the  loss  of  well-fortified  Joppa.  The  Vicar  of 
Christ  himself  would  claim  no  exemption  from  the 
universal  call  ;  he  would,  as  became  him,  set  the  exam- 
ple, and  in  person  and  in  estate  devote  himself  to  the 
sacred  cause.  He  had,  therefore,  himself  invested  with 
the  cross  two  cardinals  of  the  Church,  who  were  to  pre- 
cede the  army  of  the  Lord,  and  to  be  maintained,  not 
by  any  mendicant  support,  but  at  the  expense  of  the 
Holy  See.  The  Cardinal  Peter  was  first  to  proceed  to 
France,  to  settle  the  differences  between  the  Kings  of 
England  and  France,  and  to  enlist  them  in  the  com- 
mon cause  ;  the  Cardinal  Soffrido  to  Venice,  to  awaken 
that  powerful  Republic.  After  the  Pope's  ex-  contribu- 
ample,  before  the  next  March,  every  arch-  quired, 
bishop,  bishop,  and  prelate  was  to  furnish  a  certain 
number  of  soldiers,  according  to  his  means,  or  a  certain 
rate  in  money  for  the  support  of  the  crusading  army. 
Whoever  refused  was  to  be  treated  as  a  violator  of 
God's  commandments,  threatened  with  condign  punish- 
ment, even  with  suspension.  To  all  who  embarked  in 
the  war  Innocent  promised,  on  their  sincere  repentance, 
the  remission  of  all  their  sins,  and  eternal  life  in  the 
great  day  of  retribution.  Those  who  were  unable  to 
proceed  in  person  might  obtain  the  same  remission  in 
proportion  to  the  bounty  of  their  offerings  and  the  de- 
votion of  their  hearts.  The  estates  of  all  who  took  up 
the  cross  were  placed  under  the  protection  of  St.  Peter. 
Those  who  had  sworn  to  pay  interest  for  sums  borrowed 


78  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

for  these  pious  uses  were  to  be  released  from  their 
oaths  ;  the  Jews  were  especially  to  be  compelled  by  all 
Christian  princes  to  abandon  all  their  usurious  claims 
on  pain  of  being  interdicted  from  all  commercial  deal- 
ings with  Christians.  "  If  the  soldiers  of  the  Cross,  so 
entering  on  their  holy  course,  should  walk  in  the  way 
of  the  Lord,  not  as  those  before  them,  in  revellings 
and  drunkenness,  and  licentious  indulgences  in  foreign 
lands,  of  which  they  would  have  been  ashamed  at 
home,  they  would  trample  their  enemies  down  as  mice 
under  their  feet." 

But  Christendom  heard  the  address  of  the  Pope 
with  apathy  approaching  to  indifference.  So  utterly 
might  the  fire  seem  extinct,  which  on  former  occasions 
ran  wild  through  Europe,  and  such  was  the  jealousy 
which  had  been  raised  of  the  rapacity  of  the  Roman 
court,  that  sullen  murmurs  were  heard  in  many  parts, 
that  all  this  zeal  was  but  to  raise  money  for  other  ends ; 
that  only  a  small  part  of  the  subsidies  levied  for  the 
defence  of  the  Holy  Land  would  ever  reach  their  des- 
tination. Nor  was  this  the  suspicion  of  the  vulgar 
alone,  it  seems  to  have  been  shared  by  the  clergy.1 
The  Pope  was  compelled  to  stand  on  his  defence  ;  to 
repel  the  odious  charge,  to  disclaim  all  intention  that 
the  money  was  to  be  sent  to  Rome ;  to  appoint  the 
bishop  of  each  diocese  with  one  Knight  Templar,  and 
one  Knight  of  St.  John,  as  the  administrators  of  this 
sacred  trust.2 

More  than  a  year  elapsed  ;  the  supplications  for  aid 

i  Walter  der  Vogelweide,  Radulf  de  Diceto.     Compare  Wilken,  p.  80. 

2  "  Non  est  ab  aliquo  prsesumendum,  ut  ea,  qua?  a  fratribus  et  coepiscopis 
nostris,  et  tarn  pradatis  quam  subditis  ecclesiarum,  in  opus  tarn  pi  urn  ero- 
gari  mandavimus,  propriis  velimus  usibus  applicare,  aut  aliorum  eleemosy- 
nas  cupiditate  quadam  terrae  sanctae  subtrahere."  — Epist.  i.  409. 


Chap.  VII.         GENERAL  TAXATION.  79 

from  King  Amalric  and  King  Leo  of  Armenia,  from 
the  Patriarchs  of  Antioch  and  Jerusalem  became  more 
urgent.  Innocent  found  it  necessary  to  make  General 
a  stronger  and  more  specific  appeal  to  the  slug-  texatl0n- 
gish  and  unawakened  clergy.  On  the  last  day  of  the 
century  issued  forth  a  new  proclamation  to  the  arch- 
bishops, bishops,  and  prelates  of  Tuscany,  Lombardy, 
Germany,  France,  England,  Hungary,  Scla-  Dec.  3i,  1199. 
vonia,  Ireland,  Scotland.  The  Pope  and  his  cardinals, 
and  the  clergy  of  Rome,  had  determined  in  this  press- 
ing exigency  to  devote  a  tenth  of  all  their  revenues  to 
the  succor  of  the  Holy  Land.  All  prelates  and  clergy 
in  Latin  Christendom  were  summoned  to  contribute  at 
least  a  fortieth  to  this  end.  But  they  were  assured 
that  this  was  not  intended  as  a  permanent  tax,  it  was  a 
special  burden  not  to  be  drawn  into  precedent.  How 
criminally  hard-hearted  he 1  who  should  refuse  so  small 
a  boon  in  this  hour  of  need  to  his  Creator  and  Re- 
deemer !  These  funds  were  to  be  deposited  in  a 
safe  place,  the  amount  notified  to  Rome.  From  this 
enforced  contribution  were  exempted  the  Cistercian 
and  Carthusian  monks,  the  Prsemonstratensian  canons, 
and  the  hermits  of  Grandmont:  it  was  left  to  their 
devout  hearts  to  fulfil  their  part  in  the  common  sacri- 
fice ;  but  it  was  suggested  that  not  less  than  a  fiftieth 
could  be  just ;  and  there  was  a  significant  menace  that 
they  would  be  deprived  of  all  their  privileges,  if  they 
were  slow  and  sparing  in  their  offerings.  In  like  man- 
ner all  Christian  people  were  to  be  called  upon  inces- 
santly, at  masses  appointed  for  the  purpose.  In  every 
church  was  to  be  an  alms'-chest,  with  three  keys,  one 

5  "Sciat  autem  se  culpabiliter  durum,  et  dure  culpabilem."  —  Epist.  ii 
270. 


80  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX 

held  by  the  bishop,  one  by  the  parson  of  the  parish, 
one  by  a  chosen  laic.  The  administration  was  commit- 
ted to  the  Bishops,  the  Knights  of  the  Hospital,  and 
those  of  the  Temple.  These  alms  were  chiefly  designed 
to  maintain  poor  knights  who  could  not  afford  the 
voyage  to  the  Holy  Land ;  but  for  this  they  were  to 
serve  for  a  year  or  more,  and  obtain  a  certificate  of 
such  service  under  the  hand  of  the  King  and  the  Pa- 
triarch of  Jerusalem,  of  the  Grand  Masters  of  the 
Templars  and  of  the  Hospitallers,  and  one  of  the 
Papal  Legates.  If  they  died  or  fell  in  battle,  what 
remained  of  their  maintenance  was  to  be  assigned  to 
the  support  of  other  soldiers  of  the  Cross. 

The  demands  of  the  Pope  met  with  no  opposition, 
yet  with  but  scanty  compliance.  At  the  Council  of 
Dijon,  held  concerning  the  interdict  of  the  King  of 
France,  by  Peter,  Cardinal  of  Capua,  the  clergy  voted 
not  a  fortieth  but  a  thirtieth  of  their  revenue  to  this 
service :  but  the  collection  encountered  insurmountable 
difficulties  ;  and  Innocent  found  it  necessary  to  address 
a  still  sterner  rebuke  to  the  clergy  of  France.  "  Be- 
hold, the  crucified  is  crucified  anew  !  he  is  again  smit- 
ten, again  scourged ;  again  his  enemies  take  up  their 
taunting  reproach,  '  If  thou  be  the  Son  of  God,  save 
thyself;  if  thou  canst,  redeem  the  land  of  thy  birth 
from  our  hands,  restore  thy  cross  to  the  worshippers  of 
the  cross.'  But  ye,  I  say  it  with  grief,  though  I  ask 
you  again  and  again,  will  not  give  me  one  cup  of  cold 
water.  The  laity,  whom  you  urge  to  assume  the  cross 
by  your  words,  not  by  your  acts,  take  up  against  you 
the  words  of  Scripture,  *  They  bind  heavy  burdens 
upon  us,  but  themselves  will  not  move  them  with  one 
of    their   fingers.'     Ye   are   reproached   as   bestowing 


Chap.  VII.  FULK  OF  NEUILLY.  81 

more  of  God's  patrimony  on  actors  than  on  Christ; 
as  spending  more  on  hawks  and  hounds  than  in  His 
aid  ;  lavish  to  all  others,  to  Him  alone  sparing,  even 
parsimonious."  1 

But  Richard  and  Philip  of  France  suspended  not 
,their  animosities  ;  and  hardly  was  Richard  dead  when 
the  interdict  fell  upon  France.  Germany  was  distract- 
ed with  the  claims  of  the  rival  Emperors.  It  needed 
more  than  the  remote  admonitions  of  the  Holy  See  to 
rekindle  the  exhausted  and  desponding  fanaticism  of 
Christendom.  Without  a  Peter  the  Hermit,  or  a  St. 
Bernard,  Urban  II.  and  Eugenius  III.  would  not  have 
precipitated  Europe  upon  Asia.  The  successor  of  these 
powerful  preachers,  it  was  hoped,  had  appeared  in  Fulk 
of  Neuilly.2  Already  had  Fulk  of  Neuilly  Fulk  of 
displayed  those  powers  of  devout  eloquence,  Neul11^- 
which  work  on  the  contagious  i  religious  passions  of 
multitudes.  The  clergy  of  Paris  and  its  neighborhood 
were  not  famous  for  their  self-denial,  and  Fulk  of 
Neuilly  had  been  no  exception  to  the  common  disso- 
luteness. He  had  been  seized,  however,  with  a  par- 
oxysm of  profound  compunction ;  he  was  suddenly  a 
model  of  the  severest  austerity  and  devout  holiness. 
He  became  ashamed  of  his  ignorance,  especially  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures  ;  he,  a  teacher  of  the  people,  wanted 
the  first  elements  of  instruction.  He  began  to  attend 
the  lectures  of  the  learned  men  in  Paris,  especially  of 
the  celebrated  Peter  the  Chanter.  With  style  and 
tablet  he  noted  down  all  the  vivid  and  emphatic  sen- 
tences which  he  heard ;  he  taught  to  his  parishioners 

i  Gesta,  c.  84. 

2  Ranulf  de  Coggeshalle  and  James  de  Vitry  are  most  full  on  Fulk  of 
Neuilly;  the  other  authorities,  in  Michaud,  Wilken,  and  Hurter. 
vol.  v.  6 


82  LATJN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  iX. 

on  Sunday  what  he  had  learnt  during  the  week.  lie 
wrought  unexpected  wonders  on  the  minds  of  his  sim- 
ple hearers  :  his  fame  spread ;  he  was  invited  to  preach 
in  neighboring  churches.  He  himself  was  hardly 
aware  of  his  powers,  till  on  a  memorable  sermon 
preached  in  the  open  street,  that  of  Chaupel,  in  Paris, 
to  a  crowd  of  clergy  and  laity,  his  hearers  suddenly 
began  to  tear  off  their  clothes,  to  throw  away  their 
shoes,  to  cast  themselves  at  his  feet,  imploring  him  to 
give  them  rods  or  scourges  to  inflict  instant  penance  on 
themselves.  They  promised  to  yield  themselves  up  to 
his  direction.  Everywhere  it  was  the  same  ;  usurers 
laid  down  their  ill-gotten  gains  at  his  feet ;  prostitutes 
forswore  their  sins  and  embraced  a  holy  life.  But,  it 
should  seem,  that  the  first  passion  for  his  preaching 
died  away ;  the  public  mind  had  become  more  languid, 
and  Fulk  of  Neuilly  retired  to  the  diligent  and  faithful 
care  of  his  own  flock  at  Neuilly. 

Just  at  this  time  died  his  teacher,  Peter  the  Chanter. 
On  that  eloquent  man  Innocent  had  relied  for  the 
effective  preaching  of  the  Crusade  of  France  ;  with 
his  dying  lips  Peter  bequeathed  his  mission  to  Fulk  of 
Neuilly.  With  this  new  impulse  the  fervid  preaching 
of  Fulk  kindled  to  all  its  former  energy  and  power. 
He  now,  in  his  zeal  for  the  cross,  assailed  higher  vices 
—  the  somnolence  of  the  prelates,  the  unchastity  of 
the  clergy  ;  he  denounced  the  popular  heresies ;  many 
were  converted  from  their  errors ;  over  a  softer  class 
of  sinners  he  again  obtained  such  influence,  that  from 
the  gifts  which  flowed  in  to  him  on  all  sides,  he  gave 
some  marriage  portions,  for  others  he  founded  the  con- 
vent of  St.  Anthony  in  Paris  as  a  refuge  from  the 
world.     His  reputation  reached  Rome.     Soon  after  his 


Chap.  VII.  FULK  OF  NEUILLT.  83 

accession,  Innocent  wrote  a  letter  highly  approving  the 
holy  zeal  of  Fulk,  urged  him  to  devote  all  his  exertions 
to  the  sacred  cause,  to  choose  some  both  of  the  Black 
and  White  Monks,  with  the  sanction  of  the  Legate 
Peter  of  Capua,  as  his  assistants,  and  thus  to  sow  the 
good  seed  through  the  breadth  of  the  land.1 

Again  Fulk  of  Neuilly  set  out  from  place  to  place  ; 
he  was  everywhere  hailed  as  the  worthy  successor  of 
Peter  the  Hermit.  The  wonders  which  he  wrought  in 
the  minds  and  hearts  of  men  were  believed  to  be  ac- 
companied by  miraculous  powers  of  healing  and  of 
blessing.  But  in  the  display  of  his  miraculous  powers, 
the  preacher  showed  prudence  and  sagacity.  Some  he 
healed  instantaneously ;  to  others  he  declared  that  their 
cure  would  be  prejudicial  to  their  salvation,  and,  there- 
fore, displeasing  to  God  ;  others  must  wait  the  fitting 
time,  they  had  not  yet  suffered  long  enough  the  chasten- 
ing discipline  of  the  Lord.  He  blessed  many  wells, 
over  which  chapels  were  built  and  long  hallowed  by 
popular  veneration.  Before  the  close  of  the  year,  full 
of  fame  as  the  preacher  of  the  cross,  Fulk  of  Neuilly 
attended  the  great  meeting  of  the  Cistercian  Order,  and 
himself  took  the  cross  with  the  Bishop  of  Langres. 
Yet  the  Order  declined  to  delegate  any  of  their  body 
as  attendants  of  the  preacher.  They  gave  him,  how- 
ever, a  multitude  of  crosses  to  distribute,  which  were 
almost  snatched  from  his  hands  by  the  eager  zeal  of  his 
followers,  as  he  left  the  church.  The  news  spread  that, 
like  Peter  the  Hermit,  he  was  about  himself  to  head  a 
crusade ;  thousands  flocked  around  him,  but  he  would 
only  receive  the  poor  as  his  followers ;  he  declined  the 
association  of  the  rich. 

1  Epist.  i.  3U8.     Villehurdouin. 


84  LATIN   ClllUSTlANnT.  Book  IX. 

Pie  pursued  his  triumphant  career  with  the  full  sanc- 
tion of  his  Bishop,  through  Normandy  and  Brittany, 
Burgundy  and  Flanders,  everywhere  preaching  the 
crusade,  everywhere  denouncing  the  vices  of  the  age, 
avarice,  usury,  rapacity.  Nobles,  knights,  citizens, 
serfs,  crowded  around  him ;  they  took  the  cross  from 
his  hands,  they  gazed  in  astonishment  at  his  miracles ; 
their  zeal  at  times  rose  to  an  importunate  height ;  they 
tore  his  clothes  from  him  to  keep  the  shreds  as  hallowed 
relics.  Fulk  seems  to  have  been  somewhat  passion- 
ate, and  not  without  humor.  Once,  a  strong  and  tur- 
bulent fellow  being  more  than  usually  troublesome,  he 
shouted  aloud  that  he  had  not  blessed  his  own  gar- 
ments, but  would  bless  those  of  this  man.  In  an  in- 
stant the  zeal  of  the  multitude  was  diverted ;  they  fell 
upon  the  man,  tore  his  whole  dress  in  tatters,  and  car- 
ried off  the  precious  shreds.  Sometimes  he  would  keep 
order  by  laying  about  him  vigorously  with  his  staff; 
those  were  happy  who  were  wounded  by  his  hallowed 
hands  ;  they  kissed  their  bruises,  and  cherished  every 
drop  of  blood  shed  by  his  holy  violence.  At  the  close 
of  three  years  Fulk  of  Neuilly  could  boast,  in  another 
assembly  of  the  Cistercian  Order,  that  200,000  persons 
had  received  the  cross  from  his  hands. 

Yet,  as  before,  the  eloquence  of  Fulk  of  Neuilly 
wanted  depth  and  intensity  ;  its  effects  were  immediate 
and  violent,  but  not  lasting.  It  might  be,  that  he 
either  disdained  or  neglected  those  ostentatious  auster- 
ities, which  to  the  vulgar  are  the  crowning  test  of 
earnestness.  He  wore,  indeed,  a  sackcloth  shirt  next 
his  skin,  and  kept  rigidly  the  fasts  of  the  Church  ;  but 
on  other  occasions  he  ate  and  drank,  and  lived  like 
other  men.     He  was  decently  shaved,  wore  seemly  at- 


Chap.  VII.  FULK   OF  NEUILLY.  85 

tire,  he  did  not  travel  barefoot,  but  on  an  easy  palfrey. 
It  might  be  that  his  reserve  in  working  miracles  awoke 
suspicion  in  some,  resentment  in  others  who  were  disap- 
pointed in  their  petitions.  But  the  deep  and  real  cause 
of  his  transitory  success,  was  the  general  jealousy  which 
was  abroad  concerning  the  misapplication  of  the  vast 
funds  raised  for  the  service  of  the  Holy  Land.  Offer- 
ings had  streamed  to  him  from  all  quarters  ;  he  had  re- 
ceived vast  subsidies :  these  he  devoted  to  supply  the 
more  needy  knights,  who  took  the  cross,  with  arms  and 
provisions  for  their  pilgrimage.  But  the  rapacity  of 
Rome  and  of  the  clergy  had  settled  a  profound  mistrust 
throughout  mankind  :  like  Innocent,  Fulk  was  accused 
of  diverting  these  holy  alms  to  other  uses.1  From  the 
time  that  he  began  to  receive  these  lavish  offerings,  the 
spell  of  his  power  was  broken  ;  as  wealth  flowed  in, 
awe  and  respect  fell  off.  He  did  not  live  to  witness  the 
crusade  of  which,  even  if  his  motives  were  thus  with 
some  clouded  by  suspicion,  he  had  been  the  great 
preacher  ;  he  died  of  a  fever  at  Neuilly  in  the  year 
1202.  The  large  sums  which  he  had  deposited  in  the 
abbey  of  the  Cistercians  were  faithfully  applied  to  the 
restoration  of  the  walls  of  Tyre,  Acre,  and  Berytus, 
which  had  been  shaken  by  an  earthquake  ;  and  to  the 
maintenance  of  poor  knights  in  the  Holy  Land.     The 

luIpse  (Falco)  ex  fidelium  eleemosynis  maximam  ccepit  congregare 
pecuniam  quam  pauperibus  crucesignatis,  tarn  rtiilitibus  quam  aliis  proposu- 
erat  erogare.  Licet  autem  causa  cupiditatis  vel  aliqua  sinistra  intentione 
collectas  istas  non  faceret,  occulto  Dei  judicio,  ex  tunc  ejus  auctoritas  et 
prgedicatio  ccepit  valde  diminui  apud  homines,  et,  crescente  pecunia,  timor 
et  reverentia  decrescebat."  —  Jac.  de  Vitriac.  "  Tandem  (Fulco)  sub  ob- 
tentu  Terras  Sanctae,  prasdicationi  quaestuosse  insistens,  quod  nimiam  pecu- 
niam aggregavit,  quasi  ad  succursum  terrae  Hierosolymitanaj,  et  quod  erat 
ultra  modum  iracundus."  —  Anonym.  Chron.  of  Laon,  in  Bouquet,  viii.  p. 
711. 


86  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

death  of  Fulk  is  attributed  by  one  writer  to  grief  at 
the  mal-appropriation  of  a  large  sum  deposited  in  an- 
other quarter.1  Nor  was  Fulk's  example  without  fol- 
lowers. Preachers  of  the  Cross  rose  up  in  every  part 
of  England  and  France;  the  most  effective  of  whom 
was  the  Abbot  Martin,  the  head  of  a  Cistercian  con- 
vent, that  of  Paris,  in  Alsace,  who  himself  bore  a  dis- 
tinguished part  in  the  Crusade  which  never  reached 
the  Holy  Land. 

The  admonitions  and  exhortations  of  the  Pope,  the 
Crusade  of  preachings  of  Fulk  of  Neuilly,  of  the  Abbot 
Cery#  Martin,   and  their  followers,  had  at  length 

stirred  some  of  the  young  hearts  among  the  secondary 
Princes  of  France.  At  a  tournament  at  Cery  in 
Champagne,  Thiebault  the  Count  of  Champagne  and 
Brie,  at  the  age  of  twenty-one,  and  Louis  Count  of 
Blois  and  Chartres,  at  the  age  of  twenty-seven,  in 
an  access  of  religious  valor,  assumed  the  Cross. 
The  bishops  and  the  nobles  of  the  land  caught  the 
contagious  enthusiasm :  at  Cery,  Rainald  de  Mont- 
mirail  and  Simon  de  Montfort,  Gamier  Bishop  of 
Troyes,  Walther  of  Brienne,  and  the  Marshal  of 
Champagne  Geoffroy  of  Villehardouin  ;  the  great 
names  of  Dampierre,  of  de  Castel  and  Rochfort  were 
enrolled  in  the  territory  of  Blois  ;  in  the  royal  do 
mains,  the  Bishop  of  Soissons,  two  Montmorencies,  a 
de  Courcy,  a  Malvoisin,  and  a  Dreux. 

The  following  year  (1200)  Baldwin  Count  of  Flan- 
ders, with  his  wife  Maria,  sister  of  Count  Thiebault  of 
Champagne,  his  nephew  Dietrich,  Jacob  of  Avencs, 
William  and  Conon  of  Bethune,  Hugh  of  St.  Pol,  and 
his  brother  Peter  of  Anvers,  the  Count  of  Perche  and 

1  Hugo  Plagon,  cited  by  Wilken,  v.  p.  105. 


Chap.  VII.  VENICE.  87 

his  brother,  swore  the  solemn  oath  for  the  deliverance 
of  the  holy  sepulchre.  The  Crusade  was  determined, 
but  it  was  now  become  matter  of  deep  deliberation  as 
to  the  safest  and  most  advantageous  way  of  reaching 
the  shores  of  Palestine.  The  perils  and  difficulties 
of  the  land  journey,  the  treachery  of  the  Greeks,  the 
long  march  through  Asia  Minor,  had  been  too  often 
and  too  fatally  tried :  but  how  was  this  gallant  band 
of  Frenchmen  to  provide  means  for  maritime  trans- 
port? 

Religion  by  her  invasion  of  the  East  had  raised  a 
rival,  which  began  as  ancillary,  and  gradually  grew  up 
to  be  the  mistress  of  the  human  mind  —  commercial 
enterprise.  Venice  was  rising  towards  the  Venice. 
zenith  of  her  greatness,  if  with  some  of  the  danger  and 
the  glory  of  the  Crusades,  with  a  far  larger  share  of 
the  wealth,  the  arts,  the  splendor  of  the  East.  The 
sagacious  mind  of  Innocent  might  seem  to  have  fore- 
seen the  growing  peril  to  the  purely  religious  character 
of  the  Crusades  ;  but  he  miscalculated  his  power  in 
supposing  that  a  papal  edict  could  arrest  the  awakened 
passion  for  the  commodities  of  the  East,  and  the  riches 
which  accrued  to  those  who  were  their  chief  factors 
and  distributors  to  Europe.  There  was  already  a  canon 
of  the  Lateran  Council  under  Alexander  III.  prohibit- 
ing, under  pain  of  excommunication,  all  trade  with  the 
Saracens  in  instruments  of  war,  .arms,  iron,  or  timber 
for  galleys.  Innocent  determined  to  prohibit  all  com- 
merce whatever  with  the  Mohammedans  during  the 
war  in  the  East.  The  republic,  according  to  her  usual 
prudence,  sought  not  by  force  and  open  resistance  what 
she  might  better  gain  by  policy ;  she  sent  two  of  her 
noble  citizens,  Andrea  Donato  and  Benedetto  Grillon, 


88  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX 

to  Rome  to  represent  with  due  humility,  that  the  repub- 
lic of  Venice,  having  no  agriculture,  depended  entirely 
on  her  commerce  ;  and  that  such  restriction  would  be 
her  ruin.  Innocent  brought  back  the  edict  to  its  for- 
mer  limits.  He  positively  prohibited  the  supply  of 
iron,  tow,  pitch,  sharp  stakes,  cables,  arms,  galleys, 
ships,  and  ship-timber,  either  hewn  or  unhewn.  He 
left  the  rest  of  their  dealings  with  the  kingdom  of 
Egypt  and  of  Babylon  till  further  orders  entirely  free, 
expressing  his  hope  that  the  republic  would  show  her 
gratitude  by  assisting  to  the  utmost  the  Christians  in 
the  East.1 

Venice  alone  could  furnish  a  fleet  to  transport  a  pow- 
erful army.  After  long  debate  the  three  Counts  of 
Flanders,  of  Champagne,  and  of  Blois  agreed  to  de- 
spatch each  two  ambassadors  to  Venice  to  frame  a 
treaty  for  the  conveyance  of  their  forces.  The  am- 
bassadors of  the  Count  of  Flanders  were  Conon  de 
Bethune  and  Alard  Maquerau  ;  those  of  the  Count  of 
Blois,  John  of  Friaise  and  Walter  of  Gandonville, 
those  of  the  Count  of  Champagne  Miles  of  Brabant 
and  Geoffroy  of  Villehardouin,  the  historian  of  the 
Crusade.2  The  envoys  arrived  in  Venice  in  the  first 
week  of  Lent ;  they  were  received  with  great  courtesy 
a.d.  1201.  by  the  Doge,  the  aged  Henry  Dandolo ;  they 
were  lodged  in  a  splendid  palace,  as  became  the  mes- 
sengers of  such  great  princes  ;  after  four  days  they 
were  summoned  to  a  public  audience  before  the  Doge 
and  his  council.  "  Sire,"  they  said,  "  we  are  come  in 
the  name  of  the  great  barons  of  France,  who  have 
taken  the  cross,  to  avenge  the  insults  against  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  by  God's  will  to  conquer  Jerusalem. 

1  Epist.  i.  539.  2  Villehardouin,  i.  11. 


Chap.  VII.  CRUSADERS  AT  VENICE.  89 

As  no  power  on  earth  can  aid  us  as  you  can,  they  im- 
plore you,  in  God's  name,  to  have  compassion  on  the 
Holy  Land,  to  avenge  with  them  the  contumely  on 
Jesus  Christ,  by  furnishing  them  with  ships  and  other 
conveniences  to  pass  the  sea."  "On  what  terms  ? " 
inquired  the  Doge.  "  On  any  terms  you  may  please 
to  name,  provided  we  can  bear  them."  "  It  is  a  grave 
matter,"  answered  the  Doge  ;  "  and  an  enterprise  of 
vast  moment.  In  eight  days  ye  shall  have  your  an- 
swer." At  the  end  of  eight  days  the  Dogs  made 
Jknown  the  terms  of  the  republic.  They  would  furnish 
palanders  and  flat  vessels  to  transport  4500  horses  and 
9000  squires,  and  ships  for  4500  knights  and  20,000 
infantry,  and  provision  the  fleet  for  nine  months.  They 
were  to  receive  four  marks  of  silver  for  each  horse,  for 
each  man  two  ;  the  total  85,000  marks.1  They  prom- 
ised to  man  50  galleys  of  their  own  to  join  the  ex- 
pedition. The  bargain  was  ratified  in  a  great  Treaty  with 
public  assembly  of  ten  thousand  of  the  Ve-  hardouin. 
netian  citizens  before  the  church  of  St.  Mark.  The 
ambassadors  threw  themselves  on  the  pavement  and 
wept.  The  grave  Venetians  expressed  their  emotions 
by  loud  acclamations.  Mass  was  celebrated  with  great 
solemnity ;  the  next  day  the  agreements  were  reduced 
to  writing,  and  signed  by  the  covenanting  parties.  The 
ambassadors  returned  ;  at  Piacenza  they  separated,  four 
to  visit  Pisa  and  Genoa  and  implore  further  aid  ;  they 
were  coldly  received  by  those  jealous  republics  ;  Ville- 
hardouin  and  Maquerau  returned  to  France.  Villehar- 
douin  found  his  young  master  the  Count  of  Champagne 

1  "  Repre"sentant  environ  quatre  millions  et  demi  de  la  monnaie  actuelle." 
—  Daru,  i.  267.  "  Le  septier  de  bled  valait  de  cinq'  a  six  sols,  le  marc 
d'argent  cinquante  et  quelques  sols."  —  Sismondi  reckons  4^  millions. 


90  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Boor:  IX. 

at  Troyes,  dangerously  ill ;  the  youth,  in  his  joy  at 
beholding  his  faithful  servant,  mounted  his  horse  for  the 
last  time  ;  he  died  in  a  few  days.  Thiebault  was  to 
have  been  at  the  head  of  the  Crusade.  The  command 
was  offered  to  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  to  the  Count  of 
Bar  le  Due ;  the  proudest  nobles  declined  the  honor  ; 
it  was  accepted  by  the  Marquis  Boniface  of  Montfer- 
rat.  The  armament  suffered  another  heavy  loss  by  the 
death  of  the  Count  of  Perch e. 

Between   Easter  and  Whitsuntide  in  the  following 
crusaders      year  (1202)  the  Crusaders  were  in  movement 

assemble.         fo    ^    ^^       But    yen|ce    wag    thought     by 

some  to  have  driven  a  hard  bargain  ;  among  others 
there  was  some  mistrust  of  the  republic.  Innocent  had 
given  but  a  reluctant  assent  to  the  treaty  of  Villehar- 
douin.  Baldwin  himself  and  his  brother  kept  their 
eno;ao;ement  with  Venice.  The  Count  of  Flanders 
manned  his  own  fleet,  himself  embarked  his  best  troops, 
which  set  sail  for  Palestine  round  by  the  Straits  of 
Gibraltar.  Some  went  to  Marseilles.  Multitudes  passed 
onwards  on  the  chance  of  easier  freight  to  the  south 
of  Italy.  The  French  and  Burgundians  arrived  but 
slowly,  and  in  small  divisions,  at  Venice  ;  they  were 
lodged  apart  in  the  island  of  St.  Nicolas  ;  among  these 
was  Baldwin  of  Flanders.  The  Count  of  Blois  was  at 
Pavia,  on  his  way  to  the  south  of  Italy,  where  he  was 
stopped  by  Villehardouin,  and  persuaded  to  march  to 
Venice.  The  Republic  kept  her  word  with  commercial 
punctuality  ;  never  had  been  beheld  a  nobler  fleet ;  her 
ships  were  in  the  highest  order,  amply  sufficient  for  the 
whole  force  which  they  had  stipulated  to  convey.  They 
demanded  the  full  amount  of  the  covenanted  payment, 
the  85,000  marks,  and  declared  themselves   ready  at 


Chap.  VII.   VENETIANS  PROPOSE  CONQUEST  OF  ZARA.      91 

once  to  set  sail.  The  Crusaders  were  in  the  utmost 
embarrassment,  they  bitterly  complained  of  those  who 
had  deserted  them  to  embark  at  other  ports.1  There 
were  multitudes  of  poor  knights  who  could  not  pay, 
others  who  had  paid,  sullenly  demanded,  in  hopes  of 
breaking  up  the  expedition,  that  they  should  at  once  be 
embarked  and  conveyed  to  their  place  of  destination. 
The  Count  of  Flanders,  the  Count  Louis  of  Blois,  the 
Count  of  St.  Pol,  and  the  Marquis  of  Montferrat  con- 
tributed all  their  splendid  plate,  and  stretched  their 
credit  to  the  utmost,  there  were  yet  34,000  marks 
wanting  to  make  up  the  inexorable  demand. 

The  wise  old  Doge  saw  his  advantage  ;  his  religion 
was  the  greatness  of  his  country.  It  is  im-  Venetians 
possible  not  to  remember  in  the  course  of  questW  zara. 
events,  by  which  the  Crusade  for  the  recovery  of  the 
Holy  Land  became  a  crusade  for  the  conquest  of  the 
Eastern  Empire,  that  Henry  Dandolo  had  been,  if  not 
entirely,  nearly  blinded  by  the  cruelty  of  the  Byzantine 
court.  His  sagacity  could  scarcely  foresee  the  fortuitous 
circumstances  which  led  at  length  to  that  unexpected 
victory  of  the  West  over  the  East,  but  he  had  the 
quick-sightedness  of  ambition  and  revenge  to  profit  by 
those  circumstances  as  they  arose.  He  proposed  to  his 
fellow-citizens,  with  their  full  approval  he  explained  to 
the  Crusaders,  that  Venice  would  fulfil  her  part  of  the 
treaty,  if  in  discharge  of  the  34,000  marks  of  silver 
they  would  lend  their  aid  in  the  conquest  of  Zara,2 
(which  had  been  wrested  from  them  unjustly,  as  they 
said,  by  the  King  of  Hungary.)     The  gallant  chivalry 

1  "  Ha!  cum  grant  domages  fu  quant  li  autre  qui  allerent  as  autres  pora, 
ne  vindrent  illuec."  —  Villchardouin,  c.  29. 

2  Called  also  Jadara. 


92  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

of  France  stood  aghast ;  that  knights  sworn  to  war  for 
the  recovery  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  should  employ 
their  arms  against  a  Christian  city,  the  city  of  a  Chris- 
tian King  under  the  special  protection  of  the  Pope  ! 
that  the  free  armies  of  the  cross  should  be  the  hirelings 
of  the  Venetian  republic  !  But  the  year  was  wearing 
away  ;  the  hard  necessity  bowed  them  to  submission. 
The  Doge  pursued  his  plan  with  consummate  address. 
As  though  he  too  shared  in  the  religious  enthusiasm 
which  was  to  be  gratified  in  all  its  fulness  after  the 
Sept.  2.  capture  of  Zara,  on  the  great  festival  of  the 
Nativity  of  the  Virgin,  Dandolo  ascended  the  pulpit  in 
the  church  of  St.  Mark.  In  a  powerful  speech  he  ex- 
tolled the  religious  zeal  of  the  pilgrims :  "  Old  and  fee- 
ble as  I  am,  what  can  I  do  better  than  join  these  noble 
cavaliers  in  their  holy  enterprise  ?  Let  my  son  Rainer 
take  the  rule  in  Venice  ;  I  will  live  or  die  with  the  pil- 
grims of  the  Cross."  But  there  was  a  careful  stipula- 
tion behind  that  Venice  was  to  share  equally  in  all  the 
conquests  of  the  Crusaders.  The  Doge  advanced  to 
the  altar,  and  fixed  the  cross  in  his  high  cotton  cap ; 
the  people  and  the  pilgrims  melted  into  tears. 

No  sooner  was  this  over  than  a  new  and  unexpected 
Arrival  of  event  excited  the  utmost  amazement  among 
comnenus  tne  French  pilgrims  :  the  appearance  of  mes- 
in  vcmce.  sengers  from  the  young  Prince  Alexius  Com- 
nenus, entreating  the  aid  of  the  Crusaders  to  replace 
his  father  on  his  rightful  throne  of  Constantinople. 
After  the  overthrow  of  the  first  noble  line  of  Com- 
nenus, the  history  of  Byzantium  had  for  some  years 
been  one  bloody  revolution  ;  a  short  reign  ended  in 
blinding  or  death  was  the  fate  of  each  successive  Em- 
peror.     Isaac  Angelus,  hurried  from  the  sanctuary  in 


£hap.  VII.  ALEXIUS   COMNENUS.  93 

which  he  had  taken  refuge  to  be  placed  on  the  throne, 
had  reigned  for  nearly  ten  years,  when  he  was  A  n  1185 
supplanted  by  the  subtle  treason  of  his  brother  t0 1195, 
Alexius.  Isaac  was  blinded,  his  young  son  Alexius 
imprisoned.  But  mercy  is  a  proscribed  indulgence  to 
an  usurper  ;  a  throne  obtained  by  cruelty  can  only  be 
maintained  by  cruelty.  Alexius  abandoned  himself  to 
pleasure  ;  in  his  Mohammedan  harem  he  neglected  the 
affairs  of  state,  he  increased  the  burdens  of  the  people, 
he  even  relaxed  his  jealousy  of  his  brother  and  nephew. 
The  blind  Isaac,  in  a  pleasant  villa  on  the  Bosphorus, 
could  communicate  with  his  old  partisans  and  the  dis- 
contented of  all  classes.  The  son  was  allowed  such 
freedom  as  enabled  him  to  make  his  escape  in  a  Pisan 
vessel,  under  the  disguise  of  a  sailor,  and  to  reach  An- 
cona.  From  Ancona  he  hastened  to  Rome ;  the  son  of 
a  blinded  father,  to  seek  sympathy ;  a  prince  expelled 
from  his  throne  by  an  usurper,  to  seek  justice  ;  an  exile, 
to  seek  generous  compassion  from  the  Vicar  of  Christ. 
He  was  coldly  received.  Innocent  had  already  been 
tempted  by  some  advances  —  religious  advances  —  on 
the  part  of  the  usurper  :  he  would  not  risk  the  chance 
of  subjugating  the  Eastern  Church  to  the  See  of  Rome 
through  the  means  of  the  sovereign  in  actual  possession. 
The  sister  of  young  Alexius  was  the  wife  of  Philip  of 
Swabia ;  perhaps  this  alliance  with  his  enemy  operated 
on  the  policy  of  Innocent.  Alexius  proceeded  to  the 
court  of  Philip  ;  he  was  received  with  generous  cour- 
tesy :  at  Verona  he  was  introduced  to  a  great  body  of 
Crusaders,  and  implored  their  aid  in  the  name  of  Philip. 
His  messengers  were  now  in  Venice  appealing  to  the 
chivalry,  to  the  justice,  the  humanity,  the  compassion 
of  the  gallant  knights  of  Prance,  and  the  lofty  senators 


94  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Lour  IX. 

of  the  republic.  Did  this  new  opening  for  the  extension 
of  the  power  and  influence  of  Venice,  or  for  revenge 
against  the  perfidious  Greeks  of  Constantinople,  ex- 
pand at  once  before  Dandolo  into  anticipations  of  that 
close  which  made  this  crusade  the  most  eventful,  the 
most  important  to  Christendom,  to  civilization,  even 
perhaps  beyond  the  first  conquest  of  Jerusalem  and  the 
establishment  of  the  Christian  kingdom  in  the  Holy 
Land  ?  The  Doge  and  the  Pilgrims  listened  with  un- 
disguised sympathy  to  the  appeal  of  young  Alexius; 
but  as  yet  with  nothing  beyond  earnest  expressions  of 
interest  in  his  cause.  Both  parties  were  fully  occupied, 
one  in  urging,  the  other  in  sullenly  preparing  them- 
selves for  the  expedition  against  Zara.  A  large  body 
of  Germans  had  now  arrived,  under  Conrad  Bishop 
of  Halberstadt,  Count  Berthold  of  Katzenellenbogen, 
and  other  chiefs.  The  Abbot  Martin  had  crossed  the 
Tyrolese  Alps  with  a  vast  band  of  followers  of  the 
lower  orders.  Martin  himself  lived  with  the  austerity 
of  a  monk  in  the  camp  :  all  the  splendid  offerings  lav- 
ished upon  him  by  the  way  were  spent  on  his  soldiery. 
In  each  of  two  days  it  is  said  he  expended  a  hundred 
marks  of  silver,  seventy  on  the  third.  He  was  enter- 
tained for  eight  days  in  the  palace  of  the  Bishop  of 
Verona,  and  at  length  arrived  with  all  his  host  at 
Venice.  The  indignation  of  the  Germans,  and  of  the 
followers  of  Abbot  Martin,  was  vehement  when  they 
were  told  of  the  meditated  attack  on  Zara.  They  had 
heard  that  Egypt  was  wasted  with  famine,  by  the  fail- 
ure of  the  inundation  of  the  Nile ;  that  the  Paynims 
of  Syria  were  in  profound  distress  from  earthquakes 
and  bad  harvests ;  they  remonstrated  against  this  inva- 
sion of  the  lands  of  their  ally  the  King  of  Hungary, 


Chap.  VII.        THE  POPE  INTERFERES  IN  VAIN.  95 

who  had  himself  taken  up  the  Cross.  The  Venetians 
held  the  Crusaders  to  their  bond :  Zara  or  the  rest  of 
the  marks  of  silver  was  their  inflexible  demand.  The 
Germans,  as  the  French,  were  compelled  to  yield. 
The  Pope  himself  had  no  influence  on  the  grasping 
ambition  of  the  republic. 

And  this  was  Pope  Innocent's  Crusade,  the  Crusade 
to  which  he  looked  as  the  great  act  of  his  The  Pope 
Pontificate  !  Now  when  it  was  assembled  in  in  vain. 
its  promising  overpowering  strength  it  had  been  seized 
and  diverted  to  the  aggrandizement  of  Venice.  He 
sent  his  Legate  Peter  of  Capua,  with  the  strongest 
remonstrances,  to  interdict  even  the  Venetians  from 
the  war  against  Christian  Zara,  and  to  lead  the  other 
Pilgrims  directly  to  the  Holy  Land.  The  Venetians 
almost  contemptuously  informed  the  Cardinal  that  he 
might  embark  on  board  their  fleet  as  the  preacher  and 
spiritual  director  of  the  Crusaders,  but  on  no  account 
must  he  presume  to  exercise  his  legatine  power  ;  if  he 
refused  these  terms  he  might  return  from  whence  he 
came.  The  Abbot  Martin  entreated  the  Cardinal  to 
release  him  from  his  vow  ;  as  he  could  not  at  once 
proceed  against  the  Saracens,  he  would  retire  to  his 
peaceful  cloister.  The  Cardinal  Peter  implored  him 
to  remain,  if  possible,  with  the  other  ecclesiastics,  to 
prevent  the  shedding  of  Christian  blood.  For  himself 
he  shook  the  dust  from  his  feet,  and  left  the  contuma- 
cious city.  Letters  from  Innocent,  menaces  of  excom- 
munication were  treated  with  as  slight  respect ;  only 
some  few  of  the  French,  some  of  the  Germans,  with- 
drew ;  the  Marquis  Boniface  of  Montferrat  alleged 
important  affairs,  and  declined  as  yet  to  take  the  com- 
mand of  the  Crusade. 


96  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

Never  did  Crusade  set  forth  under  more  imposing 
Oct.  8, 1202.    auspices.     No  doubt  the  martial  spirit  of  all 

Crusade  ,  ,  ,  . .  . 

gets  forth.  ranks  could  not  resist  the  spreading  enthu- 
siasm, when  four  hundred  and  eighty  noble  ships,  admi- 
rably appointed,  with  banners  and  towers,  blazing  with 
the  arms  and  shields  of  the  chivalry  of  Europe,  ex- 
panded their  full  sails  to  the  autumnal  wind,  and 
moved  in  stately  order  down  the  Adriatic.  It  seemed 
as  if  they  might  conquer  the  whole  world.1  On  the 
eve  of  St.  Martin's  day  they  were  off  Zara  ;  the  haven 
was  forced ;  they  were  under  the  walls  of  the  city ; 
they  landed ;  the  knights  disembarked  their  horses. 
The  sight  of  this  majestic  fleet  appalled  the  inhab- 
itants of  Zara;  they  sent  a  deputation  to  surrender 
the  city  on  the  best  terms  they  could  obtain.  The 
Doge,  with  mistimed  courtesy,  replied,  "  that  he  must 
consult  the  counts  and  barons  of  the  army."  The 
Counts  and  Barons  assembled  round  the  Doge  ad- 
vised the  acceptance  of  the  capitulation.  But  without 
the  tent  where  they  sat  was  Simon  de  Montfort,  with 
others  whose  object  it  was  to  break  up  the  misguided 
army.2  De  Montfort  taunted  the  Zarans  with  their 
dastardly  surrender  of  so  strong  a  city  :  —  u  We  are 
Christians,  we  war  not  against  our  brother  Christians.' ' 
Simon  de  Montfort  then  retired,  and  from  that  time 
stood  aloof  from  the  siege.  When  the  Doge  demanded 
the  presence  of  the  ambassadors  that  they  might  ratify 
the  treaty,  they  had  disappeared  ;  the  city  walls  were 
manned  for  obstinate  defence.  At  the  same  time  rose 
Guido  the  Abbot  of  Vaux  Cernay  :  —  "  In  the  name 

J  "Et  bien  semblait  estone  qui  terre  deust  conquerre." —  Villehardouin. 
2  So  says  Villehardouin;  perhaps  he  foresaw  the  yet  undeveloped  charac- 
ter of  De  Montfort. 


Chap.  VII.  ZARA  TAKEN.  97 

of  the  Pope  I  prohibit  the  assault  on  his  Christian 
cities :  ye  are  Pilgrims,  and  have  taken  the  cross  for 
other  ends."  The  Doge  was  furious  ;  he  reproached 
the  Crusaders  with  having  wrested  from  him  a  city 
already  in  his  power ;  he  summoned  them  to  fulfil  the 
treaty  to  which  they  had  sworn.  The  greater  part 
either  could  not  or  would  not  resist  the  appeal.  The 
siege  began  again,  and  lasted  for  five  days.  On  the 
sixth  Zara  opened  her  gates.  The  Doge  took  posses- 
sion of  the  city  in  the  name  of  his  republic  ;  but 
divided  the  rich  spoil  equally  with  the  Crusaders. 

Zara  was  taken,  but  that  was  not  enough  ;  the  pres- 
ence of  the  crusading  army  was  necessary  to  zara  taken, 
maintain  the  city  against  any  sudden  attack  of  the 
King  of  Hungary,  and  to  strengthen  and  secure  the 
Dalmatian  possessions  of  Venice.  The  Doge  repre- 
sented to  the  Barons  that  the  bad  season  was  now 
drawing  on :  Zara  offered  safe  and  pleasant  winter 
quarters,  with  abundance  of  provisions.  Throughout 
Greece  and  the  East  there  was  scarcity  : l  they  could 
obtain  no  supplies  in  the  course  of  their  voyage.  The 
Barons  yielded,  as  they  could  not  but  yield,  to  those 
arguments.  The  city  was  divided:  the  Venetians 
occupied  the  part  nearest  the  port  and  their  ships ; 
the  French  the  rest.  But  among  the  pilgrims  there 
were  many  who  felt  bitterly  that  they  were  Winter 
only  slaves  in  the  hands  of  the  Venetians  ;  <iuarters- 
their  religious  feelings  revolted  against  the  occupation 
of  the  Christian  city ;  they  called  it  "  the  city  of 
transgression."  Three  nights  after  broke  out  a  fierce 
and  sanguinary  quarrel  between  the  Franks  and  Vene- 
tians, which  was  with  great  difficulty  allayed  by  the 

1  Villehardouin,  43. 
VOL.  v.  7 


98  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX 

more  sage  and  influential  of  each  host.  Fourteen  days 
after  this  arrived  the  Marquis  of  Montferrat,  the  Com- 
mander-in-Chief of  the  Crusade :  though  he  and  many 
of  the  French  knights  had  designedly  remained  in  Italy 
till  the  conquest  of  Zara  ;  now  that  this  conquest  was 
achieved  they  joined  the  army  of  the  pilgrims.  Two 
Ambassadors  weeks  later  came  those  who  had  accompanied 

from  King  .  ,  .  „     T^1  ...  _     0         .  . 

rniiip.  Alexius  to  the  court   or   Jrhihp   or    bwabia, 

with  ambassadors  from  King  Philip.  They  appeared 
before  an  assembly  held  in  the  palace  occupied  by  the 
Doge  of  Venice.  "  We  are  here  on  the  part  of  King 
Philip  and  the  Prince  of  Constantinople  his  brother-in- 
law,  before  the  Doge  of  Venice  and  the  Barons  of  this 
host.  King  Philip  will  intrust  his  brother-in-law  in 
the  hand  of  God,  and  in  yours.  You  are  armed  for 
God,  for  the  right,  for  justice ;  it  becomes  you,  there- 
fore, to  restore  the  disinherited  to  his  rightful  throne. 
Nor  will  it  be  less  to  your  advantage  than  to  your 
honor;  for  your  advantage  in  your  great  design,  the 
conquest  of  the  Holy  Land.  As  soon  as  you  restore 
Alexius  to  his  throne,  he  will  first  submit  the  Empire 
of  the  Romans  to  obedience  to  Rome,  from  which  it 
has  been  separated  so  long.  In  the  next  place,  as  he 
knows  that  you  are  exhausted  by  the  vast  cost  of  this 
armament,  he  will  give  you  two  hundred  thousand 
marks  of  silver,  and  supply  the  whole  army  with  pro- 
visions. He  will  either  join  the  armament  against 
Egypt  in  person,  or  send  ten  thousand  men,  to  be 
maintained  for  a  year  at  his  charge.  During  his  life- 
time he  will  maintain  five  hundred  knights  for  the  de- 
fence of  the  Holy  Land." 

No  sooner  had  the  Barons  met  the  next  day  to  dis- 
cuss this  high  matter,  than  Guido,  the  Cistercian  Abbot 


Chap.  VII.  TEEATY  WITH  ALEXIUS.  99 

of  Vaux  Cernay,  rose  and  declared  emphatically  that 
they  came  not  to  wage  war  on  Christians  ;  to  Syria 
they  would  go,  and  only  to  Syria.  He  was  supported 
by  the  faction  desirous  of  dissolving  the  armament.  It 
was  replied  that  they  could  now  do  nothing  in  Syria  ; 
that  the  only  way  to  subjugate  permanently  the  Holy 
Land  was  by  Egypt  or  by  Greece.  Even  the  clergy 
were  divided :  the  Cistercian  Abbot  of  Loces,  a  man 
of  high  esteem  for  his  profound  piety,  took  the  other 
side.  Words  ran  high  even  among  those  holy  per- 
sons. 

The  treaty  was  accepted  (they  could  not  without 
shame  refuse  it)  by  the  Marquis  of  Montfer-  Treaty  with 
rat,  the  Count  of  Flanders,  Hennegau,  the  Alexius- 
Count  of  Blois,  and  the  Count  of  St.  Pol ;  yet  only 
eight  knights  more  dared  to  set  their  hands  to  this 
doubtful  covenant.  But  all  the  winter  there  were  con- 
stant defections  in  the  army  ;  some  set  out  by  land,  and 
were  massacred  by  the  barbarous  Sclavonians ;  some 
embarked  for  Syria  in  merchant  vessels  ;  at  a  later  pe- 
riod Simon  de  Montfort  quitted  the  camp  with  many 
noble  followers,  and  joined  the  King  of  Hungary.  "  If 
God,"  says  Villehardouin,  "  had  not  loved  the  army,  it 
would  have  melted  away  through  the  contending  fac- 
tions." It  was  the  Papal  ban,  either  actually  in  force, 
or  impending  in  all  its  awful  menace  over  the  pilgrim 
army,  which  was  alleged  as  the  summons  to  all  holy 
men  to  abandon  the  unhallowed  expedition.  The 
bishops  in  the  army  had  taken  upon  themselves  to  sus- 
pend this  anathema.  The  Barons  determined  to  send 
a  mission  to  Rome  to  deprecate  the  wrath  of  the  Pope. 
The  Bishop  of  Soissons,  John  of  Noyon  the  Chancellor 
of  the  Count  of   Flanders,   ecclesiastics  of  fame  for 


100  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX 

learning  and  holiness,  with  the  knights  John  of  Friaise 
and  Robert  de  Boves,  were,  not  without  mistrust,  sworn 
solemnly  on  the  most  holy  relics,  to  return  to  the 
army.  The  oath,  was  broken  by  Robert  of  Boves, 
whom  the  army  held  as  a  perjured  knight.  Their  mis- 
sion was  to  explain  to  the  Pope  that  they  had  been  com- 
pelled, through  the  treacherous  abandonment  of  the 
enterprise  by  those  crusaders  who  had  embarked  in 
other  ports,  to  obey  the  bidding  of  Venice,  and  to  lend 
themselves  to  the  siege  of  Zara.  Innocent  admitted 
their  plea  —  it  was  his  only  course.  He  gave  permis- 
sion to  the  Bishop  of  Soissons  and  John  of  Noyon  pro- 
visionally to  suspend  the  interdict  till  the  arrival  of  his 
legate,  Peter  of  Capua ;  but  the  Barons  were  bound 
under  a  solemn  pledge  to  give  full  satisfaction  to  the 
Pope  for  their  crime.  Yet  notwithstanding  the  bold 
remonstrance  of  John  of  Noyon  (Innocent  commanded 
him  to  be  silent),  they  were  compelled  to  bear  a  brief 
letter  of  excommunication  against  the  Venetians.  Boni- 
face had  the  prudence  to  prevent  the  immediate  publi- 
cation of  that  ban.  He  sent  to  Rome  their  act  of  sub- 
mission, couched  in  the  terms  dictated  by  the  Cardinal 
Peter ;  and  intimated  that  the  Venetians  were  about  to 
send  their  own  messengers  to  entreat  the  forgiveness  of 
the  Pope  for  the  conquest  of  Zara.  But  the  Venetians 
made  no  sign  of  submission.  Positive  orders  were 
given  to  deliver  the  brief  of  excommunication  into  the 
hands  of  the  Doge.  If  the  Doge  received  it,  he  re- 
ceived it  with  utter  indifference;  and  two  singular 
letters  of  Innocent  prescribe  the  course  to  be  followed 
by  the  absolved  Crusaders,  thus  of  necessity,  on  board 
the  fleet  of  Venice,  in  perpetual  intercourse  with  the 
profane  and  excommunicated  Venetians.     They  might 


Lhap.  VII.    INNOCENT   CONDEMNS   THE  EXPEDITION.       101 

communicate  with  them  as  far  as  necessity  compelled 
so  long  as  they  were  on  board  their  ships  ;  no  sooner 
had  they  reached  the  Holy  Land,  than  they  were  to  sever 
the  ungodly  alliance  ;  they  were  on  no  account  to  go 
forth  to  war  with  them  against  the  Saracens,  lest  they 
should  incur  the  shameful  disaster  of  those  in  the  Old 
Testament,  who  went  up  in  company  with  Achan  and 
other  sinners  against  the  Philistines.1 

The   mission    of   the    Crusaders  had   been   entirely 
silent  as  to  the  new  engagement  to  place  the  innocent 

.  i-i  n    A  •     condemns 

young  Alexius  on  the  throne   ot   Constanti-  the  expedi- 

1  T  '11  11     ti0Q  t0  C0U* 

nople.  Innocent  either  knew  not  or  would  stantinopie. 
not  know  this  new  delinquency.  He  received  the  first 
authentic  intelligence  from  the  legate  Peter  of  Capua. 
The  Pope's  letters  denounced  the  whole  design  in  the 
most  lofty  admonitory  terms.  "  However  guilty  the 
Emperor  of  Constantinople  and  his  subjects  of  blinding 
his  brother  and  of  usurping  the  throne,  it  is  not  for  you 
to  invade  the  Empire,  which  is  under  the  especial  pro- 
tection of  the  Holy  See.  Ye  took  not  the  Cross  to 
avenge  the  wrongs  of  the  Prince  Alexius ;  ye  are 
under  the  solemn  obligation  to  avenge  the  Crucified, 
to  whose  service  ye  are  sworn."  He  intimated  that  he 
had  written  to  the  Emperor  of  Constantinople  to  sup- 
ply them  with  provisions ;  the  Emperor  had  faithfully 
promised  to  do  so.  Only  in  the  case  that  supplies  were 
refused  them,  then,  as  soldiers  of  Him  to  whom  the 
earth  and  all  its  produce  belonged,  they  might  take 
them  by  force ;  but  still  in  the  fear  of  God,  faithfully 
paying  or  promising  to  pay  for  the  same,  and  without 
injury  to  person. 

But  already  the  fleet  was  in  full  sail  for  Corfu,  the 

1  Epist.  vi.  99, 100. 


102  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX 

Prince  Alexins  on  board.  Of  the  excommunication 
Fleet  off  against  the  Venetians  no  one  took  the  slight- 
tinopie.  est  heed,  least  of  all  the  Venetians  themselves. 
Simon  de  Montfort  alone,  who  had  stood  aloof  from 
the  siege  of  Zara,  on  the  day  of  embarkation  final!/ 
separated  himself  from  the  camp  of  the  ungodly,  who 
refused  obedience  to  the  Pope.  With  his  brother  and 
some  few  French  knights  he  passed  over  to  the  King 
of  Hungary,  and  after  many  difficulties  reached  the 
Holy  Land.  In  truth,  the  Crusaders  had  no  great  faith 
in  the  sincerity  of  the  Pope's  condemnation  of  the  en- 
terprise against  Constantinople.  The  subjugation  of 
the  heretical,  if  not  rival,  Church  of  Byzantium  to  the 
Church  of  St.  Peter,  had  been  too  long  the  great  aim 
of  Papal  ambition  for  them  to  suppose  that  even  by 
more  violent  or  less  justifiable  means  than  the  replacing 
the  legitimate  Emperor  on  the  throne  and  the  degrada- 
tion of  an  usurper,  it  would  not  soon  reconcile  itself  to 
the  Papal  sense  of  right  and  justice.  Some  decent 
regard  to  his  acknowledgment  of,  to  his  amicable  inter- 
course with  the  usurper,  might  be  becoming ;  yet  even 
as  a  step  to  the  conquest  of  the  Holy  Land,  it  might 
well  be  considered  the  most  prudent  policy.  In  a  short 
time  the  submission  of  the  Greek  Church,  the  depart- 
ure of  the  Crusaders  under  better  auspices  to  the  Holy 
Land  (for  as  yet  even  the  ambitious  Venetians  couk" 
hardly  apprehend  the  absolute  conquest  of  Constanti- 
nople, and  the  establishment  of  a  Latin  Empire), 
would  allay  the  seeming  resentment  of  Innocent.  In 
the  mean  time,  no  doubt  many  hearts  were  kindled 
with  the  romance  of  this  new  adventure  and  the  desire 
to  behold  this  second  Rome  ;  vague  expectations  were 
entertained    of   rich  plunder,  or   at   least  of  splendid 


Chap.  VII.  TAKING  OF  CONSTANTINOPLE.  103 

reward  for  their  services  by  the  grateful  Alexius ;  it 
is  even  said  that  many  were  full  of  strange  hopes  of 
more  precious  spoils,  the  pillage  of  the  precious  relics 
which  were  accumulated  in  the  churches  of  Constanti- 
nople, and  of  which  the  heretical  Greeks  ought  to  be 
righteously  robbed  for  the  benefit  of  the  more  orthodox 
believers  of  the  West. 

The  taking  of  Constantinople  and  the  foundation  of 
the  Latin  Empire  concern  Christian  history  Taking  of 
in  their  results  more  than  in  their  actual  tmopie. 
achievements.  The  arrival  of  the  fleet  before  Con- 
stantinople ;  the  ill-organized  defence  and  pusillanimous 
flight  of  the  usurper  Alexius  ;  the  restoration  of  the 
blind  Isaac  Angelus  and  his  son  ;  the  discontent  of 
the  Greeks  at  the  subservience  of  young  Alexius  to  the 
Latins  ;  his  dethronement,  and  the  elevation  of  Alexius 
Ducas  (Mourzoufle)  to  the  throne  ;  the  siege  ;  the  mur- 
der of  the  young  Alexius  ;  the  flight  of  Mourzoufle, 
and  the  storming  of  the  city  by  the  Crusaders,  were 
crowded  into  less  than  one  eventful  year.1  A  Count  of 
Flanders  sat  on  the  throne  of  the  Eastern  Cresars. 

Europe,  it  might  have  been  expected,  by  the  Latin 
conquest  of  Constantinople  and  of  great  part  Partition 
of  the  Byzantine  Empire,  would  have  become  conquest. 
one  great  Christian  league  or  political  system ;  European 
Christendom  one  Church,  under  the  acknowledged  su- 
premacy of  the  Pope.  But  the  Latin  Empire  was  not 
that  of  a  Western  sovereign  ascending  the  Byzantine 
throne,  and  ruling  over  the  Greek  population  undis- 
turbed in  their  possessions,  and  according  to  the  laws 
of  Justinian  and  the  later  Emperors  of  the  East.     His 

1  The  fleet  reached  Constantinople  the  eve  of  St.  John  the  Baptist,  June 
*3,  1203.     The  storm  tools  place  April  13,  1204. 


104  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX, 

followers  did  not  gradually  mingle  by  intermarriages 
with  the  Greeks,  and  so  infuse,  as  in  other  parts  of 
Europe,  new  strength  and  energy  into  that  unwarlike 
and  effete  race.  The  Emperor  was  a  sovereign  elected 
by  the  Venetians  and  the  Franks,  governing  entirely 
by  the  right  of  conquest.  It  was  a  foreign  settlement,  a 
foieign  lord,  a  foreign  feudal  system,  which  never  min- 
gled in  the  least  with  the  Greeks.  The  Latins  kept 
entirely  to  themselves  all  honors,  all  dignities  (no 
Greek  was  admitted  to  office),  even  all  the  lands ; 
the  whole  country,  as  it  was  conquered,  was  portioned 
out  as  Constantinople  had  been,  into  great  fiefs  be- 
tween the  Venetians  and  Franks.  This  western  feudal 
system  so  established  throughout  the  land  implied  the 
absolute,  the  supreme  ownership  of  the  soil  by  the  con- 
querors. The  condition  of  the  Greeks  under  the  new 
rule  depended  on  the  character  of  their  new  masters. 
In  Constantinople  the  high-born  and  the  wealthy  had 
gladly  accepted  the  permission  to  escape  with  their 
lives  ;  the  Crusaders  had  taken  possession  of  such  at 
least  of  their  gorgeous  palaces  and  splendid  establish- 
ments as  had  escaped  the  three  fires  which  during  the 
successive  sieges  had  destroyed  so  large  a  part  of  the 
city.1  When  the  Marquis  of  Montferrat  took  pos- 
session of  Thessalonica  he  turned  the  inhabitants  out 
of  all  the  best  houses,  and  bestowed  them  on  his  fol- 
lowers :  in  other  places  they  were  oppressed  with  a 
kind  of  indifferent  lenity.  But  they  were,  in  truth, 
held  as  a  race  of  serfs,  over  whom  the  Latins  exercised 


1  In  the  conflagration  on  the  night  ot  the  capture,  caused  by  some  Flem- 
ings, who  thought  by  setting  fire  to  the  houses  to  keep  off  the  attack  of 
the  Greeks,  as  many  houses  were  destroyed,  according  to  Villehardouin,  as 
would  be  found  in  three  of  the  largest  cities  in  France. 


Chap.  Vn.  LATIN  CHURCH  IN  THE  EAST.  105 

lordship  by  the  right  of  conquest;  they  were  left,  in- 
deed, to  be  governed,  as  had  been  the  case  with  the 
subject  Roman  population  in  all  the  German  conquests, 
by  their  own  laws  and  their  own  magistrates.  The 
constitution  of  the  Latin  Empire  was  the  same  with 
that  of  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem,  founded  in  the  midst 
of  a  population  chiefly  Mohammedan  ;  their  code  of 
law  was  the  Assizes  of  Jerusalem.  No  Greek  was 
admitted  to  any  post  of  honor  or  dignity  till  after  the 
defeat  and  capture  of  the  Emperor  BaldwlL.  Then 
his  successor,  the  Emperor  Henry,  found  it  expedient 
to  make  some  advances  towards  conciliation ;  he  en- 
deavored to  propitiate  by  honorable  appointments  some 
of  the  leading  Greeks.  But  to  this  he  was  com- 
pelled by  necessity.  The  original  Crusaders  grad- 
ually died  off,  or  were  occupied  in  maintaining  their 
own  conquests  in  Hellas  or  in  the  Morea ;  only  few  ad- 
venturers, notwithstanding  the  temptations  and  prom- 
ises held  out  by  the  Latin  Emperors,  arrived  from 
the  West.  The  Emperor  in  Constantinople  became 
a  sovereign  of  Greeks.  It  is  surprising  that  the  Latin 
Empire  endured  for  half  a  century :  had  there  been 
any  Greeks  of  resolution  or  enterprise,  Constantinople 
at  least  might  have  been  much  sooner  wrested  from 
their  hands. 

The  establishment  of  Latin  Christianity  in  the  East 
was  no  less  a  foreign  conquest.     It  was  not  Estabiish- 

^         .       _..       "*    .  .       ment  of  Latin 

the  conversion  ot  the  Greek  Church  to  the  Christianity. 
creed,  the  usages,  the  ritual,  the  Papal  supremacy  of 
the  West ;  it  was  the  foundation,  the  super-induction 
of  a  new  Church,  alien  in  language,  in  rites,  in  its 
clergy,  which  violently  dispossessed  the  Greeks  of  their 
churches  and  monasteries,  and  appropriated  them  to  its 


100  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

own  uses.  It  was  part  of  the  original  compact  be- 
tween the  Venetians  and  the  Franks,  before  the  final 
attack  on  the  city,  that  the  churches  of  Constantinople 
should  be  equally  divided  between  the  two  nations  :  the 
ecclesiastical  property  throughout  the  realm  was  to  be 
divided,  after  providing  for  the  maintenance  of  public 
worship  according  to  the  Latin  form  by  a  Latin  clergy, 
exactly  on  the  same  terms  as  the  rest  of  the  conquered 
territory.  The  French  prelates  might,  indeed,  claim 
equal  rights,  as  having  displayed  at  least  equal  valor 
and  confronted  the  same  dangers  with  the  boldest  of 
the  barons.  The  vessels  that  bore  the  bishops  of  Sois- 
sons  and  Troyes,  the  Paradise  and  the  Pilgrim,  were 
the  first  which  grappled  with  the  towers  of  Constanti- 
nople :  from  them  were  thrown  the  scaling  ladders  on 
which  the  conquerors  mounted  to  the  storm  ;  the  epis- 
copal banners  were  the  first  that  floated  in  triumph  on 
the  battlements  of  Constantinople.1 

Like  the  Emperor  Alexius,  the  Patriarch  of  Con- 
stantinople, John  Camaterus,  had  fled,  but  it  was  at  a 
time  and  under  circumstances  far  less  ignominious. 
The  clergy  had  not  been  less  active  in  the  defence  of 
the  city,  than  the  Frankish  bishops  in  the  assault. 
After  the  flight  of  Mourzoufle  they  had  chiefly  influ- 
enced the  choice  of  Theodore  Lascaris  as  Emperor; 
the  Patriarch  had  presented  him  to  the  people,  and 
with  him  vainly  endeavored  to  rouse  their  panic-strick- 
en courage.  It  was  not  till  the  city  was  in  the  hands 
of  the  enemy  that  the  Patriarch  abandoned  his  post. 
He  was  met  in  that  disastrous  plight  described  by 
Nicetas,   riding  on  an  ass,  reduced   to  the  primitive 

1  See  the  despatch  to  Pope  Innocent  announcing  the  taking  of  Constants 
nople. 


Chap.  VII.  LATIN  CHURCII  IN  THE  EAST.  107 

Apostolic  poverty,  without  scrip,  without  purse,  with- 
out staff,  without  shoes.  It  was  time,  indeed,  to  fly 
from  horrors  and  unhallowed  crimes  which  he  could 
not  avert.  The  Crusaders  had  advanced  to  the  siege 
of  Constantinople  in  the  name  of  Christ ;  they  had 
issued  strong  orders  to  respect  the  churches,  the  mon- 
asteries, the  persons  of  the  clergy,  the  chastity  of  the 
nuns.  The  three  Latin  bishops  had  published  a  terri- 
ble excommunication  against  all  who  should  commit 
such  sacrilegious  acts  of  violence.  But  of  what  effect 
were  orders,  what  awe  had  excommunications  for  a 
fierce  soldiery,  flushed  with  unexpected  victory,  let 
loose  on  the  wealthiest,  most  luxurious,  most  dissolute 
capital  of  the  world,  among  a  people  of  a  different 
language,  whom  they  had  been  taught  to  despise  as  the 
most  perfidious  of  mankind,  the  base  enemies  of  all 
the  former  armies  of  the  Cross,  tainted  with  obstinate 
heresy  ?  Nicetas,  himself  an  eye-witness  and  sufferer 
in  these  terrible  scenes,  may  be  suspected  of  exag 
geration,  when  he  contrasts  the  discipline  and  self-de- 
nial of  the  Mohammedans,  who  under  Saladin  stormed 
Jerusalem,  with  the  rapacity,  the  lust,  the  cruelty  of 
the  Christian  conquerors  of  Constantinople.  But  the 
reports  which  had  reached  Pope  Innocent  would  hard- 
ly darken  the  truth.  "  How,"  he  writes,  "  shall  the 
Greek  Church  return  to  ecclesiastical  unity  and  to  re- 
spect for  the  Apostolic  See,  when  -they  have  beheld  in 
the  Latins  only  examples  of  wickedness  and  works  of 
darkness,  for  which  they  might  well  abhor  them  worse 
than  dogs  ?  Those  who  were  believed  to  seek  not 
their  own  but  the  things  of  Christ  Jesus,  steeping  those 
swords,  which  they  ought  to  have  wielded  against  the 
Pagans,  in  Christian  blood,  spared  neither  religion,  nor 


108  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

age,  nor  sex ;  they  were  practising  fornications,  incests, 
adulteries,  in  the  sight  of  men ;  abandoning  matrons 
and  virgins  dedicated  to  God  to  the  lewdness  of 
grooms.1  Nor  were  they  satisfied  with  seizing  the 
wealth  of  the  Emperors,  the  spoils  of  the  princes  and 
the  people ;  they  lifted  their  hands  to  the  treasures  of 
the  churches ;  what  is  more  heinous  !  the  very  conse- 
crated vessels  ;  tearing  the  tablets  of  silver  from  the 
very  altars,  breaking  in  pieces  the  most  sacred  things, 
carrying  off  crosses  and  relics."  Some  revolting  inci- 
dents of  this  plunder  may  be  gathered  from  the  His- 
torians. Many  rushed  at  once  to  the  churches  and 
monasteries.  In  the  Church  of  Santa  Sophia  the  sil- 
ver was  rent  off  from  the  magnificent  pulpit :  the  table 
of  oblation,  admired  for  its  precious  material  and  ex- 
quisite workmanship,  broken  to  pieces.  Mules  and 
horses  were  led  into  the  churches  to  carry  off  the  pon- 
derous vessels ;  if  they  slipped  down  on  the  smooth 
marble  floor,  they  were  forced  to  rise  up  by  lash  and 
spur,  so  that  their  blood  flowed  on  the  pavement. 
A  prostitute  mounted  the  Patriarch's  throne,  and 
screamed  out  a  disgusting  song,  accompanied  with  the 
most  offensive  gestures.  Instead  of  the  holy  chants 
the  aisles  rung  with  wild  shouts  of  revelry  or  indecent 
oaths  and  imprecations.  The  very  sacred  vessels  were 
not  spared ;  they  were  turned  into  drinking  cups.  The 
images  were  robbed  of  their  gold  frames  and  precious 
stones.  It  is  said  that  the  body  and  blood  of  the  Lord 
were  profanely  cast  down  upon  the  floor,  and  trodden 
under  foot.2 

1  Innocent.  Epist.  viii.  126  (apud  Brequigny  and  Du  Theil).     Compare 
the  whole  detailed  account  in  Wilken,  v.  p.  301,  et  seq. 

2  Wilken  conjectures  that  the  expression  of  Nicetas  may  refer  to  a  cas- 


Chap.  VII.  ELECTION  OF  EMPEROR.  109 

There  was  one  kind  of  plunder  which  had  irresistible 
attraction  for  the  most  pious,  that  of  relics.  These, 
like  the  rest  of  the  spoil,  were  to  have  been  brought 
into  the  common  stock,  to  be  divided  according  to  the 
stipulated  rule.  But  even  the  Abbot  Martin1  was 
guilty  of  this  holy  robbery.  His  monastery  of  Paris 
in  Alsace,  as  well  as  the  churches  of  the  bishops  pres- 
ent at  the  siege,  those  of  Soissons  and  Halberstadt, 
boasted  of  many  sacred  treasures  from  Constantinople, 
which  might  have  been  fairly  obtained,  but  which  were 
supposed  to  have  been  more  than  the  fair  share  of  those 
warlike  dignitaries.2 

No  sooner  was  order  restored  than  the  Franks  and 
Venetians  took  possession  of  the  churches  as  their 
own  ;  the  principal  clergy  had  fled,  the  inferior  seem 
to  have  been  dismissed  or  were  driven  out  as  if  they 
had  been  Mohammedan  Imauns  :  of  provision  for  the 
worship  of  the  Greeks  according  to  their  own  ritual,  in 
their  own  language,  nothing  is  heard.  After  Election  of 
the  election  of  the  Emperor,  the  first  act  was  EmPeror- 
the  election  of  a  Patriarch.  It  was  an  article  of  the 
primary  compact,  that  of  whichever  nation,  Venetian  or 

ket,  which  was  supposed  to  contain  some  of  the  actual  body  and  blood  impart- 
ed by  the  Lord  to  his  disciples  before  his  crucifixion.  —  See  Wilken,  p.  305. 

1  "  Indignum  ducens  sacrilegium,  nisi  in  re  sacra,  committere."  —  Gun- 
ther,  who  gives  a  full  account  of  this  holy  theft  of  the  Abbot  Martin. 
His  spoil  was  a  stain  (vestigium)  of  the  blood  of  the  Lord,  a  piece  of  the 
Holy  Cross,  the  arm  of  the  apostle  James,  no  small  portion  of  the  bones  of 
John  the  Baptist,  some  of  the  milk  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  and  many  more. 
—  Wilken,  Gunther.  See,  too,  the  theft  of  the  head  of  S.  Clement,  Pope 
and  martyr,  by  Dalmatius  of  Sergy  from  the  Biblioth.  Cluniac,  also  in 
Wilken.     The  note  in  Wilken,  v.  p.  306,  is  full  of  curious  details. 

2  Some  ventured  to  doubt  the  virtue  of  these  acts.  The  Abbot  Ursper- 
gensis  says  of  Martin's  plunder:  "  An  furtivae  sint,  judicet,  qui  legit.  xi.u 
videlicet  Dominus  Papa  talem  rapinam  in  populo  Christiano  factam  potuerit 
justificare,  sicut  furtum  Israelitici  populi  in  iEgypto  justiucatur  autoritate 
divina."  — p.  256. 


110  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  I3ooa  IX 

Frank,  the  Emperor  should  be  chosen,  the  nomination 
of  the  Patriarch  should  be  with  the  other.  In  the 
election  of  the  Emperor  it  was  a  significant  circum- 
stance, that  of  the  twelve  electors,  those  of  the  Franks 
were  all  ecclesiastics  —  the  Bishops  of  Troyes,  Soissons, 
Halberstadt,  Bethlehem,  and  Ptolemais,  with  the  Ab- 
bot of  Loces.  Those  of  Venice  were  lay  nobles.  The 
Bishops  of  Soissons  and  of  Troyes  would  have  placed 
the  blind  old  Doge  Dandolo  on  the  imperial  throne  ; 
his  election  was  opposed  by  the  Venetians.  Pantoleon 
Barbo  alleged  the  ostensible  objection,  the  jealousy 
which  would  spring  up  among  the  Franks.  But  prob- 
ably the  wise  patriotism  of  Dandolo  himself,  and  his 
knowledge  of  the  Venetian  mind,  would  make  him 
acquiesce  in  the  loss  of  an  honor  so  dangerous  to  his 
country.  A  Doge  of  Venice  exalted  into  an  Emperor, 
taking  up  his  residence  in  the  Palace  of  Constantinople 
instead  of  amid  their  own  lagunes,  would  have  been 
the  lord,  not  the  accountable  magistrate,  of  the  repub- 
lic. Venice  might  have  sunk  to  an  outpost,  as  it  were, 
of  the  Eastern  Empire.  But  Venice,  though  consent- 
ing to  the  loss  of  the  Empire,  made  haste  to  secure 
the  Patriarchate.1  They  immediately  appointed  certain 
Election  of  °f  tneh*  own  ecclesiastics  Canons  of  Santa 
ratriarch.  Sophia,  in  order  to  give  canonical  form  to  the 
election.  By  a  secret  oath  2  these  canons  were  sworn 
never  to  elect  into  their  chapter  any  one  but  a  Vene- 
tian.3   With  their  wonted  sagacity,  their  first  choice  fell 

1  Pope  Innocent  boldly  asserts  that  the  Church  of  Constantinople  was 
raised  into  a  Patriarchate  by  the  See  of  Rome.  Was  this  ignorance  or 
mendacity? 

2  Wilken  has  cited  this  oath  from  the  Liber  Albus,  in  the  archives  of 
Vienna.  —  vol.  v.  p.  330. 

3  The  Patriarch  was  absolved  from  his  oath  that  he  would  appoint  only 
Venetian  canons  into  the  chapter  of  S.  Sophia.   The  Church  was  to  receive 


ohap.  VII.         PATRIARCH  OF  CONSTANTINOPLE.  1H 

on  Thomas  Morosini,  of  one  of  their  noble  families,  as 
yet  only  in  subdeacon's  orders,  but  of  a  lofty  and  un- 
blemished character,  who  had  been  some  time  at  Rome, 
and  was  known  to  stand  high  in  the  estimation  of  the 
Pope.  The  Venetians,  who,  when  they  had  any  great 
object  of  ambition  at  stake,  treated  with  utter  contempt 
the  Papal  interdict,  yet  never  wantonly  provoked  that 
dangerous  power  ;  now,  as  always  when  it  suited  their 
schemes,  were  among  the  humblest  and  most  devout 
subjects  of  the  Holy  See.  Nor  was  Innocent  disin- 
clined to  receive  the  submission  of  the  lords  of  one 
half  of  the  Eastern  Empire. 

The  Pope  had  watched  with  intense  anxiety  the  prog- 
ress of  the  Crusade  towards  Constantinople.  He  had 
kept  his  faith  with  the  usurper,  who  had  promised  to 
unite  the  Greek  Church  to  the  See  of  Rome ;  he  had 
asserted  the  exclusive  religious  object  of  the  Crusades, 
by  protesting  first  against  the  siege  of  Zara,  and  then 
against  the  diversion  to  Constantinople  :  the  Venetians, 
at  least,  were  still  under  the  unrevoked  excommunica- 
tion. But  the  ignominious  flight  of  his  ally,  the  Em- 
peror Alexius,  had  released  him  from  that  embarrassing 
connection.  No  sooner  was  the  young  Alexius  on  the 
throne,  than  the  Pope  reminded  him  of  the  protesta- 
tions of  submission  which  he  had  made,  when  a  sup- 
pliant for  aid  at  the  court  of  Rome,  and  which  he  had 
renewed  when  on  board  the  Pilgrim  fleet.  He  urged 
the  Crusaders  to  enforce  this  acknowledgment  of  the 
Papal  supremacy.  This  great  blessing  to  Christendom 
could  alone  justify  the  tardy  fulfilment  of  their  vowts 
for  the  reconquest  of  the  Holy  Land. 

a  fifteenth  of  all  property,  with  some  exceptions,  gained  by  the  conquest 
of  Constantinople.     Tithes  were  to  be  paid. 


112  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

Masters  of  Constantinople,  their  victory  achieved, 
Franks  and  Venetians  vied  in  their  humble  addresses 
to  the  Holy  Father.  The  Emperor  Baldwin,  by  the 
hands  of  Barochias,  the  Master  of  the  Lombard  Tem- 
plars, informed  the  Pope  of  his  election  to  the  Empire 
of  Constantinople,  and  implored  his  ratification  of  the 
treaty  with  the  Venetians,1  those  true  and  zealous  allies, 
without  whose  aid  he  could  not  have  won,  without 
whose  support  he  could  not  maintain,  the  Eastern  Em- 
pire, founded  for  the  honor  of  God  and  of  the  Roman 
See.  He  extolled  the  valiant  acts  of  the  bishops  in  the 
capture  of  the  city.  He  entreated  the  Pope  to  admon- 
ish Western  Christendom  to  send  new  supplies  of  war- 
riors for  the  maintenance  of  his  Empire,  and  to  share 
in  the  immeasurable  temporal  and  spiritual  riches,  which 
they  might  so  easily  obtain.  The  Pope  was  urged  to 
grant  to  them,  as  to  other  soldiers  of  the  Cross,  the 
plenary  absolution  from  their  sins.  Above  all,  he 
pressed  that  clergy  should  be  sent  in  great  numbers  to 
plant  the  Latin  Church,  not  in  blood,  but  in  freedom 
and  peace  throughout  the  noble  and  pleasant  land.  He 
invited  the  Pope  to  hold  a  general  Council  at  Constan 

1  The  letter  of  Baldwin  describes  the  Greeks  in  the  most  odious  terms, 
as  playing  a  double  game  between  the  Western  Christians  and  the  Unbe- 
lievers; as  framing  disastrous  treaties  with  the  Mohammedans,  and  supply- 
ing them  with  arms,  provisions,  and  ships;  while  they  refused  all  these 
things  to  the  Latins.  "  But  (he  is  addressing  the  Pope)  it  is  the  height  of 
their  wickedness  obstinately  to  disclaim  the  supremacy  of  Rome."  "  Haee 
est  qua?  in  odium  apostolici  culminis,  Apostolorum  principis  nomen  audire 
vix  poterat,  nee  unam  eidem  inter  Graecos  ecclesiam  concedebat  qui  omnium 
ecclesiarum  accepit  ab  ipso  Domino  principatum."  The  Latins  were  greatly 
shocked  at  the  Greek  worship  of  pictures.  "ILee  est  qua;  Christum  solis 
didicerat  honorare  picturis."  They  sometimes,  among  their  wicked  rites, 
repeated  baptism.  They  considered  the  Latins  not  as  men,  but  as  dogs, 
whose  blood  it  was  meritorious  to  shed.  This  is  an  evidence  of  the  feel- 
ings of  the  Crusaders  towards  the  Creeks.  — A  pud  Cesta  Innocent,  c.  xci. 


Chap.  VII.         VENETIANS   ADDRESS   THE  TOPE.  113 

tinople.  These  prayers  were  accompanied  witli  splendid 
presents  from  his  share  of  the  booty.1 

The  Venetians  were  not  less  solicitous  now  to  pro- 
pitiate the  Holy  Father.     Already  they  had  Venetians 

-it  t»  n   i-i  r*\        address  the 

sent  to  the  Legate,  Peter  ot  Capua,  at  Gy-  rope. 
prus ;  they  implored  this  prelate,  whom  they  had  treat- 
ed before  with  such  contemptuous  disregard,  to  interpose 
his  kind  offices  and  to  annul  the  excommunication. 
The  Legate  had  sent  the  Treasurer  of  the  church  of 
Nicosia,  with  powers  to  receive  their  oath  of  future 
obedience  to  the  Roman  See  and  the  fulfilment  of  their 
vows  as  soldiers  of  the  Cross,  and  provisionally  to  sus- 
pend the  interdict,  which  was  not  absolutely  revocable 
without  the  sanction  of  the  Pope.  Two  Venetian 
nobles  were  now  despatched  to  Rome  by  the  Doge. 
They  were  to  inform  the  Pope,  that,  compelled  by  the 
treachery  of  the  young  Emperor  Alexius,  who  had 
attempted  to  burn  their  fleet,  with  their  brethren  the 
temporal  and  spiritual  pilgrims,  they  had  conquered 
Constantinople  for  the  honor  of  God  and  of  the  Ro- 
man Church,  and  in  order  to  facilitate  the  conquest  of 
the  Holy  Land.  They  endeavored  to  explain  away 
their  attack  on  Zara ;  they  could  not  believe  that  the 
inhabitants  of  that  city  were  under  the  Pope's  protec- 
tion, therefore  they  had  borne  in  patience  the  excom- 
munication, till  relieved  from  it  by  the  Cardinal  Peter. 
Innocent  replied  to  both  the  Emperor  and  the  Doge 
with  some  reserve,  but  with  manifest  satisfac-  Innocent's 
tion.  He  had  condemned,  with  the  severity  answers- 
which  became  the  Holy  Father,  the  enormities  perpe- 
trated during  the  storming  of  the  city,  the  worse  than 
infidel  acts  of  lust  and  cruelty,  the  profane  plunder  and 

1  Compare  Raynaldus,  sub  anno. 
vol.  v.  8 


Ill  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

violation  of  the  churches.  But  it  was  manifestly  the 
divine  judgment,  that  those  who  had  so  long  been  for- 
borne in  mercy,  and  had  been  so  often  admonished  not 
only  by  former  Popes,  but  by  Innocent  himself,  to  re- 
turn to  the  unity  of  the  Church,  and  to  send  succors 
to  the  Holy  Land,  should  forfeit  both  their  place  and 
their  territory  to  those  who  were  in  the  unity  of  the 
Church,  and  sworn  to  deliver  the  sepulchre  of  Christ : 
in  order  that  the  land,  delivered  from  the  bad,  should 
be  committed  to  good  husbandmen,  who  would  bring 
forth  good  fruit  in  due  season.1 

The  Pontiff  took  the  new  Empire  under  the  spe- 
cial protection  of  the  Holy  See.  He  commanded 
all  the  Sovereigns  of  the  West,  and  all  the  prelates  of 
the  Church,  archbishops,  bishops,  and  abbots,  to  main- 
tain friendly  relations  with  the  new  Latin  kingdom,  so 
important  for  the  conquest  of  the  East.  He  ratified 
the  revocation  of  the  excommunication  against  the  Ve- 
netians by  his  Legate  the  Cardinal  Peter.  He  de- 
clined, indeed,  to  accede  to  the  prayer  of  the  Doge  to 
be  released  from  his  vow,  from  his  obligation  to  follow 
the  Crusade  to  the  Holy  Land,  on  account  of  his  great 
age  and  feebleness ;  but  the  refusal  was  the  highest 
flattery.  The  Pope  could  not  take  upon  himself  to  de- 
prive the  army  of  the  Cross  of  one  endowed  by  God 
with  such  exalted  gifts,  so  valiant,  and  so  wise :  if  the 
Doge  would  serve  God  and  his  Church  henceforth  with 
the  same  glorious  ability  with  which  he  had  served 
himself  and  the  world,  he  could  not  fail  of  attaining 
the  highest  reward. 

Innocent  assumed  at  once  the  full  ecclesiastical  ad- 

1  This  is  from  the  letter  to  the  Marquis  of  Montferrat,  in  the  Gesta  o. 
xcii. 


Chap.  VII.  MOROSINI  PATPJARCH.  115 

ministration.  There  was  one  clause  in  the  compact 
between  the  Franks  and  the  Venetians,  which  called 
forth  his  unqualified  condemnation  ;  they  had  presumed 
to  seize  the  property  of  the  Church,  and  after  assigning 
what  they  might  think  lit  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
clergy,  to  submit  the  rest  to  the  same  partition  as  the 
other  lands.  This  sacrilegious  article  the  bishops  and 
the  abbots  in  the  army  were  to  strive  to  annul  with  all 
their  spiritual  authority  ;  the  Emperor  and  the  Doge  of 
Venice  were  admonished  to  abrogate  it  as  injurious  to 
the  honor,  and  as  trenching  on  the  sovereign  authority 
of  the  Roman  Church.  Nor  would  Innocent  admit 
the  right  of  the  self-elected  Chapter,  or  worse,  a  Chap- 
ter appointed  by  lay  authority,  to  the  nomination  of 
the  Patriarch.  He  absolutely  annulled  this  uncanoni- 
cal  proceeding ;  but  from  his  high  respect  for  Thomas 
Morosini,  and  the  necessity  to  provide  a  head  Sanctions 
to  the  Church  of  Constantinople  of  his  own  Patriarch. 
authority,  he  invested  Morosini  with  the  vacant  Patri- 
archate.1 Morosini  was  allowed  to  accumulate  within 
a  few  days  the  orders  of  Deacon,  Priest,  and  Bishop; 
the  Pope  invested  him  with  the  Archiepiscopal  pall. 
Innocent  at  the  same  time  bestowed  the  highest  privi- 
leges and  powers  on  the  new  Patriarch,  yet  with  studi- 
ous care  that  all  those  privileges  and  powers  emanated 
from,  and  were  prescribed  and  limited  by  the  Papal 
authority.2  He  might  wear  the  pall  at  all  times  in  all 
places,  except  in  Rome  and  in  the  presence  of  the 
Pope ;  in  processions  in  Constantinople  he  might  ride 

1  "  Elegimus  et  confirmavimus  eidem  Ecclesise  Patriarckam."  —  Epist. 
viii.  20. 

*  The  patriarchate  of  Constantinople,  Innocent  averred,  owed  its  original 
superiority  over  the  patriarchates  of  Antioch,  Alexandria,  and  Jerusalem, 
to  a  grant  from  the  successor  of  St.  Peter. 


116  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Booiv  IX. 

a  white  horse  with  white  housings.  He  had  the  power 
of  absolving  those  who  committed  violence  against  a 
spiritual  person  ;  to  anoint  kings  within  his  Patriarch- 
ate at  the  request  and  with  the  sanction  of  the  Em- 
peror ;  to  ordain  at  the  appointed  seasons  and  appoint 
all  qualified  persons,  to  distribute,  with  the  advice  of 
sage  counsellors,  all  the  goods  of  the  Church,  without 
the  approbation  of  Rome  in  each  special  case.  But  all 
these  privileges  were  the  gifts  of  a  superior;  the  dis- 
pensation with  appeal  in  certain  cases,  only  confirmed 
more  strongly  the  right  of  receiving  appeals  in  all 
others.  Of  the  dispossessed  and  fugitive  Patriarch  no 
notice  is  taken  either  in  this  or  any  other  document; 
the  Latin  Patriarch  was  planting  a  new  Church  in  the 
East  as  in  a  Pagan  land. 

Thus  then  set  forth  the  Latin  Patriarch  to  establish 
a  Latin  Church  in  the  East.  The  Emperor  had  before 
entreated  the  Pope  to  send  a  supply  of  breviaries  and 
missals  and  rituals  according  to  the  Roman  use,  with 
clergy  competent  to  administer  to  the  Latins.  He 
requested  also  some  Cistercian  monks  to  teach  the 
churches  of  Antony  and  Basil  the  true  rules  and  con- 
stitutions of  the  monastic  life.1  Innocent  appealed  to 
the  prelates  of  France  to  supply  this  want  of  clergy  for 
the  new  Church  of  the  East.  To  the  bishops  he  de- 
nounced the  heresies  of  the  Greeks  ;  first  their  depart- 
ure from  the  unity  of  the  Church,  then  their  denial  of 
the  procession  of  the  Holy  Ghost  from  the  Son  as  well 
as  from  the  Father ;  their  use  of  leavened  bread  in  the 
Eucharist.  "  But  Samaria  had  now  returned  to  Jeru- 
salem ;  God  had  transferred  the  Empire  of  the  Greeks 
from  the  proud  to  the  lowly,  from  the  superstitious  to 
i  Epist.  viii.  70. 


Chap.  VII.  MOROSINI  PATRIARCH.  117 

the  religious,  from  the  schismatics  to  the  Catholics, 
from  the  disobedient  to  the  devoted  servants  of  God."  * 
He  addressed  the  high  school  of  Paris  to  send  some  of 
their  learned  youth  to  study  in  the  East,  the  source  and 
origin  of  knowledge ;  he  not  only  opened  a  wide  field 
to  their  spiritual  ambition,  the  conversion  of  the  Greeks 
to  the  true  Apostolic  faith  ;  he  described  the  East  as  a 
rich  land  of  gold  and  silver  and  precious  stones,  as  over- 
flowing with  corn,  wine,  and  oil.  But  neither  the  holy 
desire  of  saving  the  souls  of  the  Greeks,  nor  the  noble 
thirst  for  knowledge,  nor  the  promise  of  these  temporal 
advantages  (which,  notwithstanding  the  splendid  spoil 
sent  home  by  some  of  the  crusaders,  and  the  precious 
treasures  of  art  and  of  skill  which  were  offered  in  their 
churches,  they  must  have  known  not  to  be  so  plentiful, 
or  so  lightly  won),  had  much  effect ;  no  great  move- 
ment of  the  clergy  took  place  towards  the  East.  Philip 
Augustus  made  a  wiser,  but  not  much  more  successful 
attempt ;  he  established  a  college  of  Constantinople  in 
the  university  of  Paris  for  the  education  of  young 
Greeks,  who,  bringing  with  them  some  of  the  knowl- 
edge and  learning  of  the  East,  might  be  instructed  in 
the  language,  the  creed,  and  the  ritual  of  the  West. 
This  was  the  first  unmarked  step  to  the  cultivation  of 
the  study  of  Greek  in  the  West,  which  some  centuries 
afterwards  was  so  powerfully  to  assist  in  the  overthrow 
of  the  sole  dominion  of  Latin  Christianity  in  Europe. 

Thus,  then,  while  Rome  appointed  the  Patriarch  of 
Constantinople,  and  all  the  churches  within  the  domin- 
ion of  the  Latins  adopted  the  Roman  ritual,  by  the 
more  profound  hatred,  on  the  one  side  contemptuous, 
on  the  other  revengeful,  of  the  two  nations,  the  recon- 
1  Gesta,  xciv. 


118  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book   IX. 

ciliation  of  the  Eastern  and  Western  Churches  was 
farther  removed  than  ever.  No  doubt  this  inauspi- 
cious attempt  to  subjugate,  rather  than  win,  tended 
incalculably  to  the  obstinate  estrangement,  which  en- 
dured to  the  end.  The  Patriarch,  John  Camaterns, 
took  refuge  in  the  new  Empire  founded  by  Theodore 
Greek  Lascaris  in  Nicea  and  its  neighborhood:  to 

at  Nicea.  him,  no  doubt,  the  clergy  throughout  Greece 
maintained  their  secret  allegiance.  Nor  was  the  recep- 
tion of  the  new  Latin  Patriarch  imposing  for  its  cordial 
unanimity.  Before  Morosini  disembarked,  he  sent  word 
to  the  shore  that  the  clergy  and  the  people  should  be 
prepared  to  meet  him  with  honorable  homage.  But 
the  Frank  clergy  stood  aloof;  they  had  protested 
against  the  election  being  left  to  the  Venetians ;  they 
declared  that  the  election  had  been  carried  by  un- 
worthy subtlety ;  that  the  Pope  himself  had  been 
imposed  upon  by  the  crafty  republicans.  Not  one 
appeared,  and  the  only  shouts  of  rejoicing  were  those 
of  the  few  Venetians.  The  Greeks  gazed  with  wonder 
Reception  and  disgust  at  the  smooth-faced  prelate,  with- 
Patriarch.  out  a  beard,  fat  as  a  well-fed  swine  ;  on  his 
dress,  his  demeanor,1  the  display  of  his  ring.  And  the 
clergy,  as  beardless  as  their  bishop,  eating  at  the  same 
table,  like  to  him  in  dress  and  manners,  were  as  vulgar 
and  revolting  to  their  notions.  The  contumacious 
French  hierarchy  would  render  no  allegiance  what- 
ever to  the  Venetians  ;  the  excommunication  which 
the  Patriarch  fulminated  against  them  they  treated 
with  sovereign  contempt.  The  jealousy  of  the  Franks 
against  the  Venetian  Primate  was  not  without  ground. 
The  Venetians  had  from  the  first  determined  to  secure 

1  Nicetas,  in  loc. 


Chap.  VII.  RECEPTION  OF  MOROSINI.  119 

to  themselves  in  perpetuity,  and,  as  they  could  not  ac- 
cept the  temporal  dominion,  to  make  the  great  eccle- 
siastical dignitaries  hereditary  in  their  nation  ;  so  to 
establish  their  own  Popedom  in  the  East.  But  Inno- 
cent had  penetrated  their  design ;  he  had  rigidly  defined 
the  powers  of  the  new  Patriarch,  and  admonished  him, 
before  he  left  Rome,  not  to  lend  himself  to  the  ambi- 
tion of  his  country,  to  appoint  the  canons  of  Santa 
Sophia  for  their  worth  and  knowledge,  not  for  their 
Venetian  birth  ;  the  Legate  was  to  exercise  a  control- 
ling power  over  these  appointments.  From  Rome 
Morosini  had  proceeded  to  Venice,  to  embark  for  his 
Patriarchate.  He  had  been  received  with  bitter  re- 
proaches by  the  son  of  the  Doge  and  many  of  the 
counsellors  and  nobles,  as  having  betrayed  his  coun- 
try ;  as  having  weakly  abandoned  to  the  Pope  the 
rights  and  privileges  of  Venice.  They  threatened  not 
to  furnish  him  with  a  ship  for  his  passage  ;  he  was 
deeply  in  debt,  his  creditors  beset  him  on  all  sides  ;  he 
was  compelled  to  take  an  oath  before  the  Senate  that 
he  would  name  none  but  Venetians,  or  at  least  those 
who  had  resided  for  ten  years  in  the  Venetian  terri- 
tory, as  canons  of  Santa  Sophia  ;  and  to  take  all  possi- 
ble measures  that  none  but  a  Venetian  should  sit  on 
the  Patriarchal  throne  of  Constantinople.1  If  even 
dim  rumors  of  these  stipulations  had  reached  the 
French  clergy,  their  cold  reception  of  the  Patriarch 
is  at  once  explained.  So  deep,  indeed,  was  the  feud, 
that  Innocent  found  it  necessary  to  send  another  Leg- 

1  Innocent  heard  of  this  extorted  oath;  he  immediately  addressed  a  let- 
ter to  the  Patriarch,  positively  prohibiting-  him  from  observing  it;  from  the 
profane  attempt  to  render  the  patriarchate  hereditary  among  the  Venetian 
aristocracy.  —  Gesta,  c.  xc 


120  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

ate  to  Constantinople,  the  Cardinal  Benedict,  who  en- 
joyed his  full  and  unlimited  confidence.  The  former 
Legate  to  the  East,  Peter  of  Capua,  with  his  colleague 
the  Cardinal  SofFrido,  had  caused  great  dissatisfaction 
to  the  Pope.  He  had  released  the  Venetians  from 
their  interdict,  he  had  deserted  his  proper  province, 
the  Holy  Land  ;  and,  in  a  more  open  manner  than 
Innocent  thought  prudent,  entered  into  the  great  de- 
sign for  the  subjugation  of  the  Greek  Empire.  He 
had  absolved  the  crusaders,  on  his  own  authority,  from 
the  fulfilment,  for  a  limited  period,  of  their  vows  to 
serve  in  Palestine.  He  had  received  a  strong  rebuke 
from  Innocent,  in  which  the  Pope  dwelt  even  with 
greater  force  on  the  cruelties,  plunders,  sacrileges  com- 
mitted after  the  storming  of  Constantinople.  The  Sara- 
cens in  Palestine,  instead  of  being  kept  in  the  salutary 
awe  with  which  they  had  been  struck  by  the  capture 
of  Constantinople,  could  not  be  ignorant  that  the  Cru- 
saders were  now  released  from  their  vow  of  serving 
against  them ;  and  would  fall  with  tenfold  fury  on  the 
few  who  remained  to  defend  the  Holy  Land. 

The  Cardinal  Benedict,  of  Santa  Susanna,  con- 
Constitution  ducted1  his  office  with  consummate  skill  ; 
ciergy.  perhaps  the   disastrous  state  of  affairs   awed 

even  the  jealous  clergy  with  the  apprehension  that 
their  tenure  of  dignity  was  but  precarious.  The  Em- 
peror Baldwin  had  now  fallen  a  captive  into  the  hands 
of  the  King  of  Bulgaria  ;  his  brother  Henry,  the  new 
Sovereign,  made  head  with  gallantry,  but  with  the  ut- 
most difficulty,  against  the  Bulgarians,  who,  with  their 
a.d.  1206.  wild  marauding  hordes,  spread  to  the  gates 
of  Constantinople  ;  Theodore  Lascaris  had  established 

1  Gesta,  xiv. 


Chap.  VII.  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  CLERGY.  121 

the  new  Greek  Empire  in  Asia.  The  Cardinal  not 
only  reconciled  the  Frank  clergy  to  the  supremacy 
of  the  Patriarch,  Morosini  himself  was  inclined  to  the 
lamer  views  of  the  churchman  rather  than  the  narrow 
and  exclusive  aims  of  the  Venetian.  He  gladly  ac- 
cepted the  Papal  absolution  from  the  oath  extorted  at 
Venice  ;  and,  so  far  from  the  Venetians  obtaining  a 
perpetual  and  hereditary  majority  in  the  Chapter  of 
Santa  Sophia,  or  securing  the  descent  of  the  Patri- 
archate in  their  nation,  of  the  line  of  the  Latin  Patri- 
archs after  Morosini  there  was  but  one  of  Venetian 
birth.  The  Legate  established  an  ecclesiastical  consti- 
tution for  the  whole  Latin  Empire.  The  clergy  were 
to  receive  one  fifteenth  of  all  possessions,  cities,  castles, 
tenements,  fields,  vineyards,  groves,  woods,  meadows, 
suburban  spaces,  gardens,  salt-works,  tolls,  customs  by 
sea  and  land,  fisheries  in  salt  or  fresh  waters  ;  with 
some  few  exceptions  in  Constantinople  and  its  suburbs 
reserved  for  the  Emperor  himself.  If  the  Emperor 
should  compound  for  any  territory,  and  receive  tribute 
instead  of  possession,  he  was  to  be  answerable  for  the 
fifteenth  to  the  Church ;  he  could  not  grant  any  lands 
in  fief,  without  reserving  the  fifteenth.  Besides  this, 
all  monasteries  belonged  to  the  Church,  and  were  not 
reckoned  in  the  fifteenth.  No  monastery  was  to  be 
fortified,  if  it. should  be  necessary  for  the  public  de- 
fence, without  the  permission  of  the  Patriarch  or  the 
Bishop  of  the  diocese.  Besides  this,  the  clergy  might 
receive  tithe  .of  corn,  vegetables,  and  all  the  produce 
of  the  land ;  of  fruits,  except  the  private  kitchen- 
garden  of  the  owner ;  of  the  feed  of  cattle,  of  honey, 
and  of  wool.  If  by  persuasion  they  could  induce  the 
land-owners  to  pay  these  tithes,  they  were  fully  entitled 


122  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX 

to  receive  them.  The  clergy  and  the  monks  of  all 
orders  were  altogether  exempt,  according  to  the  more 
liberal  custom  of  France,  from  all  lay  jurisdiction. 
They  held  their  lands  and  possessions  absolutely, 
saving  only  allegiance  to  the  See  of  Rome  and  to 
the  Patriarch  of  Constantinople,  of  the  Emperor  and 
of  the  Empire.1 

Even  towards  the  Greeks,  as  the  new  Emperor  dis- 
Toieration  covered  too  late  the  fatal  policy  of  treating 
of  Greeks.  ^Q  conquere(J  race  with  contemptuous  hatred, 
so  the  ecclesiastical  rule  gradually  relaxed  itself,  and 
endeavored  to  comprehend  them  without  absolute 
abandonment  of  their  ritual,  and  without  the  pro- 
scription of  their  clergy.  Where  the  whole  popula- 
tion was  Greek,  the  Patriarch  was  recommended  to 
appoint  a  Greek  ecclesiastic  ;  only,  where  it  was  mixed, 
a  Latin.2  Even  the  Greek  ritual  was  permitted  where 
the  obstinate  worshippers  resisted  all  persuasions  to 
conformity,  till  the  Holy  See  should  issue  further  or- 
ders. Nor  were  the  Greek  monasteries  to  be  sup- 
pressed, and  converted,  according  to  Latin  usage,  into 
secular  chapters ;  they  were  to  be  replaced,  as  far  as 
might  be,  by  Latin  regulars  ;  otherwise  to  remain  un- 
disturbed. This  tardy  and  extorted  toleration  had 
probably  no  great  effect  in  allaying  the  deepening 
estrangement  of  the  two  churches.  Nor  did  these 
arrangements  pacify  the  Latin  Byzantine  Church  ; 
there  were  still  jealousies  among  the  Franks  of  the 
Venetian  Patriarch,  excommunications  against  his  con- 
a.d.  1209.  tumacious  clergy  by  the  Patriarch,  appeals 
to  Rome,  attempts  by  the  indignant  Patriarch  to  re- 

i  Dated  16  Calends,  April.    Confirmed  at  Ferentino,  Nones  of  August. 
2  Gesta,  ch.  cii. 


Chap.  VII.  KINGS  OF  BULGARIA.  123 

sume  some  of  the  independence  of  his  Byzantine  pred- 
ecessors, new  Legatine  commissions  from  the  Pope, 
limiting  or  interfering  with  his  authority. 

Even  had  the  Latin  conquerors  of  the  East  the  least 
disposition  to  resist  the  lofty  dictation  of  theKingsof 
Pope  in  all  ecclesiastical  concerns,  they  were  Bulsana- 
not  in  a  situation  to  assert  their  independence  as  the 
undisputed  sovereigns  of  Eastern  Christendom.  On 
Innocent  might  depend  the  recruiting  of  their  reduced, 
scattered,  insufficient  forces  by  new  adventurers  assum- 
ing the  Cross,  and  warring  for  the  eventual  liberation 
of  the  East,  and  so  consolidating  the  conquest  of  the 
Eastern  Empire  ;  on  Innocent  might  depend  the  de- 
liverance of  their  captive  Emperor,  of  whose  fate  they 
were  still  ignorant.  The  King  of  Bulgaria,  by  the 
submission  of  the  Bulgarian  Church  to  Rome,  was  the 
spiritual  subject  of  the  Pope.  Henry,  while  yet  Bailiff 
of  the  Empire,  during  the  captivity  of  Baldwin,  wrote 
the  most  pressing  letters,  entreating  the  mediation  of 
the  Pope  with  the  subtle  Johannitius.  The  letters  de- 
scribed the  insurrection  of  the  perfidious  Greeks,  the 
invasion  of  the  Bulgarians,  with  their  barbarous  allied 
hordes,  the  fatal  battle  of  Adrianople  in  which  Bald- 
win had  been  taken  prisoner :  the  Latins  fled  to  the 
Pope  as  their  only  refuge  above  all  kings  and  princes 
of  the  earth  ;  they  threw  themselves  in  prostrate  hu- 
mility at  his  parental  feet. 

Innocent  delayed  not  to  send  a  messenger  to  his 
spiritual  vassal,  the  King  of  Bulgaria  ;  but  his  letter 
was  in  a  tone  unwontedly  gentle,  persuasive,  unauthor- 
itative. He  did  not  even  throw  the  blame  of  the  war 
with  the  Franks  of  Constantinople  on  the  King  of  Bul- 
garia :  he  reminded  him  that  he  had  received  his  crown 


124  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

and  his  consecrated  banner  from  the  Pope,  that  banner 
which  had  placed  his  kingdom  under  the  special  pro- 
tection of  St.  Peter,  in  order  that  he  might  rule  his 
realm  in  peace.  He  informed  Johannitius  that  another 
immense  army  was  about  to  set  out  from  the  West  to 
recruit  that  which  had  conquered  the  Byzantine  Em- 
pire ;  it  was  his  interest,  therefore,  to  make  firm  peace 
with  the  Latins,  for  which  he  had  a  noble  opportunity 
by  the  deliverance  of  the  Emperor  Baldwin.1  "  This 
was  a  suggestion,  not  a  command.  On  his  own  part 
he  would  lay  his  injunction  on  the  Emperor  Henry  to 
abstain  from  all  invasion  of  the  borders  of  Bulgaria  ; 
that  kingdom,  so  devoutly  dedicated  to  St.  Peter  and 
the  Church  of  Rome,  was  to  remain  in  its  inviolable  se- 
curity !  "  The  Bulgarian  replied  that  u  he  had  offered 
terms  of  peace  to  the  Latins,  which  they  had  rejected 
with  contempt ;  they  had  demanded  the  surrender  of 
all  the  territories  which  they  accused  him  of  having 
usurped  from  the  Empire  of  Constantinople,  themselves 
being  the  usurpers  of  that  Empire.  These  lands  he 
occupied  by  a  better  right  than  they  Constantinople. 
He  had  received  his  crown  from  the  Supreme  Pontiff; 
they  had  violently  seized  and  invested  themselves  with 
that  of  the  Eastern  Empire  ;  the  Empire  which  be- 
longed to  him  rather  than  to  them.  He  was  fighting 
under  the  banner  consecrated  by  St.  Peter  ;  they  with 
the  cross  on  their  shoulders,  which  they  had  falsely  as- 
sumed. He  had  been  defied,  had  fought  in  self-de- 
fence, had  won  a  glorious  victory,  which  he  ascribed  to 
the  intercession  of  the  Prince  of  the  Apostles.  As  to 
the  Emperor,  his  release  was  impossible,  he  had  already 
gone  the  way   of  all   flesh."     It  is  impossible  not  to 

i  Epist.  viii.  132. 


Chap.  VII.     EFFECTS  OF  TAKING  CONSTANTINOPLE.        125 

remark  the  dexterity  with  which  the  Barbarian  avails 
himself  of  the  difficult  position  of  the  Pope,  who  had  still 
openly  condemned  the  invasion  of  Constantinople  by 
the  Crusaders,  and  had  threatened,  if  he  had  not  placed 
them  under  interdict  for  that  act ;  how  he  makes  him- 
self out  to  be  the  faithful  soldier  of  the  Pope.  Nor 
had  either  the  awe  or  fear  of  Innocent  restrained  the 
King  of  Bulgaria  from  putting  his  prisoner  to  a  cruel 
death  (this  seems  to  be  certain,  however  the  manner 
of  Baldwin's  death  grew  into  a  romantic  legend),1  nor 
did  he  pay  the  slightest  regard  to  the  pacific  counsels 
of  Rome  ;  the  consecrated  banner  of  St.  Peter  still 
waved  against  those  who  had  subdued  the  Eastern 
Empire  under  allegiance  to  the  successor  of  St.  Peter. 
Till  his  own  assassination,  Johannitius  of  Bulgaria  was 
the  dangerous  and  mortal  foe  of  the  Latins  in  the  Em- 
pire of  the  East. 

The  conquest  of  Constantinople  by  the  Latins,  that 
strange  and  romantic  episode  in  the  history  of  Effcctsof 
the  Crusades,  in  its  direct  and  immediate  re-  §y}$)|§n. 
suits  might  seem  but  imperfect  and  transitory.  tm°Ple« 
The  Latin  Empire  endured  hardly  more  than  half  a 
century,  the  sovereignty  reverted  to  its  old  effete  mas- 
ters.    The  Greeks  who  won  back  the  throne  were  in 
no  respect  superior  either  in  military  skill  or  valor,  in 
genius,  in  patriotism,  in   intellectual  eminence,  to  those 
who  had  been  dispossessed  by  the  Latins.     The  Byzan- 
tine Empire  had  to  linger  out  a  few  more  centuries  of 
inglorious  inactivity ;  her  religion  came  back  with  her, 

i  Ephraim,  1.  7406,  7,  p.  300,  edit.  Bonn;  Nicetas,  p.  847;  George  Acro- 
polita,  p.  24,  give  different  versions  of  his  death.  See  also  Ducange's  note 
on  Villehardouin,  and  Alberic  des  trois  Fontaines,  on  the  impostor  who 
represented  him.  — Gesta  Ludov.  viii.,  apud  Duchesne,  Matt.  Paris. 


126  LATIN   CHKISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

with  all  its  superstition,  with  nothing  creative,  vigorous, 
or  capable  of  exercising  any  strong  impulse  on  the  na- 
tional mind.  As  the  consolidation  therefore  of  Europe 
into  one  great  Christian  confederacy  the  conquest  was 
a  signal  failure  ;  as  advancing,  as  supporting  the  Chris- 
tian outposts  in  the  East,  it  led  to  no  result ;  the  Cru- 
sades languished  still  more  and  more  ;  they  were  now 
the  enterprises  of  single  enthusiastic  princes,  brilliant, 
adventurous  expeditions  like  that  of  our  Edward  I. 
even  national  armaments  like  those  of  St.  Louis  of 
France,  whom  his  gallant  chivalry  followed  to  the  East 
as  they  would  on  any  other  bold  campaign,  obedient  to, 
even  kindled  by  his  fanatic  fervor,  rather  than  by  their 
own  profound  religious  zeal.  They  were  no  longer 
the  wars  of  Christendom,  the  armed  insurrections  of 
whole  populations,  maddened  to  avenge  the  cause  of 
the  injured  Son  of  God,  to  secure  to  themselves  the 
certain  absolution  for  their  sins  and  everlasting  re- 
ward. 

But  the  immediate  and  indirect  results  on  the  Latin, 
and  more  especially  on  the  Italian  mind,  constituted 
the  profound  importance  of  this  event,  and  was  at  once 
the  sign  and  the  commencement  of  a  great  revolution. 
A  new  element  had  now  entered  into  society,  to  contest 
with  the  warlike  and  religious  spirit  the  dominion  over 
human  thought.  Commercial  Venice  had  now  taken 
her  place  with  the  feudal  monarchies  of  Transalpine 
Christendom,  and  with  Rome  the  seat  of  ecclesiasti- 
cal supremacy.  >  A  new  power  had  arisen,  which  had 
wrested  the  generalship  and  the  direction  of  a  Crusade 
from  the  hands  of  the  most  mighty  prelate  who  had 
rilled  the  chair  of  St.  Peter,  had  calmly  pursued  her 
own  way  in  defiance  of  interdict,  and  only  at  her  own 


Chap.  VII.      ADVANTAGES   SECURED  BY  VENICE.  127 

convenient  time,  and  for  her  own  ends,  stooped  to  tardy 
submission  and  apology. 

Venice  almost  alone  reaped  the  valuable  harvest  of 
this  great  Crusade.     Zara  was  the  first  step  Advantages 

i  -l  •    i  •  tit  securecl  by 

to  her  wide  commercial  empire ;  she  had  Venice, 
wisely  left  the  more  imposing  but  precarious  temporal 
sovereignty  in  Constantinople  to  her  confederates  ;  to 
them  she  abandoned  whatever  kingdoms,  principalities, 
or  baronial  fiefs  they  might  win  upon  the  mainland ; 
but  she  seized  on  the  islands  of  the  Archipelago  as  her 
own.  Constantinople  was  not  her  seat  of  empire,  but 
it  was  her  central  mart ;  the  Emperor  had  to  defend 
the  walls  on  the  land  side,  the  factories  of  Venice  at 
Pera  were  amply  protected  by  her  fleets.  Wherever 
there  was  a  haven  there  waved  the  flag  of  St.  Mark  : 
the  whole  coast  and  all  the  islands  were  studded  with 
her  mercantile  establishments. 

Venice  had  been  thwarted  by  the  natural  jealousy 
of  the  Church,  by  the  vigilance  and  authority  of  the 
Pope,  and  by  the  defection  of  Morosini  himself,  her 
Patriarch,  in  her  bold  project  of  retaining  in  her  own 
hands  the  chief  ecclesiastical  dignity  of  the  new  Em- 
pire. It  was  a  remarkable  part  of  the  Venetian  policy, 
that  though  jealous  of  any  overweening  ecclesiastical 
authority  at  home,  within  her  own  lagunes  ;  abroad, 
in  her  colonies  and  conquests,  she  was  desirous  of  secur- 
ing to  herself  and  her  sons  all  the  high  spiritual  digni- 
ties, and  so  to  hold  both  the  temporal  and  ecclesiastical 
power  in  her  own  hands.  Venice,  by  her  fortune,  or 
by  her  sagacity,  had  never  become,  never  aspired  to 
become  the  seat  of  an  archiepiscopate  ;  the  city  was 
a  province  first  of  Aquileia,  then  of  Grado ;  but  the 
Archbishop  was  no  citizen  of  Venice  ;   he  dwelt  apart 


128  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX, 

in  his  own  city ;  he  was  at  times  a  stately  visitor,  re- 
ceived with  the  utmost  ceremony,  but  still  only  a  visitor 
in  Venice  ;  he  could  not  be  a  resident  rival  and  control 
upon  the  Doge  and  the  senators.  Hence  Venice  alone 
remained  comparatively  free  from  ecclesiastical  intrigue; 
the  clergy  took  no  part,  as  clergy,  in  the  affairs  of  state ; 
they  had  no  place  in  the  successive  senatorial  bodies, 
which  at  different  periods  of  the  constitution  ruled  the 
republic.  Hence,  even  from  an  earlier  period  she  dared 
to  take  a  firmer  tone,  or  to  treat  with  courteous  dis- 
respect the  mandates  of  the  supreme  Pontiff;  the  re- 
public would  sternly  assert  her  right  to  rule  herself  of 
her  own  sole  and  exclusive  authority ;  but  in  her  set- 
tlements she  would  not  disdain  to  rule  by  the  subsidiary 
aid  of  the  ecclesiastical  power. 

Amono;  the  first  acts  of  Ziani,  the  Doo;e  who  SUC- 
Archbishop     ceeded  Henry  Dandolo,  was  the  appointment 

ofZara.  of    the    ^^    of   gt   g.yfc    ^    Venice    to    the 

archbishopric  of  Zara  ;  he  obtained  the  consecration 
and  confirmation  from  the  obsequious  Primate  of  Grado. 
Not  till  then  did  he  condescend  to  request  the  Papal 
sanction  :  to  demand  the  pall  for  the  new  archbishop. 

Innocent  seized  the  opportunity  of  abasing  the  pride 
of  Venice,  of  disburdening  his  mind  of  all  his  wrath, 
perhaps  his  prescient  apprehensions  of  her  future  un- 
ruliness.  "  We  have  thought  it  right  in  our  patient 
love  to  rebuke  your  ambassadors  for  the  many  and 
heinous  sins  wickedly  committed  against  God,  the  Ro- 
man Church,  and  the  whole  Christian  people  —  the 
destruction  of  Zara ;  the  diversion  of  the  army  of  the 
Lord,  which  ought  not  to  have  moved  to  the  right  or 
the  left,  from  their  lawful  enemies  the  perfidious  Sara- 
cens, against  faithful  Christian  nations;   the  continue- 


Chat.  VII.  INNOCENT  AND  VENICE,  129 

lious  repulse  of  the  Legate  of  the  Roman  See  ;  the 
contempt  of  our  excommunication  ;  the  violation  of 
the  vow  of  the  Cross  in  despite  of  a  crucified  Saviour. 
Among  these  enormous  misdeeds  we  will  not  name 
those  perpetrated  in  Constantinople,  the  pillage  of  the 
treasures  of  the  church,  the  seizure  of  her  possessions, 
the  attempt  to  make  the  sanctuary  of  the  Lord  hered- 
itary in  your  nation  by  extorting  unlawful  oaths.  What 
reparation  can  ye  make  for  this  loss  to  the  Holy  Land 
by  your  misguiding  to  your  own  ends  an  army  so  noble, 
so  powerful,  raised  at  such  enormous  cost,  which  might 
not  only  have  subdued  the  Holy  Land,  but  even  great 
part  of  the  kingdom  of  Egypt  ?  If  it  has  been  able  to 
subdue  Constantinople  and  the  Greek  Empire,  how 
much  easier  Alexandria  and  Egypt,  and  so  have  ob- 
tained quiet  possession  of  Palestine?  Ascribe  it  not 
then  to  our  severity,  but  to  your  own  sins,  that  we  re- 
fuse to  admit  the  Abbot  of  St.  Felix,  whom  ye  call 
Archbishop  of  Zara.  It  would  be  a  just  offence  to  all 
Christian  people  if  we  should  seem  thus  to  sanction 
your  iniquity  in  the  seizure  of  Zara,  by  granting  the 
pall  of  an  archbishop  in  that  city  to  a  prelate  of  your 
nomination." l 

The  Pope  called  on  the  Venetians  to  submit  and 
make  satisfaction  for  all  their  crimes  against  a.d.  1206. 
the  Holy  See ;  on  making  that  submission  he  would 
suspend  the  censure  which  the  whole  world  expected 
to  fall  on  the  contumacious  republic.  We  hear  not 
that  Venice  trembled  at  this  holy  censure  ;  history 
records  no  proof  of  her  fear  or  submission. 

Through  Venice  flowed  into  Western  Europe  almost 
all  those  remains  of  ancient  art,  and  even  of  ancient 

1  Gesta,  civ. 


130  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX 

letters,  which  had  some  effect  in  awakening  the  slum- 
bering genius  of  Latin  Europe.  The  other  western 
kingdoms  were  content  mostly  with  relics  ;  perhaps  the 
great  marts  of  Flanders,  and  the  rising  Hanse  Towns 
had  some  share,  more  or  less  direct,  in  Eastern  com- 
merce ;  but  besides  the  religious  spoils,  Venice  alone, 
and  through  Venice  Italy,  was  moved  with  some  yet 
timid  admiration  of  profailer  works,  such  as  the  horses 
of  Lysippus,  which  now  again  stand  in  her  great  Place 
of  St.  Mark.  Venice  after  the  conquest  of  Constanti- 
nople became  a  half  Byzantine  city.  Her  great  church 
of  St.  Mark  still  seems  as  if  it  had  migrated  from  the 
East ;  its  walls  glow  with  Byzantine  mosaic ;  its  treas- 
ures are  Oriental  in  their  character  as  in  their  splen- 
dor. 


Chap.  VIII.  CRUSADE  AGAINST  HERETICS.  131 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

INNOCENT  AND  THE  ANTI-SACERDOTALISTS. 

The  Crusades  had  established  in  the  mind  of  men 
the  maxim  that  the  Infidel  was  the  enemy  of  crusade 
God,  and  therefore  the  enemy  of  every  true  hereto. 
servant  of  God.  The  war,  first  undertaken  for  a 
specific  object,  the  rescue  of  the  Saviour's  sepulchre, 
that  indefeasible  property  of  Christ  and  Christendom 
long  usurped  by  lawless  force,  from  the  profane  and 
sacrilegious  hands  of  the  Mohammedan  idolaters  (as 
they  were  absurdly  called),  had  now  become  a  gen- 
eral war  of  the  Cross  against  the  Crescent,  of  every 
Christian  against  every  believer  in  the  Koran.  Chris- 
tian and  unbeliever  were  born  foes,  foes  unto  death. 
They  might  hold  the  chivalrous  gallantry,  the  loyalty, 
and  the  virtue,  each  of  the  other,  in  respect :  absolute 
necessity  might  compel  them  to  make  treaties  which 
would  partake  in  the  general  sanctity  of  such  cove- 
nants ;  yet  to  these  irreconcilable  antagonists  war  was 
the  state  of  nature  ;  each  considered  it  a  sacred  duty, 
if  not  a  positive  obligation,  to  extirpate  the  hostile  faith. 
And  in  most  Mohammedan  countries  the  Christian  had 
the  claim  of  old  possession  ;  he  fought  for  the  recovery 
of  his  own.  Mohammedanism  had  begun  in  unpro- 
voked conquest ;  conquest  was  its  sole  tenure ;  and 
conquest  might  seem  at  least  a  part  of  its  religion,  for 


132  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  JJouk  IX. 

with  each  successive  race  which  rose  to  power  among 
the  Mohammedans  the  career  of  invasion  began  again ; 
the  frontiers  of  Christendom  were  invested  or  driven 
in.  All  warfare,  therefore,  even  carried  into  the  heart 
of  Mohammedanism,  was  in  some  degree  defensive,  as 
precautionary  and  preventive  of  future  aggression  ;  as 
aspiring  to  crush,  before  it  became  too  formidable,  a 
power  which  inevitably,  when  again  matured,  would  be 
restrained  by  no  treaty.  Foreign  subjugation,  subju- 
gation of  Christian  countries,  was  at  once  a  part  of 
the  creed,  and  of  the  national  manners.  The  Nomad 
races,  organized  by  a  fanatic  faith,  were  arrayed  in 
eternal  warfare  against  more  settled  and  peaceful  civ- 
ilization. The  Crusades  in  the  North  of  Germany 
against  the  tribes  of  Teutonic  or  Sclavonian  race  might 
claim,  though  in  less  degree,  the  character  of  defensive 
wars :  those  races  too  were  mostly  warlike  and  aggres- 
sive. The  Teutonic  knights  were  the  religious  and 
chivalrous  descendants  of  the  Templars  and  the  Hos- 
pitallers.1 

But  according  to  the  theory  of  the  Church,  the  err- 
ing believer  wTas  as  declared  an  enemy  to  God  as  the  Pa- 
gan or  the  Islamite,  in  one  respect  more  inexcusable  and 
odious,  as  obstinately  resisting  or  repudiating  the  truth. 
The  heretic  appeared  to  the  severely  orthodox  Christian 
as  worse  than  the  unbeliever ;  he  was  a  revolted  sub- 
ject, not  a  foreign  enemy.2  Civil  wars  are  always  the 
most  ferocious.     Excommunication  from  the  Christian 

1  The  Teutonic  order  was  as  yet  in  its  infancy;  it  obtained  what  may  be 
called  an  European  existence  (till  then  it  was  a  brotherhood  of  charity  in 
the  Holy  Land)  under  Herman  de  Salza,  the  loyal  friend  of  Frederick  II. 

2  The  Troubadour  who  sings  of  the  Albigensian  war  expresses  the  com- 
mon sentiment:  "Car  les  Francais  de  France,  et  ceux  d'ltalie  .  .  .  et  le 
monde  entier  leur  court  sus,  et  leur  porte  haine,  plus  qu'a  Sarrasins."  — 
Fauriel,  p.  77. 


Chap.  VIII.      SEEMING  PEACE  OF  CHRISTENDOM.  133 

Church  implied  outlawry  from  Christian  society  ;  the 
heretic  forfeited  not  only  all  dignities,  rights,  privileges, 
immunities,  even  all  property,  all  protection  by  law  ; 
he  was  to  be  pursued,  taken,1  despoiled,  put  to  death, 
either  by  the  ordinary  course  of  justice  (the  temporal 
authority  was  bound  to  execute,  even  to  blood,  the  sen- 
tence of  the  ecclesiastical  court),  or  if  he  dared  to 
resist,  by  any  means  whatever :  however  peaceful,  he 
was  an  insurgent,  against  whom  the  whole  of  Christen- 
dom might,  or  rather  was  bound  at  the  summons  of  the 
spiritual  power  to  declare  war;  his  estates,  even  his 
dominions  if  a  sovereign,  were  not  merely  liable  to  for- 
feiture, but  the  Church  assumed  the  power  of  award- 
ing the  forfeiture,  as  it  might  seem  best  to  her  wisdom.2 
The  army  which  should  execute  the  mandate  of  the 
Church  was  the  army  of  the  Church,  and  the  banner 
of  that  army  was  the  Cross  of  Christ.  So  began  Cru- 
sades, not  on  the  contested  borders  of  Christendom,  not 
in  Mohammedan  or  heathen  lands,  in  Palestine,  on  the 
shores  of  the  Nile,  among  the  Livonian  forests  or  the 
sands  of  the  Baltic,  but  in  the  very  bosom  of  Christen- 
dom ;  not  among  the  implacable  partisans  of  an  antag- 
onistic creed,  but  among  those  who  still  called  them- 
selves by  the  name  of  Christians. 

The  world,  at  least  the  Christian  world,  might  seem 
to  repose  in  unresisting  and  unrepining  sub-  Apparent  re- 
jection under  the  religious  autocracy  of  the  ofSgn  S-et 
Pope,  now  at  the  zenith  of  his  power.     How-  Innoc^tm- 

1  Pierre  de  Vaux  Cernay  considers  every  crime  to  be  centred  in  heresy. 
The  heretic  is  a  wild  beast  to  be  remorselessly  slain  wherever  he  is  found. 
—  Passim. 

2  Even  the  Emperor  Henry  IV.  almost  admitted  that,  if  guilty  of  heresy, 
he  would  have  justly  incurred  dethronement.  His  argument  against  th« 
injustice  of  Hildebrand  is,  that  he  is  convicted  of  no  heresy. 


134  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX 

ever  Innocent  III.,  in  his  ostentations  claim  of  com- 
plete temporal  supremacy  as  a  branch  of  his  spiritual 
power,  as  directly  flowing  from  the  established  princi- 
ples of  his  religious  despotism,  might  have  to  encoun- 
ter the  stern  opposition  of  the  temporal  sovereign* 
Philip  of  Swabia,  Otho  IV.,  Philip  Augustus,  or  the 
Barons  of  England;  yet  within  its  clear  and  distinct 
limits  that  supremacy  was  uncontested.  No  Emperor 
or  King,  however  he  might  assert  his  right  to  his 
crown  in  defiance  of  the  Pope,  would  fail  at  the 
same  time  to  profess  himself  a  dutiful  son  and  sub- 
ject of  the  Church.  Where  the  contest  arose  out  of 
matters  more  closely  connected  with  religion,  it  was 
against  the  alleged  abuse  of  the  power,  not  against  the 
power  itself,  which  he  appealed  when  he  took  up  arms. 
But  there  was  a  secret  working  in  the  depths  of  socie- 
ty, which,  at  the  very  moment  when  it  was  most  boast- 
ful of  its  unity,  broke  forth  in  direct  spiritual  rebellion 
in  almost  every  quarter  of  Christendom.  Nor  was  it 
the  more  watchful  and  all-pervading  administration  of 
Innocent  III.  which  detected  latent  and  slumbering 
heresies ;  they  were  open  and  undisguised,  and  carried 
on  the  work  of  proselytism,  each  in  its  separate  sphere, 
with  dauntless  activity.  From  almost  every  part  of 
Latin  Christendom  a  cry  of  indignation  and  distress  is 
raised  by  the  clergy  against  the  teachers  or  the  sects, 
which  are  withdrawing  the  people  from  their  control. 
Tt  is  almost  simultaneously  heard  in  England,  in  North- 
ern France,  in  Belgium,  in  Bretagne,  in  the  whole  dio- 
cese of  Rheims,  in  Orleans,  in  Paris,  in  Germany,  at 
Goslar,  Cologne,  Treves,  Metz,  Strasburg.  Through- 
out the  whole  South  of  France,  and  it  should  seem  in 
Hungary,  this  sectarianism   is  the  dominant  religion. 


Chap.  VIII.     PRINCIPLE  OF  SECTARIAN  UNION.  135 

Even  in  Italy  these  opinions  had  made  alarming  prog- 
ress. Innocent  liimself  calls  on  the  cities  of  Verona, 
Bologna,  Florence,  Milan,  Placentia,  Treviso,  Ber- 
gamo, Mantua,  Ferrara,  Faenza,  to  cast  out  these  mul- 
tiplying sectaries.  Even  within  or  on  the  very  borders 
of  the  Papal  territory  Viterbo  is  the  principal  seat  of 
the  revolt. 

In  one  great  principle  alone  the  heresiarchs  of  this 
age,  and  their  countless  sects,  conspired  with  Principle  .^f 

.  union  amongst 

dangerous  unity.  It  was  a  great  anti-sacer-  sectaries. 
dotal  movement ;  it  was  a  convulsive  effort  to  throw 
off  what  had  become  to  many  the  intolerable  yoke  of 
a  clergy  which  assumed  something  beyond  Apostolic 
power,  and  seemed  to  have  departed  so  entirely  from 
Apostolic  poverty  and  humility.  It  was  impossible 
that  the  glaring  contrast  between  the  simple  religion 
of  the  Gospel,  and  the  vast  hierarchical  Christianity 
which  had  been  growing  up  since  the  time  of  Con- 
stantine,  should  not,  even  in  the  darkest  and  most 
ignorant  age,  awaken  the  astonishment  of  some,  and 
rouse  the  spirit  of  inquiry  in  others.  But  for  cen- 
turies, from  this  embarrassing  or  distressing  contrast 
between  Apostolic  and  hierarchical  Christianity,  almost 
all  who  had  felt  it  had  sought  and  found  refuge  in  mon- 
achism.  And  monachism,  having  for  its  main  object 
the  perfection  of  the  individual,  was  content  to  with- 
draw itself  out  of  worldly  Christianity  into  safe  seclu- 
sion ;  being  founded  on  a  rule,  an  universal  rule,  of 
passive  submission,  it  did  not  of  necessity  feel  called 
upon,  or  seem  to  itself  justified  in  more  than  protesting 
against,  or  condemning  by  its  own  austere  indigence, 
the  inordinate  wealth,  power,  or  splendor  of  the  clergy, 
still    less  in    organizing  revolutionary  resistance.     Yet 


136  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX 

unquestionably  this  oppugnancy  was  the  most  active 
element  in  the  jealous  hostility  between  the  seculars 
and  the  regulars,  which  may  be  traced  in  almost  every 
country  and  in  every  century.  We  have  heard  the 
controversy  between  Peter  Damiani  and  Hildebrand, 
each  of  whom  may  be  accepted  as  the  great  champion 
of  his  class,  which  though  it  did  not  quencn  their 
mutual  respect,  even  their  friendship,  shows  the  irrec- 
oncilability of  the  conflict.  Yet  each  form  of  monas- 
ticism  had  in  a  generation  or  two  become  itself  hie- 
rarchical ;  the  rich  and  lordly  abbot  could  not  reproach 
the  haughty  and  wealthy  bishop  as  an  unworthy  suc- 
cessor of  the  Apostles.  Clugny,  which  by  its  stern 
austerities  had  put  to  shame  the  older  cloisters,  by  the 
time  of  St.  Bernard  is  become  the  seat  of  un evangelic 
luxury  and  ease.  Moreover,  a  solemn  and  rigid  ritual 
devotion  was  an  essential  part  of  monachism.  Each 
rule  was  more  punctilious,  more  minute,  more  strict, 
than  the  ordinary  ceremonial  of  the  Church  ;  and  this 
rigid  servitude  to  religious  usage  no  doubt  kept  down 
multitudes,  who  might  otherwise  have  raised  or  fol- 
lowed the  standard  of  revolt.  There  were  no  rebel- 
lions to  any  extent  in  the  monastic  orders,  so  long  as 
they  were  confined  in  their  cloisters  ;  it  was  not  till 
much  later,  that  among  the  Begging  Friars,  who  wan- 
dered freely  abroad,  arose  a  formidable  mutiny,  even 
in  the  very  camp  of  the  Papacy. 

The  hierarchy,  too,  might  seem  to  repose  securely  in 
its  conscious  strength ;  to  look  back  with  quiescent 
pride  on  its  unbroken  career  of  victory.  The  intellect- 
ual insurrection  of  Abelard  against  the  dominant  phi- 
losophy and  against  the  metaphysic  groundwork,  if  not 
against  the  doctrines  of  the  dominant  Christianity,  had 


Chap.  VIII.  ELEMENTS  OF  DISUNION.  137 

been  crushed,  for  a  time  at  least,  by  his  own  calamities 
and  by  the  superior  authority  of  St.  Bernard.  The 
republican  religion  of  Arnold  of  Brescia  had  met  its 
doom  at  the  stake ;  the  temporal  and  spiritual  power 
had  combined  to  trample  down  the  perilous  demagogue 
rather  than  heresiarch.  But  doctrines  expire  not  with 
their  teachers.  Abelard  left  even  in  high  places,  if  not 
disciples,  men  disposed  to  follow  out  his  bold  specula- 
tions. But  these  were  solitary  abstruse  thinkers,  like 
Gilbert  de  la  Pore*e,  or  minds  which  formed  a  close 
esoteric  school;  no  philosophizing  Christian  ever  organ- 
ized or  perpetuated  a  sect.  Arnold  no  doubt  left  behind 
him  a  more  deep  and  dangerous  influence.  In  many 
minds  there  lingered  from  his  teaching,  if  no  very  defi- 
nite notions,  a  secret  traditionary  repugnance  to  the 
established  opinions,  an  unconscious  aversion  to  the  rule 
of  the  sacerdotal  order. 

The  Papacy,  the  whole  hierarchy,  might  seem,  in 
the  wantonness  of  its  despotism,  almost  delib-  Security 

,  i    •  ™     •  i  •  .  of  the 

erately  to  drive  Christendom  to  insurrection,  hierarchy. 
It  was  impossible  that  the  long,  seemingly  interminable 
conflict  with  the  imperial  power,  even  though  it  might 
end  in  triumph,  should  not  leave  deep  and  rankling 
and  inextinguishable  animosities.  The  interdicts  ut- 
tered,  not  against  monarchs,  but  against  kingdoms  like 
France  and  England ;  the  sudden  and  total  cessation  of 
all  religious  rites ;  the  remorseless^  abandonment,  as  it 
were,  of  whole  nations  to  everlasting  perdition  for  the 
sins  or  alleged  sins  of  their  sovereigns,  could  not  but 
awaken  doubts ;  deaden  in  many  cases  religious  fears 
—  madden  to  religious  desperation.  In  France  it  has 
been  seen  that  satire  began  to  aim  its  contemptuous 
sarcasms  at  the  Pope  and  the  Papal  power.     In  the 


138  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX 

reign  of  John,  the  political  songs,  not  merely  in  the 
vernacular  tongue  but  in  priestly  or  monastic  Latin, 
assume  a  boldness  and  vehemence  which  show  how 
much  the  old  awe  is  dropping  off;  and  these  songs, 
spread  from  convent  to  convent,  and  chanted  by  monks, 
it  should  seem,  to  holy  tunes,  are  at  once  the  expression 
and  the  nutriment  of  brooding  and  sullen  discontent : 
discontent,  if  as  yet  shuddering  at  aught  approaching 
to  heresy,  at  least  preparing  men's  minds  for  doctrinal 
license.1 

1  See  Mr.  Wright's  Political  songs  and  poems  of  Walter  de  Mapes, 
among  the  most  curious  volumes  published  by  the  Camden  Society.  In 
the  Carmina  Burana  (from  the  monastery  of  Benedict  Buren,  published  by 
the  Literary  Union  of  Stuttgard,  1847)  we  find  the  same  pieces,  some  no 
doubt  of  English  origin.  This  strange  collection  of  amatory  as  well  as 
6atirical  pieces  shows  that  the  license,  even  occasionally  the  grace  and 
beauty  of  the  Troubadour,  as  well  as  his  bitter  tone  against  the  clergy, 
were  not  confined  to  the  South  of  France,  or  to  the  Provencal  tongue :  — 

"  Cum  ad  papam  veneris,  habe  pro  constanti 
Non  est  locus  pauperi,  soli  favet  danti ; 
Vel  si  munus  prsestitum  non  est  aUquanti. 
Respondit,  haec  tibia  non  est  michi  tanti. 

"  Papa,  si  rem  tangimus  nomen  habet  a  re ; 
Quicquid  habent  alii,  solus  vult  palpare  ; 
Vel  si  verbuni  gallicum  vis  apocopare, 
Paez,  paez  dit  le  mot,  si  vis  impetrare. 

"  Papa  quaerit,  cbartula  quaerit,  bulla  quaerit, 
Porta  quaerit,  cardinalis  quaerit,  cursor  quaerit, 
Omnes  quaerunt ;  et  si  quod  des,  uni  deerit. 
Totum  mare  salsum  est,  tota  causa  perit."  —  p.  14, 18. 

Here  is  another,  out  of  many  such  passages :  — 

M  Roma,  turpitudinis  jacens  in  profundis, 
Virtutes  praeposterat  opibus  immundis  ; 
Vacillantis  animi  fluctuans  sub  undis, 
Diruit,  aedificat,  mutat  quadrata  rotundis. 

tv  Roma  cunctos  erudit,  ut  ad  opes  transvolent, 
Plus  quam  Deo,  Mammonae,  cor  et  manus  immolent ; 
Sic  nimiruin  palmites  mal&  stirpe  redolent: 
Cui  caput  infirm ura,  cetera  membra  dolcnt." 


Chap.  VIII.  VENALITY  OF  ROME.  *} 

Nor  were  the  highest  churchmen  aware  how  by  their 
own  unsparing  and  honest  denunciations  of  the  abuses 
of  the  Church,  they  must  shake  the  authority  of  the 
Church.  The  trumpet  of  sedition  was  blown  from  the 
thrones  of  bishops  and  archbishops,  of  holy  abbots  and 
preachers  of  the  severest  orthodoxy ;  and  was  it  to  be 
expected  that  the  popular  mind  would  nicely  discrimi- 
nate between  the  abuses  of  the  hierarchical  system  and 
the  system  itself?  The  flagrant,  acknowledged  ve- 
nality of  Rome  could  not  be  denounced  without  im- 
pairing the  majesty  of  Rome  ;  the  avarice  of  Legates 
and  Cardinals  could  not  pass  into  a  proverb  and  obtain 
currency  from  the  most  unsuspicious  authorities,  with- 
out bringing  Legates,  Cardinals,  the  whole  hierarchy 
into  contempt.  We  have  heard  Becket  declaim,  if  not 
against  the  Pope  himself  (yet  even  the  Pope  is  not 
spared),  against  the  court  and  council  of  the  Pope  as 
bought  and  sold.  The  King,  he  says,  boasts  that  he 
has  in  his  pay  the  whole  college  of  cardinals ;  he  could 
buy  the  Papacy  itself,  if  vacant.  And,  if  Becket 
brands  the  impiety,  he  does  not  question  on  this  point 
the  truth  of  the  King.  Becket's  friend,  John  of  Salis- 
bury, not  only  in  the  freedom  of  epistolary  writing,  but 
in  his  grave  philosophic  works,  dwells,  if  with  trembling 
reverence  yet  with  no  less  force,  on  this  indelible  sin  of 

From    another    publication    of  Mr.  Wright's,  "Early  Mysteries,"   p. 
xxv.:  — 

"  Quicquid  male,  Roma,  Tales, 
Per  immundos  cardinales, 
Perque  nugas  Decretales ; 
Quicquid  cancellarii 
Peccant  vel  notarii, 
Totum  camerarii 
Superant  Papales." 

—  Compare  Hist.  Littdr.  de  la  France,  vol.  xxii.  147,  8.    I  had  selected  the 
same  quotations. 


X?'0  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX 

Rome  and  of  the  legates  of  Rome.1  We  have  heard 
Innocent  compelled  to  defend  himself  from  the  imputed 
design  of  fraudulently  alienating  for  his  own  use  con- 
tributions raised  for  the  hallowed  purposes  of  the  Cru- 
sade. 

All  these  conspiring  causes  account  for  the  popularity 
Movement      of  this  movement ;  its  popularity,  not  on  ac- 

anti-Sacer-  „     ,  .  „  7  .  ,  , 

dotaiist.  count  ot  the  numbers  or  its  votaries,  but  the 
class  in  which  it  chiefly  spread :  the  lower  or  middle 
orders  of  the  cities,  in  many  cases  the  burghers,  now 
also  striving  after  civil  liberties,  and  forming  the  free 
municipalities  in  the  cities ;  and  in  those  cities  not 
merely  opposing  the  authority  of  the  nobles,  but  that 
not  less  oppressive  of  the  bishops  and  the  chapters. 

This  wide-spread,  it  might  seem  almost  simultaneous 
revolt  throughout  Latin  Christianity  (though  in  fact  it 
had  been  long  growing  up,  and,  beat  down  in  one 
place,  had  ever  risen  in  another)  ;  this  insurrection 
against  the  dominion  of  the  clergy  and  of  the  Pope, 
more  or  less  against  the  vital  doctrines  of  the  faith,  but 
universally  against  the  sacerdotal  system,  comprehended 
three  classes.  These,  distinct  in  certain  principles  and 
tenets,  would  of  necessity  intermingle  incessantly,  melt 
into,  and  absorb  each  other.  Once  broken  loose  from 
the  authority  of  the  clergy,  once  convinced  that  the 
clergy  possessed  not  the  sure,  at  all  events,  not  the  ex- 
clusive power  over  their  salvation  ;  awe  and  reverence 
for  the  churches,  for  the  sacraments,  for  the  confes- 
sional, once  thrown  aside;  they  would  welcome  any 


1  "  Sed  Legati  sedis  Apostolicae  manus  suas  excutiant  ab  omni  munere, 
qui  interdum  in  provincias  ita  debacchantur  ac  si  ad  ecclesiam  flagellandam 
egressus  sit  Sathan  a  facie  domini."  He  adds,  "Non  de  omnibus  senno 
est."  — Polycratic.  v.  15. 


Chap.  VIII.    CLASSES   OF  ANTI-SAQERDOTALISTS.  141 

new  excitement ;  be  the  willing  and  eager  hearers  of 
any  teacher  who  denounced  the  hierarchy.  The  fol- 
lowers of  Peter  de  Brueys,  or  of  Henry  the  Deacon, 
in  the  South  of  France,  would  be  ready  to  listen  with- 
out terror  to  the  zealous  and  eloquent  Manichean  ;  the 
first  bold  step  was  already  taken ;  they  would  go  on- 
ward without  fear,  without  doubt,  wherever  conviction 
seemed  to  flash  upon  their  minds  or  inthrall  their 
hearts.  In  most  of  them  probably  the  thirst  was  awak- 
ened, rather  than  fully  allayed  ;  they  were  searchers 
after  truth,  rather  than  men  fully  satisfied  with  their 
new  creed. 

These  three  classes  were  —  I.  The  simple  Anti-Sa- 
cerdotalists,  those  who  rejected  the  rites  and  Three  classes, 
repudiated  the  authority  of  the  clergy,  but  did  not  de- 
part, or  departed  but  in  a  slight  degree,  from  the 
established  creeds  ;  heretics  in  manners  and  in  forms 
of  worship  rather  than  in  articles  of  belief.  These 
were  chiefly  single  teachers,  who  rose  in  different  coun- 
tries, without  connection,  without  organization,  each  de- 
pendent for  his  success  on  his  own  eloquence  or  influence. 
They  were  insurgents,  who  shook  the  established  gov- 
ernment, but  did  not  attempt  to  replace  it  by  any  new 
form  or  system  of  opinions  and  discipline. 

II.  The  Waldenses,  under  whom  I  am  disposed, 
after  much  deliberation,  to  rank  the  Poor  Men  of  Ly- 
ons. These  may  be  called  the  Biblical  Anti-Sacerdo- 
talists.  The  appeal  to  the  Scriptures  and  to  the  Script- 
ures alone  from  the  vast  system  of  traditional  religion, 
was  their  vital  fundamental  tenet. 

III.  The  Manicheans,  characterized  not  only  by 
some  of  the  leading  doctrines  of  the  old  Oriental  sys- 
tem, not  probably  clearly  defined  or  understood,  by  a 


142  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

severe  asceticism,  and  a  hatred  or  contempt  of  all  union 
between  the  sexes,  but  also  by  a  peculiar  organization, 
a  severe  probation,  a  gradual  and  difficult  ascent  into 
the  chosen  ranks  of  the  Perfect,  with  something  ap- 
proaching to  a  hierarchy  of  their  own. 

I.  Not  long  after  the  commencement  of  the  twelfth 
peter  de  century,  Peter  de  Brueys  preached  in  the 
Theepetro-  south  of  France  for  above  twenty  years.1 
bussians.  ^t  length  he  expiated  his  rebellion  in  the 
flames  at  St.  Gilles  in  Languedoc.  Peter  de  Brueys 
had  been  a  clerk ;  he  is  taunted  as  having  deserted  the 
Church  on  account  of  the  poverty  of  his  benefice.  He 
denied  infant  baptism,  it  is  said,  because  the  parents 
brought  not  their  children  with  offerings ;  he  annulled 
the  sacrifice  of  the  altar,  because  men  came  not  with 
their  hands  and  bosoms  loaded  with  gifts  and  with  wax- 
lights. 

Peter  de  Brueys  is  arraigned  by  Peter  the  Venera- 
ble, as  denying  —  I.  Infant  baptism.  II.  Respect  for 
churches.  III.  The  worship  of  the  cross.  The  cross 
on  which  the  Redeemer  wTas  so  cruelly  tortured,  ought 
rather  to  be  an  object  of  horror  than  of  veneration. 
IV.  Transubstantiation  and  the  Real  Presence.  It 
is  asserted,  but  not  proved,  that  he  rejected  the  Eu- 
charist altogether :  he  probably  retained  it  as  a  memo- 
rial rite.  V.  Prayers,  alms,  and  oblations  for  the  dead. 
To  these  errors  was  added  an  aversion  to  the  chanting 
and  psalmody  of  the  Church  ;    he  would  perhaps  re- 

1  The  date  is  doubtful.  Peter  the  Venerable  wrote  his  confutation  after 
the  death  of  Peter  de  Brueys:  he  asserts  that  Peter  had  disseminated  his 
heresy  in  the  dioceses  of  Aries,  Embrun,  Die,  and  Gap:  he  afterwards  went 
into  the  province  of  Narbonne.  Baronius  dated  this  work  of  Peter  the 
Venerable  in  1146.  Clemenoet  in  1135.  Fuesslin,  a  more  modern  author- 
ity,  with  whom  Gieseler  agrees,  in  1126  or  1127. 


Chap.  VIII.  PETER  DE  BRUEYS.  14S 

place  it  by  a  more  simple  and  passionate  hymnology.1 
How  did  each  of  these  heretical  tenets  strike  at  the 
power,  the  wealth,  the  influence  of  the  clergy!  What 
terrible  doubts  did  they  throw  into  men's  minds !  How 
hateful  must  they  have  appeared  to  the  religious,  as  to 
the  irreligious!  "What!"  says  the  indignant  Peter 
the  Venerable,  on  the  first  of  these  tenets  (we  follow 
not  out  his  curious,  at  times  strange  refutation  of  the 
rest),  "  have  all  the  saints  been  baptized  in  infancy, 
yet,  if  infant  baptism  be  null,  have  perished  unbaptized, 
perished  therefore  eternally?  Is  there  no  Christian, 
not  one  to  be  saved  in  all  Spain,  Gaul,  Germany,  Italy, 
Europe  ?  "  In  another  respect,  the  followers  of  Peter 
de  Brueys  rejected  the  usages  of  the  Church,  but  in  no 
rigid  or  ascetic,  and  therefore  no  Manichean  spirit. 
They  ate  meat  on  fast  days,  even  on  Good  Friday. 
They  even  summoned  their  people  to  feast  on  those 
days.  This  was  among  the  most  revolting  acts  of  their 
wickedness ;  as  bad  as  acts  of  persecution  and  cruelty, 
of  which  they  are  accused ;  it  shows  at  once  their  dar- 
ing and  the  great  power  which  they  had  attained. 
"  The  people  are  rebaptized,  altars  thrown  down, 
crosses  burned,  meat  publicly  eaten  on  the  day  of  the 
Lord's  Passion,  priests  scourged,  monks  imprisoned,  or 
compelled  to  marry  by  terror  or  by  torture."  2 

But  the  fire  which  burned  Peter  de  Brueys  neither 
discouraged  nor  silenced  a  more  powerful  and  more 
daring  heresiarch.     To  the  five  errors  of  de  Henry  {he 
Brueys,  his  heir,  Henry  the  Deacon,  added  Deacon- 

1  Compare  Flathe,  Vorlaufer  der  Reformation,  Hahn,  Manichalsche  Ket 
zer,  i.  p.  408,  et  seq. 

2  Peter  Veuerab.,  in  Max.  Biblioth.  Patr.,  p.  1034.  This  refutation  is 
the  chief  authority  about  Peter  de  Brueys,  and  his  followers,  called  Petri- 
bussians. 


144  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX 

many  more.1  The  description  of  the  person,  the 
habits,  the  eloquence  of  Heniy,  as  it  appeared  to  the 
incensed  clergy,  is  more  distinct  than  that  of  his  doc- 
trines. Henry  had  been  a  monk  of  Clugny,  and  was 
in  deacon's  orders.  He  is  first  heard  of  at  Lausanne 
(though  according  to  some  reports  his  career  began  in 
Italy),  but  his  influence  over  the  popular  mind  and  his 
hostility  to  the  clergy  first  broke  forth  in  its  fulness  at 
Le  Mans.  The  Bishop  of  that  see,  Hildebert,  incau- 
tiously gave  him  permission  to  preach,  and  then  depart- 
ed himself  on  a  visit  to  Rome.  The  rapid  changes  in 
Henry's  countenance  are  likened  to  a  stormy  sea :  his 
hair  was  cropped,  his  beard  long ;  he  was  tall  of  stat- 
ure, quick  in  step,  barefooted  in  the  midst  of  winter, 
rapid  in  address,  in  voice  terrible.  In  years  he  was 
but  a  youth ;  yet  his  deep  tones  seemed,  according  to 
the  appalled  clergy  of  Le  Mans,  like  the  roar  of  legions 
of  devils ;  but  he  was  wonderfully  eloquent.  He  went 
to  the  very  hearts  of  men,  and  maddened  them  to  a 
deep  implacable  hatred  of  the  clergy.  Yet  at  first 
some  even  of  the  clergy  sat  at  the  feet  of  the  persua- 
sive teacher  and  melted  into  tears.  But  as  he  rose  to 
the  stern  denunciation  of  their  vices,  they  saw  their 
alienated  flocks  gradually  look  on  them  with  apathy, 
with  contempt,  with  aversion.  Some  who  attempted  to 
meet  the  preacher  in  argument  were  beaten,  rolled  in 
the  mire,  hardly  escaped  with  their  lives,  were  only 
protected,  and  in  secret  hiding-places,  by  the  magis- 
trates. They  attempted  a  gentle  remonstrance:  they 
had  received  Henry  with  brotherly  love,  and  opened 
their   pulpits   to   him  ;    he   had  returned  peace   with 

1  Acta  Episcoporum  Cenomansium  (in  Mabillon,  Vet.  Analect.  iii.  312). 
Henry  began  in  1116. 


Chap.  VIII.  HENRY  THE  DEACON.  145 

enmity,  sowed  deadly  hatred  between  tlie  clergy  and 
the  people,  and  betrayed  them  with  a  Judas  kiss.  To 
the  messenger  who  read  this  expostulation  Henry  stern- 
ly and  briefly  replied,  "  Thou  liest."  But  for  the  offi- 
cers of  the  Count  who  accompanied  him  the  man  had 
been  stoned  to  death. 

Henry  was  no  Manichean ;  he  was  rather  an  apostle 
of  marriage.  His  influence,  like  that  of  many  of  the 
popular  preachers,  was  greatest  among  the  loose  women. 
That  unhappy  race,  of  strong  passions,  oppressed  with 
shame  and  misery  at  their  outcast  and  forlorn  condi- 
tion, are  ever  prone  to  throw  themselves  into  wild 
paroxysms  of  penitence.  They  stripped  themselves,  if 
we  are  to  believe  the  accounts,  naked  ;  threw  their 
costly  robes,  their  bright  tresses,  into  the  fire.  Henry 
declared  that  no  one  should  receive  a  dowry,  gold, 
silver,  land,  or  bridal  gifts.  All  rushed  to  marriage, 
the  poorest  with  the  poorest,  even  within  the  prohibited 
degrees.  Henry  himself  is  said  to  have  looked  with 
too  curious  and  admiring  eyes  on  the  beauty  of  his 
adoring  proselytes.  Young  men  of  rank  and  station 
wedded  these  reclaimed  harlots  in  coarse  robes  which 
cost  the  meanest  price.  These  inauspicious  marriages 
ended  but  ill.  The  passion  of  self-sacrifice  soon  burned 
out  in  the  youths  ;  they  grew  weary,  and  deserted  their 
once  contaminated  wives.  The  passion  of  virtue  with 
the  women,  too,  died  away ;  they  fell  back  to  their  old 
courses. 

Bishop  Hildebert,  on  his  return  from  Rome,  was  met 
by  no  procession,  no  rejoicing  at  the  gates.  The  peo- 
ple mocked  his  blessing  :  "  We  have  a  father,  a  bishop, 
far  above  thee  in  dignity,  wisdom,  and  holiness."  The 
mild  bishop  bore  the  affront :  he  forced  an  interview 

VOL.  V.  10 


146  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

on  Henry,  and  put  him  under  examination.  Henry 
knew  not  how  —  probably  refused  —  to  repeat  the 
Morning  Hymn.  The  Bishop  declared  him  a  poor 
ignorant  man,  but  took  no  harsher  measure  than  expul- 
sion from  his  diocese. 

Henry  retired  to  the  South  of  France,  and  joined 
Peter  de  Brueys  as  his  scholar  or  fellow-apostle.  After 
a.d.  lis*.  Brueys  was  burned,  he  retired  into  Gascony, 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Archbishop  of  Aries,  and 
was  sent  to  the  Council  of  Pisa.  Innocent  II.  con- 
demned him  to  silence,  and  placed  him  under  the  cus- 
tody of  St.  Bernard.  He  escaped  and  returned  to 
Languedoc.  Desertion  of  churches,  total  contempt  of 
the  clergy,  followed  the  eloquent  heresiarch  wherever 
he  went.  The  Cardinal  Bishop  of  Ostia  was  sent  by 
Eugene  III.  to  subdue  the  revolt ;  the  Cardinal  Alberic 
demanded  the  aid  of  no  less  a  colleague  than  St.  Ber- 
nard: "  Henry  is  an  antagonist  who  can  only  be  put 
down  by  the  conqueror  of  Abelard  and  of  Arnold  of 
Brescia."  Bernard's  progress  in  Languedoc  might 
seem  an  uncontested  ovation  :  from  all  quarters  crowds 
gathered;  Toulouse  opened  her  gates;  he  is  said  by  his 
powerful  discourses  to  have  disinfected  the  whole  city 
from  heresy.  He  found,  so  he  writes,  "  the  churches 
without  people,  the  people  without  priests,  the  priests 
without  respect,  the  Christians  without  Christ,  the 
churches  are  deemed  synagogues,  the  holy  places  of 
God  denied  to  be  holy,  the  sacraments  are  no  longer 
sacred,  the  holy  days  without  their  solemnities."  Ber- 
nard left  Toulouse,  as  he  hoped,  as  his  admirers  boasted, 
restored  to  peace  and  orthodoxy.1 

Yet  Bernard's  victory  was  but  seeming  or  but  tran- 

1  Epist.  241,  vol.  i.  p.  237. 


Chap.  VIII.  TANCHELIN.  147 

sient.  Peter  de  Brueys  and  Henry  the  Deacon  had 
only  sowed  the  dragon  seed  of  worse  heresies,  which 
sprung  up  with  astonishing  rapidity.  Before  fifty  years 
had  passed  the  whole  South  of  France  was  swarming 
with  Manicheans,  who  took  their  name  from  the  centre 
of  their  influence,  the  city  of  Albi.  Toulouse  is  be- 
come, in  the  words  of  its  delegated  visitors,  (the  Car- 
dinal of  S.  Chrysogonus,  the  Abbot  of  Clairvaux,  the 
Bishops  of  Poitiers  and  Bath),  the  abomination  of 
desolation ;  the  heretics  have  the  chief  power  over  the 
people,  they  lord  it  among  the  clergy  :  as  the  people, 
so  the  priest.1 

The  Anti-Sacerdotalists  had  at  the  same  time,2  or 
even  earlier,  found  in  the  north  a  formidable  Tancheiin. 
head  in  Tancheiin  of  Antwerp,  a  layman,  with  his 
disciple,  a  renegade  priest  named  Erwacher.  Tanche- 
iin appears  more  like  one  of  the  later  German  Ana- 
baptists. He  rejected  Pope,  archbishops,  bishops,  the 
whole  priesthood.  His  sect  was  the  one  true  Church. 
The  Sacraments  (he  denied  transubstantiation)  depend- 
ed for  their  validity  on  the  holiness  of  him  that  admin- 
istered them.  He  declared  war  against  tithes  and  the 
possessions  of  the  Church.  He  was  encircled  by  a 
body-guard  of  three  thousand  armed  men  ;  he  was 
worshipped  by  the  people  as  an  angel,  or  something 
higher :  they  drank  the  water  in  which  he  had  bathed. 
He  is  accused  of  the  grossest  license.  A  woman  with- 
in  the  third  degree  of  relationship  was  his  concubine. 

1  "  Ita  hseretici  principabantur  in  populo,  dominabantur  in  clero;  eo  quod 
populus,  sic  sacerdos."  et  seq.  Epist.  Henric.  Abbat.  Clairv.  apud  Mansi, 
A.  D.  1178;  and  in  Maitland,  Facts  and  Documents. 

2  From  1122  to  1125.  Script,  apud  Bouquet,  xiii.  108,  et  seq.  Epist. 
Frag.  Ecclesiae.  Sigebert,  apud  Pertz,  viii.  Vita  Norberti,  apud  Boliand 
Jun.  1.    Habn,  p.  458. 


148  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY,  Book  IX. 

Tanckelin  began  his  career  in  the  cities  on  the  coast  of 
Flanders  :  he  then  fixed  himself  at  Utrecht.  The 
bishops  and  clergy  raised  a  cry  of  terror.  Yet  Tanclie- 
lin, with  the  renegade  Erwacher,  dared  to  visit  Heme. 
On  his  return  he  was  seized  and  imprisoned  in  Cologne 
by  the  Archbishop,  escaped,  first  fixed  himself  in  Bru- 
ges, finally  in  Antwerp,  where  he  ruled  with  the  power 
and  state  oi'  a  king,  lie  was  at  length  struck  dead  by 
a  priest,  but  his  followers  survived  ;  no  less  a  man  than 
St.  Norbert,  the  friend,  almost  the  equal  of  St.  Ber- 
nard, was  compelled  to  accept  the  bishopric  of  Utrecht, 
to  quell  the  brooding  and  dangerous  revolt. 

Another  wild  teacher,  Eudo  de  Stella,  an  illiterate 
rustic,  half  revolutionized  Bretagne.  He  gave  himself 
out  "  as  he  that  should  come,"  was  followed  by  multi- 
tudes, and  assumed  almost  kingly  power.  He  was  with 
difficulty  seized  ;  his  life  was  spared ;  he  was  cast  into 
prison  under  the  charge  of  Suger,  Abbot  of  St.  Denys. 
He  died  in  prison ;  his  only  known  tenet  is  implacable 
hostility  to  churches  and  monasteries.1 

These,  though  the  most  famous,  or  best  recorded 
Anti-Sacerdotalists,  who  called  forth  the  Bernards  ana 
the  Norberts  to  subdue  them,  were  not  the  only  teachers 
of  these  rebellious  doctrines.  In  many  other  cities 
nothing  is  known,  but  that  fires  were  kindled  and  her- 
etics burned,  in  Oxford,  in  Rheims,  in  Arras,  in  Besan- 
Con,  in  Cologne,  in  Treves,  in  Vezelay.2     In  this  latter 

1  Gul.  Neubrig.  sub  aim.  1107.    Continual  Sigehert,  apnd  Pertz,  viii. 

-  Some  of  those  may  have  been  Manichoans,  or  held  opinions  bordering 
on  Manicheanism.  On  Oxford,  Gul.  Neubrig.  ii.  c.  13.  Arrat,  in  1183, 
perhaps  1083.  Besangon,  1200.  Caesar  Heisterbac,  v.  15.  Cologne,  God. 
Monach.  ad  aim.  1163.  7Ww»,  Gesta  Trevir.  i.  186.  They  passed  under 
the  general  name  of  Cathari ;  hi  France  they  were  often  called  tisseranda 
(weavers). 


Chap.  VIII.      BIBLICAL  AK'fl   8ACODOTALIST8  II!) 

stately  monastery^  probably  ;»,  year  or  bwd  before  tho 
excommunication  of  King  Henry  by  Becket,  that  awful 
triumph  of  the  sacerdotal  power,  the  Archbishops  of 
Lyons  and  Narbonne,  the  Bishops  of  Nevers  and  Laon, 
mid  many  abbots  and  great  theologians,  Bat  m  solemn 
judgment  on  some,  it,  should  seem,  poor  ignoranl  men, 
called  Publicans.1  They  denied  all  but  God;  they 
absolutely  rejected  all  the  Sacraments,  infant  baptism, 
the  Eucharist,  the  sigh  of  the  cross,  holy-water,  the 
efficacy  of  tithes  and  oblations,  marriages,  monkhood, 
the  power  and  functions  of  the  priesthoods     Two  were 

disposed  to  recant*      Their  were  examined  at  the  solemn 

festival  of  Easter,  article  by  article;  they  could  not 

explain  their  own  tenets.  They  were  allowed  the  Water 
ordeal.  ( )ne  passed  through  sale;  tin*  otlier  ease  was 
more  doubtful,  the  man  was  plunged  again,  and  con- 
demned, to  the  genera]  satisfaction!     But  the;  Abbot 

haying    some   doubt,    he    was    put    tO    a    more    merciful 

death.     Appeal   was   made   to  the!  whole  assembly; 

"What  shall  be  do  no  with  the  rest?"      "  Let  them    be 

bumed  !  let  them  be  burned!"    And  burned  they  w<ic, 

to  the  number  of  seven,  iu  the  valley  of  Keouan.^ 

II.    In   Northern    France    these   adversaries   of  the 

Church   seem  to  have   been    loss   inclined  to  Bibltra] 

.  ...  .  AntI  Sneer* 

speculative  than  to  practical  innovations.      It  dotaUft* 

1  Monii  or  popolicolic. 

2  Histori.i  V<'/.cli;ic.  BUD   fiii(',  in   GuizOt,  Collection   (les  Mc'inoircs,  vii.  7. 

886.  All  tlicst;  burnings  were  by  the  civil  power,  to  which  the  heretics, 
having  been  excommunicated,  wen;  given  up.  Yd  Eichhorn  observes  that 
neither  the  law  of  the  Church  nor  the  Roman  law  had  any  general  penalty 
sgainst  heretics  beyond  confiscation  of  goods.  "Obschon  weder  sin  i\ir- 
chengesetz  nocb  das  Romische  Recht  etwas  anderes  als  Confiscation  ilin-s 
yermogens  attgemein  gebot."  Two  statutes  of  Frederick  II.  (a.d.  1222) 
made  the  punishment,  which  had  become  practice,  law.  "  Welche  allge- 
Bjjelne  Praxis  wurdeh,  in  ywbrennen  bestehen  sollte."  — T«  ii.  p.  521. 


150  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

was  an  hostility  to  the  clergy,  and  to  all  those  ritual 
and  sacramental  institutions  in  which  dwelt  the  power 
and  authority  of  the  clergy.  In  Southern  France 
Manicheism  almost  suddenly  swallowed  up  the  fol- 
lowers of  the  simple  Anti-Sacerdotalists,  Peter  de 
Brueys  and  Henry  the  Deacon.  In  Italy,  perhaps,  the 
political  element,  introduced  by  Arnold  of  Brescia, 
minified  with  the  Paulician  Manicheism  which  stole  in 
after  the  Crusades,  and  appeared  almost  simultaneously 
in  many  parts  of  Europe.  In  the  valleys  of  the  Alps 
it  was  a  pure  religious  movement.  Peter  Waldo  was 
the  St.  Francis  of  heresy,  the  Poor  Men  of  Lyons 
were  the  Minorites  —  the  lowest  of  the  low.  Some 
of  them  resembled  more  the  later  Fraticelli  in  their 
levelling  doctrines,  in  their  assertion  of  the  kingdom  of 
the  Spirit ;  in  some  respects  the  wilder  Anabaptists  of 
the  Church  of  Rome. 

The  simplicity  of  the  Alpine  peasants  was  naturally 
averse  to  the  wealth  of  the  monastic  establishments 
which  began  to  arise  among  them  ;  there  might  survive 
some  va<me  tradition  of  the  iconoclasm  and  holiness  of 

o 

Claudius  of  Turin,  or  of  the  later  residence  of  Arnold 
of  Brescia  in  Zurich.  But  whether  the  spiritual  par- 
Peter  waido.  ents,  the  brethren,  the  offspring  of  Peter 
Waldo1  —  whether  his  teachers  or  his  disciples  —  these 

1  The  date  of  Waldo  is  doubtful  from  11G0  to  1170.  Stephanus  de 
Borboue  de  VII.  Donis  Spiritus,  iv.  c.  30,  professes  to  have  heard  the 
origin  of  the  sect  from  persons  living  at  the  time.  The  passage  is  qt  ted 
in  the  Dissertation  of  Reeehinius,  prefixed  to  Moneta,  c.  xxxvii.  The 
two  famous  lines  in  the  noble  Leyczion  appear  to  assign  a  proximate  date 
to  the  Biblical  Anti-Sacerdotalists  of  the  Valleys:  — 

"  Ben  ha  mil  e  cent  anez  compli  entierament, 
Que  fo  scripta  l'ora,  car  son  al  denier  temp." 

I  866  no  reason  for,  every  reason  against,  reckoning  these  1100  years  from 


Chap.  VIII.  THE  WALDENSES.  151 

blameless  sectaries,  in  their  retired  valleys  of  Piedmont, 
clung  with  unconquerable  fidelity  to  their  purer,  less 
imaginative  faith.  But  whencesoever  this  humbler 
Biblical  Christianity  derived  its  origin,  it  received  a 
powerful  impulse  from  Peter  Waldo.  Waldo  was  a 
rich  merchant  of  Lyons  ;  his  religious  impressions,  nat- 
urally strong,  were  quickened  by  one  of  those  appalling 
incidents  which  often  work  so  lastingly  on  the  life  of 
religious  men.  In  a  meeting  for  devotion  a  man  fell 
dead,  some  say  struck  by  lightning.  From  that  time 
religion  was  the  sole  thought  of  Peter.  He  dedicated 
himself  to  poverty  and  the  instruction  of  the  people.1 
His  lavish  alms  gathered  the  poor  around  him  in  grate- 
ful devotion.  He  wTas  by  no  means  learned,  but  he 
paid  a  poor  scholar  to  translate  the  Gospels  and  some 
other  books  of  Scripture.2  Another  grammarian  ren- 
dered into  his  native  tongue  some  selected  sentences 
from  the  Fathers.  Disciples  gathered  around  him  ;  he 
sent  them,  after  the  manner  of  the  seventy,  two  by 
two,  into  the  neighboring  villages  to  preach  the  Gospel. 
They  called  themselves  the  Humbled  ;  others  called 
them  the  Poor  Men  of  Lyons.3 

the  delivery  of  the  Apocalypse,  a  critical  question  far  beyond  the  age,  or 
from  any  period  but  the  ordinary  date  of  our  Lord.  All  it  seems  to  as- 
sert is  that  the  1100  years  are  fully  passed,  and  that  the  "  latter  days  "  are 
begun.  This  in  the  usual  religious  language  would  admit,  at  least,  any 
part  of  the  twelfth  century.  The  authenticity  of  these  lines  is  asserted  and 
argued  to  my  mind  in  a  conclusive  manner  by  the  highest  authority,  Mons. 
Raynouari,  Poesies  des  Troubadours,  vol.  ii.  p.cxlii.  Compaiw,  for  simi- 
lar dates  especially,  Dante  Paradiso,  xi. ;  Gilly,  Introduction,  p.  xxxviii. 

1  On  Waldo,  Reinerius  Saccho,  c.  iv.  v.;  Alanus  de  Insulis;  Stephan.  de 
Borbone  de  VII.  Don.  Spirit.  S. 

2  Chronicle  of  Laon,  apud  Bouquet,  xiii. ;  Gilly,  p.  xciv. 

3  The  name  Insabatati  is  derived  by  Spanheim  (Hist.  Christ.  Ssoc.  xii.) 
from  their  religious  observance  of  the  Sabbath,  in  opposition  to  the  holi- 
days of  the  Church.  It  is  more  probably  from  the  word  sabot,  a  wooden 
shoe 


152  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

Two  of  Waldo's  followers  found  their  way  to  Rome. 
They  presented  a  book,  written  in  the  Gallo-Roman 
language  ;  it  contained  a  text  and  a  gloss  on  the  Psalter, 
and  several  books  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament. 
The  Papal  See  was  not  so  wise  as  afterwards,  when 
Innocent  III.,  having  superciliously  spurned  the  beg- 
garly Francis  of  Assisi,  was  suddenly  enlightened  as  to 
the  danger  of  estranging,  the  advantage  of  attaching, 
such  men  to  the  service  of  the  Church.  The  example 
of  Waldo  may  have  acted  as  a  monition.  The  two 
were  received  in  the  Lateran  Council  by  Alexander  III. 
The  Pope  condescended  to  approve  of  their  poverty, 
but  they  were  condemned  for  presuming  to  interfere 
with  the  sacred  functions  of  the  priesthood.1  When 
they  implored  permission  to  preach,  they  were  either 
met  by  a  hard  refusal,  with  derision,  or  ungraciously 
required  to  obtain  the  consent  of  the  jealous  clergy. 
Their  knowledge  of  Scripture  seems  to  have  perplexed 
John  of  Salisbury,  who  writes  of  them  with  the  bitter- 
ness of  a  discomfited  theologian. 

As  yet  it  is  clear  they  contemplated  no  secession  from 
the  Church ;  they  were  not  included  under  the  con- 
demnation of  heretics  in  the  Council,  but  they  persisted 
in  preaching  without  authority.  They  were  interdicted 
by  the  Archbishop  of  Lyons.  Waldo  resolutely  re- 
plied with  that  great  axiom,  so  often  misapplied,  and 
for  the  right  application  of  which  the  conscience  must 
be  enlightened  with  more  than  ordinary  wisdom,  "  That 
he  must  obey  God  rather  than  man." 

From  that  time  the  Poor  Men  of  Lyons  were  involved 

1  The  accounts  of  these  proceedings  at  the  Council  of  the  Lateran  ap- 
pear to  me  to  be  thus  reconcilable  with  no  great  difficulty.  —  De  Mapes; 
Chronic.  Laon ;  Stephen  Borbone ;  Moneta. 


Chap.  VIII.  POOR  MEN  OF  LYONS.  153 

in  the  common  hatred  which  branded  all  opponents 
of  the  clergy  with  obloquy  and  contempt.  PoorMen 
They  were  now  comprehended  among  the of  Ly°ns- 
heretics,  condemned  by  Lucius  III.  at  the  Council  of 
Verona.1  Their  hostility  to  the  Church  grew  up  with 
the  hostility  of  the  Church  to  them.  They  threw  aside 
the  whole  hierarchical  and  ritual  system,  at  least  as  far 
as  the  conviction  of  its  value  and  efficacy,  along  with 
the  priesthood.  The  sanctity  of  the  priest  was  not  in 
his  priesthood,  but  in  his  life.  The  virtuous  layman 
was  a  priest  (they  had  aspired  to  reach  that  lofty  doc- 
trine of  the  Gospel),  and  could  therefore  administer 
with  equal  validity  all  the  rites  ;  even  women,  it  is  said, 
according  to  their  view,  might  officiate.  The  prayers 
and  offerings  of  a  wicked  priest  were  altogether  of  no 
avail.2  Their  doctrine  was  a  full,  minute,  rigid  protest 
against  the  wealth  of  the  Church,  the  power  of  the 
Church.3  The  Church  of  Rome  they  denied  to  be 
the  true  Church  :  they  inexorably  condemned  the  hom- 
icidal engagements  of  popes  and  prelates  in  war.    They 

1  Mansi,  Concil.  Veronens.  1184.  Their  preaching  without  license  was 
the  avowed  cause  of  their  condemnation.  "  Catharos  et  Paterinos  et  eos, 
qui  se  humiliates  vel  pauperes  de  Lugduno  falso  nomine  mentiuntur,  Pas- 
saginos,  Josepinos,  Arnaldistas,  perpetuo  decemimus  anathemate  subjacere. 
Et  quoniam  nonnulli  sub  specie  pietatis  virtutem  ejus,  juxta  quod  ait  apos- 
tolus, denegantes,  auctoritatem  sibi  vindicant  prsedicandi :  cum  idem  apos- 
tolus dicat,  quomodo  pnedicabunt  nisi  mittaniur.  Rom.  x.  15.  Omnes,  qui 
vel  prohibiti,  vel  non  missi,  prseter  auctoritatem  ab  apostolica  sede  vel  epis- 
copo  loci  susceptam,  publice  vel  privatim  praedicare  prsesumpserint,  pari 
vinculo  perpetui  anathematis  innodamus." 

2  Alani  de  Insulis,  ii.  1. 

3  They  seem  to  have  anticipated  a  doctrine,  afterwards  widely  adopted 
by  the  followers  of  the  Abbot  Joachim  and  the  Fraticelli,  that  the  Church 
was  pure  till  the  days  of  Silvester.  Its  apostasy  then  began.  "  In  eo 
(Silvestro)  defecit  quo  usque  ipsi  earn  restaurarent:  tamen  dicunt  quod 
semper  fuerint  aliqui,  i|ui  Deum  tenebunt  et  salvabantur."  — See  also  N<»- 
jle  Leyczion,  1.  409.     Keinerii  Summa.  Martene.  v.  1775. 


154  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX 

rejected  the  seven  Sacraments,  except  Baptism  and  the 
Eucharist.  In  baptism  they  denied  all  effect  of  the 
ablution  by  the  sanctity  of  the  water.  A  priest  in 
mortal  sin  cannot  consecrate  the  Eucharist.  The  tran- 
substantiation  takes  place  not  in  the  hand  of  the  priest, 
but  in  the  soul  of  the  believer.  They  rejected  prayers 
for  the  dead,  festivals,  lights,  purgatory,  and  indul- 
gences. The  only  approach  towards  Manicheism,  and 
that  is  scarcely  an  approach,  is  that  married  persons 
must  not  come  together  but  with  the  hope  of  having 
children.  In  no  instance  are  the  morals  of  Peter  Waldo 
and  the  Alpine  Biblicists  arraigned  by  their  worst  en- 
emies. There  is  a  compulsory  distinction,  an  enforced 
reverence,  a  speaking  silence.  They  who  denounce 
most  copiously  the  immoralities,  the  incredible  immo- 
ralities of  other  sects  in  revolt  against  the  hierarchy, 
acknowledge  the  modesty,  frugality,  honest  industry, 
chastity,  and  temperance  of  the  Poor  Men  of  Lyons. 
Their  language  was  simple  and  modest.  They  denied 
the  legality  of  capital  punishments.1 

The  great  strength  of  the  followers  of  Peter  Waldo 
was  no  doubt  their  possession  of  the  sacred  Scriptures 
in  their  own  language.  They  read  the  Gospels,  they 
preached,   and    they   prayed   in    the   vulgar   tongue.2 

1  It  is  much  to  have  extorted  a  milder  damnation  from  Peter  de  Vaux 
Cernay.  He  derives  the  Waldenses  from  Waldo  of  Lyons.  "  They  were 
bad,  but  much  less  perverse  than  other  heretics."  He  describes  them  al- 
most as  a  sort  of  Quakers.  They  -wore  sandals,  like  the  apostles.  They 
were  on  no  account  to  swear,  or  to  kill  any  one.  They  denied  the  neces- 
sity of  episcopal  ordination  to  consecrate  the  eucharist.  —  c.  ii.  apud  Bou- 
quet; or  in  Guizot,  Collection  des  Me'moires. 

2  The  third  cause  assigned  by  Reinerius  Sacchio  for  their  rapid  progress 
is  "  Veteris  et  Novi  Testament!  in  vulgarem  linguam  ab  ipsis  facta  trans- 
late qua;  quidem  edita  est  in  urbe  Metensi."  They  were  strong  in  Metz. 
Alberic.  Chronic,  ad  arm.  1200.  But  was  the  Pomaunt  version  understood 
in  Metz?     There  was  more  than  one  popular  version.  — See  Preface  by  Le 


Chap.  VIII.    TRANSLATION  OF  THE  SCRIPTURES.  155 

They  rejected  the  mystical  sense  of  the  Scriptures. 
But  besides  the  sacred  Scriptures,  they  possessed  other 
works  in  that  Proveii9al  dialect,  in  other  parts  of 
Southern  France  almost  entirely  devoted  to  amatory 
or  to  satiric  songs.  With  them  alone  it  spoke  with 
deep  religious  fervor.  The  "Noble  Lesson"  is  a  le- 
markable  work,  from  its  calm,  almost  unimpassioned 
simplicity  ;  it  is  a  brief,  spirited  statement  of  the  Bibli- 
cal history  of  man,  with  nothing  of  fanatic  exa<Tgera- 
tion,  nothing  even  of  rude  vehemence  ;  it  is  the  perfect, 
clear,  morality  of  the  Gospel.  The  close,  which  ar- 
raigns the  clergy,  has  nothing  of  angry  violence  ;  it 
calmly  expostulates  against  their  persecutions,  reproves 
the  practice  of  death-bed  absolution,  and  the  composi- 
tion for  a  life  of  wickedness  by  a  gift  to  the  priest.  Its 
strongest  sentence  is  an  emphatic  assertion  that  the 
power  of  absolving  from  mortal  sin  is  in  neither  cardi- 
nal, bishop,  abbot,  pope,  but  in  God  alone.1 

It  is   singular  to   find  these  teachers,  whose  whole 
theory  was  built  on  strict  adherence  to  the  letter  of  the 

Roux  de  Lincy  to  the  iv.  Livres  des  Rois,  Documents  In^dits.  —  Compare 
the  letter  of  Innocent  III.  (ii.  141)  on  this  subject.  Two  of  the  other 
causes  assigned  are  the  ignorance  and  irreverence  of  some  of  the  clergy. 

Dr.  Gilly  has  rendered  the  valuable  service  of  printing  the  Romaunt  vei- 
sion  of  the  Gospel  according  to  St.  John.  Dr.  Gilly  thinks  that  he  has 
proved  this  version  to  be  older,  as  quoted  in  it,  than  the  Noble  Leyczion. 
The  quotations  do  not  seem  to  me  to  be  conclusive;  they  are  like  in  many 
words,  unlike  in  others.  It  is  a  very  curious  fact,  if  it  will  bear  rigid  criti- 
cal investigation,  that  the  Romaunt  Version  sometimes  follows  the  old 
Versio  Itala  (as  printed  by  Sabatier)  rather  than  the  Vulgate.  —  Dr.  Gil- 
ly's  Prefaee. 

1  "  Ma  yo  aus  o  dire,  car  se  troba  el  ver, 

Que  tuit  li  Papa,  que  foron  de  Silvestre  en  tiro  en  aquest, 

E  tuit  li  cardinal  li  vesque  e  tuit  li  aba, 

Tuit  aqui'ste  enseinp  non  han  tan  de  potesta 

Que  ilh  poissan  perdonar  un  sol  pecca  mortal; 

Solamente  Dio  perdona;  que  autre  non  ho  po  far."  —  408-412. 

Raynouard,  p.  97- 


156  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

Bible,  mingled  up  with  those  whose  vital  principle  was 
the  rejection  of  the  Old  Testament  and  some  part  of 
the  New.  It  might  seem  to  require  almost  more  than 
the  fierce  blindness  of  polemic  hatred  to  confound  them 
together.  But  it  is  not  in  the  simplicity  of  the  "  Noble 
Lesson  "  alone,  as  contrasted  with  the  whole  system  of 
traditional,  legendary,  mythic  religion  ;  the  secret  is  in 
that  last  fatal  sentence  —  the  absolute  denial  of  Papal, 
of  priestly  absolution.1 

III.  To  these  Anti-Sacerdotal  tenets  of  the  more  spec- 
Manichean  ulative  teachers,  and  the  more  practical  antag- 
heretics.  onism  0f  the  disciples  of  Waldo,  a  wide-spread 
family  of  sects  added  doctrinal  opinions,  either  strong- 
ly colored  by,  or  the  actual  revival  and  perpetuation  of 
the  ancient  Eastern  heresies.  Nothing  is  more  curious 
in  Christian  history  than  the  vitality  of  the  Manichean 
opinions.  That  wild,  half  poetic,  half  rationalistic 
theory  of  Christianity,  with  its  mythic  machinery  and 
stern  asceticism  (like  all  asceticism  liable  to  break  forth 
into  intolerable  license),  which  might  seem  congenial 
only  to  the  Oriental  mind ;  and  if  it  had  not  expired, 
might  be  supposed  only  to  linger  beyond  the  limits  of 
Christendom  in  the  East,  appears  almost  suddenly  in 
the  twelfth  century,  in  living,  almost  irresistible  power, 
first  in  its  intermediate  settlement  in  Bulgaria,  and  on 
the  borders  of  the  Greek  Empire,  then  in  Italy,  in 
France,  in  Germany,  in  the  remoter  West,  at  the  foot 
of  the  Pyrenees.2 

1  The  doctrinal  differences  could  not  but  be  discerned.  "  Et  illi  quidem 
Valdenses  contra  alios  (Arianos  et  Manicheos)  acutissime  disputabant." 
So  writes  one  of  their  most  ardent  adversaries,  the  Abbot  of  Puy  Laurens. 
—  In  prologo. 

2  On  the  Albigensian  wars  the  chief  authorities,  besides  the  papal  letters 
and  documents,  are  the  Chronicle,  of  Peter  de  Taux  Cernay  (I  sometimes 


Chap.  VIII.  FAULICIANS.  157 

The  tradition  of  Western  Manicheism  breaks  off 
about  the  sixth  century ;  if  it  subsisted,  it  was  in  such 
obscurity  as  to  escape  even  the  jealous  vigilance  of  the 
Church.1  But  in  the  East  its  descent  is  marked  by  the 
rise  of  a  new,  powerful,  and  enduring  sect,  the  Pauli- 
cians.  The  history  of  Latin  Christianity  may  content 
itself  with  but  a  brief  and  rapid  summary  of  the  set- 
tlements, migrations,  conquests,  calamities  of  the  Pauli- 
cians  ;  till  they  pass  the  frontier  of  the  Greek  Empire, 
and  invade  in  the  very  centre  the  dominions  of  the  Latin 
Church.2  Their  name  implies  that  with  the  broader 
principles  of  Manicheism,  they  combined  some  peculiar 
reverence  for  the  doctrine,  writings,  and  person  of  St. 
Paul.     In  an  Eastern  mind  it  is  not  difficult  to  suppose 

quote  him  in  Latin  from  Bouquet,  sometimes  in  French  from  Guizot,  Col- 
lection des  Memoires);  the  Abbot  de  Puy  Laurens  (ibid.);  the  Guerre  des 
Albigeois;  and  the  Gestes  Glorieuses,  in  Guizot:  and  the  very  curious  Ro- 
niaunt  poem,  Guerre  des  Albigeois,  published  by  Mons.  Fauriel  (Documents 
Historiques).  I  cite  him  as  the  Troubadour.  The  Troubadour  attributes 
his  song  (canson,  chanson)  to  Master  William  of  Tudela,  a  .very  learned 
man,  greatly  admired  by  clerks  and  laymen,  endowed  with  the  gift  of  geo- 
mancy,  by  which  he  predicted  the  destruction  of  the  land.  This  personage 
was  at  first,  erroneously  as  M.  Fauriel  shows,  supposed  to  have  been  the 
poet.  The  poet  says  that  he  wrote  it  at  Montauban,  and  denounces  the 
niggardly  nobles,  who  had  neither  given  him  vest  nor  mantle  of  silk,  nor 
Breton  palfrey  to  amble  through  the  land-  "But  as  they  will  not  give  a 
button,  I  will  not  ask  them  for  a  coal  from  their  hearth.  .  .  .  The  Lord  God, 
who  made  the  sky  and  the  air,  confound  them,  and  his  holy  mother  Mary." 
—  p.  17.  On  the  change  in  the  Troubadour's  politics,  see  forward.  The 
Histoire  de  Languedoc,  by  Dom.  Vaissette,  is  an  invaluable  and  honorably 
impartial  work. 

1  Mr.  Maitland  has  been  unable  to  discover  any  notice  of  Manicheism  in 
Europe  fur  more  than  400  years;  from  the  sixth  century  to  the  burning  of 
the  Canons  at  Orleans  in  1017  or  1022.  Gieseler  has  one  or  two  very  doubt- 
ful references.  I  doubt,  with  Mr.  Maitland,  the  Manicheism  of  these  Can- 
ons. —  Facts  and  Documents,  p.  405.  The  account  of  the  Canons  is  in 
Adhemar  apud  Bouquet,  x.  35,  and  Rodulf  Glaber.  Those  of  Arras  (Acta 
Synod.  Atrab.  apud  Mansi,  sub  ann.  1025)  are  far  more  suspicious. 

2  The  history  of  the  Faulicians  has  been  drawn  with  such  vigor,  rapid- 
ity, fulness,  and  exactness  by  Gibbon,  that  I  feel  glad  of  this  excuse.  —  c. 
liv. 


158  LATIN  0HHIS1MKITY.  Hook  IX. 

a  fusion  between  the  impersonated,  deified,  and  oppug- 
nant  powers  of  good  and  evil,  and  St.  Paul's  high 
moral  antagonism  of  sin  and  grace  in  the  soul  of  man, 
the  inborn  and  hereditary  evil  and  the  infused  and 
imparted  righteousness.  The  war  within  the  man  is 
but  a  perpetuation  of  the  eternal  war  throughout  the 
worlds. 

The  Paulicians  burst  suddenly  into  being,  in  the 
The  Pauii-  neighborhood  of  Samosata.  Their  first  apos- 
tle, Constantine,  is  said  to  have  wrought  his 
simpler  system  out  of  the  New  Testament,  accidentally 
bestowed  upon  him,  especially  from  the  writings  of  St. 
Paul.  His  disciples  rejected  alike  the  vast  fabric  of 
traditionary  belief,  which  in  the  Greek  and  Latin 
Churches  had  grown  up  around  the  Gospel ;  and  the 
cumbrous  and  fantastical  mythology  of  the  older  Mani- 
cheism.1  The  Paulicians  spread  over  all  the  adjacent 
regions,  Asia  Minor,  Pontus,  to  the  borders  of  Arme- 
nia and  the  shores  of  the  Euphrates.  Persecution  gave 
them  martyrs,  the  first  of  these  was  their  primitive 
teacher.  The  blood  of  martyrs,  as  with  Christianity 
itself,  seemed  but  to  multiply  their  numbers  and 
strength.  They  bore,  during  many  successive  reigns, 
in  Christian  patience  the  intolerant  wrath  of  Justinian 
II.,  of  Nicephorus,  of  Michael  I.,  of  Theodora.  Their 
numbers  may  be  estimated  by  the  report  that  during 
a.d  842.  the  short  reign  of  that  Empress  perished 
100,000  victims.  Persecution  at  length  from  a  sect 
condensed  them  into  a  tribe  of  rebels.  They  rose  in 
revolt.  Their  city  Tephrice,  near  Trebisond,  became 
the  capital  of  an  independent  people.     They  leagued 

1  The  Paulicians  disclaimed  Manes.   TLpoftvficoc  uva^efiari^ouai  ZiiVi&iavdv 
ti<rx>66uv  Tt  Kal  Mavtvra.  —  Petr.  Sicul.  p.  42. 


Chap.  VIII.  WESTERN  MANICHEISM.  159 

with  the  Mohammedans :  they  wasted  Asia  Minor. 
Con stan tine  Copronymus,  with  their  own  consent, 
transported  a  great  body  of  Paulicians  into  Thrace, 
as  an  outpost  to  the  Byzantine  Empire.  John  Zimisces 
conducted  another  great  migration  to  the  valleys  of 
Mount  Haemus.  From  their  Bulgarian  settlemeits 
(they  had  mingled  apparently  to  a  considerable  extent 
with  the  Bulgarians),  the  Crusades,  the  commerce 
which  arose  out  of  the  Crusades,  opened  their  way  into 
Western  Europe.  Manicheism,  under  this  form,  is 
found  in  almost  every  great  city  of  Italy.  The  name 
of  Bulgarian  (in  its  coarsest  form)  is  one  of  the  appel- 
lations of  hatred,  which  clings  to  them  in  all  quarters. 
At  the  accession  of  Innocent  III.  Manicheism  is  almost 
undisputed  master  of  Southern  France.1 

Western  Manicheism,  however,  though  it  adhered 
only  to  the  broader  principles  of  Orientalism,  Wegtern 
the  two  coequal  conflicting  principles  of  good  Mamchelsm- 
and  evil,  the  eternity  of  matter  and  its  implacable  hos- 
tility to  spirit,  aversion  to  the  Old  Testament  as  the 
work  of  the  wicked  Demiurge,  the  unreality  of  the 
suffering  Christ,  was  or  became  more  Manichean  than 
its  Grecian  parent  Paulicianism.  The  test  which  dis- 
tinguishes the  Manichean  from  the  other  Anti-Sacerdo- 
tal ists  is  the  assertion,  more  or  less  obscure,  of  those 
Eastern  doctrines ;  the  more  visible  signs,  asceticism, 
the  proscription,  or  hard  and  reluctant  concession  of 
marriage,  or  of  any  connection  between  the  sexes  ;  and 

1  Some  of  the  Catholic  writers  assert  distinctly  their  Greek  descent. 
•  Illi  vero  qui  combusti  sunt  [those  at  Cologne]  dixerunt  nobis  in  defmsione 
md  hanc  hseresin  usque  ad  hrcc  tempora  occultatam  fuisse  a  teraporibu3 
martyrum  in  Graecia,  et  quibusdam  aliis  terris."  See  also  Reiner  apud 
Martene,  Thes.  v.  1767,  who  mentions  the  "  Bulgarian  community."  — 
Muralori,  Antiq.  Ital.  v.  83. 


160  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

the  strong  distinction  between  the  Perfect  and  the  com- 
mon disciples.  They  were  called  in  disdain  the  Puri- 
tans (Cathari),  an  appellation  which  perhaps  they  did 
not  disdain ;  and  it  is  singular  that  the  opprobrious 
term  applied  by  the  married  clergy  to  the  Monastics 
(Paterines),  is  now  the  common  designation  of  the 
Manichean  haters  of  marriage.  Western  Manicheism 
is  but  dimly  to  be  detected  in  the  eleventh  century. 
The  Canons  of  Orleans  were,  if  their  accusers  speak 
true,  profligates  rather  than  sectarians.  Those  burned 
by  Heribert,  Archbishop  of  Milan,  were  accused  of  two 
strangely  discordant  delinquencies,  both  irreconcilable 
with  Manicheism  —  Judaism  and  Paganism.  These 
heretics  held  the  castle  of  Montforte,  in  the  diocese  of 
Asti.  They  were  questioned :  they  declared  them- 
selves prepared  to  endure  any  sufferings.  They  hon- 
ored virginity,  lived  in  chastity  even  with  their  wives : 
never  touched  meat,  fasted,  and  so  distributed  their 
prayers  that  in  no  hour  of  the  day  were  orisons  not 
offered  to  the  Lord.  They  had  their  goods  in  com- 
mon. They  believed  in  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy 
Ghost,  in  the  power  of  binding  and  hosing  ;  in  the  Old 
and  New  Testament.  Their  castle  stood  a  siege.  It 
was  taken  at  length  by  the  resistless  arms  of  the  Arch- 
bishop. All  endeavors  were  made  to  convert  the  obsti- 
nate sectarians.  At  length  in  the  market-place,  were 
raised,  here  a  cross,  there  a  blazing  pyre.  They  were 
brought  forth,  commanded  to  throw  themselves  before 
the  cross,  confess  their  sins,  accept  the  Catholic  faith, 
or  to  plunge  into  the  flames ;  a  few  knelt  before  the 
cross ;  the  greater  number  covered  their  faces,  rushed 
into  the  Are  and  were  consumed.1 
i  Sub  aim.  1031.     Landulph.  Sen.  ii.  c.  27,  apud  Muratori,  K.  It.  S.  ir. 


Chap.  VIII.  LANGUEDOC.  161 

But  in  the  twelfth  century  Manicheism  is  rampant, 
bold,  undisguised.  Everywhere  are  Puritans,  Pater- 
ines,  Populars,  suspected  or  convicted  or  confessed 
Manicheans.  The  desperate  Church  is  compelled  to 
resort  to  the  irrefragable  argument  of  the  sword  and 
the  stake.  Woe  to  the  prince  or  to  the  magistrate  who 
refused  to  be  the  executioner  of  the  stern  law.  During 
the  last  century,  Wazon,  Bishop  of  Liege,  had  lifted 
up  his  voice,  his  solitary  voice,  against  this  unchristian 
means  of  conversion ; l  no  such  sound  is  now  heard ; 
if  uttered,  it  is  overborne  by  the  imperious  concord  of 
prelates  in  Council,  by  the  authoritative  voice  of  the 
Pope.  The  Crusade  begins  its  home  mission,  cologne. 
In  Cologne,  the  ready  populace  throw  the  heretics  into 
the  flames.2  The  clergy,  the  Archbishop  at  Nicea, 
desired  a  more  deliberate  and  solemn  judgment.  The 
calmness  of  the  heretics  in  the  fire  amazed,  almost  ap- 
palled, their  judges. 

The  chief  seat  of  these  opinions  was  the  South  of 
France.  Innocent  III.,  on  his  accession,  found  not 
only  these  daring  insurgents  scattered  in  the  cities  of 
Italy,  even,  as  it  were,  at  his  own  gates  (among  his 
first  acts  was  to  subdue  the  Paterines  of  Vi-  Languedoc. 
terbo),  he  found  a  whole  province,  a  realm,  in  some 


If  the  human  race,  said  one,  would  abstain  from  fleshly  connection,  men 
would  breed  like  bees,  without  conjunction..,  Did  they  know  that  they 
were  quoting  an  ancient  orthodox  Father?  They  said  they  had  a  Supreme 
Pontiff — not  the  Bishop  of  Rome — probably,  the  Holy  Spirit. 

1  Gesta  Episcop.  Leodens.  c.  59.     Gieseler,  note,  p.  413. 

2  1146.  Evervini  Epist.  ad  Bernard,  in  Mabillon.  With  these,  though 
in  their  condemnation  of  marriage  (which  they  did  not  explain),  and  in 
their  organization  (the  Perfect  and  the  hearers)  Manichean,  the  dominant 
tenets  were  simply  Anti-Sacerdotalist.  Some  said  human  souls  were  apos- 
tate spirits  imprisoned  in  the  flesh.  —  Ekberti,  Sei-mon  xiii.  in  Biblioth.  P, 
P.  Lugdun. 

VOL.  V.  11 


162  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX 

respects  the  richest  and  noblest  of  his  spiritual  domain, 
absolutely  dissevered  from  his  Empire,  in  almost  univer- 
sal revolt  from  Latin  Christianity.  This  beautiful  re- 
gion, before  the  fatal  crusade  against  the  Albigensians, 
had  advanced  far  more  rapidly  towards  civilization  than 
any  other  part  of  Europe ;  but  this  civilization  was 
entirely  independent  of  or  rather  hostile  to  ecclesiasti- 
cal influence.  Languedoc  (as  also  Provence),  the  land 
of  that  melodious  tongue  first  attuned  to  modern  poe- 
try, was  one  of  the  great  fiefs  of  the  realm  of  France, 
but  a  fief  which  paid  only  remote  and  doubtful  fealty ; 
it  was  almost  an  independent  kingdom.  The  Count  of 
Toulouse 2  was  suzerain  of  five  great  subordinate  fiefs. 
I.  Narbonne,  whose  Count  possessed  the  most  ample 
feudal  privileges.  II.  Beziers,  under  which  Viscounty 
held  the  Counts  of  Albi  and  Carcassonne.  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.  The  courts  of  these  petty  sovereigns  vied 
with  each  other  in  splendor  and  gallantry.  Life  was  a 
perpetual  tournament  or  feast.  The  Count  of  Tou- 
louse and  his  vassals  had  been  amongst  the  most  distin- 
guished of  the  Crusaders  ;  they  had  brought  home  many 
usages  of  Oriental  luxury.  Their  intercourse  with  the 
polished  Mussulman  Courts  of  Spain,  if  war  was  not 
actually  raging,  or  even  when  it  was,  had  become  cour- 
teous, almost  friendly.  Their  religion  was  chivalry, 
but  chivalry  becoming  less  and  less  religious  ;  the  mis- 
tress had  become  the  saint,  the  casuistry  of  the  Court 
of  Love  superseded  that  of  the  confessional.  There 
had  grown  up  a  gay  license  of  manners,  not  adverse 

i  Capefigue,  Philippe  Auguste,  hi.  1. 


Chap.  VIII.  PKOVENCAL  POETRY.  163 

only  to  the  austerity  of  monkish  Christianity,  but  to 
pure  Christian  morals. 

The  cities  had  risen  in  opulence  and  splendor. 
Many  of  them  had  preserved  their  Roman  municipal 
institutions :  their  Consuls  held  the  supreme  power  in 
defiance  of  temporal  and  spiritual  lords.  In  the  cities 
the  Jews  were  numerous  and  wealthy ;  against  them 
the  religious  prejudices  had  worn  away  and  mitigated 
into  social  intercourse.  Literature,  at  least  poetry,  had 
begun  to  speak  to  the  prince  and  to  the  peo-  proven?ai 
pie.  But  if  the  Romaunt  among  the  peasants  Poetry- 
of  the  Alpine  valleys  confined  itself  to  grave  and  holy 
lessons,  in  Languedoc  it  was  the  amatory  or  satiric  song 
of  the  Troubadour.  Notwithstanding  the  lofty  hom- 
age of  Dante,1  the  exquisite  flattery  of  Petrarch's  emu- 
lation, it  may  be  doubted  whether  the  Provencal  poetry 
so  prematurely  refined,  subtle,  and  effeminate,  would, 
if  uncrushed  with  the  rest  of  the  Provencal  civilization 
by  the  revengeful  Church,  ever  have  risen  to  an  honor- 
able height.  The  Troubadour  (though  he  might  occa- 
sionally urge  the  pious  glory  of  adventure  in  the  Holy 
Land)  was  in  general  content  with  being  the  Poet  Lau- 
reate of  the  Courts  of  Love.  The  war  hymn  seemed  to 
have  expired  on  the  lips  of  the  fierce  Bertrand  de  Born. 


1  See  on  Arnold  Daniel,  Dante  Purgatorio,  xxvi.  118.  Petrarch,  Triunfo 
d'Amore,  Petrarch's  general  imitation  of  the  Provencal  poets.  Whoever 
will  read  the  Florilegiura  in  the  second  volume  of  M.  Kaynouard  will 
hardly  deny  the  Provencal  poets  the  praise  of  grace  and  delicacy.  The 
Epic  on  the  war  of  the  Albigenses,  infinitely  curious  as  history,  as  poetry 
is  stone  dead;  Girart  de  Rousillon  appears  not  very  hopeful;  if  Ferabras 
be  indeed  Provencal,  not  northern,  "  that  strain  is  of  a  higher  mood."  See 
the  very  interesting  notices  by  the  late  M.  Fauriel  in  his  new  volume  (the 
22d)  of  the  Hist.  Litteraire  de  la  France,  pp.  167,  el  seq.,  and  on  Bertrand 
de  Born,  the  friend  and  rival  poet  of  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion.  Also  Diez. 
Troubadours,  p.  179. 


164  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

It  lias  ceased  to  be  passionate,  is  become  ingenious  ;  it 
is  over  refined  in  word  and  thought,  often  coarse  in 
matter.  But  this  was  the  song  and  the  music  in  the 
castle  hall,  at  the  perpetual  banquet.  The  chant  in 
the  castle  chapel  was  silent,  or  unheard.  The  priest 
was  either  pining  in  neglect,  or  listening,  as  gay  as  the 
rest,  to  the  lively  troubadour.1  Nor  was  the  Trouba- 
dour without  his  welcome  song  in  the  city  ;  it  was 
there  the  bitter  satire  on  the  clergy,  the  invective 
against  the  vices,  the  venality  of  Rome,  against  the 
pilgrimage  to  Rome,  against  the  morose  bishop,  if  such 
bishop  there  were,  or  against  the  Legate  himself. 

In  no  European  country  had  the  clergy  so  entirely, 
Low  state  or  it  should  seem  so  deservedly  forfeited  its 
clergy.  authority.     In  none  had  the   Church   more 

absolutely  ceased  to  perform  its  proper  functions.  If 
heresy  was  the  cause  of  the  degradation  of  the  Church, 
the  self-degradation  of  the  Church  had  given  its 
strength  to  heresy ;  the  profession  which  was  the  object 
of  ambition,  of  awe  if  not  of  reverence,  of  hatred  if 
not  of  love,  in  other  parts  of  Christendom,  had  here 
fallen  into  contempt.  Instead  of  the  old  proverb  for 
the  lowest  abasement,  "  I  had  rather  my  son  were  a 
Jew,"  the  Provencals  said,  "  I  had  rather  he  were  a 
priest."2 

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  heretics  had  public  burial-grounds  of  their  own, 

1  Raynouard. 

2  William  de  Puy  Laurens.    I  quote  either  the  Latin  from  Bouquet  oi 
the  French  from  Guizot's  Collection  des  M^moires. 


Chap.  VIII.  STATE  OF  LANGUEDOC.  165 

and  received  larger  legacies  than  the  Church.  This 
was  not  the  work  of  Peter  de  Brueys,  or  of  Henry 
the  Deacon.  That  work  must  have  been  half  done  for 
the  heresiarchs  by  the  wealthy,  indolent,  luxurious 
clergy.  Men,  in  a  religious  age,  will  have  religion  ; 
and  it  can  hardly  be  supposed  that  the  Provencal  mind 
had  generally  outgrown  the  ancient  ritualistic  faith,  if 
that  faith  had  been  administered  with  dignity,  with 
gentleness,  with  decency. 

St.  Bernard's  conquest  had  passed  away  with  his 
presence.  Not  many  years  after,  a  council  at  Lom- 
beres1  (near  Albi)  arraigns  a  number  of  a.d.  ii65. 
persons  of  Manichean  opinions,  rejection  of  the  Old 
Testament,  erroneous  tenets  on  baptism  and  the  Eu- 
charist, repudiation  of  marriage.  They  extort  an  un- 
willing, seemingly  an  insincere  assent  to  the  orthodox 
creed.  Thirteen  years  after,  the  Count  of  Toulouse 
himself  (Raymond  V.)  raises  a  cry  of  dis-  a.d.  1178. 
tress.  Five  distinguished  prelates,  with  the  sanction 
of  the  Kings  of  England  and  of  France,  the  Cardinal 
Peter  Chrysogonus  at  their  head,  find  the  whole  coun- 
try almost  in  possession  of  the  heretics.2 

So  basked  the  pleasant  land  in  its  sunshine ;  voluptu- 
ousness and  chivalrous  prodigality  in  its  castles,3  luxury 

1  Acta  in  Mansi,  sub  ann.  Compare  for  all  this  period  Vaissette,  Hist, 
de  Languedoc,  iii.  in  init. 

2  "  This  heresy,  which  the  Lord  curse  (says  the  devout  Troubadour),  had 
in  its  power  the  whole  Albigeois,  Carcassonne,  and  Lauragais,  from  Beziers 
to  Bordeaux." — Fauriel,  p.  5;  Vaissette,  sub  ann.  "Churches  were  in 
ruins,  baptism  refused,  the  eucharist  in  execration,  penance  despised. 
Sacrements  ane\intis  —  on  introduisit  les  deux  principes." — p.  47.  Ray- 
mond V.  died  in  1194.     He  had  burned  many  heretics. 

3  "  Dans  la  fameuse  fete  de  Beaucaire,  oil  se  reunirent  une  multitude  de 
chevaliers  des  pays  Provencaux,  d'Aquitaine,  d'Aragon,  et  de  Catalogne, 
'es  princes  Provencaux  semblerent  vouloir  rivaliser  de  faste  extravagant 
avec  les  despotes  Asiatiques;  le  comte  de  Toulouse  gratifia  de  cent  milie 


10G  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

and  ease  in  its  cities  :  the  thunder-cloud  was  far  off  in 
the  horizon.  The  devout  found  their  religious  excite- 
ment  in  the  new  and  forbidden  opinions.  There  was 
for  the  more  hard  and  zealous  an  asceticism  which  prt 
to  shame  the  feeble  monkery  of  those  days;  for  tie 
more  simply  pious,  the  biblical  doctrines ;  and  what 
seems  to  have  been  held  in  the  deepest  reverence,  the 
Consolation  in  death,  which,  administered  by  the  Per- 
fect 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. 

Innocent  had  hardly  ascended  the  Pontifical  throne, 
Apr.  20,  ii98.  wnen  ne  wrote,  first,  a  strong  letter  to  the 
nres'of  epoPe  Archbishop  of  Audi ;  in  a  few  months  after, 
innocent.  a  manciate,  addressed  to  all  the  great  prelates 
in  the  south  of  France ;  the  Archbishops  of  Aix,  Nar- 
bonne,  Audi,  Vienne,  Aries,  Embrun,  Tarragona,  Ly- 
ons, with  their  suffragans:  to  all  the  princes,  barons, 
counts,  and  all  Christian  people.  This  Papal  Manifesto 
broadly  asserted  the  civil  as  well  as  religious  outlawry 
of  all  heretics ; 1  the  right  to  banish  them,  to  confiscate 
their  property,  to  coerce,  or  to  put  them  to  death.  The 

sous  d'argent  le  Seigneur  Raymond  d' Argent,  qui  les  distribua  entre  tous 
les  chevaliers  presents.  Bertrand  Raimbaud,  Comte  d'Orange,  fit  labourer 
tous  les  environs  du  chateau  et  y  fit  semer  jusqu'a  trente  mille  sous  en 
deniers.  Raymond  de  Venous  fit  bruler,  par  ostentation,  trente  de  ses  plus 
beaux  chevaux  devant  l'assemble'e."  —  Hist,  de  Languedoc,  iii.  37.  "La 
Midi  d^lirait  a  la  veille  de  sa  ruine."  —  Michelet,  and  also  EL  Martin,  Ilis- 
toire  de  France,  iv.  p.  189. 

i  Innocent  names  as  the  obnoxious  heretics  the  Valdenses,  the  Catbari, 
and  the  Paterini.  He  acknowledges  their  works  of  love ;  but  with  the 
charity  of  a  churchman  of  that  age,  ascribes  these  to  dissembling  artifice, 
in  order  to  obtain  proselytes.  "  Justitine  vultum  praetendunt,  et  studentes 
simulatis  operibus  caritatis,  eos  amplius  circumveniunt,  quos  ad  religionis 
piopositum  viderint  ardentius  aspirare."  — Apud  Baluz.,  i.  94. 


ohap.  VIII.  CISTERCIAN  BRETHREN.  167 

temporal  sovereigns  were,  at  the  summons  of  the  two 
Legates,  Rainer  and  Guy  (Cistercian  monks),  to  carry 
these  penalties  submissively  into  effect,1  they  were  of- 
fered the  strong  worldly  temptation  of  all  the  confis- 
cated estates,  and  indulgences  the  same  as  they  would 
have  obtained  by  visiting  the  churches  of  St.  Peter  and 
St.  James  of  Compostella. 

But  these  first  measures  only  aggravated  the  evil. 
The  mission  of  these  Cistercian  brethren  as  Cistercian 
Papal  Legates,  and  that  of  the  Cardinal  John,  1200. 
were  alike  without  effect.2  To  the  honor  of  the  Sov- 
ereigns of  the  great  fiefs  they  were  not  moved  by  the 
temporal  or  spiritual  boons.  Nor  could  this  refusal  of 
the  nobles  to  perform  the  rigorous  behest  of  the  Pope 
be  attributed  altogether  to  humanity.  Their  wives  and 
families,  if  not  themselves,  were  deeply  implicated  in 
the  religious  insurrection.  In  one  assembly,  held  in  the 
year  1204,3  five  of  the  most  distinguished  ladies  of 
Provence,  among  them  Esclarmonde,  widow  of  Jordan 
Lord  of  Lisle  Jourdain,  and  sister  of  the  Count  of 
Foix,4  were  admitted  into  the  heretical  community. 
At  the  public  reception  of  these  ladies  by  one  of  the 
Perfect,  they  gave  themselves  up  to  God  and  his  Gos- 
pel, promised  for  the  future  to  eat  neither  meat,  eggs, 
nor  cheese,  to  allow  themselves  only  vegetables  and  fish. 

1  "  Postquam  per  prsedictum  fratrem  Rainerum  fuerint  excommunica- 
tionis  sententia  innodati,  eorum  bona  conftscent,  et  de  terra  sua  proscri- 
bant."  The  further  "  animadversion  "  is  indicated  by  a  significant  allusion 
to  the  stoning  of  Achan,  the  son  of  Carmi. 

2  "Mais  (Dieu  me  b^nisse!  je  ne  puis  autrement  dire)  si  non  que  les 
he>£tiques  ne  font  pas  plus  de  cas  des  sermons  que  d'une  pomme  gate'e." 
—  Fauriel,  p.  7.    This  preaching  lasted  five  years, 

3  Vaissette,  Hist,  de  Languedoc,  iii.  p.  133.    Preuves,  p.  437. 

4  The  other  sister  and  the  wife  of  the  Count  of  Foix  were  Waldensians. 
-Petr.  V.  C.  vi.  10. 


168  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

They  pledged  themselves  further  neither  to  swear  nor 
to  lie,  to  abstain  from  all  carnal  intercourse,  and  to  be 
faithful  to  the  sect  even  unto  death. 

New  powers  were  demanded  ;  sterner  and  more  ac- 
tive agents  required  to  combat  the  deepening  danger. 
The  Pope  looked  still  to  the  monastic  orders,  to  the 
New  Legates,  spiritual  descendants  of  St.  Bernard.  Peter 
of  Castelnau  and  Raoul,  of  that  Order,  were  now 
charged  with  the  desperate  enterprise.  These  first  In- 
quisitors were  invested  with  extraordinary  powers ;  to 
them  was  transferred  the  whole  episcopal  authority  ; 
the  ordinary  jurisdiction  was  superseded  at  their  will ; 
the  Archbishop  of  Narbonne  accuses  them  of  extending 
the  powers  with  which  they  were  endowed  for  the  sup- 
pression of  heresy,  to  punish  the  excesses  even  of  the 
clergy.1  They  retorted  by  laying  informations  in  Rome 
against  the  Archbishop ;  they  deposed  the  Bishop  of 
Viviers ;  suspended  the  Bishop  of  Beziers ;  he  had  re- 
fused to  excommunicate  the  consuls  of  his  city  infected 
with  heresy.  The  Legates  assembled  the  bailiffs,  the 
a.d.  1203.  Count  of  Toulouse,  and  the  Consuls  of  the 
city,  and  extorted  an  oath  to  expel  the  "  good  men  " 
from  the  land.  The  oath  had  no  effect ;  Toulouse,  the 
deceitful,2  went  on  in  its  calm  tolerance.  To  these  Pa- 
pal Legates,  to  Peter  of  Castelnau,  and  to  Raoul,  was 
associated  Arnold  d' Amauri,  the  Abbot  of  Citeaux,  the 
Abbot  of  Abbots,  a  man  whose  heart  was  sheathed  with 
the  triple  iron  of  pride,  cruelty,  bigotry.     The  sermons 

1  "  Deinde  cum  pro  hsereticis  expellendis  solummodo  legatio  prima  vobis 
injuncta  fuisset,  vos  ad  ampliandam  vestr*  legationis  potestatem,  clerico- 
rum  excessus  lueresim  esse  interpretantes,  multa  contra  formam  inandati, 
et  in  detrimentum  ecclesire  Narbonensis  egistis."  —  Epist.  ad  Innocent  III 
apiul  Vaissette,  Preuves,  May  29,  1204. 

2  "  Tolosa,  tota  dolosa.*'  —  Petr.  de  V.  C 


<2hap.  VIII.  PAPAL  LEGATES.  169 

of  Arnold  were  met  with  derision.1  The  Papal  Legates 
travelled  through  the  land  from  city  to  city,  in  the  ut- 
most hierarchical  pomp,  with  their  retinue  in  rich  attire, 
and  a  vast  cavalcade  of  horses  and  sumpter  mules.  It 
was  on  their  second  circuit  that  they  encountered,  near 
Montpellier  (in  Montpellier  alone  the  King  of  Arragon 
had  attempted  to  enforce  the  expulsion  of  the  heretics), 
the  Spanish  Bishop  of  Osma,  on  his  way  to  the  north, 
with  (the  future  saint)  Dominic.  The  dejected  Leg- 
ates bitterly  mourned  their  want  of  success.  "  How 
expect  success  with  this  secular  pomp  ?  "  replied  the 
severer  Spaniards.  "  Sow  the  good  seed  as  the  heretics 
sow  the  bad.  Cast  off  those  sumptuous  robes,  renounce 
those  richly-caparisoned  palfreys,  go  barefoot,  without 
purse  and  scrip,  like  the  Apostles ;  out-labor,  out-fast, 
out-discipline  these  false  teachers."  The  Spaniards 
were  not  content  with  these  stern  admonitions  ;  the 
Bishop  of  Osma  and  his  faithful  Dominic  sent  back 
their  own  horses,  stripped  themselves  to  the  rudest 
monkish  dress,  and  led  the  way  on  the  spiritual  cam- 
paign. The  Legates  were  constrained  to  follow.  Yet, 
notwithstanding  their  boasted  triumphs  in  all  the  con- 
ferences, which  were  held  at  Verfeil,  Caraman,  Beziers, 
at  Carcassonne,  Montreal,  Pamiers ;  notwithstanding 
their  wise  compliance  with  the  counsel  of  Dominic, 
notwithstanding  the  exertions  of  that  eloquent  and  in- 
defatigable man  and  the  preachers  whom  he  had  already 
begun  to  organize,  their  barefoot  pilgrimage,  their  emu- 
lous or  surpassing  austerities,  Heresy  bowed  not  its 
iiead ;  it  was  deaf  to  the  voice  of  the  charmer.  The 
temporal  power  must  be  commanded  to  do  the  work 

1  Of  Arnold  writes  the  Troubadour:  "  Ce  saint  homme  s'en  alia  avec  les 
autres  par  la  terre  des  her^tiques,  leur  prechant  de  se  convertir,  mais  plus 
il  les  priait,  plus  ils  se  raillaient  de  lui  et  le  tenaient  pour  sot."  —  p.  7. 


170  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

which  the  spiritual  cannot  do.  Already  the  Legates 
had  wrung  the  unwilling  sentence  of  expulsion  of  the 
heretics  from  the  municipal  authorities  of  Toulouse. 
Yet  it  was  a  concession  of  fear,  %  not  of  persuasion. 
The  assemblies  were  still  held,  if  with  less  ostentation, 
hardly  with  disguise.1 

Toulouse  must  have  a  Bishop  at  least  of  energetic 
character.  In  the  time  of  Bishop  Fontevraud  the 
episcopal  authority  had  sunk  so  low  that  he  could  not 
exact  even  his  lawful  revenues,  and  when  he  went  on 
his  visitation  he  was  obliged  to  demand  a  guard  from 
the  Count  for  his  personal  safety.  He  was  succeeded 
by  Raymond  de  Rabenstein,  who  passed  the  three 
years  of  his  episcopate,  which  he  had  gained  by  simony, 
in  war  with  one  of  his  vassals,  by  which  he  had  so  ut- 
terly ruined  his  finances,  that  he  submitted  quietly  to 
be  deposed  at  the  will  of  the  Pope.  His  successor, 
Fulk  of  Marseilles,2  was  of  a  different,  even  less  Chris- 


1  "  Tandem  illae  duae  olivce!  ilia  duo  candelabra  lucentia  ante  Dominum 
servis  servilem  incutientes  timorem,  minantes  eis  rerum  dilapidationem, 
regum  ac  principum  dedignationem  intimantes,  haeresium  objurationem, 
haereticorum  expulsionem  eis  persuaserunt ;  sicque  ipsi  non  virtutis  amore 
sed,  secundum  poetas  '  cessabant  peccare  mali  formidine  poena?,1  quod  man- 
ifestos maliciis  demonstrarunt.  Nam  statim  perjuri  effecti,  et  miseria?  suaa 
recidium  patientes,  in  conventiculis  suis,  ipso  noctis  medio,  praedicantes 
hairelicos  occultabant."  —  Petr.  V.  C.  apud  Bouquet.  See  also  Gul.  de 
Pod.  Laurent.,  apud  Bouquet,  and  Vit.  S.  Dominic,  apud  Bolland. 

2  The  songs  of  Fulk  of  Marseilles  may  be  found  in  Raynouard,  vol.  ii. 
See  also  Fauriel,  Hist,  de  la  Podsie  Provencale,  vol.  ii.  Life  of  Fulk,  Hist. 
Litteraire  de  la  France,  xviii.  p.  586,  &c  "  Apres  avoir  donne-  la  moide" 
de  sa  vie  a  la  galanterie,  il  livra  sans  retenue  l'autre  moitie"  a  la  cause  de 
tyrannie,  du  meurtre  et  de  spoliation,  et  malheureusement  il  en  profila." 
He  had  a  remarkable  talent  for  poetry:  —  "Amant  passionne"  des  dames, 
apotre  fougueux  de  lTnquisition,  il  ne  cessa  de  composer  des  vers  qui  por- 
terent  rempreinte  de  ses  passions  successives."  Compare  his  verses  to  the 
Lady  of  Marseilles  and  his  Hymn  to  the  Virgin.  He  was  at  the  court  of 
Ca-ur  de  Lion  at  Poitiers;  of  Raymond  V.;  of  Alphonso  II.  of  Arragon;  of 
Alplionso  IX.,  king  of  Castile.     Dante  places  him  in  Paradise. 


Chap.  VIII.       COUNT  RAYMOND  OF  TOULOUSE.  171 

tian  character.  There  is  no  act  of  treachery  or  cruelty 
throughout  the  war  in  which  the  Bishop  of  Toulouse 
was  not  the  most  forward,  sanguinary,  unscrupulous. 
Fulk  in  his  youth  had  been  a  gay  Troubadour.  The 
son  of  a  rich  Genoese,  settled  at  Marseilles,  he  despised 
trade,  wandered  about  to  the  courts  of  the  more  ac- 
complished princes  of  the  day,  Richard  of  England, 
Alphonso  of  Arragon,  and  the  elder  Raymond  of  Tou- 
louse. Fulk  delighted  the  nobles  with  his  amorous 
songs  (still  to  be  read  in  their  unchastened  warmth) 
and  aspired  to  the  favor  of  high-born  ladies.  The  wife 
and  both  the  sisters  of  Barral,  Viscount  of  Marseilles, 
were  the  objects  of  his  lyric  adoration.  Repulsed  by 
Viscountess  Adelheid,  he  was  seized  with  a  poetic  pas- 
sion for  Eudoxia,  wife  of  William  of  Montpellier.  On 
the  death  of  this  prince,  by  which  he  was  greatly 
shocked,  he  threw  himself  into  a  cloister ;  the  passion 
of  devotion  succeeded  to  worldly  passions.  The  mo- 
nastic discipline  scourged  all  tenderness  out  of  his 
heart,  and  by  unchristian  cruelty  to  himself,  he  trained 
himself  to  far  more  unchristian  cruelty  towards  others. 

Eight  years  had  now  passed  of  ineffective  preaching, 
menace,  fulmination.  The  Sovereign  of  the  land  must 
be  summoned  to  be  the  Lictor  of  the  Papal  Mandate, 
the  executioner  on  his  own  subjects  of  the  awful  sen- 
tence of  blood,  by  shedding  which,  with  hypocrisy 
which  only  aggravates  cruelty,  the  Church  held  itself 
sullied ;  such  sentence  here,  indeed,  it  wanted  the 
power  to  accomplish  without  the  civil  aid. 

Raymond  VI.  Count  of  Toulouse  is  darkly  colored 
by  the  hatred  of  the  sterner  among  the  writ-  count  lay- 
ers of  the  Church  of  Rome  as  a  concealed  Toulouse. 
heretic,  as  a  fautor  of  heretics,  as  a  man  of  deep  dis- 


172  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

simulation  and  consummate  treachery.  He  appears  to 
have  been  a  gay,  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  sis- 
ter 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  de- 
grees. 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  unoffend- 
ing), that  he  is  the  victim  of  excommunication,  is  de- 
spoiled of  realm,  of  honor,  of  salvation.1 

Raymond  had  succeeded  to  the  sovereignty  four 
years2  before  the  accession  of  Innocent  III.  The  first 
event  of  his  reign  was  his  excommunication  for  usurpa- 
tion (as  it  was  called)  on  the  rights  of  the  clergy  of 
a.d.  1098.  St.  Gilles.  This  excommunication  it  was  one 
of  Innocent's  first  acts  to  remove.  The  position  of 
the  Count  of  Toulouse   and  of  his  nobles  had   been 

1  Compare  on  Raymond  Petr.  V.  C.  c.  iv.  The  Abbot  had  heard  from  a 
Bishop  a  speech  of  Raymond's :  "  Quod  monachi  Cistercienses  non  poterant 
salvari,  quia  tenebant  oves,  quae  luxuriam  exercebant.  0  haaresis  in- 
audital  "  All  his  stories  he  relates  on  the  authority  of  the  Abbot  Arnold, 
Raymond's  deadly  enemy.  Many  irreverent  speeches  were  attributed  to 
him,  some  implying  heresy.  "I  see  the  devil  made  this  world;  nothing 
turns  out  as  J  wish."  Playing  at  chess  with  his  chaplain,  he  said,  "  The 
God  of  Moses,  in  whom  you  believe,  will  not  help  you."  The  following 
are  still  more  improbable.  He  said  of  a  heretic  of  Castres,  who  had  been 
mutilated,  aud  dragged  out  a  miserable  life,  "  I  had  rather  be  he  than  king 
or  emperor."  "  I  know  that  I  shall  lose  my  realm  for  the  'good  men:'  I 
will  bear  the  loss  of  my  realm,  even  of  my  life,  in  their  cause." 

2  a.  i).  1194.    Vaissette,  p.  101. 


Chap.  VIII.       COUNT  RAYMOND  OF  TOULOUSE.  173 

strange  and  trying  for  the  most  courageous  and  wisest 
of  men.  They  knew  that  they  could  not  persuade, 
they  could  hardly  hope  to  defend,  they  were  called 
upon  to  persecute  their  subjects,  their  peaceful,  perhaps 
attached  subjects,  for  a  crime  of  which  at  least  they 
did  not  feel  the  atrocity.  They  were  commanded 
to  be  the  obeisant  executioners  of  punishments  not 
awarded  by  themselves,  of  which  they  did  not  admit 
the  justice,  of  which  they  could  not  but  see  the  inhu- 
manity. They  were  summoned  by  the  Church,  which 
was  itself,  by  its  negligence,  its  dissoluteness,  its  long- 
continued  worldliness,  its  want  of  Christianity,  at  least 
a  main  cause  of  the  evil.1  They  were  peremptorily 
ordered  to  desolate  their  country ;  to  expel,  or  worse, 
to  pursue  to  death  a  large  part,  and  that  the  most  in- 
dustrious, most  prosperous  of  their  subjects  ;  thus  to 
repay  the  obedience  and  love  of  those  among  whom 
they  had  been  born  and  had  lived,  who  had  followed 
their  banner,  rendered  loyal  allegiance  to  their  lawful 
demands.  They  were  to  leave  their  towns  in  ruins, 
their  fields  uncultivated,  or  to  people  their  land  with 
strangers ;  to  incur  the  odious  suspicion  of  aiding  the 
Church  in  order  to  profit  by  the  plunder  of  their  vas- 
sals, to  enrich  themselves  out  of  confiscations  ;  and  all 
these  hard  measures  were  to  be  taken  perhaps  against 
the  friends  of  youth,  against  kindred,  against  men 
whose  blameless  lives  won  respect  and  admiration.2 

1  "  Cujus  rei  culpa  forte  pro  magna  parte  refundi  poterat  in  praelatos, 
utpote  qui  saltern  latrare  potuerant,  reprehendere  et  mordere."  Such  is 
the  ingenuous  confession  of  a  writer  on  the  side  of  the  Church.  —  Gul.  de 
Pod.  Laur.  apud  Bouquet,  xix.  p.  199. 

2  Compare  the  pathetic  sentence  in  the  same  author:  "Quare  ergo  de 
terra,  dixit  episcopus,  eos  non  expellitis  et  fugatis  ?  At  ait  ille,  non  possu- 
nius;  sumus  enim  nutriti  cum  eis,  et  habemus  de  nostris  consanguineis 
apud  ipsos,  et  eos  honeste  vivere  contemplamur."  —  Ibid.,  p.  200. 


174  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX 

Peter  de  Castelnan,  the  Legate,  determined  at 
Peter de  length  on  extreme  proceedings;  the  times, 
casteiuau.  ^e  thought,  gave  him  an  auspicious  occasion. 
Private  wars  had  broken  out,  in  which  Count  Ray- 
mond and  some  of  the  other  nobles  were  engaged.  In 
these  wars  the  property  of  the  Church  was  not  relig- 
iously respected  ;  in  the  sieges  of  towns  their  fields  and 
vineyards  suffered  waste  ;  some  of  the  nobles  at  war 
with  Raymond  alleged  as  their  excuse  the  hostilities 
in  which  they  were  involved.  The  Legates  peremp- 
torily called  on  all  the  belligerent  parties  to  make 
peace,  in  order  to  combine  their  forces  against  those 
worse  enemies  the  heretics.  Raymond  did  not  at  once 
obey  this  imperious  dictation.  Peter  of  Castelnau 
uttered  the  sentence  of  excommunication,  and  placed 
his  whole  territory  under  an  interdict.  Instead  of  re- 
pressing this  bold  assumption  of  power  on  the  part  of 
his  Legate,  Innocent  addressed  a  letter  to  Raymond, 
perhaps  unexampled  in  the  furious  vehemence  of  its 
language.  It  had  no  superscription,  for  it  was  to  a 
man  under  sentence  of  excommunication.  No  epithet 
of  scorn  was  spared  :  —  "If  with  the  Prophet  (it 
began)  I  could  break  through  the  wall  of  thy  heart, 
I  would  show  thee  all  its  abominations."  It  threat- 
ened him  with  the  immediate  vengeance  of  God,  with 
every  temporal  calamity,  with  everlasting  fire.  "  Who 
art  thou,  that  when  the  illustrious  King  of  Arragon 
and  the  other  nobles,  at  the  exhortation  of  our  Legates, 
have  consented  to  terms  of  peace,  alone  looking  for  ad- 
vantage in  war,  like  a  carrion  bird  preying  on  carcases, 
refusest  all  treaties?"  It  charged  him  with  violating 
his  repeated  oaths  to  prosecute  all  heretics  in  his  do- 
minions, with  rejecting  the  appeal  of  the  Archbishop 


CHAP.  VIII.  LETTER  OF  INNOCENT.  175 

of  Aries  in  the  course  of  war  to  spare  all  monasteries, 
and  to  abstain  from  arms  on  Sundays  and  holidays. 
''Impious,  cruel,  and  direful  tyrant,  thou  art  so  fai 
gone  in  heretical  pravity,  that  when  reproved  for  thy 
defence  of  heretics,  thou  saidest  that  thou  wouldest 
find  a  bishop  of  the  heretics  who  would  prove  his  faith 
to  be  better  than  that  of  the  Catholics."  It  dharo;ed 
him  with  bestowing  offices  of  trust  and  honor  on  Jews ; 
with  seizing  and  fortifying  churches.  Innocent  ended 
with  the  menace  of  depriving  him  of  his  territory, 
which  he  declared  that  he  held  of  the  Church  of  Rome ; 2 
of  arraying  all  the  neighboring  princes  against  him  as 
an  enemy  of  Christ,  and  a  persecutor  of  the  Church  ; 
and  of  offering  his  realm  as  a  prize  to  the  conqueror 
who  might  subdue  it,  in  order  that  it  might  escape  the 
disgrace  of  being  ruled  by  a  heretic.3 

The  denunciation  of  the  victim  was  immediately  fol- 
lowed by  the  summons  to  the  executioner.  Letter  of 
A  Papal  letter  was  addressed  to  the  King,  to  Nov.  17,  i207. 
all  the  counts,  barons,  nobles,  and  to  all  faithful  Chris- 
tians in  France  ;  to  the  Counts  of  Vermandois  and 
Blois,  the  Count  of  Bar,  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  the 
Count  of  Nevers,  commanding  them  to  take  up  arms 
for  the  suppression  of  the  heretics  in  the  South  of 
France.     Their  own  territories  in  the  mean  time  were 

1  It  might  be  inquired  whether  these  provisions  were  afterwards  enforced 
on  the  Crusaders. 

2  "  Terram  quam  noscis  ab  Ecclesia  Komana  tenere,  tibi  faciemus  au- 
ferri." 

3  "  Telle  est  cette  lettre  fulminante  du  Pape  Innocent  III.  a  Raymond 
VI.,  Comte  de  Toulouse,  dont  le  principal  motif  est  le  refus  que  ce  Prince 
avait  fait  de  conclure  la  paix  avec  ses  vassaux  du  Marquisat  de  Provence, 
avec  lesquels  il  dtoit  en  guerre,  afin  de  joindre  ses  armes  aux  leurs  pour 
extenniner  les  h£r£tiques."  —  Vaissette,  iii.  151.  Innocent.  Epist.  x.  61 
Mav  29,  1207. 


176  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

placed  under  the  protection  of  St.  Peter  and  the  Pope ; 
all  who  dared  to  violate  them  were  exposed  to  ecclesi- 
astical censure.1  All  the  estates  and  the  goods  of  the 
heretics  were  to  be  confiscated  and  divided  among  those 
who  should  engage  in  this  holy  enterprise,  and  the  same 
indulgences  granted  as  for  a  Crusade  in  the  Holy  Land, 
so  sooit  as  war  should  be  declared  against  Raymond 
of  Toulouse,  the  disobedient  vassal  of  the  Church,  the 
protector  and  abettor  of  heretics. 

In  the  mean  time  Peter  of  Castelnau  was  not  inac- 
tive ;  he  secretly  stirred  up  the  lords  of  Languedoc 
against  Raymond.  Raymond  made  peace,  and  thereby 
fondly  supposed  himself  delivered  from  the  excommu- 
nication. But  the  inexorable  Peter  stood  before  him, 
reproached  him  to  his  face  with  cowardice,  accused  him 
of  perjury,  and  of  abetting  heresy.  He  renewed  the 
excommunication  in  all  its  plenitude. 

Conceive,  at  this  instant,  a  Pontiff  like  Innocent, 
Murder  of  with  all  his  lofty  notions  of  the  sanctity,  the 
castelnau.  inviolability  of  every  ecclesiastic,  confirmed 
by  the  consciousness  of  his  yet  irresistible  power,  re- 
ceiving the  intelligence  of  the  barbarous  murder  of 
his  Legate ;  another  Becket  fallen  before  a  meaner 
sovereign  ;  the  sacred  person  of  his  Legate  transfixed 
by  the  lance  of  an  assassin.2  That  the  terror  and 
hatred  of  the  clergy  in  Languedoc  should  instantly  and 
obstinately  ascribe  the  crime  to  Raymond  himself 
that  Innocent  in  his  eager  indignation    should   adopt 

i  Epist.  x.  149. 

2  "  Quand  le  Pape  sut,  quand  lui  fut  dite  la  nouvelle,  que  son  legat  avait 
£te  tu6,  sachez  qu'elle  lui  fut  dure;  de  la  colere  qu'il  en  eut,  il  se  tint  la 
machoire,  et  se  mit  a  prier  Saint  Jacques,  celui  de  Compostella,  et  Saint 
Pierre,  qui  est  enseVeli  dans  la  Chapelle  de  Rome.  Quand  il  eut  fait  son 
oraison,  il  eteignit  le  cierge,  15  Jan.  1208."  —  Apud  Fauriel,  p.  9. 


Chap.  VIII      MURDER   OF  PETER  DE  CASTELNAU.  177 

their  version  of  the  death  of  Peter,  excites  no  wonder. 
Their  report  publicly  countenanced  by  the  Pope  was 
this,  that  the  Legates  had  been  invited  to  a  confer- 
ence at  St.  Gilles,  that  the  Count  had  sternly  refused 
to  ratify  the  satisfaction  which  he  had  promised,  that 
he  had  uttered  dark  menaces  against  the  Legates. 
The  Legates  had  passed  the  night  under  an  armed 
guard  on  the  shores  of  the  Rhone  ;  in  the  morning, 
when  they  were  crossing  the  river,  Peter  of  Castel- 
nau  was  transfixed  with  a  lance  by  one  of  the  emis- 
saries of  Count  Raymond.  He  only  lived  Jan.  15, 1208. 
long  enough  to  breathe  out,  "  God  pardon  them,  as  I 
pardon  them."1  Raymond  was  afterwards  charged 
with  having  admitted  the  assassin  into  his  intimate 
intercourse. 

Strong  contemporary  evidence,  as  well  as  all  the 
probabilities  of  the  case,  absolutely  acquit  the  Count 
of  Toulouse  of  any  concern  in  this  crime.  It  may 
have  been  done  by  some  rash  partisan  who  thought 
that  he  was  fulfilling  his  master's  wishes ;  but  one 
writer  states  that  Raymond  was  never  known  to  be 
so  moved  to  anger  as  by  this  event.  He  was  not 
of  that  passionate  temperament  which  might  be  hur- 
ried into  such  a  deed.  He  could  not  but  see  at  once 
its  danger,  its  impolicy,  and  its  uselessness.  The 
enemy  of  Raymond  was  not  the  individual  monk, 
but  the  whole  hierarchy,  and  the  Pope  himself;  and 
he  must  have  known  too  that  of  his  own  partisans  all 
the  superstitious,  all  the  timid,  all  the  religious  would 

1  Innocent,  Epist.  xi.  26.     The  Troubadour  says,  "  Un  des  e"cuyers  (du 
Comte)  qui  en  avait  grande  rancune,  et  voulait  se  rendre  desormais  agreable 
a  son  Seigneur,  tua  le  Legat  en  trahison."     "He  fled  to  Beaucaire,  where 
his  relations  lived."  — p.  9. 
vol.  v.  12 


178  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  I*h>k  IX. 

be  estranged  by  an  awful  crime  perpetrated  on  the 
sacred  person  of  a  legate  of  the  Pope.1 

The  dying  prayer  of  the  Legate  may  have  been  ac- 
cepted in  heaven  ;  on  earth  it  received  barren  admira- 
tion, but  touched  no  heart  with  mercy. 

Innocent  at  once  assumed  the  guilt  of  Raymond. 
innocent  He  proclaimed  it  in  letters  to  the  Arch- 
SSnKR-  bishops  of  Narbonne,  Aries,  Embrun,  Aix, 
mond.  Vienne,  and  their  suffragans;   to  the  Arch- 

bishop of  Lyons  and  his  suffragans.  Eveiy  Sunday 
and  every  holy  day  was  to  be  published  the  excommu- 
nication of  Raymond  of  Toulouse  the  murderer,  and 
all  his  accomplices :  no  faith  was  to  be  kept  with  those 
who  had  kept  no  faith  ;2  all  his  subjects  were  absolved 
from  their  oath  of  allegiance  :  every  one  was  at  liberty 
to  assault  his  person,  and  (only  reserving  the  right  of 
his  suzerain  the  King  of  France)  to  seize  and  take 
possession  of  his  lands,  especially  for  the  holy  purpose 
of  purging  them  of  heresy.  The  only  terms  on  which 
Raymond  could  be  admitted  to  repentance  were  the 
previous  absolute  expulsion  of  all  heretics  from  his 
dominions. 

But  the  blood  of  the   martyr3  (as  he  at  once  be- 

1  Raymond,  according  to  the  Hist,  des  Albigeois,  would  have  punished 
the  assassin  (he  had  fled  to  Beaucairc),  if  he  could  have  caught  him,  to  the 
satisfaction  of  the  Legates.  "  Le  dit  Cointe  Raimond  etoit  si  courrouee'  et 
fa-clu'  de  ce  meurtre,  comme  ayant  £te  fait  par  un  homme  a  lui,  que  jamais 
il  ne  fut  si  courrouee  de  chose  au  monde."  —  Hist,  de  la  Guerre  des  Albi- 
geois; Guizot,  Coll.  des  Mthnoires,  xv.  4.  All  modern  writers,  D.  Vais- 
sette,  Capefigue,  Hahn,  even  Hurter  more  doubtfully,  exculpate  Raymond. 

2  "  Cum  juxta  sanctorum  patrum  canonicas  sanctiones,  qui  Deo  fideni 
aon  servat,  fides  servanda  non  est."  —  Epist.  Innocent,  xi.  26. 

3  Peter  of  Castelnau's  body  would  have  wrought  wonderful  miracles,  but 
for  the  obstinate  incredulity  of  the  people.  "Claris  jam,  ut  credimus, 
miraculis  coruscasset,  nisi  hoc  illorum  incredulitas  impediret."  And  the 
passage  of  St.  Luke  is  adduced  without  hesitation. 


Ciiav.  VIII.  CRUSADE  179 

came)  called  for  more  active  vengeance.  Innocent 
seized  the  instant  of  indignation  at  this  almost  Crusade, 
unprecedented  and  terrible  crime,  to  awaken  the  tardy 
zeal,  to  inflame  the  ambition  and  rapacity  of  those, 
who  at  the  same  time  might  win  to  themselves,  by 
the  favor  of  the  Church,  a  place  in  heaven  and  a 
goodly  inheritance  upon  earth.  "  Up,"  he  writes  to 
Philip  Augustus  of  France  ;  "  up,  soldiers  of  Christ ! 
Up,  most  Christian  King  !  Hear  the  cry  of  blood ; 
aid  us  in  wreaking  vengeance  on  these  malefactors." 
With  strange  perverted  quotations  from  the  sacred 
Scriptures,  he  makes  Moses  and  St.  Peter,  the  Fathers, 
as  he  calls  them,  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  pre- 
dict this  amicable  union  of  the  royal  and  sacerdotal 
powers,  and  the  two  swords  (one  of  which  his  gentle 
master  afterwards  commanded  the  rash  disciple  to  put 
away)  authorize  the  united  Crusade  of  the  kingdom  of 
France  and  the  Church  of  Rome  against  the  inhab- 
itants of  Languedoc.  "  Up,"  in  the  same  tone,  cried 
the  Pope  to  all  the  adventurous  nobles  and  knights  of 
France,  and  offered  to  their  valor  the  rich  and  sunny 
lands  of  the  South.1 

The  Crusade  was  thus  not  merely  an  outburst  of  relig- 
ious zeal,  it  took  into  closer  alliance  strong  motives  of 
political  ambition,  perhaps  the  hostility  of  rival  races. 

1  "  Attende  per  Moisem  et  Petrum,  patres  videlicet  utriusque  Testamenti, 
eignatam  inter  regnum  et  sacerdotium  unitatem,  cum  alter  regnum  sacer- 
iotale  praedixit  et  reliquus  regale  sacerdotium  appellavit;  ad  quod  signan- 
dum  Rex  Regum  et  Dominus  dominantium  Jesus  Christus,  secundum 
ordinem  Melchisedek  sacerdotis  et  regis,  de  utraque  voluit  stirpe  nasci, 
sacerdotali  videlicet  et  regali.  Et  princeps  Apostolorum,  '  Ecce  gladii  dvo 
hie,'1  id  est  simul,  dicenti  Domino,  '  satis  est,'  legitur  respondisse,  et  mate- 
riali  et  spirituali  gladiis  sibi  invicem  assistentibus,  alter  per  alterum  adju- 
vetur."—  Epist.  ibid.  And  the  world  heard  with  awe  this  sanguinary  and 
impious  nonsense ! 


180  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

Philip  Augustus,  who  had  almost  expelled  the  King  of 
England  from  the  continent,  aspired  to  raise  the  feudal 
Sovereignty  of  the  crown  over  the  great  fiefs  of  the 
South  to  actual  dominion.  Instead  of  an  almost  in- 
dependent prince,  the  Count  of  Toulouse,  with  his 
princely  nobles,  must  become  an  obedient  vassal  and 
subject.  The  French  of  the  North  up  to  this  period 
had  vainly  endeavored  to  extend  their  rule  over  the 
Gallo-Roman,  or  Gothic  Roman  population  of  the 
South.  The  language  divided  and  defined  the  two  yet 
unmingled  races.  A  religious  crusade  was  a  glorious 
opportunity  to  break  the  power  of  these  rival  sover- 
eigns rather  than  dependent  vassals.  Throughout  the 
war  the  Crusaders  are  described  as  the  Franks,  as  a 
foreign  nation  invading  a  separate  territory.  While 
there  was  little  of  the  sympathy  of  kindred  or  of  order 
to  prevent  the  princes  and  nobles  of  Northern  France 
from  wreaking  the  vengeance  of  the  Church  upon  the 
rebellious  Princes  of  Languedoc,  the  great  warlike  prel- 
ates of  France  were  bound  by  a  still  stronger  tie  to  the 
endangered  cause  of  their  brother  prelates  of  the  South. 
There  had  been  quite  enough  of  heresy  threatening 
the  peace  of  almost  every  diocese  of  France  to  awaken 
their  jealous  vigilance.  The  less  they  possessed  the 
virtues  of  churchmen  the  more  fierce  their  warlike  zeal 
for  the  Church.  So  in  the  first  ranks  of  the  Crusade 
appear  the  Archbishops  of  Rheims,  Sens,  Rouen.  The 
wealth  and  prosperity  of  the  Southern  provinces,  the 
hope  of  plunder,  was  of  itself  sufficient  incentive  to 
the  baser  adventurers  ;  to  the  nobler  there  was  the 
chivalrous  passion  for  war  and  enterprise  ;  while  the 
easier  mode  of  obtaining  pardon  for  sins,  without  the 
long,  and  toilsome,  and  perilous  and  costly  journey  to 


Chap.  VIII.  CONDUCT   OF   RAYMOND.  181 

the  Holy  Land,  brought  the  superstitious  of  all  ranks 
in  throngs  under  the  consecrated  banners.  The  clergy 
everywhere  preached  with  indefatigable  activity  this 
new  way  of  attaining  everlasting  life ;  the  Cistercian 
convents  threw  open  their  gates,  the  land  was  covered 
with  monks  haranguing  on  the  same  stirring  topic. 
From  all  parts  of  France  they  assembled  in  countless 
numbers  at  Lyons  ;  a  second  not  less  formidable  host 
was  gathering  in  the  West ;  the  number  is  stated  at 
500,000,  300,000,  at  least  50,000  men  of  arms.1 

Raymond,  as  he  well  might,  stood  aghast ;  he  had 
done  all  in  his  power  to  obtain  peace  from  conduct  of 
Rome.  He  rejected  the  gallant  proposal  0fRaymood- 
his  nephew  the  Viscount  of  Beaucaire,  to  summon 
their  vassals  and  kindred,  garrison  their  castles,  and 
stand  boldly  on  their  defence.2  He  sent  an  embassy 
to  Rome,  the  Archbishop  of  Auch,  the  Abbot  of  Con- 
dom, de  Rabenstein  the  ex-Bishop  of  Toulouse,  the 
Prior  of  the  Hospitallers  (he  had  yet  some  ecclesias- 
tics on  his  side,  hated  with  proportionate  intensity  by 
his  enemies).?  The  demands  of  Innocent  were  hard, 
and  those,  it  is  said  with  something  of  old  Troubadour 
malice,  gained  by  many  presents ; 4  the  surrender  of 

1  "  II  s'y  croisa  tant  de  gens  que  personne  ne  les  saurait  nombrer  ni  esti- 
mer,  et  elle  a  cause  des  grands  pardons  et  des  absolutions,  que  le  Legat  avait 
donnas  a  tous  ceux  qui  se  croiseroient  pour  aller  contre  les  h^retiques."  — 
Hist,  de  la  Guerre,  Guizot,  xv.  5.  "  Cependant  aussi  loin  que  s'etend  la 
sainte  Chr£tiente\  en  France  et  en  tous  les  autres  royaumes  ...  les  peuples 
Be  croisent,  des  qu'ils  apprennent  le  pardon  de  leurs  peche"s,  et  jamais  je 
pense,  ne  fut  fait  si  grand  host,  que  celui  fait  alors  contre  les  her^tiques." 
—  Fauriel,  p.  15.  Petr.  V.  C.  adds  that  to  obtain  the  indulgence  they 
were  to  be  '*  contriti  et  confessi." 

2  Histoire  des  Guerres. 

3  "  Execrabiles  et  malignos  Archepiscopum  Auxitanum,"  &c.  —  Petr.  V. 
C.  c.  ix. 

4  "  lis  disent  si  bonnes  paroles  et  font  tant  de  prdsents."  —  p.  19. 


182  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Hook  IX. 

seven  of  his  chief  castles  as  guarantees  for  the  Count's 
submission. 

A  new  Legate  had  been  named,  Milo  the  Notary  of 
the  Papal  Court,  a  man  of  milder  views,  of  whom 
Raymond,  under  the  fond  delusion  of  hope,  said  that 
he  was  a  Legate  after  his  own  heart.  But  this  was 
only  craft  on  the  part  of  the  Pope ;  it  was  not  yet 
his  object  to  drive  Count  Raymond,  before  his  great 
vassals  were  subdued,  to  desperation.  Milo  was  accom- 
panied by  Theodisc,  a  canon  of  Genoa,  of  less  yield- 
ing character  ;  and  no  measure  was  to  be  taken  with- 
out the  approbation  of  Arnold,  the  Cistercian  Abbot.1 
The  Bishop  of  Conferans  was  added  to  the  legatine 
commission.  Milo  was  enjoined  to  use  all  wise  dissim- 
ulation ;  everything  was  to  be  done  to  lull  and  delude 
Count  Raymond.2  The  Legates  appeared  in  Langue- 
doc  ;  it  was  of  no  auspicious  omen  that  they  had  first 
visited  France.3 

From  religious  awe,  from  conscious  inability  to  resist, 
perhaps  from  some  generous  hope  of  obtaining  gentler 
terms  for  his  devoted  subjects,  Raymond  of  Toulouse 
submitted  at  once  in  the  amplest  manner  to  the  de- 
Penanceof  mands  of  his  inexorable  enemies,  to  the  per- 
june  is,  1209.  sonal  abasement  inflicted  by  the  Church.  The 
scene  of  his  humiliation  may  not  be  passed  over.     At 

1  The  Pope  says  expressly  to  Milo :  "  Abbas  Cistercii  totum  faciet,  et  tu 
organum  ejus  eris:  Comes  enim  Tolosanus  eum  habet  suspectuvi;  tu  non 
ens  ei  suspectus." 

2  Epist.  xi.  232.  "  Cum  talis  dolus  prudentia  sit  dicendus."  Such  are 
Innocent's  own  damning  words.     The  whole  letter  is  in  the  same  tone. 

8  Raymond  had  endeavored  to  obtain  the  protection  of  Philip  Augustus, 
his  liege  lord  for  Languedoc;  of  the  Emperor  Otho,  of  whom  he  held  the 
Marquisate  of  Provence.  The  King  and  Emperor  were  at  war  (Philip 
therefore  did  not  join  the  Crusade);  each  refused  to  interpose,  unless  on 
eon  (lit  ion  of  breaking  with  his  enemy. 


Chap.  VIII.  PENANCE  OF  RAYMOND.  183 

a  Council  at  Montelimart  he  was  cited  to  appear  before 
the  Legates  at  Valence.  There  he  first  surrendered, 
as  security  for  his  absolute  submission,  his  seven  strong 
castles — Oppede,  Montferrand,  Balmas,  Mornac,  Ro- 
quemaure,  Fourgues,  Faujaux.1  He  was  then  led, 
naked  to  the  girdle,  to  the  porch  of  the  abbey  church, 
and  in  the  presence  of  the  Legates,  and  not  less  than 
twenty  bishops,  before  the  holy  Eucharist,  before  cer- 
tain relics,  and  the  wood  of  the  true  cross,  with  his 
hand  upon  the  holy  Gospels,  he  acknowledged  the  jus- 
tice of  his  excommunication,  and  swore  full  allegiance 
to  the  Pope  and  to  his  Legate.  He  swore  to  give  ample 
satisfaction,  according  to  the  Pope's  orders,  on  all  the 
charges  made  against  him,  now  recapitulated  with  ter- 
rible exactness  —  his  refusal  to  make  peace,  his  protec- 
tion of  heretics,  his  violations  of  ecclesiastical  property. 
If  he  did  not  fulfil  his  oath  his  seven  castles  were  at 
once  escheated  to  the  Church  of  Rome :  the  county  of 
Melgueil,  which  he  held  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  re- 
verted to  its  liege  lord  :  himself  fell  under  excommuni- 
cation,  his  lands  under  interdict ;  his  compurgators,  the 
Consuls  of  the  towns  in  his  dominions,  were  absolved 
from  their  allegiance,  that  allegiance  passed  to  the 
Church  of  Rome.  He  swore  further  to  respect  the 
rights  of  all  the  churches  in  the  provinces  of  Narbonne, 
Aries,  Vienne,  Auch,  Bordeaux,  Bourges.  The  Con- 
suls of  Avignon,  Nismes,  and  jSt.  Gilles  took  their 
compurgatorial  oath  to  his  fulfilment  of  all  these  stip- 
ulations ;  the  governors  of  the  seven  castles  not  to 
restore  them  to  the  Count  of  Toulouse  without  the 
consent  of  the  Pope.  These  ceremonies  ended,  the 
Count,  with  a  rope  round  his  neck,  and  scourged,  as 
1  See  in  Vaissette,  p.  162,  the  situation  and  strength  of  these  castles. 


184  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY  Boor  IX. 

he  went,  on  his  naked  shoulders,  was  led  up  to  the  high 
altar :  there  after  a  solemn  recapitulation  of  the  Pope's 
commands  before  it,  and  a  reiteration  of  the  same  com- 
mands after  it,  he  received  the  absolution.1  But  his 
humiliation  was  not  complete  ;  by  a  well-contrived  ac- 
cident, the  crowd  was  so  great  that  they  were  obliged 
to  lead  him  close  by  the  tomb  of  the  murdered  Peter 
of  Castelnau ;  naked,  bleeding,  broken-spirited,  he  was 
forced  to  show  his  profound  respect  to  that  spot.2 

But  he  has  not  yet  drunk  the  dregs  of  humiliation  : 
Raymond  new  difficulties  arise  ;  new  demands  are  made : 
crusade!  the  Count  himself  must  take  up  the  cross 
against  his  own  loyal  subjects  ;  he  must  appear  at  the 
head,  he  must  actually  seem  to  direct  the  operations  of 
the  invading  army.  Two  only  of  his  knights  follow 
his  example.  His  deadly  enemy  assigns  one  nobler 
motive  for  this  act,  that  he  might  avert  the  Crusade 
from  his  own  subjects,  another  (the  vulgar  suggestion 
of  hatred)  hypocrisy.3  He  did  not  leave  the  army  till 
after  the  fall  of  Carcassonne. 

The  war  was  inevitable  ;  not  even  the  Pope  could 
now  have  arrested  it ;  and  the  Pope  himself  is  self- 
convicted  of  the  most  cunnino;  dissimulation.  This 
vast  army  must  have  its  reward  in  plunder  and  mas- 
sacre,4     The  subtle  distinction  is  at  hand,  it  is  not 


i  Petr.  V.  C.  c.  12. 

2"0  justum  Dei  judicium !  quern  enim  contempserat  vivum,  ei  reveren- 
tiam  compulsus  est  exhibere  et  defuncto."  —  Petr.  V.  C.  apud  Bouquet, 
xix.  80. 

8  "  Ut  sic  terrain  suam  a  cruce  signatorum  infestatione  tueretur  .  .  .  O 
falsum  et  perfidissiinum  crucesiguatum !  Comitem  Tolosanum  dico,  qui 
crucem  assumpsit,  non  ad  vindicandam  injuriam  crucilixi,  scd  ut  ad  tem- 
pus  celare  possit  suam  et  tegere  pravitatem."  —  Ibid. 

4  "  Man  wollte,"  writes  Hurter,  who  would  apologize  for  the  Crusade,  "so 
grosse  Rustungen  niclrt  vergeblich  uiiferiiommen  haben!"     The  army  of 


Chap.  VIII.  THE  ALBIGENSIAN  WAR.  185 

waged    against    tlie   Count    of   Toulouse,    against    the 
Count  of  Languedoc,  but  against  the  heretics. 

Never  in  the  history  of  man  were  the  great  eternal 
principles  of  justice,  the  faith  of  treaties,  common  hu- 
manity so  trampled  under  foot  as  in  the  Albigensian 
war.  Never  was  war  waged  in  which  ambition,  the 
consciousness  of  strength,  rapacity,  implacable  hatred, 
and  pitiless  cruelty  played  a  greater  part.  And  through- 
out the  war  it  cannot  be  disguised  that  it  was  not  merely 
the  army  of  the  Church,  but  the  Church  itself  in  arms. 
Papal  legates  and  the  greatest  prelates  headed  the  host, 
and  mingled  in  all  the  horrors  of  the  battle  and  the 
siege.  In  no  instance  did  they  interfere  to  arrest  the 
massacre,  in  some  cases  urged  it  on.  "  Slay  all,  God 
will  know  his  own,"  was  the  boasted  saying  of  Abbot 
Arnold,  Legate  of  the  Pope,  before  Beziers.  Arnold 
was  the  captain-general  of  the  army.1  Hardly  one  of 
the  great  prelates  of  France  stood  aloof.  With  the 
first  army  were,  at  the  head  of  their  troops,  the  Arch- 
bishops of  Rheims,  Sens,  Rouen ;  their  suffragans  of 
Au tun,  Clermont,  Nevers,  Bayeux,  Lisieux,  Chartres. 
The  Western  host  was  led  by  the  Archbishop  of  Bor- 
deaux, the  Bishops  of  Limoges,  Basas,  Cahors,  Agen. 
A  third  force  moved  under  the  Bishop  of  Puy.  The 
great  engineer  was  the  Archdeacon  of  Paris.  Fulk 
Bishop  of  Toulouse  has  been  described  as  the  ecclesi- 
astical De  Montfort  of  the  Crusade.2     We   have  the 

the  faith  (the  faith  of  Jesus  Christ!)  must  not  disperse  without  blood  and 
plunder ! 

1  Vaissette. 

2  Fulk  had  nov?-  altogether  forgotten  all  the  favors  of  Raymond,  of  the 
kings  of  Castile  and  Arragon.  "II  ne  vit  dans  Raymond  VI.,  et  dans 
Pierre  II.,  roi  d' Arragon,  leur  fils,  que  des  princes  qui  se  refusaicnt  a  l'ex- 
termination  des  heretiques,  que  des  rebelles,  qui  ne  se  soumcttaient  pas  im- 
Dlicitement  a  la  domination  du  clergi';.  et  il  devint  le  plus  acharnd  de  leuri 
3nnemi8."  —  Hist.  Litter,  xix.  p.  596. 


186  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

melancholy  advantage  of  hearing  the  actual  voice  of 
one  of  the  churchmen,  who  joined  the  army  at  an  early 
period  ;  and  whose  language  may  be  taken  as  the  ex- 
pression of  the  concentred  hatred  and  bigotiy,  which 
was  the  soul  of  the  enterprise.  The  Historian  Peter, 
Monk  of  Vaux  Cernay,  attendant  on  his  uncle,  the 
Abbot  of  that  monastery,  is  the  boastful  witness  to  all 
these  unexampled  cruelties.  Monkish  fanaticism  could 
not  speak  more  naturally,  more  forcibly.  With  him 
all  wickedness  is  centred  in  heresy.  The  heretic  is  a 
beast  of  prey  to  be  slain  wherever  he  may  be  found.1 
And  if  there  might  be  some  palliation  for  the  clergy  of 
Languedoc,  who  had  been  neglected,  treated  with  con- 
tumely, perhaps  with  insult,  had  seen  their  churches 
not  only  deserted,  perhaps  sacrilegiously  violated,  the 
Monk  of  Vaux  Cernay  was  a  stranger  to  that  part  of 
France.2 

The  army  which  moved  from  Lyons  along  the  Rhone 
Advance  of  came  from  every  province  of  France.  Its 
crusade.  numbers  were  never  known.  The  Trouba- 
dour declares  that  God  never  made  the  clerk  who  could 
have  written  the  muster-roll  in  two  months,  or  even  in 
three.     He  reckons  twenty  thousand  knights,  two  hun- 

1  e.  g.  "  Les  Notres  passerent  au  fil  d'epde  ceux  qu'ils  purent  trouver, 
mettant  tout  a  feu  et  a  sang.  Pour  quoi  soit  en  toutes  choses  beni  le 
Seigneur  qui  nous  livre  quelques  impies,  bien  que  non  pas  tous!  "  —  Coll. 
des  M^moires,  p.  303. 

2  Peter  (who  dedicates  his  work  to  Innocent  III.)  seems  to  have  been  as 
ignorant,  as  cruel  and  fanatic.  His  notions  of  the  opinions  of  the  heretics 
ar?  a  strange  wild  jumble.  They  were  not  only  Manicheans,  denying  the 
Old  Testament,  and  Docetae:  they  held  the  most  horrible  doctrines  con- 
cerning John  the  Baptist,  "  one  of  the  worst  of  devils;"  and  our  Lord 
himself,  who  was  spiritually  in  the  person  of  Paul.  (Is  this  Paulicianism?) 
The  Good  God  had  two  wives,  Collent  and  Collebent,  by  whom  he  had  sons 
and  daughters.  Another  sect  said  "  God  had  two  sons,  Christ  and  the 
Devil  "  Peter's  history  is  in  Bouquet,  t.  xix.,  and  in  M.  Guizot's  Collec- 
tion of  Memoires,  t.  xv. 


Ciiai-.  VIII.  SIEGE  OF  BEZIERS.  187 

dred  thousand  common  soldiers,  not  reckoning  tho 
townsmen  and  the  clerks.1  The  chief  secular  leaders 
were  Eudes  Duke  of  Burgundy,  Heive*  Count  of  Ne- 
vers,  the  Count  of  St.  Pol,  and  Simon  de  Montfort 
Count  of  Leicester.  The  army  advanced  along  the 
Rhone,  joined  as  it  proceeded  by  the  vast  contingents 
of  the  Archbishop  of  Bordeaux  and  the  Bishop  of  Puy. 
At  Montpellier,  they  were  met  by  the  young  and  gal- 
lant Viscount  of  Beziers,2  who  having  urged  his  uncle 
Count  Raymond  to  resistance,  now  endeavored  to  avert 
the  storm  from  his  two  cities,  Beziers  andsiegeof 
Carcassonne.  B  ut  his  ruin  was  determined.  July  22, 1209 
The  army  appeared  before  Beziers,  which  in  the  strength 
of  its  walls  and  the  courage  of  its  inhabitants3  (the 
Catholics  made  common  cause  with  the  rest)  ventured 
on  bold  defiance.4  The  Bishop  Reginald  of  Mont- 
pellier demanded  the  surrender  of  all  whom  he  might 
designate  as  heretics.  On  their  refusal  of  these  terms, 
the  city  was  stormed.5     A  general  massacre  followed  ; 


1  "Dieu  ne  fit  jamais  latiniste  ou  clerc  si  lettre" —  qui  (de  tout  cela)  pfxt 
raconter  la  mentis-  ni  le  tiers  [of  their  crosses,  banners,  and  barded  horses] 
ou  £crire  les  noms  des  (seuls)  pretres  et  abbes."  The  Archbishop  of  Bour- 
ges  was  alone  prevented  from  serving  by  death.  —  Fauriel,  15. 

2  According  to  the  Troubadour,  the  Viscount  was  "  bon  Catholique;  je 
vous  donne  pour  garanti  maint  clerc  et  maint  chanoine  (mangeant)  en  r^- 
fectoire."  — p.  27. 

3  "  Der  Legat  ergrimmte  ob  solcher  Hartnackigkeit,  wohl  an  denn  rief  er, 
po  soil  auch  kein  Stein  auf  dem  andern,  kein  Leben  geschont  werden.1'  — 
Hurtev,  p.  309. 

4"Fortis  enim  et  nimium  locuples,  populosaque  valde  —  urbs  erat,  ar- 
matisque  viris  et  milite  multo  — freta."  —  Gul.  Brito. 

5  The  Troubadour  relates  a  singular  circumstance:  the  first  attack  was 
made  by  the  "  Roi  des  Ribauds,"  with  15,000  truands,  in  shirts  and  breeches, 
but  without  chaussures.  They  climbed  the  walls,  and  swarmed  in  the 
trenches.  They  got  all  the  plunder,  which  they  were  obliged  to  give  up  to 
the  Barons.  — p.  35.  AVas  tins  wild  route  a  common  part  of  a  crusading 
army?  —  See  the  Geste  of  Jerusalem,  where  the  Roi  des  Ribauds  plays  the 


188  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

neither  age  nor  sex  were  spared  ;  even  priests  fell  in 
the  remorseless  carnage.  Then  was  uttered  the  fright- 
ful command,  become  almost  a  proverb,  "  Slay  them 
all,  God  will  know  his  own."  In  the  church  of  St. 
Mary  Magdalene  were  killed  seven  thousand  by  the 
defences  of  the  sanctity  of  the  Church.  The  account 
of  the  slain  is  variously  estimated  from  twenty  thou- 
sand even  up  to  fifty  thousand.  The  city  was  set  on 
(ire,  even  the  Cathedral  perished  in  the  flames.1 

The  next  was  Carcassonne.  The  Viscount  of  Bez- 
of  carcas-  ierSi>  m  nis  despair,  had  thrown  himself  into 
sonne.  ^q  c^y  w^n  a  strong  body  of  troops.     The 

monk  relates  with  special  indignation  that  these  worst 
of  heretics  and  infidels  destroyed  the  refectory  and 
the  cellars  of  the  Canons  of  Carcassonne,  and  even 
(more  execrable  !)  the  stalls  of  their  church  to  strength- 
en their  defences.  Pedro  King  of  Arragon  appeared  as 
mediator  in  the  camp  of  the  Crusaders.  Carcassonne 
was  held  as  a  fief  of  the  King.  He  pleaded  the  youth 
of  the  Viscount ;  asserted  his  Catholic  belief,  his  aver- 
sion to  heresy :  it  was  not  his  fault  if  his  subjects  had 
fallen  away :  he  was  ready  to  submit  to  the  Legate.  The 
only  terms  they  would  offer  were,  that  he  might  retire 
with  twelve  knights ;  the  city  must  surrender  at  dis- 
cretion. The  proud  and  gallant  youth  declared  that 
nothing   should  induce  him  (he  had  rather  be  flayed 

same  part  in  the  taking  of  Antioch  and  Jerusalem.  —  Hist.  Lit.  de  la 
France,  t.  xxii.  p.  363-377. 

1  "  0  justissima  divinre  dispensations  mensural  Fllit  enim  capta  civitas 
saepe  dicta  in  festo  S.  MariiB  Magdalenre."  The  monk  howls  out  his  de- 
light at  this  judgment  of  God  on  account  of  a  tenet,  which  he  absurdly 
ascribes  to  the  heretics,  "  S.  Mariam  Magdalenam  fuisse  concubinam 
Christi."  The  Viscount  of  Beziers  had  left  the  town  (probably  to  defend 
Carcassonne);  as  did  the  Jews:  "  Les  Juifs  Tont  suivi  de  pres."  The  Jews 
had  no  vocation  to  wait  and  be  massacred 


Chap.  VIII.         DEATH   OF  VISCOUNT   BEZIERS.  189 

alive)  to  desert  the  least  of  his  subjects.1  The  first 
assaults,  though  on  one  occasion  the  bishops  and  abbots 
and  all  the  clergy  went  forth  chanting  "  Veni  Creator 
Spiritus,r'  2  on  another  were  lavish  in  their  promises  of 
absolution,3  ended  in  failure. 

Carcassonne,  if  equal  care  had  been  taken  to  provis- 
ion as  to  fortify  the  city,  might  have  resisted  for  a  year 
that  disorderly  host.  But  multitudes  from  all  quarters 
had  found  refuge  within  its  walls.  The  wells  began  to 
fail ;  infectious  diseases  broke  out.  Ere  eight  days  the 
Viscount  accepted  a  free  conduct  from  an  officer  of  the 
Legate :  he  hoped  to  obtain  moderate  terms  for  his 
subjects.  Most  of  the  troops  made  their  escape  by 
subterranean  passages,  and  the  defenceless  August  15. 
city  came  into  the  power  of  the  crusaders.4  The  peo- 
ple were  allowed  to  leave  the  town,  but  almost  naked  ;5 
they  were  pillaged  to  the  utmost.  But  the  Legate 
would  not  allow  his  soldiers,  under  pain  of  excommu- 
nication, to  share  the  plunder.  It  was  to  be  Death  of 
reserved  for  a  powerful  baron,  who  was  to  bST* 
rule  the  land  and  extirpate  the  heretics  for-  Nov- 10' 1209 
ever.    The  Viscount  had  given  himself  up  as  a  hostage  ;6 

1  "  Cela  (dit  alors  le  roi  entre  ses  dents)  se  fera  tout  aussitot  qu'un  ane 
volera  dans  le  ciel."  —  Fauriel,  p.  51. 

2  Peter  V.  C  xvi. 

3  "  Les  eVeques,  les  prieurs,  les  moines,  et  les  abb^s  .  .  .  s'en  vont  criant, 
vite  au  pardon  (croises)  que  faisez  vous?  "  — Fauriel,  p.  51. 

4  The  modern  historians  of  this  war  have  wrought  up  a  Walter  Scott 
scene  of  treachery,  on  slender  foundations.  —  Barron  et  Darragon,  Croi- 
sades  contre  les  Albigeois. 

5  "Egressi  sunt  ergo  omnes  nudi  de  civitate,  nihil  secum  prseter  peccatum 
portantes."  Peter  V.  C.  —  "  on  ne  leur  avait  pas  laisse-  en  sus  (chose)  qui 
valut  unbouton."  —  Fauriel,  p.  55. 

6  "  Et  chose  grandement  folle,  fit-il,  a  mon  avis."  This  historian  paints 
the.  treachery  of  the  Legate  very  darkly.  Vaissette  says  that  he  was 
seized  during  a  conference.  1  have  followed  the  account  least  unfavorable 
to  the  perfidious  Legate-Abbot. 


190  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  H«qk  IX. 

he  was  treated  as  a  prisoner,  cast  into  a  dungeon, 
where  he  died  in  a  few  months,  not  without  suspicion 
of  poison  administered  by  Simon  de  Montfort.  But 
a  broken  spirit  and  foul  dungeon  air  may  relieve  Simon 
from  a  charge  always  asserted,  rarely  to  be  proved  or 
disproved.  The  Viscount  died  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
four.1 

The  law  of  conquest  was  now  to  be  put  in  force. 
The  lands  of  a  heretic  were  as  the  lands  of  a  Saracen. 
The  question  was  to  which  of  the  orthodox  army 
should  be  assigned  the  first  fruits  of  the  victory.  The 
French  nobles,  the  Dukes  of  Burgundy,  the  Counts  of 
Nevers,  and  St.  Pol,  with  disdainful  indignation  refused 
the  reward  of  a  mercenary  :  they  had  land  enough  oc 
their  own ;  nor  would  they  set  the  perilous  example  ol 
setting  up  the  fiefs  of  France  to  the  hazard  of  the 
sword.  The  zeal  of  Simon  de  Montfort  was  not  so 
noble  nor  so  disinterested.2  He  was  invested,  on  the 
Pope's  authority,  with  all  the  lands  conquered  or  to  be 
conquered  during  the  Crusade.  This  was  of  fearful 
omen  to  Raymond  of  Toulouse.  Only  a  sovereign  of 
the  whole  land,  of  unimpeachable  devotion  to  the  Holy 
See,  of  indefatigable  activity,  dauntless  courage,  in- 
flexible resolution,  an  iron  heart,  could  subdue  the 
realm  to  ecclesiastical  obedience. 

The  submission  of  Raymond  had  been  complete ; 
it  might  be  suspected  of  insincerity,  it  assuredly  was 
compulsory  ;  yet  he  had  accepted  the  hard  terms,  had 
surrendered  his  castles,  had  undergone  the  basest  per- 


1  Innocent's  letter  has  miserabiUter  inierfectus.    This  was  the  accusation 
of  the  King  of  Arragon. 

2  Peter  ascribes  to  him  a  show  of  repugnance.     The  historian  briefly 
says  that  Simon,  "qui  le  desirait,  Ie  prit." 


Chap.  VIII.  TREACHERY  OF  THE  POPE.  Ill 

sonal  humiliation.1  The  Pope  had  even  expressed  his 
approbation,  and  welcomed  him  back  into  the  bosum 
of  the  Church.  Up  to  the  taking  of  Carcassonne,  it 
might  be  with  a  bleeding  heart,  he  had  remained  in  the 
Crusaders'  army.  He  had  even  attempted  to  concili- 
ate Simon  de  Montfort,  by  the  demand  of  De  Mont- 
fort's  daughter  in  marriage  for  his  son. 

But  Raymond  had  been  too  deeply  injured  to  be 
forgiven ;  and  nothing  less  than  the  whole  South  could 
fully  repay  the  zeal  and  valor  of  the  Crusaders.  The 
treachery  of  the  Count  rests  on  suspicion  ;  that  of  the 
Legate,  and  it  must  be  sadly  confessed,  of  the  Pope 
himself,  on  his  own  words.  Treachery  was  his  deliber- 
ate, avowed  design.  Innocent  had  enjoined,  and  now 
only  followed  out  his  policy  of  deceiving  Count  Ray- 
mond by  feigned  reconciliation,  so  to  separate  him  from 
the  rest,  of  the  Languedocian  nobles,  and  to  destroy 
them,  one  by  one,  with  the  greater  ease.  And  to  justi- 
fy this,  the  Vicar  of  Christ  abuses  the  words  of  an 
Apostle  of  Christ.2 

The  Legates  were  apt  disciples  of  their  master.     It 

1  Epist.  xii.  90.  The  monk  relates  this  story :  —  Two  heretics  were  con- 
demned to  be  burned.  One  offered  to  recant.  A  great  altercation  arose 
whether  he  was  to  be  spared.  The  Count  decided  that  he  should  be 
burned.  "  If  he  is  a  true  convert,  the  fire  will  be  an  expiation  for  his  sins. 
If  not,  it  will  be  a  just  penalty  for  his  sins."  The  man  was  saved  by  some- 
thing like  a  miracle.  —  c.  xxii.     Can  this  be  true? 

3  "  Quia  vero  a  nobis  sollicite  est  requisitum,  qualiter  procedendum  sit 
circa  comitatum  eundem  fideli  exercitui  (cruce)  signatorum,  quatenus  ad 
apostoli  dicentis, '  Cum  essevi  astutus,  dolo  vos  cejri,'  magisterium  recurrentes, 
cum  talis  dolus  prudentia  potius  sit  dicendus,  cum  eorundem  signatorum 
prudentioribus  opportuno  consilio,  divisos  ab  ecclesiaj  unitate  divisum  ca- 
pere  studentes,  dummodo  videritis  quod  ex  hoc  idem  comes  vel  aliis  minus 
assistere,  vel  per  se  ipsum  minus  debeat  insanire,  non  statim  incipientes  ab 
ipso,  sed  eo  primitus  <<rtt  prwhntis  dissimulationis  eluso,  ad  extirpandos 
alios  luereticos  transeatis."  — Epist.  232. 


192  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX 

was  easy  to  demand  impossible  tilings,  to  assume  the 
continued      breach  of  the  stipulations  on  which  the  Count 

persecution  •  i       l         1        •  i  i    •  i         n 

of  Kayinond.  had  received  absolution,  and  to  claim  the  for- 
feiture. The  Legates  seem  to  have  dreaded  the  in- 
fluence of  Raymond's  agents  at  Rome  ;  they  suspect- 
ed even  the  Pope  of  weak  lenity.  The  Count  had 
boasted  that  the  Emperor  Otho,  and  even  the  King  of 
France,  had  interceded  in  his  behalf.  Instead,  there- 
fore, of  immediately  renewing  the  excommunication 
and  the  interdict  on  account  of  fifteen  articles,  on 
which  they  charged  him  with  not  having  fulfilled  his 
promises,  they  allowed  him  a  certain  time  to  give  full 
satisfaction.  The  seven  castles  they  significantly  hint- 
ed, of  which  he  prayed  the  restitution,  were  strong 
enough  to  resist  any  attack,  and  had  already  escheated 
to  the  See  of  Rome.1 

Raymond  had  hardly  returned  to  Toulouse,  when  an 
embassy  arrived  from  the  Legate  Arnold  and  Simon  de 
Montfort,  demanding  the  instant  surrender  of  all  here- 
tics and  all  abettors  of  heresy  within  his  dominions  to 
the  ecclesiastical  power,  and  of  all  their  property  to  be 
at  the  disposal  of  the  Crusaders.  In  vain  it  was  plead- 
ed by  some  of  the  designated  fautors  of  heresy  that 
they  were  of  orthodox  belief,  and  had  been  already 
reconciled  to  the  Church  by  the  Legate  himself.  In 
vain  Count  Raymond  declared  that  he  appealed  to  the 
Pope.  At  Valence  the  excommunication  was  again 
Sept.  1209.  hurled  against  his  person,  the  interdict  laid 
on  his  dominions.  Raymond  seized  the  desperate  meas- 
ure of  going  himself  to  Rome,  and  throwing  himself 
on  the  justice,  he  might  fondly  hope  the  mercy,  of  the 

1  Compare  the  two  letters  of  Milo,  the  Legate,  to  the  Pope.  — xii.  106, 
107. 


Chap.  VIII.  RAYMOND  IN  ROME.  193 

Pope.  Innocent,  in  the  mean  time,  had  committed 
himself  to  a  triumphant  approbation  of  all  the  exploits 
of  the  Crusaders  ;  he  had  invested  Simon  de  Montfort 
in  the  conquered  territories,  and  exhorted  him,  for  the 
remission  of  his  sins,  as  he  had  extirpated,  so  to  keep 
his  new  realm  free  from  the  contagion  of  heresy.1 
Simon  de  Montfort  is  his  beloved  son,  the  acknowledged 
hero  of  the  Holy  War.2 

Raymond  visited  the  Court  of  France  before  he 
went  to  Rome.  His  reception  by  the  Pope  Raymond 
was  not  promising.  The  Pope,  by  one  ac-  m  Rome* 
count,  heaped  on  him  so  many  reproaches  as  almost  to 
reduce  him  to  despair.3  According  to  others,  he  was 
received  with  courtesy  by  the  Pope  and  by  the  Cardi- 
nals. Innocent  spoke  with  fairness  on  the  restitution 
of  the  seven  castles :  it  did  not  become  the  Church  of 
Rome  to  enrich  itself  with  such  spoils  :  the  right  of 
the  Count  was  by  no  means  annulled  by  the  cession. 
The  Pope  condescended  to  hear  the  confession  of  Count 
Raymond  ;  showed  him  the  Veronica,  and  allowed  him 
to  touch  the  holy  face  of  the  Lord ;  he  gave  him  abso- 
lution ;  bestowed  on  him  a  costly  mantle  and  a  precious 


1 "  In  remissionem  tibi  peccaminum  injungentes  quatenus  attendendo 
prudenter  quod  non  minor  est  virtus  quam  quserere,  parta  tueri."  —  Epist. 
xii.  123. 

2  The  Pope  wrote  to  the  Archbishops  of  Aries,  Besancon,  Vienne,  Aix, 
Narbonne,  Lyons,  and  others,  to  compel  by  ecclesiastical  censures  all  who 
h;td  lent  money  to  the  Crusaders,  especially  the  Jews  —  there  must  have 
been  more  than  censures  against  the  Jews  —  not  to  exact  interest  (it  passed 
under  the  odious  name  of  usury)  for  their  loans.  —  xii.  136. 

3  "  Quern  Dominus  Papa  tot  conviciis  lacessivit,  contumeliis  tot  confudit, 
quod  quasi  in  desperatione  positus,  quid  ageret,  ignorabat.  Ipsura  siqui- 
dem  dicebat  incredulum,  crucis  persecutorem,  fidei  inimicum,  et  vere  sic 
erat."  —  Petr.  V.  C  c.  33.  The  monk  may  have  given  to  the  Pope  some 
of  his  own  bitter  passion.  The  historian  says  Raymond  was  received  with 
honor. 

VOL..   v.  13 


194  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX 

ring  from  his  own  fingers.  The  harshness  would  per- 
haps he  hardly  less  Papal  than  these  specious  courtesies. 
From  Innocent's  words  and  acts,  it  is  clear  that  these 
outward  honors  were  cautiously,  jealously,  if  not  de- 
ceptively bestowed.  Notwithstanding  the  absolution, 
Count  Raymond  was  to  appear  in  three  months  before 
a  council  to  be  assembled  by  the  Legates,  to  purge 
himself  from  all  charge  of  countenancing  heretics, 
and  all  concern  in  the  murder  of  Peter  of  Castelnau. 
What  may  be  called  the  secret  instructions  to  the  Leg- 
ate (Milo  was  dead),  to  the  Abbot  Arnold,  recom- 
mended him  to  consult  on  all  points  the  Canon  Theo- 
disc,  who  was  alone  in  possession  of  his  real  sentiments. 
But  Theodisc  was  to  act  only  under  the  orders  of 
Arnold,  to  be  his  instrument  of  deception,  under  the 
bait  of  feigned  gentleness  to  conceal  the  iron  hook  of 
severity,  and  so  delude  again  the  devoted  Count.1  It 
was  Innocent's  object  not  to  goad  him  to  despair.  Ray- 
mond must  not  be  driven  to  head  the  strong  reaction 
which  had  already  begun  against  the  usurpation  and 
tyranny  of  De  Montfort.2 

The  success  of  the  Crusade  had  been  beyond  expec- 
progressof  tatioii ;  the  two  strong  cities,  Beziers  and 
crusade.  Carcassonne,  had  fallen  in  little  more  than 
two  months.  From  the  panic,  and  from  force,  five 
hundred  castles  and  towns  had  surrendered  or  yielded 

1  "  In  harao  sagacitatis  tuse  positus  quasi  esca,  ut  per  earn  piscem  capias 
fluctuantem,  cui  tanquam  saluberrimam  tuae  piscatationis  abhorrenti  doc- 
trinam  quodam  prudenti  mansuetudinis  artificio  severitatis  ferrum  neces- 
sarium  est  abscondi."  And  Innocent  again  makes  his  favorite  quotation: 
V  Cum  essem  astutus  dolo  vos  cepi." 

2  "  Veruntamen  cogitans  Dominus  Papa,  ne  in  desperationem  versus  ec- 
clesiam,  qua?  in  Narbonensi  provincia  erat,  impugnaret  acrius  et  manifes- 
tius  dictus  comes,  indixit  ei."  He  orders  him  to  clear  himself  of  the  crime 
of  heresy,  and  that  of  the  murder.  —  Petr.  V.  C.  c.  33 


Chap.  VIII.  PROGRESS  OF  CRUSADE.  1 95 

after  a  short  siege.1  The  Count  of  Toulouse,  the 
King  of  Arragon,  had  issued  decrees  against  the  here- 
tics. The  Count  of  Foix  (De  Montfort  had  entered 
Castres),  with  AIbi,  Pamiers,  Mirepois,  offered  terms. 
Simon  de  Montfort  had  now  a  kingdom.  But  on  the 
approach  of  winter,  far  the  larger  part  of  the  French 
barons,  bishops,  and  knights  returned  home  ;  De  Mont- 
fort remained  with  the  few  troops  whom  he  could  afford 
to  pay.  The  Pope,  indeed,  commanded  the  archbish- 
ops to  give  up  to  Simon,  for  the  maintenance  of  his 
army,  large  sums  which  the  heretics,  or  those  accused 
of  heresy,  had  deposited  in  their  hands  for  safe  custody. 
But  many  towns  had  already  raised  the  standard  of 
revolt ;  the  King  of  Arragon  resolutely  refused  his 
homage  for  the  parts  of  the  territory  which  were  his 
fiefs.  But  with  the  spring  new  crusaders  crowded 
around  De  Montfort's  banner,  the  Bishops  of  Chartres 
and  Beauvais.  Many  towns  and  castles,  Alyonne, 
Bram,  Alairac,  Ven talon,  Montreal,  Constassa,  Puy- 
vert,  Castres,  Lomberes,  fell.  Minerve,  a  siege  of 
fortress  of  great  strength  at  the  border  of  the  a.d.  1216. 
Cevennes,  on  a  high  rock  girded  by  deep  ravines,  made 
a  long  and  vigorous  resistance.  Provisions  failed  ;  the 
l)rd  of  the  castle  proposed  to  surrender.  Now  ap- 
peared the  darkening  atrocity  of  the  war.2     Even  De 

1  "  Captisque  fere  quingentis  turn  castellis,  quae  per  possessos  suos  diabo- 
lus  habitabat."  —  Petr.  V.  C. 

2  According  to  the  monk  of  Vaux  Cernay,  Gerald  de  Pepieux  had  be- 
trayed Simon  de  Montfort:  he  was  a  cruel  enemy  of  the  faith,  and  had 
barbarously  mutilated  some  of  his  soldiers.  —  c.  27.  Mutilation  became  a 
common  practice.  The  monk,  of  course,  lays  the  blame  of  commenting  it 
on  the  heretics,  for  Simon  was  the  gentlest  (mitissimus)  of  mankind.  —  c. 
34.  Montfort,  in  fact,  had  put  to  the  sword  the  garrisons  of  several  cas- 
tles belonging  to  Pepieux.  The  whole  gai-rison  of  Montlaur  wa.s  hanged. 
A  hundred  of  that  of  Bram  had  their  eyes  put  out*  one  eye  was  left  to  the 


196  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX 

Montfort  would  have  accepted  the  capitulation  ;  but  the 
fiercer  Cistercian  Abbot,  unwilling  that  the  enemies  of 
God  should  escape,  sought  even  fraudulent  means  of 
baffling  or  eluding  the  treaty.  De  Montfort  left  it  to 
the  decision  of  the  Abbot,  who  as  a  churchman  could 
not  openly  urge  the  rejection  of  pacific  terms.1  Arnold 
decided  that  of  the  heretics  all  believers  who  should  ab- 
solutely submit  to  the  mandates  of  the  Church,  should 
have  their  lives  spared :  even  the  Perfect,  of  whom 
there  were  multitudes,  might  escape  if  they  would 
recant.  A  fierce  knight,  Robert  de  Molesme,  the 
agent  of  De  Montfort  with  the  Pope,  protested  against 
this  ill-timed  leniency.  "  Fear  not,"  said  the  Abbot, 
"  few  will  there  be  whose  lives  will  be  spared."  Mi- 
nerve  surrendered.  The  cross  was  placed  on  the  keep 
of  the  castle,  the  banner  of  De  Montfort  waved  below 
it.  Arnold  was  right.2  The  Abbot  of  Vaux  Cernay 
preached  in  vain  to  the  heretics ;  the  women  were  more 
obstinate  than  the  men.  A  hundred  and  forty  of  the 
juiy  23.  Perfect  spared  their  persecutors  the  trouble 
of  casting  them  on  the  vast  pile;  they  rushed  headlong 
of  their  own  accord  into  the  flames. 

The  castle  of  Termes  was  of  still  greater  strength  ; 
OfTermes.      it  might  defy  with  a  prudent  and  resolute 

captain,  in  order  to  conduct  his  soldiers  to  Cabaret.  —  Vaissette,  iii.  p.  191. 
A  priest,  who  had  revolted  from  De  Montfort,  was  taken  to  Carcassonne, 
degraded,  dragged  at  the  tail  of  a  horse  through  the  town,  then  hanged. 

1  Histoire  de  la  Guerre,  Petr.  V.  C.  I  quote  the  French:  "A  ces  paroles 
1'Abbe  fut  grandement  marri  pour  le  desir  qu'il  avait  que  les  ennemis  du 
Christ  fussent  mis  a  mort,  et  n'osant  cependant  les  y  condamner  vu  qu'il 
<§tait  moine  et  pretre." —  In  Collection  des  Mt'moires. 

2  Petr.  V.  C.  c.  36,  37.  Miracles  followed  the  capture  of  Minerve,  "  et 
ils  brulaient  maint  felon  d'hdretique  (fils)  de  pute  chienne,  et  mainte  folle 
m^creante,  qui  brait  dans  le  feu."  Such  is  the  brief  merciless  account  of 
the  Troubadour,  p.  79.     Compare  the  Histoire,  c.  xviii. 


Chap.  VIII.    COUNT   OF  TOULOUSE  FURTHER  ABASED.     197 

commander  (an  obstinate  heretic)  any  attack.  The 
siege  lasted  four  months  ;  the  Bishops  of  Beauvais  and 
Chartres,  as  well  as  the  Count  Robert  and  the  Count 
of  Poitou,  retired  in  despair.1  The  great  engineer,  the 
Archdeacon  of  Paris,  adhered  to  the  army  to  the  last. 
The  garrison  broke  away  at  length  through  subterra- 
nean passages.  The  Governor  was  taken,  Nov.  23, 1210. 
and  shut  up  in  a  dungeon  for  life  ;  the  town  given  up 
to  plunder;  the  heretics  burned;  their  shrieks  were 
mocked  by  their  persecutors.2 

The  Count  of  Toulouse  now  urged  the  fulfilment 
of  the  Pope's  decree.  He  offered  to  appear  before  a 
Council  to  justify  himself  concerning  the  charges  on 
which  he  was  arraigned.  But  the  crafty  churchmen, 
the  Genoese  Canon  Theodisc  (the  depositor  of  the 
Pope's  secret  views),  and  the  Abbot  Arnold  (with 
whom  was  now  joined  the  Bishop  of  Riez)  had  other 
intentions.  They  contrived  delays  ;  they  made  demands, 
and  insisted  that  such  demands  should  be  Sept.  1210. 
rigidly  accomplished   before   they  would  ad-  mauds  on 

7  ,  .  o         A  M  Count  Ray- 

mit  him  to  compurgation.^     A  council  was  tWa. 

at  length  held  at  St.   Gilles.     When  the  Count  found 

1  The  French  knights  were  so  disposed  to  gain  the  advantages  of  Indul- 
gences on  the  easiest  terms,  that  the  Legate  was  obliged  to  order  that  no 
one  should  receive  an  Indulgence  without  forty  days'  service.  Petr.  V.  C 
c.  43. 

2  In  this  fearful  civil  war  the  Bishop  of  Carcassonne  was  among  the  Cru- 
saders. His  brother,  William  of  Rochfort,  as  the  monk  says,  one  of  the 
worst  and  most  cruel  enemies  of  the  Church,  was  with  Raymond,  who 
commanded  in  Termes. 

8  "  Cum  intrasset  magister  Theodiscus  Tholosam,  habuit  secretum  collo- 
quium cum  Abbate  Cisterciensi  super  admittenda  purgatione  Comitis 
Tholosani.  Magister  vero  Theodiscus,  utpote  circumspectus  et  providns, 
ad  hoc  omnimodis  aspirabat,  ut  possit  de  jure  repellere  ab  indicanda  ei  pur- 
gatione comitem  memoratum."  They  charitably  averred  "  facillime,  immo 
lubentissime,  per  se  et  suos  complices  pejeraret."  —  c.  39. 


198  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

his  adversaries  so  utterly  implacable,  he  was  moved,  it 
is  said,  to  tears.  The  stony-hearted  churchman  scoffed 
in  Scriptural  language  at  his  hypocritical  weeping.1 
He  left  St.  Gilles  burdened  with  a  new  anathenr . 
Another  conference  at  Narbonne  was  equally  withoi  t 
effect,  and  still  another  at  Montpellier.  At  length,  at 
a  council  in  Aries,  the  Legates  boldly  threw  off  all 
concealment  of  their  inflexible  hatred.  They  sum- 
moned the  Count  before  their  tribunal,  and  haughtily 
commanded  him  not  to  leave  the  city  without  their  per- 
peb.  1212  mission.2  Their  terms  were  these  :  I;  That 
Count  Raymond  should  lay  down  his  arms,  dismiss  his 
troops,  not  retaining  a  single  follower.  II.  That  he 
should  be  obedient  to  the  Church,  pay  all  the  expenses 
which  they  might  charge  on  him,  and  during  his  whole 
life  submit  himself  without  contradiction.  III.  In  the 
whole  kingdom  no  one  should  eat  of  more  than  two 
kinds  of  meat.  IV.  That  he  should  expel  all  heretics 
and  their  abettors  from  his  dominions.  V.  That  before 
the  end  of  the  year  he  should  deliver  up  to  the  Legate 
and  to  Count  de  Montfort  every  person  whom  they 
might  demand,  to  be  dealt  with  according  to  their  ar- 
bitrament. VI.  No  one  in  his  dominions,  either  noble 
or  serf,  was  to  wear  costly  garments,  only  dark  and 
coarse  mantles.      VII.  He  was  to   raze  all  fortresses 

1  "  In  dil'uvio  aquarum  multarum  ad  Deum  non  approximates. M  So  the 
Vulgate.  Our  version  is,  "  Surely  in  the  floods  of  great  waters  they  shall 
not  come  nigh  him."  Ps.  xxxii.  6.  The  canon  spake  thus:  "  Sciens  quod 
laervmre  illae  non  erant  lacrymae  devotionis  et  pcenitentiae  sed  nequitite  e' 
doloris  —  doli?"  —  Ibid. 

2  The  Legates  were  greatly  offended  that  Count  Raymond  had  left  Mont- 
pellier abruptly,  without  even  the  courtesy  of  taking  leave.  He  had  seen 
an  evil  omen  (says  the  monk),  the  St.  Mark's  bird.  "Ipse  enim  more 
S/iracenorum  in  volatu  et  cantu  avium  et  caeteris  auguriis  spem  babebat." 
-  Petr.  V.  C 


Chap.  VIII.        DEMANDS  ON  COUNT  RAYMOND.  199 

and  castles  in  his  dominions.  VIII.  No  one  of  his 
men,  unless  a  noble,  was  to  live  within  any  walled 
town.  IX.  No  taxes  to  be  levied  in  the  land,  except 
the  ancient  and  statutable  payments.  X.  Every  head 
of  a  family  was  to  pay  yearly  fourpence  to  the  Legate, 
to  be  collected  by  the  Legate's  agents.  XI.  All  tithe 
to  be  restored  to  the  Church,  and  all  arrears  of  tithe. 
XII.  When  the  Legate  travelled  through  the  land,  he 
was  to  be  entertained  without  cost:  his  meanest  fol- 
lower was  not  to  pay  for  anything.  XIII.  When  he 
had  executed  all  these  conditions,  Count  Raymond  was 
to  set  out  on  a  crusade  against  the  infidel  Turks,  and 
not  return  without  permission  of  the  Legate.  XIV. 
All  these  terms  duly  fulfilled,  his  lands  would  be  re- 
stored to  him  by  the  Legate  and  the  Count  de  Mont- 
fort.1 

These  terms  were  dictated,  it  was  thought,  by  the 
Count's  irreconcilable  enemy,  the  Bishop  of  Toulouse. 
The  King  of  Arragon  was  in  Aries.  He  had  been 
jealously  watching  the  course  of  events.2  At  Mont- 
pellier  he  had  reluctantly  received  the  homage  of  Simon 
de  Montfort  for  Carcassonne.  At  the  same  time  he 
had  strengthened  his  connection  with  the  House  of 
Toulouse  by  the  marriage  of  his  daughter  Sancha  with 
the  young  Count  Raymond.  At  these  extravagant  de- 
mands, Raymond  broke  out  into  bitter  laughter.  "  You 
are  well  paid,"  said  the  King  of  Arragon.  The  ban 
of  excommunication  was  again  pronounced,  with  more 
than  usual  solemnity. 

Raymond  hastened  to  Toulouse ;  he  summoned  the 

1  Histoire  de  la  Guerre,  xx.    Vaissette,  iii.  note  xvi.     Chronique9  apnd 
Bouquet,  p.  136. 
a  Compare  the  long  and  striking  account  of  the  Troubadour,  p.  99. 


200  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

Council  of  the  city.  The  Toulousans  declared  that  they 
would  submit  to  the  worst  extremity  rather  than  ac- 
cept such  shameful  conditions.  There  was  the  same 
enthusiasm  throughout  his  dominions.  "  They  would 
all  die.  They  would  eat  their  own  children  ere  they 
would  abandon  their  injured  sovereign.''  l 

War  was  now  declared,  but  war  on  what  unequal 
Raymond  terms !  Here  stood  De  Montfort,  the  re- 
arms, sistless  conqueror,  the  absolute  model  of  a 
crusading  chieftain ;  of  noble  birth,  Lord  of  Amauri 
in  France,  of  Evreux  in  Normandy,  Count  of  Leices- 
ter in  England.  We  have  seen  De  Montfort  stand 
majestically  alone  in  the  army  before  Zara,  the  one 
knight  loyal  to  the  Pope.  Faithful  to  the  cause  of  the 
Cross,  he  was  unsurpassed  in  valor  as  in  military  skill ; 
beloved  by  his  army,  and  not  alone  from  their  perfect 
reliance  on  his  unbroken  success  ;  his  soldierlike  gen- 
tleness to  the  true  servants  of  Christ  vied  with  his  re- 
morseless hatred  of  the  unbeliever.  Which  of  these 
virtues  did  not  secure  him  the  most  profound  adoration 
from  the  hierarchy  of  which  he  was  the  champion  ?  A 
holy  monk  of  the  Abbot  Arnold's  own  Cistercian 
house  was  interrupted,  it  was  told,  in  his  prayers  for 
the  Count  of  Leicester  by  a  voice  from  Heaven : 
"  Why  pray  for  him  ?  for  him  so  many  pray  inces- 
santly, there  is  no  need  for  thy  orisons."  And  now 
De  Montfort's  three  ruling  passions  —  religion,  ambi- 
tion, interest,  conspired  to  his  grandeur.  On  the  other 
hand,  was  the  irresolute  Count  Raymond,  only  goaded 

1  "Les  homines  du  pays,  chevaliers  et  bourgeois,  quand  ils  entendirent 
la  charte  qui  leur  fut  lue  .  .  .  dirent  qu'ils  airaaient  mieux  etre  tous  tuea 
ou  pris,  que  de  souffrir,  ou  de  faire  rien  au  monde  (une  chose)  qui  ferait 
d'eux  tous  des  serfs,  des  vilains,  ou  des  paysans."  —  Fauriel,  102. 


Chap.  VIII.  BISHOP  OF  TOULOUSE.  201 

into  valor  by  intolerable  fraud  and  wrong ;  who  with- 
out bigotry  had  betrayed  and  persecuted  the  religion  of 
his  subjects  ;  now  debased  by  the  most  miserable  hu- 
miliation ;  without  military  skill,  with  no  fame  for 
prowess  in  battle;  mistrusted  by  all,  as  mistrusting 
himself. 

Yet  the  war  has  in  some  degree  changed  its  charac- 
ter :  it  has  still  all  the  blackening  ferocity  of  a  re- 
ligious war;  but  it  is  also  the  revolt  of  a  high-spirited 
nation  against  a  foreign  invader ;  a  noble  determination 
to  cast  off  a  cruel  and  usurping  tyranny.  The  Trou- 
badour, the  poet  of  the  war,  for  above  three  thousand 
verses  has  dwelt  on  the  glory  of  the  temporal  and 
spiritual  champions  of  the  faith,  Simon  de  Montfort 
and  the  Bishop  Fulk  of  Toulouse.  He  has  revelled  in 
the  sufferings  of  the  heretics,  mocked  the  shrieks  of  the 
burning  women.1  There  is  a  sudden  change.  The 
Crusade  is  now  a  work  of  savage  iniquity,  outraging 
humanity  and  religion  ;  Count  Raymond  is  the  noblest, 
most  injured  of  men.  But  the  high  Provengal  pa- 
triotism of  the  Troubadour  is  only  the  love  of  his 
country,  attachment  to  the  ancient  house  of  the  Counts 
of  Toulouse  :  he  has  no  sympathy  for  heretic  or  Albi- 
gensian. 

In  Toulouse  the  Count  and  the  Bishop  could  not  but 
come  into  collision.  There  was  civil  war  in  Biahop  of 
the  city.  The  Count  had  foolishly  yielded  Toulouse- 
up  the  strong  citadel,  "  The  Narbonnaise."  In  the 
city  the  zealous  Catholics  prevailed.  The  Bishop  or- 
ganized a  strong  confraternity  to  root  out  with  armed 
force  the  heretics,  usurers,  and  Jews.     They  attacked, 

1  "Mainte  folle  he^tique  beugle  dans  le  feu."     This  is  of  the  females 
ourned  at  Mireux.  —  Compare  Fauriel's  preface. 


202  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY,  Book  IX 

and  in  their  religious  zeal,  pillaged  and  demolished 
houses.  The  borough,  on  the  other  side,  was  inhabited 
by  the  nobles.  There  the  heretics  had  the  chief  power. 
Against  the  White  Brethren  of  the  Bishop  were  ar- 
rayed the  Black  Brethren  of  the  citizens.  The  Bishop 
refused  to  celebrate,  to  permit  the  celebration,  of  any- 
divine  office,  so  long  as  the  city  was  infected  by  the 
presence  of  an  excommunicated  person.  He  had  the 
modesty  to  request  the  Count  to  retire,  on  the  pretence 
of  an  excursion,  in  order  that  he  might  perform  at 
least  one  uncontaminated  and  undisturbed  function.1 
The  Count  sent  word  by  some  of  his  soldiers  that  the 
Bishop  himself  must  leave  the  city.  "  I  was  not  elected 
to  my  see  by  a  temporal  prince,  but  by  ecclesiastical 
authority.  Let  him  come  if  he  dare ;  I  will  encounter 
his  sword  with  the  holy  chalice."  Yet  the  Bishop 
thought  himself  more  safe  in  the  camp  of  De  Montfort, 
now  engaged  in  the  siege  of  Lavaur.2 

Lavaur  belonged  to  Roger  Bernard,  Count  of  Foix, 
Siege  of  °f  a^  tne  Provengal  princes  the  most  power- 
Lavaur'  fill  and  most  detested  by  the  Church,  as,  if 
not  a  heretic,  a  favorer  of  heretics.  In  this  case  the 
charge  was  an  honor  rather  than  a  calumny.  The 
Count  of  Foix  is  claimed  by  the  Waldensians,  if  not 
as  one  of  themselves,  as  having  encouraged  his  son  in 
freedom  of  faith.3      A  man  of  profound  religion,   the 

1  The  Bishop,  says  the  Trouhadour,  had  been  established  "  pour  Seigneur 
dans  la  ville,  avec  grande  solemnity,  comme  un  empereur."  —  p.  103. 

2  Petr.  V.  C.  c.  51. 

8  According  to  the  life  of  Roger  Bernard,  son  of  the  Count  by  Holagarai, 
quoted  in  Perrin,  Histoire  des  Chretiens  Albigens  (Geneve,  1615),  p.  140, 
the  Count  of  Foix,  on  his  submission  in  1222,  answered  the  Legate  — 
"  Certes  je  vous  dirai  que  je  n'ai  jamais  desire-  que  de  maintenir  ma  lib- 
erty car  je  suis  dans  le  maillot  de  franchise.  .  .  .  Pour  le  Pape,  je  ne  l'ai 
point  ofl'ensi' :  car  il  in-  m'a  rieri  demand  connre  Prince  que  je  ne  lui  aye 


Chap.  VIII.  SIEGE  OF  LAVAUR.  203 

Count  of  Foix  had  been  the  first  to  raise  the  native 
standard  against  De  Montfort ;  he  was  a  knight  of 
valor  as  of  Christian  faith.  Before  Lavaur,  the  be- 
sieging engines  were  surmounted  with  a  cross ;  and  it 
was  held  sacrilegious  impiety,  when  the  besieged,  hav- 
ing battered  down  one  limb  of  the  cross,  presumed  to 
scoff.  One  day  the  besiegers  attempted  to  storm  the 
city  ;  the  engines  were  driven  to  the  walls,  the  besieged 
hurled  burning  wood  and  fat  upon  them  ;  amid  all  this 
horrible  tumult,  the  Bishops  and  the  Legates,  as  before, 
stood  chanting,  "  Come  Holy  Ghost !  "  At  the  fall  of 
Lavaur  Simon  had  been  irritated  by  the  surprise  of  a 
detachment  of  five  thousand  German  crusaders,  who 
had  been  cut  to  pieces  by  the  Count  de  Foix.  The 
barbarity  at  Lavaur  passed  all  precedent  even  in  this 
fearful  war.  A  general  massacre  was  permitted  ;  men, 
women,  children  were  cut  to  pieces,  till  there  remained 
nothing  to  kill  except  some  of  the  garrison  and  others 
reserved  for  a  more  cruel  fate.  Four  hundred  were 
burned  in  one  great  pile,  which  made  a  wonderful 
blaze,  and  caused  universal  rejoicing  in  the  camp.1 
Aymeric  of  Montreal,  the  commander,  was  brought 
with  eighty  nobles  (Lavaur  seems  to  have  been  thought 
a  safe  place  of  refuge)  before  De  Montfort.  He  or- 
dered them  all  to  be  hanged ; 2  the  overloaded  gibbets 
broke  down  ;  they  were  hewn  in  pieces.  Giralda,  the 
Lady  of  Lavaur,  was  thrown  into  a  well,  and  May  6, 1211. 

ob£i.  II  ne  se  doit  mesler  de  ma  religion,  veu  qu'un  chacun  la  doit  avoir 
libre.  Mon  phve  w'a  recommande  ioujours  ceste  liberty  afin  qu'etant  en 
cette  posture,  quand  le  ciel  crouleroit  je  le  puisse  regarderd'un  ceil  ferme 
et  assure,  estimant  qu'il  ne  me  pourrait  faire  de  mal,"  &c.  I  owe  this  cita- 
tion to  Gieseler,  p.  592. 

1  "Les  envoyant  ainsi  bruler  d'un  feu  kernel.1'  —  Gestes  Glorieuses  in 
Guizot,  Coll.  des  M^moires. 

2  "Jamais  (says  the  poet)  dans  la  Chr^tiente   si  haut  baron   ne  fut  je 
rrois  pendu,  -ivec  tant  d'autres  eh^valiprs  a  ses  cotes. "  — p.  113. 


204  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Boor  LX. 

huge  stones  rolled  down  upon  her.  She  was  pregnant : 
her  merciless  enemy  would  not  even  spare  her  fame ; 
they  reported  that  she  accused  herself  of  the  most  re- 
volting incest.1  The  Troubadour,  on  the  other  hand, 
praises  her  virtue,  her  chastity :  "  no  poor  man  ever 
left  her  without  being  fed."  Soon  after,  Simon  de 
Montfort  surprised  a  camp  of  Count  Raymond.  The 
Bishops  preached  in  vain  to  five  hundred  heretics,  but 
converted  not  one ;  sixty,  however,  they  burned  witli 
great  joy.2  From  Lavaur  De  Montfort  advanced  to 
the  siege  of  Toulouse.  The  Bishop  was  in  his  camp. 
At  the  Bishop's  command,  all  the  clergy,  barefooted, 
and  bearing  the  host,  marched  out  of  the  city ;  they 
were  followed  by  five  hundred  of  the  White  Brethren. 
But  want  of  supplies,  and  the  bold  sallies  of  the  gar- 
rison, forced  him  to  break  up  the  siege  ;  he  revenged 
June  27, 1211.  himself  by  wasting  the  gardens,  vineyards, 
and  meadows.  At  the  end  of  the  year,  when  the  cru- 
saders returned  home,  De  Montfort  himself  was  be- 
sieged in  Castel  Naudery :  he  revenged  himself  by  a 
terrible  defeat  of  the  Count  de  Foix. 

During  the  close  of  the  year  and  the  following  one, 
the  war  raged,  still  to  the  advantage  of  De  Montfort. 
The  Archbishops  of  Rheims,  Rouen,  the  Bishops  of 
Paris,  Laon,  Toul  were  with  him.  At  one  time  even 
Innocent,  moved  perhaps  by  the  murmurs  of  Philip 
Augustus  who  began  to  be  jealous  of  the  growing 
power  of  De  Montfort,  seemed  to  waver  into  justice.3 
He   commanded  the   restitution  of  the   lands   of  the 

i  "  De  fratre  et  filio  se  concepisse  dixit."  —  Chron.  Turon.  apud  Fauriel, 
p.  113. 

2  The  Toulousans  did  not  wage  the  war  with  less  ferocity:  at  the  taking 
of  Pajols,  sixty  knights  were  slain  or  hung. 

8  Petr.  V.  C.  70.  The  Pope  was  nimis  credulus  falsis  suggestionibua 
dicti  regis  (of  France);  afterwards  he  acted,  re  melius  cognita. 


Chap.  VIII.     DE  MONTFORT  SOVEREIGN  PRINCE.  205 

Counts  of  Foix  and  Comminges,  and  of  Gaston  de 
Beam.  He  suspended  his  indulgences  to  the  Crusa- 
ders. But  he  soon  revoked  again  his  own  concessions, 
returned  to  his  haughty  and  hostile  tone,  ordered  the 
whole  people  to  be  raised  by  the  offer  of  indulgences 
against  the  men  of  Toulouse  and  their  allies.  Nov  121L 
At  a  great  parliament  at  Pamiers,  De  Mont-  K^J*4 
fort  appeared  as  a  Sovereign  Prince  ;  already  Pnnce- 
the  estates  of  the  Languedocian  nobles  were  awarded 
to  the  northern  conquerors.  It  was  enacted  that  noble 
women,  heiresses  of  free  fiefs,  should  only  marry  the 
nobles  of  France,  those  who  spoke  the  langue  d'oil. 
To  win  popularity  against  the  nobles,  the  peasants  and 
serfs  were  declared  exempt  from  arbitrary  payments. 
The  churchmen  must  not  be  without  their  share  of  the 
spoil.  The  Legate  Arnold  obtained  the  Archbishopric 
of  Narbonne.  The  successor  of  Stephen  Harding  and 
St.  Bernard  was  not  content  with  the  metropolitan  dig- 
nity ;  he  assumed  the  proud  feudal  title,  involving  great 
secular  rights,  of  Duke  of  Narbonne.  The  Abbot  of 
Vaux  Cernay  had  the  Bishopric  of  Carcassonne  ;  other 
Cistercian  monks  received  wealthy  benefices.  The 
Archbishop  of  Auch,  the  Bishop  of  Beziers  were  de- 
posed ; 1  the  engineer,  the  Archdeacon  of  Paris,  de- 
clined the  Bishopric  of  Beziers. 

Count  Raymond,  before  the  close  of  the  year,  had 
lost  all  but  Toulouse  and  Montauban  ;  he  fled  to  the 
King  of  Arragon  ;  the  gallant  Spaniard  declared  that 
he  would  support  his  cause  (he  was  connected  by  a 
double  tie)  against  the  wicked  race  who  would  despoil 

1  The  Archbishop  of  Auch,  Bernard  de  la  Barthe  (a  Troubadour  poet), 
resisted  his  degradation  till  1214 :  he  still  boldly  adhered  to  the  side  of 
Raymond. 


200  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 


him  of  his  heritage.1  The  Consuls  of  Toulouse  ad- 
dressed a  supplication  likewise  to  the  King  against 
their  Bishop  and  against  the  Legate.  They  declared 
that  they  always  gave  proofs  of  their  orthodoxy  against 
convicted  heretics  ;  they  had  burned  many,  were  ready 
to  burn  more.2  They  accused  the  Legate  and  the 
Bishop  of  excommunicating  them,  because  they  em- 
ployed routiers  (the  soldiers  of  fortune)  whom  them- 
selves did  not  scruple  to  buy  off  by  higher  pay,  though 
guilty  of  the  worst  and  most  sacrilegious  crimes.  The 
very  soldiers  who  had  murdered  certain  priests  (on  this 
the  monk  of  Vanx  Cernay  dwells,  as  the  great  crime 
of  the  Tonlousans)  had  been  enlisted  among  his  own 
troops  by  the  Legate. 

The  King  of  Arragon,  before  he  engaged  in  the  war, 
King  of  made  an  appeal  to  the  Pope.  Innocent  was 
Anagon.  again  shaken,  and  began  to  have  some  mis- 
trust in  the  representations  of  his  Legates.  He  had 
set  in  motion  a  terrible  engine,  he  could  not  arrest  or 
regulate  its  movements.  The  Pope  wrote  to  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Narbonne  (the  Abbot  Arnold)  and  to  Simon 
de  Montfort,  recounting  the  charges  made  against  them. 
"  They  had  not  only  invaded  lands  infected  with  her- 
esy, but  stretched  out  their  rapacious  hands  to  seize 
those  of  Catholics  ; 3  while  the  King  of  Arragon  was 
engaged  against  the  Saracens,  they  had  infringed  on  his 
rights,  waged  war  on  his  vassals,  and  occupied  his  terri 

1  "  II  est  mon  beau  frere,  dit-il,  il  a  Spouse  une  de  mes  soeurs,  et  Tautre 
je  l'ai  donnee  pour  femme  a  son  fils.  J'irai  done  les  secourir  contre  cette 
ineY'fcante  race,  qui  vent  leuT  enlever  leur  lic'ritage."  — Fauriel,  p.  1!)9. 

2  u  Unde  multos  combussimus,  et  adhuc  cum  invenimus,  idem  facere  non 
cessatnus."  — See  the  petition  in  Bouquet,  p.  206. 

8  "  Ad  illas  nihilominus  terras,  qua;  super  hajresi  nulla  notabantur  iu« 
famia  manus  avidas  extendistis."  —  Epist.  xv.  212. 


Uhai  .  VI11.  KING  OF  ARRAGON.  207 

tories.  Count  Raymond  had  offered  to  surrender  all 
his  dominions  to  his  son,  against  whom  was  no  eharge 
or  suspicion  of  heresy.  Raymond  should  be  admitted 
(the  Pope  now  urged,  or  had  before  urged)  to  compur- 
gation." Simon  de  Montfort  was  accused  of  wantonly 
shedding  Catholic  blood,  under  the  pretence  of  extir- 
pating heresy ; 1  he  was  commanded  to  restore  the 
territories  which  he  had  unjustly  usurped,  to  the  King 
of  Arragon.  But  even  the  all-powerful  Innocent  was 
powerless  in  the  cause  of  justice  and  humanity :  his 
compunctious  visitings  of  mercy  found  no  hearing  even 
among  the  churchmen  of  the  Crusade.  The  Council 
of  Lavaur,  attended  by  two  archbishops  as  Legates, 
and  by  a  great  number  of  prelates,  with  one  voice,  de- 
termined to  come  to  no  terms  with  the  u  tyrant  and 
heretic  of  Toulouse."  If  his  dominions  were  restored 
to  him  heresy  must  triumph.  All  the  representations 
of  the  Kino;  of  Arragon  in  favor  of  the  Counts  of 
Toulouse,  of  Foix,  and  Comminges,  and  of  Gaston  de 
Beam,  were  contemptuously  rejected.  Their  letters 
were  absolutely  furious  — "  Arm  yourself,  my  Lord 
Pope,  with  the  zeal  of  Phineas ;  annihilate  Toulouse, 
that  Sodom,  that  Gomorrah,  with  all  the  wretches  it 
contains  ;  let  not  the  tyrant,  the  heretic  Raymond,  nor 
even  his  young  son,  lift  up  his  head  ;  already  more  than 
half  crushed,  crush  them  to  the  very  utmost."     Inno- 

1  "  Quod  tu  converters  in  Catholicos  manus  tuas,  quibus  suffecisse  debu- 
erat  in  homines  hoereticae  pravitatis  extendi  per  crucesignatorum  exercitum 
ad  effusionem  justi  sanguinis  et  innocentium  injuriam  provocasti." —  Epist. 
xv.  213.  Simon  is  impaled  on  the  horns  of  a  pontifical  dilemma.  Either 
the  inhabitants  were  Catholics  or  heretics:  if  Catholics,  he  had  no  right  to 
invade  their  lands;  if  heretics,  he  ought  not  to  let  them  live  peaceably  un- 
der his  dominion. 


208  LATIN   CHKISTIANITY.  Book  LX. 

cent  was  once  more  on  their  side  ;  he  threatened  the 
Kino;  of  Arragon  with  a  new  Crusade.1 

The  great  victory  of  Muret,  in  which  Simon  de 
Battle  of        Montfort  with  very  inferior  forces   (he  had 

Muret. 

Sept.  12, 1213.  at  most  about  1000  men-at-arms,  about  400 
squires)  totally  defeated,  with  the  loss  of  one  knight 
and  a  few  common  soldiers,  the  combined  forces  of  the 
King  of  Arragon  and  the  Count  of  Toulouse,  seemed 
to  decide  forever  the  fate  of  the  devoted  land.2  Pedro 
of  Arragon,  the  victor  of  Navas  de  Tolosa,  was  slain  ; 
his  infant  son,  afterwards  James  I.,  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  conqueror  at  Carcassonne.  The  Counts  of  Tou- 
louse, the  father  and  son,  fled. 

The  Pope,  on  the  occasion  of  his  sending  a  new 
April  is  Legate,  the  Cardinal  Deacon,  Peter  of  Bene- 
l'm'  vento,  Cardinal  of  St.   Mary  in  Aquirre,  in 

strange  apocalyptic  language  celebrates  this  triumph,3 
"  The  Red  Horse  (the  Count  of  Toulouse)  and  his 
soldiers,  conjoined  with  the  Black  Horse  of  heresy, 
had  been  discomfited.     The  sign  which  Innocent  had 

1  Epist.  xvi.  28,  40.  Hurter,  with  whom  all  Innocent's  acts  must  be 
saintly,  is  obliged  to  take  refuge  in  the  imperfect  information  of  the  Pope, 
and  the  abuse  of  his  confidence  by  his  agents:  an  excuse  for  a  weak  pon- 
tiff, but  not  for  one  whose  sagacity  and  penetration  are  so  highly  colored 
by  Hurter  himself.  "  Wenn  wahrend  dieses  Krieges  manches  sich  ereignete 
was  mit  Betriibniss  erfullen  muss,  oder  wenn  derselbe  in  Raum  und  Zeit 
weiter  sich  erforderte,  als  die  Erreichung  des  Zwecks,  wozu  er  unternom- 
men  worden,  so  fallt  hiervon  keine  Schuld  auf  Innocenz,  der  nicht  iiberau 
sehen,  in  vielem  auf  Berichte  von  Mfinnern  sich  verlassen  musste,  die 
seinen  Vertrauen  zu  ihnen  nicht  immermehr  so  ehrten,  wie  es  dem  Besten 
der  Kirche  wiinschbar  war."     Vorrede  —  p.  vi.  Gestes  Glorieuses. 

2  Guizot,  xv.  343.  While  the  battle  was  going  on,  the  whole  clergy, 
bishops,  abbots,  continued  chanting,  so  that  they  seemed  "  plutot  hurler 
que  prier."  They  chose  the  day  of  battle,  that  of  the  elevation  of  the 
cross.  —  Puy  Laurent. 

a  Epist.  xvi.  167,  dated  Jan.  17,  1214. 


Chap  VIII.  TERMS   OF  SUBMISSION.  209 

raised  on  the  dark  mountain  had  gathered  the  valiant 
and  the  holy  of  the  Lord  to  his  aid.  They  had  tram- 
pled down  the  pride  of  the  Chaldeans."  The  new 
Legate  received  the  submission  of  the  conquered 
princes,  the  Counts  of  Foix  and  Comminges  and 
Rousillon,  and  the  Viscount  of  Narbonne.  They 
were  sworn  to  renounce  all  heresy,  all  protection,  all 
connivance  with  heretics  ;  to  surrender,  if  required, 
all  their  principal  fortresses  to  the  Church  of  Rome 
and  her  Legate,  to  give  no  succor  to  the  city  of  Tou- 
louse. If  they  fulfilled  not  these  conditions,  their 
castles  escheated  to  the  Pope  ;  they  were  excommu- 
nicate, declared  enemies  and  traitors  to  the  Roman 
See.  Even  the  Count  of  Toulouse  was  permitted  to 
make  his  submission,  but  under  harder  conditions. 
Our  compassion  for  the  fate  of  Count  Raymond  is 
mitigated  by  the  horror  of  his  last  act ;  he  surprised 
his  brother  Baldwin,  who  had  fallen  off  to  De  Mont- 
fort,  and  hung  him  on  a  walnut-tree.1  Raymond  now 
surrendered  all  his  dominions,  which  he  had  before 
made  over  to  his  son,  without  reservation,  to  the  See 
of  Rome.  He  placed  his  person  at  his  enemies'  dis- 
posal, and  offered  to  retire  to  England,  if  they  should 
so  decree,  till  he  could  make  his  peace.  He  promised 
to  procure  the  submission  of  his  son  to  the  mercy  of 
the  Pope.  Yet,  if  we  are  to  believe  the  monk  of  Vaux 
Oernay,  even  mercy  on  these  terms  was  but  a  fraud 
practised  on  the  nobles,  to  give  De  Montfort  time  to 
subdue  the  still  refractory  cities,  Agens,  Cahors,  Tou- 
louse ;  a  pious  fraud  suggested  by  God's  Holy  Spirit ! 2 

1  It  is  even  said,  but  by  the  Monk,  that  the  Count  of  Foix  and  his  son 
tied  the  rope. 

2  "  Egit  ergo  miserioorditer  divina  dispositio,  ut  dum  Legatus  hostes  fidei 

VOL.  V.  1  i 


210  L,M1N  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX- 

Simon  de  Montfort  had  strengthened  himself  by  the 
Simon  de  marriage  of  his  son  with  Beatrice,  heiress  of 
chosen  lord  Dauphiny.  At  a  council  at  Montpellier,  held 
land  Jan.  8,  1215,  the  Legate  demanded  the  ad- 

vice of  five  archbishops,  twenty-eight  bishops,  many 
abbots  and  dignitaries,  as  to  the  course  to  be  pursued 
with  regard  to  the  conquered  territory.  With  one  as- 
sent they  chose  Simon  de  Montfort  Prince  and  Sov- 
ereign of  the  whole  land.  Thus  all  the  native  and 
hereditary  princes  were  deposed ;  the  old  ancestral 
house  of  Toulouse,  erewhile  the  greatest  territorial 
princedom  in  France  without  excepting  even  the  King, 
connected  by  blood  or  marriage  with  all  the  Sovereigns 
of  Europe,  was  despoiled  of  all :  the  whole  of  Lan- 
guedoc,  Catholic  as  well  as  heretical  inhabitants,  were 
transferred  to  a  new  master.1 

Toulouse  submitted  ;  Prince  Louis,  son  of  Philip 
Augustus,  who  had  now  joined  the  Crusade,  the  Car- 
dinal, the  Bishop  Fulk,  and  Simon  de  Montfort,  held 
secret  councils,  whether  to  pillage  or  burn  the  city, 
but  De  Montfort  did  not  wish  to  ruin  himself  by  de- 
stroying his  own  splendid  and  hard-won  capital.2     The 

qui  Narbonae  crant  congregati,  alliceret  et  compesceret  fraucle  sua,  Comes 
Moutisfortis  et  peregrini,  qui  venerunt  a  Francia,  possent  trausire  ad  partes 
caturcenses  et  aginenses,  et  suos.  iramo  Christi,  impugnare  inimicos.  O 
Legati  fraus  pia!    0  pietas  fraudulenta!  "  —  Petr.  V.  C  c.  78. 

1  "  C'est  ainsi  que  Raymond  VI.,  Comte  de  Toulouse,  fut  d^pcuille"  do 
tous  ses  £tats,  et  que  ce  Prince,  le  plus  grand  terrier  qui  rut  alors  dans  le 
royaume,  sans  en  excepter  le  roi  meme,  se  vit  enfin  re"duit  a  ne  possdder 
plus  une  pouce  de  terre,  sans  que  les  liens  de  sang  qui  r attach aient  a 
presque  tous  les  souverains  de  1' Europe  fussent  capables  de  le  mettre  a 
l'abri  des  entreprises  de  ceux  qui  en  voulaient  plus  a  ses  dominions  qu'a  sa 
croyance."  —  Vaissette,  p.  '285. 

2  "  Cependant  le  fils  du  Roi  de  France,  qui  consent  a  mal,  Don  Simon,  le 
Cardinal,  et  Folquet  tons  ensemble  proponent  en  secret  de  saccager  (d'abordi 
toute  la  ville;  puis  d'y  mettre  le  leu  ardent  (pour  la  bruler).  Main  Don 
Simon  rerleehit,  que  s'il  detruit  la  ville,  ce  sera  a  son  dommage."  •     Fau- 


Chap.  VIII.  FOUPwTH   LATERAN  COUNCIL.  211 

Legate  took  possession  of  the  strong  castle,  the  Nar- 
bonnaise.  The  young  Count  withdrew  to  England, 
followed,  after  some  time,  by  his  father.  The  Crusade 
of  Prince  Louis  of  France  was  a  triumphant  proces- 
sion—  he  met  no  resistance.  The  walls  of  Toulouse 
and  Narbonne  were  thrown  down.  But  if  the  pomp 
was  with  Prince  Louis,  the  gain  of  the  victory  was 
with  De  Montfort.  Philip  Augustus  had  never  ap- 
proved of  his  son's  Crusade  ;  he  beheld  this  new  realm 
of  De  Montfort  with  no  favorable  eyes.  When  Louis 
appeared  before  him,  on  his  return  from  the  South,  and 
described  the  wealth  and  power  of  Simon,  the  King 
gave  no  answer.1 

The  fourth  Lateran  Council,2  one  of  the  most  numer- 
ous   ever   held  in  Christendom,3  was   called  Fourth  Late- 

,       .  ,        ,  ,  .  .  ran  Council. 

upon  to  decide  the  course  to  be  taken  against  a.d.  1215. 
heretics,  and  especially  the  fate  of  Languedoc.  Day. 
It  assumed  the  full  power  of  deposing  a  Sovereign 
Prince,  and  awarding  his  dominions  to  a  stranger. 
Count  Raymond  of  Toulouse  was  forever  excluded 
from  the  sovereignty  of  the  land,  condemned  to  pass 
the  rest  of  his  life  in  exile,  in  some  place  appointed  for 


riel,  223.    The  advice  of  the  Bishop  in  the  Historian  is  even  more  atro- 
cious. 

1  "  Rex  vero  Francioe  audi  ens  quod  Alius  suus  crucesignatus  esset  mul- 
tum  doluit,  sed  causam  doloris  ejus  non  est  nostrum  exponere."  The 
monk's  silence  is  significant.  —  Petr.  V.  C.  c.68. 

2  The  Council  of  Lateran  declared  the  unity  of  God  who  created  of  noth- 
ing both  souls  and  bodies  (the  Aristotelian  doctrines  of  the  eternity  of  mat- 
ter had  begun  to  prevail)  the  unity  of  the  Church,  out  of  which  none  can 
be  saved:  it  first  authoritatively  proclaimed  Transubstantiation. 

3  So  great  was  the  concourse  of  people  that  the  good  bishop  of  Amain" 
was  suffocated  in  the  throng.  —  Chron.  Amalf.  apud  Murat.  A.  T.  i.  p.  240. 
There  were  the  Patriarchs  of  Constantinople  and  Jerusalem,  of  Antioch 
and  Alexandria  (by  deputy),  71  archbishops,  412  bishops,  800  abbots  01 
priors. 


212  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

him  to  do  fit  penance.  A  pension  of  400  marks  was 
reserved  out  of  his  revenues,  which  lie  would  forfeit 
by  any  act  of  disobedience  to  the  Church.  To  his 
wife,  the  sister  of  the  King  of  Arragon,  her  dowry  was 
secured  on  account  of  her  virtue  and  piety.  Provence 
and  some  other  cantons,  yet  uneonquered  by  the  Cru- 
saders, were  to  be  reserved  under  the  custody  of  trust- 
worthy persons,  as  an  inheritance  for  the  young  Count 
of  Toulouse,  if,  when  of  age,  he  should  have  been  obe- 
dient to  the  Church.  As  to  the  Counts  of  Foix  and 
Comminges,  nothing  was  enacted,  but  they  were  al- 
lowed some  hopes  of  pardon. 

Such  were  the  acts  of  the  Lateran  Council.  But 
the  Troubadour J  and  the  Historian  describe  the  de- 
bates, which  led  at  length  to  these  imperious  decrees. 
Passages  in  other  writers  leave  no  doubt  that  the  de- 
cision  was  resisted  by  many  of  the  most  powerful  and 
generous  prelates  ;2  and  confirmed  with  reluctance  by 
the  Pope  himself.  The  Lateran  Council,  according  to 
this  account,  was  a  long  conflict  between  the  temporal 
Secret  princes  who  demanded  the  restoration  of  their 

history.  estates,  and  were  supported  by  some  of  the 
most  distinguished  churchmen,  and  the  ecclesiastics 
of  Languedoc,  Arnold  the  Archbishop  of  Narbonne 
(though  even  he,  from  a  personal  quarrel  about  the 
rights  of  the  Church  of  Narbonne,  was  somewhat  mod- 

1  It  is  a  curious  question,  whether  the  history  is  a  prose  version  of  the 
poem:  if  so,  it  is  a  free  one,  as  it  differs  in  many  particulars.  If  the  poem 
is  the  original,  how  far  is  it  poetical?  hoAv  far  has  the  poet,  who  is  usually 
unpoetically  historical,  here  indulged  invention?  Poetically  it  is  the  best, 
the  only  part  of  the  poem  which  is  alive. 

-  "  Verum  quidem  est  quod  fuerint  aliqui,  etiam  quod  est.  gravius,  de 
Pia'latis,  qui  nostra;  fidei  adversi,  pro  restitutione  dictorum  Comitum  la- 
borabant;  sed  uon  pnevaluit  consilium  Ahitophel,  frustratum  et  desiderium 
inalignoruni."  —  Fetr.  V.  C  c.  83. 


Chap.  VIII.     SECRET   HISTORY   OF   THE  COUNCIL.  213 

era  ted  in  his  admiration  of  Simon  de  Montfort),  and 
Fulk,  the  Bishop  of  Toulonse,  the  implacable  enemy 
of  Raymond.  Innocent,  the  haughty  Innocent,  appears 
in  the  midst ;  mild,  but  wavering ;  seeing  clearly  that 
which  was  just,  humane,  merciful,  and  disposed  to  the 
better  course  ;  but  overborne  by  the  violence  of  the 
adverse  party,  and  weakly  yielding  to  that  of  which  his 
mind  and  heart  equally  disapproved.1  The  whole  scene 
is  so  characteristic  as  well  as  dramatic,  that  the  chief 
points  may  be  accepted  (certainly  they  formed  part  of 
the  popular  belief)  as  to  the  proceedings  of  that  great 
Council. 

Raymond  and  his  son,  accompanied  by  the  Counts 
of  Foix  and  Comminges,  and  many  other  nobles  of 
Languedoc,  were  admitted  to  the  presence  of  the  Pope, 
seated  in  full  consistory  among  his  cardinals  and  other 
prelates  :  they  knelt  before  him  ;  the  young  Raymond 
presented  letters  from  the  King  of  England  (who  had 
received  hospitably  and  made  splendid  presents  to  his 
nephew).  The  King  of  England  expressed  his  indig- 
nation at  the  usurpation  of  the  inheritance  of  Raymond 
by  Simon  de  Montfort.  The  Pope  was  moved  by  the 
beauty  and  graceful  bearing  of  the  young  Prince, 
thought  of  his  wrongs,  and  wept.2 

Count  Raymond  began  at  length  to  represent  the 
aggressions  and  injustice  of  the  Legate  and  of  De  Mont- 

1  Hurter,  solicitous  to  catch  any  gleams  of  equity  and  gentleness,  which 
may  soften  the  sterner  characters  of  his  hero  and  saint,  follows  without  hes- 
itation the  history,  not  perceiving  the  humiliation  of  Innocent,  thus  reduced 
to  be  the  tame  instrument  of  the  bigotry  of  others. 

2  "  Le  Pape  considere  l'enfant  et  son  air,  il  connait  sa  noble  race,  il  sait 
les  torts  .  .  .  de  l'Eglise  et  du  clerge-,  ennemis  (du  Comte),  et  il  a  le  coeur 
si  trouble'  de  phie-  et  de  souci  .  .  .  qu'il  en  soupire,  et  en  pleure  de  ses  deux 
yeux."  —  Fauriel,  p.  127.  The  Pope,  says  the  poet,  declared  that  Count 
Raymond  was  not  m^creant,  but  catholique  de  fait  et  de  propos. 


214  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX 

fort,  who,  notwithstanding  all  his  submission  to  the 
Pope,  and  all  the  treaties,  had  despoiled  him  of  his  ter- 
ritories. He  was  followed  by  the  Counts  of  Foix  and 
Comminges  complaining  of  the  pillage  of  their  lands, 
and  the  lawless  massacre  of  their  subjects.  "  The 
Church  not  only  should  not  sanction,  it  should  prohibit 
such  cruelties  in  a  land  which  was  absolutely  free  from 
all  taint  of  heresy,  and  in  every  respect  submissive  to 
the  Church."1  The  Pope  having  heard  the  deposi- 
tions, and  read  the  letters  of  the  King  of  England,  was 
in  great  wrath  with  the  Legate  and  with  De  Montfort. 
First  one  of  the  Cardinals,  then  Berengar,  Abbot  of 
St.  Tiberi,  rose  and  supported  the  complaints  of  the 
appellants.  Fulk,  the  Bishop  of  Toulouse,  sternly  de- 
nied all  these  asseverations.  He  defied  the  Count  de 
Foix  to  deny  that  his  dominions  swarmed  with  heretics  ; 
in  proof  of  this,  the  castle  of  Monsegur  had  been  sur- 
prised, and  all  the  inhabitants  burned ;  "  the  sister  of 
the  Count  de  Foix  had  brought  her  husband  to  an  evil 
end  on  account  of  these  heretics  ;  she  had  lived  in  Pa- 
miers  without  daring  to  leave  the  city ;  the  heretics  had 
greatly  increased  through  her  influence.  Count  Ray- 
mond and  the  Count  de  Foix  could  not  deny  that  they 
had  surprised  and  put  to  the  sword  six  thousand  Ger- 
man Crusaders,  on  their  way  to  join  the  army  of  the 
Legate."  The  Count  de  Foix  fearlessly  replied,  that 
he  was  not  responsible  for  the  acts  of  his  sister ;  the 
castle  of  Monsegur  was  hers,  left  to  her  by  her  father ; 
she  was  its  lawful  Sovereign.  The  Germans  were  rob- 
bers, who  were  ravaging  the  country.     "  For  the  Bishop 

1  The  speech  of  the  Count  de  Foix  in  the  poem  is  striking.  —  pp.  249- 
251  We  hear  nothing  of  the  enormities  charged  against  De  Foix  l>y  the 
monk  of  Vaux  Cernay.     But  did  the  Count  renounce  all  heresy? 


Chap.  VIII.  DISPUTE  BEFORE  THE  POPE.  215 

of  Toulouse,  your  Holiness  is  greatly  deceived  in  him  ; 
under  the  show  of  good  faith  and  amity  he  is  always 
concerting  treachery  :  his  actions  are  devilish  :  it  is  en- 
tirely through  his  malignity  that  the  city  of  Toulouse 
has  suffered  ruin,  waste,  robbery :  more  than  ten  thou- 
sand men  have  perished  through  him.  Thus  the  Leg- 
ate and  the  Count  cle  Montfort  make  common  cause 
in  their  iniquity."  The  Baron  of  Vilamour  deposed 
with  great  gravity1  to  the  atrocities  perpetrated  by  De 
Montfort ;  Raymond  de  Roquefeuille  to  the  treach- 
ery by  which  the  Viscount  de  Beziers,  no  heretic, 
had  been  betrayed  into  their  power,  and  the  manner 
of  his  death.  The  Pope  listened  in  silence  to  these 
solemn  charges  ;  at  their  close  he  was  heard  to  sigh 
deeply. 

No  sooner  had  the  Pope  withdrawn,2  than  he  was 
beset  by  the  prelates  and  cardinals  in  the  party  of  the 
Legate  and  of  De  Montfort.  They  urged,  that  if  they 
were  compelled  to  surrender  the  territories  and  lord- 
ships which  they  had  won,  no  one  would  embark  in 
the  cause  of  the  Church,  or  run  any  hazard  in  her  de- 
fence. The  Pope  took  down  a  book  (was  it  the  Bible  ?), 
and  showed  them  that  if  they  did  not  make  restitu- 
tion of  all  the  lands  they  had  usurped,  they  would  be 
guilty  of  great  sin.3  "  Wherefore,  I  give  leave  to  Ray- 
mond of  Toulouse  and  his  heirs  to  recover  their  lands 
and  lordships  from  all  who  hold  them  unjustly."  Then 
might  be  seen  those  prelates  murmuring  against   the 

1  "  II  ne  s'effraye  point,  et  parle  fierement,  regard^,  entendu,  ^coute"  de 
tous." 

2  Into  a  garden,  says  the  poet,  to  dissipate  his  chagrin  and  divert  his 
thoughts. 

8  "  Et  y  trouve  un  sort"  says  the  poet.     Sortee  Biblfcse  were  not  uncom- 
mon. 


21b*  '        LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX 

Pope  like  men  in  desperation.1  The  Pope  stood  aghast 
at  their  violence.  The  Precentor  of  Lyons,  one  of  the 
most  learned  clerks  in  the  world,  rose,  with  great  dig- 
nity, and  rebuked  the  insolence  and  contumacy  of  the 
prelates.  "  You  know  well,  my  Lords,  the  submission 
of  Count  Raymond,  and  the  surrender  of  his  castles. 
If  you  do  not  restore,  and  compel  to  be  restored  to  him 
his  lands,  you  will  be  justly  reproached  by  God  and 
man.  Henceforth  no  one  will  have  any  reliance  on 
you  or  your  decrees  ;  and  that  will  be  great  disgrace 
and  dishonor  to  the  whole  Church  militant.  And  I 
say  to  you,  Bishop  of  Toulouse,  that  you  are  greatly 
in  fault ;  that  you  betray  your  want  of  charity  to 
Count  Raymond,  and  to  the  people  of  which  you  are 
the  pastor ;  you  have  kindled  a  fire  in  Toulouse  which 
will  never  be  extinguished ;  you  have  caused  the  death 
of  ten  thousand  men,  and  will  of  many  more,  if  by 
your  false  representations  you  persist  in  your  wrongful 
course.  Through  you  the  Court  of  Rome  is  defamed 
throughout  the  world  ;  so  many  men  should  not  be 
despoiled  and  destroyed  to  gratify  the  pride  and  vio- 
lence of  one." 

The  Pope  seems  to  have  been  appalled ;  he  gently 
exculpated  himself,  as  innocent  of  these  iniquities,  into 
which  he  had  been  betrayed  by  ignorance  of  the  real 
facts.  Even  the  Archbishop  of  Narbonne,  the  Legate 
Arnold,  alienated  from  De  Montfort,  supported  the 
Precentor  of  Lyons.  But  the  wily  Genoese,  Theodisc, 
who  had  been  so  much  in  the  confidence  of  Innocent, 
adhered  to  De  Montfort.  He  urged  his  valuable  ser- 
vices, that  he  had  swept  the  land  of  heretics,  that  he 

1  The  poet  says,  "Folquet  notre  Eveque  .  .  .  parle  au  Pape,  aussi 
douceraent  qu'il  peut." —  p.  243. 


Chap.  VIII    .        DEMANDS   OF   THE  PRELATES.  "217 

had  been  the  champion  of  the  Church  and  her  rights. 
Innocent,  having  heard  both  parties,  declared  to  Theo- 
disc,  that  the  contrary  of  his  statements  was  true. 
"  The  Legate  had  oppressed  the  good  and  just,  and 
left  the  wicked  without  punishment:  complaints  had 
reached  him  from  all  quarters,  against  the  Legate  and 
De  Montfort." 

The  prelates  demanded  that  at  least  the  territories 
of  Bigorre,  Carcassonne,  Toulouse,  Agen,  Quercy,  the 
Albigeois,  Foix  and  Comminges  (the  whole  conquests 
of  the  Crusaders),  should  be  left  to  De  Montfort.  "  If 
he  be  deprived  of  these  lands,"  they  boldly  declared, 
"  we  swear  that  we  will  aid  him  in  their  maintenance 
against  all  and  in  defiance  of  all."  1  The  Pope  calmly 
answered  that  nothing  should  tempt  him  to  injustice  ; 
"  even  if  Raymond  were  guilty,  his  son  was  blameless  ; 
and  the  son  was  not  to  bear  the  iniquity  of  the  father." 

It  is  difficult  to  imagine  Innocent  IJI.  thus  confront- 
ed, compelled  into  injustice,  by  men  who  boasted  them- 
selves to  be  better  churchmen  than  the  Pope.  But  the 
decree  of  the  Lateran  Council,  despoiling  Raymond  of 
Toulouse  of  all  his  land  and  awarding  them  to  De 
Montfort,  is  an  undeniable  historic  fact,  rests  on  a  de- 
cree of  Innocent  himself,  addressed  to  all  Christendom, 
and  confirmed  by  his  successor  Honorius  III.2 

Yet,  according  to  the  historian,  Innocent  attempted 
a  compromise.  He  offered  the  territory  of  the  Venai- 
sin  to  the  younger  Raymond,  in  compensation  for  the 
land  of  Toulouse,  which  could  not  be  wrested  from  the 


1  "  Et  si  cas  es,  que  tu,  senhor,  ly  vellas  ostar  le  dit  pays,  et  terre,  nos  ta 
promenten  et  juran,  que  tots  envers  tots  nos  ly  ayudaran  et  secouren."  — 
Guerre  des  Albigeois,  Bouquet,  p.  159. 

2  Bouquet,  pp.  598,  599;  p.  722. 


218  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

strong  hand  of  De  Montfort.1  "  If  he  has  courage,'* 
the  poet  makes  the  Pope  say,  "  the  youth  will  recover 
his  land  ;  "  and  he  then  makes  a  prophet  of  the  Pope, 
"  The  stone  will  at  length  be  hurled,  and  all  the  world 
will  say  that  it  has  fallen  on  the  head  of  the  sinner." 
Count  Raymond  retired  to  Viterbo,  leaving  his  son 
under  the  protection  of  the  Pope.  Young  Raymond 
at  length  departed  with  the  benediction  of  the  Pope.2 

There  is  war  again  in  Languedoc,  but  no  longer  a 
War  in  Crusade  for  the  extirpation  of   heresy,  it  is 

Languedoc.  ^ie  jron  ]ian(j  0f  an  usurping  conqueror,  de- 
termined to  maintain  his  conquests  ;  on  the  other  side, 
no  partial,  but  a  general  insurrection  of  the  whole  peo- 
ple in  favor  of  their  hereditary  princes  against  a  foreign 
invader,  a  gallant  attempt  again  and  forever  to  break 
the  yoke  of  a  tyrant,  to  return  to  the  milder  rule  of 
their  ancient  Sovereigns.  No  sooner  had  the  two 
Counts  landed  at  Marseilles,  than  they  were  greeted  by 
a  burst  of  enthusiasm.  Avignon,  Tarascon,  and  other 
cities  opened  their  gates.  Young  Raymond  is  soon  at 
the  head  of  a  force  which  enables  him  to  declare  war 
against  De  Montfort,  and  to  form  the  siege  of  Beau- 
caire.  Now  became  more  manifest  every  day  the 
decline  in   the  power  of  the  clergy  ;3  the  Crusaders 

1  "Barons,  reprend  le  Pape,  puisque/e  nepuis  la  lui  oter,  qu'il  la  garde 
bien  s'il  peut:  et  qu'il  ne  s'en  laisse  pas  chasser,  car  jamais  de  rnou  vouloir 
il  ne  sera  preche  pour  lui."  —  Fauriel,  p.  255. 

2  The  parting  between  the  Pope  and  young  Raymond  is  touchingly  told 
by  the  Troubadour.  The  Pope  gives  him  good  advice,  and  recommends 
him  to  wait  for  better  times.  "  It  is  hard,"  says  the  youth,  "  that  a  man 
of  Winchester  is  to  share  my  land  with  me !  All  I  ask  is  that  I  may  be 
permitted  to  reconquer  my  dominions  if  I  can."  "  God  grant  you,"  said 
the  Pope,  "a good  beginning  and  a  good  ending." 

3  See  the  speech  of  Bertrand  of  Avignon  in  the  poem:  "  Car  nous  avons 
(^prouve-  et  senti  avec  douleur,  que  les  clercs  ont  menti  quand  fls  nous  disai- 
ent,  qu'en  repandant  le  feu,  qu'en  frappant  de  glaive,  qu'en  forcant  notre 


Chap.  VIII.  RISINGS  IN  TOULOUSE.  219 

themselves  have  misgivings  in  the  holiness  of  their 
cause.  De  Montfort's  most  ardent  admirers  begin  to 
discern  the  darker  parts  of  his  character,  his  inordinate 
ambition,  his  insatiable  rapacity.  Simon  de  Montfort 
is  himself  astonished  that  God  should  cease  to  confine 
exclusive  favor  to  himself,  and  should  seem  disposed  to 
the  sinful  youth.1 

Toulouse  was  eager  to  receive  the  heir  of  her  ancient 
house.  De  Montfort  was  obliged  to  hasten  to  secure 
its  wavering  fidelity  by  the  sternest  measures.  He 
treated  it  like  a  conquered  city,  exacted  enormous 
sums.  The  Bishop  had  exhorted  the  noblest  Ris1ngsin 
inhabitants  to  go  out  in  procession  to  welcome  Toulouse- 
the  Count.  But  the  plunder  of  the  city  by  the  Bishop 
and  the  Count  were  so  shameless,  that  in  a  general 
rising,  Guy  de  Montfort  and  the  Bishop  were  driven 
out.  De  Montfort  again  forced  his  way  within  the 
walls,  was  again  repelled,  having  set  the  city  on  fire  in 
many  places.  But  the  citizens  unwisely  accepted  the 
treacherous  mediation  of  the  Prelate.  "  I  swear  by 
God  and  the  Holy  Virgin,  and  the  body  of  the  Re- 
deemer, by  my  whole  order,  the  Abbot  and  other  dig- 
nitaries, that  I  give  you  good  counsel,  better  have  I 
never  given.     If   the  Count  inflict  on  you   the  least 

vrai  seigneur  a  s'en  aller  faidit  .  .  .  nous  obelrons  tout  bonnement  a  Jesus 
Christ."— p.  299. 

1  "  Beau  pere,"  says  Guy  de  Montfort,  in  the  poem,  "  il  (Dieu)  a  vu  et 
juge*  votre  conduite,  pourvu  que  tout  le  bien  et  tout  l'argent  (du  pays) 
soient  a  vous,  vous  prenez  peu  de  soucie  de  la  mort  des  hommes."  —  p. 
345.  Compare  445,  Gul.  de  Pod.  Laurent,  c.  xxvii.  It  is  difficult  to  mark 
the  precise  turning  point  of  the  Troubadour  into  a  flaming  patriot.  The 
restoration  of  "  parage,"  chivalry,  and  courtesy  is  his  delight.  Yet  Simon, 
in  his  own  esteem,  is  still  the  champion  of  the  Church.  "  Puisque  l'Eglise 
m'a  octroyed  le  pays;  puisque  je  suis  de  l'Eglise  les  oeuvres,  les  ordres  et 
les  discours:  puisque  je  suis  bien  mdritant  et  mon  adversaire  pecheur,  c'est 
pour  moi,  clis-je,  grande  merveille  que  Dieu  favorise  (cet  enfant)." 


220  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

wrong,  bring  your  complaints  before  me,  and  God  and 
I  will  see  you  righted."  The  citizens,  on  the  persua- 
sion of  the  Bishop,  gave  the  hostages  demanded  (the 
citadel,  the  Narbonnaise,  still  in  the  power  of  De 
Montfort,  was  crowded  with  them),  they  restored  the 
prisoners  which  they  had  taken,  and,  more  strangely 
still,  surrendered  their  arms.1  The  first  act  of  De 
Montfort,  who  was  hardly  dissuaded  by  better  counsel 
from  totally  destroying  the  city,  was  the  demand  of 
30,000  marks  of  silver,  the  demolition  of  the  walls,  and 
every  stronghold  in  the  city,  and  the  plunder  of  the 
inhabitants  to  the  very  last  piece  of  cloth  or  measure 
of  meal.  "  O  noble  city  of  Toulouse !  "  exclaims  the 
poet,  u  thy  very  bones  are  broken  !  " 

So  closed  the  year  1216,  during  which  Pope  Inno- 
cent III.  had  died,  and  had  been  succeeded  by  Hono- 
rius  III. 

During  the  ensuing  year  the  war  with  the  youn^ 
July  16,  Count  Raymond  continued  to  the  advantage 
a.d.1217.  of  De  Montfort.  On  a  sudden  the  old 
Count,2  with  a  body  of  Spanish  soldiers,  appeared  be- 
fore Toulouse.  The  city  received  him  with  the  utmost 
joy  ;  new  walls  were  hastily  raised,  new  trenches  dug. 
Many  of  the  nobles  levied  troops  and  threw  themselves 
into  the  city.  First  Guy  de  Montfort,3  then  Simon 
himself,  who  hurried  to  the  spot,  were  ignominiouslv 
repulsed.     The  Bishop  of  Toulouse  and  the  wife   of 

1  Gul.  de  Pod.  Laurent,  gives  a  different  view  of  this  affair.  —  c.  xxxix 

2  The  suddenness  of  the  appearance  of  Count  Ra}Tmond  is  indicated  by 
a  fine  touch  in  the  poem.  The  Countess  de  Montfort  is  told  that  she  must 
fly  at  once.  "  La  Comtesse,  quand  elle  l'entend,  bat  ses  deux  mains  Tune 
contre  1' autre.     Quoi,  dit-elle,  et  j'etais  si  heureuse  hier." 

3  In  the  poem  Guy  de  Montfort  is  contrasted  with  Simon  de  Montfort, 
whom  he  calls  M  dur  et  tyran,"  and  declares  that  God  will  punish  hia 
treacheries. 


Chap.  VIII.        COUNT   BAYMOND   IN   TOULOUSE.  221 

Montfbrt  BOtJgfit  aid  in  France.  A  new  Crusade  was 
preached.  Pope  Honorius  entered  with  ardor  into  the 
cause  of  De  Montfort.  It  was  again  that  of  the  whole 
clergy.  Once  more  excommunications  were  menaced 
in  some  cases,  uttered  in  others.  The  new  King  oi 
Arragon  was  threatened  with  interdict ;  the  consuls  of 
Toulouse,  Avignon,  Marseilles,  Tarascon,  and  other 
cities,  the  young  Count  Raymond,  the  Count  de  Foix 
were  summoned  under  this  penalty  to  renounce  their 
alliance  with  rebellious  Toulouse.  For  nine  months 
the  siege  continued.  If  the  sentiments  attributed  by 
the  Troubadour  to  the  Legate  were  either  true,  or  sup- 
posed to  be  true  by  the  inhabitants  of  Toulouse,  it  may 
account  for  the  obstinacy  of  their  defence.  "  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  dead- 
ly and  consuming  fire  shall  pass  over  them."  *  But 
the  counsels  of  Rome  were  not  those  of  Divine  Provi- 
dence. At  the  close  of  the  nine  months  Simon  headed 
an  attack ;  a  stone  from  an  engine  struck  the  champion 
of  Jesus  Christ  (as  he  was  called  by  his  admirers)  on  the 
head:  he  had  just  time  to  commend  himself  to  the 
mercy  of  God  and  of  the  holy  Virgin.     God  was  re- 


1  Fauriel,  433.  See  before  this  the  dialogue  of  the  Cardinal  and  the 
Bishop,  429;  and  after,  455.  "Et  si  quelques  uns  des  votre's  y  nieurent  en 
conibattant,  le  Saint  Pape  et  moi  leurs  sommes  garants,  qu'ils  porteront  (au 
del)  la  couronne  des  in  loeents." 


222  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

proachcd  with  his  death,  the  divine  justice  was  ar- 
raigned. It  is  added  by  the  monkish  historian,  still 
faithful  to  his  fortunes,  that  he  received  likewise  five 
wounds  with  arrows  ;  and  in  this  respect  he  is  likened 
to  the  Redeemer  in  whose  cause  he  died,  and  with 
whom  "  we  trust  he  is  in  bliss  and  glory." 1 

The  war  did  not  end  with  the  death  of  Simon  de 
Montfort ;  but  the  religious  character,  which  it  had 
once  more  assumed,  again  died  away. 

A  Crusade  was  headed  by  Louis  of  France  ;  but 
Crusade  of     that  was  only  a  bold  and  premature  attempt 

Prince  Louis.  .  ,  .  . 

Aug.  1,1219.  or  the  sovereign  to  unite  the  great  domain 
of  Southern  France  to  the  crown.  After  the  capture 
and  atrocious  massacre  of  Marmande,  and  a  short  and 
unsuccessful  siege  of  Toulouse,  Louis  returned  in- 
glorious to  his  father's  dominions.  A  truce  was  made 
between  the  young  Count  Raymond,  and  Amaury  de 
a.d.  1224.  Montfort.2  It  was  said  that  Raymond  pro- 
posed to  marry  the  daughter  of  his  rival.  Two  years 
after  Amaury  made  over  his  dominions  to  Louis  VIIL, 
King  of  France. 

The  vengeance  of  the  Church  followed   the   older 


1  "Vous  entendez  crier  hautement — 0  Dieu,  tu  n'es  pas  juste — puisque 
tu  as  voulu  la  mort  du  comte  et  que  tu  as  souffert  (un  tel)  do  mm  age.  Bien 
f'ol  est  qui  te  defend,  et  se  fait  ton  serviteur." —  Fauriel,  573.  In  Toulouse 
the  triumphant  cry  was  that  he  died  without  confession.  The  Bishop's  eu- 
logy was  this:  "  Jamais  en  ce  monde  ne  faillit  moins  que  lui;  et  depuis  que 
Dieu  endura  le  martyr  et  fut  mis  en  croix,  il  ne  voulut  et  ne  soufTrit  jamais 
line  aussi  grande  mort  que  celui  du  Comte."  The  Count  of  Soissons  re- 
plied: "  Je  vous  reprend  a  bon  droit,  pour  que  Sainte  Eglise  n'ait  pas  (de 
votre  dire)  mauvais  renom;  ne  le  nommez  pas  sanctissime,  car  mil  ne 
ment.it  si  fort  que  celui  1'appelle  saint,  lui  qui  est  mort  sans  confession."  — 
p.  577.     Compare  the  Poet's  language,  p.  587. 

2  It  is  a  curious  illustration  of  the  manners.  "  Sub  treugaj  securitate 
comes  Tolosanus  entravit  Carcassonam,  et  ibi  cum  comite  Ainalrico  jacuit 
una  nocte." 


Chap.  VIII.  TREATY  OF  PARIS.  223 

Raymond  even  after  death.  Dying  excommunicate  lie 
could  not  be  buried  in  holy  ground.  In  vain  his  son 
adduced  proofs  that  he  had  given  manifest  signs  of 
penitence  on  his  death-bed :  notwithstanding  a  solemn 
inquest  held  by  commissaries  appointed  by  the  Pope, 
and  the  examination  of  above  one  hundred  Aug.  1222. 
witnesses,  the  inexorable  sentence  was  still  unre- 
pealed ; 1  the  infected  body  was  still  unburied ;  it  re- 
mained for  three  hundred  years  in  the  sacristy  of  the 
Knights  Templars.  To  posterity  the  great  crime  of 
Raymond  is  the  barbarous  execution  of  his  brother 
Baldwin.  Baldwin,  indeed,  had  deserted,  betrayed, 
taken  up  arms  against  him  ;  but  there  had  never  been 
fraternal  love  between  them.  Raymond,  it  was  said, 
had  withholden  part  of  his  brother's  inheritance.  And 
mercy,  though  it  ought  to  be  the  virtue  of  the  perse 
cuted,  rarely  is  so. 

The  vast  army  which  descended  on  Languedoc  undei 
Louis,  now  King  of  France,  was  that  of  conquest  rather 
than  a  Crusade.  The  cities  were  appalled,  they  opened 
their  gates ;  Avignon  alone  made  a  noble  resistance. 
Count  Raymond  bowed  before  the  storm.  On  his  re- 
turn, after  the  seeming  submission  of  almost  Nov.  8, 1226. 
the  whole  land,  Louis  died  of  exhaustion  and  fatigue  at 
Montpensier  in  Auvergne. 

The  treaty  of  Paris,  after  the  accession  of  St.  Louis, 
restored  peace,  for  a  time  at  least,  to  the  af- April  12, 1229 
flicted  land.  The  terms  were  dictated  byParisf° 
the  Papal  Legate,  approved  by  the  King  of  France. 
Count  Raymond  VII.  swore  :  —  I.  Fealty  to  his  liege 
lord  the  King  of  France  and  to  the  Church.  II.  He 
swore  to  do  immediate  justice  on  all  heretics,  their  abet- 

1  Gul.  Pod.  Laurent,  c.  34. 


224  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX 

tors  and  partisans,  even  though  his  vassals,  kindred  or 
friends.  III.  To  detect,  in  order  to  their  punishment, 
all  such  heretics,  according  to  the  rules  laid  down  by 
the  Legate,  and  to  pay  for  two  years  two  marks,  after- 
wards one  mark,  on  the  conviction  of  each  heretic. 
IV.  To  maintain  peace  in  his  realm.  Besides  to  main- 
tain the  rights  of  the  Church ;  to  respect,  and  cause  to 
be  respected,  all  sentences  of  excommunication,  and  to 
compel  all  persons  excommunicate  to  reconcile  them- 
selves within  a  year  to  the  Church,  under  pain  of  con- 
fiscation of  their  property.  To  restore  all  estates  and 
immunities  to  the  Church,  to  pay,  and  enforce  the  due 
payment  of  tithes  ;  to  pay  to  certain  Cistercian  abbeys, 
Clairvaux,  and  others,  10,000  marks  of  silver  ;  to  pay 
5000  marks  for  the  fortification  of  the  citadel,  the  Nar- 
bonnaise,  and  those  in  other  cities,  to  be  held  as  securi- 
ties by  the  King  of  France ;  to  maintain  certain  pro- 
fessors of  theology;  to  take  the  cross  for  five  years 
in  some  Mohammedan  country.  On  these,  and  other 
conditions  relating  to  the  boundaries  of  his  dominions, 
of  which  he  was  obliged  to  abandon  large  portions  (his 
daughter  was  to  be  married  to  the  son  of  the  French 
King),  Raymond  VII.,  never  accused  of  heresy,  re- 
ceived absolution.  The  same  scene  took  place  as  with 
his  father.  With  naked  shoulders,  bare  feet,  the  son 
of  Raymond  of  Toulouse  was  led  up  the  Church  of 
Notre  Dame,  scourged  as  he  went  by  the  Legate. 
"  Count  of  Narbonne,  by  virtue  of  the  powers  in- 
trusted to  me  by  the  Pope,  I  absolve  thee  from  my 
excommunication."  "Amen,"  answered  the  Count. 
He  rose  from  his  knees,  no  longer  sovereign  of  the 
South  of  France,  but  a  vassal  of  limited  dominions.1 
1  liarran  et  Darragan.     It  is  to  be  regretted  that  this  work  has  preferred 


Chap.  VIII.  STATUTES  OF  TOULOUSE.  22o 

His  father  on  his  penance  renounced  seven  castles,  the 
son  seven  provinces.1 

But  though  the  open  war  was  at  an  end,  the  Church 
still  pursued  her  exterminating  warfare  against  her  still 
rebellious  subjects.  The  death  of  Simon  de  Montfort 
had  given  courage  to  the  Albigensians.  Bartholomew 
of  Carcassonne,  who  had  fled,  it  was  said,  to  that  land 
(the  Bulgarian)  where  dwelt  the  Pope  of  the  Mani- 
cheans,  reappeared ;  he  called  himself  the  vicar  of 
that  mysterious  pontiff,  he  reorganized  the  churches. 
Another  teacher,  William  of. Castries,  was  ordained,  it 
was  said,  Bishop  of  Rases.  The  Inquisition  continued 
its  silent,  but  not  less  inhuman,  hardly  less  destructive 
crusade.  That  tribunal,  with  all  its  peculiar  statutes, 
its  jurisdiction,  its  tremendous  agency,  was  founded 
during  this  period.  It  is  difficult  to  fix  its  precise 
date  ;  but  it  is  coincident  with  the  establishment  of  a 
special  court,  legatine  or  charged  with  those  peculiar 
functions  which  superseded  the  ordinary  episcopal  juris- 
diction, and  appropriated  to  itself  the  cognizance,  pun- 
ishment, suppression  of  heresy. 

The  statutes  of  the  Council  of  Toulouse,  framed  after 
the  successful  termination  of  the  war,  in  order  council  of 

Toulouse. 

absolutely  to  extirpate  every  lingering  vestige  a.d.  1229. 
of   heresy,  form   the   code  of  persecution,  which  not 
merely  aimed  at  suppressing  all  public  teaching,  but 

to  be  an  historical  romance  rather  than  a  history.  The  authors  have  failed 
in  both;  it  is  neither  Walter  Scott  nor  Livy  or  Tacitus. 

1  See  in  Vaissette  the  territories  ceded  to  the  King  of  France.  "  On  voit 
par  ce  traitd,  que  les  principaux  instigateurs  de  la  guerre  contre  Raymond 
songeoient  bien  moins  de  sa  catholicity,  qu'a  le  dtfpossMer  de  ses  dominions 
et  a  s'enrichir  de  ses  depouilles.  .  .  .  Quant  a  sa  propre  personne  il  ne  fut 
jamais  suspect  d'h^r^sie  et  il  ne  fut  excommunie"  que  parceque  il  ne  vou- 
lait  pas  renoncer  ses  justes  pretensions  sur  la  patrimonie  de  ses  ancetres." 
—  Hist,  de  Languedoc,  iii.  374. 

VOL.  V.  15 


226  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

the  more  secluded  and  secret  freedom  of  thought.  It 
was  a  system  which  penetrated  into  the  most  intimate 
sanctuary  of  domestic  life ;  and  made  delation  not 
merely  a  merit  and  a  duty,  but  an  obligation  also,  en- 
forced by  tremendous  penalties. 

The  Archbishops,  bishops,  and  exempt  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 
insure  their  apprehension.  The  lords  were  to  make 
the  same  inquisition  in  every  part  of  their  estates. 
Whoever  was  convicted  of  harboring  a  heretic  forfeited 
the  land  to  his  lord,  and  was  reduced  to  personal  sla- 
very. If  he  was  guilty  of  such  concealment  from  neg- 
ligence, not  from  intention,  he  received  proportionate 
punishment.  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  her- 
etics was  to  lose  his  office,  and  be  incapacitated  from 
holding  it  in  future.  Heretics,  however,  were  not  to 
be  judged  but  by  the  bishop  or  some  ecclesiastical  per- 
son. 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  color  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  forever.  All  persons,  males  of 
the  age  of  fourteen,  females  of  twelve,  were  to  take  an 
oath  of  abjuration  of  heresy,  and  of  their  Catholic 
faith  ;  if  absent,  and  not  appearing  within  fifteen  days, 


Chap.  Vin.  COUNCIL  OF  MELUN.  227 

they  were  held  suspected  of  heresy.  All  persons  were 
to  confess,  and  communicate  three  times  a  year,  or  were 
in  like  manner  under  suspicion  of  heresy.  No  layman 
was  permitted  to  have  any  book  of  the  Old  or  New 
Testament,  especially  in  a  translation,  unless  perhaps 
the  Psalter,  with  a  breviary,  or  the  Hours  of  the  Vir- 
gin. No  one  suspected  of  heresy  could  practise  as  a 
physician.  Care  was  to  be  taken  that  no  heretic  had 
access  to  sick  or  dying  persons.  All  wills  were  to  be 
made  in  the  presence  of  a  priest.  No  office  of  trust 
was  to  be  held  by  one  in  evil  fame  as  a  heretic.  Those 
were  in  evil  fame,  who  were  so  by  common  report,  or 
so  declared  by  good  and  grave  witnesses  before  the 
bishop.1 

But  statutes  of  persecution  always  require  new  stat- 
utes rising  above  each  other  in  regular  grada-  Council  of 
tions  of  rigor  and  cruelty.  The  Legate  found  Melun* 
the  canons  of  Toulouse  to  be  eluded  or  inefficient.  He 
summoned  a  council  at  Melun,  attended  by  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Narbonne  and  other  prelates.  The  unhappy 
Count  of  Toulouse  was  compelled  to  frame  the  edicts 
of  this  council  into  laws  for  his  dominions.2  The  first 
provision  showed  that  persecution  had  wrought  despair. 

1  The  statutes  of  Toulouse  in  Mansi,  sub  ann.  Compare  Limborch,  His- 
toria  Inquisitionis.  Among  the  other  decrees  of  the  Council  was  one  which 
declared  the  absolute  immunity  of  all  clerks  from  taxation,  unless  they 
were  merchants  or  married  (mercatores  vel  uxorati).  If  one  succeeded  to 
the  inheritance  of  a  la}T  fief,  he  was  answerable  for  its  burdens.  They 
were  likewise  free  from  tolls  (peages).  Every  person  was  bound  to  attend 
church  on  Sundays  and  holidays.  The  statutes  against  private  wars  were 
in  a  more  Christian  spirit,  only  beyond  the  age.  Every  male  above  14 
was  sAvorn  to  keep  the  peace ;  and  heavy  penalties  denounced  against  all 
who  should  violate  it.  This  was  perhaps  a  law  of  Foreign  conquerors  in  a 
6ubjugated  land. 

2  Conventus  Meldunensis.  Statuta  Raimondi,  a.  d.  1233.  Labbe  Con- 
cil.  sub  ann 


228  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

It  was  directed  against  those  who  had  murdered,  or 
should  murder,  or  conceal  the  murderers  of  persecutors 
of  heretics.  A  reward  of  one  mark  was  set  on  the 
head  of  every  heretic,  to  be  paid  by  the  town,  or  vil- 
lage, or  district  to  the  captor.  It  was  evident  that  the 
heretics  had  now  begun  to  seek  concealment  in  cabins, 
in  caves,  and  rocks,  and  forests  ;  not  merely  was  every 
house  in  which  one  should  be  seized  to  be  razed  to  the 
ground,  but  all  suspected  caves  or  hiding-places  were 
to  be  blocked  up  ;  with  a  penalty  of  twenty-five  livres 
of  Toulouse  to  the  lord  on  whose  estate  such  houses  or 
places  of  concealment  of  evil  report  should  be  found. 
Those  who  did  not  assist  in  the  capture  of  heretics 
were  liable  to  punishment.  If  any  one  was  detected 
after  death  to  have  been  a  heretic  his  property  was  con- 
fiscated. Those  who  had  made  over  their  estates  in 
trust,  before  they  became  heretics,  nevertheless  forfeited 
such  estates.  Those  who  attempted  to  elude  the  law 
by  moving  about  under  pretence  of  trade  or  pilgrimage, 
were  ordered  to  render  an  account  of  their  absence. 
a.d.  1233.  A  Council  at  Beziers  enforced  upon  the 
clergy,  under  pain  of  suspension,  or  of  deprivation,  the 
denunciation  of  all  who  should  not  attend  divine  ser- 
vice in  their  churches  on  the  appointed  days,  especially 
those  suspected  of  heresy. 

Yet  heresy,  even  the  Manichean  heresy,  was  not  yet 
extinguished.  Many  years,  as  will  appear,1  must  inter- 
vene of  the  administration  of  the  most  atrocious  code 
of  procedure  which  has  ever  assumed  the  forms  of 
justice  ;  more  than  one  formidable  insurrection ;  the 
forcible  expulsion  of  the  terrible  Inquisition  ;  the  as- 
sassination, the  martyrdom  as  it  was  profanely  called, 

1  See  on  for  the  proceedings  of  the  Inquisition. 


Chap.  VIII.  HERESY  SURVIVES.  229 

of  more  than  one  inquisitor,  before  the  South  of  France 
collapsed  into  final  spiritual  subjection. 

Yet,  Latin  Christianity  might  boast  at  length  to  have 
crushed  out  the  life,  at  least  in  outward  appearance,  of 
this  insurrection  within  her  own  borders.  No  language 
of  Latin  descent  was  permanently  to  speak  in  its  relig- 
ious services  to  the  people,  to  form  a  Christian  literature 
of  its  own,  to  have  full  command  of  the  Scriptures  in 
its  vernacular  dialect.  The  Crusade  revenged  itself 
on  the  poetry  of  the  Troubadour,  once  the  bold  assail- 
ant of  the  clergy,  by  compelling  it,  if  not  to  total 
silence,  to  but  a  feeble  and  uncertain  sound. 


2^)0  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX 


CHAPTER  IX. 

NEW  ORDERS.    ST.  DOMINIC. 

The  progress  of  the  new  opinions  in  all  quarters, 
their  obstinate  resistance  in  Languedoc,  opinions,  if  not 
yet  rooted  out,  lopped  by  the  sword  and  seared  by  the 
fire,  had  revealed  the  secret  of  the  fatal  weakness  of 
Latin  Christianity.  Sacerdotal  Christianity,  by  ascend- 
Preacking  ™g  a  throne  higher  than  all  thrones  of  eaithly 
rare-  sovereigns,  by  the  power,  the  wealth,  the  mag- 

nificence of  the  higher  ecclesiastics,  had  withdrawnjthe 
influence  of  the  clergy  from  its  natural  and  peculiar 
office.  Even  with  the  lower  orders  of  the  priesthood, 
that  which  in  a  certain  degree  separated  them  from  the 
people,  set  them  apart  from  the  sympathies  of  the  peo- 
ple. The  Church  might  still  seem  to  preach  to  all,  but 
it  preached  in  a  tone  of  lofty  condescension ;  it  dictated 
rather  than  persuaded ;  but  in  general  actual  preaching 
had  fallen  into  disuse  ;  it  was  in  theory  the  special  priv- 
ilege of  the  bishops,  and  the  bishops  were  but  few  who 
had  either  the  gift,  the  inclination,  or  the  leisure  from 
their  secular,  judicial,  or  warlike  occupations  to  preach 
even  in  their  cathedral  cities  ;  in  the  rest  of  their  dio- 
ceses their  presence  was  but  occasional  ;  a  progress  or 
visitation  of  pomp  and  form,  rather  than  of  popular 
instruction.  The  only  general  teaching  of  the  people 
was  the  Ritual. 


Chap.  IX.  THE  RITUAL.  '2o\ 

But  the  splendid  ritual,  admirably  as  it  was  consti- 
tuted to  impress  by  its  words  or  symbolic  The  Ritual, 
forms  the  leading  truths  of  Christianity  upon  the  more 
intelligent,  or  in  a  vaguer  way  upon  the  more  rude  and 
uneducated,  could  be  administered,  and  was  adminis- 
tered, by  a  priesthood  almost  entirely  ignorant,  but 
which  had  just  learned  mechanically,  not  without  de- 
cency, perhaps  not  without  devotion,  to  go  through  the 
stated  observances.  Everywhere  the  bell  summoned 
to  the  frequent  service,  the  service  was  performed,  and 
the  obedient  flock  gathered  to  the  chapel  or  the  church, 
knelt,  and  either  performed  their  orisons,  or  heard  the 
customary  chant  and  prayer.  This,  the  only  instruc- 
tion which  the  mass  of  the  priesthood  could  convey, 
might  for  a  time  be  sufficient  to  maintain  in  the  minds 
of  the  people  a  quiescent  and  submissive  faith,  never- 
theless, in  itself  could  not  but  awaken  in  some  a  desire 
of  knowledge,  which  it  could  not  satisfy.  Auricular 
confession,  now  by  Innocent  III.  raised  to  a  necessary 
duty,  and  to  be  heard  not  only  by  the  lofty  bishop,  but 
by  the  parochial  priest,  might  have  more  effect  in  re- 
pressing the  uneasy  or  daring  doubts  of  those  who  began 
to  reason  ;  doubts  which  would  startle  and  alarm  the 
uneducated  priest,  and  which  he  would  endeavor  to 
silence  at  once  by  all  the  terrors  of  his  authority. 
Though  the  lower  priesthood  were  from  the  people, 
they  were  not  of  the  people ;  nor  did  they  fully  inter- 
penetrate the  whole  mass  of  the  people.  The  parochial 
divisions,  where  they  existed,  were  arbitrary,  accidental, 
often  not  clearly  defined  ;  they  followed  in  general  the 
bounds  of  royal  or  aristocratical  domains.  A  church 
was  founded  by  a  pious  king,  noble,  or  knight,  with  a 
certain   district   around   it  :    but   in   few  countries  was 


232  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

there  any  approach  to  a  systematic  organization  of  the 
clergy  in  relation  to  the  spiritual  wants  and  care  of  the 
whole  Christian  community. 

The  fatal  question  of  the  celibacy  of  the  clergy 
celibacy  worked  in  both  ways  to  the  prejudice  of 
of  clergy.  their  authority.  The  married  clergy,  on 
the  whole  no  doubt  the  more  moral,  were  acting  in 
violation  of  the  rules  of  the  Church,  and  were  subject 
to  the  opprobrious  accusation  of  living  in  concubinage. 
The  validity  of  their  ministrations  was  denied  by  the 
more  austere  ;  the  doctrines  of  men  charged  with  such 
grievous  error  lost  their  proper  weight.  The  unmar- 
ried obeyed  the  outward  rule,  but  by  every  account, 
not  the  bitter  satire  of  enemies  alone  but  the  reluctant 
and  melancholy  admission  of  the  most  gentle  and  de- 
vout, in  general  so  flagrantly  violated  the  severer 
principles  of  the  Church,  that  their  teaching,  if  they 
attempted  actual  teaching,  must  have  fallen  dead  on 
the  minds  of  the  people. 

The  earlier  monastic  orders  were  still  more  deficient 
Monasticism.  as  instructors  in  Christianity.  Their  chief,  if 
not  their  sole  exclusive  and  avowed  object,  was  the 
salvation,  or,  at  the  highest,  the  religious  perfection  of 
themselves  and  of  their  own  votaries.  Solitude,  seclu- 
sion, the  lonely  cell,  their  own  unapproached,  or  hardly 
approached,  chapel,  was  their  sphere  ;  their  communi- 
cation with  others  was  sternly  cut  off.  The  dominant, 
the  absorbing  thought  of  each  hermit,  of  each  coeno- 
bite, was  his  own  isolation  or  that  of  his  brethren  from 
the  dangerous  world.  But  to  teach  the  world  they 
must  enter  the  world.  Their  influence,  therefore, 
beyond  their  convent  walls  was  but  subordinate  and 
accessory.      The   halo    of   their    sanctity    might   awe. 


Chap.  IX.  MONASTICISM  233 

attract  others  ;  the  zeal  of  love  might,  as  to  their  more 
immediate  neighbors,  struggle  with  the  coercive  and 
imprisoning  discipline.  But  the  admiration  of  their 
sanctity  would  act  chiefly  in  alluring  emulous  vota- 
ries within,  rather  than  in  extending  faith  and  holiness 
beyond  their  walls.  Even  their  charities  were  to  re- 
lieve their  own  souls,  to  lay  up  for  themselves  treasures 
of  good  works,  rather  than  from  any  real  sympathy  for 
the  people.  The  loftier  notion  of  combining  their  own 
humiliation  with  the  good  of  mankind  first  dawned 
upon  the  founders  of  the  Mendicant  orders.  In  the 
older  monasteries  beneficence  was  but  a  subsidiary  and 
ancillary  virtue.  The  cultivation  of  the  soil  was  not 
to  increase  its  fertility  for  the  general  advantage ;  it 
was  to  employ  their  own  dangerous  energies,  to  sub- 
due their  own  bodies  by  the  hard  discipline  of  labor. 
At  all  events,  the  limit  of  their  influence  was  that  of 
their  retainers,  tenants,  peasants,  or  serfs,  bounded  by 
their  own  near  neighborhood.  No  sooner  indeed  had 
any  one  of  the  older  Orders,  or  any  single  monastery 
attained  to  numbers,  rank  or  influence,  than  it  became 
more  and  more  estranged  from  the  humbler  classes  ; 
the  vows  of  poverty  had  been  eluded,  the  severer  rule 
gradually  relaxed ;  the  individual  might  remain  poor, 
but  the  order  or  the  convent  became  rich  ;  narrow  cells 
grew  into  stately  cloisters,  deserts  into  parks,  hermits 
into  princely  abbots.  It  became  &  great  religious  aris- 
tocracy ;  it  became  worldly,  without  impregnating  the 
world  with  its  religious  spirit ;  it  was  hardly  less  se- 
cluded from  popular  intercourse  than  before ;  even 
where  learning  was  cultivated  it  was  the  high  scho- 
lastic theology  :  theology  which,  in  its  pride,  stood  as 
much  aloof  from  the  popular  mind  as  the  feudal  bishop, 
or  the  mitred  abbot. 


234  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

But  just  at  this  time  that  popular  mind  throughout 
intellectual  Christendom  seemed  to  demand  instruction, 
movement.  There  was  a  wide  and  vague  wakening  and 
yearning  of  the  human  intellect.  It  is  impossible  to 
suppose  that  the  lower  orders  were  not  to  a  certain 
extent  generally  stirred  by  that  movement  which 
thronged  the  streets  of  the  universities  of  Paris,  Aux- 
erre,  Oxford,  with  countless  hosts  of  indigent  schol- 
ars, which  led  thousands  to  the  feet  of  Abelard,  and 
had  raised  logical  disputations  on  the  most  barren 
metaphysical  subjects  to  an  interest  like  that  of  a 
tournament.  An  insatiate  thirst  of  curiosity,  of  in- 
quiry, at  least  for  mental  spiritual  excitement,  seemed 
almost  suddenly  to  have  pervaded  society. 

Here  that  which  was  heresy,  or  accounted  to  be 
Heresy.  heresy,  stepped  in  and  seized  upon  the  va- 
cant mind.  Preaching  in  public  and  in  private  was 
the  strength  of  all  the  heresiarchs,  of  all  the  sects. 
Eloquence,  popular  eloquence  became  a  new  power, 
which  the  Church  had  comparatively  neglected  or  dis- 
dained since  the  time  of  the  Crusades  ;  or  had  gone  on 
wasting  upon  that  worn-out,  and  now  almost  unstirring 
topic.  The  Petrobussians,  the  Henricians,  the  follow- 
ers of  Peter  Waldo,  and  the  wilder  teachers  at  least 
tinged  with  the  old  Manichean  tenets  of  the  East,  met 
on  this  common  ground.  They  were  poor  and  pop- 
ular ;  they  felt  with  the  people,  whether  the  lower 
burghers  of  the  cities,  the  lower  vassals,  or  even  the 
peasants  and  serfs ;  they  spoke  the  language  of  the 
people,  they  were  of  the  people.  If  here  and  there 
one  of  the  higher  clergy,  a  priest  or  a  canon,  adopted 
their  opinions  and  mode  of  teaching,  he  became  an 
object  of  reverence  and  notoriety  ;  and  this  profound 


Chap.  IX.  NEW  LANGUAGES.  235 

religious  influence  so  obtained  was  a  strong  temptation 
to  religious  minds.  But  all  these  sects  were  bound 
together  by  their  common  revolutionary  aversion  to 
the  clergy,  not  only  the  wealthy,  worldly,  immoral, 
tyrannical,  but  the  decent  but  inert  priesthood,  who 
left  the  uninstructed  souls  of  men  to  perish.  In  their 
turn,  they  were  viewed  with  the  most  jealous  hatred 
by  the  clergy,  not  merely  on  account  of  their  heter- 
odox and  daring  tenets,  but  as  usurping  their  office, 
which  themselves  had  almost  let  fall  from  their  hands. 
We  have  seen  the  extent  to  which  they  prevailed  ; 
nothing  less  might  be  apprehended  (unless  coerced 
by  the  obedient  temporal  power,  and  no  other  meas- 
ure seemed  likely  to  succeed)  than  a  general  revolt 
of  the  lower  orders  from  the  doctrines  and  rule  of  the 
hierarchy. 

At  this  time,  too,  the  rude  dialects  which  had  been 
slowly  forming  by  the  breaking  up  of  the  New  lan_ 
Roman  Latin  «and  its  fusion  with  the  Teu-  guages* 
tonic,  were  growing  into  regular  and  distinct  languages. 
Latin,  the  language  of  the  Church,  became  less  and 
less  the  language  of  the  people.  In  proportion  as  the 
Roman  or  foreign  element  predominated,  the  services 
of  the  Church,  the  speech  in  which  all  priests  were 
supposed  to  be  instructed,  remained  more  or  less  clear 
and  intelligible.  It  was  more  so  where  the  Latin 
maintained  its  ascendency ;  but  in  the  Teutonic  or 
Sclavonian  regions,  even  the  priesthood  had  learned 
Latin  imperfectly,  if  at  all ;  and  Latin  had  ceased  to 
be  the  means  of  ordinary  communication  ;  it  was  a 
strange,  obsolete,  if  still  venerable  language.  Even  in 
Italy,  in  Northern  and  Southern  France,  in  England 
where  the  Norman  French  kept  down  to  a  certain  ex- 
tent  the    >M   free    Ari£i<>-Saxon   (we    must   wait    more 


236  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

than  a  century  for  Wyclyffe  and  Chancer),  in  Spain, 
Latin  was  a  kindred,  indistinctly  significant  tongue, 
but  not  that  of  common  use,  not  that  of  the  field, 
the  street,  the  market,  or  the  fair.  But  vernacular 
teaching  was  in  all  quarters  coetaneous  with  the  new 
:pinions  ;  versions  of  the  sacred  writings,  or  parts  of 
he  sacred  writings,  into  the  young  languages  were  at 
nice  the  sign  of  their  birth,  and  the  instrument  of 
Jieir  propagation.  These  languages  had  begun  to 
speak,  at  least  in  poetry,  and  not  only  to  the  knightly 
aristocracy.  The  first  sounds  of  Italian  poetry  were 
already  heard  in  the  Sicilian  court  of  the  young  Fred- 
erick II.:  Dante  was  erelong  to  come.  The  Pro- 
vencal had  made  the  nearest  approach  perhaps  to  a 
regular  language ;  and  Provence,  as  has  been  seen, 
lent  her  Romaunt  to  the  great  anti-hierarchical  move- 
ment. In  France  the  Trouveres  had  in  the  last  cen- 
tury begun  their  inexhaustible,  immeasurable  epope*es  ; 
but  these  were  as  yet  the  luxuries  of  the  court  and  the 
castle,  heard  no  doubt  by  the  people,  but  not  what  is 
fairly  called  popular  poetry,1  though  here  and  there 
might  even  now  be  heard  the  tale  or  the  fable.  Ger- 
many, less  poetical,  was  at  once  borrowing  the  knightly 
poems  on  Charlemagne,  and  King  Arthur,  and  the 
Crusades  ;  emulating  France,  reviving  the  old  classi- 
cal fables,  among  them  the  story  of  Alexander :  while 
in  Walter  the  Falconer2  are  heard  tones  more  men- 

1  See  in  the  22d  vol.  of  the  Hist.  Litt^raire  de  la  France  the  description 
and  analysis  of  the  innumerable  Chansons  de  Geste,  Poemes  d'Aventure. 
With  all  these  were  mingled  up,  both  in  Germany  and  France,  as  intermi- 
nable hagiological  romances,  legends,  and  lives  of  saints,  even  the  more 
modern  Saints.  See  e.  g.,  the  French  poem  on  Thomas  a  Becket,  edited  in 
the  Berlin  Transactions  by  M.  Bekker. 

2  Lachmann  has  edited  the  original  Walter  der  Vogelweide  with  his  usual 
industry;  Simrock  modernized  him  to  the  understanding  cf  the  Jess  learned 
reader. 


Chap.  IX.  ST.  DOMINIC  AND  ST.  FRANCIS.  237 

acing,  more  ominous  of  religious  revolution,  more  dar- 
ingly expressive  of  Teutonic  independence. 

But  this  gradual  encroachment  of  the  vernacular 
poetry  on  the  Latin,  the  vain  struggle  of  the  Latin 
to  maintain  its  mastery,  the  growth  and  influence  of 
modern  languages  must  be  reserved  for  a  later,  more 
full,  and  consecutive  inquiry. 

Just  at  this  juncture  arose  almost  simultaneously, 
without  concert,  in  different  countries,  two  st.  Dominic 
men  wonderfully  adapted  to  arrest  and  avert  Francis, 
the  danger  which  threatened  the  whole  hierarchical 
system.  One  seized  and,  if  he  did  not  wrest  from  the 
hands  of  the  enemy,  turned  against  him  with  indefati- 
gable force  his  own  fatal  arms,  St.  Dominic,  the  founder 
of  the  Friar  Preachers.  By  him  Christendom  was  at 
once  overspread  with  a  host  of  zealous,  active,  devoted 
men,  whose  function  was  popular  instruction.  They 
were  gathered  from  every  country,  and  spoke,  there- 
fore, every  language  and  dialect.  In  a  few  years  from 
the  sierras  of  Spain  to  the  steppes  of  Russia ;  from  the 
Tiber  to  the  Thames,  the  Trent,  the  Baltic  Sea,  the 
old  faith,  in  its  fullest  mediaeval,  imaginative,  inflexible 
rigor,  was  preached  in  almost  every  town  and  hamlet. 
The  Dominicans  did  not  confine  themselves  to  popular 
teaching :  the  more  dangerous,  if  as  yet  not  absolutely 
disloyal  seats  of  the  new  learning,  of  inquiry,  of  intel- 
lectual movement,  the  universities,  Bologna,  Paris,  Ox- 
ford are  invaded,  and  compelled  to  admit  these  stern 
apostles  of  unswerving  orthodoxy ;  their  zeal  soon  over- 
leaped the  pale  of  Christendom :  they  plunge  fearlessly 
into  the  remote  darkness  of  heathen  and  Mohammedan 
lands,  from  whence  come  back  rumors,  which  are  con- 
stantly stirring  the  minds   of  their  votaries,  of  won* 


238  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY  Book  IX. 

derful  conversions  and  not  less  wonderful  martyr- 
doms. 

The  other,  St.  Francis  of  Assisi,  was  endowed  with 
that  fervor  of  mystic  devotion,  which  spread  like  an 
epidemic  with  irresistible  contagion  among  the  lower 
orders  throughout  Christendom  ;  it  was  a  superstition, 
but  a  superstition  which  had  such  an  earnestness, 
warmth,  tenderness,  as  to  raise  the  religious  feeling  to 
an  intense  but  gentle  passion  ;  it  supplied  a  never-fail- 
ing counter  excitement  to  rebellious  reasoning,  which 
gladly  fell  asleep  again  on  its  bosom.  After  the  death 
of  its  author  and  example,  it  raised  a  new  object  of 
adoration,  more  near,  more  familiar,  and  second  only, 
if  second,  to  the  Redeemer  himself.  Jesus  was  sup- 
posed to  have  lived  again  in  St.  Francis  with  at  least 
as  bright  a  halo  of  miracle  around  him,  in  absolute, 
almost  surpassing  perfection. 

In  one  important  respect  the  founders  of  these  new 
orders  absolutely  agreed,  in  their  entire  identification 
with  the  lowest  of  mankind.  At  first  amicable,  after- 
wards emulous,  eventually  hostile,  they,  or  rather  their 
Orders,  rivalled  each  other  in  sinking  below  poverty 
into  beggary.  They  were  to  live  upon  alms ;  the 
coarsest  imaginable  dress,  the  hardest  fare,  the  narrow- 
est cell,  was  to  keep  them  down  to  the  level  of  the 
humblest.  Though  Dominic  himself  was  of  high  birth, 
and  many  of  his  followers  of  noble  blood,  St.  Francis 
of  decent  even  wealthy  parentage,  according  to  the 
irrepealable  constitution  of  both  Orders  they  were  still 
to  be  the  poorest  of  mankind,  instructing  or  consorting 
in  religious  fellowship  with  the  very  meanest  outcasts 
of  society.  Both  the  new  Orders  differed  in  the  same 
manner,  and  greatly  to  the  advantage  of  the  hierarchi 


Chap.  IX.  DOMINIC  A  SPANIARD.  239 

2al  faith,  from  the  old  monkish  institutions.  Their 
primary  object  was  not  the  salvation  of  the  individual 
monk,  but  the  salvation  of  others  through  him. 
Though,  therefore,  their  rules  within  their  monaster- 
ies were  strictly  and  severely  monastic,  bound  by  the 
common  vows  of  chastity,  poverty,  and  obedience,  se- 
clusion was  no  part  of  their  discipline.  Their  business 
was  abroad  rather  than  at  home  ;  their  dwelling  was 
not  like  that  of  the  old  Benedictines  or  others,  in  the 
uncultivated  swamps  and  forests  of  the  North,  on  the 
dreary  Apennine,  or  the  exhausted  soil  of  Italy,  in 
order  to  subdue  their  bodies,  and  occupy  their  danger- 
ously unoccupied  time,  merely  as  a  secondary  conse- 
quence to  compel  the  desert  into  fertile  land.  Their 
work  was  among  their  fellow-men ;  in  the  village,  in 
the  town,  in  the  city,  in  the  market,  even  in  the  camp. 
In  every  Dominican  convent  the  Superior  had  the 
power  to  dispense  even  with  the  ordinary  internal  disci- 
pline, if  he  thought  the  brother  might  be  more  usefully 
employed  in  his  special  avocation  of  a  Preacher.  It 
might  seem  the  ambition  of  these  men,  instead  of  coop- 
ing up  a  chosen  few  in  high-walled  and  secure  mon- 
asteries, to  subdue  the  whole  world  into  one  vast 
cloister;  monastic  Christianity  would  no  longer  flee 
the  world,  it  would  subjugate  it,  or  win  it  by  gentle 
violence. 

In  Dominic  Spain  began  to  exercise  that  remarkable 
influence  over  Latin  Christianity,  to  display  Dominic a 
that  peculiar  character  which  culminated  as  sPamard- 
it  were  in  Ignatius  Loyola,  in  Philip  II.,  and  in  Tor- 
quemada,  of  which  the  code  of  the  Inquisition  was  the 
statutory  law  ;  of  which  Calderon  was  the  poet.  The 
life  of  every  devout  Spaniard  was  a  perpetual  crusade. 


240  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

By  temperament  and  by  position  he  was  in  constant 
adventurous  warfare  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  his  sense 
of  duty,  urged  by  an  inward  voice,  to  invade  older 
Christendom.  And  Dominic  was  a  man  of  as  pro- 
found sagacity  as  of  adventurous  enthusiasm.  He  in- 
tuitively perceived,  or  the  circumstances  of  his  early 
career  forced  upon  him,  the  necessities  of  the  age,  and 
showed  him  the  arms  in  which  himself  and  his  forces 
must  be  arrayed  to  achieve  their  conquest. 

St.  Dominic  was  born  in  1170,  in  the  village  of  Ca- 
Birth.  laroga,  between  Aranda  and   Osma,  in  Old 

Castile.  His  parents  were  of  noble  name,  that  of 
Guzman,  if  not  of  noble  race.1  Prophecies  (we  must 
not  disdain  legend,  though  manifest  legend)  proclaimed 
his  birth.  It  was  a  tenet  of  his  disciples  that  he  was 
born  without  original  sin,  sanctified  in  his  mother's 
womb.  His  mother  dreamed  that  she  bore  a  dog  with 
a  torch  in  his  mouth,  which  set  the  world  on  fire.  His 
votaries  borrowed  too  the  old  classical  fable ;  the  bees 
settled  on  his  lips,  foreshowing  his  exquisite  eloquence. 
Even  in  his  infancy,  his  severe  nature,  among  other 
wonders,  began  to  betray  itself.  He  crept  from  his  soft 
couch  to  lie  on  the  hard  cold  ground.  The  first  part 
of  his  education  Dominic  received  from  his  uncle,  a 
churchman  at  Gamiel  d'Izan.     At  fifteen  years  old  he 

1  This  point  is  contested.    The  Father  Bremond  wrote  to  confute  the 
Bollaudists,  who  had  cast  a  profane  doubt  on  the  noble  descent  of  Dominic 


Chap.  IX.  DOMINIC  IN  LANGUEDOC.  "241 

was  sent  to  the  university  of  Palencia ;  he  studied, 
chiefly  theology,  for  ten  years.  He  was  laborious,  de- 
vout, abstemious.  Two  stories  are  recorded  which 
show  the  dawn  of  religious  strength  in  his  character. 
During  a  famine,  he  sold  his  clothes  to  feed  the  poor : 
he  offered  in  compassion  to  a  woman  who  deplored  the 
slavery  of  her  brother  to  the  Moors,  to  be  sold  for  his 
redemption.  He  had  not  what  may  be  strictly  called  a 
monastic  training.1  The  Bishop  of  Osma  had  changed 
his  chapter  into  regular  canons,  those  who  lived  in 
common,  and  under  a  rule  approaching  to  a  monastic 
institute.  Dominic  became  a  canon  in  this  rigorous 
house  :  there  lie  soon  excelled  the  others  in  austerity. 
This  was  in  his  twenty-fifth  year :  he  remained  in  Os- 
ma, not  much  known,  for  nine  years  longer.  Diego  de 
Azevedo  had  succeeded  to  the  Bishopric  of  Osma.  He 
was  a  prelate  of  great  ability,  and  of  strong  religious 
enthusiasm.  He  was  sent  to  Denmark  to  negotiate  the 
marriage  of  Alfonso  VIII.  of  Castile  with  a  princess 
of  that  kingdom.  He  chose  the  congenial  In  Langue. 
Dominic  as  his  companion.  No  sooner  had  doc* 
they  crossed  the  Pyrenees  than  they  found  themselves 
in  the  midst  of  the  Albigensian  heresy ;  they  could  not 
close  their  eyes  on  the  contempt  into  which  a.d.  1203. 
the  clergy  had  fallen,  or  on  the  prosperity  of  the  secta- 
rians ;  their  very  host  at  Toulouse  was  an  Albigensian  ; 
Dominic  is  said  to  have  converted  him  before  the 
morning. 

The  mission    of  the  Bishop  in  Denmark  was  frus- 

1  The  Chapter  of  his  order  was  shocked  by,  and  carefully  erased  from 
the  authorized  Legend  of  the  Saint,  a  passage,  "  Ubi  semetipsum  asserit 
licet  in  integritate  carnis  divina  gratia  conservatum,  nondum  illam  imper- 
fectidnem  evadere  potuisse,  quia  niagis  afficiebatur  ju'vencularum  colloquiia 
quam  aftatibus  vetularum.'' —  Apud  Bolland.  c.  1. 
vol.  v.  16 


242  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  L\. 

trated  by  the  unexpected  death  of  the  Princess.  Before 
he  returned  to  Spain,  Azevedo,  with  his  companion, 
resolved  upon  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome.  The  character 
of  the  Bishop  of  Osma  appears  from  his  proposal  to 
Pope  Innocent.  He  wished  to  abandon  his  tranquil 
bishopric,  and  to  devote  himself  to  the  perilous  life  of 
a  missionary,  among  the  Cumans  and  fierce  people 
which  occupied  part  of  Hungary,  or  in  some  other  infi- 
del country.  That  Dominic  would  have  been  his  com- 
panion in  this  adventurous  spiritual  enterprise  none  can 
doubt.  Innocent  commanded  the  Bishop  to  return  to 
his  diocese.  On  their  way  the  Bishop  and  Dominic 
stopped  at  Montpellier.  There,  as  has  been  said,  they 
a.d.  1205.  encountered  in  all  their  pomp  the  three  Leg- 
ates of  the  Pope,  Abbot  Arnold,  the  Brother  Raoul, 
and  Peter  of  Castelnau.  The  Legates  were  returning 
discomfited,  and  almost  desperate,  from  their  progress 
in  Lano-uedoc.  Then  it  was  that  Dominic  uttered  his 
bold  and  memorable  rebuke  :  "  It  is  not  by  the  display 
of  power  and  pomp,  cavalcades  of  retainers,  and  richly 
houseled  palfreys,  or  by  gorgeous  apparel,  that  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, 
humility  by  humility,  false  sanctity  by  real  sanctity  j 
preaching  falsehood  by  preaching  truth."  From  that 
day  Dominic  devoted  himself  to  preaching  the  religion 
which  he  believed.  Even  the  Legates  were  for  a  time 
put  to  shame  by  his  precept  and  example,  dismissed 
their  splendid  equipages,  and  set  forth  with  bare  feet  ; 
yet  if  with  some  humility  of  dress  and  demeanor,  with 
none  of  language  or  of  heart.  As  the  preacher  of 
orthodoxy,  Dominic  is  said  in  the  pulpit,  at  the  con- 


Chap.  IX.  MIRACLES.  243 

ference,  to  have  argued  with  irresistible  force  :  but 
his  mission  at  last  seems  to  have  made  no  profound 
impression  on  the  obstinate  unbelievers.  Erelong  the 
Bishop  Azevedo  retired  to  Osma  and  died.  Dominic 
remained  alone. 

But  now  the  murder  of  Peter  of  Castelnau  roused 
other  powers  and  other  passions.  That  more  irresisti- 
ble preacher,  the  sword  of  the  Crusader,  was  sent 
forth  :  it  becomes  impossible  to  discriminate  between 
the  successes  of  one  and  of  the  other.  The  voice  of 
the  Apostle  is  drowned  in  the  din  of  war ;  even  the 
conduct  of  Dominic  himself,  the  manner  in  which  he 
bore  himself  amidst  these  unevangelic  allies,  is  clouded 
with  doubt  and  uncertainty.  His  career  is  darkened 
too  by  the  splendor  of  miracle,  with  which  it  Miracles. 
is  invested.  These  miracles  must  not  be  passed  by : 
they  are  largely  borrowed  from  the  life  of  the  Saviour 
and  those  of  the  Saints ;  they  sometimes  sink  into  the 
ludicrous.  A  schedule,  which  he  had  written  during 
one  conference,  of  scriptural  proofs,  leaped  out  of  the 
fire,  while  the  discriminating;  flames  consumed  the 
writings  of  his  adversaries.  He  exorcised  the  devil 
who  possessed  three  noble  matrons  in  the  shape  of  a 
great  black  cat  with  large  black  eyes,  who  at  last  ran 
up  the  bell-rope  and  disappeared.  A  lady  of  extreme 
beauty  wished  to  leave  her  monastery,  and  resisted  all 
the  preacher's  arguments.  She  blew  her  nose,  it  re- 
mained in  the  handkerchief.  Horror-stricken,  she  im- 
oiored  the  prayers  of  Dominic :  at  his  intercession  the 
nose  resumed  its  place  ;  the  lady  remained  in  the  con- 
vent. Dominic  raised  the  dead,  frequently  fed  his  dis- 
cipitrs  in  a  manner  even  more  wonderful  than  the  Lord 


244  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX 

in  the  desert.1  His  miracles  equal,  if  not  transcend 
those  in  the  Gospel.  It  must  indeed  have  been  a  stub- 
born generation,  to  need  besides  these  wonders  the 
sword  of  Simon  de  Montfort. 

Throughout  the  Crusade  Dominic  is  lost  to  the 
sight:  he  is  hardly,  if  at  all,  noticed  by  historian  or 
Dominic  poet.  It  is  not  till  the  century  after  his  death 
m  war-  that  his  sterner  followers   boast  of   his  pres- 

ence, if  not  of  his  activity,  in  exciting  the  savage 
soldiery  in  the  day  of  battle.  He  marches  unarmed 
in  the  van  of  the  army  with  the  cross  in  his  hands,  and 
escapes  unhurt.  The  cross  was  shown  pierced  every- 
where with  arrows  or  javelins,  only  the  form  of  the 
Saviour  himself  uninjured.  In  modern  times  there 
comes  another  change  over  the  history  of  St.  Dominic  ; 
that,  of  which  his  contemporaries  were  silent,  which 
the  next  generation  blazoned  forth  as  a  boast,  is  now 
become  a  grave  imputation.  In  later  writings,  his 
more  prudent  admirers  assert,  that  he  never  appeared 
in  the  field  of  battle ;  he  was  but  once  with  the  armies, 
during  the  great  victory  of  Simon  de  Montfort,  at 
Muret ;  and  then  he  remained  within  the  city  in  fer- 
vent and  uninterrupted  prayer.  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. 

So,  too,  the  presence  of  St.  Dominic  on  the  tribu- 
In  the  nals,  where  the  unhappy  heretics  were  tried 

tribunals.      fQV  fa^  lives,  and  the  part  which  he  took  in 

1  All  these  and  much  more  may  be  found  in  the  lives  of  St.  Dominic,  in 
the  Bollandists  and  elsewhere. 


Chap.  IX.  IN   THE  TRIBUNALS  245 

delivering  them  over  to  the  secular  arm  to  be  burned 
by  hundreds,  is  in  the  same  manner,  according  to  the 
date  of  the  biographer,  a  cause  of  pride  or  shame,  is 
boldly  vaunted,  or  tenderly  disguised  and  gently  doubt- 
ed. The  more  charitable  silence  at  least  of  the  earlier 
writers  is  sternly  repudiated  by  the  Bollandists,  who 
will  not  allow  the  milder  sense  to  be  given  to  the  title 
"  Persecutor  of  Heretics,"  assigned  to  him  by  the  In- 
quisition of  Toulouse.  They  quote  St.  Thomas  of 
Aquino  as  an  irrefragable  authority  on  the  duty  of 
burning  heretics.  They  refute  the  more  tolerant  argu- 
ment by  a  long  line  of  glorious  bishops  who  have  urged 
or  assisted  at  holocausts  of  victims.  "  What  glory, 
splendor,  and  dignity  (bursts  forth  Malvendia)  belongs 
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  corruptors  of 
sound  doctrine,  were  destroyed,  unless  they  would  re- 
cant, by  fire  and  sword,  or  at  least  awed,  banished,  put 
to  the  rout."  The  title  of  Dominic,  in  its  fiercer  sense, 
even  rests  on  Papal  authority,  that  of  Sixtus  V.  in  his 
bull  for  the  canonization  of  Peter  Martyr.1  That  in- 
deed which  in  modern  days  is  alleged  in  proof  of  his 
mercy,  rather  implies  his  habitual  attendance  on  such 
scenes  without  showing  the  same  mercy.  Once  he  in- 
terfered to  save  a  victim,  in  whom  he  saw  some  hopes 
of  reconciliation,   from    the  flames.2     Calmer    inquiry 

1  "  Jam  vero  ne  recrudesceret  in  posteris  malum,  aut  impia  haeresis  repul- 
lularet  ex  cineribus  suis  saluberrimo  consilio  Komani  Pontificis  Sanctis  In- 
quisitionis  officium  austeri  S.  Dominici  instituerunt,  eidemque  B.  viro  et 
Fratribus  Pnedicatoribus  prsecipue  detulerunt."  —  Reichinius  (a  Domini- 
can); Pra?f.  in  Monetam.  p.  xxxi. 

2  La  Cordaire,  S.  Dominique. 


246  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

must  rob  him  of,  or  release  him  from,  these  question- 
able 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.  It  is  his  Order  which 
has  thrown  back  its  aggrandizing  splendor  on  St.  Domi- 
nic. So  far  was  the  Church  from  bowing  down  before 
the  transcendent  powers  and  holiness  of  the  future 
saints,  or  discerning  with  instantaneous  sagacity  the 
value  of  these  new  allies,  both  the  Father  of  the  Friar 
Preachers  and  the  Father  of  the  Minorites  were  at  first 
received  with  cold  suspicion  or  neglect  at  Rome  ;  the 
foundation  of  the  two  new  Orders  was  extorted  from 
the  reluctant  Innocent.  The  Third  Lateran  Council 
had  prohibited  the  establishment  of  new  orders.  Well- 
timed  and  irresistible  visions  (the  counsels  of  wiser  and 
more  far-sighted  men)  enlightened  the  Pope,  and  gen- 
tly impelled  him  to  open  his  eyes,  and  to  yield  to  the 
revocation  of  his  unwise  judgment.  Dominic  returned 
from  Rome,  before  the  battle  of  Muret,  armed  with  the 
Papal  permission  to  enroll  the  Order  of  Friar  Preachers. 
The  earliest  foundation  of  Dominic  had  been  a  con- 
Foundation  vent  °f  females.  He  had  observed  that  the 
of  Preachers.  nokie  ladies  0f  Languedoc  listened,  especially 
in  early  life,  with  too  eager  ears  to  the  preachers  of 
heretical  doctrines.  At  Prouille,  at  the  foot  of  the 
Pyrenees,  between  Fanjaux  and  Monreal,  he  opened 
his  retreat,  where  their  virgin  minds  might  be  safe  from 
the  dangerous  contagion.  The  first  monastery  of  the 
Order  of  Preachers  was  that  of  St.  Ronain,  near  Tou- 
louse. The  brotherhood  consisted  but  of  sixteen,  most 
of  them  natives  of  Languedoc,  some  Spaniards,  one 
Englishman.  It  is  remarkable,  however,  that  the 
Order,  founded  for  the  suppression  of  heresy  by  preach- 


Chap.  IX.  FOUNDATION  OF  THE  ORDER  247 

ing  in  Languedoc,  was  hardly  organized  before  it  left  the 
chosen  scene  of  its  labors.  Instead  of  fixing  on  Toulouse 
or  any  of  the  cities  of  Provence  as  the  centre  of  his 
operations,  Dominic  was  seized  with  the  ambition  of 
converting  the  world.  Rome,  Bologna,  Paris,  were  to 
be  the  seats  of  his  power.  Exactly  four  years  after  the 
battle  of  Muret  he  abandoned  Languedoc  forever.  His 
sagacious  mind  might  perhaps  anticipate  the  unfavor- 
able change,  the  fall  if  not  the  death  of  De  Montfort, 
the  return  of  Count  Raymond  as  the  deliverer  to  his 
patrimonial  city.  But  even  the  stern  Spanish  mind 
might  be  revolted  by  the  horrors  of  the  Albigensian 
war ;  he  may  have  been  struck  by  the  common  grief  for 
the  fall  of  the  noble  Spanish  King  of  Arragon.  At  all 
events,  the  preacher  of  the  word  in  Languedoc  could 
play  but  a  secondary  part  to  the  preacher  by  the 
sword ;  and  now  that  the  aim  was  manifestly  not  con- 
version, but  conquest,  not  the  reestablishment  of  the 
Church,  but  the  destruction  of  the  liberties  of  the 
land,  not  the  subjugation  of  the  heretical  Count  of 
Toulouse,  but  the  expulsion  from  their  ancestral  throne 
of  the  old  princely  house  and  the  substitution  of  a  for- 
eign usurper,  the  Castilian  might  feel  shame  and  com- 
punction, even  the  Christian  might  be  reluctant  to 
connect  the  Catholic  faith  which  he  would  preach  with 
all  the  deeds  of  a  savage  soldiery.  The  parting  address 
ascribed  to  St.  Dominic  is  not  quite  consistent  Sept.  13, 1217. 
with  this  more  generous  and  charitable  view  of  his  con- 
duct. It  is  a  terrible  menace  rather  than  gentle  regret 
or  mild  reproof.  At  the  convent  of  Prouille,  after  high 
mass,  he  thus  spake :  u  For  many  years  I  have  spoken 
to  you  with  tenderness,  with  prayers,  and  tears ;  but 
according   to   the   proverb  of  my  country,  where   the 


248  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX 

benediction  lias  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.  The  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."  1 

Dominic  himself  took  up  his  residence  in  Rome.2 
His  success  as  a  preacher  was  unrivalled.  His  fol- 
lowers began  to  spread  rumors  of  the  miracles  which 
he  wrought.  The  Pope  Honorius  III.  appointed  him  to 
the  high  office,  since  perpetuated  among  his  spiritual 
descendants,  Master  of  the  Sacred  Palace.  He  was 
held  in  the  highest  honor  by  the  aged  Cardinal  Ugo- 
lino,  the  future  Pope  Gregory  IX.  For  the  propaga- 
tion of  his  Order  this  residence  in  Rome  was  a  master- 
stroke of  policy.  Of  the  devout  pilgrims  to  Rome, 
men  of  all  countries  in  Christendom,  the  most  devout 
were  most  enraptured  by  the  eloquence  of  Dominic. 
Few  but  must  feel  that  it  was  a  preaching  Order  which 
was  wanted  in  every  part  of  the  Christian  world. 
Dominic  was  gifted  with  that  rare  power,  even  in  those 
times,  of  infusing  a  profound  and  enduring  devotion  to 
one  object.  Once  within  the  magic  circle,  the  in- 
thralled  disciple  either  lost  all  desire  to  leave  it,  or,  if 
he  struggled,  Dominic  seized  him  and  dragged  him 
back,  now  an  unreluctant  captive,  by  awe,  by  persua- 
sion, by  conviction,  by  what  was  believed  to  be  miracle, 
which  might  be  holy  art,  or  the  bold  and  ready  use  of 


i  M.S.  de  Prouille,  published  by  Pere  Perrin :  quoted  by  La  Cordaire, 
Vie  de  S.  Dominique,  p.  404. 

2  He  first  established  the  monastery  of  San  Sisto  on  the  Coclian  Hill,  af- 
terward that  of  Santa  Sabina 


Chap.  IX.  RAPID   PROGRESS   OF  THE  ORDER.  249 

casual  but  natural  circumstances.  "  God  has  never," 
as  he  revealed  in  secret  (a  secret  not  likely  to  be  re- 
ligiously kept)  to  the  Abbot  of  Cassamare,  u  refused 
me  anything  that  I  have  prayed  for."  When  he 
prayed  for  the  conversion  of  Conrad  the  Teutonic,  was 
Conrad  left  ignorant  that  he  had  to  resist  the  prayers 
of  one  whom  God  had  thus  endowed  with  irresistible 
efficacy  of  prayer  ? l  Thus  were  preachers  rapidly 
enlisted  and  dispersed  throughout  the  world,  speaking 
every  language  in  Christendom.  Two  Poles,  Hyacinth 
and  Ceslas,  carried  the  rules  of  the  order  to  their  own 
country.  Dominican  convents  were  founded  at  Cra- 
cow, even  as  far  as  Kiow. 

Dominic  had  judged  wisely  and  not  too  daringly  in 
embracing  the  world  as  the  scene  of  his  labors.  In 
the  year  1220,  seven  years  after  he  had  left  Rapid  prog. 
Languedoc,  he  stood,  as  the  Master-General  gg£?  the 
of  his  order,  at  the  head  of  an  assembly  at  AD> im 
Bologna.  Italy,  Spain,  Provence,  France,  Germany, 
Poland,  had  now  their  Dominican  convents;  the  voices 
of  Dominican  preachers  had  penetrated  into  every  land. 
But  the  great  question  of  holding  property  or  depend- 
ence on  the  casual  support  of  mendicancy  was  still  un- 
decided. Dominic  had  accepted  landed  endowments : 
in  Languedoc  he  held  a  grant  of  tithes  from  Fulk 
Bishop  of  Toulouse.  But  the  Order  of  St.  Francis, 
of  which  absolute  poverty  was  the  vital  rule,  was  now 
rising  with  simultaneous  rapidity.  Though  both  the 
founders  of  the  new  Orders  and  the  brethren  of  the 
Orders  had  professed  and  displayed  the  most  perfect  mu- 
tual respect,  and  even  amity  (twice,  it  was  said,  they 
had  met,  with  great  marks  of  reverence  and  esteem), 
1  La  Cordaire,  p.  539. 


250  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

yet  both  true  policy  and  devout  ambition  might  reveal 
to  the  prudent  as  well  as  ardent  Dominic  that  the  vow 
of  absolute  poverty  would  give  the  Franciscans  an 
immeasurable  superiority  in  popular  estimation.  His 
followers  must  not  be  trammelled  with  worldly  wealth, 
or  be  outdone  in  any  point  of  austerity  by  those  of  St. 
Francis.  The  universal  suffrage  was  for  the  vow  of 
poverty  in  the  strongest  sense,  the  renunciation  of  all 
property  by  the  Order  as  well  as  by  the  individual 
Brother.  How  long,  how  steadfastly,  that  vow  was 
kept  by  either  Order  will  appear  in  the  course  of  our 
history. 

The  second  great  assembly  of  the  Order  was  held 
a.d.  1221.  shortly  before  the  death  of  Dominic.  The 
Order  was  now  distributed  into  eight  provinces,  Spain, 
the  first  in  rank,  Provence,  France,  Lombardy,  Rome, 
Germany,  Hungary,  and  England.  In  England  the 
Prior  Gilbert  had  landed  with  fourteen  friars.  Gilbert 
preached  before  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  The 
Primate,  Stephen  Langton,  was  so  edified  by  his  elo- 
quence, that  he  at  once  gave  full  license  to  preach 
throughout  the  land.  Monasteries  rose  at  Canterbury, 
London,  Oxford. 

But  the  great  strength  of  these  two  new  Orders  was, 
besides  the  communities  of  friars  and  nuns  (each  asso- 
Tertiaries.  ciated  with  itself  a  kindred  female  Order), 
the  establishment  of  a  third,  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 


Chap.  IX.  DEATH  —  CANONIZATION.  251 

men  or  women,  old  or  young,  married  or  unmarried, 
bound  by  none  of  the  monastic  vows,  but  deeply  im- 
bued with  the  monastic,  with  the  corporate  spirit ; 
taught  to  observe  all  holy  days,  fasts,  vigils  with  the 
utmost  rigor,  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  wherever  a  Dominican  ascended  the 
pulpit,  predisposed,  almost  compelled,  if  compulsion 
were  necessary,  to  admire,  to  applaud  at  least  by  rapt 
attention.  Thus  the  Order  spread  not  merely  by  its 
own  perpetual  influence  and  unwearied  activity ;  it  had 
everywhere  a  vast  host  of  votaries  wedded  to  its  inter- 
ests, full  to  fanaticism  of  its  corporate  spirit,  bound  to 
receive  hospitably  or  ostentatiously  their  wandering 
preachers,  to  announce,  to  trumpet  abroad,  to  propa- 
gate the  fame  of  their  eloquence,  to  spread  belief  in 
their  miracles,  to  lavish  alms  upon  them,  to  fight  in 
their  cause.  This  lay  coadjutory,  these  Tertiaries,  as 
they  were  called,  or  among  the  Dominicans,  the  sol- 
diers of  Jesus  Christ  as  not  altogether  secluded  from 
the  world,  acted  more  widely  and  more  subtly  upon  the 
world.  Their  rules  were  not  rigidly  laid  down  till  by 
the  seventh  Master  of  the  Order,  Munion  de  Zamora  ; 
it  was  then  approved  by  Popes.1 

Dominic   died   August  6th,  1221.     He    was   taken 
ill  at  Venice,  removed  with  difficulty  to  Bo-  Death, 
logna,  where  he  expired  with  saintly  resignation. 

His    canonization    followed    rapidly    on   his    death. 

1  Among  the  special  privileges  of  the  Order  (in  the  bull  of  Honorius) 
was  that  in  the  time,  of  interdict  (so  common  were  interdicts  now  become) 
the  Order  might  still  celebrate  mass  with  low  voices,  without  bells.  Con- 
ceive the  intluence  thus  obtained  in  a  religious  land,  everywhere  else  de- 
Drived  of  all  its  holy  services 


252  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX, 

Gregory  IX.,  who  in  his  internecine  war  with  the 
Canonization.  Emperor  Frederick  II.  had  found  the  advan- 
tage of  these  faithful,  restless,  unscrupulous  allies  in 
the  realm,  in  the  camp,  almost  in  the  palace  of  his 
adversary,  was  not  the  man  to  pause  or  to  hesitate  in 
his  grateful  acknowledgments  or  prodigal  reward.  "  I 
no  more  doubt,"  said  the  Pope,  "  the  sanctity  of  Dom- 
inic than  that  of  St.  Peter  or  St.  Paul."  In  the  bull 
of  canonization,  Dominic  is  elaborately  described  as 
riding  in  the  four-horsed  chariot  of  the  Gospel,  as  it 
were  seated  behind  the  four  Evangelists,  (or  rather  in 
the  four  chariots  of  Zechariah,  long  interpreted  as  sig- 
nifying the  four  Evangelists,)  holding  in  his  hand  the 
irresistible  bow  of  the  Divine  Word. 

The  admiration  of  their  founder,  if  it  rose  not  with 
the  Dominicans  so  absolutely  into  divine  adoration  as 
with  the  Franciscans,  yet  bordered  close  upon  it.  He, 
too,  was  so  closely  approximated  to  the  Saviour  as  to 
be  placed  nearly  on  an  equality.  The  Virgin  Mother 
herself,  the  special  protectress  of  the  sons  of  Dominic,1 
might  almost  seem  to  sanction  their  bold  raptures  of 
spiritual  adulation,  from  which  our  most  fervent  piety 
mio-ht  shrink  as  wild  profanation.  Dominic  was  the 
adopted  son  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.2 

1  There  is  a  strange  story  of  the  especial  protection  extended  over  the 
Order  by  the  Virgin.  It  might  seem  singularly  ill-adapted  for  painting, 
but  painting  has  nevertheless  ventured,  at  least  partially,  to  represent  it 
To  this  the  modesty  of  more  modern  manners,  perhaps  not  less  real  though 
more  scrupulous  respect  (respect  which  falls  tar  short  of  worship),  proscribes 
more  than  an  allusion:  The  Virgin  is  represented  with  the  whole  countless 
host  of  Dominicans  crowded  under  her  dress.  In  the  vision  of  St.  Brigitta, 
the  virgin  herself  is  made  to  sanction  this  awful  confusion.  Though  in  the 
vision  there  is  an  interpretation  which  softens  away  that  which  in  the 
painting  (which  I  have  seen)  becomes  actual  fact. 

2  More  than  this,  of  the  Father  himself.  "Ego,  dulcissima  filia,  istog 
duos  filios  genui,  unum  naturaliter  generando,  alium  amabiliter  et  dultite* 


Chap.  IX.  INCREASE  OF  MONASTERIES.  253 

And  this  was  part  of  the  creed  maintained  by  an 
Order  which  under  its  fourth  general,  John  of  Wil- 
deshausen  (in  Westphalia),  in  their  Chapter-General  at 
Bordeaux,  reckoned  its  monasteries  at  the  number  of 
four  hundred  and  seventy.  In  Spain  thirty-five,  in 
France  fifty-two,  in  Germany  fifty-two,  in  Tuscany 
thirty-two,  in  Lombardy  forty-six,  in  Hungary  thirty, 
in  Poland  thirty-six,  in  Denmark  twenty-eight,  in 
England  forty.  They  were  spreading  into  Asia,  into 
heathen  or  Saracen  lands,  into  Palestine,  Greece, 
Crete,  Abyssinia.  Nor  is  it  their  number  alone  which 
grows  with  such  wonderful  fertility.  They  are  not 
content  with  the  popular  mind.  They  invade  the  high 
places  of  human  intellect :  they  are  disputing  the  mas- 
tery in  the  Universities  of  Italy  and  Germany,  in  Co- 
logne, Paris,  and  in  Oxford.  Before  long  they  are  to 
claim  two  of  the  greatest  luminaries  of  the  scholastic 
philosophy,  Albert  the  Great  and  Thomas  of  Aquino. 

adoptando  .  .  .  Sicut  hie  Filius  a  me  naturaliter  et  ceternaliter  genitus, 
assumpta  natura  Humana,  in  omnibus  fuit  perfectissime  obediens  mihi,  us- 
que ad  mortem,  sic  filius  meus  adqptivus  Dominicus.  Omnia,  qiue  operatus 
est  ab  infantia  sua  usque  ad  terminum  vitse  sine,  fuerunt  angulata  secun- 
dum obedientiam  praeceptorum  meorum,  nee  unquam  semel  fuit  transgressus 
quodcunque  pneceptum  meum,  quia  virginitatem  corporis  et  auimi  illiba- 
tam  servavit,  et  gratiam  baptismi  quo  spiritualiter  renatus  est,  semper  con- 
servavit."  The  parallel  goes  on  between  the  apostles  of  the  Lord  and  the 
brethren  of  St.  Dominic.  —  Apud  Bollaud.  xlv.  p.  844.  See  also  a  passage 
about  the  Virgin  in  La  Cordaire,  p.  234.  In  another  Vita  S.  Dominici, 
apud  Bolland.  Aug.  4,  is  this:  —  There  was  a  prophetic  picture  at  Venice, 
in  which  appear  St.  Paul  and  St.  Dominic.  Under  the  latter,  ''Facilius  itur 
per  istum."  Tne  comment  of  the  biographer  is:  "  Doctrina  Paul  sicut  et 
ceterorum  apostolorum  erat  doctrina  inducens  ad  fidem  et  observationera 
praeceptorum,  doctrina  Dominici  ad  observantiam  consiliorum,  et  ideo  fa- 
cilius per  ipsum  itur  ad  Christum."  —  c.  vii. 


254  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX 


CHAPTER    X. 

ST.  FRANCIS.* 

St.  Francis  was  born  in  the  romantic  town  of  As- 
Birthand  sisi,  of  a  family,  the  Bernardini,  engaged  in 
I°d.  iis2.  trade.  His  birth  took  place  while  his  father 
was  on  a  mercantile  journey  in  France  ;  on  his  return 
his  new-born  son  was  baptized  by  the  name  of  Francis.2 
His  mother,  Picca,  loved  him  with  all  a  mother's  tender- 
ness for  her  first-born.  He  received  the  earliest  rudi- 
ments of  instruction  from  the  clergy  of  the  parish  of 
St.  George:  he  was  soon  taken  to  assist  his  father  in 
his  trade.  The  father,  a  hard,  money-making  man, 
was  shocked  at  first  by  the  vanity  and  prodigality  of 
his  son.  The  young  Francis  gave  banquets  to  his 
juvenile  friends,   dressed   splendidly,   and   the  streets 

1  The  vast  annals  of  the  Franciscan  Order,  by  Lucas  Wadding,  in  seven- 
teen folio  volumes,  are  the  great  authority:  for  St.  Francis  himself  the  life 
by  S.  Bonaventura.  I  have  much  used  the  Chronique  de  l'Ordre  du  Pero 
S.  Francois,  in  quaint  old  French  (the  original  is  in  Portuguese,  by  Marco 
di  Lisbona),  Paris,  1623.  I  have  an  epic  poem,  in  twenty-five  cantos,  a 
kind  of  religious  plagiary  of  Tasso,  San  Francisco,  6  Gierusalemme  Celeste 
Acquistata,  by  Agostino  Gallucci  (1617).  The  author  makes  St.  Francis 
subdue  the  Wickliffites.     There  is  a  modern  life  by  M.  Malan. 

2  When  the  disciples  of  St.  Francis  were  fully  possessed  with  the  conform- 
ity of  their  founder  with  the  Sa\Mour,  the  legend  grew  up,  assimilating  his 
oirth  to  that  of  the  Lord.  A  prophetess  foreshowed  it;  he  was  born  by  di- 
vine suggestion  in  a  stable;  angels  rejoiced;  even  peace  and  good  will  were 
announced,  though  by  a  human  voice.  An  angel,  like  old  Simeon,  bore  him 
at  the  font.  And  all  this  is  gravely  related  by  a  biographer  of  the  llMh 
rentury,  M.  Malan. 


Chap.  X.       BIRTH  AND  YOUTH  OF  ST.   FRANCIS.  255 

of  Assisi  rang  with  the  songs  and  revels  of  the  joy- 
ous crew ;  but  even  then  his  bounty  to  the  poor  formed 
a  large  part  of  his  generous  wastefulness.  He  was 
taken  captive  in  one  of  the  petty  wars  which  had 
broken  out  between  Perugia  and  Assisi,  and  re- 
mained a  year  in  prison.  He  was  then  seized  with 
a  violent  illness :  when  he  rose  from  his  bed  nature 
looked  cold  and  dreary ;  he  began  to  feel  disgust  to  the 
world.  The  stirrings  of  some  great  but  yet  undefined 
purpose  were  already  awake  within  him.  He  began 
to  see  visions,  but  as  yet  they  were  of  war  and  glory : 
the  soldier  was  not  dead  in  his  heart.  He  determined 
to  follow  the  fortunes  of  a  youthful  poor  knight  who 
was  setting  out  to  fight  under  the  banner  of  the  u  Gen- 
tle Count,"  Walter  of  Brienne,  against  the  hated  Ger- 
mans. At  Spoleto  he  again  fell  ill ;  his  feverish  visions 
took  another  turn.  Francis  now  felt  upon  him  that 
profound  religious  thraldom  which  he  was  never  to 
break,  never  to  desire  to  break.  His  whole  soul  be- 
came deliberately,  calmly,  ecstatic  faith.  He  began 
to  talk  mysteriously  of  his  future  bride  —  that  bride 
was  Poverty.  He  resolved  never  to  refuse  alms  to  a 
poor  person.  He  found  his  way  to  Rome,  threw  down 
all  he  possessed,  no  costly  offering,  on  the  altar  of  St. 
Peter.  On  his  return  he  joined  a  troop  of  beggars, 
and  exchanged  his  dress  for  the  rags  of  the  filthiest 
among  them.  His  mother  heard  and  beheld  all  his 
strange  acts  with  a  tender  and  prophetic  admiration. 
To  a  steady  trader  like  the  father  it  was  folly  if  not 
madness.  He  was  sent  with  a  valuable  bale  of  goods 
to  sell  at  Foligno.  On  his  return  he  threw  all  the 
money  down  at  the  feet  of  the  priest  of  St.  Damian 
to  rebuild  his  church,  as  well  as  the  price  of  his  horse, 


256  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

which  he  likewise  sold.  The  priest  refused  the  gift. 
In  the  eyes  of  the  father  this  was  dishonesty  as  well  as 
folly.  Francis  concealed  himself  in  a  cave,  where  he 
lay  hid  for  a  month  in  solitary  prayer.  He  returned 
to  Assisi,  looking  so  wild  and  hao-o-ard  that  the  rabble 
hooted  him  as  he  passed  and  pelted  him  with  mire 
and  stones.  The  gentle  Francis  appeared  to  rejoice 
in  every  persecution.  The  indignant  father  shut  him 
up  in  a  dark  chamber,  from  which,  after  a  time,  he  was 
released  by  the  tender  solicitude  of  his  mother.  Ber- 
nardini  now  despaired  of  his  unprofitable  and  intractable 
son,  whom  he  suspected  of  alienating  other  sums  besides 
that  which  he  had  received  for  the  cloth  and  the  horse. 
He  cited  him  before  the  magistrates  to  compel  him  to 
abandon  all  rights  on  his  patrimony,  which  he  was 
disposed  to  squander  in  this  thriftless  manner.  Francis 
declared  that  he  was  a  servant  of  God,  and  declined 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  civil  magistrate.  The  cause 
came  before  the  Bishop.  The  Bishop  earnestly  ex- 
horted Francis  to  yield  up  to  his  father  any  money 
which  he  might  possess,  or  to  which  he  was  entitled. 
Gives  up  his  "  lt  mignt  be  ur>g°dly  gain,  and  so  unfit  to 
l^ilST"  be  applied  to  holy  uses."  "I  will  give  up 
iBtat\  25.  jjje  verv  clothes  I  wear,"  replied  the  enthu- 
siast, encouraged  by  the  gentle  demeanor  of  the  Bishop. 
He  stripped  himself  entirely  naked.1  "  Peter  Bernar- 
dini  was  my  father ;  I  have  now  but  one  father,  he  that 
is  in  heaven."  The  audience  burst  into  tears ;  the 
Bishop  threw  his  mantle  over  him  and  ordered  an  old 
coarse  dress  of  an  artisan  to  be  brought :  he  then  re- 
ceived Francis  into  his  service. 

Francis  was  now  wedded  to  Poverty  ;  but  poverty 

1  According  to  S.  Bonaventura,  lie  had  hair-cloth  raider  his  dress. 


Chap.  X.  FRANCIS   WEDDED   TO  POVERTY.  257 

he  would  only  love  in  its  basest  form  —  mendicancy. 
He  wandered  abroad,  was  ill  used  by  robbers  ;  Embrace8 
on  his  escape  received  from  an  old  friend  m<mdicancy- 
at  Gubbio  a  hermit's  attire,  a  short  tunic,  a  leathern 
girdle,  a  staff  and  slippers.  He  begged  at  the  gates  of 
monasteries  ;  he  discharged  the  most  menial  offices. 
With  even  more  profound  devotion  he  dedicated  him- 
self for  some  time  in  the  hospital  at  Gubbio  to  that 
unhappy  race  of  beings  whom  even  Christianity  was 
constrained  to  banish  from  the  social  pale  —  the  lep- 
ers.1 He  tended  them  with  more  than  necessary  af- 
fectionateness,  washed  their  feet,  dressed  their  sores, 
and  is  said  to  have  wrought  miraculous  cures  among 
them.  The  moral  miracle  of  his  charity  toward  them 
is  a  more  certain  and  more  affecting  proof  of  his  true 
Christianity  of  heart.  It  was  an  especial  charge  to 
the  brethren  of  St.  Francis  of  Assisi  to  choose  these 
outcasts  of  humanity  as  the  objects  of  their  peculiar 
care.2 

On  his  return  to  Assisi  he  employed  himself  in  the 
restoration  of  the  church  of  St.  Damian.  "Whoever 
will  give  me  one  stone  shall  have  one  prayer  ;  whoever 
two,  two  ;  three,  three."  The  people  mocked,  but 
Francis  went  on  carrying  the  stones  in  his  own  hands, 

1  There  is  something  singularly  affecting  in  the  service  of  the  Church  for 
the  seclusion  of  the  lepers,  whose  number  is  as  sure  a  proof  of  the  wretch- 
edness of  those  times,  as  the  care  of  them  of  the  charity.  The  stern  duty  of 
looking  to  the  public  welfare  is  tempered  with  exquisite  compassion  for  the 
victims  of  this  loathsome  disease.  The  service  may  be  found  —  it  is  worth 
seeking  for  —  in  Martene  de  Antiquis  Ecclesiae  Ritibus.  It  is  quoted  by  M. 
Malan. 

2  S.  Bonaventura  says  that  he  healed  one  leper  with  a  kiss:  "  Nescio 
quidnam  horum  magis  sit  admirandum,  an  humilitatis  profunditas  in  osculo 
tarn  benigno,  an  virtutis  praiclaritas  in  miraculo  tarn  stupendo."  —  Vit.  S. 
Francisci. 

vol.  v  17 


258  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX 

and  the  church  began  to  rise.  He  refused  all  food 
which  he  did  not  obtain  by  begging.  His  father  re- 
proached him  and  uttered  his  malediction.  He  took 
a  beggar  of  the  basest  class :  "Be  thou  my  father  and 
give  me  thy  blessing."  But  so  successful  was  he  in 
awakening  the  charity  of  the  inhabitants  of  Assisi, 
that  not  only  the  church  of  St.  Damian,  but  two  oth- 
ers, St.  Peter  and  St.  Maria  dei  Angeli  (called  the 
Portiuncula),  through  his  means  arose  out  of  their 
ruins  to  decency  and  even  splendor.  One  day,  in 
the  church  of  St.  Maria  dei  Angeli,  he  heard  the  text, 
"  Provide  neither  gold,  nor  silver,  nor  brass  in  your 
purses.  Neither  scrip  for  your  journey,  neither  two 
coats,  neither  shoes  nor  yet  staves."  He  threw  away 
his  wallet,  his  staff,  and  his  shoes,  put  on  the  coarsest 
dark  gray  tunic,  bound  himself  with  a  cord,  and  set 
out  through  the  city  calling  all  to  repentance. 

This  strange  but  fervent  piety  of  Francis  could  not 
but,  in  that  age,  kindle  the  zeal  of  others.  Wonder 
grew  into  admiration,  admiration  into  emulation,  emu- 
lation into  a  blind  following  of  his  footsteps.  Disciples, 
one  by  one  (the  first  are  carefully  recorded),  began  to 
gather  round  him.  He  retired  with  them  to  a  lonely 
spot  in  the  bend  of  the  river,  called  Rivo  Torto.  A 
rule  was  wanting  for  the  young  brotherhood.  Thrice 
upon  the  altar  he  opened  the  Gospels,  which  perhaps 
were  accustomed  to  be  opened  on  these  passages.1  He 
read  three  texts  in  reverence  for  the  Holy  Trinity. 
The  first  was,  "  If  thou  wilt  be  perfect,  sell  all  thou 
hast  and  give  to  the  poor  ;  "  2  the  second,  "  Take 
nothing  for  your  journey;"3  the  third,  "If  any  one 

i  The  poet  gives  the  date,  St.  Luke's  day,  Oct.  18, 1212. 
2  Matt.  xix.  21.  8  Mark  vi.  8. 


Chap.X.  FRANCIS   BEFORE  POPE  INNOCENT  259 

would  come  after  me,  let  him  take  up  his  cross  and 
follow  me."  1  Francis  made  the  sign  of  the  cross  and 
sent  forth  his  followers  into  the  neighboring  cities,  as 
if  to  divide  the  world,  to  the  east  and  west,  the  north 
and  south.  They  reassembled  at  Rivo  Torto  and  de- 
termined to  go  to  Rome  to  obtain  the  authority  of  the 
Pope  for  the  foundation  of  their  order.  On  the  way 
they  met  a  knight  in  arms*  "  Angelo,"  said  St.  Fran- 
cis, "  instead  of  that  baldrick  thou  shalt  gird  thee  with 
a  cord ;  for  thy  sword  thou  shalt  take  the  cross  of 
Christ ;  for  the  spurs,  the  dirt  and  mire."  Angelo 
made  up  the  mystic  number  of  twelve,  which  the  pro- 
found piety  of  his  followers  alleged  as  a  new  similitude 
to  the  Lord.2 

Innocent  III.  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  a  vision,  says  the  legend, 
doubtless  more  grave  deliberation  and  inquiry,  sug- 
gested that  such  an  Order  might  meet  the  heretics  on 
their  own  ground ;  the  Poor  Men  of  the  Church  might 
out-labor  and  out-suifer  the  Poor  Men  of  Lyons.  He 
sent  for  Francis,  received  him  in  the  midst  of  the  car- 
dinals, and  listened  to  his  proposal  for  his  new  Order. 
Some  of  the  cardinals  objected  the  difficulty,  the  im- 
possibility of  the  vows.     "  To  suppose  that  anything 


1  Matt.  xvi.  24. 

2  It  was  at  this  period  that  he  was  said,  or  said  himself  that  he  was 
transported  to  heaven,  into  the  actual  presence  of  the  Lord,  who,  according 
to  the  poem,  gave  him  a  plenary  indulgence  for  himself  and  his  follow- 
ers: — 

"  E  plenaria  indulgenza  ogjji  si  dava." 
c.  vi.  41 


260  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

is  difficult  or  impossible  with  God,"  said  the  Cardinal 
Bishop  of  St.  Sabina,  "  is  to  blaspheme  Christ  and  his 
Gospel. 

The  Order  was  now  founded  ;  the  Benedictines  of 
Foundation  Monte  Subiaco  gave  them  a  church,  called, 
of  the  order.  y^Q  tjiat  near  Assisi,  St.  Maria  dei  Angeli, 
or  de  la  Portiuncula.  In  the  difficulty,  the  seeming 
impossibility  of  the  vows  was  their  strength.  The 
three  vital  principles  of  the  Order  were  chastity,  pov- 
erty, 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  give  spiritual  counsel.  Poverty 
was  not  only  the  renunciation  of  all  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 
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  brother- 
hood. 

The  passionate  fervor  of  the  preaching,  the  mystic 
tenderness,  the  austere  demeanor  of  Francis  and  his 
disciples,  could  not  but  work  rapidly  and  profoundly 
among  his  female  hearers.  Clara,  a  noble  virgin  of 
Assisi,  under  the  direction  of  St.  Francis,  had  in  the 
same  manner  to  strive  against  the  tender  and  affection- 

1  At  first,  says  S.  Bonaventura,  the}'  had  no  books;  their  only  book  was 
the  cross. 


Chap.  X.  FOREIGN  MISSIONS.  261 

donate  worldliness,  as  she  deemed  it,  of  her  family. 
But  she  tore  herself  from  their  love  as  from  a  sin, 
entered  into  a  convent  attached  to  the  church  of  St. 
Damian,  and  became  the  mother  of  the  poor  sisterhood 
of  St.  Clare.  Of  Clara  it  is  said  that  she  never  but 
once  (and  that  to  receive  the  blessing  of  the  Pope)  so 
lifted  her  eyelids  that  the  color  of  her  eyes  might  be 
discerned.  Clara  practised  mortifications  more  severe 
than  any  of  her  sex  before.  The  life  of  the  sisters 
was  one  long  dreary  penance ;  even  their  services  were 
all  sadness.  The  sisters  who  could  read  were  to  read 
the  Hours,  but  without  chanting.  Those  who  could 
not  read  were  not  to  leam  to  read.  To  the  prayers  of 
St.  Clara  it  was  attributed  that,  in  later  times,  her  own 
convent  and  the  city  of  Assisi  were  preserved  from  the 
fierce  Mohammedans  which  belonged  to  the  army  of 
Frederick  II.  The  Order  was  confirmed  by  a  bull  of 
Innocent  IV. 

Francis,  in  the  mean  time,  with  his  whole  soul  vowed 
to  the  service  of  God,  set  forth  to  subdue  the  Foreign 
world.  He  had  hesitated  between  the  contem-  missl0us- 
plative  and  active  life  —  prayer  in  the  secluded  mon 
astery,  or  preaching  the  cross  of  Christ  to  mankind 
The  mission  of  love  prevailed  ;  his  success  and  that  of 
his  ardent  followers  might  seem  to  justify  their  resolu 
tion.     They  had  divided  the  world,  and  some  had  al- 
ready set  forth  into   France  and  into   Spain  with  tho 
special  design  of  converting  the  Miramamolin  and  his 
Mohammedan  subjects.     Everywhere  they  were  heard 
with  fanatic  rapture.     At  their  first  chapter,  a.d.  1215. 
held  in  the  church  of  the  Portiuncula,  only  three  years 
after  the  scene  at  Rivo  Torto,  it  was  necessary  to  or- 
dain provincial  masters  in  Spain,  Provence,  France  and 


262  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

Germany :  at  a  second  chapter  of  the  Order  in  1219 
met  five  thousand  brethren. 

The  holy  ambition  of  St.  Francis  grew  with  his 
st.  Francis  success.  He  determined  to  confront  th , 
a.d  1219.  '  great  enemy  of  Christianity  in  his  strength. 
He  set  off  to  preach  to  the  Mohammedans  of  the  East. 
The  Christian  army  was  encamped  before  Damietta. 
The  sagacity  of  Francis  anticipated  from  their  discord, 
which  he  in  vain  endeavored  to  reconcile,  their  defeat. 
His  prophecy  was  too  fully  accomplished ;  but  he  de- 
termined not  the  less  to  proceed  on  his  mission.  On 
his  way  to  the  Saracen  camp  he  met  some  sheep.  It 
occurred  to  him,  "  I  send  you  forth  as  sheep  among  the 
wolves."  He  was  taken  and  carried  before  the  Sultan. 
To  the  Sultan  he  boldly  offered  the  way  of  salvation. 
He  preached  (in  what  language  we  are  not  told)  the 
Holy  Trinity  and  the  Divine  Saviour  before  these 
stern  Unitarians.  The  Mohammedans  reverence  what 
they  deem  insanity  as  partaking  of  divine  inspiration. 
The  Sultan  is  said  to  have  listened  with  respect ;  his 
grave  face  no  doubt  concealed  his  compassion.  St. 
Francis  offered  to  enter  a  great  fire  with  the  priests  of 
Islam,  and  to  set  the  truth  of  either  faith  on  the  issue. 
The  Sultan  replied  that  his  priests  would  not  willingly 
submit  to  this  perilous  trial.  "  I  will  enter  alone,"  said 
Francis,  "  if,  should  I  be  burned,  you  will  impute  it  to 
my  sins ;  should  I  come  forth  alive,  you  will  embrace 
the  Gospel."  The  Sultan  naturally  declined  these 
terms,  as  not  quite  fair  towards  his  creed.  But  he 
offered  rich  presents  to  Francis  (which  the  preacher 
of  poverty  rejected  with  utter  disdain),  and  then  sent 
him  back  in  honor  to  the  camp  at  Damietta.  Francis 
passed  through   the   Holy   Land  and   the  kingdom  of 


Chap.  X.  CHARACTER  OF  ST  FRANCIS.  263 

Antioch,  preaching  and  winning  disciples,  and  then  re- 
turned to  Italy.  His  fame  was  now  at  its  height,  and 
wherever  he  went  his  wondering  disciples  saw  perpet- 
ual miracle.  In  this  respect  the  life  of  the  Saviour  is 
far  surpassed  by  that  of  St.  Francis. 

The  Order  soon  had  its  martyrs.  The  Mohamme- 
dan Moors  of  Africa  were  fiercer  than  those  Martyrs. 
of  Egypt.  Five  monks,  after  preaching  without  suc- 
cess to  the  Saracens  of  Seville,  crossed  into  Africa. 
Alter  many  adventures  (in  one  of  which  during  an 
expedition  against  the  Moorish  tribes  of  the  interior, 
Friar  Berard  struck  water  from  the  desert  rock,  like 
Moses )  they  were  offered  wealth,  beautiful  wives,  and 
honors,  if  they  would  embrace  Mohammedanism.  They 
spat  on  the  ground  in  contempt  of  the  miscreant  offer. 
The  Kino;  himself  clove  the  head  of  one  of  them  with 
a  sword  ;  the  rest  were  despatched  in  horrible  torments.1 
St.  Francis  received  the  sad  intelligence  with  triumph, 
and  broke  forth  in  gratulations  to  the  convent  of  Alon- 
quir,  which  had  thus  produced  the  first  purple  flowers 
of  martyrdom. 

This  was  no  hardness,  or  want  of  compassion,  but 
the  counter-working  of  a  stronger,  more  pas-  character  of 
sionate  emotion.  Of  all  saints,  St.  Francis  st' J?rancis- 
was  the  most  blameless  and  gentle.  In  Dominic  and 
in  his  disciples  all  was  still  rigorous,  cold,  argumenta- 
tive ;  something  remained  of  the  crusader's  fierceness, 
the  Spaniard's  haughty  humility,  the  inquisitor's  stern 
suppression  of  all  gentler  feelings,  the  polemic  stern- 

1  See  on  these  martyrs  Southey's  ballad :  — 

"  What  news,  0  Queen  Orraca, 

Of  the  martyrs  five  what  news  ? 
Does  the  bloody  Miramamolin 
Their  burial  vet  refuse  ?  V 


264  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

ness.  Whether  Francis  would  have  burned  heretics, 
happily  we  know  not,  but  he  would  willingly  have  been 
burned  for  them  :  himself  excessive  in  austerities,  he 
would  at  times  mitigate  the  austerity  of  others.  Fran- 
cis was  emphatically  the  Saint  of  the  people;  of  a 
poetic  people  like  the  Italians.  Those  who  were  here- 
after to  chant  the  Paradise  of  Dante,  or  the  softer 
stanzas  of  Tasso,  might  well  be  enamored  of  the  ruder 
devotional  strains  in  the  poetry  of  the  whole  life  of 
St.  Francis.  The  lowest  of  the  low  might  find  conso- 
lation, a  kind  of  pride,  in  the  self-abasement  of  St. 
Francis  even  beneath  the  meanest.  The  very  name  of 
his  disciples,  the  Friar  Minors,  implied  their  humility. 
In  his  own  eyes  (says  his  most  pious  successor)  he 
was  but  a  sinner,  while  in  truth  he  was  the  mirror  and 
splendor  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  Fran- 
cis, who  was  glorified  by  humility.  If  the  heart  of  the 
poorest  was  touched  by  the  brotherhood  in  poverty  and 
lowliness  of  such  a  saint,  how  was  his  imagination 
kindled  by  his  mystic  strains  ?  St.  Francis  is  among 
the  oldest  vernacular  poets  of  Italy.1  His  poetry,  in- 
deed, is  but  a  long  passionate  ejaculation  of  love  to  the 
Redeemer  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  in- 

1  M.  de  Montalembert  is  eloquent,  as  usual,  on  his  poetry.  —  Preface  tc 
*La  Vie  d'Elizabeth  d'Hongrie." 


Chap.  X.        fOETKY  OF  ST.  FRANCIS.  265 

animate,  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  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  these  mute  animals,  we  are  told  many  pretty  par- 
ticularities, 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." 2  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.3  No  wonder  that  in  this  almost  perpetual  ec- 
static state,  unearthly  music  played  around  him,  un- 
earthly light  shone  round  his  path.  When  he  died, 
he  said,  with  exquisite  simplicity,  "  Welcome,  sister 
Death."  4  St.  Francis  himself,  no  doubt,  was  but  un- 
consciously presumptuous,  when  he  acted  as  under  di- 
vine inspiration,  even  when  he  laid  the  groundwork  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  approx- 
imation of  pride,  even  of  pride  disguised  from  himself ; 
such  profaneness  entered  not  into  his  thought.     His 

1  Bonaventura,  c.  viii. 

2  The  words  were,  "  Fratel  fuoco,  da  Dio  creato  piu  bello,  piu  attivo,  e 
piu  giovevole  d'ogni  altro  elemento,  noi  te  mostra  or  nel  cimento  discrete  e 
mite."  —  Vita  (Fuligno),  p.  15. 

3  "Laudato  sia  el  Dio,  mio  Signore  con  tute  le  Creature;  specialmente 
Messer  lo  frate  Sole.  .  .  .  Laudato  sia  il  mio  Signore  per  suor  Luna,  per 
frate  vento,  per  suor  acqua." 

4  "  Ben  venga  la  sorella  morte." 


266  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

life  might  seem  a  religious  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  func- 
tions.1 It  was  even  said  that  he  underwent  a  kind  of 
visible  and  glorious  transfiguration.2  But  with  what 
wonderful  force  must  all  this  have  worked  upon  the 
world,  the  popular  world  around  him  !  About  three 
years  before  his  death,  with  the  permission  of  the  Pope, 
he  celebrated  the  Nativity  of  the  Lord  in  a  new  way. 
A  manger  was  prepared,  the  whole  scene  of  the  mi- 
raculous birth  represented.  The  mass  was  interpola- 
ted before  the  prayers.  St.  Francis  preached  on  the 
Nativity.  The  angelic  choirs  were  heard  ;  a  wonder- 
ing disciple  declared  that  he  saw  a  beautiful  child 
reposing  in  the  manger. 

The  order  of  St.  Francis  had,  and  of  necessity,  its 
Tertiaries,  like  that  of  St.  Dominic.3  At  his  preach- 
ing, 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  dis- 


i"E  tanto  in  lei  (in  Gesu)  sovente  profondasi,  tanto  s'immerge,  inabis- 
ea,  e  concentra,  che  assorto  non  vide,  non  ascolta,  non  sente,  e  se  opera  car- 
nalmente,  nol  conosca,  non  sel  rammenta."  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. 
—  From  a  modern  Vita  di  S.  Francesco.     Foligno,  1824. 

2  "  Ad  conspectum  sublimis  Seraph  et  humilis  Crucifixi,  fuit  in  vivas 
fornue  effigicm,  vi  quadam  deiformi  et  ignea  transformatus;  quemadmodum 
testati  sunt,  tactis  sacrosanctis  jurantes,  qui  palpaverunt,  osculati  sunt,  et 
viderunt."  —  S.  Bonaventura,  in  Vit.  Minor,  i. 

«  Chaptei  of  I'ertiaries,  a.d.  1222;  Chrnnioues,  L.  ii.  c  xxxii. 


Chap.  X.  THE  STIGMATA.  267 

ciples.  The  Tertiaries  were  called  the  Brethren  of 
Penitence ;  they  were  to  retain  their  social  position  in 
the  world :  but,  first  enjoined  to  discharge  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  admitted  without  the 
consent  of  their  husbands.  The  form  and  color  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  persons.  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 
license  of  their  ministers.  On  entering  the  Order, 
they  were  immediately  to  make  their  wills  to  prevent 
future  litigation ;  they  were  to  abstain  from  unneces- 
sary oaths ;  they  were  to  submit  to  penance,  when  im- 
posed by  their  ministers. 

But  St.  Francis  had  not  yet  attained  his  height  even 
of  worldly  fame ;  he  was  yet  to  receive  the  a.d.  1224. 
last  marks  of  his  similitude  to  the  Redeemer,  to  bear 
on  his  body  actually  and  really  the  five  wounds  of  the 
Redeemer. 

That  which  was  so  gravely  believed  must  be  gravely 
related.     In  the  solitude  of  Monte  Alverno  The  stig. 
(a  mountain  which  had  been  bestowed  on  the  mata* 
Order  by  a  rich  and  pious  votary,  and  where  a  mag- 


268  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX 

nificent  church  afterwards  arose)  Francis  had  retired 
to  hold  a  solemn  fast  in  honor  of  the  Archangel 
Michael.  He  had  again  consulted  the  holy  oracle. 
Thrice  the  Scriptures  had  been  opened  ;  thrice  they 
opened  on  the  Passion  of  the  Lord.  This  was  inter- 
preted, that  even  in  this  life  Francis  was  to  be  brought 
into  some  mysterious  conformity  with  the  death  of  the 
Saviour.  One  morning,  while  he  was  praying  in  an 
access  of  the  most  passionate  devotion,  he  saw  in  a 
vision,  or,  as  he  supposed,  in  real  being,  a  seraph  with 
six  wings.  Amidst  these  wings  appeared  the  likeness 
of  the  Crucified.  Two  wings  arched  over  his  head, 
two  were  stretched  for  flight,  two  veiled  the  body. 
As  the  apparition  disappeared,  it  left  upon  his  mind  an 
indescribable  mixture  of  delight  and  awe.  On  his 
body  instantaneously  appeared  marks  of  the  crucifix- 
ion, like  those  which  he  had  beheld.  Two  black  ex- 
crescences, in  the  form  of  nails,  with  the  heads  on  one 
side,  the  points  bent  back  on  the  other,  had  grown  out 
of  his  hands  and  feet.  There  was  a  wound  on  his  side, 
which  frequently  flowed  with  blood,  and  stained  his 
garment.  Francis  endeavored,  in  his  extreme  humility, 
notwithstanding  the  remonstrances  of  his  disciples,  to 
conceal  this  wonderful  sight;  but  the  wounds  were 
seen,  it  is  declared,  at  one  time  by  fifty  brethren. 
Countless  miracles  were  ascribed  to  their  power.  The 
wound  on  his  side  Francis  hid  with  peculiar  care.  But 
it  was  seen  during  his  life,  as  it  is  asserted ;  the  pious 
curiosity  of  his  disciples  pierced  through  every  con- 
cealment. Pope  Alexander  IV.  publicly  declared  that 
his  own  eyes  had  beheld  the  stigmata  on  the  body  of 
Oct.  4, 1226.    St.  Francis.     Two   years   after   St.    Francis 


Chap.  X.  FRANCISCANISM.  209 

died.  He  determined  literally  to  realize  the  words  of 
the  Scripture,  to  leave  the  world  naked  as  he  entered 
it.  His  disciples  might  then,  and  did  then,  it  is  said, 
actually  satisfy  themselves  as  to  these  signs :  to  com- 
plete the  parallel  an  incredulous  Thomas  was  found  to 
investigate  the  fact  with  suspicious  scrutiny.  It  be- 
came an  article  of  the  Franciscan  creed  ;  though  the 
now  rival  Order,  the  Dominicans,  hinted  rationalistic 
doubts,  they  were  authoritatively  rebuked.  It  became 
almost  the  creed  of  Christendom.1 

Up  to  a  certain  period  this  studious  conformity  of 
the  life  of  St.  Francis  with  that  of  Christ,  character 
heightened,  adorned,  expanded,  till  it  re-  canism. 
ceived  its  perfect  form  in  the  work  of  Bartholomew 
of  Pisa,  was  promulgated  by  the  emulous  zeal  of 
a  host  of  disciples  throughout  the  world.  Those 
whose  more  reverential  piety  might  take  oifence 
were  few  and  silent;  the  declaration  of  Pope  Alex- 
ander, the  ardent  protector  of  the  Mendicant  Friars, 
imposed  it  almost  as  an  article  of  the  Belief.  With 
the  Franciscans,  and  all  under  the  dominion  of  the 
Franciscans,  the  lower  orders  throughout  Christendom, 
there  was  thus  almost  a  second  Gospel,  a  second  Re- 
deemer, who  could  not  but  throw  back  the  one  Saviour 

1  The  Dominican  Jacob  de  Voragine  assigns  five  causes  for  the  stigmata; 
they  in  fact  resolve  themselves  into  the  first,  imagination.  His  illustrations, 
however,  are  chiefly  from  pregnant  women,  whose  children  resemble  some- 
thing which  had  violently  impressed  the  mother's  mind.  He  does  not  deny 
the  fact.  "  Summus  ergo  Franciscus,  in  visione  sibi  facta  imaginabatur 
Seraphim  Crucifixum,  et  tarn  fortis  imaginatione  extitit,  quod  vulnera  pas- 
sionis  in  carne  sua  impressit."  —  Sermo  iii.  de  S.  Francisco.  Compare 
Gieseler,  ii.  2,  349.  Nicolas  IV.,  too,  asserted  the  stigmata  of  St.  Francii 
(he  was  himself  a  Franciscan);  he  silenced  a  Dominican,  who  dared  to  as- 
sert that  in  Peter  Martyr  (Peter  was  a  Dominican)  were  signs  Dei  vivi,  ir 
St.  Francis  onlv  Dei  mortui.  —  Raynald.  a.d.  1291. 


X 


270  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

into  more  awful  obscurity.  The  worship  of  St.  Francis 
in  prayer,  in  picture,  vied  with  that  of  Christ :  if  it 
led,  perhaps,  a  few  up  to  Christ,  it  kept  the  multitude 
fixed  upon  itself.  But  as  soon  as  indignant  religion 
dared  lift  up  its  protest  (after  several  centuries  !)  it  did 
so ;  and,  as  might  be  expected,  revenged  its  long  com- 
pulsory silence  by  the  bitterest  satire  and  the  rudest 
burlesque.1 

Franciscanism  was  the  democracy  of  Christianity  • 
but  with  St.  Francis  it  was  an  humble,  meek,  quiescent 
democracy.  In  his  own  short  fragmentary  writings  he 
ever  enforces  the  most  submissive  obedience  to  the 
clergy  ;  2  those  at  least  who  lived  according  to  the  rule 
of  the  Roman  Church.  This  rule  would  no  doubt  ex- 
cept the  simoniac  and  the  married  clergy;  but  the 
whole  character  of  his  teaching  was  the  farthest  re- 
moved from  that  of  a  spiritual  demagogue.  His  was 
a  pacific  passive  mysticism,  which  consoled  the  poor  for 
the  inequalities  of  this  life  by  the  hopes  of  heaven. 
But  erelong  his  more  vehement  disciple,  Antony  of 
Padua,  sounded  a  different  note:  he  scrupled  not  to 
denounce  the  worldly  clergy.     Antony  of  Padua  was 

1  See  the  Alcoran  des  Cordeliers.  Yet  this  book  could  hardly  transcend 
the  grave  blasphemies  of  the  Liber  Conformitatum,  e.g.,  Christ  was  trans- 
figured once,  St.  Francis  twenty  times ;  Christ  changed  water  into  wine 
once,  St.  Francis  three  times ;  Christ  endured  his  wounds  a  short  time,  St. 
Francis  two  years ;  and  so  with  all  the  Gospel  miracles. 

2  In  his  Testament  he  writes:  "Postea  dedit  mihi  Dominus,  et  dat 
tantuni  fidem  in  sacerdotibus,  qui  vivunt  secundum  Ordinem  Sanet*  Ro- 
mance ecclesiie  propter  ordinem  ipsorum,  quod  si  facerent  mihi  persecu- 
tionem  volo  recurrere  ad  ipsos."  —  Op.  St.  Francisc.  p.  20.  "  II  disoit  que 
s'il  rencontroit  un  Sainct  qui  fust  descendu  du  ciel  en  terre  et  un  Prestre, 
qu'il  baiseroit  premierement  la  main  au  Prestre,  puis  il  feroit  la  reverence 
au  Sainct,  recevant  de  celui-la  le  corps  de  nostre  Seigneur  Jesus  Christ, 
pourquoi  il  meritoit  plus  d'honneur."  —  Chroniques,  i.  c.  lxxxiv. 


Chap.X.  ANTONY  OF  PADUA.  271 

a  Portuguese,  born  at  Lisbon.  He  showed  early  a 
strong  religious  temperament.  The  relics  of  the  five 
Franciscan  martyrs,  sent  over  from  Morocco,  had 
kindled  the  most  ardent  enthusiasm.  The  young 
Fernand  (such  was  his  baptismal  name)  joined  him- 
self to  some  Franciscan  friars,  utterly  illiterate,  but  of 
burning  zeal,  and  under  their  guidance  set  forth  de- 
liberately to  win  the  crown  of  martyrdom  among  the 
Moors.  He  was  cast  by  a  storm  on  the  coast  of  Sicily. 
He  found  his  way  to  Romagna,  united  himself  to  the 
Franciscans,  retired  into  a  hermitage,  studied  deeply, 
and  at  length  was  authorized  by  the  General  of  the 
Order  to  go  forth  and  preach.  For  many  years  his  elo- 
quence excited  that  rapture  of  faith  which  during  these 
times  is  almost  periodically  breaking  forth,  especially 
in  the  north  of  Italy.  Every  class,  both  sexes,  all  ages 
were  equally  entranced.  Old  enmities  were  reconciled, 
old  debts  paid,  forgotten  wrong  atoned  for ;  prostitutes 
forsook  their  sins,  robbers  forswore  their  calling ;  such 
is  said  to  have  been  the  magic  of  his  words  that  in- 
fants ceased  to  cry.  His  voice  was  clear  and  piercing 
like  a  trumpet ;  his  Italian  purer  than  that  of  most 
natives.  At  Rimini,  at  Milan,  in  other  cities,  he  held 
disputations  against  the  heretics,  who  yielded  to  his  ir- 
resistible arguments.  But  the  triumph  of  his  courage 
and  of  his  eloquence  was  his  daring  to  stand  before 
Eccelin  of  Verona  to  rebuke  him  for  his  bloody  atroci- 
ties. Eccelin  is  said  to  have  bowed  in  awe  before  the 
intrepid  preacher,  he  threw  himself  at  the  feet  of 
Antony,  and  promised  to  amend  his  life.  The  clergy 
dared  not  but  admire  Antony  of  Padua,  whom  miracle 
began  to  environ.  But  they  saw  not  without  terror 
that  the  meek  Franciscan  might  soon  become  a  for- 


272  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

midable  demagogue,  formidable  to  themselves  as  to  the 
enemies  of  the  faith. 

But  what  is  more  extraordinary,  already  in  the  time 
of  St.  Bonaventura  they  had  begun  to  be  faithless  to 
their  hard  bride,  Poverty.  Bonaventura  himself  might 
have  found  it  difficult  to  adduce  authority  for  his  labo- 
rious learning  in  the  rule  of  his  Master.  Franciscan- 
ism  is  in  both  respects  more  or  less  repudiating  St. 
Francis.  The  first  General  of  the  Order,  Brother 
Elias  (General  during  the  lifetime  of  the  Saint),  re- 
fused the  dignity,  because  his  infirmities  compelled  him 
to  violate  one  of  its  rules,  to  ride  on  horseback.  He 
was  compelled  to  assume  the  honor,  degraded,  resumed 
his  office,  was  again  degraded ;  for  Elias  manifestly  de- 
spised, and  endeavored  to  throw  off,  and  not  alone,  the 
very  vital  principle  of  the  Order,  mendicancy ;  he  per- 
secuted the  true  disciples  of  St.  Francis.1  At  length 
the  successor  of  St.  Francis  became  a  counsellor  of 
Frederick  II.,  the  mortal  enemy  of  the  Pope,  especially 
of  the  Franciscan  Popes,  above  all  of  the  first  patron 
of  Franciscanism,  Gregory  IX. 

The  Rule  had  required  the  peremptory  renunciation 
The  Rule.  of  all  worldly  goods  by  every  disciple  of  the 
Order,  and  those  who  received  the  proselytes  were  care- 
fully to  abstain  from  mingling  in  worldly  business.  Not 
till  he  was  absolutely  destitute  did  the  disciple  become 
a  Franciscan.  They  might  receive  food,  clothes,  or 
other  necessaries,  on  no  account  money ;  even  if  they 
found  it  they  were  to  trample  it  under  foot.     They 


1  Compare  Les  Chroniques,  part  ii.  c.  v.  p.  4.  "  Aussi  £toit  cause  de 
grand  mal,  le  grand  nombre  des  freres  qui  lui  adheroient,  lesquels  comrae 
les  partisans  le  suivoient  et  l'imitoient,  l'incitant  a  poursuivre  les  freres  qui 
£toient  z&&  observateurs  de  la  regie."  —  Regul.,  cap.  ii.  p.  23. 


Chap.  X.  THE  RULE.  273 

might  labor  for  their  support,  but  were  to  be  paid  in 
kind.  They  were  to  have  two  tunics,  one  with  a  hood, 
one  without,  a  girdle  and  breeches.  The  fatal  feud, 
the  controversy  on  the  interpretation  of  this  stern  rule 
of  poverty,  will  find  its  place  hereafter. 

St.  Francis  rejected  alike  the  pomp  of  ritual,  and 
the  pride  of  learning.  The  Franciscan  services  were 
to  be  conducted  with  the  utmost  simplicity  of  devotion, 
with  no  wantonness  of  music.  There  was  to  be  only 
one  daily  mass.  It  was  not  long  before  the  magnificent 
church  of  Assisi  began  to  rise  ;  and  the  Franciscan  ser- 
vices, if  faithful  to  the  form,  began  soon  by  their  gor- 
geousness  to  mock  the  spirit  of  their  master. 

No  Franciscan  was  to  preach  without  permission  of 
the  Provincial  of  the  Order,  or  if  forbidden  by  the 
bishop  of  the  diocese ;  their  sermons  were  to  be  on  the 
great  religious  and  moral  truths  of  the  Gospel,  and 
especially  short.  He  despised  and  prohibited  human 
learning,  even  human  eloquence  displayed  for  vanity 
and  ostentation.1  Bonaventura  himself  in  his  profound- 
est  writings  maintained  the  mystic  fervor  of  his  master; 
but  everywhere  the  Franciscans  are  with  the  Domin- 
icans vying  for  the  mastery  in  the  universities  of  Chris- 
tendom ;  Duns  Scotus  the  most  arid  dialectician,  and 
William  of  Ockham  the  demagogue  of  scholasticism, 
balance  the  fame  of  Albert  the  Great  and  Thomas  of 


1  "  Je  ne  voudrais  point  de  plus  grands  Docteurs  de  Theologie,  que  ceux 
qui  enseignent  leur  prochain  avec  les  ceuvres,  la  douceur,  la  pauvrete^  es 
l'humilite."  He  goes  on  to  rebuke  preachers  who  are  filled  with  vain 
glory  by  the  concourse  of  hearers,  and  the  success  of  their  preaching.  — 
Chroniques,  ii.  c  xxiv.  I  find  the  Saint  goaded  to  one  other  malediction, 
—  against  a  provincial,  who  encouraged  profound  study  at  the  University 
of  Bologna.  —  c.  xviii.  See  above  his  contempt  and  aversion  for  books. 
vol.  v.  18 


274  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

Aquino.  A  century  has  not  passed  before,  besides  the 
clergy,  the  older  Orders  are  heaping  invectives  on  the 
disciples  of  St.  Francis,  not  only  as  disturbers  of  their 
religious  peace,  as  alienating  the  affections  and  rever- 
ence of  their  flocks  or  their  retainers,  but  as  their  more 
successful  rivals  for  the  alms  of  dying  penitents,  as  the 
more  universal  legatees  of  lands,  treasures,  houses,  im- 
munities. 

The  Benedictine  of  St.  Albans,1  Matthew  Paris, 
who  at  first  wrote,  or  rather  adopted  language,  highly 
commending  the  new-born  zeal,  and  yet-admired  holi- 
ness of  the  mendicants,2  in  all  the  bitter  jealousy  of  a 
change  in  ntasil  Order,  writes  thus  :  —  "It  is  terrible, 
the  order.  fc  jg  an  awmj  presage,  that  in  three  hundred 
years,  in  four  hundred  years,  even  in  more,  the  old 
monastic  Orders  have  not  so  entirely  degenerated  as 
these  Fraternities.  The  friars  who  have  been  founded 
hardly  forty  years  have  built,  even  in  the  present  day 
in  England,  residences  as  lofty  as  the  palaces  of  our 
kings.  These  are  they,  who  enlarging  day  by  day 
their  sumptuous  edifices,  encircling  them  with  lofty 
walls,  lay  up  within  them  incalculable  treasures,  im- 
prudently transgressing  the  bounds  of  poverty,  and 
violating,  according  to  the  prophecy  of  the  German 
Hildegard,  the  very  fundamental  rules  of  their  profes- 
sion. These  are  they  who  impelled  by  the  love  of 
gain,  force  themselves  upon  the  last  hours  of  the  Lords, 
and  of  the  rich  whom  they  know  to  be  overflowing 
with  wealth ;   and  these,  despising  all  rights,  supplant- 

1  The  first  Franciscan  foundation  in 'England  was  at  Abingdon.  —  Malan, 
p.  264. 

2  Wendover,  ii.  p.  210,  sub  aim.  1207. 


Chap.  X.  DEATH  OF  INNOCENT   III.  275 

ing  the  ordinary  pastors,  extort  confessions  and  secret 
testaments,  boasting  of  themselves  and  of  their  Order, 
and  asserting  their  vast  superiority  over  all  others.  So 
that  no  one  of  the  faithful  now  believes  that  he  can  be 
saved,  unless  guided  and  directed  by  the  Preachers  of 
Friar  Minors.  Eager  to  obtain  privileges,  they  serve 
in  the  courts  of  kings  and  nobles,  as  counsellors,  cham- 
berlains, treasurers,  bridesmen,  or  notaries  of  marriages ; 
they  are  the  executioners  of  the  papal  extortions.  In 
their  preaching  they  sometimes  take  the  tone  of  flat- 
tery, sometimes  of  biting  censure :  they  scruple  not  to 
reveal  confessions,  or  to  bring  forward  the  most  rash 
accusations.  They  despise  the  legitimate  Orders,  those 
founded  by  holy  fathers,  by  St.  Benedict  or  St.  Augus- 
tine, with  all  their  professors.  They  place  their  own 
Order  high  above  all ;  they  look  on  the  Cistercians  as 
rude  and  simple,  half  laic  or  rather  peasants  ;  they  treat 
the  Black  Monks  as  haughty  Epicureans."1 

Our  history  reverts  to  the  close  of  Innocent  III.'s 
eventful  pontificate. 

In  the  full  vigor  of  his  manhood  died  Innocent  III. 
He,  of  all  the  Popes,  had  advanced  the  most  A  D  1216 
exorbitant  pretensions,  and  those  pretensions  Jop^iano* 
had  been  received  by  an  age  most  disposed  to  centI1L 
accept  them  with  humble  deference.     The  high  and 
blameless,  in  some  respects  wise  and  gentle  character 
of  Innocent,  might  seem  to  approach  more  nearly  than 
any  one  of  the  whole  succession  of  Roman  bishops,  to 
the  ideal  height  of  a  supreme  Pontiff:  in  him,  if  ever, 
might  appear  to  be  realized  the  churchman's  highest 
conception  of  the  Vicar  of  Christ.     Gregory  VII.  and 

1  Paris  reckons  the  forty  years  to  his  own  time,  sub  ana.  1249. 


276  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  B<>ok  IX. 

Boniface  VIII.,  the  first  and  the  last  of  the  aggressive 
Popes,  and  the  aged  Gregory  IX.,  had  no  donht  more 
rftgged  warfare  to  encounter,  fiercer  and  more  unscru- 
pulous enemies  to  subdue.  But  in  all  these  there  was 
a  personal  sternness,  a  contemptuous  haughtiness;  theirs 
was  a  worldly  majesty.  Hildebrand  and  Benedetto 
Gaetani  are  men  in  whom  secular  policy  obscures,  and 
throws  back,  as  it  were,  the  spiritual  greatness ;  and 
though  the  firmness  with  which  they  endure  reverses 
may  be  more  lofty,  yet  there  is  a  kind  of  desecration 
of  the  unapproachable  sanctity  of  their  office  in  their 
personal  calamities.  The  pride  of  Innocent  was  calmer, 
more  self-possessed  ;  his  dignity  was  less  disturbed  by 
degrading  collisions  with  rude  adversaries  ;  he  died  on 
his  unshaken  throne,  in  the  plenitude  of  his  seemingly 
uesuits  of  his  unquestioned  power.  Yet  if  we  pause  and 
Pontificate,  contemplate,  as  we  cannot  but  pause  and  con- 
template, the  issue  of  this  highest,  in  a  certain  sense 
noblest  and  most  religious  contest  for  the  Papal  ascen- 
dency over  the  world  of  man,  there  is  an  inevitable  con- 
viction of  the  unreality  of  that  Papal  power.  With 
all  the  grandeur  of  his  views,  with  all  the  persevering 
energy  of  his  measures,  throughout  Innocent's  reign, 
everywhere  we  behold  failure,  everywhere  immediate 
discomfiture,  or  transitory  success  which  paved  the  way 
for  future  disaster.  The  higher  the  throne  of  the  Pope 
the  more  manifestly  were  its  foundations  undermined, 
unsound,  unenduring. 

Even  Rome  does  not  always  maintain  her  peaceful 
subservience.  Her  obedience  is  interrupted,  precari- 
ous ;  that  of  transient  awe,  not  of  deep  attachment,  or 
rooted  reverence.     In  Italy,  the  tutelage  of  the  young 


Chap.  X.       RESULTS   OF   INNOCENT'S   PONTIFICATE.         277 

Frederick,  suspicious,  ungenerous,  imperious,  yet  neg- 
ligent, could  not  but  plant  deep  in  the  heart  of  the 
young  sovereign,  mistrust,  want  of  veneration,  still 
more  of  affection  for  his  ecclesiastical  guardian.  What 
was  there  to  attach  Frederick  to  the  Church  ?  how 
much  to  estrange  ?  As  king  of  Sicily  he  was  held 
under  strict  tributary  control ;  his  step-mother  th«j 
Church  watches  every  movement  with  jealous  super- 
vision ;  exacts  the  most  rigid  discharge  of  all  the  ex- 
torted signs  of  vassalage.  It  is  not  as  heir  of  the  Empire 
that  he  is  reluctantly  permitted  or  coldly  encouraged 
to  cross  the  Alps,  and  to  win  back,  if  he  can,  the  crown 
of  his  ancestors,  but  as  the  enemy  of  the  Pope's  enemy. 
Otho  had  been  so  ungrateful,  was  so  dangerous,  that 
against  him  the  Pope  would  support  even  an  Hohen- 
staufen.  The  seeds  of  evil  were  sown  in  Frederick's 
mind,  in  Frederick's  heart,  to  spring  up  with  fearful 
fertility.  In  the  Empire  it  is  impossible  not  to  burden 
the  memory  of  Innocent  with  the  miseries  of  the  long 
civil  war.  Otho  without  the  aid  of  the  Pope  could  not 
have  maintained  the  contest  for  a  year;  with  all  the 
Pope's  aid  he  had  sunk  into  contempt,  almost  insignif- 
icance ;  he  was  about  to  be  abandoned,  if  not  actually 
abandoned,  by  the  Pope  himself.  The  casual  blow  of  the 
assassin  alone  prevented  the  complete  triumph  of  Philip, 
already  he  had  extorted  his  absolution  ;  Innocent  was 
compelled  to  yield,  and  could  not  yield  without  loss  of 
dignity.1     The  triumph  of  Otho  leads  to  as  fierce,  and 

1  Read  the  very  curious  Latin  poem  published  by  Leibnitz,  R.  Brunsw. 
S.  ii.  p.  525,  on  the  Disputatio  between  Rome  and  Pope  Innocent  on  tha 
destitution  of  Otho.    Rome  begins:  — 

<:  Tibi  soli  supplicat  orbis, 
Et  genus  humanum,  te  disponente  movetur." 


278  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

more  perilous  resistance  to  the  Papal  power,  than  could 
have  been  expected  from  the  haughtiness  of  the  Hohen- 
staufen.  The  Pope  has  an  irresistible  enemy  in  Italy 
itself.  Innocent  is  compelled  to  abandon  the  great  ob- 
ject of  the  Papal  policy,  the  breaking  the  line  of  suc- 
cession in  the  house  of  Swabia,  and  to  assist  in  the 
elevation  of  a  Swabian  Emperor.  He  must  yield  to 
the  union  of  the  crown  of  Sicily  with  that  of  Germany ; 
and  so  bequeath  to  his  successors  the  obstinate  and  per- 
ilous strife  with  Frederick  II. 

In  France,  Philip  Augustus  is  forced  to  seem,  yet 
only  seem,  to  submit  ;  the  miseries  of  his  unhappy 
wife  are  but  aggravated  by  the  Papal  protection.  The 
death  of  Agnes  of  Meran,  rather  than  Innocent's  au- 

Innocent,  after  some  flattery  of  the  greatness  of  Rome,  urges :  — 

"  Quae  vos  stimulavit  Erynnis  ? 
Ut  sic  unanimes  relevare  velitis  Otonem, 
Vultis  ut  Ecclesiae  Romanae  praedo  resurgat, 
Hostis  Catholicae  fidei,  dominando  superbus 
Non  solum  factus,  sed  et  ipsa  superbia." 

Then  follow  several  pages  of  dispute,  kindling  into  fierce  altercation. 
The  Pope  winds  up:  — 

"Site 
Non  moveant  super  hoc  assignatre  ratiouea 
Per  quas  Ottoui  Fredericus  substituatur, 
Sic  volo,  sic  fiat,  sit  pro  ratione  voluntas." 
Rome  bursts  into  invective:  — 

"  Qualis 
Servorum  Christi  Servus  ! 

***** 

Non  es  apostolicus,  sed  apostaticus  ;  neque  Pastor 
Immo  lupus,  vescens  ipso  grege." 

Rome  appeals  to  a  General  Council.    Rome,  supposing  the  Council  pres- 
ent, addresses  it.     The  Council  replies :  — 

11  Roma  parens,  non  est  nostrum  deponere  Papam." 

But  the  Council  declares  its  right  to  depose  Frederick  and  to  restore 
Otho. 


Chai'.X.     RESULTS   OF  INNOCENT'S  PONTIFICATE.  279 

thority,  heals  the  strife.  The  sons  of  the  proscribed 
concubine  succeed  to  the  throne  of  France. 

In  England  the  Barons  refuse  to  desert  John  when 
under  the  interdict  of  the  Pope  ;  when  the  Pope  be- 
comes the  King's  ally,  resenting  the  cession  of  the 
realm,  they  withdraw  their  allegiance.  Even  in  Ste- 
phen Langton,  who  owes  his  promotion  to  the  Pope, 
the  Englishman  prevails  over  the  ecclesiastic  ;  the  Great 
Charter  is  extorted  from  the  King  when  under  the  ex- 
press protection  of  the  Holy  See,  and  maintained 
resolutely  against  the  Papal  sentence  of  abroga- 
tion :  and  in  the  Great  Charter  is  laid  the  first  stone 
of  the  religious  as  well  as  the  civil  liberties  of  the 
land. 

Venice,  in  the  Crusade,  deludes,  defies,  baffles  the 
Pope.  The  Crusaders  become  her  army,  besiege,  fight, 
conquer  for  her  interests.  In  vain  the  Pope  protests, 
threatens,  anathematizes :  Venice  calmly  proceeds  in 
the  subjugation  of  Zara.  To  the  astonishment,  the 
indignation  of  the  Pope,  the  Crusaders'  banners  wave 
not  over  Jerusalem,  but  over  Constantinople.  But  for 
her  own  wisdom,  Venice  might  have  given  an  Emperor 
to  the  capital  of  the  East,  she  secures  the  patriarchate 
almost  in  defiance  of  the  Pope  ;  only^  when  she  has  en- 
tirely gained  her  ends  does  she  submit  to  the  petty  and 
unregarded  vengeance  of  the  Pope. 

Even  in  the  Albigensian  war  the  success  was  indeed 
complete  ;  heresy  was  crushed,  but  by  means  of  which 
Innocent  disapproved  in  his  heart.  He  had  let  loose  a 
terrible  force,  which  he  could  neither  arrest  nor  control. 
The  Pope  can  do  everything  but  show  mercy  or  mod- 
eration.   He  could  not  shake  off,  the  Papacy  has  never 


280  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  IX. 

shaken  off  the  burden  of  its  complicity  in  the  remorse- 
less carnage  perpetrated  by  the  Crusaders  in  Langue- 
doc,  in  the  crimes  and  cruelties  of  Simon  de  Montfort. 
A  dark  and  ineffaceable  stain  of  fraud  and  dissimula- 
tion too  has  gathered  around  the  fame  of  Innocent 
himself.1  Heresy  was  quenched  in  blood ;  but  the 
earth  sooner  or  later  gives  out  the  terrible  cry  of  blood 
for  vengeance  against  murderers  and  oppressors. 

The  great  religious  event  of  this  Pontificate,  the 
foundation  of  the  Mendicant  Orders,  that  which  per- 
haps perpetuated,  or  at  least  immeasurably  strength- 
ened, the  Papal  power  for  two  centuries  was  extorted 
from  the  reluctant  Pope.  Both  St.  Dominic  and  St. 
Francis  were  coldly  received,  almost  contemptuously 
repelled.  It  was  not  till  either  his  own  more  mature 
deliberation,  or  wiser  counsel  which  took  the  form  of 
divine  admonition,  prevented  this  fatal  error,  and  pro- 
phetically revealed  the  secret  of  their  strength  and  of 
their  irresistible  influence  throughout  Christendom,  that 
Innocent  awoke  to  wisdom.  He  then  bequeathed  these 
two  great  standing  armies  to  the  Papacy ;  armies 
maintained  without  cost,  sworn,  more  than  sworn, 
bound  by  the  unbroken  chains  of  their  own  zeal  and 
devotion  to  unquestioning,  unhesitating  service  through- 
out Christendom,  speaking  all  languages.  They  were, 
colonies  of  religious  militia,  natives  of  every  land,  yet 
under  foreign  control  and  guidance.  Their  whole 
power,  importance,  perhaps  possessions,  rested  on  their 

1  It  is  remarkable  that  Innocent  III.  was  never  canonized.  There  were 
popular  rumors  that  the  soul  of  Innocent,  escaping  from  the  fires  of  purga- 
tory, appeared  on  earth,  scourged  by  pursuing  devils,  taking  refuge  at  the 
foot  of  the  cross,  and  imploring  the  prayers  of  the  faithful.  —  Chronic.  Er- 
furt, p.  243.    Thorn.  Cantiprat,  Vit.  S.  Luitgardai,  ap.  Surium,  Jan.  16. 


Chap  X.  DOMINICANS  AND  FRANCISCANS.  281 

fidelity  to  the  See  of  Rome,  that  fidelity  guaranteed 
by  the  charter  of  their  existence.  Well  might  they 
appear  so  great  as  they  are  seen  by  the  eye  of  Dante, 
like  the  Cherubin  and  Seraphin  in  Paradise.1 

1  Paradise,  xi.  34,  &c. 


282 


*AliN  CHRISTIANITY. 


Book  X 


BOOK  X. 

CONTEMPORARY  CHRONOLOGY. 


?t>PBJ. 

EMPERORS   OP 
GERMANY. 

KINGS   0*  PRANCE. 

KING    OF   ENGLAND. 

A.D.                          A.D. 

1216  Honoriai 

III.  1227 

1227  Gregory 

IX.         1241 
1241  Coelestine 

IV.  1241 
1243  Innocent 

IV.         1254 

A.D.                           A.D. 

1212  Frederick  • 

II.          1250 

1246  Henry  Raspe 
(anti-em- 

A.D.                          A.D. 

Philip  Au 

gustus  1223 
1223  Louis 

VIII.  1226 
1226  Louis  IX 

(Saint)    1270 

A.D.                            A.D. 

1216  Henry 

in.        1272 

ARCHBISHOPS    OF 
CANTERBURY. 

Stephen 
Langton   1228 

1229  Richard  We- 
therhead  1231 

1254  Alexander 

IV.         1261 

peror)    1249 
1250  William  of 

Holland  1256 

1257  Vacant. 
Richard  of 

Cornwall  (?) 
Alfonso  of 

Castile  (?) 

1234  Edmund 

Rich         1244 

1244  Boniface  of 

Savoy       1272 

ARCHBISHOPS   OF 

MENTZ. 

Conrad  of 

Wittles- 

bach       1230 
1230  Siegfried  I. 
of  Epstein  1249 

1249  Siegfried  n. 
of  Epstein  1251 

1251  Christian 

II.          1259 
1259  Gerhard  I. 

Book  X. 


CONTEMPORARY  CHRONOLOGY. 


283 


CONTEMPORARY  CHRONOLOGY. 


KINGS  OP  SCOTLAND. 

KINGS   OF  SPAIN. 

KINGS  OF  NAPLES. 

EMPERORS   OF  THE 
EAST. 

A.D.                           A.D. 

A.D.                         A.D. 

A.D.                          A.D. 

A.D.                           A.D. 

Castile. 

Latin. 

1214  Alexander 





II.          1249 

1217  Alfonso 

1217  Peter  de 

X.          1226 
1226  Ferdinand 

Courtenay  1220 

III.        1252 

1220  Robert       1228 

1252  Alfonso  XL. 

the  Wise  1276 

1228  Baldwin 

II.          1261 

Arragon. 

Greek. 

1213  James 

Frederick 

Theodore 

II.          1250 

Lascaris  1222 

1249  Alexander 

TTT                   "IOO£5 

1QKA    (l^-n-^n    J                lOCO 

111.         12ob 

KINGS  OF  PORTUGAL. 

lzov  Uonraa      125o 
1254  Manfred    1266 

1222  John  Du- 

cas  1255 
1255  Theodo- 

rus  1258 
1258  John  IV. 

1213  Alfonso  the 

Fat         1233 

1259  Michael  Pa- 

1233  Sancho 

leologus. 

II.          1246 

1266  Conrad  II. 

1246  Alfonso 

Charles  of  An- 

1262  Reunion. 

in.        1279 

jou. 

284  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 


BOOK    X. 


CHAPTER   I. 

HONORIUS  III.    FREDERICK  II. 

The  Pontificate  of  Honorius  III.  is  a  kind  of  oasis 
Honorius  m.  °f  impose,  between  the  more  eventful  rule  of 
coiSeSkted6'  Innocent  III.  and  of  Gregory  IX.  Honorius 
July  24.         wag  a  Roman  0f  ^}ie  no|)le  house  of  Savelli, 

Cardinal  of  St.  John  and  St.  Paul.  The  Papacy  hav- 
ing attained  its  consummate  height  under  Innocent  III., 
might  appear  resting  upon  its  arms,  and  gathering  up 
its  might  for  its  last  internecine  conflict,  under  Gregory 
IX.  and  Innocent  IV.,  with  the  most  powerful,  the 
ablest,  and  when  driven  to  desperation,  most  reckless 
antagonist,  who  had  as  yet  come  into  collision  with  the 
spiritual  supremacy.  During  nearly  eleven  years  the 
a.d.  1216  combatants  seem  girding  themselves  for  the 
tol22'-  contest.  At  first  mutual  respect  or  common 
interests  maintain  even  more  than  the  outward  appear- 
ance of  amity  ;  then  arise  jealousy,  estrangement, 
doubtful  peace,  but  not  declared  war.  On  one  side 
neither  the  power  nor  the  ambition  of  the  Emperor 
Frederick  II.  are  mature  ;  his  more  modest  views  of 
aggrandizement  gradually  expand  ;  his  own  character 
is  developing  itself  into  that  of  premature  enlighten- 


Chap.  I.  HONORIUS   III.  285 

ment  and  lingering  superstition  ;  of  chivalrous  adven- 
ture and  courtly  elegance,  of  stern  cruelty  and  generous 
liberality,  of  restless  and  all-stirring,  all-embracing  ac- 
tivity, which  keeps  Germany,  Italy,  even  the  East,  in 
orie  uninterrupted  war  with  his  implacable  enemies  the 
Popes,  and  with  the  Lombard  Republics,  while  he  is 
constantly  betraying  his  natural  disposition  to  bask 
away  an  easy  and  luxurious  life  on  the  shores  of  his 
beloved  Sicily.  All  this  is  yet  in  its  dawn,  in  its  yet 
unfulfilled  promise,  in  its  menace.  Frederick  has  won 
the  Empire  ;  he  has  united,  though  he  had  agreed  to 
make  over  Sicily  to  his  son,  the  Imperial  crown  to  that 
of  Sicily.  Even  if  rumors  are  already  abroad  of  his 
dangerous  freedom  of  opinion,  this  may  pass  for  youth- 
ful levity,  he  is  still  the  spiritual  subject  of  the  Pope. 

Honorius  III.  stands  between  Innocent  III.  and 
Gregory  IX.,  not  as  a  Pontiff  of  superior  wisdom  and 
more  true  Christian  dignity,  adopting  a  gentler  and 
more  conciliating  policy  from  the  sense  of  its  more 
perfect  compatibility  with  his  office  of  Vicar  Mildness  of 
of  Christ,  but  rather  from  natural  gentleness  Honorius- 
of  character  bordering  on  timidity.  He  has  neither 
energy  of  mind  to  take  the  loftier  line,  nor  to  resist 
the  high  churchmen,  who  are  urging  him  towards  it ; 
his  was  a  temporizing  policy,  which  could  only  avert 
for  a  time  the  inevitable  conflict. 

And  yet  a  Pope  who  could  assume  as  his  maxim  to 
act  with  gentleness  rather  than  by  compulsion,  by  in- 
fluence rather  than  anatnema,  nevertheless,  to  make 
no  surrender  of  the  overweening  pretensions  of  his 
function ;  must  have  had  a  mind  of  force  and  vigor 
of  its  own,  not  unworthy  of  admiration :  a  moderate 
Pope  is  so  rare  in  these  times,  that  he  may  demand 


286  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

some  homage  for  his  moderation.  His  age  and  infirmi- 
ties  may  have  tended  to  this  less  enterprising  or  turbu- 
lent administration.1  Honorius  accepted  the  tradition 
of  all  the  rights  and  duties  asserted  by,  and  generally 
ascribed  to  the  successor  of  St.  Peter,  as  part  of  his 
high  office.  The  Holy  War  was  now  become  so  estab- 
lished an  article  in  the  Christian  creed,  that  no  Pope, 
however  beyond  his  age,  could  have  ventured  even  to 
be  remiss  in  urging  this  solemn  obligation  on  all  true 
Christians.  No  cardinal  not  in  heart  a  Crusader 
would  have  been  raised  to  the  Papal  See.  The  as- 
surance of  the  final  triumph  of  the  Christian  arms 
became  a  point  of  honor,  more  than  that,  an  essential 
part  of  Christian  piety ;  to  deny  it  was  an  impeach- 
ment on  the  valor  of  true  Christians,  a  want  of  suffi- 
cient reliance  on  God  himself.  Christ  could  not, 
however  he  might  try  the  patience  of  the  Christian, 
eventually  abandon  to  the  infidel  his  holy  sepulchre. 
All  admonitions  of  disaster  and  defeat  were  but  the 
just  chastisements  of  the  sins  of  the  crusaders ;  the 
triumph,  however  postponed,  was  certain,  as  certain 
as  that  Christ  was  the  Son  of  God,  Mohammed  a  false 
prophet. 

Honorius  was  as  earnest,  as  zealous  in  the  good 
uonorius  cause,  as  had  been  his  more  inflexible  pred- 
ciusade.  ecessor ;  this  was  the  primary  object  of  his 
ten  years'  Pontificate  ;  this,  which  however  it  had  to 
encounter  the  coldness,  the  torpor,  the  worn-out  sym- 
pathies of  Christendom,  clashed  with  no  jealous  or  hos- 
tile feeling.  However  severe  the  rebuke,  it  was  rebuke 
of  which   Christendom  acknowledged   the  justice ;  all 

1  "Cum  esset  corpore  iufirmus,  et  ultra  modum  debilis."  —  Kaynald.  sub 
tuu. 


Chap.  I.  HONORIUS  URGES   THE  CRUSADE.  1>87 

men  honored  the  Pope  for  his  zeal  in  sounding  the 
trumpet  with  the  fiercest  energy,  even  though  they  did 
not  answer  to  the  call.  The  more  the  enthusiasm  of 
Christendom  cooled  down  into  indifference,  the  more 
ardent  and  pressing  the  exhortation  of  the  Popes. 
The  first  act  of  Honorius  was  a  circular  ad-  Dec.  5, 1216. 
dress  to  Christendom,  full  of  reproof,  expostulation, 
entreaty  to  contribute  either  in  person  or  in  money 
to  the  new  campaign.  The  only  King  who  obeyed  the 
summons  was  Andrew  of  Hungary.      Some  Crusade  01 

„  .  ,  ,  Andrew  of 

lierman  princes  and  prelates  met  the  Hun-  Hungary. 
garian  at  Spalatro,  the  Dukes  of  Austria  and  Meran, 
the  Archbishop  of  Salzburg,  the  Bishops  of  Bamberg, 
Zeitz,  Munster,  and  Utrecht.  But  notwithstanding 
the  interdict  of  the  Patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  Andrew 
returned  in  the  next  year,  though  not  without  some 
fame  for  valor  and  conduct,  on  the  plea  of  enfeebled 
health,  and  of  important  affairs  of  Hungary.1  His 
trophies  were  relics,  the  heads  of  St.  Stephen  and  St. 
Margaret,  the  hands  of  St.  Bartholomew  and  St, 
Thomas,  a  slip  of  the  rod  of  Aaron,  one  of  the 
water-pots  of  the  Marriage  of  Cana.  The  expedition 
from  the  Holy  Land  against  Damietta,  the  a.d.1219. 
flight  of  Sultan  Kameel  from  that  city,  its  Damietta. 
occupation  by  the  Christians,  raised  the  most  exult- 
ing hopes.  The  proposal  of  the  Sultan  to  yield  up 
Jerusalem  was  rejected  with  scorn.  But  the  fatal 
reverses,  which  showed  the  danger  of  accepting  a 
Legate  (the  Cardinal  Pelagius)  as  a  general,  too  soon 
threw  men's  minds  back  into  their  former  prostration. 
But  even  before  this  discomfiture,  King  Frederick  II. 
had  centred  on  himself  the  thoughts  and  hopes  of  all 

1  This  was  the  Crusade  joined  by  St.  Francis.  — See  Ch.  X. 


288  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X 

who  were  still  Crusaders  in  their  hearts,  as  the  one 
Frederick  ii.  monarch  in  Christendom  who  could  restore 
the  fallen  fortunes  of  the  Cross  in  the  East.  In  his 
first  access  of  youthful  pride,  as  having  at  eighteen 
years  of  age  won,  by  his  own  gallant  daring,  the 
Transalpine  throne  of  his  ancestors ;  and  in  his  grate- 
ful devotion  to  the  Pope,  who,  in  hatred  to  Otho,  had 
maintained  his  cause,  Frederick  II.  had  taken  the 
Cross.  Nor  for  some  years  does  there  appear  any 
reason  to  mistrust,  if  not  his  religious,  at  least  his  ad- 
venturous and  ambitious  ardor.  But  till  the  death  of 
his  rival  Otho,  he  could  command  no  powerful  force 
which  would  follow  him  to  the  Holy  Land,  nor  could 
he  leave  iiis  yet  unsettled  realm.  The  princes  and 
churchmen,  his  partisans,  were  to  be  rewarded  and  so 
confirmed  in  their  loyalty  ;  the  doubtful  and  wavering 
to  be  won  ;  the  refractory  or  resistant  to  be  reduced  to 
allegiance. 

The  death  of  Otho,  in  the  castle  of  Wurtzburg, 
near  Goslar,  had  been  a  signal  example  of  the  powei 
of  religious  awe.  The  battle  of  Bouvines  and  the 
desertion  of  his  friends  had  broken  his  proud  spirit ; 
his  health  failed,  violent  remedies  brought  him  to  the 
brink  of  the  grave.  Hell  yawned  before  the  outcast 
from  the  Church  ;  nothing  less  than  a  public  expiation 
of  his  sins  could  soothe  his  shuddering  conscience. 
No  bishop  would  approach  the  excommunicated,  the 
fallen  Sovereign  ;  the  Prior  of  Halberstadt,  on  his  sol- 
emn oath  upon  the  relics  of  St.  Simon  and  St.  Jude 
brought  for  that  purpose  from  Brunswick,  that  if  he 
lived  he  would  give  full  satisfaction  to  the  Church,  ob- 
tained him  absolution  and  the  Last  Sacrament.  The 
next  day,  the  last  of  his  life,  in  the  presence  of  the 


Chap.  1.  FREDERICK  II.  289 

Empress  and  his  family,  the  nobles,  and  the  Abbot  of 
Hildesheim,  he  knelt  almost  naked  on  a  carpet,  made 
the  fullest  confession  of  his  sins  ;  he  showed  a  cross, 
which  he  had  received  at  Rome,  as  a  pledge  that  he 
would  embark  on  a  Crusade :  "  the  devil  had  still 
thwarted  his  holy  vow."  The  cross  was  restored  to 
him.  He  then  crouched  down,  exposed  his  naked 
shoulders,  and  entreated  all  present  to  inflict  the  mer- 
ited chastisement.  All  hands  were  armed  with  rods ; 
the  very  scullions  assisted  in  the  pious  work  of  flagel- 
lation, or  at  least  of  humiliation.  In  the  pauses  of 
the  Miserere  the  Emperor's  voice  was  heard :  "  Strike 
harder,  spare  not  the  hardened  sinner."  So  died  the 
rival  of  Philip  of  Swabia,  the  foe  of  Innocent  III.,  in 
the  forty-third  year  of  his  age.1 

With  the  death  of  Otho  rose  new  schemes  of  a£- 
grandizement  before  the  eyes  of  Frederick  II. ;  he 
must  secure  the  Imperial  crown  for  himself;  for  his 
son  Henry  the  succession  to  the  German  kingdom. 
The  Imperial  crown  must  be  obtained  from  the  hands 
of  the  Pope ;  the  election  of  his  son  at  least  be  ratified 
by  that  power.  A  friendly  correspondence  began  with 
Honorius  III.  The  price  set  on  the  corona-  Promises  to 
tion  of  Frederick  as  Emperor  was  his  under-  crusade. 
taking  a  Crusade  to  the  Holy  Land.  At  the  High 
Diet  at  Fulda,  Frederick  himself  (so  he  writes  to  the 
Pope)  had  already  summoned  the  ^princes  of  Germany 
to  his  great  design  :  at  the  Diet  proclaimed  to  be  held 
at  Magdeburg,  he  urged  the  Pope  to  excommunicate 
all  who   should  not  appear  in   arms  on   the  next  St. 

1  Otho  died  19th  May,  1218.  —  See  Narratio  de  Morte  Ottonis  IV.  apud 
Martene  et  Durand  Thes.  His.  Anecdot.  iii.  p.  1373.  "  Praecepit  coquinariia 
ut  in  collum  suum  conculcarent."  —  Albert.  Stadens.  Chron.  p.  204. 

VOL.   V.  19 


290  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X 

John's  day.  His  chief  counsellor  seemed  to  be  Her- 
man of  Salza,  the  Master  of  the  Teutonic  Order,  as 
deeply  devoted  to  the  service  of  the  Holy  Land,  as  the 
Jan.  12, 1219.  Templars  and  Knights  of  St.  John.  On 
that  Order  he  heaped  privileges  and  possessions.  But 
already  in  Rome,  no  doubt  among  the  old  austere  anti- 
German  party,  were  dark  suspicions,  solemn  admoni- 
tions, secret  warnings  to  the  mild  Pope,  that  no  son  of 
the  house  of  Swabia  could  be  otherwise  than  an  enemy 
to  the  Church :  the  Imperial  crown  and  the  kingdom  of 
Naples  could  not  be  in  the  possession  of  one  Sovereign 
May  io,  1219.  without  endangering  the  independence  of  the 
Papacy.  Frederick  repelled  these  accusations  of  hos- 
tility to  the  Church  with  passionate  vehemence.  "  I 
well  know  that  those  who  dare  to  rise  up  against  the 
Church  of  Home  have  drunk  of  the  cup  of  Babylon  ; 
and  hope  that  during  my  whole  life  I  shall  never  be 
justly  charged  with  ingratitude  to  my  Holy  Mother. 
I  design  not,  against  my  own  declaration,  to  obtain  the 
election  of  my  son  Henry  to  the  throne  of  Germany 
in  order  to  unite  the  two  kingdoms  of  Germany  and 
Sicily  ;  but  that  in  my  absence  (no  doubt  he  implies 
in  the  Holy  Land),  the  two  realms  may  be  more 
firmly  governed  ;  and  Ehat  in  case  of  my  death,  my 
son  may  be  more  certain  of  inheriting  the  throne  of 
his  fathers.  That  son  remains  under  subjection  to  the 
Roman  See,  which,  having  protected  me,  so  ought  to 
protect  him  in  his  undoubted  rights."1  He  then  con- 
descends to  exculpate  himself  from  all  the  special 
charges  brought  against  him  by  Rome. 

The  correspondence  continued  on  both  sides  in  terms 

1  Rege3t.  Hon.,  quoted  from  the  Vatican  archives  by  Von  Raumer,  iii.  n. 
424. 


Chap.  I.       AMITY  OF  FREDERICK  AND    HONORIUS.  291 

of  amicable  courtesy.  Each  had  his  object,  of  which 
he  never  lost  sight.  The  Pope  would  even  hazard  the 
aggrandizement  of  the  house  of  Swabia  if  he  s  t  6  1219# 
could  send  forth  an  overpowering  armament  ^^with 
to  the  East.  Frederick,  secure  of  the  aggran-  the  Pope" 
dizement  of  his  house,  was  fully  prepared  to  head  the 
Crusade.  Honorius  consented  that,  in  case  of  the 
death  of  Henry  the  son  of  Frederick  without  heir  or 
brother,  Frederick  should  hold  both  the  Empire  and 
the  kingdom  of  Naples  during  his  lifetime.  Frederick 
desired  to  retain  unconditionally  the  investiture  of  both 
kingdoms  ;  but  on  this  point  the  Pope  showed  so  much 
reluctance  that  Frederick  broke  off  the  treaty  by  letter, 
reserving  it  for  a  personal  interview  with  the  Pope. 
44  For  who  could  be  more  obedient  to  the  Church  than 
he  who  was  nursed  at  her  breast  and  had  rested  in  her 
lap  ?  Who  more  loyal  ?  Who  would  be  so  mindful 
of  benefits  already  received,  or  so  prepared  to  acknowl- 
edge his  obligations  according  to  the  will  and  pleasure 
of  his  benefactors  ?  "  Such  were  the  smooth  nor  yet 
deceptive  words  of  Frederick.1  Frederick  had  already 
consented,  even  proposed,  that  the  Pope  should  place 
all  the  German  Princes  who  refused  to  take  up  the 
Cross  under  the  interdict  of  the  Church,  and  thus,  as 
the  Pope  reminds  him,  had  still  more  inextricably 
bound  himself,  who  had  already  vowed  to  take  up  that 
Cross.  Frederick  urged  Honorius  to  write  individu- 
ally  to  all  the  princes  among  whom  there  was  no  ardor 
for  the  Crusade,  to  threaten  them  with  the  ban  if  at 
least  they  did  not  maintain  the  truce  of  God  ;  he  prom- 

1  All  this  I  am  not  surprised  to  find  by  such  writers  as  Hbfler  represented 
as  the  most  deliberate  hypocrisy.  I  am  sorry  to  see  the  same  partial  view 
in  Boehmer's  Regesta. 


292  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X 

ised,  protesting  that  he  acted  without  deceit  or  subtlety, 
to  send  forward  his  forces,  and  follow  himself  as  speedily 
as  he  might.  The  Pope  expressed  his  profound  satis- 
faction at  finding  his  beloved  son  so  devoted  to  God 
and  to  the  Church.  He  urged  him  to  delay  no  longer 
the  holy  design :  "  Youth,  power,  fame,  your  vow,  the 
example  of  your  ancestors,  summon  you  to  fulfil  your 
glorious  enterprise.  That  which  your  illustrious  grand- 
March,  1220.  father  Frederick  I.  undertook  with  all  his 
puissance,  it  is  your  mission  to  bring  to  a  glorious  end. 
Three  times  have  I  consented  to  delay ;  I  will  even 
prolong  the  term  to  the  first  of  May.  Whose  offer  is 
this  ?  —  Not  mine  ;  but  that  of  Christ !  Whose  ad- 
vantage ?  —  That  of  all  his  disciples  !  Whose  honor  ? 
—  That  of  all  Christians !  Are  you  not  invited  by 
unspeakable  rewards  ?  summoned  by  miracles  ?  admon- 
ished by  examples  ?  " 

But,  in  the  mean  time,  Frederick,  without  waiting  the 
assent  of  the  Pope,  had  carried  his  great  design,  the 
election  of  his  son  Henry  to  the  crown  of  Germany. 
His  unbounded  popularity,  his  power  now  that  his  rival 
Otho  was  dead,  the  fortunate  falling-in  of  some  great 
fiefs  (especially  the  vast  possessions  of  Berthold  of 
Zahringen,  which  enabled  him  to  reward  some,  to  win 
Diet  of  others  of  the  nobler  houses),  his   affability, 

Frankfort.         ,.-,.,  ,.  ,  .       .         .  ,  .  , 

April,  1-220.     his  liberality,  Ins  lustice,  gave  him  command 

Election  of  i  rn  n       1  i 

iienry  as  his   over  the   suiirages  01    the  temporal  princes. 

successor.  _.  „  •,     .         . 

Apr.  26, 1220.  By  a  great  measure  of  wisdom  and  justice, 
the  charter  of  the  liberties  of  the  German  Church,  on 
which  some  looked  with  jealousy  as  investing  him  with 
dangerous  power,  he  gained  the  support  of  the  high 
ecclesiastics.1      The    King   surrendered   the   unkingly 

1  Monument.  Germ.  iv.  235. 


Chap.  I.         ELECTION  OF  PRINCE  HENRY  AS   KING.  298 

right  or  usage  of  seizing  to  his  own  use  the  personali- 
ties of  bishops  on  their  decease.  These  effects,  if  not 
bequeathed  by  will,  went  to  the  bishop's  successor. 
The  King  consented  to  renounce  the  right  of  coining 
money  and  levying  tolls  within  the  territory  of  the 
bishops  without  their  consent ;  and  to  punish  all  for- 
geries of  their  coin.  The  vassals  and  serfs  of  the 
prelates  were  to  be  received  in  no  imperial  city  or  fief 
of  the  Empire  to  their  damage.  The  advocates,  un- 
der pretence  of  protection,  were  not  to  injure  the  estates 
of  the  Church :  no  one  was  to  occupy  by  force  an  ec- 
clesiastical fief.  He  who  did  not  submit  within  six 
weeks  to  the  authority  of  the  Church  fell  under  the 
ban  of  the  Empire,  and  could  neither  act  as  judge, 
plaintiff,  nor  witness  in  any  court.  The  Bishops,  on 
their  side,  promised  to  prosecute  and  to  punish  all  who 
opposed  the  will  of  the  King.  The  King  further  stipu- 
lated that  no  one  might  erect  castles  or  fortresses  in  the 
lands  of  a  spiritual  prince.  No  officer  of  the  King  had 
jurisdiction,  could  coin  money,  or  levy  tolls  in  the 
episcopal  cities,  except  eight  days  before  and  eight  days 
after  a  diet  to  be  held  in  such  city.  Only  when  the 
King  was  actually  within  the  city  was  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  prince  suspended,  and  only  so  long  as  he  should 
remain. 

The  election  of  Henry  to  the  throne  of  Germany 
without  the  consent  of  the  Pope  struck  Rome  with 
dismay.  Frederick  made  haste  to  allay,  if  possible, 
the  jealous  apprehension.  He  declared  that  it  was  the 
spontaneous  act  of  the  Princes  of  the  Empire  during 
his  absence,  without  his  instigation.  They  had  seen, 
from  a  quarrel  which  had  broken  out  between  the 
Archbishop  of  Mentz  and  the  Landgrave  of  Thuringia, 


294  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X 

the  absolute  necessity  of  a  King  to  maintain  in  Fred- 
erick's absence  the  peace  of  the  Empire.  He  had 
Nurenber"  even  delayed  his  own  consent.  The  act  of 
July  13.  election  would  be  laid  before  the  Pope  with 
the  seals  of  all  who  had  been  concerned  in  the  affair.1 
He  declared  that  this  election  was  by  no  means  de- 
signed to  perpetuate  the  union  of  the  kingdom  of  Naples 
with  the  Empire.  "  Even  if  the  Church  had  no  right 
over  the  kingdom  of  Apulia  and  Sicily,  I  would  freely 
grant  that  kingdom  to  the  Pope  rather  than  attach  it 
to  the  Empire,  should  I  die  without  lawful  heirs." 2 
He  significantly  adds,  that  it  is  constantly  suggested  to 
him  that  the  love  professed  to  him  by  the  Church  is 
rot  sincere  and  will  not  be  lasting,  but  he  had  con- 
stantly refused  to  entertain  such  ungrounded  and  dis- 
honorable suspicions. 

The  Abbot  of  Fulda  had,  in  the  mean  time,  been 
despatched  to  Rome  to  demand  the  coronation  of  Fred- 
erick as  Emperor.  This  embassage  had  been  usual- 
ly the  office  of  one  of  the  great  prelates  of  Germany, 
but  the  mild  Honorius  took  no  offence,  or  disguised 
it.  At  the  end  of  August  Frederick  descended  the 
Alps  into  the  plain  of  Lombardy.  Eight  years  before, 
a  boy  of  eighteen,  he  had  crossed  those  Alps,  almost 
alone,  on  his  desperate  adventure  of  wresting  the.  crown 
of  his  fathers  from  the  brow  of  Otho.  He  came  back, 
in  the  prime  of  life,  one  of  the  mightiest  kings  who 
had  ever  occupied  that  throne ;  stronger  in  the  attach- 
ment of  all  orders,  perhaps,  than  any  former  Swabian 
king ;  having  secured,  it  might  seem,  in  his  house,  at 

1  Regest,  quoted  by  Von  Raumer,  p.  335.     Pertz,  Monumenta. 

2  "  Prius  ipso  regno  Romanam  Ecclesiam  quara  Imperium  dotaremus 
-  Ibid. 


Chap.  I.  FREDERICK  IN  ITALY.  295 

least  the  Empire,  if  not  the  Empire  with  all  its  rights 
in  Italy  ;  and  with  the  kingdom  of  Sicily,  instead  of  a 
hostile  power  at  the  command  of  the  Popes,  his  own, 
if  not  in  possession,  in  attachment.  During  these  eight 
years  Italy  had  been  one  great  feud  of  city  with  city, 
of  the  cities  within  themselves.  Milan,  released  from 
fears  of  the  Emperor,  had  now  begun  a  quarrel  with 
the  Church.  The  Podesta  expelled  the  Archbishop  ; 
Parma  and  many  other  cities  had  followed  this  exam- 
ple ;  the  bishops  were  driven  out,  their  palaces  de- 
stroyed, their  property  plundered  :  the  great  ability  of 
the  Cardinal  Ugolino,  afterwards  Gregory  IX.,  had 
restored  something  like  order,  but  the  fire  was  still 
smouldering:  in  its'  ashes. 

Frederick  passed  on  without  involving  himself  in 
these  implacable  quarrels :  it  was  time  to  as-  Fredericic 
sert  the  Imperial  rights  when  invested  in  the  AugTnj 
Imperial  crown.  He  had  crossed  the  Bren-  122°" 
ner,  and  moving  by  Verona  and  Mantua,  so  avoided 
Milan.  The  absence  of  the  Archbishop  from  Milan 
was  a  full  excuse  for  his  postponing  his  coronation  with 
the  iron  crown  of  Lombardy.  He  granted  rights  and 
privileges  to  Venice,  Genoa,  Pisa ;  overawed  or  con- 
ciliated some  cities.  On  the  thirtieth  of  September  he 
was  in  Verona,  on  the  fourth  of  October  in  Bologna. 
His  Chancellor,  Conrad  of  Metz,  had  arranged  the 
terms  on  which  he  was  to  receive  the  Imperial  crown. 
Frederick  advanced  with  a  great  array  of  churchmen 
in  his  retinue  —  the  Archbishops  of  Mentz,  of  Raven- 
na, the  Patriarch  of  Aquileia,  the  Bishops  of  Metz, 
Passau,  Trent,  Brixen,  Augsburg,  Duke  Louis  of  Ba- 
varia, and  Henry  Count  Palatine.  Ambassadors  ap- 
peared from  almost  all  the  cities  of  Italy:  from  Apulia', 


296  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X 

from  the  Counts  of  Celano,  St.  Severino,  and  Aquila  : 
deputies  from  the  city  of  Naples.  The  people  of  Rome 
were  quiet  and  well  pleased.  The  only  untoward  inci- 
dent which  disturbed  the  peace  was  a  quarrel  about  a 
dog  between  the  Ambassadors  of  Florence  and  Pisa, 
which  led  to  a  bloody  war.  On  the  twenty-second  of 
November  Frederick  and  his  Queen  were  crowned  in 
St.  Peter's  amid  universal  acclamations.  Frederick 
disputed  not  the  covenanted  price  to  be  paid  for  the 
Imperial  crown.  He  received  the  Cross  once  more 
from  the  hand  of  Cardinal  Ugolino.  He  swore  that 
part  of  his  forces  should  set  forth  for  the  Holy  Land  in 
the  March  of  the  following  year,  himself  in  August. 
He  released  his  vassals  from  their  fealty  in  all  the  ter- 
ritories of  the  Countess  Matilda,  and  made  over  the 
appointment  of  all  the  podestas  to  the  Pope ;  some  who 
refused  to  submit  were  placed  by  the  Chancellor  Con- 
rad under  the  ban  of  the  Empire.  He  put  the  Pope 
in  possession  of  the  whole  region  from  Radicofani  to 
Ceperano,  with  the  March  of  Ancona  and  the  Duchy 
of  Spoleto. 

His  liberality  was  not  limited  to  these  grants.  Two 
Laws  in  laws  concerning  the  immunities  of  ecclesias- 
ecclesiastics,  tics,  and  the  suppression  or  heretics,  might 
satisfy  the  severest  churchman.  The  first  absolutely 
annulled  all  laws  or  usages  of  cities,  communities, 
or  ruling  powers  which  might  be  or  were  employed 
against  the  liberties  of  the  churches  or  of  spiritual 
persons,  or  against  the  laws  of  the  Church  and  of  the 
Empire.  Outlawry  and  heavy  fines  were  enacted  not 
only  against  those  who  enforced,  but  who  counselled  or 
aided  in  the  enforcement  of  such  usages :  the  offenders 
forfeited,  if  contumacious  for  a  whole  year,  all  their 


Chap.  I.  LAWS  AGAINST  HERETICS.  297 

goods.1  No  tax  or  burden  could  be  set  upon  ecclesi- 
astics, churches,  or  spiritual  foundations.  Whoever 
arraigned  a  spiritual  person  before  a  civil  tribunal  for- 
feited his  right  to  implead ;  the  tribunal  which  admit- 
ted such  arraignment  lost  its  jurisdiction  ;  the  judge 
who  refused  justice  three  times  to  a  spiritual  person 
n  any  matter  forfeited  his  judicial  authority. 

The  law  against  heretics  vied  in  sternness  with  that  of 
Innocent  III.,  confirmed  by  Otho  IV.2  All  Laws 
Cathari,  Paterines,  Leonists,  Speronists,  Ar-  heretics. 
noldists,  and  dissidents  of  all  other  descriptions,  were 
incapable  of  holding  places  of  honor,  and  under  ban. 
Their  goods  were  confiscated,  and  not  restored  to  their 
children ;  "for  outrages  against  the  Lord  of  Heaven 
were  more  heinous  than  against  a  temporal  lord." 
Whoever,  suspected  of  heresy,  did  not  clear  himself 
after  a  year's  trial  was  to  be  treated  as  a  heretic.  Every 
magistrate  on  entering  upon  office  must  himself  take 
an  oath  of  orthodoxy,  and  swear  to  punish  all  whom 
the  Church  might  denounce  as  heretics.  If  any  tem- 
poral lord  did  not  rid  his  lands  of  heretics,  the  true  be- 
lievers might  take  the  business  into  their  own  hands, 
and  seize  the  goods  of  the  delinquent,  provided  that  the 
rights  of  an  innocent  lord  were  not  thereby  impeached. 
All  who  concealed,  aided,  protected  heretics  were  under 
ban  and  interdict ;  if  they  did  not  make  satisfaction 
within  two  years,  under  outlawry ;  they  could  hold  nc 
office,  nor  inherit,  nor  enter  any  plea,  nor  bear  testi- 
mony. 

Three  other  laws,  based  on  the  eternal  principles  of 

1  Constit.  Frederick  II.  in  Corp.  Jur.  tit.  i.     Bullar.  Roman,  i.  63. 

2  This  law  was  renewed  and  made  more  severe,  1224.   Raynald.  sub  ann 
1231. 


298  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Boor  X. 

morality,  accompanied  these  acts  of  ecclesiastical  legis- 
lation, or  of  temporal  legislation  in  the  spirit  of  the. 
Church.  One  prohibited  the  plundering  of  wrecks, 
other  laws,  excepting  the  ships  of  pirates  and  infidels. 
Another  protected  pilgrims  ;  they  were  to  be  re- 
ceived with  kindness  ;  if  they  died,  their  property  was 
to  be  restored  to  their  rightful  heirs.  The  third  pro- 
tected the  persons  and  labors  of  the  cultivators  of  the 
soil. 

The  Pope  and  the  Emperor,  notwithstanding  some 
trifling  differences,  parted  in  perfect  amity.  "  Never," 
writes  Honorius,  u  did  Pope  love  Emperor  as  he  loved 
his  son  Frederick."  Each  had  obtained  some  great 
objects  :  the  Pope  the  peaceable  surrender  of  the  Ma- 
thildine  territories,  and  the  solemn  oath  that  Frederick 
would  speedily  set  forth  on  the  Crusade.  The  Em- 
peror retired  in  peace  and  joy  to  the  beloved  land  of 
his  youth.  The  perilous  question  of  his  right  to  the 
kingdom  of  Sicily  had  been  intentionally  or  happily 
sept.  8.  avoided  ;  he  had  been  recognized  by  the  Pope 
as  Emperor  and  King  of  Sicily.  There  were  still 
brooding  causes  of  mutual  suspicion  and  dissatisfaction. 
Frederick  pursued  with  vigor  his  determination  of  re- 
pressing the  turbulent  nobles  of  Apulia ;  the  castles  of 
the  partisans  of  Otho  were  seized  ;  they  fled,  and,  he 
bitterly  complained,  were  received  with  more  than  hos- 
pitality in  the  Papal  dominions.  He  spared  not  the 
inimical  bishops  ;  they  were  driven  from  their  sees  ; 
some  imprisoned.  The  Pope  loudly  protested  against 
this  audacious  violation  of  the  immunities  of  Church- 
men. Frederick  refused  them  entrance  into  the  king- 
dom ;  he  had  rather  forfeit  his  crown  than  the  inalien- 
able   right   of  the  sovereign,   of  which  he  had    been 


Chap.  I.  LOSS  OF  DAMIETTA.  299 

defrauded  by  Innocent  III.,  of  visiting  treason  on  all 
his  subjects.1 

Then  in  the  next  year  came  the  fatal  news  from  the 
East  —  the  capture,  the  disasters  which  fol- a.d.  1221. 
lowed  the  capture  of  Damietta.  The  Pope  Damietta. 
and  the  Emperor  expressed  their  common  grief:  the 
Pope  was  bowed  with  dismay  and  sorrow;2  the  tidings 
pierced  as  a  sword  to  the  heart  of  Frederick.3  Fred- 
erick had  sent  forty  triremes,  under  the  Bishop  of 
Catania  and  the  Count  of  Malta  ;  they  had  arrived 
too  late.  But  this  dire  reverse  showed  that  nothing 
less  than  an  overwhelming  force  could  restore  the  Chris- 
tian cause  in  the  East ;  and  in  those  days  of  colder 
religious  zeal,  even  the  Emperor  and  King  of  Sicily 
could  not  at  once  summon  such  overwhelming  force. 
Frederick  was  fully  occupied  in  the  Sicilian  dominions. 
During  his  minority,  and  during  his  absence,  the  pow- 
erful Germans,  Normans,  Italians,  even  Churchmen, 
had  usurped  fiefs,  castles,  cities : 4  he  had  to  resume  by 
force  rights  unlawfully  obtained,  to  dispossess  men  whose 
only  title  had  been  open  or  secret  leanings  to  the  Em- 
peror Otho  ;  to  punish  arbitrary  oppression  of  the  peo- 
ple ;  to  destroy  strong  castles  built  without  license  ;  to 
settle  ancient  feuds  and  suppress  private  wars :  it  needed 
all  his  power,  his  popularity,  his  firmness,  to  avert  in- 
surrection during  these  vigorous  but  necessary  meas- 
ures. Two  great  assizes  held  at. Capua  and  Dec-  ^20  to 
Messina  showed  the  confusion  in  the  affairs  of  May' 1221' 
both  kingdoms.     But  from  such  nobles  he  could  expect 

1  "  Che  prima  si  lascierrebbe  torre  la  corona,  che  derogar  in  un  punto  ia 
questi  suoi  diritti."  —  Giannone,  1.  xvi.  c.  i. 

2  Letter  of  Pope  Honorius,  Nov.  1221. 

8  Epist.  Honor,  apud  Rnynald.,  Aug.  10,  1221. 

4  Letter  of  Frederick  to  the  Pope  from  Trani,  March  3,  1221. 


300  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

no  ready  obedience  to  assemble  around  his  banner  for 
an  expedition  to  the  Holy  Land.  Instead  of  a  great 
fleet,  suddenly  raised,  as  by  the  wand  of  an  enchanter 
(this  the  Pope  seemed  to  expect),  and  a  powerful  army, 
Meeting  at  m  April  in  the  year  1222  the  Pope  and  the 
Veroh-  Emperor  met  at  Veroli  to  deliberate  on  the 

Crusade.  They  agreed  to  proclaim  a  great  assembly 
at  Verona  in  the  November  of  that  year,  at  which  the 
Pope  and  the  Emperor  were  to  be  present.  All  princes, 
prelates,  knights,  and  vassals  were  to  be  summoned  to 
unite  in  one  irresistible  effort  for  the  relief  of  the  East. 
The  assembly  at  Verona  did  not  take  place ;  the  illness 
of  the  Pope,  the  occupations  of  the  Emperor,  were 
alleged  as  excuses  for  the  further  delay.  A  second 
AtFerentmo.  ^me  *ne  P°Pe  and  the  Emperor  met  at  Fe- 
March,  1223.  rentino ;  with  them  King  John  of  Jerusa- 
lem, the  Patriarch,  the  Grand  Master  of  the  Knights 
Templars.  Frederick  explained  the  difficulties  which 
had  impeded  his  movements,  first  in  Germany,  now  in 
Sicily.  To  the  opposition  of  his  turbulent  barons  was 
now  added  the  danger  of  an  insurrection  of  the  Saracens 
in  Sicily.  Frederick  himself  was  engaged  in  a  short 
but  obstinate  war.1  Even  the  King  of  Jerusalem  dep- 
recated the  despatch  of  an  insufficient  force.  Two  full 
years  were  to  be  employed,  by  deliberate  agreement, 

1  The  two  following  passages  show  that  this  was  no  feigned  excuse :  — 
"  Imperator  in  Sicilia  de  Mirabello  triumphavit,  et  de  ipso  et  suis  fecit  quod 
eorum  meruerat  exigentia  commissorum." —  Richd.  San  Germ.  "  Dominus 
Fredericus  erat  cum  magno  exercitu  super  Saracenos  Jacis,  et  cepit  Bena- 
vith  cum  filiis  suis,  et  suspendit  apud  Panornum."  — Anon.  Sic.  He  after- 
wards transplanted  many  of  them  to  Lucera.  So  far  was  Frederick  as  yet 
from  any  suspicious  dealings  with  the  Saracens.  The  Parliament  at  Mes- 
sina had  passed  persecuting  laws  against  the  Jews.  A  law  of  the  same 
year  protected  the  churches  and  the  clergy  from  the  burdens  laid  upon 
them  by  the  nobles. 


Chap.  I.  ZEAL  FOR  THE  CRUSADE  DORMANT.  301 

m  awakening  the  dormant  zeal  of  Christendom  j  but 
Frederick,  now  a  widower,  bound  himself,  it  might 
seem,  in  the  inextricable  fetters  of  his  own  personal 
interest  and  ambition,  by  engaging  to  marry  Iolante, 
the  beautiful  daughter  of  Kino;  John. 

Two  years  passed  away ;  King  John  of  Jerusa- 
lem travelled  over  Western  Christendom,  to  England, 
France,  Germany,  to  represent  in  all  lands  the  state  of 
extreme  peril  and  distress  to  which  his  kingdom  was 
reduced.  Everywhere  he  met  with  the  most  courteous 
and  royal  reception  ;  but  the  days  of  Peter  the  Hermit 
and  St.  Bernard  were  gone  by.  France,  England,  Ger- 
many, Spain,  were  involved  in  their  own  affairs  ;  a  few 
took  the  Cross,  and  offered  sums  of  money  to  no  great 
amount ;  and  this  was  all  which  was  done  by  the  royal 
preacher  of  the  Crusade.  Tuscany  and  Lombardy 
were  almost  as  indifferent  to  the  expostulations  of  Car- 
dinal Ugolino,  who  had  for  some  years  received  full 
power  from  the  Emperor  to  awaken,  if  possible,  the 
sluggish  ardor  of  those  provinces.  King  John  and  the 
Patriarch,  after  visiting  Apulia,  reported  to  the  Pope 
the  absolute  impossibility  of  raising  any  powerful  ar- 
mament by  the  time  appointed  in  the  treaty  of  Feren- 
tino. 

Honorius  was  compelled  to  submit ;  at  St.  Germane 
was  framed  a  new  agreement,  by  two  Cardi-  At  San 
nals  commissioned  by  the  Pope,  which  de-  July,  1225. 
ferred  for  two  years  longer  (till  August,  1227)  the 
final  departure  of  the  Crusade.1  Frederick  permitted 
himself  to  be  bound  by  stringent  articles.  In  that 
month  of  that  year  he  would  proceed  on  the  Crusade, 
and  maintain  one  thousand  knights  at  his  own  cost  for 

1  Ric.  San  Germ.,  sub  arm. 


302  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X.. 

two  years :  for  each  knight  who  was  deficient  he  was 
to  pay  the  penalty  of  fifty  marks,  to  be  at  the  disposal 
of  the  King,  the  Patriarch,  and  the  Master  of  the 
Knights  Templars,  for  the  benefit  of  the  Holy  Land. 
He  was  to  have  a  fleet  of  150  ships  to  transport  2000 
knights,  without  cost,  to  Palestine.  If  so  many  knights 
were  not  ready  to  embark,  the  money  saved  was  to  be 
devoted  to  those  pious  interests.  He  was  to  place  in 
the  hands  of  the  same  persons  100,000  ounces  of  gold 
at  four  several  periods,  to  be  forfeited  for  the  same  uses, 
if  in  two  years  he  did  not  embark  on  the  Crusade.  His 
successors  were  bound  to  fulfil  these  covenants  in  case 
of  his  death.  If  he  failed  to  perforin  any  one  of  these 
covenants  ;  if  at  the  appointed  time  he  did  not  embark 
for  the  Holy  Land  ;  if  he  did  not  maintain  the  stip- 
ulated number  of  knights  ;  if  he  did  not  pay  the  stip- 
ulated sums  of  money ;  he  fell  at  once  under  the  inter- 
dict of  the  Church :  if  he  left  unfulfilled  any  other 
point,  the  Church,  by  his  own  free  admission,  had  the 
power  to  pronounce  the  interdict. 

Personal  ambition,  as  well  as  religious  zeal,  or  the 
policy  of  keeping  on  good  terms  with  the  spiritual 
power,  might  seem  to  mingle  with  the  aspirations  of 
the  Emperor  Frederick  for  the  Holy  Land  ;  to  his  great 
Empire  he  would  add  the  dominions  of  the  East.  In 
Frederick  mar- the  November  of  the  same  year,  after  the  sig 

ries  Iolante.  _      -.  •     "'a        rv  l  1 

a.d.  1225.  nature  of  the  treaty  in  ot.  (jrermano,  he  eel 
ebrated  his  marriage  with  Iolante,  daughter  of  the 
King  of  Jerusalem.  No  sooner  had  he  done  this,  than 
he  assumed  to  himself  the  title  of  King  of  Jerusalem  : 
he  caused  a  new  great  seal  to  be  made,  in  which  he 
©tyled  himself  Emperor,  King  of  Jerusalem  and  Sicily. 
John  of  Jerusalem   was   King,   he  asserted,  only  by 


Chap.  1.  FREDERICK  MARRIES  IOLANTE.  303 

right  of  his  wife ;  on  her  death,  the  crown  descended 
to  her  daughter  ;  as  the  husband  of  Iolante  he  was  the 
lawful  Sovereign.1  King  John,  by  temperament  a 
wrathful  man,  burst  into  a  paroxysm  of  fury  ;  high 
words  ensued  ;  he  called  the  Emperor  the  son  of  a 
butcher ;  he  accused  him  of  neglecting  his  daughter, 
of  diverting  those  embraces  due  to  his  bride  to  one 
of  her  attendants.  He  retired  in  anger  to  Bologna. 
Frederick  had  other  causes  for  suspecting  the  enmity 
of  his  father-in-law.  He  was  the  brother  of  Walter 
of  Brienne ;  and  rumors  had  prevailed  that  he  in- 
tended to  claim  the  inheritance  of  his  brother's  wife, 
the  daughter  of  the  Norman  Tancred.  But  John 
filled  Italy  with  dark  stories  of  the  dissoluteness  of 
the  gallant  Frederick :  that  he  abstained  altogether 
from  the  bed  of  Iolante  is  refuted  by  the  fact  that 
two  years  after  she  bore  him  a  son,  which  Frederick 
acknowledged  as  his  own.  They  appeared  even  dur- 
ing that  year,  at  least  with  all  outward  signs  of  per- 
fect harmony. 

Nor  was  this  the  only  event  which  crossed  the 
designs  of  Frederick,  if  he  ever  seriously  determined 
to  fulfil  his  vow  (where  is  the  evidence,  but  that  of 
his  bitter  enemies,  that  he  had  not  so  determined?) 
Throughout  all  his  dominions,  instead  of  that  profound 
peace  and  established  order  which  might  enable  him,  at 
the  head  of  the  united  knighthood  of  the  Empire  and 
of  Italy,  to  break  with  irresistible  forces  upon  the  East; 
in  Germany  the  assassination   of  the  wise  and   good 

1  "  Desponsata  puella  Imperator  patrera  requisivit;  ut  regua  et  regalia 
jura  resignet —  stupefactus  ille  obedit." — Jord.  apud  Raynald.  Yet  if 
we  are  to  believe  tbe  Chronicle  of  Tours,  he  just  at  that  time  threw  Iolante 
into  prison,  and  ravished  her  cousin,  the  daughter  of  Walter  of  Brienne 
Was  this  one  of  the  tales  told  bv  the  King  of  Jerusalem  ? 


304  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

Engelbert,  Archbishop  of  Cologne,1  to  whom  Frederick 
had  intrusted  the  tutelage  of  his  son  Henry,  and  the 
administration  of  the  Empire,  threatened  the  peace  of 
the  realm.  In  Lombardy,  Guelf  and  Ghibelline  warred, 
intrigued  ;  princes  against  princes,  Bonifazio  of  Mon- 
ferrat  and  the  house  of  Este  against  the  Salinguerra, 
and  that  cruel  race  of  which  Eccelin  di  Romano  was 
state  of  tne  nead.  Venice  and  Genoa,  Genoa  and 
itaiy.  p-ga^  Genoa  an(j  Milan,  Asti  and  Alexandria, 

Ravenna  and  Ferrara,  Mantua  and  Cremona,  even 
Rome  and  Viterbo,  were  now  involved  in  fierce  hostil- 
ity, or  pausing  to  take  advantage  each  of  the  other; 
and  each  city  had  usually  a  friendly  faction  within  the 
walls  of  its  rival.  Frederick,  who  held  the  lofty  Swa- 
bian  notion  as  to  the  prerogative  of  the  Emperor,  had 
determined  with  a  high  hand  to  assert  the  Imperial 
rights.  He  hoped,  with  his  Ghibelline  allies,  to  become 
again  the  Sovereign  of  the  north  of  Italy.  He  was 
prepared  to  march  at  the  head  of  his  Southern  forces ; 
a  Diet  had  been  summoned  at  Verona.  Milan  ao;ain 
set  herself  at  the  head  of  a  new  Lombard  League.  In 
Milan  the  internal  strife  between  the  nobles  and  the 
people,  between  the  Archbishop  and  the  Podesta,  had 
been  allayed  by  the  prudent  intervention  of  the  Pope, 
to  whom  the  peace  of  Milan  was  of  infinite  importance, 
that  the  republic  might  put  forth  her  whole  strength 
as  head  of  the  Lombard  League.2  Milan  was  joined 
by  Bologna,  Piacenza-,  Verona,  Brescia,  Faenza,  Man- 

1  Godfred.  Monach.  apud  Boehmer  Fontes,  Nov.  7,  1225. 

2  The  annual  income  of  the  Archhishop  of  Milan,  according  to  Giulini 
was  80,000  golden  florins  (Giulini,  Memorie,  1.  xlviii.)-  This  Giulini  esti- 
mates at,  in  the  13th  century,  nearly  10  millions  of  lire  Milanese.  Cher- 
rier  reckons  this  sum  at  more  than  74  millions  of  francs.  —  Cherrier,  ii.  p 
299. 


Cn.vp.I.  STATE  OF  ITALY.  305 

tua,  Vercelli,  Lodi,  Bergamo,  Turin,  Alessandria, 
Vicenza,  Padua,  Treviso.1  The  mediation  of  Ho- 
norius  averted  the  threatening  hostilities.  Yet  the 
Imperialists  accuse  Honorius  as  the  secret  favorer  of 
the  League.2 

With  Honorius  himself  a  rupture  seemed  to  be  im- 
minent. The  Emperor,  even  before  the  treaty  of  St. 
Germano,  had  done  the  Pope  the  service  of  maintain- 
ing him  against  his  hostile  subjects,  compelling  the 
Capitanata  and  the  Maremma  to  return  to  their  alle- 
giance, coercing  the  populace  of  Rome,  who  in  one  of 
their  usual  outbursts,  had  driven  the  Pontiff  from  the 
city.  The  deep  murmurs  of  a  coming  storm  might  be 
heard  by  the  sagacious  ear.  Frederick,  in  his  deter- 
mination to  reduce  his  Apulian  kingdom  to  subjection, 
had  still  treated  the  ecclesiastical  fiefs  as  he  did  the 
civil ;  he  retained  the  temporalities  in  his  possession 
during  vacancies,  so  that  five  of  the  largest  bishoprics, 
Capua,  Aversa,  Brundusium,  Salerno,  and  Cosensa, 
were  without  bishops.  Honorius,  soon  after  the  treaty 
of  St.  Germano,  wrote  to  inform  the  Emperor  that  for 
the  good  of  his  soul  and  the  souls  of  his  subjects,  he 
had  appointed  five  learned  and  worthy  Prelates  to 
these  sees,  natives  of  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  and  who 
could  not,  therefore,  but  be  acceptable  to  the  King. 
Frederick,  indignant  at  this  compulsory  nomination, 
without,  as  was  usual,  even  courteous  consultation  of 
the  Sovereign,  refused  to  receive  the  Bishops,  and  even 
repelled  the  Legates  of  the  Pope  from  his  court.     He 

1  Compare  the  Chronicon  Placentinum,  particularly  the  strange  poem,  p. 
69. 

2  "  Cujus  suggestione  multfle  civitates  contra  imperatorem  conjuraverant 
facientes  collegium."  —  God.  Monach.  p.  395.  Compare  Chronicon  Placen- 
tinum, p.  75. 

vol.  v.  20 


qQtj  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

summoned,  it  might  seem  in  reprisal,  the  inhabitants 
of  Spoleto  to  his  banner,  to  accompany  him  in  his 
expedition  to  Lombardy.  The  Spoletines  averred 
that,  by  the  late  treaty,  which  the  Emperor  was  thus 
wantonly  violating,  they  owed  allegiance  only  to  the 
Pope. 

The  correspondence  betrayed  the  bitterness  and 
Letter  of  rising  wrath  on  both  sides.  Even  Honorius 
seemed  about  to  resume  the  haughty  tone  of 
his  predecessors.  "  If  our  writing  hath  filled  you 
with  astonishment,  how  much  more  were  we  amazed 
by  yours  !  You  boast  that  you  have  been  more  obedi- 
ent to  us  than  any  of  the  Kings  of  your  race.  Indeed, 
no  great  boast !  But  if  you  will  compare  yourself 
with  those  godly  and  generous  Sovereigns,  who  have 
in  word  and  deed  protected  the  Church,  you  will  not 
claim  superiority;  you  will  strive  to  approach  more 
nearly  to  those  great  examples.  You  charge  the 
Church  with  treachery,  that  while  she  pretended  to  be 
your  guardian,  she  let  loose  your  enemies  on  Apulia, 
and  raised  Otho  to  the  throne  of  your  fathers  :  you 
venture  on  these  accusations,  who  have  so  repeatedly 
declared  that  to  the  Church  you  owe  your  preserva- 
tion, your  life.  Providence  must  have  urged  you  to 
these  rash  charges  that  the  care  and  prudence  of  the 
Church  may  be  more  manifest  to  all  men."  To  the 
Church,  he  insinuates,  Frederick  mainly  owes  the 
June  5, 1226.  crown  of  Germany,  which  he  has  no  right  to 
call  hereditary  in  his  family.  u  In  all  our  negotiations 
with  you  we  have  respected  your  dignity  more  than 
our  own."  "  Whatever  irregularity  there  might  be 
in  the  appointment  of  the  bishops,  it  was  not  for  the 
King's  arbitrary  will   to  decide ;    and    Frederick    had 


Chap.  I.  ARBITRATION  OF  HONORIUS.  807 

been  guilty  of  far  more  flagrant  encroachments  on  the 
rights  of  bishops  and  of  the  lower  clergy."  Honorius 
exculpates  himself  from  having  received  the  rebellious 
subjects  of  the  King  in  the  territories  of  the  See. 
"  You  accuse  us  of  laying  heavy  '  burdens  on  you, 
which  we  touch  not  ourselves  with  the  tip  of  our  fin- 
ger. You  forget  your  voluntary  taking  up  the  Cross, 
our  prolongation  of  the  period,  our  free  gift  of  the 
tithes  of  all  ecclesiastical  property  ;  our  own  contri- 
butions in  money,  the  activity  of  our  brethren  in 
preaching  the  Holy  Vow.  In  fine,  the  hand  of  the 
Lord  is  not  weakened  in  its  power  to  humble  the 
haughty  :  be  not  dazzled  by  your  prosperity,  so  as  to 
throw  off  the  lowliness  which  you  professed  in  times 
of  trouble.  It  is  the  law  of  true  nobility  not  to  be 
elated  by  success,  as  not  to  be  cast  down  by  adver- 
sity." 

Honorius  no  doubt  felt  his  strength ;  the  Pope  at 
the  head  of  the  Guelfic  interest  in  Lombardy  Jul  n 
had  been  formidable  to  the  designs*  of  Fred-  1226* 
erick.  The  Emperor,  indeed,  had  assumed  a  tone  of 
command,  which  the  forces  which  he  could  array 
would  hardly  maintain.  At  Borgo  St.  Domnino  he 
had  placed  all  the  contumacious  cities  under  the  ban 
of  the  Empire  ;  the  Papal  Legate,  the  Bishop  of  Hil- 
desheim,  had  pronounced  the  interdict  of  the  Church, 
as  though  their  turbulent  proceedings  impeded  the 
Crusade.  Both  parties  submitted  to  the  mediation  of 
Honorius  ;  Frederick  condescended  to  receive  the  in- 
trusive bishops  whom  he  had  repelled :  he  declared 
himself  ready  to  accept  the  terms  most  consistent  with 
the  honor  of  God,  of  the  Church,  of  the  Empire,  and 
of  the  Holy  Land.      The  Pope,  whose  whole  soul  was 


808  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

absorbed  in  the  promotion  of  his  one  object,  the  Cru- 
Arbitration     sade,  pronounced  his  award,  in  which  he  treat- 

of  Honoriua.         1  _    .  ,  tit  i  • 

Nov.  17, 1226.  ed  tlie  Lmperor  and  his  rebellious  subjects  as 
hostile  powers  contending  on  equal  terms.  Each  party 
was  to  suspend  hostilities,  to  restore  the  prisoners  taken, 
to  forswear  their  animosities.  The  King  annulled  the 
act  of  the  Imperial  ban,  and  all  penalties  incurred  un- 
der it ;  the  Lombards  stipulated  to  maintain  at  their 
Jan.  1227.  own  cost  four  hundred  knights  for  the  ser- 
vice of  the  Holy  Land  during  two  years,  and  rigidly 
to  enforce  all  laws  against  heretics.  This  haughty 
arbitration,  almost  acknowledging  the  absolute  inde- 
pendence of  the  Republics,  was  the  last  act  of  Hono- 
Deathof  rms  HI- ;  ne  died  in  the  month  of  March,  a 
iiononus.  few  mont]ls  before  the  term  agreed  on  in  the 
treaty  of  St.  Germano  was  to  expire,  and  the  Em- 
peror, under  pain  of  excommunication,  to  embark  for 
the  Holy  Land.  The  Apostolic  tiara  devolved  on  the 
Cardinal  Ugolino,  of  the  noble  house  of  Conti,  which 
had  given  to  the  Holy  See  Innocent  III.  The  more 
lofty  churchmen  felt  some  disappointment  that  the  Pa- 
pacy was  declined  by  Cardinal  Conrad,  the  Count  of 
Urach,  the  declared  enemy  of  Frederick.  They  mis- 
trusted only  the  feebleness  of  age  in  the  Cardinal  Ugo- 
lino. A  Pope  eighty  years  old,  might  seem  no  fitting 
antagonist  for  a  Prince  like  Frederick,  as  yet  hardly 
in  the  full  maturity  of  his  years.  In  all  other  respects 
the  Cardinal  Ugolino,  in  learning,  in  ability,  in  activ- 
ity, in  the  assertion  of  the  loftiest  hierarchical  princi- 
ples, stood  high  above  the  whole  Conclave.  Frederick 
himself,  on  a  former  occasion,  had  borne  testimony  to 
the  distinguished  character  of  the  Cardinal  Ugolino. 
"  He  is   a  man    of  spotless    reputation*   «f  blameless 


Chap.  I.  CARDINAL  UGOLINO  POrE.  309 

morals,  renowned  for  piety,  erudition,  and  eloquence. 
He  shines  among;  the  rest  like  a  brilliant  star."  The 
Emperor's  political  astrology  had  not  calculated  the 
baleful  influence  of  that  disastrous  planet  on  his  for- 
tunes, his  fame,  and  his  peace. 


810  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X 


CHAPTER  II. 

HONORIUS  III.  AND  ENGLAND. 

The  relations  of  Honorius  III.  to  the  Empire  and 
the  Emperor  Frederick  II.  were  no  doubt  of  the  most 
profound  importance  to  Christendom  ;  yet  those  to 
England  must  find  their  place  in  an  English  history.1 
We  revert  to  the  commencement  of  his  Papacy.  The 
first  care,  indeed,  of  Pope  Honorius  was  for  the  vassal 
kingdom  of  England.  The  death  of  King  John,  three 
months  after  that  of  Innocent  III.,  totally  changed  the 
position  of  the  Pontiff.  On  his  accession  Honorius 
had  embraced  with  the  utmost  ardor  the  policy  of 
Innocent.  King  John,  the  vassal  of  the  Papacy,  must 
be  supported  against  his  rebellious  barons,  and  against 
the  invasion  of  Louis  of  France,  by  all  the  terrors  of 
the  Papal  power.  Louis  and  all  his  army,  the  Barons 
and  all  their  partisans,  were  under  the  most  rigorous 
form  of  excommunication.  But  on  John's  death,  the 
Pope  is  no  longer  the  haughty  and  unscrupulous  ally 

1  Mr.  Win.  Hamilton,  when  ambassador  at  Naples,  rendered  to  the  coun- 
try the  valuable  service  of  obtaining  transcripts  of  the  documents  in  tho 
Papal  archives  relating  to  Great  Britain  and  the  See  of  Rome.  These  doc- 
uments, through  the  active  zeal  of  M.  Panizzi,  are  now  deposited  in  the 
British  Museum.  They  commence,  after  one  or  two  unimportant  papers,  with 
the  first  year  of  Honorius.  They  are  not  very  accurately  copied;  many 
are  repetitions;  whether  they  are  full  and  complete  no  one  can  know. 
Many  have  been  already  printed  in  Rymer,  in  Raynaldus,  and  elsewhere. 
Pry nne  had  seen  some  of  the  originals,  some  which  do  not  appear,  in  the 
Tower.     I  cite  these  documents  as  MS.  B.  M. 


U'HAr.  II.  HONOPJUS  III.  AND  ENGLAND.  311 

and  protector  of  an  odious,  feeble,  and  irreligious  ty- 
rant ;  one  whose  lusts  had  wounded  the  high  chival- 
rous honor  of  many  of  the  noblest  families  ;  whose 
perfidy,  backed  by  the  absolving  power  of  the  Pope, 
had  broken  the  most  solemn  engagements,  and  revoked 
the  great  Charter  to  which  he  had  submitted  at  Run- 
nymede  ;  who  was  ravaging  the  whole  realm  with  wild 
foreign  hordes,  Brabanters,  Poitevins,  freebooters  of  all 
countries,  and  had  driven  the  nobles  of  England  into 
an  unnatural  alliance  with  Louis  of  France,  and  a 
transferrence  of  the  throne  to  a  foreign  conqueror. 
The  Pope  was  no  longer  the  steadfast  enemy  of  the 
liberties  of  the  realm.  He  assumed  the  lofty  ground 
of  guardian,  as  liege  lord,  of  the  young  heir  to  the 
throne  (Henry  III.  was  but  nine  years  old),  the  pro- 
tector of  the  blameless  orphan  whom  a  rebellious  baron- 
age and  an  alien  usurper  were  endeavoring  to  despoil 
of  his  ancestral  crown.  Honorius  throughout  speaks 
of  the  young  Henry  as  the  vassal  of  the  Church  of 
Rome  :  of  himself  as  the  suzerain  of  England.1  Eng- 
lish  loyalty  and  English  independence  hardly  needed 
the  Papal  fulminarions  to  induce  them  to  abandon  the 
cause  into  which  they  had  plunged  in  their  despair,2 
the  cause  of  a  foreign  prince,  whose  accession  to  the 
throne  of  England  would  have  reduced  the  realm  to  a 


1  John  he  describes  as  "  carissimum  in  Christo  filium  nostrum  J.,  Angline 
regem  illustrem  crucesiguatum  et  vassalluiri  nostrum."  —  p.  15.  The  king 
dom  of  England  ''  specialis  juris  apost.  sedis  existit."  — p.  27. 

2  Honorius  admits  that  the  Barons  might  have  had  some  cause  for  their 
wickedness  (malitia)  in  resisting  under  John  what  they  called  the  intolera- 
ble yoke  of  servitude.  Now  that  John  is  dead,  they  have  no  excuse  if  they 
do  not  return  to  their  allegiance.  He  gives  power  to  the  Legates,  to  tlie 
Bishops  of  Winchester,  Worcester,  Exeter,  the  Archbishops  of  Dublin  and 
Bordeaux  (the  Primate  was  still  in  Rome),  to  absolve  the  Barons  from  their 
oaths  to  Prince  Louis. 


312  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

province  of  France.  Already  their  fidelity  to  Louis 
had  been  shaken  by  rumors,  or  more  than  rumors,  that 
the  ambitious  and  unscrupulous  Louis  intended,  so 
soon  as  he  had  obtained  the  crown,  to  rid  himself  by 
banishment  and  by  disinheritance  of  his  dangerous 
partisans  ;  to  expel  the  barons  from  the  realm.1  The 
desertion  of  the  nobles,  the  decisive  battle  of  Lincoln, 
seated  Henry  III.  on  the  throne  of  the  Plantagenets. 
The  Pope  had  only  to  reward  with  his  praises,  immu- 
nities, grants,  and  privileges  the  few  nobles  and  prelates 
faithful  to  the  cause  of  John  and  of  his  son,  W.  Mare- 
schal  Earl  of  Pembroke,  the  Earl  of  Arundel,  Savary 
de  Mauleon,  Hubert  de  Burgh  the  Justiciary,  the 
Chancellor  R.  de  Marisco,  who  became  Bishop  of 
Durham.2  He  had  tardily,  sometimes  ungraciously, 
to  relieve  from  the  terrible  penalties  of  excommuni- 
cation the  partisans  of  Louis  ; 3  to  persuade  or  to  force 
the  King  of  France  to  withdraw  all  support  from  the 
cause  of  his  son,  who  still  continued  either  in  open  hos- 
tility or  in  secret  aggression  on  the  continental  domin- 
ions of  Henry  III. ;  and  to  maintain  his  lofty  position 
as  Lieo-e  Lord  and  Protector  of  the  Kino:  and  of  the 
realm  of  England. 

1  Shakspeare  has  given  this  plot,  with  its  groundwork  in  the  confession 
of  the  Count  of  Melun.  —  King  John,  Act  v.  Sc.  4. 

2  There  are  several  letters  (MS.  B.  M.)  to  these  English  nobles;  one  to 
Robert  de  Marisco  empowered  him  to  hold  the  chancellorship  with  the 
bishopric  of  Durham,  and  excused  him  from  the  fulfilment  of  his  vow  to 
take  the  cross  in  the  Holy  Land,  his  services  being  wanted  in  England. 
On  R.  de  Marisco  compare  Collier,  i.  p.  430. 

3  There  are  some  curious  instances  (MS.  B.  M.)  of  the  terror  of  the  ex- 
communications. One  of  the  subjects  of  France,  in  fear  of  his  life  from  a 
fall  from  his  horse,  implores  absolution  for  having  followed  his  sovereign's 
son  to  the  English  war:  the  Pope  would  hardly  excuse  him  from  a  journey 
to  Rome.  The  Chancellor  of  the  King  of  Scotland  is  excommunicate  roi 
obeying  his  King.     So  too  the  Archbishop  of  Glasgow. 


Chap.  II.         THE  LEGATE  GUALO.  313 

The  Legate  Gualo,  the  Cardinal  of  St.  Marcellus, 
had  conducted  this  signal  revolution  with  consummate 
address  and  moderation.1  From  the  coronation  of 
Henry  III.  at  Gloucester  by  his  hands,  the  Cardinal 
took  the  lead  in  all  public  affairs  :  he  was  virtual  if  not 
acknowledged  Protector  of  the  infant  King.  Before 
the  battle  of  Lincoln  the  Legate  harangued  the  royal 
army,  lavished  his  absolutions,  his  promises  of  eternal 
reward ;  under  the  blessing  of  God,  bestowed  by  him, 
the  army  advanced  to  victory.2  In  the  settlement  of 
the  kingdom,  in  the  reconciliation  of  the  nobles,  he  was 
mild  if  lofty,  judicious  if  dictatorial.  ■.  England  might 
have  owed  a  deep  debt  of  gratitude  to  the  Pope  and  to 
the  Legate,  if  Gualo's  fame  had  not  been  tarnished  by 
his  inordinate  rapacity.3  To  the  nobles  he  was  liberal 
of  his  free  absolution  ;  the  clergy  must  pay  the  penalty 
of  their  rebellion,  and  pay  that  penalty  in  forfeiture,  or 
the  redemption  of  forfeiture  by  enormous  fines  to  the 
Pope  and  to  his  Legate.  Inquisitors  were  sent  through 
the  whole  realm  to  investigate  the  conduct  of  the 
clergy.4  The  lower  ecclesiastics,  even  canons,  under 
the   slightest   suspicion  of  the  rebellion,  were   dispos- 

1  Letter  to  the  Abbots  of  Citeaux  and  Clairvaux  (MS.  B.  M.  i.  p.  43). 
They  are  to  use  all  mild  means  of  persuasion,  to  threaten  stronger  meas- 
ures. 

a  Wendover,  p.  19. 

8  Compare  the  verses  of  Giles  de  Corbeil,  p.  69,  on  the  avarice  of  Gualo 
n  France. 

4  Wendover,  p.  33.  The  inquisitors  sent  some  "  suspensos  ad  legatum 
et  ab  omni  beneficio  spoliatos,  qui  illorum  beneficia  suis  clericis  abundantei 
distribuit  atque  de  damnis  aliorum  suos  omnes  divites  fecit."  Wendovei 
gives  the  case  of  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  whose  example  was  followed  by 
others,  who  "  sumptibus  nimis  damnosis  gratiam  sibi  reconciliabant  legati. 
Clericorum  vero  et  canonicorum  ssecularium  ubique  haustu  tarn  immode- 
rato  loculos  evacuavit,"  &c.  See  also  Math.  Westm.  arm.  1218,  who  de- 
scribes Gualo  returning  to  Rome,  "  clitellis  auro  et  argento  refertis,"  having 
disposed  ad  libitum  of  the  revenues  (redditus)  of  England. 


314  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X 

sessed  of  their  benefices  to  make  room  for  foreign 
priests ;  the  only  way  to  elude  degradation  was  by 
purchasing  the  favor  of  the  Legate  at  a  vast  price. 
The  Bishop  of  Lincoln  for  his  restoration  to  his  see 
paid  1000  marks  to  the  Pope,  100  to  the  Legate.1 

Throughout  the  long  reign  of  Henry  III.  England 
was  held  by  successive  Popes  as  a  province  of  the  Pa- 
pal territory.  The  Legate,  like  a  praetor  or  proconsul 
of  old,  held  or  affected  to  hold  an  undefined  supremacy: 
during  the  Barons'  wars  the  Pope  with  a  kind  of  feudal 
as  well  as  ecclesiastical  authority  condemned  the  rebels, 
not  only  against  their  Lord,  but  against  the  vassal  of 
the  Holy  See.  England  was  the  great  tributary  prov- 
ince, in  which  Papal  avarice  levied  the  most  enormous 
sums,  and  drained  the  wealth  of  the  country  by  direct 
or  indirect  taxation.  There  were  four  distinct  sources 
of  Papal  revenue  from  the  realm  of  England. 

I.  The  ancient  payment  of   Peter's  Pence ; 2    this 

1  Pope  Honorius  was  not  well  informed  on  the  affairs  of  England.  When 
Henry  was  counselled  to  take  up  arms  to  reduce  the  castles  held  by  the 
ruffian  Fulk  de  Breaute  in  defiance  of  the  King  and  the  peace  of  the  realm, 
the  Primate  had  supported  the  King  and  the  nobles  in  this  act  of  necessary 
justice  and  order  by  ecclesiastical  censui-es.  The  Pope  wrote  a  furious  let- 
ter of  rebuke  to  Langton  (MS.  B.  M.  ix.  Aug.  1224),  espousing  the  cause  of 
Fulk,  who  had  through  his  wealth  influence  at  Rome.  Still  later  Gregory 
IX.  reproves  and  revokes  certain  royal  grants  to  Bishops  and  Barons,  as 
"  in  grave  prayudicium  ecclesiae  Romance  ad  quam  Regnum  Anglise  perti- 
nere  dinoscitur,  et  enormem  laesionem  ejusdem  regni." — MS.  B.  M.  ad 
regem,  vol.  xiv.  p.  77. 

2  The  account  of  Cencius,  the  Pope's  chamberlain,  of  the  assessment  of 
Peter's  pence  in  the  dioceses  of  England,  has  been  published  before  "by  Dr, 
Lingard,  but  may  be  here  inserted  from  MS.  B.  M. :  — 

De  Cantuarensi  Ecclesia  .        .    vii.  libras  et  xviii.  solidos. 


De  Roffensi      . 

v. 

»i 

xii 

De  Londoniensi 

.   xvi. 

M 

X 

De  Norwicensi 

.  xxi. 

» 

X 

De  Eliensi 

v. 

De  Lincolniensi 

.        .   xlii 

De  Cicestricnsi 

*iu. 

Chap.  II.    PAPAL  REVENUE  FROM  ENGLAND.       815 

subsidy  to  the  Pope,  as  the  ecclesiastical  sovereign, 
acknowledged  in  Saxon  times,  and  admitted  by  the 
Conqueror,  was  regularly  assessed  in  the  different  dio- 
ceses, and  transmitted  to  Rome.  Dignitaries  of  the 
Church  were  usually  the  treasurers  who  paid  it  over  to 
Italian  bankers  in  London,  the  intermediate  aeents 
with  Rome. 

II.  The  1000  marks  —  700  for  England,  300  for 
Ireland  —  the  sign  and  acknowledgment  of  feudal  vas- 
salage, stipulated  by  King  John,  when  he  took  the 
oath  of  submission,  and  made  over  the  kingdom  as  a 
fief.  Powerful  Popes  are  constantly  heard  imperiously, 
necessitous  Popes  more  humbly,  almost  with  supplica- 
tion, demanding  the  payment  of  this  tribute  and  its 
arrears  (for  it  seems  to  have  been  irregularly  levied) ; l 
but  during  the  whole  reign  of  Henry  III.  and  later, 
no  question  seems  to  have  been  raised  of  the  Pope's 
right. 

III.  The  benefices  held  by  foreigners,  chiefly  Ital- 
ians, and  payments  to  foreign  churches  out  of  the 
property  of  the  English  church ; 2  the  invasion  of  the 
English   sees  by  foreign  prelates,   with  its  inevitable 

De  Wintoniensi  .        .        .  xvii.  libras  et  vi.  solidos  et  viii.  denarios. 

De  Oxoniensi  .  .        .        .      ix.  „  T.  „ 

De  Wigorniensi  .        .        .       V.  „  V.  ,, 

De  Herefordensi  vi. 

De  Bathoniensi  vi.  „  V.  „ 

De  Saresberiensi  .        .          xviii. 

De  Couventriae  x.  „  V.  „ 

De  Eboracensi  .      xi.  .„  X.  „                              p  181. 

i  Urban  IV.,  MS.  B.  M.  x.  p.  29,  Dec.  1261.  Clement  IV.,  ibid.  12., 
June  8,  1266. 

2  The  convent  of  Viterbo  has  a  grant  of  30  marks  from  a  moiety  of  the 
living  of  Holkham  in  Norfolk,  i.  278;  50  marks  from  church  of  Wingham 
to  convent  of  M.  Aurco  in  Anagni,  iii.  110.  Claims  of  another  convent  in 
Anagni  on  benefice  in  diocese  of  Winchester,  vol.  iv.  50.  See  the  grants 
to  John  Peter  Leone,  and  others,  in  Prynne,  p.  23.    MS.  B.  M. 


816  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

consequences  (or  rather  antecedents,  for  John  began 
the  practice  of  purchasing  the  support  of  Rome  by 
enriching  her  Italian  clergy),  in  crowding  the  English 
benefices  with  strangers,  and  burdening  them  with  per- 
sons who  never  came  near  them,  these  abuses  as  yet 
only  raised  deep  and  suppressed  murmurs,  erelong  to 
break  out  into  fierce  and  obstinate  resistance.  Pan- 
dulph,  the  Papal  Legate,  became  Bishop  of  Norwich. 
Pope  Honorius  writes  to  Pandulph  not  merely  author- 
izing but  urging  him  to  provide  a  benefice  or  benefices 
in  his  diocese  of  Norwich  for  his  own  (the  Bishop's) 
brother,  that  brother  (a  singular  plurality)  being  Arch- 
deacon of  Thessalonica.1  These  foreigners  were  of 
course  more  and  more  odious  to  the  whole  realm  :  to 
the  laity  as  draining  away  their  wealth  without  dis- 
charging any  duties  ;  still  more  to  the  clergy  as  usurp- 
ing their  benefices ;  though  ignorant  of  the  language, 
affecting  superiority  in  attainments ;  as  well  as  from 
their  uncongenial  manners,  and,  if  they  are  not  belied, 
unchecked  vices.  They  were  blood-suckers,  drawing 
out  the  life,  or  drones  fattening  on  the  spoil  of  the 
land.  All  existing  documents  show  that  the  jealousy 
and  animosity  of  the  English  did  not  exaggerate  the 
evil.2  At  length,  just  at  the  close  of  his  Pontificate, 
even  Pope  Honorius,  by  his  Legate  Otho,  made  the 
bold  and   open    demand   that  two  prebends   in   every 

i  Pandulph  is  by  mistake  made  cardinal;  he  was  subdeacon  of  the  R«  ■ 
man  Church.     He  is  called  in  the  documents  Master  Pandulph. 

2  MS.  B.  M.  E.  g.,  grant  of  a  church  to  a  consanguineus  of  the  Pope, 
one  Gervaise,  excommunicated  for  favoring  the  Barons,  having  been  ejected 
from  it,  i.  p.  233.  Transfer  from  one  Italian  to  another,  235.  Grant  from 
Bishop  of  Durham  to  Peter  Saracen  (Civis  Romanus)  of  40  marks,  charged 
on  the  See  for  services  done,  ii.  158.  Requiring  a  canonry  of  Lincoln  for 
Thebaldus,  script  or  noster,  186.  Canonry  of  Chichester  for  a  son  of  a  R<v 
man  citizen. 


Chap.  II.  BENEFICES   HELD   BY  ITALIANS.  817 

cathedral  and  conventual  church  (one  from  the  portion 
of  the  Bishop  or  Abbot,  one  from  that  of  the  Chap- 
ter), or  the  sustentation  of  one  monk,  should  be  as- 
signed in  perpetuity  to  the  Church  of  Rome.  On  this 
the  nobles  interfered  in  the  King's  name,  inhibiting 
such  alienation.  When  the  subject  was  brought  before 
a  synod  at  Westminster  by  the  Archbishop,  the  pro- 
posal was  received  with  derisive  laughter  at  the  avarice 
of  the  see  of  Rome.  Even  the  King  was  prompted  to 
this  prudent  resolution  :  "  When  the  rest  of  Christen- 
dom shall  have  consented  to  this  measure,  we  a.d.  1226. 
will  consult  with  our  prelates  whether  it  be  right  to 
follow  their  example."  The  council  of  Bourges,  where 
the  Legate  Otho  urged  the  same  general  demand,  had 
eluded  it  with  the  same  contemptuous  disregard.  It 
was  even  more  menacingly  suggested  that  such  general 
oppression  from  Rome  might  lead  to  a  general  with- 
drawal of  allegiance  from  Rome.1 

Five  years  after,  the  people  of  England  seemed  de- 
termined to  take  the  affair  into  their  own  hands.  Ter- 
rible letters  were  distributed  by  unseen  means,  and  by 
unknown  persons,  addressed  to  the  bishops  and  chap- 
ters, to  the  abbots  and  friars,  denouncing  the  insolence 
and  avarice  of  these  Romans ;  positively  inhibiting  any 
payments  to  them  from  the  revenues  of  their  churches ; 
threatening  those  who  paid  to  burn  their  palaces  and 
barns  over  their  heads,  and  to  wreak  the  same  ven- 
geance on  them  which  would  inevitably  fall  on  the 
Italians.2      Cencius,    the    Pope's    collector    of    Peter's 

1  Wendover,  p.  114,  121,  124.  "  Quia  si  omnium  esset  universalis  op- 
pressio,  posset  timeri  ne  immineret  general  is  discessio,  quod  Deus  avertat." 

2  Gregory  writes  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  (1234)  that  the  Eng- 
lish "  a:gre  non  ferant  si  inter  ipsos  morantes  extranei,  honores  ibidem  et 
beneficia  consequantur,  cum  apud  Deum  non  est  acceptio  personarum."  — 
MS.  B.  M. 


318  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X 

Pence,  a  Canon  of  St.  Paul's,  was  suddenly  carried  off 
by  armed  men,  with  their  faces  hid  under  vizors ;  he 
returned  with  his  bags  well  rifled,  after  five  weeks'  im- 
prisonment. John  of  Florence,  Archdeacon  of  Nor- 
wich, escaped  the  same  fate,  and  concealed  himself  in 
London.  Other  aggressive  measures  followed.  The 
barns  of  the  Italian  clergy  were  attacked  ;  the  corn 
sold  or  distributed  to  the  poor.  It  might  seem  almost 
a  simultaneous  rising;  though  the  active  assailants  were 
few,  the  feelings  of  the  whole  people  were  with  them.1 
At  one  place  (Wingham)  the  sheriff  was  obliged,  as  it 
appeared,  to  raise  an  armed  force  to  keep  the  peace ; 
the  officers  were  shown  letters-patent  (forged  as  was 
said)  in  the  King's  name,  authorizing  the  acts  of  the 
spoiler :  they  looked  on,  not  caring  to  examine  the  let- 
ters too  closely,  in  quiet  unconcern  at  the  spoliation. 
a.d.  1232.  The  Pope  (Gregory  IX.)  issued  an  angry 
Bull,2  which  not  only  accused  the  Bishops  of  conniving 
at  these  enormities,  and  of  making  this  ungrateful  re- 
turn for  the  good  offices  which  he  had  shown  to  the 
King  ;  he  bitterly  complained  of  the  ill  usage  of  his 
Nuncios  and  officers.  One  had  been  cut  to  pieces, 
another  left  half  dead  ;  the  Pope's  Bulls  had  been 
trampled  under  foot.  The  Pope  demanded  instant, 
ample,  merciless  punishment  of  the  malefactors,  resto- 
ration of  the  damaged  property.  Robert  Twenge,  a 
bold  Yorkshire  knight,  who  under  a  feigned  name  bad 
been  the  ringleader,  appeared  before  the  King,  owned 
himself  to   have  been  the  William  Wither    who  had 

1  The  Pope  so  far  admitted  the  justice  of  these  complaints  as  to  issue  a 
bull  allowing  the  patrons  to  present  after  the  death  of  the  Italian  incum- 
bents.—MS.  B.  M.  iii.  138.  Gregory  IX.  said  that  he  had  less  frequently 
ased  this  power  of  granting  benefices  in  England.  —  Wilkin's  Concilia,  i. 
869. 

2  Apud  Rymer,  dated  Spoleto. 


Chap.  II.  TAXATION   OF  THE  CLERGY.  319 

headed  the  insurgents ;  he  had  done  all  this  in  right- 
eous vengeance  against  the  Romans,  who  by  a  sen- 
tence of  the  Pope,  fraudulently  obtained,  had  deprived 
him  of  the  right  of  patronage  to  a  benefice.  He  had 
rather  be  unjustly  excommunicated  than  despoiled  of 
his  right.  He  was  recommended  to  go  to  Rome  with 
testimonials  from  the  King  for  absolution,  and  this  was 
all.1  The  abuse,  however,  will  appear  yet  rampant, 
when  we  return  to  the  history  of  the  English  Church. 
IV.  The  taxation  of  the  clergy  (a  twentieth,  fif- 
teenth, or  tenth)  as  a  subsidy  for  the  Holy  Land  ;  but 
a  subsidy  grudgingly  paid,  and  not  devoted  with  too 
rigid  exclusiveness  to  its  holy  purpose.  Some  portion 
of  this  was  at  times  thrown,  as  it  were,  as  a  boon  to 
the  King  (in  general  under  a  vow  to  undertake  a  Cru- 
sade), but  applied  by  him  without  rebuke  or  remon- 
strance to  other  purposes.  The  tax  was  on  the  whole 
property  of  the  Church,  of  the  secular  clergy  and  of 
the  monasteries.  Favor  was  sometimes  (not  always) 
shown  to  the  Cistercians,  the  Praemonstratensians,  the 
Monks  of  Sempringham  —  almost  always  to  the  Tem- 
plars and  Knights  of  St.  John.  Other  emoluments 
arose  out  of  the  Crusades  ;  compositions  for  vows  not 
fulfilled  ;  besides  what  arose  out  of  bequests,  the  prop- 
erty of  intestate  clergy,  and  other  sources.  The  Popes 
seem  to  have  had  boundless  notions  of  the  wealth  and 
weakness  of  England.  England  paid,  murmured,  but 
laid  up  deep  stores  of  alienation  and  aversion  from  the 
Roman  See.2 


1  Wendover,  292. 

2  Clement  IV.  (Viterbo,  May  22,  1266)  orders  his  collector  to  get  in  all 
arrears  "  de  censibus,  denariis  Sancti  Petri,  et  debitis  quibuscunque."  Of 
Ihese  debts  there  is  a  long  list.     "  Aut  ex  voto  seu  promisso,  decima  vel 


320  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

vicesima,  seu  redemptionibus  votorum  tarn  crucesignatorum  quam  aliorum, 
vel  depositis  vel  testamentamentis  (sic)  aut  bonis  clericoruni  decedentium 
ab  intestato  seu  alia  quacunque  ratione  modo  vel  causa  eisdem  sedi  Apos- 
tolicae  et  terroe  sanctae  vel  alteri  earum  a  quibuscunque  personis  debentur." 
The  collectors  had  power  to  excommunicate  for  non-payment.  MS.  B.  M. 
xii. 


Chap.  III.  GREGORY  IX.  ?21 


CHAPTER  III. 

FREDERICK   II.    AND    GREGORY   DC 

The  Empire  and  the  Papacy  were  now  to  meet  m 
their  last  mortal  and  implacable  strife ;  the  Last  strife  of 
two  first  acts  of  this  tremendous  drama,  Empire, 
separated  by  an  interval  of  many  years,  were  to  be 
developed  during  the  Pontificate  of  a  prelate  who  as- 
cended the  throne  of  St.  Peter  at  the  age  of  eighty. 
Nor  was  this  strife  for  any  specific  point  in  dispute  like 
the  right  of  investiture,  but  avowedly  for  supremacy  on 
one  side,  which  hardly  deigned  to  call  itself  indepen- 
dence ;  for  independence,  on  the  other,  which  remotely 
at  least  aspired  after  supremacy.  Csesar  would  bear 
no  superior,  the  successor  of  St.  Peter  no  equal.  The 
contest  could  not  have  begun  under  men  more  strongly 
contrasted,  or  more  determinedly  oppugnant  in  char- 
acter than  Gregory  IX.  and  Frederick  II.  Gregory  ix. 
Gregory  retained  the  ambition,  the  vigor,  almost  the 
activity  of  youth,  with  the  stubborn  obstinacy,  and 
something  of  the  irritable  petulance  of  old  age.  He 
was  still  master  of  all  his  powerful  faculties ;  his  knowl- 
edge of  affairs,  of  mankind,  of  the  peculiar  interests  of 
almost  all  the  nations  in  Christendom,  acquired  by  long 
employment  in  the  most  important  negotiations  both 
by  Innocent  III.  and  by  Honorius  III. ;  eloquence 
which  his  own  age  compared  to  that  of  Tully ;  pro- 
ven* v.  21 


322  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X 

found  erudition  in  that  learning  which,  in  the  mediaeval 
churchman,  commanded  the  highest  admiration.  No 
one  was  his  superior  in  the  science  of  the  canon  law  ; 
the  Decretals  to  which  he  afterwards  gave  a  more  fill  J 
and  authoritative  form,  were  at  his  command,  and  they 
were  to  him  as  much  the  law  of  God  as  the  Gospels 
themselves,  or  the  primary  principles  of  morality.  The 
jealous  reverence  and  attachment  of  a  great  lawyer  to 
his  science  strengthened  the  lofty  pretensions  of  the 
churchman.1 

Frederick  II.  with  many  of  the  noblest  qualities 
Frederick  n.  which  could  captivate  the  admiration  of  his 
own  age,  in  some  respects  might  appear  misplaced,  and 
by  many  centuries  prematurely  born.  Frederick  hav- 
ing crowded  into  his  youth  adventures,  perils,  successes, 
almost  unparalleled  in  history,  was  now  only  expanding 
into  the  prime  of  manhood.  A  parentless  orphan  he 
had  struggled  upward  into  the  actual  reigning  monarch 
of  his  hereditary  Sicily ;  he  was  even  then  rising  above 
the  yoke  of  the  turbulent  magnates  of  his  realm,  and 
the  depressing  tutelage  of  the  Papal  See ;  he  had 
crossed  the  Alps  a  boyish  adventurer,  and  won,  so  much 
through  his  own  valor  and  daring  that  he  might  well 
ascribe  to  himself  his  conquest,  the  kingdom  of  Ger- 
many, the  imperial  crown  ;  he  was  in  undisputed  pos- 
session of  the  Empire,  with  all  its  rights  in  Northern 
Italy  ;  King  of  Apulia,  Sicily,  and  Jerusalem.  He 
was  beginning  to  be  at  once  the  Magnificent  Sovereign, 
the  knight,  the  poet,  the  lawgiver,  the  patron  of  arts, 

1  Epist.  Honor.,  14th  March,  1221.  He  is  described  as  "  Forma  decorus 
et  venustus  aspectu,  perspicuus  ingenii  et  fidelis  memorial  prerogative  do- 
natus,  liberalium  artiura  et  utriusque  juris  peritia  eminenter  instructus, 
fluvius  eloquentiae  Tullianae,  sacrse  paginse  diligens  observator  et  doctor, 
relator  fidei."  —  Cardin.  Arragon.  Vit.  Greg.  IX. 


Chap.  in.  FREDERICK   II.  323 

letters,  and  science  ;  the  Magnificent  Sovereign  now 
holding  his  court  in  one  of  the  old  barbaric  and  feu- 
dal cities  of  Germany  among  the  proud  and  turbulent 
princes  of  the  Empire,  more  often  on  the  sunny  shores 
of  Naples  or  Palermo,  in  southern  and  almost  Oriental 
luxury ;  the  gallant  Knight  and  troubadour  Poet  not 
forbidding  himself  those  amorous  indulgences  which 
were  the  reward  of  chivalrous  valor,  and  of  the  "  gay 
science ; "  the  Lawgiver,  whose  far-seeing  wisdom 
seemed  to  anticipate  some  of  those  views  of  equal  jus- 
tice, of  the  advantages  of  commerce,  of  the  cultivation 
of  the  arts  of  peace,  beyond  all  the  toleration  of  ad- 
verse religions,  which  even  in  a  more  dutiful  son  of  the 
Church  would  doubtless  have  seemed  godless  indiffer- 
ence. Frederick  must  appear  before  us  in  the  course 
of  our  history  in  the  full  development  of  all  these 
shades  of  character;  but  besides  all  this  Frederick's 
views  of  the  temporal  sovereignty  were  as  imperious 
and  autocratic  as  those  of  the  haughtiest  churchman 
of  the  spiritual  supremacy.  The  ban  of  the  Empire 
ought  to  be  at  least  equally  awful  with  that  of  the 
Church  ;  disloyalty  to  the  Emperor  was  as  heinous  a 
sin  as  infidelity  to  the  head  of  Christendom ;  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  Lombard  republics  was  as  a  great  and 
punishable  political  heresy.  Even  in  Rome  itself,  as 
head  of  the  Roman  Empire,  Frederick  aspired  to  a  su- 
premacy which  was  not  less  unlimited  because  vague 
and  undefined,  and  irreconcilable  with  that  of  the 
Supreme  Pontiff.  If  ever  Emperor  might  be  tempted 
by  the  vision  of  a  vast  hereditary  monarchy  to  be  per- 
petuated in  his  house,  the  princely  house  of  Hohen- 
staufen,  it  was  Frederick.  He  had  heirs  of  his  great- 
ness ;  his  eldest  son  was  King  of  the  Romans ;  from  his 


324  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

loins  might  yet  spring  an  inexhaustible  race  of  princes  : 
the  failure  of  his  imperial  line  was  his  last  fear. 
The  character  of  the  man  seemed  formed  to  achieve 
and  to  maintain  this  vast  design  ;  he  was  at  once  terri- 
ble and  popular,  courteous,  generous,  placable  to  his 
foes ;  yet  there  was  a  depth  of  cruelty  in  the  heart  of 
Frederick  towards  revolted  subjects,  which  made  him 
look  on  the  atrocities  of  his  allies,  Eccelin  di  Romano, 
and  the  Salinguerras,  but  as  legitimate  means  to  quell 
insolent  and  stubborn  rebellion. 

The  loftier  churchmen,  if  for  a  moment  they  had 
Gregory  ix.  misgivings  on  account  of  his  age,  hailed  the 
election  of  Cardinal  Ugolino  with  the  utmost  satisfac- 
tion. The  surpassing  magnificence  of  his  coronation 
attested  the  unanimous  applause  of  the  clergy,  and 
even  of  the  people  of  Rome.1  Gregory  had  in  secret 
murmured  against  the  gentler  and  more  yielding  policy 
of  Honorius  III.  Of  such  weakness  he  could  not 
accuse  himself.  The  old  man  at  once  threw  down  the 
Gregory's  gauntlet ;  on  the  day  of  his  accession2  he 
erst  act.  issued  an  energetic  proclamation  to  all  the 
sovereigns  of  Christendom  announcing  his  election  to 
the  pontificate,  and  summoning  them  to  enter  on  a  new 
Crusade ;  that  addressed  to  Frederick  was  more  direct, 
vehement,  and  imperative,  and  closed  not  without  some 
significant  hints  that  he  would  not  long  brook  the  delay 
with  which  the  Emperor  had  beguiled  his  predecessor.3 

1  "  Tunc  lugubres  vestes  mutavit  Ecclesia,  et  urbis  semirutae  mamia  pris- 
tinum  recepere  fulgorem."  —  Cardin.  Arragon.  in  Vit.  See  description  of 
the  inauguration. 

2  1227,  March  18.     Raynaldi  Annul. 

8  "  Alioquin  quantumcunque  te  sincera  diligamus  in  Domino  charitate, 
et  tibi  quantum  in  Domino  possumus  deferre  velimus,  id  dissimulare  nulla 
poterimus  ratione."  —  Epistol.  ad  Frederic,  apud  Raynaldi,  March  23 


Chap.  III.  GREGORY'S  FIRST  ACT.  325 

The  King's  disobedience  might  involve  him  in  difficul- 
ties  from  which  the  Pope  himself,  even  if  he  should  so 
will,  could  hardly  extricate  him.1 

Frederick,  in  the  height  of  their  subsequent  contest, 
reproached  the  Pope  as  having  been,  while  in  the 
lower  orders  of  the  Church,  his  familiar  friend,  but 
that  no  sooner  had  he  reached  the  summit  of  his  am- 
bition than  he  threw  off  all  gratitude,  and  became  his 
determined  enemy.2  Yet  his  congratulations  on  the 
accession  of  Gregory  were  expressed  in  the  most  court- 
ly tone.  The  Bishop  of  Reggio,  and  Herman  of  Salza, 
the  Grand  Master  of  the  Teutonic  order,  were  his  am- 
bassadors to  Rome.  Gregory,  on  his  side,  with  impar- 
tial severity,  compelled  the  Lombards  to  fulfil  and 
ratify  the  treaty  which  had  been  agreed  to  through  the 
mediation  of  Honorius.  Frederick  had  already  trans- 
mitted to  Rome  the  documents  which  were  requisite 
for  the  full  execution  of  the  stipulations  on  his  part, 
the  general  amnesty,  the  revocation  of  the  Imperial 
ban,  the  release  of  the  prisoners,  the  assent  of  King 
Henry.  The  Lombards  were  not  so  ready  or  so  open 
in  their  proceedings.  Gregory  was  con- March  24. 
strained  to  send  a  strong  summons  to  the  Lombards 
declaring  that  he  would  no  longer  be  tampered  with  by 
their  idle  and  frivolous  excuses  :  "  If  in  this  important 
affair  ye  despise,  mock,  or  elude  our  commands  and 
those  of  God,  nothing   remains  for  us  but  to  invoke 

1  "  Nequaquam  nos  et  teipsum  in  illam  necessitatem  inducas,  de  qua  for- 
san  te  de  facili  non  poterimus,  etiamsi  voluerimus,  expedire."  —  Ibid. 

2  "  Iste  novus  athleta,  sinistris  auspiciis  factus  Pontifex  Generalis,  amicus 
noster  prsecipuus  dum  in  minoribus  ordinibus  constitutus,  beneficiorum  om- 
nium quibus  Imperium  Christianum  sacrosanctam  ditavit  Ecclesiam  ob 
Utus,  statim  post  assumptum  suuin  fidem  cum  tempore  varians  et  moreu 
cum  dignitate  commutans."  —  Petr.  de  Vinea,  Epistol.  i.  xvi. 


326  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

jeaven  and  earth  against  your  insolence."  l  The  treaty 
arrived  in  Rome  the  day  after  this  summons  had  been 
despatched,  wanting  the  seal  of  the  Marquis  of  Mont- 
ferrat,  and  of  many  of  the  cities  ;  but  Gregory  wou1 1 
not  be  baffled ;  the  Archbishop  of  Milan  received  ordei  s 
to  menace  the  cities  with  ecclesiastical  censures,  and 
the  treaty  came  back  with  all  the  necessary  ratifica- 
tions. In  this  Gregory  pursued  the  politic  as  well  as 
the  just  course.  The  Emperor  must  not  have  this 
plausible  excuse  to  elude  his  embarkation  on  the  Cru- 
sade at  the  appointed  day  in  August.  The  Lombards 
themselves  were  imperatively  urged  to  furnish  their 
proper  contingent  for  the  Holy  War.  Gregory  IX. 
knew  Lombardy  well,  it  had  been  the  scene  of  his  own 
preaching  of  the  Cross  ;  and  the  sagacious  fears  of  the 
Church  (the  stipulations  in  the  treaty  of  Honorius  be- 
trayed this  sagacity  and  these  fears)  could  not  but  dis- 
cern that  however  these  proud  republics  might  be 
heartily  Guelfic,  cordially  on  the  side  of  the  Church, 
they  were  only  so  from  their  common  jealousy  of  the 
Empire.  But  there  was  that  tacit  understanding,  or  at 
least  unacknowledged  sympathy,  between  civil  and  relig- 
ious liberty,  which  must  be  watched  with  vigilant  mis- 
trust. It  was  manifest  that  the  respect  for  their  bishops 
in  all  these  republics  depended  entirely  on  the  political 
conduct  of  the  prelates,  not  on  the  sanctity  of  their 
office.  There  was  a  remissness  or  reluctance  in  the 
suppression  of  heresy,  and  in  the  punishment  of  here- 
tics, which  required  constant  urgency  and  rebuke  on 
the  part  of  the  Pope  :  "  Ye  make  a  great  noise,"  writes 
Gregory,  "  about  fines  imposed,  and  sentences  of  exile 
against  heretics  ;  but  ye  quietly  give  them  back  their 

1  Regcst.  Gregor.,  quoted  by  Von  Raumer,  p.  416. 


Chap.  III.  LETTER  TO  FREDERICK.  327 

fines,  and  admit  them  again  into  your  cities.  In  the 
mean  time  ye  regard  not  the  immunities  of  the  clergy, 
neither  their  exemption  from  taxation  nor  their  personal 
freedom  ;  ye  even  permit  enactments  injurious  to  their 
defence  of  their  liberties,  enactments  foolish  and  culpa- 
ble, even  to  their  banishment  by  the  laity.  Take  heed, 
'est  a  more  fearful  interdict  than  that  with  which  you 
xiave  been  punished  (the  ban  of  the  Empire)  fall  upon 
you,  the  interdict  of  the  Church." 1 

But  the  Pope  was  not  content  with  general  exhorta- 
tions to  the  Emperor  to  embark  on  the  Cru-  June  8. 
sade :  he  assumed  the  privilege  of  his  holy  office  and 
of  his  venerable  age  to  admonish  the  young  and  brill- 
iant Frederick  on  his  life,  and  on  the  duties  of  his  im- 
perial dignity.  The  address  was  sent  from  Anagni, 
to  which  the  Pope  had  retired  from  the  heats  of  Rome, 
by  the  famous  Gualo,  one  of  the  austere  Order  of 
Friar  Preachers  instituted  by  St.  Dominic.2  Gregory's 
The  letter  dwelt  in  the  highest  terms  on  the  admonition. 
wonderful  mental  endowments  of  Frederick,  his  reason 
quickened  with  the  liveliest  intelligence,  and  winged 
by  the  brightest  imagination.  The  Pope  entreats  him 
not  to  degrade  the  qualities  which  he  possesses  in 
common  with  the  angels,  nor  to  sacrifice  them  to  the 
lower  appetites,  which  he  has  in  common  with  the 
beasts  and  the  plants  of  the  earth.  The  love  of  sen- 
sual things  debases  the  intellect,  the  pampering  of  the 
delicate  body  corrupts  the  affections.  If  knowledge 
and  love,  those  twin  lights,  are  extinguished ;  if  those 

1  Regesta,  ibid.  p.  417. 

2  The  Cardinal  Ugolino  had  been  the  first  to  foresee  the  tremendous 
nower  of  the  new  Orders.  He  had  been  their  firm  protector:  they  were 
oound  to  him,  especially  the  Franciscans,  not  only  by  profound  reverence 
but  by  passionate  personal  attachment. 


328  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

eagles  which  should  soar  in  triumph  stoop  and  entangle 
themselves  with  earthly  pleasures,  how  canst  thou  show 
to  thy  followers  the  way  of  salvation  ?  "  Far  be  it  from 
thee  to  hold  up  this  fatal  example  of  thraldom  to  the 
sensual  life.  Your  justice  should  be  the  pillar  of  fire, 
your  mercy  the  cooling  cloud  to  lead  God's  chosen 
people  into  the  land  of  promise."  He  proceeds  to  a 
strange  mystic  interpretation  of  the  five  great  ensigns 
of  the  imperial  power  ;  the  inward  meaning  of  all  these 
mysterious  symbols,  the  cross,  the  lance,  the  triple 
crown,  the  sceptre,  and  the  golden  apple:  this  he 
would  engrave  indelibly  with  an  iron  pen  on  the 
adamantine  tablets  of  the  king's  heart.1 

It  were  great  injustice  to  the  character  6T  Gregory  to 
attribute  this  high-toned,  however  extravagantly  mystic, 
remonstrance  to  the  unworthy  motives  of  ambition  or 
animosity.  The  severe  old  man  might,  not  without 
grounds,  take  offence  at  the  luxury,  the  splendor,  the 
Court  of  sensuality  of  Frederick's  Sicilian  court,  the 
Frederick.  freedom  at  least,  if  not  license,  of  Frederick's 
life.  It  was  the  zeal,  perhaps,  of  a  monk,  but  yet  the 
honest  and  religious  zeal.  Frederick's  predilection  for 
his  native  kingdom,  for  the  bright  cities  reflected  in  the 
blue  Mediterranean,  over  the  dark  barbaric  towns  of 
Germany,  of  itself  characterizes  the  man.  The  summer 
skies,  the  more  polished  manners,  the  more  elegant  lux- 
uries, the  knowledge,  the  arts,  the  poetry,  the  gayety, 
the  beauty,  the  romance  of  the  South,  were  through- 
out his  life  more  congenial  to  his  mind  than  the  heav- 
ier and  more  chilly  climate,  the  feudal  barbarism,  the 
ruder  pomp,  the  coarser  habits  of  his  German  liegemen. 
Among   the   profane  sayings  attributed   to   Frederick 

1  Epistola  Gregor.  apud  Raynaldi  Anagni,  June  8. 


Chap.  III.  COURT  OF  FREDERICK.  329 

(who  was  neither  guarded  nor  discreet  in  his  more 
mirthful  conversation,  and  as  his  strife  with  the  Church 
grew  fiercer  would  not  become  more  reverential),  say- 
ings caught  up,  and  no  doubt  sharpened  by  his  enemies, 
was  that  memorable  one  —  that  God  would  never  have 
chosen  the  barren  land  of  Judsea  for  his  own  people  if 
he  had  seen  his  beautiful  and  fertile  Sicily.  And  no 
doubt  that  delicious  climate  and  lovely  land,  so  highly 
appreciated  by  the  gay  sovereign,  was  not  without  in- 
fluence on  the  state,  and  even  the  manners  of  his  court, 
to  which  other  circumstances  contributed  to  give  a 
peculiar  and  romantic  character.  It  resembled  proba- 
bly (though  its  full  splendor  was  of  a  later  period) 
Granada  in  its  glory,  more  than  any  other  in  Europe, 
though  more  rich  and  picturesque  from  the  variety  of 
races,  of  manners,  usages,  even  dresses,  which  prevailed 
within  it.  Here  it  was  that  Southern  and  Oriental 
luxury  began  to  impart  its  mysteries  to  Christian  Eu- 
rope. The  court  was  open  to  the  mingled  population 
which  at  that  time  filled  the  cities  of  Southern  Italy. 
If  anything  of  Grecian  elegance,  art,  or  luxury  survived 
in  the  West,  it  was  in  the  towns  of  Naples  and  Sicily. 
There  the  Norman  chivalry,  without  having  lost  then 
bold  and  enterprising  bearing,  had  yielded  in  some 
degree  to  the  melting  influence  of  the  land,  had  a*3- 
juired  Southern  passions,  Southern  habits.  The  ruder 
and  more  ferocious  German  soldiery,  as  many  as  w^re 
spared  by  the  climate,  gradually-  softened,  at  least  in 
their  outward  demeanor.  The  Jews  were  numerous, 
enlightened,  wealthy.  The  Mohammedan  inhabitants 
of  Sicily  were  neither  the  least  polished,  nor  the  least 
welcome  at  the  court  of  Frederick  :  they  were  sub- 
siding into  loyal  subjects  of  the  liberal  Christian  King  ; 


330  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

and  Frederick  was  accused  by  his  enemies,  and  even 
then  believed  by  the  Asiatic  and  Egyptian  Mussulmans, 
to  have  approximated  more  closely  to  their  manners, 
even  to  their  creed,  than  became  a  Christian  Emperor. 
He  spoke  their  tongue,  admired  and  cultivated  their 
science,  caused  their  philosophy  to  be  translated  into 
the  Latin  language.  In  his  court  their  Oriental  man- 
ners yielded  to  the  less  secluded  habits  of  the  West. 
It  was  one  of  the  grave  charges,  at  a  later  period,  that 
Saracen  women  were  seen  at  the  court  of  Palermo, 
who  by  their  licentiousness  corrupted  the  morals  of  his 
Christian  subjects.  Frederick  admitted  the  truth  of 
the  charge,  but  asserted  the  pure  demeanor  and  chas- 
tity of  these  Mohammedan  ladies :  nevertheless,  to 
avoid  all  future  scandal,  he  consented  to  dismiss  them. 
This  at  a  time  when  abhorrence  of  the  Mohammedan 
was  among  the  first  articles  of  a  Christian's  creed ; 
when  it  would  have  been  impious  to  suppose  a  Moham- 
medan man  capable  of  any  virtue  except  of  valor,  a 
Mohammedan  female  of  any  virtue  at  all !  The  im- 
pression made  by  this  inclination  for  the  society  of  mis- 
creant ladies,  its  inseparable  connection  with  Moham- 
medan habits,  transpires  in  the  Guelfic  character  of 
Frederick  by  Villani.  The  Florentine  does  ample  jus- 
tice to  his  noble  and  kingly  qualities,  to  the  universality 
of  his  genius  and  knowledge,  "  but  he  was  dissolute  and 
abandoned  to  every  kind  of  luxury.  After  the  man- 
ner of  the  Saracens  he  had  many  concubines,  and 
was  attended  by  Mamelukes ;  he  gave  himself  up  to 
sensual  enjoyments,  and  led  an  epicurean  life,  taking 
no  thought  of  the  world  to  come,  and  this  was  the  prin- 
cipal reason  of  his  enmity  to  Holy  Church  and  to  the 
hierarchy,  as  well  as  his  avarice  in  usurping  the  pos 


Chap.  III.  ITALIAN  POETRY.  331 

sessions    and    infringing   on    the    jurisdiction    of    the 
clergy."  1 

It  was  in  this  Southern  kingdom  that  the  first  rude 
notes  of  Italian  poetry  were  heard  in  the  soft  Sicilian 
dialect.  Frederick  himself,  and  his  Chancellor  Peter 
de  Vinea,  were  promising  pupils  in  the  gay  science. 
Among  the  treasures  of  the  earliest  Italian  song  are 
several  compositions  of  the  monarch  and  of  his  poetic 
rival.  One  sonnet  indeed  of  Peter  de  Vinea  is  perhaps 
equal  to  anything  of  the  kind  before  the  time  when 
Petrarch  set  the  common  thoughts  of  all  these  amorous 
Platonists  in  the  perfect  crystals  of  his  inimitable  lan- 
guage. Of  these  lays  most  which  survive  are  amatory, 
but  it  is  not  unlikely  that  as  the  kindred  troubadours 
of  Provence,  the  poets  did  not  abstain  from  satiric 
touches  on  the  clergy.  How  far  Frederick  himself 
indulged  in  more  than  poetic  license,  the  invectives  of 
his  enemies  cannot  be  accepted  as  authority.  It  was 
during  his  first  widowhood  that  he  indulged  the  height 
of  his  passion  for  the  beautiful  Bianca  Lancia  ;  this 
mistress  bore  him  two  sons,  his  best  beloved  Enzio, 
during  so  many  years  of  his  more  splendid  career  the 
pride,  the  delight  of  his  heart,  unrivalled  for  his  beauty, 
the  valiant  warrior,  the  consummate  general,  the  cause, 
by  his  imprisonment,  of  the  bitterest  grief,  which  in  the 
father's  decline  bowed  down  his  broken  spirit.  Enzio 
was  born  at  the  close  of  the  year  in  which  Frederick 
wedded  Iolante  of  Jerusalem.  -The  fact  that  Iolante 
died  in  childbed  giving  birth  to  his  son  Conrad,  is  at 
least  evidence  that  he  had  not  altogether  estranged  her 
from  his  affections.  In  public  she  had  all  the  state  and 
splendor  of  his  queen  ;  nor  is  it  known  that  during  her 

1  Istoric  Fiorentin.  vi.  c  1. 


332  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

lifetime  her  peace  was  imbittered  by  any  more  cher- 
ished rivals. 

Still  if  this  brilliant  and  poetic  state  of  society  (even 
if  at  this  time  it  was  only  expanding  to  its  fulness  of 
luxury  and  splendor)  must  appear  dubious  at  least  to 
the  less  severe  Christian  moralist,  how  must  it  have 
appeared  to  those  who  had  learned  their  notions  of 
morals  from  the  rule  of  St.  Benedict  rather  than  the 
Gospel ;  the  admirers  of  Francis  and  of  Dominic ;  men 
in  whom  human  affections  were  alike  proscribed  with 
sensual  enjoyments,  and  in  whose  religious  language, 
to  themselves  at  least,  pleasure  bore  the  same  meaning 
as  sin  ;  men,  who  had  prayed,  and  fasted,  and  scourged 
out  of  themselves  every  lingering  sympathy  of  our  com- 
mon nature  ?  How,  above  all,  to  one  in  whom,  as  in 
Gregory  IX.,  age  had  utterly  frozen  up  a  heart,  already 
hardened  by  the  austerest  discipline  of  monkhood  ?  It 
is  impossible  to  conceive  a  contrast  more  strong  or  more 
irreconcilable  than  the  octogenarian  Gregory,  in  his 
cloister  palace,  in  his  conclave  of  stern  ascetics,  with 
all  but  severe  imprisonment  within  conventual  walls, 
completely  monastic  in  manners,  habits,  views,  in  cor- 
porate spirit,  in  celibacy,  in  rigid  seclusion  from  the 
rest  of  mankind,  in  the  conscientious  determination  to 
enslave,  if  possible,  all  Christendom  to  its  inviolable 
unity  of  faith,  and  to  the  least  possible  latitude  of  dis- 
cipline ;  and  the  gay,  and  yet  youthful  Frederick,  with 
his  mingled  assemblage  of  knights  and  ladies,  of  Chris- 
tians, Jews,  and  Mohammedans,  of  poets  and  men  of 
science,  met,  as  it  were,  to  enjoy  and  minister  to  enjoy- 
ment ;  to  cultivate  the  pure  intellect :  where,  if  not 
the  restraints  of  religion,  at  least  the  awful  authority 
of  churchmen,  was  examined  with  freedom,  sometimes 
ridiculed  with  sportive  wit. 


Chap.  III.  FREDERICK  AND  THE  CRUSADE.  833 

A  few  months  were  to  put  to  the  test  the  obedience 
of  Frederick  to  the  See  of  Rome,  perhaps  his  Christian 
fidelity.  By  the  treaty  of  St.  Germano,  the  August 
of  the  present  year  had  been  fixed  for  his  em-  a.d.  1227. 
barkation  for  the  Holy  Land.  Gregory,  it  is  clear, 
mistrusted  his  sincerity ;  with  what  justice  it  is  hard  to 
decide.  However  Frederick  might  be  wanting  in  fer- 
vent religious  zeal,  he  was  not  in  the  chivalrous  love 
of  enterprise ;  however  he  might  not  abhor  the  Mo- 
hammedans with  the  true  Christian  cordiality  of  his 
day,  he  would  not  decline  to  meet  them  in  arms  as 
brave  and  generous  foes  ;  however  the  recovery  of  the 
Saviour's  tomb  might  not  influence  him  with  the  fierce 
enthusiasm  which  had  kindled  the  hearers  of  Peter  the 
Hermit  or  St.  Bernard,  or  perhaps  that  which  sent  forth 
his  grandsire,  Barbarossa  :  yet  an  Oriental  kingdom, 
which  he  claimed  in  the  right  of  his  wife,  a  conquest 
which  would  have  commanded  the  grateful  admiration 
of  Christendom,  was  a  prize  which  his  ambition  would 
hardly  disdain,  or  rather  at  which  it  would  grasp  with 
bold  eagerness.  Frederick  was  personally  brave  ;  but 
neither  was  his  finer,  though  active  and  close-knit 
frame,  suited  to  hew  his  way  through  hosts  of  unbe- 
lievers ;  he  aspired  not,  and  could  not  hope,  to  rival  the 
ferocious  personal  prowess  of  our  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion, 
or  to  leave  his  name  as  the  terror  of  Arabian  mothers. 
Nor  would  his  faith  behold  Paradise  as  the  assured  close 
of  a  battle-field  with  the  Infidels,  the  remission  of  sins  as 
the  sure  reward  of  a  massacre  of  the  believers  in  Islam. 
Frederick  was  not  averse  to  obtain  by  negotiation  (and 
surely,  with  the  warnings  of  all  former  Crusades,  espe- 
cially that  of  his  grandsire  Barbarossa,  not  unwisely), 
and  by  taking  advantage  of  the  feuds  between  the  Sar- 


334  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

acen  princes,  those  conquests  which  some  would  deem 
it  impious  to  strive  after  but  by  open  war.  Frederick 
had  already  received  an  embassy  from  Sultan  Malek- 
al-Kameel  of  Egypt  (of  this  the  Pope  could  hardly.be 
ignorant).  Between  the  Egyptian  and  Damascene  de- 
scendants of  the  great  Saladin  there  was  implacable 
hostility.  Kameel  had  now  recovered  Damietta;1  he 
had  made  a  treaty  with  the  discomfited  Crusaders.  He 
hated  his  rival  of  Damascus  even  more  bitterly  than  he 
did  the  Christians.  His  offers  to  Frederick  were  the 
surrender  of  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem,  on  condition 
of  close  alliance  against  the  Sultan  of  Damascus.  Fred- 
Negotiations  erick  had  despatched  to  the  East  an  ambas- 
Kameei.  sador  of  no  less  rank  than  the  Archbishop  of 
Palermo.  The  Prelate  bore  magnificent  and  accept- 
able presents,  horses,  arms,  it  was  said  the  Emperor's 
own  palfrey.2  In  the  January  of  the  following  year 
the  Archbishop  had  returned  to  Palermo,  with  presents, 
according  to  the  Eastern  authority,  of  twice  the  value 
of  his  own  ;  many  rare  treasures  from  India,  Arabia, 
Syria,  and  Irak.  Among  these,  to  the  admiration  of  the 
Occidentals,  was  a  large  elephant.3  To  the  Pope,  the 
negotiations  themselves  were  unanswerable  sioris  of 
Frederick's  favor  to  the  Infidels,  and  his  perfidy  to  the 
cause  of  the  Christians.4 

1  In  the  fierce  invectives  of  their  later  controversy,  the  Papal  party  at- 
tributed to  the  tardiness,  even  to  the  treachery  of  Frederick,  the  disastrous 
loss  of  Damietta.  If  he  had  accompanied  the  first  German  division  of  the 
German  Crusaders,  the  Christians  would  not  have  been  without  a  leader; 
and  with  his  fame  and  power  he  might,  by  the  conquest  of  Egypt,  have  re- 
established, and  forever,  the  Christian  dominion  in  the  East.  But  Fred- 
erick certainly  could  not  have  gone  at  that  time  with  a  force  equal  to  this 
great  enterprise. 

2  Ebn  Fe>ah.  quoted  in  Michaud's  Bibliographie  des  Croisades  p.  727. 
8  Richd.  de  S.  German,  p.  1604.     Makrisi  apud  Reinaud.    Hugo  Plagen. 
4  The  letter  of  Gregory  IX.  in  Matth.  Paris.     "  Quod  detestabilius  est, 


Chap.  IH.  PREPARATIONS  FOR  CRUSADE.  335 

Yet  Frederick  seemed  earnestly  determined  to  fulfil 
his  vow.  Though  the  treaty  with  the  Lombard  cities 
was  hardly  concluded,  he  had  made  vast  preparations. 
He  had  levied  a  large  tax  from  the  whole  kingdom  of 
Sicily  for  the  maintenance  of  his  forces ; l  a  noble  fleet 
rode  in  tbe  harbor  of  Brundusium  :  Frederick  himself, 
with  his  Empress  Iolante,  passed  over  from  Sicily  and 
took  up  his  abode  in  Otranto. 

Pilorims  in  the  mean  time  had  been  assembling  from 
various  quarters.  In  Germany,  at  a  great  Preparations 
Diet  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  in  the  presence  0f forCrusade- 
King  Henry,  many  of  tbe  Princes  and  Prelates  had 
taken  the  Cross.  Some  of  these,  especially  the  Duke 
of  Austria,  alleged  excuses  from  their  vow.  But  the 
Landgrave  of  Thuringia,  the  husband  of  Elizabeth  of 
Hungary,  afterwards  sainted  for  her  virtues,  tore  him- 
self from  his  beloved  wife  in  the  devotion  to  what  both 
esteemed  the  higher  duty.2  The  Bishops  of  Augs- 
burg, Bamberg,  and  Ratisbon  accompanied  the  Land- 
grave to  Italy.  France  seemed  for  once  to  be  cold  in 
the  Holy  cause  (Louis  IX.  was  in  his  infancy),  but  in 
England  there  had  been  a  wide-spread  pop-  England, 
ular  movement.  On  the  vigil  of  John  the  Baptist's 
day  it  was  rumored  abroad,  that  the  Saviour  himself 
had  appeared  in   the  heavens,  bleeding,  pierced  with 

cum  Soldano  et  aliis  Saracenis  nefandas  (Fredericus)  contrahens  pactionee 
illis  favorem,  Christianis  odium  exhibuit  manifestum."  —  Sub  ann.  1228, 
p.  348.  On  these  rumors  of  the  understanding  between  the  Emperor  and 
Sultan  Kameel  no  doubt  Gregory  founded  his  darker  charge  of  Frederick's 
having  compelled  the  surrender  of  Damietta,  not  only  by  withholding  all 
relief  from  the  Christians  when  masters  of  it,  but  by  direct  and  treacherous 
intercourse  with  the  Soldan. 

1  Richard  de  St.  German,  p.  1103.     Alberic,  ad  ann.  1227.     The  mona» 
tery  of  St.  Germano  was  assessed  at  450  ounces. 

2  Montalembert,  Vie  de  St.  Elizabeth  de  Hongrie. 


336  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X 

the  nails  and  lance,  on  a  cross  which  shone  like  fire.1 
It  was  to  encourage  forty  thousand  pilgrims,  who  were 
said  already  to  have  taken  the  Cross.  This  was  seen 
more  than  once  in  different  places,  in  order  to  confute 
the  incredulous  gainsayers.  But  of  those  forty  thou- 
sand who  were  enrolled,  probably  no  large  proportion 
reached  Southern  Italy. 

The  Emperor,  hardly  released  from  the  affairs  of 
Northern  Italy,  was  expected  to  have  provisions  and 
ships  ready  for  the  transport  of  all  this  vast  undisci- 
plined rout,  of  which  no  one  could  calculate  the  num- 
bers. Delays  took  place,  which  the  impatient  Pope, 
ignorant  no  doubt  of  the  difficulties  of  maintaining  and 
embarking  a  great  armament,  ascribed  at  once  to  the 
remissness  or  the  perfidy  of  Frederick.  The  heats 
came  on  with  more  than  usual  violence,  they  were 
such,  it  is  said,  as  might  .have  melted  solid  metal.2 
A  fever  broke  out  fatal,  as  ever,  to  the  Germans.3 
The  Landgrave  of  Thuringia,  the  Bishops  of  Augs- 
burg; and  of  Anders  were  among;  its  victims ;  the 
pilgrims  perished  by  thousands.  The  death  of  the 
Landgrave  was  attributed  not  only  to  the  wanton  de- 
lay, but  .even  to  poison  administered  by  the  orders  of 
Frederick,  who,  in  his  insatiate  rapacity,  coveted  the 
large  possessions  of  the  Prince.  About  the  appointed 
day  Frederick  himself  embarked  ;  the  fleet  set  sail ;  it 

1  "VVendover,  p.  144.  The  reading  in  Paris  for  quadraginta  is  sexaginta. 
Ed.  Coxe,  p.  144. 

2  "  Cujus  ardoribus  ipsa  fere  solida  metalla  liquescunt."  — Card.  Arragon. 
in  Vit.  Greg.  IX. 

3  An  impostor  placed  himself  on  the  steps  of  St.  Peter's,  in  the  attire 
and  character  of  the  Pope,  and  publicly  sold  indulgences,  releasing  the  pil- 
grims from  their  vows.  After  carrying  on  this  strange  bold  fraud  for  some 
days,  he  was  apprehended,  and  paid  the  penalty  of  his  imposture.  —  Ray- 
nald.  sub  ami 


Chap.  in.        EXCOMMUNICATION  OF  FREDERICK.  337 

lost  sight  of  the  shore; — but  three  days  after  the 
Imperial  ship  was  seen  returning  hastily  to  the  haven 
of  Otranto  ;  Frederick,  alleging  severe  illness,  returned 
to  the  baths  of  Pozzuoli,  to  restore  his  strength.  The 
greater  part  of  the  fleet  either  dispersed  or,  folio  win  <* 
the  Emperor's  example,  returned  to  land. 

Gregory  heard  at   Anagni  (the  year  of   Gregory's 
accession  had  not  yet  expired)  the  return  of  Exoommu. 
Frederick,  the  dissolution  of  the   armament,  nicationof 

7  Frederick. 

On  St.  Michael's  Day,  surrounded  by  uissept-a>- 
Cardinals  and  Prelates,  he  delivered  a  lofty  discourse, 
on  the  text,  "  It  must  needs  be  that  offences  come,  but 
woe  unto  him  through  whom  they  come."  He  pro- 
nounced the  excommunication,  which  Frederick  had 
incurred  by  his  breach  of  the  agreement  at  St.  Ger- 
man o.  Nothing  was  wanting  to  the  terror.  All  the 
bells  joined  their  most  dissonant  peals ;  the  clergy, 
each  with  his  torch,  stood  around  the  altar.  Greg- 
ory  implored  the  eternal  malediction  of  God  against 
the  Emperor.  The  clergy  dashed  down  their  torches : 
there  was  utter  darkness.  The  churchmen  saw  in  this 
sentence  the  beginning  of  the  holy  strife,  of  the  tri- 
umph of  St.  Michael  over  the  subtle  and  scaly  dragon. 
The  sentence  was  followed  by  an  address  to  the  Apu- 
lian  bishops,  the  subjects  of  Frederick.  "  The  little 
bark  of  St.  Peter,  launched  on  the  boundless  ocean, 
though  tossed  by  the  billows,  is  submerged  but  never 
lost,  for  the  Lord  is  reposing  within  her :  he  is  awak- 
ened at  length  by  the  cries  of  his  disciples  ;  he  com- 
mands the  sea  and  the  winds,  and  there  is  a  great  calm. 
From  four  quarters  the  tempests  are  now  assailing  our 
bark  ;  the  armies  of  the  Infidels  are  striving  with  all 
their  might  that  the  land,  hallowed  by  the  blood  of 

vol.  v.  22 


3<J8  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Cook  X 

Christ,  may  become  the  prey  of  their  impiety  ;  the 
rage  of  tyrants,  asserting  their  temporal  claims,  pro- 
scribes justice  and  tramples  under  foot  the  liberties 
of  the  Church  :  the  folly  of  heretics  seeks  to  rend  the 
seamless  garment  of  Christ,  and  to  destroy  the  Sacra- 
ments of  the  faith  ;  false  brethren  and  wicked  sons,  by 
their  treacherous  perversity,  disturb  the  bowels  and 
tear  open  the  sides  of  their  mother."  "  The  Church 
of  Christ,  afflicted  by  so  many  troubles,  while  she 
thinks  that  she  is  nursing  up  her  children,  is  foster- 
ing in  her  bosom  fire  and  serpents  and  basilisks,1  which 
would  destroy,  everything  by  their  breath,  their  bite, 
and  their  burning.  To  combat  these  monsters,  to  tri- 
umph over  hostile  armies,  to  appease  these  restless 
tempests,  the  Holy  Apostolic  See  reckoned  in  these 
latter  times  on  a  nursling  whom  she  had  brought  up 
with  the  tenderest  care  ;  the  Church  had  taken  up 
the  Emperor  Frederick,  as  it  were,  from  his  mother's 
womb,  fed  him  at  her  breasts,  borne  him  on  her  shoul- 
ders ;  she  had  often  rescued  him  from  those  who 
sought  his  life ;  instructed  him,  educated  him  with 
care  and  pain  to  manhood ;  invested  him  with  the 
royal  dignity  ;  and  to  crown  all  these  blessings,  be- 
stowed on  him  the  title  of  Emperor,  hoping  to  find 
in  him  a  protecting  support,  a  staff  for  her  old  age. 
No  sooner  was  he  King  in  Germany  than,  of  his  own 
accord,  unexhorted,  unknown  to  the  Apostolic  See,  he 
took  the  Cross  and  made  a  vow  to  depart  for  the  Holy 
Land  ;  he  even  demanded  that  himself  and  all  other 
Crusaders  should  be  excommunicated  if  they  did  not 
set  forth  at  the  appointed  time.  At  his  coronation  as 
Emperor  we  ourselves,  then  holding  an  inferior  office 

1  Kegulos. 


ru.w.  III.      EXCOMMUNICATION    OF   FREDERICK.  339 


under  the  most  Holy  Honorius,  gave  him  the  Cross, 
and  received  the  renewal  of  his  vows.  Three  times 
at  Veroli,  at  Ferentino,  at  St.  Germano,  he  alleged  de- 
lays ;  the  Church  in  her  indulgence  accepted  his  ex- 
cuses. At  St.  Germano  he  made  a  covenant,  which  he 
swore  by  his  soul  to  accomplish  ;  if  not,  he  incurred 
by  his  own  consent  the  most  awful  excommunication. 
How  has  he  fulfilled  that  covenant  ?  When  many 
thousands  of  pilgrims,  depending  on  his  solemn  prom- 
ises, were  assembled  in  ,the  port  of  Brundusium,  he 
detained  the  armament  so  long,  under  the  burning 
summer  heats,  in  that  region  of  death,  in  that  pesti- 
lent atmosphere,  that  a  great  part  of  the  pilgrims  per- 
ished, the  noble  Landgrave  of  Thuringia,  the  Bishops 
of  Augsburg  and  Angers.  At  length,  when  the  ships 
began  to  return  from  the  Holy  Land,  the  pilgrims 
embarked  on  board  of  them,  on  the  Nativity  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  expecting  the  Emperor  to  join  their 
fleet.  But  he,  breaking  all  his  promises,  bursting  every 
bond,  trampling  under  foot  the  fear  of  God,  despising 
all  reverence  for  Christ  Jesus,  scorning  the  censures  of 
the  Church,  deserting  the  Christian  army,  abandoning 
the  Holy  Land  to  the  Unbelievers,  to  his  own  disgrace 
and  that  of  all  Christendom,  withdrew  to  the  luxu- 
ries and  wonted  delights  of  his  kingdom,  seeking  to 
palliate  his  offence  by  frivolous  excuses  of  simulated 
sickness.1 


1  Compare  with  this  statement  Frederick's  own  account,  published  to  the 
world  three  months  after.  Both  he  and  the  Landgrave  had  been  ill;  both 
had  a  relapse;  both  returned  to  Otranto,  where  the  Landgrave  died.  "Prae- 
terea  nondum  resumpta  convalescentia,  galeas  ingressi  sumus,  nos  et  dilec- 
tus  consanguineus  noster  Lantgravius,  vestigia  praecedentium  secuti.  Ubi 
tanta  subito  invasit  utrumque  turbatio,  quod  et  nos  in  graviorem  decidimus 
eecidivam,  et  idem  Lantgravius  post  accessum  nostrum  apud  Idrontum  do 


340  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  A. 

"  Behold,  and  see  if  ever  sorrow  was  like  unto  the 
sorrow  "  of  the  Apostolic  Pontiff.  The  Pope  describes 
hi  pathetic  terms  the  state  of  the  Holy  Land  ;  attrib- 
utes to  the  base  intrigues  of  Frederick  with  the  Un- 
believers,  the  fatal  issue  of  the  treaty  of  Damietta ; 
"  but  for  him,  Jerusalem  might  have  been  recovered  in 
exchange  for  that  city.  That  we  may  not  be  esteemed 
as  dumb  dogs,  who  dare  not  bark,  or  fear  to  take  ven- 
geance on  him,  the  Emperor  Frederick,  who  has  caused 
such  ruin  to  the  people  of  God,  we  proclaim  the  said 
Emperor  excommunicate  ;  we  command  you  to  publish 
this  our  excommunication  throughout  the  realm  ;  ana 
to  declare,  that  in  case  of  his  contumacy,  we  shall 
proceed  to  still  more  awful  censures.  We  trust,  how- 
ever, that  he  will  see  his  own  shame ;  and  return  to  the 
mercy  of  his  mother  the  Church,  having  given  ample 
satisfaction  for  all  his  guilt." 

Gregory  IX.  had  been  on  the  throne  of  St.  Peter  not 
eight  months  before  he  uttered  the  fulminating  decree  ; 
in  which  some  truth  is  so  confounded  and  kneaded  up 
with  falsehood  and  exaggeration  ;  and  there  is  so  much 
of  reckless  wrath,  such  want  of  calm,  statesmanlike 
dignity,  such  deliberate,  almost  artful  determination  to 
make  the  worst  of  everything.  The  passionate  old 
man  might  seem  desperately  to  abandon  all  hopes  of 
future  success  in  the  Holy  Land ;  and  to  take  vindic- 
tive comfort  in  heaping  all  the  blame  on  Frederick.1 

Gregory  returned  to  Rome ;  Frederick  had  already 
sent  ambassadors  solemnly  to  assert  that  his  illness  was 

medio,  proh  dolor!  est  ereptus."  —  Epist.  Frederic.     If  this  was  untrue,  it 
was  a  most  audacious  and  easily  confuted  untruth. 

1  "  Hie  (Gregorius  IX.)  tanquam  superbus  primo  anno  pontificatus  sui 
coepit  excommunicare  Fredericum  Imperatorem  pro  causis  frivolis  etfalsis." 
—  Abb.  Urspergens.  p.  247. 


Chap.  III.  WRATH   OF  GREGORY.  341 

real  and  unfeigned,  the  Bishops  of  Bari  and  Reggio, 
and  Reginald  of  Spoleto.  By  one  account,  the  Pope 
refused  to  admit  them  to  his  presence :  at  all  events,  he 
repelled  them  with  the  utmost  scorn,  and  so  persisted  in 
branding  the  Emperor  in  the  face  of  Christendom  as  a 
hypocrite  and  a  liar.1 

Twice  again,  on  St.  Martin's  Day  and  on  Christmas 
Day,  the  Pope,  amid  all  the  assembled  hierarchy,  re- 
newed and  confirmed  the  excommunication.  Frederick 
treated  the  excommunication  itself  with  utter  contempt ; 
either  through  love  or  fear  the  clergy  of  the  kingdom 
of  Naples  performed  as  usual  all  the  sacred  offices.  At 
Capua  he  held  a  Diet  of  all  the  Barons  of  Apulia  ;  he 
assessed  a  tax  on  both  the  kingdoms  for  an  expedition 
to  the  Holy  Land,  appointed  for  the  ensuing  May.  He 
summoned  an  assemblage  of  all  his  Italian  subjects  to 
meet  at  Ravenna,  to  take  counsel  for  this  common  Cru- 
sade. From  Capua  came  forth  his  defiant  appeal  to 
Christendom.2  In  this  appeal  Frederick  replied  to  the 
unmeasured  language  of  the  Pope  in  language  not  less 
unmeasured.  He  addressed  all  the  Sovereigns  of  Chris- 
tendom ;  he  urged  them  to  a  league  of  all  temporal 
Kings  to  oppose  this  oppressive  league  of  the  Pope  and 
the  Hierarchy.  He  declared  that  he  had  been  pre- 
vented from  accomplishing  his  vow,  not,  as  the  Pope 
falsely  averred,  by  frivolous  excuses,  but  by  serious  ill- 
ness ;  he  appealed  to  the  faithful  witness  in  Heaven  for 
his  veracity  ;  he  declared  his  fixed  determination,  im- 
mediately that  God  should  restore  him  to  health,  to 

1  There  is  a  letter  to  Frederick,  quoted  in  Raynaldus,  in  a  milder  tone, 
declaring  that  the  Pope  had  been  blamed  for  the  mansuetude  of  his  pro- 
ceedings; because  he  had  not  also  censured  him  for 'many  acts  of  tyranny 
»nd  invasion  on  the  rights  of  the  Church  in  Naples  and  Sicily. 

2  Rich,  de  San.  Germ. 


342  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X 

proceed  on  that  holy  expedition.  "  The  end  of  all  is 
at  hand  ;  the  Christian  charity  which  should  rule  and 
maintain  all  things  is  dried  up  in  its  fountain  not  in  its 
streams,  not  in  its  branches  but  in  its  stem.  Has  not 
the  unjust  interdict  of  the  Pope  reduced  the  Count  of 
Toulouse  and  many  other  princes  to  servitude  ?  Did 
not  Innocent  III.  (this  he  especially  addressed  to  King 
Henry  of  England)  urge  the  noble  Barons  of  England 
to  insurrection  against  John,  as  the  enemy  of  the 
Church  ?  But  no  sooner  had  the  humiliated  Kind 
subjected  his  realm,  like  a  dastard,  to  the  See  of  Rome, 
than,  having  sucked  the  fat  of  the  land,  he  abandoned 
those  Barons  to  shame,  ruin,  and  death.  Such  is  the 
way  of  Rome,  under  words  as  smooth  as  oil  and  honey 
lies  hid  the  rapacious  bloodsucker :  the  Church  of 
Rome,  as  though  she  were  the  true  Church,  calls  her- 
self my  mother  and  my  nurse,  while  all  her  acts  have 
been  those  of  a  stepmother.  The  whole  world  pays 
tribute  to  the  avarice  of  the  Romans.  Her  Legates 
travel  about  through  all  lands,  with  full  powers  of  ban 
and  interdict  and  excommunication,  not  to  sow  the 
seed  of  the  word  of  God,  but  to  extort  money,  to  reap 
what  they  have  not  sown.  They  spare  not  the  holy 
churches,  nor  the  sanctuary  of  the  poor,  nor  the  rights 
of  the  prelates.  The  primitive  Church,  founded  on  pov- 
erty and  simplicity,  brought  forth  numberless  Saints : 
she  rested  on  no  foundation  but  that  which  had  been 
laid  by  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  The  Romans  are  now 
rolling  in  wealth  ;  what  wonder  that  the  walls  of  the 
Church  are  undermined  to  the  base,  and  threaten  utter 
ruin  ?  "  x     The  Emperor  concluded   with   the   solemn 

i  Matth.  Taris,  sub  ann.  1228.     Written  no  doubt  at  the  end  of  1227 
Dec.  6;  received  in  England  in  1228. 


Chai\  III.  CONTINUED  STRIFE.  343 

admonition  to  all  temporal  Sovereigns  to  make  common 
cause  against  the  common  adversary  :  "  Your  house  is 
in  danger  when  that  of  your  neighbor  is  on  fire."  But 
in  all  this  strife  of  counter-proclamations,  the  advantage 
was  with  the  Pope.  Almost  every  pulpit  in  Christen- 
dom might  propagate  to  the  ends  of  the  earth  the  Pa- 
pal fulminations :  every  wandering  friar  might  repeat 
it  in  the  ears  of  •  men.  The  Emperor's  vindication,  the 
Imperial  ban1  against  the  Pope,  might  be  transmitted 
to  Imperial  officers,  to  municipal  magistrates,  even  to 
friendly  prelates  or  monks :  they  might  be  read  in  diets 
or  burgher-meetings,  be  affixed  on  town-halls  or  mar- 
ket-places, but  among  a  people  who  could  not  read  ; 
who  would  tremble  to  hear  them.1 

Yet  the  Emperor  had  allies,  more  dangerous  to  the 
Pope  than  the  remote  Sovereigns  of  Christendom. 
Gregory,  on  his  return  from  Anagni,  had  been  received 
in  Rome  with  the  acclamations  of  the  clergy,  and  part 
at  least  of  the  people.  But  in  Rome  there  had  always 
been  a  strong  Imperialist  party,  a  party  hostile  to  the 
ruling  Pontiff.  Gregory  had^already  demolished  the 
palaces  and  castle-towers  of  some  of  the  Roman  no- 
bles, which  obstructed  his  view,  and  no  doubt  threat- 
ened his  security  in  the  Lateran : 2  he  had  met  with  no 
open  resistance,  but  such  things  were  not  done  in 
Rome  without  more  dangerous  secret  murmurs.  Fred- 
erick, by  timely  succors   during  a  famine  in  the  last 

1  "D'ailleurs  les  moyens  de  publicity  faciles  et  puissans  dans  les  mains 
du  Pape,  £taient  presque  nuls  dans  celles  des  princes  s^culiers,  qui  avant 
rimprimerie  ne  pouvaient  que  difficilement  se  faire  entendre  des  masses 
populates.  Dans  cette  lutre  de  paroles  1'avantage  devoit  raster  an  Saint 
Siege,  puisque  la  chaire  dont  il  disposait  <5tait  la  seule  tribune  dece  temps." 
—  Cherrier,  Lutte  des  Papes  et  des  Empereurs,  ii.  p.  230. 

2  Card.  Arragon.  in  Vita. 


344  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X 

winter,  had  won  the  hearts  of  many  of  the  populace. 
He  had  made  himself  friends,  especially  among  the 
powerful  Frangipani,  by  acts  of  prodigal  generosity. 
He  had  purchased  the  lands  of  the  heads  of  that  family, 
and  granted  them  back  without  fine  as  Imperial  fiefs. 
The  Frangipanis  became  the  sworn  liegemen  of  the 
Emperor's  family.  Roffrid  of  Benevento,  a  famous 
professor  of  Jurisprudence  in  Bologna,  appeared  in 
Rome  and  read  in  public,  with  the  consent  of  the  Sen- 
ate and  people  of  Rome,  the  vindication  of  the  Em- 
peror. 

On  Thursday  in  the  Holy  Week  the  Pope  proceeded 
March  23.  to  his  more  tremendous  censures  on  the  im- 
excommu-  penitent  Frederick.  "  His  crimes  had  now 
a.d.  1228.  accumulated  in  fearful  measure.  To  the 
triple  offence,  which  he  had  committed  in  the  breach 
of  the  treaty  of  San  Germano  —  that  he  had  neither 
passed  the  sea  to  the  Holy  Land,  nor  armed  and  de- 
spatched the  stipulated  number  of  knights  at  his  own 
cost,  nor  furnished  the  sums  of  money  according  to  his 
obligation  —  were  added  other  offences.  He  had  pre- 
vented the  Archbishop  of  Tarento  from  entering  his 
See ;  he  had  seized  all  the  estates  held  by  the  Knights 
Templars  and  Knights  of  St.  John  within  his  realm  ; 
he  had  broken  the  treaty  entered  into  and  guaranteed 
by  the  See  of  Rome  with  the  Count  of  Celano  and 
Reginald  of  Acerra ;  he  had  deprived  the  Count  Roger, 
though  he  had  taken  the  Cross,  of  his  followers  and  of 
his  lands,  and  thrown  his  son  into  prison,  and  had  re- 
fused to  release  him  at  the  representation  of  the  Holy 
See."  All  these  were,  in  Frederick's  estimation,  his 
rebellious  subjects,  visited  with  just  and  lawful  penal- 
ties.    These  aggravated  crimes  —  for  crimes  they  were 


tfHAP.III.  GREGORY  DRIVEN  FROM   ROME.  345 

assumed  to  be  on  the  irrefragable  grounds  of  Papal  ac- 
cusation —  called  for  aggravated  censures.  The  Pope 
declared  every  place  in  which  Frederick  might  be, 
under  interdict ;  all  divine  offices  were  at  once  to  cease ; 
all  who  dared  to  celebrate  such  offices  were  deprived  of 
their  functions  and  of  their  benefices.  If  he  himself 
should  dare  to  force  his  way  into  the  ceremonies  of  the 
Church  he  was  threatened  with  something  worse.  If 
he  did  not  desist  from  the  oppression  of  the  churches 
and  of  ecclesiastical  persons,  if  he  did  not  cease  from 
trampling  under  foot  the  ecclesiastical  liberties,  and 
from  treating  the  excommunication  with  contempt,  all 
his  subjects  were  at  once  absolved  from  their  allegiance. 
He  was  menaced  with  the  loss  of  his  fief,  the  kingdom 
of  Naples,  which  he  held  from,  and  for  which  he  had 
done  homage  to,  the  See  of  Rome.  The  holy  ceremo- 
nies passed  away  undisturbed  ;  but  on  the  Wednesday 
in  Easter  week,  while  the  Pope  was  celebrating  the 
mass,  there  was  suddenly  heard  a  fierce  cry,  a  howl  as 
Gregory  describes  it ;  and  the  whole  populace  rose  in 
insurrection.  The  storm  was  for  a  time  Gregory 
allayed ;  but  after  some  weeks  Gregory  found  Home. 
it  necessary  to  leave  Rome.  He  retired  first  to  Reate, 
afterwards  to  Perugia.1 

Frederick,  in  the  mean  time,  although  under  excom- 
munication, celebrated  his  Easter  with  great  March  26. 
pomp  and  rejoicing  at  Baroli.  Tidings  had  arrived  of 
high  importance  from  the  Holy  Land.  Gregory  had 
received,  and  had  promulgated  throughout  Christen- 
dom, the    most  doleful  accounts  of   the  state  of  the 

1  Rich.  San.  Germ.  "  Quocirca  iidem  (the  Frangipanis)  reversi  cum  Papa 
rursus  excommunicaret  imperatorem,  fecerunt  ut  a  populo  pelleretur  turpi- 
ter  extra  civitatem."  —  Conrad.  Ursperg.    Compare  Vit.  Greg.  IX. 


346  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X 

Christians  in  Palestine.  A  letter  addressed  to  the 
Pope  by  Gerold  the  Patriarch,  Peter  Archbishop  of 
Cassarea  (the  Pope's  Legate),  the  Archbishop  of  Nar- 
bonne,  the  Bishops  of  Winchester  and  Exeter,  the 
Grand  Masters  of  the  Templars  and  of  St.  John,  an 
nounced,  that  no  sooner  had  the  news  of  the  Emperor's 
abandonment  of  the  Crusade  arrived  in  Syria,  than 
the  pilgrims,  to  the  number  of  forty  thousand,  reem- 
barked  for  the  West.  Only  eight  hundred  remained, 
who  were  retained  with  difficulty,  and  were  only  kept 
up  to  the  high  pitch  of  enthusiasm  by  the  promise  of 
the  Duke  of  Limbourg,  then  at  the  head  of  the  army, 
to  break  the  existing  treaties,  and  march  at  once  upon 
Jerusalem.  On  the  other  hand,  a  letter  from  Thomas 
Count  of  Acerra,  the  Lieutenant  of  Frederick  in  the 
Holy  Land  ;  who  now  held  the  city  of  Ptolemais, 
announced  the  death  of  the  Sultan  Moadhin  of  Damas- 
cus.1 Moadhin  was  the  most  formidable  enemy  of  the 
Christians  ;  he  had  been  at  the  head  of  a  powerful 
army ;  his  implacable  hatred  of  the  Christians  had 
brought  all  the  more  warlike  Saracens  under  his  ban- 
ner: he  had  destroyed  many  of  the  strongholds,  which, 
if  in  the  power  of  the  Crusaders,  might  be  of  military 
importance :  he  had  subjected  Jerusalem  itself  to  fur- 
ther ravage. 

All  the  acts  of  Frederick  now  showed  his  cletermina- 
Frederick  tion  to  embark  before  the  spring  was  passed 
the  crusade,  for  the  Holy  Land.  He  would  convince  the 
world,  the  Pope  himself,  of  his  sincerity.  Already  had 
he  despatched  considerable  reinforcements  to  the  Count 
of  Acerra  ;  the  taxes  for  the  armament  were  levied 
with  rigor ;  the  army  which  wras  to   accompany  him 

1  The  Christians  called  him  Conradin.  —  Rich.  San.  Germ. 


Chap.  III.  ASSEMBLY  AT  BAROLI.  347 

was  drawn  together  From  all  quarters.  The  death  of 
the  Empress  Iolante  in  childbirth  did  not  April,  1228. 
delay  these  warlike  proceedings.  To  Baroli  Baron. °y 
he  summoned  all  the  magnates  of  the  kingdom,  to  hear 
his  final  instructions,  to  witness  his  last  will  and  testa- 
ment, in  case  he  should  not  return  alive  from  his  expe- 
dition. No  building  could  contain  the  vast  assemblage  : 
a  tribune  was  raised  in  the  open  air,  from  which  the 
Imperial  mandates  were  read  aloud.  He  exhorted  all 
the  barons  and  prelates  with  their  liegemen  to  live  at 
peace  among  themselves,  as  in  the  happy  days  of  Wil- 
liam II.  Reginald  Duke  of  Spoleto  was  appointed 
Bailiff  of  the  realm  ;  his  elder  son  Henry  was  declared 
heir  both  of  the  Empire  and  of  the  kingdom  of  Sicily ; * 
if  he  died  without  heirs,  then  Conrad  ;  afterwards  any 
surviving  son  of  Frederick  by  a  lawful  wife.  This,  his 
last  will,  could  only  be  annulled  by  a  later  authentic 
testament.  The  Duke  of  Spoleto,  the  Grand  Justici- 
ary Henry  de  Morro,  and  others  of  the  nobles,  swore 
to  the  execution  of  this  solemn  act. 

The  more  determined  Frederick  appeared  to  fulfil 
his  vow,  the  more  resolute  became  the  Pope  in  his  hos- 
tility. He  had  interdicted  the  payment  of  all  taxes  to 
the  excommunicated  sovereign  by  all  the  prelates,  mon- 
asteries, and  ecclesiastics  of  his  realm.2  Pilgrims  who 
passed  the  Alps  to  join  the  army  were  plundered  by 
the  Lombards;  at  the  instigation  (so,  no  doubt,  it  was 
falsely  rumored,  but  the  falsehood  is  significant)  of  the 
Pope  himself.3  The  border  of  the  Neapolitan  kingdom 
was  violated  by  the  Pope's  subjects  of  Reate ;  the  pow- 
erful Lords  of  Polito  in  the  Capitanata  renounced  their 

1  Ric.  de  San  Germ.  p.  1005.  8  Urspergen.  sub  arm.  1228. 

2  Ric.  de  San  Germ. 


348  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

allegiance  to  the  King.  Frederick  went  down  to 
Brundusium;  his  fleet,  only  of  twenty  galleys,  rode 
off  the  island  of  St.  Andrew.1  Messengers  from  the 
Pope  arrived  peremptorily  inhibiting  his  embarkation 
on  the  Crusade  till  he  should  have  given  satisfaction  to 
the  Church,  and  been  released  from  her  ban.  Frederick 
paid  no  attention  to  the  mandate  ;  he  sailed  to  Otranto ; 
as  he  left  that  harbor,  he  sent  the  Archbishop  of  Bari 
and  Count  Henry  of  Malta  to  the  Pope,  to  demand  the 
abrogation  of  the  interdict:  they  were  rejected  with 
scorn  by  Gregory.2 

Frederick  set  sail  with  his  small  armament  of  twenty 
Frederick  galleys,  which  contained  at  most  six  hundred 
sets  sail.  knights,  more,  the  Pope  tauntingly  declared, 
like  a  pirate  than  a  great  sovereign.  He  could  not 
await,  perhaps  he  had  no  inclination  to  place  himself 
at  the  head  of  a  great  Crusade,  assembled  from  all 
quarters  of  the  world,  and  so  involve  himself  in  a  long 
war  which  he  could  not  abandon  without  disgrace.  He 
could  not  safely  withdraw  the  main  part  of  his  forces, 
and  expose  his  kingdom  of  Naples  to  the  undisguised 
hostility  of  the  Pope,  with  malecontents  of  all  classes, 
especially  the  clergy,  whom  he  had  been  forced  to  keep 
down  with  a  strong  hand.  He  was  still  in  secret  intel- 
ligence with  the  Sultan  of  Egypt,  still  hoped  to  acquire 
by  peaceful  negotiations  what  his  predecessors  had  not 
been  able  to  secure  by  war.3  Frederick,  after  a  pros- 
in  Cyprus,  perous  voyage,  landed  at  Cyprus ;  there,  by 
acts  of  violence  and  treachery   (the  only  account  of 

1  Jordanus,  in  Raynald.  sub  ann.  Andreas  Dandolo,  apud  Muratori,  xil 
544.    June  or  July. 

2  Reg.  Gregor.,  quoted  by  Von  Raumer,  p.  445. 
8  See  above,  p.  334. 


Crap.  III.  FREDERICK  IN  PALESTINE.  349 

these  transactions  is  from  hostile  writers)  he  wrested 
the  tutelage  of  the  young  King  from  John  of  Ibelin, 
whom  he  invited  to  a  banquet,  treated  with  honor  as 
his  own  near  kinsman,  and  then  compelled  to  submit  to 
his  terms.  But  as  the  young  King  was  cousin  to  his 
Empress  Iolante,  his  interference,  which  was  solicited 
by  some  of  the  leading  men  in  the  island,  may  have 
rested  on  some  asserted  right  as  nearest  of  kin.1  From 
Cyprus  he  sailed  to  Ptolemais :  he  was  re-  At  ptoie- 
ceived  with  the  utmost  demonstrations  of  joy.  Sept.'?. 
The  remnant  of  the  pilgrims  who  had  not  returned  to 
Europe  welcomed  their  tardy  deliverer  as  about  to  lead 
them  to  conquest ;  the  clergy  and  the  people  came  forth 
in  long  processions  ;  the  Knights  of  the  Temple  and 
St.  John  knelt  before  the  Emperor  and  kissed  his  knee  ; 
but  (inauspicious  omen  !)  the  clergy  refused  the  kiss  of 
peace,  and  declined  all  intercourse  with  one  under  the 
ban  of  the  Church.2  At  the  head  of  a  great  force 
Frederick  might  have  found  it  difficult  to  awe  into 
concord  the  conflicting  factions  which  divided  the 
Christians  in  the  Holy  Land :  they  seemed  to  suspend 
their  mutual  animosities  in  their  common  jealousy  of 
Frederick.  The  cold  estrangement  of  the  Frederick 
clergy  quickened  rapidly  into  open  hostility.  Sept.  7". 
The  active  hatred  of  the  Pope  had  instantly  pursued 
the  Emperor,  even  faster  than  his  own  fleet,  to  the 
Holy  Land.  Two  Franciscan  friars  had  been  de- 
spatched in  a  fast-sailing  bark,  .to  proclaim  to  the 
Eastern  Christians  that  he  was  still  under  excommuni- 
cation ;  that  all  were  to  avoid  him  as  a  profane  person. 

1  The  mother  of  Henry  of  Cyprus  was  half-sister  to  Maria  Iolante,  the 
mother  of  the  Empress. 

2  Matth.  Paris.     Urspergens.  sub  ann. 


350  LATIN  CHRISTIAN  ITY.  Book.  X 

The  Patriarch,  the  two  Grand  Masters  of  the  Orders, 
were  to  take  measures  that  the  Crusade  was  not  dese- 
crated by  being  under  the  banner  of  an  excommuni- 
cated man,  lest  the  affairs  of  the  Christians  should  be 
imperilled.  The  Master  of  the  Teutonic  Order  was 
to  take  the  command  of  the  German  and  Lombard  pil- 
grims ;  Richard  the  Marshal  and  Otho  Peliard  of  the 
troops  of  the  kingdoms  of  Jerusalem  and  Cyprus;  in 
his  own  camp  the  Emperor  was  to  be  without  power, 
nothing  was  to  be  done  in.  his  name.1 

The  Knights  Templars  and  Knights  of  the  Hospital 
Opposition  of  hardly  required  to  be  stimulated  by  the  Papal 
the  1^-' '  censures  to  the  hatred  of  Frederick.  These 
Hospitallers,  associations,  from  bands  of  gallant  knights 
vowed  to  protect  the  pilgrims  to  the  Holy  Sepulchre, 
and  to  perform  other  Christian  services,  had  rapidly 
grown  into  powerful  Orders,  with  vast  possessions  in 
every  Christian  kingdom  ;  and,  themselves  not  strong 
enough  to  maintain  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem,  were 
jealous  of  all  others.  As  yet  they  were  stern  bigots, 
and  had  not  incurred  those  suspicions  which  darkened 
around  them  at  a  later  period  in  their  history.  Fred- 
erick had  placed  them  under  severe  control,  with  all 
the  other  too  zealous  partisans  of  the  Church,  in  his 
realm  of  Naples  and  Sicily.  This  was  one  of  the 
acts  which  appears  throughout  among  the  charges  of 
tyrannical  maladministration  in  the  Apulian  kingdom. 
These  religious  Orders  claimed  the  same  exemptions, 
the  same  immunities,  with  other  ecclesiastics :  the  mere 
fact  that  they  were  submitted  to  the  severe  and  impar- 
tial taxation  of  Frederick  would  to  them  be  an  intoler- 
able grievance.     Their  unruly  murmurs,  if  not  resist- 

1  Richard  de  San  Germano  p.  1005. 


Chap.  III.  OPPOSITION   TO   FREDERICK.  Ij51 

ance,  would  no  doubt  provoke  the  haughty  sovereign  ; 
his  haughtiness  would  rouse  theirs  to  still  more  inflexible 
opposition.  Perhaps  Frederick's  favor  to  the  Teutonic 
Order  might  further  exasperate  their  jealousy.  They 
had  already  filled  the  ears  of  the  Pope  with  their  clam- 
ors against  Thomas  of  Acerra,  the  Lieutenant  of  Fred- 
erick. Gregory  had  proclaimed  to  Christendom,  to 
France  where  the  Templars  were  in  great  power,  that 
"  the  worthy  vicegerent  of  Frederick,  that  minister  of 
Mahomet  who  scrupled  not  to  employ  his  impious  Sara- 
cens of  Nocera  against  Christians  and  Churchmen  in 
his  Apulian  kingdom,  had  openly  taken  part  with  the 
unbelievers  against  these  true  soldiers  of  the  Cross." 
The  Saracens,  when  the  suspension  of  arms  was  at  an 
end,  had  attacked  a  post  of  the  Knights  Templars,  and 
had  carried  off  a  rich  booty.  The  Templars  had  pur- 
sued the  marauders,  and  rescued  part  of  the  spoil ; 
when  Thomas  of  Acerra  appeared  at  the  head  of  his 
troops,  and,  instead  of  siding  with  the  Christians,  had 
compelled  them  to  restore  the  booty  to  the  Infidels. 
Such  was  their  version  of  this  affair,1  eagerly  accred- 
ited by  the  Pope.  It  is  more  probable  that  the  Lieu- 
tenant of  the  Emperor  acted  as  General  of  the  Christian 
forces ;  and  that  this  whole  proceeding  was  in  violation 
of  his  orders,  as  it  clearly  was  on  both  sides,  of  the 
existing  treaty.  The  Knights  Templars  and  Hospital- 
lers held  themselves  as  entirely  independent  powers ; 
fought  or  refused  to  fight  according  to  their  own  will 
and  judgment ;  formed  no  part  of  one  great  Christian 
army  ;  were  amenable,  in  their  own  estimation,  to  no 

1  Letter  of  Gregory  to  the  Legate  in  France,  in  Matth.  Paris.  Com  para 
Hugo  Plagsn.  where  the  Marshal  Richard  is  represented  as  in  command  of 
the  pilgrims. 


352  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

superior  military  rule.  If  they  had  refused  obedience 
to  the  Lieutenant  of  the  Emperor  or  the  King  of  Jeru- 
salem, they  were  not  likely  to  receive  commands  from 
one  under  excommunication.  Frederick  himself  soon 
experienced  their  utter  contumacy.  He  commanded 
them  to  evacuate  a  castle  called  the  Castle  of  the  Pil- 
grims, which  he  wished  to  garrison  with  his  own  troops. 
The  Templars  closed  the  gates  in  his  face,  and  insult- 
ingly told  him  to  go  his  way,  or  he  might  find  himself 
in  a  place  from  whence  he  would  not  be  able  to  make 
his  way.1 

Frederick,  however,  with  the  main  army  of  the  pil- 
grims was  in  high  popularity;  they  refused  not  to 
march  under  his  standard ;  he  appeared  to  approve 
of  their  determination  to  break  off  the  treaty,  and  to 
advance  at  once  upon  Jerusalem.  Frederick,  to  avoid 
this  perpetual  collision  with  his  enemies,  pitched  his 
camp  at  Recordana,  some  distance  without  the  gates 
of  Ptolemais.  He  then  determined  to  take  possession 
of  Joppa,  and  to  build  a  strong  fortress  in  that  city. 
He  summoned  all  the  Christian  forces  to  join  him  in 
this  expedition.  The  Templars  peremptorily  refused, 
if  the  war  was  to  be  carried  on,  and  the  orders  issued 
to  the  camp,  in  the  name  of  the  excommunicated 
Emperor.  Frederick  commenced  his  march  without 
them  ;  but  mistrusting  the  small  number  of  his  forces, 
was  obliged  to  submit  that  all  orders  should  be  issued 
in  the  name  of  God  and  of  Christianity.  Frederick's 
occupation  of  Joppa,  the  port  nearest  to  Jerusalem, 
wns  not  only  to  obtain  possession  of  a  city  in  which 
he  should  be  more  completely  master  than  in  Ptolemais, 
and  to  strengthen  the  Christian  cause  by  the  erection 

1  Hugo  Plagen. 


Chap.  III.  SULTAN  KAMEEL  OF  EGYPT.  3f>3 

of  a  strong  citadel ;  but  as  the  jealous  vigilance  of  his 
enemies  discerned,  to  bring  himself  into  closer  neigh- 
borhood with  the  Sultan  of  Egypt.  Kameel,  the  Bab- 
ylonian Sultan,  as  he  was  called  from  the  Egyptian 
Babylon  (Cairo),  was  encamped  in  great  force  near 
Gaza.  The  old  amity,  and  more  than  the  amity, 
something  like  a  close  league  between  the  Sultan  of 
Egypt  and  the  Emperor  Frederick,  now  appeared  almost 
in  its  full  maturity.  Already,  soon  after  the  loss  of 
Damietta  and  its  recovery  from  the  discomfited  Chris- 
tians, Sultan  Kameel  had  sent  his  embassy  to  Frederick, 
avowedly  because  he  was  acknowledged  to  be  the 
greatest  of  the  Christian  powers,  and  in  Sicily  ruled 
over  Mohammedan  subjects  with  mildness,  if  not  with 
favor.  The  interchange  of  presents  had  been  such  as 
became  two  such  splendid  sovereigns.1  The  secret  of 
their  negotiations,  carried  on  by  the  mission  of  the 
Archbishop  of  Palermo  to  Cairo,  of  Fakreddin  the 
favorite  of  Sultan  Kameel  to  Sicily,  could  be  no  secret 
to  the  watchful  emissaries  of  the  Pope. 

There  had  been  mortal  feud  between  Malek  Ka- 
meel of  Egypt  and  Malek  Moadhin  of  Damascus. 
Malek  Moadhin  had  called  in  the  formidable  aid  of 
Gelal-eddin,  the  Sultan  of  Kharismia,  who  had  made 
great  conquests  in  Georgia,  the  Greater  Armenia,  and 
Northern  Syria.  Sultan  Kameel  had  not  scrupled  to 
seek  the  aid  of  the  Christian  against  Moadhin ;  no 
doubt  to  Frederick  the  lure  was  the  peaceful  establish- 
ment of  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem,  in  close  alliance 
with  the  Egyptian  Sultan.2  On  the  death  of  Moad- 
hin the   Damascene,  Sultan  Kameel  had   marched  at 

1  See  the  Arabian  history  of  the  Patriarchs  of  Alexandria. 

2  Abulfeda. 

vol.  v.  23 


354  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

once  into  Syria,  occupied  Jerusalem,  and  the  whole 
southern  district :  he  threatened  to  seize  the  whole 
dominions  of  Moadhin.  But  a  third  brother,  Malek 
Ashraf,  Prince  of  Khelath,  Edessa,  and  Haran  on  the 
Euphrates,  took  up  the  cause  of  David,  the  young  son 
of  Moadhin.  The  Christians,  reinforced  by  Freder- 
ick's first  armament  under  Thomas  of  Acerra,  upon 
this  had  taken  a  more  threatening  attitude  ;  had  begun 
to  rebuild  Sidon,  to  man  other  fortresses,  and  to  make 
hostile  incursions.  Sultan  Kameel  affected  great  dread 
of  their  power :  he  addressed  a  letter  to  his  brother 
Ashraf,  expressing  his  fears  lest,  to  the  disgrace  of  the 
Mohammedan  name,  the  Christians  should  wrest  Jeru- 
salem, the  great  conquest  of  Saladin,  from  the  hands  of 
the  true  believers.  Ashraf  was  deceived,  or  chose  to 
be  deceived  :  he  abandoned  the  cause  of  the  young 
Sultan  of  Damascus ;  he  agreed  to  share  in  his  spoils ; 
Sultan  Kameel  was  to  remain  in  Palestine  master  of 
Jerusalem,  to  oppose  the  Christians  :  while  Ashraf  un 
dertook  the  siege  of  Damascus.  Such  was  the  state  of 
affairs  when  Frederick  suddenly  landed  at  Ptolemais. 
Sultan  Kameel  repented  that  he  had  invited  him  ;  he 
had  sought  an  ally,  he  feared  a  master.  The  name 
of  the  great  Christian  Emperor  spread  terror  among 
the  whole  Mohammedan  population.1  Had  Frederick, 
even    though    he    brought    so    inconsiderable    a   force, 

OCT  * 

at  once  been  recognized  as  the  head  of  the  Crusade ; 
had  he  been  joined  cordially  by  the  Knights  of  the 
Temple  and  of  the  Hospital,  his  name  had  still  been 
imposing,  he  might  have  dictated  his  own  terms.  The 
dissensions  of  the  Christians  were  fatal  —  dissensions 
which  could  not  be  disguised  from  the  sagacious  Mo- 
hammedans. 

1  Abulfeda. 


Chap.  III.  FREDERICK  AND  KAMEEL.  355 

Almost  the  first  act  of  King  Frederick  on  his  arrival 
ill  Palestine  was  an  embassy,  of  Balian  Prince  of  Tyre 
and  Thomas  of  Acerra  his  Lieutenant,  to  the  camp  of 
his  old  ally  Sultan  Kameel  ;  they  were  received  with 
great  pomp  ;  the  army  drawn  up  in  array.  The  em- 
bassy returned  to  Ptolema'is  with  a  huge  elephant  and 
other  costly  presents.  The  negotiations  began  at  the 
camp  of  Recordana  ;  they  were  continued  at  Joppa. 
The  demands  of  Frederick  were  no  less  than  the  abso- 
lute surrender  of  Jerusalem  and  all  the  adjacent  dis- 
tricts ;  the  restoration  of  his  kingdom  to  its  full  extent. 
The  Sultan,  as  much  in  awe  of  the  zealots  of  Moham- 
medanism as  Frederick  of  the  zealots  of  Christianitv, 
alleged  almost  insuperable  difficulties.  The  Emir  Fak- 
reddin,  the  old  friend  of  Frederick,  and  another  named 
Shems  Eddin,  were  constantly  in  the  Christian  camp. 
They  not  merely  treated  with  the  accomplished  Em- 
peror, who  spoke  Arabic  fluently,  on  the  subjects  of 
their  mission,  but  discussed  all  the  most  profound  ques- 
tions of  science  and  philosophy.  Sultan  Kameel  af- 
fected the  character  of  a  patron  of  learning ;  Frederick 
addressed  to  him  a  number  of  those  philosophic  enigmas 
which  exercise  and  delight  the  ingenious  Oriental  mind. 
Their  intercourse  was  compared  to  that  of  the  Queen 
of  Sheba  and  Solomon.  There  were  other  Eastern 
amusements  not  so  becoming  the  Christian  Emperor. 
Christian  ladies  met  the  Mohammedan  delegates  at 
feasts,  it  was  said  with  no  advantage  to  their  virtue. 
Among  the  Sultan's  presents  was  a  bevy  of  dancing 
girls,  whose  graceful  feats  the  Emperor  beheld  with  too 
great  interest,  and  was  not,  it  was  said,  insensible  to 
their  beauty.     The  Emperor  wore  the  Saracen  dress  ; 


35G  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

he  became,  in  the  estimation  of  the  stern  Churchmen, 
a  Saracen.1 

The  treaty  dragged  slowly  on.  Sultan  Kameel  could 
not  be  ignorant  of  the  hostility  against  Frederick  in 
the  Christian  camp  :  if  he  had  been  ignorant,  the 
knowledge  would  have  been  forced  upon  him.  The 
Emperor,  by  no  means  superior  even  to  the  superstition 
of  the  land,  had  determined  to  undertake  a  pilgrimage 
almost  alone,  and  in  a  woollen  robe,  to  bathe  in  the  Jor- 
dan. The  Templars  wrote  a  letter  to  betray  his  design 
to  the  Sultan,  that  he  might  avail  himself  of  this  op- 
portunity of  seizing  and  making  Frederick  prisoner,  or 
even  of  putting  him  to  death.  The  Sultan  sent  the  let- 
Negotiations  ter  to  the  Emperor.2  From  all  these  causes, 
Kameei.  the  tone  of  the  Sultan  naturally  rose,  that  of 
Frederick  was  lowered,  by  the  treason  of  which  he  was 
obliged  to  dissemble  his  knowledge,  as  he  could  not  re- 
venge it.  Eastern  interpreters  are  wont  to  translate  all 
demands  made  of  their  sovereigns  into  humble  petitions. 
The  Arabian  historian  has  thus,  perhaps,  selecting  a 
few  sentences  out  of  a  long  address,  toned  down  the 
words  of  Frederick  to  Sultan  Kameel  to  abject  suppli- 
cation. u  I  am  thy  friend.  Thou  art  not  ignorant 
that  I  am  the  greatest  of  the  Kings  of  the  West.  It 
is  thou  that  hast  invited  me  to  this  land  ;   the  Kings 

1  "  Quod  cum  maxima  verecundia  referimus  et  rubore,  Impcratori  Solda- 
nus  audiens  quod  secundum  morem  Saracenicum  se  haberet,  misit  canla* 
trices  qua?  et  saltatrices  dicuntui,  et  joculatores,  personas  quidem  non  solum 
iniames  verum  etiam  de  quibus  inter  Christianos  haberi  mentio  non  debe- 
bafc.  Cum  quibus  idem  princeps  hujus  mundi  vigiliis,  potationibus,  et  in- 
dumentis,  et  omni  modo  Saracenus  se  gerebat."  —  Epist.  Ceroid,  apud 
Uayuald.  1229,  v. 

2  Matthew  Paris,  and  the  Arabian  historians  in  Reiuaud,  p.  429.  Addi« 
'ion  to  Michaud. 


Chap.  III.      NEGOTIATIONS   WITH  SULTAN   KAMEEL.  357 

and  the  Pope  are  well  informed  of  my  journey.  If  I 
return  having  obtained  nothing,  I  shall  forfeit  all  con- 
sideration with  them.  And  after  all,  Jerusalem,  is  it 
not  the  birthplace  of  the  Christian  religion  ?  and  have 
you  not  destroyed  it  ?  It  is  in  the  lowest  state  of  ruin ; 
out  of  your  goodness  surrender  it  to  me  as  it  is,  that  I 
may  be  able  to  lift  up  my  head  among  the  kings  of 
Christendom.  I  renounce  at  once  all  advantages  which 
I  may  obtain  from  it."  To  Fakreddin,  in  more  inti- 
mate converse,  he  acknowledged,  according  to  another 
Eastern  account,  "  My  object  in  coming  hither  was  not 
to  deliver  the  Holy  City,  but  to  maintain  my  estima- 
tion among  the  Franks."  He  had  before  made  lan<;e 
demands  of  commercial  privileges,  the  exemption  of 
tribute  for  his  merchants  in  the  ports  of  Alexandria 
and  Rosetta.  The  terms  actually  obtained,  at  their 
lowest  amount,  belie  this  humiliating  petition.  The 
whole  negotiation  was  a  profound  secret  to  all  but  Fred- 
erick and  the  immediate  adherents  to  whom  he  conde- 
scended to  communicate  it. 

At  length  Frederick  summoned  four  Syrian  Barons : 
he  explained  to  them  that  the  state  of  his  Feb  11. 
affairs,  the  utter  exhaustion  of  his  finances,  made  it  im- 
possible for  him  to  remain  in  the  Holy  Land.  There 
were  still  stronger  secret  reasons  for  hastening  the  con- 
clusion of  the  treaty.  A  fast-sailing  vessel  had  been 
despatched  to  Joppa,  which  announced  that  the  Papal 
army  had  broken  into  Apulia,  and  were  laying  waste 
the  whole  land,  and  threatened  to  wrest  from  Frederick 
his  beloved  kingdom  of  Sicily.  The  Sultan  of  Baby- 
lon, he  told  the  Barons,  had  offered  to  surrender 
Jerusalem,  and  other  advantageous  conditions.  He 
demanded  their  advice.     The  Barons  replied  that  under 


358  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X 

such  circumstances  it  might  be  well  to  accept  the  terms ; 
Terms  of  Dut  tnev  insisted  on  the  right  of  fortifying 
treaty.  t}ie  wans  0f  Jerusalem.     The  Emperor  then 

summoned  the  Grand  Masters  of  the  Temple  and  the 
Hospital  and  the  English  Bishops  of  Winchester  and 
Exeter  ;  he  made  the  same  statement  to  them.  They 
answered,  that  no  such  treaty  could  be  made  without 
the  assent  of  the  Patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  in  his  double 
capacity  as  head  of  the  Syrian  Church  and  Legate  of 
the  Pope.  Frederick  superciliously  replied  that  he 
could  dispense  with  the  assent  of  the  Patriarch.  Ger- 
old,  before  his  adversary,  became  his  most  implacable 
foe. 

One  week  after  the  first  interview  the  treaty  was 
Feb.  18.  signed :  there  is  much  discrepancy  in  the 
articles  between  the  Mohammedan  and  Christian  ac- 
counts ;  the  Mohammedans  restrict,  the  Christians 
enlarge  the  concessions.  The  terms  transmitted  by 
the  Patriarch  to  the  Pope,  translated  from  the  Arabic 
into  the  French,  were  these :  —  I.  The  entire  surren- 
der  of   Jerusalem  to  the  Emperor  and  his    Prefects. 

II.  Except  the  site  of  the  Temple,  occupied  by  the 
Mosque  of  Omar,  which  remained  absolutely  in  the 
power  of  the  Saracens :  they  held  the  keys  of  the  gates. 

III.  The  Saracens  were  to  have  free  access  as  pilgrims 
to  perform  their  devotions  at  Bethlehem.  IV.  Devout 
Christians  were  only  permitted  to  enter  and  pray  within 
the  precincts  of  the  Temple  on  certain  conditions.  V. 
All  wrong  committed  by  one  Saracen  upon  another  in 
Jerusalem  was  to  be  judged  before  a  Mussulman  tri- 
bunal. VI.  The  Emperor  was  to  give  no  succor  to 
any  Frank  or  Saracen,  who  should  be  engaged  in  war 
against   the  Saracens,   or  suffer  any  violation   of  the 


Chap.  III.  FREDERICK  AT  JERUSALEM.  359 

truce.  VII.  The  Emperor  was  to  recall  all  who  were 
engaged  in  any  invasion  of  the  territory  of  the  Sultan 
of  Egypt,  and  prohibit  to  the  utmost  of  his  power  every 
violation  of  such  territory.  VIII.  In  case  of  such  vio- 
lation of  the  treaty,  the  Emperor  was  to  espouse  and 
defend  the  cause  of  the  Sultan  of  Egypt.  IX.  Tripoli, 
Antioch,  Karak,  and  their  dependencies  were  not  in- 
cluded in  this  treaty.1 

The  German  pilgrims  rejoiced  without  disguise  at 
this  easy  accomplishment  of  their  vows ;  they  were 
eager  to  set  out  to  offer  their  devotions  in  the  Holy 
Sepulchre.  Frederick  himself  determined  to  accom- 
plish his  own  piWima^e,  and  to  assume  in  Frederick  in 

i  •  -ii  p     i        i  •         i  n  x  Jerusalem. 

his  capital  the  crown  or  the  kingdom  or  J  era-  March  17. 
salem.  Attended  by  the  faithful  Master  of  the  Teu- 
tonic Knights,  Herman  of  Salza,  and  accompanied  by 
Shems  Eddin,  the  Saracen  Kadi  of  Naplous,  he  arrived 
on  the  eve  of  Sunday,  the  19th  of  March,  in  Jerusa- 
lem :  he  took  up  his  lodging  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
Temple,  now  a  Mohammedan  mosque,  under  the  guar- 
dianship of  the  Kadi ;  there  were  fears  lest  he  should 
be  attacked  by  some  Mohammedan  fanatic.  But  the 
Emperor  had  not  arrived  in  Jerusalem  before  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Csesarea  appeared  with  instructions  from  the 
Patriarch  of  Jerusalem  to  declare  him  under  excom- 
munication, and  to  place  the  city  of  Jerusalem  under 

1  These  articles  are  obviously  incomplete^  they  do  not  describe  the  ex- 
tent of  the  concessions,  which,  according  to  other  statements,  included, 
with  Jerusalem,  Bethlehem,  Nazareth,  and  the  whole  district  between 
Joppa  and  Jerusalem.  There  is  nothing  said,  if  anything  was  definitively 
agreed,  as  to  the  right  of  the  Emperor  to  rebuild  the  walls  of  Jerusalem; 
nor  of  the  condition  that  the  Saracens  were  only  to  enter  Jerusalem  un- 
armed, and  not  to  pass  the  night  within  the  walls.  The  important  stipula- 
tion of  the  surrender  of  all  Christian  prisoners  without  ransom  is  altogether 
omitted. 


360  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X 

the  ban.  Even  the  Sepulchre  of  the  Lord  was  under 
interdict;  the  prayers  of  the  pilgrims  even  in  that  holiest 
place  were  forbidden,  or  declared  unholy.  No  Chris- 
tian rite  could  be  celebrated  before  the  Christian  Em- 
peror, and  that  disgrace  was  inflicted  in  the  face  of  all 
the  Mohammedans  ! 

Immediately  on  his  arrival  the  Emperor  visited  the 
Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre.  The  church  was 
silent ;  not  a  priest  appeared :  during  his  stay  no  mass 
was  celebrated  within  the  city  or  in  the  suburbs.  An 
English  Dominican,  named  Walter,  performed  one 
solitary  service  on  the  morning  of  the  Sunday.  Fred- 
erick proceeded  again  in  great  pomp  and  in  all  his 
imperial  apparel  to  the  Church  of  the  Sepulchre.  No 
prelate,  no  priest  of  the  Church  of  Jerusalem  wa«  there 
who  ventured  to  utter  a  blessing.  The  Archbishops 
of  Palermo  and  of  Capua  were  present,  but  seem  to 
coronation  of  nave  ta^en  no  Part  m  tne  ceremony.  The 
Frederick.  imperial  crown  was  placed  on  the  high  altar  ; 
Frederick  took  it  up  and  with  his  own  hands  placed  it 
on  his  head.  The  Master  of  the  Teutonic  Order  de- 
livered an  address  in  the  name  of  the  Emperor,  which 
was  read  in  German,  in  French,  in  Latin,  and  in  Ital- 
ian. It  ran  in  this  strain :  "  It  is  well  known  that  at 
Aix-la-Chapelle  I  took  the  Cross  of  my  own  free-will. 
Hitherto  insuperable  difficulties  have  impeded  the  ful- 
filment of  my  vow.  I  acquit  the  Pope  for  his  hard 
judgment  of  me  and  for  my  excommunication  :  in  no 
other  way  could  he  escape  the  blasphemy  and  evil 
report  of  men.  I  exculpate  him  further  for  his  writing 
against  me  to  Palestine  in  so  hostile  a  spirit,  for  men 
had  rumored  that  I  had  levied  my  army  not  against 
the  Holy  Land,  but  to  invade  the  Papal  States.     Had 


Chap.  III.  CORONATION  OF  FREDERICK.  361 

the  Pope  known  my  real  design,  lie  would  have  writ- 
ten not  against  me,  but  in  my  favor :  did  he  know  how 
many  are  acting  here  to  the  prejudice  of  Christianity, 
he  would  not  pay  so  much  respect  to  their  complaints 
and  representations.  ...  I  would  willingly  do  all 
which  shall  expose  those  real  enemies  and  false  friends 
of  Christ  who  delight  in  discord,  and  so  put  them  to 
shame  by  the  restoration  of  peace  and  unity.  I  will 
not  now  think  of  the  high  estate  which  is  my  lot  on 
earth,  but  humble  myself  before  God  to  whom  I  owe 
my  elevation,  and  before  him  who  is  his  Vicar  upon 
earth." 1  The  Emperor  returned  through  the  streets 
wearing  the  crown  of  Jerusalem.  The  same  day  he 
visited  the  site  of  the  Temple,  whereon  stood  the 
Mosque  of  Omar. 

The  zealous  Mohammedans  were  in  bitter  displeasure 
with  Frederick,  as  having  obtained  from  their  easy 
Sultan  the  possession  of  the  Holy  City  ;  yet  their  re- 
ligious pride  watched  all  his  actions,  and  construed 
every  word  and  act  into  a  contempt  of  the  Chris- 
tian faith,  and  his  respect,  if  not  more  than  respect, 
for  Islam.  The  Emir  Shems  Eddin,  so  writes  the 
Arabic  historian,  had  issued  rigid  orders  that  noth- 
ing should  be  done  which  could  offend  the  Emperor. 
The  house  where  the  Emperor  slept  was  just  below  the 
minaret  from  which  the  Muezzin  was  wont  to  proclaim 
the  hour  of  prayer.  But  in  Jerusalem  the  Muezzin  did 
more.     He  read  certain  verses  of  the  Koran ;  on  that 

1  If  this  is  the  genuine  speech,  quoted  by  Von  Raumer  from  the  unpub- 
lished Regesta  in  the  Papal  archives,  it  may  show  the  malice  of  the  Patri- 
arch Gerold,  who  thus  describes  it:  —  "  Ita  coronatus  resedit  in  cathedra 
Patriarchatus  excusando  malitiam  suam  et  accusando  ecclesiain  Romanam, 
impouens  ei  quod  injuste  processerat  contra  eum;  et  notabilem  earn  fecerat 
invective  et  repre.hensive  de  insatiabili  et  simoniali  avaritia." 


661  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

night  the  text,  "  How  is  it  possible  that  God  had  for  his 
son  Jesus  the  son  of  Mary  ?  "  The  Kadi  took  alarm  ; 
he  silenced  altogether  the  officious  Muezzin.  The  Em- 
peror listened  in  vain  for  that  sound  which  in  the  silent 
night  is  so  solemn  and  impressive.  He  inquired  the 
reason  of  this  silence,  which  had  continued  for  two 
days.  The  Kadi  gave  the  real  cause,  the  fear  of 
offending  the  Christian  Emperor.  "  You  are  wrong," 
said  Frederick,  "  to  neglect  on  my  account  your  duty, 
your  law,  and  your  religion.  By  God,  if  you  should 
visit  me  in  my  realm,  you  will  find  no  such  respectful 
deference."  The  Emperor  had  declared  that  one  of 
the  chief  objects  of  his  visit  to  the  Holy  Land  was  to 
behold  the  Mohammedans  at  prayer.  He  stood  in 
wondering  admiration  before  the  Mosque  of  Omar  ;  he 
surveyed  the  pulpit  from  which  the  Imaun  delivered 
his  sermons.  A  Christian  priest  had  found  his  way 
into  the  precincts  with  the  book  of  the  Gospels  in  his 
hand ;  the  Emperor  resented  this  as  an  insult  to  the 
religious  worship  of  the  Mohammedans,  and  threatened 
to  punish  it  as  a  signal  breach  of  the  treaty.  The 
Arabic  historian  puts  into  his  mouth  these  words : 
"  Here  we  are  all  the  servants  of  the  Sultan ;  it  is  he 
that  has  restored  to  us  our  Churches."  So  writes  the 
graver  historian.1  There  is  a  description  of  Frederick's 
demeanor  in  the  Temple  by  an  eye-witness,  one  of  the 
ministering  attendants,  in  which  the  same  ill-suppressed 
aversion  to  the  uncircumcised  is  mingled  with  the  desire 
to  claim  an  imperial  proselyte.  "  The  Emperor  was 
red-haired  and  bald,  with  weak  sight ;  as  a  slave  he 
would  not  have  sold  for  more  than  200  drachms." 
Frederick's  language  showed  (so  averred  some  Mo* 

1  Makrizi,  in  Reinaud. 


Chap.  III.    ANGER  OF  MOHAMMEDANS  AT  THE  TREATY.    363 

hammedans)  that  he  did  not  believe  the  Christian  re- 
ligion ;  he  did  not  scruple  to  jest  upon  it.  He  read 
without  anger,  and  demanded  the  explanation  of  the 
inscription  in  letters  of  gold,  "  Saladin,  in  a  certain 
year,  purified  the  Holy  City  from  the  presence  of  those 
who  worship  many  Gods."  x  The  windows  of  the 
Holy  Chapel  were  closely  barred  to  keep  out  the  de- 
filements of  the  birds.  "  You  may  shut  out  the  birds," 
said  Frederick,  "  how  will  ye  keep  out  the  swine  ?  " 
At  noon,  at  the  hour  of  prayer,  when  all  the  faithful 
fall  on  their  knees  in  adoration,  the  Mohammedans  in 
attendance  on  Frederick  did  the  same  ;  among  the  rest 
the  aged  preceptor  of  Frederick,  a  Sicilian  Mussulman 
who  had  instructed  him  in  dialectics.  Frederick,  in  this 
at  least  not  going  beyond  the  bounds  of  wise  tolerance, 
betrayed  neither  surprise  nor  dissatisfaction. 

After  but  two  days  the  Emperor  retired  from  the  in- 
terdicted city  ;  if  he  took  no  steps  to  restore  the  walls, 
some  part  of  the  blame  must  attach  to  his  religious 
foes,  who  pursued  him  even  into  the  Holy  City  with 
such  inexorable  hostility. 

Both  the  Emperor  and  the  Sultan  had  wounded  the 
pride  and  offended  the  religious  prejudices  of  Unp0puiarity 
the  more  zealous  among  their  people.  To  of  the  treaty' 
some  the  peaceful  settlement  of  the  war  between 
Christian  and  Mussulman  was  of  itself  an  abomina- 
tion, a  degenerate  infringement  of  the  good  old  usage, 
which  arrayed  them  against  each  other  as  irreclaim- 
able enemies  :  the  valiant  Christians  were  deprived  of 
the  privilege  of  obtaining  remission  of  their  sins  by  the 
pillage  and  massacre  of  the  Islamites  :  the  Islamites  of 
winning  Paradise  by  the  slaughter  of  Christians.     The 

1  The  Mohammedans  so  define  the  worshippers  of  the  Trinity. 


364  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book    X. 

Sultan  of  Eg}rpt,  so  rude  was  the  shock  throughout  the 
world  of  Islam,  was  obliged  to  send  ambassadors  to 
the  Caliph  of  Bagdad  and  to  the  Princes  on  the  Eu- 
phrates to  explain  his  conduct.  The  surrender  of  Je- 
rusalem was  the  great  cause  of  affliction  and  shame. 
The  Sultan  in  vain  alleged  that  it  was  but  the  un- 
walled  and  defenceless  city  that  he  yielded  up  ;  there 
were  bitter  lamentations  among  all  the  Moslems,  who 
were  forced  to  depart  from  their  homes  ;  sad  verses 
were  written  and  sung  in  the  streets.  The  Imauns 
of  the  Mosque  of  Omar  went  in  melancholy  proces- 
sion to  the  Sultan  to  remonstrate.  They  attempted  to 
overawe  him  by  proclaiming  an  unusual  hour  for 
prayer.  Kameel  treated  them  with  great  indignity, 
and  sent  them  back  stripped  of  their  silver  lamps  and 
other  ornaments  of  the  Mosque.  In  Damascus  was 
the  most  loud  and  bitter  lamentation.  The  Sultan 
of  Damascus  was  besieged  in  his  capital  by  Malek  el 
Ashraf.  The  territory,  now  basely  yielded  to  the 
Christians,  was  part  of  his  kingdom  ;  he  was  the  right- 
ful Lord  of  Jerusalem.  There  an  Imaun  of  great 
sanctity,  the  historian  Ibn  Dschusi  himself,  was  sum- 
moned to  preach  to  the  people  on  this  dire  calamity. 
The  honor  of  Islam  was  concerned ;  he  mounted  the 
pulpit :  "  So  then  the  way  to  the  Holy  City  is  about 
to  be  closed  to  faithful  pilgrims  :  you  who  love  com- 
munion with  God  in  that  hallowed  place  can  no 
longer  prostrate  yourself,  or  water  the  ground  with 
your  tears.  Great  God !  if  our  eyes  were  fountains, 
could  we  shed  tears  enough  ?  If  our  hearts  were  clo- 
ven,  could  we  be  afflicted  enough  ?  "  The  whole  as- 
sembly burst  into  a  wild  wail  of  sorrow  and  indignation.1 
1  Reinaud.    Extrait  des  Auteurs  Arabes.  —  Wilken,  vi.  p.  493. 


Chap.  III.  POPE  CONDEMNS   THE  TREATY.  365 

Frederick  announced  this  treaty  in  Western  Chris- 
tendom in  the  most  magnificent  terms.  His  letter  to 
the  King  of  England  bears  date  on  the  day  of  his  en- 
trance into  Jerusalem.  He  ascribes  his  triumph  to  a 
miracle  wrought  by  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  who  seemed  no 
longer  to  delight  in  the  multitude  of  armed  men.  In 
the  face  of  two  great  armies,  that  of  the  Sultan  of 
Egypt  and  of  Sultan  Ashraf  encamped  near  Gaza,  and 
that  of  the  Sultan  (David)  of  Damascus  at  Naplous, 
Jerusalem,  Bethlehem,  Nazareth,  the  district  of  Shar- 
on, and  Sidon,  had  been  freely  ceded  to  him  :  the  Mo- 
hammedans were  only  by  sufferance  to  enter  the  Holy 
City.  The  Sultan  had  bound  himself  to  surrender  all 
prisoners,  whom  he  ought  to  have  released  by  the  treaty 
of  Damietta,  and  all  who  had  been  taken  since.1  The 
seal  of  this  letter  bore  a  likeness  of  the  Emperor,  with 
a  scroll :  over  his  head  "  the  Emperor  of  the  Romans," 
on  the  right  shoulder  "the  King  of  Jerusalem,"  on  the 
left  "  the  King  of  Sicily." 

Far  different  was  the  reception  of  the  treaty  by  the 
Pope,  and  by  all  who  sided  with,  or  might  be  expected 
to  side  with,  the  Pope.  It  was  but  a  new  manifestation 
of  the  perfidy,  the  contumacy,  the  ingratitude  to  the 
Church,  the  indifference  of  the  Emperor  to  religion,  if 
not  of  his  apostasy.  A  letter  arrived,  and  was  actively 
promulgated  through  Western  Christendom,  from  Ger- 
old,  Patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  describing  in  the  blackest 
colors  every  act  of  the  Emperors  In  the  treaty  the 
dignity,  the  interests  of  religion  and  of  the  Church,  the 
dignity  and  interests  of  the  Patriarch,  had  been,  it 
might  seem  studiously  neglected  ;  even  in  the  territory 
conceded  by  the  Sultan  some  of  the  lands  belonging  to 
the   Knights   Templars   were   comprehended,  none   of 

1  The  letter  in  Matthew  Paris. 


366  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X 

those  claimed  by  the  Patriarch.  Gerold  overlooked 
his  own  obstinate  hostility  to  Frederick,  while  he  dwelt 
so  bitterly  on  that  of  Frederick  to  himself.  The  letter 
Letter  of  the  began  with  Frederick's  occupation  of  Joppa  ; 
Patriarch.  ^  avowec[  partiality  to  the  interests  of  the 
Mohammedans,  his  neglect,  or  worse,  of  the  Christians. 
At  least  five  hundred  Christians  had  fallen  since  his 
arrival,  not  ten  Saracens.  All  excesses,  all  breaches 
of  the  truce  were  visited  severely  on  the  Christians, 
connived  at  or  disregarded  in  the  Mohammedans.  A 
Saracen  who  had  been  plundered  was  sent  back  in 
splendid  apparel  to  the  Sultan.  All  the  Emperor's 
suspicious  intercourse  with  the  Saracens,  his  Moham- 
medan luxuries,  his  presents  of  splendid  arms  to  be 
used  by  Infidels  against  true  Believers,  were  recounted ; 
the  secrecy  of  the  treaty  and  its  acceptance  with  the 
signature  of  the  Sultan  as  its  sole  guarantee.  The 
Master  of  the  Teutonic  Order  had  insidiously  invited 
him  (the  Patriarch)  to  accompany  the  Emperor  to 
Jerusalem.  He  had  demanded  first  to  see  the  treaty. 
There  he  found  that  the  Sultan  of  Damascus,  the  true 
Lord  of  Jerusalem,  was  no  party  to  the  covenant ; 
"  there  were  no  provisions  in  favor  of  himself  or  of  the 
Church  ;  how  could  he  venture  his  holy  person  within 
the  power  of  the  treacherous  Sultan  and  his  unbeliev- 
ing host  ?  "  The  letter  closed  with  a  strong  complaint 
that  the  Emperor  had  left  the  city  without  rebuilding 
the  walls.  But  the  Patriarch  admitted  that  Frederick 
had  consulted  the  bishops  of  Winchester  and  Exeter, 
the  Master  of  the  Hospitallers,  the  Preceptor  of  the 
Temple,  to  advise  and  aid  him  in  this  work:  their  re- 
ply had  been  cold  and  dilatory  ;  and  Frederick  depart- 
ed from  the  city.1 

1  Epist.  Gerold.  Patriarchal,  apud  Matth.  Paris. 


Chap.  III.    LETTER  TO  ALBERT  OF  AUSTRIA.        307 

Even  before  the  arrival  of  Gerold's  letters,  the  Pope, 
in  a  letter  to  the  Archbishop  of  Milan  and  Letter  of 
his  suffragans,  all  liegemen  of  the  Emperor,  AroKSshop 
had  denounced  the  treaty  as  a  monstrous  rec-  of  Mllan# 
onciliation  of  Christ  and  Belial ;  as  the  establishment 
of  the  worship  of  Mohammed  in  the  Temple  of  God  ; 
and  thus  "  the  antagonist  of  the  Cross,  the  enemy  of 
the  faith,  the  foe  of  all  chastity,  the  condemned  to  hell, 
is  lifted  up  for  adoration,  by  a  perverse  judgment,  to 
the  intolerable  contumely  of  the  Saviour,  the  inexpi- 
able disgrace  of  the  Christian  name,  the  contempt  of 
all  the  martyrs  who  have  laid  down  their  lives  to  purify 
the   Holy  Land  from   the  worldly  pollutions  of   the 
Saracens."  } 

Albert  of  Austria  was  the  most  powerful  enemy  who 
might  be  tempted  to  revolt  against  Frederick  in  his 
German  dominions,  the  greatest  and  most  dangerous 
vassal  of  the  Empire.  Him  the  Pope  addressed  at 
greater  length,  and  with  a  more  distinct  enu-  June  18. 
meration  of  four  flagitious  enormities  with  which  he 
especially  charged  the  Emperor.  First,  he  had  shame- 
lessly presented  the  sword  and  other  arms  which  he  had 
received  from  the  altar  of  St.  Peter,  blessed  by  the 
Pope  himself,  for  the   defence  of  the  faith,  Letter  to 

ill-  n      i  •    i       i  i        Albert  of 

and  the  chastisement  or  the  wicked,  to  the  Austria. 
Sultan  of  Babylon,  the  enemy  of  the  faith,  the  adver- 
sary of  Christ  Jesus,  the  worshipper  of  Mohammed, 
the  son  of  Perdition  ;  he  had  "promised  not  to  bear 
arms  against  the  Sultan,  against  whom  as  Emperor  he 
was  bound  to  wage  implacable  war.  The  second  was 
a  more  execrable  and  more  stupendous  offence  ;  in  the 
Temple  of  God,  where  Christ  made  his  offering,  where 

1  Ad  Epis.  Mediol.  June  13,  1229. 


o68  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X, 

he  had  sat  on  his  cathedral  throne  in  the  midst  of  the 
doctors,  the  Emperor  had  cast  Christ  forth,  and  placed 
Mohammed,  that  son  of  perdition  ;  he  had  commanded 
the  law  of  God  to  keep  silence,  and  permitted  the  free 
preaching  of  the  Koran ;  to  the  Infidels  he  had  left  the 
keys  of  the  Sanctuary,  so  that  no  Christian  might  enter 
without  their  sufferance.  Thirdly,  he  had  excluded 
the  Eastern  Christians  of  Antioch,  Tripoli,  and  other 
strong  places,  from  the  benefit  of  the  treaty,  and  so  be- 
trayed the  Christian  cause  in  the  East  to  the  enemy. 
Lastly,  he  had  so  bound  himself  by  this  wicked  league, 
that  if  the  Christian  army  should  attempt  to  revenge 
the  insult  done  to  the  Redeemer,  to  cleanse  the  Tem- 
ple and  the  City  of  God  from  the  defilements  of  the 
Pagans,  the  Emperor  had  pledged  himself  to  take  part 
with  the  foe.  Albert  of  Austria  was  exhorted  to  dis- 
claim all  allegiance  to  one  guilty  of  such  capital  treason 
against  the  majesty  of  God,  to  hold  himself  ready  at 
the  summons  of  the  Church  to  take  up  arms  against 
the  Emperor. 

The  last  acts  of  Frederick  in  Palestine  are  dwelt 
upon  both  by  the  Patriarch  and  the  Pope;  they  are 
known  almost  entirely  by  these  unfriendly  representa- 
tions. Frederick  returned  from  Joppa  to  Ptolemai's  in 
no  placable  mood  with  his  implacable  enemies  leagued 
against  him  in  civil  war.1  The  Patriarch  had  attempt- 
ed to  raise  an  independent  force  at  his  own  command 


1  "  Pneterea  qualiter  contra  ipsum  Imperatorem,  apud  Aeon,  postmodum 
redeuntem,  praedicti  Patriarchs,  Magistri  domuum  hospitalis  et  templi  se 
gcsserint;  utpote  qui  contra  ipsum,  intcstina  bella  moveririt  in  civitate  praj- 
dicta,  his  qui  interfuerunt  luce  clarius  extitit  manitestum." —  Rich.  San 
Germ.  It  is  remarkable  how  many  privileges  and  grants  he  made  to  the 
Teutonic  Order:  it  is  manifest  that  his  object  was  to  raise  up  a  loyal  coun- 
terpoise to  the  Templars  and  Hospitallers.  —  Boehmer,  Regesta,  sub  aim. 


Chap.  III.  LAST  ACTS  OF  FREDERICK  IN  PALESTINE.   369 

if  the  pilgrims  should  retire  from  the  Holy  Land  he 
would  need  a  body-guard  for  his  holy  person.  He  pro- 
posed, out  of  some  large  sums  of  money  left  for  the 
benefit  of  the  sacred  cause  by  Philip  Augustus  of 
France,  to  enroll  a  band  of  knights,  a  new  Order,  for 
this  end.  Frederick  declared  that  no  one  should  levy 
or  command  soldiers  within  his  realm  without  his  will 
and  consent.  With  the  inhabitants  of  Ptolemai's  Fred- 
erick had  obtained,  either  by  his  affable  demeanor  or 
by  his  treaty,  great  popularity.  He  summoned  a  full 
assembly  of  all  Christian  people  on  the  broad  sands 
without  the  city.  There  he  arose  and  arraigned  the 
Patriarch  and  the  Master  of  the  Templars  as  having 
obstinately  thwarted  all  his  designs  for  the  advance- 
ment of  the  Christian  Cause,  and  having  pursued  him 
with  their  blind  and  obstinate  hostility.  He  summoned 
all  the  pilgrims,  having  now  fulfilled  their  vows,  to  de- 
part from  the  Holy  Land,  and  commanded  his  Lieu- 
tenant, Thomas  de  Acerra,  to  compel  obedience  to  these 
orders.  He  was  deaf  to  all  remonstrance  ;  on  his  re- 
turn to  the  city,  he  seized  all  the  gates,  manned  them 
with  his  crossbowmen,  and  while  he  permitted  all  the 
Knights  Templars  to  leave  the  city,  he  would  admit 
none.  He  took  possession  of  the  churches,  and  occu- 
pied them  with  his  archers.  The  Patriarch  assembled 
all  his  adherents  and  all  the  Templars  still  within  the 
city,  and  again  thundered  out  his  excommunication. 
Frederick  kept  him  almost  as  a  prisoner  in  his  palace  ; 
his  partisans  were  exposed  to  every  insult  and  attack, 
even  those  who  were  carrying  provisions  to  the  palace. 
Two  bold  Franciscans,  who  on  Palm  Sunday  Palm  Sunday, 
denounced  him  in  the  Church,  were  dragged  APn13- 
from  the  pulpit,  and  scourged  through  the  streets.  But 
vol.  v.  24 


370  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  A. 

these  violences  availed  not  against  the  obstinate  endur- 
ance of  the  Churchmen.  After  some  vain  attempts  at 
reconciliation,  the  Patriarch  placed  the  city  of  Ptole- 
mais  under  interdict.  These  are  not  all  the  charges 
against  Frederick  ;  it  was  made  a  crime  that  he  de- 
stroyed some  of  his  ships,  probably  unserviceable  :  his 
arms  and  engines  of  war  he  is  said  to  have  sent  to  the 
Sultan  of  Egypt. 

On  the  day  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  the  Emperor 
May 3.  set  sail  for   Europe:   his   presence  was  im- 

eriously  required.  In  every  part  of  his  dominions 
the  Pope,  with  the  ambitious  activity  of  a  temporal 
sovereign,  and  with  all  the  tremendous  arms  wielded 
by  the  spiritual  power,  was  waging  a  war  either  in 
open  day,  or  in  secret  intrigues  with  his  unruly  and 
disaffected  vassals.  The  ostensible  cause  of  the  war 
was  the  aggression  of  Frederick's  vicegerent  in  Apulia, 
war  in  Reginald  Duke  of  Spoleto.     Frederick  had 

Apulia.  left  Reginald  to  subdue  the  revolt  of  the 
powerful  family  of  Polito.  These  rebels  had  taken 
refuge  in  the  Papal  territory  •  they  were  pursued  by 
Reginald.  But  once  beyond  the  Papal  frontier  the 
Duke  of  Spoleto  extended  his  ravages,  it  might  seem 
reviving  certain  claims  of  his  own  on  the  Dukedom  of 
Spoleto.  Frederick  afterwards  disclaimed  these  acts  of 
his  lieutenant,  and  declared  that  he  had  punished  him 
for  the  infringement  of  his  orders.1  But  the  occasion 
was  too  welcome  not  to  be  seized  by  the  Pope.  He 
levied  at  once  large  forces,  placed  them  undt  r  the  com- 
mand of  Frederick's  most  deadly  enemies,  his  father- 
in-law,  John  de  Brienne,  the  ejected  King  of  Jerusalem, 

i  The  most  particular  account  of  these  wars  is  in  Rich.  d>  San  Germano, 
apud  Muratori,  t.  vii. 


Chap.  III.  ENGLAND.  371 

and  the  Cardinal  John  Colonna,  with  the  King's  re- 
volted subjects,  the  Counts  of  Celano  and  of  Aquila  ; 
the  martial  Legate  Pelagius,  who  had  commanded  the 
army  of  Damietta,  directed  the  whole  force.  A  report 
of  Frederick's  death  in  Palestine  (a  fraud  of  which  he 
complains  with  the  bitterest  indignation)  was  industri- 
ously disseminated.  John  de  Brienne  even  ventured 
to  assert  that  there  was  no  Emperor  but  himself.  The 
Papal  armies  at  first  met  with  great  success  ;  many 
cities  from  fear,  from  disaffection  to  Frederick,  from 
despair  of  relief,  opened  their  gates.  The  soldiers  of 
the  Church  committed  devastations  almost  unprece- 
dented even  in  these  rude  wars.  But  Gregory  was  not 
content  with  this  limited  war ;  he  strove  to  arm  all 
Christendom  against  the  contumacious  Empeior  who 
defied  the  Church.  From  the  remotest  parts,  from 
Wales,  Ireland,  England,  large  contributions  were  de- 
manded, and  in  many  cases  extorted,  for  this  holy  war. 
Just  at  this  juncture  England  contributed  in  a  peculiar 
manner,  even  beyond  her  customary  tribute,  to  the  Pa- 
pal treasury  :  the  whole  of  such  revenue  was  devoted 
to  this  end. 

A  dispute  was  pending  in  the  Court  of  Rome  con- 
cerning the  See  of  Canterbury.  On  the  death  Election 
of  Archbishop  Stephen,  the  monks  of  Can-  bishopric  of 
terbury  elected  Walter  of  Hevesham  to  the  July,  1228. 
primacy.     The  King  refused  his  assent,  and  the  objec 
tions  urged   were    sufficiently  strange,  whether    well- 
founded   or  but  fictitious,  against  a  man  chosen  as  the 
successor   of   Becket.     The  father  of  Walter,   it   was 
said,  had  been  hanged  for  robbery,  and  Walter  himself, 
during  the  interdict,  had  embraced  the  party  opposed 
to  King  John.     The  suffragan  bishops   (they  always 


372  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X 

resented  their  exclusion  from  the  election)  accused 
Walter  of  having  debauched  a  nun,  by  whom  he  had 
several  children.  Appeal  was  made  to  Rome ;  the 
Pope  delayed  his  sentence  for  further  inquiry.  The 
ambassadors  of  the  King,  the  Bishops  of  Chester  and 
Rochester,  and  John  of  Newton  in  vain  labored  to 
obtain  the  Papal  decision.  One  only  argument  would 
weigh  with  the  Pope  and  the  Cardinals.  At  length 
they  engaged  to  pay  for  this  tardy  justice  the  tenth  of 
all  movable  property  in  the  realm  of  England  and 
Ireland  in  order  to  aid  the  Pope  in  his  war  against  the 
Emperor.  Even  then  the  alleged  immoralities  were 
put  out  of  sight ;  the  elected  Primate  of  England  was 
examined  by  three  Cardinals  on  certain  minute  points 
of  theology,  and  condemned  as  unworthy  of  so  noble  a 
see,  "  which  ought  to  be  filled  by  a  man  noble,  wise, 
and  modest."1  Richard,  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  was  pro- 
posed in  the  name  of  the  King  and  the  suffragan  bish- 
ops, and  received  his  appointment  by  a  Papal  Bull. 
In  France,  besides  the  exertions  of  the  Legate,  the 
Archbishops  of  Sens  and  of  Lyons  were  commanded 
by  the  Pope  himself  to  publish  the  grave  offences  of 
Frederick  against  the  Holy  See,  and  to  preach  the 
Crusade  against  him.  In  Germany,  Albert  of  Austria 
had  been  urged  to  revolt ;  in  the  North  and  in  Den- 
mark the  Legate,  the  Cardinal  Otho,  preached  and 
promulgated  the  same  Crusade.2  He  laid  Liege  under 
an  interdict,  and  King  Henry  raised  an  army  to  besiege 

1  He  was  asked  whether  our  Lord  descended  into  hell,  in  the  flesh  or  not 
in  the  flesh;  on  the  presence  of  Christ  in  the  sacrament;  how  Rachel,  being 
already  dead,  could  weep  for  her  children ;  on  the  power  of  an  excommuni- 
cation, unrightly  pronounced;  on  a  case  of  marriage,  where  one  of  the 
parties  had  died  in  infidelity.     To  all  these  his  answers  were  wrong. 

2  Raynald.  in  nota. 


Chap.  HI.  RETURN   OF  FREDERICK.  373 

*he  Cardinal  in  Strasburg.  The  Pope  praised,  as  in- 
spired by  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  chivalrous  determination 
of  the  Prince  of  Portugal,  to  take  up  arms  in  defence 
of  the  Church  of  Christ.  The  Lombards,  on  the  other 
hand,  were  sternly  rebuked  for  their  tardiness  in  send- 
ing aid  against  the  common  enemy,  the  Pope  gave 
them  a  significant  hint  that  the  deserters  of  the  cause 
of  the  Church  might  be  deserted  in  their  turn  in  their 
hour  of  need. 

The  rapid  return  of  the  Emperor  disconcerted  all 
these  hostile  measures.  With  two  well-armed  May  15  and 
barks  he  landed  at  Astore,  near  Brundu-  Surn'of229' 
sium  ;  many  of  the  brave  German  pilgrims  Fredenck- 
followed  after  and  rapidly  grew  to  a  formidable  force. 
His  first  act  was  to  send  ambassadors  to  the  Pope,  the 
Archbishop  of  Bari,  the  Bishop  of  Reggio  and  Herman 
de  Salza,  the  master  of  the  Teutonic  order.  The 
overtures  were  rejected  with  scorn.  An  excommuni- 
cation even  more  strong  and  offensive  had  been  issued 
by  the  Pope  of  Perugia.1  The  first  clause  denounced 
all  the  heretics  with  names  odious  to  all  zealous  believ- 
ers. After  the  Cathari,  the  Publicans,  the  Poor  Men 
of  Lyons,  the  Arnaldists,  and  under  the  same  terrific 
anathema  as  no  less  an  enemy  of  the  Church,  followed 
the  Emperor  Frederick ;  his  contumacious  disregard  of 
the  excommunication  pronounced  by  the  Cardinal  of 
Albano  was  thus  placed  on  the  same  footing  with  the 
wildest  opinions  and  those  most  hostile  to  the  Church. 
After  the  recital  of  his  offences,  the  release  of  all  his 
subjects  from  their  allegiance,  came  the  condemnation 
of  his  adherents,  Reginald  of  Spoleto  and  his  brother 

1  This  bull  must  have  been  issued  in  June,  not  in  August.     See  Bc«li- 
•ner,  p  335.    Raynaldus,  sub  ann. 


374  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

Bertoldo.  With  the  other  enemies  of  the  Church  were 
mingled  up  the  Count  de  Foix,  and  the  Viscount  of 
Beziers ;  the  only  important  names  which  now  repre- 
sented the  odious  heresy  of  Southern  France.  Some 
lesser  offenders  were  included  under  the  comprehen- 
sive ban.  These  were  all,  if  not  leagued  together 
under  the  same  proscription,  alike  denounced  as  ene- 
mies of  God  and  of  the  Church.  The  conquering 
army  of  the  Pope  was  on  all  sides  arrested,  repelled, 
defeated  ;  the  rebellious  barons  and  cities  returned  to 
their  allegiance ;  Frederick  marched  to  the  relief  of 
Capua;  the  strength  of  the  Papal  force  broke  up  in 
confusion.  Frederick  moved  to  Naples  where  he  was 
received  in  triumph.  In  Capua  he  had  organized  the 
Saracens  whom  he  had  removed  from  Sicily,  where  they 
had  been  a  wild  mountain  people,  untamably  and  utter- 
ly lawless,  to  Nocera :  there  he  had  settled  them,  fore- 
seeing probably  their  future  use  as  inhabitants  of  walled 
cities  and  cultivators  of  the  soil.  This  was  a  force 
terrible  to  the  rebellious  churchmen  who  had  espoused 
the  Papal  cause.  From  San  Germano  Frederick  sent 
forth  his  counter  appeal  to  the  Sovereigns  of  Europe, 
representing  the  violence,  the  injustice,  the  implacable 
resentment  of  the  Pope.  The  appeal  could  not  but 
have  some  effect. 

Christendom,  even  among  the  most  devout  adherents 
Christendom  of  the  Papal  supremacy,  refused  to  lend  itself 
Pope.  to  the  fiery  passions  of  the  aged  Pontiff.    The 

Pope  was  yet  too  awful  to  be  openly  condemned,  but 
the  general  reluctance  to  embrace  his  cause  was  the 
strongest  condemnation.  Men  throughout  the  Chris- 
tian world  could  not  but  doubt  by  which  party  the  real 
interests  of  the  Eastern  Christians  had  been  most  be- 


Chap.  III.        CHRISTENDOM  AGAINST  THE  POPE.  375 

trayed  and  injured.  The  fierce  enthusiasm  which 
would  not  receive  advantages  unless  won  from  the 
unbeliever  at  the  point  of  the  sword  had  died  away  : 
men  looked  to  the  effect  of  the  treaty,  they  compared 
it  with  the  results  of  all  the  Crusades  since  that  of  God- 
frey of  Bouillon.  Jerusalem,  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  were 
in  the  power  of  the  Christians :  devout  pilgrims  might 
perform  unmolested  their  pious  vows ;  multitudes  of 
Christians  had  taken  up  their  abode  in  seeming  security 
in  the  city  of  Sion.  But  if,  thus  trammelled,  opposed, 
pursued  by  the  remorseless  excommunication  into  the 
Holy  Sepulchre  itself,  Frederick  by  the  awe  of  his  im- 
perial name,  by  his  personal  greatness,  had  obtained 
such  a  treaty  ;  what  terms  might  he  not  have  dictated, 
if  supported  by  the  Pope,  the  Patriarch,  and  Knights 
Templars.1  Treaties  with  the  Mohammedan  powers 
were  nothing  new ;  they  had  been  lately  made  by 
Philip  Augustus,  and  by  the  fierce  Richard  Coeur  de 
Lion.     The  Christians  had  never  disdained  the  policy 

1  It  has  been  observed  that  the  three  contemporary  historians,  Matthew 
Paris,  the  Abbot  Urspergensis,  and  Richard  of  San  Germano,  are  all 
against  the  Pope.  "  Verisimile  enim  videtur,  quod  si  tunc  Imperator  cum 
gratia  ac  pace  Romans  Ecclesiae  transisset,  longe  melius  et  efficacius  pros- 
peratum  fuisset  negotium  Terras  Sanctae."  —  Richard  de  San  Germano 
adds,  that  if  the  Sultan  had  not  known  that  Frederick  was  excommuni- 
cated by  the  Pope,  and  hated  by  the  Patriarch,  he  would  have  granted 
much  better  terms.  Compare  Muratori,  Annal.  d'ltalia,  sub  ann. ;  and  in 
Wilken  the  extract  from  Theuerdank :  — 

"  Waren  dem  Kaiser  die  gestanden, 
Die  ihm  sin  Ehre  wanden  (entwandten) 
Das  Grab  und  alle  diese  Land, 
Die  stunden  gar  in  seiner  Hand : 
Nazareth  und  Bethlem, 
Der  Jordan  und  Jerusalem, 
Dazu  manig  heilig  Stat, 
Da  Qott  mitt  seinem  Fussen  trat, 
Syria  und  Juda,"  &c. 

—  Wilken,  vi.  p.  50& 


37 G  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X 

of  taking  advantage  of  the  feuds  among  the  Mohamme- 
dan sovereigns  and  allying  themselves  with  the  Sultan 
of  Egypt  or  the  Sultan  of  Damascus.  Even  the  Pope 
himself  had  not  denied  all  peaceful  intercourse  with  the 
Unbelievers.  Frederick  positively  asserted  that  he  had 
surprised  and  had  in  his  possession  letters  addressed  by 
the  Pope  to  Sultan  Kameel,  urging  him  to  break  off 
his  negotiations  with  the  Emperor.  Gregory  after- 
wards denied  the  truth  of  this  charge  ;  but  it  was  pub- 
licly averred,  and  proof  offered,  in  the  face  of  Chris- 
tendom.1 Frederick  had  appealed  to  witnesses  of  all 
his  acts,  and  they,  at  all  events  the  English  Bishops  of 
Winchester  and  Exeter,  the  Master  of  the  Hospitallers, 
the  Master  of  the  Teutonic  Order,  had  given  no  coun- 
tenance to  the  envious  and  rancorous  charges  of  the 
Patriarch. 

There  was  a  deeper  cause  of  dissatisfaction  through- 
out that  Hierarchy,  to  which  the  Pope  had  always 
looked  for  the  most  zealous  and  self-sacrificing  aid. 
The  clergy  felt  the  strongest  repugnance  to  the  levy 
of  a  tenth  demanded  by  the  Pope  throughout  Christen- 
dom, to  maintain  wars,  if  not  unjust  unnecessary, 
against  the  Emperor.  No  doubt  the  lavish  and  partial 
favor  with  which  he  treated  the  Preaching  and  Beg- 
ging Friars  had  already  awakened  jealousy.  Gregory 
had  sagaciously  discerned  the  strength  which  their  in- 
fluence in  the  lowest  depths  of  society  would  gain  for 
Oct.  4, 1228.  the  Papal  cause.  He  had  solemnly  canon- 
ized Francis  of  Assisi 2  —  one  of  his  most  confidential 
counsellors  was  the  Dominican  Gualo.     So  active  had 

1  Epist.  Petr.  de  Vinea. 

2  Gualo  was  his  emissary,  if  not  his  Legate,  in  Lombardy.     He  was  ac- 
tive in  framing  the  poace  of  San  Germane  — Epist.  Gregor.,  Oct.  9, 1226. 


Chap.  III.       DISAPPROBATION  OF  THE  CRUSADE.  377 

the  Friars  been  in  stirring  up  revult  in  the  kingdom  of 
Naples,  that  the  first  act  of  Reginald  of  Spoleto  had 
been  their  expulsion  from  the  realm. 

Christendom  had  eagerly  rushed  into  a  Crusade 
against  the  unbelievers ;  it  had  not  ventured  to  disap- 
prove a  Crusade  against  the  heretics  of  Languedoc  ; 
but  a  Crusade  (for  under  that  name  Gregory  IX. 
levied  this  war)  against  the  Emperor,  and  that  Em- 
peror the  restorer  of  the  Kingdom  of  Jerusalem,  was 
encountered  with  sullen  repugnance  or  frank  opposi- 
tion. It  was  observed  as  a  strange  sight  that  when 
Frederick's  troops  advanced  against  those  of  the  Pope, 
they  still  wore  the  red  crosses  which  they  had  worn  in 
Palestine.  The  banner  of  the  Cross,  under  which 
Mohammedans  fought  for  Frederick,  met  the  banner 
with  the  keys  of  St.  Peter.1 

The  disapprobation  of  silent  disobedience,  at  best  of 
sluggish  and  tardy  sympathy  if  not  of  rude  disavowal 
and  condemnation,  could  not  escape  the  all-watchful 
ear  of  Rome.  Gregory  had  no  resource  but  in  his  own 
dauntless  and  unbroken  mind,  and  in  the  conviction  of 
his  power.  The  German  Princes  had  refused  to  de- 
throne King  Henry  :  some  of  the  greatest  influence, 
Leopold  Duke  of  Austria,  the  Duke  of  Moravia,  the 
Archbishops  of  Saltzburg  and  of  Aquileia,  the  Bishop  of 
Ratisbon,  were  in  Italy  endeavoring  to  mediate  a  peace. 
The  Lombards  did  not  move ;  even  if  the  Guelfs  had 
been  so  disposed,  they  were  everywhere  controlled  by 
a  Ghibelline  opposition.  One  incident  alone  was  of 
more  encouraging  character.  Gregory  was  still  at  Pe- 
rugia an  exile  from  rebellious  Rome.     But  a  terrific 

1  u  Imperator  cum  crucesignatis  contra  clavigeros  hostes  properat."  — 
Rich,  de  San  Germane-,  p.  1013. 


378  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

flood  had  desolated  the  city.  The  religious  fears  of  the 
populace  beheld  the  avenging  hand  of  God  for  their 
disobedience  to  their  spiritual  father;  the  Pope  re- 
turned to  Rome  in  triumph.1 

Peace  was  necessary  to  both  parties,  negotiations 
Nov.  1229.  were  speedily  begun.  The  Pope  was  sud- 
denly seized  with  a  sacred  horror  of  the  shedding  of 
May,  1230.  human  blood.  A  treaty  was  framed  at  San 
Germano  which  maintained  unabased  the  majesty  of 
the  Pope.2  In  truth,  by  the  absolution  of  the  Emperor 
with  but  a  general  declaration  of  submission  to  the 
Church,  without  satisfaction  for  the  special  crime  for 
which  he  had  undergone  excommunication,  the  Pope, 
virtually  at  least,  recognized  the  injustice  of  his  own 
Treaty  of  San  censures.  Of  the  affairs  of  the  Holy  Land, 
June  14,  i230.  of  the  conduct  of  the  Emperor,  of  the  treaty 
with  the  Sultan,  denounced  as  impious,  there  was  a 
profound  and  cautious  silence.  In  other  respects  the 
terms  might  seem  humiliating  to  the  Emperor ;  he 
granted  a  complete  amnesty  to  all  his  rebellious  sub- 
jects, the  Archbishop  of  Tarentum  and  all  the  bishops 
and  churchmen  who  had  fled  the  realm ;  even  the  rein- 
statement of  the  insurgent  Counts  of  Celano  and  Aversa 
in  their  lands  and  domains  in  Germany,  in  Italy,  in 
Sicily ;  he  consented  to  restore  all  the  places  he  occu- 
pied in  the  Papal  dominions,  and  all  the  estates  which 
he  had  seized  belonging  to  churches,  monasteries,  the 
Templars,  the  Knights  of  the  Hospital,  and  generally 

1  Not  only  was  there  a  great  destruction  of  property,  of  corn,  wine,  cat- 
tle, and  of  human  life,  but  a  great  quantity  of  enormous  serpents  were  cast 
on  shore,  which  rotted  and  bred  a  pestilence.  This  is  a  story  more  than 
once  repeated  in  the  later  annals  of  Rome  —  on  what  founded?  — Gregor 
Vit. 

2  Albanensi  Episcopo,  apud  Ray  n  aid.  1229. 


Chap.  III.  TREATY  OF  SAN   GEEMANO.  379 

of  all  who  had  adhered  to  the  Church.  He  renounced 
the  right  of  judging  the  ecclesiastics  of  his  realm  by  the 
civil  tribunals,  excepting  in  matters  concerning  royal 
fiefs  ;  he  gave  up  the  right  of  levying  taxes  on  ecclesi- 
astical property,  as  well  that  of  the  clergy  as  of  mon- 
asteries*. It  is  said,  but  it  appears  not  in  the  treaty, 
that  he  promised  to  defray  the  enormous  charges  of  the 
war,  variously  stated  at  120,000  crowns  and  120,000 
ounces  of  gold  ;  but  in  those  times  promises  to  pay 
such  debts  by  no  means  insured  their  payment.  Fred- 
erick never  fulfilled  this  covenant.  If  to  obtain  abso- 
lution from  the  Papal  censures  Frederick  willingly 
yielded  to  these  terms,  it  shows  either  that  his  firm 
mind  was  not  proof  against  the  awe  of  the  spiritual 
power  which  inthralled  the  rest  of  Europe,  or  that  he 
had  the  wisdom  to  see  that  the  time  was  not  come  to 
struggle  with  success  against  such  tyranny.  He  might 
indeed  hope  that,  erelong,  to  the  stern  old  man  who 
now  wielded  the  keys  of  St.  Peter  with  the  vigor  of 
Hildebrand  or  Innocent  III.  might  succeed  some  fee- 
bler or  milder  Pontiff.  Already  was  Gregory  ap- 
proaching to  or  more  than  ninety  years  old.1  He 
was  himself  in  the  strength  and  prime  of  manhood, 
nor  could  he  expect  that  this  same  aged  Pontiff  would 
rally  again  for  a  contest,  more  long,  more  obstinate, 
and  though  not  terminated  in  his  lifetime,  more  fatal 
to  the  Emperor  and  to  the  house  of  Hohenstaufen. 
Frederick  had  been  released  from  the  ban  Aug  28> 
of  excommunication  at  Ceperano  by  the  Car-  ^^  *' 1230 
dinal  John  of  St.   Sabina ;    he   visited    the    Pope    at 

1 1  confess  that  this  extreme  old  age  of  Gregory  IX.  does  not  seem  to  me 
quite  clearly  made  out.  At  all  events,  after  every  deduction,  he  was  of  an 
extraordinary  age  to  display  such  activity  and  firmness. 


380  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

Anagni.  They  met,  Frederick  with  dignified  sub- 
mission, the  Pope  with  the  calm  majesty  of  age  and 
position,  held  a  conference  of  many  hours,  appeared 
together  at  a  splendid  banquet,  and  interchanged  the 
kiss  of  peace  ;  the  antagonists  whose  mortal  quarrel 
threatened  a  long  convulsion  throughout  Christendom 
proclaimed  to  the  world  their  mutual  amity.1 

Nearly  nine  years  elapsed  before  these  two  antag- 
sept.  1, 1230,  onists,  the  Pope  Gregory  IX.  and  the  Em- 

to  1239,  Palm  ;  °      J  .      .  . 

Sunday.  peror  Jb  redenck  II.  resumed  their  immitigable 
warfare,  —  years  of  but  dubious  peace,  of  open  amity 
yet  secret  mistrust,  in  which  each  called  upon  the  other 
for  aid  against  his  enemies  ;  the  Pope  on  Frederick 
against  the  unruly  Romans,  Frederick  on  the  Pope 
against  the  rebellious  Lombards,  and  his  rebellious  son; 
juue  11, 1234.  but  where  each  suspected  a  secret  understand- 
ing with  those  enemies.  It  is  remarkable  that  both 
Frederick  and  the  Pope  betook  themselves  in  this  inter- 
val of  suspended  war  to  legislation.     Frederick  to  the 


1  Frederick  describes  the  interview:  —  "Deinde  ut  post  absolutionem  ex 
prsesentia  eorporum  mentium  serenitas  sequeretur,  primo  Septembris  apos- 
tolicam  sedem  adivimus,  et  sanctissimum  patrem  dominum  Gregorium,  Dei 
gratia  summum  Pontificem  vidimus  reverenter.  Qui  affectione  paterna 
nos  recipiens,  et  pace  cordium  sacris  osculis  federata,  tarn  benevole,  tarn 
benigne  propositum  nobis  suae  intentionis  aperuit  de  ipsis  quae  precesserant 
nil  omittens,  et  singula  prosequens  evidentis  judicio  rationis,  quod  etsi  nos 
precedens  causa  commoverit,  vel  rancorem  potuerit  aliquem  attulisse,  sic 
benevolentia,  quara  persensimus  in  eodem,  omnem  motuni  lenivit  animi, 
et  nostram  amoto  rancore  serenavit  adeo  voluntatem,  ut  non  velimus  ulte- 
rius  praeterita  memorari  quae  necessitas  intulit,  ut  virtus  ex  necessitate  pro- 
dens  operaretur  gratiam  ampliorera."  —  Monument.  Germ.  iv.  275.  There 
is  something  very  striking  in  this.  The  generous  awe  and  reverence  of 
Frederick  for  the  holy  old  man,  considering  his  deep  injuries  (I  envy  not 
those  who  can  see  nothing  but  specious  hypocrisy  in  Frederick),  and  the 
Christian  amenity  of  the  Pope,  considering  that  Frederick,  a  short  time  be- 
fore, had  been  called  a  godless  heretic,  almost  a  Mohammedan.  Their 
mutual  enmity  is  lost  in  mutual  respect. 


Chap.  III.  FREDERICK  II.  AS  LEGISLATOR.  38] 

promulgation  of  a  new  jurisprudence  for  his  kingdom 
of  Naples  and  Sicily ;  Gregory  of  a  complete  and  au 
thoritative   code  of  the  Decretals  which   formed   the 
statute  law  by  which  the  Papacy  and  the  sacerdotal 
order  ruled  the  world,  and  administered  the  internal 
government  of  the  Church.     During  the  commence 
ment  of  this  period  Frederick  left  the  administration 
of  affairs  in  Germany,  though  he  still  exercised  an  im 
perial   control,  to  his  son  Henry.     The  rebellion  of 
Henry  alone  seemed  to  compel  him  to  cross  a.d.  1235. 
the  Alps  and  resume  the  sway.     His  legislation  aspired 
to  regulate  the  Empire  ;   but  in   Germany  from  the 
limits  imposed  on  his  power,  it  was  not  a  complete  and 
perfect  code,  it  was  a  succession  of  remedial  laws.    His 
earliest  and  most  characteristic  work  of  legislation  was 
content  to  advance  the  peace,  prosperity,  and  happiness 
of  his  own  Southern  realm. 

The  constitution  of  his  beloved  kingdom  was  thus 
the  first  care  of  Frederick.  As  a  legislator  he  com- 
mands  almost  unmingled  admiration  ;  and  the  aim  and 
temper  of  his  legislation  whether  emanating  from  him- 
self, or  adopted  from  the  counsel  of  others,  may  justly 
influence  the  general  estimate  of  a  character  so  vari- 
ously represented  by  the  passions  of  his  own  age,  pas- 
sions which  have  continued  to  inflame,  and  even  yet 
have  not  died  away  from  the  heart  of  man.1  The  ob- 
ject of  Frederick's  jurisprudence  was  the  mitigation, 
as  far  as  possible  the  suppression,  of  feudal  violence  and 
oppression  ;  the  assertion  of  equal  rights,  equal  justice, 

1  Even  in  our  own  day  M.  Hofler,  for  instance,  seems  to  revive  all  the 
rancor  of  the  days  of  Innocent  IV.  Even  Boehmer  is  not  above  this  fatal 
influence.  This  part  of  my  work  was  finished  before  the  publication  of  the 
u  Regesta  Imperii,"  to  which,  nevertheless,  I  am  bound  to  acknowledge 
Miuch  obligation. 


382  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X 

equal  burdens ;  the  toleration  of  different  religions ; 
the  promotion  of  commerce  by  wise,  almost  premature 
regulations  ;  the  advancement  of  intellectual  culture 
among  his  subjects  by  the  establishment  of  universities 
liberally  endowed,  and  by  the  encouragement  of  all  the 
useful  and  refined  arts.  It  is  difficult  to  suppose  a  wise, 
equal  and  humane  legislator,  a  blind,  a  ruthless  tyrant ; 
or  to  reconcile  the  careful  and  sagacious  provision  for 
the  rights  and  well-being  of  all  ranks  of  his  subjects 
with  the  reckless  violation  of  those  rights,  and  with 
heavy  and  systematic  oppression  ;  more  especially  if 
that  jurisprudence  is  original  and  beyond  his  age.  The 
legislator  may  himself  be  in  some  respects  below  the 
lofty  aim  of  his  laws  ;  Frederick  may  have  been  driven 
to  harsh  measures  to  bring  into  order  the  rebellious 
magnates  of  the  realm,  whom  his  absence  in  Asia,  the 
invasion  and  the  intrigues  of  the  Papal  party,  cast  loose 
from  their  allegiance  ;  the  abrogation  of  their  tyran- 
nical privileges  may  have  left  a  deep  and  brooding  dis- 
content, ready  to  break  out  into  revolt  and  constantly 
enforcing  still  more  rigorous  enactments.  The  severe 
guardian  of  the  morals  of  his  subjects  may  have  claimed 
to  himself  in  some  respects  a  royal,  and  Asiatic  indul- 
gence ;  he  may  have  been  compelled  by  inevitable  wars 
to  lay  onerous  burdens  on  the  people,  he  may  have  been 
compelled  to  restrict  or  suspend  the  rights  of  particular 
subjects,  or  classes  of  subjects,  by  such  determined  hos- 
tility as  that  of  the  clergy  to  himself  and  to  all  his 
house  ;  but  on  the  whole  the  laws  and  institutions  of 
the  kingdom  of  Naples  are  an  unexceptionable  and  im- 
perishable testimony  at  least  to  his  lofty  designs  for  the 
good  of  mankind  ;  which  history  cannot  decline,  or 
rather  receives  with  greater  respect  and  trust  than  can 


Chap.  III.  FREDERICK  II.  AS  LEGISLATOR.  883 

be  claimed  by  any  contemporary  view  of  the  acts  or  of 
the  character  of  Frederick  II.  It  is  in  this  light  only 
as  illustrating  the  life  of  the  great  antagonist  of  the 
Church  that  they  belong  to  Christian  history,  beyond 
their  special  bearing  on  religious  questions,  and  the 
rights  and  condition  of  the  clergy.1 

The  groundwork  of  Frederick's  legislation  was  the 
stern  supremacy  of  the  law ;  the  submission  of  all,  even 
the  nobles,  who  exercised  the  feudal  privilege  of  sep- 
arate jurisdictions,  to  a  certain  extent  of  the  clergy,  to 
the  king's  sole  and  exclusive  justice.  This  was  the 
great  revolution  through  which  every  feudal  kingdom 
must  inevitably  pass  sooner  or  later.2  The  crown  must 
become  the  supreme  fountain  of  justice  and  law.  The 
first,  and  most  difficult,  but  necessary  step  was  the  uni- 
formity of  that  law.  There  was  the  most  extraordinary 
variety  of  laws  and  usages  throughout  the  realm,  Ro- 
man, Greek,  Gothic,  Lombard,  Norman,  Imperial- 
German  institutes  ;  old  municipal  and  recent  seignorial 
rights.3  The  Jews  had  their  special  privileges,  the 
Saracens  their  own  customs  and  forms  of  procedure. 
The  majestic  law  had  to  overawe  to  one  system  of  obe- 
dience, with  due  maintenance  of  their  proper  rights,  the 
nobles,  the  clergy,  the  burghers,  and  the  peasants,  even 


1  The  constitutions  of  the  Emperor  Frederick  may  be  read  in  Canciani, 
vol.  i.  sub  fine.  I  am  much  indebted  for  a  brief,  it  appears  to  me  very 
sensible  and  accurate  comment  in  the  Considerazioni  sopra  la  Storia  di 
Sicilia,  by  the  Canonico  Gregorio  (Palermo,  1805),  and  to  my  friend  M. 
von  Raumer's  earliest  and  best  work,  Geschichte  der  Hohenstaufen. 

2  King  Roger  (see  the  Canonico  Gregorio,  t.  iii.)  had  already  vindicated 
a  certain  supremacy  for  the  King's  Justiciary.  King  Roger's  legislation  is 
strikingly  analogous  to,  Gregorio  thinks  borrowed  from  that  of  his  remote 
kinsman  William,  our  Norman  Conqueror.  In  France  this  was  among  th« 
great  steps  first  decisively  taken  by  St.  Louis. 

3  Canciani,  Preface. 


884  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

the  Jews  and  the  Mohammedans.  Frederick  wisely 
determined  not  to  aspire  so  much  to  be  the  founder  of 
an  absolutely  new  jurisprudence,  as  to  select,  confirm, 
and  harmonize  the  old  institutions.1 

The  religious  ordinances  of  the  Sicilian  constitution 
Laws  relating  demand  our  first  examination.  Frederick 
to  religion,  maintained  the  immunities  of  the  worshippers 
of  other  religions,  of  the  Jews  and  the  Arabians,  with 
such  impartial  equity,  as  to  incur  for  this  and  other 
causes  the  name  of  Jew  and  Saracen.  But  the  most 
faithful  son  of  the  Church  could  not  condemn  the  here- 
tic with  more  authoritative  severity,  or  visit  his  offence 
with  more  remorseless  punishment.2  Heresy  was  de- 
scribed as  a  crime  against  the  offender  himself,  against 
his  neighbor  and  against  God,  a  more  heinous  crime 
even  than  high  treason.  The  obstinate  heretic  was 
condemned  to  be  burned,  his  whole  property  confis- 
cated, his  children  were  incapable  of  holding  office  or 
of  bearing  testimony.  If  such  child  should  merit 
mercy  by  the  denunciation  of  another  heretic,  or  of  a 
concealer  of  heretics,  the  Emperor  might  restore  him  to 
his  rank.  Schismatics  were  declared  outlaws,  incapa- 
ble of  inheriting,  liable  to  forfeiture  of  their  goods.  No 
one  might  petition  in  favor  of  a  heretic :  yet  the  re- 
pentant heretic  might  receive  pardon  ;  his  punishment, 
after  due  investigation  of  the  case  by  the  ecclesiastical 
power,  was  to  be  adjudged  by  the  secular  authority 

1  The  code  was  published  at  Amain,  Sept.  1231;  Rich.  San  Germ,  sub 
ann.  1231;  in  Sicily  by  Richard  de  Montenegro,  High  Justiciary,  during 
the  same  year.     Append,  ad  Malater.  p.  251.     Gregorio,  iii.  14. 

2  Compare  the  edicts  issued  at  Ravenna,  Feb.  22,  1232,  and  March, 
against  the  Lombard  heretics.  They  might  have  satisfied  St.  Dominic  or 
Simon  de  Montfort.  Reenacted  at  Cremona,  1238;  at  Padua,  1239.— 
Monument.  Germ.  iv.  287,  288.  Also  letter  of  June  15,  ex  Regest.  Greg. 
IX.     In  Holler,  p.  314. 


Chap.  III.  LAWS  AGAINST  HERETICS.  385 

But  these  laws  were  directed  against  a  particular  class 
of  men,  dangerous  it  was  thought  no  less  to  the  civil 
than  to  the  religious  power ;  actual  rebels  against  the 
Church,  rebels  likewise  against  the  Emperor,  who  was 
still  the  conservator  of  pure  orthodoxy,  and  betraying 
at  least  rebellious  inclinations,  if  not  designs  hostile 
towards  all  power.  They  were  neither  enacted  nor 
put  in  force  against  the  Greek  Christians,  who  were 
still  in  considerable  numbers  in  the  kingdom  of  Sicily, 
had  their  own  priests,  and  celebrated  undisturbed  their 
own  rites.  They  were  those  heretics  which  swarmed 
under  various  denominations,  Cathari  or  Paterins,  from 
rebellious  and  republican  Lombardy,  the  hated  and 
suspected  source  of  all  these  opinions.  In  all  the 
states  of  the  Pope,  in  Rome  itself,  not  merely  were 
there  hidden  descendants  of  the  Arnoldists,  but  all  the 
wild  sects  which  defied  the  most  cruel  persecutions  in 
the  North  of  Italy,  spread  their  doctrines  even  within 
the  shadow  of  the  towers  of  St.  Peter.  Naples  and 
Aversa  were  full  of  them,1  and  derived  them  from  re- 
bellious Lombardy ;  and  Frederick,  whose  notions  of 
the  imperial  power  were  as  absolute  as  Gregory's  of 
the  Papal,  not  only  would  not  incur  by  their  protection 
such  suspicions,  as  would  have  inevitably  risen,  of  har- 
boring or  favoring  heretics,  he  scrupled  not  to  assist 
in  the  extermination  of  these  insolent  insurrectionists 
against  lawful  authority.2 

1  "  Adeo  quod  ab  Italiae  finibus,  praesertim  a  partibus  Longobardias  in 
quibus  pro  certo  perpcndimus  ipsorum  nequitiam  amplius  abundare,  jam 
usque  ad  reguum  nostrum  suae  perfidiae  rivulos  derivarunt."  —  1.  i.  tit.  i. 
"  Quod  dolentes  referimus,  in  regno  nostro  Siciliae  Neapolin,  et  Aversam, 
partesque  vicinas  dicitur  infecisse."  —  Frederic.  Epist.  apud  Epist.  Gregor. 
iv.  131. 

2  Gregor.  Vit.  Richard  de  San  Germ.  See  also  the  Edict  of  the  Senator 
and  people  of  Rome.  —  Apud  Raynald.  1231.     Compare  (afterwards)  Fred- 

vol.  v.  25 


386  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

The  Constitution  of  Frederick  endeavored  to  reduce 
the  clergy  into  obedient  and  loyal  subjects  at  once  by 
the  vigorous  assertion  of  the  supreme  and  impartial 
law,  and  by  securing  and  extending  their  acknowl- 
edged immunities.  The  clergy  were  amenable  to  the 
general  law  of  the  realm  as  concerned  fiefs,  could  be 
.npleaded  in  the  ordinary  courts  concerning  occupancy 
"f  land,  inheritances,  and  debts :  they  had  jurisdiction 
over  their  own  body,  with  the  right  of  inflicting  canon- 
ical punishments  :  but  besides  this  they  were  amenable 
to  the  secular  laws,  especially  for  treason,  or  all  crimes 
relating  to  the  person  of  the  King.1  They  were  not 
exempt  from  general  taxation  ;  they  were  bound  to 
discharge  all  feudal  obligations  for  their  fiefs.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  crown  abandoned  its  claim  to  the  rev- 
enues of  vacant  bishoprics  and  benefices : 2  three  un- 
exceptionable persons  belonging  to  the  Church  were 
appointed  receivers  on  behalf  of  the  successor.  On 
the  election  of  bishops  the  law  of  Innocent  III.  was 
recognized  ;  the  chapter  communicated  the  vacancy  to 
the  Crown,  and  proceeded  to  elect  a  fit  successor ;  that 
successor  could  not  be -inaugurated  without  the  consent 
of  the  King,  nor  consecrated  without  that  of  the  Pope. 
Tithes  were  secured  to  the  Church  from  all  lands,  even 
from  the  royal  domains ; 3  the  Crown  only  enforced  the 
expenditure  of  the  appointed  third  on  the  sacred  edi 
fices,  the  churches  and  chapels.  All  special  courts  of 
the  higher  ecclesiastics  as  of  the  barons  were  abro- 
gated;  the  crown  would  be  the  sole  fountain  of  justice: 

erick's  letter  commanding  the  heretics  throughout  Lombardy  to  be  commit- 
ted to  the  flames. 

i  i.  42.    A  law  of  King  William. 

2  iii.  28.     Serfs  and  villains  were  not  to  be  ordained,  iii.  1,  3. 

»i.  7. 


Chap.  III.  NOBLES  —  CITIES  —  PEASANTS.  387 

but  the  holders  of  the  great  spiritual  fiefs  sat  with  the 
great  Barons  under  the  presidency  of  the  high  Chan- 
cellor. Excepting  in  cases  of  marriage,  no  separate 
jurisdiction  of  the  clergy  was  recognized  over  the  laity.1 
Appeals  to  Rome  were  allowed,  but  only  on  matters 
purely  ecclesiastical ;  and  these  during  wars  with  the 
Pope  were  absolutely  forbidden.  The  great  magnates 
of  the  realm  received  likewise  substantial  benefits  in  lieu 
of  the  privileges  wrested  from  them,  which  were  peril- 
ous to  the  public  peace.2  All  their  separate  jurisdic- 
tions of  noble  or  prelate  were  abolished;  the  King's 
judiciary  was  alone  and  supreme.  But  their  fiefs  were 
made  hereditary,  and  in  the  female  line  and  to  col- 
laterals in  the  third  degree.3 

The  cities  were  emancipated  from  all   the  jurisdie 
tions  of  nobles  or  of  ecclesiastics ;    but   the  cities. 
municipal  authorities  were  not  absolutely  left  to  their 
free    election.     The   Sicilian    King    dreaded    the  fatal 
example  of  the  Lombard  Republics  :    all  the  superior 
governors  were   nominated  by  the  Crown  ;  the   cities 
only  retained  in  their  own  hands  the  inferior  appoint- 
ments, for  the  regulation  of  their  markets  and  havens.4 
The  law  overlooked  not  the  interests  of  the  free  peas- 
ants, who  constituted  the  chief  cultivators  of  Peasants. 
the  soil ;  or  that  of  the  serfs  attached  to  the  soil.     Ab- 
solute slavery  was  by  no  means  common  in  Sicily ;  the 
serfs  could  acquire  and  hold  property.     The  free  peas- 

1  Frederick  asserted  and  exercised  the  right  of  declaring  the  children  of 
the  clergy,  who  by  the  canon  law  were  spurious,  legitimate,  with  full  title 
to  a  share  in  all  the  inheritances  of  all  the  goods  of  their  parents,  unless 
they  were  fiefs;  and  capability  of  attaining  to  all  civil  offices  and  honors. 
For  this  privilege  they  paid  an  annual  tax  of  five  per  cent,  to  the  royal  ex- 
chequer. This  implied  the  marriage  of  the  clergy  to  a  great  extent.  —  Pet. 
de  Vjn.  vi.  16.    Constitut.  iii.  25. 

2  i.  46.  3  iii.  23,  24.  4  i.  47. 


388  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X 

ants  were  numerous  ;  the  measures  of  Frederick  tended 
to  raise  the  serfs  to  the  same  condition.  He  absolutely 
emancipated  all  those  on  the  royal  domain.  The  es- 
tablishment of  his  courts  enabled  all  classes  to  obtain 
justice  at  an  easy  and  cheap  rate  against  their  lords ; 
the  extraordinary  aids  to  be  demanded  by  the  lord  were 
limited  by  law,  that  of  the  lay  feudal  superior,  to  aids 
on  the  marriage  of  a  daughter  or  sister,  the  arming  the 
son  when  summoned  to  the  service  of  the  King,  and 
his  ransom  in  captivity ;  that  of  the  higher  ecclesias- 
tics and  monasteries,  to  the  summons  to  the  King's 
service,  and  receiving  the  King  at  free  quarters  ;  jour- 
neys to  Church  Councils,  summoned  by  the  Pope,  and 
Consecrations.  Frederick  was  so  desirous  to  promote 
the  cultivation  of  the  soil,  that  he  exempted  new  set- 
tlers in  Sicily  from  taxes  for  ten  years ;  only  the  Jews, 
who  took  refuge  from  Africa,  were  obliged  to  pay  such 
taxes,  and  compelled  to  become  cultivators  of  the  land. 
But  of  all  institutions,  the  most  advanced  was  the 
Parliaments,  system  of  representative  government,  for  the 
first  time  regularly  framed  by  the  laws  of  the  realm. 
Besides  the  ancient  Parliaments,  at  which  the  mag- 
nates of  the  realm,  the  great  ecclesiastical  and  secular 
vassals  of  the  Crown  assembled  when  summoned  by 
the  King's  writs,  two  annual  sessions  took  place,  on 
the  1st  of  March  and  the  1st  of  August,  of  a  Par- 
liament constituted  from  the  different  orders  of  the 
realm.1  All  the  Barons  and  Prelates  appeared  in 
person  ;  each  of  the  larger  cities  sent  four  represen- 
tatives, each  smaller  city  two,  each  town  or  other  place 
one ;  to  these  were  joined  all  the  great  and  lesser  Bail- 

1  One  of  the  cities  appointed  for  the  meeting  of  Parliament  in  Apulia 
was  Lentini;  in  Sicily,  Piazza.     Compare  Gregorio,  iii.  p.  82. 


Chap.  III.  OTHER  LAWS.  389 

iffs  of  the  Crown.  The  summons  to  the  Barons  and 
Prelates  was  directly  from  the  King,  that  of  the  cities 
and  towns  from  the  judge  of  the  province.  They  were 
to  choose  men  of  probity,  good  repute,  and  impar- 
tiality. A  Commissioner  from  the  Crown  opened  the 
Parliament,  and  conducted  its  proceedings,  which  lasted 
from  eight  to  ten  days.  Every  clerk  or  layman  might 
arraign  the  conduct  of  any  public  officer,  or  offer  his 
advice  for  the  good  of  his  town  or  district.  The  deter- 
minations which  the  royal  Commissioner,  with  the  ad- 
vice of  the  most  distinguished  spiritual  and  temporal 
persons,  approved,  were  delivered  signed  and  sealed  by 
him  directly  to  the  King,  excepting  in  unimportant 
matters,  which  might  be  regulated  by  an  order  from 
the  Justiciary  of  the  Province. 

The  criminal  law  of  Frederick's  constitution  was, 
with  some  remarkable  exceptions,  mild  beyond  prece- 
dent ;  and  also  administered  with  a  solemnity,  impar- 
tiality, and  regularity,  elsewhere  unknown.  The  Chief 
Justiciary  of  the  realm,  with  four  other  judges,  formed 
the  great  Court  of  Criminal  Law  ;  and  the  Crown 
asserted  itself  to  be  the  exclusive  administrator  of 
criminal  justice.1  Besides  its  implacable  abhorrence 
of  heresy,  it  was  severe  and  inexorable  against  all  dis- 
turbers of  the  peace  of  the  realm,  and  those  who  en- 
dangered the  public  security.  Private  war,2  and  the 
execution  of  the  law  by  private  hands,  was  rigidly  for 
bidden.  Justice  must  be  sought  only  in  the  King's 
courts.     The  punishment   fur   every  infringement   of 


1  Gregorio,  1.  iii.  c.  iv.  "  Nobis  aliquando,  quibus  solum  ordinationem 
justitiariorum  ubicunque  fuerimus,  reservamus."  —  J;  i.  t.  95.  This  was 
Dart  of  the  "  merum  imperium  "  of  the  sovereign.  —  i.  t.  49. 

*  i.  8. 


390  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X 

this  statute  was  decapitation  and  forfeiture  of  goods 
Arms  were  not  to  be  borne  except  by  the  King's  offi- 
cers, employed  in  the  court  or  on  the  royal  affairs,1  or 
by  knights,  knights'  sons,  and  burghers,  riding  abroad 
from  their  own  homes.  Whoever  drew  his  sword  on 
another  paid  double  the  fine  imposed  for  bearing  it : 
whoever  wounded  another  lost  his  hand ;  whoever 
killed  a  man,  if  a  knight,  was  beheaded,  if  of  lower 
rank,  hanged.  If  the  homicide  could  not  be  found, 
the  district  paid  a  heavy  fine,  yet  in  proportion  to  the 
wehrgeld  of  the  slain  man  ;  but  Christians  paid  twice 
as  much  as  Jews  or  Saracens,  as,  no  doubt,  bound  more 
especially  to  know  and  maintain  the  law.  The  laws 
for  the  preservation  of  female  chastity  were  singular 
and  severe.  Even  rape  upon  a  common  prostitute 
was  punished  by  beheading,  if  the  charge  was  brought 
within  a  certain  time : 2  whoever  did  not  aid  a  woman 
suffering  violence  was  heavily  fined.  But  in  these 
cases  a  false  accusation  was  visited  with  the  same  pun- 
ishment. Mothers  who  betrayed  their  daughters  to 
whoredom  had  their  noses  cut  off;3  men  who  con- 
nived at  the  adultery  of  their  wives  were  scourged. 
A  man  caught  in  adultery  might  be  slain  by  the  hus- 
band ;  if  not  instantly  slain,  he  paid  a  heavy  fine. 
The  trials  by  battle  and  ordeal  were  abolished  as  vain 
and  superstitious  :  the  former  allowed  only  in  cases  of 
murder,  poisoning,  or  high  treason,  where  there  was 
strong  suspicion  but  not  full  proof.  It  was  designed 
to  work  on  the  terror  of  the  criminal ;  but  if  the  ac- 
cuser was  worsted,  he  was  condemned  in  case  of  high 
treason  to  the  utmost  penalty  ;  in  other  cases  to  pro- 
portionate punishment.    Torture  was  only  used  in  cases 

i  Gregorio,  i.  9.  2  i.  20.  3  iii-  48,  50. 


Chap.  III.  COMMERCIAL  PROGRESS.  391 

of  heavy  suspicion  against  persons  of  notoriously  evil 
repute.1 

These  are  but  instances  of  the  spirit  in  which  Fred- 
erick framed  his  legislation,  which  aimed  rather  to  ad- 
vance, enrich,  enlighten  his  subjects  than  to  repress 
their  free  development  by  busy  and  perpetual  inter- 
ference. His  regulations  concerning  commerce  were 
almost  prophetically  wise ;  he  laid  down  the  great 
maxim  that  commercial  exchange  benefited  both  par- 
ties ;  he  permitted  the  export  of  corn  as  the  best 
means  of  fostering  its  cultivation.  He  entered  into 
liberal  treaties  with  Venice,  with  Asia,  Genoa,  and 
the  Greek  Empire,  and  even  with  some  of  the  Sara- 
cen powers  in  Africa.  By  common  consent,  both  par- 
ties condemned  the  plundering  of  wrecks,  and  pledged 
themselves  to  mutual  aid  and  friendly  reception  into 
their  harbors.  The  King  himself  was  a  great  mer- 
chant ;  the  royal  vessels  traded  to  Syria,  Egypt,  and 
other  parts  of  the  East.  He  had  even  factors  who 
traded  to  India.2  He  encouraged  internal  commerce  by 
the  establishment  of  great  fairs  and  markets  ;3  manu- 
factures of  various  kinds  began  to  prosper. 

But  that  which  —  if  the  constitution  of  Frederick 

1  Frederick's  legislation  was  not  content  with  abolishing  these  barbarous 
forms  of  testimony,  almost  the  only  available  testimony  in  rude  unlettered 
times.  He  laid  down  rules  on  written  evidence;  documents  must  be  on 
parchment,  not  on  perishable  paper ;  he  prohibited  a  certain  kind  of  obscure 
and  intricate  writing,  in  use  at  Naples,  Amalfi,  and  Sorrento ;  and  ordered 
the  notaries  to  write  all  deeds  legibly  and  clearly.  The  Emperor  himself 
laid  down  regulations  to  test  the  authenticity  of  a  certain  document.  — 
Gregorio,  iii.  p.  61. 

2  "  Fredericus  II.  erat  omnibus  Soldanis  Orientis  particeps  in  mercimoniis 
et  amicissimus,  ita  ut  usque  ad  Indos  currebant  ad  commodum  suum,  tarn 
per  mare,  qnam  per  terras,  institores."  —  Matth.  Par.  544. 

3  See  edict  for  annual  fairs  at  Sulmona,  Capua,  Lucera,  Pari,  Tarentum 
Cosenza,  Reggiq,  Jan.  12o4.  —  Rich.  San  Germ. 


392  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

had  continued  to  flourish,  if  the  institutions  had  worked 
out  in  peace  their  natural  consequences  —  if  the  house 
of  Hohenstaufen  had  maintained  their  power,  splendor 
and  tendencies  to  social  and  intellectual  advancement, 
if  they  had  not  been  dispossessed  by  the  dynasty  of 
Charles  of  Anjou,  and  the  whole  land  thrown  back  by 
many  centuries  —  might  have  enabled  the  Southern 
kingdom  to  take  the  lead,  and  anticipate  the  splendid 
period  of  Italian  learning,  philosophy,  and  art,  was  the 
universities  ;  the  establishments  for  education  ;  the  en- 
couragements for  all  learned  and  refined  studies,  im- 
agined by  this  accomplished  King.  Even  the  revival 
of  Greek  letters  might  not  have  awaited  the  conquest 
of  Constantinople  by  the  Turks  four  centuries  later. 
Greek  was  the  spoken  language  of  the  people  in  many 
parts  of  the  kingdom  ;  the  laws  of  Frederick  were 
translated  into  Greek  for  popular  use  ;  the  epitaph  of 
the  Archbishop  of  Messina  in  the  year  1175  was 
Greek.1  There  were  Greek  priests  and  Greek  congre- 
gations in  many  parts  of  Apulia  and  Sicily  ;  the  privi- 
leges conferred  by  the  Emperor  Henry  VI.  on  Messina 
had  enacted  that  one  of  the  three  magistrates  should 
be  a  Greek.  Hebrew,  and  .still  more  Arabic,  were 
well  known,  not  merely  by  Jews  and  Arabians  but  by 
learned  scholars.  Frederick  himself  spoke  German, 
Italian,  Latin,  Greek,  Arabic,  and  Hebrew.  He  de- 
clared his  own  passionate  love  for  learned  and  philo- 
sophical studies.  Nothing  after  the  knowledge  of  af- 
fairs, of  laws  and  of  arms,  became  a  monarch  so  well  ; 
to  this  he  devoted  all  his  leisure  hours,  these  were  the 
liberal  pursuits  which  adorned  and  dignified  human 
life.2    In  Syria,  and  in  his  intercourse  with  the  Eastern 

1  Von  Raumer,  p.  556.  2  Peter  de  Vinea,  iii.  07. 


Chap.  III.  INTELLECTUAL  PROGRESS.  398 

raonarchs,  he  had  obtained  great  collections  of  books ; 
he  caused  translations  to  be  made  from  the  Arabic,  and 
out  of  Greek  into  Latin,  of  some  of  the  philosophic 
works  of  Aristotle  and  the  Almagest  of  Ptolemy.1 
The  university  of  Naples  was  his  great  foundation  ; 
Salerno  remained  the  famous  school  of  medicine  ;  but 
the  university  in  the  capital  was  encouraged  by  liberal 
endowments,  and  by  regulations  with  regard  to  the  re- 
lations of  the  scholars  and  the  citizens ;  the  price  of 
lodgings  was  fixed  by  royal  order ;  sums  of  money 
were  to  be  advanced  to  youths  at  low  interest,  and 
could  not  be  exacted  during  the  years  of  study.  The 
King  held  out  to  the  more  promising  students  honora- 
ble employments  in  his  service.  Philosophical  studies 
appeared  most  suited  to  the  genius  of  Frederick  ;  nat- 
ural history  and  the  useful  sciences  he  cultivated  with 
success ;  but  he  had  likewise  great  taste  for  the  fine 
arts,  especially  for  architecture,  both  ornamental  and 
military.  He  restored  the  walls  of  many  of  the  great- 
est cities ;  built  bridges  and  other  useful  works.  He 
had  large  menageries,  supplied  from  the  East  and  from 
Africa.  He  sometimes  vouchsafed  to  send  some  of  the 
more  curious  animals  about  for  the  instruction  and 
amusement  of  his  subjects.     The  Ravennese  were  de- 


1  He  employed  the  celebrated  Michael  Scott  (the  fabled  magician)  in  the 
translation  of  Aristotle.  Among  the  Papal  documents  relating  to  England 
in  the  British  Museum  are  several  letters  concerning  this  remarkable  man, 
patronized  alike  by  Frederick  and  by  the  Popes.  Honorius  III.  writes 
(Jan.  16,  1225,  p.  214)  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  to  bestow  prefer- 
ment on  Michael  Scott:  "  Quod  inter  literatos  dono  vigeat  sciential  singu 
lari."  M.  Scott  (p.  229)  has  a  license  to  hold  pluralities.  (P.  246)  he  is 
named  by  the  Pope  Archbishop  of  Cashel,  and  to  hold  his  other  benefices. 
(P.  253)  he  refuses  the  Archbishopric:  "  Dura  linguam  terra;  illius  se  igno- 
rare  diceret."  He  is  described  as  not  only  a  great  Latin  scholar,  but  aa 
familiar  with  Hebrew  and  Arabic 


394  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

'ighted  with  the  appearance  of  some  royal  animals. 
-Ie  was  passionately  fond  of  field  sports,  of  the  chase 
"vith  the  hound  and  the  hawk  ;  his  own  book  on  fal- 
conry is  not  merely  instructive  on  that  sport,  but  is  a 
scientific  treatise  on  the  nature  and  habits  of  those 
birds,  and  of  many  other  animals.  The  first  efforts  of 
Italian  sculpture  and  painting  rose  under  his  auspices  ; 
the  beautiful  Italian  language  began  to  form  itself  in 
his  court:  it  has  been  said  above  that  the  earliest 
strains  of  Italian  poetry  were  heard  there :  Peter  de 
Vinea,  the  Chancellor  of  Frederick,  the  compiler  of 
his  laws,  was  also  the  writer  of  the  earliest  Italian  son- 
net. Nor  was  Peter  de  Vine&  the  only  courtier  who 
emulated  the  King  in  poetry  ;  his  beloved  son  Enzio, 
many  of  his  courtiers,  vied  with  their  King  and  his 
ministers  in  the  cultivation  of  the  Italian  language  ; 
and  its  first  fruits  the  rich  harmonious  Italian  poetry.1 

His  own  age  beheld  with  admiring  amazement  the 
magnificence  of  Frederick's  court,  the  unexampled 
progress  in  wealth,  luxury,  and  knowledge.  The  realm 
was  at  peace,  notwithstanding  some  disturbance  by 
those  proud  barons,  whose  interest  it  was  to  maintain 
the  old  feudal  and  seignorial  rights ;  the  reluctance  of 
the  clergy  to  recede  from  the  complete  dominion  over 
the  popular  mind  ;  and  the  taxation,  which  weighed, 
especially  as  Frederick  became  more  involved  in  the 
Lombard  war,  on  all  classes.     The  world  had  seen  no 


1  Some  of  these  poems  I  have  read  in  a  collection  of  the  Poeti  del  Primo 
Secolo,  Firenze,  1814.  A  small  volume  has  been  published  by  the  Literary 
Union  of  Stuttgard  (1543),  Italienische  Lieder  des  Hohenstaufischen  Hofes 
in  Sicilien.  It  contains  lays  by  thirteen  royal  and  noble  authors.  Dante, 
in  his  book  De  Vulgari  Eloquentia,  traces  to  the  court  of  Frederick  the 
origin  of  the  true  and  universal  Italian  language.  We  return  to  this  sub- 
ject. 


Chap.  III.       DANGER  TO  THE  CHURCH.  395 

court  so  splendid,  no  system  of  laws  so  majestically 
equitable ;  a  new  order  of  things  appeared  to  be  aris- 
ing; an  epoch  to  be  commencing  in  human  civilization. 
But  this  admiration  was  not  universal :  there  was  a 
deep  and  silent  jealousy,  an  intuitive  dread  in  the 
Church,1  and  in  all  the  faithful  partisans  of  the  Church 
of  remote,  if  not  immediate  danger;  of  a  latent  design, 
at  least  a  latent  tendency  in  the  temporal  kingdom  to 
set  itself  apart,  and  to  sever  itself  from  the  one  great  re- 
ligious Empire,  which  had  now  been  building  itself  up 
for  centuries.  There  was,  if  not  an  avowed  indepen- 
dence, a  threatening  disposition  to  independence.  The 
legislation,  if  it  did  not  directly  clash,  yet  it  seemed 
to  clash,  with  the  higher  law  of  the  Church  ;  if  it  did 
not  make  the  clergy  wholly  subordinate,  it  degraded 
them  in  some  respect  to  the  rank  of  subjects ;  if  it  did 
not  abrogate,  it  limited  what  were  called  the  rights  and 
privileges,  but  which  were  in  fact  the  separate  rule  and 
dominion  of  the  clergy ;  at  all  events,  it  assumed  a 
supremacy,  set  itself  above,  admitted  only  what  it 
chose  of  the  great  Canon  Law  of  the  Church  ;  it  was 
self-originating,  self-asserting,  it  had  not  condescended  to 
consult  those  in  whom  for  centuries  all  political  as  well 
as  spiritual  wisdom  had  been  concentred ;  it  was  a  leg- 
islation neither  emanating  from,  nor  consented  to  by 
the  Church.  If  every  nation  were  thus  to  frame  its 
own   constitution,  without  regard  to  the  great  unity 

1  The  Pope  seemed  to  consider  that  Frederick's  new  constitutions  must 
be  inimical  to  the  Church.  "  Intelleximus  siquidem  quod  vel  proprio  motu, 
vel  seductus  inconsultis  consiliis  perversorum,  novas  edere  constitutiones 
intendis  ex  quibus  necessario  sequitur  ut  dicaris  Ecclesise  persecutor  et  ob- 
rutor  publicae  libertatis."  —  lib.  v.  Epist.  91,  apud  Raynald-  1231.  He  re- 
proaches the  Archbishop  of  Capua  as  "  Frederico  constitutiones  destructiva8 
salutis  et  institutivas  enormium  scandalorum  edenti  voluntarius  obsequens-" 
—  Apud  Honor,  ii.  p.  333 


896  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X 

maintained  by  the  Church,  the  vast  Christian  confeder- 
acy would  break  up ;  Kings  might  assume  the  power 
of  forbidding  the  recurrence  to  Rome  as  the  religious 
capital  of  the  world ;  independent  kingdoms  might  as- 
pire to  found  independent  churches.  This  new  knowl- 
edge too  was  not  less  dangerous  because  its  ultimate 
danger  was  not  clearly  seen ;  at  all  events,  it  was  not 
knowledge  introduced,  sanctioned,  taught  by  the  sole 
great  instructress,  the  Church.  Theology,  the  one 
Science,  was  threatened  by  a  rival,  and  whence  did 
that  rival  profess  to  draw  her  wisdom  ?  from  the  Hea- 
then, the  Jew,  the  Unbeliever ;  from  the  Pagan  Greek, 
the  Hebrew,  the  Arabic.  That  which  might  be  in  it- 
self harmless,  edifying,  improving,  when  taught  by  the 
Church,  would  but  inflame  the  rebellious  pride  of  the 
human  intellect.  What  meant  this  ostentatious  toler- 
ation of  other  religions,  if  not  total  indifference  to 
Christ  and  God ;  if  not  a  secret  inclination  to  apos- 
tasy ?  What  was  all  this  splendor,  but  Epicurean  or 
Eastern  luxury  ?  What  this  poetry,  but  effeminate 
amatory  songs  ?  Was  this  the  life  of  a  Christian 
King,  of  a  Christian  nobility,  of  a  Christian  people  ? 
It  was  an  absolute  renunciation  of  the  severe  discipline 
of  the  Church,  of  that  austere  asceticism,  which  how 
ever  the  clergy  and  religious  men  alone  could  practise 
its  angelic,  its  divine  perfection,  was  the  remote  virtue 
after  which  all,  even  Kings  (so  many  of  whom  had  ex- 
changed their  worldly  robes  for  the  cowl  and  for  sack- 
cloth) ought  to  aspire,  as  to  the  ultimate  culminating 
height  of  true  Christianity.  It  was  Mohammedan  not 
merely  in  its  secret  indulgences,  its  many  concubines, 
in  which  the  Emperor  was  still  said  to  allow  himself 
Mohammedan  license ;  some  of  his  chosen  companions, 


Chap.  III.  FREDERICK'S   SICILIAN  COURT.  397 

his  trusted  counsellors,  at  least  his  instructors  in  science 
and  philosophy  were  Mohammedans  ;  ladies  of  that 
race  and  religion  appeared,  as  has  been  said,  at  his 
court  (in  them  virtue  was  a  thing  incredible  to  a  sound 
churchman).  The  Saracens  whom  he  had  transplant- 
ed to  Nocera  were  among  his  most  faithful  troops,  fol- 
lowed him  in  his  campaigns ;  it  was  even  reported,  that 
after  his  marriage  with  Isabella  of  England,  he  dis- 
missed her  English  ladies,  and  made  her  over  to  the 
care  of  Moorish  eunuchs. 

Such  to  the  world  was  the  fame,  such  to  the  Church 
the  evil  fame  of  Frederick's  Sicilian  court ;  exaggerated 
no  doubt  as  to  its  splendor,  luxury,  license,  and  learn- 
ing, as  well  by  the  wonder  of  the  world,  as  by  the 
abhorrence  of  the  Church.  Yet,  after  all,  out  of  his 
long  life  (long  if  considered  not  by  years  but  by  events, 
by  the  civil  acts,  the  wars,  the  negotiations,  the  jour- 
neyings,  the  vicissitudes,  crowded  into  it  by  Frederick's 
own  busy  and  active  ambition  and  by  the  whirling  cur- 
rent of  affairs)  the  time  during  which  he  sunned  him- 
self in  this  gorgeous  voluptuousness  must  have  been 
comparatively  short,  intermittent,  broken.  At  eighteen 
years  of  age  Frederick  left  Sicily  to  win  the  Imperial 
crown :  he  had  then  eight  years  of  the  cold  German 
climate  and  the  rude  German  manners  during  the  estab- 
lishment of  his  Sovereignty  over  the  haughty  German 
Princes  and  Prelates.  Then  eight  years  in  the  South, 
but  during  the  four  first  the  rebellious  Apul-  A  D  1220 
ian  and  Sicilian  nobles  were  to  be  brought t0 1224< 
under  control,  the  Saracens  to  be  reduced  to  obedience, 
and  transported  to  Apulia :  throughout  the  A  D  1225 
later  four  was  strife  with  the  Lombard  cities, to1228- 
strife  about  the  Crusade,  and  preparation  for  the  voyage. 


398  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Hook  X 

Then  came  his  Eastern  campaign,  his  reconciliation  with 
the  Church.  Four  years  followed  of  legislation  ;  and 
a.d.  1230  perhaps  the  nearest  approach  to  indolent  and 
to  1234.  luxurious  peace.  Then  succeeded  the  revolt 
of  his  son.  Four  years  more  to  coerce  rebellious  Ger- 
ad.  1234  many,  to  attempt  in  vain  to  coerce  rebel- 
to  1238.  lious  Lombardy :  all  this  was  to  close,  with 
his  life,  in  the  uninterrupted  immitigable  feud  with 
Gregory  IX.  and  Innocent  IV. 

The  Pope  Gregory  IX.  (it  is  impossible  to  decide 
The  Deere-  now  far  influenced  by  the  desire  of  overawing 
tal8,  this  tendency  of  temporal  legislation  to  assert 

its  own  independence)  determined  to  array  the  higher 
and  eternal  law  of  the  Church  in  a  more  august  and 
authoritative  form.  The  great  code  of  the  Papal  De- 
07'etals  constituted  this  law ;  it  had  now  long  recog- 
nized and  admitted  to  the  honors  of  equal  authority 
the  bold  inventions  of  the  book  called  by  the  name  of 
Isidore  ;  but  during  the  Pontificate  of  Innocent  III. 
there  had  been  five  distinct  compilations,  conflicting  in 
some  points,  and  giving  rise  to  intricate  and  insoluble 
questions.1  Gregory  in  his  old  age  aspired  to  be  the 
Justinian  of  the  Church.  He  intrusted  the  compila- 
tion of  a  complete  and  regular  code  to  Raimond  de 
Pennaforte,  a  noble  Spaniard,  related  to  the  royal 
house  of  Arragon,  of  the  Dominican  Order,  and  now 
the  most  distinguished  jurist  in  the  University  of  Bo 
logna.      Raimond   de   Pennaforte   was   to   be   to   the 

1  "  Sane  diversas  constitutiones,  et  decretales  epistolas,  praedecessorum 
no«trorum  in  diversa  sparsas  volumina,  quarum  aliqune  propter  nimiam 
similitudinem,  et  quaadam  propter  contrarietatem,  nonnullae  etiam  propter 
suam  prolixitatem,  confusionera  inducere  videbantur;  aliquae  vero  vaga- 
bantur  extra  volumina  supradicta,  quai  tanquam  incertae  frequenter  in  ju- 
diciis  vacillabant."  — In  Praefat. 


Chap.  III.     GREGORY  AND  THE  DECRETALS.        399 

Canon  what  Irnerius  of  Bologna  had  been  to  the 
revived  Roman  Law.  It  is  somewhat  singular  that 
Raymond  had  been  the  most  famous  antagonist  of  the 
Arabian  school  of  learning,  the  most  admired  champion 
of  Christianity,  in  his  native  Spain. 

The  first  part  of  these  Decretals  comprehended  the 
whole,  in  a  form  somewhat  abbreviated ;  abbreviations 
which,  as  some  complained,  endangered  the  rights  of 
the  Church  on  important  points  ;  but  were  defended 
by  the  admirers  of  Raymond  of  Pennaforte,  who  de- 
clared that  he  could  not  err,  for  an  angel  from  Heaven 
had  constantly  watched  over  his  holy  work.1  The 
second  contained  the  Decretals  of  Gregory  IX.  himself. 
The  whole  was  promulgated  as  the  great  statute  law  of 
Christendom,  superior  in  its  authority  to  all  secular  laws 
as  the  interests  of  the  soul  were  to  those  of  the  body,  as 
the  Church  was  of  greater  dignity  than  the  State  ;  as 
the  Pope  higher  than  any  one  temporal  sovereign,  or 
all  the  sovereigns  of  the  world.  Though  especially  the 
law  of  the  clergy,  it  was  the  law  binding  likewise  on  the 
laity  as  Christians,  as  religious  men,  both  as  demand- 
ing their  rigid  observance  of  all  the  rights,  immunities, 
independent  jurisdictions  of  the  clergy,  and  concerning 
their  own  conduct  as  spiritual  subjects  of  the  Church. 
All  temporal  jurisprudence  was  bound  to  frame  its 
decrees  with  due  deference  to  the  superior  ecclesiastical 
jurisprudence ;  to  respect  the  borders  of  that  inviola- 
ble domain  ;  not  only  not  to  interfere  with  those  matters 
over  which  the  Church  claimed  exclusive  cognizance, 
but  to  be  prepared  to  enforce  by  temporal  means  those 
decrees  which  the  Church,  in  her  tenderness  for  human 

1  Chiflet,  quoted  by  Schroeck,  xxvii.  64.    Raymond  de  Pennaforte  was 
canonized  by  Clement  VIII.,  in  1901. 


400  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY  Book  X. 

life,  in  her  clemency,  or  in  her  want  of  power,  was 
unwilling  or  unable  herself  to  carry  into  execution. 
Beyond  that  sacred  circle  temporal  legislation  might 
claim  the  full  allegiance  of  its  temporal  subjects  ;  but 
the  Church  alone  could  touch  the  holy  person,  punish 
the  delinquencies,  control  the  demeanor  of  the  sacer- 
dotal order ;  could  regulate  the  power  of  the  superior 
over  the  inferior  clergy,  and  choose  those  who  were  to 
be  enrolled  in  the  order.  The  Church  alone  could 
administer  the  property  of  the  Church ;  that  property 
it  was  altogether  beyond  the  province  of  the  civil 
power  to  tax  ;  even  as  to  feudal  obligations,  the  Church 
would  hardly  consent  to  allow  any  decisions  but  her 
own  :  though  compelled  to  submit  to  the  assent  of  the 
crown  in  elections  to  benefices  which  were  temporal 
fiefs,  yet  that  assent  was,  on  the  other  hand,  counter- 
balanced by  her  undoubted  power  to  consecrate  or  to 
refuse  consecration.  The  Book  of  Gregory's  Decretals 
was  ordered  to  be  the  authorized  text  in  all  courts  and 
in  all  schools  of  law  ;  it  was  to  be,  as  it  were,  more  and 
more  deeply  impressed  into  the  minds  of  men.  Even 
in  its  form  it  closely  resembled  the  Roman  law  yet 
unabrogated  in  many  parts  of  Europe  ;  but  of  course 
it  comprehended  alike  those  who  lived  under  the  differ- 
ent national  laws,  which  had  adopted  more  or  less  of 
the  old  Latin  jurisprudence ;  it  was  the  more  universal 
statute-book  of  the  more  wide-ruling,  all-embracing 
Rome. 


Chap.  IV.        PEACE  OF  NINE  YEARS.  401 


CHAPTER    IV. 

RENEWAL    OF   HOSTILITIES    BETWEEN    GREGORY    IX.  AND 
FREDERICK   II. 

During  the  nine  years  of  peace  between  the  Empire 
and  the  Papacy,  Pope  Gregory  IX.  at  times  Peaceofmiu> 
poured  forth  his  flowery  eloquence  to  the  S^S, 
praise,  almost  the  adulation,  of  the  Emperor ;  Palm  Sunday- 
the  Emperor  proclaimed  himself  the  most  loyal  subject 
of  the  Church.  The  two  potentates  concurred  only 
with  hearty  zeal  in  the  persecution  of  those  rebels 
against  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  power,  the  heretics.1 

1  During  this  period  of  peace  an  obscure  heresy,  that  of  the  Stedinger, 
appeared  or  grew  to  its  height  in  the  duchy  of  Oldenburg ;  the  Pope  and 
the  Emperor  would  concur  in  inflicting  summary  punishment  on  these 
rebels.  Hartung,  the  Archbishop  of  Bremen,  had  long  appealed  to  Rome. 
On  one  occasion  he  returned  with  full  power  to  subdue  his  refractory  spirit- 
ual subjects,  bearing,  as  he  boasted,  a  singular  and  significant  relic,  —  the 
sword  Avith  which  Peter  had  struck  off  the  ear  of  Malchus.  More  than  thirty 
years  after,  Archbishop  Gerhard,  Count  de  la  Lippe,  a  martial  prelate, 
turned  not  his  spiritual  but  his  secular  arms  against  them.  Among  their 
deadly  tenets  was  the  refusal  to  pay  tithes.  The  Pope  recites  the  charges 
against  them,  furnished  of  course  by  their  mortal  enemies.  They  wor- 
shipped the  Evil  One  now  as  a  toad,  which  they  kissed  behind  and  on 
the  mouth,  and  licked  up  its  foul  venom;  now^as  a  man,  with  a  face  won- 
derfully pale,  haggard,  with  coal-black  eyes.  They  kissed  him;  his  kiss 
was  cold  as  ice,  and  with  his  kiss  oozed  away  all  their  Catholic  faith.  The 
Pope  would  urge  the  Emperor  to  take  part  in  the  war  against  these 
wretches.  Conrad  of  Marburg,  the  hateful  persecutor  of  the  saintly  Eliza- 
beth of  Hungary,  now  the  Holy  Inquisitor,  was  earnest  and  active  in  the 
cause.  The  Stedinger  withstood  a  crusading  army  of  40,000  men ;  were 
defeated  with  the  loss  of  6000.  Many  fled  to  other  lands;  the  rest  submit- 
ted to  the  Archbishop.  The  Pope  released  them  from  the  excommunica- 
vol.  v.  20 


402  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

At  Rome  multitudes  of  meaner  religious  criminals  were 
burned  ;  many  priests  and  of  the  lower  orders  of  clergy 
degraded  and  sent  to  Monte  Casino  and  other  rigid 
monasteries  as  prisoners  for  life.1  The  Pope  issued 
an  act  of  excommunication  rising  in  wrath  and  terror 
above  former  acts.  Persons  suspected  of  heresy  were 
under  excommunication  ;  if  within  a  year  they  did  not 
prove  themselves  guiltless,  they  were  to  be  treated  as 
heretics.  Heretics  were  at  once  infamous  ;  if  judges, 
their  acts  were  at  once  null ;  if  advocates,  they  could 
not  plead  ;  if  notaries,  the  instruments  which  they  had 
drawn  wrere  invalid.  All  priests  were  to  be  publicly 
stripped  of  their  holy  dress  and  degraded.  No  gifts 
or  oblations  were  to  be  received  from  them ;  the  clerk 
who  bestowed  Christian  burial  on  a  heretic  was  to  dis- 
entomb him  with  his  own  hands,  and  cast  him  forth 
from  the  cemetery,  which  became  an  accursed  place 
unfit  for  burial.  No  lay  person  was  to  dispute  in  pub- 
lic or  in  private  concerning  the  Catholic  faith  :  no  de- 
scendant of  a  heretic  to  the  second  generation  could  be 
admitted  to  holy  orders.  Annibaldi,  the  senator  of 
Rome  and  the  Roman  people,  passed  a  decree  enacting 
condign  punishment  on  all  heretics.  The  Emperor, 
not  content  with  suppressing  these  insurgents  in  his 
hereditary  dominions,  had  given  orders  that  throughout 
Lombardy,  their  chief  seat,  they  should  be  sought  out, 
delivered  to  the  Inquisitors,2  and  there  punished  by  the 

tion:  but  it  is  curious  to  observe,  he  only  censures  their  disobedience  and 
insurrection;  he  is  silent  of  their  heresy.  —  Raynaldus,  sub  ann.  1233; 
Shroeck,  xxix.  641,  &c.  The  original  authorities  are  Albert.  Stad.  Ger. 
Monach.  apud  Bochmer —  above  all  the  Papal  letters. 

1  Vit.  Gregor.  IX.     Rich.  San  German.  Raynald.  sub  ann.  1231. 

2  Gregory  in  one  letter  insinuates  that  Frederick  had  burned  some  good 
Catholics,  his  enemies,  as  pretending  that  they  were  or  had  been  heretics. 
—  Epist.  244.     Raynald.  p.  85. 


Chap.  IV.  PERSECUTIONS   OF  HERETICS.  403 

secular  arm.1  One  of  his  own  most  useful  allies,  Ec- 
celin  di  Romano,  was  in  danger.  Eccelin's  two  sons, 
Eecelin  and  Alberic,  offered  to  denounce  him  to  the 
Inquisition.  There  was,  what  it  is  difficult  to  describe 
but  as  profound  hypocrisy,  or  worse,  on  the  part  of  the 
Pope :  he  declared  his  unwillingness  to  proceed  to  just 
vengeance  against  the  father  of  such  pious  sons,  who  by 
his  guilt  would  forfeit,  as  in  a  case  of  capital  treason, 
all  their  inheritance ;  the  sons  were  to  persuade  Eecelin 
to  abandon  all  connection  with  heresy  or  with  heretics : 
if  he  refused,  they  were  to  regard  their  own  salvation, 
and  to  denounce  their  father  before  the  Papal  tribunal.2 
It  is  strange  enough  that  the  suspected  heretic,  sus- 
pected perhaps  not  unjustly,  took  the  vows,  and  died  in 
the  garb  of  a  monk  ;  the  pious  son  became  that  Eecelin 
di  Romano  whose  cruelty  seems  to  have  defied  the  ex- 
aggeration of  party  hatred. 

But  in  all  other  respects  the  Pope  and  the  Emperor 
were  equally  mistrustful  of  each  other  ;  peace  was  dis- 
guised war.  Each  had  an  ally  in  the  midst  of  the 
other's  territory  whom  he  could  not  avow,  yet  would 
not  abandon.  Even  in  these  perverse  times  the  con- 
duct of  the  Romans  to  the  Pope  is  almost  inexplicable. 
No  sooner  had  the  Pope,  either  harassed  or  threatened 
by  their  unruly  proceedings,  withdrawn  in  wrath,  or 
under  the  pretext  of  enjoying  the  purer  and  cooler  air, 
to  Reate,  Anagni,  or  some  other  neighboring  city,  than 
Rome  began  to  regret  his  absence,  to  make  overtures 
of  submission  ;  and  still  received  him  back  with  more 

1  See  ante,  note,  p.  385. 

2  The  age  may  be  pleaded  in  favor  of  Gregory  IX.  What  is  to  be  said 
©f  the  comment  of  the  Papal  annalist,  Raynaldus '?  —  "  Nee  mirum  cuiquam 
videri  potest  datum  hoc  filiis  adversus  parentem  consilium,  cum  uuminis,  a 
quo  descendit  omnis  paternitas,  causa  humanis  aft'ectibus  debet  antwterri." 
p.  41.     Kaynald.  12ol. 


401  LATIN   CURISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

rapturous  demonstrations  of  joy.1  In  a  few  months  they 
began  to  be  weary  of  their  quiet :  his  splendid  build- 
ings for  the  defenee  and  ornament  of  the  city  lost  their 
imposing  power,  or  became  threatening  to  their  liber- 
ties ;  he  was  either  compelled  or  thought  it  prudent  to 
retire.  Viterbo  had  become  to  the  Romans  what  Tus- 
culum  had  been  in  a  former  century;  the  Romans 
loved  their  own  liberty,  but  their  hate  of  Viterbo  was 
stronger  than  their  love  ;  the  fear  that  the  Pope  might 
take  part  with  Viterbo  brought  them  to  his  feet ;  that 
he  did  not  aid  them  in  the  subjugation  of  Viterbo  re- 
kindled their  hostility  to  him.  More  than  once  the 
Pope  called  on  the  Emperor  to  assist  him  to  put  down 
his  insurgent  subjects :  Frederick  promised,  eluded 
his  promise ; 2  his  troops  were  wanted  to  suppress 
rebellions  not  feigned,  but  rather  of  some  danger, 
at  Messina  and  Syracuse.  He  had  secret  partisans 
everywhere :  when  Rome  was  Papal,  Viterbo  was  Im- 
perialist ;  when  Viterbo  was  for  the  Pope,  Rome  was 
for  the  Emperor.  If  Frederick  was  insincere  in  his 
maintenance  of  the  Pope  against  his  domestic  enemies, 
Gregory  was  no  less  insincere  in  pretending  to  renounce 
all  alliance,  all  sympathy   with   the  Lombards.3     But 

1  Rich,  de  S.  Germ.,  sub  arm.  1231,  1233.  He  returned  to  Home,  March 
1233.     He  was  again  in  Anagni  in  August! 

2  Rebellion,  reconciliation,  1233.  New  rebellion,  beginning  of  1231. 
"  Quo  Fredericus  imperator  apud  sanctum  Germanum  certa  relatione  com- 
perto,  qui  fidele  defensionis  presidium  ecclesne  Roman  a?  promiserat,  et  tidei 
et  majestatis  oblitus,  Messanam  properans,  nullo  persequente,  decessit,  hosti- 
ljus  tanti  favoris  auxilium  ex  cessione  datufus."  —  Vit.  Gregor.  Compare 
Pope's  letter  (Feb.  3,  from  Anagni,  and  Feb.  10.)  But  in  fact  there  was 
a  dnngerouu  insurrection  in  Messina;  the  King's  Justiciary  had  been 
obliged  to  fly.  Frederick  had  to  put  down  movements  also  at  Syracuse  and 
Nicosia.  —  Ann.  Sicul.  Rich.  San  Germano. 

3  The  Chronicon  Placentinum  has  revealed  a  renewal  of  the  Lombard 
League  at  Bologna,  Oct.  20,  1231,  and  a  secret  mission  to  the  Pope.  p.  98. 


Chap.  IV.  GREGORY  AND  THE  LOMBARDS.  405 

this  connection  of  the  Pope  with  the  Lombard  League 
required  infinite  management  and  dexterity :  the  Lom- 
bard cities  swarmed  with  heretics,  and  so  far  were  not 
the  most  becoming  allies  of  the  Pope.1  Yet  this  alli- 
ance might  seem  an  affair,  not  of  policy  only,  but  of 
safety.  Gregory  could  not  disguise  to  himself  that  so 
popular,  so  powerful  a  sovereign  had  never  environed 
the  Papal  territories  on  every  side.  If  Frederick  (and 
Frederick's  character  might  seem  daring  enough  for  so 
impious  an  act)  should  despise  the  sacred  awe  which 
guarded  the  person  of  the  Pope,  and  scorn  his  excom- 
munications, he  was  in  an  instant  at  the  gates  of  Rome, 
of  fickle  and  treacherous  Rome.  He  had  planted  his 
two  colonies  of  Saracens  near  the  Apulian  frontier ; 
they  at  least  would  have  no  scruple  in  executing  his 
most  irreverent  orders.  The  Pope  was  at  his  mercy, 
and  friendless,  as  far  as  any  strong  or  immediate  check 
on  the  ambition  or  revenge  of  the  Emperor.  The 
Pope  in  supporting  the  Lombard  republics,  assumed 
the  lofty  position  of  the  sacred  defender  of  liberty,  the 
assertor  of  Italian  independence,  when  Italy  seemed  in 
danger  of  lying  prostrate  under  one  stern  and  despotic 
monarchy,  which  would  extend  from  the  German  Ocean 
to  the  further  shore  of  Sicily.  At  first  his  endeavors 
were  wisely  and  becomingly  devoted  to  the  maintenance 
of  peace  —  a  peace  which,  so  long  as  the  Emperor  re- 
frained from  asserting  his  full  imperial  rights,  so  long 

1  A  modern  writer,  rather  Papal,  thus  describes  the  state  of  Italy  at  that 
lime:  "  Alle  Kreise  und  Stiinde  derjenigen  Theils  der  Nation,  den  man  a!s 
den  eigentlichen  Tragerder  Intelligenz  in  Italien  betrachten  miisste,  waren 
geistig  frei  und  machtig  genug,  wo  ihre  Interessen  denen  der  Kirche  ent- 
gegen  waren,  die  letzeren  mit  Fussen  zu  treten,  nicht  bloss  einzelne  Podes- 
taten,  oder  das  Geld-interesse  des  gemeinen  Volkes,  sondern  oft  alle  gebil- 
deten  Stadtbewohner  wagten  es  keck  den  Bannstrahlen  des  Papstes  hohn 
tu  sprechen."  —  Leo,  Geschichte  der  Italien,  ii.  23-i. 


406  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X 

as  the  Guelfs  ruled  undisturbed  in  those  cities  in  which 
their  interests  predominated,  the  republics  were  content 
to  observe  ;  the  lofty  station  of  the  mediator  of  such 
peace  became  his  sacred  function,  and  gave  him  great 
weight  with  both  parties.1  But  nearly  at  the  same 
Affiiirsof  tune  an  insurrection  of  the  Pope's  Roman 
Rome.  subjects,  more    daring   and    aggressive   than 

usual,  compelled  him  to  seek  the  succor  of  Fred- 
erick, and  Frederick  was  threatened  with  a  rebellion 
which  the  high-minded  and  religious  Pope  could  not 
but  condemn,  though  against  his  fearful  adversary. 

For  the  third  or  fourth  time  the  Pope  had  been  corn- 
May,  1234.  pelled  to  retire  to  Reate.  Under  the  senator- 
ship  of  Luca  di  Sabelli  the  senate  and  people  of  Rome 
had  advanced  new  pretensions,  which  tended  to  revolu 
tionize  the  whole  Papal  dominions.  They  had  demol- 
ished part  of  the  Lateran  palace,  razed  some  of  the 
palaces  of  the  cardinals,  proclaimed  their  open  defiance 
of  the  Pope's  governor,  the  Cardinal  Rainier.  They 
had  sent  justiciaries  into  Tuscany  and  the  Sabine 
country  to  receive  oaths  of  allegiance  to  themselves, 
and  to  exact  tribute.  The  Pope  wrote  pressing  letters 
addressed  to  all  the  princes  and  bishops  of  Christen- 
dom, imploring  succor  in  men  and  money  ;  there  was 
but  one  near  enough  at  hand  to  aid,  had  all  been  will- 
ing. The  Pope  could  not  but  call  on  him  whose  title 
as  Emperor  was  protector  of  the  Church,  who  as  King 
May  20, 1234.  of  Naples  was  first  vassal  of  the  papal  see. 
Frederick  did  not  disobey  the  summons  :  with  his  young 
son  Conrad  he  visited  the  Pope  at  Reate.    The  Cardinal 

1  See  the  letter  to  Frederick,  in  which  he  assumes  the  full  power  of  ar. 
titration  between  the  Emperor  and  the  League.  —  Monument.  Germ,  iv 
29!),  dated  June  5,  1233. 


Chap.  IV.  PEACE '  WITH  ROME.  407 

Rainier  had  thrown  himself  with  the  Pope's  forces  into 
Viterbo  ;  the  army  of  Frederick  sat  down  before  Re- 
spampano,  a  strong  castle  which  the  Romans  occupied 
in  the  neighborhood  as  an  annoyance,  and  as  a  means, 
it  might  be,  of  surprising  and  taking  Viterbo.  But 
Respampano  made  resistance ;  Frederick  him-  Sept.  1234. 
self  retired,  alleging  important  affairs,  to  his  own  do- 
minions. The  Papalists  burst  into  a  cry  of  reproach  at 
his  treacherous  abandonment  of  the  Pope.  Yet  it  was 
entirely  by  the  aid  of  some  of  his  German  troops  that 
the  Papal  army  inflicted  a  humiliating  defeat  on  the 
Romans,  who  were  compelled  to  submit  to  the  April  16 
terms  of  peace  dictated  by  the  Pope,1  and  en-  1235- 
forced  by  the  Emperor,  who  was  again  with  the  Pope 
at  Reate.  Angelo  Malebranca,  "  by  the  grace  of  God 
the  illustrious  senator  of  the  gentle  city  "  (such  were 
the  high-sounding  phrases),  by  the  decree  and  author- 
ity of  the  sacred  senate,  by  the  command  and  instant 
acclamation  of  the  famous  people,  assembled  in  the 
Capitol  at  the  sound  of  the  bell  and  of  the  trumpet, 
swore  to  the  peace  proposed  by  the  three  cardinals,  be- 
tween the  Holy  Roman  Church,  their  Father  the  Su- 
preme Pontiff,  and  the  Senate  and  people  of  Rome. 
He  swore  to  give  satisfaction  for  the  demolition  of  the 
Lateran  palace  and  those  of  the  cardinals,  the  invasion 
of  the  Papal  territories,  the  exaction  of  oaths,  the 
occupation  of  the  domains  of  the  Church.  He  swore 
that  no  clerks  or  ecclesiastical  persons  belonging  to  the 

1  "  Milites  in  civitate  Viterbio  collocavit,  quorum  quotidianis  insultibus 
et  depredationibus  Romani  adeo  sunt  vexiiti,  ut  non  multo  post  cum  Papa 
oacem  subirent."  —  God.  Colon.  The  author  of  the  life  of  Gregory  says 
that  the  Emperor,  instead  of  aiding  the  Pope,  idled  his  time  away  in 
hunting:  "  Majestatis  titulum  in  offieium  venatura?  commutans  ....  in 
capturam  avium  sollicitabat  aquilas  tiiumphales." 


408  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

families  of  the  Pope  or  cardinals  should  be  summoned 
before  the  civil  tribunals  (thus  even  in  Rome  there 
was  a  strong  opposition  to  those  immunities  of  the 
clergy  from  temporal  jurisdiction  for  temporal  offences). 
This  did  not  apply  to  laics  who  belonged  to  such  house- 
holds. He  swore  to  protect  all  pilgrims,  laymen  as 
well  as  ecclesiastics,  who  visited  the  shrines  of  the 
Apostles.1  The  peace  was  reestablished  likewise  witli 
the  Emperor  and  his  vassals  —  with  Anagni,  Segni, 
Velletri,  Viterbo,  and  other  cities  of  the  Papal  terri- 
tories. But  even  during  this  compulsory  approxima- 
tion to  the  Emperor,  the  Pope,  to  remove  all  suspicion 
that  he  might  be  won  to  desert  their  cause,  wrote  to 
the  Lombards  to  reassure  them.  However,  he  mioht 
call  upon  them  not  to  impede  the  descent  of  the  Impe- 
rial troops  from  the  Alps,  those  troops  were  not  directed 
against  their  liberties,  but  came  to  maintain  the  liberties 
of  the  Church. 

But  if  the  rebels  against  the  Pope  were  thus  his  im- 
mediate subjects  the  Romans,  the  rebel  against  Fred- 
erick was  his  own  son.  Henry  had  been  left  to  rule 
Germany  as  king  of  the  Romans  ;  the  causes  and  in- 
Rebeiiion  of  deed  the  objects  of  his  rebellion  are  obscure.2 
King  Henry.  jjeniy  appears  to  have  been  a  man  of  feeble 
character ;  so  long  as  he  was  governed  by  wise  coun- 

1  Apud  Raynald.  ann.  1235. 

2  In  the  year  1232  Frederick  began  to  entertain  suspicions  of  his  son, 
and  to  be  discontented  with  his  conduct.  Henry  (but  20  years  old)  met  his 
father  at  Aquileia,  promised  amendment,  and  to  discard  his  evil  counsel- 
lors. —  Hahn.  Collect.  Monument,  i.  222.  Frederick  might  remember  the 
fatal  example  of  the  Franconian  house;  the  conduct  of  Henry  V.  to  Henry 
IV.  The  chief  burden  of  Henry's  vindication,  addressed,  Sept.  1234,  to 
Bishop  Conrad  of  Hildesheim,  is  that  the  Emperor  had  annulled  some  of 
his  grants,  interfered  in  behalf  of  the  house  of  Bavaria  (Louis  of  Bavaria 
had  been  guardian  of  the  realm  during  his  minority). 


Chap.  IV.  REBELLION  OF  KING  HENRY.  400 

sellors,  filling  his  high  office  without  blame ;  released 
from  their  control,  the  slave  of  his  own  loose  passions, 
and  the  passive  instrument  of  low  and  designing  men. 
The  only  impulse  to  which  the  rebel  son  could  appeal 
was  the  pride  of  Germany,  which  would  no  longer  con- 
descend to  be  governed  from  Italy,  and  to  be  a  prov- 
ince of  the  kingdom  of  Apulia.  Unlike  some  of  his 
predecessors,  Pope  Gregory  took  at  once  the  high  Chris- 
tian tone  :  he  would  seek  no  advantage  from  the  un- 
natural insurrection  of  a  son  against  his  father.  All 
the  malicious  insinuations  against  Gregory  are  put  to 
silence  by  the  fact  that,  during  their  fiercest  war  of 
accusation  and  recrimination,  Frederick  never  charged 
the  Pope  with  the  odious  crime  of  encouraging  his 
son's  disobedience.  Frederick  passed  the  May,  1235. 
Alps  with  letters  from  the  Pope,  calling  on  all  the 
Christian  prelates  of  Germany  to  assert  the  authority 
of  the  King  and  of  the  parent.  Henry  had  held  a 
council  of  princes1  at  Boppart  to  raise  the  standard  of 
revolt,  and  had  entered  into  treasonable  league  with 
Milan  and  the  Lombard  cities.  The  rebellion  was  as 
weak  as  wanton  and  guilty ;  Frederick  entered  Ger- 
many with  the  scantiest  attendance ;  the  af-  July,  1235. 
frighted  son,  abandoned  by  all  his  partisans,  met  him 
at  Worms,  and  made  the  humblest  submission.2  Fred- 
Brick  renewed  his  pardon ;  but  probably  some  new 
detected  intrigues,  or  the  refusal  to  surrender  his 
castles,  or  meditated  flight,3  induced  the  Emperor  to 

1  God.  Colon.  Chron.  Erphurd.  apud  Boehmer  Fontes  R.  G. 

2  "  Ipso  mense,  nullo  obstante,  Alemanniam  intrans,  Henricum  regem 
61ium  suura  ad  mandatum  suum  recepit,  quern  duci  Bavarian  custodiendum 
comraisit."  — Rich.  San  Germ. 

3  God.  Col.  Annal.  Erphurdt.  Quotation  from  Ann.  Argentin.  m  Boek- 
mer's  Rcgesta,  p.  254. 


410  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

send  his  son  as  a  prisoner  to  the  kingdom  of  Naples. 
There  he  remained  in  such  obscurity  that  his  death 
might  have  been  unnoticed  but  for  a  passionate  lamen- 
tation which  Frederick  himself  sent  forth,  in  which  he 
adopted  the  language  of  King  David  on  the  loss  of  his 
ungrateful  but  beloved  Absalom.1 

Worms  had  beheld  the  sad  scene  of  the  ignominious 
arrest  and  imprisonment  of  the  King  of  the  Germans  : 
that  event  was  followed  by  the  splendid  nuptials  of  the 
Emperor  with  Isabella  of  England. 

But  though  the  Pope  was  guiltless,  we  believe  lie 
Lombards  was  guiltless,  the  Lombards  were  deep  in  this 
KgeiienryU's  conspiracy  against  the  power  and  the  peace 
rebellion.  of  p^^fe.  They,  if  they  had  riot  from 
the  first  instigated,  had  inflamed  the  ambition  of 
Henry :  2  they  had  offered,  if  he  would  cross  the  Alps, 
to  invest  him  at  Monza  with  the  iron  crown  of  Italy.3 
Frederick's  long-suppressed  impatience  of  Lombard 
freedom  had  now  a  justifiable  cause  for  vengeance. 
The  Ghibelline  cities  —  Cremona,  Parma,  Pisa,  and 
others  ;  the  Ghibelline  Princes  Eccelin  and  Alberic, 
May  i,  1236.  the  two  sons  of  the  suspected  heretic  Eccelin 
II.  (who  had  now  descended  from  his  throne,  and 
taken  the  habit  of  a  monk,  though  it  was  rumored  that 
his  devotion  was  that  of  an  austere  Paterin  rather  than 

1  Besides  this  pathetic  letter  in  Peter  de  Vinea,  iv.  1,  see  the  more  ex- 
traordinary one,  quoted  by  Hcifler,  addressed  to  the  people  of  Messina. 

2  Galvaneo  Fiaimna  has  these  words:  "  Henricus  composuit  cum  Medio- 
lanensibus  ad  petitionem  Domini  Papje."  — c.  264.  "Et  tunc  facta  est  lega 
fortis  inter  Henricum  et  Mediolanenses  ad  petitionem  Papse  contra  Impera- 
torem  patrem  suum." — Annal.  Mediolan.,  Muratori,  xvi.  624.  These  are 
Milanese,  certainly  not  Ghibelline  writers ! 

3  During  this  year  (1235)  Frederick  assisted  with  seemingly  deep  devo- 
tion at  the  translation  to  Marburg  of  the  remains  of  St.  Elizabeth  of  Hun- 
gary. 1,200,000  persons  are  said  to  have  been  present.  —  Montalembert, 
Vie  de  St.  Elizabeth  d'llonjme. 


Chap.  IV.    LOMBARDS  LEAGUED  WITH  PRINCE  HENRY.     413 

that  of  an  orthodox  recluse)  summoned  the  Emperor 
to  relieve  them  from  the  oppressions  of  the  Guelfic 
league,  and  to  wreak  his  just  revenge  on  Aug.  1236. 
those  aggressive  rebels.  Frederick's  declaration  of  war 
was  drawn  with  singular  subtlety.  His  chief  object, 
he  declared,  was  the  suppression  of  heresy.  The  wide 
prevalence  of  heresy  the  Pope  could  not  deny ;  to  es- 
pouse the  Lombard  cause  was  to  espouse  that  at  least 
of  imputed  heresy ;  it  was  to  oppose  the  Emperor  in 
the  exercise  of  his  highest  imperial  function,  the  pro- 
motion of  the  unity  of  the  Church.  The  Emperor 
could  not  leave  his  own  dominions  in  this  state  of  spir- 
itual and  civil  revolt  to  wage  war  in  foreign  lands  :  so 
soon  as  he  had  subdued  the  heretic  he  was  prepared  to 
arm  against  the  Infidel.  Lombardy  reduced  to  obedi- 
ence, there  would  be  no  obstacle  to  the  reconquest  of 
the  Holy  Land.  Yet  though  thus  embarrassed,  the 
Pope,  in  his  own  defence,  could  not  but  interpose  his 
mediation  ;  he  commanded  both  parties  to  submit  to 
his  supreme  arbitration.  Frederick  yielded,  but  reso- 
lutely limited  the  time  ;  if  the  arbitration  was  not 
made  before  Christmas,  he  was  prepared  for  war.  To 
the  most  urgent  remonstrances  for  longer  time  he 
turned  a  deaf  and  contemptuous  ear  :  he  peremptorily 
challenged  the  Legate  whom  the  Pope  had  appointed, 
the  Cardinal  Bishop  of  Prseneste,  and  refused  to  accept 
as  arbiter  his  declared  enemy.1  Frederick  had  already 
begun  the  campaign  :  Verona  had  ^opened  her  gates  •. 
he  had  stormed  Vicenza,  and  laid  half  the  Nov.  1, 1236. 
city  in  ashes.  He  was  recalled  beyond  the  Alps  by 
the  sudden  insurrection  of  the  Duke  of  Austria.    Greg- 

1  Compare  the  letter,  apud  Raynald.  sub  ann.  1236;  more  complete  in 
Hofler,  p.  357,  and  360. 


412  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

ory  so  far  yielded,  that  in  place  of  the  obnoxious 
Cardinal  of  Praeneste,  he  named  as  his  Legates  the 
March,  1237.  Cardinals  of  Ostia  and  of  San  Sabina.  He 
commended  them  with  high  praise  to  the  Patriarchs  of 
Aquileia  and  of  Grado,  to  the  Archbishops  of  Genoa 
and  Ravenna,  whom,  with  the  suffragan  and  all  the 
people  of  Northern  Italy,  he  exhorted  to  join  in  obtain- 
ing the  blessings  of  peace.  But  already  he  began  to 
murmur  his  complaints  of  those  grievances  which  after- 
wards darkened  to  such  impious  crimes.  The  Frangi- 
panis  were  again  breaking  out  into  turbulence  in 
Rome : l  it  was  suspected  and  urged  that  they  were  in 
the  pay  of  Frederick.  Taxes  had  been  levied  on  the 
clergy  in  the  kingdom  of  Naples ;  they  had  been  sum- 
moned before  civil  tribunals ;  the  old  materials  of 
certain  churches  had  been  profanely  converted  by  the 
Saracens  of  Nocera  to  the  repair  of  their  mosques. 
The  answer  of  Frederick  was  lofty  and  galling.  He 
denied  the  truth  of  the  Pope's  charges  ;  he  appealed  to 
the  conscience  of  the  Pope.  Gregory  demanded  by 
what  right  he  presumed  to  intrude  into  that  awful 
sanctuary.2  "  Kings  and  princes  were  humbly  to  re- 
pose themselves  on  the  lap  of  priests ;  Christian  Em- 
perors were  bound  to  submit  themselves  not  only  to 
the  supreme  Pontiff,  but  even  to  other  bishops.  The 
Apostolic  See  was  the  judge  of  the  whole  world  ;  God 

1  "  Hoc  anno  Petrus  Frangipane,  1236,  in  urbe  Roma  pro  parte  Impera- 
toris  guerram  rnovit  contra  Papam  et  Senatorem."  —  Rich.  San  Germ. 

2  "  Quod  nequaquam  incaute  ad  judicanda  secreta  conscientiae  nostra?  .  . 
.  .  evolasses;  cum  regum  colla  et  principum  videas  gcnibus  sacerdotum, 
et  Christiani  Imperatores  subdere  debeant  executiones  suas  non  solum  Ro- 
mano Pontihci,  quin  etiam  aliis  prajsulibus  non  praeferre,  nee  non  Dominua 
pedem  apostolicam,  cujus  judicio  orbem  terrarum  subjicit,  in  occult  is  et 
manifestis  a  nemine  judicandam,  soli  suo  judicio  reservavit."  —  Greg. 
Epist.  10, 253,  Oct.  23,  1230,  apud  Raynald. 


Chap.  IV.  BATTLE   OF  CORTE  NUOVA.  413 

had  reserved  to  himself  the  sole  judgment  of  the  mani- 
fest and  hidden  acts  of  the  Pope.  Let  the  Emperor 
dread  the  fate  of  Uzzah,  who  laid  his  profane  hands  on 
the  ark  of  God."  He  urged  Frederick  to  follow  the 
example  of  the  great  Constantine,  who  thought  it  ab- 
solutely wicked  that,  where  the  Head  of  the  Christian 
religion  had  been  determined  by  the  King  of  Heaven, 
an  earthly  Emperor  should  have  the  smallest  power, 
and  had  therefore  surrendered  Italy  to  the  Apostolic 
government,  and  chosen  for  himself  a  new  residence  in 
Greece.1 

Frederick  returned  from  Germany  victorious  over 
the  rebellious  Duke  of  Austria ;  his  son  second 
Conrad  had  been  chosen  '  King  of  the  Ro-  on  Italy. 
mans.  He  crossed  the  Alps  with  three  thousand  Ger- 
man men-at-arms,  besides  the  forces  of  the  Ghibelline 
cities  :  he  was  joined  by  ten  thousand  Saracens  from 
the  South.  His  own  ambassadors,  Henry  the  Master 
of  the  Teutonic  Order  and  his  Chancellor  Peter  de 
Vinea,  by  whom  he  had  summoned  the  Pope  to  his 
aid  against  the  enraged  Lombards,  had  returned  from 
Rome  without  accomplishing  their  mission.  At  the 
head  of  his  army  he  would  not  grant  au-  Aug.  1237. 
dience  to  the  Roman  legates,  the  Cardinal  Bishop  of 
Ostia  and  the  Cardinal  of  St.  Sabina,  who  peremp- 
torily enjoined  him  to  submit  to  the  arbitration  of 
the  Pope.  The  great  battle  of  Corte  Nuova  might 
seem  to  avenge  the  defeat  of  his  ?  ancestor  Nov.  27, 1237. 
Frederick  Barbarossa  at  Legnano.  The  Lombard 
army  was  discomfited  with  enormous  loss ;  the  Car- 
roccio  of  Milan,  defended  till  nightfall,  was  stripped  of 
its  banners,  and  abandoned  to  the  conqueror.  Fred- 
1  Ibid. 


414  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

erick  entered  Cremona,  the  palaces  of  which  city 
would  hardly  contain  the  captives,  in  a  splendid  ova- 
tion. The  Podesta  of  Milan,  Tiepolo,  son  of  the 
Doge  of  Venice,  was  bound  on  the  captive  Carroccio ; 
which  was  borne,  as  in  the  pomp  of  an  Eastern  poten- 
tate, on  an  elephant,  followed  by  a  wooden  tower,  with 
trumpeters  and  the  Imperial  standard.  The  pride  of 
Frederick  at  this  victory  was  at  its  height ;  he  sup- 
posed that  it  would  prostrate  at  once  the  madness  of 
the  rebels ;  he  called  upon  the  world  to  rejoice  at  the 
restoration  of  the  Roman  Empire  to  all  its  rights.1 
The  Carroccio  was  sent  to  Rome  as  a  gift  to  the  peo- 
ple of  the  gentle  city :  it  was  deposited  in  the  Capitol, 
a  significant  menace  to  the  Pope.2  But  where  every 
city  was  a  fortress,  inexpugnable  by  the  arts  of  war 
then  known,  a  battle  in  the  open  field  did  not  decide 
the  fate  of  a  league  which  included  so  many  of  the 
noblest  cities  of  Italy.  Frederick  had  passed  the 
winter  at  Cremona;  the  terror  of  his  arms  had  en- 
forced at  least  outward  submission  from  many  of  the 

1  See  the  letter  in  Peter  de  Vinea.  "  Exultet  jam  Romani  Imperii  cul- 
men  ....  mundus  gaudeat  universus  .  .  .  confundatur  rebellis  insania/' 

—  Frederick  disguised  not,  he  boasted  of  the  aid  of  his  Saracens.  He  de- 
scribes the  Germans  reddening  their  swords  with  blood,  Pavia  and  Cremona 
wreaking  vengeance  on  the  tyrannous  Milanese,  "  et  suas  evacuaverunt 
pharetras  Saraceni.'' 

*2  "  Quando  ilium  ad  almse  urbis  populum  destinavit."  A  marble  moni- 
in en t  of  this  victory  was  shown  in  1727.  —  Muratori,  Dissert,  xxvi.  t.  ii.  p. 
491.     The  inscription  was:  — 

"  Ergo  triuniphorum  urbis  memor  esto  priorum, 
Quos  tibi  inittebaut  reges  qui  bella  gerebant." 

—  Francisc.  Pipin.  apud  Muratori.  —  Compare  the  (Ghibelline)  Chronicon 
de  Rebus  in  Italia  gestis,  discovered  by  M.  Panizzi  in  the  British  Museum, 
and  printed  with  the  Chronicon  Placentinum  at  Paris,  1856.  Quod  caroc- 
ciam  cum  apud  Romam  duxissent,  dominus  papa  usque  ad  mortem  doluit. 
The  Pope  would  have  prevented  its  admission  into  the  city,  but  was  over- 
Awed  by  the  Imperialist  party.  — p.  172. 


Chaf.  IV.  FREDERICK  MASTER  OF   ITALY.  415 

leaguers.  Almost  all  Piedmont,  Alexandria,  Turin, 
Susa,  and  the  other  cities  raised  the  Ghibelline  ban- 
ner. Milan,  Brescia,  Piacenza,  Bologna,  remained 
alone  in  arms ;  even  they  made  overtures  for  submis- 
sion. Their  offers  were  in  some  respects  sufficiently 
humiliating ;  to  acknowledge  themselves  rebels,  to  sur- 
render all  their  gold  and  silver,  to  place  their  banners 
at  the  feet  of  the  Emperor,  to  furnish  one  thousand 
men  for  the  Crusades ;  but  they  demanded  in  return 
a  general  amnesty  and  admission  to  the  favor  of  the 
Emperor,  the  maintenance  of  the  liberties  of  the  citizens 
and  of  the  cities.  Frederick  haughtily  demanded  abso- 
lute and  unconditional  surrender.  They  feared,  they 
might  well  fear,  Frederick's  severity  against  rebels. 
With  mistimed  and  impolitic  rigor  he  had  treated  the 
captive  Podesta  of  Milan  as  a  rebel ;  Tiepolo  was  sent 
to  Naples,  and  there  publicly  executed.  The  Repub- 
lic s  declared  that  it  was  better  to  die  by  the  sword  than 
by  the  halter,  by  famine,  or  by  fire.1  Frederick,  in  the 
summer  of  the  next  year,  undertook  the  Aug  2  to 
siege  of  Brescia ;  at  the  end  of  two  months,  0ct' im 
foiled  by  the  valor  of  the  citizens  and  the  skill  of  their 
chief  engineer,  a  Spaniard,  Kalamandrino,  he  was 
obliged  to  burn  his  besieging  machines,  and  retire 
humiliated  to  Padua.2  But  without  aid  the  Lombard 
liberties  must  fall :  the  Emperor  was  master  of  Italy 
from  the  Alps  to  the  straits  of  Messina ;  the  knell  of 
Italian  independence  was  rung  ;  the  Pope  a  vassal  at 
the  mercy  of  Frederick. 

The  dauntless  old  man  rose  in  courage  with  the 
clanger.  Temporal  allies  were  not  absolutely  wanting. 
Venice,  dreading  her  own  safety,  and  enraged  at  the 

1  Rich,  de  San  Germ.  2  See  B.  Museum  Chronicon,  p.  177. 


410  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

execution  of  her  noble  son,  Tiepolo,  sent  proposals  for 
alliance  to  the  Pope.  The  treaty  was  framed  ;  Venice 
agreed  to  furnish  25  galleys,  300  knights,  2000  foot- 
soldiers,  500  archers  ;  she  was  to  obtain,  as  the  price 
of  this  aid,  Bari  and  Salpi  in  Apulia,  and  all  that  she 
could  conquer  in  Sicily.1 

The  Pope  wrote  to  the  confederate  cities  of  Lom- 
bardy  and  Romagna,  taking  them  formally  under  the 
protection  of  the  Holy  See.2  Genoa,  under  the  same 
fears  as  Venice,  and  jealous  of  Imperialist  Pisa,  was 
prepared  with  her  fleets  to  join  the  cause.  During 
these  nine  years  of  peace,  even  if  the  former  transgres- 
sions of  Frederick  were  absolutely  annulled  by  the 
treaty  and  absolution  of  St.  Germano,  collisions  be- 
tween two  parties  both  grasping  and  aggressive,  and 
with  rights  the  boundaries  of  which  could  not  be  pre- 
cisely defined,  had  been  inevitable :  pretexts  could  be 
found,  made,  or  exaggerated  into  crimes  against  the 
spiritual  power,  which  would  give  some  justification 
to  that  power  to  put  forth,  at  such  a  crisis,  its  own 
peculiar  weapons  ;  and  to  recur  to  its  only  arms,  the 
excommunication,  the  interdict,  the  absolution  of  sub- 
jects from  their  allegiance.  Over  this  power  Gregory 
had  full  command,  in  its  employment  no  scruple. 

On  Palm  Sunday,  and  on  Thursday  in  Holy  week, 
i<:.\\  nmmu-  with  all  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  state  which 
March 20  to  he  could  assemble  around  him,  Gregory  pro- 
1239.  nounced   excommunication    against  the   Em- 

peror ;  he  gave  over  his  body  to  Satan  for  the  good  of 
his  soul,  absolved  all  his  subjects  from  their  allegiance, 
laid  under  interdict  every  place  in  which  he  might  be, 
degraded  all  ecclesiastics  who  should  perform  the  ser- 

1  Dandolo,  350.     Marin,  iv.  223.  2  Greg.  Epist.  apud  Halm,  xviii. 


Chap.  IV.  GREGORY  AGAINST  FREDERICK.  417 

vices  of  the  Church  before  him,  or  maintain  any  inter- 
course with  him  ;  and  commanded  the  promulgation 
of  this  sentence  with  the  utmost  solemnity  Nov  1238 
and  publicity  throughout  Christendom.  These  ^Sfthe 
were  the  main  articles  of  the  impeachment  EmPeror- 
published  some  months  before :  —  I.  That  in  violation 
of  his  oath,  he  had  stirred  up  insurrection  in  Rome 
against  the  Pope  and  the  Cardinals.  II.  That  he  had 
arrested  the  Cardinal  of  Prameste  while  on  the  busines. 
of  the  Church  among  the  Albigenses.  III.  That  in 
the  kingdom  of  Sicily  he  had  kept  benefices  vacant  to 
the  ruin  of  men's  souls  ;  unjustly  seized  the  goods  of 
churches  and  monasteries,  levied  taxes  on  the  clergy, 
imprisoned,  banished,  and  even  punished  them  with 
death.  IV.  That  he  had  not  restored  their  lands  or 
goods  to  the  Templars  and  Knights  of  St.  John.  V. 
That  he  had  ill-treated,  plundered,  and  expelled  from 
his  realm  all  the  partisans  of  the  Church.  VI.  That 
he  had  hindered  the  rebuilding  of  the  church  of  Sora, 
favored  the  Saracens,  and  settled  them  among  Chris- 
tians. VII.  That  he  had  seized  and  prevented  the 
nephew  of  the  King  of  Tunis  from  proceeding  to  Rome 
for  baptism,  and  imprisoned  Peter,  Ambassador  of  the 
King  of  England.  VIII.  That  he  had  taken  posses- 
sion of  Massa,  Ferrara,  and  especially  Sardinia,  being 
part  of  the  patrimony  of  St.  Peter.  IX.  That  he  had 
thrown  obstacles  in  the  way  of  the  recovery  of  the 
Holy  Land  and  the  restoration  of  the  Latin  Empire  in 
Constantinople,  and  in  the  affairs  of  the  Lombards  re- 
jected the  interposition  of  the  Pope. 

Frederick  was  at  Padua,  of  which  his  most  useful 
ally,  Eccelin  di  Romano,  had  become  Lord  by  all  his 
characteristic   treachery  and   barbarity.      There   were 

vol.  v.  27 


418  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X 

great  rejoicings  and  festivities  on  that  Palm  Sunday; 
races  and  tournaments  in  honor  of  the  Emperor.  But 
some  few  Guelfs  were  heard  to  murmur  bitterly  amuiig 
themselves,  "  This  will  be  a  day  of  woe  to  Frederick ; 
this  day  the  Holy  Father  is  uttering  his  ban  against 
him,  and  delivering  him  over  to  the  devil ! "  On  the 
arrival  of  the  intelligence  from  Rome,  Frederick  for  a 
time  restrained  his  wrath  :  Peter  de  Vinea,  the  great 
Justiciary  of  the  realm  of  Naples,  pronounced  in  the 
presence  of  Frederick,  who  wore  his  crown,  a  long  ex- 
culpatory sermon  to  the  vast  assembly,  on  a  text  out  of 
Ovid  —  "  Punishment  when  merited  is  to  be  borne  with 
Frederick's  patience,  but  when  it  is  undeserved,  with  sor- 
the charges  row."1  He  declared,  "that  since  the  days 
of  Charlemagne,  no  Emperor  had  been  more  just, 
gentle,  and  magnanimous,  or  had  given  so  little  cause 
for  the  hostility  of  the  Church."  The  Emperor  him- 
self rose  and  averred,  that  if  the  excommunication  had 
been  spoken  on  just  grounds,  and  in  a  lawful  manner, 
he  would  have  given  instant  satisfaction.  He  could 
only  lament  that  the  Pope  had  inflicted  so  severe  a  cen- 
sure, without  grounds  and  with  such  precipitate  haste ; 
even  before  the  excommunication  he  had  refuted  with 
the  same  quiet  arguments  all  these  accusations.  His  first 
reply  had  been  in  the  same  calm  and  dignified  tone.2 
Nov.  1238.  The  Pope  had  commissioned  the  Bishops  of 
Wurtzburg,  Worms,  Vercelli,  and  Parma  to  admonish 
the  Emperor  previous  to  the  excommunication.  In 
their  presence,  and  in  that  of  the  Archbishops  of  Pa- 


1  Leniter  ex  merito  quicquid  patiare  fercnda  est 
Quae  venit  indigno  poena  dolenda  venit. 
2  Peter  de  Vinea,  i.  21,  p.  156.     The  refutation  of  the  charges,  according 
to  Matthew  Paris  (sub  ann.  1239),  was  anterior  to  the  excommunication. 


Chap.  IV.     FREDERICK'S  REPLY  TO  POPE'S  CHARGES.     419 

lermo  and  Messina,  the  Bishops  of  Cremona,  Lodi, 
Novara,  and  Mantua,  many  abbots,  and  some  Domin- 
ican and  Franciscan  friars,  he  had  made  to  all  their 
charges  a  full  and  satisfactory  answer,  and  delivered  his 
justification  to  the  Bishops:  —  I.  He  had  encouraged 
no  insurrection  In  Rome  ;  he  had  assisted  the  Pope  with 
men  and  money ;  he  had  no  concern  in  the  new  feuds. 

II.  He  had  never  even  dreamed  of  arresting  the  Car- 
dinal  of  Prasneste,  though  he  might  have  found  just 
cause,  since  the  Cardinal,  acting  for  the  Pope,  had  in- 
flamed  the  Lombards  to  disobedience   and   rebellion. 

III.  He  could  give  no  answer  to  the  vague  and  unspe- 
cified charges  as  to  the  oppression  of  the  clergy  in  the 
realm  of  Naples  ;  and  as  to  particular  churches  he 
entered  into  long  and  elaborate  explanations.1  IV.  He 
nad  restored  all  the  lands  to  which  the  Templars  and 
Knights  of  St.  John  had  just  claim  ;  all  but  those 
which  they  had  unlawfully  received  from  his  enemies 
during  his  minority ;  they  had  been  guilty  of  aiding 
his  enemies  during  the  invasion  of  the  kingdom,  and 
some  had  incurred  forfeiture :  their  lands,  in  certain 
cases,  were  assessable ;  were  this  not  so,  they  would 
soon  acquire  the  whole  realm,  and  that  exempt  from  all 
taxation.  V.  No  one  was  condemned  as  a  partisan  of 
the  Pope ;  some  had  abandoned  their  estates  from  fear 
of  being  prosecuted  for  their  crimes.  VI.  No  church 
had  been  desecrated  or  destroyed  in  Lucera  ;  that  of 
Sora  was  an  accident,  arising  out  of  the  disobedience 
of  the  city ;  he  would  rebuild  that,  and  all  which  had 

1  See  especially,  in  a  letter  in  Hofler,  his  justification  for  the  refusal  to  re- 
build the  church  at  Sora.  The  city  had  rebelled,  had  been  razed,  church 
and  all,  and  sown  with  salt.  Frederick  had  sworn  that  the  city  should 
never  be  again  inhabited :  why  build  a  church  for  an  uninhabited  wilder- 
ness? 


420  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

fallen  from  age.  The  Saracens,  who  lived  scattered 
over  the  whole  realm,  he  had  settled  in  one  place,  for 
the  security  of  the  Christians,  and  to  protect  rather 
than  endanger  the  faith.  VII.  Abdelasis  had  fled  from 
the  court  of  the  King  of  Tunis  ;  he  was  not  a  prisoner, 
but  living  a  free  and  pleasant  life,  furnished  with  horses, 
clothes,  and  money  by  the  Emperor.  He  had  never 
(he  appealed  to  the  Archbishops  of  Palermo  and  Mes- 
sina) expressed  any  desire  for  baptism.  Had  he  done 
so,  no  one  would  have  rejoiced  more  than  the  Emperor. 
Peter  was  no  Ambassador  of  the  King  of  England. 
VIII.  The  pretensions  of  the  Pope  to  Massa  and  Fer- 
rara  were  groundless,  still  more  to  Sardinia,  his  son 
Enzio  had  married  Adelasia,  the  heiress  of  that  island ; 
he  was  the  rightful  King.  IX.  The  King  prevents  no 
one  from  preaching  the  Crusade ;  he  only  interferes 
with  those  who,  under  pretence  of  preaching  the  Cru- 
sade, preach  rebellion  against  the  Sovereign,  or,  like 
John  of  Vicenza,  usurp  civil  power.  As  to  the  affairs 
of  Lombardy,  the  Pope  had  but  interposed  delays,  to 
the  frustration  of  his  military  plans.  He  would  will- 
ingly submit  to  just  terms ;  but  after  the  unmeasured 
demands  of  the  Lombards,  and  such  manifest  hostility 
on  the  part  of  the  Pope,  it  would  be  dangerous  and 
degrading  to  submit  to  the  unconditional  arbitration  of 
the  Pope. 

The  indignation  of  Frederick  might  seem  to  burst 
out  with  greater  fury  from  this  short,  stern  suppression. 
March  10.  He  determined  boldly,  resolutely,  to  measure 
his  strength,  the  strength  of  the  Emperor,  the  King  of 
Sicily,  so  far  the  conqueror  (notwithstanding  the  failure 
before  Brescia)  of  the  Lombard  republics,  against  the 
strength  of  the  Popedom.      The   Pope  had  declared 


v,hap.  IV.  FREDERICK   REMONSTRATES.  421 

war  on  causes  vague,  false  or  insignificant ;  the  true 
cause  of  the  war,  Frederick's  growing  power  and  his 
successes  in  Lombardy,  the  Pope  could  not  avow ; 
Frederick  would  appeal  to  Christendom,  to  the  world, 
on  the  justice  of  his  cause  and  the  unwarranted  enmity 
of  the  Pope.  He  addressed  strong  and  bitter  remon- 
strances to  the  Cardinals,  to  the  Roman  people,  to  all 
the  Sovereigns  of  Christendom.  To  the  Cardinals  he 
had  already  written,  though  his  letter  had  not  reached 
Rome  before  the  promulgation  of  the  excommunication, 
admonishing  them  to  moderate  the  hasty  resentment  of 
the  Pope.  He  endeavored  to  separate  the  cause  of  the 
Pope  from  that  of  the  Church  ;  but  vengeance  against 
Gregory  and  the  family  of  Gregory  could  not  satisfy 
the  insulted  dignity  of  the  Empire ;  if  the  authority  of 
the  Holy  See,  and  the  weight  of  their  venerable  college, 
thus  burst  all  restraint,  he  must  use  all  measures  of  de- 
fence ;  injury  must  be  repelled  with  injury.1  Some  of 
the  Cardinals  had  endeavored  to  arrest  the  precipitate 
wrath  of  Gregory ;  he  treated  their  timid  prudence 
with  scorn.  To  the  Romans  the  Emperor  expressed 
his  indignant  wonder  that  Rome  being  the  head  of  the 
Empire,  the  people,  without  reverence  for  his  majesty, 
ungrateful  for  all  his  munificence,  had  heard  tamely  the 
blasphemies  of  the  Roman  Pontiff  against  the  Sovereign 
of  Rome ;  that  of  the  whole  tribe  of  Romulus  there 
was  not  one  bold  patrician,  of  so  many  thousand  Roman 
citizens  not  one,  who  uttered  a  word  of  remonstrance,  a 
word  of  sympathy  with  their  insulted  Lord.  He  called 
on  them  to  rise  and  to  revenge  the  blasphemy  upon  the 
blasphemer,  and  not  to  allow  him  to  glory  in  his  pre- 
sumption, as  if  they  consented  to  his  audacity.2    As  he 

1  Apud  Petrum  cle  Vinea,  i.  vi. 

2  "  Quia  cum  idem  blasphemator  poster  ausus  non  fuisset  in  nostri  nominis 


422  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

was  bound  to  assert  the  honor  of  Rome,  so  were  they 
to  defend  the  dignity  of  the  Roman  Emperor. 

Before  all  the  temporal  Sovereigns  of  the  world,  the 
Appeal  to  the  Emperor  entered  into  a  long  vindication  of  a  ■] 
Christendom.  ms  acts  towards  the  Church  and  the  Pope  ; 
April 20.  kg  appealed  to  their  justice  against  the  unjust 
and  tyrannous  hierarchy.  "  Cast  your  eyes  around  ! 
lift  up  your  ears,  O  sons  of  men,  that  ye  may  hear  ! 
behold  the  universal  scandal  of  the  world,  the  dissen- 
sions of  nations,  lament  the  utter  extinction  of  justice  ! 
Wickedness  has  gone  out  from  the  Elders  of  Baby- 
lon, who  hitherto  appeared  to  rule  the  people,  whilst 
judgment  is  turned  into  bitterness,  the  fruits  of  jus- 
tice into  wormwood.  Sit  in  judgment,  ye  Princes,  ye 
People  take  cognizance  of  our  cause ;  let  judgment  go 
forth  from  the  face  of  the  Lord  and  your  eyes  be- 
hold equity."  The  Papal  excommunication  had  dwelt 
entirely  on  occurrences  subsequent  to  the  peace  of 
St.  Germane  The  Emperor  went  back  to  the  com- 
mencement of  the  Pope's  hostility :  he  dwelt  on  his 
ingratitude,  his  causeless  enmity.  "  He,  who  we  hoped 
thought  only  of  things  above,  contemplated  only  heav- 
enly things,  dwelt  only  in  heaven,  was  suddenly  found 
to  be  but  a  man  ;  even  worse,  by  his  acts  of  inhumanity 
not  only  a  stranger  to  truth,  but  without  one  feeling  of 
humanity."  He  charged  the  Pope  with  the  basest  du- 
plicity ; *  he  had  professed  the  firmest  friendship  for  the 
Emperor,  while  by  his  letters  and  his  Legates  he  was 

blasphemiam  prorumpere,  de  tanta  praesumptione  gloriari  non  possit,  quod 
valentibus  et  volentibus  Romanis,  contra  nos  talia  perpetrasset,"  &c.  — 
Apud  Petr.  de  Vin.  i.  vii.     Matth.  Par.  332. 

1  "  Asserens  quod  nobis  omnia  planissima  faciebat,  cujus  contrarium  per 
nuncios  et  literas  manifesto  procurarat;  prout  constat  testimonio  plurium 
nostrorum  fidelium  qui  tunc  temporis  erant  omnium  conscii  velut  ex  eis 
quidam  partfoipes,  et  alii  prfneipis  factionis." 


:hap.  IV.     FREDERICK'S  APPEAL  TO  THE  PRINCES.  428 

acting  the  most  hostile  part.1  This  charge  rested  on 
his  own  letters,  and  the  testimony  of  his  factions 
accomplices.  The  Pope  had  called  on  the  Emperor 
to  defy,  and  wage  war  against,  the  Romans  on  his 
behalf,  and  at  the  same  time  sent  secret  letters  to 
Rome  that  this  war  was  waged  without  his  knowledge 
or  command,  in  order  to  excite  the  hatred  of  the  Ro- 
mans against  the  Emperor.  Rome,  chiefly  by  his  power, 
had  been  restored  to  the  obedience  of  the  Pope ;  what 
return  had  the  Pope  made  ?  —  befriending  the  Lombard 
rebels  in  every  manner  against  their  rightful  Lord  !  2 
No  sooner  had  he  raised  a  powerful  army  of  Germans 
to  subdue  these  rebels,  than  the  Pope  inhibited  their 
march,  alleging  the  general  truce  proclaimed  for  the 
Crusade.  The  Legate,  the  Cardinal  of  Praeneste, 
whose  holy  life  the  Pope  so  commended,  had  encour- 
aged the  revolt  of  Piacenza.  Because  he  could  find 
no  just  cause  for  his  excommunication,  the  Pope  had 
secretly  sent  letters  and  Legates  through  the  Empire, 
through  the  world,  to  seduce  his  subjects  from  their 
allegiance.  He  had  promised  the  ambassadors  of 
Frederick,  the  Archbishop  of  Palermo,  the  Bishops 
of  Florence  and  Reggio,  the  Justiciary  Thaddeus  of 
Suessa,  and  the  Archbishop  of  Messina,  that  he  would 
send  a  Legate  to  the  Emperor  to  urge  the  Lombards  to 
obedience  ;  but  in  the  mean  time  he  sent  a  Legate  to 
Lombardy  to  encourage  and  inflame  their  resistance. 

1  He  brought  the  charge  against  the  Pope  of  writing  letters  to  the  Sultan, 
dissuading  him  from  making  p^ace,  letters  which  he  declared  had  fallen 
into  his  hands. 

2  "  Audite  mirabilem  circumventions  modum  ad  depressionem  nostra; 
justitiae  excogitatum.  Dura  pacem  cum  nobis  habere  velle  se  simularet  ut 
Lombardos  ad  tempus,  per  treugarum  suffragia,  respirantcs,  contra  noa 
fortius  postmedum  in  rebellione  confirmet."  —  Papist,  ad  II.  R-  Angline. 
Rvmer,  sub  ami.  J238. 


424  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Hook  X. 

Notwithstanding  his  answer  to  all  the  charges  against 
him,  which  had  made  the  Bishops  of  the  Papal  party 
blush  by  their  completeness ; *  notwithstanding  this 
unanswerable  refutation,  the  Pope  had  proceeded  on 
Palm  Sunday,  and  on  Thursday  in  the  Holy  Week,  to 
excommunicate  him  on  these  charges  ;  this  at  the  insti- 
gation of  a  few  Lombard  Cardinals,  most  of  the  better 
Cardinals,  if  report  speaks  true,  remonstrating  against 
the  act.  "  Be  it  that  we  had  offended  the  Pope  by 
Rome  public  and  singular  insult,  how  violent  and  inor- 
dinate these  proceedings,  as  though,  if  he  had  not  vom- 
ited forth  the  wrath  that  boiled  within  him,  he  must 
have  burst !  We  grieve  from  our  reverence  for  our 
Mother  the  Church  !  Could  we  accept  the  Pope,  thus 
our  avowed  enemy,  no  equitable  judge  to  arbitrate  in 
oui  dispute  with  Milan ;  Milan,  favored  by  the  Pope, 
though  by  the  testimony  of  all  religious  men,  swarm- 
ing with  heretics  ?  "  2  "  We  hold  Pope  Gregory  to  be 
an  unworthy  Vicar  of  Christ,  an  unworthy  successor 
of  St.  Peter  ;  not  in  disrespect  to  his  office,  but  of  his 
person,  who  sits  in  his  court  like  a  merchant  weighing 
out  dispensations  for  gold,  himself  signing,  writing  the 
bulls,  perhaps  counting  the  money.  He  has  but  one 
real  cause  of  enmity  against  me,  that  I  refused  to 
marry  to  his  niece  my  natural  son  Enzio,  now  King  of 
Sardinia.  But  ye,  O  Kings  and  Princes  of  the  earth, 
lament  not  only  for  us,  but  for  the  whole  Church  ;  for 
her  head  is  sick  ;  her  prince  is  like  a  roaring  lion ;  in 
the  midst  of  her  sits  a  frantic  prophet,  a  man  of  false- 


1  "Quanquam  de  patris  instabilitate  confusos  se  filii  reputarent,  ac  vere- 
cundia  capitis  rubor  ora  perfunderet."  —  p.  156. 

2  This  very  year  Frederick  renewed  his  remorseless  edicts  against  the 
Lombard  heretics.  —  Feb.  22.     Monument.  Germ.  I.  326,  7,  8. 


Uhap  IV.  APPEAL  TO  THE  PEOPLE.  425 

hood,  a  polluted  priest !  "  He  concludes  by  calling  all 
he  princes  of  the  world  to  his  aid ;  not  that  his  own 
^orces  are  insufficient  to  repel  such  injuries,  but  that 
the  world  may  know  that  when  one  temporal  prince  is 
thus  attacked  the  honor  of  all  is  concerned. 

Another  Imperial  address  seems  designed  for  a  lower 
class,  that  class  whose  depths  were  stirred  to  Appeal  to  the 
hatred  of  the  Emperor  by  the  Preachers  and  commonalfcy- 
the  Franciscans.  Its  strong  figurative  language,  its 
scriptural  allusions,  its  invective  against  that  rapacity 
of  the  Roman  See  which  was  working  up  a  sullen  dis- 
content even  among  the  clergy,  is  addressed  to  all 
Christendom.  Some  passages  must  illustrate  this 
strange  controversy.  "  The  Chief  Priests  and  the 
Pharisees  have  met  in  Council  against  their  Lord, 
against  the  Roman  Emperor.  '  What  shall  we  do,  say 
they,  for  this  man  is  triumphing  over  all  his  enemies  ?  ' 
If  we  let  him  alone,  he  will  subdue  the  glory  of  the 
Lombards ;  and,  like  another  Caesar,  he  will  not  delay 
to  take  away  our  place  and  destroy  our  nation.  He 
will  hire  out  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord  to  other  laborers, 
and  condemn  us  without  trial,  and  bring  us  to  ruin." 
u  Let  us  not  await  the  fulfilment  of  these  words  of 
our  Lord,  but  strike  him  quickly,  say  they,  with  our 
tongues  ;  let  our  arrows  be  no  more  concealed,  but  go 
forth  ;  so  go  forth  as  to  strike,  so  strike  as  to  wound  ; 
so  be  he  wounded  as  to  fall  before  us,  so  fall  as  never 
to  rise  again  ;  and  then  will  he  see  what  profit  he  has 
in  his  dreams."  Thus  speak  the  Pharisees  who  sit  in 
the  seat  of  Moses.  .  .  .  "  This  father  of  fathers, 
who  is  called  the  servant  of  servants,  shutting  out  all 
justice,  is  become  a  deaf  adder ;  refuses  to  hear  the 
vindi?ation  of  the  King  of  the  Romans  ;    hurls  male- 


426  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  HookX. 

diction  into  the  world  as  a  stone  is  hurled  from  a  sling  ; 
and  sternly,  and  heedless  of  all  consequences,  exclaims, 
4  What  I  have  written,  I  have  written.'  " 

In  better  keeping  Frederick  alludes  to  the  words  of 
our  Lord  to  his  disciples  after  his  resurrection,  "  That 
Master  of  Masters  said  not,  ■  Take  arms  and  shield,  the 
arrow,  and  the  sword  ;  '  but,  '  Peace  be  with  you.' ' 
On  the  avarice  of  the  Pope  he  is  inexhaustible.  "  But 
thou  having  nothing,  but  possessing  all  things,  art  ever 
seeking  what  thou  mayest  devour  and  swallow  up  ;  the 
whole  world  cannot  glut  the  rapacity  of  thy  maw,  for 
the  whole  world  sufficeth  thee  not.  The  Apostle  Peter, 
by  the  Beautiful  Gate,  said  to  the  lame  man,  4 1  have 
neither  silver  nor  gold ; '  but  thou,  if  thy  heap  of 
money,  which  thou  adorest,  begins  to  dwindle,  imme- 
diately beginnest  to  limp  with  the  lame  man,  seeking 
anxiously  what  is  of  this  world.1  .  .  .  Let  our 
Mother  Church  then  bewail  that  the  shepherd  of  the 
flock  is  become  a  ravening  wolf,  eating  the  fatlings  of 
the  flock  ;  neither  binding  up  the  broken,  nor  bringing 
the  wanderer  home  to  the  fold  ;  but  a  lover  of  schism, 
the  head  and  author  of  offence,  the  father  of  deceit ; 
against  the  rights  and  honor  of  the  Roman  King  he 
protects  heretics,  the  enemies  of  God  and  of  all  the 
faithful  in  Christ ;  having  cast  aside  all  fear  of  God,  all 
respect  of  man.  But  that  he  may  better  conceal  the 
malice  of  his  heart,  he  cherishes  and  protects  these  ene- 
mies of  the  Cross  and  of  the  faith,  under  a  certain  sem- 
blance of  piety,  saying  that  he  only  aids  the  Lombards 
lest  the  Emperor  should  slay  them,  and  should  judge 
more  rigorously  than  his  justice  requires.  But  this  fox- 
like craft  will  not  de<    ive  the  skilful  hunter.     .     . 

1  Tn  one  place  he  calls  him     6i*egorius  grc&is  disgreccator  potius." 


riiAP.  IV  GREGORY'S  REPLY.  427 

O  grief!  rarely  dost  thou  expend  the  vast  treasures  of 
the  Church  on  the  poor  !  But,  as  Anagni  bears  wit- 
ness, thou  hast  commanded  a  wonderful  mansion,  as  it 
were  the  Palace  of  the  Sun,  to  be  built,  forgetful  of 
Peter,  who  long  had  nothing  but  his  net  ;  and  of  Jeru- 
salem, which  lies  the  servant  of  dogs,  tributary  to  the 
Saracens  ;  fc  All  power  is  from  God,'  writes  the  Apos- 
tle ;  '  whoso  resists  the  power  resists  the  authority  of 
God.'  Either  receive,  then,  into  the  bosom  of  the 
Church  her  elder  son,1  who  without  guile  incessantly 
demands  pardon ;  otherwise,  the  strong  lion,  who  feigns 
sleep,  with  his  terrible  roar  will  draw  all  the  fat  bulls 
from  the  ends  of  the  earth,  will  plant  justice,  take  the 
rule  over  the  Church,  plucking  up  and  destroying  the 
horns  of  the  proud  !  "  2 

The  Pope,  in  his  long  and  elaborate  reply,  exceeded 
even  the  violence  of  this  fierce  Philippic.  It  Pope's  reply, 
is  thus  that  the  Father  of  the  Faithful  commences  his 
manifesto  against  the  Emperor  in  the  words  of  the 
Apocalypse  :  "  Out  of  the  sea  is  a  beast  arisen,  whose 
name  is  all  over  written  '  Blasphemy  ; '  he  has  the  feet 
of  a  bear,  the  jaws  of  a  ravening  lion,  the  mottled 
limbs  of  the  panther.  He  opens  his  mouth  to  blas- 
pheme the  name  of  God ;  and  shoots  his  poisoned 
arrows  against  the  tabernacle  of  the  Lord,  and  the 
saints  that  dwell  therein.  .  .  .  Already  has  he 
laid  his  secret  ambush  against  the  Church,  he  openly 
sets  up  the  battering  engines  of  the  Ishmaelites ;  builds 
schools  for  the  perdition  of  souls,3  lifts  himself  up 
against  Christ  the  Redeemer  of  man,  endeavoring  to 

1  "  Filium  singularem." 

2  Peter  de  Vinea,  i.  1. 

8  Gregory  no  doubt  alludes   to   the  universities  founded   by  Frederick 


428  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book   X. 

efface  the  tablets  of  his  testament  with  the  pen  of  he- 
retical wickedness.  Cease  to  wonder  that  he  has  drawn 
against  us  the  dagger  of  calumny,  for  he  has  risen  up 
to  extirpate  from  the  earth  the  name  of  the  Lord. 
Rather,  to  repel  his  lies  by  the  simple  truth,  to  refute 
his  sophisms  by  the  arguments  of  holiness,  we  exorcise 
the  head,  the  body,  the  extremities  of  this  beast,  who 
is  no  other  than  the  Emperor  Frederick." 

Then  follows  a  full  account  of  the  whole  of  Fred- 
erick's former  contest  with  Gregory,  in  which  the 
Emperor  is  treated  throughout  as  an  unmeasured  liar. 
"  This  shameless  artisan  of  falsehood  lies  when  he  says 
that  I  was  of  old  his  friend."  The  history  of  the  prep- 
aration for  the  Crusade,  and  the  Crusade  is  related 
with  the  blackest  calumny.  To  Frederick  is  attributed 
the  death  of  the  Crusaders  at  Brundusium,  and  the 
poisoning  of  the  Landgrave  of  Thuringia,  insinuated  as 
the  general  belief.  The  suppression  of  heresy  in  Lom- 
bardy  could  not  be  intrusted  to  one  himself  tainted  by 
heresy.  The  insurrections  in  Lombardy  are  attributed 
to  the  Emperor's  want  of  clemency ;  the  oppressions 
of  the  Church  are  become  the  most  wanton  and  bar- 
barous cruelties ;  "  the  dwellings  of  Christians  are 
pulled  down  to  build  the  walls  of  Babylon  ;  churches 
are  destroyed  that  edifices  may  be  built  where  divine 
honors  are  offered  to  Mohammed."  The  kingdom  of 
Sicily,  so  declares  the  Pope,  is  reduced  to  the  utmost 
distress.1    By  his  unexampled  cruelties,  barons,  knights, 

1  Read  the  Canonico  Gregorio's  sensible  account  of  the  taxation  of  Sicily 
by  Frederick  II.  "Occupato  di  continuo  nelle  guerre  Italiane,  intento 
a  reprimere  nei  suoi  stati  i  movimenti  dei  faziosi,  e  della  implacabile  ira  dci 
suoi  nemici  oppresso  e  dai  Romani  Pontefici  sempre  consternate,  ebbe  cosi 
varia  e  travagliata  fortuna,  e  fu  in  tali  angustie  di  continuo  redutto,  ed  ai 
suoi  molti  e  pressanti  e  sempre  nuovi  bisogni  piu  non  trovo  gli  ordinari 


Chap.  IV.  GREGORY'S  REPLY.  429 

and  others  have  been  degraded  to  the  state  and  condi- 
tion of  slaves  ;  already  the  greater  part  of  the  inhabi- 
ants  have  nothing  to  lie  upon  but  hard  straw,  nothing  to 
cover  their  nakedness  but  the  coarsest  clothes  ;  nothing 
to  appease  their  hunger  but  a  little  millet  bread.  The 
charge  of  dilapidation  of  the  Papal  revenues,  of  venal 
avarice,  the  Pope  repels  with  indignation  :  "  I,  who  by- 
God's  grace  have  greatly  increased  the  patrimony  of 
the  Church.  He  falsely  asserts  that  I  was  er/raged  at 
his  refusing  his  consent  to  the  marriage  of  my  niece 
with  his  natural  son.1  He  lies  more  impudently  when 
he  says  that  I  have  in  return  pledged  my  faith  to  the 
Lombards  against  the  Empire."  Throughout  the  whole 
document  there  is  so  much  of  the  wild  exaggeration  of 
passion,  and  at  the  same  time  so  much  art  in  the  dress- 
ing out  of  facts  ;  such  an  absence  of  the  grave  majesty 
of  religion  and  the  calm  simplicity  of  truth,  as  to  be 
surprising  even  when  the  provocations  of  Frederick's 
addresses  are  taken  into  consideration.  But  the  heavi- 
est charge  was  reserved  for  the  close.  u  In  truth  this 
pestilent  King  maintains,  to  use  his  own  words,  that 
the  world  has  been  deceived  by  three  impos-  charge  about 
tors ; 2  Jesus  Christ,  Moses,  and  Mahomet :  postors. 

proventi  della  corona,  e  le  antiche  rendite  del  regno  sufficiente.  Indi  av- 
venne,  che  da  quel  tempo  in  poi  fu  constretto  ad  ordinare  i  piu  sottili  modi, 
perch  e  accrescesce  le  pubbliche  entrate,  e  nuovi  contribuzioni,  comecche 
fosse,  si  procacciasse :  anzi  le  cose  in  processo  di  tempo  aspramente  e  per 
molta  irritazion  di  animo  si  exaeerbarono."  — t.  iii.  p.  110.  No  doubt,  as 
his  linances  became  more  and  more  exhausted -by  war,  the  burdens  must 
have  been  heavier.  But  the  nourishing  state  of  Sicilian  commerce  and  ag- 
riculture during  the  peaceful  period  but  now  elapsed,  confutes  the  virulent 
accusation  of  the  Pope. 

'  This  is  not  strictly  a  denial  of  the  fact  of  such  proposals,  or  at  least  of 
advances  by  the  Pope.     This  charge  of  early  nepotism  is  curious. 

2  A  book  was  said  to  have  existed  at  this  time,  with  this  title;  it  has 
never  been  discovered.  I  have  seen  a  vulgar  production  with  the  title,  of 
modern  manufacture- 


430  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

that  two  of  these  died  in  honor,  the  third  was  hanged 
on  a  tree.  Even  more,  he  has  asserted  distinctly  and 
loudly  that  those  are  fpols  who  aver  that  God,  the  Om- 
nipotent Creator  of  the  world,  was  born  of  a  Virgin." 

Snch  was  the  blasphemy  of  which  the  Pope  ar- 
raigned the  Emperor  before  Christendom.  Popular 
rumor  had  scattered  abroad  through  the  jealousy  of  the 
active  priesthood,  and  still  more  through  the  wandering 
Friars,  many  other  sayings  of  Frederick  equally  revolt- 
ing to  the  feelings  of  the  age  ;  not  merely  that  which 
contrasted  the  fertility  of  his  beloved  Sicily  with  the 
Holy  Land,  but  sayings  which  were  especially  scornful 
as  to  the  presence  of  Christ  in  the  sacrament.  When  he 
saw  the  host  carried  to  a  sick  person,  he  is  accused  of 
saying,  "How  long  will  this  mummery  last?"1  When 
a  Saracen  prince  was  present  at  the  mass,  he  asked 
what  was  in  the  monstrance :  "  The  people  fable  that 
it  is  our  God."  Passing  once  through  a  corn-field,  he 
said,  "  How  many  Gods  might  be  made  out  of  this 
corn  ?  "  "  If  the  princes  of  the  world  would  stand  by 
him  he  would  easily  make  for  all  mankind  a  better 
faith  and  better  rule  of  life."  2 

Frederick  was  not  unconscious  of  the  perilous  work- 
ings of  these  direct  and  indirect  accusations  upon  the 
popular  mind.  He  hastened  to  repel  them;  and  to 
turn  the  language  of  the  Apocalypse  against  his  ac- 
cuser. He  thus  addressed  the  bishops  of  Christendom. 
Frederick's  After  declaring  that  God  had  created  two 
ivjomder.  great  lights  for  the  guidance  of  mankind,  the 
Priesthood   and    the  Empire :  — "  He,   in   name  only 

1  "  Quam  diu  durabit  Trurra  istaV  " 

a  Peter  de  Vinea,  i.  31.  He  was  said  also  to  have  laid  down  the  maxim, 
"  Homo  nihil  aliud  debet  credere,  nisi  quod  potest  vi  et  ratione  naturae  pro- 
bare."  —  A  pud  Itaynald. 


Chap.  IV.  STATE  OF  THE  PUBLIC  MIND.  431 

Pope,  has  called  us  the  beast  that  arose  out  of  the  sea, 
whose  name  was  Blasphemy,  spotted  as  the  panther. 
We  again  aver  that  he  is  the  beast  of  whom  it  is  writ- 
ten,  '  And  there  went  out  another  horse  that  was  red, 
and  power  was  given  to  him  that  sat  thereon  to  take 
away  peace  from  the  earth,  that  the  living  should  slay 
each  other.'  For  from  the  time  of  his  accession  this 
Father,  not  of  mercies  but  of  discord,  not  of  consola- 
tion but  of  desolation,  has  plunged  the  whole  world 
in  bitterness.  If  we  rightly  interpret  the  words,  he  is 
the  great  anti-Christ,  who  has  deceived  the  whole  world, 
the  anti-Christ  of  whom  he  declares  us  the  forerunner. 
He  is  a  second  Balaam  hired  by  money  to  curse  us  ;  the 
prince  of  the  princes  of  darkness  who  have  abused  the 
prophecies.  He  is  the  angel  who  issued  from  the  abyss 
having  the  vials  full  of  wormwood  to  waste  earth  and 
heaven."  The  Emperor  disclaims  in  the  most  emphatic 
terms  the  speech  about  the  three  impostors ;  rehearses 
his  creed,  especially  concerning  the  Incarnation,  in  the 
orthodox  words  ;  expresses  the  most  reverential  respect 
for  Moses :  "  As  to  Mahomet,  we  have  always  main- 
tained that  his  body  is  suspended  in  the  air,  possessed 
by  devils,  his  soul  tormented  in  hell,  because  his  works 
were  works  of  darkness  and  contrary  to  the  laws  of  the 
Most  High."  The  address  closed  with  an  appeal  to 
the  sounder  wisdom  of  the  Prelates,  and  significant 
threats  of  the  terrors  of  his  vengeance. 

The  effect  of  this  war  of  proclamations,  addressed, 
only  with  a  separate  superscription,  to  every  July  1. 
King  in  Christendom,  circulated  in  every  kingdom, 
was  to  fill  the  hearts  of  the  faithful  with  terror,  amaze- 
ment, and  perplexity.  Those  who  had  espoused  neither 
the  party  of  the  Emperor  nor  of  the  Pope  fluctuated 


432  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

in  painful  doubt.  The  avarice  of  the  Roman  See  had 
alienated  to  a  great  extent  the  devotion  of  mankind, 
otherwise  the  letter  of  the  Pope  would  have  exasper- 
Pubiic  ated  the  world  to  madness  ;  they  would  have 

opinion  in  .  .  ,        .  . 

Christendom,  risen  in  one  wide  insurrection  against  the 
declared  adversary  of  the  Church,  as  the  enemy  of 
Christ.  "  But  alas  !  "  so  writes  a  contemporary  his- 
torian, "  many  sons  of  the  Church  separated  them- 
selves from  their  father  the  Pope,  and  joined  the 
Emperor,  well  knowing  the  inexorable  hatred  between 
the  Pope  and  the  Emperor,  and  that  from  that  hatred 
sprung  these  fierce,  indecent  and  untrustworthy  invec- 
tives. The  Pope,  some  said,  pretends  that  from  his 
love  to  Frederick  he  had  contributed  to  elevate  him  to 
the  Empire,  and  reproaches  him  with  ingratitude.  But 
it  is  notorious  that  this  was  entirely  out  of  hatred  to 
Otho,  whom  the  Pope  persecuted  to  death  for  asserting 
the  interests  of  the  Empire,  as  Frederick  now  asserts 
them.  Frederick  fought  the  battle  of  the  Church  in 
Palestine,  which  is  under  greater  obligation  to  him 
than  he  to  the  Church.  The  whole  Western  Church, 
especially  the  monasteries,  are  every  day  ground  by  the 
extortions  of  the  Romans  ;  they  have  never  suffered 
any  injustice  from  the  Emperor.  The  people  subjoined, 
4  What  means  this  ?  A  short  time  ago  the  Pope  ac- 
cused the  Emperor  of  being  more  attached  to  Moham- 
medanism than  to  Christianity,  now  he  is  accused  of 
calling  Mohammed  an  impostor.  He  speaks  in  his  let- 
ters in  the  most  Catholic  terms.  He  attacks  the  person 
of  the  Pope,  not  the  Papal  authority.  We  do  not  be- 
lieve that  he  has  ever  avowed  heretical  or  profane 
opinions ;  at  all  events  he  has  never  let  loose  upon  us 
usurers  and  plunderers  of  our  revenues.'  "  * 

1  Matt.  Paris,  sub  aim.  1239. 


Chai>.  IV.  ENGLAND.  433 

This  was  written  in  an  English  monastery.  In  Eng- 
land as  most  heavily  oppressed,  there  was  the  strongest 
discontent.  The  feeble  Henry  III.,  though  brother- 
in-law  of  the  Emperor,  trembled  before  the  faintest 
whisper  of  Papal  authority.  But  the  nobles,  even  the 
Churchmen,  began  to  betray  their  Teutonic  indepen- 
dence. Robert  Twenge,  the  Yorkshire  knight,  the 
ringleader  of  the  insurrection  against  the  Italian  in- 
truders into  the  English  benefices,  ventured  to  Rome, 
not  to  throw  himself  at  the  Pope's  feet  and  to  entreat  his 
pardon,  but  with  a  bold  respectful  letter  from  the  Earls 
of  Chester,  Winchester,  and  other  nobles,  remonstrat- 
ing against  the  invasion  of  their  rights  of  patronage. 
Gregory  was  compelled  to  condescend  to  a  more  mod- 
erate tone  ;  he  renounced  all  intention  of  usurpation  on 
the  rights  of  the  barons.  Robert  Twenge  received  the 
acknowledgment  of  his  right  to  present  to  the  church 
of  Linton.  All  the  Prelates  of  the  realm,  assembled  at 
London,  disdainfully  rejected  the  claim  made  for  proc- 
urations for  the  Papal  Legate  Otho,  whom  two  years 
before  they  had  allowed  to  sit  as  Dictator  of  the 
Church  in  the  council  of  London.1  "  The  greedy  ava- 
rice of  Rome,"  they  said,  u  has  exhausted  the  English 
church  ;  it  will  not  give  it  even  breathing  time  ;  we 
can  submit  to  no  further  exactions.  What  advantage 
have  we  from  the  visitation  of  this  Legate  ?  Let  him 
lhat  sent  him  here  uninvited  by  the  native  clergy, 
maintain  him  as  long  as  he  remains  here."  The  Leg- 
ate, finding  the  Prelates  obstinate,  extorted  a  large  sum 
for  his  procurations  from  the  monasteries. 

The  Emperor  highly  resented  the  publication  of  the 
sentence    of   excommunication    in    the    realm    of   the 

1  Wilkins,  Concilia,  1237.     Compare  page  318. 
vol.  v.  28 


4o4  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

brother  of  his  Empress  Isabella.  He  sent  a  haughty 
message,1  expostulating  with  the  King  for  permitting 
this  insult  upon  his  honor  ;  he  demanded  the  dismissal 
of  the  Legate,  no  less  the  enemy  of  the  kingdom  of 
England  than  his  own  ; 2  the  Legate  who  was  exacting 
money  from  the  whole  realm  to  glut  the  avarice  of  the 
Pope,  and  to  maintain  the  Papal  arms  against  the  Em- 
peror. Henry  III.  sent  a  feeble  request  to  Rome,  im- 
ploring the  Pope  to  act  with  greater  mildness  to  Fred- 
erick ;  the  Pope  treated  the  message  with  sovereign 
contempt.  Nor  did  the  Legate  behave  with  less  inso- 
lent disdain  to  the  King.  Henry  advised  him  to 
quit  the  kingdom  ;  '\You  invited  me  here,  find  me 
a  safe-conduct  back."  In  the  mean  time  he  proceeded 
again  to  levy  his  own  procurations,  to  sell  (so  low  was 
the  Pope  reduced),  by  Gregory's  own  orders,  dispensa- 
tions to  those  who  had  taken  on  them  vows  to  proceed 
to  the  Holy  Land.  At  length,  at  a  council  held  at 
Reaclino;,  he  demanded  a  fifth  of  all  the  revenues  of  the 
English  clergy,  in  the  name  of  the  Pope  to  assist  him 
in  his  holy  war  against  the  Emperor.  Edmund  Rich 
the  Primate  yielded  to  the  demand,  and  was  followed  by 
others  of  the  bishops.3  But  Edmund,  worn  out  with  age 
and  disgust,  abandoned  his  see,  withdrew  into  France, 

i  Letters  to  the  Barons  of  England  (Boehmer,  Oct.  29,  1239),  Eymer, 
12-38  ?     To  the  King,  March  16,  1240.    Matt.  Paris,  1239. 

2  Henry,  hefore  the  declaration  of  the  Pope  against  the  Emperor,  had 
sent  a  small  force,  under  Henry  de  Turberville  and  the  Bishop  Elect  of  Va- 
lence, to  aid  Frederick  against  the  insurgent  Lombards.  The  army  was 
accompanied  by  a  citizen  and  a  clerk  of  London,  John  Mansel  and  W. 
Hardel,  with  money.  —  Paris,  sub  ann.  1238.  Matt.  West.  The  Pope 
broke  out  into  fury  against  the  King. 

3  Edmund  had  aspired  to  be  a  second  Becket;  he  had  raised  a  quarrel 
with  the  King  on  the  nomination  to  the  benefices;  but  feebly  supported  by 
Gregory  in  his  distress,  he  recoiled  from  the  contest. 


Ciia^.  IV.  PAPAL  EXTORTION.  435 

and  in  the  same  monastery  of  Pontigny,  imitated  the 
austerities  and  prayers,  as  he  could  not  imitate  the  ter- 
rors, of  his  great  predecessor  Becket.  The  lower 
clergy  were  more  impatient  of  the  Papal  demands.  A 
crafty  agent  of  the  Pope,  Pietro  Rosso1  (Peter  the 
Red),  travelled  about  all  the  monasteries  extorting 
money  ;  he  falsely  declared  that  all  the  bishops,  and 
many  of  the  higher  abbots,  had  eagerly  paid  their  con- 
tributions. But  he  exacted  from  them,  as  if  from  the 
Pope  himself,  a  promise  to  keep  his  assessment  secret 
for  a  year.  The  abbots  appealed  to  the  King,  who 
treated  them  with  utter  disdain.  He  offered  one  of  his 
castles  to  the  Legate  and  Peter  the  Red,  to  imprison 
two  of  the  appellants,  the  Abbots  of  St.  Edmundsbury 
and  of  Beaulieu.  At  Northampton  the  Legate  and 
Peter  again  assembled  the  bishops,  and  demanded  the 
fifth  from  all  the  possessions  of  the  Church.  The 
bishops  declared  that  they  must  consult  their  arch- 
deacons. The  clergy  refused  altogether  this  new  levy ; 
they  would  not  contribute  to  a  fund  raised  to  shed 
Christian  blood.  The  rectors  of  Berkshire  were  more 
bold ;  their  answer  has  a  singular  tone  of  fearless  Eng- 
lish freedom  ;  "  they  would  not  submit  to  contribute 
to  funds  raised  against  the  Emperor  as  if  he  were  a 
heretic  ;  though  excommunicated  he  had  not  been  con- 
demned by  the  judgment  of  the  Church ;  even  if  he 
does  occupy  the  patrimony  of  the  Church,  the  Church 
does  not  employ  the  secular  arm  against  heretics.  The 
Church  of  Rome  has  its  own  patrimony,  it  has  no  right 
to  tax  the  churches  of  other  nations.  The  Pope  has 
the  general  care  over  all  churches,  but  no  property  in 
their  estates.     The   Lord   said   to   Peter,   4  What  you 

1  De  Rubeis. 


436  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

bind  on  earth  shall  be  bound  in  heaven  ; '  not  '  What 
you  exact  on  earth  shall  be  exacted  in  heaven.'  The 
revenues  of  the  Church  were  assigned  to  peculiar 
uses,  for  the  relief  of  the  poor,  not  for  maintenance  of 
war,  especially  among  Christians.  Popes,  even  when 
they  were  exiles  and  the  Church  of  England  was  at  its 
ah  saints,  wealthiest,  had  made  no  such  demands."  Yet 
lm  partly  by  sowing  discord  among  his  adversa- 

ries, partly  by  flattery,  partly  by  menace,  the  Legate 
continued,  to  the  great  indignation  of  the  Emperor,  to 
levy  large  sums  for  the  Papal  Crusade  in  the  dominions 
of  his  brother-in-law.1 

In  France  Pope  Gregory  attempted  to  play  a  loftier 
Offer  of  im-  game  by  an  appeal  to  the  ambition  of  the 
foiioberTof1  roval  house;  he  would  raise  up  a  new  French 
France.  Pepin  or  Charlemagne  to  the  rescue  of  the 

endangered  Papacy.  He  sent  ambassadors  to  the 
court  of  St.  Louis  with  this  message  :  —  "  After  ma- 
ture deliberation  with  our  brethren  the  Cardinals  we 
have  deposed  from  the  imperial  throne  the  reigning 
Emperor  Frederick  ;  we  have  chosen  in  his  place 
Robert,  brother  of  the  King  of  France.  Delay  not 
to  accept  this  dignity,  for  the  attainment  of  which 
we  offer  all  our  treasures,  and  all  our  aid."  The 
Pope  could  hardly  expect  the  severe  rebuke  in  which 
the  pious  King  of  France  couched  his  refusal  of  this 
tempting  offer.  "  Whence  this  pride  and  audacity  of 
the  Pope,  which  thus  presumes -to  disinherit  and  depose 
a  King  who  has  no  superior,  nor  even  an  equal,  among 
Christians  ;  a  King  neither  convicted  by  others,  nor  by 
his  own  confession,  of  the  crimes  laid  to  his  charge  ? 
Even  if  those  crimes  were  proved,  no  power  could  de- 

1  M.  Paris,  sub  arm.  1240. 


Jhap.  IV.     EMPIRE  OFFERED  TO  ROBERT  OF  FRANCE.     437 

pose  him  but  a  general  council.  On  his  transgressions 
the  judgment  of  his  enemies  is  of  no  weight,  and  his 
deadliest  enemy  is  the  Pope.  To  us  he  has  not  only 
thus  far  appeared  guiltless,  he  has  been  a  good  neigh- 
bor ;  we  see  no  cause  for  suspicion  either  of  his  worldly 
loyalty,  or  his  Catholic  faith.  This  we  know,  that  he 
has  fought  valiantly  for  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  both  by 
sea  and  land.  So  much  religion  we  have  not  found  in 
the  Pope,  who  endeavored  to  confound  and  wickedly 
supplant  him  in  his  absence,  while  he  was  engaged  in 
the  cause  of  God."  l  The  nobles  of  France  did  more, 
they  sent  ambassadors  to  Frederick  to  inform  him  of  the 
Pope's  proceedings,  and  to  demand  account  of  his  faith. 
Frederick  was  moved  by  this  noble  conduct.  He  sol- 
emnly protested  his  orthodox  belief.  "  May  Jesus 
Christ  grant  that  I  never  depart  from  the  faith  of  my 
magnanimous  ancestors,  to  follow  the  ways  of  perdition. 
The  Lord  judge  between  me  and  the  man  who  has 
thus  defamed  me  before  the  world."  He  lifted  his 
hands  to  heaven,  and  said  in  a  passion  of  tears :  "  The 
God  of  vengeance  recompense  him  as  he  deserves. 
If,"  he  added,  "  you  are  prepared  to  war  against  me,  I 
will  defend  myself  to  the  utmost  of  my  power."  "  God 
forbid,"  said  the  ambassadors,  "  that  we  should  wage 
war  on  any  Christian  without  just  cause.  To  be  the 
brother  of  the  King  of  France  is  sufficient  honor  for  the 
noble  Robert." 

In  Germany  the  attempt  of  the  Pope  to  dethrone  the 
Emperor  awoke  even  stronger  indignation.  Two  princes 
to  whom  Gregory  made  secret  overtures  refused  the 
perilous  honor.  An  appeal  to  the  Prelates  of  the  Em- 
pire was  met  even  by  the  most  respectful  with  earnest 
1  Paris,  sub  arm.  1239. 


438  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

exhortations  to  peace.  In  one  address  they  declared 
the  universal  opinion  that  the  whole  quarrel  arose  out 
of  the  unjustifiable  support  given  by  the  Pope  to  the 
Milanese  rebels  ;  and  they  appealed  to  the  continued 
residence  of  the  Papal  Legate,  Gregory  of  Monte 
Longo,  in  Milan  as  manifesting  the  Pope's  undeniable 
concern  in  that  obstinate  revolt.1  Popular  German 
poetry  denounced  the  Pope  as  the  favored  of  the  Lom- 
bard heretics,  who  had  made  him  drunk  with  their 
gold.2  Gregory  himself  bitterly  complains  "  that  the 
German  princes  and  prelates  still  adhered  to  Frederick, 
the  oppressor,  the  worse  than  assassin,  who  imprisons 
them,  places  them  under  the  ban  of  the  Empire,  even 
puts  them  to  death.  Nevertheless  they  despise  the 
Papal  anathema,  and  maintain  his  cause."  3  Gregory 
was  not  fortunate  or  not  wise  in  the  choice  of  his  par- 
tisans. One  of  those  partisans,  Rainer  of  St.  Quentin, 
presumed  to  summon  the  German  prelates  to  answer  at 
Paris  for  their  disloyal  conduct  to  the  Pope.  The 
Pope  had  invested  Albert  von  Beham  Archdeacon  of 
Albert  of  Passau,  a  violent  and  dissolute  man,  with  full 
Beham.  power  ;  he  used  it  to  threaten  bishops  and 
even  archbishops,  he  dared  to  utter  sentences  of  excom- 
munication against  them.  He  alarmed  the  Duke  of 
Bavaria  into  the  expression  of  a  rash  desire  that  they 
had  another  Emperor.  It  was  on  Otho  of  Bavaria 
that  Albert  strove  to  work  with  all  the  terrors  of  deh  - 


1  Apud  Hahn.  Monument,  t.  i.  p.  234.  "  Testimonium  generalis  opinionis 
quod  in  favorem  Mediolanensium,  et  suorum  sequacium  incessentis  taliter 
in  eum  ....  quod  G.  de  Monte  Longo  legatus  vester,  apud  Mediolanen- 
Bes  continuam  moram  trahens,  fideles  imperii  modis  omnibus,  quibus  potest, 
ft  fide  et  devotione  debit  a  nititur  revocare." 

2  See  the  quotation  from  Bruder  Weinher,  the  Minnesinger,  in  Gieseler 
8  Dumont  apud  Von  Raumer. 


Chap.  IV.  ALBERT   VON  BEIIAM.  439 

gated  papal  power.  There  was  a  dispute  between 
the  Archbishop  of  Mentz  and  Otho  concerning  the 
convent  of  Laurisheim.  Albert  as  Papal  Legate  sum- 
moned the  Primate  to  appear  at  Heidelberg.  The 
archbishop  not  appearing  was  declared  contumacious  ; 
an  interdict  was  laid  on  Mentz.  In  another  quarrel  of 
Otho  with  th:  Bishop  of  Freisingen,  the  imperialist 
judges  awarded  a  heavy  fine  against  Otho.  Von  Be- 
ham,  irritated  by  songs  in  the  streets,  "  The  Pope  is 
going  down,  the  Emperor  going  up," *  rescinded  the 
decree  on  the  Pope's  authority,  and  commanded  the 
institution  of  a  new  suit.  Von  Beham  ordered  the 
Archbishop  of  Saltzburg  and  the  Bishop  of  Passau  to 
excommunicate  Frederick  of  Austria  for  his  adherence 
to  the  Emperor ;  summoned  a  council  at  Landshut ; 
placed  Siegfried  Bishop  of  Ratisbon,  the  Chancellor  of 
the  Empire,  under  the  ban ;  threatened  to  a.d.  1240. 
summon  the  Archbishop  of  Saltzburg  and  the  Bishop 
to  arraign  them  under  processes  of  treason ;  "  He 
would  pluck  their  mitres  from  their  heads."  The 
Bishop  of  Passau,  in  his  resentment,  threatened  to 
arm  his  men  in  a  Crusade  against  Albert  von  Beham. 
Albert  did  not  confine  himself  to  Bavaria,  he  threat- 
ened the  Bishops  of  Augsburg,  Wurtzburg,  Eichstadt, 
with  the  same  haughty  insolence.  The  consequence 
of  all  this  contempt  thus  thrown  on  the  greatest  prel- 
ates was,  that  the  imperialists  everywhere  gained  cour- 
age. The  Emperor,  the  Landgrave  of  Thuringia,  the 
Marquis  of  Meissen,  Frederick  of  Austria,  treated  the 
excommunication  as  a  vulgar  ghost,  an  old  wives'  tale.2 

1  "  Ruit  pars  Papalis,  prrevaluit  Imperialis." 

2  "  Ut  tremenclum  olim   excommunicatioms  noraen,  non   magis  qiiam 
conpitalem  larvam,  aut  nutricularum  nsenias  metuerent,  probrosum   rati 


440  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X 

But  the  great  prelates  did  not  disguise  their  wrath , 
their  dislike  and  contempt  for  Von  Beham  was  ex- 
tended to  his  master.  "  Let  this  Roman  priest,"  said 
Conrad  Bishop  of  Freisingen,  "  feed  his  own  Italians  ; 
we  who  are  set  by  God  as  dogs  to  watch  our  own  folds, 
will  keep  off  all  wolves  in  sheep's  clothing."  Eberhard 
Archbishop  of  Saltzburg  not  only  applied  the  same 
ignominious  term  to  the  Pope,  but  struck  boldly  at  the 
whole  edifice  of  the  Papal  power ;  we  seem  to  hear  a 
premature  Luther.  He  describes  the  wars,  the  slaugh- 
ters, the  seditions,  caused  by  these  Roman  Flamens,  for 
their  own  ambitious  and  rapacious  ends.  "  Hi! de- 
brand,  one  hundred  and  seventy  years  ago,  under  the 
semblance  of  religion,  laid  the  foundations  of  Anti- 
christ. He  who  is  the  servant'  of  servants  would  be 
the  Lord  of  Lords.  .  .  .  This  accursed  man,  whom 
men  are  wont  to  call  Antichrist,  on  whose  contumelious 
forehead  is  written,  4 1  am  God,  I  cannot  err,'  sits  in 
the  temple  of  God  and  pretends  to  universal  domin- 
ion." 1  Frederick  himself  addressed  a  new  proclama- 
tion to  the  princes  of  Germany.  Its  object  was  to 
separate  the  interests  of  the  Church  from  those  of  the 

cruda  militaritim  hominum  pectora  capi,  angique  religionibus,  quas  sacrifi- 
culi  ut  vanissimas  superstitiones  despicerent." — Brunner,  xii.,  quoted  in 
the  preface  to  the  curious  publication  of  Hofler,  "  Albert  von  Beham," 
Stuttgard,  1847.  Frederick  of  Austria  held  a  grave  assembly  of  Teutonic 
Knights,  Templars,  and  Hospitallers,  three  abbots,  five  mystae.  These 
"  Alberti  impudentia  irrisa;  exsibilati  qui  huic  misero  nundinatori  operam 
praestarent  cujus  merces  fumosque  pra;ter  Bohemum  Regem,  et  Bavariaa 
Ducem  nemo  ajstimaret."  —  Ibid.  "  Neque  deerant  inter  sacrificulos  scur- 
rse  qui  omnia  Alberti  fulmina,  negarent  se  vel  una  piaculari  faba  procura 
tos,  p.  xix."  Albert  was  in  poverty  and  disgrace  about  the  time  of  Greg- 
ory's death,  May  6,  1241.  —  Hofler,  p.  30. 

1  Aventinus,  Annal.  Brunner  doubts  the  authenticity  of  this  speech  of 
the  Archbishop  of  Saltzburg.  It  rests  on  the  somewhat  doubtful  authority 
of  Aventinus.    It  sounds  rather  of  a  later  date. 


Chap.  IV.  PROCLAMATION   OF  FREDERICK.  41] 

Pope ;  those  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome  from  Gregory. 
"  Since  his  ancestors  the  Ciesars  had  lavished  wealth 
and  dignity  on  the  Popes,  they  had  become  the  Em- 
peror's most  implacable  enemies.  Because  I  will  not 
recognize  his  sole  unlimited  power  and  honor  him  more 
than  God,  he,  Antichrist  himself,  brands  me,  the  t:  uest 
friend  of  the  Church,  as  a  heretic.  Who  can  wish 
more  than  I  that  the  Christian  community  should 
resume  its  majesty,  simplicity,  and  peace  ?  but  this 
cannot  be,  until  the  fundamental  evil,  the  ambition,  the 
pride,  and  prodigality  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  be 
rooted  up.  I  am  no  enemy  of  the  priesthood  ;  I  honor 
the  priest,  the  humblest  priest,  as  a  father,  if  he  will 
keep  aloof  from  secular  affairs.  The  Pope  cries  out 
that  I  would  root  out  Christianity  with  force  and  by 
the  sword.  Folly  !  as  if  the  kingdom  of  God  could  bo 
rooted  out  by  force  and  by  the  sword ;  it  is  by  evil 
lusts,  by  avarice  and  rapacity,  that  it  is  weakened,  pol- 
luted, corrupted.  Against  these  evils  it  is  my  mission 
of  God  to  contend  with  the  sword.  I  will  give  back 
to  the  sheep  their  shepherd,  to  the  people  their  bishop, 
to  the  world  its  spiritual  father.  I  will  tear  the  mask 
from  the  face  of  this  wolfish  tyrant,  and  force  him  to 
lay  aside  worldly  affairs  and  earthly  pomp,  and  tread 
in  the  holy  footsteps  of  Christ." J 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Pope  had  now  a  force  work- 
ng  in  every  realm  of  Christendom,  on  every  class  of 
mankind,  down  to  the  very  lowest,  with  almost  irresist- 
ible power.  The  hierarchical  religion  of  the  age,  the 
Papal  religion,  with  all  its  congenial  imaginativeness, 
its  burning  and  unquestioning  faith,  its  superstitions, 

1  Frederick  wrote  to  Otho  of  Bavaria  (Oct.  4, 1240)  to  expel  Albert  vou 
Beham  from  his  dominions.  — Aventin.  Ann.  Boior.  v.  3,  5. 


412  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

was  kept  up  in  all  its  intensity  by  the  preachers  ancj 
the  mendicant  friars.  Never  did  great  man  so  hastily 
commit  himself  to  so  unwise  a  determination  as  Inno- 
cent III.,  that  no  new  Orders  should  be  admitted  into 
that  Church  which  has  maintained  its  power  by  the 
constant  succession  of  new  Orders.  Never  was  his 
greatness  shown  more  than  by  his  quick  perception  and 
total  repudiation  of  that  error.  Gregory  IX.  might 
indeed  have  more  extensive  experience  of  the  use  of 
these  new  allies  :  on  them  he  lavished  his  utmost  favor  ; 
he  had  canonized  both  St.  Dominic  and  St.  Francis 
The  Friars.  w*tn  extraordinary  pomp  ;  he  intrusted  the 
May  6, 1241.  m0Sf-  important  affairs  to  their  disciples.  The 
Dominicans,  and  still  more  the  Franciscans,  showed  at 
once  the  wisdom  of  the  Pope's  conduct  and  their  own 
gratitude  by  the  most  steadfast  attachment  to  the  Papal 
cause.  They  were  the  real  dangerous  enemies  of  Fred- 
erick in  all  lands.  They  were  in  kings'  courts  ;  the 
courtiers  looked  on  them  with  jealousy,  but  were 
obliged  to  give  them  place  ;  they  were  in  the  humblest 
and  most  retired  villages.  No  danger  could  appal,  no 
labors  fatigue  their  incessant  activity.  The  first  act  of 
Nov.  1240.  Frederick  was  to  expel,  imprison,  or  take 
measures  of  precaution  against  those  of  the  clergy  who 
were  avowed  or  suspected  partisans  of  the  Pope.  The 
friars  had  the  perilous  distinction  of  being  cast  forth  in 
a  body  from  the  realm,  and  forbidden  under  the  sever- 
est penalties  to  violate  its  borders.1  In  every  Guelfic 
city  they  openly,  in  every  Ghibelline  city,  if  they  dared 
not  openly,  they  secretly  preached  the  crusade  against 

1  "  Capitula  edita  sunt,  in  primis  ut  Fratres  Prsedicatores  et  Minores,  qui 
sunt  oriundi  de  terris  infidelium  Lombardiae  expellantur  de  regno."  — 
Rich,  de  San  Germ.  Gregory  asserts  that  one  Friar  Minor  was  burned.  — 
Greg.  Bull,  apud  Raynald.  p.  220. 


Chap.  IV.  JOHN  OF  VICENZA.  443 

the  Emperor.1  Milan,  chiefly  through  their  preaching, 
redeemed  herself  from  the  charge  of  connivance  at  the 
progress  of  heresy,  by  a  tremendous  holocaust  of  vic- 
tims, burned  without  mercy.  The  career  of  John  of 
Vicenza  had  terminated  before  the  last  strife  ; 2  but 
John  of  Vicenza  was  the  type  of  the  friar  preachers  in 
their  height  of  influence ;  that  power  cannot  be  under- 
stood without  some  such  example  ;  and  though  there 
might  be  but  one  John  of  Vicenza,  there  were  hun- 
dreds working,  if  with  less  authority,  conspiring  to  the 
same  end,  and  swaying  with  their  conjoint  force  the 
popular  mind. 

Assuredly,  of  those  extraordinary  men  who  from  time 
to  time  have  appeared  in  Italy,  and  by  their  John  of 
passionate  religious  eloquence  seized  and  for  a  Vlcenza- 
time  bound  down  the  fervent  Italian  mind,  not  the  least 
extraordinary  was  Brother  John  (Fra  Giovanni),  of  a 
noble  house  in  Vicenza.  He  became  a  friar  preacher : 
he  appeared  in  Bologna.  Before  long,  not  only  did  the 
populace  crowd  in  countless  multitudes  to  his  pulpit; 
the  authorities,  with  their  gonfalons  and  crosses,  stood 
around  him  in  mute  and  submissive  homage.  In  a 
short  time  he  preached  down  every  feud  in  the  city,  in 
the  district,  in  the  county  of  Bologna.  The  women 
threw  aside  their  ribbons,  their  flowers  —  their  modest 
heads  were  shrouded  in  a  veil.  It  was  believed  that 
he  wrought  daily  miracles.3     Under  his  care  the  body 

1  It  is,  however,  very  remarkable  that  even  now  the  second  Great  Master 
of  the  Franciscans,  expelled  or  having  revolted  from  his  Order,  Brother 
Elias,  a  most  popular  preacher,  was  on  the  side  of  Frederick. 

2  There  is  an  allusion  to  John  of  Vicenza  in  a  letter  of  Frederick.  — 
Hufler,  p.  363. 

3  But,  says  an  incredulous  writer,  "  Dicevasi  ancora  ch'  egli  curasse  ogni 
malattia,  e  che  cacciasse  i  demoni;  ma  io  non  potei  vedere  alcuno  da  lui 
liberato,  benche  pure  usassi  ogni  mezzo  per  vederlo;  ne  potei  parlare  con 


444  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

of  St.  Dominic  was  translated  to  its  final  resting-place 
with  the  utmost  pomp.  It  was  said,  but  said  by  un- 
friendly voices,  that  he  boasted  of  personal  conversa- 
tion with  Christ  Jesus,  with  the  Virgin  Mary,  and  with 
the  angels.  The  friar  preachers  gained  above  twenty 
thousand  marks  of  silver  from  the  prodigal  munificence 
of  his  admirers.  He  ruled  Bologna  with  despotic  sway ; 
released  criminals ;  the  Podesta  stood  awed  before  him  ; 
the  envious  Franciscans  alone  (their  envy  proves  his 
power)  denied  his  miracles,  and  made  profane  and  buf- 
foonish  verses  against  the  eloquent  Dominican.1 

But  the  limits  of  Bologna  and  her  territory  were  too 
narrow  for  the  holy  ambition,  for  the  wonderful  powers 
of  the  great  preacher.  He  made  a  progress  through 
Lombardy.  Lombardy  was  then  distracted  by  fierce 
wars  —  city  against  city;  in  every  city  faction  against 
faction.  Wherever  John  appeared  was  peace.  Padua 
advanced  with  her  carroccio  to  Monselice  to  escort  him 
into  the  city.  Treviso,  Feltre,  Belluno,  Vicenza,  Ve- 
rona, Mantua,  Brescia,  heard  his  magic  words,  and 
reconciled  their  feuds.  On  the  shores  of  the  Adige, 
August  28,  about  three  miles  from  Verona,  assembled  the 
lm  whole  of  Lombardy,  to  proclaim  and  to  swear 

to  a  solemn  act  of  peace.  Verona,  Mantua,  Brescia, 
Padua,  Vicenza,  came  with  their  carroccios  ;  from  Tre- 

alcuno  che  affirmasse  con  sicurezza  di  aver  veduto  qualche  miracolo  da  lui 
operate"  —  Salimbeni. 

1  "  Et  Johannes  Johannisat 

Et  saltando  choraizat: 

Modo  salta,  modo  salta, 

Qui  ctelorum  petis  alta. 

Saltat  iste,  saltat  ille, 

Resultant  cohortes  mille; 

Saltat  chorus  Dominarum, 

Saltat  Dux  Venetiarum." 

—  from  Salimbeni,  Von  Raumer,  iii.  p.  656 


Chap.  IV.  WAR.  445 

viso,  Venice,  Ferrara,  Bologna,  thronged  numberless 
votaries  of  peace.  The  Bishops  of  Verona,  Brescia, 
Mantua,  Bologna,  Modena,  Reggio,  Treviso,  Vicenza, 
Padua,  gave  the  sanction  of  their  sacred  presence.  The 
Podestas  of  Bologna,  Treviso,  Padua,  Vicenza,  Brescia, 
Ferrara,  appeared,  and  other  lords  of  note,  the  patri- 
arch of  Aquileia,  the  Marquis  of  Este.  It  was  asserted 
that  .400,000  persons  stood  around.  John  of  Vicenza 
ascended  a  stage  sixty  feet  high  ;  it  was  said  that  his  ser- 
mon on  the  valedictory  words  of  the  Lord,  "  My  peace 
I  leave  with  you,"  was  distinctly  heard,  wafted  or 
echoed  by  preternatural  powers  to  every  ear.1  The 
terms  of  a  general  peace  were  read,  and  assented  to  by 
one  universal  and  prolonged  acclamation.  Among 
these  was  the  marriage  of  Rinaldo,  son  of  the  Marquis 
of  Este,  with  Adelaide  daughter  of  Alberic,  brother 
of  Eccelin  di  Romano.  This  was  the  gauge  of  univer- 
sal  amity ;  these  two  great  houses  would  set  the  exam- 
ple of  holy  peace.  Men  rushed  into  each  other's  arms ; 
the  kiss  of  peace  was  interchanged  by  the  deadliest 
enemies,  amid  acclamations  which  seemed  as  if  they 
would  never  cease. 

But  the  waters  of  the  Po  rise  not  with  more  sudden 
and  overwhelming  force,  ebb  not  with  greater  rapidity, 
than  the  religious  passions  of  the  Italians,  especially 
the  passion  for  peace  and  concord.  John  of  Vicenza 
split  on  the  rock  fatal  always  to  the  powerful  spiritual 
demagogues,  even  the  noblest  demagogues,  of  Italy. 
He  became  a  politician.  He  retired  to  his  native  Vi- 
cenza ;    entered  into  the  Council,  aspired  to  be  Lord 

1  Even  the  Franciscans  were  carried  away  by  the  enthusiasm ;  they 
preached  upon  his  miracles;  they  averred  that  he  had  in  one  dav  raised 
ten  dead  bodies  to  life. 


446  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X 

and  Count ;  all  bowed  before  him.  He  proceeded 
to  examine  and  reform  the  statutes  of  the  city.  He 
passed  to  Verona,  demanded  and  obtained  sovereign 
power  ;  introduced  the  Count  Boniface,  received  hos- 
tages for  mutual  peace  from  the  conflicting  parties ;  he 
took  possession  of  some  of  the  neighboring  castles  ; 
waged  fierce  war  with  heretics  ;  burned  sixty  males 
and  females  of  some  of  the  noble  families  ;  published 
laws.  Vicenza  became  jealous  of  Verona ;  Padua 
leagued  with  Vicenza  to  throw  off  the  yoke.  The 
Preacher,  at  the  head  of  an  armed  force,  appeared  at 
the  gates,  demanded  the  unconditional  surrender  of  the 
walls,  towers,  strongholds  of  the  city.  He  was  re- 
pelled, discomfited,  by  the  troops  of  Padua  and  Vicen- 
za, taken,  and  cast  into  prison. 

He  was  released  by  the  intercession  of  Pope  Greg- 
ory IX.1  The  peace  of  Lombardy  was  then  accordant 
to  the  Papal  policy,  because  it  was  embarrassing  to 
Frederick  II.  He  returned  to  Verona  ;  but  the  spell 
of  his  power  was  broken.  He  retired  to  Bologna,  to 
obscurity.  Bologna  even  mocked  his  former  miracles. 
Florence  refused  to  receive  him :  "  Their  city  was 
populous  enough  ;  they  had  no  room  for  the  dead 
which  he  would  raise." 2 

Christendom  awaited  in  intense  anxiety  the  issue  of 
this  war — a  war  which,  according  to  the  declaration 

1  It  is  said  that  he  was  afterwards  commissioned  by  Innocent  IV-  to  pro 
claim  the  Papal  absolution  in  Vicenza,  from  excommunication  incurred  by 
the  succors  furnished  by  that  city  to  Frederick  II.  and  Eccelin  di  Romano. 
Tiraboschi  has  collected  all  the  authorities  on  John  of  Bologna  with  his 
usual  industry.  —  Storia  della  Lit.  ltal.  vol.  xiv.  p.  2. 

2  See  in  Von  Raumer  how  the  Grammarian  Buoncompagni  assembled  the 
people  to  see  him  fly,  on  wings  which  he  had  prepared.  After  keeping 
them  some  time  in  suspense,  he  coolly  said, "  This  is  a  miracle  after  tlw 
fashion  of  John  of  Vicenza."  — Von  Raumer,  from  Salimbeni. 


Chap.  IV.  WAR  PROCLAIMED.  447 

of  the  Emperor,  would  not  respect  the  sacred  person 
of  the  Pope,  and  would  enforce,  if  Frederick  were 
victorious,  the  absolute,  unlimited  supremacy  of  the 
temporal  power.  This  war  was  now  proclaimed  and 
inevitable.  The  Pope  must  depend  on  his  own  armies 
and  on  those  of  his  Italian  allies.  The  tenths  and  the 
fifths  of  England  and  of  France  might  swell  the  Papal 
treasury,  and  enable  him  to  pay  his  mercenary  troops  ; 
but  there  was  no  sovereign,  no  army  of  Papal  parti- 
sans beyond  the  Alps  which  would  descend  to  his  res- 
cue. The  Lombards  might  indeed  defend  their  own 
cities  against  the  Emperor,1  and  his  son  King  Enzio, 
who  was  declared  imperial  vicar  in  the  north  May  25, 1239. 
of  Italy,  was  at  the  head  of  the  Germans  and  Saracens 
of  the  Imperial  army,  and  had  begun  to  display  his 
great  military  skill  and  activity.  The  strength  of  the 
maritime  powers,  who  had  entered  into  the  league,  was 
in  their  fleets  ;  though  at  a  later  period  Venetian  forces 
appeared  before  Ferrara.  The  execution  of  Tiepolo 
the  podesta  of  Milan,  taken  at  the  battle  of  Corte  Nuo- 
va,  had  inflamed  the  resentment  of  that  republic :  they 
seemed  determined  to  avenge  the  insult  and  wrong  to 
that  powerful  and  honored  family.  But  the  Pope, 
though  not  only  his  own  personal  dignity,  but  even  the 
stability  of  the  Roman  See  was  on  the  hazard,  with 
the  calm  dauntlessness  which  implied  his  full  reliance 
on  his  cause  as  the  cause  of  God,  confronted  the  ap- 
palling crisis.  Some  bishops  sent^to  Rome  by  Fred- 
erick  were   repelled  with   scorn.     The   Pope,   as  the 

1  The  legate  of  the  Pope,  Gregory  of  Monte  Longo,  at  Milan,  raised  the 
banner  of  the  Cross  —  sumpto  mandato  ejus  signo  crucis,  et  paratis  duobus 
vexillis  cum  crucibus  et  clavibus  intus  —  marched  towards  Lodi,  destroying 
church-towers  (turres  ecclesiariim)  and  ravaging  the  harvests. — B.  Mu- 
seum Clirouicuu,  p.  177. 


448  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

summer  heats  came  on,  feared  not  to  leave  fickle 
Rome  :  lie  retired,  as  usual,  to  his  splendid  palace  at 
Anagni.  During  the  rest  of  that  vear  successes  and 
April,  1239.  failures  seemed  nearly  balanced.1  Treviso 
threw  off  the  Imperial  yoke;  even  Ravenna,  supported 
bV  a  Venetian  fleet,  rebelled.  The  Emperor  sat  down 
before  Bologna,  obtained  some  great  advantages  humil- 
iating  to  the  Bolognese,  but,  as  usual,  failed  in  his 
attempt  to  capture  the  town.  These  successes  before 
September.  Bologna  were  balanced  by  failure,  if  not  de- 
feat, before  Milan.  Bologna  was  not  so  far  discomfited 
but  that  she  could  make  an  attack  on  Modena.  In 
November  the  Pope  returned  to  Rome :  he  was  re- 
ceived with  the  utmost  honor,  with  popular  rejoicings. 
Nov.  1239.  He  renewed  in  the  most  impressive  form  the 
excommunication  of  the  Emperor  and  all  his  sons, 
distinguishing  with  peculiar  rigor  the  King  Enzio. 

The  Emperor  passed  the  winter  in  restoring  peace  in 
Ghibelline  Pisa.  The  feud  in  Pisa  was  closely  con- 
nected with  the  affairs  of  Sardinia.2  Pisa  claimed  the 
sovereignty  of  that  island,  which  the  all-grasping  Pa- 
pacy declared  a  fief  of  the  Roman  See.     Ubaldo,  of 

1  The  castles  of  Piumazzo  and  Crevacuore  were  taken.  Piumazzo  was 
burned;  the  captain  of  the  garrison  was  burned  in  the  castle:  500  taken 
prisoners.  —  July. 

'2  The  Sardinian  affair  was  another  instance  of  the  way  in  which  an  as- 
sertion once  made  that  a  certain  territory  or  right  belonged  to  the  See  of 
St.  Peter,  grew  up  into  what  was  held  to  be  an  indefeasible  title.  The 
Popes  had  made  themselves  the  successors  of  the  Eastern  Emperors.  Their 
own  declaration  that  Naples  was  a  fief  of  the  Holy  See  (having  been  ac- 
knowledged by  the  Normans  to  piece  out  their  own  usurpation)  became  a 
legal  inalienable  dominion.  The  claim  to  Sardinia  rested  on  nothing  more 
than  the  assertion  thai  it  was  a  part  of  the  territory  of  the  Roman  See  (it 
was  no  acknowledged  part  of  the  inheritance  of  the  Countess  Matilda).  — 
Kieh.  de  San  Germ.  The  strange  pretension  that  all  islands  belonged  to 
the  See  of  Rome,  as  well  as  all  lands  conquered  from  heretics,  if  already 
heard  was  not  yet  an  axiom  of  the  canon  law. 


Chap.  IV.  ADVANCE  OF  FREDERICK.  449 

the  noble  Guelfic  house  of  Visconti,  had  married  Ade- 
lasia,  the  heiress  of  the  native  Judge  or  Potentate  of 
Gallura  and  of  Tura :  he  bought  the  Papal  absolution 
from  a  sentence  of  excommunication  and  the  recogni- 
tion of  his  title  by  abandoning  the  right  of  Pisa,  and 
acknowledging  the  Papal  sovereignty.  Pisa  heard  this 
act  of  treason  with  the  utmost  indignation.  The  Ghe- 
rardesci,  the  rival  Ghibelline  house,  rose  against  the 
Visconti.  Ubaldo  died  ;  and  Frederick  (this  1240. 
was  among  the  causes  of  Gregory's  deadly  hatred) 
married  the  heiress  Adelasia  to  his  natural  son,  whom 
he  proclaimed  king  of  Sardinia.  The  Ghibellines  of 
Pisa  recognized  his  title. 

With  the  early  spring  the  Emperor,  at  the  head  of 
an  imposing,  it  might  seem  irresistible  force,  February. 
advanced  into  the  territories  of  the  Church.  Folio-no 
threw  open  her  gates  to  welcome  him.  Other  cities 
from  fear  or  affection,  Viterbo  from  hatred  of  Rome, 
hailed  his  approach.  Ostia,  Civita  Castellana,  Corneto, 
Sutri,  Montefiascone,  Toscanella  received  the  enemy 
of  the  Pope.  The  army  of  John  of  Colonna,  which 
during  the  last  year  had  moved  into  the  March  against 
King  Enzio,  was  probably  occupied  at  some  distance : 
Rome  might  seem  to  lie  open  ;  the  Pope  was  at  the 
mercy  of  his  foe.  Could  he  depend  on  the  fickle  Ro- 
mans, never  without  a  strong  Imperial  faction  ?  Greg- 
ory, like  his  predecessors,  made  his  last  bold,  desperate, 
and  successful  appeal  to  the  religion  of  the  Romans. 
The  hoary  Pontiff  set  forth  in  solemn  procession,  en- 
circled by  all  the  cardinals,  the  whole  long  way  from 
the  Lateran  to  St.  Peter's.  The  wood  of  the  true 
cross,  the  heads  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  were  borne 
before  him  ;  all  alike  crowded  to  receive  his  benedic- 


450  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

tion.  The  Guelfs  were  in  a  paroxysm  of  devotion, 
which  spread  even  among  the  overawed  and  unresisting 
Ghibellines.1  In  every  church  of  the  city  was  the  sol- 
emn mass  ;  in  every  pulpit  of  the  city  the  friars  of  St. 
Dominic  and  St.  Francis  appealed  to  the  people  not  to 
desert  the  Vicar  of  Christ,  Christ  himself  in  his  Vicar ; 
they  preached  the  new  Crusade,  they  distributed  crosses 
to  which  were  attached  the  same  privileges  of  pardon, 
and  so  of  eternal  life,  if  the  wearers  should  fall  in  the 
glorious  conflict,  awarded  to  those  who  fought  or  fell 
for  the  holy  sepulchre  of  Christ. 

To  these  new  crusaders  Frederick  showed  no  com- 
passion ;  whoever  was  taken  with  the  cross  was  put  to 
death  without  mercy,  even  if  he  escaped  more  cruel 
and  ignominious  indignities  before  his  death. 

The  Emperor  was  awed,  or  was  moved  by  respect 
March,  1240.  for  his  venerable  adversary :  he  was  either  not 
strong  enough,  or  not  bold  enough  to  march  at  once  on 
Rome,  and  so  to  fulfil  his  own  menaces.  He  retired  into 
Apulia ;  some  overtures  for  reconciliation  were  made  ; 
Frederick  endeavored  to  detach  the  Pope  from  his 
allies,  and  to  induce  him  to  make  a  separate  peace. 
But  the  Pope,  perhaps  emboldened  by  the  return  of 
some  of  his  legates  with  vast  sums  of  money  from 
England  and  other  foreign  countries,  resolutely  refused 
to  abandon  the  Lombard  League.2  Up  to  this  time  he 
had  affected  to  disavow  his  close  alliance,  still  to  hold 
the  lofty  tone  of  a  mediator ;  now  he  nobly  determined 
to  be  true  to  their  cause.     He  bore  the  remonstrances, 

1  According  to  the  B.  Museum  Chronicle,  he  laid  down  his  crown  on  the 
relics  and  appealed  to  them  —  "  Vos,  Sancti,  defendite  Romam,  si  homines 
Romani  nollunt  defendere."  The  greater  part  of  the  Romans  at  once  took 
the  Cross,  p.  182. 

a  Peter  de  Vinea,  i.  36.    Canis.  Lect.  (Efele  Script.    Bohem.  i.  668. 


Chap.  IV.  GENERAL  COUNCIL.  451 

on  this,  perhaps  on  some  other  cause  of  quarrel,  of  his 
ablest  general,  the  Cardinal  John  Colonna.  Colonna 
had  agreed  to  a  suspension  of  arms,  which  did  not 
include  the  Lombards  ;  this  the  Pope  refused  to  ratify. 
Colonna  declared  that  he  would  not  break  his  plighted 
faith  to  the  Emperor.  "  If  thou  obeyest  not,"  said  the 
angry  Pope,  "  I  will  no  longer  own  thee  for  a  cardinal." 
u  Nor  I  thee,"  replied  Colonna,  "for  Pope."  Colonna 
joined  the  Ghibelline  cause,  and  carried  over  the 
greater  part  of  his  troops.1 

Ferrara  in  the  mean  time  was  forever  lost  to  the 
Imperialist  side.  Salinguerra,  the  aged  and  faithful 
partisan  of  the  Emperor,  was  compelled  to  capitulate 
to  a  strong  force,  chiefly  of  Venetians.  They  April, 
seized  his  person  by  an  act  of  flagrant  treachery  :  for 
five  years  Salinguerra  languished  in  a  Venetian  prison. 

The  Emperor  advanced  again  from  the  South,  wasted 
the  Roman  territory,  and  laid  siege  to  Bene-  May. 
vento,  which  made  an  obstinate  resistance.     The  Em- 
peror was  at  St.  Germano ;  but  instead  of  ad-  August, 
vancing  towards  Rome,  he  formed  the  siege  of  Faenza. 

The  Pope  meditated  new  means  of  defence.  Impe- 
rial armies  were  not  at  his  command  ;  he  determined 
to  environ  himself  with  all  the  majesty  of  a  spiritual 
sovereign  ;  he  would  confront  the  Emperor  at  the  head 
of  the  hierarchy  of  Christendom  ;  he  issued  a.d.  1241. 
a  summons  to  all  the  prelates  of  Europe  for  a  General 
Council  to  be  held  in  the  Lateran  palace  at  Easter  in 
the  ensuing  year  ;  they  were  to  consult  on  the  impor- 
tant affairs  of  the  Church. 

The  Emperor  and  the  partisans  of  the  Emperor  had 
appealed  to  a  general  Council  against  the  Pope  ;  but  a 

1  This  quarrel  was  perhaps  rather  later  in  point  of  time. 


452  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

Council  in  Rome,  presided  over  by  the  Pope,  was  not 
the  tribunal  to  which  they  would  submit.  Frederick 
would  not  permit  the  Pope,  now  almost  in  his  power, 
thus  to  array  himself  in  all  the  imposing  dignity  of 
Sept  13  the  acknowledged  Vicar  of  Christ.  He  wrote 
im  a  circular  letter  to  the  Kings  and  Princes  of 

Europe,  declaring  that  he  could  not  recognize  nor  suffer 
a  Council  to  assemble,  summoned  by  his  archenemy, 
to  which  those  only  were  cited  who  were  his  declared 
foes,  either  in  actual  revolt,  or  who,  like  the  English 
prelates,  had  lavished  their  wealth  to  enable  the  Pope 
to  carry  on  the  war.  "  The  Council  was  convened  not 
for  peace  but  for  war."  Nor  had  the  summons  been 
confined  to  hostile  ecclesiastics.  His  temporal  enemies, 
the  Counts  of  Provence  and  St.  Bonifazio,  the  Marquis 
of  Este,  the  Doge  of  Venice,  Alberic  di  Romano,  Paul 
Traversaria,  the  Milanese,  were  invited  to  join  this  un- 
hallowed assembly.  So  soon  as  the  Pope  would  aban- 
don the  heretical  Milanese,  reconciliation  might  at  once 
take  place  ;  he  was  prepared  to  deliver  his  son  Conrad 
as  hostage  for  the  conclusion  of  such  peace.  He  called 
on  the  Cardinals  to  stand  forth  ;  they  were  bound  by 
their  duty  to  the  Pope,  but  not  to  be  the  slaves  of  his 
passion.  He  appealed  to  their  pride,  for  the  Popp,  not 
content  with  their  counsel,  had  summoned  prelates 
from  all,  even  the  remotest  parts  of  the  world,  to  sit  in 
judgment  on  affairs  of  which  they  knew  nothing.1  To 
the  Prelates  of  Europe  he  issued  a  more  singular  warn- 
ing. All  coasts,  harbors,  and  ways  were  beset  by  his 
fleet,  which  covered  the  seas  :  u  From  him  who  Spared 
not  his  own  son,  ye  may  fear  the  worst.     If  ye  reach 

i  Quoted  from  Pet.  de  Vin.  in  Bibl.  Barberina,  No.  2138,  by  Von  I?au 
mer,  p.  96. 


Chap.  IV.  PRELATES  AT  GENOA.  453 

Rome,  what  perils  await  you  !  Intolerable  heat,  fou1 
water,  unwholesome  food,  a  dense  atmosphere,  flies, 
scorpions,  serpents,  and  men  filthy,  revolting,  lost  to 
shame,  frantic.  The  whole  city  is  mined  beneath,  the 
hollows  are  full  of  venomous  snakes,  which  the  summer 
heat  quickens  to  life.  And  what  would  the  Pope  of 
you  ?  Use  you  as  cloaks  for  his  iniquities,  the  organ- 
pipes  on  which  he  may  play  at  will.  He  seeks  but  his 
own  advantage,  and  for  that  would  undermine  the  free- 
dom of  the  higher  clergy  ;  of  all  these  perils,  perils  to 
your  revenues,  your  liberties,  your  bodies,  and  your 
souls,  the  Emperor,  in  true  kindness,  would  give  you 
this  earnest  warning."  Many  no  doubt  were  deterred 
by  these  remonstrances  and  admonitions.  Yet  zeal  or 
fear  gathered  together  at  Genoa  a  great  concourse  of 
ecclesiastics.  The  Legate,  Cardinal  Otho,  brought 
many  English  prelates  ;  the  Cardinal  of  Palestrina  ap- 
peared at  the  head  of  some  of  the  greatest  dignitaries  of 
France ;  the  Cardinal  Gregory,  of  Monte  Longo,  with 
some  Lombard  Bishops,  hastened  to  Genoa,  to  urge  the 
instant  preparation  of  the  fleet,  which  was  to  convey 
the  foreign  prelates  to  Rome.1  Frederick  was  seized 
with  apprehension  at  the  meeting  of  the  Council.  He 
tried  to  persuade  the  prelates  to  pass  by  land  through 
the  territories  occupied  by  his  forces ;  he  offered  them 
safe  conduct.  The  answer  was  that  they  could  have 
no  faith  in  one  under  excommunication.  They  em- 
barked on  board  the  hostile  galleys  of  Genoa.  But 
Frederick  had  prepared  a  powerful  fleet  in  Sicily  and 
Apulia,  under  the  command  of  his  son  Enzio.     Pisa 

1  The  Pope  expressed  great  anger  against  the  Cardinal  Gregory  of  Monte 
Longo,  for  not  having  provided  a  fleet  of  overwhelming  force.  See  his 
tonsolatory  letter  to  the  captive  bishops,  Raynald.  p.  273. 


454  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X 

May  3, 1241.  joined  him  with  all  her  galleys.  The  Geno- 
ese Admiral,  who  had  the  ill-omened  name  Ubbriaco, 
the  Drunkard,  was  too  proud  or  too  negligent  to  avoid 
the  hostile  armament.  They  met  off  the  island  of 
Meloria  ;  the  heavily  laden  Genoese  vessels  were  worst- 
ed after  a  sharp  contest  ;  three  galleys  were  sunk, 
twenty-two  taken,  with  four  thousand  Genoese.1  Some 
of  the  prelates  perished  in  the  sunken  galleys  ;  among 
the  prisoners  were  three  Cardinals,  the  Archbishops  of 
Rouen,  Bordeaux,  Audi,  and  Besanc.on  ;  the  Bishops 
of  Carcassonne,  Agde,  Nismes,  Tortona,  Asti,  Pavia, 
the  Abbots  of  Clairvaux,  Citeaux,  and  Clugny ;  and 
the  delegates  from  the  Lombard  cities,  Milan,  Brescia, 
Piacenza,  Genoa.2  The  vast  wealth  which  the  Cardi- 
nal Otho  had  heaped  up  in  England  was  the  prize  of 
the  conqueror.  The  Prelates,  already  half  dead  with 
sea-sickness  and  fright,  no  doubt  with  very  narrow  ac- 
commodation, crowded  together  in  the  heat  and  close- 
ness of  the  holds  of  narrow  vessels,  exposed  to  the 
insults  of  the  rude  seamen  and  the  lawless  Ghibelline 
soldiery,  had  to  finish  their  voyage  to  Naples,  where 
they  were  treated  with  greater  or  less  hardship,  accord- 
ing as  they  had  provoked  the  animosity  of  the  Emper- 
or. But  all  were  kept  in  rigid  custody.3  Letters  from 
Louis  of  France,  almost  rising  to  menace,  and  after- 
wards an  embassy,  at  the  head  of  which  was  the  Abbot 

1  The  battle  was  not  likely  to  be  fought  without  fury.  The  Genoese 
boasted  to  the  Pope  that  they  had  taken  three  galleys  before  the  battle  be- 
gan, beheaded  all  the  men,  and  sunk  the  ships.  They  then  complain  of  the 
barbarity  of  Frederick's  sailors,  not  only  to  the  innocent  prelates,  but  to 
their  conductors. 

2  The  Archbishops  of  St.  James  (of  Compostella),  of  Aries,  of  Tarragona, 
of  Braga,  the  Bishops  of  Placentia,  Salamanca,  Orense,  Astorga,  got  back 
•afely  to  Genoa.  —  Epist.  Laurent,  apud  Raynald.  p.  270. 

8  Matth.  Paris,  sub  arm.  1241. 


Chap.  IV.  FREDERICK  VICTORIOUS.  455 

of  Clugny  (who  himself  was  released  before),  demand- 
ed and  obtained  at  length  the  liberation  of  the  French 
prelates  ;  but  the  cardinals  still  languished  in  prison  till 
the  death  of  Gregory. 

Faenza  and  Benevento  had  withstood  the  Imperial 
arms  throughout  the  winter.  Faenza  had  April,  1241. 
now  fallen  ;  the  inhabitants  had  been  treated  April  14. 
with  unwonted  clemency  by  Frederick.  Benevento 
too  had  fallen.  The  Papal  malediction  might  seem  to 
have  hovered  in  vain  over  the  head  of  Frederick  ; 
Heaven  ratified  not  the  decree  of  its  Vicar  on  earth. 
On  one  side  the  victorious  troops  of  Frederick,  on  the 
other  those  of  John  of  Colonna,  were  wasting  the  Pa- 
pal dominions;  the  toils  were  gathering  around  the 
lair  of  the  imprisoned  Pope.  At  that  time  arrived  the 
terrible  tidings  of  the  progress  made  by  the  Mongols  in 
Eastern  Europe :  already  the  appalling  rumors  of  their 
conquests  in  Poland,  Moravia,  Hungary,  had  reached 
Italy.  The  Papal  party  were  loud  in  their  wonder 
that  the  Emperor  did  not  at  once  break  off  his  war 
against  the  Pope,  and  hasten  to  the  relief  of  Christen- 
dom. So  blind  was  their  animosity  that  he  was  ac- 
tually accused  of  secret  dealings  with  the  Mongols;  the 
wicked  Emperor  had  brought  the  desolating  hordes  of 
Zengis-Khan  upon  Christian  Europe.1  But  Frederick 
would  not  abandon  what  now  appeared  a  certain*  an 
immediate  triumph. 

Even  this  awful  news  seemed  as  unheard  in  the  camp 
of  the  Emperor,  and  in  the  city  where  the  unsubdued 
Pope,  disdaining  any  offer  of  capitulation,  defied  the 
terrors  of  capture  and  of  imprisonment ;  he  was  near 
one  hundred  years  old,  but  his  dauntless  spirit  dictate.! 

1  Matth.  Paris,  sub  arm. 


LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X, 

these  words :  "  Permit  not  yourselves,  ye  faithful,  to 
be  cast  down  by  the  unfavorable  appearances  of  the 
present  moment ;  be  neither  depressed  by  calamity  nor 
elated  by  prosperity.  The  bark  of  Peter  is  for  a  time 
tossed  by  tempests  and  dashed  against  breakers  ;  but 
soon  it  emerges  unexpectedly  from  the  foaming  billows, 
and  sails  in  uninjured  majesty  over  the  glassy  surface."1 
The  Emperor  was  at  Fano,  at  Narni,  at  Reate,  at  Tiv- 
oli :  Palestrina  submitted  to  John  of  Colonna.  Even 
then  the  Pope  named  Matteo  Rosso  Senator  of  Rome 
in  place  of  the  traitor  Colonna.  Matteo  Rosso  made  a 
sally  from  Rome,  and  threw  a  garrison  into  Lagosta. 
July.  The  fires  of   the  marauders  might  be  seen 

from  the  walls  of  Rome  ;  the  castle  of  Monteforte, 
built  by  Gregory  from  the  contributions  of  the  Crusad- 
ers and  of  his  own  kindred,  as  a  stronghold  in  which 
the  person  of  the  Pope  might  be  secure  from  danger, 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  conqueror ;  but  still  no  sign 
of  surrender ;  still  nothing  but  harsh  defiance.  The 
August  21.  Pope  was  released  by  death  from  this  degra- 
dation. His  death  has  been  attributed  to  vexation ;  but 
extreme  age,  with  the  hot  and  unwholesome  air  of 
Rome  in  August,  might  well  break  the  stubborn  frame 
of  Gregory  at  that  advanced  time  of  life.  Frederick, 
in  a  circular  letter  addressed  to  the  Sovereigns  of  Eu- 
rope, informed  them  of  the  event.  "  The  Pope  Greg- 
ory IX.  is  taken  away  from  this  world,  and  has  escaped 
the  vengeance  of  the  Emperor,  of  whom  he  was  the 
implacable  enemy.  He  is  dead,  through  whom  peace 
was  banished  from  the  earth,  and  discord  prospered. 
For  his  death,  though  so  deeply  injured  and  implacably 

1  See  letter  to  the  Venetians,  Lombards,  and  Bolognese.  —  Apud  Ray- 
nald.  p.  271. 


Chap.  IV.         DEATH  OF  THE  POPE.  457 

persecuted,  we  feel  compassion  ;  that  compassion  had 
been  more  profound  if  he  had  lived  to  establish  peace 
between  the  Empire  and  the  Papacy.  God,  we  trust, 
will  raise  up  a  Pope  of  more  pacific  temper ;  whom  we 
are  prepared  to  defend  as  a  devout  son,  if  he  follow  not 
the  fatal  crime  and  animosity  of  his  predecessor.  In 
these  times  we  more  earnestly  desire  peace,  when  the 
Catholic  Church  and  the  Empire  are  alike  threatened 
by  the  invasion  of  the  Tartars  ;  against  their  pride  it 
becomes  us,  the  monarchs  of  Europe,  to  take  up 
arms."  x  Frederick  acted  up  to  this  great  part  of  de- 
livering Christendom  from  the  yoke  of  these  terrible 
savages.  Immediately  on  the  death  of  Gregory  he  de- 
tached King  Enzio  with  four  thousand  knights,  to  aid 
the  army  of  his  son  Conrad,  King  of  the  Romans. 
The  Mongols  were  totally  defeated  near  the  Delphos,  a 
stream  which  flows  into  the  Danube ;  to  the  house  of 
Hohenstaufen  Europe  and  civilization  and  Christendom 
owed  this  great  deliverance. 

Frederick  suspended  the  progress  of  his  victorious 
arms  in  the  Roman  territory  that  the  Cardinals  might 
proceed  to  the  election  of  a  new  Pope.  There  were 
but  six  Cardinals  in  Rome ;  Frederick  consented  to 
their  supplication  that  the  two  imprisoned  Cardinals, 
James  and  Otho,  giving  hostages  for  their  return  to 
captivity,  should  join  the  conclave.  There  were  fierce 
lissensions  among  these  eight  churchmen  ;  five  were 
for  Godfrey  of  Milan,  favored  by  the  Emperor,  three 
for  Romanus.  One  died,  not  without  suspicion  of 
poison  ;  the  Cardinal  Otho  returned  to  his  captivity 
the  Emperor,  delighted  with  his  honorable  conduct, 
treated  him  with  respectful  lenity.2  In  Sep-  Sept.  23. 
1  Peter  de  Vin.  i.  11.  2  Raynald.  p.  277. 


458  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Boor  X 

tember,  the  choice  to  which  the  Cardinals  were  com- 
pelled by  famine,  sickness  and  violence,  fell  on  Godfrey 
Oct.  6,1241.  of  Milan,  a  prelate  of  gentle  character  and 
profound  learning ;  in  October  Coelestine  IV.  was  dead. 
The  few  remaining  cardinals  left  Rome  and  fled  to 
Anagni. 

For  nearly  two  years  the  Papal  throne  was  vacant. 
The  King  of  England  remonstrated  with  the  Emperor, 
on  whom  all  seemed  disposed  to  throw  the  blame ;  the 
ambassadors  returned  to  England,  if  not  convinced  of 
the  injustice,  abashed  by  the  lofty  tone  of  Frederick. 
The  King  of  France  sent  a  more  singular  menace.  He 
signified  his  determination,  by  some  right  which  he 
asserted  to  belong  to  the  Church  of  France,  through 
St.  Denys,  himself  to  proceed  to  the  election  of  a  Pope. 
Frederick  became  convinced  of  the  necessity  of  such 
election ;  none  but  a  Pope  could  repeal  the  excommu- 
nication of  a  Pope.  In  addresses,  which  rose  above 
each  other  in  vehemence,  he  reproached  the  cardinals 
for  their  dissensions.  "  Sons  of  Belial !  animals  without 
heads!  sons  of  Ephraim  who  basely  turned  back  in 
the  day  of  battle  !  Not  Jesus  Christ  the  author  of 
Peace,  but  Satan  the  Prince  of  the  North,  sits  in  the 
midst  of  their  conclave,  inflaming  their  discords,  their 
mutual  jealousies.  The  smallest  creatures  might  read 
them  a  salutary  lesson  ;  birds  fly  not  without  a  leader  ; 
bees  live  not  without  a  King.  They  abandon  the  bark 
of  the  Church  to  the  waves,  without  a  pilot."  :  In  the 
July,  1242.  mean  time,  he  used  more  effective  arguments  ; 
he  advanced  on  Rome,  seized  and  ravaged  the  estates, 
even  the  churches,  belonging  to  the  Cardinals.  At 
'ength  they  met  at  Anagni,  and  in   an  evil  hour  for 

1  Pet.  de  Vin.  xiv.  17. 


Chap.  IV.  ACCESSION   OF  INNOCENT  IV.  459 

Frederick  the  turbulent  conclave  closed  its  labors.  The 
choice  fell  on  a  cardinal  once  connected  with  the  inter- 
ests, and  supposed  to  be  attached  to  the  per-  June,  1243. 
son  of  Frederick,  Sinibald  Fiesco,  of  the  Genoese 
house  of  Lavagna.  He  took  the  name  of  Innocent 
IV.,  an  omen  and  a  menace  that  he  would  tread  in  the 
footsteps  of  Innocent  III.  Frederick  was  congratulated 
on  the  accession  of  his  declared  partisan ;  he  answered 
coldly,  and  in  a  prophetic  spirit :  "  In  the  Cardinal  I 
have  lost  my  best  friend ;  in  the  Pope  I  shall  find  my 
worst  enemy.     No  Pope  can  be  a  Ghibelline." 


460  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 


CHAPTER   V. 

FREDERICK  AND  INNOCENT  IV. 

Yet  Frederick  received  the  tidings  of  the  accession 
of  Innocent  IV.  with  all  outward  appearance  of  joy. 
He  was  at  Amalfi  ;  he  ordered  Te  Deum  to  be  sung  in 
all  the  churches ;  he  despatched  the  highest  persons  of 
his  realm,  the  Archbishop  of  Palermo,  the  Chancellor 
June  26.  Peter  de  Vinea,  Thaddeus  of  Suessa,  and  the 
Admiral  Ansaldo,  to  bear  his  congratulations  to  the 
Pope.  "  An  ancient  friend  of  the  noble  sons  of  the 
Empire,  you  are  raised  into  a  Father,  by  whom  the 
Empire  may  hope  that  her  earnest  prayers  for  peace 
and  justice  may  be  fulfilled." 

Innocent  could  not  reject  these  pacific  overtures  ; 
offers  of  ne  sent  as  n^s  ambassadors  to  Frederick  at 
peace  Amalfi,  the  Archbishop  of  Rouen,  William 

formerly  Bishop  of  Modena,  and  the  Abbot  of  St.  Fa- 
cundus.  They  were  to  demand  first  the  release  of  all 
the  captive  prelates  and  ecclesiastics  ;  to  inquire  what 
satisfaction  the  Emperor  was  disposed  to  offer  for  the 
crimes,  on  account  of  which  he  lay  under  excommuni- 
cation ;  if  the  Church  (this  could  scarcely  be  thought) 
had  done  him  any  wrong,  she  was  prepared  to  redress 
such  wrong ;  they  were  to  propose  a  General  Council 
of  temporal  and  spiritual  persons,  Kings,  Princes,  and 
Prelates.     All  the  adherents  of  the  Church  were  to  be 


Chap.  V.  FREDERICK'S  POWER.  4(51 

included  in  the  peace.  Frederick  demanded  the  with- 
drawal of  the  Papal  Legate,  Gregory  di  Monte  Longo, 
from  Lombardy;  he  demanded  the  release  of  Salin- 
guerra,  the  Lord  of  Ferrara ;  he  complained  that  honor 
was  shown  to  the  Archbishop  of  Mentz,  who  was  under 
the  ban  of  the  Empire  (he  had  been  appointed  Papal 
Legate  in  Germany)  ;  that  the  Pope  took  no  steps  to 
suppress  heresy  among  the  Lombards  ;  that  Aug.  26. 
the  Imperial  ambassadors  were  not  admitted  to  the 
presence  of  the  Pope.  It  was  answered  by  Innocent, 
that  the  Pope  had  full  right  to  send  his  Legates  into 
every  part  of  Christendom  ;  Salinguerra  was  the  pris- 
oner of  the  Venetians,  not  of  the  Pope  ;  the  Archbishop 
of  Mentz  was  a  prelate  of  the  highest  character,  one 
whom  the  Pope  delighted  to  honor ;  the  war  waged  by 
the  Emperor  prevented  the  Church  from  extirpating 
the  Lombard  heretics ;  it  was  not  the  usage  of  Rome 
to  admit  persons  under  excommunication  to  the  holy 
presence  of  the  Pope. 

Frederick  might  seem  now  at  the  summit  of  his 
power  and  glory :  his  fame  was  untarnished  Frederick,s 
by  any  humiliating  discomfiture  ;  Italy  unable  power- 
to  cope  with  his  victorious  armies :  the  Milanese  had 
suffered  a  severe  check  in  the  territory  of  Pavia  :  King 
Enzio  had  displayed  his  great  military  talents  with  suc- 
cess :  the  Papal  territories  were  either  in  his  occupa- 
tion, or  with  Rome  itself  were  seemingly  capable  of  no 
vigorous  resistance  :  his  hereditary  dominions  were  at- 
tached to  him  by  affection,  the  Empire  by  respect  and 
awe.  He  might  think  that  he  had  full  right  to  demand, 
full  power  to  enforce,  in  the  first  place,  the  repeal  of 
his  excommunication.  But  the  star  of  the  Hohen- 
staufen  had  reached  its  height ;  it  began  to  decline,  to 


462  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

darken  ;  its  fall  was  almost  as  rapid  and  precipitate  as 
its  rise  had  been  slow  and  stately.1 

The  first  inauspicious  sign  was  the  defection  of  Vi- 
Defectionof  terbo.  The  Cardinal  Rainier,  at  the  head 
Viterbo.  0f  t^Q  Guelfic  party,  drove  Frederick's  garri- 
son into  the  citadel,  destroyed  the  houses  of  the  Ghibel- 
lines,  and  gathered  all  the  troops  which  he  could  to 
defend  the  city.  Frederick  was  so  enraged  at  this  re- 
volt, that  he  declared,  if  he  had  one  foot  in  Paradise, 
he  would  turn  back  to  avenge  himself  on  the  treacher- 
ous Viterbans.  He  immediately,  unwarned  by  per- 
sept.9to  petual  failures,  formed  the  siege.  The  de- 
Nov.  13.  fence  was  stubborn,  obstinate,  successful ;  his 
engines  were  burned,  he  was  compelled  to  retire,  stipu- 
lating only  for  the  safe  retreat  of  his  garrison  from  the 
citadel.  Notwithstanding  the  efforts  of  Cardinal  Otho 
of  Palestrina,  who  had  guaranteed  the  treaty,  the  gar- 
rison was  assailed,  plundered,  massacred.  To  the  re- 
monstrance of  Frederick,  the  Pope,  who  was  still  under 
a  kind  of  truce  with  the  Emperor,  coldly  answered,  that 
he  ought  not  to  be  surprised  if  a  city  returned  to  its 
allegiance  to  its  rightful  Lord.  The  fatal  example  of 
the  revolt  of  Viterbo  spread  in  many  quarters :  the 
Marquises  of  Montferrat  and  Malespina,  the  cities  of 
Vercelli  and  Alexandria  deserted  the  Imperial  party. 
Even  Adelasia,  the  wife  of  King  Enzio,  sought  to  be 
reconciled  with  the  Holy  See.  Innocent  himself  ven 
lured  to  leave  Anagni,  and  to  enter  Rome  :  the  Im- 
perialists were  awed  at  his  presence ;  his  reception,  as 
Nov.  15.  usual,  especially  with  newly  crowned  Popes, 
was  tumultously  joyful.  The  only  sullen  murmurs, 
which  soon  after  almost  broke  out  into  open  discontent, 

1  Von  Raunier,  iv.  67. 


Chap.  V.  TREATY.  463 

were  among  the  wealthy,  it  was  said  mostly  the  Jews, 
who  demanded  the  payment  of  40,000  marks,  borrowed 
in  his  distress  by  Gregory  IX.  Innocent  had  authority 
enough  to  wrest  from  the  Frangipanis  half  of  the  Col- 
osseum, and  parts  of  the  adjacent  palace,  where  they 
no  doubt  hoped  to  raise  a  strong  fortress  in  the  Impe- 
rial interest. 

The  Emperor  again  inclined  to  peace,  at  least  to  ne- 
gotiations for  peace.  The  Count  of  Tou-  Treaty. 
louse,  the  Chancellor  Peter  de  Vinea,  and  1244. 
Thaddeus  of  Suessa,  appeared  in  Rome  with  full 
powers  to  conclude,  and  even  to  swear  and  guarantee 
the  fulfilment  of  a  treaty.  The  terms  were  hard  and 
humiliating  ;  the  Emperor  was  to  restore  all  the  lands 
possessed  by  the  Pope  and  the  Pope's  adherents  at  the 
time  of  the  excommunication ;  the  Emperor  was  to 
proclaim  to  all  the  sovereigns  of  Christendom  that  he 
had  not  scorned  the  Papal  censure  out  of  contempt  for 
the  Pope's  predecessor,  or  the  rights  of  the  Church ; 
but,  by  the  advice  of  the  prelates  and  nobles  of  Ger- 
many and  Italy,  treated  it  as  not  uttered,  since  it  had 
not  been  formally  served  upon  him ;  he  owned  his  error 
on  this  point,  and  acknowledged  the  plenitude  of  the 
Papal  authority  in  spiritual  matters.  For  this  offence 
he  was  to  make  such  compensation  in  men  or  money 
as  the  Pope  might  require ;  offer  such  alms  and  observe 
such  fasts  as  the  Pope  should  appoint ;  and  respect  the 
excommunication  until  absolved  by  the  Pope's  com 
mand.  He  was  to  release  all  the  captive  Prelates,  and 
compensate  them  for  their  losses.  These  losses  and  all 
other  damages  were  to  be  left  to  the  estimation  of  three 
Cardinals.  Full  amnesty  was  to  be  granted,  the  im- 
perial ban  revoked  against  all  who  had  adhered  to  the 


464  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

Church  since  the  excommunication.  This  was  to  be 
applied,  as  far  as  such  offences,  to  all  who  were  in  a 
state  of  rebellion  against  the  Emperor.  The  differ- 
ences between  the  Emperor  and  his  revolted  subjects 
were  to  be  settled  by  the  Pope  and  the  College  of  Car- 
dinals within  a  limited  time  to  be  fixed  by  the  Pope 
But  there  was  a  saving  clause,  which  appeared  to  ex 
tend  over  the  whole  treaty,  of  the  full  undiminished 
rights  of  the  Empire.1  The  Emperor  was  to  be  re- 
leased from  the  excommunication  by  a  public  decree  of 
the  Church.  To  these  and  the  other  articles  the  im- 
perial ambassadors  swore  in  the  presence  of  the  Em- 
peror Baldwin  of  Constantinople,  the  Cardinals,  the 
Senators,  and  people  of  Rome.  The  Emperor  did  not 
disclaim  the  terms  proposed  by  his  ambassadors ;  but  in 
March  31  tne  treaty  there  were  some  fatal  flaws,  which 
1244'  parties  each  so  mistrustful,   and  justly  mis- 

trustful of  the  other,  could  not  but  discern,  and  which 
rendered  the  fulfilment  of  the  treaty  almost  impossible. 
Was  the  Emperor  to  abandon  all  his  advantages,  to  re- 
lease all  his  prisoners  (one  of  the  stipulations),  sur- 
render all  the  fortresses  he  held  in  the  Papal  dominions, 
grant  amnesty  to  all  rebels,  fulfil  in  short  all  these  hard 
conditions  at  once,  and  so  leave  himself  at  the  mercy 
of  the  Pope :  then  and  not  till  then,  not  till  the  Pope 
had  exacted  the  scrupulous  discharge  of  every  article, 
was  he  to  receive  his  tardy  absolution  ?  Nor  was  the 
affair  of  the  Lombards  clearly  defined.  Innocent  (per- 
haps the  Emperor  knew  this)  had  from  the  first  de- 

1  "  Jurabit  precise  stare  mandatis  domini  Papse:  salva  tamen  sint  ei  ho 
nores  et  jura  quoad  conservationem  integrant  sine  aliquadiminutione  Imperii 
et  honorum  suorum."  — If  these  undefined  rights  were  to  be  respected,  the 
Pope's  decisions  concerning  the  Lombards  were  still  liable  to  be  called  in 
ouestion. 


Chap.  V.  FLIGHT  OF  THE  POPE.  465 

clared  that  he  would  not  abandon  their  cause.  Was 
the  Emperor  to  be  humiliated  before  the  Lombards  as 
he  had  been  before  the  Pope,  first  to  make  every  con- 
cession, with  the  remote  hope  of  regaining  his  imperial 
rights  by  the  Papal  arbitration  ?  *  According  to  the 
Papal  account,  Frederick  began  to  shrink  back  from 
the  treaty  to  which  he  had  sworn  ;  the  Pope  was  fully 
prepared  on  his  part  for  the  last  extremity.2  He  left 
Rome,  where  his  motions  had  perhaps  been  watched  ; 
he  advanced  to  Civita  Castellana  under  the  pretext  of 
approaching  the  Emperor.  The  bickerings,  however, 
still  continued ;  the  Emperor  complained  that  all  the 
secret  terms  agreed  on  with  the  Pope  were  publicly 
sold  for  six  pennies  in  the  Lateran ;  the  Pope  demanded 
400,000  marks  as  satisfaction  for  the  imprisonment  of 
the  Prelates.  The  Lombard  affairs  were  still  in  dis- 
pute. The  Pope  having  seemingly  made  some  slight 
concession,  proceeded  still  further  to  Sutri.  There  at 
midnight  he  suddenly  rose,  stole  out  of  theFlightof 
town  in  disguise,  mounted  a  powerful  horse,  the  Pope' 
like  the  proud  Sinibald  the  Genoese  noble  he  pressed 
its  reeking  flanks,  so  as  to  escape  a  troop  of  300  cavalry 
which  the  Emperor  —  to  whom  perhaps  his  design  had 
been  betrayed  —  sent  to  intercept  him,  out-  June  28. 

1  "  Si  latenti  morbo,  videlicet  de  negotio  Lombardorum,  medicina  noil 
esset  opposita,  pax  omnino  precedere  non  valebat."  —  Cod.  Epist.  Vatic. 
MS.,  quoted  by  Von  Iiaumer. 

2  See  Matth.  Paris,  sub  ami.  1244.  "  Imperator,  illo  instigante,  qui  pri- 
mus superbivit,  a  forma  jurata  et  humilitate  satisfactions  compromisse  su- 
perbiendo  penitens  infeliciter  resiluit."  Of  course,  the  biographers  of  Pope 
Innocent  are  loud  on  the  deceit  and  treachery  of  Frederick  (Vit.  Innocent 
IV.).  But  if  Innocent  resolutely  refused  (and  this  seems  clear)  to  revoke 
the  excommunication  until  Frederick  had  absolutely  fulfilled  all  the  stipu- 
lations, the  charge  of  duplicity  must  be  at  least  equally  shared.  In  truth, 
if  Frederick  was  not  too  religiously  faithful  to  his  oaths,  the  Pope  openly 
asserted  his  power  of  annulling  all  oaths. 

vol.  v  30 


466  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X 

rode  all  his  followers,  and  reached  Civita  Vecchia, 
where  the  Genoese  fleet  of  twenty-three  well-armed 
galleys,  winch  had  been  long  prepared  for  his  flight  (so 
June  29.  little  did  Innocent  calculate  on  a  lasting 
treaty),  was  in  the  roads.1  He  was  in  an  instant  on 
board  one  of  the  galleys.  The  next  morning,  before 
the  anchor  was  weighed,  arrived  five  cardinals,  who 
had  been  outstripped  by  the  more  active  Pope.  Seven 
others  made  their  way  to  the  north  of  Italy.  The 
Pope's  galleys  set  sail,  a  terrible  storm  came  on,  which 
July  7.  threatened  to  cast  them  on  an  island  which 

belonged  to  Pisa.  After  seven  days  they  entered  the 
haven  of  Genoa.  The  Genoese  had  heard  of  the  ar- 
rival of  their  illustrious  fellow-citizen  at  Porto  Venere. 
They  received  him  with  a  grand  procession  of  the 
nobles  with  the  Podesta,  the  clergy  with  the  Arch- 
bishop at  their  head.  The  bells  clanged,  music  played, 
the  priests  chanted  "  Blessed  is  he  that  cometh  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord."  The  Pope's  followers  replied, 
"  Our  soul  is  escaped,  even  as  a  bird  out  of  the  snare 
of  the  fowler :  the  snare  is  broken,  and  we  are  de- 
livered." 2 

The  Emperor  was  furious  at  this  intelligence ;  he 
too  had  his  scriptural  phrase  — "  The  wicked  flees 
when  no  man  pursueth."  He  complained  bitterly  of 
the  negligent  watch  kept  up  by  his  armies  and  his 
fleets.  He  sent  the  Count  of  Toulouse  to  invite,  te 
press  the  Pope  to  return,  and  to  promise  the  fulfilment 
of  all  the  conditions  of  the  truce.      Innocent  replied 


1  It  was  given  out  that  he  fled  to  avoid  being  captured  by  those  300  Tus- 
can horse,  who  were  sent  to  seize  him.  But  the  flight  must  have  been  pre 
arranged  witli  the  Genoese  fleet. 

2  Psalm  cxxiv.  * 


Chap.  V.  INNOCENT  IN   FRANCE.  467 

that  after  such  flagrant  violations  of  faith,  lie  would 
not  expose  himself  or  the  Church  to  the  imminent 
perils  escaped  with  such  difficulty.  Frederick,  in  an 
address  to  Mantua,  denounced  the  flight  of  the  Pope 
as  a  faithless  revolt  to  the  insurgents  against  the  Em- 
pire,  as  though  he  supposed  that  Innocent  at  Genoa, 
where  he  remained  three  months,  would  place  him- 
self at  the  head  of  his  Lombard  League. 

But  he  was  not  safe  in  Genoa.     The  Emperor  was 
in  Pisa.     Through  the  revolted  cities  of  Asti  July  7. 
and  Alexandria,  by  secret  ways  Innocent  crossed  the 
Alps,  and  on  the  2d  of  December  arrived  at  Lyons. 

The  Pope  at  Lyons  became  an  independent  poten- 
tate. Lyons  was  not  yet  within  the  realm  of  France, 
though  to  a  certain  degree  under  her  protection.  It 
belonged  in  name  to  the  Roman  Empire  ;  but  it  was 
almost  a  free  city,  owning  no  authority  but  that  of  the 
Archbishop.  It  was  proud  to  become  the  residence  of 
the  Supreme  Pontiff. 

His  reception  in  France  was  somewhat  more  cool 
than  his  hopes  might  have  anticipated  from  August. 
the  renowned  piety  of  Queen  Blanche  and  in  France. 
her  son  Saint  Louis.  The  King  with  his  mother  vis- 
ited the  monastery  of  Citeaux  ;  as  they  approached  the 
church  they  were  met  by  a  long  procession  of  five  hun- 
dred monks  from  the  convent  of  that  saintly  Order, 
entreating  the  King  with  tears  and  groans  to  aid  the 
Holy  Father  of  the  Faithful  against  that  son  of  Satan 
his  persecutor,  as  his  ancestor  Louis  VII.  had  received 
Pope  Alexander.  The  first  emotion  of  the  King  was 
to  kneel  in  the  profoundest  reverence.  But  his  more 
deliberate  reply  was,  that  he  was  prepared  to  protect 
the  Pope  against  the  Emperor  so  far  as  might   seem 


4G8  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X 

fit  to  the  nobles,  his  counsellors.  The  counsellors  of 
Louis  refused  at  once  to  grant  permission  that  so  dan- 
gerous and  costly  a  guest  should  take  up  his  resilience 
in  Rheims.  The  King  of  Arragon  repelled  the  ad- 
vances of  the  Pope.  We  shall  hereafter  see  the  con- 
duct of  Henry  and  the  Barons  of  England.  Innocent 
remained  at  Lyons  ;  though  thus  partially  battled,  he 
lost  no  time  in  striking  at  his  foe.  He  summoned  all 
kings,  princes,  and  prelates  to  a  Council  on  St.  John 
Dec.  27, 1244.  the  Baptist's  day,  upon  the  weighty  affairs  of 
Christendom  ;  he  cited  Frederick  to  appear  in  person, 
or  by  his  representatives,  to  hear  the  charges  on  which 
he  might  be  arraigned,  and  to  give  the  satisfaction 
a.d.  1245.  which  might  be  demanded.  In  the  mean  time 
meditating  a  still  heavier  penalty,  and  without  await- 
in  £  the  decree  of  the  Council,  he  renewed  the  excom- 
munication,  and  commanded  it  to  be  published  again 
throughout  Christendom.  In  France,  Spain,  and  Eng- 
land many  of  the  clergy  obeyed,  but  a  priest  in  Paris 
seems  to  have  created  a  strong  impression  on  men's 
wavering  minds.  "  The  Emperor  and  the  Pope  mutu- 
ally condemn  each  other  ;  that  one  then  of  the  two 
who  is  guilty  I  excommunicate,  that  one  who  is  guilt- 
less I  absolve."1  But  even  in  Lyons  the  haughty  de- 
meanor, the  immoderate  pretensions,  and  the  insatiable 
rapacity  of  Innocent  IV.  almost  endangered  his  safety ; 
it  is  the  greatest  proof  of  the  deep-rooted  strength  of 
the  Papal  power,  that  with  a  sullen  discontent  through- 
out Christendom,  with  a  stern  impatience  of  the  intol- 
erable burdens  imposed  on  the  Church  as  well  as  on 
the  laity,  with  open  menaces  of  revolt,  it  still  proceeded 
and  successfully  proceeded  to  the  most  enormous  act 

1  Matt.  Paris.    Fleury,  lxxxix.  c.  17. 


Chav.  V.  EXALTATION   OF  IKE  POPE.  4(>9 

of  authority,  the  deposition  of  the  Emperor  in  what 
claimed  to   De  a  full  Council  of  the  Church. 

In  the  short  period,  since  the  Pontificate  of  Inno- 
cent III.,  a  great  but  silent  change  had  taken  place  in 
the  Papacy.  Innocent  III.  was  a  mighty  feudal  mon- 
arch at  the  head  of  a  loyal  spiritual  aristocracy:  the 
whole  clergy  rose,  with  their  head,  in  power ;  they 
took  pride  in  the  exaltation  of  the  Pope  ;  the  Pope  not 
merely  respected  but  elevated  the  dignity  of  the  bishops 
and  abbots  ;  each  in  his  sphere  displayed  his  pomp,  ex- 
ercised his  power,  enjoyed  his  wealth,  and  willingly 
laid  his  unforced,  unextorted  benevolences  at  the  foot 
of  the  Papal  throne.  But  already  the  Pope  had  begun 
to  be  —  Innocent  IV.  aspired  fully  to  become  —  an 
absolute  monarch  with  an  immense  standing  army, 
which  enabled  him  to  depress,  to  humiliate,  to  tax  at 
his  pleasure  the  higher  feudatories  of  the  spiritual 
realm  ;  that  standing  army  was  the  two  new  Orders, 
not  more  servilely  attached  to  the  Pope  than  encroach- 
ing on  the  privileges  as  well  as  on  the  duties  of  the 
clergy.  The  elevation  of  an  Italian  noble  to  the  Pa- 
pacy already  gave  signs  of  that  growing  nepotism  which 
at  last  sunk  the  Head  of  Christendom  in  the  Italian 
sovereign.1  Throughout  the  contest  Pope  Innocent 
blended  with  the  inflexible  haughtiness  of  the  Church- 
man2 the  inexorable  passionate  hatred  of  a  Guelfic 
Burgher  towards  a  rival  Ghibelline^  the  hereditary  foe 


1  Nic.  de  Curbio,  in  Vit.  Innocent  IV. 

2  Innocent  held  high  views  of  the  omnipotence  of  the  Papacy:  —  "  Cum 
.eneat  omnium  credulitas  pia  fidelium  quod  apostolicse  sedis  auctoritas  in 
ecclesiis  universis  liberam  habeat  a  Dei  providentia  potestatem ;  nee  ar- 
bitrio  principum  stare  cogitur,  ut  eorum  in  electionem  vel  postulationem 
negotiis  requirat  assensum."  — Ad  Regem  Ilenric.  MS.  B.  M.  v.  19.  Late- 
ran,  Feb.  1244. 


470  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

of  his  house,  that  of  the  Sinibaldi  of  Genoa.  There 
had  been  rumors  at  least  that  Gregory  IX.  resented  the 
scornful  rejection  of  his  niece  as  a  fit  bride  for  a  nat- 
ural son  of  the  Emperor.  It  was  now  declared  that 
Frederick  had  offered  to  wed  his  son  Conrad  to  a 
niece  of  Sinibald  Fiesco,  the  Pope  Innocent  IV.  That 
scheme  of  Papal  ambition  was  afterwards  renewed. 
Among  the  English  clergy  the  encroachments  of  the 
Pope,  especially  in  two  ways,  the  direct  taxation  and 
usurpation  of  benefices  for  strangers,  had  kindled  such 
violent  resentment,  alike  among  the  Barons  and  the 
Prelates,  as  almost  to  threaten  that  the  realm  would 
altogether  throw  off  the  Papal  yoke.  It  was  taunt- 
ingly said  that  England  was  the  Pope's  farm.  At  this 
time  the  collector  of  the  Papal  revenues,  Master  Mar- 
tin, was  driven  ignominiously,  and  in  peril  of  his  life, 
from  the  shores  of  the  kingdom.  Martin  had  taken  up 
his  residence  in  the  house  of  the  Templars  in  London. 
Fulk  Fitzwarenne  suddenly  appeared  before  him,  and, 
with  a  stern  look,  said,  "  Arise  —  get  thee  forth  !  De- 
part at  once  from  England  !  "  "In  whose  name  speak- 
est  thou  ?  "  "  In  the  name  of  the  Barons  of  England 
assembled  at  Luton  and  at  Dunstable.  If  you  are  not 
gone  in  three  days,  you  and  yours  will  be  cut  in  pieces." 
Martin  sought  the  King :  "  Is  this  done  by  your  com- 
mand, or  by  the  insolence  of  your  subjects?"  "  It  is 
not  by  my  command  ;  but  my  Barons  will  no  longer 
endure  your  depredations  and  iniquities.  They  will 
rise  in  insurrection,  and  I  have  no  power  to  save  you 
from  being  torn  in  pieces."  The  trembling  priest  im- 
plored a  safe-conduct.  "  The  devil  take  thee  away  to 
hell,"  said  the  indignant  King,  ashamed  of  his  own 
impotence.     One  of  the  King's  officers  with  difficulty 


Chap.  V.     EXPULSION  OF  MARTIN  FROM  ENGLAND.         471 

conveyed  Martin  to  the  coast ;  but  he  left  others  be- 
nind  to  insist  on  the  Papal  demands.  Yet  so  great 
was  the  terror,  that  many  of  the  Italians,  who  had  been 
forced  (this  was  the  second  grievance)  into  the  richest 
benefices  of  England,  were  glad  to  conceal  themselves 
from  the  popular  fury.  The  Pope,  it  is  said,  gnashed 
his  teeth  at  the  report  from  Martin  of  his  insulting  ex- 
pulsion from  England.  Innocent,  once  beyond  the 
Alps,  had  expected  a  welcome  reception  from  all  the 
great  monarchs  except  his  deadly  foe.  But  to  the  King 
of  England  the  Cardinal  had  made  artful  suggestions 
of  the  honor  and  benefit  which  his  presence  might  con- 
fer on  the  realm.  "  What  an  immortal  glory  for  your 
reign,  if  (unexampled  honor !)  the  Father  of  Fathers 
should  personally  appear  in  England !  He  has  often 
said  that  it  would  give  him  great  pleasure  to  see  the 
pleasant  city  of  Westminster,  and  wealthy  London." 
The  King's  Council,  if  not  the  King,  returned  the 
ungracious  answer,  u  We  have  already  suffered  too 
much  from  the  usuries  and  simonies  of  Rome  ;  we  do 
not  want  the  Pope  to  pillage  us."1  More  than  this, 
Innocent  must  listen  in  patience,  with  suppressed  indig- 
nation, to  the  "  grievances  "  against  which  the  Nobles 
and  whole  realm  of  England  solemnly  protested  by  their 
proctors :  the  subsidies  exacted  beyond  the  Peter's- 
pence,  granted  by  the  generosity  of  England ;  the 
usurpation  of  benefices  by  Italians,,  of  whom  there  was 
an  infinite  number ;  the  insolence  and  rapacity  of  the 
Nuncio  Martin.2 

1  Matth.  Paris,  however  in  some  respects  not  an  absolutely  trustworthy 
authority  for  events  which  happened  out  of  England,  is  the  best  unques- 
tionably for  the  rumors  and  impressions  prevalent  in  Christendom  —  ru- 
mors, which  as  rumors,  and  showing  the  state  of  the  public  mind,  are  not 
to  be  disdained  by  history. 

2  Matth.  Paris,  1245. 


472  LATIN  CIIUISTIANITY.  Book  X 

The  King  of  France,  as  has  been  seen,  and  the  King 
of  Arragon  courteously  declined  this  costly  and  danger- 
ous visit  of  the  fugitive  Pope.  The  Pope,  it  was  re- 
ported, was  deeply  offended  at  this  stately  and  cautious 
reserve ;  on  this  occasion  he  betrayed  the  violence  of 
his  temper :  "  We  must  first  crush  or  pacify  the  great 
dragon,  and  then  we  shall  easily  trample  these  small 
basilisks  under  foot."  Such  at  least  were  the  rumors 
spread  abroad,  and  believed  by  all  who  were  disposed 
church  of  t°  assert  the  dignity  of  the  temporal  power, 
Lyons.  or  wno  groSLne({  under  the  heavy  burdens  of 

the  Church.  Even  Lyons  had  become,  through  the 
Pope's  ill-timed  favoritism,  hardly  a  safe  refuge.  He 
had  endeavored  to  force  some  of  his  Italian  followers 
into  the  Chapter  of  Lyons,  the  Canons  swore  in  the 
face  of  the  Pope  that  if  they  appeared,  neither  the 
Archbishop  nor  the  Canons  themselves  could  prevent 
their  being  cast  into  the  Rhone.  Some  indeed  of  the 
French  prelates  and  abbots  (their  enemies  accused 
them  of  seeking  preferment  and  promotion  by  their 
adulatory  homage)  hastened  to  show  their  devout  at- 
tachment to  the  Pope,  their  sympathy  for  his  perils  and 
sufferings,  and  their  compassion  for  the  destitution  of 
which  he  loudly  complained.  The  Prior  of  Clugny 
astonished  even  the  Pope's  followers  by  the  amount  of 
his  gifts  in  money.  Besides  these  he  gave  eighty  pal- 
freys splendidly  caparisoned  to  the  Pope,  one  to  each 
of  the  twelve  Cardinals.  The  Pope  appointed  the 
Abbot  to  the  office,  no  doubt  not  thought  unseemly,  of 
his  Master  of  the  Horse  :  he  received  soon  after  the 
more  appropriate  reward,  the  Bishopric  of  Langres. 
The  Cistercian  Abbot  would  not  be  outdone  by  his 
rival  of  Clugny.     The  Archbishop  of  Rouen   for  tlio 


Chap.  V.  COUNCIL  OF  LYONS.  47^ 

same  purpose  loaded  his  see  with  debts  :  he  became 
Cardinal  Bishop  of  Albano.  The  Abbot  of  St.  Denys, 
who  aspired  to  and  attained  the  vacant  Archbishopric, 
extorted  many  thousand  livres  from  his  see,  which  he 
presented  to  the  Pope.  But  the  King  of  France,  the 
special  patron  of  the  church  of  St.  Denys,  forced  the 
Abbot  to  regorge  his  exactions,  and  to  beg  them  in 
other  quarters.  Yet  with  all  these  forced  benevolences 
and  lavish  offerings  it  was  bruited  abroad  that  the 
Church  of  Rome  had  a  capital  debt,  not  including 
interest,  of  150,000^. 

The  Council  met  at  Lyons,  in  the  convent  of  St. 
Just,  on  the  Nativity  of  St.  John  the  Baptist,  council  of 
Around  the  Pope  appeared  his  twelve  Cardi-  June26. 
nals,  two  Patriarchs,  the  Latin  of  Constantinople,  who 
claimed  likewise  to  be  Patriarch  of  Antioch,  and  de- 
clared that  the  heretical  Greeks  had  reduced  by  their 
conquests  his  suffragans  from  thirty  to  three,  and  the 
Patriarch  of  Aquileia,  who  represented  the  church  of 
Venice  ;  the  Emperor  of  Constantinople,  the  Count  of 
Toulouse,  Roger  Bigod  and  other  ambassadors  of  Eng- 
land who  had  their  own  object  at  the  Council,  the  re- 
dress of  their  grievances  from  Papal  exactions,  and  the 
canonization  of  Edmund  Archbishop  of  Canterbury. 
Only  one  hundred  and  forty  prelates  represented  the 
whole  of  Christendom,  of  whom  but  very  few  were 
Germans.  The  Council  and  the  person  of  the  Pope 
were  under  the  protection  of  Philip  of  Savoy  at  the 
head  of  a  strong  body  of  men-at-arms,  of  Knights  of 
the  Temple  and  of  the  Hospital.  Philip,  brother  of 
the  Count  of  Savoy,  was  in  his  character  a  chief 
of-  Condottieri,  in  his  profession  an  ecclesiastic ;  he 
enjoyed  vast  riches  from  spiritual  benefices,  was  high 


474  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

in  the  confidence  of  the  Pope.  Aymeri  Archbishop  of 
Lyons,  a  pious  and  gentle  prelate,  beheld  with  deep 
sorrow  the  Pope  as  it  were  trampling  upon  him  in  his 
own  diocese,  despoiling  his  see,  as  he  was  laying  in- 
tolerable burdens  on  the  whole  church  of  Christ.  He 
resigned  his  see  and  retired  into  a  convent.  Philip  of 
Savoy,  yet  but  in  deacon's  orders,  was  advanced  to  the 
metropolitan  dignity ;  he  was  at  once  Archbishop  of 
Lyons,  Bishop  of  Valence,  Provost  of  Bruges,  Dean  of 
Vienne.  Of  these  benefices  he  drained  with  remorse- 
less rapacity  all  the  rich  revenues,  and  remained  at  the 
head  of  the  Papal  forces.  And  this  was  the  act  of  a 
Pope  who  convulsed  the  world  with  his  assertion  of 
ecclesiastical  immunities,  of  the  sacrilegious  intrusion 
of  secular  princes  into  the  affairs  of  the  Church.  Dur- 
ing four  pontificates  Philip  of  Savoy  enjoyed  the  title, 
and  spent  the  revenues  of  the  Archbishopric  of  Lyons. 
At  length  Clement  IV.  insisted  on  his  ordination  and 
on  his  consecration.  Philip  of  Savoy  threw  off,  under 
this  compulsion,  the  dress  (he  had  never  even  pre- 
tended to  the  decencies)  of  a  bishop,  married  first  the 
heiress  of  Franche  Comte\  and  afterwards  a  niece  of 
Pope  Innocent  IV.,  and  died  Duke  of  Savoy.  And 
the  brother  of  Philip  and  of  Amadeus  Duke  of  Savoy, 
Boniface,  was  Primate  of  England.1 

This  then  was  the  Council  which  was  to  depose  the 
Emperor,  and  award  the  Empire.  Even  before  the 
opening  of  the  Council  the  intrepid,  learned,  and  elo- 
quent jurisconsult  Thaddeus  of  Suessa,  the  principal 
proctor  of    the   Emperor,2  advanced  and  made  great 

1  Gallia  Christiana,  iv.  144.     M.  Paris,  sub  arm.  1251. 

2  Sismondi  says  that  Peter  de  Vinea  was  one  of  the  Emperor's  represen- 
tatives; that  his  silence  raised  suspicion  of  his  treason.  Was  he  there/ 
The  whole  defence  seems  to  have  been  intrusted  to  Thaddeus. 


Chap.  V.  COUNCIL  OF  LYONS.  475 

offers  in  the  name  of  his  master :  to  compel  the  Eastern 
Empire  to  enter  into  the  unity  of  the  Church :  to  raise 
a  vast  army  and  to  take  the  field  m  person  against  the 
Tartars,  the  Charismians,  and  the  Saracens,  the  foes 
which  threatened  the  life  of  Christendom  ;  at  his  own 
cost,  and  in  his  own  person,  to  reestablish  the  king- 
dom of  Jerusalem  ;  to  restore  all  her  territories  to  the 
See  of  Rome ;  to  give  satisfaction  for  all  injuries. 
"  Fine  words  and  specious  promises ! "  replied  the 
Pope.  "  The  axe  is  at  the  root  of  the  tree,  and  he 
would  avert  it.  If  we  were  weak  enough  to  believe 
this  deceiver,  who  would  guarantee  his  truth  ?  "  "  The 
Kings  of  France  and  England,"  answered  Thaddeus. 
"  And  if  he  violated  the  treaty,  as  he  assuredly  would, 
we  should  have  instead  of  one,  the  three  greatest  mon- 
archs  of  Christendom  for  our  enemies."  At  the  next 
session  the  Pope  in  full  attire  mounted  the  pulpit ;  this 
was  his  text :  "  See,  ye  who  pass  this  way,  was  ever 
sorrow  like  unto  my  sorrow."  He  compared  his  five 
afflictions  to  the  five  wounds  of  the  Lord  :  the  deso- 
lations of  the  Mongols ;  the  revolt  of  the  Greek 
Church  ;  the  progress  of  heresy,  especially  that  of  the 
Paterins  in  Lombardy  ;  the  capture  and  destruction  of 
Jerusalem  and  the  devastation  of  the  Holy  Land 
by  the  Charismians ;  the  persecutions  of  the  Emperor. 
He  wept  himself;  the  tears  of  others  interrupted  his 
discourse.  On  this  last  head  he  enlarged  with  bitter 
eloquence ;  he  accused  the  Emperor  of  heresy  and 
sacrilege,  of  having  built  a  great  and  strong  city  and 
peopled  it  with  Saracens,  of  joining  in  their  super- 
stitious rites  ;  of  his  close  alliance  with  the  Sultan  of 
Egypt ;  of  his  voluptuous  life,  and  shameless  inter- 
course with  Saracen   courtesans ;   of  his   unnumbered 


47  G  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

perjuries,  his  violation  of  treaties  :  he  produced  a  vast 
number  of  letters,  sealed  with  the  imperial  seal,  as  ir- 
refragable proofs  of  these  perjuries. 

Thaddeus  of  Suessa  rose  with  calm  dauntlessness. 
Thaddeus  He  too  had  letters  with  the  Papal  seal,  dam- 
ot  suessa.  n\ng  proofs  of  the  Pope's  insincerity.  The 
assembly  professed  to  examine  these  conflicting  docu- 
ments ;  they  came  to  the  singular  conclusion  that  all 
the  Pope's  letters,  and  all  his  offers  of  peace  were  con- 
ditional ;  those  of  the  Emperor  all  absolute.  But 
Thaddeus  was  not  to  be  overawed  ;  he  alleged  the 
clashing  and  contradictory  letters  of  the  Pope  which 
justified  his  master  in  not  observing  his  promises.  ( )n 
no  point  did  the  bold  advocate  hesitate  to  defend  his 
sovereign ;  he  ventured  to  make  reprisals.  "  My  lord 
and  master  is  arraigned  of  heresy  ;  for  this  no  one  can 
answer  but  himself ;  he  must  be  present  to  declare  his 
creed :  who  shall  presume  to  read  the  secrets  of  his 
heart  ?  But  there  is  one  strong  argument  that  he  is 
not  guilty  of  heresy  (he  fixed  his  eyes  on  the  prel- 
ates) ;  he  endures  no  usurer  in  his  dominions."  The 
June  26.  audience  knew  his  meaning  —  that  was  the 
heresy  with  which  the  wdiole  world  charged  the  Court 
of  Rome.  The  orator  justified  the  treaties  of  the  Em- 
peror with  the  Saracens  as  entered  into  for  the  good 
of  Christendom  ;  he  denied  all  criminal  intercourse 
with  Saracen  women  ;  he  had  permitted  them  in  his 
presence  as  jongleurs  and  dancers,  but  on  account  of 
the  offence  taken  against  them  he  had  banished  them 
forever  from  his  court.  Thaddeus  ended  by  demand- 
ing delay,  that  the  Emperor  his  master  might  appear 
in  person  before  the  Council.  The  Pope  shrunk  from 
this  proposal :  "  I  have  hardly  escaped  his  snares.     If 


Chap.  V.  TIIADDEUS   OF   SUESSA.  477 

lie  comes  hither  I  must  withdraw.  I  have  July. 
no  desire  for  martyrdom  or  for  captivity."  But  the 
ambassadors  of  France  and  England  insisted  on  the 
justice  of  the  demand :  Innocent  was  forced  to  consent 
to  an  adjournment  of  fourteen  days.  The  Pontiff  was 
relieved  of  his  fears.  Frederick  had  advanced  as  far 
as  Turin.  But  the  hostile  character  of  the  assembly 
would  not  allow  of  his  appearance.  "  I  see  that  the 
Pope  has  sworn  my  ruin  ;  he  would  revenge  himself 
for  my  victory  over  his  relatives,  the  pirates  of  Genoa. 
It  becomes  not  the  Emperor  to  appear  before  an  assem- 
bly constituted  of  such  persons."  On  the  next  meeting 
this  determination  encouraged  the  foes  of  Frederick. 
New  accusers  arose  to  multiply  charges  against  the 
absent  sovereign  :  many  voices  broke  out  against  the 
contumacious  rebel  against  the  Church.  But  Thacl- 
deus,  though  almost  alone,  having  stood  unabashed  be- 
fore the  Pope,  was  not  to  be  silenced  by  this  clamor  of 
accusations.  The  Bishop  of  Catana1  was  among  the 
loudest ;  he  charged  Frederick  with  treason  against  the 
Church  for  his  imprisonment  of  the  Prelates,  and  with 
other  heinous  crimes.  "  I  can  no  longer  keep  silence," 
broke  in  Thaddeus,  "  thou  son  of  a  traitor,  who  was 
convicted  and  hanged  by  the  justiciary  of  my  Lord, 
thou  art  but  following  the  example  of  thy  father." 
Thaddeus  took  up  the  desperate  defence,  before  such 
an  assembly,  of  the  seizure  of  the  Prelates.  The  Pope 
again  mingled  in  the  fray  ;  but  Thaddeus  assumed  a 
lofty  tone.  "God  delivered  them  into  the  June  29. 
hands  of  my  master  ;  God  took  away  the  strength  of 
the  rebels,  and  showed  by  this  abandonment  that  their 
imprisonment  was  just."     "  If,"  replied  the  Pope,  u  the 

1  Carinola  in  Gianuone. 


478  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

Emperor  had  not  mistrusted  his  own  cause,  he  would 
not  have  declined  the  judgment  of  such  holy  and 
righteous  men :  he  was  condemned  by  his  own  guilty 
conscience."  "  What  could  my  lord  hope  from  a 
council  in  which  presided  his  capital  enemy,  the  Pope 
Gregory  IX.,  or  from  judges  who  even  in  their  prison 
breathed  nothing  but  menace  ?  "  "  If  one  has  broken 
out  into  violence,  all  should  not  have  been  treated  with 
this  indignity.  Nothing  remains  but  ignominiously  to 
depose  a  man  laden  with  such  manifold  offences." 

Thaddeus  felt  that  he  was  losing  ground;  at  the 
July  17.  third  sitting  he  had  heard  that  the  daugh- 
ter of  the  Duke  of  Austria,  whom  Frederick  proposed 
to  take  as  his  fourth  wife  (the  sister  of  the  King  of 
England  had  died  in  childbed),  had  haughtily  refused 
the  hand  of  an  Emperor  tainted  with  excommunica- 
tion, and  in  danger  of  being  deposed.  The  impatient 
Assembly  would  hardly  hear  again  this  perilous  adver- 
sary ;  he  entered  therefore  a  solemn  appeal :  "  I  appeal 
from  this  Council,  from  which  are  absent  so  many 
great  prelates  and  secular  sovereigns,  to  a  general  and 
impartial  Council.  I  appeal  from  this  Pope,  the  de- 
clared enemy  of  my  Lord,  to  a  future,  more  gentle, 
more  Christian  Pope."  l  This  appeal  the  Pope  haugh- 
tily overruled :  "  it  was  fear  of  the  treachery  and  the 
cruelty  of  the  Emperor  which  had  kept  some  prelates 
away  :  it  was  not  for  him  to  take  advantage  of  the 
consequences  of  his  own  guilt."  The  proceedings 
were  interrupted  by  a  long  and  bitter  remonstrance 
of  England  against  the  Papal  exactions.  The  Pope 
adjourned  this  question  as  requiring  grave  and  mature 
consideration. 

1  Annal.  Casseu.  Concil.  sub  auu. 


Chap.V.  DEPOSITION   OF  FREDERICK.  4T9 

With  no  further  deliberation,  without  further  inves- 
tigation, with  no  vote,  apparently  with  no  gentence  of 
participation  of  the  Council,  the  Pope  pro-  deP°sition- 
ceeded  at  great  length,  and  rehearsing  in  the  darkest 
terms  all  the  crimes  at  any  time  charged  against  Fred- 
erick, to  pronounce  his  solemn,  irrefragable  decree: 
"  The  sentence  of  God  must  precede  our  sentence :  we 
declare  Frederick  excommunicated  of  God,  and  deposed 
from  all  the  dignity  of  Empire,  and  from  the  kingdom 
of  Naples.  We  add  our  own  sentence  to  that  of  God : 
we  excommunicate  Frederick,  and  depose  him  from  all 
the  dignity  of  the  Empire,  and  from  the  kingdom  of 
Naples."  The  Emperor's  subjects  in  both  realms  were 
declared  absolved  from  all  their  oaths  and  allegiance. 
All  who  should  aid  or  abet  him  were  by  the  act  it- 
self involved  in  the  same  sentence  of  excommuni- 
cation. The  Princes  of  Germany  were  ordered  to 
proceed  at  once  to  the  election  of  a  new  Emperor. 
The  kingdom  of  Naples  was  reserved  to  be  disposed 
of,  as  might  seem  to  them  most  fit,  by  the  Pope  and 
the  Cardinals. 

The  Council  at  this  sentence,  at  least  the  greater 
part,  sat  panic-stricken ;  the  imperial  ambassadors  ut- 
tered loud  groans,  beat  their  heads  and  their  breasts  in 
sorrow.  Thaddeus  cried  aloud, ""  Oh,  day  of  wrath, 
of  tribulation,  and  of  agony !  Now  will  the  heretics 
rejoice,  the  Charismians  prevail ;  the  foul  Mongols  pur- 
sue their  ravages."  "  I  have  done  my  part,"  said  the 
Pope,  "  God  must  do  the  rest."  He  began  the  hymn, 
"  We  glorify  thee,  O  God  !  "  His  partisans  lifted  up 
their  voices  with  him ;  the  hymn  ended,  there  was  pro- 
found silence.  Innocent  and  the  prelates  turned  down 
their  blazing  torches  to  the  ground  till  they  smouldered 


480  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

and  went  out.  u  So  be  the  glory  and  the  fortune  of 
the  Emperor  extinguished  upon  earth." 

Frederick  received  at  Turin  the  report  of  his  de- 
thronement ;  he  was  seated  in  the  midst  of  a  splendid 
court.  "  The  Pope  lias  deprived  me  of  my  crown  ? 
Whence  this  presumption,  this  audacity?  Bring  hither 
my  treasure  chests."  He  opened  them.  "  Not  one  of 
my  crowns  but  is  here."  He  took  out  one,  placed  it 
on  his  own  head,  and  with  a  terrible  voice,  menacing 
gesture,  and  heart  bursting  with  wrath,  exclaimed,  u  I 
July  81.  hold  my  crown  of  God  alone ;  neither  the 
Pope,  the  Council,  nor  the  devil  shall  rend  it  from 
me!  What!  shall  the  pride  of  a  man  of  low  birth 
degrade  the  Emperor,  wTho  has  no  superior  nor  equal  on 
earth  ?  I  am  now  released  from  all  respect ;  no  longer 
need  I  keep  any  measure  with  this  man."  1 

Frederick  addressed  his  justification  to  all  the  kings 
and  princes  of  Christendom,  to  his  own  chief  officers 
and  justiciaries.  He  called  on  all  temporal  princes  to 
make  common  cause  against  this  common  enemy  of  the 
temporal  power.  "  What  might  not  all  Kings  fear  from 
the  presumption  of  a  Pope  like  Innocent  IV.  ?  "  He 
inveighed  against  the  injustice  of  the  Pope  in  all  the 
proceedings  of  the  Council.  The  Pope  was  accuser, 
witness,  and  judge.  *He  denounced  crimes  as  notorious 
which  the  Emperor  utterly  denied.  "  How  long  has 
the  word  of  an  Emperor  been  so  despicable  as  not  to  be 
heard  against  that  of  a  priest  ?  "  "  Among  the  Pope's 
few  witnesses  one  had  his  father,  son  and  nephew  con- 
victed of  hio-h  treason.  Of  the  others,  some  came  from 
Spain  to  bear  witness  on  the  affairs  of  Italy.  The  utter 
falsehood  of  all  the  charges  was  proved  by  irrefragable 

1  Peter  de  Vinea,  i.  3. 


Chap.  V.     FREDERICK'S-  APPEAL  TO  CHRISTENDOM.         481 

documents.  But  were  they  all  true,  how  will  they  jus- 
tify the  monstrous  absurdity,  that  the  Emperor,  in 
whom  dwells  the  supreme  majesty,  can  be  adjudged 
guilty  of  high  treason  ?  that  he  who  as  the  source  of 
law  is  above  all  law,  should  be  subject  to  law  ?  To 
condemn  him  to  temporal  penalties  who  has  but  one 
superior  in  temporal  things,  God  !  We  submit  our- 
selves to  spiritual  penances,  not  only  to  the  Pope,  but 
to  the  humblest  priest ;  but,  alas  !  how  unlike  the  clergy 
of  our  day  to  those  of  the  primitive  church,  who  led 
Apostolic  lives,  imitating  the  humility  of  the  Lord ! 
Then  were  they  visited  of  angels,  then  shone  around 
by  miracles,  then  did  they  heal  the  sick  and  raise  the 
dead,  and  subdue  princes  by  their  holiness  not  by  arms  ! 
Now  they  are  abandoned  to  this  world,  and  to  drunken- 
ness ;  their  religion  is  choked  by  their  riches.  It  were 
a  work  of  charity  to  relieve  them  from  this  noxious 
wealth ;  it  is  the  interest  of  all  princes  to  deprive  them 
of  these  vain  superfluities,  to  compel  them  to  salutary 
poverty."  x 

The  former  arguments  were  addressed  to  the  pride 
of  France ;  the  latter  to  England,  which  had  so  long 
groaned  under  the  rapacity  of  the  clergy.  But  it  was 
a  fatal  error  not  to  dissever  the  cause  of  the  Pope  from 
that  of  the  clergy.  To  all  the  Emperor  declared  his 
steadfast  determination  to  resist  with  unyielding  firm- 
ness :  "  Before  this  generation  and^the  generations  to 
come  I  will  have  the  glory  of  resisting  this  tyranny  ; 
let  others  who  shrink  from  my  support  have  the  dis- 
grace as  well  as  the  galling  burden  of  slavery."  The 
humiliation  of  Pope  Innocent  might  have  been  endured 
even   by  the   most   devout   sons  of  the    Church ;   his 

1  Peter  de  Vin.  lib.  i.  3. 
vol.  v.  31 


482  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

haughtiness  and  obstinacy  had  almost  alienated  the 
pious  Louis ;  his  rapacity  forced  the  timid  Henry  of 
England  to  resistance.  Perhaps  the  Papacy  itself 
might  have  been  assailed  without  a  general  outburst 
of  indignation  ;  but  a  war  against  the  clergy,  a  war  of 
sacrilegious  spoliation,  a  war  which  avowed  the  neces- 
sity, the  expediency  of  reducing  them  to  Apostolic  sim- 
plicity and  Apostolic  poverty,  was  in  itself  the  heresy 
of  heresies.  To  exasperate  this  indignation  to  the 
utmost,  every  instance  of  Frederick's  severity,  doubt- 
less of  his  cruelty,  to  ecclesiastics,  was  spread  abroad 
with  restless  activity.  He  is  said  to  have  burned  them 
by  a  slow  fire,  drowned  them  in  the  sea,  dragged  them 
at  the  tails  of  horses.  No  doubt  in  Apulia  and  Sicily 
Frederick  kept  no  terms  with  the  rebellious  priests  and 
friars  who  were  preaching  the  Crusade  against  him  ; 
urging  upon  his  subjects  that  it  was  their  right,  their 
duty  to  withdraw  their  allegiance.  But  under  all  cir- 
cumstances the  violation  of  the  hallowed  person  of  a 
priest  was  sacrilege  :  while  they  denounced  him  as  a 
Pharaoh,  a  Herod,  a  Nero,  it  was  an  outrage  against 
law,  against  religion,  against  God,  to  do  violence  to  a 
hair  of  their  heads.  And  all  these  rumors,  true  or  un- 
true, in  their  terrible  simplicity,  or  in  the  gathered 
blackness  of  rumor,  propagated  by  hostile  tongues,  con- 
firmed the  notion  that  Frederick  contemplated  a  revo- 
lution, a  new  era,  which  by  degrading  the  Clergy 
would  destroy  the  Church.1 

The  Pope   kept  not  silence  ;  he  was   not  the  man 


1  '*  De  hferesi  per  id  ipsum  se  reddens  suspectum,  merito  omnem  qnem 
hactenus  habebat  in  omnes  populos  igniculum  famse  propria?  et  sapientiaa 
impudenter  et  imprudenter  extinxit  atque  delevit."  —  Mat.  Par.  p.  459. 
Hbfler  quotes  Albert  of  Bebam's  MS. 


Chap.  V.     POPE'S  REPLY  TO  IMPERIAL  MANIFESTO.         483 

who  would  not  profit  to  the  utmost  by  this  error.  He 
replied  to  the  Imperial  manifesto :  "  When  the  sick 
man  who  has  scorned  milder  remedies  is  subjected  to 
the  knife  and  the  cautery,  he  complains  of  the  cruelty 
of  the  physician :  when  the  evil  doer,  who  has  despised 
all  warning,  is  at  length  punished,  he  arraigns  his  judge. 
But  the  physician  only  looks  to  the  welfare  of  the  sick 
man,  the  judge  regards  the  crime,  not  the  person  of  the 
criminal.  The  Emperor  doubts  and  denies  that  all 
things  and  all  men  are  subject  to  the  See  of  Rome. 
As  if  we  who  are  to  judge  angels  are  not  to  give  sen- 
tence on  all  earthly  things.  In  the  Old  Testament 
priests  dethroned  unworthy  kings  ;  how  much  more  is 
the  Vicar  of  Christ  justified  in  proceeding  against  him 
who,  expelled  from  the  Church  as  a  heretic,  is  already 
the  portion  of  hell !  Ignorant  persons  aver  that  Con- 
stantine  first  gave  temporal  power  to  the  See  of  Rome ; 
it  was  already  bestowed  by  Christ  himself,  the  true  king 
and  priest,  as  inalienable  from  its  nature  and  absolutely 
unconditional.  Christ  founded  not  only  a  pontifical  but 
a  royal  sovereignty,  and  committed  to  Peter  the  rule 
both  of  an  earthly  and  a  heavenly  kingdom,  as  is  indi- 
cated and  visibly  proved  by  the  plurality  of  the  keys.1 
4  The  power  of  the  sword  is  in  the  Church  and  derived 
from  the  Church  ;'  she  gives  it  to  the  Emperor  at  his 
coronation,  that  he  may  use  it  lawfully  and  in  her  de- 
fence ;  she  has  the  right  to  say,  '  Put  up  thy  sword  into 
its  sheath.'  He  strives  to  awaken  the  jealousy  of  other 
temporal  kings,  as  if  the  relation  of  their  kingdoms  to 

1  "  Non  solum  pontificalem.  Red  regale  m  constituit  principatum,  beato 
Petro  ejusque  suecessoribus  terreni  simul  ac  coelestis  imperii  commissi.* 
habenis,  quod  in  pluralitate  clavium  competenter  innuitur."  This  passage 
is  quoted  by  Von  Eaumer  from  the  Vatican  archives,  No.  4957,  47,  and  from 
the  Codex  Vindobon.  Philol.  p.  178.     See  also  Hbfler,  Albert  von  Beham 


484  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Boor  X 

the  Pope  were  the  same  as  those  of  the  electoral  king 
dom  of  Germany  and  the  kingdom  of  Naples.  The 
latter  is  a  Papal  fief;  the  former  inseparable  from  the 
Empire,  which  the  Pope  transferred  as  a  fief  from  the 
East  to  the  West.1  To  the  Pope  belongs  the  corona- 
tion of  the  Emperor,  who  is  thereby  bound  by  the  con- 
sent of  ancient  and  modern  times  to  allegiance  and  sub- 
jection." 

War  was  declared,  and  neither  the  Emperor  nor  the 
Pope  now  attempted  to  disguise  their  mutual  immitiga- 
ble hatred.  Everywhere  the  Pope  called  on  the  sub- 
jects of  the  Emperor  to  revolt  from  their  deposed  and 
excommunicated  monarch.  He  assumed  the  power  of 
dispensing  with  all  treaties  ;  he  cancelled  that  of  the 
city  of  Treviso  with  the  Emperor  as  extorted  by  force ; 
thus  almost  compelling  a  war  of  extermination  ; 2  for  if 
April  26.  treaties  with  a  conqueror  were  thus  to  be  cast 
aside,  what  opening  remained  for  mercy  ?  In  a  long 
and  solemn  address,  he  called  on  the  bishops,  barons, 
cities,  people  of  the  kingdom  of  Naples  and  Sicily  to 
throw  off  the  yoke  under  which  they  had  so  long 
groaned  of  the  tyrant  Frederick.  Two  Cardinals, 
Rainier  Capoccio  and  Stephen  di  Roman  is,  had  full 
powers  to  raise  troops,  and  to  pursue  any  hostile  meas- 
ures against  the  King.  The  Crusade  was  publicly 
preached  throughout  Italy  against  the  enemy  of  the 
Church.  The  Emperor  on  his  side  levied  a  third  from 
the  clergy  to  relieve  them  from  the  tyranny  of  the 
Pope.  He  issued  inflexible  orders  that  every  clerk  or 
religious  person  who,  in  obedience  to  the  command  of 
the  Pope  or  his  Legate,  should  cease  to  celebrate  mass 
or  any  other  religious  function,  should  be  expelled  at 

i  "  In  feodum  transtulit  occidentis."  2  Raynald.  sub  ann. 


chap.  V.  CRUSADE  AGAINST  FREDERICK.  485 

once  from  his  place  and  from  his  city,  and  despoiled  of 
all  his  goods,  whether  his  own  or  those  of  the  Church. 
He  promised  his  protection  and  many  advantages  to  all 
who  should  adhere  to  his  party ;  he  declared  that  he 
would  make  no  peace  with  the  Pope  till  all  those  eccle- 
siastics who  might  be  deposed  for  his  cause  should  be 
put  in  full  possession  of  their  orders,  their  rank,  and 
their  benefices.1  The  Mendicant  Friars,  as  they  would 
keep  no  terms  of  peace  with  Frederick,  could  expect  no 
terms  from  him  ;  they  were  seized  and  driven  beyond 
the  borders.  The  summons  of  the  Pope  to  the  barons 
of  the  realm  of  Sicily  to  revolt  found  some  few  hearers. 
A  dark  conspiracy  was  formed  in  which  were  engaged 
Pandolph  of  Fasanella,  Frederick's  vicar  in  Tuscany, 
Jacob  Morra  of  the  family  of  the  great  justiciary,  An- 
drew of  Ayala,  the  Counts  San  Severino,  Theobald 
Francisco,  and  other  Apulian  barons.  It  was  a  con- 
spiracy not  only  against  the  realm,  but  against  the  life 
of  Frederick.  On  its  detection  Pandolph  of  Fasanella 
and  De  Morra,  the  leaders  of  the  plot,  fled  to,  and 
were  received  by,  the  Pope's  Legate.  The  Cardinal 
Rainier,  Theobald  and  San  Severino  seized  the  castles 
of  Capoccio  and  of  Scala,  and  stood  on  their  defence. 
The  loyal  subjects  of  Frederick  instantly  reduced 
Scala  ;  Capoccio  with  the  rebels  fell  soon  after.  Fred- 
erick arraigned  the  Pope  before  the  world,  July  is. 
he  declared  him  guilty  on  the  full  and  voluntary 
avowal  of  the  rebels,2  as  having  given  his  direct  sanc- 

1  Peter  de  Vin.  i.  4. 

2  See  in  Hofler  the  letter  of  the  Pope  to  Theobald  Francisco,  and  all  the 
others  of  the  kingdom  of  Sicily  who  returned  to  their  loyalty  to  the  Roman 
See:  "God  has  made  his  face  to  shine  upon  you,  by  withdrawing  your 
persons  from  the  dominion  of  Pharaoh.  From  the  soldiers  of  the  repro- 
bate tyrant,  you  have  become  champions  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  — Ap- 
pendix, p.  372. 


&$Q  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

tion  not  only  to  the  revolt,  but  to  the  murder  of  the 
Emperor.1  "  This  they  had  acknowledged  in  confes- 
sion, this  in  public  on  the  scaffold.  They  had  received 
the  cross  from  the  hands  of  some  Mendicant  Friars,- 
they  were  acting  under  the  express  authority  of  ilid 
See  of  Rome."  Frederick  at  first  proposed  to  parade 
the  chief  criminals  with  the  Papal  bull  upon  their  fore- 
heads through  all  the  realms  of  Christendom  as  au 
awful  example  and  a  solemn  rebuke  of  the  murderous 
Pope  ;  he  found  it  more  prudent  to  proceed  to  imme- 
diate execution,  an  execution  with  all  the  horrible 
cruelty  of  the  times  ;  their  eyes  were  struck  out,  their 
hands  hewn  off,  their  noses  slit,  they  were  then  broken 
on  the  wheel.2  The  Pope  denied  in  strong  terms  the 
charge  of  meditated  assassination  ;  on  the  other  hand, 
he  declared  to  Christendom  that  three  distinct  attempts 
had  been  designed  against  his  life,  in  all  which  Fred- 
erick was  the  acknowledged  accomplice.  On  both 
sides  probably  these  accusations  were  groundless.  On 
one  part,  no  doubt,  fanatic  Guelfs  might  think  them- 
selves called  upon  even  by  the  bull  of  excommunica- 
tion, which  was  an  act  of  outlawry,  to  deliver  the 
Church,  the  Pope,  and  the  world  from  a  monster  of 
perfidy  and  iniquity  such  as  Frederick  was  described  in 
the  manifestoes  of  the  Pope.  Fanatic  Ghibellines 
might  in  like  manner  think  that  they  were  doing  gocd 
service,  and  would  meet  ample  even  if  secret  reward, 
should  they  relieve  the  Emperor  from  his  deadly  foe. 
They  might  draw  a  strong  distinction  between  the 
rebellious  subject  of  the  Empire,  and  the  sacred  head 
of  Christendom. 

1  "  Et  predicts  mortis  et  exhaereditationis  nostra  suminuin  pontificem 
asierunt  authorem."  —Peter  de  Vin.  ii.  x. 

2  Matth.  Paris,  sub  ann.  1246,  7. 


Chap.  V.  ORTHODOXY  OF  THE  EMPEROR.  487 

The  Pope  pledged  himself  solemnly  to  all  who  would 
revolt  from  Frederick  never  to  abandon  them  to  his 
wrath,  never  on  any  terms  to  make  peace  with  the  per- 
fidious tyrant ;  "  no  feigned  penitence,  no  simulated 
humility  shall  so  deceive  us,  as  that,  when  he  is  cast 
down  from  the  height  of  his  imperial  and  royal  dignity, 
he  should  be  restored  to  his  throne.  His  sentence  is 
absolutely  irrevocable !  his  reprobation  is  the  voice  of 
God  by  his  Church  :  he  is  condemned  and  forever  ! 
His  viper  progeny  are  included  under  this  eternal  im- 
mitigable proscription.  Whoever  then  loves  justice 
should  rejoice  that  vengeance  is  thus  declared  against 
the  common  enemy,  and  wash  his  hands  in  the  blood 
of  the  transgressor."     So  wrote  the  Vicar  of  Christ ! 1 

Frederick  took  measures  to  relieve  himself  from 
the  odious  imputation  of  heresy.  The  Arch-  a.d.  1246. 
bishop  of  Palermo,  the  Bishop  of  Pavia,  the  Abbots 
of  Monte  Casino,  Cava,  and  Casanova,  the  Friar 
Preachers  Roland  and  Nicolas,  men  of  high  repute, 
appeared  before  the  Pope  at  Lyons,  and  declared  them- 
selves ready  to  attest  on  oath  the  orthodox  belief  of  the 
Emperor.  Innocent  sternly  answered,  that  they  de- 
served punishment  for  holding  conference  with  an  ex- 
communicated person,  still  severer  penalty  for  treating 
him  as  Emperor.  They  rejoined  in  humility,  "  Re- 
ceive us  then  as  only  representing  a   Christian." 

The  Pope  was  compelled  to  appoint  a  commission  of 
three  cardinals.  These  not  only  avouched  the  report  of 
the  ambassadors,  but  averred  the  Emperor  prepared  to 
assert  his  orthodoxy  in  the  presence  of  the  Pope.  In- 
nocent extricated  himself  with  address:  he  May  23,  124a 
declared  the  whole   proceeding,    as    unauthorized    bv 

1  Apucl  Hofler,  p.  383. 


188  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X, 

himself,  hasty,  and  presumptuous  :  "  If  he  shall  appear 
unarmed  and  with  but  few  attendants  before  us,  we  will 
hear  him,  if  it  be  according  to  law,  according  to  law."  l 
Even  the  religious  Louis  of  France  could  not  move 
the  rigid  Pope.  In  his  own  crusading  enthusiasm,  as 
strong  as  that  of  his  ancestors  in  the  days  of  Urban, 
Louis  urged  the  Pope  to  make  peace  with  the  Emperor, 
that  the  united  forces  of  Christendom  might  make 
head  in  Europe  and  in  Palestine  against  the  unbeliev- 
ing enemies  of  the  Cross.  He  had  a  long  and  secret 
interview  with  the  Pope  in  the  monastery  of  Clugny. 
Innocent  declared  that  he  could  have  no  dealings  with 
the  perfidious  Frederick.  Louis  retired,  disgusted  at 
finding  such  merciless  inflexibility  in  the  Vicar  of 
Christ.2  But  not  yet  had  the  spell  of  the  great  magi- 
cian begun  to  work.  The  conspiracy  in  the  kingdom  of 
Sicily  was  crushed ;  Frederick  did  not  think  it  wise  to 
invade  the  territories  of  Rome,  where  the  Cardinal 
Rainier  kept  up  an  active  partisan  war.  But  even  Vi- 
terbo  yielded ;  the  Guelfs  were  compelled  to  submit  by 
the  people  clamoring  for  bread.  Prince  Theodore  of 
Antioch  entered  Florence  in  triumph.  The  Milanese 
had  suffered  discomfiture;  Venice  had  become  more 
amicable.  Innocent  had  not  been  wanting  in  attempts 
to  raise  up  a  rival  sovereign  in  Germany  to  supplant 
the  deposed  Emperor.  All  the  greater  princes  coldly, 
almost  contemptuously,  refused  to  become  the  instru- 
ments of  the  Papal  vengeance:  they  resented  the 
presumption  of  the  Pope  in  dethroning  an  Emperor 
of  Germany. 

i  "  Ipsum  super  hoc,  si  de  jure,  et  sicut  de  jure  fuerit  audiamus."  —  Apud 
Raynald.  1246. 
2  Mutt.  Paris,  1246. 


Chap.  V.  OTHO  OF  BAVARIA.  489 

The  Papal  Legate,  Philip  Bishop  of  Ferrara,  in  less 
troubled  times  would  hardly  have  wrought  powerfully 
on  the  minds  of  Churchmen.  He  was  born  of  poor 
parents  in  Pistoia,  and  raised  himself  by  extraordinary 
vigor  and  versatility  of  mind.  He  was  a  dark,  melan 
eholy,  utterly  unscrupulous  man,  of  stern  and  cruel 
temper ;  a  great  drinker  ; }  even  during  his  orisons  he 
had  strong  wine  standing  in  cold  water  by  his  side. 
His  gloomy  temperament  may  have  needed  this  excite- 
ment. But  the  strength  of  the  Papal  cause  was  Albert 
von  Beham.2  Up  to  the  accession  of  Innocent  IV.,  if 
not  to  the  Council  of  Lyons,  the  Archbishops  of  Saltz- 
burg,  the  Bishops  of  Freisingen  and  Ratisbon  and 
Passau,  had  been  the  most  loyal  subjects  of  Frederick. 
They  had  counteracted  all  the  schemes  of  Albert  von 
Beham,  driven  him,  amid  the  universal  execration  for 
his  insolence  in  excommunicating  the  highest  prelates, 
and  rapacity  in  his  measureless  extortions,  from  South- 
ern Germany.  We  have  heard  him  bitterly  lamenting 
his  poverty.  Otho  of  Bavaria,  who  when  once  he  em- 
braced the  cause  of  the  Hohenstaufen  adhered  to  it  with 
honorable  fidelity,  had  convicted  him  of  gross  bribery, 
and  hunted  him  out  of  his  dominions.  Albert  now 
appeared  again  in  all  his  former  activity.  He  had  been 
ordained  priest  by  the  Cardinal  Albano  ;  he  was  nomi- 

1  "  Multas  crudelitates  exercuit.  Melancholicus,  et  tristis  et  furiosus,  et 
filius  Belial.  Magnus  potator."  —  Salimbeni,  a  Papal  writer  quoted  by 
Von  Raumer,  p.  212. 

2  Hofler  affirms  that  because  Albert  von  Beham,  in  one  of  his  furious 
letters  to  Otho,  calls  Frederick  the  parricide,  the  murderer  of  Otho's  father, 
that  it  is  a  striking  proof  that  Frederick  was  guilty  of  that  murder.  —  p. 
118.  The  letter  is  a  remarkable  one.  Hofler' s  is  one  of  those  melancholy 
books,  showing  how  undying  is  religious  hatred.  Innocent  himself  might 
be  satisfied  with  the  rancor  of  his  apologist,  and  his  merciless  antipathy 
to  Frederick. 


490  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  £ 

nated  Dean  of  Passau  ;  but  the  insatiable  Albert  knew 
his  own  value,  or  rather  the  price  at  which  the  Pope 
and  his  cardinals  calculated  his  services :  he  insisted  on 
receiving  back  all  his  other  preferments.  The  Pope 
and  the  Cardinals  held  it  as  a  point  of  honor  to  main- 
tain their  useful  emissary.1 

Already  before  the  elevation  of  Innocent,  at  a  meet- 
Sept.  1241.  ing  at  Budweis,  a  league  of  Austria,  Bohe- 
mia, and  Bavaria,  had  proposed  the  nomination  of  a 
new  Emperor.  Eric  King  of  Denmark  had  refused 
it  for  his  son,  in  words  of  singular  force  and  dignity. 
At  Budweis  Wenceslaus  of  Bohemia  had  fallen  off  to 
the  interests  of  the  Emperor :  there  were  fears  among 
the  Papalists,  fears  speedily  realized,  of  the  Imperialism 
of  Otho  of  Bavaria.  A  most  audacious  vision  of 
Poppo,  the  Provost  of  Munster,  had  not  succeeded  in 
appalling  Otho  into  fidelity  to  the  Pope.  The  Queen 
of  Heaven  and  the  Twelve  Apostles  sent  down  from 
Heaven  ivory  statues  of  themselves,  which  contained 
oracles  confirming  all  the  acts  of  Albert ;  writings 
were  shown  with  the  Apostolic  seals,  containing  the 
celestial  decree.2  Albert  had  threatened,  that  if  the 
electors  refused,  the  Pope  would  name  a  French  or 
Lombard  King  or  Patrician,  without  regard  to  the  Ger- 
mans. 

The  meeting  at  Budweis  so  far  had  failed ;  but  a 

1  He  complains  that  they  prevented  him  from  collecting  300  marks  of 
silver,  which  otherwise  he  might  have  obtained.  Hofler  cannot  deny  the 
venality  of  Albert  von  Beham,  but  makes  a  long  apology,  absolutely  start- 
ling in  a  respectable  writer  of  our  own  day.  The  new  letters  of  Albert 
seem  to  me  more  fatal  to  his  character  than  the  partial  extracts  in  Aven- 
tinus. 

2  "  Quorum  decreta  cum  divinte  mentis  decretis  examussim  conspirantia, 
ambobus  crclestis  senatus-consulti  in  eburneis  descripta  sigillis,  inspiciendi 
copiam  lactam."     The  sense  is  not  quite  clear;  I  doubt  my  own  rendering 


Chap.  V.  OTHO  OF  BAVARIA.  493 

dangerous  approximation  had  even  then  been  made 
between  Sifried  of  Mentz,  hitherto  loyal  to  Frederick, 
who  had  condemned  and  denounced  the  rapacious  qua?s- 
torship  of  Albert  von  Beham,  and  Conrad  of  Cologne, 
a  high  Papalist.1  This  approximation  grew  up  into  an 
Anti-Imperialist  League,  strengthened  as  it  April  20. 
was,  before  long,  by  the  courageous  demeanor,  the  flight, 
the  high  position  taken  by  Innocent  at  Lyons  ;  still 
more  by  the  unwise  denunciations  against  the  whole 
hierarchy  by  Frederick  in  his  wrath.  Now  the  three 
great  rebellious  temporal  princes  —  Otho  of  Bavaria, 
the  King  of  Bohemia,  the  Duke  of  Austria  —  are  the 
faithful  subjects  of  Frederick  ;  his  loyal  prelates,  Saltz- 
burg,  Freisingen,  Ratisbon,  are  his  mortal  enemies. 
Not  content  with  embracing  the  Papal  cause,  they  en- 
deavored by  the  most  stirring  incitements  to  revenge 
for  doubtful  or  mendaciously  asserted  wrongs,  by  the 
dread  of  excommunication,  by  brilliant  promises,  to  stir 
up  Otho  of  Bavaria  to  assume  the  Imperial  crown. 
Otho  replied,  "  When  I  was  on  the  side  of  the  Pope 
you  called  him  Antichrist ;  you  declared  him  the  source 
of  all  evil  and  all  guilt :  by  your  counsels  I  turned  to 
the  Emperor,  and  now  you  brand  him  as  the  most  enor- 
mous transgressor.  What  is  just  to-day  is  unjust  to- 
morrow :  in  scorn  of  all  principle  and  all  truth,  you 
blindly  follow  your  selfish  interests.  I  shall  hold  to  my 
pledges  and  my  oaths,  and  not  allow  myself  to  be  blown 
about  by  every  changing  wind."  Otho  of  Bavaria  per- 
sisted in  his  agreement  to  wed  his  daughter  with  Con- 
rad,  son  of  Frederick.  Every  argument  was  used  to 
dissuade  him  from  this  connection.  Three  alternatives 
were  laid  before  him :  I.  To  renounce  the  marriage  of 

1  Boehmer,  p.  390.     See  citations. 


492  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

his  daughter  with  Conrad,  Frederick's  son  ;  if  so,  the 
Pope  will  provide  a  nobler  bridegroom,  and  reconcile 
him  fully  with  Henry,  elected  King  of  the  Romans. 
II.  To  let  the  marriage  proceed  if  Conrad  will  renounce 
his  father.  Albert  von  Beham  was  busy  in  inciting 
the  unnatural  revolt  of  Conrad  from  his  father.  III. 
The  third  possibility  was  the  restoration  of  Frederick 
to  the  Pope's  favor :  he  must  await  this ;  but  in  the 
mean  time  bear  in  mind  that  the  victory  of  the  Church 
is  inevitable.1  The  King  of  Bohemia,  the  Dukes  of 
Austria,  Brabant,  and  Saxony,  the  Margraves  of  Meis- 
sen and  Brandenburg,  repelled  with  the  same  contempt- 
uous firmness  the  tempting  offer  of  the  Imperial  crown. 
At  last  an  Emperor  was  found  in  Henry  Raspe,  Land- 
grave of  Thuringia.  Henry  of  Thuringia  was  a  man 
of  courage  and  ability  ;  but  his  earlier  life  did  not  des- 
ignate him  as  the  champion  of  Holy  Church.2  He 
was  the  brother-in-law  of  the  sainted  Elizabeth  of 
Hungary,  now  the  object  of  the  most  passionate  relig- 
ious enthusiasm,  sanctioned  by  the  Pope  himself.  To 
her,  in  her  desolate  widowhood,  Henry  had  shown  little 
of  the  affection  of  a  brother  or  the  reverence  of  a  wor- 

1  "  Quia  si  omne  aurum  haberetis,  quod  Rex  Solomon  habuit,  ordinationi 
Sanctae  Romanae  Ecclesiae,  et  divinae  potential  non  poteritis  repugnare,  quia 
necesse  est  ut  in  ornni  negotio  semper  Ecclesia  Dei  vincat."  —  p.  120.  The 
marriage  took  place,  Sept  6, 1246.  The  rhetorical  figures  in  this  address 
of  Albert  of  Beham,  if  it  came  not  from  the  Pope  himself,  were  sufficiently 
bold :  "  The  Pope  would  not  swerve  from  his  purpose  though  the  stars 
should  fall  from  their  spheres,  and  rivers  be  turned  into  blood.  Angels  and 
archangels  would  in  vain  attempt  to  abrogate  his  determination."  "  Nee 
credo  angelos  aut  archangelos  sufficere  illi  articulo,  ut  eum  possint  ad  ves- 
trum  bene  placitum  inclinare." 

2  The  electors  to  the  Kingdom  of  Germany  were  almost  all  ecclesiastics. 
The  Archbishops  of  Mentz,  Cologne,  Treves,  Bremen;  the  Bishops  of 
Wurtzburg,  Naumbourg,  Ratisbon,  Strasburg,  Henry  (Elect)  of  Spires; 
Dukes  Henry  of  Brabant,  Albert  of  Saxony;  with  some  Counts.  —  Maj? 


Chap.  V.     DEATH  OF  THE  ANTI-EMPEROR  HENRY.  493 

shipper  ;  dark  rumors  charged  him  with  having  poi- 
soned her  son,  his  nephew,  to  obtain  his  inheritance. 
He  had  been  at  one  time  the  Lieutenant  of  the  Em- 
peror in  Germany.  Even  Henry  at  first  declined  the 
perilous  honor.  He  yielded  at  length  as  to  a  sacrifice : 
"  I  obey,  but  I  shall  not  live  a  year." 

Innocent  issued  his  mandate,1  his  solemn  adjuration 
to  the  prelates  to  elect,  with  one  consent,  Henry  of 
Thuringia  to  the  Imperial  crown.  He  employed  more 
powerful  arguments  :  all  the  vast  wealth  which  he  still 
drew,  more  especially  from  England,  was  devoted  to 
this  great  end.  The  sum  is  variously  stated  at  25,000 
and  50,000  marks,  which  was  spread  through  Germany 
by  means  of  letters  of  exchange  from  Venice.  The 
greater  princes  still  stood  aloof;  the  prelates  espoused, 
from  religious  zeal,  the  Papal  champion  ;  among  the 
lower  princes  and  nobles  the  gold  of  England  worked 
wonders.  On  Ascension  Day  the  Archbishops  a.d.  1246. 
of  Mentz,  Cologne,  Treves,  and  Bremen,  the  Bishops 
of  Metz,  Spires,  and  Strasburg,  anointed  Henry  of 
Thuringia  as  King  of  Germany  at  Hochem,  August  5. 
near  Wurtzburg.  His  enemies  called  him  in  scorn  the 
priest  king.2  The  sermons  of  the  prelates  and  clergy, 
who  preached  the  Crusade  against  the  godless  Fred- 
erick, and  the  money  of  the  Pope,  raised  a  powerful 
army ;  King  Conrad  was  worsted  in  a  great  battle  near 
Frankfort ;  two  thousand  of  his  own  Swabian  soldiers 
passed  over  to  the  enemy.  But  the  cities,  now  rising 
to  wealth  and  freedom,  stood  firm  to  Frederick :  they 
defied,  in  some  cases   expelled,  their  bishops.     Henrv 

1  See  the  very  curious  letter  in  Hofler,  p.  195,  on  the  determination  of 
the  Pope. 

2  Matt.  Paris.   Chronic.  Erphurt.  Ann.  Argentin.  apud  Boehmer,  Fontea 


494  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

of  Thuringia  attempted  to  besiege  first  Reutlingen,  then 
Feb.  17, 1247.  Ulm  ;  was  totally  defeated  near  that  city,  fled 
to  his  Castle  of  Wartburg,  and  died  of  grief  and  vex- 
ation working  on  a  frame  shattered  by  a  fall  from  his 
horse. 

Frederick  was  still  in  the  ascendant,  the  cause  of  the 
Pope  still  without  prevailing  power.  The  indefatiga- 
ble Innocent  sought  throughout  Germany,  throughout 
Europe  :  he  even  summoned  from  the  remote  and  bar- 
barous North  Hakim  King  of  Norway  to  assume  the 
crown  of  Germany.1  At  last  William  of  Holland,  a 
Oct.  3, 1247.  youth  of  twenty  years  of  age,  under  happier 
auspices,  listened  to  the  tempting  offers  of  the  Pope  ; 
but  even  Aix-la-Chapelle  refused,  till  after  a  siege  of 
some  length,  to  admit  the  Papal  Emperor  to  receive 
the  crown  within  her  walls :  he  was  crowned,  however, 
by  the  Papal  Legate,  the  Cardinal  of  St.  Sabina. 

From  this  time  till  Frederick  lay  dying,  four  years 
after,  at  Fiorentino,  some  dire  fatality  seemed  to  hang 
over  the  house  of  Hohenstaufen.  Frederick  had  ad- 
vanced to  Turin  ;  his  design  no  one  knew  ;  all  conjec- 
tured according  to  their  wishes  or  their  fears.  It  was 
rumored  in  England  that  he  was  at  the  head  of  a  pow- 
erful force,  intending  to  dash  down  the  Alps  and  seize 
the  Pope  at  Lyons.  The  Papalists  gave  out  that  he 
had  some  dark  designs,  less  violent  but  more  treacher- 
ous, to  circumvent  the  Pontiff.  Innocent  had  demand- 
ed succor  from  Louis,  who  might,  with  his  brothers  and 
the  nobles  of  France,  no  doubt  have  been  moved  by 
the  personal  danger  of  the  Pope  to  take  up  arms  in  his 
cause.2     Frederick  had  succeeded,  by  the  surrender  of 

i  Letter  to  William  of  Holland. 

2  Matt.  Paris.     In  thu  letters  to  Louis  and  to  his  mother  Blanche  the 


Chap.  V.  SIEGE  OF  PARMA.  495 

the  strong  castle  of  Rivoli  to  Thomas  Duke  of  Savoy, 
in  removing  the  obstructions  raised  by  that  prince  to 
the  passage  of  the  Alps.  The  Duke  of  Savoy  played 
a  double  game  :  he  attacked  the  Cardinal  Octavian 
who  was  despatched  by  the  Pope  with  a  strong  choson 
body  of  troops  and  15,000  marks  to  aid  the  Milanese, 
The  Cardinal  reached  Lombardy  with  hardly  a  man  ; 
his  whole  treasure  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Duke  of 
Savoy.  Others  declared  that  Frederick  was  weary  of 
the  war,  and  had  determined  on  the  humblest  submis- 
sion. He  himself  may  have  had  no  fixed  and  settled 
object.  He  declared  that  he  had  resolved  to  proceed  to 
Lyons  to  bring  his  cause  to  issue  in  the  face  of  the 
Pope,  and  before  the  eyes  of  all  mankind.1  He  was 
roused  from  his  irresolution  by  the  first  of  those  dis- 
asters which  went  on  darkening  to  his  end.  June,  1247. 
The  Pope  was  not  only  Pope  ;  he  had  powerful  compa- 
triots and  kindred  among  the  great  Guelflc  houses  of 
Italy.  This,  not  his  spiritual  powers  alone,  gave  the 
first  impulse  to  the  downfall  of  Frederick.  In  Parma 
itself  the  Rossi,  the  Correggi,  the  Lupi,  connected 
with  the  Genoese  family  of  the  Sinibaldi,  maintained  a 
secret  correspondence  with  their  party  within  the  city. 
The  exiles  appeared  before  Parma  with  a  strong  force  ; 
the  Imperialist  Podesta,  Henry  Testa  of  Arezzo,  sallied 
forth,  was  repulsed  and  slain  ;  the  Guelfs  entered  the 
city  with  the  flying  troops,  became  masters  of  the  cita- 
del :  Gherardo  Correggio  was  Lord  of  Parma. 

This  was  the  turning-point  in  the  fortunes  of  Fred- 
Pope  intimates  that  they  were  ready  to  march  an  army  not  only  to  defend 
him  in  Lyons,  hut  to  cross  the  Alps. 

1  Nicolas  de  Curbio,  in  Vit.  Innoc.  IV.  "  Causa?  nostra?  justitiam  prse- 
sentialiter  et  potenter  in  adversarii  nostri  facie,  coram  transalpinis  gentibm 
posituri."  —  Petr.  de  Yin.  ii.  49. 


496  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X 

erick ;  and  Frederick,  by  the  horrible  barbarity  of 
Turning-  ^s  revenge  against  the  revolted  Parmesans, 
F?Sy£k'a  might  seem  smitten  with  a  judicial  blind- 
fortunes.  ness^  and  to  have  labored  to  extinguish  the 
generous  sympathies  of  mankind  in  his  favor.  His 
wrath  against  the  ungrateful  city,  which  he  had  en- 
dowed with  many  privileges,  knew  no  bounds.  He 
had  made  about  one  thousand  prisoners:  on  one  day 
he  executed  four,  on  the  next  two,  before  the  walls, 
and  declared  that  such  should  be  the  spectacle  offered 
to  the  rebels  every  day  during  the  siege.  He  was  with 
August  2.  difficulty  persuaded  to  desist  from  this  inhu- 
man warfare.  Parma  became  the  centre  of  the  war ; 
on  its  capture  depended  all  the  terrors  of  the  Imperial 
arms,  on  its  relief  the  cause  of  the  Guelfs.  Around 
Frederick  assembled  King  Enzio,  Eccelin  di  Romano, 
Frederick  of  Antioch,  Count  Lancia,  the  Marquis 
Pallavicini,  Thaddeus  of  Suessa,  and  Peter  de  Vinea. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  Marquis  Boniface  threw  him- 
self with  a  squadron  of  knights  into  the  city.  The 
troops  of  Mantua,  the  Marquis  of  Este,  Alberic  di  Ro- 
mano, the  martial  Cardinal  Gregory  of  Monte  Longo 
at  the  head  of  the  Milanese  ;  the  Count  of  Lavagna, 
the  Pope's  nephew,  at  the  head  of  four  hundred  and 
thirty  cross-bowmen  of  Genoa  and  three  hundred  of 
his  own,  hovered  on  all  sides  to  aid  the  beleaguered  city. 
Parma  endured  the  storm,  the  famine :  Frederick  had 
almost  encircled  Parma  by  his  works,  and  called  the 
strong  point  of  his  fortifications  by  the  haughty  but 
ill-omened  name  of  Vittoria.  After  many  months' 
siege,  one  fatal  night  the  troops  of  Parma  issued  from 
Feb.  18, 1248.  the  city,  and  surprised  the  strong  line  of  forts, 
the  Vittoria,  which  contained  all  the  battering  engines, 


Chap.  V.  SIEGE  OF  PARMA.  497 

stores,  provisions,  arms,  tents,  treasures,  of  the  Imperial 
forces.  So  little  alarm  was  at  first  caused,  that  Thad- 
deus  of  Suessa,  who  commanded  in  Vittoria,  exclaimed, 
"  What !  have  the  mice  left  their  holes  ?  "  In  a  few 
moments  the  whole  fortress  was  in  flames,  it  was  a  heap 
of  ashes,  the  Imperial  garrison  slain  or  prisoners ;  two 
thousand  were  reckoned  as  killed,  including  the  Mar- 
quis Lancia  ;  three  thousand  prisoners.1  Among  the 
inestimable  booty  in  money,  jewels,  vessels  of  gold  and 
silver,  were  the  carroccio  of  Cremona,  the  Imperial 
fillet,  the  great  seal,  the  sceptre  and  the  crown.  The 
crown  of  gold  and  jewels  was  found  by  a  mean  man, 
called  in  derision  "  Shortlegs."  He  put  the  crown  on  his 
head,  was  raised  on  the  shoulders  of  his  comrades,  and 
entered  Parma,  in  mockery  of  the  Emperor.  Among 
the  prisoners  was  the  faithful  and  eloquent  Thaddeus 
of  Suessa.  The  hatred  of  his  master's  enemies  was  in 
proportion  to  his  value  to  his  master.  Already  both 
his  hands  were  struck  off ;  and  in  this  state,  faint  with 
loss  of  blood,  he  was  hewn  in  pieces.2  And  yet  could 
Frederick  hardly  complain  of  the  cruelty  of  his  foes  — 
cruelties  shown  when  the  blood  wras  still  hot  from  bat- 
tle. Only  three  days  before  the  loss  of  the  Vittoria, 
Marcellino,  Bishop  of  Arezzo,  a  dangerous  and  active 
partisan  of  the  Pope,  who  had  been  taken  prisoner, 
and  confined  for  months  in  a  dungeon,  was  brought 
forth  to  be  hanged.  His  death  was  a  strange  wild  con- 
fusion of  the  pious  prelate  and  the  intrepid  Guelf.  He 
was  commanded  to  anathematize  the  Pope,  he  broke 
out  into  an  anathema  against  the  Emperor.     He  then 

1  Muratori,  Annal.  sub  ann. 

2  Compare  in  Hofler's  '  Albert  von  Beham  "  the  curious  Latin  songs  on 
the  defeat  of  Frederick  before  Parma.  All  the  monkish  bards  broke  out  in 
gratulant  hymns. 

voi>.  v.  32 


498  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  ItyoK  X 

bewail  to  chant  the  Te  Deum,  while  the  furious  Saracen 
soldiers  tied  him  to  the  tail  of  a  horse,  bound  his  hands, 
blindfolded  his  eyes,  dragged  him  to  the  gibbet,  where 
he  hung  an  awful  example  to  the  rebels  of  Parma.  He 
was  hanged,  says  the  indignant  Legate  of  the  Pope, 
"  like  a  villain,  a  plebeian,  a  nightman,  a  parricide,  a 
murderer,  a  slave-dealer,  a  midnight  robber."  1 

This  was  but  the  first  of  those  reverses,  which  not 
only  obscured  the  fame,  but  wrung  with  bitterest  an- 
guish the  heart  of  Frederick.  Still  his  gallant  son 
May  26,  Enzio  made  head  against  all  his  father's  foes  : 
1249  in    a    skirmish    before    Bologna    Enzio    was 

wounded  and  taken  prisoner.  Implacable  Bologna 
condemned  him  to  perpetual  punishment.  All  the 
entreaties  to  which  his  father  humbled  himself;  all 
his  own  splendid  promises  that  for  his  ransom  he  would 
gird  the  city  with  a  ring  of  gold,  neither  melted  nor 
dazzled  the  stubborn  animosity'  of  the  Guelfs ;  a  cap- 
imprison-       tive  at  the  age  of  twenty-four,  this  youth,  of 

merit  of  -  i  i  •       i  i  i 

Enzio.  beauty  equal  to  his   bravery  —  the  poet,  the 

musician,  as  well  as  the  most  valiant  soldier  and  con- 
summate captain  —  pined  out  twenty-three  years  of 
life,  if  not  in  a  squalid  dungeon,  in  miserable  inactivity. 
Romance,  by  no  means  improbable,  lias  darkened  his 
fate.  The  passion  of  Lucia  Biadagoli,  the  most  beau- 
tiful and  high-born  maiden  of  Bologna,  for  the  captive, 
her  attempts  to  release  him,  were  equally  vain  :  once 
he  had  almost  escaped,  concealed  in  a  cask  ;  a  lock  of 
his  bright  hair  betrayed  the  secret.2  Nor  had  Freder- 
ick yet  exhausted  the  cup  of  affliction  ;  the  worst  was 

1  Matt.  Paris,  sub  ann.  1249.  Letter  of  Cardinal  Rainier.  However  ex- 
travagant this  letter,  the  fact  can  hardly  have  been  invention. 

2  Bologna  gave  him  the  mockery  of  a  splendid  fuueral.  "  Sepultus  eat 
maximo  cum  honore."  —  B.  Museum  Chronicon,  p.  340. 


CuAr.  V.  PETER  DE  VINEA.  490 

to  come  :  suspected,  at  least,  if  unproved  treachery  in 
another  of  his  most  tried  and  faithful  servants.  Thad- 
cleus  of  Suessa  had  heen  severed  from  him  by  death, 
his  son  by  imprisonment,  Peter  de  Vinea  was  to  be  so, 
by  the  most  galling  stroke  of  all,  either  foul  treason  in 
De  Vinea,  or  in  himself  blind,  ungrateful  injustice. 
Peter  de  Vinea  had  been  raised  by  the  wise  Peter  de 
choice  of  Frederick  to  the  highest  rank  and  VlIjea* 
influence.  All  the  acts  of  Frederick  were  attributed 
to  his  chancellor.1  De  Vinea,  like  his  master,  was  a 
poet ;  he  was  one  of  the  counsellors  in  his  great  scheme 
of  legislation.  Some  rumors  spread  abroad  that  at  the 
Council  of  Lyons,  though  Frederick  had  forbidden  all 
his  representatives  from  holding  private  intercourse 
with  the  Pope,  De  Vinea  had  many  secret  conferences 
with  Innocent,  and  was  accused  of  betraying  his  mas- 
ter's interests.  Yet  there  was  no  seeming  diminution 
in  the  trust  placed  in  De  Vinea.  Still  to  the  end  the 
Emperor's  letters  concerning  the  disaster  at  Parma  are 
by  the  same  hand.  Over  the  cause  of  his  disgrace  and 
death,  even  in  his  own  day,  there  was  deep  doubt  and 
obscurity.  The  popular  rumor  ran  that  Frederick  was 
ill  ;  the  physician  of  De  Vinea  prescribed  for  him  ;  the 
Emperor,  having  received  some  warning,  addressed  De 
Vinea  :  "  My  friend,  in  thee  I  have  full  trust ;  art  thou 
sure  that  this  is  medicine,  not  poison  ?  "  De  Vinea 
replied :  "  How  often  has  my  physician  ministered 
healthful  medicines  !  —  why  are  you  now  afraid  ?  " 
Frederick  took  the  cup,  sternly  commanded  the  physi- 
cian to  drink  half  of  it.  The  physician  threw  himself 
at  the  King's  feet,  and  as  he  fell  overthrew  the  liquor. 
Rut  what  "was  left  was  administered  to  some  criminals, 

1  There  is  some  doubt  whether  he  was  actually  chancellor. 


500  LATIN   CIIKISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

who  died  in  agony.  The  Emperor  wrung  his  hands 
and  wept  bitterly :  "  Whom  can  I  now  trust,  betrayed 
by  my  own  familiar  friend  ?  Never  can  I  know 
security,  never  can  I  know  joy  more."  By  one  ac- 
count Peter  de  Vinea  was  led  ignominiously  on  an  ass 
through  Pisa,  and  thrown  into  prison,  where  he  dashed 
his  brains  out  against  the  wall.  Dante's  immortal  verse 
has  saved  the  fame  of  De  Vinea  :  according  to  the  poet, 
he  was  the  victim  of  wicked  and  calumnious  jealousy.1 

The  next  year  Frederick  himself  lay  dying  at  Fio- 
june,  1250.     rentino.     His  spirit  was  broken  by  the  defeat 

Death  of  r  J.  . 

Frederick  ii.  oi  rarma ;  a  strange  wayward  irresolution 
came  over  him  :  now  he  would  march  fiercely  to  Lyons 
and  dethrone  the  Pope  ;  now  he  was  ready  to  make  the 
humblest  submission  ;  now  he  seemed  to  break  out  into 
paroxysms  of  cruelty  —  prisoners  were  put  to  the  tor- 
ture, hung.  Frederick,  if  at  times  rebellious  against  the 
religion,  was  not  above  the  superstition  of  his  times. 
He  had  faith  in  astrology :  it  had  also  been  foretold 
that  he  should  die  in  Firenze  (Florence).  In  Fioren- 
Dec.  13, 1250.  tino,  a  town  not  far  from  Lucera,  he  was 
seized  with  a  mortal  sickness.  The  hatred  which  pur- 
sued him  to  the  grave,  and  far  beyond  the  grave,  de- 
scribed him  as  dying  unreconciled  to  the  Church,  mis- 
erable, deserted,  conscious  of  the  desertion  of  all.     The 

1  "  I  son  colui,  die  tenne  ambo  le  chiavi 
Del  cuor  di  Frederigo,  e  che  le  volsi 
Serrando  e  desserando,  si  poavi    *    * 
******* 
La  meretrice,  che  mai  dal  ospizio 
Di  Cesare  non  torse  gli  occhi  putti, 
Morte  commune,  e  delle  corte  vizio 
Infiammo  contra  me  1'  animi  tutti. 

E  gl'  infiammati  infiammar  si  Augusto, 
Che  i  lieti  onori  tornaro  in  tristi  lutti." 

tt  seq.  —  Inferno,  xiii.  58. 


Chji*-.  V.     DEATH   AND   CHARACTER  OF   FREDERICK.         501 

inexorable  hatred  pursued  his  family,  and  charged  his 
son  Manfred  with  hastening  his  death  by  smothering 
him  with  a  pillow.  By  more  credible  accounts  he  died 
in  Manfred's  arms,  having  confessed  and  received  abso- 
lution from  the  faithful  Archbishop  of  Palermo.  His 
body  was  carried  to  Palermo  in  great  state,  a  magnifi 
cent  tomb  raised  over  his  remains,  an  epitaph  proclaim- 
ing his  glory  and  his  virtues  was  inscribed  by  his  son 
Manfred.1  In  his  last  will  he  directed  that  all  her 
rights  and  honors  should  be  restored  to  the  Holy 
Church  of  Rome,  his  mother ;  under  the  condition 
that  the  Church  should  restore  all  the  rights  and 
honors  of  the  Empire.  In  this  provision  the  Church 
refused  to  see  any  concession,  it  was  the  still  stubborn 
and  perfidious  act  of  a  rebel.  All  his  other  pious 
legacies  for  the  rebuilding  and  endowment  of  churches 
passed  for  nothing. 

The  world  might  suppose  that  with  the  death  of 
Frederick  the  great  cause  of  hostility  had  been  re- 
moved; but  he  left  to  his  whole  race  the  inheritance 
of  the  implacable  hatred  of  the  Papal  See  ;  it  was  ex- 
tinguished only  in  the  blood  of  the  last  of  the  house  of 
Hohenstaufen  on  the  scaffold  at  Naples. 

It  might  indeed  seem  as  if,  in  this  great  conflict,  each 
had  done  all  in  his  power  to  justify  the  extreme  sus- 
picion, the  immitigable  aversion,  of  his  adversary ;  to 
stir  up  the  elements  of  strife,  so  that  the  whole  world 
was  arrayed  one  half  against  the  other  in  defence  of 
vital  and  absorbing  principles  of  action.  It  was  a  war 
of  ideas,  as  well  as  of  men ;  and  those  ideas,  on  each 

1  "  Si  probitas,  sensus,  virtutum  gratia,  census 
Nobilitas  orti  possent  obsistere  niorti 
Non  foret  extinctus  Frcdcricus  qui  jacet  intus." 


502  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

side,  maintained  to  the  utmost  imaginable  height. 
That  the  justice  of  Frederick  was  a  stern  absolutism 
cannot  be  denied ;  that  his  notion  of  the  Imperial 
power  Avas  not  merely  irreconcilable  with  the  fierce 
and  partisan  liberties  of  the  Italian  republics,  but  with 
all  true  freedom  ;  that  he  aspired  to  crush  mankind 
into  order  and  happiness  with  the  iron  hand  of  autoc- 
racy. Still  no  less  than  autocracy  in  those  times  could 
coerce  the  countless  religious  and  temporal  feudal  tyr- 
annies which  oppressed  and  retarded  civilization.  The 
Sicilian  legislation  of  Frederick  shows  that  order  and 
happiness  were  the  ultimate  aim  of  his  rule :  the  asser- 
tion of  the  absolute  supremacy  of  law ;  premature  ad- 
vance towards  representative  government;  the  regard 
to  the  welfare  of  all  classes ;  the  wise  commercial  regu- 
lations ;  the  cultivation  of  letters,  arts,  natural  philos- 
ophy, science  ;  all  these  if  despotically  enforced,  were 
enforced  by  a  wise  and  beneficent  despotism.  That 
Frederick  was  honored,  admired,  loved  by  a  great  part 
of  his  subjects  ;  that  if  by  one  party  he  was  looked  on 
with  the  bitterest  abhorrence,  to  others  he  was  no  less 
the  object  of  wonder  and  of  profound  attachment,  ap- 
pears from  his  whole  history.  In  Sicily  and  Naples, 
though  the  nobles  had  been  held  down  with  an  inflexible 
hand,  though  he  was  compelled  to  impose  still  heavier 
taxation,  though  his  German  house  had  contracted  a 
large  debt  of  unpopularity,  though  there  might  be  more 
than  one  conspiracy  instantly  and  sternly  suppressed,  yet 
there  was  in  both  countries  a  fond,  almost  romantic  at- 
tachment, to  his  name  and  that  of  his  descendants. 
The  crown  of  Germany,  which  he  won  by  his  gallant 
enterprise,  he  secured  by  his  affability,  courtesy,  chival- 
rous nobleness  of  character.     In   Germany,  not  all  the 


Chap.  V.  FREDERICK'S   RELIGION.  OOH 

influence  of  the  Pope  could  for  a  long  time  raise  up  a 
formidable  opposition ;  the  feeble  rebellion  of  his  son, 
unlike  most  parricidal  rebellions  of  old,  was  crushed  on 
his  appearance.  For  a  long  time  many  of  the  highest 
churchmen  were  on  his  side :  and  when  all  the  church- 
men arrayed  themselves  against  him,  all,  even  his  most 
dangerous  enemies  among  the  temporal  princes,  rallied 
round  his  banner  ;  the  Empire  was  one  ;  it  was  difficult 
to  find  an  obscure  insignificant  prince,  with  all  the' 
hierarchy  on  his  side,  to  hazard  the  assumption  of  th« 
Imperial  crown. 

The  religion  of  Frederick  is  a  more  curious  problem. 
If  it  exercised  no  rigorous  control  over  his  Religion  of 
luxurious  life,  there  was  in  his  day  no  indis-  Fredenck- 
soluble  alliance  between  Christian  morals  and  Christian 
religion.  This  holy  influence  was  no  less  wanting  to 
the  religion  of  many  other  kings,  who  lived  and  died 
in  the  arms  of  the  Church.  Frederick,  if  he  had  not 
been  Emperor  and  King  of  Sicily,  and  so  formidable  to 
the  Papal  power,  might  have  dallied  away  his  life  in 
unrebuked  voluptuousness.  If  he  had  not  threatened 
the  patrimony  of  St.  Peter,  he  might  have  infringed  on 
the  pure  precepts  of  St.  Peter.  Frederick  was  a  perse- 
cutor of  the  worst  kind  —  a  persecutor  without  bigotiy  : 
but  the  heretics  were  not  only  misbelievers,  they  were 
Lombard  rebels.  How  far  he  may  have  been  goaded 
into  general  scepticism  by  the  doubts  forced  upon  him 
by  the  unchristian  conduct  of  the  great  churchmen : 
how  far,  in  his  heart,  he  had  sunk  to  the  miserable 
mocking  indifference  betrayed  by  some  of  the  sarcasms, 
current,  as  from  his  lips,  and  which,  even  if  merely  gay 
and  careless  words,  jarred  so  harshly  on  the  sensitive 
religion  of  his  age,  cannot  be  known.     Frederick  cer- 


604  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X 

tainly  made  no  open  profession  of  unbelief;  he  re* 
peatedly  offered  to  assert  and  vindicate  the  orthodoxy 
of  his  creed  before  the  Pope  himself.  He  was  not 
superior,  it  is  manifest,  to  some  of  the  superstitions  of 
his  time  ;  he  is  accused  of  studying  the  influence  of  the 
stars,  but  it  may  have  been  astrology  aspiring  (under 
Arabic  teaching)  to  astronomy,  rather  than  astronomy 
grovelling  down  to  astrology.  That  which  most  re- 
volted his  own  age,  his  liberality  towards  the  Moham- 
medans, his  intercourse  by  negotiation,  and  in  the  Holy 
Land,  with  the  Sultan  and  his  viziers,  and  with  his  own 
enlightened  Saracen  subjects,  as  well  as  his  terrible 
body-guard  at  Nocera,  will  find  a  fairer  construction  in 
modern  times.  How  much  Europe  had  then  to  learn 
from  Arabian  letters,  arts  and  sciences  ;  how  much  of 
her  own  wisdom  to  receive  back  through  those  chan- 
nels, appeared  during  the  present  and  the  succeeding 
centuries.  Frederick's,  in  my  judgment,  was  neither 
scornful  and  godless  infidelity,  nor  certainly  a  more  ad- 
vanced and  enlightened  Christianity,  yearning  after 
holiness  and  purity  not  then  attainable.  It  was  the 
shattered,  dubious,  at  times  trembling  faith,  at  times 
desperately  reckless  incredulity,  of  a  man  forever  un- 
der the  burden  of  an  undeserved  excommunication,  of 
which  he  could  not  but  discern  the  injustice,  but  could 
not  quite  shake  off  the  terrors :  of  a  man,  whom  a 
better  age  of  Christianity  might  not  have  made  re- 
ligious ;  whom  his  own  made  irreligious.  Perhaps  the 
strongest  argument  in  favor  of  Frederick,  is  the  gen- 
erous love  which  he  inspired  to  many  of  the  noblest 
minds  of  his  time  ;  not  merely  such  bold  and  eloquent 
legists  as  Thaddeus  of  Suessa,  whose  pride  and  con- 
scious power  might  conspire  with  his  zeal  for  the  Im- 


Chap.  V.  POPE  INNOCENT  IV.  506 

perial  cause,  to  make  him  confront  so  intrepidly,  so  elo- 
quently, the  Council  at  Lyons  ;  it  was  the  first  bold  en- 
counter of  the  Roman  lawyer  with  the  host  of  Canon 
lawyers.  Nor  was  it  merely  Peter  de  Vinea,  whose 
melancholy  fate  revenged  itself  for  its  injustice,  if  he 
ever  discovered  its  injustice,  on  the  stricken  and  deso- 
late heart  of  the  King :  but  of  men,  like  Herman  of 
Salza,  the  Grand  Master  of  the  Teutonic  Order. 
Herman  was,  by  all  accounts,  one  of  the  most 
blameless,  the  noblest,  the  most  experienced,  most 
religious  of  men.  If  his  Teutonic  Order  owed  the 
foundation  of  its  greatness,  with  lavish  grants  and  im- 
munities, to  Frederick,  it  owed  its  no  less  valuable 
religious  existence,  its  privileges,  its  support  against 
the  hostile  clergy,  to  the  Popes.  Honorius  and  Greg- 
ory vied  with  the  Emperor  in  heaping  honors  on  De 
Salza  and  his  Order.  Yet  throughout  his  first  conflict, 
De  Salza  is  the  firm,  unswerving  friend  of  Frederick. 
He  follows  his  excommunicated  master  to  the  Holy 
Land,  adheres  to  his  person  in  good  report  and  evil  re- 
port; death  alone  separates  the  friends.1  The  Arch- 
bishop of  Palermo  (against  whom  is  no  breath  of 
calumny)  is  no  less,  to  the  close  of  Frederick's  life,  his 
tried  and  inseparable  friend  ;  he  never  seems  to  have 
denied  him,  though  excommunicate,  the  offices  of  re- 
ligion ;  buried  him,  though  yet  unabsolved,  in  his  ca- 
thedral ;  inscribed  on  his  tomb  an  epitaph,  which,  if 
no  favorable  proof  of  the  Archbishop's  poetic  powers, 
is  the  lasting  tribute  of  his  fervent,  faithful  admiration. 
On  the  other  hand,  Innocent  IV.  not  only  carried 
the  Papal  claims  to  the  utmost,  and  asserted  Pope  Tnno_ 
them  with  a  kind  of  ostentatious  intrepidity  :  cent  IV' 

1  In  Voigt,  Geschichte  Preussens,  is  a  very  elaborate  and  interesting  ac- 
count of  Herman  of  Salza,  and  the  rise  of  the  Teutonic  Order. 


606  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

"  We  are  no  mere  man,  we  have  the  place  of  God 
upon  earth  !  "  but  there  was  a  personal  arrogance  in 
his  demeanor,  and  an  implacability  which  revolted  even 
the  most  awe-struck  worshippers  of  the  Papal  power. 
Towards  Frederick  he  showed,  blended  with  the  haugh- 
tiness of  the  Pope,  the  fierceness  of  a  Guelfic  partisan  ; 
he  hated  him  with  something  of  the  personal  hatred  of 
a  chief  of  the  opposite  faction  in  one  of  the  Italian  re- 
publics. Never  was  the  rapacity  of  the  Roman  See  so 
insatiate  as  under  Innocent  IV.;  the  taxes  levied  in 
England  alone,  her  most  profitable  spiritual  estate, 
amounted  to  incredible  sums.  Never  was  aggression 
so  open  or  so  daring  on  the  rights  and  exemptions  of 
the  clergy  (during  the  greater  part  of  the  strife  the 
support  of  the  two  new  Orders  enabled  the  Pope  to 
trample  on  the  clergy,  and  to  compel  them  to  submit 
to  extortionate  contributions  towards  his  wars)  :  never 
was  the  spiritual  diameter  so  entirely  merged  in  the 
temporal  as  among  his  Legates.  They  were  no  longer 
the  austere  and  pious,  if  haughty  churchmen.  Cardi- 
nal Rainier  commanded  the  Papal  forces  in  the  states 
of  St.  Peter  with  something  of  the  ability  and  all  the 
ferocity  and  mercilessness  of  a  later  Captain  of  Con- 
dottieri ;  Albert  von  Beham,  the  Archdeacon  of  Pas- 
sau,  had  not  merely  been  detected,  as  we  have  seen,  in 
fraudulent  malversation  and  shamefully  expelled  from 
Bavaria,  but  when  he  appeared  again  as  Dean  of  Pas- 
sau,  his  own  despatches,  which  describe  his  negotiations 
with  the  Duke  of  Bavaria,  show  a  repulsive  depth  of 
arrogant  iniquity.  The  incitement  of  Conrad  to  rebel- 
lion against  his  father  seems  to  him  but  an  ordinary 
proceeding.  The  Bishop  of  Ferrara,  the  Legate  in 
Germany,  was  a  drunkard,  if  not  worse.     Gregory  of 


Chap.  V.  PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  TOPE.  507 

Monte  Longo,  during  the  whole  period  Papal  repre- 
sentative in  Lombardy,  the  conductor  of  all  the  nego- 
tiations with  the  republics,  the  republics  which  swarmed 
with  heretics,  was  a  man  of  notorious  incontinence  ; 
Frederick  himself  had  hardly  more  concubines  than 
the  Cardinal  Legate. 

Immediately  on  the  death  of   Frederick,  the   Pope 
began  to  announce  his   intention   of  return-  The  Pope  after 

T      ,  .  ,  ,  the  death  of 

ing  to  Italy.  Peter  (Japoccio  was  ordered  to  Frederick. 
ascertain  the  state  of  feeling  in  the  kingdom  of  Sicily. 
The  Pope  himself  raised  a  song  of  triumph,  addressed 
to  all  the  prelates  and  all  the  nobles  of  the  realm  : 
44  Earth  and  heaven  were  to  break  out  into  joy  at  this 
great  deliverance."  1  But  the  greater  number  of  both 
orders  seem  to  have  been  insensible  to  the  blessing; 
they  were  mourning  over  the  grave  of  him  whom  the 
Pope  described  as  the  hammer  of  persecution.  The 
aged  Archbishop  of  Palermo  and  the  Archbishop  of 
Salerno  openly  espoused  the  cause  of  Conrad ;  the 
Archbishop  of  Bari,  Frederick's  deadly  enemy,  seemed 
to  stand  alone  in  the  Papal  interest.  Strangers,  the 
Subdeacon  Matthew,  and  a  Dominican  friar,  were  sent 
into  Calabria  and  Sicily  to  stir  up  the  clergy  to  a  sense 
of  their  wrongs.  In  Germany  Conrad  was  arraigned 
as  a  rebellious  usurper  for  presuming  to  offer  resist- 
ance to  William  of  Holland.  He  was  again  solemnly 
excommunicated  ;  a  crusade  was  preached  against  him. 
The  Pope  even  endeavored  to  estrange  the  Swabians 
from  their  lieoe  lord :  "  Herod  is  dead  ;  Archelaus 
aspires  to  reign  in  his  stead."  In  an  attempt  to  mur- 
der Conrad  at  Ratisbon,  the  Abbot  Ulric  Dec.  25,  1253. 
is  supposed  to  have  been  the  chief  actor  ;  the  Bishop 

1  Raynald.  sub  aim.  1251- 


508  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Cook  X. 

of  Ratisbon  was  awaiting  without  the  walls  the  glad 
tidings  of  the  accomplishment  of  the  assassination.1 
The  Archbishop  of  Mentz,  Christian,  a  prelate  of  great 
piety,  broaches  the  unpalatable  doctrine  that,  as  far  as 
spiritual  enemies,  the  word  of  God  is  the  only  lawful 
sword ;  but  as  for  drawing  the  sword  of  steel,  he  held 
it  unbefitting  his  priestly  character.  He  is  deposed  for 
these  strange  opinions.2  A  youth,  the  Subdeacon  Ge- 
rard, is  placed  on  the  Primate's  throne  of  Germany. 

Monarchs,  however,  seemed  to  vie  in  giving  honor 
The  kings  do  to  the  triumphant  Pontiff  on  his  proposed  re- 
noceutiv.  turn  to  Rome.  The  Queen-mother  Blanche 
of  France  (Louis  IX.,  her  son,  was  now  prisoner  in 
the  East)  offered  to  accompany  him  with  a  strong 
body  of  French  troops.  Henry  of  England  expressed 
his  earnest  desire  to  prostrate  himself  at  the  feet  of 
the  Holy  Father  before  he  departed  for  the  south. 
Alphonso  of  Castile  entreated  him  to  trust  to  the  arms, 
fleets,  and  protection  of  Spain  rather  than  of  France. 
Before  he  bade  farewell  to  the  city  of  Lyons,  whose 
pious  hospitality  he  rewarded  with  high  praise  and 
some  valuable  privileges,3  he  had  an  interview  within 
the  city  with  his  own  Emperor  William  of  Holland. 

1  "  Qui  episcopus  foras  muros  civitatis  cum  multis  armatis  eventum  rei 
solicitus  expectabat."  —  Herra.  Alt.  apud  Boehmer,  ii.  507.  See  Chron. 
Salis.  Pez.  i.  362. 

2  "At  jure  episcopatu  clejectum  ob  principatum  conjunctum  exploratum 
est;  cum  non  modo  prresulem  sed  etiam  principem  agere,  ac  vim  insultan- 
tium  ecclesire  vi  repellere  oporteret."  Such  is  the  comment  of  the  ecclesi- 
astical annalist  Raynaldus,  sub  aim. 

3  The  morals  of  Lyons  were  not  improved  by  the  residence  of  the  Papal 
court.  It  was  openly  declared  by  Cardinal  Hugo,  "  Magnam  fecimus,  post- 
quam  in  banc  urbem  venimus,  utilitatem  et  eleemosynam:  quando  enina 
primo  hue  venimus,  tria  vel  quatuor  prostibula  invenimus;  sed  nunc  rece- 
dentes  unum  solam  relinquimus;  vcrum  ipsum  durat  continuatmn  ab 
orientali  parte  civitatis  usque  ad  occidcntalem." — Matt.  Paris,  p.  811). 


Chap.  V  RETURN  TO  ITALY.  509 

After  that  he  descended  the  Rhone  to  Vienne,  to 
Orange,  and  then  proceeded  to  Marseilles.  April  19. 
He  arrived  at  Genoa ;  the  city  hailed  her  holy  son 
with  the  utmost  honors.  The  knights  and  nobles  of 
the  territory  supported  a  silken  canopy  over  his  head 
to  protect  him  from  the  sun.  On  Ascension  May  17. 
Day  he  received  the  delegates  from  the  cities  of  Lorn- 
bardy.  Ghibellinism  held  down  its  awe-struck  and  dis- 
comfited head.  Rome  alone  was  not  as  yet  thought 
worthy,  or  sought  not  to  be  admitted  to  the  favor  of 
his  presence,  or  he  dared  not  trust,1  notwithstanding 
his  close  alliance  with  the  Frangipani  (whom  he  had 
bouohtY  that  unruly  city.    He  visited  Milan,  His  return 

t*  •  Tiir  i-i  -mt     i  to  Italy. 

Brescia,  Mantua,  r  errara,  Modena,  every-  July  24. 
where  there  was  tumultuous  joy  among  the  Guelfs. 
While  he  was  at  Milan  Lodi  made  her  submission  : 
the  Count  of  Savoy  abandoned  the  party  of  the  Ho- 
henstaufen.  On  All-Saints'-Day  he  was  at  Faenza  ; 
on  the  5th  of  November  he  stayed  his  steps,  and  fixed 
his  court  at  Perugia.  For  a  year  and  a  half  he  re- 
mained in  that  city  ;  Rome  was  not  honored  with  the 
presence  of  her  Pontiff  till  Rome  compelled  that  pres- 
ence. 

Among  the  first  resolutions  of  Innocent  was  the  sup- 
pression of  heresy,  more  especially  in  the  Ghibelline 
cities,  such  as  Cremona.  A  holocaust  of  these  outcasts 
would  be  a  fit  offering  of  gratitude  .to  heaven  for  the 
removal  of  the  perfidious  Frederick.  It  was  his  design 
to  strike  in  this  manner  at  the  head  of  the  Ghibelline 
interests  in  Lombardy.  The  sum  of  Eccelin  di  Roma- 
no's atrocities,  atrocities  which,  even  if  blackened  by 
Guelfic  hatred,  are  the  most  frightful  in  these  frightful 

1  Nic.  de  Curbio,  c.  30. 


510  LATIN    CIIltrSTIANITY.  Book  X, 

times^  must  be  still  aggravated  by  the  charge  of  heredi- 
tary heresy.  It  may  well  be  doubted  if  such  a  monster 
could  have  religion  enough  to  be  a  heretic ;  but  Eccelin 
was  dead  to  spiritual  censures  as  to  the  reproaches  of 
his    own    conscience. 

But  the  affairs  of  the  kingdom  of  Naples  occupied 
the  thoughts  of  Innocent.  Though  the  firm  hand  of 
Manfred  had  maintained  almost  the  whole  realm  in  al- 
legiance, the  nominal  rule  was  intrusted  by  King  Con- 
rad to  his  younger  brother  Henry.  The  denunciations, 
intrigues,  and  censures  of  the  Pope  had  wrought  on 
certain  nobles  and  cities.  A  conspiracy  broke  out  si- 
multaneously in  many  places,  at  the  head  of  which  was 
the  Count  of  Aquino ;  in  Apulia  the  cities  of  Foggia, 
Andrea,  and  B arietta ;  in  the  Terra  di  Lavoro  Capua 
and  Naples  were  in  open  rebellion.  Capua  and  Naples 
defied  all  the  forces  of  Manfred.  The  Pope  had  al- 
ready assumed  a  sovereign  power,  as  if  the  forfeited 
realm  had  reverted  to  the  Holy  See.  He  had  revoked 
all  Frederick's  decrees  which  were  hostile  to  the 
Church :  he  had  invested  Henry  Frangipani  with 
Manfred's  principality  of  Tarentum  and  the  land  of 
Otranto ;  he  had  bestowed  on  the  Venetian  Marco  Zi- 
ani,  the  kinsman  of  the  captain  executed  by  Frederick, 
the  principality  of  Lecce. 

Conrad  had  already  with  some  forces  crossed  the 
cnnrad  in  Alps  ;  he  had  been  received  by  the  few  faith- 
Oct:i25i.  ful  Ghibelline  cities  in  Lombardy,  Verona, 
Padua,  Vicenza.  But  throughout  Central  Italy  the 
Guelfic  faction  prevailed ;  the  Papal  forces  were  strong. 
He  demanded  of  the  Venetians,  and  as  they  were  glad 
to  get  rid  of  Conrad  from  the  north  of  Italy,  he  ob- 
tained ships  to  convey  him  to  the  south  ;  he  landed  at 


Chap.  V.  KINGDOM   OF  NAPLES.  511 

Siponto,  near  Manfredonia.     He  was  received  by  Man- 
fred  and  by   the  principal    nobility  as   their  Jan  8?  1252 
deliverer.      Aquino,    Suessa,    San    Germano  JSgiwt, 
fell  before  him,  and  Capua  opened  her  gates ;  0ct' 1253' 
Naples  was  stormed,  sacked,  and  treated  with  the  ut- 
most cruelty.     Innocent  beheld  the  son  of  Frederick, 
though  under  excommunication,  in  full  and  undisturbed 
possession  of  his  hereditary  kingdom.     Innocent  looked 
in  vain  for  aid  in  Italy ;  his  own  forces,  those  of  the 
Guelfs,  had  not  obeyed  the  summons  to  relieve  Naples. 
Eccelin  di  Romano  and  the  Ghibellines  occupied  those 
of  Lombardy ;  the  Guelfs  of  Tuscany  and  Romagna, 
now  superior  to  the  Ghibellines,  had  broken  out  int« 
factions  among  themselves ;  the  fleets  of  Genoa  wen 
engaged  against  the  infidels.     Innocent  looked  abroad  ; 
the  wealth  of  England  had  been  his  stay  in  former  ad- 
versities.    He  had  already  sent  an  offer  of  the  kingdom 
of  Naples  to  the  brother  of  King  Henry,  Richard  of 
Cornwall ;    but   Richard,   from  timidity   or   prudence, 
shrunk  from  this  remote  enterprise.     He   alleged  the 
power  of  Conrad  ;  his  own  relationship  with  the  house 
of  Swabia :  in  his  mistrust  he  went  so  far  as  to  demand 
guarantees  and  hostages  for  the  fulfilment  of  Papal  decree. 
his  contract  on  the  part  of  the  Pope.     But  HenryVi254, 
his  feeble    brother,  Henry   of  England,  was  IToTo?" 
not  embarrassed  by  this  prudence.     He  ac-  £kj£vor 
cepted  the  offer  of   the    investiture    for    his Aug"  1252' 
second  son  Edmund ;  in  his  weak  vanity  he  addressed 
Edmund  in  his  court,  and  treated  him  as  already  the 
King  of   Sicily.       The   more   prudent  Nuncio  of  the 
Pope  enjoined  greater  caution  ;  but  all  that  the  King 
could  abstract  from  his  own  exchequer,  borrow  of  his 
brother  Richard,  extort  from  the  Jews,  exact   by  his 


612  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

justices  on  their  circuit,  was  faithfully  transmitted  to 
Rome,  and  defrayed  the  cost  of  the  Papal  armament 
against  Conrad.  For  this  vain  title,  which  the  Pope 
resumed  at  his  earliest  convenience,  Henry  III.  en- 
dangered his  own  throne  :  these  exactions  precipitated 
the  revolt  of  his  Barons,  which  ended  in  the  battle  of 
Lewes. 

But  while  Innocent  IV.  was  thus  triumphing  over 
the  fall  of  his  great  enemy ;  while  he  was  levying  taxes 
on  the  tributary  world  ;  while  he  was  bestowing  the 
empire  of  Germany  on  William  of  Holland,  assuming 
the  kingdom  of  Naples  as  an  appanage  escheated  to  the 
See  of  Rome,  and  selling  it  to  one  foreign  prince  after 
another,  he  was  himself  submitting  to  the  stern  dicta- 
tion of  the  people  and  the  Senator  of  Rome.  The 
Frangipanis  could  no  longer  repay  with  their  vigorous 
support  the  honors  bestowed  upon  their  family  by  the 
grant  of  the  principality  of  Tarentum.  The  popular 
The  Senator  party  was  in  the  ascendant ;  Brancaleone,  a 
Braucaieone.  Bolognese  0f  great  fame  as  a  lawyer,  was 
summoned  to  assume  the  dignity  of  Senator  of  Rome. 
He  refused  for  a  time  to  place  himself  at  the  head  of 
the  unruly  people ;  he  consented  only  on  the  prudent 
condition  that  thirty  hostages  of  the  noblest  families  in 
Rome  should  be  sent  to  Bologna.  Nor  would  he  con- 
descend to  accept  the  office  but  for  the  period  of  three 
years.  He  exacted  a  solemn  oath  of  obedience  from 
every  citizen.  At  first  the  nobles  as  well  as  the  people 
appear  to  have  acquiesced  in  the  stern,  just  rule  of  the 
Senator.  No  rank,  no  power  could  protect  the  high- 
born ;  no  obscurity,  nor  the  favor  of  the  populace,  the 
meaner  criminal.  His  first  act  was  to  hang  from  the 
windows  of  their  castles   some  citizens  notorious  and 


Chap.  V.  BRANCALEONE.  513 

convicted  as  homicides ;  other  rebels  he  suspended  on 
gibbets.1  Among  his  first  acts  was  to  summon  the 
Bishop  of  Rome  to  take  up  his  residence  in  his  diocese ; 
it  was  not  becoming  that  the  Queen  of  cities  should  sit 
as  a  widow  without  her  Pontiff.  Innocent  hesitated ; 
a  more  imperious  message  summoned  him  to  instant 
obedience;  at  the  same  time  the  Perugians  received  a 
(significant  menace  ;  that  if  they  persisted  in  entertain- 
ing the  Pope,  the  Romans  would  treat  them  May  25, 1253. 
as  they  had  already  treated  other  cities  in  the  neighbor- 
hood, whom  they  had  subdued  by  force  of  arms.  Inno- 
cent trembled  and  complied  ;  he  entered  Rome  with  a 
serene  countenance  but  heavy  heart.  He  was  received 
with  triumph  by  the  Senator  and  the  whole  people. 
In  the  spring  Innocent  again  withdrew  from  Rome  to 
Assisi  ;  the  pretext  was  the  consecration  of  the  mag- 
nificent church  of  St.  Francis.2  But  the  impatient 
people  murmured  at  his  delay ;  the  Senator  Branca- 
leone  again  sent  messengers  to  expostulate  in  haughty 
humility  with  the  Pope;  "it  became  not  the  pastor  to 
abandon  his  flock  :  he  was  the  Bishop  not  of  Lyons, 
of  Perugia,  of  Anagni,  but  of  Rome."  The  people  of 
Assisi,  like  those  of  Perugia,  were  warned  by  the  fate 
of  Ostia,  Porto,  Tusculum,  Albano,  Sabina,  and  of 
Tivoli,  against  which  last  the  Romans  were  in  arms. 
Innocent  was  compelled  to  return  ;  he  passed  by  Narni, 
and  a£ain  he  was  received  with  outward  demonstrations 
of  joy  ;  but  now  secret  murmurs  and  even  violent  rec- 
lamations were  heard  that  the  Pope  owed  the  people 
of  Rome  great  sums  for  the  losses  sustained  by  his  long 

1  Raynald.  sub  aim.  1254. 

2  Matt.  Paris,  sub  ann.  1252.    Curbio,  Vit.  Innocent.  IV.     Compare  Gib 
bon,  xii.  278,  cb.  lxix. 

VOL.     V.  3'] 


514  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

absence.  Pilgrims  and  suitors  had  been  few  ;  they  had 
let  no  lodgings ;  their  shops  had  been  without  custom- 
ers ;  their  provisions  unsold  ;  their  old  usurious  profits 
of  lending  money  had  failed.  The  Pope  could  only 
take  refuge  in  the  rigid  justice  of  the  Senator ;  Bran-? 
caleone  allayed  or  awed  the  tumult  to  peace. 

Yet  at  the  same  time  Innocent  was  pursuing  his 
Early  in  1254.  schemes  upon  the  kingdom  of  Naples  without 
Naples.  fear  or  scruple.     Conrad  at  first  had  made 

overtures  of  submission.1  He  was  strong  enough  to 
indulge  the  hereditary  cruelty  which  he  unhappily  dis- 
played in  a  fur  higher  degree  than  the  ability  and  splen- 
dor of  his  forefathers,2  and  to  foster  ignoble  jealousy 
against  his  bastard  brother,  Manfred,  to  whom  he  owed 
the  preservation  of  his  realm,  but  whose  fame,  extraor- 
dinary powers  of  body  and  mind,  influence,  popularity 
overshadowed  the  authority  of  the  King.  He  grad- 
ually withdrew  his  confidence  from  Manfred,  and  de- 
spoiled him  of  his  power  and  honors.3  With  admirable 
prudence  Manfred  quietly  let  fall  title  after  title,  post 
after  post,  possession  after  possession  ;  nothing  remained 
to  him  but  the  principality  of  Tarentum,  and  that  bur- 
dened with  a  heavy  tax  raised  for  the  royal  treasury. 
The  King  dismissed,  under  various  pretexts,  the  kin- 
dred of  Manfred,  Galvaneo  and  Fredericp  Lancia,  Bon- 
ifacio di  Argoino,  his  maternal  uncle.  The  noble  exiles 
found  refuge  with  the  Empress  Constantia,  Manfred'*? 

1  To  the  Pope's  first  envoy,  according  to  Spinelli,  Conrad  haughtily  re- 
plied, "  Che  farei  meglio  ad  impacciarsi  con  la  chierica  rasa."  —  Diario, 
apud  Muratori. 

2  "  Vi  fece  gran  giustizia,  e  grande  uccisione." — M.  Spinelli,  Diario, 
apud  Muratori,  R.  I.  S.  xii.  Bartholomew)  di  Neocastro,  c.  iii.  Murat.  R 
I.  S.  xiii. 

8  Giannone,  p.  485. 


Chap.  V.  DEATH  OF  PRINCE  HENRY.  515 

sister,  at  Constantinople :  Conrad,  by  his  ambassadors, 
insisted  on  their  expulsion  from  that  court. 

But  the  Pope,  in  his  despair  at  this  unexpected 
strength  displayed  by  the  House  of  Swabia,  had  re- 
course to  new  measures  of  hostility.  Conrad,  like  his 
ally  Eccelin,  was  attainted  of  heresy  ;  both  were  sum- 
moned to  appear  before  the  presence  of  the  Pope  to 
answer  these  charges ;  and  to  surrender  themselves 
unarmed,  unprotected  into  the  hands  of  their  enemy. 
Conrad,  whose  policy  it  was  rather  to  conciliate  than 
irreconcilably  to  break  with  the  Pope,  condescended 
to  make  his  appearance  by  his  proctor  in  the  Papal 
Court. 

But  death  was  on  the  house  of  Hohenstaufen. 
Henry,    the    younger   son    of    Frederick,    a  Death  of 

i         n  i  -it  p  n-    m      Prince  Henry. 

youth  ot  twelve  years  old,  came  from  oicily  Dec.  1253. 
to  visit  his  brother  Conrad  ;  he  sickened  and  died.1 
No  death  could  take  place  in  this  doomed  family,  the 
object  of  such  unextinguishable  hate,  without  being 
darkened  from  a  calamity  into  a  crime.  Conrad  was 
accused  of  poisoning  his  brother,  and  by  the  Pope  him- 
self. Even  the  melancholy  of  Conrad  at  the  loss  of  his 
brother,  perhaps  a  presentiment  of  his  own  approaching 
end,  was  attributed  to  remorse.  He  hardly  raised  his 
head  again  ;  he  wrote  letters  to  the  court  of  England, 
full  of  the  most  passionate  grief.  In  another  year  Con- 
rad himself  was  in  his  grave  :  he  was  seized  with  a 
violent  fever,  and  died  in  a  few  days.  Of  0f  Conrad. 
his  death  the  guilt,  for  guilt  the  Guelfs  were  Ma*  21' 12k 

1  Matt.  Paris,  sub  ann.  Nic.  de  Jamsilla.  The  Pope  is  said  to  have 
proposed  to  marry  his  niece  to  Henry  'Paris,  p.  832).  A  treaty  was  begun] 
Conrad  during  the  negotiations  was  poisoned,  but  recovered.  He  accused 
th«  Pope  of  this  poisoning  (ibid.  852).  The  Pope  himself  accused  Conrad 
of  poisoning  Henry. 


516  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

determined  to  see,  was  laid  on  Manfred.1  Conradin, 
almost  an  infant,  not  three  years  old,  was  the  one  legit- 
imate heir  of  Barbarossa  and  of  Frederick  II.  The 
Conradin.  consummate  sagacity  of  Manfred  led  him  to 
declare  that  he  would  not  accept  the  Regency  of  the 
realm  which  Conrad  (perhaps  in  some  late  remorse,  or 
in  the  desperate  conviction  enforced  on  his  death-bed, 
that  Manfred  alone  could  protect  his  son)  had  thought 
of  bequeathing  to  him.  Manfred  awaited  his  time :  he 
left  to  Berthold,  Marquis  of  Homburg,  the  commander 
of  the  German  auxiliaries  of  Conrad,  the  perilous  post, 
knowing  perhaps  at  once  the  incapacity  of  Berthold, 
and  the  odiousness  of  the  Germans  to  the  subjects  of 
Sicily.  Berthold,  according  to  the  will  of  Conrad, 
assumed  the  Regency,  took  possession  of  the  royal  treas- 
ures, and,  in  obedience  to  the  dying  instructions  of 
Conrad,  sent  a  humble  message  entreating  peace  and 
the  parental  protection  of  the  Pope  for  the  fatherless 
orphan.  Innocent  was  said  to  have  broken  out  into  a 
paroxysm  of  joy  on  hearing  the  death  of  Conrad.  But 
he  assumed  a  lofty  tone  of  compassion  ;  enlarged  upon 
June  19.  his  own  merciful  disposition  ;  granted  to  Con- 
radin the  barren  title  of  King  of  Jerusalem,  and  ac- 
knowledged his  right  to  the  Dukedom  of  Swabia.  But 
the  absolute  dominion  of  the  kingdom  of  Naples  had 
devolved  to  the  Roman  See :  when  Conradin  should  be 
of  age,  the  See  of  Rome  might  then,  if  he  should 
appear  not  undeserving,  condescend  to  take  his  claims 
into  her  gracious  consideration. 

Innocent  had  again,  perhaps  on  account  of  the  sum- 
mer heats,  escaped  from  Rome,  and  was  holding  his 
court  at  Anagni.     He  spared  no  measures  to  become 

1  Jamsilla,  Malespina. 


Chap.  V.  MANFRED.  517 

master  of  the  kingdom  of  Naples.  He  issued  extraor- 
dinary powers  to  William,  Cardinal  of  St.  Eustachio, 
to  raise  money  and  troops  for  this  enterprise.  The 
Cardinal  was  authorized  to  impawn  as  security  to  the 
Roman  merchants,  the  Church  of  Rome,  all  the  castles 
and  possessions  of  the  separate  churches  of  the  city,  of 
the  Campagna  and  the  Maritima,  and  of  the  kingdom 
of  Sicily.  He  was  to  seize  and  appropriate  to  the  use 
of  the  war  the  possessions  and  revenues  of  all  the  va- 
cant Bishoprics  ;  and  of  all  the  Bishoprics,  though  not 
vacant,  whose  prelates  did  not  espouse  the  Papal  cause. 
He  had  power  to  levy  taxes,  and  even  money  through- 
out the  realm ;  to  confiscate  all  the  estates  of  the  ad- 
herents of  Frederick  and  of  his  son,  who  should  not, 
after  due  admonition,  return  to  their  allegiair*  -  to  the 
Pope.  He  might  annul  all  grants,  seize  all  l  efs,  and 
regrant  them  to  the  partisans  of  Rome.  By  t  iese  ex- 
ertions, a  great  army  was  gathered  on  the  rentier. 
From  Anagni  the  Pope  issued  his  bull  of  excommuni- 
cation against  Manfred,  the  Marquis  of  Homburg,  and 
all  the  partisans  of  the  house  of  Conrad.1  The  Regent, 
the  Marquis  of  Homburg,  found  that  many  of  the 
nobles  were  in  secret  treaty  with  the  Pope  ;  he  let  the 
sceptre  of  Regency  fall  from  his  feeble  hands  ,  and 
amidst  the  general  contempt  abdicated  his  trusv 

All  eyes  were  turned  on  Manfred ;  all  who  were 
attached  to  the  house  of  Swabia,  all  who  abhorred  or 
despised  the  Papal  government,  all  who  desired  the  in- 
dependence of  the  realm,  counts,  barons,  many  of  the 
higher  clergy,  at  least  in  secret,  implored  Manfred 
Manfred  to  assume  the  Regency.  Manfred,  Rege,lt- 
consummate  in  the  art  of  self-command,  could  only  be 

1  Apucl  Raynald.  1254,  Sept.  2. 


518  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

forced  in  these  calamitous  times  to  imperil  his  honor  by 
taking  up  this  dangerous  post.  Rumors  indeed  were 
abroad  of  the  death  of  Conradin  ;  and  Manfred  was 
the  next  successor,  according  to  the  will  of  his  father 
Frederick.1  He  assumed  the  Regency  ;  threw  a  strong 
force  of  Germans  into  St.  Germano  ;  fortified  Capua 
Date  doubt-  and  tne  adjacent  towns  to  check  the  progress 
hu,  1254.  0£  t^e  papal  arms.  But  everywhere  was 
rebellion,  defection,  treachery.  The  Papal  agents  had 
persuaded  or  bribed  Pietro  Roffo,  the  Regent,  under 
Berthold  of  Homburg,  of  Calabria  and  Sicily,  and  raised 
the  Papal  standard.  Berthold's  own  conduct  indicated 
treachery ;  he  sent  no  troops  to  the  aid  of  Manfred, 
but  roved  about  with  his  Germans,  committing  acts  of 
plunder,  and  so  estranging  the  people  from  the  Swabian 
rule.  He  retained  possession  of  the  royal  treasures. 
Richard  of  Monte  Negro  had  already,  in  hatred  of 
Berthold,  made  his  peace  with  the  Pope  ;  other  nobles 
were  secretly  dealing  for  the  renewal  of  their  fiefs,  or 
for  the  grant  of  escheated  fiefs,  with  the  Pope,  who 
claimed  the  right  of  universal  sovereign.  Even  in 
Capua  a  conspiracy  was  discovered  against  the  power 
and  against  the  life  of  Manfred. 

Manfred  was  as  great  a  master  in  the  arts  of  dissim- 
conductof  ulation  as  the  Pope  himself.  He  found  it 
Manfred.  necessary  at  least  to  appear  to  yield.  Al- 
ready the  Papal  agents  had  sounded  his  fidelity  ;  he 
now  openly  appealed  to  the  magnanimity  of  the  Pope 

1  Nic.  Jamsilla  makes  Manfred  legitimate;  his  mother,  Bianca  Lanci<>, 
■was  the Jif'th  wife  of  Frederick.  But  Manfred  does  not  seem  to  have  as- 
serted his  own  legitimacy.  Malespina  (though  Papalist)  writes,  "  Tanquam 
ex  damnato  coitu  derivatus,  defectum  natalium  paciatur,  nobilis  tamen 
naturre  decus  utriusque  parentis,  qua  ortus  ejus  esse  meruerat  generosus, 
inaculam  fere  defeclus  hujus  expiabat" —  Apud  Hurter,  viii.  787 


Chap.  V.  CONDUCT  OF  MANFRED.  519 

as  the  protector  of  the  orphan  ;  he  expressed  his  willing- 
ness to  admit  the  Pope  into  the  realm,  reserving  his  own 
rights  and  those  of  his  royal  ward.  Innocent  was  in  a 
transport  of  joy.  In  his  most  luxuriant  language  he 
dwelt  on  the  moderation,  the  delight  in  mercy,  the 
parental  tenderness  of  the  Roman  See:  he  received 
Manfred  into  his  highest  favor.  Not  regarding  his 
grant  to  the  Frangipani,  he  invested  Manfred  (Gal- 
vaneo  Fiamma,  his  uncle,  receiving  in  his  name  the 
ring  of  investiture)  with  the  Principality  of  Tarentum, 
with  the  County  of  Gravina,  Tricarico,  and  the  Honor 
of  Monte  St.  Angelo :  he  added  the  Countship  of  An- 
drea, which  he  had  obtained  in  exchange  for  other 
territories  from  the  Marquis  of  Homburg :  with  this 
he  invested  Frederick  Lancia,  Manfred's  other  uncle. 
Manfred  met  all  these  advances  with  his  consummate 
self-command.  He  received  the  Pope  on  his  entrance 
into  his  kingdom  at  Ceperano,  prostrated  himself  at  his 
feet,  led  his  horse,  as  he  passed  the  bridge  over  the 
Garigliano.1  The  pride  of  Innocent  was  at  its  height 
in  seeing  Naples  in  his  power,  the  son  of  Frederick  at 
his  feet.  He  lavished  honors  on  Manfred ;  proclaimed 
him  Vicar  of  the  realm  as  far  as  the  Faro.  Manfred 
persuaded  the  Pope  to  scatter  his  forces  all  through  the 
provinces,  and  by  their  means  controlled  the  Germans, 
whom  he  could  not  trust,  and  who  began  quietly  to 
withdraw  to  their  own  country.2  .The  people  hailed 
Manfred  as  Vicar  of  the  Pope.  They  enjoyed  again, 
and  under  a  Swabian  Prince  not  environed  by  German 
soldiery,  their  full  religious  ceremonies. 

1  On  this  homage,  says  Spinelli,  "  et  onneuno  se  ne  meravigliao 
—  Apud  Muratori. 

2  Giannone,  in  be. 


520  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

The  Pope  entered  the  kingdom  as  though  to  take 
The  rope       possession  of  the  realm:  after  a  short  delay 

in  Naples.  .  _  ,.  .    .  1 

uct.  27, 1254.  at  ineano  from  indisposition,  he  entered 
Capua  in  state;  he  entered  Naples  in  still  greater 
pomp.  His  nephew,  William  Fiesco,  Cardinal  of  St. 
Eustachio,  his  Legate,  received  the  homage  of  the 
prelates  and  the  nobles,  with  no  reservation  of  the 
rights  of  the  King  or  of  the  Prince,  but  absolutely 
in  the  name  of  the  Pope,  to  whom  had  devolved  the 
full  sovereignty.  Manfred  himself  was  summoned  to 
take  the  oath  of  allegiance.  In  his  deep  dissimulation 
he  might  have  eluded  this  trial ;  he  was  perhaps  await- 
ing the  death  of  the  Pope,  now  old  and  in  bad  health ; 
but  an  accidental  circumstance  compelled  him  prema- 
turely to  throw  off  the  mask.  Borello  d'  Anglone,  as 
the  reward  of  his  revolt  to  the  Pope,  had  received  the 
grant  of  the  county  of  Lesina,  an  under-fief  of  Man- 
fred's principality.  Manfred  summoned  him  to  do  hom- 
age ;  Anglone,  confident  in  the  Pope's  favor,  returned 
a  haughty  denial.  Manfred  appealed  to  the  Pope.  The 
oracle  spoke  with  his  usual  cautious  ambiguity,  he  had 
granted  to  Borello  none  of  the  rights  of  Manfred. 
Berthold  of  Homburg  was  on  his  way  to  do  homage  to 
the  Pope  ;  Manfred  withdrew,  lest  he  should  encounter 
him  in  Capua  ;  his  guards  fell  in  with  those  of  Borello  ; 
strife  arose,  Borello,  unknown  to  Manfred,  was  slain. 
Death  of  Manfred  sent  his  messengers,  declaring  him- 
d'  Angione  self  ready  to  pr©ve  himself  before  the  Pope 
Ma'kred.  guiltless  of  the  death  of  Borello.  He  was 
summoned  to  answer  in  person.  He  received  secret 
intelligence  from  his  uncle  Galvaneo  Lancia,  that  the 
treacherous  Berthold  of  Homburg,  instead  of  espousing 
his  cause,  had  secretly  betrayed  it ;  that  his  liberty  at 


Chap.  V.  MANFRED  IN  REVOLT  521 

least  was  threatened,  if  not  his  life.  He  mounted  his 
horse,  with  few  followers ;  after  many  wild  adventures, 
he  reached  the  city  of  Lucera,  occupied  chiefly  by  the 
Saracenic  allies  of  his  father.  In  despite  of  the  Ger- 
man knights  who  commanded  in  the  city  in  the  name 
of  Berthold  of  Homburg,  he  was  received  with  the 
loudest  acclamations.  He  was  proclaimed  Prince  and 
Sovereign.  Before  the  people  he  swore  to  maintain 
and  defend  the  rights  and  title  of  the  King  his  nephew, 
and  his  own,  the  liberty  and  the  good  estate  of  the 
realm,  and  of  the  city. 

In  a  short  time  he  was  master  of  Foggia,  had  gained 
a  brilliant  victory  over  the  Papal  troops,  and  those  of 
the  Marquis  of  Homburg. 

Innocent  had  already  entered  into  negotiations  with 
that  enemy  afterwards  so  fatal  to  Manfred.  He  had 
once  sold  the  realm  of  Sicily  to  Edmund  of  England, 
and  received  at  least  some  part  of  the  price  :  he  had 
now,  regardless  of  his  former  obligations,  or  Dec.  1254. 
supposing  them  forfeited  by  the  inactivity  or  less  lavish 
subsidies  of  England,  offered  the  realm  to  Charles  of 
Anjou,  the  brother  of  the  King  of  France.  All  his 
solemn  engagements  were,  to  Innocent  IV.,  but  means 
to  advance  his  immediate  interests.  He  might  seem  as 
if  he  would  try  to  the  utmost  his  own  power  of  abso- 
lution, to  release  himself  from  the  most  sacred  oblio-a- 
tions.1 

But    death,   which    had  prostrated  the   enemies   of 
Innocent  before  his  feet,  and  had  reduced  the  Death  of 
house  of   Swabia  to  a  child  and  a  bastard,  Dec.  7. 1254. 

1  Petr.  de  Vinea,  Epist.  ii.  45.  I  here  agree  with  M.  Cherrier:  "  Trop  de 
faits  attestent  qu' Innocent  IV.  n'dtait  sincere  avec  personne;  qu'il  pro- 
raettait  et  se  rc'tractait  avec  une  dgale  facilite,  suivant  l'dtat  de  ses  af- 
faires." —  t.  iii.  p.  304. 


522  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Boor  X. 

now  laid  his  hand  on  Innocent  himself.  He  died  mas- 
ter of  Naples,  the  city  of  his  great  adversary,  in  the 
palace  of  Peter  de  Vinea,  the  minister  of  that  adver- 
sary. He  left  a  name  odious  for  ambition,  rapacity, 
implacable  pride,  to  part,  at  least,  of  Christendom.  In 
England,  where  his  hand  had  been  the  heaviest,  strange 
tales  were  accredited  of  his  dying  hours,  and  of  what 
followed  his  death.  It  was  said  that  he  died  in  an 
agony  of  terror  and  remorse ;  his  kindred  were  bitterly 
wailing  around  his  bed,  rending  their  garments  and 
tearing  their  hair :  he  woke  up  from  a  state  seemingly 
senseless,  "  Wretches,  why  are  ye  weeping  ?  have  I  not 
made  you  all  rich  enough  ?  "  He  had  been,  indeed, 
one  of  the  first  Popes,  himself  of  noble  family,  who  by 
the  marriage  of  his  nieces,  by  heaping  up  civil  and  ec- 
clesiastical dignities  on  his  relatives,  had  made  a  Papal 
family.  On  the  very  night  of  his  death  a  monk,  whose 
name  the  English  historian  conceals  from  prudence, 
had  a  vision.  He  was  in  Heaven,  and  saw  God  seated 
on  his  throne.  On  his  right  was  the  Holy  Virgin,  on 
his  left  a  stately  and  venerable  matron,  who  held  what 
seemed  a  temple  in  her  outstretched  hand.  On  the 
pediment  of  this  temple  was  written  in  letters  of  gold, 
"  The  Church."  Innocent  was  prostrate  before  the 
throne,  with  clasped  and  lifted  hands  and  bowed  knees, 
imploring  pardon,  not  judgment.  But  the  noble  ma- 
tron said,  "  O,  equitable  judge,  render  just  judgment. 
I  arraign  this  man  on  three  charges  :  Thou  hast  founded 
the  Church  upon  earth  and  bestowed  upon  her  precious 
liberties  ;  this  man  has  made  her  the  vilest  of  slaves. 
The  Church  was  founded  for  the  salvation  of  sinners  ; 
he  has  degraded  it  to  a  counting-house  of  money-chang- 
ers.    The  Church  has  been  built  on  the  foundation- 


Chap.V.  death  of  innocent.  523 

stones  of  faith,  justice,  and  truth  ;  he  has  shaken  alike 
faith  and  morals,  destroyed  justice,  darkened  truth/' 
And  the  Lord  said,  "  Depart  and  receive  the  recom- 
pense thou  hast  deserved  ;  "  and  Innocent  was  dragged 
away.  u  Whether  this  was  an  unreal  vision,  we  know 
not,"  adds  the  historian,  "  but  it  alarmed  many.  God 
grant  it  may  have  amended  them." 

Nor  was  this  all.  The  successor  of  Innocent  was 
himself  warned  and  terrified  by  a  dream  of  not  less 
awful  import.  In  a  spacious  palace  sat  a  judge  of  ven- 
erable majesty  ;  by  his  side  a  stately  matron,  environed 
by  a  countless  company.  A  bier  was  carried  out  by 
mean-looking  bearers  ;  upon  it  rested  a  corpse  of  sad 
appearance.  The  dead  arose,  cast  himself  before  the 
throne,  "  O  God  of  might  and  mercy,  have  pity  upon 
me!"  The  judge  was  silent,  the  matron  spoke  :  "  The 
time  of  repentance  is  passed,  the  day  of  judgment  is 
come.  Woe  to  thee,  for  thou  shalt  have  justice,  not 
mercy.  Thou  hast  wasted  the  Church  of  God  during 
thy  life  ;  thou  hast  become  a  carnal  man  ;  disdained, 
despised,  annulled  the  acts  of  thy  holy  predecessors ; 
therefore  shall  thine  own  acts  be  held  annulled."  The 
severe  judge  uttered  his  sentence  !  The  bier  was  hur- 
ried away.  The  dead,  sent  to  a  place  which  the 
Christian  may  charitably  hope  was  Purgatory.  Pope 
Alexander  tremblingly  inquired  who  was  the  dead  man. 
His  guide  replied,  "  Sinibald,  thy  predecessor,  who  died 
of  grief,  not  for  his  sins,  but  for  the  defeat  of  his 
army."  The  affrighted  Alexander,  when  he  awoke, 
ordered  masses  and  alms  to  mitigate  the  purgatorial 
suffering  of  his  predecessor ;  he  endeavored  to  retrieve 
Innocent's  sins  by  cancelling  some  of  his  acts  ;  to  one 
who  offered  rich  presents  to  buy  a  benefice,  the  Pope 


624  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

re j) lied,  "  No,  my  friend,  lie  who  sold  clmrehes  is 
dead."  I 

Such  were  the  current  and  popular  tales,  which 
showed  that  even  the  Pope  could  not  violate  the  great 
principles  of  Christian  justice  and  generosity  and  mercy, 
with  impunity,  or  without  some  strong  remonstrance 
Hading  its  expression.  If  Innocent,  indeed,  had  not 
trampled  on  the  rights  of  the  clergy,  these  murmurs 
had  not  been  so  deep  and  loud  :  it  was  this  that  imper- 
sonated, as  it  were,  the  Church,  to  demand  his  condem- 
nation. It  was  not  Imperialist  or  Ghibelline  hatred, 
but  the  hatred  of  churchmen  which  invented  or  prop- 
agated these  legends. 

In  England,  indeed,  not  only  after  his  death,  but 
during  his  life,  the  courageous  English  spirit  had  allied 
itself  with  the  profoundest  religious  feeling  to  protest 
against  the  rapacity  and  usurpation  of  the  Italian  Pope. 
It  had  found  a  powerful  and  intrepid  voice  in  Robert 
Grostete  Bishop  of  Lincoln.  Robert  Grostete,  during 
his  life,  had  manfully  resisted  and  fearlessly  condemned 
the  acts  of  the  haughty  Pontiff:  after  his  death  he  had 
been  permitted,  it  was  believed,  to  appear  in  a  vision. 

Robert  Grostete  was  of  humble  birth  :  at  Oxford 
his  profound  learning  won  the  admiration  of  Roger 
Bacon.  He  translated  the  book  called  the  Testament 
of  the  Twelve  Patriarchs.  He  went  to  France  to  make 
himself  master  of  that  language.  He  became  Arch- 
deacon of  Leicester,  Bishop  of  Lincoln.  As  Bishop 
of  that  vast  diocese  he  began  to  act  with  a  holy  rigor 
unprecedented  in  his  times.  With  him  Christian  morals 
were  inseparable  from  Christian  faith.  He  endeavored 
to  bring  back  the  festivals  of  the  Church,  which  had 

1  All  these  are  from  Matt.  Paris. 


Chai    V.  ROBERT   CxROSTETE.  525 

grown  into  days  of  idleness  and  debauchery,  to  their 
sacred  character ;  he  would  put  down  the  Feast  of 
Fools,  held  on  New- Year's  Day.  But  it  was  against 
the  clergy,  as  on  them  altogether  depended  the  holiness 
of  the  people,  that  he  acted  with  the  most  impartial 
severity.  He  was  a  Churchman  of  the  highest  hierar- 
chical notions.  Becket  himself  did  not  assert  the  im- 
munities and  privileges  of  the  Church  with  greater 
intrepidity :  rebellion  against  the  clergy  was  as  the  sin 
of  witchcraft ;  but  those  immunities,  those  privileges, 
implied  heavier  responsibility ;  that  authority  belonged 
justly  only  to  a  holy,  exemplary,  unworldly  clergy. 
Everywhere  he  was  encountered  with  sullen,  stubborn, 
or  open  resistance.  He  was  condemned  as  restless, 
harsh,  passionate  :  he  was  the  Ishmael  of  the  hierarchy, 
with  his  hand  against  every  man,  every  man's  hand 
against  him.  The  Dean  and  Chapter  of  Lincoln  were 
his  foremost  and  most  obstinate  opponents  ;  the  clergy 
asserted  their  privileges,  the  monasteries  their  Papal 
exemptions ;  the  nobles  complained  of  his  interference 
with  their  rights  of  patronage,  the  King  himself  that 
he  sternly  prohibited  the  clergy  from  all  secular  offices ; 
they  must  not  act  as  the  King's  justiciaries,  or  sit  to 
adjudge  capital  offences.  His  allies  were  the  new 
Orders,  the  Preachers  and  Mendicants.  He  addressed 
letters  of  confidence  to  the  generals  of  both  Orders. 
He  resolutely  took  his  stand  on  his  right  of  refusing 
institution  to  unworthy  clergy.1  He  absolutely  refused 
to  admit  to  benefices  pluralists,  boys,  those  employed  in 
the  King's  secular  service,  in  the  courts  of  judicature 
or  the  collection  of  the  revenue  ;  in  many  cases  for- 
eigners ;  he  resisted  alike  Churchmen,  the  Chancellor 

1  Godwin,  de  Pnesul.     Matt.  Paris. 


526  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X 

of  Exeter ;  nobles,  he  would  not  admit  a  son  of  the 
Earl  of  Ferrars,  as  under  age  ;  the*  King,  whose  indig- 
nation knew  no  bounds  ;  he  resisted  the  Cardinal  Leg- 
ates, the  Pope  himself. 

As  a  Churchman,  Grostete  held  the  loftiest  views  of 
the  power  of  the  Pope :  his  earlier  letters  to  the  Pope 
are  in  the  most  submissive,  almost  adulatory  tone ;  to 
the  Cardinals  they  are  full  of  the  most  profound  rev- 
erence. The  Canon  Law  is  as  eternal,  immutable,  uni 
versal  as  the  law  of  God.  The  Pope  has  undoubted 
power  to  dispose  of  all  benefices ;  but  for  the  abuse  of 
that  power  hell-fire  is  the  doom.1  The  resistance  of 
the  clergy  to  their  Bishop  involved  the  bishops  and 
themselves  in  vast  expense  ;  there  was  a  perpetual  ap- 
peal to  Rome.  Twice  Grostete  appeared  in  Lyons  : 
the  second  time  he  was  received  with  respect  and 
courtesy  by  the  Pope  and  Cardinals.  The  Pope  even 
permitted  him  to  read  in  his  own  presence  and  in  the 
full  consistory,  a  memorial  against  the  abuses  of  the 
Court  of  Rome  (the  Curia),  of  its  avarice  and  venality, 
its  usurpations  and  exemptions,  hardly  surpassed  in  its 
rigorous  invective  in  later  times.  Grostete  returned  to 
England  with  a  decree  against  the  refractory  Chapter 
of  Lincoln,  ample  powers  to  reform  his  diocese,  and 
the  strong  support  of  the  seeming  favor  of  the  Pope. 
The  Pope  even  condescended  to  limit  to  some  extent 
the  demands  of  the  Italian  clergy  on  English  benefices. 
Yet  on  his  return  even  the  firm  mind  of  Grostete  was 
shaken  by  the  difficulties  of  his  position :  he  meditated 


1 1!  Scio  et  veraciter  scio,  domini  Papae  et  sanctee  Romanae  Ecclesiae  hanc 
esse  potestatem,  ut  de  omnibus  benefices  ecclesiasticis  libere  possit  ordi- 
nare,  scio  quoque  quod  quicquid  abutitur  hac  potestate,  .  .  .  aedificaf  ad 
ignem  Gehenna;."  —  Epist.  49,  apud  Brown.     Fasciculus  ii.  339. 


Chap.  V.  ROBERT  GROSTETE.  527 

retirement  from  the  intractable  world ;  but  lie  shook 
off  the  unworthy  sloth,  and  commenced  and  carried 
through  a  visitation  of  his  diocese  unprecedented  in  its 
stern  severity.  The  contumacious  clergy  were  com- 
pelled to  submit,  and  accepted  his  conditions  ;  the  mon- 
asteries opened  their  reluctant  gates,  and  acknowledged 
his  authority.  In  the  convents  of  nuns  he  is  said  to 
have  put  their  chastity  to  a  strange  and  indelicate  test, 
which  shows  at  once  the  coarseness  of  the  times  and 
the  laxity  of  morals.  Yet  he  extorted  from  the  monk- 
ish historian,  who  perhaps  had  suffered  under  his  rigor, 
the  admission  that  his  sole  object  was  the  salvation  of 
souls.1 

On  Innocent's  triumphal  return  to  Italy  he  had 
become,  as  it  were,  wanton  in  his  invasions  on  the 
impoverished  English  Church.  It  was  rumored,  in- 
credible as  it  seems,  that  he  demanded  provision  for 
three  hundred  of  the  Roman  clergy.2  Robert  Gros- 
tete  was  summoned  to  the  test  of  his  obedience  to  the 
See  of  Rome.  He  had  ordered  a  calculation  to  be 
made  of  the  ecclesiastical  revenues  possessed  by  stran- 
gers in  England.  It  amounted  to  70,000  marks  :  the 
King's  income  was  not  one  third  of  the  sum.  Gros- 
tete  received  command,  through  his  Nuncio,  to  confer 
a  canonry  of  Lincoln  on  the  nephew  of  Innocent,  a 
boy,  Frederick  of  Louvain.  Grostete  was  not  daunted 
by  the  ascendant  power  of  the   Pope.3     His    answer 

1  Paris,  sub  ann. 

2  There  are  many  mandates  for  benefices  in  favor  of  Italians.  —  MS.  B. 
M.  E.  g.  Stephen  the  Pope's  chaplain  to  hold  the  rich  archdeaconry  of 
Canterbury  with  the  archdeaconry  of  Vienne,  et  alia  beneficia.  vii.  sab 

ann.  1252,  p.  110 ;  a  Colonna,  213.    An  Annibaldi  De ,  and  John  of 

Civitella,  289 ;  one  or  more  prebends,  with  or  without  cure  of  souls. 

3  Paris. 


528  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book    X. 

was  a  firm,  resolute,  argumentative  refusal  :  "  I  am 
bound  by  filial  reverence  to  obey  all  commands  of  the 
Apostolic  See  ;  but  those  are  not  Apostolic  commands 
which  are  not  consonant  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Apos- 
tles, and  the  Master  of  the  Apostles,  Christ  Jesus. 
The  most  holy  Apostolic  See  cannot  command  that 
which  verges  on  the  odious  detestable  abomination, 
pernicious  to  mankind,  opposed  to  the  sanctity  of  the 
Apostolic  See,  contrary  to  the  Catholic  faith.  You 
cannot  in  your  discretion  enact  any  penalty  against 
me,  for  my  resistance  is  neither  strife  nor  rebellion, 
but  filial  affection  to  my  father,  and  veneration  for  my 
mother  the  Church."  1 

It  was  reported  in  England,  that  when  this  letter 
reached  the  Pope,  he  cried  out  in  a  passion  of  wrath, 
"  Who  is  this  old  dotard  who  presumes  to  judge  our 
acts  ?  By  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  if  we  were  not  re- 
strained by  our  generosity,  we  would  make  him  a  fable, 
an  astonishment,  an  example,  and  a  warning  to  the 
world  ?  Is  not  the  King  of  England  our  vassal, 
rather  our  slave  ?  Would  he  not,  at  a  sign  from 
us,  throw  this  Bishop  into  prison  and  reduce  him  to 
the  lowest  disgrace  ?  "  With  difficulty  the  Cardinals 
allayed  his  wrath  :  they  pleaded  the  Bishop's  irre- 
proachable life,  his  Catholic  doctrine  ;  they  more  than 
insinuated  the  truth  of  his  charges.  The  condemna- 
tion   of   Grostete   might  revolt    the    whole    clergy  of 

i  The  letter  in  Brown.   Fasciculus,  p.  400. 

There  is  a  point  which  I  find  it  difficult  to  explain.  In  the  former  epis- 
tle to  the  Legate  Otho  (quoted  above),  Epist.  49  —  seemingly  of  an  earlier 
period  —  Grostete  writes:  "Licet  post  raeam  consecrationem  in  EpWopum 
nepos  Domini  Papa'  promotns  sit  in  una  de  optimis  pra>hendis  in  Lincol- 
niensi  Kt-clesia."  This  could  not  be  another  nephew  of  Innocent;  at  the 
time  of  his  nomination  he  must  have  been  a  boy  indeed.  Another  writer 
iAnn.  Barton)  calls  him  puerulus. 


Chap.  V.  VISION  TO  INNOCENT.  529 

France  and  England,  "for  lie  is  held  a  great  philos- 
opher, deeply  learned  in  Greek  and  Latin  letters,  a 
reader  in  theology,  a  devout  preacher,  an  admirer  of 
chastity,  a  persecutor  of  Simoniacs."  The  more  mod- 
erate or  more  astute  counsels  prevailed.  Papal  letters 
were  framed  which  in  some  decree  mitigated  the  abuses 
of  these  Papal  provisions.  The  Pope  acknowledged, 
almost  in  apologetic  tone,  that  he  had  been  driven  by 
the  difficulties  of  the  times  and  the  irresistible  urgency 
of  partisans  to  measures  which  he  did  not  altogether 
approve.  All  who  possessed  such  benefices  were  to  be 
guaranteed  ini  their  free  enjoyment,  all  who  had  expect- 
ancies were  to  be  preferred  to  other  persons,  but  these 
benefices  were  not  to  go  down,  as  it  were,  by  hereditary 
descent  from  Italian  to  Italian :  on  decease  or  vacancy 
the  patron,  prelate,  monastery,  or  layman,  might  at 
once  present.1 

On  Grostete's  death  it  was  believed  that  music  was 
heard  in  the  air,  bells  of  distant  churches  tolled  of  their 
own  accord,  miracles  were  wrought  at  his  grave  and 
in  his  church  at  Lincoln.  But  it  was  said  likewise  that 
the  inexorable  Pontiff  entertained  the  design  of  hav- 
ing his  body  disinterred  and  his  bones  scattered.  But 
Robert  Grostete  himself  appeared  in  a  vision,  dressed 
in  his  pontifical  robes  before  the  Pope.     "  Is  it  thou, 

1  This  letter  is  dated  Perugia,  Ann.  Pontine.  10,  1252.  It  is  in  the  Bur- 
ton Annals,  and  in  the  Additamenta  to  Paris.  In  Rymer  there  is  another 
quile  different  in  its  provisions.  There  the  Pope  asserts  that  he  has  made 
very  few  appointments.  Put  Westminster  adds  to  Paris:  "  Inventum  est 
quod  nunquam  aliquis  predecessorum  suorum  in  triplo  aliquos  sui  generis 
vel  patriae  tot  ditaverat."  There  is  a  strange  clause  in  Innocent's  letter, 
expressive  of  the  wild  times  and  the  exasperation  of  the  public  mind:  if  a 
papal  expectant  should  be  murdered  (si  perimi  contigerit,  as  if  it  were  an 
usual  occurrence),  no  one  should  be  appointed  who  had  not  previously 
cleared  himself  of  all  concern  in  the  murder. 
VOL.  v.  34 


530  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

Sinibald,  thou  miserable  Pope,  who  wilt  cast  my  bones 
out  of  their  cemetery,  to  thy  disgrace  and  that  of  the 
Church  of  Lincoln  ?  Better  were  it  for  thee  to  respect 
after  their  death  the  zealous  servants  of  God.  Thou 
hast  despised  the  advice  which  I  gave  thee  in  tim<\s 
of  respectful  humility.  Woe  to  thee  who  hast  de- 
spised, thou  shalt  be  despised  in  thy  turn  !  "  The 
Pope  felt  as  if  each  word  pierced  him  like  a  spear. 
From  that  night  he  was  wasted  by  a  slow  fever.  The 
hand  of  God  was  upon  him.  All  his  schemes  failedv 
his  armies  were  defeated,  he  passed  neither  day  nor 
night  undisturbed.  Such  was  believed  by  a  large 
part  of  Christendom  to  have  been  the  end  of  Pope 
Innocent  IV.1 

1  It  is  a  significant  fact  that  Grostete  was  never  canonized.  This  hon« 
was  granted  to  the  cloistral  virtues  of  his  predecessor,  Hugh  of  Lincoln;  t; 
his  contemporary,  Edmund  Rich  of  Canterbury.  Edmund  had  inglorious^ 
etired  from  his  difficult  post  of  primate;  his  timid  piety  despaired  of  re- 
forming his  clergy;  he  was  embarrassed  between  the  King  and  his  Barons 
between  the  King  compelled  to  resist  the  exactions  of  the  Pope,  and  the 
Pope  whose  demands  Edmund  would  have  gratified  to  the  full.  He  took 
refuge  in  the  retreat  of  Becket,  Pontigny;  but  with  nothing  of  Becket's 
character.  Yet  the  mild  prelate  shared  with  Becket  the  honors  of  a  saint. 
Grostete  was  canonized  only  by  the  reverence  of  his  country.  Even  Paris 
after  his  death  found  out  his  virtues.  Of  these  not  the  least  was  his  oppo- 
sition to  the  King  and  to  Rome  (fuit  Domini  Papoe  et  Regis  redargutor 
manifestus;  Romanorum  malleus  et  contemptor);  the  instructor  of  the 
clergy,  the  support  of  scholars;  the  preacher  of  the  people;  persecutor  only 
of  the  incontinent.  At  table  he  was  liberal,  plentiful,  courteous,  cheerful, 
and  affable;  in  church,  devout,  tearful,  penitent;  as  a  prelate,  sedulous 
venerable,  indefatigable. 


END   OF    VOL.    V 


HISTORY  OF  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY; 


INCLUDING    THAT    OF 


THE    POPES 

TO    THE    PONTIFICATE    OF    NICHOLAS    V. 


VOLUME    VI. 


CONTENTS 


OF 


THE   SIXTH   VOLUME, 


BOOK  XI. 

CHAPTER   I. 
St.  Louis. 

A.D.  R4G8 

Character  of  St.  Louis 16 

1226       Blanche  of  Castile  —  Youth  of  St.  Louis ib. 

His  virtues 21 

1 246       Preparations  for  Crusade 22 

1249  Crusade 25 

1250  Defeat  and  Captivity 26 

Ransom  and  Release • 29 

1252       Return  to  Europe • 31 

Contrast  between  St.  Louis  and  Frederick  II. ib. 

1232-44  Code  of  Inquisition 32 

Insurrection  against  Inquisition 35 

1239       Persecution  in  France 37 

1260      Pragmatic  Sanction 40 


CHAPTER    II. 

Pope  Alexander  IV. 

1254       Election 41 

Manfred ib. 

Edmund  of  England  King  of  Sicily 42 


V'i  CONTENTS   OF  VOL.  VI. 

A.D.  PAQB 

1 250  Boniface  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  •  •  • 45 

1 258  The  Senator  Brancaleone 47 

Manfred  King  of  Sicily • 50 

1 259  Eccelin  da  Romano 52 

Alberic  da  Romano 54 

The   Flagellants 55 

1251  The  Pastoureaux 57 

The  Mendicant  Friars 63 

1231-52  University  of  Paris 64 

William  of  St.  Amour 68 

The  Everlasting  Gospel • 71 

The  Perils  of  the  Last  Times 74 


CHAPTER    III. 

Urban  IV.  — Clement  IV. —Charles  of  Anjou. 

1261       Election  of  Urban  IV. 80 

State  of  Italy 83 

Charles  of  Anjou 85 

Ugo  Falcodi  Legate  in  England 87 

1264  Death  of  Urban  IV. 91 

Pope  Clement  IV. ib. 

1265  Charles  of  Anjou  at  Rome 93 

Battle  of  Benevento 95 

Tyranny  of  Charles 98 

England  —  Simon  de  Montfort 99 

Reaction 1 04 

Council  of  London 105 

1267  Conradin 107 

Henry  of  Castile 110 

1268  Conradin  in  Italy — Defeat  and  death 113 

Death  of  Clement  IV. 117 


CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  VI.  vii 


CHAPTER  IV. 


Gregory  X.  and  his  Successors. 

a.».  PAQE 

More  than  Two  Years'  Vacancy  in  the  Popedom  •  •  •  118 

1268       Pragmatic    Sanction 119 

1270       Death  of  St.  Louis 1 22 

1271-2     Gregory  X. 123 

1273  Rodolph  of  Hapsburg  Emperor 127 

1274  Council  of  Lyons 129 

Law  of  Papal  Election 131 

1276  Death  of  Gregory  X. 133 

Rapid  Succession  of  Popes — Innocent  V.  —  Hadri- 
an V.—  John  XXL ib. 

1277  Nicolas  III. 135 

Greeks  return  to  Independence 137 

1280       Schemes  and  Death  of  Nicolas  III. 141 

Martin  IV. 143 


CHAPTER    V. 

Sicilian  Vespers. 

Tyranny  of  Charles  of  Anjou 147 

John  of  Procida 151 

1282  Sicilian  Vespers 155 

Revolt  of   Sicily 157 

Siege  of  Messina 160 

Peter  of  Arragon  King  of  Sicily 162 

Martin  condemns  the  King  of  Arragon 166 

1283  Challenge  —  Scene  at  Bordeaux 168 

1285       Death  of  Charles  of  Anjou,  of  Philip   of  France, 

and  Martin  IV    171 

Honorius  IV. 172 

1288       Nicolas  IV. i73 


CONTENTS   OF    VOL.    VI. 

A.D.  PAflH 

Nicolas  and  the  Colonnas 178 

1292      Death  of  Nicolas  IV. 179 


CHAPTER  VI. 

CCELESTINE   V. 

Conclave 181 

1 293       Peter  Morrone  —  Coelcstine  V.  Pope 183 

•  Inauguration  in  Naples 188 

Abdication 194 

Jacopone  da  Todi 196 


CHAPTER  VII. 
Boniface  VIII. 

1294  Election  of  Boniface 204 

1295  Boniface  at  Rome  —  Inauguration 205 

Persecution  of  Coelcstine 207 

Death  and  Canonization 209 

Early  Career  of  Boniface 210 

1295-1302     Affairs  of  Sicily  and  Naples-  •  • 214 

1297  The  Colonnas 222 

Boniface  and  Italy 230 

1292       Adolph  of  Nassau  Emperor 231 

1298  Death  of  Adolph  —  Albert  of  Austria 236 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Boniface  VIII. —England  and  France. 

England  —  Development  of  Constitution 238 

France  —  The  Lawyers 240 


CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  VI.  ix 

a.d.  PAG* 

Edward  I.  and  the  Clergy 24 1 

1294       Quarrel  between  France  and  England 246 

Pope  commands  a  Truce 248 

Taxation  of  Clergy  in  England 249 

Statute  of  Mortmain 250 

France  —  Philip  taxes  the  Clergy 258 

1296  The  Bull  "  Clericis  Laicos" 259 

England  —  Parliament  at  Bury 260 

Council  in  St.  Paul's. 261 

Confirmation  of  the  Charters 264 

Philip's  Edict 266 

The  Bull  —  Ineffabilis • 268 

The  King's  reply 271 

1297  Pope's  Prudence 273 

1298  Arbitration  of  Boniface  —  Peace 277 

1299  Scotland  —  Interference  of  Boniface 279 

1300  Jubilee 284 


CHAPTER    IX. 

Boniface  VIII.— His  Fall. 

Boniface  at  the  height  of  his  power 287 

Dangers  —  The  Franciscans 288 

TheFratic-elli 291 

Charles  of  Valois 294 

1301  England  —  Parliament  of  Lincoln ib. 

Claims  of  England  and  Scotland 296 

Quarrel  of  Boniface  and  Philip  of  France 298 

Philip's  Alliance  with  the  Empire 303 

Rumors  about  Boniface 304 

a301       Bishop  of  Pamiers 305 

Court-plenary  at  Senlis 308 

Peter   Flotte t&. 

The  Lesser  Bull 313 

Bull,  Ausculta  fili 315 

1302  Bull  burned 318 


[  CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  VI. 

A.D.  *A<» 

States  General  —  Addresses  to  the  Pope 818 

Consistory  at  Rome « 324 

Bull,   Unam  Sanctam 326 

Battle  of  Courtrai 327 

Philip  condemns  the  Inquisition 329 

Meeting  at  the  Louvre  —  Twelve  Articles 331 

The  King's  answer 334 

1803       Parliament  at  the  Louvre 336 

William  of  Nogaret ib. 

Papal  despatches  seized 340 

Second  Parliament  —  Charges  against  Boniface  •  •  •  •  ib. 

The  King's  Appeal 345 

General  adhesion  of  the  kingdom 347 

Boniface  at  Anagni ib. 

Excommunication ..••• 349 

Attack  on  the  Pope 351 

Rescue  of  the  Pope 355 

Death  of  Boniface 356 


CHAPTER   X. 
Benedict  XI. 

Election  of  Benedict  XL 359 

Measures  of  Benedict 361 

Bull  of  Benedict 365 

Death  of  Benedict 867 


CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  VI.  XI 


BOOK  xn. 

THE    POPES    IN    AVIGNON. 

CHAPTER    I. 

Clement  V. 

A.D.  PAGB 

1304-5     Conclave 371 

1305       Bernard  de  Goth 373 

Election  —  Coronation  of  Clement  V. 375 

His  first  acts 376 

William  of  Nogaret 377 

1307  Meeting  at  Poitiers 381 

The  Templars 384 

Du  Molay  at  Poitiers 394 

Accusations  against  the  Order 397 

Arrest  of  the  Templars 398 

Specific  charges 400 

Tortures 402 

Interrogations  —  Confessions • 404 

The  Pope 408 

Templars  in  England 410 

1308  Death  of  the  Emperor —  Henry  of  Luxemburg  Em- 

peror  • 412 

Parliament  of  Tours 415 


CHAPTER  II.  ^ 

1309  Process  of  the  Templars  —  Commission  opened  at 

Paris 423 

Du  Molay 427 

1310  Others  brought  to  Paris 432 

Defenders  —  Proctors  chosen 435 

Witnesses 440 


Xii  CONTENTS   OF  VOL.   VI. 

AD.  PAOa 

Confessions 443 

Archbishop  of  Sens 444 

Burning  of  the  relapsed 446 

Templars  in  England 455 

Hearings  in  London  •  •  •  ^ 458 

Templars  in  Scotland  and  Ireland 468 

in  Italy 469 

in  Spain 471 

Difficulty  of  the  question 473 

Historians 479 

Abolition  of  the  Order 481 


CHAPTER   III. 
Arraignment  of  Boniface  —  Council  of  Vienne. 

1310  Prosecution  of  memory  of  Pope  Boniface •  •  •  •  484 

Pope  Clement  at  Avignon 485 

Consistory  —  Charges 490 

Witnesses 492 

Summary  of  evidence 499 

Papal  judgment 500 

1311  Council  of  Vienna 504 


CHAPTER  IV. 
Henry  of  Luxemburg  —  Italy. 

The  Pope 510 

Affairs  of  Italy 512 

1310  Henry  of  Luxemburg  in  Italy 514 

1311  Crowned  at  Milan 515 

1312  Advance  from  Genoa  to  Rome 519 

Coronation 520 

13i3       Death  of  Henry ib. 

Dante  de  Monarchic • 521 


CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  VI.  xiii 


CHAPTER   V. 

End  of  Du  Molat  —  of  Pope  Clement  —  of  King  Philip. 


PAGE 


Burning  of  Du  Molay 527 

Death  of  Clement 529 

Death  of  Philip  IV. 534 

Teutonic    Order 535 


14 


LATIN  CHRISTIANITY. 


Book  XI. 


BOOK  XI. 

CONTEMPORARY   CHRONOLOGY. 


POPBS. 

EMPERORS  OP  GERMANY. 

KINUS    Of    FRANCE. 

SINGS   Or   ENGLAND. 

A.D. 

A.D. 

A.D.                                            A.D. 

A.D.                                         A.D. 

A.D.                                                A.D. 

1254  Alexander  IV. 

1261 

1249  William                1256 

1261  Urban  IV. 

1265 

(Conrad) 

1205  Clement  IV. 
1209  Vacancy 
1271  Gregory  X. 

1276  Innocent  V. 
Hadrian  V. 
John  XXI. 

1277  Nicolas  III. 

1269 
1271 
1276 

1281 

1256  Interregnum        1273 

1273  Rodolph  of  Haps. 

burg                 1291 

Louis  IX.             12T3 
1270  Philip  the  Hardy  1285 

Henry  in.            1272 
1272  Edward  L             1307 

ABCHBISBOPS   Or 
OANTERBORT. 

1281  Martin  IV. 

1285 

1244  Boniface  of  Sa- 
voy                    1272 

1285  Honorius  IV. 

1239  Nicolas IV. 
1292  Vacaney 

1289 

1292 
1294 

1291  Adolph  of  Nas- 
sau                  1298 

1285  Philip  the  Fair     1314 

1272  Robert  KJ1- 

wardby              1278 

1278  Eobert  Peck- 

ham                  1294 

1294  Celestine  V. 
Boniface  VIII. 

1303 

1298  Albert  of  Austria  1308 

1294  Robert  Wlnohel- 

sey                     1313 

1303  Benedict  XI. 

1305 

KINGS    OF    BOOTLi 

MD. 

KINGS    OF    SPAIN. 

KINGS    Or    SWEDEN. 

EASTERN      EMPIRE. 

A.B. 

A.D. 

A.D.                                             A.D. 

OAHTILB. 

A.D.                                        A.D. 

A.D.                                            A.D. 

LATIN. 

Alexander  III. 

1286 

1252  Alfonso  XI.,  the 

Wise                 1284 

1250  Waldemar           1276 

Baldwin  II.            1261 

1286  Interregnum 

1292 

1284  Sanoho  IV.           1295 

1278  Magnus  II.           1282 

1292  John  Baliol 

1295  Ferdinand  IV.      1312 

1282  Blrger  II. 

1255  Theodoras             1258 

1301  Interregnum 

ARRAGON. 

1258  John  IV. 

James  L 

Alfonso  X.            1270 

1276  Pedro  III.             1285 

1285  Alfonso  TIT.,  the 

Beneficent        1291 

KINGS    Or    DENMARK. 

1259  Michael  (Paleo- 

logus)                 1289 

1283  Andronious  II. 
IPaleologus) 

A.D.                                            A.D. 

1252  Christopher          1259 

1291  James  II.,  toe 

Just                 1312 

1259  Erio  VII.               1263 
1263  Olaus  IV.             1280 
1280  Erio  VIII. 
1808  Hakim  11. 

KINGS    OF    PORTUGAL. 

A.D.                                 A.n. 
Alfonso  III.           1279 

1279  Dionyslus  I. 

HISTORY 


OP 


JLATIN    CHRISTIANITY. 


BOOK    XL 
CHAPTER  L 

ST.  LOUIS. 


The  great  fabric  of  mediaeval  religion  might  have 
suffered  a  shock  from  the  haughtiness,  the  rapacity,  the 
implacabilitv  of  Innocent  IV.,  which  had  raised  a  deep 
and  sullen  alienation  even  among  the  clergy  in  parts 
of  Christendom,  especially  in  England  and  Germany. 
The  Teutonic  pride  revolted  at  the  absolute  nomination 
of  an  obscure  prince  to  the  Empire  by  the  will  of  the 
Pope.  The  bold  speculations,  the  enlightened  studies, 
promoted  by  Frederick  II.,  even  the  contemptuous  in- 
difference ascribed  to  him,  though  outwardly  rejected, 
were  working  no  doubt  in  the  depths  of  many  minds. 
Heresy,  crushed  in  blood  in  Languedoc,  was  spreading 
elsewhere  the  more  extensively  in  defiance  of  the  Inqui- 
sition, which  was  already  becoming  odious  throughout 
Europe.  The  strife  of  the  new  Orders  with  the  clergy 
.had  weakened  their  influence  over  the  popular  mind, 
influence  not  altogether  replaced  by  the  wonderful 
numbers,    activity,    learning,    ubiquity  of  the    Mendi- 


16  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

cants.  In  the  Franciscan  Order  had  already  begun 
that  schism,  which  was  of  far  greater  importance  than 
is  commonly  supposed  in  religious  history. 

But  there  was  not  wanting  the  great  example  of 
st.  Louis.  religion  to  awe  and  to  allure  mankind :  it 
was  not  in  the  chair  of  St.  Peter,  not  at  the  head  of  a 
new  Order,  but  on  the  throne  of  France :  the  Saint  of 
this  period  was  a  King.  The  unbounded  admiration  of 
St.  Louis  in  his  own  days,  the  worship  of  the  canonized 
Sovereign  in  later  times,  was  a  religious  power,  of 
which  it  is  impossible  to  trace  or  define  the  limits. 
Difficult,  indeed,  it  is  to  imagine  that  at  the  same  his- 
toric period  lived  Frederick  II.  and  Louis  IX.  Louis 
was  a  monk  upon  the  throne,  but  a  monk  with  none  of 
the  harshness,  bitterness,  or  pride  of  monkery.  His 
was  a  frank  playfulness,  or  amenity  at  least  of  manner, 
which  Henry  IV.  never  surpassed,  and  a  biamelessness 
hardly  ever  before,  till  very  recent  times  never  after, 
seen  on  the  throne  of  France.  Nor  was  he  only  a 
monk:  he  had  kingly  qualities  of  the  noblest  order, 
gentleness,  affability,  humanity  towards  all  his  believ- 
ing subjects,  a  kind  of  dignity  of  justice,  a  loftiness  of 
virtue,  which  prevented  the  most  religious  of  men  from 
degenerating  into  a  slave  of  the  clergy ;  a  simple  sin- 
cerity even  in  his  lowest  superstitions,  an  honest  frank- 
ness, an  utter  absence  of  malignity  even  in  his  intoler- 
ance, which  holds  even  these  failings  and  errors  high 
above  contempt,  or  even  aversion.  Who  can  read  the 
Seneschal  Joinville  without  love  and  veneration  of  his 
master  ? 

Louis  was  ten  years  old  at  the  death  of  his  father 
a. d.  1226.       Louis  VIII.     His  mother,  Blanche  of  Cas- 

Bianche  of  M  ,  .  0     , 

Castile  tile,  took  possession  at  once  ot  the  regency. 


Chap.  I.  BLANCHE  OF  CASTILE.  17 

Her  firm  demeanor  awed  all  ranks ;  her  vigorous  ad- 
ministration at  once  established  her  power.  Philip  the 
Rough,  the  brother  of  Louis  VIII.  (the  son  of  Philip 
Augustus,  by  Agnes  of  Meran,  but  who  had  been  ac- 
knowledged as  a  legitimate  prince),  submitted  sullenly, 
yet  submitted,  to  the  female  rule.  It  is  strange  to  con- 
trast the  severe  court  of  the  Queen-mother  Blanche 
with  that  of  Marie  de  Medicis,  or  Anne  of  Austria; 
the  youth  of  Louis  IX.  with  that  of  Louis  XIV.  or 
Louis  XV. :  and  to  suppose  that  the  same  religion  was 
preached  in  the  churches,  then  by  a  rude  Dominican  or 
a  homely  Franciscan,  afterwards  in  the  exquisite  and 
finished  language  of  Bossuet  and  Massillon.  Blanche 
of  Castile  did  not  entirely  escape  the  malicious  slanders 
of  her  enemies.  She  was  accused  of  too  close  an  inti- 
macy with  the  Legate  himself.  She  fell  under  stronger 
suspicion  as  the  idol  of  the  amorous  poetry  of  the  gal- 
lant Thiebault,  Count  of  Champagne,  afterwards  King 
of  Navarre.  But  Thiebault's  Platonic  raptures  were 
breathed  in  vain  to  the  inaccessible  matron  ;  it  was  the 
policy  not  the  heart  of  the  Queen  Regent  which  led  her 
not  to  disdain  the  poetic  suit  of  a  dangerous  subject, 
constantly  falling  off  to  the  enemies  of  her  son,  and 
recalled  to  his  allegiance  by  the  authority  of  his  mis- 
tress. The  historian  guarantees  her  chaste  and  cleanly 
life.1  Her  treatment  of  her  son  showed  no  indulgence 
ibr  such  weaknesses.  Once  in  his  early  youth  he  had 
looked  Avith  kindling  eye  on  some  fair  damsels.  "  I  had 
rather  he  were  dead,"  said  the  rigid  mother,  "  than  that 
he  should  commit  sin."  Thus  bred  a  monk,  the  con- 
genial disposition  of  Louis  embraced  with  ardor  the 
austere   rule.     Had   he   not   been    early    married,   he 

1  "  Sa  vie  bonne  et  nette."  — Joinville. 

VOL.  VI.  2 


18  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Boor  XI 

would  have  vowed  perpetual  chastity.  The  jealousy 
of  his  mother  of  any  other  influence  than  her  own  was 
constantly  watching  his  most  familiar  intercourse  with 
his  wife,  Marguerite  of  Provence.  He  bore  it,  even 
the  harshness  with  which  Blanche  treated  her  daughter- 
in-law  at  times  when  woman's  sympathies  are  usually 
most  tender,  with  the  meekest  filial  submission.  At  all 
the  great  religious  periods,  Advent,  Lent,  the  high  Fes- 
Austerities  tivals,  and  all  holy  days  (which  now  filled  no 
of  Louis.  sma]|  part  0£  the  year),  the  youthful  King 
denied  himself  all  connubial  indulgences  ;  he  would 
rise  from  his  bed,  and  pace  the  cold  chamber  till  he 
was  frozen  into  virtue.  His  other  appetites  he  con- 
trolled with  equal  inflexibility.  Besides  the  most  rigor- 
ous observance  of  the  ordinary  fasts,  once  only  in  the 
year  would  he  allow  himself  to  taste  fruit:  he  wore 
the  roughest  sackcloth  next  to  his  skin.  His  spiritual 
teachers  persuaded  him  to  less  severe  observance,  to 
deny  himself  only  unripe  fruit,  to  wear  haircloth  of  less 
coarse  texture.  On  Fridays  he  never  laughed  ;  if  he 
detected  himself  in  laughter  he  repressed  and  mourned 
over  the  light  emotion.  On  Friday  he  never  changed 
his  raiment.  In  his  girdle  he  wore  an  ivory  case  of 
iron-chain  scourges  (such  boxes  were  his  favorite  pres- 
ents to  his  courtiers),  not  for  idle  display.  Every  Fri- 
day during  the  year,  and  in  Lent  on  Mondays,  Wednes- 
days, and  Fridays,  he  shut  himself  up  in  his  chamber, 
searching  every  corner,  lest  any  one  should  be  present, 
with  his  confessor,  the  Dominican  Godfrey  of  Beaulieu. 
The  bleeding  shoulders  of  the  Kino;  attested  his  own 
sincerity,  and  the  singular  adulation  of  the  confessor, 
who  knew  the  Kino;  too  well  not  to  administer  the  dis- 
cipline  with  unsparing  hand.     These  more  secret  acts 


Chap.  I.  AUSTERITIES   OF  ST.  LOUIS.  19 

of  holiness  were  no  doubt  too  admirable  for  the  clergy 
to  allow  them  to  remain  secret ;  but  the  people  were 
no  less  edified  by  his  acts  of  public  devotion.  It  was 
his  constant  practice  to  visit  distant  churches  with  bare 
feet,  or,  to  disguise  his  piety,  in  sandals  without  soles. 
On  every  altar  he  offered  profuse  alms.  One  day  he 
walked  barefoot  from  Nogent  l'Erembert  to  the  church 
of  Our  Lady  at  Chartres,  a  distance  of  four  leagues ; 
he  was  obliged  to  lean  on  his  attendants  for  support. 
He  constantly  washed  the  feet  of  beggars ;  he  invited 
the  poor  and  the  sick  to  his  table ;  he  attended  the  hos- 
pitals, and  performed  the  most  menial  and  loathsome 
offices.  A  leper  on  the  farther  side  of  a  swamp  begged 
of  him  ;  the  King  crossed  over,  not  only  gave  him  alms, 
but  kissed  his  hand.  He  heard  daily  two,  sometimes 
three  or  four,  masses ;  his  whole  day  might  seem  one 
unbroken  service ;  as  he  rode,  his  chaplain  chanted  or 
recited  the  offices.  Even  in  this  respect  his  teachers 
attempted  to  repress  his  zeal.  A  Dominican  preacher 
urged  him  from  the  pulpit  not  to  lower  too  much  the 
royal  dignity,  not  to  spend  the  whole  day  in  church,  to 
content  himself  with  one  mass  :  "  whoever  counselled 
'  him  otherwise  was  a  fool,  and  guilty  of  a  deadly  sin." 
"  If  I  spent  twice  as  much  time  in  dice  and  hawking, 
should  1  be  so  rebuked  ?  "  J  answered  the  gentle  King. 
He  bore  even  reproach  with  meekness.  A  woman 
named  Sarrette,  pleading  in  the  King's  court,  said 
"  Fie !  you  are  not  King  of  France ;  you  are  only  a 
king  of  friars,  of  priests,  and  of  clerks.  It  is  a  great 
pity  that  you  are  King  of  France ;  you  should  be 
turned    out   of   the    kingship." 2      The    blessed    King 

1  Notices  et  Extraits,  ix.  406. 

2  Life,  bv  the  Confessor  of  Queen  Margaret,  in  Bouquet,  p.  366. 


20  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  Xi 

would  not  allow  his  attendants  to  chastise  the  woman. 
"  You  say  true  !  It  has  pleased  the  Lord  to  make  me 
king  ;  it  had  been  well  if  it  had  pleased  him  to  make 
some  one  who  had  better  ruled  the  realm."  He  then 
ordered  his  chamberlain  to  give  her  money,  as  much  as 
forty  pence. 

Louis  had  the  most  religious  aversion  for  all  lighter 
amusements,  the  juggler,  the  minstrel.  He  was  pro- 
foundly ignorant  of  polite  letters.  His  whole  time 
might  seem  fully  occupied  in  rehearsing  over  and  over 
the  same  prayers  ;  yet  he  is  said  to  have  read  perpet- 
ually in  a  Latin  Bible  with  devotional  notes,  and  to 
have  been  deeply  versed  in  the  writings  of  some  of  the 
Fathers,  especially  St.  Augustine.  But  this  learning, 
whatever  it  might  be,  he  acquired  with  the  most  rev- 
erential humility ;  it  tempted  him  to  no  daring  relig- 
ious speculation,  emboldened  him  to  no  polemic  zeal. 
"  Even  clerks,  if  not  profoundly  learned,  ought  to  ab- 
stain from  controversy  with  unbelievers  ;  the  layman 
had  but  one  argument,  his  good  sword.  If  he  heard  a 
man  to  be  an  unbeliever,  he  should  not  dispute  with 
him,  he  should  at  once  run  that  sword  into  his  entrails, 
and  drive  it  home."  1  He  related  with  special  appro- 
bation the  anecdote  of  a  brave  old  knight,  who  broke 
up  a  discussion  on  the  relative  excellence  of  their  law 
between  some  Catholic  doctors  and  some  Jewish  Rabbis 
by  bringing  down  his  mace  upon  the  head  of  the  prin- 
cipal Jew  teacher.  Louis  loved  all  mankind  with  a 
boundless  love  except  Jews,  heretics,  and  infidels,  whom 
he  hated  with  as  boundless  hatred. 

1  "  Mais  lomme  loy  (laic)  quand  il  ot  mesdire  de  la  ley  crestienne,  ne 
doit  desputer  a  eulz,  ne  doit  pas  defendre  la  ley  crestienne,  ne  mais  (si  non) 
de  Pespee,  de  quoi  il  doit  donner  parmi  le  ventre  dedans,  tant  comrae  il 
pent  cntrer."  —  Joinville,  in  Bouquet,  t.  xx.  p.  19S. 


Chap.  I.  VIRTUES   OF  ST.  LOUIS.  21 

But  above  all  these  weaknesses  or  exaggerated  vir- 
tues there  were  the  high  Christian  graces,  His  virtues, 
conscientiousness  such  as  few  kings  are  able  or  dare  tc 
display  on  the  throne,  which  never  swerved  either 
through  ambition  or  policy  from  strict  rectitude.  No 
acquisition  of  territory,  no  extension  of  the  royal  pow- 
er, would  have  tempted  Louis  IX.  to  unjust  aggression. 
He  was  strongly  urged  to  put  to  death  the  son  of  the 
chief  of  the  rebels  in  arms  against  him,  the  Count  de 
la  Marche,  who  had  fallen  into  his  hands ;  he  nobly  re- 
plied :  "  A  son  could  not  refuse  to  obey  his  father's 
orders."  The  one  great  war  in  which  he  was  involved, 
before  his  departure  for  the  Crusade,  which  ended  in 
the  humiliation  of  the  great  vassals  of  the  Crown  and 
of  the  leader  in  that  revolt,  Henry  III.  of  England, 
the  chief  of  these  great  vassals,  was  provoked  by  no 
oppression  or  injustice  on  his  part,  was  conducted  with 
moderation  unusual  in  that  age  ;  and  his  victory  was 
not  sullied  by  any  act  of  wanton  revenge  or  abuse  of 
power.  He  had  no  rapacity  ;  he  coveted  but  one  kind 
of  treasure,  relics  ;  and  no  doubt  when  he  bought  the 
real  crown  of  thorns  (the  abbey  of  St.  Denys  had  al- 
ready boasted  their  possession  of  the  authentic  crown, 
but  their  crown  sank  into  obscurity,  when  that  of  Con- 
stantinople arrived  in  Paris),1  when  he  obtained  this 
inestimable  prize  at  such  enormous  cost,  there  was  no 
abstemiousness  which  he  would  not  have  practised,  in 
order  so  to  enrich  his  beloved  France.  He  plundered 
the  Jews,  but  that  was  on  religious  grounds ;  their 
tainted  wealth  might  not  infect  the  royal  treasury  ;  he 
bestowed  the  whole  on  Baldwin  of  Constantinople. 

Yet  Louis  was  no  slave  of  the  hierarchy.     His  relig- 

1  Compare  Tillemont,  Vie  de  Saint  Louis,  ii.  -337. 


22  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI 

ion  was  of  too  lofty  a  cast  to  submit  to  the  dictates 
of  a  worldly  clergy.  His  own  great  objects  of  admira- 
tion were  the  yet  uncorrupt  Mendicants,  the  Preachers 
and  Minorites  ;  half  his  body  he  would  give  to  S\ 
Dominic,  half  to  St.  Francis.  He  once  gravely  medi- 
tated the  abandonment  of  his  throne  to  put  on  the 
weeds  of  one  of  these  Orders.  His  laws  will  after- 
wards display  him,  if  not  as  the  founder,  the  assertor 
of  the  liberties  of  the  Gallican  Church,  and  of  the  royal 
power,  as  limiting  that  of  the  Papacy.  Throughout 
the  strife  between  Frederick  II.  and  Gregory  IX.  he 
maintained  an  impartial  and  dignified  neutrality.  He 
had  not  declined  the  summons  of  the  Emperor  to  hold 
a  meeting  of  the  temporal  Sovereigns  of  Christendom 
to  resist  in  common  the  encroachments  of  the  spiritual 
power.  Nothing  could  surpass  the  calm  loftiness  with 
which  he  demanded  the  release  of  the  French  prelates 
taken  at  the  battle  of  Meloria  ;  he  could  advance  the 
cogent  argument,  that  he  had  resisted  all  the  demands 
and  entreaties  of  the  Pope  to  be  permitted  to  levy  sub- 
sidies on  the  realm  of  France  for  the  war  against  the 
Emperor.  He  had  refused,  as  we  have  seen,  the  offer 
of  the  Imperial  crown  from  Innocent  IV.  for  his 
brother  ;  only  when  Frederick  threatened  to  march  on 
Lyons,  and  crash  the  Pope,  did  Louis  seem  disposed  to 
take  up  arms  for  the  defence  of  the  Pontiff.1 

Such  a  monarch  could  not  but  be  seized  by  the  yet 
Louis  deter-    unexpired  passion  for  the  Crusade.     Urban 

mines  ou  a        TT  .      „  ,  ,  , 

crusade.  11.,  two  centuries  before,  would  not  have 
found  a  more  ardent  follower.  It  was  in  St.  Louis  no 
love,  no  aptitude  for  war,  no  boiling  and  impetuous 
valor.     His  slight  frame  and  delicate  health  gave  nc 

i  Tillemont,  iii.  p.  164. 


Chap.  I.  CRUSADE.  2v> 

promise  of  personal  prowess  or  fame ;  he  was  in 
no  way  distinguished  in,  he  loved  not  knightly  exer- 
cises. He  had  no  conscious  confidence  in  his  military 
skill  or  talent  to  intoxicate  him  with  the  hopes  of  a 
conqueror  ;  he  seems  to  have  utterly  wanted,  perhaps 
to  have  despised,  the  most  ordinary  acquirements  of  a 
general.  He  went  forth  simply  as  the  servant  of  God ; 
he  might  seem  to  disdain  even  the  commonest  precau- 
tions. God  was  to  fight  his  own  battles  ;  Louis  was 
assured  of  victory  or  Paradise.  All  depended  on  the 
faith,  and  the  suppression  of  military  license,  at  which 
he  labored  with  fond  hopes  of  success,  not  on  the  valor, 
discipline,  generalship  of  the  army.  In  his  determina- 
tion to  embark  on  the  Crusade,  Louis  resolutely  assert- 
ed the  absolute  power  of  the  monarch :  in  this  alone  he 
resisted  the  colder  caution  of  his  mother  Blanche  ;  she 
was  obliged  to  yield  to  the  pious  stubbornness  of  her 
son.  Louis  was  seized  with  an  alarming  illness,  he  had 
sunk  into  a  profound  lethargy,  he  was  thought  dead  ;  a 
pious  female  had  drawn  the  covering,  in  sad  respect, 
over  what  seemed  the  lifeless  corpse.  Another  gently 
withdrew  it.  The  soft  but  hollow  voice  of  the  King 
was  heard :  "  God  has  raised  me  from  the  dead  :  give 
me  the  Cross."  His  mother  wept  tears  of  joy ;  when 
she  saw  the  Cross  on  his  breast,  she  knew  the  A  D  1244 
meaning  of  that  gesture.  She  shuddered  as  Dec* 10 
if  he  lay  dead  before  her.1 

No  expedition  to  the  East  was  so  ignominiously  dis- 
astrous as  that  of  St.  Louis :  yet  none  might  seem  to 
set  forth  under  more  promising  auspices.  He  was  three 
years  in  assembling  his  forces,  preparing  arms,  money, 
horses,  soldiers.     It  was  in  October  (a.d.  1245)  that  in 

1  Joinville,  p.  207. 


24  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI 

the  Parliament  of  Paris  he  publicly  took  the  Cross. 
The  princes,  the  nobles,  vied  in  following  his  example ; 
his  brother,  Robert  of  Artois,  the  Duke  of  Burgundy, 
the  Duke  of  Brabant,  the  Countess  of  Flanders  and 
her  sons,  Peter  Mauclerc  of  Dreux  and  his  son,  the 
Count  of  Bretagne,  the  Counts  of  Bar,  Soissons,  St. 
Pol,  de  la  Marche,  Rhetel,  Montfort ;  the  Archbishops 
of  Rheims,  Sens,  and  Bourges,  the  Bishops  of  Beau- 
vais,  Laon,  and  Orleans,  with  countless  knights  and 
esquires.  At  Christinas  in  the  same  year  Louis  prac- 
tised perhaps  the  only  act  of  treachery  of  which  he 
was  guilty  in  his  life.  It  was  the  custom  for  the  King 
to  distribute,  as  his  gifts  on  that  day,  new  robes  to  the 
courtiers.  He  ordered  red  crosses  to  be  secretly  em- 
broidered between  the  shoulders  ;  they  were  lavished 
in  more  than  usual  numbers.  The  courtiers  were  aston- 
ished to  find  that  the  King  had  thus  piously  enlisted 
them  ;  they  were  now  warriors  of  the  Cross,  who  could 
not  shrink  from  their  engagement.  It  would  have 
been  indecent,  disgraceful,  ignoble,  to  throw  aside  the 
crosses ;  so,  with  true  French  levity,  they  laughed  and 
wept  at  once,  owning  that  they  were  completely  en- 
trapped by  the  King. 

From  that  time  the  whole  thoughts  of  Louis  were 
absorbed  in  the  Holy  War.  He  resisted  the  offers  of 
Pope  Innocent  to  befriend  him  in  a  war  against  Eng- 
land, evm  in  an  invasion  of  England.  He  made,  as 
a.d  1246.  he  hoped,  a  lasting  peace  with  his  neighbor. 
He  took  no  part  in  the  confederacy  of  the  French  no- 
bility to  resist  the  exactions  of  the  Pope  and  of  the 
hierarchy.1  He  labored  earnestly,  though  ineffectually, 
to  reconcile  the  Emperor  and  the  Pope. 

1  According  to  Paris,  St.  Louis  favored  the  League.   Compare  Tillemor', 
iii.  p.  120. 


Chap.  I.  LOUIS   EMBARKS   IN  THE  CRUSADE.  &j 

So  far,  on  the  other  hand,  had  his  strife  with  the 
Emperor  absorbed  all  other  religious  passions  in  the 
Pope,  that  not  only  was  there  no  cordial  cooperation 
on  the  part  of  Innocent  in  the  Crusade  of  St.  Louis, 
but  exemptions  from  the  Crusades  were  now  notoriously 
sold,  it  was  believed  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  war 
against  the  Emperor.  The  Crusaders  in  Italy  were 
urged  to  join  the  Pope's  forces,  with  all  the  privileges 
and  exemptions  of  a  Crusade  to  the  Holy  Land. 

Louis  himself  did  not  embark  at  the  head  of  a  great 

army,  like  a  puissant  monarch.     The  princes,  Louis  em- 

/  iii  i    .  barks  in  the 

prelates,  and  nobles  were  to  arrange  their  own  crusade. 

transport.  St.  Louis  passed  down  the  Rhone ;  he  was 
urged  to  avenge  the  death  of  his  father  on  rebellious 
Avion  on  :  "I  have  taken  arms  to  revenge  Jesus  Christ, 
not  my  father."  The  island  of  Cyprus  was  the  place 
of  rendezvous.  In  Cyprus  there  was  a  delay  of  eight 
months.  Want  of  discipline  and  a  fatal  epidemic  made 
great  ravages  in  the  army  ;  there  seemed  a  total  absence 
of  conduct  or  command.  But  for  supplies  sent  by  the 
Emperor  Frederick,  there  had  been  famine.  The  grate- 
ful Louis  made  one  more  effort  to  mediate  between  the 
Pope  and  the  Emperor.  The  overture  was  contempt- 
uously rejected. 

At  length  the  armament  set  sail ;  its  object  was  the 
conquest  of  Egypt,  as  securing  that  of  the  June  7  1248_ 
Holy  Land.  Damietta  was  abandoned  by  (^p™8-) 
the  Saracens  ;  the  Crusaders  were  masters  of  that  great 
city.1  But  never  were  the  terror  and  advantages  of  a 
first  success  so  thrown  away.     Months  were  wasted  ; 

1  The  instant  St.  Louis  landed  and  saw  the  Saracens,  he  drew  his  sworct 
and  was  for  charging  them  at  once.  The  wiser  "  preudhommes  "  stopped 
him.     This  was  St.  Louis's  notion  of  military  affairs.  —  Joinville,  p.  215. 


26  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  Xi 

the  King  was  performing  the  offices  of  a  monk,  not  of 
a  general.  Yet  the  army  of  the  pious  Louis  was  aban- 
doned to  every  kind  of  Oriental  luxury.1  In  June 
they  were  in  Damietta,  in  November  they  marched, 
June  20.        and  snut  themselves  in  a  camp  in  a  corner  be- 

(Dauiietta.)       tween    the    J^    an(j    ^    ^    of   AslimOUll. 

The  flying  bands  of  the  enemy,  with  the  Greek  fire, 
Feb.  8-n.  harassed  the  camp.  Good  fortune  and  the 
valor  of  the  soldiery  extricated  them  from  this  diffi- 
culty, only  to  involve  them  in  more  fatal  disasters. 
The  King's  brother,  the  Count  of  Artois,  fell  in  a  hasty 
unsupported  advance.  The  unrivalled  valor  of  the 
French  was  wasted  in  unprofitable  victories,  like  those 
in  Mansourah,  or  in  miserable  defeats.  The  camp  was 
in  a  state  of  blockade ;  pestilence,2  famine,  did  the  work 
Defeat  and  0I>  tne  enemy.  The  King  of  France  was  a 
Marchl".  prisoner  to  the  Sultan  of  Egypt.  Of  two 
April  6.  thousand  three  hundred  knights  and  fifteen 
thousand  pilgrims  few  made  their  escape.  His  brothers, 
Alfonse  of  Poitou  and  Charles  of  Anjou,  shared  his 
captivity.  His  Queen,  far  advanced  in  pregnancy,  re- 
mained with  an  insufficient  force  in  Damietta.  She 
bore  a  son  prematurely ;  she  called  his  name  "  Tris- 
tan." 

But  it  was  adversity  which  displayed  the  great  char- 
acter of  St.  Louis.  He  was  himself  treated  at  first 
with  courtesy ;  he  was  permitted  to  hear  the  canonical 
prayers,  after  the  custom  of  the  Church  of  Paris,  re- 
cited by  the  single  priest  who  had  escaped  ;  his  brev- 
iary, the  loss  of  which  he  deplored  above  all  losses,  was 

1  Not  a  stone's  throw  from  the  King  the  soldiers  "  tenoient  leurs  bor- 
diaux."  —  Joinville,  217. 

2  They  had  no  fish  all  Lent  but  "  bourbettes,"  which  gluttonous  fish  fed 
on  dead  bodies,  and  produced  dreadful  maladies. 


Chap.  I.  LOUIS  A   TRISONER.  27 

replaced  by  another.  But  he  had  the  bitter  aggrava- 
tion of  his  misery  —  that,  of  ten  thousand  prisoners  in 
Mansourah,  all  who  would  not  abandon  their  faith  (and 
some  there  were  guilty  of  this  apostasy)  met  a  cruel 
death.  But  to  all  the  courteous  approaches  of  the  Sul- 
tan, Louis  was  jealously  on  his  guard,  lest  he  should 
compromise  his  dignity  as  a  King  or  his  purity  as  a 
Christian  :  he  would  not  receive  the  present  of  a  dress 
from  the  unbeliever.  To  their  exorbitant  demands  and 
menaces  he  gave  a  calm  and  determined  reply.  They 
demanded  the  surrender  of  all  the  fortresses  in  Syria : 
these,  it  was  answered,  belonged  not  to  the  King  of 
France,  but  to  Frederick  II.  as  King  of  Jerusalem.  To 
that  of  yielding  up  the  castles  garrisoned  by  the  Knights 
of  the  Temple  and  of  St.  John,  the  answer  was  that 
the  Orders  could  not  surrender  them  without  violating 
their  vows.  The  King  was  threatened  with  torture  — 
torture  of  the  most  cruel  kind  —  the  barnacles,  which 
crushed  the  legs.  "  I  am  your  prisoner,'*  he  said,  "  ye 
may  do  with  me  as  ye  will."1  It  is  said  that  he  defied 
even  the  more  degrading  menace  of  carrying  him  about 
and  exhibiting  him  as  a  spectacle  in  all  the  cities  of 
Islam.  At  length  more  reasonable  terms  were  pro- 
posed ;  the  evacuation  of  Damietta,  and  a  large  sum 
of  money  —  for  the  King's  ransom  one  million  byzan- 
tines;  for  the  captive  Barons  five  hundred  thousand 
French  livres.  Concerning  his  own  ransom  Lcuis 
made  some  difficulty ;  he  acceded  at  once  to  that  of 
the  Barons.  "  It  becomes  not  the  Kino;  of  France  to 
barter  about  the  liberty  of  her  subjects."2    The  Sultan, 

1  Joinville,  p.  243. 

2  "  Par  ma  foy  larges  est  le  Frans,  quant  il  na  pas  bargigne"  (marchandd) 
sur  si  grant  somnie  de  deniers."     So  said  the  Saracens.     Joinville,  243. 


28  LATTN  CHRISTIANITY  Boor  XI 

Turan-Shali,  was  moved  by  the  monarch's  generosity ; 
with  Oriental  magnificence,  he  struck  off  one  fifth  — 
two  hundred  thousand  by  zan  tines —  from  his  ransom. 

In  the  new  perils  which  arose  on  the  murder  of  the 
Murder  of      Sultan  Turan-Shah  before  the  deliverance  of 

the  Sultan  .  .  .  .-(    ,.;     ,  ,  n     ,        Tr. 

Turan-shah.  the  prisoners,  the  tranquil  dignity  ot  the  King 
of  France  overawed  even  the  bloody  Mamelukes.  The 
Emirs  renewed  the  treaty ;  the  difficulty  was  now  the 
oath.  The  King  demanded,  by  the  advice  of  Master 
Nicolas  of  Ptolema'is,  that  the  Mussulmans  should  swear, 
"  that  if  they  broke  the  treaty  they  should  be  dishon- 
ored as  the  Islamite  who  should  go  as  a  pilgrim  to 
Mecca  bareheaded,  as  one  who  should  take  back  a 
divorced  wife,  as  one  who  had  eaten  swine's  flesh."  A 
renegade  suggested  as  an  equivalent  form  to  be  required 
of  the  King,  that  in  like  case,  should  he  violate  the 
treaty,  "  he  should  be  dishonored  as  a  Christian  who 
had  denied  God  and  his  Holy  Mother,  and  had  severed 
himself  from  the  communion  of  God,  his  Apostles,  and 
Saints  ;  or,  in  mockery  of  God,  had  spat  on  the  Holy 
Cross  and  trampled  it  under  foot."  Louis  indignantly 
repelled  the  last  clause.  The  Emirs  threatened  him 
with  death  ;  he  declared  that  he  had  rather  die  than 
live,  after  having  insulted  God  and  his  Holy  Mother.1 
His  brothers  and  the  other  Barons  followed  the  example 
of  his  firmness.  In  vain  the  Mamelukes  seized  the 
Patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  who  had  come  under  the  Sul- 
tan's safe  conduct  (which  they  disclaimed)  into  the 
camp,  a  man  eighty  years  old,  and  tied  him  to  a  tent- 
post  with  his  hands  behind  his  back,  till  they  swelled 
and  almost  burst.  The  Patriarch,  in  his  agony,  en- 
treated the  King  to  yield,  and  offered  to  take  upon  him- 

i  Joinville,  p.  246. 


Chap.  I.  RANSOM  AND  RELEASE  OF  LOUIS.  29 

self  all  the  guilt  of  his  oath.  The  oath  was  arranged, 
it  is  not  known  how,  to  mutual  satisfaction  ;  but  so  rig- 
idly scrupulous  was  Louis,  that  when  it  appeared  that 
in  the  payment  of  part  of  the  ransom  the  Christians 
might  have  gained  an  advantage,  either  fairly  or  un- 
fairly, of  ten  thousand  byzantines  in  weight,  he  per- 
emptorily commanded  the  full  payment. 

The  release  of  the  King  on  such  favorable  terms,  at 
a  price  so  much  below  the  value  .of  such  a^^^ 
captive,  astonished  both  the  Christians  and  release- 
the  Mussulmans.  Damietta  could  not  have  resisted 
many  days.  Much  was  attributed  to  the  awe  inspired 
by  the  majestic  demeanor  and  calm  self-command  of 
the  King.1  Joinville,  his  faithful  seneschal  and  his 
torian,  had  persuaded  himself  that  the  Emirs,  after  the 
murder  of  Turan-Shah,  had  determined  to  offer  the 
crown  of  Egypt  to  the  King  of  France  ;  they  were 
only  deterred  by  his  stern  Christianity,  which  would 
never  have  submitted  to  the  toleration  of  their  creed. 
The  King  himself  declared  to  the  Seneschal  that  he 
should  not  have  declined  the  offer.  Happily  it  was 
not  made,  probably  was  never  contemplated ;  the  death 
of  Louis  would  soon  have  vindicated  the  affront  on 
Islam.  But  all  this,  no  doubt,  heightened  the  religious 
romance  which  spread  in  Europe  around  the  name  of 
Louis. 

Notwithstanding  his  defeat  and  humiliation  and  cap- 
tivity, the  passive  courage  of  Louis  was  still  Hopes  of 
unbroken  ;  he  persisted,  contrary  to  all  coun-  Lou18, 
sel,  in  remaining  in  Palestine.     He  would  not  suppose 
that  God  would  utterly  abandon  his  faithful  servants  ; 

1  The  Saracens,  according  to  Joinville,  said  that  if  Mohammed  had 
allowed  such  sufferings  to  be  inflicted  on  them  as  St.  Louis  endured,  thev 
should  have  renounced  him.  —  P.  247. 


30  LATI1N    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI 

he  would  not  believe  that  Christendom  would  be  un- 
moved by  his  appeal ;  he  still  would  fondly  expect  that 
the  irresolute  Henry  of  England  would  fulfil  his  vow, 
and  come  to  his  rescue  at  the  head  of  his  whole  realm.1 
To  Henry  the  summons  was  earnest  and  repeated. 
Louis  made  the  most  advantageous  overtures  ;  he  even, 
to  the  indignation  and  disgust  of  his  own  subjects,  of- 
fered the  surrender  of  Normandy,  to  which  England 
still  laid  claim  as  her  King's  hereditary  dominions.2 
He  still  imagined  that  the  Pope  would  lay  aside  all 
his  plans  for  the  humiliation  of  Frederick,  and  be  com- 
pelled, by  his  own  Apostolic  character,  and  the  general 
voice  of  Christendom,  to  sacrifice  everything  to  the 
recovery  of  the  Holy  Land  ;  that  there  would  be  but 
one  Crusade  under  his  auspices,  and  that  the  legitimate 
Deserted  one.  Louis  was  deserted  by  his  brothers, 
brothers.  whose  light  conduct  had  caused  him  great 
vexation  ;  while  he  was  in  perpetual  self-mortification 
before  God  for  his  sins,  which  he  did  not  doubt  had 
caused  his  defeat  and  bondage,  they  were  playing  at 
dice,  whiling  away  the  hours  with  vain  amusements. 
Almost  all  the  Barons  followed  the  Counts  of  Poitou 
and  Anjou  ;  Louis  was  left  almost  alone  with  Joinville, 
his  faithful  Seneschal.  Nor  was  his  weary  sojourn  in 
Palestine  enlivened  by  any  brilliant  successes  or  gallant 
feats  of  arms.  For  these  Louis  had  neither  the  activ- 
ity nor  the  skill.  He  was  performing  the  pious  office 
a  d.  1251.  of  assisting  with  his  own  hands  to  bury  the 
dead  warriors.      A  hasty  pilgrimage   in   sackcloth    to 

1  Henry  took  the  cross  (March  6,  1251),  says  Tillemont,  "  soit  pour  piller 
plus  librement  ses  sujets,  soit  pour  quelque  meilleur  dessein."  The  Pope 
wrote  to  Henry  early  in  1251.  Henry  swore  to  go  to  the  Holy  Land  in 
three  years.  —  Paris,  p.  834. 

a  Paris  833,  834. 


Chap.  I.  RETURN  TO  EUROPE.  31 

Nazareth  was  almost  the  only  reward  ;  the  only  advan- 
tage of  his  residence  was  the  fortification  of  Ca3sarea, 
Ptolemais,  and  Joppa.  The  negotiations  with  the  Sul- 
tan of  Aleppo  on  one  side,  and  the  Egyptians  on  the 
other,  by  which  he  hoped  to  obtain  the  country  west 
of  the  Jordan,  came  to  nothing.  He  is  said  to  have 
converted  many  Saracens  ; *  he  spent  enormous  sums  in 
the  purchase  of  Mohammedan  or  heathen  slaves,  whom 
he  caused  to  be  baptized.2 

It  was  only  the  death  of  the  Queen-mother  Blanche, 
and  the  imperious  necessity  for  his  presence  Return  to 
in  his  kingdom  of  France,  which  forced  him  Nov.  1252. 
at  last  to  leave  the  hallowed  soil.  He  returned  —  if 
without  fame  for  arms,  or  for  the  conduct  of  affairs  — 
with  the  profoundest  reverence  for  his  sanctity.  Only 
a  few  years  before,  Frederick  II.  had  come  back  to 
Europe,  leaving  Jerusalem  in  the  hands  of  the  Chris- 
tians ;  the  Christian  power  in  Palestine,  but  for  its  own 
dissensions,  formidable  both  to  the  Sultan  of  Egypt, 
and  the  Sultan  of  Damascus;  he  had  come  back  still 
under  the  sentence  of  excommunication,  under  the  re- 
proach with  the  Papal  party  of  having  basely  betrayed 
the  interests  of  the  Cross  and  of  God.  Louis  left  Je- 
rusalem unapproachable  but  with  difficulty  and  danger 
by  the  Christian  pilgrim,  and  the  kingdom  of  Jerusa- 
lem visibly  trembling  to  its  fall ;  yet  an  object  of  de- 
vout respect,  having  made  some  advance  at  least,  to  his 
future  canonization. 

The  contrast  between  Frederick  and  Louis  may  be 
carried  on  with  singular  interest,  as  illustra-  Further 
tive  of  their  times.     It  might  have  been  sup-  Frederick* 
posed   that   Louis  would  have  been  the  re- and  Louis- 

1  Tillemont,  from  MSS.,  and  Duchesne,  p.  405.  2  Ibid. 


82  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

morseless  persecutor  of  heretics  ;  Frederick,  if  not  the 
bold  assertor  of  equal  toleration,  which  he  allowed  to 
Greeks  and  Mohammedans,  would  hardly  have  been 
the  sovereign  to  enact  and  execute  persecuting  edicts, 
unprecedented  in  their  cruelty,  and  to  encourage  the  son 
to  denounce  the  father.1  Happily  for  Louis,  his  virtue 
was  not  tried  by  this  sore  temptation ;  it  was  not  under 
his  government  that  the  spiritual  ravagers  still  wasted 
Languedoc.  After  the  treaty  by  which  Raymond  VII., 
Louis  escapes  Count  of  Toulouse,  surrendered  his  princi- 
eeeutor.  pality,  he  remained  with  the  barren  dignity 
of  sovereign,  but  without  a  voice  in  the  fate  of  a  large 
though  concealed  part  of  his  subjects.  Bishop  Fulk  of 
Toulouse,  as  far  as  actual  power,  was  half  sovereign 
of  the  land,  and  the  council  of  that  sovereign,  which 
alone  displayed  administrative  activity,  was  the  Inquisi- 
tion. Heresy  had  been  extinguished  as  far  as  its  public 
services ;  but  the  Inquisition  of  Toulouse  determined 
to  root  it  out  from  the  hearths,  from  the  chambers, 
from  the  secret  hearts  and  souls  of  men.  The  statutes 
of  the  Council  of  Lateran  were  too  merciful.  The 
Inquisition  drew  up  its  code  of  procedure,2  a  Christian 
code,  of  which  the  base  was  a  system  of  delation  at 
which  the  worst  of  the  Pagan  emperors  might  have 
shuddered  as  iniquitous ;  in  which  the  sole  act  deserv- 
ing of  mercy  might  seem  to  be  the  Judas-like  betrayal 
of  the  dearest  and  most  familiar  friend,  of  the  kinsman, 


i  See  vol.  v.  p.  385. 

2  The  two  forms  of  procedure  may  be  read  in  Martene  and  Durand.  — 
Thesaurus  Anecdotorum,  t.  v.  Their  authenticity  is  beyond  dispute.  Noth- 
ing that  the  sternest  or  most  passionate  historian  has  revealed,  nothing  that 
the  most  impressive  romance-writer  could  have  imagined,  can  surpass  the 
cold  systematic  treachery  and  cruelty  of  these,  so  called,  judicial  formu- 
laries. 


Chap.  I.  CODE   OF   THE  INQUISITION.  33 

the  parent,  the  child.  Though  these  acts  belong  nei- 
ther to  Frederick  nor  to  Louis,  they  must  find  their 
place  in  our  history. 

The  Court  sat  in  profound  secrecy ;  no  advocate 
might  appear  before  the  tribunal  ;  no  witness  Form  of 
was  confronted  with  the  accused :  who  were  Procedur6- 
the  informers,  what  the  charges,  except  the  vague 
charge  of  heresy,  no  one  knew.  The  suspected  heretic 
was  first  summoned  to  declare  on  oath  that  he  would 
speak  the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  of  all  persons  whatso- 
ever, living  or  dead,  with  himself,  or  like  himself,  under 
suspicion  of  heresy  or  Vaudism.  If  he  refused,  he 
was  cast  into  a  dungeon  —  a  dungeon  the  darkest  in 
those  dreary  ages  —  the  most  dismal,  the  most  foul,  the 
most  noisome.  No  falsehood  was  too  false,  no  craft  too 
crafty,  no  trick  too  base,  for  this  calm,  systematic  moral 
torture  which  was  to  wring  further  confession  against 
himself,  denunciation  against  others.  If  the  rack,  the 
pulleys,  the  thumbscrew,  and  the  boots,  were  not  yet 
invented  or  applied,  it  was  not  in  mercy.  It  was  the 
deliberate  object  to  break  the  spirit.  The  prisoner  was 
told  that  there  were  witnesses,  undeniable  witnesses 
against  him  ;  if  convicted  by  such  witnesses  his  death 
was  inevitable.  In  the  mean  time  his  food  was  to  be 
slowly,  gradually  diminished,  till  body  and  soul  were 
prostrate.  He  was  then  to  be  left  in  darkness,  solitude, 
silence,  Then  were  to  come  one  or  two  of  the  faithful, 
dexterous  men,  who  were  to  speak  in  gentle  words  of 
interest  and  sympathy  —  "  Fear  not  to  confess  that  you 
have  had  dealings  with  those  men,  the  teachers  of 
heresy,  because  they  seemed  to  you  men  of  holiness 
and  virtue ;  wiser  than  you  have  been  deceived." 
These  dexterous  men  were  to  speak  of  the  Bible,  of 


84  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI 

the  Gospels,  of  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  to  talk  the 
very  language,  the  Scriptural  language  of  the  heretics. 
"  These  foxes,"  it  was  said,  "  can  only  be  unearthed 
by  fox-like  cunning."  But  if  all  this  art  failed,  or  did 
not  perfectly  succeed,  then  came  terror  and  the  goad- 
ing to  despair.  "Die  you  must  —  bethink  you  of 
your  soul."  Upon  which  if  the  desperate  man  suid, 
**  If  I  must  die,  I  will  die  in  the  true  faith  of  the  Gos- 
pel "  —  he  had  made  his  confession  :  justice  claimed  its 
victim. 

The  Inquisition  had  three  penalties  :  for  those  who 
recanted,  penance  in  the  severest  form  which  the  Court 
might  enact ;  for  those  not  absolutely  convicted,  per- 
petual imprisonment  j  for  the  obstinate  or  the  relapsed, 
death  —  death  at  the  stake,  death  by  the  secular  arm. 
The  Inquisition,  with  specious  hypocrisy,  while  it  pre- 
pared and  dressed  up  the  victim  for  the  burning,  looked 
on  with  calm  and  approving  satisfaction,  as  it  had  left 
the  sin  of  lighting  the  fire  to  pollute  other  hands. 

Such  was  the  procedure,  of  which  the  instructions 
may  now  be  read  in  their  very  words,  which  Raymond 
of  Toulouse  must  put  in  execution  in  his  capital  city. 
The  death  of  the  Bishop  Fulk  relieved  him  not ;  an 
a.d.  1231.  inflexible  Dominican  sat  on  the  episcopal 
seat  of  Toulouse.  The  Pope,  Gregory  IX.,  issued  a 
bull,  in  which  the  Inquisition  was  placed  in  the  inexo- 
rable hands  of  the  Friar  Preachers.  Two  inquisitors 
were  appointed  in  every  city  ;  but  the  Bishops  needed 
no  excitement  to  their  eager  zeal,  no  remonstrance 
against  mistimed  mercy  to  the  heretics.  At  the  Coun- 
cil of  Narbonne,  presided  over  by  the  Archbishops  of 
a.d.  12.33.  Narbonne,  Aix,  and  Aries,  was  now  issued 
a  decree,  that  as  there  were  not  prisons  vast  enough  1p 


Chap.  I.  KEBELLION.  35 

contain  those  who,  however  they  had  made  submission, 
were  still  unworthy  of  the  absolution  of  the  Church, 
and  deserved  imprisonment  for  life,  further  instructions 
must  be  awaited  from  his  Holiness  the  Pope.  But  the 
contumacious,  who  refused  to  submit  to  imprisonment, 
or  who  broke  prison,  were  to  be  at  once  made  over  to 
the  secular  arm.  No  plea  was  to  be  admitted  to  re- 
lease from  imprisonment ;  not  the  duty  of  the  husband 
to  the  young  wife,  of  the  young  wife  to  her  husband ; 
not  that  of  the  parents  for  the  care  of  their  children, 
nor  of  children  for  the  care  of  their  parents ;  infirmity, 
age,  dotage,  nothing  excused,  nothing  mitigated  the 
sentence.  So  enormous  was  the  crime  of  heresy,  the 
infamous,  whose  witness  was  refused  in  all  other  cases, 
were  admitted  against  the  heretic :  on  no  account  was 
the  name  of  a  witness  to  be  betrayed. 

But  the  most  oppressed  may  be  overwrought  to  mad- 
ness. Witnesses  were  found  murdered  ;  even  Rebellion, 
the  awful  persons  of  inquisitors  were  not  secure.  An 
insurrection  broke  out  in  the  suburbs  of  Narbonne 
against  the  Prior  of  the  Dominicans ;  the  Archbishop 
and  the  Viscount  of  Narbonne  in  their  defence  suf- 
fered a  repulse.  The  insurgents  despised  the  excom- 
munication of  the  Archbishop,  and  fought  gallantly 
against  the  rest  of  the  city,  which  espoused  the  cause 
of  the  Church.  Albi  was  in  tumult,  even  Toulouse 
arose.  The  two  great  inquisitors,  William  Arnaud  and 
Peter  Cellani,  were  compelled  to  leave  the  city.  They 
marched  out  at  the  head  of  the  thirty-eight  members 
of  the  Inquisition,  with  the  Bishop  and  the  parish 
priests  in  solemn  procession  ;  they  hurled  back  an  ex- 
communication. Count  Raymond  compelled  the  re- 
admission  of  the  clergy,  but  even  Rome  was  appalled :  a 


36  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X] 

Franciscan  was  sent  to  allay  by  Ins  gentleness  tho 
4.T).  1237.  popular  fury.  The  proceedings  of  the  Inqui- 
sition (this  merciful  edict  was  purchased  in  Rome)  were 
suspended  for  a  time  in  Toulouse.1 

Five  years  passed.      Raymond  of   Toulouse,  under 
rash!-.  the  shelter,  as  it  were,  of  the  wars  between 

inquisitor*.  Louis  IX.  and  Henry  of  England,  and  en- 
couraged by  hopes  of  support  from  the  Spanish  kings, 
aspired  at  the  head  of  the  league  among  the  great  vas- 
sals of  the  south  to  throw  off  the  yoke  of  Northern 
France.  The  down-trodden  Albigensians  seized  their 
opportunity.  They  met  at  Mirepoix,  marched  on  the 
castle  of  Avigncourt,  where  William  Arnaud,  the  great 
inquisitor,  held  his  tribunal.  Four  Dominicans,  two 
Franciscans,  seven  Familiars,  the  whole  terrible  court, 
were  hewn  to  pieces.  That  which  had  thrown  a 
dreadful  grandeur  over  the  murders  perpetrated  by  the 
inquisitors,  gave  a  majestic  endurance  to  their  own. 
They  died  like  the  meekest  martyrs  :  they  fell  on  their 
ad.  1242.  knees,  crossed  their  hands  over  their  breasts, 
and,  chanting  the  Te  Deum,  as  wont  over  their  vic- 
tims, they  awaited  the  mortal  blow.2  They  were  not 
long  unavenged.  Raymond  was  forced  to  submit ;  hi? 
act  of  subjection  to  Louis  IX.  stipulated  his  abandon- 
ment of  the  heretics.  Two  years  after,  at  another 
March,  1244.  Council  at  Narbonue,  it  was  enacted  that  the 
penitents,  who  had  escaped  from  prison,  should  in 
mercy  be  permitted  to  wear  yellow  crosses  on  their 
garments,  to  appear  every  Sunday  during  mass,  and 
undergo  public   flagellation:    the   rest  were  to    suffer 

i  Martene,  Thesaur.  Anecdot.,  i.  992.    Vaissette,  Hist,  de  Languedoc, 
Appendix  xxv. 
2  llistoire  de  Languedoc,  Preuves,  p.  438. 


Chap.  I.  PERSECUTIONS   IN   FRANCE.  37 

life-long  incarceration.  At  the  same  time  Mont  Se- 
gur,1  the  last  refuge  of  the  Albigensians,  a  strong 
castle  on  the  summit  of  a  ravine  in  the  Pyrenees,  to 
which  most  of  the  Perfect  with  their  Bishop  had  fled, 
was  forced  to  surrender  to  the  Archbishop  of  Nar- 
bonne,  the  Bishop  of  Albi,  and  the  Seneschal  of  Car- 
cassonne. All  the  heretics,  with  their  Bishop  and  the 
noble  lady,  Esclarmonde,  were  burned  alive  in  a  vast 
enclosure  of  stakes  and  straw.2  Of  all  these  atrocities, 
however,  Louis  IX.  was  guiltless ;  he  was  not  yet,  or 
was  hardly,  of  age,  and  his  whole  soul  was  absorbed  in 
his  preparation  for  his  crusade.  Even  his  brother, 
Charles  of  Anjou,  who  by  obtaining  the  hand  of  the 
heiress  of  Provence  (to  which  Raymond  of  Toulouse 
aspired)  had  become  lord  of  that  territory,  took  no  ac- 
tive part  in  these  persecutions. 

Yet  even  in  the  realm  of  France  a  frightful  holocaust 
was  offered  near  the  city  of  Rheims.  In  Persecutions 
the  presence  of  the  Archbishop  and  seventeen  a.d.  1239.* 
Bishops,  and  one  hundred  thousand  people,  on  Mont 
Aime  near  Vertus,  one  hundred  and  eighty-three 
Manicheans  (one  Perfect  alone)  were  burned  alive 
with  their  pastor,  who  calmly  administered  absolution 
to  them  all.  Not  one  but  died  without  fear.  But  this 
execution  took  place  in  the  territory  and  under  the 
sanction  of  Count  Thiebault  of  Champagne,  not  of  the 
King ;  of  Thiebault  (the  King  of  Navarre),  whose 
Troubadour  songs  were  as  little  respectful  to  the  cler- 
gy, or  the  Papalists,  as  those  of  the  other  Languedocian 
bards.3  If  even  under  Louis  a  monk  held  his  court  in 
Paris,  and,  unrebuked,  inflicted  death  on  many  initio- 

1  Puy  Laurent,  c.  4G.  3  Compare  H.  Martin,  Hist,  de  France. 

2  Ibid. 


38  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

cent  victims,  this  seems  to  have  been  an  exceptional 
case  ;  nor  is  it  quite  clear  how  far  it  had  the  concur- 
rence of  the  King.1 

Yet  for  a  time  suspended,  our  comparison  of  Louis 
IX.  and  Frederick  II.  is  not  exhausted.  As  legislators 
there  is  the  most  striking  analogy  between  these  two, 
in  so  many  other  respects  oppugnant  sovereigns.  The 
Sicilian  laws  of  Frederick  and  the  "  Establishments  " 
of  St.  Louis  agree  in  the  assertion  (as  far  as  their 
times  would  admit)  of  the  absolute  supremacy  of  the 
law,  the  law  emanating  from  the  King,  and  in  the  ab- 
rogation (though  Louis  is  more  timid  or  cautious  than 
Frederick)  of  the  ordeal,  the  trial  by  battle,  and  the 
still  stranger  usage  of  challenging  the  judges  to  battle. 

The  Justiciaries  of  Frederick  belonged  to  a  more 
Frederick  and  advanced  jurisprudence  than   the  King  him- 

Louis  as  law-  ,  „  7  .  .  -in  n 

givers.  selr,    seated    on    his   carpet  in  the  forest   or 

Vincennes  administering  justice.2  But  the  introduc- 
tion under  his  reign  of  the  civil  lawyers,  the  students 
and  advocates  of  the  Roman  jurisprudence,  into  the 
courts  of  France  (under  Philip  the  Fair  will  be  seen 
their  strife,  even  triumph  over  the  canon  lawyers), 
gave  a  new  character  to  the  ordinances  of  St.  Louis, 
and  of  far  more  lasting  influence.  The  ruin  of  the 
house  of  Swabia,  and  the  desuetude  into  which,  in  most 
respects,  fell  the  constitution  of  Frederick,  prevented 
Naples  from  becoming  a  school  of  Roman  law  as  fa- 
mous as  that  of  Paris,  and  the  lawyers  of  the  kingdom 
of  Sicily  from  rising  into  a  body  as  powerful  as  those 
of  France  in  her  parliaments. 

Both  Kings,  however,  aimed  at  the  establishment  of 

1  Raynald,  sub  ann.,  i.  p.  29.     Hallam,  i.  29,  with  his  authorities. 

2  See  the  picturesque  description  in  Joinville,  p.  199. 


Chap.  I.  AS  TO  THE  CLERGY  —  NOBLES.  39 

equal  justice.  They  would  bring  the  haughty  feudal 
nobles  and  even  the  churchmen,  (who  lived  Ag  t0  the 
apart  under  their  own  law)  under  the  impar-  nobles- 
tial  sovereignty  of  the  law  of  the  land.  The  punishment 
of  Enguerrand  de  Couci  for  a  barbarous  murder  attest- 
ed the  firmness  of  the  King.  The  proudest  baron  in 
France,  the  highest  vassal  of  the  crown,  hardly  escaped 
with  his  life.  So,  too,  may  be  cited  the  account  of  the 
angry  baron,  indignant  at  the  judicial  equity  of  the 
King  —  "  Were  I  king,  I  would  hang  all  my  barons  ; 
the  first  step  taken,  all  is  easy."  "  How,  John  of 
Thouret,  hang  all  my  barons  ?  I  will  not  hang  them  ; 
I  will  correct  them  if  they  commit  misdeeds." 

It  was  the  religion,  not  the  want  of  religion,  in  St. 
Louis  which  made  him  determine   to  bring  Ag  t0  the 
the  criminal  clergy  under  the  equal  laws  of  clersy- 
the  realm.     That  which  Henry  II.  of  England  had  at- 
tempted to  do  by  his   royal  authority  and  by  the  Con- 
stitutions of   Clarendon,   the   more    pious    or   prudent 
Louis  chose  to  effect  with  the  Papal  sanction.     Even 
the  Pope,  Alexander  IV.,  could  not  close  his  eyes  to 
the  monstrous  fact  of  the  crimes  of  the  clergy,  secured 
from  adequate  punishment  by  the  immunities  of  their 
sacred  persons.     The  Pope  made  a  specious  a.d.  126O. 
concession ;  the  King's  judge  did  not  incur  excommu- 
nication for  arresting,  subject  to  the  judgment  of  the 
ecclesiastical  courts,  priests  notoriously  guilty  of  capital 
offences.     Alexander  threw  off  too  from  the  Church, 
and  abandoned  as   scapegoats  to  the  law,  all  married 
clergy  and  all  who  followed  low  trades ;  with  them  the 
law  might  take  its  course,  they  had  forfeited  the  privi- 
lege of  clergy.     But  neither  would  Louis  be  the  abso 
lute  slave  of  the  intolerance  of  the  hierarchy.     The 


£0  LATIN  Cmu&iiANITY.  Book  XT. 

whole  prelacy  of  France  (writes  Joinville)  2  met  to 
rebuke  the  tardy  zeal  of  the  King  in  enforcing  the 
excommunications  of  the  Church.  u  Sire,"  said  Guy 
of  Auxerre,  "  Christianity  is  falling  to  ruin  in  your 
hands."  "  How  so  ?  "  said  the  King,  making  the  sign 
of  the  cross.  "  Sire,  men  regard  not  excommunication  ; 
they  care  not  if  they  die  excommunicate  and  without 
absolution.  The  Bishops  admonish  you  that  you  give 
orders  to  all  the  royal  officers  to  compel  persons  ex- 
communicate to  obtain  absolution  by  the  forfeiture  of 
their  lands  and  goods."  And  the  holy  man  (the  King) 
said  "  that  he  would  willingly  do  so  to  all  who  had 
done  wrong  to  the  Church."  "  It  belongs  not  to  you," 
said  the  Bishop,  "  to  judge  of  such  cases."  And  the 
King  answered,  "  he  would  not  do  otherwise ;  it  were 
to  sin  against  God  and  against  reason  to  force  those  to 
seek  absolution  to  whom  the  clergy  had  done  wrong." 

The  famous  Pragmatic  Sanction  contained  only  the 
first  principles,  yet  it  did  contain  the  first  principles,  of 
limitation  as  to  the  power  of  the  Court  of  Rome  to 
levy  money  on  the  churches  of  the  realm,  and  of  elec- 
tions to  benefices.  It  was,  in  fact,  as  the  foundation  of 
Gallicanism  under  specious  terms  of  respect,  a  more 
mortal  blow  to  the  Papal  power  than  all  the  tyranny, 
as  it  was  called,  exercised  by  Frederick  II.  over  the 
ecclesiastics  of  the  kingdom  of  Naples.  Of  this,  how 
ever,  more  hereafter. 

ip.aoo. 


Chap.  II.  POPE  ALEXANDER  IV.  41 


CHAPTER    II. 

POPE  ALEXANDER  IV. 

On  the  death  of  Innocent  IV.,  the  Cardinal  of 
Ostia,  of  the  famous  Papal  house  of  Segni,  Accession  of 
was  elected  at  Naples :  he  took  the  name  of  JJ^St** lV 
Alexander  IV.  He  was  a  gentle  and  relig-  AD' 1254- 
ious  man,  not  of  strong  or  independent  character,  open 
to  flattery  and  to  the  suggestions  of  interested  and  ava- 
ricious courtiers.1  Innocent  IV.  had  left  a  difficult 
and  perilous  position  to  his  successor.  The  Pope  could 
not  abandon  the  Papal  policy:  the  see  of  Rome  was 
too  deeply  pledged,  to  retract  its  arrogant  pretensions 
concerning  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  or  to  come  to  terms 
with  one  whom  she  had  denounced  as  an  usurper,  and 
whose  strength  she  did  not  yet  comprehend.  But  Sin- 
ibald  could  not  leave,  with  his  tiara,  his  own  indomita- 
ble courage,  indefatigable  activity,  his  power  of  drawing 
resources  from  distant  lands.  Alexander  was  forced  to 
be  an  Innocent  IV.  in  his  pretensions ;  he  could  be  but 
a  feeble  Innocent  IV.  The  rapidity  with  which  Man- 
fred after  his  first  successes  overran  the  whole  Manfred, 
of  the  two  Sicilies,  implies,  if  not  a  profound  and  ardent 
attachment  to  the  house  of  Swabia,  at  least  an  obsti- 
nate aversion  to  the  Papal  sovereignty.  It  seemed  a 
general  national  outburst ;  and  Manfred,  by  circum- 
1  Matt.  Paris,  sub  ann. 


42  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

stances  and  by  his  own  sagacious  judgment,  having  sep- 
arated the  cause  of  the  hereditary  kings  from  the  odious 
German  tyranny  (the  Saracen  bands  were  less  unpopu- 
lar than  the  Germans),  as  yet  appeared  only  as  the  loyal 
.d.  1255.  guardian  of  the  infant  Conradin.  He  was 
March  13.  already  almost  master  of  Apulia ;  he  was 
with  difficulty  persuaded  to  send  ambassadors,  as  sov- 
ereign princes  were  wont  to  do,  to  congratulate  the 
Pope.  During  the  next  year  the  legate  of  the  Pope 
was  in  person  at  Palermo  ;  the  whole  island  of  Sicily 
had  acknowledged  Manfred.  His  triumph  was  com- 
pleted by  Naples  opening  her  gates ;  Otranto  and 
Brundnsium  followed  the  example  of  the  capital. 
Manfred  ruled  in  the  name  of  his  nephew  from  Pa- 
lermo to  Messina,  from  the  Faro  to  the  borders  of  the 
Papal  States.  At  the  first  it  was  evident  that  the 
weak  army  of  the  Pope,  under  the  Cardinal  Octavian, 
could  not  make  head  against  this  rising  of  the  whole 
realm.  Berthold  of  Homburg  soon  deserted  the  cause 
of  the  Pope.1  Alexander  was  trammelled  with  the 
engagements  of  his  predecessor,  who,  having  broken 
off  his  overtures  to  Charles  of  Anjou,  had  acknowledged 
Edmund  of  England  king  of  Sicily.  The  more  remote 
England.  his  hopes  of  success,  the  more  ostentatiously 
did  Henry  III.  attempt  to  dazzle  the  eyes  of  his  sub- 

1  See  the  curious  letter  in  Matt.  Paris,  from  which  it  appears  that  certain 
churches  and  monasteries  in  England  were  bound  to  merchants  of  Sienna 
in  2000  marks  of  new  sterling  money  in  favor  of  Berthold  and  his  brothers. 
For  acts  of  treason.  Berthold  and  his  brothers  were  declared  to  have  for- 
feited their  claim.  But  the  churches  and  monasteries  were  still  to  dis- 
charge the  2000  marks.  The  Prior  and  monastery  of  Durham  were  assessed 
at  500  marks;  Bath  at  400;  Thorney  at  400;  Croyland,  400;  Gisburn,  300. 
Durham  and  Gisburn  refused  payment.  This  is  dated  Anagni,  June  1256. 
There  is  also  a  letter  (MS.,  B.  M.)  threatening  excommunication  against 
the  Prior  of  Winchester  and  others,  if  they  do  not  pay  315  marks  to  certain 
merchants  of  Sienna  (sub  aim.  1255,  in  init.). 


Chap.  II.      EDMUND  OF  ENGLAND  KING  OF  SICILY.  43 

jects  by  this  crown  on  the  head  of  his  second  son. 
Edmund  appeared  in  public  as  King  of  Sicily,  affected 
to  wear  an  Italian  dress,  and  indulged  in  all  the  pomp 
and  state  of  royalty.  The  King  himself,  notwithstand- 
ing the  sullen  looks  of  his  Barons,  spoke  as  if  deter- 
mined on  this  wild  expedition.  His  ambassadors,  the 
Bishops  of  London  and  Hereford,  the  Abbot  of  West- 
minster, the  "Provost  of  Beverley,  accepted  the  crown. 
It  was  agreed  that,  as  Edmund  was  not  of  age,  his 
father  should  swear  fealty  for  him.1  Yet  England  was 
less  liberal  than  usual  of  subsidies  either  to  the  Pope  or 
to  the  King  for  this  senseless  enterprise.  The  legate,  a 
Gascon,  Rustand,  had  already  received  a  commission, 
with  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  and  the  Bishop  of 
Hereford,  to  levy  a  tenth  on  England,  Scotland,  and 
Ireland.  The  King  had  an  offer  of  an  exemption  from 
his  vow  of  a  crusade  to  the  Holy  Land,  on  condition 
of  his  appearing  at  the  head  of  an  army  to  subdue 
Manfred  in  Apulia.  Rustand  himself  preached  in  Lon- 
don and  in  other  places  ;  and  made  others  preach  a 
crusade  against  Manfred,  the  enemy  of  the  Pope  and 
of  their  Lord  the  King  of  England,  a  crusade  as  meri- 
torious as  that  to  the  Lord's  sepulchre.  The  honest 
English  were  revolted  at  hearing  that  they  were  to 
receive  the  same  indulgences  for  shedding  Christian 
as  Saracen  blood.  Rustand  received  a  rich  prebend 
of  York  as  reward  for  his  services. 

Year  after  year  came  the  same  insatiate  demands  : 

1  In  Rymer,  1254,  are  the  bulls  or  terms  of  grant  of  the  kingdom  of  Sic- 
ily. See  in  MS.,  B.  M.  (viii.  195),  letter  to  the  King  of  England  to  pay 
4800  livres  Tournois  (libras  Turonenses)*  for  the  expenses  of  W.  terranus 
(Cardinal  of  Velletri)  "  eleetus  de  mandato  f.  m.  Innocent  IV.  in  servitium 
Ecclesiae  pro  stante  negotio  regni  Sicilian" 

*  The  livre  Tournois  was  about  12  francs. 


44  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

ambassador  after  ambassador  summoned  the  King  to 
fulfil  his  engagements  ;  the  Pope  condescended  to  in- 
form him  through  what  merchants  he  could  transmit 
his  subsidies  to  Rome.  The  insolence  and  the  false- 
hood of  Rustand  and  the  other  legates,  the  Archbishop 
Elect  of  Toledo  and  the  Bishop  of  Bologna,  increased 
the  exasperation.  In  the  absence  of  the  Primate  of 
England,  Rustand  ruled  supreme  in  the  Church,  and 
excommunicated  refractory  prelates,  whose  goods  were 
instantly  seized  and  confiscated  to  the  King.  They 
carefully  disguised  the  successes  of  Manfred,  and  spread 
rumors  of  the  victories  of  the  Papal  armies.  The 
King  had  too  much  vanity  and  too  much  weakness  to 
resist  these  frauds  and  violences.  The  King  is  said  to 
have  bound  himself  for  two  hundred  thousand  pounds 
sterling,  besides  fifty  thousand  levied  by  the  Bishop  of 
Hereford.1  Even  the  Cistercian  monks  could  not  es- 
cape the  unusual  and  acknowledged  alienation  of  the 
English  clergy  from  the  see  of  Rome.  The  Pope,  or 
the  Nuncio  of  the  Pope,  had  recourse  to  violent  meas- 
Bewai,  ures  agamst  the  second  prelate  of  the  realm, 

SySE*  Sewal,  Archbishop  of  York.  The  words  of 
a.d.  i&>7.  ^Q  English  historian  show  the  impression  on 
the  public  mind :  u  About  that  time  our  Lord  the 
Pope  laid  his  hand  heavily  on  the  Archbishop  of  York. 
He  gave  orders  (by  a  measure  so  strong  and  terrible  he 
would  daunt  his  courage)  that  Sewal  should  be  igno- 
miniously  excommunicated  throughout  England  with 
the  light  of  torches  and  tolling  of  bells.  But  the  said 
Archbishop,  taught  by  the  example  of  Thomas  the 
Martyr,  the  example  and  lessons  of  the  saintly  Ed- 
mund, once  his  master,  by  the  faithfulness  of  the  blessed 

i  Rvmer.  MS.,  B.  M.,  sub  aim.  1235. 


Chap.  II       ARCHBISHOPS   OF  YORK   AND   CANTERBURY.     45 

Robert,  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  did  not  despair  of  conso- 
lation from  heaven,  and  patiently  supported  the  tyranny 
of  the  Pope ;  for  he  would  not  bestow  the  abundant 
revenues  of  the  Church  on  persons  unworthy  or  un- 
known, from  beyond  the  Alps,  and  scorned  to  submit 
himself,  like  a  woman,  to  the  Pope's  will,  abandoning 
his  rights.  Hence  the  more  he  was  anathematized  by 
the  orders  of  the  Pope,  the  more  was  he  blessed  by  the 
people,  though  in  secret  for  fear  of  the  Romans."1 

But  where  all  this  time  was  the  Primate  of  England, 
and  who  was  he  ?  On  the  death  of  the  un-  Boniface, 
worldly  and  sainted  Edmund  Rich,  the  King  canterbury. 
and  the  Pope  had  forced  on  the  too  obsequious,  after- 
wards bitterly  repentant,  monks  of  Canterbury,  a  for- 
eigner, almost  an  Italian.  Boniface,  Bishop  of  Bellay, 
was  uncle  to  the  Queen,  and  brother  of  that  Philip 
of  Savoy,  the  warlike  and  mitred  body-guard  of  Inno- 
cent IV.,  who  became  Archbishop  of  Lyons.  Boni- 
face was  elected  in  1341,  confirmed  by  Pope  Innocent 
not  before  1344.  The  handsome,  proud  prelate  found 
that  Edmund,  however  saintly,  had  been  but  an  indif- 
ferent steward  of  the  secular  part  of  the  diocese. 
Canterbury  was  loaded  with  an  enormous  debt,  and 
Boniface  came  not  to  England  to  preside  over  an  im- 
poverished see.  He  obtained  a  grant  from  the  Pope 
of  first-fruits  from  all  the  benefices  in  his  province,  by 
which  he  raised  a  vast  sum.  Six  years  after,  the  Pri- 
mate announced,  and  set  forth  on  a  visitation  About 
of  his  province,  not  as  it  was  said,  and  as  too  a.d.  1250/ 


1  So  writes  Paris.  "  Falso  pertinaciam  illius  constantly  nomine  exornat 
(M.  Paris)  cum  juste  Pontifex  pro  Sicilia,  deposito  tyranno,  in  Edmundum 
transferenda,  a  clero  Anglicano  pecuniarum  subsidia  exigeret."  Thua 
wrote  Raynaldus  in  the  17th  century.  —  Sub  ami.  1257. 


46  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI 

plainly  appeared,  for  the  glory  of  God,  but  in  quest  of 
ungodly  gain.  Bishops,  chapters,  monasteries  must 
submit  to  this  unusual  discipline,  haughtily  and  rapa- 
ciously enforced  by  a  foreigner.  From  Feversham  and 
Rochester  he  extorted  large  sums.  He  appeared  in 
London,  treated  the  Bishop  (Fulk  Basset  of  the  old 
noble  Norman  House)  and  his  jurisdiction  with  con- 
tempt. The  Dean  of  St.  Paul's  (Henry  de  Cornhill) 
stood  by  his  Bishop.  The  Primate  appeared  with  his 
cuirass  gleaming  under  his  pontifical  robes.  The  Dean 
closed  the  doors  of  his  cathedral  against  him.  Boni- 
face solemnly  excommunicated  Henry  Dean  of  St. 
Paul's  and  his  Chapter  in  the  name  of  St.  Thomas  the 
Martyr  of  Canterbury.  The  sub-Prior  of  St.  Bar- 
tholomew's (the  Prior  was  dead)  fared  still  worse. 
He  calmly  pleaded  the  rights  of  the  Bishop ;  the 
wrathful  Primate  rushed  on  the  old  man,  struck  him 
down  with  his  own  hand,  tore  his  splendid  vestment, 
and  trampled  it  under  foot.  The  Bishop  of  London 
was  involved  in  the  excommunication.  The  Dean  of 
St.  Paul's  appealed  to  the  Pope  ;  the  excommunication 
was  suspended.  But  Boniface  himself  proceeded  in 
great  pomp  to  Rome.  The  uncle  of  the  Queen  of 
England,  the  now  wealthy  Primate  of  England,  could 
not  but  obtain  favor  with  Innocent.  The  Dean  of  St. 
Paul's  was  compelled  to  submit  to  the  supreme  Archi 
episcopal  authority.  On  his  triumphant  return  Boni 
face  continued  his  visitation.  The  Chapter  of  Lincoln, 
headed  by  the  Archdeacon  (Bishop  Grostete  was  dead), 
resisted  his  demand  to  dispose  of  the  vacant  Prebends 
of  the  Church.  The  Archdeacon  bore  his  own  appeal 
to  Rome.  After  three  years  he  obtained  (by  what 
means  appears  not)  what  seemed  a  favorable  sentence  ; 


Chap.  II.  BKANCALEONE.  47 

but  died,  worn  out,  on  his  way  home.  Boniface  tram- 
pled on  all  rights,  all  privileges.  The  monks  of  Can- 
terbury obtained  a  Papal  diploma  of  exemption,  Boni- 
face threw  it  into  the  fire,  and  excommunicated  the 
bearers.  The  King  cared  not  for,  the  Pope  would  not 
regard  the  insult. 

After  the  accession  of  Alexander  IV.  the  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury  is  in  arms,  with  his  brother,  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Lyons,  besieging  Turin,  to  release  the  head 
of  his  house,  the  Count  of  Savoy,  whom  his  subjects 
had  deposed  and  imprisoned  for  his  intolerable  tyranny. 
The  wealth  of  the  Churches  of  Canterbury  and  Lyons 
was  showered,  but  showered  in  vain,  on  their  bandit 
army.  Turin  resisted  the  secular,  more  obstinately 
than  London  the  spiritual  arms  of  the  Primate.  He 
returned,  not  without  disgrace  to  England.  With 
such  a  Primate  the  Pope  was  not  likely  to  find  much 
vigorous  or  rightful  opposition  from  the  Church  of 
England.1 

Pope  Alexander  IV.,  while  he  thus   tyrannized  in 
England,  was  not  safe  in  Rome,  or  even  in  The  senat0r 
Anagni.       The    stern  justice    of  the    Sena-  K^ 
tor  Brancaleone  had  provoked  resistance,  no  p' 512' 
doubt  not  discouraged  by  the  partisans  of  the   Pope. 
The  Nobles  urged  on  an  insurrection  :  Brancaleone  was 

1  Paris,  sub  ann.  1211-4, 1250,  1258.  See  the  letter  from  Pope  Alexan- 
der, consolatory  on  the  failure  before  Turin.  Godwin  de  Pra?sulibus  con- 
tains a  full  abstract  of  the  life  of  Boniface.  Compare  MS.,  B.  M.  vi.  p. 
347,  for  the  resistance  and  excommunication  (the  sentence)  of  the  Dean  of 
St.  Paul's:  also  of  Sub-Prior  of  St.  Bartholomew:  excommunication  of 
Bishop  of  London,  p.  383.  The  Archbishop  had  obtained,  under  grant  of 
first-fruits,  "  magnam  quantitatem  pecuniae,"  vii.  16.  Papal  decree  against 
Dean  and  Chapter  of  St.  Paul's,  p.  57.  Archbishop  Boniface  was  exempted 
from  visiting  his  four  Welsh  dioceses,  "  propter  guerrarum  discrimina.  penu- 
riam  victualiuin,"  b.  viii. 


48  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

seized  and  thrown  into  prison.  But  Lis  wise  precaution 
had  secured  thirty  hostages  of  the  highest  Roman  patri- 
cian houses  at  Bologna.  His  wife  fled  to  that  city,  and 
roused  Bologna  with  harangues  on  the  injustice  and 
ingratitude  shown  to  her  great  citizen.  The  hostages 
were  kept  guarded  with  stricter  vigilance.  The  Nohles 
appealed  to  the  Pope,  who  issued  an  angry  mandate  to 
the  Bolognese,  which  they  treated  with  scorn.  The 
populace  of  Rome  arose  and  broke  the  prison  of  Bran- 
caleone.  Brancaleone  laid  down  his  senatorship  for 
two  years  (during  which  it  was  filled  by  a  citizen  of 
Brescia,  who  trod  in  his  footsteps)  to  resume  it  with 
still  more  inflexible  determination.  On  his  reinaugura- 
a.d.  1258.  tion  he  summoned  all  malefactors  before  his 
tribunal,  not  the  last  the  authors  of  his  imprisonment. 
His  sentence  was  inexorable  by  prayer  or  bribe.  Men 
of  the  highest  birth,  even  relatives  of  the  Pope,  were 
shown  on  gibbets.  Two  of  the  Annibaldi  suffered  this 
ignoble  doom.  He  destroyed  a  hundred  and  forty  cas- 
tles of  those  lofty  and  titled  spoilers.  The  Pope,  at 
Viterbo,  was  so  unadvised  as  to  issue  a  sentence  of  ex- 
communication against  the  Senator  and  the  people  of 
Rome.  They  were  not  content  with  treating  this  sen- 
tence with  the  bitterest  derision.  The  Senator  sum- 
moned the  whole  people  to  assemble,  as  one  man,  in 
arms ;  they  marched  under  their  banner  towards  An 
agni,  the  birthplace  of  the  Pope.  The  inhabitants  of 
Anagni,  many  of  them  his  kindred,  implored  Alexan- 
der with  passionate  entreaties  to  avert  their  doom. 
The  Pope,  to  elude  the  disgrace  of  seeing  his  native 
city  razed  to  the  earth,  was  content  to  send  deputies  to 
Brancaloone,  humbly  imploring  his  mercy.  The  Sen- 
ator had  great  difficulty  in  restraining  the  people.     An 


Chap.  II.  RICHARD  OF  CORNWALL.  49 

alliance  grew  up  between  Manfred  and  Brancaleone. 
The  Senator  retained  his  dignity  till  his  death :  his  head 
was  then  deposited  in  a  coffer,  like  a  precious  relic,  and 
placed  with  all  the  pomp  of  a  religious  ceremony,  by 
the  grateful  people,  on  the  top ;  of  a  marble  column. 
Notwithstanding  the  prohibition  of  the  Pope,  the  peo- 
ple raised  the  uncle  of  Brancaleone  to  the  Senatorship 
of  Rome.1 

Alexander  could  look  for  no  aid  from  the  Empire. 
The  Papal  Emperor,  William  of  Holland,  had  Death  of 
fallen  in  an  expedition  against  the  Frisians.  HoiS.°f 
There  was  no  great  German  Prince  to  com-  Jan* 25, 1256' 
mand  the  Empire.     The  Pope,  faithful  to  the  legacy 
of  hatred  to  the  house  of  Swabia,  contented  himself 
with  prohibiting  in  the  strongest  terms  the  election  of 
the  young  Conradin.     The  Germans  looked  abroad ; 
some  of  the  divided  Electors  offered  the  throne  again 
to   Richard  of  Cornwall,  others  to  Alfonso  January,  1257 
King  of  Castile.     The  enormous  wealth  of  Richard  of 
Cornwall,   perhaps  his  feeble  character,  attracted  the 
ambitious  Archbishop  of  Cologne,  who  hoped  in  his 
name  to  rule  the  Empire,  and  to  dispense  the  wealth  of 
England.     Richard  was  crowned  at  Aix-la-  March  17. 
Chapelle.     He  had  before  declined  the  king-  Cornwall. 
dom  of  Naples  ;  his  avarice  had  resisted  all  the  attempts 
of  the  King  his  brother  and  of  the  Pope  to  employ  his 
riches  in  the  cause   of  young  Edmund ;    he  retained 
them  to  gratify  his  own  vanity.2 

For  seventeen  years  the  Empire  was  in  fact  vacant ; 
better  for  the  Pope  such  anarchy  than  a  Swa-  Rudolph  of 

..-,■,  ^  Hapsburg, 

bian  on  the  throne.  a.d.  1273. 

1  Paris,  sub  aim.  1258. 

2  Paris  says  that,  independent  of  the  Empire,  his  revenues  would  have 
produced  100  marks  a  day  for  ten  years. 

VOL.   VI.  4 


50  LATIN  CIIKISTIANITY.  Book  XI 

France,  so  long  as  the  treaty  existed  between  the 
Pope  and  England  for  the  investiture  of  Prince  Ed- 
mund with  the  throne  of  Sicily,  could  be  roused  by  no 
adequate  temptation.  The  Pope  could  offer  no  vigor- 
ous resistance,  yet  would  not  make  a  virtue  of  neces- 
sity and  acknowledge  the  house  of  Swabia.  He  had 
now  fully  discovered  the  weakness,  the  impotence  of 
the  King  of  England.1  He  had  summoned  him  to  ex- 
ecute his  contract.  Henry  truly,  but  without  shame, 
pleaded  his  poverty,  and  demanded  a  tenth  of  the  eccle- 
siastical revenues.  The  excommunication  hung  over 
the  head  of  the  King  for  having  made  a  bargain  with 
the  Pope  which  he  could  not  fulfil. 

Manfred  had  won  the  crown  of  Sicily  in  the  name 
of  his  nephew  Conradin  ;  he  was  but  Regent  of  the 
realm.  Rumors  were  spread  of  the  death  of  Conradin  ; 
the  enemies  of  Manfred  asserted  that  they  were  in- 
vented and  disseminated  by  his  astute  ambition  ;  his 
partisans  that  he  had  no  concern  in  their  propagation.2 
But  Manfred  was  necessary  to  the  power,  to  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  Sicilies.  The  Prelates,  Barons,  almost 
Manfred  the  whole  realm  entreated  him  to  assume  the 
Aug.'  11, 1258.  crown.  His  coronation  took  place  to  the  uni- 
versal joy.  Hardly  was  it  over  when  ambassadors 
arrived  from  the  mother  of  Conradin,  and  from  her 
son,  imploring  Manfred  not  to  usurp  the  rights  which 
he  had  defended  with  so  much  valor.  Manfred  received 
the  ambassadors  in  a  great  assemblage  of  his  Barons. 
"  He  had  ascended   the  throne,  which  he  had  himself 

1  "  Videns  ipsius  debilitatem  ac  impotentiam  quam  publice  allegabat." 
—  MS.,  B.  M.  In  a  letter,  b.  viii.  p.  49,  the  Pope  recites  all  the  acts  of  In- 
nocent IV.,  and  the  dates. 

2'Jamsilla.  Kecordano,  c.  147.  Le  credo  io  favole.  Murat.  Ann.,  suD 
ann.  1258. 


Chap.  II.  MANFRED  KING.  51 

won  by  his  arms,  at  the  call  of  his  people ;  their  affec- 
tions could  alone  maintain  that  throne.  It  was  neither 
for  the  interest  of  the  realm  nor  of  Conradin  himself 
that  Naples  should  be  ruled  by  a  woman  and  an  infant : 
he  had  no  relative  but  Conradin,  for  whom  he  should 
preserve  the  crown,  and  faithfully  bequeath  it  on  his 
death.  If  Conradin  desired  to  uphold  the  privileges  of 
an  heir-apparent,  he  should  reside  at  the  court  of  Man- 
fred, and  win  the  love  of  the  people  whom  he  was  to 
govern.  Manfred  would  treat  him  as  a  son,  and  instruct 
him  in  the  virtues  of  his  glorious  ancestors."  How  far 
Manfred  was  sincere,  Manfred  himself  perhaps  did  not 
know  ;  how  far,  if  he  had  himself  issue,  his  virtue 
would  have  resisted  the  fondness  of  a  parent  for  his 
own  offspring,  and  that  which  he  might  have  alleged  to 
himself  and  to  others  as  an  undeniable  truth,  the  inter- 
est of  the  kingdom.  What  confusion,  what  bloodshed 
might  have  been  spared  to  Naples,  to  Italy,  to  Chris- 
tendom, if  the  crown  of  Naples  had  descended  in  the 
line  of  Manfred ;  if  the  German  connection  had  been 
broken  forever,  the  French  connection  never  formed ; 
if  Conradin  had  remained  Duke  of  Swabia,  and  Charles 
of  Anjou  had  not  descended  the  Alps  !  A  wiser  Pope, 
and  one  less  wedded  to  the  hereditary  policy  and  to  the 
antipathies  of  his  spiritual  forefathers,  might  have  dis- 
cerned this,  and  seen  how  well  it  would  have  coincided 
with  the  interests  of  the  see.  Manfred  acknowledged 
and  fairly  treated  might  have  snftened  into  a  loyal 
Guelf ;  he  was  now  compelled  to  be  the  head,  a  most 
formidable  head,  of  the  Ghibellines.  Alexander  lived 
to  see  Manfred  in  close  alliance  with  Sienna,  the  strong- 
hold of  the  exiled  Ghibellines  of  Florence;1  to  see  the 

1  See  throughout  Muratori,  who  quotes  impartially  Guell's  and  Ghibel- 
tines. 


52  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI 

fatal  battle  of  Arba,  or  Monte  Aperto,  in  which  the 
Sept  4, 1260.  Florentine  Guelfs  were  utterly  crushed  and 
forced  to  abandon  their  city.  Florence  was  only  saved 
from  being  razed  to  the  earth  at  the  instigation  of  the 
rival  cities,  Pisa  and  Sienna,  by  the  patriotic  appeal  of 
the  great  Ghibelline,  Farinata  di  Uberti,  a  name  which 
lives  in  Dante's  poetry.1  In  all  the  south  of  Italy 
Manfred  was  supreme :  Genoa  and  Venice  were  his 
allies. 

Nor  was  it  the  Guelfic  or  Papal  influence,  nor  even 
Ecceiin  da  n^s  own  unspeakable  cruelties ;  it  was  his 
itomano.  treachery  to  his  friends  alone  that  in  the 
north  of  Italy  caused  the  fall  of  the  triumphant  cham- 
pion of  the  Ghibellines,  Ecceiin  da  Romano,  and  wTith 
him  of  his  brother  Alberic.  The  character  of  Ecceiin 
was  the  object  of  the  profoundest  terror  and  abhorrence. 
No  human  suffering,  it  might  seem,  could  glut  his  re- 
venge ;  the  enemy  who  fell  into  his  hands  might  rejoice 
in  immediate  decapitation  or  hanging.  The  starvation 
of  whole  cities ;  the  imprisonment  of  men,  women,  and 
children  in  loathsome  dungeons  touched  not  his  heart, 
which  seemed  to  have  made  cruelty  a  kind  of  voluptu- 
ous excitement.2  But  what  was  the  social  state  of  this 
part  of  Christendom  ?  How  had  that  state  been  aggra- 
vated by  the  unmitigated  dissensions  and  wars,  the 
feuds  of  city  with  city,  the  intestine  feuds  within  every 
city  !  Had  the  voice  of  the  Father  of  Christendom, 
of  the  Vicegerent  of  the  Prince  of  Peace  ever  been 
earnestly  raised  in  protest  or  rebuke?     Was  not  the 

i  Inferno,  vi.  79,  x.  32. 

2  It  may  be  doubted  whether  Ecceiin  himself  was  not  gradually  trained 
to  this  habit  of  barbarity.  Frederick  II.,  though  severe  and  merciless  to 
his  foes,  would  hardly  have  addressed  sportive  letters,  or  given  his  daugh- 
ter in  marriage  to  a  wild  beast,  such  a  wild  beast  as  Ecceiin  appears  in  his 
later  days. 


Chap.  II.  ECCELIN  l>\  ROMANO.  53 

Papal  Legate  the  head  of  the  Guelfic  faction,  and  were 
the  Guelfs  on  the  whole  more  humane  than  the  Ghib- 
ellines  ?  Alexander  might  have  published  a  crusade 
against  this  foe  of  the  human  race,  and  justly  might 
he  have  offered  more  splendid  promises  of  pardon  and 
eternal  life  to  him  who  should  rid  the  world  of  this 
monster,  than  to  him  who  should  slay  hosts  of  Mos- 
lemin.1  But  a  fitter,  as  an  abler  leader,  might  have 
been  found  for  this  enterprise  than  the  Arch-  gept  27 
bishop  of  Ravenna ;  and  when  the  army  of  im 
the  Archbishop  got  possession  of  Padua,  the  ruthless 
sacking  of  the  town  by  his  mercenary  soldiers  made 
the  citizens  look  back  with  regret  to  the  iron  rule  of 
Eccelin.  Nor  would  Papal  anathema  or  Papal  crusade 
have  shaken  the  power  of  Eccelin.2  With  the  Marquis 
Pallavicini  and  Buoso  da  Doara,  the  head  of  the  Cre- 
monese  Ghibellines,  he  had  become  master  of  Brescia  ; 
but  Eccelin  never  conquered  save  for  himself.  The 
flagrant  treachery  by  which  he  had  determined  to  rid 
himself  of  his  colleagues  was  discovered;  the  indignant 
Ghibellines  made  a  league  against  the  common  enemy 
of  mankind.  Eccelin  was  defeated,  sorely  wounded, 
captured.  His  end  was  worthy  of  his  life.  On  the  first 
night  of  his  imprisonment  the  bells  of  a  neighboring 
chapel  rang  loudly,  perhaps  rejoicing  at  his  bondage. 
He  woke  up  in  wrath  :  "  Go,  hew  down  that  priest  that 
makes  such  a  din  with  his  bells.,,  "  You  forget,"  said 
his  guard,  "  that  you  are  in  prison."  He  inquired  where 
he  was  taken.  "  At  Bassano."  Like  most  strong  minds 
of  the  day,  Eccelin,  who  had  faith  in  nothing  else,  had 
faith  in  divination.     His  astrologer  had  foretold  that  he 


1  Compare  Alexandri  Epist.  ad  Episcopos. 

2  Rolandini.  Monach.  Patavin.  apud  Muratori. 


54  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

should  die  in  Bassano.  The  priests  and  friars  thronged 
around  him,  urging,  threatening,  imploring,  that  he 
would  confess  and  repent  of  his  sins.  "  I  repent  of 
nothing,  but  that  I  have  not  wreaked  full  vengeance 
on  my  foes  ;  that  I  have  badly  conducted  my  arm\ , 
and  allowed  myself  to  be  duped  and  betrayed."  He 
would  take  neither  food  nor  medicine  ;  but  death  was 
Albert  da  slow  :  he  tore  the  dressings  from  his  wounds, 
Romano.  anQi  was  founc}  a  corpse.1  Alberic,  his  brother, 
once  his  deadly  enemy,  was  now  his  ally.  Eccelin 
wanted  but  one  vice,  passion  for  women,  which  might 
possibly  have  given  some  softness  to  his  heart.  No 
a.d.  1260.  woman  was  safe  from  the  less  sanguinary 
Alberic.  Alberic  was  besieged  during  the  next  year 
in  the  castle  of  San  Zeno.  All  hope  of  succor  was 
gone ;  with  some  remains  of  generosity  he  allowed  his 
followers  to  buy  their  own  free  departure  by  the  surren- 
der of  himself  and  his  wife,  six  sons  and  two  daughters. 
He  was  at  first  treated  with  every  kind  of  mockery ; 
then  his  six  sons  slain  in  his  sight,  torn  in  pieces,  their 
limbs  thrust  in  his  face.  His  wife,  his  beautiful  and 
innocent  daughters  had  their  lower  garments  cut  off;  in 
this  state  of  nakedness,  in  the  sight  of  the  whole  army, 
were  bound  to  a  stake  and  burned  alive.  Alberic's 
own  flesh  was  torn  from  his  body  by  pincers  ;  he  was 
then  tied  to  the  tail  of  a  horse,  and  dragged  to  death. 

What  wonder  that  amid  such  deeds,  whatever  relig- 
ion remained,  as  it  ever  must  remain  in  the  depths  of 
the  human  heart,  either  took  refuge  beyond  the  pale 
of  the   Church,  among  the  Cathari,  who  never  were 

1  Throughout  see  Rolandin,  xii.  c.  13;  Chron.  Veron.,  S.  R.  T.,  v.  viii.; 
and  Muratori,  Annali,  sub  annis  1259,  1260.  The  B.  Museum  Chronicle 
sums  up,  "  nullus  in  ferocitate  ei  unquam  fuit  similis."  — p.  245. 


Chap.  [I.  THE   FLAGELLANTS.  55 

more  numerous  in  the  cities,  especially  of  northern 
Italy,  than  in  these  days  :  or  within  the  Church  showed 
itself  in  wild  epidemic  madness  ?  Against  the  Cathari 
the  Friars  preached  in  vain ;  the  Inquisition  in  vain 
held  its  courts ;  and  executions  for  heresy  added  more 
horrors  to  these  dire  times. 

It  was  at  this  period  too  that  one  of  those  extrav- 
agant outbursts  of  fanaticism,  which  con-  The  Flag. 
stantly  occurred  during  the  middle  ages, ellants- 
relieved  men's  minds  in  some  degree  from  the  ordi- 
nary  horrors  and  miseries.  Who  is  surprised  that 
mankind  felt  itself  seized  by  a  violent  access  of  repent- 
ance, or  that  repentance  disdained  the  usual  form  of 
discipline  ? 

The  Flagellants  seemed  to  rise  almost  simultaneously 
in  different  parts  of  Italy.  They  began  in  Perugia. 
The  penitential  frenzy  seized  Rome  :  it  spread  through 
every  city,  Guelf  and  Ghibelline,  crossed  the  Alps,  and 
invaded  Germany  and  France.  Flagellation  had  long 
been  a  holy  and  meritorious  discipline ;  it  was  now 
part  of  the  monastic  system  ;  it  had  obtained  a  kind 
of  dignity  and  importance,  as  the  last  sign  of  subjec- 
tion to  the  sacerdotal  power,  the  last  mark  of  penitence 
for  sins  against  the  Church.1  Sovereign  princes,  as 
Raymond  of  Toulouse  ;  Kings,  as  Henry  of  England, 
had  yielded  their  backs  to  the  scourge.  How  entirely 
self-flagellation  had  become  part^  of  sanctity,  appears 
from  its  being  the  religious  luxury  of  Louis  IX.  Peter 
Damiani  had  taught  it  by  precept  and  example.2    Dom- 


1  The  "  Historia  Flagellantium  "  is  a  brief  but  complete  history  of  relig- 
ious flagellations,  first  of  legal  floggings  administered  by  authority,  then 
}f  the  origin  and  practice  of  self-flagellation. 

2  Epistol.  ad  Clericos  Florentin.,  v.  8. 


56  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

inic,  called  the  Cuirassier,  had  invented  or  popularized 
by  his  fame  the  usage  of  singing  psalms  to  the  accom- 
paniment of  self-scourging.  It  had  come  to  have  its 
stated  value  among  works  of  penance.1 

The  present  outburst  was  not  the  effect  of  popular 
preaching,  of  the  eloquence  of  one  or  more  vehement 
and  ardent  men,  working  on  the  passions  and  the  fears 
of  a  vast  auditory.  It  seemed  as  if  mankind,  at  least 
Italian  mankind,  was  struck  at  once  with  a  sudden 
paroxysm  of  remorse  for  the  monstrous  guilt  of  the 
age,  which  found  vent  in  this  wild  but  hallowed  form 
of  self-torture.  All  ranks,  both  sexes,  all  ages,  were 
possessed  with  the  madness  —  nobles,  wealthy  mer- 
chants, modest  and  delicate  women,  even  children  of 
five  years  old.  They  stripped  themselves  naked  to 
the  waist,  covered  their  faces  that  they  might  not  be 
known,  and  went  two  and  two  in  solemn  slow  proces- 
sion, with  a  cross  and  a  banner  before  them,  scourging 
themselves  till  the  blood  tracked  their  steps,  and 
shrieking  out  their  doleful  psalms.  They  travelled 
from  city  to  city.  Whenever  they  entered  a  city,  the 
contagion  seized  all  predisposed  minds.  This  was  done 
by  night  as  by  day.  Not  only  were  the  busy  mart  and 
the  crowded  street  disturbed  by  these  processions  ;  in 
the  dead  midnight  they  were  seen  with  their  tapers  or 
torches  gleamincr  before  them  in  their  awful  and  shad- 
owy  grandeur,  with  the  lashing  sound  of  the  scourge 
and  the  screaming  chant.  Thirty-three  days  and  a 
half,  the  number  of  the  years  of  the  Lord's  sad  so- 
journ in  this  world  of  man,  was  the  usual  period   foi 

1  "  Consequitur  ergo  ut  qui  viginti  psalteria  cum  discipline  decantet 
centum  annorum  penitentiam  se  peregisse  confidat." — Vit.  Dominic  Lo 
ric,  o.  85. 


Chap.  II.  THE  PASTOUREAUX.  57 

the  penance  of  each.  In  the  burning  heat  of  summer, 
when  the  wintry  roads  were  deep  in  snow,  they  still 
went  on.  Thousands,  thousands,  tens  of  thousands 
joined  the  ranks  ;  till  at  length  the  madness  wore  it- 
self out.  Some  princes  and  magistrates,  finding  that 
it  was  not  sanctioned  by  the  Roman  See  or  by  the 
authority  of  any  great  Saint,  began  to  interpose :  that 
which  had  been  the  object  of  general  respect,  be- 
came almost  as  rapidly  the  object  of  general  con- 
tempt.1 

The  Flagellant  frenzy  was  a  purely  religious  move- 
ment.2 It  had  been  preceded  by  about  ten  ThePastou- 
years  by  that  of  the  Pastoureaux  (the  Shep-  a.d.  1251. 
herds)  in  Flanders  and  in  France.  This  rising  had 
something  of  the  fierce  resentment  of  an  oppressed 
and  down- trodden  peasantry.  But  it  was  a  democratic 
insurrection,  not  against  the  throne,  but  against  the 
tyrannous  nobles  and  tyrannous  churchmen :  it  was 
among  those  lowest  of  the  low  whom  the  Friar  Preach- 
ers and  the  followers  of  St.  Francis  had  not  reached, 
or  had  left  for  higher  game.  The  new  Mendicant 
Orders  were  denounced  as  rudely  as  the  luxurious 
Cluniacs  or  haughty  Cistercians.  The  Shepherds'  first 
declaration  of  war  was  that  "  the  good  King  Louis 
was  left  in  bondage  to  the  Mussulmans,  through  the 
•riminal  and  traitorous  remissness  of  the  indolent  and 

luUnde  tepescere  in  brevi  cepit  res  immoderate  concepta." — Herm. 
Alt.  There  are  two  full  descriptions  of  this  singular  movement :  one  by 
an  Italian,  the  Monachus  Patavinensis  in  Muratori,  viii.  712;  the  other  by 
a  German,  Hermannus  Altahensis  (Abbot  of  Nieder  Altaisch),  in  Bohmer. 
Fontes,  ii.  p.  516.  See  too  B.  Museum  Chronicle:  he  adds,  "  Verumtamen 
propter  hoc  multe  paces  inter  discordantes  facte  fuerunt,  et  multa  bona  acta 
sunt."     His  account  is  curious.  —  p.  250. 

2  Affo,  Storia  di  Parma,  iii.  p.  256,  connects  the  Flagellants  with  the  be- 
lievers in  the  Abbot  Joachim.     (See  forward.) 


58  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI 

avaricious  clergy."  They,  the  peasants  of  France,  had 
received  the  direct  mission,  a  mission  from  the  blessed 
Virgin  herself,  to  rescue  him  from  the  hands  of  the 
Unbelievers.  So  sudden,  so  terrible  was  the  insurrec- 
tion, that  it  was  as  if  the  fire  had  burst  out  at  one 
The  Master  instant  in  remote  parts  of  the  land.  It  began 
of  Hungary.  m  ]?ianclers ;  at  its  head  was  a  mysterious 
personage,  who  bore  the  name  of  the  Master  of  Hun- 
gary. He  was  an  aged  man  with  a  long  beard,  pale 
emaciated  face ;  he  spoke  Latin,  French,  and  German 
with  the  same  fluent  persuasiveness  ;  he  preached  with- 
out authority  of  Pope  or  Prelate ;  as  he  preached,  he 
clasped  a  roll  in  his  hands,  which  contained  his  instruc- 
tions from  the  blessed  Virgin.  The  Virgin  had  ap- 
peared to  him,  encircled  by  hosts  of  angels,  and  had 
given  him  his  celestial  commission  to  summon  the  poor 
Shepherds  to  the  deliverance  of  the  good  King.  Ter- 
ror spread  the  strangest  rumors  of  this  awful  person- 
age. He  was  an  apostate  Cistercian  monk ;  in  his 
youth  he  had  denied  Jesus  Christ ;  he  had  sucked  in 
the  pernicious  practices  of  magic  from  the  empoisoned 
wells  of  Toledo  (among  the  Jews  and  Arabians  of 
that  city).  He  it  was  that  in  his  youth  had  led  the 
crusade  of  children,  who  had  plunged,  following  his 
steps,  by  thousands  into  the  sea ;  he  had  made  a  sol- 
emn covenant  with  the  Soldan  of  Babylon  to  lead  a 
countless  multitude  of  Christians  to  certain  bondage  in 
the  Holy  Land,  that  they  and  their  King  being  in  his 
power,  he  might  subdue  Christendom.  Since  the 
days  of  Mohammed,  in  the  judgment  of  wise  men,  no 
such  dangerous  scourge  of  mankind  had  arisen  in  the 
Church  of  Christ.  His  title,  the  Master  of  Hungary, 
might  lead  to  the  suspicion  that  he  was  a  Bulgarian 


CflAr.  II.  THE  MASTER   OF  HUNGARY.  &$ 

Manichee,  revenging  on  the  haughty  hierarchy  the 
wrongs  of  his  murdered  brethren.1 

The  eloquence  and  mysterious  bearing  of  the  Master 
of  Hungary  stirred  the  lowest  depths  of  society.  The 
Shepherds,  the  peasants  left  their  .flocks,  their  stalls, 
their  fields,  their  ploughs  ;  in  vain  friends,  parents, 
wives  remonstrated  ;  they  took  no  thought  of  suste- 
nance. So,  drawing  men  after  him,  *  as  the  load- 
stone draws  the  iron,"  he  marched  through  Flanders 
and  Picardy.  He  entered  Amiens  at  the  head  of 
thirty  thousand  men,  was  received  as  the  Deliverer 
with  festive  rejoicings.  He  passed  on  to  the  Isle  of 
France,  gathering,  as  some  fell  off  from  weakness  or 
weariness,  the  whole  laboring  population  in  his  wake. 
The  villages  and  fields  were  desolate  behind  them. 
They  passed  through  the  cities  (not  one  dared  to 
close  the  gates  against  them),  they  moved  in  battle 
array,  brandishing  clubs,  pikes,  axes,  all  the  wild 
weapons  they  could  seize.  The  Provosts,  the  May- 
ors bowed  in  defenceless  panic  before  them.  They 
had  at  first  only  the  standard  of  their  Master,  a  Lamb 
bearing  the  banner  of  the  Cross,  the  Lamb  the  sign  of 
humility,  the  Cross  that  of  victory. 

Soon  four  hundred  banners  waved  above  them ;  on 
some  were  emblazoned  the  Virgin  and  the  angels  ap- 
pearing to  the  Master.  Before  they  reached  Paris  they 
were  one  hundred  thousand  and  more.  They  had  been 
joined  by  all  the  outlaws,  the  robbers,  the  excommuni- 
cate, followers  more  dangerous,  as  wielding  and  accus- 
tomed to  wield  arms,  the  two-edged  axe,  the  sword, 
the  dagger,  and  the  pike.  They  had  become  an  army. 
They  seemed  worshippers,  it  was  said,  of  Mary  rather 

]  Matt.  Paris,  sub  aim. 


(30  LATIN    CHIHCTIASITY.  Book  XL 

than  of  Christ.  Blanche,  the  Queen- Regent,  either  in 
panic  or  in  some  wild  hope  that  these  fierce  hordes 
might  themselves  aid  in  achieving,  or  compel  others  to 
achieve  the  deliverance  of  her  son,  professed  to  believe 
their  loyal  protestations ;  they  were  admitted  into 
Paris. 

But  already  they  had  begun  to  show  their  implacable 
Hostility  to  hostility  to  the  Church.  They  usurped  the 
the  clergy.  0ffices  0f  the  clergy,  performed  marriages, 
distributed  crosses,  offered  absolution  to  those  who 
joined  their  Crusade.  They  taunted  the  Friar  Preach- 
ers and  Minorites  as  vagabonds  and  hypocrites  ;  the 
White  Monks  (the  Cistercians)  with  their  covetous- 
ness,  their  vast  possessions  in  lands  and  flocks ;  the 
Black  Monks  (the  Benedictines)  with  gluttony  and 
pride ;  the  Canons,  as  worldly,  self-indulgent  men ; 
Bishops,  as  hunters  and  hawkers,  as  given  to  all  vo- 
luptuousness. No  one  dared  to  repeat  the  impious 
reproaches  which  they  heaped  on  the  Church  of  Rome. 

All  this  the  people  heard  with  the  utmost  delight. 
It  was  rumored  that  the  Master  miraculously  fed  the 
multitudes ;  bread,  meat,  and  wine  multiplied  under 
in  Paris.  his  hands.  They  had  entered  Paris:  the 
Master  was  admitted  into  the  presence  of  the  Queen, 
and  was  received  with  honor  and  with  gifts.  The 
Master,  emboldened,  mounted  the  pulpit  in  the  church 
of  St.  Eustache,  with  an  episcopal  mitre  on  his  head, 
preached  and  blessed  the  holy  water.  Meantime,  his 
followers  swarmed  in  the  neighboring  streets,  merci- 
lessly slew  the  priests  who  endeavored  to  oppose  their 
fierce  fanaticism :  the  approaches  to  the  University 
were  closed,  lest  there  should  be  a  general  massacre  of 
the  scholars. 


Chap.  II.  DIVISION"  OF  THE  HOST.  61 

The  enormous  host  divided  at  Paris  into  three.    One 
horde  went   towards   Orleans  and   Bourses,  Division  of 

1  1  the  host. 

one  towards  Bordeaux,  one  to  the  sea-coast  At  Orleans. 
at  Marseilles.  But  though  Paris,  the  seat  of  all  wis- 
dom and  of  the  government,  had  received  them,  the 
southern  cities  had  more  courage ;  or  the  strange  illu- 
sion had  begun  to  dissipate  of  itself.  The  Shepherds 
entered  Orleans,  notwithstanding  the  resistance  of  the 
Bishop  and  the  clergy;  the  citizens  hailed  their  ap- 
proach ;  the  people  crowded  in  countless  numbers 
and  rapt  admiration  around  the  Preacher.  The  Bishop 
issued  his  inhibition  to  all  clerks,  ordering  them  to  keep 
aloof  from  the  profane  assembly :  the  wiser  and  older 
obeyed  ;  some  of  the  younger  scholars  were  led  by 
curiosity  to  hear  one  who  preached  unlicensed  by 
Prelate,  and  who  by  his  preaching  had  awed  Paris  and 
her  famous  University.  The  Master  was  in  the  pulpit ; 
he  was  pouring  forth  his  monstrous  tenets  :  a  scholar 
rushed  forward,  "  Wicked  heretic  !  foe  to  truth  ;  thou 
liest  in  thy  throat ;  thou  deceivest  the  innocent  with 
thy  false  and  treacherous  speech."  He  had  hardly  ut- 
tered these  words,  when  his  skull  was  cloven  by  one 
of  the  Master's  followers.  The  scholars  were  pursued ; 
the  gates  of  the  University  broken  in ;  a  frightful 
butchery  followed  ;  their  books  were  thrown  into  the 
Loire.  By  another  account,  the  scholars  made  a  gal- 
lant resistance.  The  Bishop,  who  had  been  forced  to 
fly,  left  the  city  under  an  interdict,  as  having  enter- 
tained these  precursors  of  Antichrist.  The  complaints 
of  the  Bishop  reached  the  ears  of  Queen  Blanche. 
Her  calm  wisdom  had  returned.  u  I  thought,"  she 
said,  "  that  these  people  might  recover  the  Holy  Lancl 


62  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

in  simplicity  and  sanctity ;  since  they  are  impostors,  be 
they  excommunicated,  scattered,  destroyed." 

They  entered  Bourges :  notwithstanding  the  denun- 
inBourges.  ciations  of  the  Archbishop,  the  city  had 
opened  her  gates.  Here  the  first  act  of  the  Master  of 
Hungary  was  to  penetrate  into  the  Jews'  quarter,  to 
plunder  their  houses,  and  burn  their  books.  But  in 
Bourges  he  was  so  rash,  or  so  intoxicated  with  success, 
as  not  to  content  himself  with  the  wonders  of  his  elo- 
quence :  after  the  sermon  he  promised,  or  was  said  to 
have  promised,  to  work  the  most  amazing  miracles. 
The  people,  eager  for  the  miracles,  were  perhaps  less 
wrought  upon  by  the  sermon  :  they  waited  in  breathless 
expectation,  but  they  waited  in  vain.  At  that  moment 
of  doubt  and  disappointment,  a  man  (he  is  called  an 
executioner)  rushed  forth,  and  clove  the  head  of  the 
Master  with  a  two-edged  axe ;  his  brains  were  scattered 
on  the  pavement ;  his  soul,  as  all  then  believed,  went 
direct  to  hell.  The  Royal  Bailiff  of  Bourges  was  at 
hand  with  his  men-at-arms ;  he  fell  on  the  panic- 
stricken  followers,  cast  the  body  into  the  common 
sewer  to  be  torn  by  hounds.  The  excommunication 
was  read ;  the  whole  host  were  pursued  and  massacred 
like  mad  dogs. 

The  second  squadron  met  no  better  fate  ;  Simon  de 
Bordeaux.  Montfort  closed  the  gates  of  Bordeaux  against 
them,  and  threatened  to  sally  out  with  his  knights  and 
behead  them  all.  Their  leader,  the  favorite  companion 
of  the  Master  of  Hungary,  was  seized,  bound  hand 
and  foot,  and  thrown  into  the  Garonne  ;  the  scattered 
followers  were  seized,  hanged  ;  a  few  found  their  way 
home  as  wretched  beggars.     Some  of  these,  and  part 


Chai\  II.  THE  MENDICANT  FRIARS.  63 

of  the  third  division,  reached  Marseilles  ;  but  the  hallu- 
cination was  over ;  they  were  easily  dispersed,  Marseilles. 
most  perished  miserably.    So  suddenly  began,  so  almost 
as  suddenly  ended  this  religious  Jacquerie.1 

The  pontificates  of  Innocent  IV.  and  of  Alexander 
IV.,  besides  these  great  insurrections  of  one  civil  war  in 

.  „  to,  ,  -11   the  Church. 

order  of  society  —  the  very  lowest  against  all  Progress  of 

i  i  i      i      i  t        i  i  n  i  the  Mendi- 

above  them  —  beheld  the  growth  ot  a  less  cant  Orders, 
tumultuous  but  more  lasting  and  obstinate  civil  war 
within  the  Church  itself.  The  Mendicant  Friars,  from 
the  humble  and  zealous  assistants,  the  active  itinerant 
subsidiary  force  of  the  hierarchy,  rapidly  aspired  to  be 
their  rivals,  their  superiors  —  at  least  equal  sharers,  not 
only  in  their  influence  and  their  power,  but  also  in 
their  wealth  and  pomp ;  as  far,  at  least,  as  in  their 
buildings,  their  churches,  their  cloisters.  They  were 
no  longer  only  among  the  poorest,  the  most  ignorant 
of  mankind :  they  were  in  the  lordly  halls  of  the 
nobles,  in  the  palaces  of  kings.  St.  Louis,  as  we  have 
heard,  held  them  in  such  devout  reverence,  that  if  he 
could  have  divided  his  body,  he  would  have  given  one 
half  to  either  saint,  Dominic  or  Francis. 

Not  only  the  Popes,  the  more  religious  of  the  hie- 
rarchy and  of  the  old  monastic  orders,  had  hailed,  wel- 
comed, held  in  honor  these  new  laborers,  who  took  the 
hard  and  menial  work  in  the  lowly  and  neglected  and 
despised  part  of  the  vineyard.  The  Popes  had  the  wis- 
dom to  discern  at  once  the  power  of  this  vast,  silent, 
untraceable  agency  on  the  spiritual  improvement  of 
Christendom  ;  its  power,  not  only  against  vice,  igno- 
rance, ir religion,  but  against  those  who  dared,  in  their 

1 1  have  chiefly  followed  Matt.  Paris  and  Wilharn  of  Nangis,  with  some 
few  facts  from  other  chronicles. 


64  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

independence  of  thought,  to  rebel  at  the  doctrines  — 
in  the  pride  of  temporal  authority  to  contest  the  all- 
embracing  supremacy  of  the  See  of  Rome.  We  have 
seen  them  during  the  whole  war  with  Frederick  II.  the 
demagogues  of  refractory  subjects,  the  publishers  and 
propagators  of  the  fulminations  of  the  Popes  in  all 
lands,  the  levellers  of  mankind  before  the  Papal  autoc- 
racy, the  martyrs  of  the  high  Papal  faith.  Those  of 
less  worldly  views  saw  them  only  as  employed  in  their 
Conrad  of  holier  work.  Conrad  of  Zahringen,  the  Gen- 
zahringen.  eraj  0f  ^e  Cistercian  Order,  when  they  es- 
tablished their  first  house  at  Paris,  vowed  brotherhood 
with  the  Friar  Preachers.  When  Legate  at  Cologne, 
a  priest  complained  that  the  Preachers  interfered  in  his 
parish.  "  How  many  parishioners  have  you  ?  "  "  Nine 
thousand."  The  Legate  signed  himself  with  the  sign 
of  the  Cross  :  "  Miserable  man  !  presumest  thou  to  com- 
plain, charged  with  so  many  souls,  that  these  holy  men 
would  relieve  you  from  part  of  your  burden  ?  "  *  Yet 
Conrad  issued  his  mandate,  that  though  the  Friars 
might  preach  and  administer  the  sacrament  of  penance, 
they  should  refuse  it  to  all  who  withdrew  themselves 
from  the  care  of  their  legitimate  pastor.  Robert  Gros- 
tete  of  Lincoln,  as  has  been  said,  maintained  them 
against  his  own  negligent  or  luxurious  clergy. 

But  their  zeal  or  their  ambition  was  not  yet  satisfied. 
The  uni-  They  aspired  to  the  chief  seats  of  learning  ; 
versities.  they  would  rule  the  Universities,  now  rising 
to  their  height  of  fame  and  authority.  Of  all  the  uni- 
Paris.  versities  beyond  the  Alps,  Paris  was   then 

the  most  renowned.     If  Bologna  might  boast  her  civil 


o 


1  Ann.  Cistercien.  quoted  in  Hist.  Litter,  de  la  France,  article  "  Conrad 
of  Zahringen." 


Chap.  IT.  UNIVERSITY  OF  PARIS.  65 

lawyers,  Salerno  licr  physicians,  Paris  might  vie  with 
these  great  schools  in  their  peculiar  studies,  and  in 
herself  concentred  the  fame  of  all,  especially  of  the 
highest  —  theology.  The  University  of  Paris  had  its 
inviolable  privileges,  its  own  endowments,  government, 
laws,  magistrates,  jurisdiction  ;  it  was  a  state  within  a 
state,  a  city  within  a  city,  a  church  within  a  church. 
It  refused  to  admit  within  its  walls  the  sergeants  of  tho 
Mayor  of  Paris,  the  apparitors  of  the  Bishop  of  Paris 
it  opened  its  gates  sullenly  and  reluctantly  to  the  King's 
officers.  The  Mendicants  (the  Dominicans  and  Fran- 
ciscans) would  teach  the  teachers  of  the  world  ;  they 
would  occupy  not  only  the  pulpits  in  the  churches,  and 
spread  their  doctrines  in  streets  and  market-places,  thev 
would  lay  down  the  laws  of  philosophy,  theology,  per- 
haps of  canonical  jurisprudence,  from  the  chairs  of 
professors  ;  and  they  would  vindicate  their  hardy  aspi- 
rations by  equalling,  surpassing  the  most  famous  of  the 
University.  Already  the  Dominicans  might  put  for- 
ward their  Albert  the  Great,  the  nearest  approach  to  a 
philosopher ;  the  Franciscans,  the  Englishman  Alexan- 
der Hales,  the  subtlest  of  the  new  race  of  schoolmen. 
Aquinas  and  Bonaveutura  were  to  come.  The  jealous 
University,  instead  of  receiving  these  great  men  as 
allies  with  open  arms,  rejected  them  as  usurpers.1 

But  the  University  was  in  implacable  war  with  the 
authorities  of  Paris  ;  there  was 'a  perpetual  feud,  as  in 


1  Tillemont  indeed  says,  "  L'Universit^  les  receut  meme  avecjoie  dans 
ses  ecoles,  parceque  leur  vie  paroissoit  alors  ddifiante  et  utile  au  public, 
et  qu'ils  sembloient  s'appliquei*  aux  sciences  avec  autant  d'humilite-  que 
d'ardeur  et  de  succes.  Mais  elle  ^prouva  bientot  qu'il  est  dangereux  de 
donner  entree  a  des  personnes  trop  puissantes,  et  de  se  lier  avec  ceux  qui 
ont  des  desseins  et  des  interets  diff^rens."  See  the  laborious  essay  on 
Guillaume  de  St.  Amour,  Vie  de  Louis  IX.,  p.  133  et  seq. 
vol.  vi.  5 


QQ  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

other  universities,  between  the  town  and  the  gown. 
However  wild  and  unruly  the  youth,  the  University 
would  maintain  her  prerogative  of  sole  and  exclusive 
jurisdiction  over  them.  The  sober  citizens  would  not 
endure  the  riot,  and  worse  than  riot,  of  these  profligate 
boys.1  Their  insolent  corporate  spirit  did  not  respect 
the  Cardinal  Legate.2  On  one  occasion  (in  1228),  in 
a  fierce  fray  of  many  days,  two  scholars  were  killed  by 
the  city  guard.  The  University  haughtily  demanded 
satisfaction  ;  on  the  refusal  closed  her  gates,  suspended 
her  lectures,  at  first  maintained  sullen  silence,  and  then, 
at  least  a  large  portion  of  the  scholars  shook  the  dust 
from  their  feet,  deserted  the  dark  and  ungrateful  city, 
and  migrated  to  Rheims,  Orleans,  Angers,  even  to 
Toulouse.3  The  Dominicans  seized  their  opportunity ; 
they  obtained  full  license  for  a  chair  of  theology  from 
the  Bishop  of  Paris  and  the  Chancellor.  On  the  re- 
turn of  the  University  to  Paris,  they  found  these  power- 
ful rivals  in  possession  of  a  large  share  in  the  theologic 
instruction.  Their  reestablishment,  resisted  by  the 
Crown  and  by  the  Bishop  of  Paris  (the  Crown  indig- 
nant that  the  University  had  presumed  to  confer  de- 
grees at  Orleans  and  at  Angers,  the  Bishop  jealous  of 
their  exemption  from  his  jurisdiction),  was  only  effected 
by  the  authority  of  Pope  Gregory  IX.  The  Pontiff 
was  anxious  that  Paris,  the  foundation  of  all  sound 
learning,  should  regain  her  distinction.     His  mild  and 

i  The  scholars  were  forbidden  to  bear  arms  in  1218.  The  Official  of  Paris 
complains  "  qu'ils  enfoncoient  et  brisoient  les  portes  des  maisons;  qu'ils  en- 
levoient  les  filles  et  les  femmes." —  Crevier,  i.  p.  334. 

-  Crevier,  p.  335.     The  dispute  was  about  the  Universit)'  seal. 

&  Crevier,  341.  The  reader  who  requires  more  full,  learned,  and  prolix 
information,  will  consult  Du  lioulay,  Hist.  Univers.  Paris.  Crevier's  is  a 
clear,  rapid,  and  skilful  epitome  of  Du  Boiilay. 


Chap.  II.  DISPUTE  WITH  THE  DOMINICANS.  67 

conciliatory  counsels  prevailed  :  the  University  resumed 
her  station,  and  even  obtained  the  valuable  privilege 
that  the  Rector  and  Scholars  were  not  liable  to  any  ex- 
communication not  directly  sanctioned  by  the  Holy 
See. 

Above  twenty  years  of  treacherous  peace  followed 
The  Mendicants  were  gaining  in  power,  fame,  123i_i252. 
influence,  unpopularity.  They  encroached  jJSKjLE? 
more  and  more  on  the  offices,  on  the  privi-  lcaus* 
leges  of  the  clergy ;  stood  more  aloof  from  episcopal 
jurisdiction  ;  had  become,  instead  of  the  clergy  and 
the  older  monasteries,  the  universal  legatees ;  obscured 
the  University  by  the  renown  of  their  great  teachers. 
The  university  raised  a  loud  outcry  that  there  were 
twelve  chairs  of  theology  at  Paris  :  of  these,  five  out 
of  the  six  colleges  of  the  Regulars  —  the  Cistercians, 
Premonstratensians,  Val  de  Grace,  Trinitarians,  Fran- 
ciscans —  held  each  one,  the  Dominicans  two ;  the 
Canons  of  Paris  occupied  three ;  there  remained  but 
two  for  the  whole  Secular  Clergy.1  They  issued  their 
edict  suppressing  one  of  the  Dominicans  :  the  Domini- 
cans laughed  them  to  scorn.  The  quarrel  was  aggra- 
vated by  the  refusal  of  the  Dominican  and  Franciscan 
Professors  to  join  the  rest  of  the  University  in  demand- 
ing justice  for  the  death  of  a  scholar  slain  in  a  fray.2 
The  University  passed  a  sentence  of  expulsion  against 
the  Dominican  Professors.  The  Dominicans  appealed 
to  the  Pope.  They  obtained,  it  was  averred  by  false 
representations,  a  favorable  award.  Europe  rang  with 
the  clamorous  remonstrances  of  the  University  of  Paris. 

i  Crevier,  p.  396. 

2  The  University  obtained  justice;  two  men  were  hanged  for  the  offence 
•    Crevier,  p.  400. 


G8  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

They  issued  an  address  to  the  whole  Episcopate  of 
Christendom.  M  Would  the  Bishops,  very  many  of 
whom  had  studied  at  Paris,  allow  that  famous  Univer- 
sity, the  foundation  of  the  faith,  to  be  shaken?"1 
They  pressed  their  appeal  before  Pope  Innocent  IV. 
Innocent,  a  great  student  of  the  canon  law,  had  always 
looked  on  the  University  of  Paris  with  favor.  The 
Mendicants  had  done  their  work;  Frederick  II.  was 
dead  ;  Innocent  master  of  Italy.  The  Pope,  who  had 
alienated  the  University  by  his  exactions  and  arro- 
gance, endeavored  to  propitiate  them  by  the  sacrifice 
Bun  of  Pope  °f  ms  faithful  allies  the  Friars.  He  promul- 
limoceut.       gated    hi§    ceiekrated    bull,    subjugating    the 

Mendicant  Orders  to  episcopal  authority.  The  next 
Nov.  1254.  month  Pope  Innocent  was  dead.  The  Do- 
minicans revenoed  themselves  on  the  ungrateful  Pon- 
tiff  by  assuming  the  merit  of  his  death,  granted  to 
their  prayers.  u  From  the  Litanies  of  the  Dominicans, 
good  Lord  deliver  us,"  became  a  proverbial  saying.2 

Alexander  IV.  was  not  the  protector  only,  he  was 
Alexander  tne  humble  slave  of  the  Mendicants.3  His 
n*  first  act  was  to  annul  the  bull  of  his  predeces- 

sor without  reservation.4  The  Mendicants  were  at 
wiiiiam  of  once  reinstated  in  all  their  power.  In  vain 
Bt.  Amour.     fa&  el0quent  William  (called  St.  Amour,  from 

1  "  Si  on  attaque  le  fondement  (de  l'Eglise)  qui  est  l'Ecole  de  Paris,  tout 
I'&iifice  est  mis  en  pdril."  — See  Crevier,  p.  407. 

"  Et  se  ne  fust  la  bonne  garde 
De  l'Universite,  qui  garde 
Le  chief  de  la  Chretieute." 

Roman  de  la  Rose,  1. 12415. 

1  Antonini.  Senens.  in  Chronic.    Compare  Hist.  Lit.  de  la  France,  xix. 
p.  197,  article  William  de  St.  Amour. 

3  The  words  of  Crevier,  p.  411. 

4  He  was  elected  Dec.  12 ;  revoked  the  bull  Dec.  22. 


Chap.  II.  WILLIAM   OF  ST.   AMOUR.  09 

the  place  of  his  birth  in  Franche  Comte")  maintained 
the  privileges  of  the  University :  he  returned  dis- 
comfited, not  defeated,  to  Paris.  He  was  hailed  as 
the  acknowledged  champion  of  the  University,  and 
devoted  himself  with  dauntless  courage  and  perse- 
verance to  the  cause.1  He  not  only  asserted  the  priv- 
ileges of  the  University ;  Paris  rung  with  his  denun- 
ciations of  the  Mendicants,  of  Mendicancy  itself.  He 
preached  with  a  popularity  rivalling  or  surpassing  the 
best  preachers  of  the  Orders.  He  accused  the  Friars 
as  going  about  into  houses,  leading  astray  silly  women, 
laden  with  sins,  usurping  everywhere  the  rule  over 
their  consciences  and  men's  property,  aspiring  to  tyr- 
annize over  public  opinion.  "And  who  were  they? 
No  successors  of  the  Apostles ;  they  presumed  to  act  in 
the  Church  with  no  spiritual  lineage,  with  no  tradition 
of  authority ;  from  them  arose  the  l  Perils  of  the  days 
to  come.'  "2 

The  Dominicans  had  boasted,  according  to  the  pop- 
ular poet,3  that  they  ruled  supreme  in  Paris  and  in 

1  To  William  of  St.  Amour  was  attributed  the  bull  of  Innoceut  IV 
"  S  'il  n'avait  en  sa  verite 
L'acord  de  l'Universite, 
Et  du  peuple  communement 
Qui  oyoient  son  prechement." 

Roman  de  la  Rose,  1.  12113. 
8  Opera  Gulielm.  St.  Amour,  Prtef.  p.  23. 

3  "  Li  Jacobin  (Dominicains)  sont  si  preudoume. 
Qu'il  ont  Paris  et  si  ont  Roume, 
Et  si  sont  roi  et  Apostole 
Et  de  l'avoir  ont  il  grant  soume. 
Et  qui  se  meurt,  se  il  ne's  norarae 
Pour  executeurs,  s'iime  afole, 
Et  sont  apostre  par  parole. 

*  *  *  * 

Lor  haine  n'est  pas  frivole, 
Je,  qui  redout  ma  teste  fole 
Ne  vous  di  plus  mais  qu'il  sont  home." 

^iuttbcuf.  edit.  Jubinal,  i.  161. 


"70  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

Rome  :  they  had  lost  Paris,  but  in  Rome  they  ruled 
without  rival.  The  first,  the  most  famous,  it  is  said,  of 
forty  bulls  issued  by  Alexander  IV.,  appeared  during 
the  next  year.1  It  commenced  with  specious  adulation 
of  the  University,  ended  with  awarding  complete  vic- 
tory to  the  Dominicans.  While  it  seemed  to  give  full 
power  to  the  University,  it  absolutely  annulled  their 
statute  of  exclusion  against  the  Dominicans.  The 
Bishops  of  Orleans  and  Auxerre  were  charged  with 
the  execution  of  this  bull ;  they  were  armed  with  am- 
ple powers  of  spiritual  censure,  of  excommunicating, 
or  suspending  from  their  office  all  masters  or  scholars 
guilty  of  contumacy.  The  University  defied  or  at- 
tempted to  elude  these  censures.  They  obstinately 
refused  to  admit  the  Dominicans  to  their  republic ;  they 
determined  rather  to  dissolve  the  University ;  many 
masters  and  students  withdrew,  some  returned  and  took 
up  again  their  attitude  of  defiance.  William  de  St. 
Amour  was  the  special  object  of  the  hatred  of  the 
Mendicants.  He  was  arraigned  before  the  Bishop  of 
Paris,  at  the  suit  of  Gregory,  a  chaplain  of  Paris,  as 
having  disseminated  a  libel  defamatory  of  the  Pope. 
St.  Amour  appeared ;  but  the  courage  of  the  accuser 
had  failed,  he  was  not  to  be  found.  St.  Amour  offered 
canonical  purgation  ;  to  swear  on  the  relics  of  the  Holy 
Martyrs  that  he  was  guiltless  of  the  alleged  crime: 
Four  thousand  scholars  stood  forward  as  his  compur- 
gators. The  Bishop  was  forced  to  dismiss  the  charge.2 
In  vain  the  four  great  Archbishops  of  France  interfered 

i  This  bull  was  called  "  Quasi  lignum  vitas."  The  successive  bulls  may 
be  read  in  the  Bullarium. 

2  Oevier,  from  a  letter  of  the  students  of  the  University  to  the  Pope. 
It  was  possibly  before  the  arrival  of  the  bull. 


Chav.II.  the  everlasting  gospel.  71 

to  allay  the  strife ;  the  pulpits  rung  with  mutual  crim- 
inations. 

William  of  St.  Amour  and  his  zealous  partisans 
arraigned  the  Mendicants,  not  merely  as  usurpers  of 
the  rights,  offices,  emoluments  of  the  clergy,  of  here- 
dipety  and  rapacity  utterly  at  variance  with  their  os- 
tentatious poverty,  but  both  orders,  indiscriminately 
Dominicans  as  well  as  Franciscans,  as  believers  in,  as 
preachers  and  propagators  of  the  Everlasting  Gospel. 
This  book,  which  became  the  manual,  I  had  almost 
said  the  Bible  of  the  spiritual  Franciscans,  must  await 
its  full  examination  till  those  men  —  the  Fraticelli  — 
come  before  us  in  their  formidable  numbers  and  no  less 
formidable  activity.  Suffice  it  here,  that  the  Everlast- 
ing Gospel,  the  prophetic  book  ascribed  to  the  The  Etemal 
Abbot  Joachim,  or  rather  the  introduction  to  GosPeL 
the  Everlasting  Gospel,  proclaimed  the  approach,  the 
commencement  of  the  Last  Age  of  the  World,  that  of 
the  Holy  Ghost.  The  Age  of  the  Father  —  that  of 
the  Law  —  had  long  since  gone  by  ;  that  of  the  Son 
was  ebbing  on  its  last  sands  ;  and  with  the  Age  of  the 
Son,  the  Church,  the  hierarchy,  its  power,  wealth, 
splendor,  were  to  pass  away.  The  Age  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  was  at  hand,  it  was  in  its  dawn.  The  Holy 
Ghost  would  renew  the  world  in  the  poverty,  humility, 
Christian  perfection  of  St.  Francis.  The  Everlasting 
Gospel  superseded  and  rendered  useless  the  other  four. 
It  suited  the  enemies  of  the  Mendicants  to  involve  both 
Orders  in  this  odious  charge  :  the  Introduction  to  the 
Everlasting  Gospel  was  by  some  attributed  to  the 
Dominicans,  its  character,  its  spirit,  its  tone,  were 
unquestionably  Franciscan.1 

1  Matt.  Paris  (sub  ann.  1256),  Richer.  Cronic.  Senens.,  and  the  authors 


72  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

These  two  rival  Orders  had  followed  in  their  devel- 
opment the  opposite  character  of  their  founders.  To 
the  stern,  sober,  practical  views  of  Dominic  had  suc- 
ceeded stern,  sober,  practical  Generals.  The  mild, 
mystic,  passionate  Francis  was  followed  by  men  all 
earnest  and  vehement,  but  dragged  different  ways  by 
conflicting  passions  :  the  passion  for  poverty,  as  the 
consummation  and  perfection  of  all  religion  ;  the  pas- 
sion for  other  ends  to  which  poverty  was  but  the  means, 
and  therefore  must  be  followed  out  with  less  rigor.  The 
first  General,  Elias,  even  in  the  lifetime  of  the  Saint, 
tampered  with  the  vow  of  holy  poverty ;  he  was  de- 
posed, as  we  have  heard,  became  no  longer  the  partisan 
of  the  Pope,  but  of  Frederick  II.,  was  hardly  permitted 
on  his  death-bed  to  resume  the  dress  of  the  Order.1  It 
may  be  presumed  that  Crescentius,  the  sixth  General, 
was,  from  age  or  temper,  less  rigorous  as  to  this  vital 
law.  He,  too,  was  deposed  from  his  high  place,  and 
John  of  Parma  became  General  of  the  Order.  John 
of  Parma2  was,  it  might  be  said  (if  St.  Francis  him- 

of  the  Roman- de  la  Rose,  attribute  the  Everlasting  Gospel  to  the  Domini- 
cans. Such  was  the  tone  in  Paris.  According,  however,  to  the  Roman  de 
la  Rose,  it  had  another  author :  — 

"  Ung  livre  de  par  le  grant  Diable, 
Dit  l'Evangile  pardurable, 
Que  le  Saint  Esperit  ministre, 
Bien  est  digne  d'etre  brule. 

*  #  #  # 

Tant  surmonte  ceste  Evangile, 
Ceulx  que  les  quatre  Evangelistrea 
Jesu-Christ  firent  a  leurs  tiltres." 

—  L.  12444,  &c. 

It  appeared,  according  to  the  poet  "William  de  Lorris,  in  1250 :  it  was  in 
the  hands  of  every  man  and  woman  in  the  "  parvis  Notre  Dame." 

1  Chroniques  des  Freres  Mineurs,  c.  xlii.  p.  27. 

2  The  best  account  which  I  have  read  of  John  of  Parma  is  in  the  Hist 
Litteraire  de  la  France,  t.  xx.  p.  23.  But  the  whole  of  this  development 
of  spiritual  Francist  anism  will  be  more  fully  traced  hereafter. 


Chap.  II.  FEUD   BETWEEN  RIVAL  OKDERS.  73 

self  was  not  the  parent  of  the  Spiritualist  Franciscans), 
that  parent ;  he  was  the  extremest  of  the  extreme.  His 
first  act  was  a  visitation  of  all  the  monasteries  of  the 
Order,  the  enforcement  of  that  indispensable  virtue 
which  would  brook  no  infringement  whatever.  John 
of  Parma  was  employed  by  Innocent  IV.  in  Greece,  in 
an  endeavor  to  reconcile  the  Oriental  schism.  In  12r>l 
he  was  again  in  Rome.  In  1256,  exactly  the  very  year 
in  which  came  forth  the  daring  book  of  William  de  St. 
Amour,  there  were  strange  rumors,  sullen  suppressed 
murmurs  against  John  of  Parma.  He  was  deposed, 
and  only  by  the  influence  of  the  Cardinal  Ottobuoni 
permitted  to  dwell  in  retirement  at  Reate.  There 
seems  but  slight  doubt  that  he  was  deposed  as  the 
author  of  the  Introduction  to  the  Everlasting  Gos- 
pel.1  It  needed  all  the  commanding  gentleness,  the 
unrivalled  learning,  the  depth  of  piety,  in  St.  Bona- 
ventura,  the  new  General,  to  allay  the  civil  feud,  and 
delay  for  some  years  the  fatal  schism  among  the  fol- 
lowers of  St.  Francis  —  the  revolt  of  the  Spiritualists 
from  the  Order. 

The  war  continued  to  rage  in  Paris,  notwithstanding 
a  short  truce  brought  about  by  the  King  and  the  Bish- 
ops. Bull  after  bull  arrived.2  Pope  Alexander  ap- 
pealed at  length  to  the  King ;  he  demanded  of  the 
secular  power  the  exile  of  the  obstinate  leaders  of  the 
A nti- Mendicant  party,  William  de  St.  Amour,  Eudes 
of  Douai,  Nicolas  Dean  of  Bar-sur-Aube,  and  Chris- 

1  It  was  the  great  object  of  Wadding  and  of  Staraglia  to  release  the 
memory  of  a  General  of  their  order  from  the  authorship  of  an  heretical 
book.  It  is  attributed  to  him,  or  to  Gerard  di  Borgo  san  Domnino,  under 
his  auspices,  by  Nicolas  Eymeric.  Direct.  Inquis.  ii.  v.  24.  Bzovius.  sub 
ann.  1250.  Bulaeus,  p.  299.  See  also  Tillemont's  impartial  summing  up, 
p.  157. 

a  Tillemont,  p.  182. 


74  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

tian  Canon  of  Beauvais.1  Before  the  King  (St.  Louis), 
whose  awful  reverence  and  passionate  attachment  to  the 
Mendicant  Orders  were  well  known,  had  determined 
on  his  course,  William  of  St.  Amour  had  published 
The  Perils  of  his  terrible  book  on  the  "  Perils  of  the  Last 

the  I  *Lsfc 

Times.  Times."     This  book,  written   in   the  name, 

perhaps  with  the  aid  and  concurrence  of  the  theolo- 
gians of  the  University,  was  more  dangerous,  because 
it  denounced  not  openly  the  practices  of  the  Friars,  but 
it  was  a  relentless,  covert,  galling  exposure  of  them 
and  of  their  proceedings.  That  they  were  meant  as 
the  forerunners  of  Antichrist,  the  irrefragable  signs  of 
the  "perils  of  the  last  times,"  none  could  doubt.  The 
book  was  sent  by  the  indignant  King  himself  to  Rome. 
The  University  had  endeavored  in  vain  to  anticipate 
the  more  rapid  movements  of  their  adversary.  They 
had  despatched  a  mission  (the  very  four  men  con- 
demned by  the  Pope)  to  Rome,  bearing  the  Introduc- 
tion to  the  Everlasting  Gospel,  and  demanding  the 
condemnation  of  that  flagrantly  heretical  book.2  They 
had  obtained  letters  of  recommendation  from  all  the 
chapters  in  the  province  of  Rheims. 

Ere  they  arrived,  the  all-powerful  Dominicans  had 
struck  their  blow.  The  "  Perils  of  the  Last  Times  " 
had  been  submitted  to  the  examination  of  four  Cardi- 
nals, one  of  them  a  Dominican  —  Hugo  de  St.  Cher, 
who  sat  as  judge  in  his  own  cause.  It  was  condemned 
as  unjust,  wicked,  execrable  ;  it  was  burned  in  the 
presence  of  the  Pope,  before  the  Cathedral  at  Anagni. 

1  On  these  men  compare  Tillemont,  p.  144.  Thomas  Canteprat,  among 
later  writers  the  great  enemy  of  William  de  St.  Amour,  admits  that  he  se- 
duced the  clergy  and  people  of  Rome  by  his  eloquence. 

2  The  Introduction  had  been  before  or  was  now  formally  condemned  at 
Rome. 


Chai-.  II.  POPULAR  PARTY.  75 

William  de  St.  Amour  stood  alone  in  Rome  against 
the  Pope  Alexander,  the  Cardinals,  and  the  Exile  of 
Dominicans,  headed  by  Hugo  de  St.  Cher.1  st.  Amour. 
He  conducted  his  defence  with  consummate  courage 
and  no  less  consummate  address.  It  was  impossible  to 
fix  upon  him  the  fatal  guilt  of  heresy.2  His  health 
began  to  fail  ;  he  was  prohibited  for  a  time  from  re- 
turning to  France,  perhaps  was  not  sorry  to  obey  the 
prohibition.  He  does  not  seem  even  to  .have  been  de- 
prived of  his  benefices.3  His  quiet  place  of  exile  was 
his  native  St.  Amour,  in  Franche  Comte,  not  }^et  in 
the  dominions  of  France.  He  was  followed  bv  the 
respect  and  fond  attachment  of  the  whole  University. 

But  it  is  singular  that  William  of  St.  Amour  was 
not  only  the  champion  of  the  learned  Univer-  Po  uHr 
sity,  he  was  the  hero  of  Parisian  vulgar  poe-  party- 
try.  Notwithstanding  that  the  King,  and  that  King  St. 
Louis,  espoused  the  cause  of  the  Mendicants,  the  peo- 
ple were  on  the  other  side.  The  popular  Preachers, 
and  the  popular  ministers,  who  had  sprung  from  the 
people,  spoke  the  language,  expressed  at  the  same  time 
and  excited  the  sympathies  and  the  religious  passions 
of  the  lowest  of  the  low,  had  ceased  to  be  popular. 
They  had  been  even  outpreached  by  William  of  St. 
Amour.  The  Book  of  the  Perils  of  the  Last  Times 
was  disseminated  in  the  vulgar  tongue.  The  author 
of  the  romance  of  the  Rose,4  above  all,   Rutebeuf,  in 

i  On  Hugo  de  St.  Cher,  Tillemont,  p.  15. 

2  It  was  condemned  "non  propter  lueresim   quam  continebat  sed  quia 
contra  prasfatos  religiosos  seditionem  et  scandala  concitabat."  —  G.  Nan^is. 
8  Tillemont,  p.  212. 

4  "  Si  j'en  devoye  perdre  la  vie, 
Ou  estre  mys  contre  droiture. 
Comrae  Saint  Pol,  en  chartre  obscure, 


7(5  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

his  rude  verse  addressed  to  the  vulgar  of  all  orders, 
heaped  scorn  and  hatred  on  the  Mendicants.1 

The  war  between  the  University  and  the  Domini- 
Great  cans  continued,   if   in  less  active,  in  sulhn 

Bchooimen.  oostinacy.  xhey  were  still  the  rival  powers, 
who  would  not  coalesce,  each  striving  to  engross  public 
education.  Yet  after  all  the  Mendicants  won  a  noble 
victory,  not  by  the  authority  of  the  Pope,  nor  by  the 
influence  of  the  King,  but  by  outshining  the  fame  of 
the  University  through  their  own  unrivalled  teachers. 
On  the  death  of  Alexander  IV.,  William  of  St.  Amour 
returned  to  Paris  ;  he  was  received  with  frantic  rap- 
ture.2    His  later  book,3  more  cautious,  yet  not  less 

Ou  estre  banny  du  Royaulme, 

A  tort,  comine  fut  Maistre  Guillaume 

De  St.  Amour,  que  ypocrisie 

lust  exiller  par  grant  envie." 

Roman  de  la  Rose,  I.  12123. 
Lorris  talks  of  scorning  "  papelorderie."    Paris  writes,  "  Subsannavit  pop- 
ulus,  eleemosynas  consuetas  subtrahens,  vocans  eos  hypocritas,  antichrist! 
Buccessores  (ante-cessores?)  pscudo-praxlicatores." 

1  See  especially  the  two  poems,  de  Maistre  Guillaume  de  St.  Amour,  pp. 
17  i  and  78,  "  or  est  en  son  pais  reclus  "  —  on  St.  Amour,  p.  81. 

"  Ou  a  nul  si  vaillant  homme, 
Qui  por  l'apostoille  de  Itomme, 

Ne  por  le  roi, 
Ne  veut  desreer  son  error, 
Ainz  en  a  souffert  le  desror 

De  perdre  honor  ?  "  —  P.  85. 

Compare  also  "  La  Bataille  des  Vices  contre  les  Vertus"  (ii.  p.  65),  "  La 
Discorde  de  l'Universitd  et  les  Jacobins,"  "  Les  Ordres  de  Paris,"  &c.  &c, 
with  constant  reference  to  the  notes.  The  curious  reader  will  not  content 
himself  with  the  valuable  edition  of  Rutebeuf  by  M.  Jubinal;  he  will  con- 
sult also  the  excellent  article  by  M.  Paullin  Paris  in  the  Hist.  Lit.  de  la 
France,  xx.  p.  710.  Rutebeuf  reads  to  me  like  our  Skelton ;  he  has  the 
same  flowing  rapid  doggrel,  the  same  satiric  verse,  with  not  much  of  poe- 
try, but  both  are  always  alive. 

2  May  1261.     "  Debacchantibus  summa  in  leetitia  omnibus  Magistris 
Parisiensibus."  —  Du  Boulay. 

8  Collectiones  Catholic®. 


Chap.  II.        THE  GREAT  MENDICANT   THEOLOGIANS.  77 

hostile,  was  received  with  respect  and  approbation  by 
Pope  Clement  IV.1  Yet  who  could  deny,  who  pre- 
sume to  question,  the  transcendent  fame,  the  complete 
mastery  of  the  Dominicans  in  theology,  and  that  philos- 
ophy which  in  those  days  aspired  not  to  be  more  than 
the  humble  handmaid  of  theology  ?  (Albert  the  Great 
might,  perhaps,  have  views  of  more  free  and  indepen- 
dent science,  and  so  far,  of  course,  became  a  suspected 
magician.)  Who  could  compete  with  their  Doctors, 
Hugo  de  St.  Cher,  Albert  the  Great,  Thomas  of 
Aquino?  The  Franciscans,  too,  had  boasted  their 
Alexander  Hales,  they  had  now  their  Bonaventura : 
Duns  Scotus,  the  rival  of  Aquinas,  was  speedily  to 
come.2  The  University  could  not  refuse  to  itself  the 
honor  of  conferring  its  degrees  on  Aquinas,3  and  on 
Bonaventura.  And  still  the  rivals  in  scholastic  the- 
ology, who  divided  the  world  (the  barren  it  might  be, 


1  See  on  this  book,  and  others,  Hist.  Lit.  de  la  France,  article  St.  Amour, 
t.  xix.  197.  To  his  earlier  works  belongs,  not  only  the  "  De.  Periculis  " 
(in  his  works  and  in  Fasciculus  of  Brown,  who  translated  it  with  some  ser- 
mons), but  also  a  book,  De  Antichristo,  under  the  pseudoryme  of  Nicolas 
de  Oresme.  The  object  of  this  is  to  show  the  coming  of  Antichrist,  of 
which  the  chief  signs  are  the  setting  up  the  Everlasting  Gospel  against  the 
true  Gospels,  and  the  multitudes  of  false  preachers,  false  prophets,  wander- 
ing and  begging  friars.  —  Ibid.  See  also  account  of  the  writings  of  Gerard 
of  Abbeville,  another  powerful  antagonist  of  the  Mendicants. 

2  Those  who  esteemed  themselves  the  genuine  Franciscans,  always 
sternly  protested  against  the  pride  of  learning,  to  which  their  false  breth- 
ren aspired  in  the  universities.     Hear  Jacopone  da  Todi: 

"  Tal  e.  qual  e,  tal  e, 
Non  c'  e  religione 
Mai  vedemruo  Parigi, 
Che  n'  a  destrutto  Assisi. 
Colla  sua  lettoria 
L'  han  messo  in  mala  via." 

»  Thomas  Aquinas  condescended  to  answer  William  of  St.  Amour-  See 
Adversus  Impugnantes  Religionem. 


78  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

and  dreary  intellectual  world,  yet  in  that  age  tlie  only 
field  for  mental  greatness),  were  the  descendants  of  the 
representatives  of  the  two  Orders.  The  Scotists  and 
the  Thomists  fought  what  wras  thought  a  glorious  fight 
on  the  highest  metaphysics  of  the  Faith,  till  the  absorb- 
ing question,  the  Immaculate  Conception  of  the  Virgin, 
arose  to  commit  the  two  Orders  in  mortal  and  impla- 
cable antagonism. 

The  hatred  of  the  Mendicants  might  seem  to  pass 
Secular  over  to  the  secular  clergy.  In  every  part  of 
Mcudicauts.  Europe  the  hierarchy  still  opposed  with  dig- 
nity or  with  passion  the  encroachments  of  these  fatal 
rivals.  More  than  twenty  years  later  met  a  National 
Council  at  Paris.  Four  Archbishops  and  twenty  Bish- 
ops took  their  seats  in  a  hall  of  the  Episcopal  Palace. 
The  Masters,  Doctors,  Bachelors,  and  Students  of  the 
University,  were  summoned  to  hear  the  decrees  of  the 
Council.  The  heads  of  the  other  religious  orders,  not 
Mendicant,  had  their  writs  of  convocation.  Simon  de 
Beaulieu,  Archbishop  of  Bourges,  took  the  lead.  In  a 
grave  sermon,  he  declared  that  charity  to  their  flocks 
demanded  their  interposition ;  their  flocks,  for  whom 
they  were  bound  to  lay  down  their  lives.  He  inveighed 
aoainst  the  Dominicans  and  the  Franciscans,  who  were 
sowing  discord  in  every  diocese,  in  every  rank,  preach- 
ing and  hearing  confessions  without  license  from  the 
Bishop  and  the  curate.  Their  insolence  must  be  re- 
pressed. He  appealed  to  the  University  to  join  in  an 
appeal  to  the  Pope  to  define  more  rigidly  their  asserted 
privileges.  William  of  Macon,  Bishop  of  Amiens,  the 
most  learned  jurist  in  France,  followed  :  he  explained 
the  bull  of  Innocent  IV.,  which  prohibited  the  Friars 
from  preaching,  hearing  confessions,  imposing  penance 


Chap.  11.        SECULAR  CLERGY  AND  MENDICANTS.  79 

without  permission  of  the  Bishop  or  lawful  pastor. 
The  whole  clergy  of  France  were  ready  to  shed  their 
blood  in  defence  of  their  rights  and  duties.1 

i  This  is  well  related  in  the  Hist.  Lit.  de  la  France,  t.  xxi.  article  Simon 
de  Beaulieu. 


^0  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 


CHAPTER  III. 

URBAN  IV.    CLEMENT  IV.    CHARLES  OF  ANJOU. 

Alexander  IV.  died  an  exile  from  Rome  at  Viterbo. 
Death  of  Either  from  indolence  or  irresolution,  lie  had 
iy.xu  allowed  the  College  of  Cardinals  to  dwindle 

1261  '  to  the  number  of  eight.  These  eight  were 
of  various  nations  and  orders  :  two  Bishops,  Otho  a 
Frenchman,  Stephen  an  Hungarian  ;  two  Presbyters, 
John  an  English  Cistercian,  Hugo  a  Dominican  from 
Savoy ;  four  Deacons,  Richard  a  Roman,  and  Octavian 
a  Tuscan  of  noble  birth,  John  another  Roman,  Otto- 
buoni  a  Genoese.  There  was  no  prevailing  interest, 
no  commanding  name.  More  than  three  months  passed 
in  jealous  dispute.  The  strife  was  fortuitously  ended 
bv  the  appearance  of  James  Pantaleon,  the  Patriarch 
of  Jerusalem.  He  was  elevated  by  sudden  acclamation 
to  the  Papal  throne. 

The  Patriarch  was  a  son  of  a  cobbler  at  Troyes : 1 
and  it  was  a  wonderful  sight,  as  it  were,  a  provocation 
to  the  first  principles  of  Christianity,  to  behold  in  those 
days  of  feudal  monarchy  and  feudal  aristocracies  a  man 
of  such  base  parentage  in  the  highest   dignity  upon 

'  "  Pauperculi  veteramentarii  calceamenta  resarcientis  "  —  S.  Antonin. 
lii.  xiv.  p.  59  — big  words  to  describe  a  cobbler.  According  to  the  Hist. 
Litter,  (article  Urban  IV.,  t.  xiv.  p.  49),  there  is  a  tapestry  at  Troyes.  in 
the  Church  of  St.  Urban,  representing  Pantaleon  (the  father)  in  his  shop 
full  of  boots  and  shoes,  and  his  mother  spinning  and  watching  little  James 


Chap.  III.  URBAN  IV.  81 

earth.  James  had  risen  by  regular  steps  up  the  ascent 
of  ecclesiastical  advancement,  a  Priest  at  Laon,  a  Canon 
at  Lyons,  Archdeacon  of  Liege,  a  Missionary  Legate 
in  Livonia,  Pomerania,  and  Prussia,1  a  pilgrim  and  Pa- 
triarch of  Jerusalem.  Such  a  man  could  not  so  have 
risen  without  great  abilities  or  virtues.  But  if  the  rank 
in  which  he  was  born  was  honorable,  the  place  was 
inauspicious.  Had  the  election  not  fallen  on  a  French- 
man, Italy  might  perhaps  have  escaped  the  descent  of 
Charles  of  Anjou,  with  its  immediate  crimes  and  cruel- 
ties ;  and  the  wars  almost  of  centuries,  which  had  their 
origin  in  that  fatal  event.  Any  Pope,  indeed,  must 
have  had  great  courage  to  break  through  the  traditional 
policy  of  his  predecessors  (where  the  whole  power  rests 
on  tradition,  a  bold,  if  not  a  perilous  act).  Urban  must 
have  recanted  the  long-cherished  hatred  and  jealousy 
of  the  house  of  Hohenstaufen  ;  he  must  have  clearly 
foreseen  (himself  a  Frenchman)  that  the  French  do- 
minion in  Naples  would  be  as  fatal  as  the  German  to 
the  independence  of  Italy  and  of  the  Church  ;  that 
Charles  of  Anjou  would  soon  become  as  dangerous  a 
neighbor  as  Manfred. 

Urban  IV.  took  up  his  residence  in  Viterbo :  already 
might  appear  his  determined  policy  to  renew  the  close 
alliance  between  the  Papacy  and  his  native  France. 
The  holy  character  of  Louis,  who  by  the  death  of  Fred- 
erick and  the  abeyance  of  the  Empire,  by  the  wars  of 
the  Barons  against  Henry  of  England,  had  become  the 
most  powerful  monarch  in  Christendom,  gave  further 

i  See  in  Voigt,  Geschichte  Preussens,  ii.  p.  591,  his  wise  conduct  as  a 
mediator  between  the  Teutonic  Order,  and  Swartobol,  Duke  of  Pomerania, 
the  ally  of  the  heathen  Prussians. 

VOL.   VI.  6 


82  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI 

preponderance  to  his  French  inclinations.1  He  filled 
up  the  College  of  Cardinals  with  fourteen  new  prelates, 
at  least  one  half  of  whom  were  French. 

The  Empire  still  hung  in  suspense  between  the  con- 
Tbe  Empire,  flicting  claims  of  Richard  of  Cornwall  and 
Alfonso  of  Castile  :  Urban,  with  dexterous  skill,  per- 
petuated the  anarchy.  By  timely  protestation,  and  by 
nicely  balancing  the  hopes  of  both  parties,  that  his  ad- 
judication, earnestly  and  submissively  sought  by  both, 
would  be  in  favor  of  each,  he  suppressed  a  growing 
determination  to  place  the  crown  on  the  head  of  young 
Conradin.  Against  this  scheme  Urban  raised  his  voice 
with  all  the  energy  of  his  predecessors,  and  dwelt  with 
the  same  menacing  censure  on  the  hereditary  and  indel- 
ible crimes  of  the  house  of  Swabia  :  he  threatened  ex- 
communication on  all  who  should  revive  the  claims  of 
that  impious  race.  After  a  grave  examination  of  the 
pretensions  of  Richard  of  Cornwall  and  Alfonso  of 
Castile,  he  cited  both  parties  to  plead  their  cause  before 
him,  and  still  drew  out,  with  still  baffled  expectations 
of  a  speedy  sentence,  the  controversy  which  he  had  no 
design  to  close. 

The  Latin  Empire  of  Constantinople  had  fallen : 
Baldwin  II.  sought  refuge,  and  only  found  refuge  in 
the  West.  The  Greek  Palajologi  were  on  the  throne 
of  the  East,  and  seemed  not  indisposed  to  negotiate  on 
the  religious  question  with  the  Pope.  The  Holy  Land, 
the  former  diocese  of  Pope  Urban,  was  in  the  most  de- 
plorable state :  the  Sultan  of  Babylon  had  risen  again 
in  irresistible  power ;  he  had  overrun  the  whole  coun- 
try ;  the  Christians  were  hardly  safe  in  Ptolemais.     In 

1  See  in  Raynaldus  the  verses  of  Theodoricus  Vallicolor,  sub  ann.  1262, 
sub  tine 


Chap.  III.  SITUATION  OF  THE  POPE.  83 

vain  the  Pope  appealed  to  his  own  countrymen  in  be- 
half of  his  old  beloved  diocese  ;  the  clergy  Crusade  fails, 
of  France  withheld  their  contributions,  and  whether 
from  some  jealousy  of  their  lowly  countryman,  now  so 
much  above  them ;  or  since  the  cause  had  so  utterly 
failed  even  under  their  King^  it  might  seem  absolutely 
desperate,  the  Archbishops  of  Sens  and  of  Bourges 
were  unmoved  by  the  Papal  rebukes  or  remonstrances, 
and  continued,  at  least  not  to  encourage  the  zeal  of 
their  clergy. 

The  affairs  of  Italy  and  Naples  threatened  almost 
the  personal  safety  of  the  Pope.  Manfred  Manfred, 
was  at  the  height  of  his  power  ;  he  no  longer  deigned 
to  make  advances  for  reconciliation,  which  successive 
Popes  seemed  to  treat  with  still  stronger  aversion. 
Everywhere  Ghibellinism  was  in  the  ascendant.  The 
Marquis  Pallavicini  and  Buoso  da  Doara  at  the  head 
of  the  Cremonese,  maintained  more  than  an  equal  bal- 
ance in  Lombardy.  Pisa  and  Sienna,  rampant  after 
the  fall  of  the  Guelfic  rule  in  Florence,  received  the 
letters  of  the  Pope  with  civil  contempt.  It  might  ap- 
pear that  Manfred  was  admitted  into  the  rank  of  the 
legitimate  Sovereigns  of  Christendom.  In  vain  the 
Pope  denounced  the  wickedness,  the  impiety  of  a  con- 
nection with  an  excommunicated  family,  the  King  of 
Arragon  did  not  scruple  to  marry  his  son  to  the  daugh- 
ter of  Manfred.  The  marriage  of  the  son  of  Louis 
of  France  to  the  daughter  of  Arragon,  increased  the 
jealous  alarm  of  the  Pope.  Even  Louis  did  not  per- 
mit the  Papal  remonstrances  to  interfere  with  these 
arrangements. 

Miserable,  in  the  mean  time,  was  the  state   of  Italy, 
Scarcely  a  city  or  territory  from  the  confines  \^0{ 


84  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI 

of  Apulia  to  the  Alps  was  undisturbed  by  one  of 
those  accursed  feuds,  either  of  nobles  against  the  peo- 
ple, or  of  Guelfs  against  Ghibellines.  Nowhere  was 
rest.  Now  one  party,  now  another  must  dislodge  from 
their  homes,  and  go  into  exile.  Urban  could  not 
remain  in  Home.  The  stronger  cities  were  waging 
war  on  the  weaker.  All  the  labors  of  the  Holy  In- 
quisition and  all  the  rigor  of  their  penalties,  instead 
of  extirpating  the  heresy  of  the  Paterins  and  various 
Manichean  sects,  might  seem  to  promote  their  increase. 
In  general,  it  was  enough  to  be  Ghibelline,  and  to 
oppose  the  Church,  down  came  the  excommunication ; 
all  sacred  offices  ceased.  It  may  be  well  imagined  how 
deeply  all  this  grieved  religious  men,  the  triumph  and 
joy  of  the  heretics.1 

Only  to  France  could  the  Pope,  even  if  no  French- 
man, have  looked  for  succor  if  determined  to  maintain 
the  unextinguished  feud  with  Manfred.  Already  the 
crown  of  Naples  had  been  offered  to  Charles  of  Anjou. 
Urban  IV.  first  laid  it  at  the  feet  of  Louis  himself, 
either  for  his  brother  or  one  of  his  sons.  But  the  deli- 
cate conscience  of  Louis  revolted  from  the  usurpation 
of  a  crown,  to  which  were  already  three  claimants  of 
right.  If  it  was  hereditary,  it  belonged  to  Conradin  ; 
if  at  the  disposal  of  the  Pope,  it  was  already  awarded, 
and  had  not  been  surrendered  by  Edmund  of  Eng- 
land ;  and  Manfred  was  on  the  throne,  summoned,  it 
might  seem,  by  the  voice  of  the  nation.  Manfred's 
claim,  as  maintained  by  an  irreligious  alliance  with  the 
Saracens,  and  as  the  possession  of  a  Christian  throne 
by  one  accused  of  favoring  the  Saracens,  might  easily 

1  See  this  and  much  more  to  the  same  effect  in  Muratori,  Annal.  sub  aim. 
1263. 


Chap.  m.  CHARLES  OF  ANJOU.  85 

be  dismissed  ;  but  there  was  strong  doubt  as  to ,  the 
others.  The  Pope,  who  perhaps  from  the  first  had 
preferred  the  more  active  and  enterprising  Charles  of 
Anjou,  because  he  could  not  become  King  of  France, 
in  vain  argued  and  took  al]  the  guilt  on  his  own  head : l 
"  the  soul  of  Louis  was  as  precious  to  the  Pope  and 
the  cardinals  as  to  himself."  Louis  did  not  refuse  his 
assent  to  the  acceptance  of  the  crown  by  his  brother. 
It  is  said,  that  he  was  glad  to  rid  his  court,  if  not  his 
realm,  which  he  was  endeavoring  to  subdue  to  monas- 
tic gravity,  of  his  gayer  brother,  who  was  constantly 
summoning  tournaments,  was  addicted  to  gaming,  and 
every  other  knightly  diversion.2 

Charles  of  Anjou  might  seem  designated  for  this  ser- 
vice. Valiant,  adventurous,  with  none  of  that  punctil- 
ious religiousness  which  might  seem  to  set  itself  above 
ecclesiastical  guidance,  yet  with  all  outward  respect  for 
the  doctrine  and  ceremonial  of  the  Church  ;  with  vast 
resources,  holding,  in  right  of  his  wife,  the  principality 
of  Provence ;  he  was  a  leader  whom  all  the  knighthood 
of  France,  who  were  eager  to  find  vent  for  their  valor, 
and  to  escape  the  peaceful  inactivity  or  dull  control 
under  which  they  were  kept  by  the  scrupulous  justice 
of  Louis  IX.,  would  follow  with  eager  zeal.  Charles 
had  hardly  yet  shown  that  intense  selfishness  and  cru- 
elty which,  in  the  ally,  in  the  king  chosen  by  the  Pope 
for  his  vassal  realm,  could  not  but  recoil  upon  the  Pope 
himself.  He  had  already  indeed  besieged  and  taken 
Marseilles,   barbarously  executed  all  the   citizens  who 

1  Epist.  to  Albert  of  Parma,  the  notary  who  was  empowered  to  treat  as 
_o  the  conditions  of  the  assumption  of  the  throne  of  Naples.  —  Raynald., 
sub  ann.  1262. 

2  "  Quies  sui  regni,  quam  perturbabat  Carolus  in  torneamentis  et  aleis." 
—  Ptolom.,  Luc.  c.  xxv. 


86  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI 

had  defended  the  liberties  of  their  town,  and  abrogated 
all  the  rights  and  privileges  of  that  flourishing  munici- 
pality. His  ambitious  wife,  Beatrice  of  Provence, 
jealous  of  being  the  sister  of  three  queens,  herself  1  o 
queen,  urged  her  unreluctant  husband  to  this  promising 
enterprise.  But  the  Pope  had  still  much  to  do  ;  there 
were  disputes  between  the  sisters,  especially  the  Queen 
of  France  and  the  Countess  of  Provence,  on  certain 
rights  as  coheiresses  of  that  land.  Though  the  treaty 
was  negotiated,  drawn  up,  perhaps  actually  signed,  it 
was  not  yet  published.  It  was  thought  more  safe  and 
decent  to  obtain  a  formal  abjuration  of  his  title  from 
Edmund  of  England. 

Bartholomew  Pignatelli,  Archbishop  of  Cosenza,  a 
England.  Guelfic  prelate  of  noble  blood,  received  a 
a.d.  1263.  commission  as  legate  to  demand  the  surren- 
der of  the  crown  of  Sicily.  He  was  afterwards  to  lay 
the  result  of  his  mission  before  Louis  of  France,  in 
order  to  obtain  his  full  consent  to  the  investiture  of 
Charles  of  Anjou.  Henry  III.,  threatened  by  the 
insurrection  of  his  barons,  might  well  be  supposed 
wholly  unable  to  assert  the  pretensions  of  his  son  to  a 
foreign  crown ;  yet  he  complained  with  some  bitterness 
that  the  treasures  of  England,  so  long  poured  into  the 
lap  of  the  Pontiff,  had  met  with  such  return.1  Urban 
endeavored  to  allay  his  indignation  by  espousing  his 
cause  against  the  Earl  of  Leicester  (Simon  de  Mont- 
fort)  and  the  Barons  of  England:  he  absolutely  an- 
nulled  all   their   leagues.2     William,   Archdeacon    of 


i  See  despatch  to  Archbishop  of  Cosenza,  MS.,  B.  M.,  July  25.  1263.  tc 
the  King,  ibid.  v.  x.     Instructions  at  full  length,  dated  Orvieto.  Oct.  4. 

2  "  Conjurationes  omnes  cassaraus  et  irritamus.  Ad  fideles."  —  MS.,  B. 
M.,  23d  Aug.  12G3. 


Chai>.  III.  UGO   FALCODI   LEGATE.  87 

Paris,  the  Pope's  chaplain,  had  power  to  relieve  Henry 
from  all  his  constitutional  oaths.1  As  the  war  became 
more  imminent,  more  inevitable,  both  before  and  after 
the  rejection  of  the  award  in  favor  of  the  King  by  the 
acknowledged  arbiter,  Louis  IX.,  the  Pope  adhered 
with  imperious  fidelity  to  the  King.  Ugo  Falcodi,  Car- 
dinal of  St.  Sabina,  was  sent  as  Legate,  to  command 
the  vassal  kingdom  to  peace :  the  rebellious  subjects 
were  to  be  ordered  to  submit  to  their  sovereign,  and 
abandon  their  audacious  pretensions  to  liberty.  The 
Legate  was  armed  with  the  amplest  power  to  prohibit 
the  observation  of  all  the  statutes,  though  sworn  to  by 
the  King,  the  Queen,  and  the  prince  ;  to  suspend  and 
depose  all  prelates  or  ecclesiastics ;  to  deprive  all  counts, 
barons,  or  laymen,  who  held  in  fee  estates  of  the  Church, 
and  to  proceed  at  his  discretion  to  any  spiritual  or  tem- 
poral penalties.2  He  had  power  to  provide  for  all  who 
should  accompany  him  to  England  by  canonries  or 
other  benefices.3  He  had  power  of  ecclesiastical  cen- 
sure against  archbishops,  bishops,  monasteries,  exempt 
or  not  exempt,  and  all  others.4  He  had  power  to  de- 
pose all  ecclesiastics  in  rebellion,5  and  of  appointing 
loyal  clerks  to   their  benefices.6     In   the  case  of  the 

1  MS.,  B.  M.,  letter  to  Archdeacon  of  Paris. 

2  "  Ad  quorum  observantiam  ipsos  decrevimus  non  tenere,  eosdem  prre- 
latos  et  clericos  per  suspensionis  sententiam  ab  officiis,  dignitatibus,  hono- 
ribu?  et  benefices:  comites  vero,  barones  et  laicos  pnedictos  per  privationem 
feudorum  et  omnium  bonorum,  qime  a  quibusdam  Ecclesiis  proedicti  regni 
et  aliis  detinent  et  alios  spiritualiter  et  temporaliter,  prout  expedire  vide- 
ris."  —  MS.,  B.  M.,  Nov.  23,  1263.     See  also  the  next  letter. 

3  "  Non  obstante  Statuto  Ecclesiarum  ipsarum  de  certo  clericornm  nu- 
mero,  juramento,  confirmatione,  sive  quacunque  firmitate,  vallate."  — 
Ibid.  v.  xi.  p.  48. 

4  "  Communia  universitatis  et  populos  locorum  quorumlibet." 
6  Clerks,  u  indevoti,  ingrati,  inobedientes." 

6  Even  at  this  time  peremptory  orders  were  given  for  provision  for  Italian 


88  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

rebellions  of  archbishops  or  prelates,  counts  or  barons, 
indulgences  were  to  be  granted  to  all  who  would  serve 
or  raise  soldiers  for  the  King,  as  if  they  went  to  the 
Holy  Land : l  the  friar  preachers  and  friar  minors  were 
to  aid  the  Kino*  to  the  utmost.2  After  the  award  of  the 
King  of  France,  which  the  Pope  confirmed,3  Urban  be- 
comes even  more  peremptory ;  he  commands  the  infa- 
mous provision,  one  of  those  of  Oxford,  to  be  erased 
from  the  statute  book ;  all  those  of  Oxford  are  detestr 
able  and  impious;  he  marks  with  special  malediction 
that  which  prohibited  the  introduction  of  apostolic  bulls 
or  briefs  into  the  realm,  and  withheld  the  rich  subsidies 
from  Rome.4  The  Archbishop  was  to  excommunicate 
all  who  should  not  submit  to  the  award.  The  King's 
absolute  illimitable  power  is  asserted  in  the  strongest 
terms.5  The  expulsion  of  strangers,  and  the  assump- 
tion of  exclusive  authority  by  native  Englishmen,  are 
severely  reprobated.6 

But  the  Cardinal  Legate  dared  not  to  land  in  the 
island  —  even  the  Archbishop  Boniface  (of  Savoy) 
would   not  venture  into    his   province.      Erelong  the 

ecclesiastics  in  the  English  Church.  John  de  Ebulo  claimed  the  deanery 
of  St.  Paul's.  The  chapter  resisted.  He  resigned  the  deanery,  but  ac- 
cepted a  canonry ;  till  a  canonry  should  be  vacant,  a  certain  pension.  —  P. 
170. 

1  Orvieto,  Nov.  27, 1263. 

2  Ibid.,  Nov.  27. 

8  Rymer,  i.  776,  778,  780,  784. 

4  The  Pope's  letters,  at  least,  were  after  the  award.  "Nonnulli  male 
dictionis  alumpni,  qussdam  statuta  nepharia  in  depressionem  libertatis 
ejusdem  promulgasse  dicuntur,  videlicet  quod  quicunque  literas  apostolicas 
aut  ipsius  archepiscopi  in  Angliam  deferre  prresumpserit,  graviter  punia- 
tur."  —  Orvieto,  Feb.  20,  1264. 

5  "Plenaria  potestate  in  omnibus  et  per  omnia."  —  Ibid. 

6  The  King  of  France  "  Retractavit  et  cassavit  illud  statutum,  per  quod 
regnum  Angliae  debebat  per  indigenas  guhernari,  et  alienigenoe  tenebantui 
an  eodem  exire,  ad  ilium  muiime  reversuri."  —  Ibid. 


Chap.  III.         AFFAIRS  OF  NAPLES.  89 

whole  realm,  the  King  himself,  and  Prince  Edward 
are  in  the  power  of  the  barons.  The  Legate  must 
content  himself  with  opening  his  court  at  Boulogne. 
There  he  issued  his  unobeyed  citation  to  the  barons  to 
appear,  pronounced  against  them  the  sentence  of  ex- 
communication, and  placed  London  and  the  Cinque 
Ports  under  an  interdict.1  Ugo  Falcodi,  when  Pope, 
cherished  a  bitter  remembrance  of  these  affronting 
contempts. 

Although  the  negotiations  were  all  this  time  proceed- 
ing in  secret  with  Charles  of  Anjou,  the  Pope  Affairs  of 
cited  Manfred  to  appear  before  him  to  answer  NaPles- 
on  certain  charges,  which  he  published  to  the  world.2 
They  comprehended  various  acts  of  cruelty,  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  city  of  Aria  by  the  Saracens,  the  execution, 
called  murder,  of  certain  nobles,  contempt  of  the  ec- 
clesiastical interdict,  attachment  to  Mohammedan  rites, 
the  murder  of  an  ambassador  of  Conradin.3  Manfred 
approached  the  borders ;  but  the  Pope  insisted  that  he 
should  be  accompanied  by  only  eighty  men  :  Manfred 
refused  to  trust  himself  to  a  Papal  safe-conduct. 

But  as  he  was  not  permitted  to  approach  in  peace, 
Manfred,  well  informed  of  the  transactions  Advance  of 
with  Charles  of  Anjou,  threatened  to  ap- Manfred' 
proach  in  war.4  From  Florence,  from  Pisa,  from  Sien- 
la,  the  German  and  Saracen,  as  well  as  the  Apulian 
and  Sicilian  forces  began  to  draw  towards  Orvieto. 
The  Pope  hastily  summoned  a  Council:  and  some 
troops  came  to  his  aid  from  various  quarters.     But  a 

1  "  Propter  imminentera  turbationem."  Feb.  15.  His  citations  were  to 
be  valid,  if  issued  in  France.  The  Bishop  of  Lincoln  was  cited  for  various 
acts  of  contumacy  to  the  Holy  See.  —  June  4,  1264. 

2  Oct.  20, 1264.  3  Raynaldus,  sub  ann.  4  Giannone,  xix.  1 


90  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

sudden  event  seemed  to  determine  the  descent  of 
Charles  of  Anjou  upon  Italy,  and  brought  at  once 
the  protracted  negotiations,  concerning  the  terms  of 
his  acceptance  of  the  throne  of  Naples,  to  a  close. 
The  Roman  people,  having  risen  against  the  nobles, 
and  cast  many  of  them  out  of  the  city,  determined  on 
appointing  a  senator  of  not  less  than  royal  rank.  One 
Charles  of  party  proposed  Manfred,  another  his  son-in- 
torofiiome.  law,  the  King  of  Arragon,  a  third  Charles 
of  Anjou.  The  Pope  was  embarrassed :  he  was  com- 
pelled to  maintain  Charles  of  Anjou  against  his  competi- 
tors :  and  yet  a  great  sovereign  as  senator  of  Rome, 
and  for  life  (as  it  was  proposed),  was  the  death-blow 
to  the  Papal  rule  in  Rome.  Charles  of  Anjou  felt  his 
strength  ;  he  yielded  to  the  Pope's  request  to  limit  the 
grant  of  the  senatorship  to  five  years  ;  but  he  seized 
the  opportunity  to  lower  the  terms  on  which  he  was  to 
be  invested  with  the  realm  of  Naples.  He  demanded 
a  diminution  of  the  tribute  of  ten  thousand  ounces  of 
gold  which  Naples  was  to  pay  annually  to  the  See  of 
Rome  :  such  demand  was  unjust  to  him  who  was  about 
to  incur  vast  expense  in  the  cause  of  Rome  ;  unjust  to 
Naples,  which  would  be  burdened  with  heavy  taxation; 
impolitic,  as  preventing  the  new  King  from  treating 
his  subjects  with  splendid  liberality.  He  required  that 
the  descent  of  the  crown  should  be  in  the  female  as 
well  as  in  the  male  line  :  that  he  should  himself  judoje 
of  the  number  of  soldiers  necessary  for  the  expedition. 
He  demanded  the  abrogation  of  the  stipulation,  that  if 
any  of  his  posterity  should  obtain  the  Empire,  Lom- 
bardy  or  Tuscany,  the  crown  of  Naples  should  pass 
from  them ;  the  enlargement  of  the  provision,  that 
only  a  limited  extent  of  possession   m    Lombardy  or 


Chap.  III.  MANFEED.  91 

in    Tuscany  should   be   tenable   with   the   Neapolitan 
crown. 

Charles  was  so  necessary  to  Urban,  the  weight  of 
Urban's  influence  was  so  powerful  in  Rome,  that  the 
treaty  was  at  length  signed.  Charles  sent  a  represent- 
ative to  Rome  to  accept  the  Senatorship.1 

Manfred  now  kept  no  measures  with  the  hostile 
I^pe.  His  Saracen  troops  on  one  side,  his  German 
on  the  other,  broke  into  the  Roman  territories.  But 
a  crusading  army  of  Guelfs  of  some  force  had  arisen 
around  the  Pope ;  and  some  failures  and  disasters 
checked  the  career  of  Manfred.  Pandolf,  Count  of 
Anguillara,  recovered  Sutri  from  the  Saracens.  Peter 
de  Vico,  a  powerful  noble,  had  revolted  from  the  Pope, 
and  having  secret  intelligence  in  Rome,  hoped  to  be- 
tray the  city  into  the  power  of  Manfred :  he  was 
repelled  by  the  Romans.  Percival  d'Oria,  who  had 
captured  many  of  the  Guelfic  castles,  was  0ct  2  or  10. 
accidentally  drowned  in  the  river  Negra,  1264, 
during  a  battle  near  Reate:  his  death  was  bruited 
abroad  as  a  miracle.     Yet  was  not  the  Pope  Death  of 

n         ^       .  -i  ■,  pi     Urban  IV. 

sate ;  Orvieto  began  to  waver :  he  set  forth  Oct.  2. 1264. 
to  Perugia  ;  he  died  on  the  road. 

Christendom  at  this  peculiar  crisis  awaited  with 
trembling  anxiety  the  determination  of  the  Clement  IV. 
conclave  :  but  this  suspense  of  nearly  five  Feb- 5' 1265, 
months  did  not  arise  altogether  out  of  the  dissensions 
in  that  body.  Urban  IV.  had  secured  the  predomi- 
nance of  the  French  interest :  the  election  had  been 
long  made  before  it  was  published.  It  had  fallen  on 
Ugo  Falcodi,  that  Papal  Legate,  who,  on  the  northern 

1  Charles  agreed  to  surrender  the  senatorship  when  master  of  Naples 
How  far  did  he  intend  to  observe  this  condition  ?  —  See  Sismondi,  p.  141. 


92  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI 

shore  of  France,  was  issuing  Urban's  sentence  of  ex- 
communication against  the  Barons  of  England,  while 
that  Pope  was  no  longer  living.  Ugo  Falcodi  was 
born  at  St.  Gilles  upon  the  Rhone  :  he  had  been  mar- 
ried before  he  took  orders,  and  had  two  daughters. 
He  was  profoundly  learned  in  the  law ;  from  the  Arch- 
diaconate  of  Narbonne  he  had  been  brought  to  Italy, 
and  created  Cardinal  of  St.  Sabina.  Of  his  policy 
there  could  be  no  doubt ;  Manfred  has  but  a  new 
and  more  vigorous  enemy;  Charles  of  Anjou  a  more 
devoted  friend.  The  Cardinal  of  St.  Sabina  passed 
secretly  over  the  Alps,  suddenly  appeared  at  Perugia, 
accepted  the  tiara,  assumed  the  name  of  Clement  IV., 
and  then  took  up  his  residence  at  Viterbo. 

Yet  Manfred  could  hardly  have  dreaded  a  foe  so  ac- 
tive, so  implacable,  so  unscrupulous,  or  Charles  hoped 
for  an  ally  so  zealous,  so  obsequious,  above  all,  so  prod- 
igal. Letters  were  despatched  through  Christendom, 
to  England,  to  France,  urging  immediate  succor  to  the 
Holy  See,  imperilled  by  the  Saracen  Manfred,  and 
trusting  for  her  relief  only  to  the  devout  Charles. 
Everywhere  the  tenths  were  levied,  notwithstanding 
the  murmurs  of  Bishops  and  clergy  ;  tenths  still  under 
the  pretext  of  aid  for  Constantinople  and  Jerusalem. 
It  was  rebellion  to  refuse  to  pay  ;  the  Pope  was  even 
lavish  of  the  Papal  treasures  ;  he  pledged  the  ecclesi- 
astical estates  ;  usurious  interest  accumulated  on  the 
principal.  A  loan  of  100,000  livres  was  raised  on  the 
security  of  the  possessions  of  the  Church  in  Rome  (in 
vain  many  of  the  Cardinals  protested),  even  on  the 
churches  from  whence  the  Cardinals  took  their  titles  : 
St.  Peter's,  the  Lateran,  the  Hospitals,  and  the  convent 
of  St.  George  were  alone  excepted.     The  Legates,  the 


Chap.  III.  CHARLES  OF  ANJOU.  93 

Prelates,  the  Mendicants  were  ordered  to  preach  the 
Crusade  with  unwearied  activity.  They  had  new  pow- 
ers of  absolution ;  they  might  admit  as  soldiers  of  Christ 
incendiaries,  those  excommunicated  for  refusing  to  pay 
tenths,  sacrilegious  persons,  astrologers,  those  who  had 
struck  a  clerk,  or  sold  merchandise  to  Mohammedans, 
ecclesiastics  under  interdict,  or  under  suspension,  mar- 
ried clerks ;  those  who,  in  violation  of  the  canons,  had 
practised  law  or  physic.  All  attempts  were  made  to 
maintain  the  Papal  interests  in  Rome,  and  to  excite 
revolt  in  the  kingdom  of  Naples.1 

Charles  of  Anjou  had  now  declared  himself  Sena- 
tor of  Rome,  and  invested  with  the  crown  of  Naples. 
He  had  been  long  collecting  his  forces  for  the  conquest. 
But  Italy  might  seem  to  refuse  access  to  the  stranger. 
The  Ghibellines  were  in  the  ascendant  in  Lombardy. 
The  Marquis  Pallavicini  and  Buoso  da  Doara,  with  the 
Cremonese,  watched  the  passes  of  the  Alps.  The 
fleets  of  Pisa  and  of  Manfred  swept  the  sea  with 
eighty  galleys ;  the  mouth  of  the  Tiber  was  stopped  by 
a  great  dam  of  timber  and  stone.  But  courage  and 
fortune  favored  Charles :  he  boldly  set  sail  from  Mar- 
seilles with  hardly  more  than  twenty  galleys  and  one 
thousand  men-at-arms.  A  violent  storm  scattered  the 
fleet  of  Pisa  and  Naples  :  he  entered  the  Ti-  Charles  at 
ber,  broke  through  all  obstacles,  and  appeared  Rome 
at  Rome  at  Pentecost,  the  time  appointed  for  his  inau 
guration  as  Senator.  He  chose  for  his  abode  the  Pope's 
Lateran  palace.  That  was  an  usurpation  which  the 
Pope  could  not  endure :  he  sent  a  strong  remonstrance 
against  the  presumption  of  the  Senator  of  Rome,  who 
had  dared  without  permission  to  occupy  the  abode  of 

1  Martene.     Compare  Clierrier,  iv.  79. 


94  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

the  Pope :  he  was  commanded  to  quit  the  palace  and 
seek  some  more  fitting  residence.  Yet  even  at  this 
time  Clement  IV.  insisted  on  dictating  the  terms  on 
which  Charles  was  to  hold  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  its 
reversion  to  the  Papacy  in  default  of  heirs  of  his  line, 
its  absolute  incompatibility  with  the  Empire,  the  tribute 
of  eight  thousand  crowns  of  gold,  the  homage  and  the 
white  horse  in  token  of  fealty.  Manfred  attempted  to 
provoke  Charles  to  battle  before  the  arrival  of  his  main 
army ;  he  advanced  with  a  large  force,  many  of  them 
Saracens,  to  the  neighborhood  of  Rome.  The  prudence 
of  the  Pope  restrained  the  impatience  of  Charles.1 

It  was  not  till  the  end  of  the  summer  that  the  main 
army  of  Charles  came  down  the  pass  of  Mont  Cenis 
into  friendly  Piedmont.  It  was  splendidly  provided, 
and  boasted  some  of  the  noblest  knights  of  France  and 
Flanders.  The  Pope  had  absolved  all  those  who  had 
taken  the  cross  for  the  Holy  Land :  equal  hopes  of 
Heaven  were  attached  to  this  new  Crusade  against 
Manfred,  whom  it  was  the  policy  to  represent  as  more 
than  half  a  Saracen.  The  Legate,  Cardinal  of  St. 
Cecilia,  had  exacted  a  tenth  from  the  French  clergy. 
Robert  of  Bethune  took  the  command  ;  Guy  of  Beau 
vais,  Bishop  of  Auxerre,  was  among  the  most  distin- 
guished warriors  ;  there  were  Vendosmes,  Montmoren- 
cies,  Mirepoixs,  De  Montforts,  Sullys,  De  Beaumonts. 
Advance  of  r-Tne  Ghibellines  made  a  great  show  of  resist- 
the  army.  ance :  the  Carroccios  of  Pavia,  Cremona,  and 
Piacenza  moved  out  as  to  a  great  battle.  But  the 
French  army  passed  on,  threatened  Brescia ;  Milan 
and  the  Marquis  of  Montferrat  ventured  not  to  take 
their  part  openly,  but  supplied  them  with  provisions. 

1  Kaynaldus,  sub  ann.  1265. 


Chap.  III.  BATTLE  OF  BENEVENTO.  95 

But  through  the  treachery  of  the  Ghibellines,  bought, 
according  to  some  writers  of  the  time,  by  French  gold, 
or  intimidated  by  the  great  French  force,  which  the 
Chronicles,  perhaps  faithfully  recording  the  rumors  of 
the  day,  represented  as  sixty  thousand,  forty  thousand, 
thirty  thousand  strong,  the  allies  of  Manfred l  finally 
stood  aloof  in  sullen  passiveness.  The  French  reached 
the  Po.  They  advanced  still  without  serious  encounter, 
and  joined  their  master  in  Rome.  Charles,  in  Rome, 
though  it  was  the  depth  of  winter,  allowed  no  long 
repose.  He  advanced  to  Ceperano,  with  the  in  Naples. 
Legate,  the  Cardinal  St.  Angelo,  preaching  the  Cru- 
sade on  the  way.  Manfred  prepared  himself  for  a 
gallant  resistance ;  but  he  had  neither  calculated  on 
the  treachery  of  some  of  his  own  subjects,  nor  on  the 
impetuous  valor  of  the  French.  The  passage  of  the 
Garigliano  was  betrayed  by  the  Count  of  Caserta.  San 
Germano,  in  which  he  had  secured  a  strong  force  and 
ample  stores,  was  taken  by  assault.  Manfred's  courage 
was  unshaken  ;  he  concentred  his  army  near  Ben- 
evento,  but  he  sent  messengers  to  Charles  to  propose 
negotiations.  "  Tell  the  Sultan  of  Nocera  that  I  will 
have  neither  peace  nor  treaty  with  him ;  I  will  send 
him  to  Hell,  or  he  shall  send  me  to  Paradise  !"  Such 
was  the  reply  of  Charles  of  Anjou.  The  French  army 
defiled  into  the  plain  before  Benevento.    Man-  Battle  of 

P       ,     .  ,        „  ,  P  .  Benevento. 

tred  is  accused  of  rashness  tor  venturing  on  Feb.  6, 1266. 
a  decisive  battle.     The  French  army  were  in  want  of 
money  and  of  provisions  ;  a  protracted  war  might  have 
worn  them   out.     Manfred's  nephew,  Conrad  of  An- 
tioch,  was  in  the  Abruzzi,  Count  Frederick  in  Calabria, 

i  The  annals  of  Modena  give  5000  horse,  15,000  foot,  10,000  bowmen.  — 
8ee  the  Chronicles  in  Muratori. 


96  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI 

and  the  Count  of  Ventimiglia  in  Sicily ;  but  Manfred 
perhaps  knew  that  nothing  less  than  splendid  success 
could  hold  in  awe  the  wavering  fidelity  of  his  subjects. 
He  drew  up  his  army  in  three  divisions.  On  the  French 
side  appeared,  beside  the  three,  a  fourth.  u  Who  are 
these?"  inquired  Manfred.  "The  Guelfs  of  Florence 
and  the  exiles  from  other  cities."  "  Where  are  the 
Ghibellines,  for  whom  I  have  done  and  hazarded  so 
much?"  The  Germans  and  the  Saracens  fought  with 
desperate  valor.  Manfred  commanded  the  third  army 
of  the  Barons  of  Apulia  to  move  to  the  charge. 
Some,  among  them  the  great  Chamberlain,  hesitated, 
Death  of  turned,  fled.1  Manfred  plunged  in  his  des- 
Manfred.  peration  into  the  midst  of  the  fray,  and  fell 
unknown  by  an  unknown  hand.  The  body  Was  found 
after  three  days  and  recognized  by  a  boor,  who  threw 
it  across  an  ass,  and  went  shouting  along,  "Who  will 
buy  King  Manfred?"  He  was  struck  down  by  one 
of  Manfred's  Barons ;  the  body  was  taken  to  King 
Charles.2  Charles  summoned  the  Barons  who  were 
prisoners,  and  demanded  if  it  was  indeed  the  body  of 
Manfred.  Galvano  Lancia  looked  on  it,  hid  his  face 
in  his  hands,  and  burst  into  tears.  The  generous 
French  ursed  that  it  should  receive  honorable  burial. 

CD 

"  It  might  be,"  said  Charles,  "  were  he  not  under  ex- 
communication." The  body  was  hastily  interred  by 
the  bridge  of  Benevento  :  the  warriors,  French  and 
Apulian,  cast  each  a  stone,  and  a  huge  mound  ap- 

1  Dante  brands  the  treason  of  the  Apulians:  this  was  the  field 

"  ove  fu  bugiardo 
Ciaascum  Pugliese."  —  Inferno,  xxviii.  16. 

2  Compare  the  letter  of  Charles  announcing  the  victory  of  the  Pope,  be- 
fore  the  body  was  found. 


Chap.  III.  BATTLE   OF  BENEVENTO.  97 

peared,1  like  those  under  which  repose  the  heroes  of 
ancient  times.  But  the  Papal  jealousy  would  not  allow 
the  Hohenstaufen  to  repose  within  the  territory  of  the 
Church.  The  Archbishop  of  Cosenza,  by  the  Feb.  26. 
command  of  the  Pope,  ordered  him  to  be  torn  up  from 
his  rude  sepulchre.  He  was  again  buried  in  unconse- 
crated  ground,  on  the  borders  of  the  kingdom  of  Na- 
ples, near  the  river  Verde.2 

So  perished  the  noble  Manfred,  a  poet  like  his  father, 
all  accomplished  as  his  father,3  a  man  of  consummate 
courage  and  great  ability.  Naples  could  hardly  have 
had  a  more  promising  founder  for  a  native  dynasty. 
But  Naples  was  too  near  Rome  ;  and  the  house  of 
Hohenstaufen  had  not  yet  fulfilled  its  destiny. 

The  first  act  of  the  triumphant  army  of  the  Cross, 
under  the  Pope's  ally,  was  the  sacking  of  the  Sack  of 
Papal  city  of  Benevento,  a  general  massacre  Beaevent0- 
of  both  sexes,  of  all  ages,  violation  of  women,  even  of 
women  dedicated  to  God :  the  churches  did  not  escape 
the  common  profanation.  Charles  was  King  of  Naples : 
the  Capital  yielded,  Capua  surrendered  the  vast  treas- 
ures accumulated  by  Manfred.  The  King's  officers  were 
weighing  these  treasures.  "  What  need  of  scales  ?  "  said 
Ugo  di  Balzo,  a  Provencal  knight :  he  kicked  the  whole 
into  three  portions :  "  This  is  for  my  Lord  the  King, 

1  Ricordano  Malespini. 

2  "  L'  ossa  del  corpo  mio  sarieno  ancora 

In  co  di  ponte,  presso  a  Benevento, 
Sotta  la  guardia  della  grave  mora ; 
Or  le  bagna  la  pioggia,  e  muove  il  vento. 
Di  fuor  del  regno,  quasi  lungo  '1  Verde 
Ove  le  trasmuto  a  lume  spento." 

Dante,  Purgat.  111. 
8  "  Lo  Re  spesso  la  notte  andava  per  Barletta,  cantando  Strambuotti  e 
canzoni,  eke  iva  pigliando  il  fresco,  e  con  esso  ivano  dei  Musici  Siciliani  ch' 
erano  gran  Romanzatori."  —  Matteo  Spinelli. 
VOL.  vi.  7 


98  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  Xl. 

tills  for  the  Queen,  this  for  your  Knights."  The  whole 
of  Apulia,  Calabria,  Sicily  submitted  to  the  Sovereign 
invested  by  the  Pope.1  But  they  soon  began  to  appre- 
ciate the  change,  to  which  they  had  looked  as  a  great 
deliverance,  as  the  dawn  of  a  golden  age  of  peace  and 
plenty.  The  French  soldiers  spread  wanton  devasta- 
tion wherever  they  went,  neither  respecting  property 
nor  the  rights  of  men  nor  the  honor  of  women.  Na- 
ples was  at  first  disposed  to  admire  the  magnificence  of 
Charles  and  his  Barons ;  but  those  who  had  reproved 
the  luxuriousness  of  Frederick's  or  the  ruder  splendor 
of  Manfred's  court,  found  that  of  the  Provencal  King 
at  least  not  more  favorable  to  the  higher  morals.2  In- 
Tyranny  of  stead  of  being  relieved  from  their  heavy  taxa- 
the  French,  ^ion,  they  were  the  prey  of  still  more  merciless 
exaction.  Kino;  Charles  seized  the  books  and  registers 
of  the  royal  revenues  in  the  hands  of  Gazzolino  di 
Murra.  Every  royal  privilege,  subsidy,  collection,  or 
tax  was  enforced  with  more  rigorous  severity.  New 
justiciaries,  officers  of  customs,  notaries,  and  revenue 
collectors  sprung  up  in  hosts,  draining  without  restraint 
the  impoverished  people.  The  realm  began  too  late  to 
deplore  its  own  versatility,  to  look  back  on  the  days  of 
good  King  Manfred.  Thus  are  these  feelings  expressed 
by  a  Guelfic  historian  :  "  O  King  Manfred,  little  did  we 
know  thee  when  alive  !     Now  that  thou  art  dead,  we 

1  Clement  writes  to  Cardinal  Ottobuoni,  Legate  in  England:  "  Carissimus 
in  Christo  lilius  E.  (C.)  Rex  Sicilian  illustris  tenet  totum  regnum,  illius 
hominis  pestilentis  cadaver  pntidum,  uxorem  et  liberos  optinens  et  thesau- 
rnm."  —  MS.,  B.  M.,  May  12G6.  The  March,  Florence,  Pistoia,  Sienna, 
Pisa,  had  returned  to  their  allegiance.  Messengers  were  come  from  Uberto 
Pallavicini  and  the  Cremonese.     There  were  hopes  of  Genoa. 

2  Mnratori  writes  thus:  —  "Per  altro  la  vennta  dp'  Franzesi  quella  fu, 
che  coinincio  ad  introdurre  il  lusso,  e  qualche  cosa  di  peggio  e  fece  mutar  i 
eostomi  degl'  Italiani."  —  Sub  ann. 


CiiAr.  III.  OTTOBUONI  LEGATE.  99 

deplore  thee  in  vain !  Thou  appearedst  as  a  ravening 
wolf  among  the  flocks  of  this  kingdom  ;  now  fallen  by 
our  fickleness  and  inconstancy  under  the  present  gov- 
ernment, after  which  we  groaned,  we  find  that  thou 
wert  a  lamb.  Now  we  know  by  bitter  comparison 
how  mild  was  thy  rule.  We  thought  it  hard  that  part 
of  our  substance  must  be  yielded  into  thy  hands,  now 
we  find  that  all  our  substance  and  even  our  persons  are 
the  prey  of  the  stranger."  2 

Clement  IV.  could  not  close  his  ears  to  these  sad 
complaints.  He  had  forced  himself  to  remon-  The  Pope, 
strate  on  the  sack  of  Benevento  ;  but  throughout  Italy 
the  Guelfs  rose  again  to  power,  Florence  was  in  their 
hands,  Pisa  made  supplication  to  the  Pope  to  be  released 
from  excommunication.  In  Milan  there  was  a  Proven- 
cal governor,  whose  cruelties  even  surpassed  Italian 
cruelties.  Charles  was  manifestly  aspiring  to  be  su- 
preme in  Italy.2 

But  the  Pope  did  not  neglect  more  remote  offences. 
The  Cardinal  of  St.  Sabina  had  not  forgotten  England. 
the  contemptuous  refusal  of  the  Barons  of  England  to 
accept  his  mediation.3  Henry  III.  was  tod  useful,  too 
profitable  a  vassal  of  the  Roman  See  to  be  abandoned 
to  his  unruly  subjects.  Immediately  on  his  accession 
the  Pope  had  sent  the  Cardinal  of  St.  Hadrian  (Otto- 
buoni)  as  Legate,  with  the  same  ample  powers  with 
which  himself  had  been  invested.4     An  interdict  was 

1  Saba  Malespina,  iii.  16. 
*  See  all  the  historians. 

3  Letter  to  the  Queen,  complaining  of  the  insolence  of  the  Barons,  who 
had  not  permitted  him  to  land  in  England  when  Legate.  —  MS.,  B.  M.,  v. 
xii.  p.  3. 

4  The  bulls  addressed  to  Ottobuoni  are  transcripts  of  those  before  ad- 
dressed to  the  Cardinal  St.  Sabina,  the  usual  form,  mutatis  mutandis.  • 
MS.,  B.  M.     They  tilled  several  pages. 


100  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  Xi. 

laid  upon  the  island  if  it  refused  to  admit  the  Legate. 
If  the  Legate  should  not  be  permitted  to  land,  he  was 
to  transmit  inhibitions  to  the  clergy,  having  equal  force, 
inhibitions  to  allow  no  matrimonial  rites  to  the  rebels, 
or  to  communicate  with  them  in  any  way  whatever.1 
He  had  the  same  authority  to  thrust  his  followers  into 
dignities  or  benefices  from  which  the  rebellious  clergy 
or  those  connected  with  the  rebels  were  to  be  ejected. 
All  sons  of  rebel  Barons  or  Nobles,  all  nephews  of  rebel 
Churchmen  were  to  be  deprived  of  their  parsonages  or 
benefices,  and  declared  incapable  of  holding  them.2  No 
promotions  were  to  be  made  to  bishoprics  or  archbish- 
oprics without  express  consent  of  the  Holy  See.3  It 
was  admitted  that  many  Bishops  were  on  the  side  of 
the  Barons ;  no  favor  was  to  be  shown  to  those  of 
London,  Worcester,  Lincoln,  or  Ely  ;  they  were  on  no 
account  to  be  released  from  excommunication.4  Tenths 
were  to  be  levied  for  the  Holy  War.5  The  Legate  was 
to  preach  or  cause  to  be  preached  a  Crusade  in  Eng- 
land and  even  in  Germany  against  the  insurgent  Bar- 
ons. Louis  of  France  was  urged  to  take  arms  in 
defence  of'  the  common  cause  of  monarchy  against 
those  rebels  who  were  accused  of  a  design  to  throw 
off  altogether  the  kingly  sway.  Nothing  less  than  a 
general  league  of  Princes  could  put  down  those  sons 
of  wrath  and  of  treason,  the  Barons  of  England.6 

i  Ibid.,  dated  Perugia,  June  1,  1265,  p.  119.  Since  he  had  excommuni- 
cated "  nonnullos  barones  et  fautores  eorum,  et  inhabitatores  Quinque  Por- 
tuum,"  if  any  of  them  had  obtained  letters  of  absolution,  "  in  aegritudine 
vera  aut  simulata,"  unless  they  abandoned  the  party  of  Leicester  they 
were  to  be  as  heathens  and  publicans. 

2  Ibid.,  same  date.  8  Ibid.,  same  date. 

4  Ibid.,  seme  months  later,  Oct.  1265. 

5  Ibid.,  July  1.  The  Cistercians,  Carthusians,  Templars,  Hospitallers, 
Teutonic  Knights,  Sisters  of  St.  Clare,  were  alone  exempt. 

e  Ibid.,  Perugia,  May  6,  1265,  p.  75,  &c. 


Chap.  III.  SIMON  DE  MONTFOKT.  101 

The  Pope,  as  Cardinal  Legate,  had  excommunicated 
Simon  de  Montfort,  Roger  Earl  of  Norfolk,  Hugo  the 
Chief  Justiciary,  the  City  of  London,  and  the  Cinque 
Ports ;  he  had  summoned  four  of  the  English  Prelates 
before  him  at  Boulogne,  and  ordered  them  to  publish 
the  excommunication  in  England.  The  excommunica- 
tion had  been  taken  from  the  unreluctant  hands  of  the 
Bishops.  The  excommunicated  had  appealed  to  the 
Pope  ;  the  appeal  was  ratified  in  a  convocation  of  the 
clergy.  But  the  excommunication  was  solemnly  con- 
firmed at  Perugia.  "  Nothing  could  be  done  unless 
that  turbulent  man  of  sin  (Leicester)  and  all  his  race 
were  plucked  up  out  of  the  realm."  1  The  new  Cardi- 
nal Legate  was  urged  to  hasten  to  England  to  consum- 
mate  his  work. 

Ere  he  had  ceased  to  be  Cardinal  Legate,  the  Pope 
(Ugo  Falcodi)  had  heard  at  Boulogne  the  fatal  tidings 
of  the  battle  of  Lewes,  the  captivity  of  the  King  and 
of  Prince  Edward.  Then  after  his  accession  had  come 
the  news  of  the  escape  of  Prince  Edward,  and  the  re- 
volt of  the  Earl  of  Gloucester  from  the  Barons.  The 
Pope  wrote  in  triumph  to  the  Prince,2  urging  him  to 
make  every  effort  to  release  his  father  from  slavery ; 
the  excommunication  was  at  once  removed  from  the 
Earl  of  Gloucester.3  The  tidings  of  the  battle  of 
Evesham,  of  the  death  of  Simon  Earl  of  Leicester, 
filled  him  with  melancholy  and  joy.4  Yet  extraordinary 
as  it  may  seem,  Simon  de  Montforf,  excommunicate  by 

1  Epist.  ad  Card.  St.  Hadrian.  "Nisi  dictus  vir  pestilens  cum  tota  sua 
progenie  de  regno  Anglise  avellatur."  — July  19, 1265.  At  this  time  Man- 
fred was  advancing  on  Rome. 

2  To  Prince  Edward.    The  letter  enters  into  some  details. 

3  Ibid.,  p.  191. 

*  u  Laeta  nobis  et  tristia  enarrastis."  —  Clement  IV..  Epist.  i.  89. 


102  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Boor  Xl. 

the  Pope,  to  the  Pope  the  Man  of  Sin,  was  the  Saint 
and  Martyr  of  popular  love  and  worship ; 1  he  was 
equalled  with  Becket.2  Poetry,  Latin,  English,  French, 
celebrated,  sanctified,  canonized  him.  His  miracles,  in 
their  number,  wonderfulness,  and  in  their  attestations 
might  have  moved  the  jealousy  of  St.  Francis  or  of 
Becket  himself.3  Prayers  were  addressed  to  him  ; 4 
prayer  was  offered  through  his  intercession.5 

The  King's  victory  seemed  complete,  the  Barons 
victory  of  crushed,  the  liberties  of  England  buried  in 
the  King.  the  graye  of  s  jmon  je  Montfort.  The  Cardi- 
nal Legate  crossed  to  England  with  the  Queen.  The 
Queen  Eleanor  was  not  the  least  odious  of  the  foreign- 
ers who  ruled  the  feeble  mind  of  the  King :  to  her  in- 
fluence had  been  attributed  the  unjust,  ill-considered 
The  Legate,  award  of  Louis  of  France.  The  Legate  as- 
oct.29,1265.  sumecl  a  km(J  0f  dictatorial  authority.6  In 
the  church  of  Westminster,  the  splendid  foundation  of 

1  Rishanger  says  that  all  ranks  heard  of  his  death  with  the  most  pro- 
found sorrow,  "  praxipue  religiosi,  qui  partibus  illis  favebant."  —  Chronic, 
p.  48. 

2  See  in  Wright's  Political  Songs  that  on  the  battle  of  Lewes.  After  his 
death  we  read  in  another :  — 

"  Mes  par  sa  mort,  le  cuens  Monfort 
Conquist  la  victoire, 
Comme  li  Martyr  de  Canterbyr 
Finist  sa  vie."    (p.  125); 

and  the  long  Latin  poem,  p.  71. 

3  See  the  "  Miracula,"  published  by  Mr.  Halliwell  at  the  end  of  Rishan- 
ger, Camden  Society,  1840. 

4  u  Salve  Simon  Montefortis, 
Totius  flos  militia;. 
Duras  passus  poenas  mortis, 
Protector  gentis  Angliae." 
6  "  Ora  pro  nobis,  Beate  Simon,  ut  digni  simus  promissionibus  Christi." 
—  Ibid.  p.  109. 

6  See  the  Papal  bulls,  gratulatory  to  the  King  and  Prince,  and  admoni- 
tory to  the  Barons  to  return  to  the  King's  allegiance.  —  Rymer,  i.  817,  819 


Chap.  III.  THE  CARDINAL  LEGATE.  103 

Henry  III.  (under  whose  shadow  I  wrote  these  lines), 
he  appeared  in  his  full  scarlet  pontifical  robes,  recited 
the  act  of  excommunication  passed  on  Simon  de  Mont- 
fort  and  all  his  adherents,  abrogated  all  the  oaths  sworn 
by  the  King,  declared  null  and  void  all  the  constitu- 
tions and  provisions  of  the  realm.1  At  Northampton 
lie  held  a  council,  and  by  name  confirmed  the  excom- 
munication of  the  Prelates  who  had  made  common 
cause  with  the  Barons,  Winchester,  Worcester,  Lon- 
don, Chichester.2  The  Pope,  while  he  made  large 
grants  of  the  tenths,  and  triumphed  in  the  King's  tri- 
umph, in  more  Christian  spirit  enjoined  him  to  use  his 
victory  with  mercy  and  moderation.3  If  any  mercy 
was  shown  to  the  persons  (and  this  is  doubtful,  for  all 
the  bravest  and  most  formidable  had  perished  in  the 
field),  there  was  none  to  their  estates.  The  obsequious 
Parliament  passed  a  sweeping  sentence  of  confiscation 
on  the  lands  of  all  who  had  joined  or  favored  De  Mont- 
fort.  The  Legate  was  not  less  severe  against  the 
obnoxious  clergy.4  There  was  a  wide  and  general 
ejection  of  all  who  had  been  or  were  suspected  of 
having  been  on  the  proscribed  side.  The  Pope  is 
again  busy  in  reaping  for  his  own  colleagues  and  fol- 
lowers some  grains  of  the  golden  harvest.  Demands 
are  made,  at  first  modest,  for  prebends,  for  pensions  in 
favor  of  Roman  ecclesiastics.5     He  is  compelled  by  the 

1  Wilkes,  72. 

2  Rishanger,  p.  47. 
8  Rymer,  he.  citat. 

4  "  Qui  non  solum  et  post  tei'ras  et  possessiones  occisorum  in  bello  et  cap- 
tivorum  necessaria  etiam  bona  tarn  spiritualist  quara  temporalia  religioso- 
rum  violavere,  nulli  parcentes  ordini,  dignitati,  vel  ecclesiastics;  libertati 
....  innnitam  pecuniam  ab  eis  immisericorditer  extorserunt,  abbates  et 
quascunque  domos  religiosas  tantae  suppeditationi  mancipando  quod  vix 
aut  nur.quam  poterunt  respirare."  —  Risbanger,  p.  48. 

6  MS  ,  B.  M.,  p.  202.  Assignment  of  260  marks  on  England  to  the  Bishox) 


104  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

poverty  of  the  Cardinals  to  become  more  pressing, 
more  exorbitant  in  his  exactions. 

During  the  next  year  there  is  a  formidable  reaction  ; 
Reaction.  a  w^e  an<^  profound  dissatisfaction  had  spread 
a.d.  1266.  through  the  realm.  The  discontented  are 
defending  themselves  with  desperate  resolution  in  the 
isle  of  Ely.  Rome  is  alarmed  by  the  gloomy  news 
from  England :  the  Pope  is  trembling  for  the  lives  of 
the  King,  the  Queen,  and  the  Prince ;  he  is  trembling 
for  the  irrecoverable  loss  of  that  noble  fief  of  the  See 
of  Rome.1  The  affrighted  Cardinal  is  disposed  to 
abandon  his  hopeless  mission.  The  Pope  reproves  him 
for  his  cowardice,  but  leaves  it  to  his  discretion  whether 
he  will  remain  or  not  in  the  contumacious  and  ungrate- 
ful island.2 

The  King's  cause  again  prospers :  at  Christmas  the 
King  and  the  Legate  are  seen  dining  together  in  pub- 
lic at  Westminster.  The  indignant  people  remark  that 
the  seat  of  honor,  the  first  service  of  all  the  dishes  are 
reserved  to  the  Legate  ;  the  King  sits  lower,  and  parr 
takes  of  the  best  fare,  but  after  the  Legate.3  At  St. 
Edmondsbury  the  ecclesiastics  resisted  the  demand  not 

of  Ostia  and  Velletri,  "  propter  egestatem."  One  or  two  benefices  to  be 
obtained  in  England  to  make  up  this  sum.  "  In  eundem  modum  pro  domi- 
no veterrano  (Velletri)  cccxxvi.  marks."  He  intends  to  write,  on  account 
of  the  general  poverty  of  the  Cardinals,  not  only  "pro  duobus,  pro  pluri- 
bus,  licet  non  in  tanta  summa  sed  minore."  Perugia,  Oct.  26,  1265,  p. 
117.  "  Importabilis  fratrurn  persuasio,  quae  fonte  liberalitatis  ipsius  qui  ad 
Romanam  Ecclesiam  de  mundi  diversis  partibus  fluere  consuevit,  paene,  vel 
quasi  penitus  arefacto,  crescit,  nee  cessat  crescere."  —  P.  223. 

1  "  Nihil  aliud  esset  penitus,  nisi  totum  everti  negotium,  Regem,  Regi- 
nam  et  liberos  tradi  morti,  et  Ecclesise  Romanae  feudum  tarn  nobile  sine  spe 
qualibet  recuperationis  amitti."  —  MS.,  B.  M.,  p.  233. 

2  Ibid.,  May  16, 1266. 

3  "  Legato  in  sedili  regis  collocato,  singulisque  ferculis  coram  eo  primitus 
appositis,  et  postremo  coram  rege,  unde  murmurabant  multi  in  aula  regis  " 
—  Rishanger,  p.  59. 


Chap.  III.  COUNCIL  OF  LONDON.  105 

only  of  the  tenths,  but  of  thirty  thousand  marks  more, 
claimed  by  the  Pope  as  arrears  of  the  King's  debt  for 
the  subjugation  of  Naples.1 

About  a  year  and  a  half  after,  at  the  close  of  the 
Pontificate  of  Clement  IV.,  the  Cardinal  Leg-  Councilin 
te  holds  a  Council  of  the  Church  of  Eng-  St-  PauPs- 
iand  and  Ireland  in  the  cathedral  of  St.  Paul.  The 
famous  constitutions  pf  Ottobuoni,  the  com-  Congtitutiona 
pletion  and  confirmation  of  those  of  Cardinal  of  ottobuoni- 
Otho,  are  passed,  which  were  held  for  some  time  as  the 
canon  law  of  England.2  Of  these  constitutions  some 
must  be  noticed,  as  giving  a  view  of  the  religion  of  the 
times.  I.  The  absolute  exemption  of  the  property  of 
the  Church  from  all  taxation  by  the  state,  the  obedience 
of  the  laity  to  the  clergy,  were  asserted  in  the  fullest 
and  most  naked  simplicity.3  II.  One  was  directed 
against  the  clergy  bearing  arms.  Some  of  the  clergy 
are  described  (awful  wickedness  !)  as  little  better  than 
robber  chieftains.4  It  was  forgotten  that  but  a  few  years 
before  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  had  been  in  arms 
with  the  Archbishop  of  Lyons  before  Turin ;  that 
French  Bishops  were  in  the  army  of  Charles  of  Anjou, 
the  army  blessed,  sanctified  by  the  Pope !  III.  Plural- 
ities were  generally  condemned ; B   pluralities  without 

1  Rishanger,  p.  61. 

2  April  21, 1268.  Wilkins'9  Concilia.  It  has  been  suggested  to  me  that 
he  author  of  the  constitutions  may  have  been  no  less  than  Benedetto  Gae- 

tani,  afterwards  Boniface  VIII.  He  was  the  companion  and  counsellor  of 
Ottobuoni  in  England. 

3  "  Nee  alicui  liceat  censum  ponere  super  ecclesiam  Dei.  Ammonemus 
Regem  et  principes  et  omnes  qui  in  potestate  sunt,  ut  cum  magna  humili- 
tate  archepiscopis  omnibusque  aliis  episcopis  obediant." 

4  "In  his  ergo  tarn  horrendis  sceleribus  clericos  debacchantes "  —  they 
Dad  been  described  as  joining  bands  of  robbers  —  "  prosequimur  excom- 
o  unicatione,  deprivatione."  —  Art.  viii. 

6  John  Maunsel  is  described  (Rishanger,  p.  12)  as  "multarum  in  AngliS 


106  LATTN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

Papal  dispensations  altogether  proscribed.1  IV.  There 
was  a  strong  canon  against  the  married  clergy :  not 
merely  were  many  clergy  married,2  but  the  usage  ex- 
isted to  a  great  extent  of  the  transmission  of  benefices 
from  father  to  son,  and  these  benefices  were  not  seldom 
defended  by  violence  and  force  of  arms.3 

We  return  to  Italy,  with  a  glance  at  Spain,  and  the 
James  of  earlier  years  of  Clement's  Pontificate.  The 
Arragou.  triumphs  of  James,  the  King  of  Arragon, 
over  the  Saracens  of  Spain,  and  the  capture  of  Murcia, 
called  forth  the  triumphant  gratulations  of  the  Pope. 

rector  ecclesiarum  et  possessor  reddituum  quorum  non  erat  numerus,  ita 
ouod  ditior  clericus  eo  non  in  orbe  videretur."  Mr.  Halliwell  quotes  the 
Chron.  Mailros.  as  giving  him  700  livings,  bringing  in  18,000  marks.  I 
cannot  find  the  passage. 

1  Henry  de  Wingham  is  a  good  example  of  what  might  be  and  was  done 
by  Papal  dispensations  (MS.,  B.  M.,  ix.  p.  314).  Wingham  has  license  to 
hold  the  deanery  of  St.  Martin' s-le-Grand,  the  chancellorship  of  Exeter,  a 
prebend  of  Salisbury,  ac  universos  alios  personatus,  etiam  alia  beneficia 
( dated  Anagni,  July  23,  1259).  A  month  after  De  Wingham  (of  whom 
Paris  speaks  as  a  disinterested  man,  sub  ann.  1257)  is  bishop  elect  of  Lon- 
don: he  petitions  to  hold  all  these  benefices  with  London  for  five  years. 
He  was  also  Lord  Chancellor.  The  nephew  of  this  poor  man,  holding  only 
two  livings,  has  Papal  license  to  hold  two  more.  —  P.  411.  Anagni,  Aug. 
28.  1259. 

2  "  Nisi  clerici  et  maxime  qui  in  sacris  ordinibus  constituti,  qui  in  domi- 
bus  suis  detinent  publice  concubinas."  —  Art.  viii. 

3  The  MS.,  B.  M.,  are  full  of  notices  of  married  clergy  in  England.  Let- 
ter to  the  Archbishop  of  York  (xi.  124).  Sons  succeeded  to  their  fathers' 
benefices,  "  quidam  in  ecclesiis,  in  quibus  patres  ministrarint  eorum,  se  im- 
mediate patribus  ejus  substituti,  tanquam  jure  hereditario  possidere  sanctu- 
arium  Dei."  The  same  in  diocese  of  Lincoln,  p.  132;  Worcester,  p.  136; 
Carlisle,  p.  177.  Complaints  to  Bishop  of  Salisbury  of  priests  who  have 
"focarire."'  To  Bishop  of  Coventry,  of  their  holding  these  benefices  "  vio- 
lenter  et  armata  manu,"  Dec.  21,  1235.  So  also  to  Bishop  of  Norwich, 
June  12,  1240;  Winchester,  p.  5  and  35,  1243.  The  Synod  of  Exeter  (Wil- 
kins,  Concilia,  c.  xviii.  p.  142)  complains  of  clerks  on  their  death-beds  pro- 
viding for  their  concubines  and  children  out  of  the  ecclesiastical  revenues, 
u  prajsumptione  tarn  damnata  in  extremis  laborantes,  et  de  infernis  minimo 
cogit  antes  in  suis  ultimis  voluntatibus  ....  bona  ceclesiai  toncubinis  re* 
linquere  non  formidant."     These  wills  were  declared  illegal. 


Chap.  III.  CONRADIN.  107 

But  James  of  Arragon  was  not  to  be  indulged  in  weak- 
nesses unbecoming  a  Christian  warrior.  The  Pope  sum- 
moned him  to  break  the  chains  in  which  he  was  fettered 
by  a  beautiful  mistress,  and  to  return  to  his  lawful  wife: 
he  urged  him  to  imitate  the  holy  example  of  Louis  of 
France.  King  James  pleaded  that  his  wife  was  a 
leper,  and  demanded  the  dissolution  of  the  marriage. 
"  Thinkest  thou,"  rejoined  the  Pope,  "  that  if  all  the 
Queens  of  the  earth  were  lepers,  we  would  allow  Kings 
to  join  in  adulterous  commerce  with  other  women  ? 
Better  that  all  the  royal  houses  should  wither  root  and 
branch/'  He  put  the  obedience  of  the  King  of  Arra- 
gon to  another  test :  he  ordered  him  inexorably  to  expel 
all  Mussulmans  from  his  dominions,  to  depose  all  the 
Jews  from  the  high  places  which  they  held  in  this  as  in 
many  of  the  Spanish  kingdoms.1 

In  less  than  two  years  after  the  conquest  of  Naples, 
the  insupportable  tyranny  of  the  French  un-  Naples. 
der  Charles  of  Anjou,  and  the  resentment  of  a  d.  1267. 
the  Ghibellines  throughout  Italy,  had  wrought  up  a 
spirit  of  wide-spread  revolt.  The  young  Conradin 
could  alone  deliver  Sicily  from  the  foreign  yoke,  check 
the  revengeful  superiority  of  the  Guelfs,  and  restore 
the  now  lamented  house  of  Hohenstaufen.  Many  se- 
cret messages  were  sent  from  Tuscany  and  Lombardy. 
Galvano  and  Frederick  di  Lancia,  and  the  two  chiefs 
of  the  house  of  Capece,  whose  lives  had  been  excepted 
from  the  general  proscription  of  Manfred's  partisans, 
found  their  way  to  Germany.  They  called  on  Conra- 
din to  assert  his  hereditary  rights  ;  to  appear  as  a  deliv- 
erer from  foreign  oppression.  The  youth,  not  yet  six- 
teen, listened  with  too  eager  avidity.     At  the  E.idofi267 

1  Clement,  Epist.    Rapialdus,  sub  arm. 


108  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

head  of  four  thousand  German  troops  he  crossed  the 
Alps,  and  held  his  court  at  Verona. 

Pope  Clement  heard  the  intelligence  with  dismay. 
He  instantly  cited  the  presumptuous  boy,  who  had 
a.d.  1268.  dared  to  claim  a  kingdom  granted  away  by 
the  See  of  Rome,  to  answer  before  his  liege  lord  at 
Viterbo.  There,  in  the  Cathedral  of  Viterbo,  in  May, 
and  on  the  festival  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  he  pro- 
claimed his  excommunication.  He  wrote  to  Florence 
to  warn  the  Republic  of  "the  young  serpent  which  had 
sprung  up  from  the  blood  of  the  old."  He  wrote  to 
Ottocar,  King  of  Bohemia,  to  make  a  diversion  by 
attacking  the  Swabian  possessions  of  Conradin.  He 
declared  Conradin  deposed  from  the  kingdom  of  Jeru- 
salem. At  the  same  time  he  wrote  to  Charles  of  An- 
jou,  in  terms  which  showed  his  own  consciousness  that 
the  danger  was  in  the  tyranny  and  in  the  hatred  of 
Charles  rather  than  in  the  strength  or  popularity  of 
Conradin.  He  entreated  him  "  to  moderate  the  horri- 
ble exactions  enforced  under  the  royal  seal ; 1  to  listen 
to  the  petitions  of  his  people  ;  to  put  some  check  on 
the  wasteful  extravagance  of  his  court;  to  keep  a  bal- 
ance of  his  receipts  and  expenditure ;  to  place  on  the 
seat  of  justice  men  of  incorruptible  integrity,  with 
ample  salaries,  so  as  to  be  superior  to  bribery  ;  not  to 
permit  unnecessary  appeals  to  the  King;  to  avoid  all 
vexatious  inquisitions ;  not  to  usurp  the  guardians] iip 
of  orphans  ;  to  punish  all  attempts  to  corrupt  magis- 
trates ;  not  to  follow  the  baleful  example  of  his  prede- 
cessor in  encroaching  on  the  rights  of  the  Church."  2 

1  "  Sigillo  tuo  legem  impera,  ut  tollatur  infamia  de  horrendis  exactioni- 
bus  eo  nomine  factis  "  et  seq.  Clem.  Ep. 

2  See  the  letter  of  Pope  Clement  in  Martene,  and  in  Raynaldns,  sub  arm. 


Chap.  III.  HENRY    OF  CASTILE.  109 

Yet  this  King,  who  needed  these  sage  admonitions  as 
to  the  administration  of  his  kingdom,  was  raised  at  this 
very  juncture  by  the  Pope  to  the  extraordinary  office 
now  vacant  —  an  office  the  commanding  title  of  which 
was  ill-suited  to  the  man  and  to  the  times  —  that  of 
Peacemaker,1  or  Conservator  of  the  Peace  throughout 
Tuscany  and  all  the  provinces  subject  to  the  Roman 
empire  ;  in  other  words,  to  keep  down  the  Ghibellines, 
and  by  force  of  arms  to  compel  them  to  lay  down  their 
arms.2  King  Alfonso  of  Castile  heard  with  jealousy 
of  this  new  title,  which  sounded  as  though  Charles  of 
Anjou  was  usurping  the  prerogative  of  the  Empire,  if 
not  intending  to  supplant  both  himself  and  his  compet- 
itor, Richard  of  Cornwall.  The  Pope  was  compelled 
at  once  to  soothe  and  to  alarm  the  Spaniard  ;  to  allay 
his  fears  as  to  any  designs  of  Charles  upon  the  Empire, 
not  without  some  significant  hint  that  the  coronation 
by  the  Archbishop  of  Cologne  was  indispensable  for  a 
just  title  to  the  Empire  ;  and  the  Archbishop  of  Co- 
logne had  crowned  Richard.  Alfonso  was  awed  into 
silence,  if  not  satisfied.3 

But,  not  at  the  instigation,  nor  with  any  encourage- 
ment from  the  King  of  Castile,  two  of  his  brothers  had 

1  "  Paciarium  non  partiarium." 

2  There  is  a  curious  letter  from  the  Pope  to  the  Cardinal  St.  Hadrian. 
MS.,  B.  M.  When  he  had  created  Charles  paciarius,  "  opponentibus  Se- 
nensibus,  Pisanis  et  pluribus  Ghibellinis."  The  Romans,  under  the  senator 
Henry  of  Castile,  were  in  league  with  the  Ghibellines.  Henry  had  takeu 
some  cities,  and  seized  in  Rome  the  brothers  Napoleon  and  Mattheo  Orsini, 
Angelo  Malebranca,  John  Savelli,  Peter  Stefaneschi,  Richard  Annibaleschi, 
some  of  whom  he  had  sent  by  night  prisoners  to  Monticelli.  "  We  would, 
as  far  as  possible,  war  with  the  Romans :  Conradin  is  in  Verona  with  all 
Lombardy,  except  Pavia,  and  the  march  of  Treviso.  Sicily  is  in  full  re- 
volt under  Frederick  of  Castile."  "  God's  will  be  done,"  concludes  the 
devout  Pope.  — Viterbo,  Nov.  23,  12G7. 

Clement;  Epist. 


110  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI 

become  the  most  dangerous  adversaries  of  the  Pope. 
Henry  and  Frederick  of  Castile  had  been  driven  from 
their  native  land,1  had  taken  to  a  wild  adventurous 
life,  and  found  hospitality  at  the  court  of  the  King  of 
Tunis.  It  was  said  that  they  had  adopted  at  least 
Mohammedan  manners,  attended  Mohammedan  rites, 
and  more  than  half  embraced  the  Mohammedan  creed.2 
They  returned  to  Europe.  Frederick  landed  in  Sicily, 
where  some  short  time  after  he  raised  the  standard  of 
Conradin.  Henry  went  on  to  Italy  ;  he  was  received 
by  his  cousin,  Charles  of  Anjou,  who  bestowed  on  him 
sixty  thousand  crowns.  Henry  had  hopes,  fostered  by 
the  Papal  Court,  if  not  by  the  Pope,  of  obtaining  the 
investiture  of  Sardinia,  which  the  Pope  would  fain 
wrest  from  the  rule  of  Ghibelline  Pisa.  But  Charles 
Henry  of  °f  Anjou  grew  jealous  of  Henry  of  Castile  ; 
he  too  had  pretensions  on  Sardinia  ;  it  was 
withdrawn  from  the  grasp  of  Henry  ;  and  the  Castil- 
ian  was  brooding  in  dissatisfaction  and  disappointment, 
when  the  opportunity  of  revenge  arose.  The  people 
of  Rome  were  looking  abroad  for  a  Senator.  Charles 
had  surrendered  or  forfeited  his  office  when  he  became 
King  of  Naples.  A  short-lived  rule  of  two  concur- 
rent Senators  had  increased  the  immitigable  feud.  An- 
gelo  Capucio  was  a  noble  Roman,  still  attached  to  the 
fallen  fortunes  of  Manfred.  By  his  influence,  notwith- 
standing the  repugnance  of  the  rest  of  the  nobles,  and 
strong  opposition  f**om  some  of  the  Cardinals,  Henry 

1  Thsy  seem  to  have  oeen  at  the  hewl  of  a  constitutional  opposition 
against  their  brother  Alfonso,  who  aspired  *o  rule  without  the  Cortes. 

2  Mariana  describes  Henry  as  "  in  rebus  bellicis  potens  et  strenuus,  et 
nimium  callidus,  sed  pceleratissimus  et  in  fidei  catholic;c  cultu  non  diligens 
prosecutor."  Fct  rvivate  reasons  for  the  hatred  of  Henry  and  Charles,  sea 
llispun.  UJv»*a«M        p.  647;  Amari;  Vespro  Siciliano,  ciii.  p.  30. 


Chap.  III.  CONEADIN   IN  ITALY.  Ill 

of  Castile  was  chosen  Senator  of  Rome.  He  com- 
menced his  rale  with  some  of  those  acts  of  stern  equity 
which  ever  overawed  and  captivated  the  Roman  people. 
Clement  too  late  began  to  suspend  bis  design  of  invest- 
ing Charles  of  Anjou  with  the  throne  of  Sardinia,  to 
which  Henry  might  again  aspire.  But  the  hatred  of 
Charles  was  deep  in  Henry's  heart ;  he  openly  dis- 
played the  banner  of  Conradin.  Galvano  Rfmefor 
Lancia,  the  kinsman  and  most  active  parti-  Couradin 
san  of  Manfred,  hastened  to  Rome;  and  the  Pope 
heard  with  indignation  that  the  Swabian  standard  was 
waving  from  the  hallowed  Lateran,  where  Lancia  had 
taken  up  his  quarters,  and  was  parading  his  forces 
before  it.1  The  censures  of  the  Pontiff  addressed  tu 
the  authorities  of  Rome  made  no  impression.  Tbe 
Senator  summoned  the  people  to  the  Capitol  ;  his 
armed  bands  were  in  readiness ;  he  seized  two  of 
the  Orsini,  and  sent  them  prisoners  to  the  strong  castle 
of  Monticelli,  near  Tivoli ;  two  of  the  Savelli  were 
cast  into  the  dungeons  under  the  Capitol,  many  others 
into  different  prisons ;  Henry  of  Castile  took  possession 
of  St.  Peter's  and  of  the  Papal  palaces.2 

The  few  German  troops  with  which  Conradin  had 
crossed  the  Alps  fell  off  for  want  of  pay :  3    but  the 
Ghibelline  interest,  the  nobler  feelings,  awak-  Movements 
ened  in  favor  of  the  gallant  boy  thus  cruelly  a.d.  vm. 
deprived  of  his  inheritance,  and  the  growing  hatred  of 
the  French  soon  gathered  an  army  around  him.     He 

t  "  Ac  loca,  specialiter  Laterani,  ad  qua?  ingredienda  viri  etiam  justi  vix 
digni  sunt  habiti,  pompis  lascivientibus  circuire,  ac  ibidem  hospitium  acci- 
pere  non  expavit."  — Lib.  Pontif.  quoted  in  Raynald.,  1267. 

2  See  note  above  from  MS.,  B.  M. 

3  It  is  curious  to  observe  (iu  Bohmer's  Register),  o?  the  few  acts  of  Con- 
radin in  Italy,  bow  large  a  part  are  on  tbe  pawning  ( Verpfaudung)  of  es- 
tates or  rights  for  sums  of  money.  —  p.  287. 


112  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

set  out  from  faithful  Verona ;  he  was  received  in  Pavia, 
in  Pisa,  in  Sienna,  as  the  champion  of  Ghibellinism  ; 
as  the  lawful  King  of  Sicily.1  In  Apulia,  the  Saracens 
of  Lucera  were  in  arms  ;  in  Sicily,  Frederick  of  Castile, 
with  the  Saracens  and  some  of  Manfred's  partisans,  who 
had  taken  refuge  in  Africa  and  now  returned.  The 
island  was  in  full  revolt;  the  Lieutenant  of  Charles 
was  defeated  ;  except  Messina,  Palermo,  and  Syracuse, 
Sicily  was  in  the  power  of  Conradin.  Already,  in  his 
agony  of  apprehension,  the  Pope,  finding  that  Charles 
was  still  in  Tuscany,  pressing  his  advantages  in  favor 
of  the  Guelfs  of  Florence,  hastily  summoned  him  to 
return  to  Naples.  u  Why  do  we  write  to  thee  as  King, 
while  thou  seemest  utterly  to  disregard  thy  kingdom  ? 
It  is  without  a  head,  exposed  to  the  Saracens  and  to  the 
traitorous  Christians ;  already  exhausted  by  your  rob- 
beries, it  is  now  plundered  by  others.  The  locust  eats 
Avhat  the  canker-worm  has  left.  Spoilers  will  not  be 
wanting,  so  long  as  its  defender  is  away.  If  you  love 
the  kingdom,  think  not  that  the  Church  will  incur  the 
toil  and  cost  of  conquering  it  anew ;  you  may  return 
to  your  Countship,  and,  content  with  the  vain  name  of 
king,  await  the  issue  of  the  contest.  Perhaps,  in  reli- 
ance on  your  merits,  you  expect  a  miracle  to  be  wrought 
in  your  favor ;  that  God  will  act  in  your  behalf,  while 
you  thus  follow  your  own  counsels,  and  despise  those 
of  others.  I  had  resolved  not  to  write  to  thee  on  this 
affair:  my  venerable  brother,  Rudolph,  Bishop  of  Al- 
ba, has  prevailed  on  me  to  send  you  these  few  last 
words."  2 

i  In  Pavia,  March  22;  in  Pisa,  April  4;  in  Sienna,  July  7;  in  Rome,  July 
7  or  August  11.  In  Rome  he  is  said  to  have  had  5000  German  knights 
Henry  of  Castile  800  Spaniards. 

2  Clement,  Epist.  apud  Raynald.,  a.d.  1209,  p.  233. 


Chap.  III.  CONRADIN   ADVANCES   TO  ROME.  113 

Charles  obeyed,  and  returned  in  all  haste  to  Naples ; 
he  formed  the  siege  of  Lucera,  the  strong-  conmdin 
hold  of  his  most  dangerous  foes,  the  Saracens.  Rome. 
Conradin  advanced  towards  Rome ;  he  marched  under 
the  walls  of  Viterbo,  intending  perhaps  to  insult  or 
intimidate  the  Pope,  who  had  a  strong  garrison  in  the 
city.  The  affrighted  Cardinals  thronged  around  the 
Pope,  who  was  at  prayer.  "  Fear  not,"  he  said ;  "  they 
will  be  scattered  like  smoke."  He  even  ascended  the 
walls,  beneath  which  Conradin  and  his  young  and 
faithful  friend  Frederick  of  Austria  were  prancing  on 
their  stately  coursers.  "  Behold  the  victims  for  the 
sacrifice."  1 

The  dark  vaticinations  of  the  Pope,  though  sadhv 
verified  by  the  event  (perhaps  but  the  echo  of  the 
event),  if  bruited  abroad  in  Rome,  had  no  more  effect 
than  the  ecclesiastical  thunders  which  at  every  onward 
step  Clement  had  hurled  with  reiterated  solemnity  at 
the  head  of  Conradin.  Notwithstanding  these  excom- 
munications, the  Romans  welcomed  with  the  loudest 
acclamations  Conradin,  called  by  the  Pope  "  the  ac- 
cursed branch  of  an  accursed  stem,  the  manifest  enemy 
of  the  Church  :  "  "  Rome  had  calmly  seen  that  son  of 
malediction,  Galvano  Lancia,  who  had  so  long  walked 
the  broad  road  to  perdition,  from  whose  approach  they 
should  have  shrunk  with  scorn,  displaying  the  banner 
of  Conradin  from  the  Lateran."  It  was  an  event  as 
yet  unheard,  which  disturbed  the  soul  of  the  Pontiff, 
that  although  occasional  discords,  and  even  the  scandal 
of  wars,  had  taken  place  between  the  Pope  and  his 
City,  now  their  fidelity  should  revolt  to  the  persecutor 
of  the  Church ;  that  Rome  should  incur  the  guilt  of 

1  Raynald.  c.  xxii.  Freher. 


114  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI 

matricide.1  Yet  not  the  less  did  the  Senator  and  Rome 
welcome  the  young  Swabian.  Henry  the  Senator 
inarched  at  the  head  of  the  Roman  forces  in  Con- 
radin's  army,  having  first  plundered  the  churches  and 
monasteries.  The  Pope  heard  with  deeper  resentment 
that  the  Lateran,  the  churches  of  St.  Paul,  St.  Basil 
on  the  Aventine,  Santa  Sabina,  and  other  convents, 
had  been  obliged  to  surrender  their  treasures,  which 
were  expended  upon  the  army  of  the  excommunicate.2 

But  the  destiny  which  hovered  over  the  house  of 
Battle  of  Hohenstaufen  had  not  yet  exhausted  its  vials 
Tagiiacozzo.  0£  ^^  At  the  battle  of  Tagliacozzo,  the 
French  for  once  condescended  to  depend  not  on  their 
impetuous  valor  alone,  but  on  prudence,  military  skill, 
and  a  reserve  held  by  the  aged  Alard  de  St.  Valery,  a 
French  knight,  just  returned  from  that  school  of  war, 
Palestine.  St.  Valery's  eight  hundred  men  retrieved 
the  lost  battle.  Conradin,  Frederick  of  Austria,  Henry 
of  Castile,  were  in  the  hands  of  the  remorseless  con- 
queror. Conradin  had  almost  bribed  John  Frangipani, 
Lord  of  Astura,  to  lend  him  a  bark  to  escape.  The 
Frangipani  sold  him  for  large  estates  in  the  princedom 
of  Benevento.3 

Christendom  heard  with  horror  that  the  royal  brother 
Execution  of  °f  ¥*•  Lonis,  that  the  champion  of  the  Church, 
conradin.  a-pter  a  mock  trial,  by  the  sentence  of  one 
judge,    Robert    di    Lavena  —  after    an    unanswerable 

i  Apud  Raynald.  a.d.  1269. 

2  Ibid. 

3  "  En  1256,  qnatre  ans  apres  les  Vepres  Siciliennes,  un  amiral  de  Jac- 
ques d'Arragon  emporta  Astura,  qu'il  reduisit  en  cendres.  Les  biens  des 
Frangipani  furent  ravages;  Jacob,  le  fils  de  Jean,  perit  dans  le  combat. 
Sa  postt-rite"  s'dteignit,  et,  de  cette  branche,  dont  le  blason  £tait  tache"  du 
sang  royal,  il  ne  reste  qu'un  souvenir  de  doshonneur."  Astura  was  near 
the  spot  where  Cicero  was  killed.  —  Cherrier,  iv.  p.  212. 


Chap.  III.  EXECUTION   OF  CONRADIN.  115 

pleading  by  Guido  de  Suzaria,  a  famous  jurist,  —  had 
condemned  the  last  heir  of  the  Swabian  house  —  a 
rival  king,  who  had  fought  gallantly  for  his  hereditary 
tin-one  —  to  be  executed  as  a  felon  and  a  rebel  on  a 
public  scaffold.  So  little  did  Conradin  dread  his  fate, 
that  when  his  doom  was  announced,  he  was  playing  at 
chess  with  Frederick  of  Austria.  "  Slave,"  said  Con- 
radin to  Robert  of  Bari,  who  read  the  fatal  sentence, 
"  do  you  dare  to  condemn  as  a  criminal  the  son  and 
heir  of  kings  ?  Knows  not  your  master  that  he  is  my 
equal,  not  my  judge?"  He  added,  "lam  a  mortal, 
and  must  die  ;  yet  ask  the  kings  of  the  earth  if  a  prince 
be  criminal  for  seeking  to  win  back  the  heritage  of  his 
ancestors.  But  if  there  be  no  pardon  for  me,  spare, 
at  least,  my  faithful  companions  ;  or  if  they  must  die, 
strike  me  first,  that  I  may  not  behold  their  death."  ! 
They  died  devoutly,  nobly.  Every  circumstance  aggra- 
vated the  abhorrence :  it  was  said  —  perhaps  it  was  the 
invention  of  that  abhorrence  —  that  Robert  of  Flan- 
ders, the  brother  of  Charles,  struck  dead  the  judge 
who  had  presumed  to  read  the  iniquitous  sentence.2 
When  Conradin  knelt,  with  uplifted  hands,  awaiting 
the  blow  of  the  executioner,  he  uttered  these  last 
words  —  "  O  my  mother  !  how  deep  will  be  thy  sorrow 
at  the  news  of  this  day!"3  Even  the  followers  of 
Charles  could  hardly  restrain  their  pity  and  indig- 
nation.    With  Conradin   died  his  young  and  valiant 


1  Bartholomeo  di  Neocastro  apud  Muratori,  p.  1027. 

2  There  is  evidence,  it  appears,  that  this  judge,  or  prothonotary,  was 
alive  some  years  after. 

3  "  Ad  ccelum  jungebat  palmas,  mortemque  inevitabilem  patienter  ex- 
oectans,  suum  Domino  spiritum  commendabat:  nee  diverte.bat  caput,  sed 
exhibebat  se  quasi  victimam  et  cesoris  truces  ictus  in  patientia  expectabat." 

—  Malespina  apud  Muratori,  viii.  851. 


116  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

friend,  Frederick  of  Austria,  the  two  Lancias,  two  of 
the  noble  house  of  Donaticcio  of  Pisa.  The  inexorable 
Charles  would  not  permit  them  to  be  buried  in  conse- 
crated ground. 

The  Pope  himself  was  accused  as  having  counselled 
this  atrocious  act.  One  of  those  sentences,  which  from 
its  pregnant  brevity  cleaves  to  the  remembrance,  lived 
long  in  the  memory  of  the  Ghibellines :  "  The  life  of 
Conradin  is  the  death  of  Charles,  the  death  of  Con- 
radin  the  life  of  Charles."  But  to  have  given  such 
advice,  Clement  must  have  belied  his  own  nature,  his 
own  previous  conduct,  as  well  as  his  religion.  Through- 
out he  had  been  convinced  of  the  impolicy,  and  was 
doubtless  moved  with  inward  remorse  at  the  cruelties 
of  Charles  of  Anjou.  Clement  had  tried  to  mitigate 
the  tyranny  of  the  King.  Even  the  colder  assent,  at 
least  the  evasive  refusal  to  interfere  on  the  side  of 
mercy  — "  It  becomes  not  the  Pope  to  counsel  the 
death  of  any  one,"  is  hardly  in  the  character  of  Clem- 
ent IV.1  There  is  another,  somewhat  legendary,  story. 
Ambrose  of  Sienna,  afterwards  a  Saint,  presented  him- 
self on  the  first  news  of  the  capture  of  Conradin  before 
the  Pope ;  he  dwelt  on  the  parable  of  the  prodigal  son, 
received  with  mercy  into  his  father's  house.  "Am- 
brose," said  the  Pope,  "  I  would  have  mercy,  not  sacri- 
fice." He  turned  to  the  cardinals,  "  It  is  not  the  monk 
that  speaks,  it  is  the  Spirit  of  the  Most  High."2 

But  if  he  was  responsible  only  for  not  putting  forth 
the  full  Papal  authority  to  command  an  act  of  wisdom 

i  Compare  the  fair  and  honest  Tillemont,  Vie  de  St.  Louis,  vi.  129.  Poor 
Conradin  had  said  in  one  of  his  proclamations  of  Clement's  hostility, 
Clemens  cujus  nomen  ab  effectu  non  modice  distat.  — B.  Museum  Chroni- 
con,  p.  273. 

2  Vit.  S.  Ambrosii  Senen.  apud  Bollandistas,  c  iii. 


Chap.  Ill  DEATH  OF  CLEMENT  IV.  117 

as  of  compassion,  Clement  himself  was  soon  called  to 
answer  before  a  higher  tribunal.  On  the  29th  October 
the  head  of  Conradin  fell  on  the  scaffold ;  on  the  29th 
November  died  Pope  Clement  IV.  It  is  his  praise  that 
he  did  not  exalt  his  kindred  —  that  he  left  in  obscurity 
the  husbands  of  his  daughters.1  But  the  wonder  be- 
trayed by  this  praise  shows  at  once  how  Christendom 
had  already  been  offended  ;  it  was  prophetic  of  the 
stronger  offence  which  nepotism  would  hereafter  entail 
upon  the  Papal  See. 

1  u  Nee  invenitur  exaltasse  parentes,  totus  Deo  dicatus."  —  Ptolem.  Luc. 
xxxviii.  Tillemont  has  collected  the  passages  (and  there  are  many)  to  the 
praise  of  Clement  IV.  Tillemont  is  not  perhaps  less  inclined  to  admire  him 
because  he  was  a  Frenchman.  —  Vie  de  St.  Louis,  iv.  p.  350  et  seq. 


118  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

GREGORY  X.  AND  HIS  SUCCESSORS. 

After  the  death  of  Clement  IV.  there  was  a  vacancy 
of  more  than  two  years  in  the  Pontificate.  The  cause 
of  this  dissension  among  the  fifteen  Cardinals x  nowhere 
transpires :  it  may  have  heen  personal  jealousy,  where 
there  was  no  prelate  of  acknowledged  superiority  to 
demand  the  general  suffrage.  The  French  Cardinals 
may  have  been  ambitious,  under  the  dominant  influence 
of  the  victorious  Charles  of  Anjou,  to  continue  the 
line  of  French  Pontiffs :  the  Italians,  both  from  their 
Italian  patriotism  and  their  jealousy  of  the  power  of 
Charles,  may  have  stubbornly  resisted  such  promotion. 
During  this  vacancy,  Charles  of  Anjou  was  revenging 
himself  with  his  characteristic  barbarity  on  his  rebel- 
lious kingdom,  compressing  with  an  iron  hand  the  ha- 
tred of  his  subjects,  which  was  slowly  and  sullenly 
brooding  into  desperation.  He  was  thus  unknowingly 
preparing  his  own  fall  by  the  terrible  reaction  of  the 
Sicilian  Vespers.  He  was  becoming  in  influence,  mani- 
festly aspiring  to  be,  through  the  triumphant  Guelfic 
factions,  the  real  master  of  the  whole  of  Italy. 

At  this  period  was  promulgated  an  Edict,  before 
briefly  alluded  to,2  apparently  unobserved,  but  which, 

1  Ciacconius  gives  17  —  5  or  6  French,  4  Romans.  —  p.  178. 

2  See  back,  page  40.     Ordonnances  des  Rois,  i.  97,  March,  1268.     Sis- 


Chap.  IV.  PRAGMATIC  SANCTION.  119 

nevertheless,  in  the  hands  of  the  great  lawyers,  who 
were  now  establishing  in  the  minds  of  men,  especially 
in  France,  a  rival  authority  to  that  of  the  clergy,  be- 
came a  great  Charter  of  Independence  to  the  Gallican 
Church.  The  Pragmatic  Sanction,  limiting  Pragmatic 
the  interference  of  the  court  of  Rome  in  the  Sanctioa- 
elections  of  the  clergy,  and  directly  denying  its  right 
of  ecclesiastical  taxation,  being  issued  by  the  most  re- 
ligious of  Kings,  by  a  King  a  canonized  Saint,  seemed 
so  incongruous  and  embarrassing,  that  desperate  at- 
tempts have  been  made  to  question  its  authenticity : 
Louis  IX.  might  seem,  in  his  servile  time,  himself  ser- 
vilely religious,  to  be  suddenly  taking  the  lofty  tone  of 
Charlemagne.  But  it  was  this  high  religiousness  of 
Louis  which  suggested,  and  which  enabled  him  to 
promulgate  this  charter  of  liberty:  as  he  intended 
none,  so  he  might  disguise  even  to  himself  the  latent, 
rather  than  avowed  hostility  to  the  power  of  Rome. 
Among  the  dearest  objects  to  the  heart  of  Louis  was 
the  reformation  of  the  clergy;  that  reformation  not 
aiming  at  the  depression,  but  tending  to  the  immeasur- 
able exaltation  of  their  power,  by  grounding  it  on  their 
piety  and  holiness.     It  is  to  this  end  that  he  asserts  the 

mondi,  viii.  p.  104.  I  cannot  see  the  force  of  the  objection  to  the  authen- 
ticity of  the  Ordinance,  to  which  Mr.  Hallam  seems  to  give  some  weight, 
that  St.  Louis  had  not  any  previous  difference  with  the  See  of  Rome.  The 
right  of  patronage  seems  to  have  been  a  standing  cause  of  quarrel  throughr 
out  Christendom,  as  we  have  seen  in  England.  See,  too,  in  Tillemont,  iv. 
p.  408-412  —  the  king  (Louis)  asserting  his  rights  of  patronage  to  the  preb- 
ends of  Rheims  and  the  archdeaconry  of  Sens  against  the  Pope.  Tille- 
mont does  not  doubt  its  authenticity,  and  refers  to  these  disputes  as  a  possi- 
ble cause.  See  also  the  strange  account  of  John  of  Canterbury,  who  paid 
10,000  h'vres  Tournois  for  confirmation  in  the  Archbishopric  of  Rheims. 
John  had  expended  it  for  the  honor  of  his  Holiness  and  the  Roman  court. 
The  Pope  blushed  at  this  great  expense  for  his  honor.  —  p.  410.  Clement, 
Epist.  p.  308 


120  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

absolute  power  of  jurisdiction  in  the  clergy,  the  rights 
of  patrons,  the  right  of  free  elections  in  the  cathedrals 
and  other  churches.  The  Edict  was  issued  in  the 
name  of  "  Louis  by  the  grace  of  God,  King  of  the 
French.  To  insure  the  tranquil  and  wholesome  state 
of  the  Church  in  our  realm  ;  to  increase  the  worship  of 
God,  in  order  to  promote  the  salvation  of  the  souls 
of  the  faithful  in  Christ ;  to  obtain  for  ourselves  the 
grace  and  succor  of  Almighty  God,  to  whose  dominion 
and  protection  our  realm  has  been  ever  subject,  as  we 
trust  it  will  ever  be,  we  enact  and  ordain  by  this  edict, 
maturely  considered  and  of  perpetual  observance :  — 

"  I.  That  the   prelates,  patrons,   and  ordinary  col 
lators  to  benefices  in  the  churches  of  our  realm,  have 
full  enjoyment  of  their  rights,  and  that  the  jurisdiction 
of  each  be  wholly  preserved. 

"  II.  That  the  cathedral  and  other  churches  of  our 
realm  have  full  freedom  of  election  in  every  point  and 
particular. 

"  III.  We  will  and  ordain  that  the  pestilential  crime 
of  simony,  which  undermines  the  Church,  be  forever 
banished  from  our  realm. 

"  IV.  We  will  and  ordain  in  like  manner  that  pro- 
motions, collations,  provisions  and  dispositions  of  the 
prelacies,  the  dignities,  the  benefices,  of  what  sort  so- 
ever, and  of  the  ecclesiastical  offices  of  our  realm,  be 
according  to  the  disposition,  ordinance,  and  determina- 
tion of  the  common  law,  the  sacred  councils  of  the 
Church  of  God,  and  the  ancient  institutions  of  the 
Holy  Fathers. 

"  V.  We  will  that  no  one  may  raise  or  collect  in 
any  manner  exactions  or  assessments  of  money,  which 
have  been  imposed  by  the  court  of  Rome,  by  which 


Chap.  IV.  EDICT  OF  LOUIS  IX.  121 

our  realm  has  been  miserably  impoverished,  or  which 
hereafter  shall  be  imposed,  unless  the  cause  be  reasona- 
ble, pious,  most  urgent,  of  inevitable  necessity,  and 
recognized  by  our  express  and  spontaneous  consent, 
and  by  that  of  the  Church  of  our  realm. 

"  VI.  By  these  presents  we  renew,  approve,  and 
confirm  the  liberties,  franchises,  immunities,  preroga- 
tives, rights,  privileges,  granted  by  the  Kings  our  pred- 
ecessors of  pious  memory,  and  by  ourselves  to  all 
churches,  monasteries,  holy  places,  religious  men  and 
ecclesiastics  in  our  realm." 

This  Edict  appeared  either  during  the  last  year  of 
Clement  IV.,  when  the  Pope  absolutely  depended  on 
the  protection  of  Charles  of  Anjou  against  the  reviving 
Ghibellinism  under  Conradin,  and  he  might  be  reduced 
to  take  refuge  under  the  tutelage  of  Louis  ;  or  during 
the  vacancy  in  the  Pontificate.  In  either  case  it  would 
have  been  dangerous,  injurious,  it  would  have  been  re- 
sented by  the  common  voice  of  Christendom,  if  the 
acts  of  Louis  had  been  arraigned,  or  even  protested 
against  as  impious  aggressions  on  the  rights  of  Rome. 
The  Edict  itself  was  profoundly  religious,  even  sub- 
missive in  its  tone ;  at  all  events,  the  assertion  of  the 
supremacy,  of  the  ultimate  right  of  judgment  in  the 
temporal  power,  was  very  different  coming  from  Louis 
of  France  than  from  Frederick  II.,  or  any  of  his  race. 
Louis  was  almost  Pope  in  the  public  mind ;  his  piety, 
his  munificence,  his  devotion  to  the  Crusade,  in  which 
he  was  again  about  to  embark,  his  profound  deference 
in  general  to  the  clergy  and  to  the  Pope  himself,  which 
had  almost  already  arrayed  him  in  worshipped  sanctity, 
either  allayed  the  jealousy  of  the  Roman  See,  or  made 
it  imprudent  to  betray  such  jealousy.     Hence  it  was 


122  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

that  neither  at  the  time  of  its  publication,  nor  subse- 
quently, did  it  provoke  any  counter  protestation  ;  it 
liad  already  taken  its  place  among  the  Ordinances  of 
the  realm,  before  its  latent  powers  were  discovered,  de- 
nounced, condemned.  Then,  seized  on  by  the  Parlia- 
ments, defended,  interpreted,  extended  by  the  legists, 
strengthened  by  the  memorable  decree  of  the  Appeal 
against  abuses,  it  became  the  barrier  against  which  the 
encroachments  of  the  ecclesiastical  power  were  destined 
to  break ;  nor  was  it  swept  away  till  a  stronger  barrier 
had  arisen  in  the  unlimited  power  of  the  French  crown. 

During  this  vacancy  in  the  Pontificate,  St.  Louis 
Aug.  25, 1270.  closed  his  holy  life  in  the  most  ignoble,  and 
St.  Louis.  not  the  least  disastrous  of  the  crusades,  into 
Africa.  It  was  the  last,  except  the  one  desperate  (in 
some  degree  brilliant)  struggle,  which  was  even  now 
about  to  take  place  under  our  Prince  Edward,  for  the 
narrow  remnant  of  the  Holy  Land.  Again  the  beauty 
of  the  passive  virtues  of  Louis,  his  death,  with  all  the 
submissive  quietness  of  a  martyr,  blinded  mankind  to 
his  utter  incompetency  to  conduct  a  great  army,  and  to 
the  waste  of  noble  blood  ;  the  Saint  in  life  assumed  in 
the  estimation  of  mankind  the  crown  of  martyrdom.1 
Nothing  was  wanting  but  his  canonization ;  and  canon- 
ization could  add  no  reverence  to  the  name  of  St. 
Louis. 

Year  after  year  had  passed,  and  still  the  stubborn  fif- 
Papacy  still  teen  Cardinals  persisted  in  their  feud  ;  still 
vacant.  Christendom    was   without   a   Pontiff;    and 

might  discover  (at  least  the  dangerous  question  might 
arise)  the  fatal  secret  that  a  supreme  Pontiff  was  not 

1  Joinville.     Tillcmont  has  collected  all  the  striking  circumstances  of  the 
Jfeath  of  St.  Louis.  —  Vol.  v.  p.  169. 


Chap.  IV.  GREGORY  X.  123 

necessary  to  Christendom.  They  withstood  the  bitter 
mockery  of  one  of  their  brethren,  the  Bishop  of  Porto, 
that  it  were  well  to  remove  the  roof  of  their  chamber, 
that  the  Holy  Ghost  might  descend  upon  them.  The 
Franciscans  seem  to  have  been  astonished  that  the  vir- 
tues and  learning  of  the  pride  of  their  order,  St.  Bona- 
ventura,  did  not  command  the  general  homage.  They 
fabled,  at  least  the  annalist  of  the  Church  declares  it  a 
fable,  that  Bonaventura  would  not  condescend  to  the 
proffered  dignity.1  At  length  the  Cardinals  determined 
to  delegate  to  six  of  their  members  the  full  power  of 
the  conclave. 

The  wisdom  or  felicity  of  their  choice  might,  if  ever, 
justify  the  belief  in  a  superior  overruling  Gregory  x. 
counsel.  It  fell  upon  one,  towards  whom  it  is  difficult 
to  conceive  how  their  thoughts  were  directed,  a  man 
neither  Cardinal  nor  Prelate,  of  no  higher  rank  than 
Archdeacon  of  Liege,  and  dispossessed  of  his  Archdea- 
conry by  the  unjust  jealousy  of  his  bishop  ;  upon  one 
now  absent  in  the  Holy  Land  on  a  pilgrimage.  Greg- 
ory X.,  such  was  the  name  he  assumed,  was  of  a  noble 
house,  the  Visconti  of  Piacenza,  but  having  early  left 
his  country,  was  not  committed  to  either  of  the  great 
Italian  factions :  he  was  unembarrassed  with  family 
ties  ;  he  was  an  Italian,  but  not  a  Roman,  not  there- 
fore an  object  of  jealousy  and  hatred  to  rival  houses 
among  that  fierce  baronage.  He  had  been  a  canon  of 
Lyons,  but  was  by  no  means  implicated  with  French 
interests.  One  great  religious  passion  possessed  his 
soul :  the  Holy  Land,  with  its  afflictions  and  disasters, 
its  ineffaceable  sanctity,  had  sunk  into  the  depth  of  his 
affections ;  the  interests  of  that  land  were  his  highest 

1  Raynald.  sub  ann. 


124  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

duties.  It  was  to  this  end  that  Gregory  X.  devoted 
himself  with  all  the  energy  of  a  commanding  mind,  or 
rather  to  a  preparatory  object,  perhaps  greater,  at  all 
events  indispensable  to  that  end.  It  was  in  order  to 
organize  a  Crusade,  more  powerful  than  any  former 
Crusade,  that  he  aspired  to  pacify,  that  he  succeeded 
for  a  time  in  pacifying,  Western  Christendom.  This 
greatest  of  pontifical  acts,  but  this  alone,  Gregory  X. 
was  permitted  to  achieve. 

The  reception  of  this  comparatively  obscure  ecclesi- 
inauguration.  astic,  thus  suddenly  raised  to  the  chair  of  St. 
Jan.  21, 1272.  peter,  might  encourage  his  most  holy  hopes. 
He  landed  at  Brundusium,  was  escorted  by  King 
Charles  to  Capua,  and  from  thence,  passing  by  Rome, 
to  Viterbo,  where  the  Cardinals  met  him  with  reveren- 
tial unanimity.  He  was  crowned  at  Rome  with  an 
March  27,  elaborate  ceremonial,  published  by  himself  as 
1272,  the  future  code,  according  to  which  the  Ro- 

man Pontiffs  were  to  be  elected,  inaugurated,  invested : 
the  most  minute  particulars  of  dress  were  arranged, 
and  the  whole  course  of  processional  service.1  Gregory 
X.  took  up  his  residence  at  Orvieto. 

Gregory  had  hardly  ascended  the  Pontifical  throne, 
Determines  when  he  determined  to  hold  a  great  Ecumenic 
on  a  council.  Council.  That  it  might  be  a  Council  worthy 
of  the  title,  he  summoned  it  for  two  years  later.  The 
pacification  of  Christendom  was  the  immediate,  the 
reconquest  of  the  Holy  Land  the  remote,  object  of  this 

1  The  Jews  were  to  offer,  as  a  regular  part  of  the  ceremony,  their  congrat- 
ulations, and  to  present  the  book  of  the  Old  Testament.  The  Pope  was 
seated  on  the  Sedes  Stercoraria,  emblematic  of  the  verse  in  the  Psalm  "  de 
stercore  erigit  pauperem."  This  is  noticed  on  account  of  misapprehensions 
sometimes  prevalent  on  this  singular  usage.  See  on  the  Sedes  Stercoraria 
Mabillon,  Iter  Italicum,  p.  59. 


Chap.  IV.  GREGORY  SUMMONS  A  COUNCIL.  125 

great  diet  of  Christendom.  The  place  of  the  Council 
was  debated  with  grave  prudence.  Within  the  Alps  it 
was  more  convenient,  perhaps  it  was  more  dignified, 
for  the  Pope  to  receive  the  vassal  hierarchy  ;  but  be- 
yond the  Alps  alone  was  there  hope  of  reawakening 
the  slumbering  enthusiasm  for  the  sepulchre  of  the 
Saviour.  Lyons  was  the  chosen  city.  Gregory  in  the 
mean  time  labored  assiduously  at  the  great  work  which 
was  to  be  consummated  in  the  Council  —  the  pacifica- 
tion of  Christendom.  Three  measures  were  necessary: 
I.  The  extinction  of  the  wars  and  feuds  in  Italy.  II. 
The  restoration  of  the  Empire,  in  the  person  of  a  great 
German  Prince.  III.  The  acknowledgment  of  the 
Greek  Emperor  of  Constantinople,  and  the  admission 
of  that  Emperor  into  the  league  of  Christian  princes  ; 
with  the  reunion  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  Churches. 

Gregory  began  his  work  of  pacification  in  Lorn 
bardy  :  he  did  not  at  once  withdraw  himself  from  the 
head  of  the  Guelfic  confederacy ;  he  still  asserted  the 
power  of  Charles  of  Anjou  as  Vicar  of  the  Empire ; 
he  even  confirmed  the  excommunication  against  the 
Ghibelline  cities,  Pisa,  Pavia,  Verona,  and  the  Duke 
of  Tyrol :  nor  did  he  take  up  the  cause  of  Otho  Vis- 
conti,  the  exiled  Ghibelline  Archbishop  of  Milan, 
against  the  della  Torres,  who  held  that  city.1  But 
he  began  gradually  to  feel  his  strength.  He  nego- 
tiated peace  between  Genoa  and  Venice,  a.d.  1273. 
rivals  for  the  mastery  of  the  sea^;  between  Venice 
and  Bologna,  rivals  for  the  command  of  the  naviga- 
tion of  the  Po.  Pisa  was  reconciled  to  the  Church ; 
the  archiepiscopal  dignity  restored  to  the  city.  In 
Florence,    on   his   way  to   the   Council,   Gregory  at- 

1  Annul.  Mediolanen.  Muratori,  Ann.,  sub  aim.  1272. 


126  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

tempted  to  awe  into  peace  the  Guelfs  and  Ghibellines. 
The  Guelfs  heard  this  strange  doctrine  applied  to  their 
enemies,  "  They  are  Ghibellines,  it  is  true,  but  they  are 
citizens,  men,  Christians."  l  He  made  the  two  factions, 
both  at  Florence  and  Sienna,  swear  to  a  treaty  of  peace, 
and  to  the  readmission  of  the  exiles  on  both  sides,  in 
his  own  presence  and  in  that  of  Charles  of  Anjou,  and 
Baldwin  of  Constantinople.  But  the  hatred  of  Guelf 
and  Ghibelline  was  too  deeply  rooted  ;  Charles  of  An- 
jou openly  approving  the  treaty,  secretly  contrived  a 
rupture ;  the  Ghibellines  were  menaced  with  assassina- 
tion :  the  Pope  paused  on  his  journey  to  cast  back  an 
excommunication  on  the  forsworn  and  disobedient  Flor- 
ence. Nor  would  Genoa  enter  into  terms  of  reconcilia- 
tion with  Charles  of  Anjou.  Yet  on  the  whole  there 
was  at  least  a  surface  of  quiet;  though  under  the 
smouldering  ashes  lay  everywhere  the  fires,  nursing 
their  strength,  and  ready  to  burst  out  again  in  new 
fury. 

Richard,  Earl  of  Cornwall,  died,  having  squandered 
April  2. 1272.  his  enormous  wealth  for  the  barren  honor  of 
bearing  the  imperial  title  of  King  of  the  Romans  for 
fourteen  years,  and  of  displaying  in  London  the  splen- 
dor and  majesty  of  his  imperial  pomp.2  Notwithstand- 
ing the  claim  of  Alfonso  of  Castile,  who  had  exercised 
no  other  right  than  sending  a  few  troops  into  Lom- 
bardy,  the  Pope  commanded  a  new  election.  Perhaps 
he  already  anticipated  the  choice  of  Rodolph  of  Haps- 
burg,    the   founder    of   the    great    house    of   Austria. 

i  S.  Antonin.  ii.  tit.  20,  s.  2. 

2  The  Germans  soon  saw,  according  to  Paris,  the  contempt  in  which 
England  held  Richard  of  Cornwall;  and  withdrew,  ashamed  of  their  Em- 
peror. He  passed  as  much  time  in  England  as  in  Germany.  —  Matt.  Paris, 
pp.  953-4. 


CHAr.  IV.         RODOLPH  OF  HAPSBURG  EMPEROR.  127 

The  Pope  confirmed  the  choice  ;  he  tried  all  means  of 
soothing  the  pride  ;  he  used  the  gentlest,  most  Sept.  29, 1273 
courteous  persuasions,  but  he  paid  no  regard  to  the 
remonstrances  of  the  King  of  Castile.  Rodolph  of 
Hapsburg,  whose  great  activity  and  abilities  had  been 
already  displayed  in  the  internal  affairs  of  Germany, 
who  had  commanded  the  suffrages  of  all  the  electors, 
except  the  hostile  Ottocar,  King  of  Bohemia,1  was  the 
sovereign  whose  accession  any  Pope,  especially  Gregory 
X.,  might  hail  with  satisfaction.  He  seemed  designated 
as  the  chief  who  might  unite  Christendom  in  the  Holy 
War.2  He  had  none  of  the  fatal  hereditary  claims  to 
possessions  in  Italy,  or  to  the  throne  of  Naples.  In  the 
north  of  Italy  he  might  curb  the  insatiate  ambition,  the 
restless  encroachments  of  Charles  of  Anjou :  the  Pope 
exacted  his  promise  from  Rodolph  that  he  would  not 
assail  Charles  in  his  kingdom  of  Sicily  or  in  Tuscany. 
Gregory  X.  aspired  to  include  within  the  pale  of  the 
great  Christian  confederacy,  to  embark  in  the  common 
crusade,  even  a  more  useful  ally,  the  Greek  Emperor 
of  Constantinople.  A  Greek  was  again  Emperor  of 
the  East ;  Michael  Pala?ologus  ruled  in  Constantinople ; 
Baldwin  II.,  the  last  of  the  Latin  emperors,  was  an 
exile  in  Europe.     Instead  of  espousing   his  cause,  or 

1  The  electors  were,  Wernher  of  Eppstein,  Archbishop  of  Mentz ;  Henry 
of  Fustingen,  Archbishop  of  Treves;  Engelbert  of  Falkenstein,  Archbishop 
of  Cologne;  Louis,  Palatine  of  the  Rhine  and  Duke  of  Bavaria;  John, 
Duke  of  Saxony;  John,  Margrave  of  Brandenburg.  According  to  some 
authorities,  Ottocar,  King  of  Bohemia,  declined  the  crown.  The  reader 
will  find  a  fair  popular  account  of  the  elevation  of  Rodolph  of  Hapsburg  in 
Coxe's  House  of  Austria. 

2  Rodolph  was  besieging  the  Bishop  of  Basle  when  he  received  the  intel  • 
ligence  of  his  election.  The  city  at  once  surrendered  to  the  King  of  the 
Romans.  The  Bishop  was  furious.  "  Sit  firm,"  he  cried,  "  0  Lord  God, 
or  Rodolph  will  occupy  thy  throne."  "  Sede  fortiter,  Doirine  Deus,  vel 
locum  Rudolfus  occupabit  tuum."  —  Albert  Argentan.  p.  100. 


128  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

encouraging  the  ambition  of  Charles  of  Anjou,  who 
a.d.  1272.  had  married  his  daughter  to  the  heir  of  Bald- 
win, and  aspired  to  the  dominion  of  the  East  in  the 
name  of  his  son-in-law,  Gregory  embraced  the  wiser 
and  bolder  policy  of  acknowledging  the  title  of  the 
Greek.  Palaeologus  consented  to  pay  the  great  price 
of  this  acknowledgment,  no  less  than  submission  to  the 
Papal  supremacy,  and  the  union  of  the  Greek  with  the 
Latin  Church.1  Palaeologus  had  no  great  reason  for 
profound  attachment  to  the  Greek  clergy.  The  Patri- 
arch Arsenius,  with  boldness  unusual  in  the  Eastern 
hierarchy  had  solemnly  excommunicated  the  Emperor 
for  his  crime  in  cruelly  blinding  the  young  John  Las- 
caris,  in  whose  name  he  held  the  empire.  Arsenius 
had  been  banished  on  a  charge  of  treason ;  a  new 
patriarch  sat  on  the  throne,  but  a  powerful  faction  of 
the  clergy  were  still  Arsenites.  On  his  death,  they 
compelled  the  burial  of  the  banished  prelate  in  the 
sanctuary  of  Santa  Sophia ;  absolution  in  his  name 
alone  reconciled  the  Emperor  to  God.  Palaeologus, 
though  the  ruling  Patriarch  was  more  submissive, 
might  not  be  disinclined  to  admit  larger  authority 
in  a  more  remote  power,  held  by  a  Pope  in  Italy 
rather  than  a  Patriarch  in  Constantinople.  By  every 
act,  by  bribery,  intimidation,  by  skilfully  softening  off 
the  points  of  difference,  and  urging  the  undoubted 
blessings  of  union,  he  wrung  a  slow  consent  from  the 
leading  clergy  of  the  East :  they  were  gradually  taught 
to  consider  that  the  procession  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  from 
the  Father  and  the  Son,  was  not  a  doctrine  of  such 
repulsive  heterodoxy,  and  to  admit  a  kind  of  vague 

1  Pachymer,  ii.  15:  iii.  1,  2;  v.  10;  p.  369,  &c.    Nicephorus  Gregoras,  iii. 
1;  iv.  1.    Gibbon,  edit.  Milmau,  xi.  313,  tt  seq. 


Chai\  IV.  COUNCIL   OF  LYONS.  12(J 

supremacy  m  the  Pope,  which  the  Emperor  assured 
them  would  not  endanger  their  independence,  as  dear 
to  him  as  to  themselves.1  Ambassadors  arrived  at 
Rome  with  splendid  offerings  for  the  altar  of  St.  Peter, 
and  with  the  treaty  of  union  and  of  submission  to  the 
Roman  see,  signed  by  the  Emperor,  his  son,  thirty-five 
archbishops  and  metropolitans,  with  their  suffragan 
synods.  The  Council  of  Lyons  witnessed  with  joy 
this  reunion  —  a  reunion  unhappily  but  of  few  years  — i 
of  the  Church  of  Basil,  the  Gregories,  and  Chrysos- 
toms,  with  that  of  Leo  and  Gregory  the  Great. 

Nothing  could  contrast  more  strongly  than  the  first 
and  second  Councils  of  Lyons.  The  first  was  sum- 
moned by  Innocent  IV.,  attended  by  hardly  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  prelates,  to  represent  the  whole  Council  of 
clergy  of  Christendom  ;  its  aim  to  perpetuate  Lyons- 
a  desperate  war,  and  to  commit  the  Empire  and  the 
Papacy  in  implacable  hostility  ;  its  authority  disclaimed 
by  the  larger  part  of  Christendom,  cordially  and  fully 
accepted  by  scarcely  one  of  the  great  kingdoms.  At 
the  second  Council  of  Lyons,  Gregory  X.  took  his  seat 
at  the  head  of  five  hundred  bishops,  seventy  abbots,  and 
at  least  a  thousand  dignified  ecclesiastics.  Every  king- 
dom of  the  West  acknowledged  its  ecumenic  power. 

1  Pachymer  complains,  not  without  bitterness,  that  the  Latins  called  the 
Grteks,  in  their  contempt,  "  white  Hagarenes."  UpoaiaTaro  yap  to  gkuv- 
Aa'kov,  Kal  to  fevKoiic  'Ayapyvovc;  elvai  Ypcunovg  nap'  EKeivotg  fielfrv  f/pETO. 
—  Lib.  v.  p.  3G7,  edit.  Bonn.  The  Greek  clergy  were  secretly  determined 
to  maintain  their  independence,  to  acknowledge  no  primacy,  and  not  to 
subject  themselves  to  the  judgment  of  traitors  and  low  men.  I  presume 
they  thought  all  Italians  like  the  Genoese  of  Pera,  merchants.  'AAAa 
fi,iv£iv  /cat  av&L£  bv  Trj  nvpia  ttjv  kan^aiav  rjyovp,evoi,  tcadtog  Kal  apxtj&tv 
dxe,  Kal  fj.Tj  napu,  Kanrfkuv  Kivdvveveiv  KplvEoftai  Kal  fiavavouv.  —  p.  368. 
Strange  collision  of  Greek  and  Roman  pride !  The  sovereign  did  not  like 
the  (bpepioi,  who  were  very  busy. 
VOL.   vi.  9 


130  LATIN   ClllilSTlANITY.  Book  XI. 

The  King  of  Arragon  was  present ;  the  Latin  patri- 
archs of  Constantinople  and  of  Antioch,  fourteen  car- 
dinals, ambassadors  from  Germany,  France,  England, 
Sicily,  the  Master  of  the  Templars,  with  many  knights 
of  St.  John.  Of  the  two  great  theologic  luminaries  of 
the  age,  the  Dominican  Thomas  Aquinas  and  the  Fran- 
May  7, 1274.  ciscan  Bonaventura,  Thomas  died  on  his  way 
to  the  Council:1  Bonaventura  was  present,  preached 
during  its  sittings,  but  died  before  its  dissolution.  The 
Council  of  Lyons  aspired  to  establish  peace  throughout 
Christendom  ;  the  recognition  of  an  Emperor,  elected 
with  the  full  approval,  under  the  closest  bonds  of  union 
with  the  Pope ;  the  readmission  of  the  Eastern  Em- 
pire, and  of  the  Greek  Church,  within  the  pale  of 
Western  Christendom.  Such  was  the  function  of  this 
great  assembly,  perhaps  the  first  and  last  Council  which 
was  undisturbed  by  dispute,  and  uttered  no  sentence  of 
interdict  or  excommunication.  The  declared  objects 
for  which  the  Council  was  summoned  were  succor  to 
the  Holy  Land,  the  reconciliation  of  the  Greek  Church, 
the  reformation  of  manners.  The  session  opened  with 
great  solemnity.  The  Pope  himself  officiated  in  the 
religious  ceremonial,  assisted  by  his  cardinals.  For  the 
first  object,  the  succor  to  the  Holy  Land,  a  tenth  of  all 
ecclesiastical  revenues  was  voted  for  six  years.     The 

1  Dante  has  given  perpetuity  to  the  charge  against  Charles  of  Aujou  of 
having  poisoned  St.  Thomas;  adduced  also  by  Villani,  ix.  218:  — 

"  Carlo  venne  in  Italia,  e  per  ammenda 
Vittima  fe  di  Corradino,  e  poi 
Respinse  al  ciel  Toinmaso  per  ammenda." 

Purgat.  xx.  67. 

Compare  commentary  of  Benvenuto  da  Imola  (apud  Muratori).  The  Guelf 
Villani  assigns  as  a  motive  the  fear  that  St.  Thomas  (a  Neapolitan),  the 
oracle  of  Christendom,  would  expose  his  cruelty  and  wickedness.  It  is 
probably  an  invention  of  the  profound  Neapolitan  hatred. 


Chap.  IV.  LAW   OF  PAPAL  ELECTION.  181 

Council,  as  it  awaited  the  arrival  of  the  Greek  ambas- 
sadors, occupied  itself  on  regulations  concerning  the 
discipline  and  morals  of  the  clergy.  On  the  24th  June 
arrived  the  ambassadors.  After  the  edict  of  the  Em- 
peror of  Byzantium,  sealed  with  a  golden  seal,  had 
been  exhibited  and  read,  the  act  for  the  union  of  the 
two  Churches  was  solemnly  passed  ;  the  Pope  himself 
intoned  the  Te  Deum  with  tears  of  joy ;  the  Latin 
clergy  chanted  the  creed  in  Latin  ;  the  Greek,  those  of 
the  embassy,  assisted  by  the  Calabrese  bishops,  chanted 
it  in  Greek.  As  they  came  to  the  words,  "  who  pro- 
ceedeth  from  the  Father  and  the  Son,"  they  repeated 
it,  with  more  emphatic  solemnity,  three  times.  The 
representative  of  the  Eastern  Emperor  acknowledged 
in  ample  terms  (such  were  his  secret  instructions)  the 
supremacy  of  St.  Peter's  successor. 

Gregory  X.  did  not  permit  this  Council  to  be  dis- 
solved until  he  had  secured  the  Papacy  from  LawofPapal 
the  scandals  which  had  preceded  his  own Electiou- 
election  ;  but  to  the  stern  law  with  which  he  endeav- 
ored to  bind  the  cardinals,  he  found  strong  opposition. 
It  was  only  by  his  personal  authority  with  each  single 
prelate,  that  he  extorted  their  irrevocable  signature  and 
seal  to  the  statute  which  was  to  regulate  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  conclave  on  the  death  of  a  Pope.  The 
statute  retained  to  the  cardinals  the  proud  prerogative 
of  sole  election  ;  but  it  ordained  that  only  ten  days 
after  the  death  of  the  Pope  they  were  to  be  shut  up, 
without  waiting  for  absent  members  of  the  college,  in 
a  single  chamber  in  the  deceased  Pope's  palace,  where 
they  were  to  live  in  common  ;  all  access  was  to  be 
strictly  prohibited,  as  well  as  writing  or  message  :  each 
was  to  have  but  one  domestic  ;  their  meals  were  to  be 


132  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Boor  XL 

received  through  a  window  too  narrow  to  admit  a  man. 
Any  communication  with  them  was  inhibited  under  tlie 
menace  of  interdict.  If  they  agreed  not  in  three  days, 
their  repast  was  to  be  limited,  for  five  days,  to  a  single 
dish  ;  after  that  only  bread  and  wine  ;  so  they  were  to 
be  starved  into  unanimity.  If  the  Pope  died  out  of 
Koine,  in  that  city  where  he  died  was  to  be  this  im- 
prisonment of  the  conclave,  under  the  municipal  mag- 
istrates, who  were  sworn  to  allow  the  liberty  permitted 
by  statute,  but  no  more.  All  offenders  against  this 
decree,  of  whatever  rank,  were  at  once  excommuni- 
cate, infamous,  and  could  rise  to  no  dignity  or  public 
office ;  any  fief  or  estate  they  might  hold  of  the  Church 
of  Rome,  or  any  other  Church,  was  forfeit.  All  former 
pacts,  conventions,  or  agreements,  were  declared  null 
and  void  ;  if  under  oath,  the  oath  was  abrogated,  an- 
nulled. In  every  city  in  Christendom  public  prayers 
were  to  be  offered  up  to  God  to  infuse  concord,  speedy 
and  wise  decision,  into  the  hearts  of  that  venerable 
conclave.1  So  closed  the  second  Council  of  Lyons. 
One  act  of  severity  alone,  the  degradation  of  Greg- 
ory's old  enemy,  the  Bishop  of  Liege,  appeal's  in  the 
annals  of  this  Council.  The  Christian  world  was,  on 
the  other  hand,  highly  edified  by  the  appearance  and 
solemn  baptism  of  certain  Tartars. 

Gregory  X.,  after  an  interview  with  the  King  of 
ott. is.  1275.  Castile  at  Beaucaire,  whom  he  strove  to 
reconcile  to  the  loss  of  the  Empire,  and  an  interview 
with  the  Emperor  Rodolph  at  Lausanne,  repassed  the 
Alps.  He  was  received  with  deserved  honors  ;  only 
into  excommunicated  Florence  —  excommunicated,  no 
nne  could  deny,  with  perfect  Christian  justice  —  the 

1  Mansi  et  Labbe,  sub  ann. 


Chap.  IV.  RAPID  SUCCESSION   OF  POPES.  133 

peaceful  prelate  refused  to  enter.  The  world  was 
anxiously  awaiting  the  issue  of  these  sage  and  holy 
counsels  ;  the  pontificate  of  peace,  peace  only  to  be 
broken  by  the  discomfiture  of  the  infidels  in  the  East, 
was  expanding,  it  was  to  be  hoped,  into  many  happy 
and  glorious  years.  Suddenly  Gregory  sickened  on 
his  road  to  Arezzo  ;  he  died,  and  with  him  Jan.  10,  1276. 
broke  up  the  whole  confederation  of  Christendom.  The 
world  again,  from  the  conclave  to  the  remotest  limits 
not  of  Europe  alone,  but  of  Christianity,  became  one 
vast  feud.  With  Gregory  X.  expired  the  Crusades ; 
Christianity  lost  this  principle  of  union,  the  Pope  this 
principle  of  command,  this  title  to  the  exaction  of  trib- 
ute from  the  vassal  world.  From  this  time  he  began  to 
sink  into  an  Italian  prince,  or  into  the  servant  of  one 
of  the  great  monarchies  of  Europe.  The  last  convulsive 
effort  of  the  Popedom  for  the  dominion  of  the  world, 
under  Boniface  VIII. ,  ended  in  the  disastrous  death  of 
that  Pope  ;  the  captivity  of  the  Papacy  at  Avignon. 

After  the  death  of  Gregory  X.,  in  hardly  more  than 
three  years  three  successive  Popes  rose  and  ^^  succeg. 
passed  like  shadows  over  the  throne  of  St.  8ion  of  1>opes- 
Peter,  and  a  fourth  commenced  his  short  reign.  The 
popular  superstition  and  the  popular  hatred,  which,  un- 
allayed  by  the  short-lived  dignity,  holiness,  and  wisdom 
of  Gregory  X.,  lay  so  deep  in  the  public  mind,  beheld 
in  these  deaths  which  followed  each  other  in  such  dark- 
ening rapidity,  either  the  judicial  hand  of  God  or  the 
crime  of  man.  The  Popes  were  no  sooner  proclaimed 
than  dead,  either,  it  was  believed,  smitten  for  Innocent  v 
men's  sins  or  their  own,  or  cut  off  by  poison.1 1276- 

1  "  Papse  quatuor  mortui,  duo  divino  judicio,  et  duo  veneno  exhausti.  ' 
—  Chronic  Foro  Livien.  Muratori,  S.  I.  xxii 


134  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

The  first  of  these,  Peter  of  Tarantaise  (Innocent  V.), 
was  elected  in  January,  took  up  his  residence  in  Rome, 
and  died  in  June.  Ottobuoni  Fieschi,  the  nephew  of 
ii.uirian  v.  Innocent  IV.,  answered  his  kindred,  who 
juTyte9d  died  crowded  around  him  with  congratulations  on 
Aug.  is.  ]^s  e]ection,  "  Would  that  ye  came  to  a  car- 
dinal in  good  health,  not  to  a  dying  Pope."  He  just 
lived  to  take  the  name  of  Hadrian  V.,  to  release  his 
native  Genoa  from  interdict,  and  to  suspend  with  his 
dying  breath  the  constitution  of  Gregory  X.  concern- 
ing the  Conclave.  He  was  not  crowned,  consecrated, 
or  even  ordained  priest.  Hadrian  V.  died  at  Viterbo. 
The  immediate  choice  of  the  cardinals  now  fell  on 
John  xxi.  Pedro  Juliani,  a  Portuguese,  the  Cardinal 
Bishop  of  Tusculum.  Though  the  cardinals  had  al- 
ready obtained  from  the  dying  Hadrian  the  suspension 
of  the  severely  restrictive  edict  of  Gregory  X.  con- 
cerning the  Conclave,  the  edict  was  popular  abroad. 
There  were  many,  and  among  them  prelates  who  de- 
clared that,  excepting  under  that  statute,  and  in  con- 
formity with  its  regulations,  the  cardinals  had  no  right 
to  the  sole  election  of  the  Pope.1  There  was  a  great 
uproar  in  Viterbo,  instigated  by  these  prelates.  The 
Archbishop  of  Corinth,  with  some  other  ecclesiastics 
who  were  sent  forth  to  read  the  suspension  of  the  edict 
by  Hadrian  V.,  confirmed  by  John  XXI.,  the  new 
Pope,  was  maltreated  ;  yet,  even  if  the  ceremonial  was 
not  rigidly  observed,  there  had  been  the  utmost  speed 
in   the  election  of  John  XXI.     The  Pope  was  a  man 

1  "  In  tantam  prorupere  temeritatis  insaniam,  nt  in  dubium  auctoritatem 
et  jurisdictionem  collegii  ejusdem  Ecclesi*  revocarent,  et  de  illis  in  deroga- 
tionem  ipsaram  disputantes  utilibet,  enervare  inimo  et  evacuare  pro  viribttf 
niterentur  inanibus  arguinentis."  — Rescript.  Joanu.  XXL,  apud  Raynald 
1276. 


Chap.  I  y.  JOHN  XXI.  135 

of  letters,  and  even  of  science  ;  he  had  published  some 
mathematical  treatises  which  excited  the  astonishment 
and  therefore  the  suspicion  of  his  age.  He  was  a 
churchman  of  easy  access,  conversed  freely  witli  hum- 
bler men,  if  men  of  letters,  and  was  therefore  accused 
of  lowering  the  dignity  of  the  Pontificate.  He  was 
perhaps  hasty  and  unguarded  in  his  language,  but  he 
had  a  more  inexpiable  fault.  He  had  no  love  for 
monks  or  friars  :  it  was  supposed  that  he  meditated 
some  severe  coercive  edicts  on  these  brotherhoods. 
Hence  his  death  (he  was  crushed  by  the  falling  of  the 
roof  in  a  noble  chamber  which  he  had  built  in  the 
palace  of  Viterbo)  was  foreshown  by  gloomy  prodigies, 
and  held  either  to  be  a  divine  judgment,  or  a  direct  act 
of  the  Evil  One.  John  XXI.  was  contemplating  with 
too  great  pride  the  work  of  his  own  hands,  and  burst 
out  into  laughter  ;  at  that  instant  the  avenging  roof 
came  down  on  his  head.  Two  visions  re-  May  15  (?) 
vealed  to  different  holy  men  the  Evil  One  20?  1277, 
hewing  down  the  supports,  and  so  overwhelming  the 
reprobate  Pontiff.  He  was  said  by  others  to  have 
been,  at  the  moment  of  his  death,  in  the  act  of  writing 
a  book  full  of  the  most  deadly  heresies,  or  practising 
the  arts  of  magic.1 

For  six  weeks,  the  Cardinals,  released  from  the  coer- 
cive statute,  met  in  conclave  without  coming  Xov  25 
to  any  conclusion.  At  length  the  election  JiKias  in.  u 
fell  on  John  Gaetano,  of  the  noble  Roman  comPe^<>. 
house,  the  Orsini,  a  man  of  remarkable  beauty  of  per- 
son and  demeanor.  His  name,  "  the  Accomplished," 
implied  that  in  him  met  all  the  graces  of  the  handsom- 

1  Ptolem.  Luc.  xxvi.    Nangis,  however,  says  that  he  died  "  perceptia 
omnibus  sacramentis  ecclesiasticis."  —  Sub  ann.  1277.     Siffred.  in  Chronic 


136  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

est  clerks  in  the  world ;  but  he  was  a  man  likewise  of 
irreproachable  morals,  of  vast  ambition,  and  of  great 
ability.  This  age  of  short-lived  Popes  was  the  age  of 
magnificent  designs  as  short-lived  as  their  authors.  The 
nobler,  more  comprehensive,  more  disinterested  scheme 
of  Gregory  X.  had  sunk  into  nothing  at  his  death  ; 
that  of  Nicolas  III.  had  deeper  root,  but  came  not  to 
maturity  during  his  reign,  or  in  his  line.  An  Italian, 
a  Roman,  was  again  upon  the  throne  of  St.  Peter. 
The  Orsini  at  first  took  up  his  residence  at  Rome. 
He  built  a  splendid  palace,  the  Vatican,  near  St.  Pe- 
ter's, with  gardens  around,  and  fortified  with  a  strong 
wall.1  He  repaired,  enlarged,  and  strengthened  the 
Lateran  Palace.  Unlike  his  rash  predecessor,  he  was  a 
friend  to  the  great  monastic  orders  :  he  knew  how  com- 
pletely the  preachers  and  other  mendicants  still,  not- 
withstanding the  hatred  of  the  clergy,  now  they  had 
taken  possession  of  the  high  places  of  theology,  ruled 
the  public  mind.  To  Thomas  Aquinas  and  St.  Bona- 
ventura  the  world  looked  up  as  to  its  guiding  lights  ; 
nor  had  they  lost  their  power  over  the  popular  passions. 
Nicolas  III.  did  not  in  any  degree  relax  the  Papal 
superintendence  over  Christendom  to  its  extreme  lim- 
its :  he  is  interfering  in  the  affairs  of  Poland  and  Hun- 
gary, mediating  in  the  wars  between  France  and 
Spain,  watching  over  the  crumbling  wreck  of  the 
Christian  possessions  in  the  Holy  Land.  In  the  East 
he  not  merely  held  the  justly  alarmed  Emperor,  Michael 
Palaeologus,  to  his  plighted  fidelity  and  allegiance,  but 
insisted  on  the  more  ample  recognition  of  the  Papal  su- 
premacy.2    He  demanded  that  a  solemn  oath  of  sub- 

1  Bunsen  und  Platner,  Roms  Beschreibung,  ii.  p.  231. 

2  Raynald.  sub  ann.  1279,  80.     Pachymer  (vi.  10,  p.  461)  calls  the  Pope 


Chap.  IV.   GREEKS  RETURN  TO  INDErENDENCE.      137 

ordination  should  be  taken  by  the  Patriarch  and  the 
clergy.  To  the  prudent  request  of  the  Emperor,  that 
the  obnoxious  words  which  asserted  the  procession  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  from  the  Son,  should  not  be  forced  at 
once  into  the  creed,  he  returned  a  haughty  reply  that 
no  indulgence  could  be  granted,  though  some  toleration 
might  be  conceded  for  a  time  on  the  other  points  in 
which  the  Greek  differed  from  the  Roman  ritual.  He 
even  required  that  the  Greek  Church  should  humbly 
seek  absolution  for  the  sin  of  their  long  schism.  A. 
strong  faction  broke  out  in  the  Empire,  in  Constanti- 
nople, in  the  Court,  in  the  family  of  the  Emperor. 
They  branded  the  Pope,  the  Patriarch,  the  Emperor, 
as  heretics.  Palajologus  became  that  most  odious  of 
persecutors,  a  persecutor  without  the  excuse  of  religious 
bigotry ;  confiscation,  scourging,  mutilation,  punished 
the  refractory  assertors  of  the  independence  of  the 
Greek  Church.  The  Pope's  Legates  were  gratified  by 
the  sight  of  four  princes  of  the  blood  confined  in  a 
loathsome  prison.  But  discontent  led  to  insurrection. 
The  Prince  of  Trebisond,  who  had  always  retained  the 
title  of  Emperor,  espoused  the  cause  of  Greek  ortho- 
doxy. His  generals  betrayed  the  unhappy  Palseologus : 
his  family,  especially  his  nieces,  intrigued  against  him. 
He  hesitated  ;  for  his  hesitation  he  was  excommunicated 
at  Rome  by  Martin  IV.,  the  slave  of  his  enemy  Charles 
of  Anjou.  On  his  death  the  Greeks  with  one  Return  ^ 
consent  threw  off  the  yoke;  the ?  churches  cffu^cTte  iu  • 
were  purified  from  the  infection  of  the  Latin  dePendeQPe- 
rites ;  the  creed  resumed  its  old  form ;  Andronicus,  the 

vpdavog.  The  Jesuit  Possin,  Chronol.  in  Pachymerum,  conjectures  Ovpaivor 
the  Orsini  —  perhaps  a  blunder  of  the  Greeks.  The  whole  long  intrigue 
may  be  traced  through  two  or  three  books  of  Pachyraer. 


188  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

son    of   Palaeologus,  refused  burial   to   his  schismatic 
father.1 

But  Italy  was  the  scene  of  the  great  achievements, 
it  was  to  be  that  of  the  still  greater  designs,  of  Nicolas 
III.  The  Emperor  Rodolph  was  not  yet  so  firmly 
seated  on  his  throne  (he  was  involved  in  a  perilous 
war  with  Ottocar  of  Bohemia)  as  to  disdain  the  aid 
of  the  Roman  Pontiff.  He  could  not  but  look  to  the 
resumption  at  least  of  some  imperial  rights  in  Lom- 
bardy;  if  the  Pope  should  maintain  the  cause  of 
Charles  of  Anjou,  Italy  was  entirely  lost.  From  the 
magnificence,  the  policy,  or  the  fears  of  Rodolph,  the 
Pope  extorted  the  absolute  cession  to  the  Roman  See, 
not  only  of  Romagna,  but  of  the  exarchate  of  Ravenna. 
The  Chancellor  of  the  Emperor  had  exacted  an  oath 
of  allegiance  from  the  cities  of  Bologna,  Imola,  Fa- 
enza,  Forli,  Cesena,  Ravenna,  Rimini,  Urbino,  and 
May  29, 1278.  some  other  towns.  Rodolph  disclaimed  the 
acts  of  his  Chancellor,  recognized  the  donation  of  the 
Emperor  Louis,  and  made  a  new  donation,  in  his 
own  name,  of  the  whole  territory  from  Radicofani  to 
Ceperano,  the  March  of  Ancona,  the  duchy  of  Spo- 
leto,  the  county  of  Bertinoro,  the  lands  of  the  Coun- 
tess Matilda,  the  exarchate  of  Ravenna,  the  Pentapolis, 
Ferrara,  Comachio,  Montefeltro,  and  Massa  Trabaria, 
absolutely ;  and  with  all  his  full  rights  to  the  See 
of  St.  Peter.  The  Pope  obtained  a  confirmatory 
acknowledgment  of  his  sovereignty,  as  well  as  over 
Sardinia,  Corsica,  and  Sicily,  from  the  great  electors 
of  the  Empire.2  This  document  is  signed  by  the 
Archbishop  of  Salzburg  and  other  prelates,  by  the 
Chancellor  of  the  Empire,  by  Albert  the  eldest,  and 

i  Raynald.  1279.  ii.  2  Rayuald.  p.  473. 


Chap.  IV.  POPE  NICOLAS   III.  139 

Hartman  the  second  son  of  the  Emperor,  by  many  of 
the  nobles  with  their  own  hand,  by  some  with  Feb.  14,  1279 
that  of  their  notaries.1  This  cession  Nicolas  determined 
should  not  be,  as  it  had  heretofore  been,  an  idle  form 
in  the  officers  of  the  Empire  ;  and  the  Legates  of  the 
Pope  presented  themselves  at  the  gates  of  the  greater 
cities,  demanding  the  acknowledgment  of  the  Papal 
sovereignty.  The  independent  principalities,  the  re- 
publics which  had  grown  up  in  these  territories,  made 
no  resistance;  they  were  released  from  their  oath  to 
the  Emperor,  and  took  the  oath  to  the  Pope  ;  even  Bo- 
logna submitted  on  certain  terms.  The  Pope  was 
actual  ruling  sovereign  of  the  whole  of  the  dominions 
to  which  the  Papal  See  had  advanced  its  pretensions.2 
The  extent  of  this  sovereignty  was  still  vague  and  un- 
defined :  the  princes  maintained  their  principalities,  the 
republics  their  municipal  institutions  and  self-govern- 
ment. They  admitted  no  rulers  appointed  by  the 
Pope ;  his  power  of  levying  taxes  was  certainly  not 
unrestricted,  nor  the  popular  rule  absolutely  abrogated. 
Thus  strong  in  the  manifest  favor  of  the  Emperor  Ro- 
dolph,  Nicolas  III.  made  a  great  merit  to  Charles  of 
Anjou  that  he  had  stipulated  that  the  Emperor  should 
abstain  from  all  warlike  operations  against  Charles 
The  ambitious  Frenchman  overawed,  quietly  sept.  i«  in 
allowed  himself  to  be  despoiled  first  of  his  year. 
vicariate  of  Tuscany,  and  then  of  his  senatorship  oi 
Rome.  Charles  humbly  entreated  that  he  Schemes  of 
might  not  suffer  the  indignity  of  surrendering  aujou. 

1  Boehmer  observes  of  this  document,  that  the  two  sons  of  the  EmperoT 
could  write:  the  Burgrave  of  Nuremburg  and  the  Archbishop  of  Salzburg! 
could  not.  —  Regesta,  p.  98. 

2  "  Ma  quello,  che  i  cherici  prendono,  tardi  sanno  rendere."  —  Villain, 
Al  53. 


140  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

that  office,  which,  on  the  expulsion  of  Henry  of  Castile, 
had  been  regranted  to  him  for  ten  years  by  Pope 
Clement  IV.,  before  the  expiration  of  that  term,  now 
almost  elapsed.  Nicolas  condescended  to  grant  his 
humble  petition  ;  but  on  the  abdication  of  Charles  he 
passed  a  rigorous  edict  that  the  senatorship  from  that 
time  should  never  be  held  by  emperor,  king,  prince, 
marquis,  duke,  count,  or  baron,  or  any  man  of  great 
rank  or  power,  or  even  by  their  brother,  son,  or  grand- 
son ;  no  one  could  hold  it  for  above  a  year  ;  no  one 
without  special  license  of  the  Apostolic  See.1  This 
hostility  to  Charles  may  have  been  the  deliberate 
policy  of  the  Pope :  it  was  said  that  the  Pope  had 
demanded  the  niece  of  Charles  in  marriage  for  his 
nephew ;  Charles  contemptuously  answered,  the  Pope 
was  no  hereditary  prince,  and  that  notwithstand- 
ing the  red  shoes  he  wore,  he  must  not  presume 
to  mix  his  blood  with  that  of  kings.2  There  can  be 
no  doubt  that  Charles  had  used  his  influence  in  the 
conclave  to  oppose  the  elevation  of  the  Roman  Or- 
sini. 

Charles  retired  to  his  dominions  to  brood  over  re- 
venge, to  meditate  a  league  against  the  Eastern  Empire 
which  was  to  compensate  for  his  losses  in  the  West. 
The  Popes  had  taken  the  reconciled  Greeks,  the  sub- 
missive Palaeologus  (the  fear  of  Charles  had  been  a 
chief  motive  for  the  religious  tractableness  of  the 
Greeks3),  under  their  protection.  Gregory  X.  had 
refused  to  sanction  or  to  consecrate  the  banner  which 
Charles  was  prepared  to  unfold  in  the  name  of  the 

i  Nicolai  III ,  Regesta.    Raynald.  sub  ann. 

2  Ricordano  Malespina,  204.     Villani,  vii.  53. 

8  This  appears  throughout  the  Byzantine  accounts. 


Chai'.  IV.  NEPOTISM   OF  NICOLAS   III.  141 

Latin  Philip  ;  Charles  had  been  seen  to  gnaw  his  ivory 
sceptre  in  wrath,  in  the  antechamber  of  the  Pope,  at 
this  desertion  of  what  he  asserted  to  be  the  cause  of 
legitimate  right  and  orthodox  belief.1  Charles  was  now 
negotiating  with  the  Latins  of  the  Eastern  Empire  and 
the  republic  of  Venice  to  take  arms  and  replace  the 
son  of  Baldwin  on  the  throne  of  Constantinople. 
Even  in  Sicily  Charles  of  Anjou  was  not  absolutely 
secure :  the  Pope  was  understood  to  entertain  secret 
relations  with  the  enemies  of  the  French  rule. 

But  Nicolas  III.  had  ulterior  schemes,  which  seem 
to  foreshow  and  anticipate  the  magnificent  Nepotismof 
designs  of  later  nepotism.  Already,  under  Nlcolas  ni- 
pretence  of  heresy,  he  had  confiscated  the  castles  of 
some  of  the  nobles  of  Romagna,  that  particularly  of 
Suriano,  and  invested  his  nephews  with  them.  The 
castle  of  St.  Angelo,  separated  from  the  Church,  was 
granted  to  his  nephew  Orso.  His  kinsmen  were  by 
various  means  elected  the  Podestas  of  many  cities. 
Three  of  his  brethren,  four  more  of  his  kindred,  had 
been  advanced  to  the  Cardinalate.  Bertoldo  Orsini, 
his  brother,  was  created  Count  of  Romagna.  His 
favorite  nephew,  by  his  sister's  side,  Latino  Malebranca 
(a  Brancaleone),  the  Cardinal  Bishop  of  Ostia,  a  pow- 
erful preacher,  had  great  success  in  allaying  the  feuds 
in  many  of  the  cities,2  even  in  Bologna,  wearied  by 
the  long  strife  of  the  Lambertazzi  and  the  Gieromei ; 
wherever  the  Cardinal  established  peace,  the  Count  of 
Romagna  assumed  authority.  Himself  he  had  declared 
perpetual  Senator  of  Rome.  His  nephew  Orso  was  his 
vicar  in  this  great  office.     But  these  were  but  the  first 

1  Pachymer,  v.  26,  p.  410. 

2  Villani,  ii.  c.  55.     Villain  calls  Bertoldo  Orsini  nepote  of  Nicolas  III. 


142  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI 

steps  to  the  throne  which  Nicolas  III.  aspired  to  raise 
for  the  house  of  Orsini.  It  was  believed  that  he  had 
laid  before  the  Emperor  Rodolph  a  plan  by  which  the 
Empire  was  to  become  hereditary  in  his  house,  the 
kingdom  of  Vienna  was  to  be  in  Charles  Martel, 
nephew  of  Charles  of  Anjou,  the  son-in-law  of  the 
Emperor.  Italy  was  to  be  divided  into  the  two  king- 
doms of  Insubria  and  Tuscany,  besides  that  of  Sicily 
and  on  these  thrones  were  to  be  placed  two  of  th< 
house  of  Orsini.1 

A  sudden  fit  of  apoplexy  at  his  castle  of  Soriano  cut 
Aug.  22, 1280.  short  all  these  splendid  designs.2  From  this 
Nicolas  in.  favorite  residence  he  had  dated  his  Bulls,  a 
practice  which  had  given  great  offence.  The  Pope 
was,  as  it  were,  merging  himself  in  the  stately  Italian 
sovereign. 

Charles  of  Anjou  heard  with  the  utmost  joy  the  un- 
The  conclave  exPected  tidings  of  the  death  of  his  enemy 
at  viterbo.  Nicolas  HI.  He  instantly  took  measures  to 
secure  himself  against  the  calamity  of  a  second  hostile 
Pope,  to  wrest  the  Pontificate  from  the  aspiring  family 
of  the  Orsini,  and  form  an  independent  Italian  interest.3 
The  family  of  the  Annibaldeschi  rivalled  that  of  the 
Orsini  in  wealth  and  power.  There  was  a  rising  in 
Rome  ;  the  divided  people  had  recourse  to  the  vain  step 

1  Muratori,  Annal.  sub  ann.  1280,  with  authorities. 

2  Nicolas  is  in  Dante's  hell  for  his  unmeasured  nepotism :  — 

"  Sappi  che  io  fui  vestito  del  gran  manto ; 
E  veramente  fui  figliuol  del  Orsa, 
Cupido  si  per  ayansar  1'  Orsatti, 
Che  su  1'  havere,  e  qui  mi  misi  in  borsa." 

Inferno,  xix.  66. 

"  Pero  ti  sta ;  che  tu  sei  ben  punito, 
E  guarda  ben  la  nial  tolta  nioueta, 
Ch'  esser  ti  fece  contra  Carlo  ardito."  —  95. 
*  Villani,  vii.  c.  57. 


Uiiai\  IV.  MARTIN  rv.  143 

for  the  preservation  of  peace,  the  creation  of  two  Sen- 
ators, one  ont  of  each  of  the  rival  houses.  This,  as 
might  have  been  expected,  increased  the  confusion  ; 
Rome  became  a  scene  of  strife,  murder,  anarchy.  But 
Viterbo,  where  the  conclave  of  Cardinals  was  assem 
bled,  was  even  of  more  importance,  an  Annibaldeschi 
was  Lord  of  that  city.1  The  people  of  Viterbo  were 
won,  by  force  or  bribery,  to  the  party  of  Charles.  The 
constitution  of  Gregory  X.  was  utterly  forgotten  ;  tho 
conclave  prolonged  its  sittings.  The  Pope  had  crowded 
the  college  with  Orsinis  and  their  dependants.  The 
Viterbans  surrounded  the  chamber  ;  they  accused  the 
Orsini  Cardinals  as  disturbing  or  arresting  the  freedom 
of  election,  dragged  forth  two  of  them,  and  cast  them 
into  prison.  With  them  they  seized  and  Feb  ^  1281 
incarcerated  Malebranca  the  Cardinal  Bishop  Latia0* 
of  Ostia  :  the  rest  were  kept  on  the  statutable  bread 
and  wine ;  the  French  Cardinals,  it  was  said,  were  fur- 
tively provided  with  better  viands.  Yet  the  strife  en- 
dured for  nearly  six  months  before  the  stubborn  con- 
clave would  yield  to  the  election  of  the  Cardinal  of 
Santa  Cecilia,  a  Frenchman,  the  slave  and  passive 
instrument  of  Charles  of  Anjou. 

Martin  IV.  was  born  at  Mont  Pence  in  Brie ;  ho 
had  been  Canon  of  Tours.  He  put  on  at  Martin  iv. 
first  the  show  of  maintaining  the  lofty  character  of  the 
Churchman.  He  excommunicated  the  Viterbans  for 
their  sacrilegious  maltreatment  of  the  Cardinals ;  Ri~ 
naldo  Annibaldeschi,  the  Lord  of  Viterbo,  was  com- 
pelled to  ask  pardon  on  his  knees  of  the  Cardinal  Rosso, 
and  forgiven  only  at  the  intervention  of  the  Pope.3 
Martin  IV.  retired  to  Orvieto. 

i  Muratori,  sub  aim.  1281.  2  ptolciu.  Luc.  xxiv.  2. 


144  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

But  the  Frenchman  soon  began  to  predominate  over 
the  Pontiff;  lie  sunk  into  the  vassal  of  Charles  of 
Anjou.  The  great  policy  of  his  predecessor,  to  assuage 
the  feuds  of  Guelf  and  Ghibelline,  was  an  Italian 
policy  ;  it  was  altogether  abandoned.  The  Ghibellines 
in  every  city  were  menaced  or  smitten  with  excommu 
nication  ;  the  Lainbertazzi  were  driven  from  Bologna. 
Forli  was  placed  under  interdict  for  harboring  the 
exiles  ;  the  goods  of  the  citizens  were  confiscated  for 
the  benefit  of  the  Pope.  Bertoldo  Orsini  was  deposed 
from  the  Countship  of  Romagna ;  the  office  was  be- 
stowed on  John  of  Appia,  with  instructions  everywhere 
to  coerce  or  to  chastise  the  refractory  Ghibellines.1 
The  Pope  himself  was  elected  Senator  of  Rome,  in 
defiance  of  the  decree  of  Nicolas  III. ;  Charles  of  An- 
jou was  his  vicegerent.  Nor  did  excommunication 
confine  itself  to  Italy ;  Charles  was  now  in  a  state  to 
carry  on  his  league  for  the  subjugation  of  the  Eastern 
Empire,  in  conjunction  with  the  exiled  Latin  Sover- 
eign and  the  Venetian  republic.  Palasologus,  who  had 
surrendered  the  liberties  of  the  Greek  Church  to  the 
supremacy  of  Rome,  who,  at  the  command  of  the  Pope, 
had  persecuted,  had  provoked  his  subjects,  his  kindred 
to  rebellion,  had  raised  up  a  rival  Greek  Patriarch  to 
contest  Constantinople,  who  had  been  denounced  as 
worse  than  a  heretic,  as  an  apostate,  was  now,  because 
something  was  yet  thought  wanting  to  his  base  compli 
ance,  or  rather  because  he  maintained  his  throne  in 
defiance  of  Charles  of  Anjou,  solemnly  excommuni- 
cated by  Martin  IV.2     The  last  hope  of  union  between 

i"Che  voto  1' erario  delle  smuniche  per  fulminar  tutti  i  Ghibellini,  e 
chiunque  era  nemico  o  poco  amico  del  medesimo  Re  Carlo."  So  writes  the 
calm  Muratori,  p.  185. 

'2  This  passionate  and  partial  excommunication  shocked  his  own  ay;e. 


Uhap.  IV-  AMBITION  OF  CHARLES.  115 

the  Churches  was  thus  cut  away  by  the  Pope's  suicidal 
hand  ;  Pala3ologus  died  repudiated  as  a  renegade  by 
his  own  Church,  under  the  interdict  of  the  Church  of 
Rome.  His  son  Andronicus,  as  has  been  said,  dissolved 
the  inauspicious  alliance  ;  and  the  Churches  were  again 
for  above  two  centuries  in  implacable  oppugnancy. 

Charles  of  Anjou,  with  the  Pope  as  his  obsequious 
minister,  might  seem  reinstated  in  more  than  his  for- 
mer plenitude  of  power ;  he  resided  with  the  Pope  at 
Orvieto,  as  it  were  to  dictate  his  counsels.  Though 
Martin  did  not  yet  venture  to  dispossess  the  Emperor 
Rodolph  of  the  Vicariate  of  Tuscany,  Charles  might 
have  been  justified  in  the  noblest  hopes  of  his  ambition 
in  Italy,  but  he  was  looking  with  more  wide-grasping 
predilection  to  the  East.  Under  the  pretext  of  a  Cru- 
sade to  the  Holy  Land,  he  was  aspiring  to  add  Con- 
stantinople to  his  realm. 

From  the  date  of  this  act,  writes  Ptolemy  of  Lucca,  all  went  wrong  with 
Charles  and  the  Church.    See  back,  p.  137. 


vou  vt  10 


U6  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI 


CHAPTER   V. 

SICILIAN  VESPERS. 

But  a  mine  had  long  been  working  under  his  thione, 
Discontent  which  in  the  next  year  burst  with  all  the  sud- 
*  lcUy'  denness  and  terror  of  one  of  his  kingdom's 
rolcanoes.  While  he  contemplated  the  sovereignty  of 
the  East,  Sicily  was  lost  to  his  house.  Around  one 
man  has  gathered  all  the  glory  of  this  signal  revolu- 
jobn  of  ti°n '  John  of  Procida  has  been  handed  down 
Prodda.  as  a]most  the  sole  author  of  the  expulsion  of 
the  French,  and  the  translation  of  the  crown  of  Sicily 
to  the  house  of  Arragon  :  Peter  of  Arragon,  the  Em- 
peror Palaeologus,  Nicolas  III.,  the  revolted  Barons  of 
Sicily  were  but  instruments  wielded  by  his  strong  will, 
brought  into  close  alliance  through  negotiations  con- 
ducted by  him  alone  ;  excited,  sustained,  guided  by  his 
ubiquitous  presence.  Even  tb^  Vespers  of  Palermo 
were  attributed  to  his  secret  instigation.  John  of  Pro- 
cida perhaps  achieved  not  all  which  is  ascribed  to  him 
alone  ;  in  the  vast  system  of  secret  agency  he  was  not 
the  sole  mover  ;  much  which  was  traced  to  his  sugges- 
tion arose  out  of  natural  passions,  resentment,  revenge, 
ambition,  interest,  patriotism,  love  of  power  and  glory 
in  those  who  conspired  to  this  memorable  work.  A 
fatal  revelation,  but  too  trustworthy,  shows  John  of 
Procida  in  his  early  career  (he  had  been  already  physi- 


<Jhap.  V.  TYRANNY  OF  CHARLES  OF  ANJOU.  147 

cian  to  Frederick  II.  and  to  Conrad,  and  confidential 
counsellor  of  Manfred)  as  basely  abandoning  the  cause 
of  the  fallen  Manfred,  crouching  at  the  feet  of  the 
Pope  at  Viterbo,  protesting  that  he  had  only  bowed 
beneath  the  storm  of  Manfred's  tyranny ;  he  was  com- 
mended to  the  mercy  of  Charles  of  Anjou  by  the  Pope, 
as  his  beloved  son,  as  the  future  faithful  servant  of 
King  Charles.  How  far  he  was  admitted  to  favor  ap- 
pears not,  but  three  years  after  he  is  involved  in  a 
charge  of  high-treason,  and  flies  from  Naples.  But 
however  base  instead  of  noble,  revenge,  disappointed 
treachery  and  ambition,  are  hardly  less  strong  and 
obstinate  motives  to  action  than  generous  indignation 
at  tyranny,  and  holy  love  of  country.1 

In  all  the  conspiracy,  a  conspiracy  of  thoughts,  feel- 
ings, passions,  if  not  of  compacts  and  treaties,  Tyranny  of 
the  most  fatal  to  Charles  was  the  insupporta-  the  French- 
ble,  unexampled,  acknowledged  tyranny  of  the  French 
dominion.2  Sicily  had  groaned  and  bled  under  the 
cruel  despotism  of  the  Emperor  Henry;  the  German 
rudeness  aggravated  the  harshness  of  his  rule.  Fred- 
erick II.,  as  also  his  son,  had  been  severe,  though  just ; 
if  his  fiscal  regulations  were  oppressive,  they  were  re- 
paid by  the  brilliancy  of  his  court,  by  his  wise  laws, 
by  noble  foundations,  by  the  national  pride  in.  behold- 
ing Naples  and  Sicily  the  most  civilized  kingdom  in  the 
world.  Charles  and  his  French  and  Provencal  nobles, 
with  the  haughtiness  and  cruelty  of  foreign  rulers,  in- 
dulged without  restraint  those  outrages  which  gall  to 

1  See  the  document  among  the  Pieces  justificatives  in  Cherrier,  iv.  524, 
from  a  copy  in  the  Royal  Library  at  Paris.  Compare  Amari's  preface  and 
document  first  edit,  iv.,  Florence,  1851;  St.  Priest,  Histoire  de  la  Conqueta 
de  Naples,  Paris,  1847. 

2  "  Sub  tyrannicse  turbine  tempestatis." 


148  LATIN   CHK18TIANITY.  Book  XL 

madness.  Charles  from  the  first  treated  the  realm  aa 
a  conquered  land  ;  after  the  insurrection  in  favor  of 
Conradin,  as  a  revolted  kingdom.  The  insurgents,  or 
reputed  insurgents,  were  hunted  down,  torn  from  their 
families  :  happy  if  only  put  to  a  violent  death  ! *  to  the 
exactions  of  Charles  there  were  no  limits.  The  great 
fiefs  seized,  confiscated  on  the  slightest  suspicion  of  dis- 
affection, were  granted  to  French  nobles ;  the  foreign 
soldiers  lived  at  free  quarters ;  they  were  executioners 
commissioned  to  punish  a  rebellious  race.  To  all  com- 
plaints of  cruelty,  outrage,  extortion,  Charles  replied 
with  a  haughty  scoff,  as  though  it  were  fit  treatment 
for  the  impious  rebels  against  himself  and  the  Pope. 
The  laws,  severe  enough  before,  were  aggravated  by 
still  more  sanguinary  enactments,  and  by  their  execu- 
tion with  refined  mercilessness.  But  there  were  worse 
cruelties  than  these  ;  those  women  only  were  safe  who, 
being  heiresses,  were  compelled  to  marry  French  no- 
bles ;  of  these  there  was  a  regular  register  ;  of  all 
others  the  honor  was  at  the  mercy  of  those  who  in  this 
respect  knew  no  mercy  :  there  was  no  redress,  no  pity ; 
it  might  seem  as  if  Sicilian  women  were  thought  hon- 
ored by  being  defiled  by  French  and  Provencal  bru- 
tality.2 Over  this  tyranny,  which  himself  had  inflicted 
on  this  beautiful  land,  Clement  IV.  had  groaned  in 
bitter  remorse.  Charles  in  his  impartial  rapacity  spared 
not  the  property  of  the  Church ;  if  in  his  cruelty  he 
respected  the  sacred  persons  of  ecclesiastics,  he  taxed 
even  the  Templars  and   Knights   of   St.   John.     The 

1  Amari,  c.  iii.,  for  a  full  account  of  these  horrors,  with  his  authorities. 

2  See  these  enactments,  quoted  in  Amari.  On  the  forced  marriages,  p. 
61.  His  fourth  chapter  we  read  with  a  revulsive  shudder,  and  would  fain 
disbelieve;  but  the  industry  of  Atnari  has  been  too  searching,  his  facts  and 
documents  are  too  strong  even  for  charitable  palliation. 


Chap.  V.  HOUSE  OF  ARRAGON.  149 

Pope  had  sent  remonstrances,  embassies,  to  warn,  to 
threaten,  but  in  vain.1  He  had  entreated  the  interven- 
tion of  the  holy  Louis.  Gregory  X.  menaced  that  for 
the  tyrannies  of  the  same  kind  which  Charles  exercised 
in  Tuscany  the  wrath  of  God  would  fall  on  such  a 
tyrant.  "  I  know  not,"  answered  Charles,  "  what  that 
word  tyrant  means  ;  this  I  know,  that  so  far  T  have 
been  protected  by  God  ;  I  doubt  not  that  he  will  still 
protect  me."  The  Archbishop  of  Capua  denounced 
him  at  the  Council  of  Lyons  ;  he  laughed  to  scorn  the 
complaints  of  the  Prelates,  the  Legates  of  the  Council, 
the  letters  of  the  Pope  to  Philip  of  France.  In  Sicily 
all  the  abuses  of  the  government  were  felt  in  their  ex- 
treme weight.  Naples  was  the  residence  of  the  court, 
and  derived  some  glory  or  advantage  from  its  splendor; 
Palermo  sunk  to  a  provincial  town,  Sicily  to  a  province. 
The  Parliament  had  fallen  into  desuetude ;  it  was  an 
iron  reign  of  force  without  justice,  without  law,  with- 
out humanity,  without  mercy,  without  regard  to  mo- 
rality, without  consideration  of  any  one  of  the  rights, 
or  of  the  interests  or  the  welfare  of  mankind. 

The  race  of  Sicily's  old  kings  was  not  utterly  extinct. 
In  Constance,  the  daughter  of  Manfred,  the  House  of 
wife  of  Peter  of  Arragon,  lingered  the  last  Arras°Q- 
drops  of  Swabian  blood  :  it  was  said  that  on  the  scaf- 
fold Conradin  had  cast  down  his  glove,  to  be  borne  to 
the  King  of  Arragon,  as  the  heir  of  his  rights,  the 
avenger  of  his  death.  To  the  court  of  the  Kino-  of 
Arragon  had  fled  those  Sicilians  of  the  Swabian  party 
who  had  the  good  fortune  to  become  exiles  —  among 
these  three  of  great  name,  Roger  Loria,  Conrad  Lan- 

1  See  two  letters  especially,  in  Raynaldus,  12G7 ;  also  in  Martene  and 
Dm  and,  Thes.  Nov.  Anecd.  ii.  530,  537,  &c. 


150  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  Xi 

C-a,  John  of  Procida.  John  of  Prockla  was  an  exile 
soon  after  the  failure  and  death  of  Conradin.  His 
hatred  to  the  French  is  said  to  have  been  deepened  by 
the  worst  outrage,  perpetrated  on  his  wife  and  h'j 
daughter.  Existing  grants  to  his  wife  Landolfina  inti- 
mate that  she  was  under  the  protection  of  some  power- 
ful influence,  not  improbably  of  a  French  paramour.1 
John  of  Procida  was  born  at  Salerno ;  though  a  noble, 
he  was  profoundly  skilled,  as  in  other  learning,  in  the 
science  of  his  native  city,  that  of  medicine.  He  rose 
in  the  favor  of  Peter  of  Arragon,  became  his  bosom 
counsellor,  was  endowed  with  lands,  the  lands  of  Luxen, 
Benezzano,  and  Palma,  in  the  kingdom  of  Valencia  ; 
he  was  aValencian  noble.2 

Peter  of  Arragon,  with  his  court  and  his  confidential 
Peter  of  council,  thus  occupied  by  Sicilian  exiles,  who 
Arragon.  were  constantly  urging  upon  him  the  odious 
tyranny  of  Charles  the  usurper,  and  the  discontent, 
disaffection,  despair  of  the  Sicilians ;  with  his  Queen 
not  likely  to  forget  her  own  hereditary  claims,  or  the 
wrongs  of  her  noble  father  Manfred  and  his  ancient 
house ;  lord  but  of  his  own  narrow  kingdom  hardly 
won  from  the  Moors,  and  held,  as  it  were,  in  a  joint 
sovereignty  with  his  Nobles,  was  not  likely  to  avert  his 
eyes  from  the  prospect  of  a  greater  monarchy  which 
expanded  before  him.  He  had  made  treaties  of  peace 
with  the  rival  Kings  his  neighbors,  a  treaty  for  five 
years  with  the  King  of  Granada,  a  league  with  Cas- 
tile ;  and  over  King  Sancho  of  Castile  he  held  the 
menace  of  letting  loose  the  two  young  princes,  nearer 
to  the  throne  than  Sancho,  and  resident  at  the  court  of 

1  Amari,  note,  p.  82. 

2  See  Amari's  note,  p.  83. 


Chap.  V.  JOHN  OF  PROCIDA.  151 

Arragon.1  He  kept  up  friendly  relations  with  Philip 
of  France,  the  husband  of  his  sister ;  he  even  made 
advances  to  Charles  of  Anjou ;  there  was  a  proposal  of 
marriage  between  his  son  and  the  daughter  of  Charles, 
Peter  was  embarked  in  suspicious  negotiations  with  the 
Saracens  in  Tunis.2  At  the  same  time  he  was  making 
great  preparations  for  war ;  in  his  arsenals  in  Valencia, 
Tortosa,  and  Barcelona  was  gathering  a  powerful  fleet ; 
his  subjects  granted  subsidies ;  provisions,  stores,  arms, 
accoutrements  of  war  were  accumulated  as  for  some 
momentous  design.  How  far  John  of  Procida  insti- 
gated  these  designs,  or  only  encouraged  the  profound 
ambition  of  the  King  for  dominion,  of  the  Queen  for 
revenge  for  her  injured  house,  none  can  know:  nor 
how  far  Procida  acted  from  his  own  intense  patriotism 
or  revenge,  or  but  as  an  instrument  in  the  hand  of 
diners. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  there  was  a  secret  under- 
standing, that  there  was  direct  communication  between 
the  enemies  of  Charles,  the  Emperor  of  the  East,  Pope 
Nicolas  III.,  the  King  of  Arragon,  perhaps  the  Sicilian 
nobles,  Alaimo  da  Lentini  and  his  colleagues :  John  of 
Procida  may  have  been,  no  doubt  was,  one  of  Proclda- 
the  chief  of  those  agents ; 3  if  not  actually  commis- 
sioned, tacitly  recognized.     He  was  once,  if  not  twice, 

i  Montaner,  c  40,  45;  in  Buchon,  Collection  des  M^moires,  D'Esclot,  c 
76. 

2  Araari,  p.  86,  with  his  notes. 

3  Amari  is  inclined  to  treat  as  romance  this  primary  organization  of  the 
whole  confederacy  by  John  of  Procida;  his  ubiquitous  agency;  his  dis- 
guises; especially  his  frequent  intercourse  with  the  Sicilian  nobles.  But 
there  seems  a  great  difficulty  as  to  the  growth  of  this  romance,  and  this 
elevation  of  Procida  into  the  sole  hero  of  the  war  and  the  great  deliverer, 
ifter  his  apostasy  from  the  cause  of  Arragon,  and  after  he  had  incurred  the 
hatred  of  the  Arragonese  party. 


152  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

at  the  court  of  Constantinople.  There  he  needed  not 
to  rouse  the  fears  and  jealousy  of  Palaeologus ;  the 
designs  of  Charles  against  the  Eastern  Empire  were,  if 
not  avowed,  but  half  disguised.  Charles  was  the  open 
ally  of  Philip,  the  Latin  claimant  of  the  Empire. 
Palaeologus  might  well  enter  into  correspondence,  or 
admit  to  a  secret  interview,  the  bosom  counsellor  of 
King  Peter  of  Arragon.  To  Procida  Palaeologus  may 
have  intrusted  his  secret  offers  of  large  sums  of  money 
for  the  Pope,  the  hundred  thousand  byzantines,  not  to 
detach  him  from  the  interests  of  Charles  of  Anjou, 
against  whom  he  had  already  taken  hostile  measures, 
but  to  enable  him  to  defy  the  power  of  the  Angevine.1 
Procida,  according  to  the  common  account  —  an  ac- 
count contradicted  only  by  the  silence  of  other  writers 
—  left  Constantinople,  pretending  to  be  driven  away 
by  the  Emperor ;  he  disguised  himself  as  a  Mendicant 
Friar,  reached  Malta,  landed  in  Sicily,  had  frequent 
interviews  with  the  disaffected  nobles,  Walter  of  Cal- 
tagirone,  Palmerio  Abbate,  Alaimo  da  Lentini.  From 
them  he  obtained  an  invitation  to  Peter  of  Arragon  to 
advance  his  claims  to  the  inheritance  of  his  wife.  In 
the  friar's  garb  he  made  his  way  to  Nicolas  III.  in  So- 
riano, revealed  himself  to  the  Holy  Father,  explained 
the  extent,  the  success  of  his  negotiations  ;  laid  the 
treasures  of  Palaeologus  at  his  feet.  Nicolas  consented 
to  recognize  the  claims  of  Peter  of  Arragon,  and  by 
letters  of  the  most  profound  secrecy  promised  him  the 
investiture  of  the  realm.     Procida  appeared  at  Barce- 


1  "  E  guarda  ben  la  mal  tolta  moneta, 
Ch'  esser  ti  fece  contra  Carlo  ardito." 

Dante,  Tnf.  xix.  98. 
Amari's  new  interpretation  of  this  verse  is  to  me  quite  unsatisfactory. 


Chap.  V.  JOHN  OF  PROCIDA.  153 

lona  with  these  animating  tidings  to  rekindle  the  some- 
what slumbering  ambition  of  the  King.  The  warlike 
preparations  were  urged  with  greater  activity.  Procida 
set  forth  on  a  second  mission :  he  landed  at  Pisa ;  at 
Viterbo  he  saw  the  Pope  ;  at  Trapani  conferred  with 
the  Sicilian  nobles ;  passed  to  Negropont  undiscovered, 
reached  Constantinople.  He  was  welcomed  by  the 
Emperor ;  negotiations  were  commenced  for  an  alliance 
by  marriage  between  the  courts  of  Arragon  and  Con- 
stantinople. Accardo,  a  Lombard  knight,  was  secretly 
despatched  by  the  Emperor  to  the  court  of  Peter  with 
thirty  thousand  ounces  of  gold.  Procida  embarked  on 
board  a  ship  of  Pisa,  Accardo  was  concealed  in  the 
ship.  At  Malta  they  met  the  Sicilian  conspirators, 
with  the  news  of  the  death  of  Nicolas  III.  The  Sicil- 
ians would  have  abandoned  the  hopeless  enterprise; 
Procida  reinvigorated  them  by  the  introduction  of 
Accardo,  and  the  sight  of  the  Byzantine  gold.  All 
Procida's  eloquence,  all  his  ability,  it  is  said,  but  very 
improbably,  was  needed  to  dissuade  the  King  of  Arra- 
gon from  the  abandonment  of  the  hopeless  enterprise. 
Again  the  plan  was  fully  organized ;  the  manner,  the ' 
time  of  the  insurrection  arranged.1 

It  is  certain  that  the  warlike  preparations  of  the 
King  of  Arragon  had  not  escaped  the  jealous  observa- 
tion of  Charles  of  Anjou  ;  he  could  not  but  know  the 
claims,  the  wrongs,  of  the  Queen  of  Peter  of  Arragon  ; 
the  stern,  reserved,  ambitious  character  of  Peter ;  per- 
haps he  had  obtained  some  clue  to  the  great  league 
which  was  secretly  forming  against  him.  The  vague 
rumors  industriously  propagated  of  designs  against  the 

1  The  sons  of  Manfred  were  living,  but  in  prison,  from  whence  thev 
never  came  forth. 


154  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

Saracens  of  Africa  by  Peter  of  Arragon,  however  at 
other  times  they  might  have  justified  vast  and  secret 
armaments,  could  not  blind  the  Angevine  s  keen  ap- 
prehensions. Charles  had  himself  demanded  explana- 
tions. Among  the  first  acts  of  Martin  IV.  was  to 
require,  through  Philip  of  France,  and  from  Peter 
himself  directly,  the  scope  and  object  of  these  men- 
acing preparations :  if  they  were  against  the  infidels, 
he  offered  his  sanction,  his  prayers,  his  contributions. 
Peter  baffled  his  inquiries  with  his  dexterous  but  inflex- 
ible reply.  Pie  implored  the  prayers  of  the  Pope  on 
his  design  ;  "  but  if  he  thought  his  right  hand  knew 
his  secret,  he  would  cut  it  off,  lest  it  should  betray  it  to 
his  left." 

Charles,  on  his  part,  had  been  making  great  prepara- 
tions ;  he  had  a  large  fleet  in  the  ports  of  Sicily  and 
Naples ;  a  powerful  land  force  was  assembled  for  em- 
barkation. He  had  increased  the  burdens  of  the  king- 
dom to  provide  this  army,  compelled  the  Sicilian  nobles 
to  furnish  vessels ;  and  he  was  as  little  disposed  to  dis- 
close his  own  secret  objects  as  the  King  of  Arragon. 
The  ostensible  object  was  the  deliverance  of  the  Holy 
Land  ;  the  immediate  one  the  subjugation  of  the  Greek 
Empire.  These  forces  were  still  in  the  garrisons  and 
towns  of  Sicily.  Forty-two  castles  had  been  built, 
either  in  the  strongest  positions,  or  to  command  the 
great  cities,  and  were  held  by  French  feudatories. 
They  were  provided  with  arms,  and  could  summon 
at  an  instant's  notice  all  their  French  sub-feudatories, 
or  the  Sicilians  on  whom  they  could  depend  for  aid. 
Heribert  of  Orleans,  the  King's  Lieutenant,  was  in 
Messina ;  in  Palermo,  John  di  San  Remi,  the  Jus- 
ticiary of  the   Val  di  Mazzara. 


Chap.  V.  SICILIAN  VESPERS.  155 

At  this  juncture  the  crisis  was  precipitated  by  one 
of  those  events  which  no  sagacity  could  have  sicilian 
foreseen,1  which  all  the  ubiquitous  activity  VesPers 
ascribed  to  John  of  Procida  could  not  have  devised  — 
an  outburst  of  popular  fury  excited  by  one  of  those 
acts  of  insulting  tyranny  which  goad  an  oppressed 
people  to  madness.  The  insurrection  of  Palermo  re- 
ceived the  darkly  famous  name  of  the  "  Sicilian  Ves- 
pers." 

The  Sicilians  still  crowded  to  their  religious  festivals 

o 

with  all  the  gayety  and  light-heartedness  of  a  southern 
people.  Even  their  churches,  where  they  assembled 
for  the  worship  of  that  God  whose  representative  on 
earth  had  handed  them  over  to  their  ruthless  tyrant, 
where  alone  they  found  consolation  under  the  grinding 
tyranny,  were  not  secure  against  the  all-present  agents 
of  that  tyranny.  The  officers  of  the  revenue  watched 
the  doors  of  the  churches  :  as  all  who  had  not  paid 
their  taxes  went  in  or  came  forth,  even  from  within  the 
sanctuary  itself  they  dragged  off  their  miserable  vic- 
tims, whom  they  branded  with  the  name  of  heretics  — 
"  Pay,  ye  Paterins,  pay  !  " 

It  was  at  a  festival  on  Easter  Tuesday  that  a  multi- 
tude of  the  inhabitants  of  Palermo  and  the  March  31. 
neighborhood  had  thronged  to  a  church,  about  half  a 
mile  out  of  the  town,  dedicated  to  the  Holy  Ghost. 
The  religious  service  was  over,  the  merriment  begun  ; 
tables  were  spread,  the  amusements  of  all  sorts,  games, 
dances  under  the  trees,  were  going  gayly  on  ;  when 


1  Amari,  c.  v.  p.  89.  "  Da  frame'  coi  Ghibellini  e  con  alcun'  Baroni  di 
Napoli  0  di  Sicilia.  non  si  possono  ormai  revocare  in  dubbio.  Falsa  e  clie 
la  pratica,  si  strettamente  condotta,  fosse  a  punto  riuscita  a  produrre  lo 
icoppio  del  Vespro."     I  fully  subscribe  to  this  latter  clause. 


156  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X\. 

the  harmony  was  suddenly  interrupted,  and  the  joyoas- 
ness  chilled  by  the  appearance  of  a  body  of  French 
soldiery,  under  the  pretext  of  keeping  the  peace.  The 
French  mingled  familiarly  with  the  people,  paid  court, 
not  in  the  most  respectful  manner,  to  the  women  ;  the 
young  men  made  sullen  remonstrances,  and  told  them 
to  go  their  way.  The  Frenchmen  began  to  draw  to- 
gether. u  These  rebellious  Paterins  must  have  arms, 
or  they  would  not  venture  on  such  insolence."  They 
began  to  search  some  of  them  for  arms.  The  two  par- 
ties were  already  glaring  at  each  other  in  angry  hostil- 
ity. At  that  moment  the  beautiful  daughter  of  Roger 
Mastrangelo,  a  maiden  of  exquisite  loveliness  and  mod- 
esty, with  her  bridegroom,  approached  the  church. 
A  Frenchman,  named  Drouet,  either  in  wantonness 
or  insult,  came  up  to  her,  and  under  the  pretence  of 
searching  for  arms,  thrust  his  hand  into  her  bosom. 
The  girl  fainted  in  her  bridegroom's  arms.  He  uttered 
in  his  agony  the  fatal  cry,  "  Death  to  the  French  !  " 
A  youth  rushed  forward,  stabbed  Drouet  to  the  heart 
with  his  own  sword,  was  himself  struck  down.  The 
cry,  the  shriek,  ran  through  the  crowd,  "  Death  to  the 
French  !  "  Many  Sicilians  fell,  but  of  two  hundred  on 
the  spot,  not  one  Frenchman  escaped.  The  cry  spread 
to  the  city :  Mastrangelo  took  the  lead  ;  every  house 
was  stormed,  every  hole  and  corner  searched;  their 
dress,  their  speech,  their  persons,  their  manners  de- 
nounced the  French.  The  palace  was  forced;  the 
Justiciary,  being  luckily  wounded  in  the  face,  and 
rolled  in  the  dust,  and  so  undetected,  mounted  a  horse, 
and  fled  with  two  followers.  Two  thousand  French 
were  slain.  They  denied  them  decent  burial,  heaped 
them  together  in  a  great  pit.    The  horrors  of  the  scene 


Chap.  V.  INSURRECTION  GENERAL.  157 

were  indescribable  :  the  insurgents  broke  into  the  con- 
vents, the  churches.  The  friars,  especial  objects  of 
hatred,  were  massacred  ;  they  slew  the  French  monks, 
the  French  priests.  Neither  old  age,  nor  sex,  nor  in- 
fancy, was  spared ;  it  is  a  charge  more  than  once  re- 
peated in  the  Papal  acts,  that  they  ripped  up  Sicilian 
women  who  were  pregnant  by  Frenchmen,  in  order 
to  exterminate  the  hated  brood.  A  government  was 
hastily  formed ;  Roger  Mastrangelo,  Arrigo  Barresi, 
Niccoloso  d'Ortoleva  (knights),  with  Niccolo  de  Ebde- 
monia  were  summoned  by  acclamation  to  be  Captains 
of  the  people.  They  then  proclaimed  the  u  Good  es- 
tate and  liberty,"  unfolded  the  banner  of  the  city,  an 
eagle  on  a  field  of  gold ;  the  keys  of  the  Church  were 
still  quartered  upon  it. 

The  Justiciary  was  pursued  to  Vicari,  thirty  miles 
distant ;  the  people  rose  at  the  cry  of  "  Death  Insurrection 
to  the  French  !  " l  The  garrison  at  first  re-  generaL 
fused  to  capitulate,  and  to  be  sent  safe  to  Provence ;  it 
was  now  too  late,  the  Justiciary  was  shot  down  by  a 
randrtn  arrow,  every  Frenchman  massacred.  Sicily 
was  everywhere  in  arms  ;  Corleone  first  followed  the 
example  of  Palermo.  Everywhere  the  French  were 
hunted  down  and  murdered.  One  man  alone  was 
spared.  William  Porcelet,  Governor  of  Calatafimi, 
who  had  ruled  with  justice  and  humanity,  was,  by 
common  consent,  sent  safe  on  board  ship  by  the  Paler- 
mitans,  and  returned  to  Provence/  In  Messina  was 
the  strength  of  the  French  force,  under  the  Viceroy, 
HeriboTt  of  Orleans.       Messina  rose.       Heribert  was 

1  M'xO  An  le  Francese !  In  this  account  I  am  quite  with  Amari  against 
Mon  d  j  6t.  Priest,  who  cannot  forget  to  be  a  Frenchman.  —  See  Ainari's 
author/V^a.  p.  103,  and  Appendix. 


158  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI 

compelled  to  submit  to  terms ;  lie  swore  to  transport 
himself  and  all  his  soldiers  to  Aigues  Mortes,  in  Prov- 
ence. He  broke  his  oath,  and  landed  in  Calabria  ;  the 
Messinese  revenged  his  perjury  on  every  Frenchman 
who  was  left  behind.  In  one  month,  that  of  April, 
Sicily  was  free ;  the  French  had  disappeared. 

Such  was  the  revolution  which  bears  in  history  the 
appalling  name  of  the  Sicilian  Vespers,  sudden,  popu- 
lar, reckless,  sanguinary,  so  as  to  appear  the  unpre- 
meditated explosion  of  a  people  goaded  to  frenzy  by 
intolerable  oppression ;  yet  general,  simultaneous,  or- 
derly, so  as  to  imply,  if  not  some  previous  organization, 
some  slow  and  secret  preparation  of  the  public  mind. 
John  of  Procida,  the  barons  in  league  with  John  of 
Procida,  appear  not  during  the  first  outburst ;  the  fleets 
of  Peter  of  Arragon  are  yet  within  their  harbors.  The 
towns  take  the  lead  ;  they  assert  their  own  indepen- 
dence, and  form  a  league  for  mutual  defence.  Acts  are 
dated  as  under  the  rule  of  the  Church  and  the  Re- 
public. The  Church  is  everywhere  respected  ;  it  might 
seem  as  if  the  Sicilians  supposed  Nicolas  III.  still  on 
the  Pontifical  throne,  or  that  they  would  not  believe 
that  the  Pope  was  so  servile  an  adherent  of  the  Ange- 
Gomiuotof  vine.  They  were  soon  disabused.  When 
Aujou.  Charles  first  heard  of  the  revolt,  of  the  total 

loss  of  Sicily,  and  the  massacre  of  at  least  two  thou- 
sand Frenchmen,  he  lifted  his  eyes  to  Heaven  in  devout 
prayer.:  "  O  Lord  God,  if  it  hath  pleased  thee  to  visit 
me  with  adverse  fortune,  grant  at  least  that  it  may 
come  with  gentle  steps."  x  As  though  he  had  satisfied 
his  religion  by  this  one  stern  act  of  humility,  no  sooner 
had  he  reached  Naples  than  he  burst  into  the  most  fu- 

i  Villani,  vii.  71. 


Chap.  V.  CONDUCT  OF  CHAELES  OF  ANJOU.  159 

rious  paroxysms  of  wrath.  Now  he  sat  silent,  glaring 
fiercely  around  him,  gnawing  the  top  of  his  sceptre ; 
then  broke  forth  into  the  most  horrible  vows  of  ven- 
geance :  "  if  he  could  live  a  thousand  years,  he  would 
go  on  razing  the  cities,  burning  the  lands,  torturing  the 
rebellious  slaves.  He  would  leave  Sicily  a  blasted,  bar- 
ren, uninhabited  rock,  as  a  warning  to  the  present  age, 
an  example  to  the  future."  Pope  Martin,  less  violent 
in  his  demeanor,  was  hardly  less  so  in  his  public  acts. 
The  Palermitans  sent  an  embassy  declaring  their  hum- 
ble submission  to  the  Papal  See.  The  messengers 
were  monks.  They  addressed  the  Pope  —  "  O  Lamb 
of  God,  that  takest  away  the  sins  of  the  world,  have 
mercy  upon  us  !  "  Martin  compared  them  to  the  Jews, 
who  smote  the  Saviour,  and  cried  "  Hail,  King  of  the 
Jews."  a  His  bull  of  excommunication  describes  in  the 
blackest  terms  the  horrors  of  the  massacre.2  A  crusade 
was  proclaimed  against  the  Sicilians :  all  ecclesiastics, 
archbishops,  bishops,  abbots,  who  favored  the  insur- 
gents, were  at  once  deprived  and  deposed  ;  all  laymen 
stripped  of  their  fiefs  or  estates.  The  people  of  Pa- 
lermo sternly  replied,  that  "  they  had  unfolded  the  ban- 
ner of  St.  Peter,  in  hopes,  under  that  protection,  to 
obtain  their  liberties ;  they  must  now  unfold  the  ban- 
ner of  another  Peter,  the  King  of  Arragon."  3 

Charles  made  the  most  vigorous  preparations  for  war. 
The  age  and  state  of  public  mind  are  singu-  The  Mendi. 
larly  illustrated   by   the   following- story :   acanfcFriar- 
Mendicant  Friar,  Bartolomeo   Piazza,  appeared  in  his 


1  Villani,  vii.  62. 

2  Saba  Malespina.     The  Bull  in  Raynald.  sub  arm.  1282. 

8  Compare  Amari,  Documento  x. ;  a  long  oration,  assuredly  made  after 
the  time. 


1G0  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI 

camp,  a  man  of  blameless  morals  and  some  learning ; 
he  disdained  the  disguise  of  a  spy.  He  was  led  before 
the  King.  "  How  darest  thou/'  Charles  abruptly 
accosted  him,  "  come  from  that  land  of  traitors  ? " 
"  Neither  am  I  a  traitor,  nor  come  I  from  a  land  of  trai- 
tors. I  come,  urged  by  religion  and  conscience,  to 
warn  my  holy  brethren  that  they  follow  not  your  un 
just  arms.  You  have  abandoned  the  people  committed 
by  God  to  your  charge  to  be  torn  by  wolves  and 
hounds  ;  you  have  hardened  your  heart  against  com- 
plaints and  supplications ;  they  have  avenged  their 
wrongs,  they  will  defend,  they  will  die  for,  their  holiest 
rights.  Think  of  Pharaoh  !  "  Either  awe,  or  the  no- 
tion that  Bartolomeo  would  bear  back  a  true  account 
of  his  overwhelming  forces,  induced  the  King  to  endure 
this  affront ;  the  Friar  returned  to  Messina.1 

Before  Messina  appeared  Charles  with  all  his  army, 
Charles  be-  burning  for  revenge.  At  first  he  obtained 
fore  Messina.  some  successes  ;  but  the  popular  leader,  Man- 
frone,  was  deposed,  the  Noble  Alaimo  da  Lentini  placed 
at  the  head  of  the  garrison.  The  resistance  became 
obstinate.  The  women  were  most  active,  as  perhaps 
most  exposed  to  the  vengeance  of  the  French.  Their 
delicate  hands  bore  stones,  ammunition;  they  tended 
the  sick  and  wounded.2  The  Legate  of  the  Pope,  the 
Cardinal  Gerard,  accompanied  the  King ;  he  was  armed 
with  the  amplest  powers.    He  demanded,  or  was  invited 

1  Bartolorn.  de  Neocastro,  cap.  32,  34. 

2  "  Deh  com'  egli  6  gran  pietate, 
Delle  donne  de  Messina, 
Veggendole  scapigliate, 
Portando  pretia  e  calcina, 
Iddio  gli  dia  briga  e  travaglia, 
A  chi  Messina  vuol  questar." 

Popular  song,  quoted  by  Villani,  vii.  77. 


Chap.  V.  SIEGE  OF  MESSINA.  1G1 

to  enter  the  city.  He  was  received  with  general  ju- 
bilation, and  escorted  to  the  Cathedral ;  Alaimo  da 
Lentini  laid  at  his  feet  the  keys  of.  the  city  and  his  own 
staff  of  command.  They  entreated  him  to  accept  the 
dominion  of  the  city  in  the  name  of  the  Church,  to 
appoint  a  governor :  "  to  the  Church  they  would  wil- 
lingly pay  their  tribute,  but  away  with  the  French  !  in 
the  name  of  God  let  them  be  driven  from  the  lands  of 
the  Church !  Gerard  replied,  if  not  in  the  fierce  and 
criminatory  tone  ascribed  to  him  by  one  historian  as  to 
insolent  rebels,  yet  with  a  haughty  condescension.1 
"  Heinous  as  were  their  sins,  they  were  not  beyond  the 
mercy  of  their  mother  the  Church  ;  he  would  reconcile 
the  Messinese  to  their  King ;  subjects  must  not  speak 
of  terms  to  their  sovereign.  Let  them  trust  the  mag- 
nanimity,  the  clemency  of  Charles  ;  the  savage  mur- 
derers alone  would  meet  with  condign  punishment.  Let 
Messina  lay  herself  in  the  lap  of  the  Church  ;  in  her 
name  to  be  restored  to  King  Charles."  "  To  Charles ! 
Never!  "  shouted  Alaimo  ;  he  seized  his  staff  from  the 
hand  of  the  astonished  Prelate.  "  To  the  French, 
never !  so  long  as  we  have  blood  to  shed  and  swords  to 
wield."  The  whole  people  took  np  the  cry  ;  Gerard 
made  one  more  effort :  thirty  citizens  were  appointed 
to  treat  with  the  Legate ;  but  all  was  vain.  They 
knew  too  well  the  mercy  of  Charles.  u  O,  candid 
counsel  of  the  Church  to  lay  our  necks  down  before 
the  headsman  !  We  are  sold  to  the  French  ;  we  must 
ransom  ourselves  by  arms.  We  offer  to  the  Pope  the 
sovereignty  of  the  land  ;  Martin  declines  it.  Instead 
of  being  the  mild  and  gentle  Vicar  of  Christ,  he  is  but 
the  tool  of  the  French.     Go  tell  the  Angevine  tyrant 

1  Neocastro,  Villaui,  Maletspina,  &c. 
VOL.  vi.  11 


JG2  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI 

tliat  lions  and  foxes  shall  never  more  enter  into  Mes- 
sina." 

In   the   mean  time,  the  fleets  of  Peter  of  Arragon 

© 

Peter  of  were  upon  the  seas  ;  still  disguising  his  aim, 
Arragon.  as  *f  jie  designed  to  make  war  only  on  the 
juue3.  Saracens  of  Africa,  he  landed  his  forces  on 

.June  28.  the  coast  of  Tunis.  He  appeared  as  the  ally 
of  the  Prince  of  Constantina.  He  disembarked  in  the 
Port   of  Collo :    he  had   some  vigorous   epffagenjents 

©  ©    © 

with  the  Saracens.1  He  despatched  ambassadors  to 
Home  to  implore  the  blessing  of  the  Pope  on  his  Cru- 
sade against  the  infidels,  the  protection  of  the  Church 
for  his  dominions  in  Spain,  the  presence  of  a  Legate, 
the  right  to  levy  the  tenths  for  a  war  against  the  infi- 
dels. This  specious  embassage  was  received  with  spe- 
cious civility  by  the  Pope  at  Monte  Fiascone. 

The  Parliament  had  met  at  Palermo  ;  it  had  been 
King  of  determined  to  offer  the  throne  of  Sicily  to 
Sieiiy.  Peter.     He  received  the  ambassadors  of  the 

Sicilians  with  grave  solemnity ;  as  offering  to  him  un- 
expected, unsolicited  honors.  The  Holy  War  was  at 
an  end  ;  Peter  and  his  fleet  in  the  port  of  Trapani. 
Aug.  30.  At  Palermo  he  was  saluted  by  acclamation 
King  of  Sicily.  The  relief  of  Messina  was  the  first 
aim  of  the  new  King.  He  ordered  a  general  levy  of 
all  who  could  bear  arms:  men  crowded  to  his  banner. 
To  Charles  he  sent  an  embassy  of  the  noble  Catalo- 
nians,  Pietro  Queralto,  Ruy  Ximenes  de  Luna,  Wil- 
liam Aymeric,  Justiciary  of  Barcelona.  He  demanded 
safe-conduct  by  two  Carmelite  Friars.  In  two  days 
Sept.  14.  Charles  declared  that  he  would  give  them 
audience  ;  two  days  —  during  which  he  hoped  to  find 

1  Zurita. 


Chap.  V.  CONDUCT  OF  CHAKLES.  163 

himself  master  of  Messina.  But  his  terrific  assault  by 
sea  and  land  was  repelled  ;  instead  of  receiving  the 
ambassadors  of  the  King  of  Arragon  as  a  haughty  con- 
queror, he  received  them  weary  with  toil,  boiling  with 
rage  and  baffled  pride.  He  was  seated  on  his  bed, 
which  was  covered  with  rich  silk  drapery.  He  threw 
disdainfully  aside  on  his  pillow  the  letter  of  the  King 
of  Arragon  :  he  awaited  the  address  of  the  ambassador 
Queralto.  Queralto's  words  were  doubtless  those  of 
the  letter,  they  ran  thus :  "  The  illustrious  Peter,  King, 
by  the  grace  of  God,  of  Arragon  and  Sicily,  commands 
you,  Charles,  Count  of  Provence  and  King  of  Jeru- 
salem, to  depart  from  his  kingdom  ;  to  give  him  free 
passage  into  his  city  of  Messina,  which  you  are  besieg- 
ing by  sea  and  land  ;  he  is  astonished  at  your  presump- 
tion in  impeding  the  passage  of  the  King  through  liis 
own  dominions." 1  The  ambassadors  no  doubt  Amba8Sadorg 
asserted  the  hereditary  claim  of  the  King  of  t0  Charles- 
Arragon.  Charles,  with  the  gesture  constantly  ascribed 
to  him,  bit  his  sceptre  in  his  wrath ;  his  reply  had  his 
usual  pride,  but,  by  one  account,  something  of  dejection. 
He  told  the  ambassadors  to  survey  his  vast  forces ;  he 
expressed  utter  astonishment  that  the  King  of  Arragon 
should  presume  to  interfere  between  him  and  his  rebel- 
lious subjects  ;  he  held  Naples  and  Sicily  as  a  grant 
from  the  Pope ;  but  he  intimated  that  he  might  with- 
draw his  weary  troops  to  refresh  them  in  Calabria :  it 
would  only,  however,  be  to  return  and  wreak  his  ven- 
geance on  Sicily ;  the  Catalonian  dominions  of  the 
King  of  Arragon  would  not  be  safe  from  his  resent- 
ment. 

From  this  period  the  mind  of  Charles,  never  strong, 

1  See,  in  Amuri,  the  variations  in  the  copies  of  this  letter,  p.  ItJO,  nolo. 


1(54  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

but  so  insolent  and  tyrannical  in  prosperity,  sank  into 
conduct  of  a  strange  prostration,  in  which  fits  of  an  ab- 
chaties.  sur(|  cjjiyairy  alternated  with  utter  abjectness. 
He  would  neither  press  vigorously,  nor  abandon  the 
siege  of  Messina.  Now  he  wreaked  his  vengeance  on 
all  the  lands  in  his  possession,  burned  churches  and 
monasteries  ;  now  offered  advantageous  terms  to  the 
Sicilians  ;  now  endeavored  openly  to  bribe  Alaimo  da 
Lentini,  who  cast  back  his  offers  with  public  scorn.  At. 
length,  threatened  by  the  fleets  of  Arragon,  he  with- 
drew to  his  continental  dominions. 

The  climax  of  this  strange  state  of  mind  was  his 
challenge  to  the  King  of  Arragon,  to  determine  their 
quarrel  by  single  combat.  In  vain  the  Pope  denounced 
the  impiety,  and  remonstrated  against  the  wild  impolicy 
of  this  feudal  usage,  now  fallino;  into  desuetude.  The 
King  of  Arragon  leaped  at  the  proposition,  which  he 
could  so  easily  elude ;  and  which  left  him  full  time  to 
consolidate  undisturbed  his  new  kingdom,  to  invade 
Calabria,  to  cover  the  sea  with  his  fleets.  This  de- 
fiance to  mortal  combat,  this  wager  of  battle,  was  an 
appeal,  according  to  the  wild  justice  of  the  age,  to  the 
God  of  Battles,  who,  it  was  an  established  popular 
belief,  would  declare  himself  on  the  righteous  side. 
Charles  of  Anjou  had  the  opportunity  of  publicly 
arraigning  before  Christendom  his  hated  rival  of  dis- 
loyal  treachery,  of  secret  leaguing  with  his  revolted 
subjects,  of  falsehood  in  his  protestations  of  friendship. 
The  King  of  Arragon  stood  forth  on  the  broad  ground 
of  asserting  his  hereditary  right,  of  appearing  as  the 
deliverer  of  a  people  most  barbarously  oppressed,  as 
summoned  to  the  crown  by  the  barons  and  people  of 
Sicily.     He  was  almost  admitted  as  possessing  an  equal 


Chap.  V.  WAGER  OF   BATTLE.  1G5 

claim  with  him  who  had  received  the  Papal  investiture. 
The  grave  and  serious  manner  in  which  the  time,  the 
place,  the  manner  of  holding  those  lists  were  discussed 
might  seem  to  portend  a  tragic  close  ;  this  great  or- 
deal would  be  commended  to  still  greater  honor  and 
acceptance  by  the  strife  of  two  monarchs  for  one  of  the 
noblest  kingdoms  of  the  earth,  the  kingdom  of  Naples. 
Italy  itself  offered  no  fair  or  secure  field.  The  King 
of  England,  Edward  I.,  was  the  one  powerful  and  im- 
partial monarch,  who  might  preside  as  umpire;  his 
Gascon  territories,  a  neutral  ground,  on  which  might 
be  waged  this  momentous  combat.  All  proceeded  with 
the  most  serious  and  solemn  dignity,  as  if  there  could 
be  no  doubt  that  the  challenge  so  given,  so  accepted, 
would  come  to  direct  and  inevitable  issue.  Bordeaux 
was  chosen  as  the  scene  of  the  kingly  tournament. 
The  lists  were  prepared  at  great  cost  and  with  great 
splendor.  Each  King  proceeded  to  enroll  the  hundred 
knights  who  were  to  have  the  honor  of  joining  in  this 
glorious  conflict  with  their  monarch.  The  noblest  and 
bravest  chivalry  of  France  offered  themselves  to  Charles 
of  Anjou ;  his  brother,  Philip  the  Hardy,  offered  to 
enter  the  lists  with  him.  On  the  side  of  Peter  of 
Arragon  were  the  most  valiant  Spanish  knights,  men 
accustomed  to  joust  with  the  Moor,  to  meet  the  cham- 
pions of  the  Crescent  from  Cordova  or  Granada.  A 
Moorish  Prince  presented  himself;  if  God  gave  the 
victory  to  Peter,  not  only  would  the  Moor  share  the 
triumph,  but  submit  to  baptism  in  the  name  The  Pope 

pi        /^ti      •      •        »      /-*      1  mi        t»  endeavors 

ot  the  Christian  s  God.      lhe  Pope  was  over-  in  vain  to 

i  i.       n.\  »■*      1       i  ,,,,.,  prohibit  the 

borne ;  the  Church  had  pronounced  its  con-  battle. 
demnation  on  judicial  combats.    Martin  had  condemned 


166  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI 

this  on  general  grounds,1  on  the  special  objection,  that 
it  was  setting  on  the  issue  of  arms  that  which  had 
already  been  solemnly  adjudged  by  the  supreme  Pon- 
tiff; it  was  to  call  in  question  the  Pope's  right  of  grant- 
ing the  kingdom  of  Naples.  He  commanded  Charles 
to  desist  from  the  humiliating  comparison  of  himself 
and  his  heaven-sanctioned  claims,  with  those  of  a  pre- 
sumptuous adventurer,  of  one  already  under  the  cen- 
sure, under  the  excommunication  of  the  Roman  See  ; 
he  offered  to  absolve  the  King  from  all  his  oaths : 
yet  even  on  this  point  the  Pope  was  compelled  to 
yield  his  reluctant  consent  to  the  imperious  will  of 
his  master. 

The  wrath  of  the  Pope  on  the  first  intelligence  of  the 
insurrection,  still  more  at  the  invasion  of  the  realm  by 
Peter  of  Arragon,  had  been  hardly  less  violent  than 
that  of  Charles  of  Anjou.  At  Orvieto  he  proclaimed 
His  censure  more  than  the  excommunication,  the  degra- 
of  Arra-oa.  dation  of  Peter.  He  denounced  again  the 
1283.  crime  of  the  Palermitans  in  the  massacre  of 

the  French  ;  the  impious  rebellion  of  the  realm  of 
Sicily ;  he  boasted  the  mild  attempts  of  the  Church, 
especially  through  Cardinal  Gerard  in  Messina,  to 
reconcile  them  to  their  lawful  Sovereign.  "  Since 
Peter,  King  of  Arragon,  under  the  false  color  of  an 
expedition  to  Africa,  has  invaded  the  island  of  Sicily 
—  the  peculiar  territory  of  the  Roman  Church —  with 
horse  and  foot ;  has  set  up  the  claim  of  his  wife,  the 
daughter  of  the  accursed  Manfred,  to  the  throne  ;  has 

1  Martin  writes  to  King  Edward  of  England  that  he  had  power  "  impedi- 
endi  tarn  detestanda  tarn  nociva."  — MS.,  B.  M.,  vol.  xiv.  Orvieto,  April 
15,  1234. 


Ciiap.  V.  MARTIN'S  CENSURE.  1(57 

usurped  the  name  of  King  of  Sicily ; l  has  openly 
countenanced  the  Messinese  as  he  before  secretly  insti- 
gated the  Palermitans  to  rebellion  against  their  Sov- 
ereign :  he  has  incurred  the  severest  penalties,  of 
usurpation,  sedition,  and  violence.  His  crime  is  ag- 
gravated by  the  relation  of  the  crown  of  Arragon  to 
the  See  of  Rome.  That  crown  was  granted  by  the 
Pope  ;  his  grandfather,  Peter  of  Arragon,  received  it 
from  the  Pope,  and  swore  fealty  in  his  own  name  and 
in  that  of  his  successors  to  the  successor  of  St.  Peter. 
The  King  was  now  not  only  in  rebellion ;  he  had  prac- 
tised an  impious  fraud  on  his  holy  Father ;  he  had  im- 
plored the  aid  of  the  Pope,  his  blessing  on  his  army,  as 
though  designed  against  the  African  barbarians.  For 
these  reasons  not  only  was  Peter  adjudged  a  lawless 
usurper  of  the  realm  of  Sicily,  but  deposed  from  his 
kingdom  of  Arragon  ;  his  subjects  were  discharged  from 
all  their  oaths  of  fealty.  His  kingdom  was  to  be  seized 
and  occupied  by  any  Catholic  Sovereign,  who  should 
be  duly  commissioned  to  that  end  by  the  Pope.  The 
Cardinal  of  St.  Cecilia  was  sent  into  France  to  offer 
the  forfeited  throne  of  Arragon  to  any  one  of  the 
King's  sons  who  would  undertake  the  conquest: 
the  only  provision  was  the  exclusion  of  the  heir  of 
the  French  throne:  the  two  kingdoms  could  not  be 
united  under  the  same  Sovereign.  The  subjugated 
realm  was  to  be  held  of  Pope  Martin  and  his  sue 
cessors  in  the  Apostolic  See.  The  forfeiture  compre- 
hended   the  whole   dominions  of  Peter,  the  kingdom 

1  The  Pope  seems  here  to  charge  Peter  of  Arragon  with  heiug  the  prime 
mover  of  the  rebellion.  "  Sicque  non  solum  Panormitanos  eosdem,  quog 
alias  pluries  ad  haec  solicitasse  per  nuncios  dicebatur,  in  inchoata;  contra 
prasfatum  regem  seditionis  et  rebellionis  contumaciaobfirmavit,"  &c,  &c. 
—  Rajmald.  1283,  xix. 


168  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

of  Arragon,  the  kingdom  of  Valencia,  Catalonia,  and 
Barcelona. 

The  wager  of  battle  between  the  Kings,  which  main- 
wagerof  tained  its  solemn  dignity  up  almost  to  the  ap- 
battie.  pointed  time,  ended  in  a  pitiful  comedy,  in 

which  Charles  of  Anjou  had  the  ignominy  of  practis- 
ing base  and  disloyal  designs  against  his  adversary  ; 
Peter,  that  of  eluding  the  contest  by  craft,  justifiable 
only  as  his  mistrust  of  his  adversary  was  well  or  ill 
grounded,  but  much  too  cunning  for  a  frank  and  gen- 
erous knight.  He  had  embarked  with  his  knights  for 
the  South  of  France  ;  he  was  cast  back  by  tempests  on 
the  shores  of  Spain.  He  set  off  with  some  of  his 
Peter  at  armed  companions,  crossed  the  Pyrenees  un- 
Bordeaux.  discovered,  appeared  before  the  gates  of  Bor- 
deaux, and  summoned  the  English  Seneschal.  To 
him  he  proclaimed  himself  to  be  the  King  of  Arragon, 
demanded  to  see  the  lists,  rode  down  them  in  slow 
state,  obtained  an  attestation  that  he  had  made  his  ap- 
May3i.  pearance  within  the  covenanted  time,  and 
affixed  his  solemn  protest  against  the  palpable  premedi- 
tated treachery  of  his  rival,  which  made  it  unsafe  for 
him  to  remain  longer  at  Bordeaux.  Charles,  on  his 
part,  was  furious  that  Peter  had  thus  broken  through 
the  spider's  web  of  his  policy.  He  was  in  Bordeaux, 
when  Peter  appeared  under  the  walls,  and  had  chal- 
lenged him  in  vain.  Charles  presented  himself  in  full 
armor  on  the  appointed  day,  summoned  Peter  to  ap- 
pear, proclaimed  him  a  recreant  and  a  dastardly  craven, 
unworthy  of  the  name  of  knight. 

Pope  Martin's  enmity  was  as  indefatigable  as  the 
ambition  of  Peter  of  Arragon.  He  strained  his  utmost 
power  to  break  off  a  marriage  proposed  between  Alfonso, 


Chap.  V.  POLICY  OF  POPE  MARTIN.  1G9 

the  elder  son  of  Peter,  with  Eleanora,  the  daughter  of 
Edward  of  England.  He  expostulated  with  Edward 
on  the  degradation  of  allying  his  illustrious  house  with 
that  of  an  excommunicated  prince  ;  he  inhibited  the 
marriage  as  within  the  fourth  degree  of  consanguinity. 
By  enormous  charges  on  the  Papal  treasury  he  bought 
off  the  Venetians  from  a  treaty,  which  would  have 
placed  their  fleet  on  the  enemy's  side.1  Pie  borrowed 
still  larger  sums  on  the  security  of  the  Papal  revenues, 
above  28,893  ounces  of  gold :  the  tenths  decreed  by 
the  Council  of  Lyons  were  awarded  to  this  new  Cru- 
sade. The  annual  payment  of  8000  ounces  of  gold 
for  the  kingdom  of  Naples  was  postponed,  on  account 
of  the  inability  of  the  Prince  of  Salerno  to  discharge 
the  debt.  Thrice  in  the  following  year,  on  a.d.  1283. 
Holy  Thursday,  on  Ascension  Day,  on  the  Dedication 
of  St.  Peter's  church,  the  excommunication  was  pro- 
mulgated at  Orvieto,  in  Rome,  in  every  city  in  Italy 
which  would  admit  this  display  of  Papal  authority. 
The  Cardinal  Gerard,  of  St.  Sabina,  was  commissioned 
to  preach  everywhere  the  Crusade :  he  might  offer  un- 
limited indulgences  to  all  who  would  take  up  arms 
against  Peter  and  the  Sicilian  rebels.  The  kingdom 
of  Arragon,  with  the  county  of  Barcelona  and  the  king- 
dom of  Valencia,  were  solemnly  adjudged  to  Charles 
of  Valois,  the  son  of  the  King  of  France.  Great 
forces  were  prepared  in  France  to  invade  these  Spanish 
realms  of  Peter.  But  in  the  mean  ^time,  Martin  him- 
self might  tremble  in  his  dominions.  Guido  of  Mon- 
tefeltro  was  in  arms,  hardly  kept  in  check  by  John  of 
Epps,  the  Papal  General.     At  Rome  were  threatening 

1  Five  thousand  ounces  of  gold,  which  were  likewise  to  hire  and  man 
twenty  galleys  for  the  fleet  of  Charles. 


170  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

commotions  ;  the  Pope  endeavored  to  maintain  his  in- 
fluence by  the  purchase  of  corn  in  great  quantities  in 
Apulia  during  a  famine,  its  free  or  cheap  distribution, 
and  by  other  concessions.  But  the  King  of  Arragon 
was  not  without  his  secret  allies  within  the  city. 

Worse  than  this,  Charles  of  Anjou  returned  to 
Italy  ;  he  was  met  by  the  disastrous  tidings  of  the 
utter  destruction  of  his  fleet  by  Roger  Loria,  and  the 
capture  of  his  son  Charles,  Prince  of  Salerno.  This 
precious  hostage  was  in  the  power  of  his  enemies  ;  on 
him  they  might  wreak  their  vengeance  for  the  death  of 
the  young  Conradin.  Charles  put  on  a  haughty  equa- 
nimity :  I  had  rather  have  heard  of  his  death  than  of 
his  captivity."  He  overwrought  this  proud  endurance. 
He  assembled  the  nobles  ;  he  enjoined  them  to  rejoice 
with  him  that  he  had  lost  a  priest,  who  had  only  im- 
peded the  vigor  and  success  of  his  arms.1  He  entered 
Naples,  and  declared  it  mercy  that  he  impaled  only 
one  out  of  a  hundred  and  fifty,  who  were  suspected  or 
accused  of  tampering  with  the  victorious  Arragon ese. 

But  his  arms  were  to  be  arrested  by  a  mightier 
power.  One  fatal  year  was  to  witness  the  death  of  all 
the  great  personages  engaged  in  this  conflict ;  it  was  to 
be  bequeathed  to  a  new  generation  of  combatants.  In 
the  midst  of  his  preparations  for  a  more  determined 
invasion  of  Sicily,  Charles,  exhausted  by  disappoint- 
cunei,  1285.  meiit  and  sorrow,  died  at  Foggia:  the  Papal 
writers  aver  he  made  a  most  Christian  end.  Philip  of 
France,  after  a  doubtful  campaign  in  Catalonia,  for  the 
conquest  of  the  Spanish  dominions  of  Peter  of  Arra- 
oct  5.  gon,  in  behalf  of  his  brother,  Charles  of  Va- 

1  Ptolem.  Luc.  xiv.  9.     Compare  throughout  Raynaklus,  and  Muratori, 
Annul,  sub  annis,  with  their  authorities. 


CiirA.V.     DEATH  OF  CHARLES,  OF  PETER,  OF  MARTIN.      171 

lois,  died  at  Perpignan :  Peter  of  Arragon  about  a 
month  later  at  Villa  Franca  di  Penades.  Al-  Nov.  u. 
fbnso,  the  elder  son,  quietly  succeeded  to  his  father's 
Arragonese  crown;  the  infant  James,  accoiding  to  his 
father's  will,  to  that  of  Sicily.  On  the  29th  of  March 
before  had  died  at  Orvieto  Pope  Martin  IV.,  who  had 
emptied  the  whole  armory  of  excommunication  against 
the  enemies  of  Charles  of  Anjou.1  Such  was  the  issue 
of  all  the  interdicts,  the  anathemas,  the  crusades,  and 
all  the  blood  shed  to  determine  the  possession  of  the 
throne  of  Sicily. 

There  was  now  no  commanding  interest  to  contest 
the  Pontificate.  The  Emperor  Rodolph  did  not  busy 
himself  much  in  Italian  politics.  A  Roman  Prelate, 
John  Boccamuzza,  Archbishop  of  Monreale,  Cardinal 
Bishop  of  Tusculum,  resided  as  Legate  in  Germany ; 
he  presided  over  a  Council  at  Wurtzburg,  m  the  pres- 
ence of  the  Emperor  Rodolph.  A  chronicler  of  the 
times  compares  him  with  the  Dragon  in  the  Revela- 
tions, dragging  his  venomous  tail  (a  host  of  corrupt 
Bishops)  through  Germany,  which  he  contaminated 
with  his  simoniac  perversity,  amassing  riches  from  all 
quarters,  selling  privileges,  which  he  instantly  revoked 
to  sell  them  again,  bartering  with  utter  shamelessness 
the  patrimony  of  the  Crucified :  he  was  insulted  by  the 
lofty  German  Prelates  ;  he  retired  muttering  ven- 
geance.2 In  Italy  the  Angevine  cause  was  paralyzed  by 
the  death  of  Charles,  and  the  imprisonment  of  his  son. 
The  house  of  Arragon  had  no  footing  in  the  conclave. 
Under  such  circumstances  the  oreat  families  of  Rome 

1  Muratori,  sub  ann.  1285. 

2  Gothofridus  Esm.  apud  Boehmer,  Fontes,  ii.  111.  Labbe,  Concil  snb 
ann.  1286. 


172  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

had  usually  some  Prelate  of  sufficient  weight  and  char- 
acter, if  parties  among  themselves  were  not  too  equally 
balanced,  to  advance  to  the  highest  eminence  in  the 
Church. 

An  Orsini  had  but  now  occupied  the  Papal  throne, 
iioiwriusiv.  tnen  a  Savelli,  and  then  a  Pope  of  humble 
April  2, 1285.  Dirt}1?  enslaved  by  a  nepotism  of  favor,  not 
of  blood,  to  the  family  of  Colonna,  followed  in  rapid 
succession.  The  Savelli,  Honorius  IV.,  was  a  man  of 
great  ability,  a  martyr  to  the  gout.  Almost  his  only 
important  acts  were  the  publication  of  two  Edicts,  ma- 
tured under  his  predecessor  Martin,  which  if  issued 
and  carried  out  under  the  Angevine  reign  in  Naples 
and  Sicily,  might  perhaps  have  averted  the  revolt. 
One  was  designed  to  propitiate  the  clergy  of  the  realm : 
it  asserted  in  the  highest  terms  their  independence, 
immunities,  freedom  of  election,  and  other  privileges. 
The  second  reenacted  the  laws,  and  professed  to  renew 
the  policy  of  William  the  Good,  the  most  popular  mon- 
james  arch  who  had  ever  reigned  in  Sicily.1     But 

crowned.  ,  ,  r, .    ..       „  ,  _ 

Feb.  2, 128G.  they  came  too  late.  Dicily  nrst  under  James, 
the  second  son  of  Peter  of  Arragon,  afterwards,  on  the 
accession  of  James  to  the  throne  of  Arragon,  under 
Frederick,  defied  the  Papal  authority,  and  remained  an 
independent  kingdom.  The  captive  Charles,  now  King 
of  Naples,  had  framed  a  treaty  for  his  own  deliverance ; 
he  bought  it  at  the  price  of  his  kingdom  of  Sicily  and 
the  city  of  Reggio.  Although  the  Pope  annulled  the 
treaty  which  granted  away  the  dominion  of  the  Ap<s- 
tolic  See,  it  was  held  to  be  of  force  by  the  contracting 
parties.     This  was  the  last  act  of  Honorius  IV.2 

The   Conclave  met ;   for  months,   the   hot  summer 

i  Raynald.  sub  ann.  Sept.  17.  2  He  died  April  -3,  1287. 


Chap.  V.  TREA1T  OF  OLEKON.  178 

months,  they  sat  in  strife:  six  of  them  died.  The  Car- 
dinal Bishop  of  Prseneste,  by  keeping  a  constant  fire 
in  his  chamber,  corrected  the  bad  air,  and  maintained 
his  vigor ;  the  rest  fled  in  fear.  In  February  Feb  22  1288 
they  met  again  :  their  choice  fell  on  the  Car-  Nicolas  1V- 
dinal  of  Praeneste,  the  General  of  the  Franciscan 
Order,  the  first  of  that  Order  who  had  ascended  the 
Papal  throne.  The  Bishop  of  Praeneste,  born,  it  is 
said,  of  lowly  race,  at  Ascoli,  owed  his  elevation  to  the 
Cardinalate  to  the  Orsini,  Nicolas  III.  In  gratitude 
to  his  patron  he  took  the  name  of  Nicolas  IV.  His 
first  promotion  of  Cardinals,  though  it  seemed  impar- 
tially distributed  among  the  great  local  and  religious 
interests,  betrayed  his  inclinations.  There  was  one 
Dominican,  Matthew  Acquasparta,  the  General  of  the 
Order  ;  an  Orsini,  Napoleon  ;  one  of  the  house  of  Co- 
lonna,  Peter  ;  there  was  one  already  of  that  house  in 
the  Conclave,  Jacobo  Colonna.  On  the  Colonnas  were 
heaped  all  the  wealth  and  honors ;  under  their  safe- 
guard the  Pope,  who  at  first  took  up  his  residence  at 
Reate,  ventured  to  occupy  the  Papal  palace  at  Rome. 

The  liberation  of  Charles  the  Lame,  the  King  of 
Naples,  from  his  long  captivity,  was  the  great  affair  of 
Christendom.  The  mediation  of  Edward  of  England, 
allied  with  the  houses  of  Arragon  and  of  Anjou,  and 
now  the  most  powerful  monarch  in  Europe,  was  em- 
ployed to  arrange  the  terms  of  some  treaty  which  should 
restore  him  to  freedom.  The  King  of  Arragon  would 
not  surrender  his  captive,  still  in  prison  in  Catalonia, 
but  at  the  price  of  the  recognition  of  the  Arragonese 
title  to  the  kingdom  of  Sicily ;  Charles,  weary  of  bond- 
age, had  already  at  Oleron  acceded  to  this  basis  of  the 
treaty. 


174  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

By  the  treaty  of  Oleron,1  Charles  was  to  pay  fifty 
juiy  15, 1287.  thousand  marks  of  silver.  He  pledged  him- 
self to  arrange  a  peace  in  a  manner  satisfactory  to  the 
Kings  of  Arragon  and  of  Sicily  :  in  the  mean  time 
there  was  to  he  truce  between  the  two  realms,  includ- 
ing Sicily.  Charles  was  to  obtain  the  ratification  of 
the  Pope,  and  the  cession  of  Charles  of  Valois,  who 
still  claimed,  as  awarded  by  the  Pope,  the  crown  of 
Arragon  ;  or  at  the  close  of  that  period  he  was  to  re- 
turn into  captivity.  He  was  to  surrender  his  three 
sons,  and  sixty  Provencal  Nobles  and  Barons,  as  host- 
ages :  the  Seneschals  of  the  fortresses  in  Provence 
were  to  take  an  oath  that  if  the  King  did  not  terminate 
the  peace  or  return  into  bondage,  they  were  to  surren- 
der those  fortresses  to  the  King  of  Arragon.  This 
treaty  had  been  annulled  first  during  the  vacancy  by 
the  College  of  Cardinals,  again  at  Reate  by  Nicolas  IV. 
The  King  of  England  was  urged  to  find  some  other 
means  of  releasing  the  royal  captive.  King  Alfonso 
was  forbidden  to  aid  the  cause  of  his  brother  James  of 
Sicily ;  in  that  cause  Alfonso  himself  had  grown  cool. 
A  new  treaty  was  framed  at  Campo  Franco  ;  it  was 
written  by  a  Papal  notary.  Charles  was  to  pay  at 
once  twenty  thousand  marks  (England  lent  ten  thou- 
oct.  20, 1288.  sand)  ;  he  was  to  give  security  for  the  rest. 
He  was  to  pledge  his  word  to  the  other  conditions  of  the 
iteration  of  compact.2  In  this  treaty  there  was  a  vague 
i/uneles  the  silence  concerning  the  kingdom  of  Sicily : 
Nov.  1288.  within  one  year  Charles  was  bound  to  procure 
peace  between  France  and  Arragon :   for  this  he  left 

1  The  treaty  and  documents  in  Rymer,  1286-7. 

'2  Rymer,  p.  368  et  seq.  The  whole  progress  of  the  negotiation  is  well 
and  accurately  traced  by  Arnari,  in  a  note  to  c.  13,  p.  321. 


Chap.  V.  POPE  NICOLAS   IV.  175 

his  three  sons  as  hostages ;  and  solemnly  swore  that 
if  this  peace  was  not  ratified,  he  would  return  to  his 
prison.     He  obtained  his  freedom. 

Nicolas  IV.  on  his  accession  had  not  dared  to  take 
up  his  residence  at  Rome  ;  Charles  appeared  before 
him  at  Reate.  He  was  crowned,  if  not  in  direct  viola- 
tion of  the  words,  of  the  whole  spirit  of  the  treaty, 
King  of  Naples  and  Sicily ;  for  the  whole  of  the  do- 
minions claimed  by  the  house  of  Anjou  he  did  homage 
and  swore  fealty  to  the  Pope.1  The  Pope  boldly  and 
without  scruple  annulled  the  treaty  written  by  his  own 
notary,  signed,  executed  without  any  protest  on  his 
part,  by  which  Charles  the  Lame  had  obtained  his  free- 
dom. This  decree  of  Nicolas  was  the  most  monstrous 
exercise  of  the  absolving  power  which  had  ever  been 
advanced  in  the  face  of  Christendom  :  it  struck  at  the 
root  of  all  chivalrous  honor,  at  the  faith  of  all  treaties. 
It  declared  in  fact  that  no  treaty  was  to  be  maintained 
with  any  one  engaged  in  what  the  Holy  See  might  pro- 
nounce an  unjust  Avar,  that  is  a  war  contrary  to  her 
interests,  a  war  such  as  that  now  waged  between  James 
of  Arragon,  as  King  of  Sicily,  and  the  crusading  army 
of  the  son  of  Charles  the  Lame.  The  war  of  the 
house  of  Arragon  against  the  house  of  Anjou  being 
originally  unjust,  no  compact  was  binding.  The  king- 
dom of  Naples,  including  Sicily  having  been  granted 
by  the  Holy  See  as  a  fief,  the  title  of  Charles  was  inde- 
feasible ;  himself  had  no  power  of  surrendering  it  to 
another.  It  declared  that  all  obligations  entered  into  by 
a  prince  in  captivity  were  null  and  void,  even  though 
oaths  had  been  interchanged,  and  hostages  given  for 
their  performance.     Charles  had  no  right  to  pledge  the 

1  May  29  (Muratori),  June  19  (Amari),  1289. 


176  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

Roman  See  and  the  King  of  France,  and  the  King  of 
Arragon  (Charles  of  Valois  had  assumed  that  title)  to 
such  terms.  If  Charles  had  sworn  that  should  those 
Kings  not  accede  to  the  treaty,  he  would  return  into 
captivity,  the  Pope  replied  that  the  imprisonment  hav- 
ing been  from  the  first  unjust,  Charles  Avas  not  bound 
to  return  to  it :  his  services  being  imperiously  de- 
manded as  a  vassal  and  special  athlete  for  the  defence 
of  tl*e  Church,  he  was  bound  to  fulfil  that  higher  duty.1 
On  these  grounds  Pope  Nicolas  IV.  declared  the  King 
and  his  heirs  altogether  released  from  all  obligations 
and  all  oaths.  He  went  further  ;  he  prohibited  Charles 
the  Lame  from  observing  the  conditions  of  the  treaty, 
and  surrendering  his  eldest  son,  according  to  the  cov- 
enant, as  one  of  the  hostages.  Nor  was  the  Pope 
content  with  thus  entirely  abrogating  the  treaty  ;  he 
anathematized  King  Alfonso  for  exacting,  contrary  to 
the  commands  of  the  Church,  such  hard  terms;  he 
ordered  him,  under  pain  of  the  highest  ecclesiastical 
censure,  to  release  Charles  from  all  the  conditions  of 
the  treaty ;  he  even  threatened  the  King  of  England 
with  interdict,  if,  as  guarantee  of  the  treaty,  he  should 
enforce  its  forfeitures.  But  Charles  the  Lame  himself 
would  not  be  content  with  the  Papal  absolution  :  he 
satisfied  his  chivalrous  honor  with  a  more  miserable 
subterfuge.  He  suddenly  appeared  near  the  castle  of 
Panicas,  on  the  borders  of  Arragon,  proclaimed  that 
he  was  come  in  conformity  to  his  oath  to  surrender 
himself  into  captivity.  But  as  no  one  was  there  on 
the  part  of  the  King  of  Arragon  to  receive  him,  he 

1  "  Nominate  Ecclesiae  incommoda  multa  proveniant,  dum  ipse  ejusdera 
ecclesiie  vassallus  prsecipuus,  et  specials  athleta  ab  illius  per  hoc  defensioiie 
subtrabitur." —  Bulla  Niculai  IV.     Compare  Raynaldus,  sub  ann. 


Chap.  V.         CLOSE  OF  CRUSADES.  177 

averred  that  lie  had  kept  his  faith,  and  even  demanded 
the  restoration  of  the  hostages  and  of  the  money  left 
in  pawn. 

The  war  continued  :  James,  not  content  with  the 
occupation  of  Sicily,  invaded  Apulia ;  before  Spring,  1289. 
Gaeta  he  suffered  an  ignominious  failure.  Charles, 
weakly,  to  the  disgust  of  the  Count  of  Artois  and  his 
other  French  followers  who  returned  to  France,  agreed 
to  a  truce  of  two  years.  The  death  of  his  1289-1291. 
brother  Alfonso  made  James  King  of  Arra-  June  is,  1291. 
gon  :  he  left  his  younger  brother  Frederick  his  Viceroy 
in  Sicily.  Frederick  became  afterwards  the  founder 
of  the  line  of  Arragonese  Kings  of  the  island. 

Nicolas  IV.  closed  his  short  Pontificate  in  disaster, 
shame,  and  unpopularity.  He  had  in  some  close  of 
respects  held  a  lofty  tone ;  he  had  declared  Grusades- 
the  kingdom  of  Hungary  a  fief  of  the  Holy  See  ;  and 
rebuked  the  Emperor  Rodolph  for  causing  his  son, 
Albert,  without  the  Pope's  permission,  to  be  chosen 
King  of  the  Romans.1  But  the  total  loss  of  the  last 
Christian  possessions  in  the  East,  the  surrender  of 
Berytus,  Tripoli,  even  at  last  Acre,2  to  the  irresistible 
Sultan :  the  fatal  and  ignominious  close  of  the  Cru- 
sades, so  great  a  source  of  Papal  power  and  Papal  in- 
fluence, the  disgrace  which  was  supposed  to  have  fallen 
on  all  Christendom,  but  with  special  weight  upon  its 
Head,  bowed  Nicolas  down  in  shame  and  sorrow. 
The  war  between  Edward  of  England  and  Philip  of 

1  Raynald.  sub  ann. 

2  Read  the  siege  of  Acre  (Ptolemais)  in  Michaud,  iv.  458,  et  seq.  Wil- 
ken,  vii.  p.  735,  et  seq.  Acre  fell,  May  18,  1291.  Michaud  quotes  the  em- 
phatic sentence  of  a  Mussulman  writer  on  this,  it  seems,  final  close  of  the 
Crusades:  — "  Les  choses,  s'il  plait  a  Dieu,  resteront  ainsi  jusqu'au  derniei 
jugement."  —  P.  487. 

VOL     VI.  12 


178  LATIN  C11KISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

France,  in  which  his  mediation,  his  menace,  were 
loftily  rejected  or  courteously  declined,  destroyed  all 
hopes  of  a  new  Crusade ;  that  cry  would  no  longer 
pacify  ambitious  and  hostile  Kings. 

Nicolas  had  become  enslaved  to  the  Colonnas.  No 
Nicolas  iv.  doubt  under  their  powerful  protection  he  had 
uoiounas.  continued  to  reside  in  Rome.1  They  were 
associated  in  his  munificence  to  the  Churches.  On  the 
vault  of  S.  Maria  Maggiore,  repaired  at  their  common 
cost,  appeared  painted  together  the  Pope  and  the  Car- 
dinal James  Colonna.  John  Colonna  was  appointed 
Marquis  of  Ancona,  Stephen  Colonna  Count  of  Ro- 
macma :  this  high  office  had  been  wrested  from  the 
Monaldeschi.  Cesena,  Rimini  after  some  resistance, 
Imola,  Fori!  were  in  his  power.  In  attempting  to 
seize  Ravenna  he  was  himself  surprised  and  taken 
prisoner  by  the  sons  of  Guido  di  Polenta.  But  they 
were  afterwards  overawed  by  the  vigorous  measures  of 
the  Pontiff,  urged  by  the  Colonnas.  Ildobrandino  da 
Romagna,  Bishop  of  Arezzo,  was  invested  with  the 
title  of  Count  of  Romagna  ;  the  subject  cities  leagued 
under  his  influence ; 2  the  sons  of  Polenta  were  com- 
pelled to  pay  three  thousand  florins  of  gold  for  their 
daring  attack  on  the  Pope's  Count.3  The  Romans 
seemed  to  enter  into  the  favoritism  of  the  Pope. 
James  Colonna  was  created  Senator  ;  he  was  dragged, 
as  in  the  guise  of  an  Emperor,  through  the  city,  and 
saluted  with  the  name  of  Caesar;  he  gratified  the 
Romans  by  inarching  at  their  head  to  the  attack  of 


1  Franciscus  Pipon.,  S.  E.  L,  t.  ix. 

2  Muratori,  sub  annis  1290, 1291. 

8  Eubeus,  Chronic,  Eavennat.,  Chronic.  Parm.,  Chronic.  Forliviens.  8. 
B.  I.  xxii. 


Chap.  V.  DEATH  OF  NICOLAS.  179 

Viterbo  and  other  cities  over  which  Rome,  whenever 
occasion  offered,  aspired  to  extend  her  sovereignty.1 

There  were  acts  in  these  terrible  wars  that  raged  in 
almost  every  part  of  Italy  which  might  have  grieved 
the  heart  of  a  wise  and  humane  Pontiff  more  than  the 
loss  of  the  Holy  Land.  The  mercy  of  Christendom 
might  seem  at  a  lower  ebb  than  its  valor.  The  Bishop 
of  Arezzo,  an  Ubaldini,  was  killed  in  a  battle  against 
the  Florentines  ;  the  Florentines  slung  an  a.d.  1290. 
ass,  with  a  mitre  fastened  on  his  head,  into  his  be- 
leaguered city.2  The  Marquis  of  Montferrat,  the  most 
powerful  prince  in  northern  Italy,  was  taken  prisoner 
by  the  Alexandrians,  shut  up  in  an  iron  cage,  in  which 
he  languished  for  nearly  two  years  and  died.3  Dante 
has  impressed  indelibly  on  the  heart  of  man  the  impris- 
onment and  death  of  the  Pisan  Ugolino  (a  man,  it  is 
true,  of  profound  ambition  and  treachery)  with  that 
of  his  guiltless  sons. 

Nicolas  is  said  to  have  died  in  sorrow  and  humil- 
iation ;  he  died  accused  by  the  Guelfs  of  April  4, 1292. 
unpapal  Ghibellinism,4  perhaps  because  he  was  more 
sparing  of  his  anathemas  against  the  Ghibellines,  and 
had  consented,  hardly  indeed,  but  had  consented  to  the 
peace  between  France  and  Arragon,  Naples  and  Sicily : 
still   more  on  account  of  his  favor  to  the  Colonnas, 


1  The  play  upon  the  name  of  Colonna,  which  Petrarch  afterwards  en- 
shrined in  his  nohle  verse,  had  long  occurred  to^the  Saturnalian  wit  of 
Rome.  In  the  frontispiece  of  a  book,  entitled  "  The  Beginning  of  Evils," 
the  Pope  Nicolas  IV.  was  represented  as  a  column  crowned  by  his  own 
mitred  head,  and  supported  by  two  other  columns.  —  Muratori. 

2  1289.     Villani,  vii.  c.  130.     Muratori,  sub  ann. 
8  Annal.  Mediolanens.  S.  II.  T.  t.  xvi. 

4  Rodolph  of  Hapsburg,  the  Emperor,  died  July  15, 1291. 


180  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI 

Ghibelline  by  descent  and  tradition,  and  hereafter  tc 
become  more  obstinately,  furiously  and  fatally  Ghibel- 
line in  their  implacable  feud  with  Boniface  VIII.1 

i  "  Ma  molto  favoreggio  i  GLibellini."    So  if  rites  the  Guelf  Villani,  vii 
c  150. 


Chap.  VI.  THE  CONCLAVE.  181 


CHAPTER    VI. 

CCELESTINE  V. 

Nicolas  IV.  died  on  the  4th  of  April,  1292.  Only 
twelve  Cardinals  formed  the  Conclave.  The  Conclave, 
constitution  of  Gregory  X.  had  been  long  suspended, 
and  had  fallen  altogether  into  disuse.  Six  of  these 
Cardinals  were  Romans,  of  these  two  Orsinis  and  two 
Colonnas ;  four  Italians ;    two  French.1     Each  of  the 

1  The  list  in  Ciacconius :  — 

Ramans. 

1.  Latino  Malebranca,  a  Franciscan,  Cardinal  of  Ostia,  the  nephew  of, 
and  created  by,  Nicolas  III. 

2.  John  Buccamuzza,  Cardinal  of  Tusculum  (once  Legate  in  Germany), 
created  by  Martin  IV. 

3.  Jacobo  Colonna,  Cardinal  of  St.  Maria  in  Via  Lata,  created  by  Nico- 
las III. 

4.  Peter  Colonna,  Cardinal  of  St.  Eustachio,  created  by  Nicolas  IV. 

5.  Napoleon  Orsini,  Cardinal  of  St.  Hadrian,  created  by  Nicolas  IV. 

6.  Matteo  Rosso  (Rubeus),  Cardinal  of  St.  Maria  in  Porticu,  created  by 
Urban  IV. 

Italians. 

7.  Gerard  Bianchi  of  Parma,  Cardinal  Sabinus,  created  by  Honorius  IV 

8.  Matthew  Acquasparta,  Cardinal  of  Porto,  created  by  Nicolas  IV. 

9.  Peter  Peregrosso,  a  Milanese,  Cardinal  of  St.  Mark,  created  by  Nico 
las  IV. 

10.  Benedetto  Gaetani  of  Anagni,  Cardinal  of  St.  Silvester  (afterward* 
Boniface  VIII.),  created  by  Martin  IV.  He  was  dangerously  ill,  retired  to 
his  native  Anagni,  and  recovered. 

Frenchmen. 

11.  Hugh  de  Billiom,  Cardinal  of  St.  Sabina,  created  by  Nicolas  III. 

12.  Jean  Cholet,  Cardinal  of  St.  Cecilia,  died  of  fever  in  Rome,  Aug.  2, 

1292. 


182  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

twelve  might  aspire  to  the  supreme  dignity.  The  Ro- 
mans prevailed  in  numbers,  but  were  among  themselves 
more  implacably  hostile  :  on  the  one  side  stood  the  Or- 
sinis,  on  the  other  the  Colonnas.1  Three  times  they 
met,  in  the  palace  of  Nicolas  IV.,  near  S.  Maria  Mag- 
giore,  in  that  of  Honorius  IV.  on  the  Aventine,  and 
in  S.  Maria  sopra  Minerva.2  The  heats  of  June,  and 
a  dangerous  fever  (of  which  one,  the  Frenchman,  Jean 
Cholet,  died),  drove  them  out  of  Rome  ;  and  Rome 
became  such  a  scene  of  disorder,  feud,  and  murder  (the 
election  of  the  Senator  being  left  to  the  popular  suf- 
frage), that  they  dared  not  reassemble  within  the  walls. 
Two  rival  Senators,  an  Orsini  and  a  Colonha,  were  at 
the  head  of  the  two  factions.3  Above  a  year  had 
Oct.  is,  1293.  elapsed,  when  the  Conclave  agreed  to  meet 
day.  again  at  Perugia.     The  contest  lasted  eight 

months  more.  At  one  time  the  two  Colonnas  and 
John  of  Tusculum  had  nearly  persuaded  Hugh  of  Au- 
vergne  and  Peter  the  Milanese  to  join  them  in  electing 
a  Roman,  one  of  the  Colonnas.  The  plan  was  discov- 
ered and  thwarted  by  the  Orsini,  Matteo  Rosso.     The 

1  The  proceedings  of  each  member  of  the  Conclave,  during  this  interval, 
are  described  in  the  preface  to  the  poem  of  the  Cardinal  St.  George.  — 
Muratori,  v.  p.  616.  The  Cardinal  describes  himself  as  being  "  veluti  prje- 
sens,  videns,  ministrans,  palpans,  et  audiens,  notusque  Pontifici,  quia  Pon- 
tificibus  carus."  —  P.  614. 

2  The  Cardinal  of  St.  George  highly  disapproved  of  the  building  of  new 
palaces,  by  Honorius  IV.  on  the  Aventine,  by  Nicolas  IV.  near  St.  Maria 
Ma^ejiore.     It  implied  the  desertion  of  the  Lateran  and  the  Vatican :  — 

"  nee  utile  mundo 
Exemplum,  nam  quisque  suaa  (e?)  ducet  in  alturu 
iEdes,  et  capitis  Petri  delubra  relinquet, 
Ac  Lateran  enses  aulas,  regalia  dona, 
Despiciet,  gaudens  proprios  habitare  penates." —  P.  621. 

8  One  of  the  Senators  was  Peter  the  son  of  Stephen,  father  of  the  author; 
the  other,  Otho  de  San  Kustazio.  —  See  Cardinal  St.  George. 


Uiiap.  VI.  PETER  MORRONE.  183 

Guelfic  Orsini  were  devoted  to  the  interests  of  Charles, 
the  King  of  Naples ;  they  labored  to  advance  a  prelate 
in  the  Angevine  interest.  The  Colonnas,  Ghibelline 
because  the  Orsini  were  Guelf,  were  more  for  them- 
selves than  for  Ghibellinism.  Charles  of  Naples  came 
to  Perugia,  by  his  personal  presence  to  over-  in  Perugia, 
awe  the  refractory  members  of  the  Conclave.  The 
intrepid  Benedict  Gaetani,  the  future  Boniface  VIII., 
haughtily  rebuked  him  for  presuming  to  interfere  with 
the  office  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  No  one  of  the  Cardinals 
would  yield  the  post  to  his  adversary,  and  expose  him- 
self to  the  vengeance  of  a  successful  rival ;  yet  all 
seemed  resolute  to  confine  the  nomination  to  their  own 
body. 

Suddenly  a  solitary  monk  was  summoned  from  his 
cell,  in  the  remote  Abruzzi,  to  ascend  the  Pontifical 
throne.  The  Cardinal  of  Ostia,  Latino  Mai-  Latin0 
ebranca,  had  admired  the  severe  and  ascetic  Malebranca- 
virtues  of  Peter  Morrone,  a  man  of  humble  birth,  but 
already,  from  his  extraordinary  austerities,  held  by  the 
people  as  a  man  of  the  highest  sanctity.  He  had  re- 
tired from  desert  to  desert,  and  still  multitudes  had 
tracked  him  out  in  vast  swarms,  some  to  wonder  at, 
some  to  join  his  devout  seclusion.  He  seemed  to  rival 
if  not  to  outdo  the  famous  anchorites  of  old.  His  dress 
was  hair-cloth,  with  an  iron  cuirass ;  his  food  bread  and 
water,  with  a  few  herbs  on  Sunday. 

Peter    Morrone   has   left    an    account    of    his   own 
youth.     The  brothers  of  his  Order,  who  took  Peter 
his  name,  the   Coelestinians  vouched   for  its  Morrone- 
authenticity.     His  mother  was  devoutly  ambitious  that 
one  of  her  eleven  children  should  be  dedicated  to  God. 
Many  of  them  died,  but  Peter  fulfilled  her  most  ardent 


184  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  Xi. 

desires.  His  infancy  was  marked  with  miracles.  In 
his  youth  he  had  learned  to  read  the  Psalter  ;  he  then 
knew  not  the  person  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  or  of  St. 
John.  One  day  they  descended  bodily  from  a  picture 
of  the  Crucifixion,  stood  before  him,  and  sweetly  chant- 
ed portions  of  the  Psalter.  At  the  age  of  twenty  he 
went  into  the  desert :  visions  of  Angels  were  ever 
round  him,  sometimes  showering  roses  over  him.  God 
showed  him  a  great  stone,  under  which  he  dug  a  hole., 
in  which  he  could  neither  stand  upright,  nor  stretch  his 
limbs,  and  there  he  dwelt  in  all  the  luxury  of  self-tort- 
ure among  lizards,  serpents,  and  toads.  A  bell  in  the 
heavens  constantly  sounded  to  summon  him  to  prayers. 
He  was  offered  a  cock ;  he  accepted  the  ill-omened  gift ; 
for  his  want  of  faith  the  bell  was  thenceforth  silent. 
He  was  more  sorely  tried  ;  beautiful  women  came  and 
lay  down  by  his  side.1  He  was  encircled  by  a  crowd 
of  followers,  whom  he  had  already  formed  into  a  kind 
of  Order  or  Brotherhood;  they  were  rude,  illiterate 
peasants  from  the  neighboring  mountains.2 

Either  designedly  or  accidentally  the  Cardinal  Male- 
branca  spoke  of  the  wonderful  virtues  of  the  hermit, 
Peter  Morrone  ;  the  weary  Conclave  listened  with  in- 
terest. A  few  days  after  the  Cardinal  declared  that  a 
vision  had  been  vouchsafed  to  a  Holy  Man,  that  if  be- 
fore All-Saints'  Day  they  had  not  elected  a  Pope,  the 
wrath  of  God  would  fall  on  them  with  some  signal 

1  One  vision  is  too  coarse  almost  to  allude  to;  but  how  are  we  to  judgo 
of  the  times  or  the  men  without  their  coarseness  ?  The  question  was 
.whether  he  should  offer  mass  k'  post  pollutionem  nocturnam."  The  vision 
which  sets  his  mind  at  rest  is  that  of  "  aselli  stercorandi  "  on  the  steps  of  a 
palace,  that  of  the  Holy  Trinity.  One  of  these  awful  persons  is  repre- 
sented as  pointing  the  moral  of  this  foul  imagination. 
2  "  Non  culta  satis  sed  rustica  turba 

Montibus  altisonis."  —  Card.  St.  George 


Chap.  VI.  PETER  MORRONE.  185 

chastisement.  "  This,  I  presume,"  spake  Benedetto 
Gaetani,  "  is  one  of  the  visions  of  your  Peter  Mor- 
rone."  In  truth  it  was  ;  Malebranca  had  received  a 
letter  purporting  to  be  in  his  hand.  The  Conclave 
was  in  that  perplexed  and  exhausted  state,  when  men 
seize  desperately  on  any  strange  counsel  to  Election  of 
extricate  themselves  from  their  difficulty.  C(ElestineV- 
To  some  it  might  seem  a  voice  from  heaven.  Others 
might  shelter  their  own  disappointment  under  the  con- 
solation that  their  rivals  were  equally  disappointed :  all 
might  think  it  wise  to  elect  a  Pope  without  personal 
enmity  to  any  one.  It  might  be  a  winning  hazard  for 
each  party,  each  interest,  each  Cardinal ;  the  Hermit 
was  open  to  be  ruled,  as  ruled  he  would  be,  by  any 
one.  Malebranca  saw  the  impression  he  had  made ;  he 
pressed  it  in  an  eloquent  speech.  Peter  Morrone  was 
declared  supreme  Pontiff  by  unanimous  acclamation.1 

The  fatal  sentence  was  hardly  uttered  when  the  brief 
unanimity  ceased.  Some  of  the  cardinals  began  to 
repent  or  to  be  ashamed  of  their  precipitate  decree. 
No  one  of  them  (this  they  were  hereafter  to  rue) 
would  undertake  the  office  of  bearing  the  tidings  of  his 
elevation  to  the  Pope.  The  deputation  consisted  of 
the  Archbishop  of  Lyons,  two  Bishops,  and  two  nota- 
ries of  the  Court. 

The  place  of  Morrone's  retreat  was  a  cave  in  a  wild 
mountain  above  the  pleasant  valley  of  Sul-  ms  retreat, 
raona.  The  ambassadors  of  the  Conclave  having 
achieved  their  journey  from  Perugia,  with  difficulty 
found  guides  to  conduct  them  to  the  solitude.  As 
they  toiled  up  the  rugged  ascent,  they  were  overtaken 

1  The  Cardinal  St.  George  describes  the  order  and  manner  in  which  the 
Cardinals  gave  their  accession  to  this  vote.  — P.  617. 


185  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

by  the  Cardinal  Peter  Colorma,  who  had  followed  them 
without  commission  from  the  rest,  no  doubt  to  watch 
their  proceedings,  and  to  take  advantage  of  any  oppor- 
tunity to  advance  his  own  interests.  The  cave,  in 
which  the  saint  could  neither  sit  upright  nor  stretch 
himself  out,  had  a  grated  window  with  iron  bars, 
through  which  he  uttered  his  oracular  responses  to  the 
wondering  people.  None  even  of  the  brethren  of  the 
order  might  penetrate  into  the  dark  sanctuary  of  his 
Ambassadors  austerities.  The  ambassadors  of  the  Con- 
before  Mm.  ciave  found  an  old  man  with  a  long  shaggy 
beard,  sunken  eyes  overhung  with  heavy  brows,  and 
lids  swollen  with  perpetual  weeping,  pale  hollow  cheeks, 
and  limbs  meagre  with  fasting :  they  fell  on  their  knees 
before  him,  and  he  before  them.  The  future  Cardinal- 
Poet  was  among  the  number :  his  barren  Muse  can 
hardly  be  suspected  of  invention.1 

So  Peter  Morrone  the  Hermit  saw  before  him,  in 
submissive  attitudes,  the  three  prelates,  attended  by  the 
official  notaries,  who  announced  his  election  to  the  Pa- 
pacy. He  thought  it  was  a  dream ;  and  for  once  as- 
suredly there  was  a  profound  and  religious  reluctance  to 
accept  the  highest  dignity  in  the  world.  He  protested 
with  tears  his  utter  inability  to  cope  with  the  affairs,  to 
administer  the  sacred  trust,  to  become  the  successor  of 
the  Apostle.2  The  news  spread  abroad  ;  the  neighbor- 
ing people  came  hurrying  by  thousands,  delighted  that 

1  Cardinal  St.  George,  apud  Muratori. 

2  The  Cardinal  St.  George,  however,  asserts  that  Coelestine  hardly  af- 
fected reluctance;  and  the  Cardinal  says  that  he  was  among  a  great  multi- 
tude of  all  ranks,  who  clambered  up  the  mountain, 

"  cursu  conscendere  montem 
Gliscebam  vates,  meinbris  vultuque  rcsudana," 

to  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  Pope. 


Chap  VI.  ELECTED   POPE.  187 

they  were  to  have  a  saint,  and  their  own  saint,  for  a  Pope 
The  Hermit  in  vain  tried  to  escape  ;  he  was  brought 
back  with  respectful  force,  guarded  with  reverential  vig- 
ilance. Nor  was  it  the  common  people  only  who  were 
thus  moved.  King  Charles  himself  may  not  have  been 
superior  to  the  access  of  religious  wonder,  for  to  him 
especially  (if  indeed  there  was  no  design  in  the  whole 
affair)  this  sudden  unanimity  among  the  ambitious  Car- 
dinals might  pass  for  a  miracle,  more  miraculous  than 
many  which  were  acknowledged  by  the  common  belief. 
The  King  of  Naples,  accompanied  by  his  son,  now  in 
right  of  his  wife  entitled  King  of  Hungary,  hastened 
to  do  honor  to  his  holy  subject,  to  persuade  the  Hermit, 
who  perhaps  would  be  dazzled  by  royal  flatteries  into  a 
useful  ally,  to  accept  the  proffered  dignity.  The  Her- 
mit-Pope was  conducted  from  his  lowly  cave  to  the 
monastery  of  Santo  Spirito,  at  the  foot  of  the  moun- 
tain. He  still  refused  to  be  invested  in  the  pontifical 
robes.  At  length  arrived  the  Cardinal  Malebranca :  his 
age,  dignity,  character,  and  his  language,  urging  the 
awful  responsibility  which  Peter  Morrone  would  incur 
by  resisting  the  manifest  will  of  God,  and  by  keeping 
the  Popedom  longer  vacant  (for  all  which  he  would  be 
called  to  give  account  on  the  day  of  judgment),  pre- 
vailed over  the  awe-struck  saint.  Not  the  least  earnest 
in  pressing  him  to  assume  at  once  the  throne  were  his 
rude  but  not  so  unambitious  hermit  brethren  :  they  too 
looked  for  advancement ;  they  followed  him  in  crowds 
wherever  he  went,  to  Aquila  and  to  Naples.  Over  his 
shaggy  sackcloth  at  length  the  Hermit  put  on  Peter  Mor. 
the  gorgeous  attire  of  the  Pontiff;  yet  heronePope- 
would  not  go  to  Perugia  to  receive  the  homage  of  the 
Conclave.     Age  and  the  heat  of  the  season  (he  had 


188  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  Xu 

been  accustomed  to  breathe  the  mountain  air)  would 
not  permit  him  to  undertake  the  long  unwonted  journey. 
He  entered  the  city  of  Aquila  riding  on  an  ass,  with  a 
King  on  each  side  of  him  to  hold  his  bridle.  Some  of 
the  indignant  clergy  murmured  at  this  humiliation  of 
the  Papal  majesty  (the  successor  of  St.  Peter  was  wont 
to  ride  on  a  stately  palfrey),  but  they  suppressed  their 
discontent. 

If  there  had  been  more  splendid,  never  was  there 
inauguration,  so  popular  an  election.  Two  hundred  thou- 
sand spectators  (of  whom  the  historian,  Ptolemy  of 
Lucca,  was  one T)  crowded  the  streets.  In  the  evening 
the  Pope  was  compelled  again  and  again  to  come  to  the 
window  to  bestow  his  benediction;  and  if  hierarchical 
pride  had  been  offended  at  the  lowliness  of  his  pomp, 
it  but  excited  greater  admiration  in  the  commonalty : 
they  thought  of  Him  who  entered  Jerusalem  "  riding 
on  an  ass's  colt."  Miracles  confirmed  their  wonder :  a 
boy,  lame  from  the  womb,  was  placed  on  the  ass  on 
which  the  Pope  had  ridden ;  he  was  restored  to  the  full 
use  of  his  limbs. 

But  already  the  Cardinals  might  gravely  reflect  on 
The  cardi-  tne^r  strange  election.  The  Pope  still  obsti- 
nais  repent.  nately  refused  to  go  to  Perugia,  or  even  to 
Rome,  though  they  suggested  that  he  might  be  con- 
veyed in  a  litter.  The  Cardinals  declared  that  they 
were  not  to  be  summoned  to  the  kingdom  of  Naples. 
Two  only,  Hugh  of  Auvergne  and  Napoleon  Orsini, 
condescended  to  go  to  Aquila.  Malebranca  probably 
had  begun  to  droop  under  the  illness  which  erelong 
carried  him  off.  But  the  way  in  which  the  Pope  began 
to  use  his  vast  powers  still  more  appalled  and  offended 

1  "  Quibus  ipse  interfui."  —  Ptolem.  Luc. 


Chap.  VI.  CORONATION  OF  CCELESTINE  V.  189 

them.  He  bestowed  the  offices  in  his  court  and  about 
his  person  on  rude  and  unknown  Abruzzese ;  and  to 
the  great  disgust  of  the  clergy  appointed  a  layman  his 
secretary.  High  at  once  in  his  favor  rose  the  French 
Prelate,  Hugh  Ascalon  de  Billiom,  Arch-  Hugh  of 
bishop  of  Benevento  under  Nicolas  IV.,  Car-  Ascalon- 
dinal  of  St.  Sabina.  He  had  been  the  first  to  follow 
Malebranca  in  the  acclamation  of  the  Pope  Morrone. 
On  the  death  of  Malebranca  he  was  raised  to  the  Bish- 
opric of  Ostia  and  Velletri,  and  became  Dean  of  the 
College  of  Cardinals.  Large  pensions,  charged  on 
great  abbeys  in  France,  gilded  his  elevation.  The 
Frenchman  seemed  destined  to  rule  with  undivided 
sway  over  the  feeble  Ccelestine :  the  Italians  looked 
with  undisguised  jealousy  and  aversion  on  the  foreign 
prelate.1 

The  Cardinal,  Napoleon  Orsini,  assisted  at  the  inau- 
guration, gave  to  the  Pope  the  scarlet  mantle,  the  mitre 
set  with  gold  and  jewels ;  he  announced  to  the  people 
that  Peter  had  taken  the  name  of  Coelestine  V.  The 
foot  of  the  lowly  hermit  was  kissed  by  kings,  cardinals, 
bishops,  nobles.  He  was  set  on  high  to  be  adored  by 
the  people.2  The  numbers  of  the  clergy  caused  singu- 
lar astonishment ;  but  the  Cardinals,  though  reluctant, 
would  not  allow  the  coronation  to  proceed  without 
them ;  they  came  singly  and  in  unwilling  haste.3     Last 

1  Compare  on  Hugh  Ascalon  de  Billiom,  Hist.  Litter,  de  la  France,  xx.  73. 

2  "  Quod  stupori  erat  videre,  quia  magis  veniebant  ad  suam  obtinendara 
benedictionem,  quam  pro  praebendse  acquisitione."  —  Ptolem.  Luc. 

3  "  Domini  Jacobus  de  Colonna,  et  Dominus  Rubeus,  et  Dominus  Hugo  de 
Ascalon  "  —  (he  must  have  been  there  before)  —  "  Aquilam  veniunt,  facti- 
que  sunt  domini  Curiae,  quod  alii  Cardinales  videntes  Aquilam  properant." 
—  Ptolem.  Luc.  Annal.  p.  1298. 

"  Hsec  postquam  videre  Rubri,  seu  morte  Latini 
Fracti  auimos,  celerant  ad  tanta  pericula  cursim.  "  — 

Cardin.  St.  George,  p.  (585. 


190  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

of  all  came  Benedetto  Gaetani :  he  had  deeply  offended 
Charles  of  Naples  by  his  haughty  rebuke  at  Perugia, 
coronation.  Yet  still,  though  all  assisted  at  the  ceremony, 
the  place  of  honor  was  given  to  the  French  Cardinal : 
he  anointed  the  new  Pope,  but  the  Pontiff  was  crowned 
by  Matteo  Rosso,  after  Malebranca's  death,  probably 
the  elder  of  the  Cardinals  present.1 

A  few  months  showed  that  meekness,  humility,  holi- 
coeiestine  v  ness>  unworldliness  might  make  a  saint ;  they 
in  Naples.  were  not  the  virtues  suited  to  a  Pope.  To 
Naples  he  had  been  led,  as  it  were,  in  submissive  tri- 
umph by  King  Charles ;  he  took  up  his  residence  in 
the  royal  palace,  an  unsuspecting  prisoner,  mocked 
with  the  most  ostentatious  veneration.  So  totally  did 
the  harmless  Coeiestine  surrender  himself  to  his  royal 
protector,  that  he  stubbornly  refused  to  leave  Naples. 
His  utter  incapacity  for  business  soon  appeared ;  he 
lavished  offices,  dignities,  bishoprics,  with  profuse  hand  ; 
he  granted  and  revoked  grants,  bestowed  benefices,  va- 
cant or  about  to  be  vacant.2  He  was  duped  by  the  offi- 
cers of  his  court,  and  gave  the  same  benefice  over  and 
over  again  ;  but  still  the  greater  share  fell  to  his  breth- 
ms  conduct,  ren  from  the  Abruzzi.  His  officers  issued 
orders  of  all  kinds  in  his  name.     He  shrunk  from  pub- 

1  He  was  created  by  Urban  IV. 

2  "  Dabat  enim  dignitates,  pradationes,  officia  et  beneficia,  in  quibus  non 
sequebatur  curiae  consuetudinem,  sed  potius  quorundam  suggestionem,  et 
suam  rudem  simplicitatem."  — Jacob,  a  Vorag.  apud  Muratori  S.  R.  T.  ix. 
p.  54.  Multa  fecit  de  plenitudine  potestatis,  sed  plura  de  plenitudine  sim- 
plicitatfe,  ibid.  The  favoritism  of  the  French  Cardinal  of  St.  Sabina,  by  thia 
'author's  account,  was  generally  odious. 

"  0  quain  multiplices  indocta  potentia  formas 
Edidit,  indulgens,  donans,  faciensque  recessu, 
Atque  vacaturas  concedens  atque  vacantes." 

Card.  St.  George. 

.-  See  also  Ptolem  Luc.  lxxiv.  c.  29. 


Chap.  VI.  CCELESTINE  V.  IN  NAPLES.  191 

licity,  and  even  from  the  ceremonial  duties  of  his 
office ;  he  could  speak  only  a  few  words  of  bad  Latin. 
One  day,  when  he  ought  to  have  sat  on  the  pontifical 
tribunal,  he  was  sought  in  vain  ;  he  had  taken  refuge 
in  the  church,  and  was  with  difficulty  persuaded  to 
resume  his  state.  His  weakness  made  him  as  prodigal 
of  his  power  as  of  his  gifts.1  At  the  dicta-  Sept.  1294. 
tion  of  King  Charles  he  created  at  once  thirteen  new 
Cardinals,  thus  outnumbering  the  present  Conclave.2 
Of  these,  seven  were  French ;  the  rest  Italians  ;  of 
the  latter,  three  Neapolitans,  not  one  Roman.  In  order 
to  place  the  Conclave  more  completely  in  the  power  of 
Charles,  who  intended  to  keep  him  till  his  death  in  his 
own  dominions,  he  reenacted  the  Conclave  law  of  Greg- 
ory X. 

The  weary  man  became  anxious  to  lay  down  his 
heavy  burden.     Some  of  the  Cardinals  urged  Wighesto 
upon  him  that  he  retained  the  Papacy  at  the  abdicafce- 
peril  of  his  soul.     Gaetani's  powerful  mind   (once  at 
Naples,  he  resumed   the  ascendency  of   his  Benedetto 
commanding  abilities)  had  doubtless  great  in-  Gaetam- 
fluence  in  his  determination.     He  was  soon  supposed  to 
rule  the  Court  and  the  Pope  himself,  to  be  Coelestine's 
bosom  counsellor.3     It  was  reported,  and  the  trick  was 

1  There  was  a  small  monkish  tyranny  about  the  good  Coelestine.  He 
compelled  the  monks  of  the  ancient  and  famous  abbey  of  Monte  Casino  to 
wear  the  dress  of  his  own  order.     The  Cardinal-Poet  is  pathetic  on  this:  — 

''  Syderei  collis,  Montisque  Casini 
Compulit,  heu  !  monachos  habitus  assumere  fratrum 
Degentum  sub  lege  Petri :  (Morrone)  nounullus  ab  inde, 
Dum  parere  negat,  monachus  tunc  exulat.     0  quam. 
Deciperis  ! " 

2  See  the  list  in  Ciacconius.  One,  a  Beneventan,  Cardinal  of  St.  Vitale, 
died  the  next  year. 

*  "  Gaetani  —  eo  quod  Regem  Carolum  Perusii  multum  exasperasset,  qui 
?tatim  suis  ministeriis  et  artibus  factus  est  Dominus  Curiae  et  amicus  Regis." 
Ptolem.  Luc.  p.  1299. 


192  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

attributed  to  Gaetani  his  ambitious  successor,  that 
through  a  hole  skilfully  contrived  in  the  wall  of  his 
chamber,  a  terrible  voice  was  repeatedly  heard  at  the 
dead  of  night,  announcing  itself  as  that  of  a  messenger 
of  God.  It  commanded  the  trembling  Pontiff  to  re- 
nounce the  blandishments  of  the  world,  and  devote 
himself  to  God's  service.  Rumor  spread  abroad  that 
Coelestine  was  about  to  abdicate.  The  King  secretly, 
the  monks  of  his  brotherhood  openly,  worked  upon  the 
lower  orders  of  Naples,  and  instigated  them  to  a  holy 
insurrection.  Naples  was  in  an  uproar  at  this  rumored 
degradation  of  the  Pope.  A  long  and  solemn  proces- 
sion of  all  the  clergy,  of  whom  Ptolemy  of  Lucca  was 
one,  passed  through  the  city  to  the  palace.  A  Bishop, 
a  kind  of  prolocutor,  addressed  him  with  a  voice  like  a 
trumpet,  urging  him  to  abandon  his  fatal  design.  The 
speech  was  heard  by  Ptolemy  of  Lucca.  Another 
Bishop  from  the  walls  announced  that  the  Pope  had 
no  such  intention.  The  Bishop  below  immediately 
broke  out  into  a  triumphant  Te  Deum,  which  was 
taken  up  by  a  thousand  voices.  The  procession 
passed    away.1 

But  Advent  was  drawing  on.  Coelestine  would  not 
Advent.  pass  that  holy  season  in  pomp  and  secular 
business.  He  had  contrived  a  cell  within  the  royal 
palace,  from  whence  he  could  not  see  the  sky.  He  had 
determined  to  seclude  himself  in  all  his  wonted  solitude 
and  undisturbed  austerities,  like  a  bird,  says  the  Car- 
dinal-Poet, which  hides  its  head  from  the  fowler,  and 
thinks  that  it  is  unseen.2  He  had  actually  signed  a 
commission  to  three  Cardinals  to  administer  during  his 
seclusion  the  affairs  of  the  Popedom :  it  wanted  but 

i  Ptolem.  Luc.  apud  Muratori.  2  p.  638. 


Chap.  VI.  DEBATES   IN  CONCLAVE.  l\)o 

the  seal  to  be  a  Papal  Bull.  But  this  perhaps  more 
dangerous  step  of  putting  the  Papacy  in  commission 
was  averted. 

Long  and  inconclusive  debates  took  place  on  the 
legality  of  a  Papal  abdication.  Could  any  Debate8  ia 
human  power  release  him  who  was  the  repre-  Conclave- 
sentative  of  Christ  on  earth  from  his  obligations  ? 
Could  the  successor  of  St.  Peter,  of  his  own  free  will, 
sink  back  into  the  ordinary  race  of  men  ?  Holy  Orders 
were  indelible :  how  much  more  indelible  must  be  the 
consecration  to  this  office,  the  fount  and  source  of  all 
Apostolic  ordination  ?  Ccelestine  himself,  from  irreso- 
lution doubtless  rather  than  artful  dissimulation,  had 
lulled  his  supporters,  even  the  King  himself,  into  secu- 
rity.1 On  a  sudden,  on  the  day  of  St.  Lucia,  the  Con- 
clave was  summoned  to  receive  the  abdication  of  the 
Pope.  The  trembling  Coelestine  alleged  as  the  cause 
of  his  abdication,  his  age,  his  rude  manners  and  ruder 
speech,  his  incapacity,  his  inexperience.  He  confessed 
humbly  his  manifold  errors,  and  entreated  the  Con- 
clave to  bestow  upon  the  world  of  Christendom  a 
pastor  not  liable  to  such  infirmities.  The  Conclave  is 
said  to  have  been  moved  to  tears,  yet  no  one  (all  no 
doubt  prepared)  refused  to  accept  the  abdication.  But 
the  Pope  was  urged  first,  while  his  authority  was  yet 
full  and  above  appeal,  to  issue  a  Constitution  declaring 
that  the  Pope  might  at  any  time  lay  down  his  dignity, 

1  "  Dissimulans,  ceu  vera  loquens,  aliisque  vacare, 
Sollicitus,  quo  ad  ilia  domus  secreta,  Patresque 
Crediderint  hunc  nolle  quidam  dimittere  priraum. 
Cumque  foret  generata  fides,  omnesque  putarent, 
Rex  etiam,  miri  caepisse  oblivia  facti, 
Imuaemorein  variumque  Petrum,  &c." 

Card.  St.  George. 

VOL.    Vi  13 


194  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI 

and  that  the  Cardinals  were  at  liberty  to  receive  that 
voluntary  demission  of  the  Popedom.  No  sooner  was 
Abdication,  this  done  than  Coelestine  retired  ;  he  stripped 
off  at  once  the  cumbrous  magnificence  of  his  Papal 
robes  and  his  two-horned  mitre ;  he  put  on  the  coarse 
and  rugged  habit  of  his  brotherhood.  As  soon  as  he 
could,  the  discrowned  pope  withdrew  to  his  old  moun- 
tain hermitage. 

The  abdication  of  Coelestine  V.  was  an  event  un 
precedented  in  the  annals  of  the  Church,  and  jarred 
harshly  against  some  of  the  first  principles  of  the  Pa- 
pal authority.  It  was  a  confession  of  common  human- 
ity, of  weakness  below  the  ordinary  standard  of  men  in 
him  whom  the  Conclave,  with  more  than  usual  certi- 
tude, as  guided  by  the  special  interposition  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  had  raised  to  the  spiritual  throne  of  the  world. 
The  Conclave  had  been,  as  it  seemed,  either  under  an 
illusion  as  to  this  declared  manifestation  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  or  had  been  permitted  to  deceive  itself.  Nor 
was  there  less  incongruity  in  a  Pope,  whose  office  in- 
vested him  in  something  at  least  approaching  to  infal- 
libility, acknowledging  before  the  world  his  utter  inca- 
pacity, his  undeniable  fallibility.  That  idea,  formed 
out  of  many  conflicting  conceptions,  yet  forcibly  har- 
monized by  long  traditionary  reverence,  of  unerring 
wisdom,  oracular  truth,  authority  which  it  was  sinful 
to  question  or  limit,  was  strangely  disturbed  and  con- 
fused, not  as  before  by  too  overweening  ambition,  or 
even  awful  yet  still  unacknowledged  crime,  but  by 
avowed  weakness,  bordering  on  imbecility.  His  pro- 
found piety  hardly  reconciled  the  confusion.  A  saint, 
after  all,  made  but  a  bad  Pope. 

It  was  viewed,  in  his  own  time,  in  a  different  light 


Chap.  VI.  DANTE  —  PETRARCH.  195 

by  different  minds.     The  monkish  writers  held  it  up 
as  the   most  noble   example  of  monastic,  of  How  thought 

n  1      •         i  ,.     of  in  his  own 

Christian  perfection.  Admirable  as  was  his  time, 
election,  his  abdication  was  even  more  to  be  admired. 
It  was  an  example  of  humility  stupendous  to  all,  imi- 
table  by  few.1  The  divine  approval  was  said  to  be 
shown  by  a  miracle  which  followed  directly  on  his 
resignation  ; 2  but  the  scorn  of  man  has  been  expressed 
by  the  undying  verse  of  Dante,  who  con-  Dante, 
demned  him  who  was  guilty  of  the  baseness  of  the 
"  great  refusal "  to  that  circle  of  hell  where  are  those 
disdained  alike  by  mercy  and  justice,  on  whom  the 
poet  will  not  condescend  to  look.3  This  sentence,  so 
accordant  with  the  stirring  and  passionate  soul  of  the 
great  Florentine,  has  been  feebly  counter-  Petrarch, 
acted,  if  counteracted,  by  the  praise  of  Petrarch  in  his 
declamation  on  the  beauty  of  a  solitary  life,  for  which 
the  lyrist  professed  a  somewhat  hollow  and  poetic  ad- 
miration.4 Assuredly  there  was  no  magnanimity  con- 
temptuous of  the  Papal  greatness  in  the  abdication  of 
Coelestine  :  it  was  the  weariness,  the  conscious  inef- 
ficiency, the  regret  of  a  man  suddenly  wrenched  away 
from  all  his  habits,  pursuits,  and  avocations,  and  un- 
naturally compelled  or  tempted  to  assume  an  uncon- 
genial dignity.  It  was  the  cry  of  passionate  feeble- 
ness  to   be   released   from    an    insupportable    burden. 

1  "  Praebuit  humilitatis  exemplum,  stupendum  cunctis,  imitabile  paucis." 
—  Jordan.  MS.,  quoted  by  Raynaldus. 

2  Bernard,  in  Chron.  Roman.  Pontif. 

3  "  Che  fece  per  vilta  il  gran  rifiuto." 

Inferno,  iii.  60. 

I  cannot  for  an  instant  doubt  the  allusion  to  Coelestine;  perhaps  it  was  im- 
bittered  by  Dante's  hatred  of  Boniface  VIII. 
4  "  Petrarch  de  Vita  solitaria,1'  a  rhetorical  exercise. 


l'J6  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

Compassion  is  the  highest  emotion  of  sympathy  which 
it  would  have  desired  or  could  deserve. 

But  coeval  with  Dante  there  was  another,  a  ruder 
jacopone  poet,  who  must  be  heard,  that  we  may  fully 
daTodi.  comprehend  the  times.  Jacopone  da  Todi, 
the  Franciscan,  had  been  among  those  who  hailed  with 
mingled  exultation  and  fear  the  advancement  of  the 
holy  Coelestine.1    "  What  wilt  thou  do,  Peter  Morrone, 

1  "  Che  farai,  Pier  Morrone, 
Se'  venuto  al  paragone. 

*  *         *         * 

Se  '1  mondo  e  in  te  ingannato, 
Seguira  maledizione. 

La  tua  fama  alto  e  salita, 
E  in  molt  a  parte  e  gita: 
Se  ti  tozza,  a  la  nnita, 
A  i  buon  sarai  confusione. 

Come  segno  a  sagitta 
Tutto  il  mondo  a  t£  s'  affitta; 
Se  non  tien  bilancia  ritta, 
A  Dio  ne  va  appellazione. 

*  *         *         * 
Questa  corte  e  una  fucina, 
Ch'  1'  buon  auro  si  ci  anna. 

*  *         *         * 
Se  I'  officio  ti  diletta, 
Nulla  malsania  piu  infetta; 
Bene  e  vita  maladetta, 
Perder  Dio  per  tal  boccone. 

*  *         *         * 

Che'  t'  hai  posto  giogo  in  coglio, 
Da  temer  tua  damnatione. 

*  *  *  * 
L'  ordine  Cardinalato, 
Posto  a  in  basso  stato ; 
Che  suo  parentado 

D'  arriscar  ha  intentione. 

*  *  *  * 
Guardate  da  barettiere, 

Ch'  el  ner  bianco  fan  videre; 
Se  non  te  fai  ben  schermire, 
Canterai  mala  canzone."  —  Sattr  xw 


Chap.  VI.  JACOPONE  DA  FODI.  197 

now  that  thou  art  on  thy  trial  ? "  "  If  the  world  be 
deceived  in  thee,  malediction !  Thy  fame  has  soared 
on  high ;  it  has  spread  through  the  world.  If  thou 
failest,  there  will  be  confusion  to  the  good.  As  the 
arrow  on  its  mark,  the  world  is  fixed  on  thee.  If 
thou  holdest  not  the  balance  right,  there  is  no  appeal 
but  to  God."  "  The  Court  of  Rome  is  a  furnace 
which  tries  the  fine  ©•old."  "  If  thou  takest  delight  in 
thine  office  (there  is  no  malady  so  infectious),  ac- 
cursed is  that  life  which  for  such  a  morsel  loses  God." 
"  Thou  hast  put  the  yoke  on  thy  neck,  must  we  not 
fear  thy  damnation  ?  "  "  The  order  of  Cardinals  has 
sunk  to  the  lowest  level :  their  sole  aim  is  to  enrich 
their  kindred."  "  Guard  thyself  from  the  traffickers 
who  make  black  white.  If  thou  dost  not  guard  thy- 
self well,  sad  will  be  the  burden  of  thy  song."  Yet 
in  these  mistrustful  warnings  of  the  poet  there  is  the 
manifest  pride  and  hope  of  a  devoted  partisan  that  a 
new  era  has  begun,  that  Peter  Morrone  is  destined 
to  regenerate  the  Papacy.  The  abdication,  no  doubt, 
was  the  last  event  to  which  these  hermit  followers 
of  Peter  Morrone  looked  forward.  Bitter  must  have 
been  their  disappointment  when  he  himself  thus  frus- 
trated their  pious  expectations,  their  passionate  vatici- 
nations ;  yet  they  adhered  to  him  in  his  self-chosen 
lowliness ;  they  were  still  his  steadfast  admirers ;  they 
denied  his  right  to  abdicate,  no  doubt  they  disseminated 
the  rumors  of  the  arts  employed  to  frighten  him  from 
the  throne.  Their  hatred  of  Boniface,  who  supplanted 
him,  was  as  deep  and  obstinate  as  their  love  of  Coeles- 
tine.     This  poet  will   appear  as  at  least  cognizant  of 

There  are  other  passages  which  betray  the  pride  in  the  elevation  of  Pier 


198  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

the  formidable  conspiracy  which  threatened  the  power 
of  Boniface  VIII.  Nor  was  the  poet  alone :  his 
was  but  the  voice  which  expressed,  in  its  coarse  but 
vigorous  strains,  the  sense  of  a  vast  and  to  a  certain 
extent  organized  party,  in  every  rank,  in  every  order, 
but  especially  among  the  low,  and  the  lowest  of  the 
low. 


Chap.  VII.  BONIFACE  VIII.  199 


CHAPTER  VII. 

BONIFACE  VIII. 

The  Conclave  might  seem  determined  to  retrieve 
their  former  error  in  placing  the  devout  but  unworldly 
Coelestine  in  the  chair  of  St,  Peter,  by  raising  to  the 
Pontificate  a  prelate  of  the  most  opposite  character. 
Human  nature  could  hardly  offer  a  stronger  contrast 
than  Benedetto  Gaetani  and  Peter  Morrone,  Boniface 
VIII.  and  Coelestine  V.  Of  all  the  Roman  Pontiffs, 
Boniface  has  left  the  darkest  name  for  craft,  arrogance, 
ambition,  even  for  avarice  and  cruelty.  Against  the 
memory  of  Boniface  were  joined  in  fatal  conspiracy, 
the  passions,  interests,  undying  hostilities,  the  conscien- 
tious partisanship,  the  not  ungrounded  oppugnancies, 
not  of  individual  foes  alone,  but  of  houses,  of  factions, 
of  orders,  of  classes,  of  professions,  it  may  be  said  of 
kingdoms.  His  own  acts  laid  the  foundation  of  this 
sempiternal  hatred.  In  his  own  day  his  harsh  treat- 
ment of  Coelestine  and  the  Coelestinians  (afterwards 
mingled  up  or  confounded  with  the  wide-spread  Frati- 
celli,  the  extreme  and  democratic  Franciscans)  laid  up 
a  deep  store  of  aversion  in  the  popular  mind.  So  in. 
the  higher  orders,  his  terrible  determination  to  crush  the 
old  and  powerful  family  of  the  Colonnas,  and  the  stern 
hand  with  which  he  repressed  others  of  the  Italian 
nobles :  his  resolute  Guelfism,  his  invitation  of  Charles 


200  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

of  Valois  into  Italy,  involved  him  in  the  hatefulness  of 
all  Charles's  tyranny  and  oppression.  This  with  his 
own  exile  goaded  the  Guelf-born  Dante  into  a  relent- 
less Ghibelline,  and  doomed  Pope  Boniface  to  an  earthly 
immortality  of  shame  and  torment  in  the  Hell  of  the 
poet.  The  quarrel  with  the  King  of  France,  Philip 
the  Fair,  brought  him  during  his  lifetime  into  formida 
ble  collision  with  a  new  power,  the  strength  of  which 
was  yet  unsuspected  in  Christendom,  that  of  the  law- 
yers, his  fatal  foes ;  and  bequeathed  him  in  later  times 
throughout  the  writings  of  the  French  historians,  and 
even  divines  (French  national  pride  triumphing  over 
the  zeal  of  the  Churchman),  as  an  object  of  hostility 
during  two  centuries  of  the  most  profound  Roman 
Catholic  learning,  and  most  perfect  Roman  Catholic 
eloquence.  The  revolt  against  the  Papal  power  at  the 
Reformation  seized  with  avidity  the  memory  of  one, 
thus  consigned  in  his  own  day,  in  life  and  after  death, 
to  the  blackest  obloquy,  abandoned  by  most  of  his 
natural  supporters,  and  from  whose  broad  and  undis- 
guised assertions  of  Papal  power  later  Popes  had  shrunk 
and  attempted  to  efface  them  from  their  records.  Thus 
Boniface  VIII.  has  not  merely  been  handed  down,  and 
justly,  as  the  Pontiff  of  the  loftiest  spiritual  preten- 
sions, pretensions  which,  in  their  language  at  least, 
might  have  appalled  Hildebrand  or  Innocent  III.,  but 
almost  all  contemporary  history  as  well  as  poetry,  from 
the  sublime  verse  of  Dante  to  the  vulgar  but  vigorous 
rhapsodies  of  Jacopone  da  Todi,  are  full  of  those  strik- 
ing and  unforgotten  touches  of  haughtiness  and  rapacity, 
many  of  which  cannot  be  true,  many  no  doubt  invented 
by  his  enemies,  many  others  are  suspicious,  yet  all  show 
the  height  of  detestation  which,  either  by  adherence  to 


Chap.  VII.  THE  CONCLAVE.  201 

principles  grown  unpopular,  or  by  his  own  arrogance 
and  violence,  he  had  raised  in  great  part  of  Christen- 
dom. Boniface  was  hardly  dead,  when  the  epitaph, 
which  no  time  can  erase,  from  the  impression  of  which 
the  most  candid  mind  strives  with  difficulty  to  emanci- 
pate itself,  was  proclaimed  to  the  unprotesting  Christian 
world :  "  He  came  in  like  a  fox,  he  ruled  like  a  lion, 
he  died  like  a  dog."  Yet  calmer  justice,  as  well  as  the 
awful  reverence  for  all  successors  of  St.  Peter,  and  the 
ardent  corporate  zeal  which  urges  Roman  Catholic 
writers  on  the  forlorn  hope  of  vindicating  every  act 
and  every  edict  of  every  Roman  Pontiff,  have  not  left 
Boniface  VIII.  without  defence ;  some,  indeed,  have 
ventured  to  appeal  to  the  respect  and  admiration  of 
posterity.1 

The  abdication  of  Ccelestine  took  place  on  the  feast 
of  St.  Lucia.  The  law  of  Gregory  X.,  which  Dec  13 
secluded  the  Conclave  in  unapproachable  sep-  ConclaTe- 
aration  from  the  world,  had  been  reenacted,  but  was 
not  enforced  to  its  utmost  rigor.  Latino  Malebranca, 
the  Cardinal  who  had  exercised  so  much  influence  in 
the  election  of  Ccelestine  V.,  had  been  some  months 
dead.  The  old  Italian  interest  was  represented  by  the 
Cardinals  of  the  two  great  houses,  long  opposed  in  their 
fierce  hereditary  hostility,  Guelf  and  Ghibelline,  Matteo 
Rosso  and  Napoleon  the  Orsinis,  and  the  two  Colonnas, 
of  whom  the  elder,  Peter,  was  a  man  of  bold  and  un- 
scrupulous ambition.     But  the  preponderance  of  num- 

1  Cardinal  Wiseman  has  embarked  in  this  desperate  cause  with  consider- 
able learning  and  more  ingenuity.  His  article  in  the  "  Dublin  Review," 
now  reprinted  in  his  Essays,  was  answered  at  the  time  by  a  clever  paper  in 
the  "  British  and  Foreign  Eeview,"  in  which  may  be  traced  an  Italian 
hand.  Since  that  time  have  appeared  Tosti's  panegyrical,  but  not  very 
successful  biography;  and  a  fairer,  more  impartial  Life  by  Drumann;  not, 
however,  in  my  opinion  equal  to  the  subject. 


202  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

bers  was  with  the  new  Cardinals  appointed  by  Ccelestine 
at  the  dictation  of  Charles  of  Naples.  Of  these  thir- 
teen, seven  (one  was  dead)  were  Frenchmen  :  it  might 
seem  that  the  election  must  absolutely  depend  on  the 
will  of  Charles.  Benedetto  Gaetani  stood  alone  ;  he 
was  recommended  by  his  consummate  ability  ;  but  on 
that  account,  too,  he  was  feared,  perhaps  suspected,  by 
all  who  wished  to  rule,  and  few  were  there  in  the  Con- 
clave without  that  wish.  The  strong  reaction  might 
dispose  the  Cardinals  to  elect  a  Pope  of  the  loftiest  spir- 
itual views,  who  might  be  expected  to  rescue  the  Pope- 
dom from  its  present  state  of  impotency  and  contempt : 
but  that  reaction  would  hardly  counterpoise  the  rival 
ambition  of  the  Orsinis  and  Colonnas,  and  the  sworn 
subserviency  of  so  many  to  the  King  of  Naples. 

The  Cardinal  Benedetto  Gaetani  was  of  a  noble  fam- 
Benedetto  ity  m  Anagni,  which  city  from  its  patriciate 
Gaetani.  jm(j  a]rea(jv  given  two  of  its  greatest  Popes 
to  the  chair  of  St.  Peter.  He  was  of  blameless  morals, 
and  unrivalled  in  his  knowledge  of  the  Canon  law, 
equally  unrivalled  in  experience  and  the  despatch  of 
business.  He  had  been  in  almost  every  kingdom  of 
Western  Christendom,  England,  France,  Portugal,  as 
the  representative  of  the  Pope  ;  was  personally  known 
to  most  of  the  monarchs,  and  acquainted  with  the  pol- 
itics and  churches  of  most  of  the  realms  in  Europe. 
It  had  been  at  first  supposed  that  Benedetto  Gaetani, 
who  had  insulted  King  Charles  at  Perugia,  and  had 
haughtily  rebuked  him  for  his  interference  with  the 
Conclave,  would  not  venture  to  Naples.  He  had  come 
the  last,  and  with  reluctance:1  but  his  knowledge  of 

1  See  quotation  above  from  Ptolem.  Luc.  "  Venit  igitur  ultimus,  et  sic 
Ecivit  deducere  sua  negotia,  quod  factus  csset  quasi  Doininus  Curia:."  —  c 
xxii.     Ptolemy  was  present  during  most  of  these  proceedings. 


Chap.  VII.  BENEDETTO  GAETANI.  203 

affairs,  ami  the  superiority  of  his  abilities,  soon  made 
him  master  in  the  deliberations  of  the  Conclave.  The 
abdication  of  Ccelestine  had  been,  if  not  at  his  suo-o-es- 
tion,  urged  on  the  irresolute  and  vacillating  Pope  by 
his  commanding  mind  ;  even  if  the  vulgar  artifices  of 
frightening  him  into  the  determination  were  unneces- 
sary, and  beneath  the  severe  character  of  Gaetani. 
The  Conclave  sat,  in  the  Castel  Nuovo  at  Naples,  for 
ten  days  ;  at  the  close,  Benedetto  Gaetani,  as  it  seemed, 
by  unanimous  consent,  was  declared  Pope.  The  secrets 
of  the  intermediate  proceedings  might  undoubtedly 
transpire ;  the  hostility,  which  almost  immediately  broke 
out  among  all  parties,  would  not  scruple  to  reveal  the 
darkest  intrigues  ;  those  intrigues  would  even  take  the 
most  naked  and  distinct  form.  Private  mutual  under- 
standings would  become  direct  covenants  ;  promises 
made  with  reserve  and  caution,  undisguised  declara- 
tions. The  vulgar  rumors,  therefore,  would  contain 
the  truth,  but  more  than  the  truth.  It  was  no  sudden 
acclamation,  no  deference  at  once  to  the  superiority  of 
Gaetani.  The  long  delay  shows  a  balance  and  strife 
of  parties  ;  the  conqueror  betrays  by  his  success  that 
he  conducted  most  subtly,  or  adroitly,  the  game  of  con- 
quest. Gaetani,  it  is  said,  not  only  availed  himself  of 
the  irreconcilable  hostility  between  the  Orsinis  and 
Colonnas,  but  played  each  against  the  other  with  ex- 
quisite dexterity.  Each  at  length  consented  to  leave 
the  nomination  to  him,*  each  expecting  to  be  named. 
Gaetani  named  himself;  the  Orsini,  Matteo  Rosso,  sub- 
mitted ;  the  Colonnas  betrayed  their  indignation  ;  and 
this,  if  not  the  first,  was  the  deepest  cause  of  the  mut- 
ual  unforgiving   hatred.1      From    that    time    (it    may 

1  Ferretus  Viuceutinus  apud  Muratori,  S.  R.  T.  t.  ix.     Ferrehis,  though 


204  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

however  be  remembered  that  the  Colonnas  were  Ghib- 
elline)  was  implacable  feud  between  the  Pope  and  that 
house.  But  the  Italian  interest,  represented  by  the 
Orsinis  and  Colonnas,  no  longer  ruled  the  Conclave. 
Charles  of  Naples  must  be  propitiated,  for  he  held  per- 
haps twelve  suffrages.  Gaetani  suggested,  it  was  said, 
at  a  midnight  interview  with  Charles,  that  a  weak 
Pontiff  could  not  befriend  the  Kino;  with  half  the 
power  which  might  be  wielded  by  a  strong  one.  "  King 
Charles,  your  Pope  Coelestine  had  the  will  and  the 
power  to  aid  you,  but  knew  not  how ;  influence  the 
Cardinals,  your  friends,  in  my  favor,  I  shall  have  not 
only  the  will  and  the  power,  but  the  knowledge  also  to 
serve  you."1  Charles's  obsequious  Cardinals  gave  their 
vote  for  Gaetani,  it  may  be  presumed  with  the  consent 
or  cognizance  at  least  of  Charles.  Nor  in  justice  can 
it  be  denied  that  if  he  pledged  himself  to  use  every 
effort  for  the  reconquest  of  Sicily,  he  did  more  than 
adhere  with  unshaken  fidelity  to  his  engagements,  even 
when  it  had  been  perhaps  the  better  Papal  policy 
to  have  abandoned  the  cause.  It  was  unquestionably 
through  the  Pope's  consummate  ability,  rather  than  by 
favoring  circumstances  or  the  popularity  of  his  charac- 
ter, that  Charles  afterwards  maintained  the  contest  for 
that  kingdom.  Guelfism,  too,  brought  Charles  and 
Benedetto  Gaetani  into  one  common  interest. 

Benedetto  Gaetani  was  chosen  Pope  with  all  appar- 
ent unanimity  on  the  23d  of  December ;  no  doubt  it 

a  contemporary,  is  by  no  means  an  accurate  writer:  he  has  made  some 
singular  mistakes,  and  he  wrote  at  Vicenza.  Before  it  reached  him,  any 
private  and  doubtful  negotiation,  which  we  can  hardly  question  took  place, 
would  become  positive  and  determinate. 

1  "  lie  Carlo,  il  tuo  Papa  Celestino  t'  ha  voluto  e  potuto  servire,  ma  non 
ha  saputo:  onde  se  tu  adoperi  co'  tuoi  amici  Cardinali  che  io  son  eletto 
PaDa,  io  sapro  e  vorro  e  potro."  —  Villain,  viii.  6. 


Chai\  VII.         INAUGURATION  OF  BONIFACE  VIII.  205 

was  truly  said,  not  to  his  own  dissatisfaction.1  He  took 
the  name  of  Boniface ;  it  was  reported  that  he  intimat- 
ed by  that  name  that  he  was  to  be  known  by  deeds 
rather  than  by  words.  The  abdication,  the  negotiation 
with  the  conflicting  Cardinals,  with  Charles  of  Naples 
Avas  the  work  of  ten  days,  implying  by  its  duration 
strife  and  resistance  ;  by  its  rapidity  despatch,  and  bold- 
ness in  reconciling  strife  and  surmounting  difficulty. 

But  no  sooner  was  Gaetani  Pope,  than  he  yearned 
for  the  independence,  the  sole  supremacy,  of  Rome  or 
the  Roman  dominions ;  he  would  not  be  a  Pope,  the 
instrument  of,  and  in  thrall  to  a  King  at  Naples.  The 
most  pressing  invitations,  the  most  urgent  remonstran- 
ces, would  not  induce  him  to  delay ;  he  hurried  on  by 
Capua,  Monte  Casino,  Anagni.  In  his  native  city  he 
was  welcomed  with  festive  dances ;  everywhere  re- 
ceived with  humble  deference,  deference  which  he  en- 
forced by  his  lofty  demeanor.  At  the  gates  of  Rome 
he  was  met  by  the  militia,  by  the  knighthood,  by  the 
clergy  of  Rome,  chanting  in  triumph,  as  though  the 
Pope  had  escaped  from  prison.  Italy,  Christendom 
were  to  know  that  a  true  Pope  had  ascended  the  throne. 

The  inauguration  of  Boniface  was  the  most  magnifi- 
cent which  Rome  had  ever  beheld.2  In  his  inauguration 
procession  to  St.  Peter's  and  back  to  the  Lat-  Jan.  16, 1295. 

1  "  Electus  est  ipse  non  invitus,  non  gemens."  —  Pepin.  Chronic,  apud 
Muratori,  c.  xli.    Dante  suggests  the  fraudulent  means  of  success:  — 

"  Sei  tu  si  tosto  de  quel  haver  sazio, 
Per  la  qual  non  temesti  torre  a  inganno, 
La  bella  Donna,  e  di  poi  fame  strazio." 

Inferno,  xix.  55. 

2  There  is  a  very  odd  account  of  the  difference  of  the  voices  of  the  Italian 
and  French  clergy  during  this  ceremony :  — 

"  Ille  tonum  Romanus  avet  clarum  diapente, 
llle  canit,  ferit  ille  gravem  quartam  diatesron: 


206  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

eran  palace,  where  he  was  entertained,  he  rode  not  a 
humble  ass,  but  a  noble  white  horse,  richly  capari- 
soned :  he  had  a  crown  on  his  head  ;  the  King  of  Naples 
held  the  bridle  on  one  side,  his  son,  the  King  of  Hun- 
gary, on  the  other.  The  nobility  of  Home,  the  Orsinis, 
the  Colonnas,  the  Savellis,  the  Stefaneschi,  the  Anni- 
baldi,  who  had  not  only  welcomed  him  to  Rome,  but 
conferred  on  him  the  Senatorial  dignity,  followed  in  a 
body  :  the  procession  could  hardly  force  its  way  through 
the  masses  of  the  kneeling  people.  In  the  midst,  a 
furious  hurricane  burst  over  the  city,  and  extinguished 
every  lamp  and  torch  in  the  church.  A  darker  omen 
followed:  a  riot  broke  out  among  the  populace,  in 
which  forty  lives  were  lost.  The  day  after,  the  Pope 
dined  in  public  in  the  Lateran  ;  the  two  Kings  waited 
behind  his  chair.  Before  his  coronation,  Boniface  took 
a  solemn  oath  of  fidelity  to  St.  Peter  and  to  the  Church, 
to  maintain  the  great  mysteries  of  the  faith,  the  decrees 
of  the  eight  General  Councils,  the  ritual  and  Order  of 
the  Church,  not  to  alienate  the  possessions  of  the 
Church,  and  to  restore  discipline.  This  oath  was  un- 
usual (at  least  in  its  length),  it  was  attested  by  a  no- 
tary, and  laid  up  in  the  Pontifical  Archives.1 

Immediately  after  the  consecration,  a  Manifesto  pro- 
claimed to   Christendom  the  voluntary   abdication  of 


Lubricus  in  vocem  nescit  consistere  pernix 
Italus,  ipse  notas  ret'ricans,  ceu  uubila  guttas. 
At  flatu  nielior  vox  Gallica  luge  morosum 
Praecinifc,  et  guerble  '  geiuinans  rctinacula  puueti 
Instar  habet  dure  percussi  iueudibus  aeris." 

Cardin.  St.  George. 

1  Pagi  and  others  have  shown  that  the  profession  of  faith  attached  to  this 
oath  cannot  be  genuine.  Qu.  V  forged  when  Boniface  was  afterwards  ac- 
cused of  heresy  ? 

*  Wirbel,  Germ.  ;  warble,  Engl. 


Chap.  VII.  CCELESTINE  PERSECUTED.  207 

Coelestine,  on  account  of  his  acknowledged  inexperi- 
ence, incapacity,  ignorance  of  secular  affairs,  love  of 
devout  solitude ;  and  the  elevation  of  Boniface,  who 
had  been  compelled  to  accept  the  throne.  But  serious 
and  dangerous  doubts  were  still  entertained,  or  might 
be  made  the  specious  pretext  of  rebellion  against  the 
authority  of  the  Pope.  Did  the  omnipotence  of  the 
Pope  extend  to  the  resignation  of  the  office?  His 
Bull,  empowering  himself  to  abdicate,  and  his  abdica- 
tion, were  without  precedent,  and  contrary  to  some 
canonical  principles.  Already,  if  not  openly  uttered, 
might  be  heard  by  the  quick  and  jealous  ears  of  Boni- 
face some  murmurs  even  among  his  Cardinals.  No 
one  knew  better  the  versatility  of  Rome  and  of  her 
nobles.  Boniface  was  not  the  man  to  allow  advantage 
to  his  adversaries,  and  adversaries  he  knew  well  that 
he  had,  and  would  have  more,  and  those  more  formi- 
dable, if  they  should  gain  possession  of  the  person  of 
Coelestine,  and  use  his  name  for  their  own  anarchical 
purposes.  Coelestine  had  abandoned  the  pomp  and  au- 
thority, he  could  not  shake  off  the  dangers  Coelestine  v. 
and  troubles,  the  jealousies  and  apprehensions  which 
belonged  to  his  former  state.  The  solitude,  in  which 
he  hoped  to  live  and  die  in  peace,  was  closely  watched ; 
he  was  agitated  by  no  groundless  fears,  probably  by 
intimations,  that  it  might  be  necessary  to  invite  him  to 
Rome.  Once  he  escaped,  and  hid  himself  among  some 
other  hermits  in  a  wood.  But  he  could  not  elude  the 
emissaries  of  Boniface.  He  received  a  more  alarming 
warning  of  his  danger,  and  fled  to  the  sea-coast,  in 
order  to  take  refuge  in  the  untrodden  forests  of  Dal- 
matia.  His  little  vessel  was  cast  back  by  contrary 
winds ;  he  was  seized  by  the  Governor  of  Iapygia,  in 


208  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

the  district  of  the  Capitanata.  He  was  sent,  according 
to  the  order  of  Boniface,  to  Anagni.  All  along  the 
road,  for  above  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles,  the  people, 
deeply  impressed  with  the  sanctity  of  Coelestine,  crowd- 
ed around  him  with  perilous  homage.  They  plucked 
the  hairs  of  the  ass  on  which  he  rode,  and  cut  off 
pieces  of  his  garments  to  keep  as  relics.  They  watched 
him  at  night  till  he  went  to  rest ;  they  were  ready  by 
thousands  in  the  early  morning  to  see  him  set  forth  upon 
his  journey.  Some  of  the  more  zealous  entreated  him 
to  resume  the  Pontificate.  The  humility  of  Coelestine 
did  not  forsake  him  for  an  instant ;  everywhere  he  pro- 
tested that  his  resignation  was  voluntary.  He  was 
brought  into  the  presence  of  Boniface.  Like  the  mean- 
est son  of  the  Church,  he  fell  down  at  the  feet  of  the 
Pope  ;  his  only  prayer,  a  prayer  urged  with  tears,  was 
that  he  might  be  permitted  to  return  to  his  desert  her- 
mitage. Boniface  addressed  him  in  severe  language, 
imprison-  He  was  committed  to  safe  custody  in  the  cas- 
ment-  tie  of  Fumone,  watched  day  and   night  by 

soldiers,  like  a  prisoner  of  state.  His  treatment  is  de- 
scribed as  more  or  less  harsh,  according  as  the  writer 
is  more  or  less  favorable  to  Boniface.1  By  one  account, 
his  cell  was  so  narrow  that  he  had  not  room  to  move ; 
where  his  feet  stood  when  he  celebrated  mass  by  day, 
there  his  head  reposed  at  night.  He  obtained  with 
difficulty  permission  for  two  of  his  brethren  to  be  with 
him  ;  but  so  unwholesome  was  the  place,  that  the}r 
were  obliged  to  resign  their  charitable  office.  Accord- 
ing to  another  statement,  the  narrowness  of  his  cell 
was  his  own  choice :  he  was  permitted  to  indulge  in 

1  Ptolem.  Luc,  Stefaneschi.  Vit.  Celest.  apud  Bollandistas,  with  other 
Lives. 


Chap.  VII.    CCELESTINE'S  DEATH  AND  CANONIZATION.    209 

this  meritorious  misery ;  his  brethren  were  allowed  free 
access  to  him ;  he  suffered  no  insult,  but  was  treated 
with  the  utmost  humanity  and  respect.    Death  released 
him    before    long   from    his    spontaneous    or    enforced 
wretchedness.     He  was  seized  with  a  fever,  generated 
perhaps  by  the  unhealthy  confinement,  accustomed  as 
he  had  been  to  the  free  mountain  air.     He  died,  May 
19,  1296,  was  buried  with  ostentatious  publi-  Death, 
city,  that  the  world  might  know  that   Boniface  now 
reigned  without   rival,   in   the   church    of   Ferentino. 
The  Cardinal  Thomas,  his  own  Cardinal,  and  The- 
odoric,  the  Pope's   Chamberlain,   conducted  the  cere- 
monial,  to  which  all   the  prelates  and  clergy  in  the 
neighborhood   were   summoned.1      Countless   miracles 
were  told  of  his  death  :  a  golden  cross  appeared  to  the 
soldiers  shining  above  the  door  of  his  cell :    his  soul 
was   seen  by   a  faithful   disciple  visibly  ascending  to 
heaven.     His  body  became  the  cause  of  a  fierce  quar- 
rel, and  of  a  pious  crime.    It  was  stolen  from  the  grave 
at  Ferentino,  and  carried  to  Aquila.     An  insurrection 
of  the  people  of  Ferentino  was  hardly  quelled  by  the 
Bishop  ;  on  the  assurance,  after  the  visitation  of  the 
tomb,  that  the  heart  of  the  Saint  had  been  fortunately 
left  behind,  they  consented   to  abandon  their  design 
of  vengeance.     Immediately  on  the  death  of  Boniface 
the  canonization  of  Coelestine  was  urgently  demanded, 
especially  by  the  enemies  of  that  Pope.     It  Canonizatioa. 
v\ as  granted  by  Clement  V.     The  monks  of  AD>  1313 
the  Coelestinian  brotherhood  (self-incorporated,  self-or- 
ganized) grew  and  flourished  ;  they  built  convents  in 
many  parts  of  Italy,  even  in  France.    But  the  memory 
of  the  Pope,  who  had  disdained  and  thrown  aside  the 

1  Supplementuin  Vit.  S.  Celestin.  apud  Bollandistas. 

VOL.  VI  14 


21 0  LATLN  CHRISTIANITY.  Boor  XL 

Papal  diadem,  dwelt  with  no  less  veneration  among 
the  Fraticelli,  the  only  true  followers,  as  they  averred, 
and  in  one  respect  justly  averred,  of  St.  Francis.  The 
Codestinians  were  not,  strictly  speaking,  Franciscans ; 
they  were  a  separate  Order  ;  owed  their  foundation,  as 
they  said,  to  the  sainted  Pope,  but  held  the  same  opin- 
ions, sprang  from  the  same  class,  seem  at  length  to  have 
merged  into  and  mingled  with  the  lower  and  more 
fanatic  of  the  Minorites.  Of  them,  and  of  the  place 
assigned  to  Coelestine  in  the  visions  of  the  Abbot  Joa- 
chim, the  Book  of  the  Eternal  Gospel,  and  in  all  the 
prophecies  spread  abroad  by  these  wild  sects,  more 
hereafter. 

Boniface  surveyed  Christendom  with  the  haughty 
glance  of  a  master,  but  not  altogether  with  the  cool 
and  penetrating  wisdom  of  a  statesman.  Noble  visions 
of  universal  pacification,  of  new  crusades,  of  that  glo- 
rious but  impracticable  scheme  of  uniting  Europe  in 
one  vast  confederacy  against  Saracenic  sway,  swept  be- 
fore his  thoughts.  To  a  mind  like  his,  which  held  it  to 
be  sacrilege  or  impiety  to  recede  from  any  claim  once 
made  by  the  See  of  Rome  and  acknowledged  by  the 
ignorance,  interests,  or  weakness  of  the  temporal  sov- 
ereign, the  Papacy  was  a  perilous  height  on  which  the 
steadiest  head  might  become  dizzy  and  lose  its  self-com- 
mand. From  Naples  to  Scotland  the  Papal  supremacy 
was  in  possession  of  full,  established,  and  acknowledged 
power,  which  took  cognizance  of  the  moral  acts  of 
sovereigns,  their  private  life,  their  justice,  humanity, 
respect  for  the  rights  of  their  subjects.  It  was  thus 
absolutely  illimitable.  Besides  this,  the  Popes  held  an 
actual  feudal  suzerainty  over  some  of  the  smaller  king- 
doms, admitted  by  theii  kings  in  times  of  weakness,  or 


Chap.  VII.        ASSUMED  POWERS  OF  THE  POPE.  211 

in  order  to  legalize  the  usurpation  of  the  throne  by 
some  new  dynasty.  For  this  power  they  could  cite 
precedent,  more  or  less  venerable,  recognized,  uncon- 
tested ;  and  precedent  was  universally  held  the  great 
foundation  of  such  tenure.  It  was  an  axiom  of  the 
Papal  policy  that  rights,  superiorities,  sovereignties, 
once  claimed  by  the  Pope,  belonged  to  the  Pope :  he 
claimed  Corsica  and  Sardinia,  partly  as  islands,  partly 
as  said  to  have  formed  a  portion  of  the  domains  of  the 
Countess  Matilda,  and  then  granted  Corsica  and  Sar- 
dinia as  his  own  inalienable,  incontestable  property. 
Not  only  Naples  and  Sicily,  Arragon,  Portugal,  Hun- 
gary, Bohemia,  Scotland,  England  —  it  was  averred, 
though  the  indignant  nation  still  repudiated,  or  but  re- 
luctantly acknowledged,  the  submission  of  John,  and, 
still  while  it  paid  irregularly,  murmured  against  the 
tribute  —  had  been  ceded  as  fiefs,  or  were  claimed  as 
owing  that  kind  of  allegiance.  Over  the  Empire  the 
Pope  still  asserted  the  privilege  of  the  Pope's  at  least 
ratifying  the  election,  of  deposing  the  Emperor  who 
might  invade  or  violate  the  rights  of  the  Roman  See, 
rights  indefinite  and  interpreted  by  his  sole  authority, 
against  which  lay  no  appeal.  Even  in  France  the 
ruling  dynasty  was  liable  to  be  reminded  that  the 
throne  had  been  conferred  by  Pope  Zacharias  on  Pepin 
the  father  of  Charlemagne ;  so  too  on  the  Papal  sanc- 
tion rested  its  later  transferrence  to  the  House  of  Capet. 
Throughout  Christendom  the  Pope  had  a  kingdom  of 
his  own  within  every  kingdom.  The  clergy,  possessing 
a  vast  portion,  in  some  countries  more  than  half  the 
land  and  wealth,  and  of  unbounded  influence,  owed  to 
him  their  first  allegiance.  They  were  assessable  and 
to   be  taxed  only  for  him   or  by   his  authority ;  and, 


2V2  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

though  occasionally  refractory,  occasionally  more  true 
to  their  national  descent  and  their  national  pride  than 
to  their  sacerdotal  interests,  and  sometimes  standing 
strongly  on  their  separate  hierarchical  independence, 
yet  as  they  held  their  independence  of  the  civil  power, 
their  immunities  from  taxation,  their  distinct  sacred 
character,  chiefly  from  the  Pope,  and  looked  to  his 
spiritual  arms  for  their  security  and  protection,  they 
were  everywhere  his  subjects  in  the  first  instance. 
And  besides  the  clergy,  and  compelling  the  clergy 
themselves  to  more  unlimited  Papal  obedience,  the  mo- 
nastic orders,  more  especially  the  Friars,  were  his  great 
standing  army,  his  garrison  throughout  the  Christian 
world. 

Boniface  had  visited  many  countries  in  Europe.  It 
Boniface  as  *s  asserted  that  in  his  youth  he  studied  law  in 
TnTL^rdi-  Paris,  and  even  that  he  had  been  canon  in 
naL  that  church.1     He  had  accompanied  the  Car- 

dinal Ottobuoni  to  England,  when  sent  by  Alexander 
IV.  to  offer  the  crown  of  Sicily  to  the  Prince  Edmund. 
He  had  been  joined  in  a  mission  with  Matteo,  Cardinal 
of  Acqua  Sparta,  to  adjust  the  conflicting  claims  of 
Charles  of  Anjou  and  Sicily,  and  of  Rodolph,  King  of 
the  Romans,  to  the  inheritance  of  Provence.  The 
treaty,  which  he  drew,  placed  the  Pope  in  the  high 
office  of  arbiter  in  temporal  as  in  spiritual  matters.  In 
any  dispute  as  to  the  fulfilment  or  interpretation  of  the 
treaty  the  two  Kings  submitted  themselves  absolutely 
to  the  judgment  of  the  Pope.2     For  his  success  in  this 


i  Du  Boulay,  Hist.  Univers.  Paris.  Tosti,  Storia  di  Bonifazio  VIII.  to  p. 
31.  He  was  canon  also  of  Anagni,  of  Todi,  of  Lyons,  of  St.  Peter  in 
Rome.     He  was  also  Apostolic  Notary. 

2  Raynald.  sub  ami.  1280. 


Chap.  VII.       EARLY  CAREER  OF  BONIFACE  VIII.  213 

legation  Gaetani  had  been  rewarded  with  the  Cai  dinal- 
ate.  Gaetani  had  been  employed  to  dissuade  Charles 
of  Anjou  from  his  duel  at  Bordeaux  with  the  King  of 
Arragon.  He  had  sat  in  Rome  in  a  commission  upon 
the  ecclesiastical  affairs  of  Portugal.  The  student  of 
law  in  the  University  of  Paris  returned  to  that  city  as 
Papal  Legate  (with  the  Cardinal  of  Parma)  from  Nico- 
las IV.  They  had  the  difficult  commission  to  demand 
the  refunding  the  tenths  raised  by  Philip  the  Bold  for  a 
Crusade  to  the  Holy  Land,  from  his  son  Philip  the 
Fair.  He  had  thus  experience  of  the  stem  rapacity  of 
Philip  the  Fair,  his  defiance  of  all  authority,  even  that 
of  the  Pope,  in  affairs  of  money.  He  had  to  allay  the 
other  most  intense  and  dominant  passion  of  the  same 
Philip  the  Fair,  hatred  and  jealousy  of  Edward  I., 
King  of  England.  On  the  first  question  he  presided 
in  a  synod  held  in  the  church  of  St.  Genevieve,  a  synod 
which  ended  in  nothing.  On  the  second  point  Philip 
was  equally  impracticable ;  he  coldly  repelled  the  ad- 
vice which  would  reconcile  him  with  his  detested  rival. 
The  same  Legates  at  Tarascon  had  been  in-  Feb.  is,  1291 
structed  to  arrange  the  treaty  between  France,  Charles 
of  Naples,  and  Alfonso  of  Arragon.  The  peace  had 
been  settled,  but  broken  off  by  the  death  of  King  Al- 
fonso. 

But  in  all  his  travels  and  his  intercourse  with  these 
sovereigns,  Boniface  had  not  discerned,  or  his  haughty 
aierarchical  spirit  had  refused  to  see,  the  revolution 
which  had  been  slowly  working  throughout  Christen- 
dom :  in  France  the  growth  of  the  royal  power  ;  in 
England  the  aspirations  after  religious  as  well  as  civil 
freedom  ;  the  advance  of  the  Universities  ;  the  rise  of 
the  civil  lawyers,  who  were  to  meet  the  clergy  on  their 


214  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI 

own  ground,  and  wrest  from  them  the  supremacy,  or  at 
least  to  confront  them  on  equal  terms  in  the  field  of 
jurisprudence  —  a  lettered  order,  bound  together  by 
as  strong  a  corporate  spirit,  and  often  hostile  to  the 
ecclesiastical  canonists.  Boniface  had  not  discovered 
that  the  Papal  power  had  reached,  had  passed  its 
zenith  ;  that  his  attempt  to  raise  it  even  higher,  to 
exhibit  it  in  a  more  naked  and  undisguised  form  than 
had  been  dared  by  Gregory  VII.  or  Innocent  III., 
would  shake  it  to  its  base. 

Boniface  was  bound  by  gratitude  to  Charles,  King 
Boniface  and  of  Naples,  claimant  of  Sicily,  perhaps  by  a 

Charles  of  l  ,  .  .  i       •  ,  . 

Naples.  plighted  or  understood  covenant   during  his 

election.  His  first  act  was  one  of  haughty  leniency : 
he  granted  a  remission  of  any  forfeiture  of  the  fief  of 
Naples  which  might  have  been  incurred  by  his  father, 
Charles  of  Anjou,  or  by  Charles  himself,  for  not  hav- 
ing fulfilled  the  conditions  of  his  vassalage.  If  either 
should  have  become  liable,  not  merely  to  forfeiture,  but 
to  excommunication,  as  having  violated  any  one  of  the 
covenants  imposed  by  his  liege  lord  the  Church,  had 
neglected  or  refused  to  pay  the  stipulated  tribute,  and 
thereby  incurred  deprivation,  the  Pope  condescended 
to  grant  absolution  on  the  condition  of  full  satisfaction 
to  the  Church.1  On  the  sudden  death  of  Charles 
of  Hungary,  during  the  absence  of  King  Charles  of 
Naples,  the  Pope  acted  at  once  as  Liege  Lord  of  Hun- 
gary, appointed  his  Legate  Landulph,  and  afterwards, 
yielding  to  the  petitions  of  the  people,  the  Queen  Maria 
as  Regent  of  the  realm. 

The  interests  of  the  Papal  See,  no  less  than  his  alli- 
ance with  Charles  of  Naples,  bound  Pope  Boniface  to 

1  Bull,  apud  Raynaldum. 


Chap.  VII.        AFFAIRS   OF  SICILY  AND  NAPLES.  215 

reconcile,  if  possible,  the  conflicting  pretensions  of  the 
Houses  of  Anjou  and  Arragon.  The  Arragonese,  not- 
withstanding the  reiterated  grants  of  the  kingdom  of 
Sicily  to  the  Angevine,  notwithstanding  the  most  sol- 
emn excommunications,  and  the  most  strenuous  war- 
fare of  the  combined  Papal  and  Angevine  armies,  had 
still  obstinately  maintained  their  title  by  descent,  elec- 
tion of  the  people,  actual  possession.  The  throne  of 
Sicily  had  successively  passed  down  the  whole  line 
of  brothers,  from  Peter  to  Alfonso,  from  Alfonso  to 
James,  from  James  it  had  devolved,  in  fact,  if  not  by 
any  regular  grant  or  title,  through  assent  or  conni- 
vance, on  the  more  active  and  ambitious  Frederick. 

During  the  reign  of  the  more  peaceful  James  a 
treaty  had  been  agreed  to.  Two  marriages,  to  which 
Pope  Coelestine  removed  the  canonical  impediments, 
ratified  the  peace.  James  of  Arragon  was  espoused 
to  Blanche,  the  daughter  of  Charles ;  Robert,  son  of 
Charles,  to  Iolante,  the  sister  of  James.1  Throughout 
this  whole  transaction  the  Pope  (now  Boniface)  as- 
sumed, and  it  should  seem  without  protest,  the  power 
to  grant  the  kingdoms  of  Arragon  and  Valencia.  In 
the  surrender  of  those  kingdoms  by  Charles  of  Valois, 
he  insisted  on  the  full  recognition  that  he  had  held 
them  by  grant  of  the  Pope.  They  were  regranted  to 
James  of  Arragon,  who  on  this  tenure  did  not  scruple 
to  accept,  as  the  successor  of  his  brother  Alfonso,  the 
hereditary  dominions  of  his  house.  "All  who  June24 
presumed  to  impede  or  to  disturb  this  peace  1295, 
were  solemnly  excommunicated  at  Anagni  on  St.  John 
the  Baptist's  day. 

But  the  younger  branches  of  the  house  of  Arragon 
had  not  been  so  easily  overawed  by  the  terrors  of  the 

1  liricfe  in  itivnil  |m    1211 


216  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

Church  to  abandon  the  rich  inheritance  of  Sicily,  nor 
was  Sicily,  yet  reeking  with  the  blood  shed  at  the  Ves- 
pers, prepared  to  submit  to  the  vengeance  of  the  house 
of  Anjou.  The  deep,  inextinguishable  hatred  of  the 
French  was  in  the  hearts  of  all  orders  ;  it  was  nursed 
by  the  remembrance  of  their  merciless  oppressions ; 
the  satisfaction  of  revenge  once  glutted,  and  the  fear 
that  the  revolt,  the  Vesper  massacre,  and  the  years  of 
war,  would  be  even  more  terribly  atoned  for.  Boni- 
face knew  the  bold  and  ambitious  character  of  Fred- 
erick, the  younger  son  of  the  house  of  Arragon.  He 
had  a  splendid  lure  for  him  —  no  less  than  the  Empire 
of  Constantinople.  The  Pope  invited  him  to  a  confer- 
ence. Frederick  appeared  on  the  coast  of  Italy  with 
a  powerful  and  well-appointed  fleet,  accompanied  by 
John  of  Procida  and  the  great  Admiral  Roger  Loria, 
at  Velletri.  The  Pope  offered  him  the  hand  of  Cath- 
erine Courtenay,  the  daughter  of  Philip,  titular  Latin 
Emperor  of  the  East :  all  the  powers  of  the  West 
were  to  confederate  and  place  her,  with  her  young 
and  valiant  husband,  on  the  Byzantine  throne.  To 
her  likewise  he  had  written,  under  the  magnificent  title 
of  Empress  of  Constantinople,  in  a  tone  of  parental 
persuasion  and  spiritual  authority,  urging  her  to  give 
her  hand  to  the  brave  Prince  of  Arragon.1  By  so 
doing  she  would  show  herself  a  worthy  descendant 
of  her  grandfather  Baldwin  and  her  father  Philip,  a 
dutiful  daughter  of  the  Church  ;  she  would  not  merely 
gain  the  glorious  crown  of  her  ancestors,  but  restore 
the  erring  and  schismatical  Greeks  to  their  obedience 
to  the  Holy  See.2 

1  Nicol.  Special,  ii.  21.     Compare  Amari,  p.  363,  ch.  xiv. 

2  Brief  of  the  Pope  to  Catherine  of  Courtenay,  Rayrald.  sub  aim.  1296 
f27th  June). 


Chap.  vn.  TREATY  CONCLUDED.  217 

A  treaty  was^Ebrmed  on  the  following  terms.  Charles 
of  Valois  fully  surrendered  his  empty  title  to  Arragon, 
and  acquired  a  title  (as  empty  it  proved)  to  the  throne 
of  Corsica  and  Sardinia,  with  large  subsidies  in  money. 
James  of  Arraoon  had  the  full  recognition  of  his  right 
to  the  throne  of  Arragon,  which  he  already  possessed, 
peace,  and  the  shame  of  having  abandoned  his  brother 
and  the  claim  of  the  house  of  Arragon  to  the  throne 
of  Sicily.  The  Pope  secured,  as  he  fondly  hoped 
throughout,  the  lasting  gratitude  of  Charles  of  Valois, 
the  glory  of  having  commanded  peace,  and  the  vain 
hope  that  he  had  deluded  Frederick  to  surrender  the 
actual  possession  of  the  throne  of  Sicily  for  a  visionary 
empire  in  the  East,  which  the  Pope  assumed  the  power, 
not  of  granting,  but  of  having  bestowed  with  the  hand 
of  the  heiress  to  that  barren  title,  Catherine  of  Cour- 
tenay.  "  A  princess  without  a  foot  of  land  must  not 
wed  a  prince  without  a  foot  of  land ;  she  was  to  bring 
her  imperial  dowry." l 

But  the  youthful  Prince  Frederick  of  Arragon  was 
not  so  easily  tempted  by  the  astute  Pontiff.  He  re- 
quired time  for  consideration,  and  returned  with  his 
fleet  to  Sicily.  Nor  was  James  of  Arragon  so  abso- 
lutely in  earnest,  nor  so  determined  on  the  surrender 
of  his  hereditary  claims  on  Sicily.  In  public  he  dared 
not  own  the  treaty.  Envoys  were  sent  from  Palermo 
to  demand  whether  he  had  actually  ceded  the  island  to 
the  Pope  and  the  King  of  Naples.  -King  James  was 
forced  to  acknowledge  that  he  had  done  so.  On  the 
publication  of  his  answer,  there  was  a  cry  in  the  streets 
of  Palermo,  "  What  sorrow  is  like  unto  our  sorrow  ?  " 
But  in  secret,  it  was  said,  King  James  had  more  than 

i  Brief  of  Pope  Boniface,  Raynald.  1296,  c.  9. 


218  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

suggested  resistance.  He  was  asked,  "  How,  then, 
shall  Prince  Frederick  act  ?  "  *  He  is  a  soldier,  and 
knows  his  duty ;  ye,  too,  know  your  duty."  John  of 
Calamandra  was  sent  by  the  Pope  to  Messina  to  offer 
a  blank  parchment  to  the  Sicilians,  on  which  they  were 
to  inscribe  whatever  exemptions,  immunities,  or  securi- 
ties, might  tempt  the  nation  to  acknowledge  the  treaty. 
A  noble,  Peter  de  Ansalo,  drew  his  sword,  "  It  is  by 
the  sword,  not  by  parchments,  that  Sicily  will  win 
peace."  The  Papal  Envoy  left  the  island  with  all  the 
haste  of  terror.1 

Frederick  was  crowned  in  the  Cathedral  of  Palermo, 
March  21  on  Easter  Day,  with  the  acclamation  of  all 
im  Sicily,  determined  to  resist  to  the  utmost  the 

abhorred  dominion  of  the  French.  He  sailed  instantly 
with  a  powerful  fleet,  subjected  Reggio  and  the  country 
around,  and  threatened  the  whole  kingdom  of  Naples. 
On  Ascension  Day  the  Pope  condemned  Frederick  and 
the  Sicilians  by  a  bull,  couched,  if  possible,  in  more 
than  ordinarily  terrific  phrases.  He  heaped  up  charges 
of  perfidy,  usurpation,  impiety,  contempt  of  God  and 
of  his  Church  ;  he  annulled  absolutely  and  entirely  the 
election  of  Frederick  as  King  of  Sicily ;  he  threatened 
with  excommunication,  with  the  extremest  spiritual  and 
temporal  penalties,  all  who  should  not  instantly  aban- 
don his  cause  ;  he  forbade  all  who  owned  spiritual 
allegiance  to  Rome  to  enter  into  treaty  with  him  ;  and 
he  revoked  all  indulgences,  privileges,  or  immunities, 
granted  at  any  time  to  the  kingdom  of  Sicily,  more 
especially  all  granted  to  those  concerned  in  the  conse- 
cration or  rather  execration  of  the  usurping  King.  The 
Sicilians,  strong  in  their   patriotism  and  their  hatred 

1  Montaner,  Nic  Special,  ii.  22. 


Chap.  VII.  KINGDOM  OF  SICILY.  219 

of  the  French  dominion,  despised  these  idle  fulmina- 
tions.  Charles  must  prepare  for  war,  or  rather  the  Pope 
in  the  name  of  Charles.  But  the  resources  of  Naples 
were  altogether  exhausted  ;  King  Charles  had  paid  a 
large  sum  to  James  of  Arragon  for  the  renunciation  of 
his  rights,  and  borrowed  more  of  the  Pope.  Boniface 
was  at  once  rapacious  and  liberal.  He  put  off  the  day 
for  the  discharge  of  the  first  debt,  and  furnished  five 
thousand  ounces  of  gold.  Charles  was  empowered  to 
tax  the  Church  property  in  his  realm  for  this  pious  war, 
waged  to  maintain  the  rights  of  the  Church. 

The  war  of  Sicily  continued  almost  to  the  close  of 
the  Pontificate  of  Boniface  VIII.  King  James  of  Ar- 
ragon was  summoned  by  the  inflexible  Pope  to  assist  in 
wresting  the  kingdom  from  his  brother ;  he  received 
the  title  of  standard-bearer  of  the  Church.  James 
obeyed  with  enforced  but  ostentatious  obsequiousness. 
Yet  he  was  suspected,  perhaps  not  without  reason,  of  a 
traitorous  reluctance  to  conquer.1  The  war  dragged 
on,  aggressive  on  the  side  of  Frederick  against  Naples, 
rather  than  endangering  Sicily.  Roger  de  Loria,  af- 
fronted by  an  untimely  suspicion  of  perfidy,  a.d.  1297. 
yielded  to  the  temptation  of  the  principality  over  two 
barren  islands  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  conquered  from 
the  Moors.  The  revolted  Sicilian  Admiral  July  4, 1299. 
inflicted  a  terrible  discomfiture  on  the  fleet  of  his  for- 
mer sovereign,  Frederick.  But  in  the  same  year  Fred- 
erick revenged  himself  by  the  total  defeat  of  the  army 
of  Charles  of  Naples  on  the  plains  of  Formicaria,  and 

1  "  Quod  si  sacer  Princeps  Ecclesiae  ipsum  ad  hsec  per  edicta  t-erenda 
prorsus  impellat.  se  licet  invitum,  Dei  magis  quam  hominum  oftensam  me- 
tuentem,  necesse  quidem  esse  favorabiliter  obsequi.  Cupiebat  enim  fratria 
ruinam,  sed  ut  omnis  objectio  legitima  causa  vestiretur,  compelli  voluit." 
—  Ferret.  Vicentin.  apud  Muratori,  S.  R.  T.  xi.  p.  959. 


220  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

the  capture  of  his  son  Philip  of  Tarento.  In  the  next 
a.d.  1302.  year  another  naval  victory  raised  still  higher 
the  fame  of  Roger  Loria,  who  seemed  to  carry  with 
him,  whichever  cause  he  espoused,  the  dominion  of  the 
sea.  But  the  invasion  of  Sicily  was  baffled  by  the 
prudence  and  Fabian  policy  of  King  Frederick.  The 
Pope,  at  length  weary  of  the  expenditure,  suspecting 
the  lukewarm  aid  of  James  of  Arragon,  and  not  yet 
in  open  breach  with  Philip  King  of  France,  summoned 
Philip's  brother,  Charles  of  Valois,  whose  successes  in 
Flanders  had  obtained  for  him  the  fame  of  a  great  gen- 
eral, to  aid  the  final  conquest  of  Sicily.  Perhaps  he 
meditated  the  transferrence  of  the  crown  of  Naples  and 
Affairs  of  Sicily  from  the  feeble  descendants  of  the  house 
Sicily.  0f  Anjou  to  the  more  powerful   Charles  of 

Valois.  The  summons  to  Charles  of  Valois  was,  as 
the  invitation  to  French  princes  by  the  Pope  to  take 
part  in  Italian  affairs  has  ever  been,  fatal  to  the  liber- 
ties and  welfare  of  Italy,  ruinous  to  the  Popes  them- 
selves. He  did  but  crush  the  liberties  of  Florence,  and 
left  the  excommunicated  Frederick  on  the  throne  of 
Sicily.1  u  He  came,"  says  the  historian,  "  to  bring 
peace  to  Florence,  and  brought  war ;  to  wage  war 
against  Sicily,  and  concluded  an  ignominious  peace." 
His  invasion  of  Sicily  with  an  overwhelming  force  only 
made  more  obstinate  the  resistance  of  the  Sicilians : 
they  met  him  not  in   the  field ;   they  allowed  him  to 

1  "  Tempo  veggio  non  molto  doppo  anchoi 

Che  tragge  un  altro  Carlo  fuor  di  Francia, 
Per  far  meglio  conoscer  se  e'  i  suoi ; 
Senz'  arme  n'  esca  solo ;  e  con  la  lancia 
Con  la  quel  giostra  Giuda;  e  quella  punta 
Si,  che  a  Fiorenza  fa  scoppiar  la  pancia." 

Pur  gat.  xx.  70. 


Chap.  VII.  BONIFACE  A  GUELF.  221 

wear  away  his  army  in  vain  successes.1  Boniface  heard 
before  his  death  that  a  treaty  of  peace  had  been  sealed, 
leaving  Frederick  in  peaceable  possession  of  the  whole 
island  for  his  lifetime,  under  the  title  of  King  of  Tri- 
nacria.  The  only  price  which  he  paid  was  the  accept- 
ance as  his  wife  of  a  daughter  of  the  house  of  Anjou. 
Frederick  of  Arragon,  notwithstanding  the  terms  of 
the  treaty,  by  which  on  his  death  the  crown  of  Sicily 
was  to  revert  to  the  King  of  Naples,  handed  it  quietly 
down  to  his  own  posterity.  But  we  must  return  here- 
after to  Charles  of  Valois. 

Boniface  aspired  to  be  the  pacificator  of  Italy,  but  it 
was  not  by  a  lofty  superiority  to  the  passions  Boniface 
of  the  times,  by  tempering  the  ferocity  of  the  a  Guelf 
conflicting  factions,  and  with  a  stern  but  impartial  jus- 
tice repressing  Guelf  and  Ghibelline  ;  it  was  rather  by 
avowedly  proclaiming  himself  the  head  of  the  Guelfic 
interest,  seizing  the  opportunity  of  the  feebleness  of  the 
Empire  to  crush  all  the  Imperialist  faction,  and  to  an- 
nul all  the  Imperial  rights  in  Italy.  Anagni  had  been 
a  Ghibelline  city ;  the  Gaetani  a  Ghibelline  family. 
But  in  Boniface  the  Churchman  had  long  struggled  tri- 
umphantly against  the  Ghibelline  ;  the  Papacy  wrought 
him  at  once  into  a  determined  Guelf.  Even  before  his 
pontificate  he  had  connected  himself  with  the  Orsini, 
the  enemies  of  his  enemies,  the  Colonnas.  The  Ghibel- 
lines  spread  stories  about  Pope  Boniface ;  true  or  false, 
naked  or  exaggerated  truth,  they  fourid  ready  credence. 
The  Ghibellines  were  masters,  through  the  Orsis  and 
Spinolas,  of  Genoa;  the  Archbishop  Stephen  Porchetto 
was  of  that  family.  In  the  solemn  service  of  the 
Church,  when  the  Pope  strews  ashes  on  the  heads  of 

1  The  war  may  be  read  fully  and  well  told  in  the  last  chapter  of  Amari. 


222  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  Xi. 

all,  to  admonish  them  of  the  nothingness  of  man,  in- 
stead of  the  usual  words,  Boniface  broke  out,  "  Ghibel- 
line,  remember  that  thou  art  dust,  and  with  all  other 
Gbibellines  to  dust  thou  shalt  return."  l 

The  Colonnas  centred  in  themselves  everything 
which  could  keep  alive  the  well-grounded  fear,  the 
jealousy,  the  vindictiveness  of  the  Pope,  as  well  as 
justify  his  desire  of  order,  of  law,  and  of  peace.  They 
had  Ghibellinism,  power,  wealth,  lawlessness,  ill-con- 
cealed doubts  of  his  title  to  the  Papacy,  no  doubt  am- 
bition to  transfer  the  Papacy  to  themselves.  Under 
Nicolas  IV.  they  had  ruled  supreme  over  the  Pope  ; 
under  Gaetani,  would  they  endure  to  be  nothing?  All 
the  Papacy  could  give  or  add  to  their  vast  possessions, 
titles,  ranks,  were  theirs,  or  had  been  theirs  but  a  few 
years  ago.  They  had  long  been  the  great  Ghibelline 
house.  In  Rome,  still  more  in  the  Romagna,  they  had 
fortresses  held  to  be  impregnable  —  Palestrina,  Nepi, 
Zagaruola,  Colonna  ;  and  these  gave  them,  if  not  the 
absolute  command  of  the  region,  the  power  of  plunder- 
ing and  tyrannizing  with  impunity.  Nor  was  that 
power  under  any  constraint  for  respect  of  sacred  things, 
of  humanity,  or  of  justice.  They  might  become  what 
the  Counts  and  Nobles  of  former  centuries  had  been, 
masters  of  the  Papal  territories,  of  the  Papacy  itself. 

The  Colonnas  were  strong,  as  has  been  seen,  even  in 
the  conclave,  in  which  sat  two  Cardinals  of  that  house. 
The  death  of  Ccelestine  had  not  removed  all  doubt  as 
to  the  validity  of  the  election  of  Boniface.  No  one 
knew  better  than  Boniface  how  the  Colonnas  had  been 

1  This,  according  to  Muratori,  if  ever  said,  must  have  heen  said  to  Arch- 
bishop Porchetto,  who  succeeded  Jacob  a  Voragine  (author  of  the  Legend* 
Aurea).  —  Muratori,  S.  Ii.  I.  ix.     Note  on  Jacob  a  Voragine,  p.  10. 


Chap.  VII.     ACCUSATIONS  AGAINST  THE  COLONNAS.       223 

deceived  into  giving  their  favorable  suffrages,  bow 
deeply,  if  silently,  they  already  repented  of  their  weak- 
ness ;  how  ready  they  would  be  to  fall  back  on  the 
illegality  of  the  whole  affair.  There  can  be  little  ques- 
tion that  they  were  watching  the  opportunity  of  revolt 
as  eagerly  as  Boniface  that  of  crushing  the  detested 
house  of  Colonna.  It  concerned  his  own  security 
not  less  than  that  of  the  Papacy :  the  uncontested 
sovereignty  of  the  Pope  over  his  own  dominions  ;  the 
permanent  rescue  of  the  throne  of  St.  Peter  from  the 
tyranny  of  a  fierce  and  unscrupulous  host  of  bandit 
chieftains,  and  from  Ghibellines  at  the  gates  of  Rome, 
and  even  in  Rome.1 

The  Colonnas  were  so  ill-advised,  or  so  unable  to 
restrain  each  other,  as  to  give  a  plausible  reason,  and 
more  than  one  reason,  for  the  Pope  to  break  out  in 
just  it  seemed,  if  implacable,  resentment.  The  Colon- 
na, who  held  the  city  of  Palestrina,  surprised  and  car- 
ried off  on  the  road  to  Anagni  a  rich  caravan  of 
furniture  belonging  to  the  Pope.  The  crime  of  one 
was  the  crime  of  all.  But  heavier  charges  were  not 
wanting  which  involved  the  whole  house.  They  were 
accused  of  conspiracy,  as  doubtless  they  had  conspired 
in  their  wishes  if  not  in  overt  acts,  with  Frederick  of 
Arragon  and  the  Sicilians.  It  was  said  that  they  had 
openly  received  in  Palestrina  Francis  Crescentio  and 
Nicolas  Pazzi,  citizens  of  Rome,  envoys  from  Fred- 
erick of   Arragon.2     There  is  a  dark  indication  that 

1  Compare  Raynaldus,  sub  ann.  1297,  p.  233. 

2Muratori  doubts  this  (p.  256);  it  is  not  brought  forward  as  a  specific 
charge  by  the  Pope,  but  for  this  the  Pope  might  have  his  reasons.  It  is 
asserted  by  Villani,  viii.  21;  Ptolem.  Lucen.  in  Annal.  Chronicon  Foro- 
liviens.  S.  H.  T.  xxii.  Tosti  has  rather  ostentatiously  brought  forward  a 
new  cause  of  hostility.     Cardinal  James  Colonna  was  trustee  for  his  three 


224  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

already   France   was   tampering   in    the  opposition  to 
Boniface.1 

A  Bull  came  forth  denouncing  the  whole  family, 
Papal  Buii      their  ancestors,  as  well  as  the  present  race, 

against  the  .,.,...  , 

coionnas.  with  indiscriminate  condemnation,  but  con- 
centring all  the  penalty  on  the  two  Cardinals.3 
u  Having  taken  into  consideration  the  wicked  acts 
of  the  Coionnas  in  former  times,  their  present  mani- 
fest relapse  into  their  hereditary  guiltiness,  and  our 
just  fears  of  their  former  misdeeds,  it  is  clear  as 
daylight  that  this  odious  house  of  Colonna,  cruel  to 
its  subjects,  troublesome  to  its  neighbors,  the  enemy 
of  the  Roman  Republic,  rebellious  against  the  Holy 
Roman  Church,  the  disturber  of  the  public  peace  in 
the  city  and  in  the  territory  of  Rome,  impatient  of 
equals,  ungrateful  for  benefits,  stranger  to  humility, 
and  possessed  by  madness,  having  neither  fear  nor 
respect  for  man,  and  an  insatiable  lust  to  throw  the 
city  and  the  whole  world  into  confusion,  has  endeav- 
ored (here  follow  the  specific  charges)  to  instigate 
our  dear  sons  James  of  Arragon  and  the  noble  youth 
Frederick  to  rebellion."  The  Pope  then  avows  that 
he  had  summoned  the  Coionnas  to  surrender  their 
castles  of  Palestrina,  Colonna,  and  Zagaruola,  into 
his  hands.  Their  refusal  to  obey  this  imperious  de- 
mand was  at  once  the  proof  and  the  aggravation  of 
their  disloyalty.  "  Believing,  then,"  he  proceeds, 
"  the  rank  of  Cardinal  held  by  these  stubborn  and 
intractable  men   to   be  a  scandal   to  the  faithful,  we 


brothers,  and  robbed  them  of  their  property.    They  appealed  to  the  Pope. 
From  Patrini,  Memorie  Penestrine.    Rome,  1795. 

1  See  note  p.  226. 

«  The  Ball  in  Raynaldus,  A.  d.  1297. 


Chap.  VII.      REPLY  OF  THE  COLONNAS.  225 

Lave  determined,  after  trying  those  milder  measures 
(tlie  demand  of  the  unconditional  surrender  of  their 
castles),  in  the  strength  of  the  power  of  the  Most 
High,  to  subdue  the  pride  of  the  aforesaid  James 
and  Peter,  to  crush  their  arrogance,  to  cast  them 
forth  as  diseased  sheep  from  the  fold,  to  depose  them 
forever  from  their  high  station. "  He  goes  on  to  de- 
prive them  of  all  their  ecclesiastical  rank  and  revenues, 
to  declare  them  excommunicate,  and  to  threaten  with 
the  severest  censures  of  the  Church  all  who  should 
thenceforth  treat  them  as  Cardinals,  or  in  any  way 
befriend  their  cause.  Such  partisans  were  to  be  con- 
sidered in  heresy,  schism,  and  rebellion,  to  lose  all 
ecclesiastical  rank,  dignity,  or  bishopric,  and  to  forfeit 
their  estates.  The  descendants  of  one  branch  were 
declared  incapable,  to  the  fourth  generation,  of  enter- 
ing into  holy  orders.  Such  was  the  attainder  for  their 
spiritual  treason. 

The  Colonnas  had  offered,  on  the  mediation  of  the 
Senator  and  the  Commonalty  of  Rome,  to  ^ly  of  the 
submit  themselves  in  the  fullest  manner  to  ColoaQa8- 
the  Pope.1  But  the  Pope  would  be  satisfied  with 
nothing  less  than  the  surrender  of  all  their  great  cas- 
tles. Therefore,  when  they  could  no  longer  avoid  it, 
they  accepted  the  defiance  to  internecine  war.  They 
answered  by  a  proclamation  of  great  length,  hardly 
inferior  in  violence,  more  desperately  daring  than  that 

1  The  senators  and  commonalty  of  Rome  had  persuaded  the  Colonnas  to 
this  course.  "  Suaserunt,  induxerunt  quod  ad  pedes  nostros  reverenter 
venireut,  nostra  et  ipsius  Romance  Ecclesise  absolute  ac  libere  mandata 
facturi ;  ad  qme  prrefati  schismatic]  et  rebelles  ipsis  ambasciatoribus  respon- 
derunt,  se  venturos  ad  pedes  nostros  ac  nostra  et  praefatae  Ecclesiae  mandata 
facturos."  —  Epist.  Bonifac.  ad  Pandect.  Savelli,  Orvieto,  29th  Sept. 

VOL.    VI.  15 


220  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI 

of  the  Pope.  They  repudiated  altogether  the  right  of 
Boniface  to  the  Pontificate  ;  they  denied  the  power  of 
Ccelestine  to  resign.  They  accused  Boniface  of  obtain- 
ing the  abdication  of  Ccelestine  by  fraudulent  means, 
by  conditions  and  secret  understandings,  by  stratagems 
and  machinations  ; 1  they  appealed  to  a  General  Coun- 
cil, that  significant  menace,  in  later  times  of  such  fear- 
ful power.  This  long  argumentative  declaration  of  the 
Colonna  Cardinals  was  promulgated  in  all  quarters, 
affixed  to  the  doors  of  churches,  and  placed  on  the 
very  altar  of  St.  Peter.  But  the  Colonnas  stood 
alone ;  none  other  of  the  Conclave  joined  them  ;  no 
popular  tumult  broke  out  on  their  side.  Their  allies, 
and  allies  they  doubtless  had,  were  beyond  the  Faro  ; 
within  the  Alps,  Ghibellinism  was  overawed,  and  aban- 
doned its  champions,  notwithstanding  their  purple,  to 
the  unresisted  Pontiff.  Boniface  proceeded  to  pass  hia 
public  sentence  against  his  contumacious  spiritual  vas- 
Papaisca-  sals.  The  sentence  was  a  concentration  of 
Dec.  1297.  all  the  maledictory  language  of  ecclesiastical 
wrath.     No  instrument,  after  a  trial  for  capital  treason, 

1  These  words  are  remarkable :  —  "Quod  in  renuntiatione  ipsius  multsa 
fraudes  et  doli,  couditiones  et  intendimenta,  et  machinamenta,  et  tales  et 
talia  intervenisse  midtipliciter  asseruntur,  quod  esto,  quod  posset  fieri  re- 
liuntiatio,  de  quo  merito  dubitatur,  ipsam  vitiarent  et  redderent  illegiti- 
nmm,  inefficacem,  et  nullam."  —  Apud  Raynald.  sub  arm.  1297,  No.  34. 
But  the  most  remarkable  fact  regarding  this  document  is  that  it  was  at- 
tested in  the  Castle  of  Longhezza  by  five  dignitaries  of  the  Church  of 
France,  the  Provost  of  Rheims,  the  Archdeacon  of  Rouen,  three  cancns  of 
Chartres,  of  Evreux,  and  of  Senlis;  and  by  three  Franciscan  friars,  of 
whom  one  was  the  famous  poet  Jacopone  da  Tudi,  afterwards  persecuted  by 
Boniface.  This  is  of  great  importance.  The  quarrel  with  Philip  the  Fair 
had  already  begun  in  the  year  before;  the  Bull  "  Clericis  Laicos  "  had 
been  issued;  and  here  is  a  confederacy  of  the  Colonnas,  the  agents  of  the 
King  of  France,  and  the  Codestinian  Franciscans.  It  bears  date  May  10 
1297.  —  Dupuy,  Preuves  du  Diilerend. 


Chap.  VII.  f'APAL   SENTENCE.  227 

in  any  period,  was  drawn  with  more  careful  and  vin- 
dictive particularity.  It  was  not  content  with  treating 
the  appeal  as  heretical,  blasphemous,  and  schismatical, 
but  as  an  act  of  insanity.  The  Pope  had  an  unanswer- 
able argument  against  their  denial  of  the  validity  of 
his  election,  their  undisturbed,  unprotesting  allegiance 
during  three  years,  their  recognition  of  the  Pope  by 
assisting  him  in  all  his  papal  functions.  The  Bull 
denounced  their  audacity  in  presuming,  after  their 
deposition,  to  assume  the  names  and  to  wear  the  dress 
and  insignia  of  Cardinals.  The  penalty  was  not  mere- 
ly perpetual  degradation,  but  excommunication  in  its 
severest  form  ;  the  absolute  confiscation  of  the  entire 
estates,  not  only  of  the  Cardinals,  but  of  the  whole 
Colonna  family.  It  included,  by  name,  John  di  San 
Vito,  and  Otho,  the  son  of  John,  the  brother  of  the 
Cardinal  James  and  the  father  of  Cardinal  Peter, 
Agapeto,  Stephen,  and  James  Sciarra,  sons  of  the 
same  John,  with  all  their  kindred  and  relatives,  and 
their  descendants  forever.  It  absolutely  incapacitated 
them  from  holding  rank,  office,  function,  or  property. 
All  towns,  castles,  or  places  which  harbored  any  of 
their  persons  fell  under  interdict;  and  the  faithful  were 
rommanded  to  deliver  them  up  wherever  they  might 
be  found. 

This  proscription,  this  determination  to  extinguish 
one  of  the  most  ancient  and  powerful  families  of  Italy, 
with  the  degradation  of  two  Cardinals,  was  an  act  of 
vigor  and  severity  beyond  all  precedent.  Nor  was  it  a 
loud  and  furious  but  idle  menace.  Boniface  had  nut 
miscalculated  his  strength.  The  Orsini  lent  all  their 
forces  to  humble  the  rival  Colonnas,  and  a  Crusade 
was  proclaimed,  a  Crusade  against  two  Cardinals  of 


228  LATIN   CHRISTIAN ITY.  Book  XL 

the  Church,  a  Crusade  at  the  gates  of  Rome.1  The 
j.-ui.  to  Sept.  same  indulgences  were  granted  to  those  who 
1298,  should  take  up  arms  against  the  Cardinals  and 

their  family  which  were  offered  to  those  who  warred  on 
the  unbelievers  in  the  Holy  Land.  The  Cardinal  of 
Porto,  Matthew  Acquasparta,  Bishop  of  St.  Sabina, 
commanded  the  army  of  the  Pope  in  this  sacred  war. 
Stronghold  after  stronghold  was  stormed ;  castle  after 
castle  fell.2  Palestrina  alone  held  out  with  intrepid 
obstinacy.  Almost  the  whole  Colonna  house  sought 
their  last  refuge  in  the  walls  of  this  redoubted  fortress, 
which  defied  the  siege,  and  wearied  out  the  assailing 
forces.  Guido  di  Montefeltro,  a  famous  Ghibelline 
chieftain,  had  led  a  life  of  bloody  and  remorseless 
warfare,  in  which  he  was  even  more  distinguished  by 
craft  than  by  valor.  He  had  treated  with  contemptu- 
ous defiance  all  the  papal  censures  which  rebuked  and 
would  avenge  his  discomfiture  of  many  papal  generals 
and  the  depression  of  the  Guelfs.  In  an  access  of 
devotion,  now  grown  old,  he  had  taken  the  habit  and 
the  vows  of  St.  Francis,  divorced  his  wife,  given  up  his 
wealth,  obtained  remission  of  his  sins,  first  from  Coeles- 
tine,  afterwards  from  Boniface,  and  was  living  in  quiet 
in  a  convent  at  Ancona.3     He  was  summoned  from  his 


1  Raynaldus,  sub  ann.  1298.    Dante  puts  these  words  in  the  mouth  of 
Guido  di  Montefeltro:  — 

"  Lo  principo  di  nuovi  Pharisei, 

navendo  guerra  presso  a  Laterano, 
E  non  con  Saracin  ne  con  Giudei ; 
Che  ciascuno  suo  nimico  era  Christiano ; 
E  nessun  era  stato  a  vincer  Acri, 
Ne  mercatante  in  terra  di  Soldano." 

Inferno,  c.  xxvii. 

2  Ptolem.  Lucen.  p.  1219. 

8  Tosti,  the  apologetic  biographer  of  Boniface  VIIL,  endeavors  to  raisa 
some  chronological  difficulties,  which  amount  to  this,  that  Palestrina  sur 


Chap.  VII.  SURRENDER  OF   PALESTRINA.  22'J 

cell  on  his  allegiance  to  the  Pope,  and  with  plenary 
absolution  for  his  broken  vows,  commanded  to  inspect 
the  walls,  and  give  his  counsel  on  the  best  means  of 
reducing  the  stubborn  citadel.  The  old  soldier  sur- 
veyed the  impregnable  defences,  and  then,  requiring 
still  further  absolution  for  any  crime  of  which  he  might 
be  guilty,  uttered  his  memorable  oracle,  "  Promise 
largely ;  keep  little  of  your  promises."  *  The  large 
promises  were  made ;  the  Colonnas  opened  their  gates  ; 
within  the  prescribed  three  days  appeared  the  two  Car- 
dinals, with  others  of  the  house,  Agapeto  and  Sciarra, 
not  on  horseback,  but  more  humbly,  on  foot,  before  the 
Pope  at  Rieti.  They  were  received  with  out-  Surremler  of 
ward  blandness,  and  admitted  to  absolution.  Palestrina- 
They  afterwards  averred2  that  they  had  been  tempted 
to  surrender  with  the  understanding  that  the  Papal 
banners  were  to  be  displayed  on  the  walls  of  Pales- 
trina ;  but  that  the  Papal  honor  once  satisfied,  perhaps 
the  fortifications  dismantled,  the  city  was  to  be  restored 
to  its  lords.  Not  such  was  the  design  of  Boniface. 
He  determined  to  make  the  rebellious  city  an  example 
of  righteous  pontifical  rigor.  He  first  condemned  it  to 
be  no  longer  the  seat  of  a  Bishop,  then  commanded,  as 
elder  Rome  her  rival  Carthage,  that  it  should  be  utterly 
razed  to  the  ground,  passed  over  by  the  plough,  and 

rendered  in  the  month  of  September,  and  that  Guido  di  Montefeltro  died 
at  Assisi  (it  might  be  suddenly,  he  was  an  old  worn-out  man)  on  the  23d 
or  29  th  of  that  month. 

1  "  Lunga  promessa,  con  attender  corto."  —  Inferno,  xx.  Comment,  di 
Benvenuto  da  Imola  (apud  Murator.),  Ferret.  Vicent.  Pipinus  (ibid.).  These 
are  Ghibelline  writers;  this  alone  throws  suspicion  on  their  authority.  But 
Dante  writes  as  of  a  notorious  fact.  Tosti's  argument,  which  infers  from  the 
Colonna's  act  of  humiliation,  of  which  he  adduces  good  evidence,  that  the 
surrender  was  unconditional,  is  more  remarkable  for  its  zeal  than  its  logic, 

2  In  the  proceedings  before  Clement  V.  apud  Dupuy. 


230  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

sown  with  salt,  so  as  never  again  to  be  the  habitation 
of  man.1  A  new  city,  to  be  called  the  Papal  city,  was 
to  be  built  in  the  neighborhood. 

The  Colonnas  found  that  they  had  nothing  to  hope, 
much  to  fear  from  the  Pope,  who  was  thus  destroying, 
as  it  were,  the  lair  of  these  wild  beasts,  whom  he  mioht 
seem  determined  to  extirpate,  rather  than  permit  to  re- 
sume any  fragment  of  their  dangerous  power.  Though 
themselves  depressed,  humbled,  they  were  still  formida- 
ble by  their  connections.  The  Pope  accused  them, 
justly  it  might  be,  such  desperate  men,  of  meditating 
new  schemes  of  revolt.  The  Annibaloschi,  their  rela- 
tives, a  powerful  family,  had  raised  or  threatened  to 
raise  the  Maremma.  Boniface  seized  John  of  Ceccano 
of  that  house,  cast  him  into  prison,  and  confiscated  all 
Flight  of  the  ms  lands.  The  Colonnas  fled;  some  found 
coionnas.  refuge  in  Sicily ;  Stephen  was  received  with 
honor  in  France.  The  Cardinals  retired  into  obscurity. 
In  France,  too,  after  having  been  taken  by  corsairs, 
arrived  Sciarra  Colonna,  hereafter  to  wreak  the  terrible 
vengeance  of  his  house  upon  the  implacable  Pope. 

Throughout  Italy  Boniface  had  assumed  the  same 
Italy.  imperious  dictatorship.    His  aim,  the  suppres- 

sion of  the  interminable  wars  which  arrayed  city 
against  city,  order  against  order,  family  against  family, 
was  not  unbecoming  his  holy  office  ;  but  it  was  in  the 
tone  of  a  master  that  he  commanded  the  world  to 
peace,  a  tone  which  provoked  resistance.  It  was  not 
by  persuasive  influence,  which  might  lull  the  conflicting 
passions  of  men,  and  enlighten  them  as  to  their  real  in- 


1  "  Ipsamque  aratro  subjici  et  veteris  instar  Carthaginis  Africans,  ac  sa- 
lem  in  eum  et  feeimus  et  mandavimus  seminari,  ut  nee  rem,  nee  noinen, 
nee  titulum  habere*  civitatis."  —  See  the  edict  in  Kaynaldus. 


Chap.  VII.  THE  EMPIRE.  231 

terests.  Nor  was  his  arbitration  so  serenely  superior 
to  the  disturbing  impulse  of  Guelfic  and  Papal  ambi- 
tion as  to  be  accepted  as  an  impartial  award.  The  de- 
pression of  Ghibellinism,  not  Christian  peace,  might 
seem  his  ultimate  aim. 

Italy,  however,  was  but  a  narrow  part  of  the  great 
spiritual  realm  over  which  Boniface  aspired  to  maintain 
an  authority  surpassing,  at  least  in  the  plain  boldness 
of  its  pretensions,  that  of  his  most  lofty  predecessors. 
Boniface  did  not  abandon  the  principle  upon  which  the 
Popes  had  originally  assumed  the  right  of  interposing 
in  the  quarrels  of  kings,  their  paramount  duty  to  obey 
his  summons  as  soldiers  of  the  Cross,  and  to  confeder- 
ate for  the  reconquest  of  the  Holy  Land.  But  this 
object  had  shrunk  into  the  background ;  even  among 
the  religious,  the  crusading  passion,  by  being  diverted 
to  less  holy  purposes,  was  wellnigh  extinguished  ;  it 
had  begun  even  to  revolt  more  than  stir  popular  feel- 
incr.  But  Boniface  rather  rested  his  mandates  on  the 
universal,  and,  as  he  declared,  the  unlimited  supremacy 
of  the  Roman  See. 

The  great  antagonistic  power  which  had  so  long 
wrestled  with  the  Papacy  had  indeed  fallen  The  Empire, 
into  comparative  insignificance.  The  Em-  Nassau, 
pire,  under  Adolph  of  Nassau  (though  acknowledged 
as  King  of  the  Romans  he  had  not  yet  received  the 
Imperial  crown),  had  sunk  from  a  formidable  rival  into 
an  object  of  disdainful  protection  to  the  Pope. 

On  the  death  of  Rodolph  of  Hapsburg  the  Princes 
of  Germany  dreaded  the  perpetuation  of  the  a.d.  1291. 
Empire  in  that  house,  which  had  united  to  its  Swabian 
possessions  the  great  inheritance  of  Austria.     Albert 
of  Austria,  the  son  of  Rodolph,  was  feared  and  hated  , 


232  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X. 

feared  for  his  unmeasured  ambition,  extensive  domin- 
ions, and  the  stern  determination  with  which  he  had 
put  down  the  continual  insurrections  in  Austria  and 
Styria ;  hated  for  his  haughty  and  overbearing  man- 
ners, and  the  undisguised  despotism  of  his  character. 
Wenzel,  King  of  Bohemia,  Albert,  Elector  of  Saxony, 
Otho  the  Long,  Margrave  of  Brandenburg,  were  drawn 
together  by  their  common  apprehensions  and  jealousy 
of  the  Austrian.  The  ecclesiastical  Electors  were 
equally  averse  to  an  hereditary  Emperor,  and  to  one 
of  commanding  power,  ability,  and  resolution.  But  it 
was  not  easy  to  find  a  rival  to  oppose  to  the  redoubted 
Albert,  who  reckoned  almost  in  careless  security  on 
May,  1292.  the  succession  to  the  Empire,  and  had  already 
seized  the  regalia  in  the  Castle  of  Trefels.  Siegfried, 
Archbishop  of  Cologne,  suggested  the  name  of  Adolph 
of  Nassau,  a  prince  with  no  qualification  but  intrepid 
valor  and  the  fame  of  some  military  skill,  but  with 
neither  wealth,  territory,  nor  influence.  Gerhard,  the 
subtle  Archbishop  of  Mentz,  seized  the  opportunity  of 
making  an  Emperor  who  should  not  merely  be  the 
vassal  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  but  even  of  the  Church 
in  Germany.  It  was  said  that  he  threatened  severally 
each  elector  that,  if  he  refused  his  vote  for  Adolph,  the 
Archbishop  would  bring  forward  that  Prince  who 
would  be  most  obnoxious  to  each  one  of  them.  Adolph 
of  Nassau  was  chosen  King  of  the  Romans,  but  he 
was  too  poor  to  defray  the  cost  of  his  own  coronation : 
the  magistrates  of  Frankfort  opposed  a  tax  which  the 
Archbishop  threatened  to  extort  from  the  Jews  of  that 
city.  The  Archbishop  of  Mentz  raised  20,000  marks 
June  24  °f  s^ver  on  the  lands  of  his  See  ;  and  so  the 
lm  coronation  of  Adolph  took  place  at  Aix-la- 


Chap.  VII.  ADOLPII  OF  NASSAU  EMPEROR.  U33 

Chapelle.  But  there  was  no  disinterestedness  in  this  act 
of  the  Archbishop.  The  elevation  of  Adolph  of  Nassau, 
if  it  did  not  begin,  was  the  first  flagrant  example  of 
the  purchase  of  the  Imperial  crown  by  the  sacrifice  of 
its  rights.  The  capitulations  !  show  the  times.  The 
King  of  the  Romans  was  to  compel  the  burghers  of 
Mentz  to  pay  a  fine  of  6000  marks  of  silver,  Terms  ex- 
imposed  upon  them  by  the  Emperor  Rodolph,  Archbishop 
for  some  act  of  disobedience  to  their  Prelate ;  July  1. 
he  was  neither  in  act  nor  in  counsel  to  aid  the  burghers 
against  that  Prelate ;  never  to  take  Ulric  of  Hanau  or 
Master  Henry  of  Klingenberg  into  his  counsels,  or  to 
show  them  any  favor,  but  always  to  espouse  the  cause 
of  the  Archbishop  and  of  the  Church  against  these 
troublesome  neighbors ;  he  was  to  grant  to  the  Arch- 
bishop certain  villages  and  districts,  with  the  privilege 
of  a  free  city ;  to  grant  certain  privileges  and  posses- 
sions to  certain  relatives  of  the  Archbishop  ;  to  protect 
him  by  his  royal  favor  against  the  Duke  of  Brunswick, 
and  all  his  enemies ;  to  grant  the  toll  at  Boppard  on 
the  Rhine  in  perpetuity  to  the  Church  of  Mentz ;  to 
pay  all  the  debts  due  from  the  Archbishop  to  the 
Court  of  Rome,  and  to  hold  the  Archbishop  harmless 
from  all  processes  in  respect  of  such  debts ;  to  repay 
all  charges  incurred  on  account  of  his  coronation  ;  to 
grant  to  the  Archbishop  the  Imperial  cities  of  Muhl- 
hausen  and  Nordhausen,  and  to  compel  the  burghers  to 
take  the  oath  of  fealty  to  him.  Nor  was  this  all. 
Among  the  further  stipulations,  the  Emperor  was  to 
make  over  the  Jews  of  Mentz  (the  Jews  of  the  Em- 
pire were  now  the  men  of  the  Emperor)  to  the  Arch- 
bishop ;    this   superiority   had    been   usurped    by   the 

1  Wurdtwein.  Diploin.  Moguntiaca,  i.  28. 


234  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

burghers  of  Mentz.  The  Emperor  was  not  to  inter- 
meddle with  causes  which  belonged  to  the  spiritual 
Courts ;  not  to  allow  them  to  be  brought  before  tempo- 
ral tribunals ;  to  leave  the  Archbishop  and  his  clergy, 
and  also  all  his  suffragan  bishops,  in  full  possession  of 
their  immunities  and  rights,  castles,  fortresses,  and 
goods.  One  article  alone  concerned  the  whole  prince- 
dom of  the  Empire.  No  prince  was  to  be  summoned 
to  the  Imperial  presence  without  the  notice  of  fifteen 
weeks,  prescribed  by  ancient  usage.  The  other  eccle- 
siastical electors  were  not  quite  so  grasping  in  their 
demands :  Cologne  and  Treves  were  content  with  the 
cession  of  certain  towns  and  possessions.  Adolph  sub- 
mitted to  all  these  terms,  which,  if  he  had  the  will,  hf» 
had  hardly  the  power  to  fulfil.1 

The  Emperor,  who  was  thus  subservient  to  the 
Archbishop  of  Mentz,  was  not  likely  to  offer  any  dan- 
gerous resistance  to  the  pretensions  of  the  Pope ;  and 
to  him  Pope  Boniface  issued  his  mandates  and  his  in- 
hibitions as  to  a  subject.  Adolph  might  at  first  have 
held  the  balance  between  the  conflicting  Kings  of 
France  and  England ;  his  inclinations  or  his  necessi- 
a.d.  1294.  ties  drove  him  into  the  party  of  England. 
He  sent  a  cartel  of  defiance  to  the  King  of  France, 
to  which  King  Philip  rejoined,  if  not  insultingly,  with 
the  language  of  an  equal.  But  the  subtle  as  well  as 
haughty  Philip  revenged  himself  on  the  hostile  Empire 
by  taking  more  serious  advantage  of  its  weakness. 
The  last  wreck  of  the  kingdom  of  Aries,  Provence, 
became  part  of  the  kingdom  of  France  :  the  old  county 
of  Burgundy,  Franche  Comte,  by  skilful  negotiations, 

1  Compare  throughout  Schmidt,  Geschichte  der  Deutschen,  viii.  p.  115, 
et  seq. 


■Ciiai*.  VII.  ADOLPH   OF  NASSAU   EMPEROR.  235 

was  severed  from  the  Empire.1  These  hostile  meas- 
ures, and  the  subsidies  of  England,  were  irresistible 
to  the  indigent  yet  warlike  Adolph.  He  declared 
himself  the  ally  of  Edward  ;  and  when  Boniface  sent 
two  Cardinals  to  command  France  and  England  to 
make  peace,  at  the  same  time  the  Bishops  of  Reggio 
and  Sienna  had  instructions  to  warn  the  Emperor, 
under  the  terror  of  ecclesiastical  censures,  not  to  pre- 
sume to  interfere  in  the  quarrel.  The  Pope's  remon- 
strance was  a  bitter  insult :  "  Becomes  it  so  a.d.  1295. 
great  and  powerful  a  Prince  to  serve  as  a  common  sol- 
dier for  hire  in  the  armies  of  England?"2  But  Enir- 
lish  gold  outweighed  Apostolic  censure  and  scorn.  In 
the  campaign  in  Flanders  the  Emperor  Adolph  had 
2000  knights  in  arms  on  the  side  and  in  the  pay  of 
England.  The  rapid  successes,  however,  of  the  King 
of  France  enabled  Adolph  at  once  to  fulfil  his  en- 
gagements with  England  without  much  risk  to  his 
subsidiary  troops.  The  Emperor  was  included  in  the 
peace  to  which  the  two  monarchs  were  reduced  under 
the  arbitration  of  Boniface.3 

The  reign  of  Adolph  of  Nassau  was  not  long. 
Boniface  may  have  contributed  unintentionally  to  its 
early  and  fatal  close  by  exacting  the  payment  of  the 
debt  due  from  Gerhard  of  Mentz  to  the  See  of  Rome, 
which  Adolph  was  under  covenant  to  discharge,  but 
wanted  the  will  or  the  power,  or  both.  He  would  not 
apply  the  subsidies  of  England  to  this  object.  There 
was  deep  and  sullen  discontent  throughout  Germany. 

At  the  coronation   of  Wenzel  as  King  of  Bohemia, 

1  Leibnitz,  Cod.  ■(}.  Diplom.  x.  No.  18,-p.  32. 

2  Apud  Kaynald.  12J5,  No.  45. 

8  The  documents  may  be  read  in  Raynaldus  and  in  Rymer,  sub  annia 
Schmidt,  Ceschichtc  der  Deutschon,  viii.  p.  L'iO,  et  sty. 


236  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

Gerhard  of  Mentz  performed  the  solemn  office ;  thirty- 
June  2, 1297.  eight  Princes  of  the  Empire  were  present. 
Albert  of  Austria  was  lavish  of  his  wealth  and  of  his 
promises.1  Gerhard  was  to  receive  15,000  marks  of 
silver.  Count  Hageloch  was  sent  to  Rome  to  purchase 
the  assent  of  the  Pope  to  the  deposition  of  Adolph, 
and  a  new  election  to  the  Empire.  Boniface  refused 
all  hearing  to  the  offer.  But  Albert  of  Austria  trusted 
to  himself,  his  own  arms,  and  to  the  League,  which 
now  embraced  almost  all  the  temporal  and  ecclesiastical 
Princes,  the  Elector  of  Saxony,  the  young  Margrave 
of  Brandenburg,  Herman  the  Tall,  the  Ambassadors  of 
Bohemia  and  Cologne.  Adolph  was  declared  deposed ; 
Albert  of  Austria  elected  King  of  the  Romans.  The 
crimes  alleged  against  Adolph  were  that  he  had  plun- 
dered churches,  debauched  maidens,  received  pay  from 
his  inferior  the  King  of  England.  He  was  also  ac- 
cused of  having  broken  the  seals  of  letters,  adminis- 
tered justice  for  bribes,  neither  maintained  the  peace 
of  the  Empire,  nor  the  security  of  the  public  roads. 
Thrice  was  he  summoned  to  answer,  and  then  con- 
demned as  contumacious.  The  one  great  quality  of 
Adolph  of  Nassau,  his  personal  bravery,  was  his  ruin  ; 
he  hastened  to  meet  his  rival  in  battle  near  Worms, 
plunged  fiercely  into  the  fray,  and  was  slain. 

The  crime  of  Adolph's  death  (for  a  crime  it  was 
July  2, 1298.  declared,  an  act  of  rebellion,  treason,  and 
murder,  against  the  anointed  head  of  the  Empire) 
placed  Albert  of  Austria  at  the  mercy  of  the  Pope. 
The  sentence  of  excommunication  was  passed,  which 
none  but  the  Pope  could  annul,  and  which,  suspended 
over  the  head  of  the  King  elect  of  the  Romans,  made 

1  Schmidt,  p.  137. 


Chap.  VII.  ALLIANCE  OF  THE  EMPEROR.  237 

him  dependent,  to  a  certain  degree,  on  the  Pope,  for 
the  validity  of  his  unratified  election,  the  security  of 
his  unconfirmed  throne.  And  so  affairs  stood  till  the 
last  fatal  quarrel  of  Boniface  with  the  King  of  France 
made  the  alliance  of  the  Emperor  not  merely  of  high 
advantage,  but  almost  of  necessity.  His  sins  suddenly 
disappeared.  The  perjured  usurper  of  the  Empire, 
the  murderer  of  his  blameless  predecessor,  became 
without  difficulty  the  legitimate  King  of  the  Romans, 
the  uncontested  Sovereign  of  the  Holy  Roman  Em- 
pire. 


238  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

BONIFACE  VIII.    ENGLAND  AND  FRANCE. 

If  the  Empire  had  sunk  to  impotence,  almost  to 
contempt,  the  kingdoms  of  France  and  England  were 
rising  towards  the  dawn  of  their  future  greatness. 
Each  too  had  begun  to  develop  itself  towards  that 
state  which  it  fully  attained  only  after  some  centuries, 
England  that  of  a  balanced  constitutional  realm,  France 
England  tnat  °f  an  absolute  monarchy.  In  England 
^coasSTu-*  tne  kingly  power  was  growing  into  strength 
tion.  in  the  hands  of  the,  able  and  vigorous  Ed- 

ward I.;  but  around  it  were  rising  likewise  those 
free  institutions  which  were  hereafter  to  limit  and  to 
strengthen  the  royal  authority.  The  national  repre- 
sentation began  to  assume  a  more  regular  and  extended 
form  ;  the  Parliaments  were  more  frequent ;  the  bor- 
oughs were  confirmed  in  their  right  of  choosing  repre- 
sentatives ;  the  commons  were  taking  their  place  as  at 
once  an  acknowledged  and  an  influential  Estate  of  the 
realm  ;  the  King  had  been  compelled  more  than  once, 
though  reluctantly  and  evasively,  to  renew  the  great 
charters.1  The  law  became  more  distinct  and  authori- 
tative, but  it  was  not  the  Roman  law,  but  the  old 
common  law  descended  from  the  Saxon  times,  and 
guaranteed  by  the  charters  wrested  from  the  Norman 

1  Throughout  Hallam,  Middle  Ages,  ii.  160,  166. 


Chap.  VIII.  ENGLAND — THE  CLERGY.  239 

kings.  It  grew  up  beside  the  canon  law  of  the  clergy, 
each  rather  avoiding  the  other's  ground,  than  rigidly 
defining  its  own  province.  Edward  was  called  the 
Justinian  of  England,  but  it  was  not  by  enacting  a 
new  code,  but  as  framing  statutes  which  embodied 
some  of  the  principles  of  the  common  law  of  the 
kingdom.  The  clergy  were  still  a  separate  caste,  ruled 
by  their  own  law,  amenable  almost  exclusively  to  their 
own  superiors  ;  but  they  had  gradually  receded  or  been 
quietly  repelled  from  their  coordinate  administration  of 
the  aifairs  and  the  justice  of  the  realm.  They  were 
one  Estate,  but  in  the  civil  wars  they  had  been  di- 
vided :  some  were  for  the  King,  some  boldly  and  freely 
sided  with  the  Barons  ;  and  the  Barons  had  become  a 
great  distinct  aristocracy,  whom  the  King  was  disposed 
to  balance,  not  by  the  clergy,  but  by  the  commons. 
The  King's  justices  had  long  begun  to  supersede  the 
mingled  court  composed  of  the  bishops  and  the  barons : 
some  bishops  sat  as  barons,  not  as  bishops.  The  civil 
courts  were  still  wresting  some  privilege  or  power  from 
the  ecclesiastical.  The  clergy  contended  obstinately, 
but  not  always  successfully,  for  exclusive  jurisdiction 
in  all  causes  relating  to  Church  property,  or  property 
to  which  the  Church  advanced  a  claim,  as  to  tithes. 
There  was  a  slow,  persevering  determination,  notwith- 
standing the  triumph  of  Becket,  to  bring  the  clergy 
accused  of  civil  offences  under  the  judgment  of  the 
King's  courts,  thus  infringing  or  rather  abrogating  the 
sole  cognizance  of  the  Church  over  Churchmen.1  It 
was  enacted  that  the  clerk-  might  be  arraigned  in  the 
King's  court,  and  not  surrendered  to  the  ordinary  till 
the  full  inquest  in  the  matter  of  accusation  had  been 

1  See  the  whole  course  of*  this  silent  change  in  Hallain,  ii.  pp.  20-23. 


240  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

carried  out.  On  that  the  whole  estate,  real  and  per- 
sonal, of  the  felon  clerk  might  be  seized.  The  ordinary 
thus  became  either  the  mere  executioner,  according  to 
the  Church's  milder  form  of  punishment,  of  a  sentence 
passed  by  the  civil  court,  or  became  obnoxious  to  the 
charge  of  protecting,  or  unjustly  acquitting  a  convicted 
felon.  If,  while  the  property  was  thus  boldly  escheated, 
there  was  still  some  reverence  for  the  sacred  person  of 
the  "  anointed  of  the  Lord," 1  even  archbishops  will 
be  seen,  before  two  reigns  are  passed,  bowing  their 
necks  to  the  block  (for  treason),  without  any  severe 
shock  to  public  feeling,  or  any  potent  remonstrance 
from  the  hierarchy.  On  the  other  hand,  the  singular 
usage,  the  benefit  of  clergy,  by  expanding  that  benefit 
over  other  classes,  tended  to  mitigate  the  rigor  of  the 
penal  law,  with  but  rare  infringements  of  substantial 
justice.2 

In  France  the  royal  power  had  grown  up,  checked 
France.  by  no  great  league  of  the  feudal  aristocracy, 
limited  by  no  charter.  The  strong  and  remorseless 
rule  of  Philip  Augustus,  the  popular  virtues  of  Saint 
Louis,  had  lent  lustre,  and  so  brought  power  to  the 
throne,  which  in  England  had  been  degraded  by  the 
tyrannical  and  pusillanimous  John,  and  enfeebled  by 
the  long,  inglorious  reign  of  Henry  III.  In  France 
the  power  of  the  clergy  might  have  been  a  sufficient, 
as  it  was  almost  the  only  organized  counterpoise  to 
the  kingly  prerogative  ;  but  there  had  gradually  risen, 
chiefly  in  the  Universities,  a  new  power,  that  .of  the 

1  The  alleged  Scriptural  groundwork  of  this  immunity,  "  Touch  not 
mine  anointed,  and  do  my  prophets  no  harm  "  (Ps.  cv.  15),  was  eushrined 
iu  the  Decretals  as  an  eternal,  irrepealable  axiom. 

2  On  benefit  of  clergy  read  the  note  in  Sergeant  Stephens's  Blackstone 
v.  iv.  p.  4GG. 


Chap.  VIII.  FRANCE  —  THE  LAWYERS.  241 

Lawyers  :  they  had  begun  to  attain  that  ascendency 
in  the  Parliaments  which  grew  into  absolute  TheLaw. 
dominion  over  those  assemblies.  But  the  law  yers* 
which  these  men  expounded  was  not  like  the  common 
law  of  England,  the  growth  of  the  forests  of  Germany, 
the  old  free  Teutonic  usages  of  the  Franks,  but  the 
Roman  imperial  law,  of  which  the  Sovereign  was  the 
fountain  and  supreme  head.  The  clergy  had  allowed 
this  important  study  to  escape  out  of  their  exclusive 
possession.  It  had  been  widely  cultivated  at  Bologna, 
Paris,  Auxerre,  and  other  universities.  The  clergy 
had  retired  to  their  own  stronghold  of  the  canon  law, 
while  they  seemed  not  aware  of  the  dangerous  rivals 
which  were  rising  up  against  them.  The  Lawyers  be- 
came thus,  as  it  were,  a  new  estate :  they  lent  them- 
selves, partly  in  opposition  to  the  clergy,  partly  from 
the  tendency  of  the  Roman  law,  to  the  assertion  and 
extension  of  the  royal  prerogative.  The  hierarchy 
found,  almost  suddenly,  instead  of  a  cowering  super- 
stitious people,  awed  by  their  superior  learning,  trem- 
bling at  the  fulminations  of  their  authority,  a  grave 
intellectual  aristocracy,  equal  to  themselves  in  profound 
erudition,  resting  on  ancient  written  authority,  appeal- 
ing to  the  vast  body  of  the  unabrogated  civil  law, 
of  which  they  were  perfect  masters,  opposing  to  the 
canons  of  the  Church  canons  at  least  of  greater  an- 
tiquity. The  King  was  to  the  lawyers  what  Caesar  had 
been  to  the  Roman  Empire,  what  the  Pope  was  to  the 
Churchmen.  Caasar  was  undisputed  lord  in  his  own 
realm,  as  Christ  in  his.  The  Pandects,  it  has  been 
said,  were  the  gospel  of  the  lawyers.1 

1  Compare  Sismondi,  Hist,  des  Francais,  vii.  6, 10,  and  the  eloquent  but 
as  usual  rather  overwrought  passage  in  Michelet. 

VOL.  VI.  16 


242  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

On  the  thrones  of  these  two  kingdoms,  France  and 
Edward  and    England,  sat  two  kings    with    some    resem- 

Philip  the  Fair,       °  .  ,  i      i 

before  the       biance,  yet  with  some  marked  oppugnancy  in 

accession  of        .      .        _  _,  ,  ,_  .     Jr 

Boniiace  vui.  their  characters.  Edward  1.  and  Philip  the 
Fair  were  both  men  of  unmeasured  ambition,  strong 
determination  of  will,  with  much  of  the  ferocity  and 
the  craft  of  barbarism ;  neither  of  them  scrupulous  of 
bloodshed  to  attain  his  ends,  neither  disdainful  of  dark 
and  crooked  policy.  There  was  more  frank  force  in 
Edward ;  he  was  by  nature  and  habit  a  warlike  prince ; 
the  irresistible  temptation  of  the  crown  of  Scotland 
alone  betrayed  him  into  ungenerous  and  fraudulent 
proceedings.  In  Philip  the  Fair  the  gallantry  of  the 
French  temperament  broke  out  on  rare  occasions :  his 
first  Flemish  campaigns  were  conducted  with  bravery 
and  skill,  but  Philip  ever  preferred  the  subtle  negotia- 
tion, the  slow  and  wily  encroachment ;  till  his  enemies 
were,  if  not  in  his  power,  at  least  at  great  disadvantage, 
he  did  not  venture  on  the  usurpation  or  invasion.  In 
the  slow  systematic  pursuit  of  his  object  he  was  utterly 
without  scruple,  without  remorse.  He  was  not  so 
much  cruel  as  altogether  obtuse  to  human  suffering, 
if  necessary  to  the  prosecution  of  his  schemes  ;  not  so 
much  rapacious  as,  finding  money  indispensable  to  his 
aggrandizement,  seeking  money  by  means  of  which  he 
hardly  seemed  to  discern  the  injustice  or  the  folly. 
Never  was  man  or  monarch  so  intensely  selfish  as 
Philip  the  Fair:  his  own  power  was  his  ultimate  scope; 
he  extended  so  enormously  the  royal  prerogative,  the 
influence  of  France,  because  he  was  King  of  France. 
His  rapacity,  which  persecuted  the  Templars,  his  vin- 
dictiveness,  which  warred  on  Boniface  after  death  as 
through  life,  was  this  selfishness  in  other  forms. 


Chap.  VIII.  EDWARD  I.   OF  ENGLAND.  243 

Edward  of  England  was  considerably  the  older  of 
the  two  Kings.  As  Prince  of  Wales  he  had  shown 
great  ability  and  vigor  in  the  suppression  of  the  Barons' 
wars  ;  he  had  rescued  the  endangered  throne.  He  had 
been  engaged  in  the  Crusades  ;  his  was  the  last  gleam 
of  romantic  valor  and  enterprise  in  the  Holy  Land, 
even  if  the  fine  story  of  his  wife  Eleanora  sucking  the 
poison  from  his  wound  was  the  poetry  of  a  later  time. 
On  his  return  from  the  East  he  heard  of  his  father's 
death  ;  his  journey  through  Sicily  and  Italy  was  the 
triumphant  procession  of  a  champion  of  the  Church ; 
the  great  cities  vied  with  each  other  in  the  magnificence 
of  his  reception.  He  had  obtained  satisfaction  for  the 
barbarous  and  sacrilegious  murder  of  his  kinsman, 
Henry  of  Almain,  son  of  Richard  of  Cornwall,  in  the 
cathedral  of  Viterbo  during  the  elevation  of  the  Host, 
by  Guy  de  Montfort  with  his  brother  Simon.  The 
murderer  (Simon  had  died)  had  been  subjected  to  the 
most  rigorous  and  humiliating  penance.1 

Since  his  accession  Edward  had  deliberately  adhered 
to  his  great  aim,  the  consolidation  of  the  whole  Nov.  1271. 
British  islands  under  his  sovereignty,  to  the  compara- 
tive neglect  of  his  continental  possessions.  He  aspired 
to  be  the  King  of  Great  Britain  rather  than  the  vassal 
rival  of  France.  He  had  subdued  Wales ;  he  had  es- 
tablished his  suzerainty  over  Scotland  ;  he  had  awarded 
the  throne  of  Scotland  to  John  Baliol,  whom  he  was 


1  The  documents  relating  to  this  strange  murder  are  most  of  them  In 
Rymer  and  in  the  MS.,  B.  M.  See  especially  letter  of  Gregory  X.,  Nov. 
20,  1273.  Guy  sought  to  be  admitted  to  this  Pope's  presence  at  Florence; 
he  with  his  accomplices  followed  the  Pope  two  miles  out  of  the  city,  with- 
out shoes,  withotit  clothes,  except  their  shirts  and  breeches.  Guy  threw 
himself  at  the  Pope's  feet,  wept  and  howled,  "  alt  et  has  sine  tenore."  On 
the  subsequent  fate  of  Guy  of  Montfort  see  Dr.  Lingard,  vol.  iii.  p.  186. 


244  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI 

almost  goading  to  rebellion,  in  order  to  find  a  pretex) 
for  the  subjugation  of  that  kingdom.  Edward,  in  the 
early  part  of  his  reign,  was  on  the  best  terms  with  tht 
clergy :  he  respected  them,  and  they  respected  him. 
The  clergy  under  Henry  III.  would  have  ruled  the 
superstitious  King  with  unbounded  authority  had  they 
not  been  involved  in  silent  stubborn  resistance  to  the 
See  of  Rome.  Henry,  as  has  been  seen,  heaped  on 
them  wealth  and  honors  ;  but  he  offered  no  opposition 
to,  he  shared  in,  their  immoderate  taxation  by  Rome  ; 
he  did  not  resist  the  possession  of  some  of  the  richest 
benefices  and  bishoprics  by  foreigners.  If  his  fear 
of  the  clergy  was  strong,  his  fear  of  the  Pope  was 
stronger ;  he  was  only  prevented  from  being  the  slave 
of  his  own  ecclesiastics  because  he  preferred  the  remote 
and  no  less  onerous  servitude  to  Rome.1  But  this 
quarrel  of  the  English  clergy  with  Rome  was  some- 
what reconciled :  the  short  lives  of  the  later  Popes,  the 
vacancy  in  the  See,  the  brief  Papacy  of  Coelestine, 
had  relaxed,  to  some  extent,  the  demands  of  tenths  and 
subsidies.  Edward  therefore  found  the  hierarchy  ready 
to  support  him  in  his  plans  of  insular  conquest.  John 
Peckham,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  accompanied  him 
to  Wales,  and  pronounced  an  excommunication  against 
the  rebellious  princes  :  no  voice  was  raised  against  the 
cruel  and  ignominious  executions  with  which  Edward 
secured  and  sullied  his  conquest.2  Against  the  massa- 
cre of  the  bards,  perhaps  esteemed  by  the  English 
clergy  mere  barbarians,  if  not  heathens,  there  was  no 
remonstrance.      Among  the  hundred  and  four  judges 

1  We  must  not  forget  his  difficulties  about  Prince  Edmund's  cJaim  to 
Sicily. 

2  Collier,  i.  p.  484. 


Chap.  VIII-  EDWARD   I.   OF   ENGLAND.  245 

appointed  to  examine  into  the  claims  of  the  competitors 
/or  the  Scottish  throne,  Edward  named  twenty-four. 
Of  these  were  four  bishops,  two  deans,  one  archdeacon, 
and  some  other  clergy.  The  Scots  named  eight  bish- 
ops and  several  abbots.  Edward's  great  financial  meas- 
ure, the  remorseless  plunder  and  cruel  expatriation  of 
the  Jews,  was  beheld  by  the  clergy  as  a  noble  act  of 
Christian  vigor.  Among  the  cancelled  debts  were  vast 
numbers  of  theirs  ;  among  the  plunder  no  inconsidera- 
ble portion  had  been  Church  property,  pawned  or  sold 
by  necessitous  or  irreligious  ecclesiastics.  The  great 
wealth  obtained  for  the  instant  by  the  King  might  stave 
off,  they  would  fondly  hope,  for  some  time,  all  demands 
on  the  Church.1 

If  Edward  of  England  meditated  the  reduction  of 
the  whole  British  islands  under  one  monarchy,  and  had 
pursued  this  end  since  his  accession  with  unswerving 
determination,  Philip  the  Fair  coveted  with  no  less  ea- 
ger ambition  the  continental  territories  of  England.  He 
too  aspired  to  be  King  of  all  France,  not  mere  feudal 
sovereign  over  almost  independent  vassals,  but  actual 
ruling  monarch.  He  had  succeeded  in  incorporating 
the  wreck  of  the  kingdom  of  Aries  with  his  own  realm. 
He  had  laid  the  train  for  the  annexation  of  Burgundy : 
his  son  was  affianced  to  the  daughter  and  heiress  of 
Otho  V.  Edward,  however,  had  given  no  cause  for 
aggression  ;  he  had  performed  with  scrupulous  punctil- 
iousness all  the  acts  of  homage  and  fealty  which  the 
King  of  France  could  command  for  the  land  of  Gas 


1  Hist,  of  Jews,  iii.  352,  354.  The  documents  may  be  read  in  Anglia 
Judaica.  Tovey  says  (p.  244)  whole  rolls  of  patents  relating  to  their  es- 
fates  are  still  remaining  in  the  Tower.  Have  we  not  any  Jewish  antiqua- 
ries to  explore  this  mine  ? 


246  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

cony,  Guienne,  and  the  other  hereditary  possessions  of 
the  Kings  of  England. 

There  had  been  peace  between  France  and  England 
Long  peace.  f°r  tne  unusual  period  of  thirty-five  years,  but 
1259  to  1294.  already  misunderstanding  and  jealousies  had 
begun.  Peace  between  two  such  Kings,  in  such  relation 
to  each  other,  in  such  an  age,  could  hardly  be  perma- 
nent. The  successes  of  Edward  in  his  own  realm 
stimulated  rather  than  appalled  the  unscrupulous  am- 
bition of  Philip.  An  accidental  quarrel  among  the 
mariners  of  the  two  nations  was  the  signal  for  the 
explosion  of  these  smouldering  hostilities.  The  quarrel 
led  to  piratical  warfare,  waged  with  the  utmost  cruelty 
along  the  whole  British  Channel  and  the  western  coast 
of  France.  The  King  of  France  was  only  too  ready 
to  demand  satisfaction.  Edward  of  England,  though 
reluctant  to  engage  in  continental  warfare,  could  not 
abandon  his  own  subjects  ;  yet  so  absorbed  was  Edward 
in  his  own  affairs  that  he  became  the  victim  of  the 
grossest  artifice.  The  first  offenders  in  the  quarrel  had 
been  sailors  of  Edward's  port  of  Bayonne.  It  was 
indispensable  for  the  honor  of  France  that  they  should 
suffer  condign  punishment.  Guienne  must  be  surren- 
dered for  a  time  to  the  Suzerain,  the  King  of  France, 
that  he  might  exercise  his  unresisted  jurisdiction  over 
the  criminals.  Philip  was  permitted  to  march  into 
Guienne,  and  to  occupy  with  force  some  of  the  strong- 
est castles.  On  the  demand  of  restitution  he  laughed 
to  scorn  the  deluded  Edward ;  negotiations,  remon- 
strances, were  equally  unavailing.  The  affront  was 
too  flagrant  and  humiliating,  the  loss  too  precious ;  war 
seemed  inevitable.  Edward,  by  his  heralds,  renounced 
his  allegiance  ;   he  would  no  longer  be  the  man,  the 


Chai>.  VI11.     QUARREL  OF  FRANCE  AND   ENGLAND.  247 

vassal,  of  a  King  who  violated  all  treaties  sworn  to 
by  their  common  ancestors.  But  the  Barons  and 
the  Churchmen  of  England  were  now  averse  to  for- 
eign wars :  their  subsidies,  their  aids,  their  musters, 
were  slow,  reluctant,  almost  refused.  Each  Sovereign 
strengthened  himself  with  foreign  allies :  Edward,  as 
has  been  said,  subsidized  the  Emperor  Adolph  of  Nas- 
sau, and  entered  into  a  league  with  the  Counts  of 
Flanders  and  of  Bar,  who  were  prepared  to  raise  the 
standard  of  revolt  against  their  Suzerain,  the  King  of 
France.  Philip  entered  into  hardly  less  dangerous 
correspondence  with  the  opponents  of  Edward's  power 
in  Scotland.1 

So  stood  affairs  between  the  kingdoms  of  France  and 
England  at  the  accession  of  Boniface  VIII.  Accession  of 
Philip  had  now  overrun  the  whole  of  Gas-  Dec.  1294. 
cony,  and  Edward  had  renounced  all  allegiance,  and 
declared  that  he  would  hold  his  Aquitanian  possessions 
without  fealty  to  the  King  of  France  ;  but  the  Senes- 
chal of  Gascony  had  been  defeated  and  was  a  prisoner.2 
Duke  John  of  Brabant  had  risen  in  rebellion  against 
the  King  of  France  ;  he  had  been  compelled  to  humil- 
iating submission  by  Charles  of  Valois.  Almost  the 
first  act  of  Boniface  was  to  command  peace.  Berard, 
Cardinal  Bishop  of  Alba,  and  Simon,  Cardinal  Bishop 
of  Palestrina,  were  sent  as  Legates,  armed  with  the 
power  of  releasing  from  all  oaths  or  obligations  which 
might  stand  in  the  way  of  pacification,  and  of  inflicting 
ecclesiastical  censures,  without  appeal,  upon  all,  of 
whatsoever    degree,   rank,   or   condition,   who    should 

1  Documents  in  Rymer,  sub  ann.  1294.    Walsingham,  61.    Hume,  Ed- 
ward I. 

2  Jordanus  apud  Raynald.     Matt.  Westmonast.  sub  ann. 


248  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XT. 

rebel  against  their  authority.1  The  Cardinals  crossed 
to  England ;  they  were  received  in  a  full  Parliament 
at  Westminster.  The  King  of  England  ordered  his 
brother  Edmund  and  John  de  Lacy  to  explain  the 
causes  of  the  war,  his  grievances  and  insults  endured 
from  the  King  of  France.  The  Cardinals  peremptorily 
insisted  on  peace.  Edward  replied  that  he  could  not 
make  peace  without  the  concurrence  of  his  ally  the 
King  of  the  Romans.  The  Cardinals  urged  a  truce  ; 
this  Edward  rejected  with  equal  determination.  They 
endeavored  to  prevent  the  sailing  of  Edward's  fleet, 
already  assembled  in  the  ports  of  the  island.  Edward 
steadily  refused  even  that  concession.  But  Boniface 
was  not  so  to  be  silenced ;  he  declared  all  existing 
treaties  of  alliance  null  and  void,  and  peremptorily  en- 
june  24, 1295,  joined  a  truce  from  St.  John  Baptist's  day 
to  1296.  until  the  same  festival  in  the  ensuing  year.2 
To  Edward  he  wrote  expressing  his  surprise  and  grief 
that  he,  who  in  his  youth  had  waged  only  holy  wars 
against  unbelievers,  should  fall  off  in  his  mature  age 
into  a  disturber  of  the  peace  of  Christendom,  and  feel 
no  compunction  at  the  slaughter  of  Christians  by  each 
other.  He  wrote,  as  has  been  told,  in  more  haughty 
and  almost  contemptuous  language  to  the  King  of  the 
Romans ;  he  reproached  him  for  serving  as  a  base  mer- 
cenary of  the  King  of  England  :  the  King  of  the  Ro- 
mans, if  disobedient,  could  have  no  hope  or  claim  to 
the  Imperial  Crown  ;  obedient,  he  might  merit  not  only 
the  praise  of  man,  but  the  favor  and  patronage  of  the 
Apostolic  See.  The  Archbishop  of  Mentz  was  com- 
manded to  give  no  aid  whatever  to  the   King  of  the 

1  Instructions  in  Raynald.  sub  ann.  1295. 

2  Raynald.  sub  ann.  1296. 


Chap.  VIII.  TAXATION  OF  THE  CLERGY.  249 

Romans  in  this  unholy  war ;  on  Adolph  too  was  imper- 
atively urged  the  truce  for  a  year.1 

The  Cardinal  Legates,  Alba  and  Palestrina,  discour- 
aged by  their  reception  in  England,  did  not  venture  to 
appear  before  the  more  haughty  and  irascible  Philip 
of  France  with  the  Pope's  imperious  mandate  ;  they 
assumed  that  the  truce  for  a  year,  enjoined  by  the 
Pope,  would  find  obsequious  observance.  Boniface  did 
not  think  fit  to  rebuke  their  judicious  prudence  ;  but 
of  his  own  supreme  power  ordered  that  on  the  expira- 
tion of  the  first  year  the  truce  should  be  continued  for 
two  years  longer.2 

The  blessings  of  peace,  the  league  of  all  Christian 
princes  against  the  Infidel,  might  be  the  remote  and 
splendid  end  which  Boniface  either  had  or  thought  he 
had  in  view  in  his  confident  assertion  of  his  inhibitory 
powers,  and  his  right  of  interposing  in  the  quarrels  of 
Christian  princes.     But  there  was  one  immediate  and 
pressing  evil  which  could  not  well  escape  his  sagacity. 
Such  wars  could  no  longer  be  carried  on  with-  Taxation  of 
out  the  taxation  of  the  clergy.     Not  merely  the  clergy* 
was  the  Pope  the  supreme  guardian  of  this  results  o? 
inestimable  immunity,  freedom  from  civil  as-  war* 
sessments,  but  it  was  impossible  that  the  clergy  either 
could  or  would  endure  the  double  burdens  imposed  on 
them  by  their  own  Sovereigns  and  by  the  See  of  Rome. 
All  the  subjects  of  the  Roman  See,  as  they  owed,  if 
not  exclusive,  yet  superior  allegiance  to  the  Pope,  so 
their  vast  possessions  must  be  tributary  to  him  alone, 

1  Letters  apud  Raynald.  1295.  The  Nuncios  in  Germany,  the  Bishops 
of  Reggio  and  Sienna,  had  fall  powers  to  release  from  all  oaths  and  treaties. 
See  above,  p.  235. 

2  The  Bull  in  Raynaldus  (1296,  No.  19),  addressed  to  Adolph,  Kino-  of 
the  Romans. 


250  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI 

at  least  his  permission  must  be  obtained  for  contri- 
butions to  secular  purposes.  Wars,  even  if  conducted 
on  the  perfect  feudal  principle  (each  Lord,  at  the  sum- 
mons of  the  Crown,  levying,  arming,  bringing  into  the 
field,  and  maintaining  his  vassals  at  his  own  cost),  were 
necessarily  conducted  with  much  and  growing  expense 
for  munitions  of  war,  military  engines,  commissariat 
however  imperfect,  vessels  for  freight,  if  in  foreign 
lands.  But  the  principle  of  feudalism  had  been  weak- 
ened ;  war  ceased  to  be  the  one  noble,  the  one  not 
ignominious  calling,  the  duty  and  privilege  of  the  aris- 
tocracy at  the  head  of  their  retainers.  No  sooner  had 
agriculture,  commerce,  manufactures,  become  respect- 
able and  lucrative;  no  sooner  must  armies  be  raised 
and  retained  on  service,  even  in  part,  by  regular  pay, 
than  the  cost  of  keeping  such  armies  on  foot  began  to 
augment  beyond  all  proportion.  The  ecclesiastics  who 
held  Knights'  Fees  were  bound  to  furnish  their  quota 
of  vassals ;  they  did  often  furnish  them  with  tolerable 
regularity ;  they  had  even  appeared  often,  and  still 
appeared,  at  the  head  of  their  contingent ;  yet  there 
must  have  been  more  difficulty,  more  frequent  evasion, 
more  dispute  as  to  liability  of  service,  as  the  land  of 
the  realm  fell  more  and  more  into  the  hands  of  the  cler- 
statute  of  gy*  Though  the  great  Statute  of  Mortmain, 
Mortmain,  enacted  by  successive  Kings,  the  first  bold 
limitary  law  to  the  all-absorbing  acquisition  of  land  by 
the  clergy,  may  have  been  at  first  more  directly  aimed 
at  other  losses  sustained  by  the  Crown,  when  estates 
were  held  by  ecclesiastic  or  monastic  bodies,  such  as 
reliefs  upon  succession,  upon  alienation,  upon  wardships 
and  marriages,  which  could  not  arise  out  of  lands  held 
bv  perpetual  corporations  and  corporations  perpetuated 


Chap.  VIII.  STATUTE  OF  MORTMAIN.  251 

by  ecclesiastical  descent ;  yet  among  the  objects  sought 
by  that  Statute  must  have  been  that  the  Crown  should 
be  less  dependent  on  ecclesiastical  retainers  in  time  of 
war. 

This  Mortmain  Statute,1  of  which  the  principle  was 
established  by  the  Great  Charter,  only  applied  to  relig- 
ious houses.  The  second  great  Charter  of  Henry  III. 
comprehended  the  whole  Hierarchy,  Bishops,  Chapters, 
and  Beneficiaries.  The  Statute  of  Edward  endeavored 
to  strike  at  the  root  of  the  evil,  and  prohibited  the  re- 
ceiving land  in  mortmain,  whether  by  gift,  bequest,  or 
any  other  mode  ;  the  penalty  was  the  forfeiture  of  the 
land  to  the  Lord,  in  default  of  the  Lord  to  the  King. 
But  the  law,  or  the  interpretation  of  the  law,  was  still 
in  the  hands  or  at  the  command  of  the  clergy,  who 
were  the  only  learned  body  in  the  realm.  Ingenious 
devices  were  framed,  fictitious  titles  to  the  original  fief, 
fraudulent  or  collusive  acknowledgments,  refusal  or 
neglect  to  plead  on  the  part  of  the  tenant,  and  so  re- 
coveries of  the  land  by  the  Church,  as  originally  and 
indefeasibly  its  own  ;  afterwards  grants  to  feoffees  in 
perpetuity,  or  for  long  terms  of  years,  for  the  use  of 
religious  houses  or  ecclesiastics.  It  required  two  later 
Statutes,  that  of  Westminster  under  Edward  I.  (in  his 
eighteenth  year),  finally  that  of  Richard  II.  (in  his 
fifteenth  year),  before  the  skill  and  ingenuity  of  this 
hierarchical  invasion  of  property  was  finally  baffled, 
and  an  end  put  to  the  all-absorbings  aggression  of  the 
Church  on  the  land  of  England.2 

The  Popes  themselves  had,  to  a  certain  extent,  given 
the  authority  and  the  precedent  in  the  direct  taxation 
of  the  clergy  for  purposes  of  war ;  but  these  were  for 

1  7th  Edward  I.     Compare  Hallam,  ii.  p.  24.  2  Blackstone,  ii.  ch.  18 


252  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

holy  wars.  Sovereigns,  themselves  engaged  in  cru- 
sades, or  who  allowed  crusades  to  be  preached  and 
troops  raised  and  armed  in  their  dominions  for  that 
sacred  object,  occasionally  received  grants  of  twenti- 
eths, tenths,  or  more,  on  the  ecclesiastical  revenues  for 
this  religious  use.  In  many  instances  the  Sovereigns, 
following  the  examples,  as  was  believed,  of  the  Popes 
themselves,  had  raised  the  money  under  this  pretext 
and  applied  it  to  their  own  more  profane  purposes,  and 
thus  had  learned  to  look  on  ecclesiastical  property  as 
by  no  means  so  sacred,  to  hold  the  violation  of  its  pecul- 
iar exemptions  very  far  from  the  impious  sacrilege 
which  it  had  been  asserted  and  believed  to  be  in  more 
superstitious  times.  But  all  subsidies,  which  in  latter 
years  had  begun  to  be  granted  in  England,  at  least 
throughout  the  reign  of  Henry  III.,  had  been  held  to 
be  free  gifts,  voted  by  the  clergy  themselves  in  their 
own  special  Synods  or  Convocations.^  Now,  however, 
these  voluntary  subsidies,  suggested  by  the  King's 
friends  among  the  clergy,  but  liable  to  absolute  refusal, 
had  grown  into  imperative  exactions.  Edward,  as  his 
necessities  became  more  urgent,  from  his  conquests,  his 
intrigues,  his  now  open  invasion  of  Scotland,  and  the 
impending  war  with  France,  could  not,  if  he  hoped  for 
success,  and  was  not  disposed  from  any  overweening 
terror  of  the  spiritual  power,  to  permit  one  third  or 
one  half1  (if  we  are  to  believe  some  statements),  at  all 
events  a  very  large  portion  of  the  realm,  to  withhold 
its  contribution  to  the  public  service.  The  wealth  of 
the  clergy,  the  facility  with  which,  if  he  once  got  over 
his  religious  fear  and   scruples,   such   taxes  could   be 

1  See  the  passage  in  Turner's  Hist  of  England,  v.  p.  166.     This  subject 
will  be  discussed  hereafter. 


Chap.  VIII.     GRANT  OF  A  TENTH  FROM  NICOLAS  IV.  253 

levied  ;  the  natural  desire  of  forestalling  the  demands 
of  Rome,  which  so  fatally,  according  to  the  economic 
views  of  the  time,  drained  the  land  of  a  large  portion 
of  its  wealth  ;  perhaps  his  own  mistaken  policy  in  ex- 
pelling the  Jews,  and  so  inflicting  at  once  a  heavy  blow 
on  the  trade  of  the  country,  and  depriving  him  of  a 
wealthy  class  whom  he  might  have  plundered  in  a  more 
slow  and  productive  manner  without  remorse,  resist- 
ance, or  remonstrance  ;  all  conspired  to  urge  the  King 
on  his  course.  Certainly,  whatever  his  motives,  his 
wants,  or  his  designs,  Edward  had  already  asserted  in 
various  ways  his  right  to  tax  the  clergy  in  the  bold- 
est manner,  had  raised  the  tax  to  an  unprecedented 
amount,  and  showed  that  he  would  hesitate  at  no  means 
to  enforce  his  demands.  He  had  obtained  from  Pope 
Nicolas  IV.  (about  1291)  a  grant  of  the  tenth  of  the 
whole  ecclesiastical  property,  under  the  pretext  of  an 
expedition  to  the  Holy  Land,  a  pretext  which  the  Pope 
would  more  easily  admit  from  a  Prince  who  had  already 
displayed  his  zeal  and  valor  in  a  Crusade,  and  of  which 
Edward  himself,  after  the  subjugation  of  Wales  and 
Scotland  and  the  security  of  his  French  dominions, 
might  remotely  contemplate  the  fulfilment.  This  grant 
was  assessed  on  a  new  valuation,1  enforced  on  oath,  and 
which  probably  raised  to  a  great  amount  the  value  of 
the  Church  property,  and  so  increased  the  demands 
of  the  King,  and  aggravated  the  burdens  of  the  clergy.2 

1  This  valuation  was  maintained,  as  that  on  which  all  ecclesiastical  prop- 
erty was  assessed,  till  the  time  of  Henry  VIII.  It  was  published  in  1802 
by  the  Record  Commission,  folio. 

2  In  the  MS.,  B.  M.,  sub  ann.  1278,  vol.  xiii.,  is  an  account,  of  the  "  Socie- 
tas  "  of  the  Ricardi  of  Florence,  for  tenths  collected  in  England.  The  total 
sum  (the  details  of  each  diocese  are  given,  but  some,  as  Canterbury  and 
London,  do  not  appear)  is  11,035/.,  xiv.  solidi,  3  denarii.     The  bankers  un- 


254  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

By  another  more  arbitrary  act,  before  his  war  in  Gui- 
enne,  Edward  had  appointed  Commissioners  to  make 
inquisition  into  the  treasuries  of  all  the  religious  houses 
and  chapters  in  the  realm.  Not  only  were  these  relig- 
ious houses  in  possession  of  considerable  accumulations 
of  wealth,  but  they  were  the  only  banks  of  deposit  in 
which  others  could  lay  up  their  riches  in  security.  All 
these  sums  were  enrolled  in  the  Exchequer,  and,  under 
the  specious  name  of  loans,  carried  off  for  the  King's 
use. 

But  with  the  King's  necessities,  the  King's  demands 
a.d.  1294.  grew  in  urgency,  frequency,  imperiousness. 
It  was  during  the  brief  Pontificate  of  Coelestine  V., 
when  Robert  of  Winchelsea,  the  Archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury, was  at  Rome  to  receive  his  pall  from  the  hands 
of  the  Pope,  that  the  King  in  a  Parliament  at  West- 
minster demanded  of  the  clergy  a  subsidy  of  half  of 
their  annual  revenue.  The  clergy  were  confounded  ; 
they  entreated  permission  to  retire  and  consult  on  the 
grave  question.  William  Montfort,  Dean  of  St.  Paul's, 
was  chosen  to  persuade  the  King  to  desist  from,  or  at 
least  to  reduce  his  demand  to  some  less  exorbitant 
July.  amount.     The  Dean  had  hardly  begun  his 

dertake  to  deliver  the  same  in  London  or  any  place,  "  ultra  et  citra  mare.'* 
They  take  upon  themselves  all  risks  of  pillage,  theft,  violence,  fire,  or  ship- 
wreck. Whence  their  profits  does  not  appear.  "  E  io  Rainieri  sopra-dito 
con  la  mia  mano  abo  inscrito  quie  di  sotto,  e  messo  lo  mio  sugello,  con 
quelo  dela  compagnia."  Other  signatures  follow.  In  a  later  account,  after 
the  valuation  of  Nicolas  IV.,  dated  Aug.  30,  vol.  xv.,  the  whole  property, 
with  the  exception  of  the  goods  of  the  Bishops  of  Winchester  and  Lincoln, 
and  Christ  Church,  Canterbury,  is  set  at  204,143/.  19s.  2d  et  oboli;  the 
tenth,  20,104/.  19s.  2d.  et  oboli.  Winton  and  Lincoln,  3977/.  15s.  Id.  &c.  ; 
tenth,  397/.  15s.  Qd.  10  oboli.  Christ  Church,  355/.  9s.  2d.;  tenth,  35/.  10s. 
lid.  Special  tax  on  pluralities,  73/.  19s.  lid.  1.  Total  collected,  20,855/. 
7s  3d  In  another  place,  the  Dean  of  St.  Paul's,  as  treasurer  (vol.  xiii.  p. 
110),  accounts  for  the  sum  of  3135/.  7*  3d.  1,  arrears  for  three  years. 


Chap.  VIII.  RAPACITY  OF  PHILIP.  255 

speech,  when  he  fell  dead  at  the  feet  of  the  King. 
Edward  was  unmoved ;  he  might  perhaps  turn  the 
natural  argument  of  the  clergy  on  themselves,  and 
treat  the  death  of  Montfort  as  a  judgment  of  God 
upon  a  refractory  subject.  He  sent  Sir  John  Havering 
to  the  Prelates,  who  were  still  shut  up  in  the  royal  pal- 
ace at  Westminster.  The  Knight  was  to  proclaim  that 
whoever  opposed  the  King's  will  was  to  come  forth  and 
discover  himself;  and  that  the  King  would  at  once 
proceed  against  him  as  a  disturber  of  the  public  peace. 
The  spirit  of  Becket  prevailed  not  among  the  Prelates ; 
no  one  would  venture  to  put  to  the  test  the  stern  and 
determined  Edward.  They  submitted  with  ungracious 
reluctance,  in  hopes  no  doubt  that  their  Primate  would 
soon  appear  among  them ;  and  that  he,  braced,  as  it 
were,  by  the  air  of  Rome,  would  bear  the  brunt  of 
opposition  to  the  King.1 

If  the  necessities  of  Edward  drove  him  to  these 
strong  measures  against  the  clergy  of  England,  the 
French  hierarchy  had  still  more  to  dread  from  the 
insatiable  *  rapacity  and  wants  of  Philip  the  Fair. 
That  rapacity,  the  remorseless  oppression  of  the  whole 
people  by  the  despotic  monarch,  and  his  loss  of  their 
loyal  affection,  was  now  so  notorious  that  the  Pope,  in 
one  of  his  letters  to  the  King,  speaks  of  it  as  an  ad- 
mitted fact.2  Philip  had  as  yet  been  engaged  in  no 
expensive  wars  ;  his  court  might  indulge  in  some  coarse 
pomp  and  luxury ;  yet  trade  might  liave  flourished, 
even  arts  and   manufactures  might   have  been   intro- 

1  Compare  Collier,  Ecc.  Hist.  i.  p.  493,  folio  edit. 

2  "  Ipsi  quidem  subditi  adeo  sunt  diversis  oneribus  aggravati,  quod 
eorum  ad  te  solita  et  subjecta  multum  putatur  infriguisse  devotio,  et  quanto 
amplius  aggravantur,  tanto  potius  in  posterum  refrigescat."  —  Ad.  Philio 
Reg.  Dupuy,  p.  16. 


256  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XT. 

duced  from  Flanders  and  Italy,  but  for  the  stern  and 
exterminating  measures  of  his  rude  finance.  His  cof- 
fers were  always  filling,  never  full ;  and  he  knew  no 
way  of  raising  a  revenue  but  by  direct  and  cruel  extor- 
tion, exercised  by  himself,  or  by  his  farmers  of  the  taxes 
under  his  seal  and  authority.  Two  Italian  bankers,  the 
brothers  Biccio  and  Musciatto  dei  Francesi,  possessed 
his  entire  confidence,  and  were  armed  with  his  unlim- 
ited powers.  But  the  taxes  wrung  from  the  tenants  of 
the  crown,  from  the  peasants  to  whom  they  left  not  the 
seed  for  the  future  harvest,  were  soon  exhausted,  and 
of  course  diminished  with  every  year  of  intolerable 
burden :  other  sources  of  wealth  must  be  discovered. 

The  Jews  were  the  first ;  their  strange  obstinacy  in 
The  jews.  money-making  made  them  his  perpetual  vic- 
tims. Philip  might  seem  to  feed  them  up  by  his  favor 
to  become  a  richer  sacrifice : 1  he  sold  to  particular  per- 
sons acts  of  security ;  he  exacted  large  sums  as  though 
he  would  protect  them  in  fair  trade  from  their  com' 
munities.  At  length  after  some  years  of  this  plunder- 
ing and  pacifying,  came  the  fatal  blow,  their  expulsion 
from  the  realm  with  every  aggravation  of  cruelty,  the 
seizure  and  confiscation  of  their  property.2  What  is 
a.d.  1306.  more  strange,  the  persecuted  and  exiled  Jews 
were  in  five  years  rich  and  numerous  enough  to  tempt 
a  second  expulsion,  a  second  confiscation. 

But  in  France  the  Jews  had  formidable  commercial 
rivals  in  the  Italian  bankers.  Philip  respected  wealthy 
Christians  no  more  than  wealthy  misbelievers.  The 
May  1,1291.    whole   of  these   peaceful    and    opulent   men 

1  In  1288  he  forbade  the  arbitrary  imprisonment  of  the  Jews  at  the  desire 
of  any  monk.    This  seems  to  have  been  a  common  practice. 

2  Hist,  of  Jews,  iii.  p.  319. 


Chap.  VIII.  THE  BANKERS  —  NOBLES.  2f)7 

were  seized  and  imprisoned  on  the  charge  of  violating 
the  laws  against  usury ;  and  to  warn  them  from  that 
unchristian  practice,  they  were  mercifully  threatened 
with  the  severest  tortures,  to  be  escaped  only  on  the 
payment  of  enormous  mulcts.1  Some  resisted  ;  but  the 
jailers  had  their  orders  to  urge  upon  the  weary  prison- 
ers the  inflexible  determination  of  the  King.  Most  of 
them  yielded ;  but  they  fled  the  inhospitable  realm  ; 
and  if  they  left  behind  much  of  their  actual  wealth, 
they  carried  with  them  their  enterprise  and  industry.2 
The  Francesis,  Philip's  odious  financiers,  derived  a 
double  advantage  from  their  departure,  the  plunder  of 
their  riches  and  the  monopoly  of  all  the  internal  trade, 
which  had  been  carried  on  by  their  exiled  countrymen, 
with  the  sole  liberty  no  doubt  of  violating  with  im- 
punity the  awful  laws  against  usury. 

Philip  even  had  strength  and  daring  to  plunder  his 
Nobles  ;  under  the  pretext  of  a  sumptuary  The  nobles. 
law,  which  limited  the  possession  of  such  pompous  in- 
dulgences to  those  few  who  possessed  more  than  six 
thousand  livres  tournois3  of  annual  revenue,  he  de- 
manded the  surrender  of  all  their  gold  and  silver  plate, 
it  was  averred,  only  for  safe  custody ;  but  that  which 
reached  the  royal  treasury  only  came  out  in  the  shape 
of  stamped  coin.  This  stamped  coin  was  greatly  infe- 
rior, in  weight  and  from  its  alloy,  to  the  current  money. 
The  King  could  not  deny  or  dissemble  the  iniquity  of 
this  transaction  ;  he  excused  it  from  the  urgent  necessi- 
ties of  the  kingdom ;  promised  that  the  treasury  would 

1  Villain,  vii.  c.  14G. 

2  Villani,  (vii.  146).  The  commercial  Florentine  sees  the  ruin  of  Franc* 
in  this  ill  usage  of  the  Italian  bankers.  "  Onde  fu  molto  ripreso,  e  d'  allora 
innanzi  lo  rcame  di  Francia  sempre  ando  abbassando." 

3  Equal,  it  is  calculated,  to  72,000  francs,  probably  much  more. 
VOL.   vi.  17 


258  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

reimburse  the  loss  ;  that  the  royal  exchequer  would 
receive  the  coin  at  its  nominal  value ;  and  even  prom- 
ised to  pledge  the  royal  domains  as  security.  But 
Philip's  promises  in  affairs  of  money  were  but  specious 
evasions.1 

As  an  order,  the  clergy  of  France  had  not  been  sub- 
The  clergy,  jected  to  any  direct  or  special  taxation  under 
the  name  of  voluntary  subsidy  ;  but  Philip  had  shown 
on  many  occasions  no  pious  respect  for  the  goods  of  the 
Church  ;  he  had  long  retained  the  estates  of  vacant 
bishoprics.  Their  time  could  not  but  come.  Philip 
at  the  beginning  of  his  reign  had  struck  a  fatal  blow 
against  the  clergy,  of  which  the  clergy  itself,  not  then 
ruled  by  Boniface,  perhaps  hardly  discerned  the  bear- 
ings even  on  the  future  inevitable  question  of  their 
taxation  by  the  state.  He  banished  the  clergy  from 
the  whole  administration  of  the  law :  expelled  them 
from  the  courts,  from  that  time  forth  to  be  the  special 
and  undisputed  domain  of  their  rivals  and  future  foes, 
the  civil  lawyers.  An  Ordinance  commanded  all 
dukes,  counts,  barons,  archbishops,  bishops,  abbots, 
chapters,  who  had  jurisdiction,  to  commit  the  exercise 
of  that  jurisdiction  to  bailiffs,  provosts,  and  assessors, 
not  ecclesiastics.  The  pretext  was  specious,  that  if 
such  men  abused  their  power,  they  could  be  pun- 
ished for  the  abuse.  It  was  also  forbidden  to  all  chap- 
ters and  monasteries  to  employ  an  ecclesiastic  as  proc- 
tor. Another  Ordinance  deprived  the  clergy  of  the 
right  of  being  elected  as  provost,  mayor,  sheriff  (e*che- 
vin),  or  municipal  councillor.  Bishops  could  only  sit  in 
the  Royal  Parliament  by  permission  of  the  President y 

1  Ordonnances  des  Rois,  May,  1295. 

2  Ordonnances  des  Rois,  1287-1289. 


Chap.  VIII.  BULL   u  CLERICIS   LAICOS."  259 

Still  up  to  this  time  the  clergy  had  not  been  sub- 
jected to  the  common  assessments.  The  first  Tax.ltioaof 
taxation,  which  bore  the  odious  name  of  the  clergy- 
maltote  (the  ill  assessed  and  ill  levied),  respected 
them.1  It  had  fallen  chiefly,  if  not  exclusively,  on  the 
traders.  But  whether  emboldened  by  the  success  of 
his  rival  Edward  in  England,  or  knowing  that,  if  Ed- 
ward wielded  the  wealth  of  the  English  clergy,  he 
must  wield  that  of  France,  in  the  now  extraordinary 
impost  the  impartial  assessment  comprehended  ecclesi- 
astics as  well  as  the  laity. 

Boniface  VIII.,  with  all  his  ability  and  sagacity,  was 
possessed  even  to  infatuation  with  the  conviction  of  the 
unlimited,  irresistible  power  of  the  Papacy.  He  de- 
termined, once  for  all,  on  the  broadest,  boldest,  most 
uncontestable  ground  to  bring  to  issue  this  inevitable 
question  ;  to  sever  the  property  of  the  Church  from  all 
secular  obligations ;  to  declare  himself  the  one  exclu- 
sive trustee  of  all  the  lands,  goods,  and  properties,  held 
throughout  Christendom  by  the  clergy,  by  monastic 
bodies,  even  by  the  universities  :  and  that,  without  his 
consent,  no  aid,  benevolence,  grant,  or  subsidy  could 
be  raised  on  their  estates  or  possessions  by  any  temporal 
sovereign  in  the  world.  Such  is  the  full  and  The  Buii 
distinct  sense  of  the  famous  Bull  issued  by  LafcaL" 
Boniface  at  the  commencement  of  the  second  year  of 
his  Pontificate.  "  The  laity,  such  is  the  witness  of  all 
antiquity,  have  been  ever  hostile  to  the  clergy  :  recent 
experience  sadly  confirms  this  truth.  They  are  igno- 
rant that  over  ecclesiastical  persons,  over  ecclesiastical 
property,  they  have  no  power  whatever.  But  they 
have  dared  to  exact  both  from  the  secular  and  the 

i  Sub  ami.  1202. 


260  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI 

regular  clergy  a  twentieth,  a  tenth,  half  of  their  reve- 
nue,1 and  applied  the  money  to  their  own  secular  uses. 
Some  base  and  time-serving  prelates  have  been  so  das- 
tardly as  to  submit  to  these  wicked  exactions."  The 
prohibition  of  the  Pope  was  as  particular  and  explicit 
as  could  be  framed  in  words  :  "  On  no  title,  on  no 
plea,  under  no  name,  was  any  tax  to  be  levied  on  any 
property  of  the  church,  without  the  distinct  permission 
of  the  Pope.  Every  layman  of  whatever  rank,  em- 
peror, king,  prince,  duke,  or  their  officers,  who  received 
such  money,  was  at  once  and  absolutely  under  excom- 
munication ;  they  could  only  be  absolved,  under  com- 
petent authority,  at  the  hour  of  death.  Every  eccle- 
siastic who  submitted  to  such  taxation  was  at  once 
deposed,  and  incapable  of  holding  any  benefice.  The 
universities  which  should  so  offend  were  under  inter- 
dict." 2 

But  the  Kings  of  France  and  England  were  not  so 
England.  easily  appalled  into  acquiescence  in  a  claim 
a.i).  12%.  which  either  smote  their  exchequer  with  bar- 
renness, or  reduced  them  to  dependence  not  only  on 
their  own  subjects,  but  also  on  the  Pope.  It  gave  to 
the  Pontiff  of  Rome  the  ultimate  judgment  on  war 
and  peace  between  nations.  Edward  had  gone  too  far; 
he  had  derived  too  much  advantage  from  the  subsidies 
of  the  clergy  to  abandon  that  fruitful  source  of  revenue. 
The  year  after  the  levy  of  one  half  of  the  income  of 
parliament  tne  kleEgy,  a  Parliament  met  at  St.  Edmonds- 
at  Bury.        bury.  The  laity  granted  a  subsidy ;  the  clergy, 

1  This  seems  aimed  directly  at  Edward  I.  It  was  believed  in  England 
that  the  bull  was  obtained  by  the  influence  of  the  English  primate,  Robert 
of  Winehelsea,  then  at  Rome. 

2  Th~.  bull  Clericis  Laicos,  apud  Dupuy,  Preuves,  p.  14.  In  Kaynaldua, 
■ub  ann.  lzD6,  January,  and  Ityiner,  ii.  706. 


Chap.  VIII.  COUNCIL  AT   ST.  PAUL'S.  2G1 

pleading  their  inability,  as  drained  by  the  payment  of 
the  last  year,  or  emboldened  by  the  presence  of  the  Pri- 
mate Robert  of  Winchelsea,  refused  all  further  grant. 
The  King  allowed  time  for  deliberation,  but  in  the 
mean  time  with  significant  precaution  ordered  locks  to 
be  placed  on  all  their  barns,  and  that  they  should  be 
sealed  with  the  King's  seal.  The  Archbishop  at  once 
commanded  the  Bull  of  Pope  Boniface  to  be  read  pub- 
licly in  all  the  cathedral  churches  of  the  realm ;  but  the 
barns  did  not  fly  open  at  the  bidding  of  the  great  en- 
chanter. The  Primate  summoned  a  provincial  Synod 
or  Convocation  of  the  clergy,  to  meet  in  St.  Councilat 
Paul's,  London.  The  King  sent  an  order st-  Paul's- 
warning  the  Synod  against  making  any  constitution 
which  might  infringe  on  his  prerogative,  or  which 
might  turn  to  u  the  disadvantage  of  us,  our  ministers, 
or  any  of  our  faithful  subjects."  *  The  majority  of  the 
Synod  peremptorily  refused  all  grant  or  concession. 
Upon  this  King  Edward  took  the  bold  yet  tenable 
ground,  that  those  who  would  not  contribute  to  the 
maintenance  of  the  temporal  power  should  not  enjoy  its 
protection  ;  if  they  refused  the  obligation,  they  must 
abandon  the  rights  of  subjects.  The  whole  clergy  of 
the  realm  were  declared  by  the  Chief  Justice  on  the 
Bench  to  be  in  a  state  of  outlawry :  they  had  no  resort 
to  the  King's  justice.  Nor  was  this  an  idle  menace. 
Officers  were  ordered  to  seize  the  best  horses  both  of 
the  secular  and  regular  clergy :  if  they  sought  redress, 
the  lawyers  were  forbidden  to  plead  on  their  behalf; 
the  King's  courts  were  closed  against  them.  They 
were  now  in  a  perilous  and  perplexing  condition  ;  they 
must  either  resist  the  King  or  the  Pope.    They  felt  the 

1  Spelman,  Concilia,  sub  ann. 


2G2  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

King's  hand  ;  the  demand  took  the  form  r  ot  merely  of 
a  subsidy,  but  of  a  fine  for  the  contumacious  resistance 
of  the  King's  authority.  Yet  the  terrible  anathemas 
of  the  Pope's  Bull  had  hardly  died  away  in  their  cathe- 
drals. There  was  division  among  themselves.  A  great 
part  of  the  clergy  leaned  towards  the  more  prudent 
course,  and  empowered  the  Archbishop  of  York,  the 
Bishops  of  Durham,  Salisbury,  and  Ely  to  endeavor  to 
They  yield,  effect  a  compromise.  A  fifth  part  of  their 
revenue  from  estates  and  goods  was  set  apart  in  some 
sanctuary  or  privileged  place,  to  be  drawn  forth  when 
required  by  the  necessities  of  the  Church  or  the  king- 
dom. The  Papal  prohibition  was  thus,  it  was  thought, 
eluded :  the  King,  remaining  judge  of  the  necessity, 
cared  not,  provided  he  obtained  the  money.1  The 
Primate,  as  though  the  shrine  of  Thomas  a  Becket 
spoke  warning  and  encouragement  (he  knew,  too,  what 
Archbishop  Pope  was  on  the  throne),  refused  all  submis- 
resists.  sjon^  ^ut  he  stood  alone,  and  alone  bore  the 

penalty.  His  whole  estate  was  seized  to  the  King's 
use.  The  Archbishop  had  but  the  barren  consolation 
of  declaring  the  rest  of  the  clergy  to  have  incurred 
the  Papal  sentence  of  excommunication.  He  left  the 
Synod  with  a  solemn  admonition  to  the  other  Prelates 
and  clergy  lest  they  should  imperil  their  souls  by 
criminal  concession.  On  the  other  hand,  the  preaching 
Friars  of  the  Order  of  St.  Dominic,  usually  the  un- 
scrupulous assertors  of  the  Papal  power,  appeared  in 
St.  Paul's,  and  offered  publicly  to  maintain  the  doctrine, 
that  in  time  of  war  it  was  lawful  for  the  clergy  to  con- 
tribute to  the  necessities  of  the  sovereign.     Notwith- 

i  Hemingford,  107,  108.    Brady,  Appendix,  19,  23.     Westminster,  ad 
Ann.  1296.     Collier,  i.  491,  &c. 


Chap.  VIII.  CONCESSIONS  OF  EDWARD.  263 

standing  the  Papal  prohibition,  the  clergy  at  length 
yielded,  and  granted  a  fourth  of  their  revenue.  The 
Archbishop  alone  stood  firm ;  but  his  lands  were  in  the 
hands  of  the  King's  officers ;  himself  an  exile  from  the 
court.  He  retired  with  a  single  chaplain  to  a  country 
parsonage,  discharged  the  humble  duties  of  a  priest, 
and  lived  on  the  alms  of  his  flock.  Lincoln  alone 
followed  his  conscientious  example ;  Becket  and  Gros- 
tete  had  met  together.  But  Lincoln  had  generously 
officious  friends,  who  bought  the  King's  pardon. 

The  war  had  now  broken  out ;  the  King  was  about 
to  leave  the  realm,  and  to  embark  for  Flanders.  The  King 
It  had  been  dangerous,  if  Edward  should  en-  relents- 
counter  any  of  the  accidents  of  war,  or  be  compelled 
to  protracted  absence,  to  leave  his  young  son  in  the 
midst  of  a  hostile  clergy,  and  a  people  imbittered  by 
heavy  exactions.  Edward  restored  his  barony  to  the 
Archbishop,  and  summoned  him  to  attend  a  Parliament 
at  Westminster ;  the  Archbishop  stood  by  the  side  of 
the  young  Prince  of  Wales.  The  prudent  King  con- 
descended to  an  apologetic  tone :  he  lamented  that  the 
aggressions  of  his  enemies  in  France  and  Scotland  had 
compelled  him  reluctantly  to  lay  these  onerous  burdens 
on  his  subjects.  He  was  about  to  expose  his  life  to  the 
chances  of  war ;  if  God  should  bless  his  arms  with 
success,  he  promised  to  restore  to  his  people  the  taxes 
which  he  had  levied  :  if  he  should  fall,  he  commended 
his  young  son  and  heir  to  their  loyal  love.1  The  whole 
assembly  was  moved ;  the  Archbishop  melted  into  tears. 
Yet  these  soft  emotions  by  no  means  blinded  them  to 
the  advantage,  offered  by  the  occasion,  of  wresting 
from  the  King  some  further  security  for  their  liberties, 

1  Westminster,  sub  aun.  1297.    Hemingford.    Knighton. 


264  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Boor  XI, 

The  two  charters,  the  Great  Charter,  and  that  of  the 
Forests,  were  confirmed,  and  with  them  more  specific 
guarantees  obtained.  All  judgments  given  by  the 
King's  justices  or  ministers  of  the  crown,  contrary  to 
the  provisions  of  the  charters,  were  declared  null  and 
void.1  The  King  commanded  that  the  charters  under 
his  seal  should  be  sent  to  all  the  cathedral  churches  in 
the  realm,  to  be  there  kept  and  read  in  the  hearing  of 
the  people  twice  every  year.  The  Archbishops  and 
Prelates  at  each  reading  were  to  declare  all  who  vio- 
lated these  great  national  statutes  by  word,  deed,  or 
counsel,  under  actual  sentence  of  excommunication. 
The  Archbishops  were  to  compel  by  distraint  or  other- 
wise the  suffragan  Prelates  who  should  be  remiss  in  the 
reiteration  of  the  grave  anathemas.2 

Thus  the  clergy  of  England,  abandoning  their  own 
ground  of  ecclesiastical  immunities,  took  shelter  under 
the  liberties  of  the  realm.  Of  these  liberties  they  con- 
stituted themselves  the  guardians  ;  and  so  shrouded 
their  own  exemptions,  under  the  general  right,  now  ac- 
knowledged, that  the  subject  could  not  be  taxed  without 
his  own  consent.  The  Archbishop  during  the  next 
year  published  an  excommunication  in  which  the  rights 
of  the  clergy  and  of  the  people  were  blended  with  con- 
summate skill.  It  condemned  the  King's  officers  who 
had  seized  the  goods  and  imprisoned  the  persons  of  the 
clergy  (perhaps  for  the  arrears  of  the  subsidy),  and  at 

1  The  Acts  in  Rymer. 

2  The  civil  lawyers,  as  Sir  Edward  Coke,  maintain  that  the  clergy  here 
acted  under  the  authority  and  command  of  the  temporal  power.  High 
Churchmen,  like  Collier,  insist  that  the  bishops  were  consenting  to  the 
measure;  that  it  was  according  to  the  decrees  of  several  provincial  coun- 
cils; that  the  penalties  on  refractory  prelates  were  left  to  the  spiritual  au« 

hority  of  the  archbishops.     Compare  Collier,  i.  p.  494. 


Chap.  VIII.  THE  BULL  IN   FRANCE.  205 

the  same  time  all  who  should  have  violated  the  charter. 
It  reasserted  the  immunity  of  all  the  King's  subjects 
from  taxation  to  which  they  had  not  given  their  assent. 
He  thus  obeyed  the  royal  mandate,  aimed  a  blow  at 
the  royal  power,  and  asserted  the  special  exemptions  of 
the  clergy.1 

The  famous  Bull  was  received  in  France  by  the 
more  violent  and  haughty  Philip  with  still  Bnllin 
greater  indignation  ;  it  struck  at  once  at  his  France- 
pride,  his  power,  and  his  cupidity.  Philip,  in  his  im- 
perious taxation,  had  been  embarrassed  by  none  of  the 
slow  forms,  the  semblance  at  least  of  voluntary  grant, 
to  the  observance  of  which  the  Great  Charter,  and 
now  usage,  had  bound  the  King  of  England ;  and 
which,  joined  with  their  own  peculiar  exemptions, 
made  it  necessary  that  the  contributions  of  the  clergy 
should* be  voted  as  an  aid,  benevolence,  or  subsidy. 
Philip,  of  his  sole  will,  had  imposed  the  tax  for  the 
second  time  (the  first  was  a  hundredth  of  actual  prop- 
erty, now  a  fiftieth),  which  passed  under  the  detested 
name  of  maltote  :  the  harshness  and  extortion  of  his 
officers,  who  levied  this  charge,  increased  its  unpopu- 
larity. At  first  it  had  been  demanded  of  the  mer- 
chants, then  of  all  citizens,  last  of  the  clergy.  But  if 
the  wrath  of  Philip  was  more  vehement,  his  revenge 
was  more  cool  and  deliberate ;  it  was  a  retaliation 
which  bore  the  appearance  of  moderation,  but  struck 
the  Popedom  deep  in  the  most  vital  and  sensitive  part. 
If  the  clergy  might  not  be  taxed  for  the  exigencies  of 
France,  nor  might  in  any  way  be  tributary  to  the 
King,  France  would  no  longer  be  tributary  to  the 
Pope.  From  all  the  kingdoms  of  Western  Christen- 
1  Westm.  sub  ann.  1298.    Collier,  i.  p.  495.    Spelman,  Concilia. 


2G0  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

dom  vast  wealth  was  constantly  flowing  to  Rome ; 
every  great  promotion  had  to  pay  its  fees,  no  cause  could 
be  evoked  to  Rome  without  large  expenditure  in  Rome : 
no  pilgrim  visited  the  Eternal  City  unladen  with  pre- 
cious gifts  and  offerings :  the  Pope  claimed  and  not 
seldom  had  exercised  the  power  of  assessing  the  clergy, 
not  merely  for  ordinary  purposes,  but  for  extraordinary 
exigencies  which  concerned  the  safety  or  the  grandeur 
of  the  Pontificate.  Philip  issued  an  Ordinance,1  pro- 
hibiting in  the  most  rigid  and  precise  terms  the  expor- 
tation of  gold  or  silver,  either  in  ingots  or  in  plate,  of 
precious  stones,  of  provisions,  arms,  horses,  or  muni- 
tions of  war,  of  any  article,  indeed,  of  current  value, 
without  special  permission  sealed  and  delivered  by  the 
crown.2 

Thus,  at  one  blow,  Rome  was  deprived  of  all  her 
supplies  from  France.  The  other  Edict,  which  pro- 
hibited foreign  trading  in  the  land,  proscribed  the 
agents,  the  bankers,  who  transmitted  in  other  ways  the 
Papal  revenues  to  Rome.  Boniface  had  gone  too  far : 
but  it  was  neither  in  his  character,  his  station,  nor  in 
the  interest  of  the  hierarchy,  to  retract.  Yet,  he  was 
still  true  to  the  old  Guelfic  policy,  close  alliance  with 
France.     He  had   espoused   the  cause  of  the  French 

1  This  edict,  passed  by  the  King  in  Parliament,  had  been  preceded  and 
was  accompanied  by  another,  prohibiting  the  entrance  of  all  foreign  mer- 
chants into  the  realm,  under  the  strange  plea  that  the  internal  trade  of  the 
country  was  carried  on  with  sufficient  activity  by  the  natives  of  France. 
So  well  indeed  had  Philip  been  served  by  his  agents  in  Rome,  that  these 
prohibitory  edicts  almost,  if  not  quite,  anticipated  the  formal  publication 
of  the  Papal  bull  in  France. 

2  The  edict,  Aug.  17,  1296.  Sismondi  has  mistaken  the  republication  of 
the  bull  Clericis  Laicos,  Aug.  18,  in  France,  for  the  original  promulgation 
in  January  (Hist,  des  Franeais,  viii.  516).  Raynaldus  and  Dupuy  place  it 
in  January.  It  was  known  in  England  early  in  the  year.  The  Pope  refers 
to  it  in  his  answer,  as  the  cause  of  the  King's  hostile  ordinance. 


Chap.  VIII.  PERSISTENCE  OF  BONIFACE.  267 

house  of  Anjou  in  Naples  with  ardor.  As  Pope,  he 
no  douht  contemplated  with  admiration  that  model  of  a 
Christian  King,  whom  he  was  called  upon  by  the  almost 
adoring  voice  of  Christendom  to  canonize,  Saint  Louis. 
The  Empire,  though  now  abased,  might  rally  again, 
and  resume  its  hostility  ;  the  Colonnas  were  not  yet 
crushed ;  Ghibellinism  not  absolutely  under  his  feet. 
He  had,  indeed,  under  the  lofty  character  which  he  as- 
sumed of  arbiter  of  the  world,  as  the  Supreme  Pontiff, 
to  whom  lay  resort  against  all  Christian  vassals  as  well 
as  Sovereigns,  received  the  appeal  of  the  Count  of 
Flanders  against  his  liege  Lord,  Philip  of  France. 
Philip,  jealous  of  the  design  of  the  Count  of  Flanders 
to  marry  his  daughter  to  the  heir  of  England,  had 
summoned  the  Count  and  Countess  with  their  daughter 
to  Paris.  They  had  been  treacherously  seized  ;  the 
Count  and  Countess  had  escaped,  or  had  been  dis- 
missed, but  the  daughter  was  kept  as  a  hostage  in  the 
power  of  Philip,  who  bred  her  up  with  his  own  family. 
The  Count  of  Flanders  complained  to  the  Pope  of  this 
injustice.  The  Pope  had  sent  his  Legate,  the  Bishop 
of  Meaux,  to  demand  her  liberation.  The  only  answer 
was  a  lofty  rebuke  to  the  Pope  for  presuming  to  inter- 
meddle with  temporal  affairs  beyond  his  jurisdiction.1 
Under  these  conflicting  circumstances,  Boniface  is- 
sued his  second  Manifesto.  Never  was  promulgated  by 
the  Papal  court  a  Bull  at  once  so  inflexibly  imperious, 
yet  so  bland ;  so  disguising  the  haughtiness,  the  arro- 
gance of  a  master,  under  the  smooth  and  gentle  lan- 
guage of  a  parent :  so  manifestly  anxious  to  conciliate, 
yet  so  almost  contemptuously  offensive.  Crimination, 
expostulation,  menace,  flattery,  explanation  bordering 

1  Compare  Dupuy  and  Baillet. 


268  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI, 

on  apology,  almost  on  concession,  display  the  Pope  the 
proudest  of  mankind,  yet  for  a  moment  conscious  that 
he  is  addressing  a  monarch  as  proud  as  himself;  deter- 
mined to  assert  to  the  uttermost  his  immeasurable  supe- 
riority, and  yet  modifying,  tempering  his  demands  :  as 
the  head  of  the  Guelfs,  reluctant  to  alienate  the  pro- 
tector of  the  Guelfic  interest.  And  he  is  still  the  head 
of  the  great  Sacerdotal  caste,  determined  to  maintain 
that  caste  in  its  inviolable  sanctity  and  power,  and  to 
yield  up  no  letter  of  the  pretensions  of  his  haughtiest 
ancestors.  All  the  acts  of  Kings,  as  moral  acts,  were 
under  the  immediate,  indefeasible  jurisdiction  of  the 
The  Buii.  Pope.  "  The  Church,  by  the  ineffable  love 
sept.  129G.  Q£  |ier  Sp0use^  Christ,  has  received  the  dowry 
of  many  precious  gifts,  especially  that  great  gift  of 
liberty.  Who  shall  presume  against  God  and  the  Lord 
to  infringe  her  liberty,  and  not  be  beaten  down  by  the 
hammer  of  supreme  power  to  dust  and  ashes  ?  My 
son !  turn  not  away  thine  ears  from  the  voice  of  thy 
father ;  his  parental  language  flows  from  the  tenderness 
of  his  heart,  though  with  some  of  the  bitterness  of  past 
injuries."  The  Pope  throws  the  whole  blame  on  the 
King's  evil  counsellors.  "  Let  him  not  permit  them  to 
change  the  throne  of  his  glory  into  a  seat  of  pestilence.'' 
"  The  King's  Ordinance  to  forbid  foreigners  all  traffic 
in  the  land,  is  not  less  impolitic  than  unjust.  His  sub- 
jects are  oppressed  with  intolerable  burdens  ;  already 
their  alienated  loyalty  has  begun  to  decay,  it  will  soon 
be  altogether  estranged  ;  it  is  a  grievous  loss  for  a  King 
to  forfeit  the  love  of  his  subjects."  The  Pope  will  not 
believe  that  the  general  prohibition  against  all  persons 
quitting  the  realm,  or  exporting  money  or  goods,  can 
be  intended   to  apply  to  ecclesiastics ;    this  would    be 


Chap.  VIII.  PAPAL   BULL.  269 

worse  than  impolitic,  it  would  be  insane.  "  Neither 
thou  nor  any  secular  prince  hast  the  power  to  do  this : 
by  the  very  prohibition  is  incurred  a  sentence  of  excom- 
munication." The  Pope  reminds  the  King  of  the  in- 
tense anxiety  with  which  he  has  devoted  long  days  and 
sleepless  nights  to  his  interests ;  how  he  has  labored  to 
preserve  peace,  sent  his  Cardinals  to  mediate.  "  Is  this 
the  return  for  the  inestimable  favors  shown  by  the 
Church  to  you  and  your  ancestors  ?  "  From  the  appeal 
to  Philip's  gratitude  he  passes  to  an  appeal  to  Philip's 
fears.  "  Lift  up  your  eyes  and  look  around  :  the  pow- 
erful Kings  of  the  Romans,  of  England,  of  Spain  are 
in  league  against  you.  Is  this  a  time  to  add  the  Holy 
See  to  your  enemies  ?  Let  not  your  insolent  counsel- 
lors drive  you  to  this  fatal  precipice  !  Call  to  mind  the 
goodness  of  the  Holy  See,  which  you  may  thus  compel 
to  abandon  you  without  succor.  Call  to  mind  the 
canonization  of  your  ancestor,  Louis,  whose  miracles 
the  Holy  See  has  examined  with  assiduous  care.  In- 
«tead  of  securing,  like  him,  her  love,  deserve  not  her 
indignation.  What  is  the  cause  of  all  this  ?  Our  Con- 
stitution in  defence  of  ecclesiastical  liberty  ?  That 
Constitution  asserted  only  the  principles  maintained  by 
Popes  and  Councils ;  it  added  the  awful  penalties  of 
excommunication,  because  men  are  more  affected  by 
the  dread  of  punishment  than  by  the  love  of  virtue  : 
nor  did  we  by  that  Constitution  precisely  ordain  that 
the  Prelates  and  clergy  were  not  to  contribute  to  the 
necessities  of  the  King ;  but  we  declared  that  this  was 
not  to  be  done  without  our  special  permission,  bearing 
in  mind  the  insupportable  exactions  sometimes  wrung 
from  ecclesiastics  by  the  King's  officers  under  his  au- 
thority.    Not  only  do  all  divine  and  human  laws,  even 


270  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

judgments,  attest  the  abuse  of  such  authority,  but  the 
authority  itself  is  absolutely  interdicted ;  and  this  we 
have  intimated  for  the  perpetual  memory  of  the  truth. 
If  you  object  that  such  permission  has  been  petitioned 
for  from  the  Holy  See,  and  the  petition  has  not  been 
granted,''  if  the  realm  were  in  danger,  urgent  and 
admitted,  the  Pope  pledged  himself  to  permit  not  only 
the  levying  of  taxes,  "  but  the  crosses  of  gold  and  sil- 
ver, even  the  consecrated  vessels  and  furniture  of  the 
churches  should  be  sacrificed  before  a  kingdom,  so  dear 
to  the  Apostolic  See,  should  be  exposed  to  peril." 
"  The  Constitution  did  not  absolutely  prohibit  the 
King  from  exercising  his  rights  over  ecclesiastics  who 
held  fiefs  of  the  crown,  according  to  the  laws  and 
usages  of  the  realm  ;  but  for  himself,  Boniface  was 
prepared  to  lay  down  all,  even  his  life,  in  defence  of 
the  liberties  and  immunities  of  the  Church  against  all 
usurpers  whatsoever."  He  charged  the  whole  guilt  of 
the  war  on  the  King  of  France ;  it  arose  from  his  un- 
just occupation  of  Burgundy,  an  undoubted  fief  of  the 
Empire,  and  of  Gascony,  the  inheritance  of  Edward  of 
England,  as  Duke  of  Guienne.  On  the  evils  of  war 
he  enlarged  :  peril  to  the  souls  of  men,  the  slaughter, 
the  bottomless  gulf  of  expenditure,  the  damage,  arising 
from  the  usurpations  suggested  by  his  evil  counsellors. 
Those  wrongs  against  the  Kings  of  the  Romans  and  of 
England  were  sins,  therefore,  undoubtedly  under  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  Pope ; }  in  such  aggressions  the 
Pope  had  full  power  of  judgment.  It  was  shameful 
for  Philip  to  refuse  the  mediation,  which  had  been 
accepted  by  the  King  of  the  Romans  and  the  King  of 

1  "  Duraque  in  eos  super  iis  peccare  te  asserunt  do  hoc  judicium  ad  Sedem 
eandeni  uon  est  dubiuru  pertinere." 


Ciiaj\  VIII.  ANSWER  OF  THE  KING.  271 

England.  The  Pope  would  not  proceed  at  once  to  the 
last  extremity  ;  he  would  first  attempt  the  ways  of 
remonstrance  and  gentleness ;  and  for  this  end  he  had 
sent  the  Bishop  of  Viviers  to  explain  more  fully  his 
determination.1 

The  King  of  France  promulgated  an  answer,  full, 
not  too  long,  but  in  language  well  considered,  Answerof 
and  of  singular  force  and  strength.  This the  Kins* 
document  showed  the  progress  of  the  human  mind,  and 
manifestly  divulged  the  new  power,  that  of  the  civil 
lawyers,  whose  style  and  phrases  appear  throughout. 
It  began  with  the  bold  historic  assertion,  not  only  of 
the  superior  antiquity  of  the  temporal  to  the  spiritual 
power  in  Europe  ;  but  that  before  there  were  ecclesias- 
tics in  the  world  the  Kings  of  France  had  the  supreme 
guardianship  of  the  realm,  with  full  authority  to  enact 
all  such  ordinances  as  might  be  for  the  public  weal. 
"  The  King,  therefore,  had  prohibited  the  exportation 
of  arms,  provisions,  and  other  things  which  might  be 
turned  to  the  advantage  of  his  enemies."  But  this  pro- 
hibition was  not  absolute  (he  turned  the  Pope's  evasions 
on  the  Pope),  "  it  required  for  such  exportation  the 
special  license  of  the  King.  Such  license  would  not 
have  been  refused  to  ecclesiastics,  if  they  were  sure 
that  what  they  exported  was  their  own  property,  and 
could  not  be  applied  to  the  damage  of  the  realm." 
The  King  glanced  with  covert  sarcasm  at  the  partiality 
of  the  Pope.  "  That  other  most  dear  son  of  the  Church 
(the  King  of  England)  had  been  allowed  to  seize  the 
goods  of  the  clergy,  to  imprison  the  clergy,  and  yet  no 
excommunication  had  been  pronounced  against  him." 
The  proclamation  proceeded  daringly  to  grapple  with 

1  The  document  in  Dupuy,  &c. 


272  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

the  vital  question.  It  denied  the  right  of  the  clergy  to 
the  exclusive  appellation  of  "  the  Church."  The  laity 
were  as  much  members  of  Christ's  mystical  body  as  the 
clergy.  The  clergy  had  no  special  liberty ;  this  was  an 
usurpation  on  the  common  rights  of  all  the  faithful.  The 
liberty  which  Christ  had  obtained  belonged  to  the  lay- 
man as  well  as  to  the  ecclesiastic.  "  Did  Christ  die  and 
rise  again  for  the  clergy  alone  ?  "  There  were,  indeed, 
peculiar  liberties,  according  to  the  Statutes  of  the  Ro- 
man Pontiffs,  but  these  had  been  granted  or  permitted 
by  the  Roman  Emperors.  "  Such  liberties,  so  granted 
or  permitted,  cannot  take  away  the  rights  of  Kings  to 
provide,  with  the  advice  of  their  Parliament,  all  things 
necessary  for  the  defence  of  the  realm,  according  to  the 
eternal  rule :  Render  unto  Caesar  the  things  that  are 
Caesar's.  All  alike,  clerks  and  laymen,  nobles  and  sub- 
jects, are  bound  to  the  common  defence.  Such  charges 
are  not  to  be  called  exactions,  extortions,  burdens. 
They  are  subsidies  to  the  Sovereign  for  the  general  pro- 
tection. The  property  of  the  Church  in  time  of  war  is 
exposed  to  more  than  ordinary  dangers.  To  refuse  to 
contribute  to  the  exigencies  of  the  war,  is  to  refuse  due 
payment  to  your  protectors." 

u  What  wise  and  intelligent  man  is  not  in  utter 
amazement  when  he  hears  the  Vicar  of  Christ  prohib- 
iting and  fulminating  his  anathema  against  contribu- 
tions  for  the  defence  of  the  realm,  according  to  a  fair 
equal  rate,  for  the  defence  of  the  clergy  themselves  ? 
They  may  give  to  stage-players ;  they  have  full  and 
unbounded  license  to  lavish  any  expenditure,  to  the 
neglect  of  their  churches,  on  their  dress,  their  horses, 
their  assemblies,  their  banquets,  and  all  other  secular 
pomps  and  pleasures.     What  sane  men  would  forbid, 


Chap.  VIII.  THE  KING'S   REPLY.  273 

under  the  sentence  of  anathema,  that  the  clergy, 
crammed,  fattened,  swollen  by  the  devotion  of  Princes, 
should  assist  the  same  Princes  by  aids  and  subsidies 
against  the  persecutions  of  their  foes  ?  Have  they  not 
the  discernment  to  see  that  this  inhibition,  this  refusal 
is  little  less  than  high-treason,  condemned  by  the  laws 
of  God  and  man  ?  It  is  aiding  and  abetting  the  King's 
enemies,  it  is  treachery  to  the  defenders  of  the  common 
weal.  We,  like  our  forefathers,  have  ever  paid  due 
reverence  to  God,  to  his  Catholic  Church,  and  his 
ministers,  but  we  fear  not  the  unjust  and  immeasur- 
able threats  of  men."  He  proceeds  to  justify  the  war. 
"  The  King  of  England  had  refused  allegiance  for  his 
fiefs  held  of  the  crown  of  France.  Ample  satisfac- 
tion, and  fair  terms  of  peace,  had  been  offered  to  the 
King  of  the  Romans."  The  county  of  Burgundy  the 
King  of  France  held  by  right  of  conquest  in  open  war, 
after  defiance  and  proclamation  of  hostilities  by  the 
Kino;  of  the  Romans  himself.  "  We  therefore  ought 
no  longer  to  be  provoked  by  insults,  but,  as  dutiful  sons 
of  the  Church,  to  be  looked  upon  with  favor,  and  con- 
soled in  our  dangers  and  distresses."  l 

The  Pope  thought  it  not  prudent  to  contest  these 
broad  and  bold  principles  of  temporal  supremacy ; 
he  was  now  involved  in  the  internecine  Feb.  7, 1297. 
strife  with  the  Colonnas.  An  address  in  a  milder 
tone,  in  which  protestations  of  regard  and  esteem  pre- 
dominated over  the  few  lingering  words  of  menace,  de- 
clared that  a  more  harsh,  strict,  and  rigorous  meaning 
than  he  had  designed  had  been  attributed  by  the  malig- 
nity and  cunning  of  evil  counsellors  to  the  Papal  Bull. 
The  Cardinal  Legates,  however,  were  commanded  to 

1  Document  in  Dupuy. 
VOL.  VI.  18 


274  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

raise  all  moneys  due  to  the  Pope ;  and  if  the  King's 
officers  should  interfere  with  their  transmission,  they 
were  without  hesitation  or  delay  to  pronounce  sentence 
of  excommunication  against  those  officers.1  The  Pope 
conduct  of  found  himself  deserted  in  France  by  his  nat- 
ciergy.  ural   allies.     In  the  Gallican  Church,  either 

national  pride  triumphed  over  the  hierarchical  spirit,  or 
the  clergy  feared  the  King  more  than  the  Pope.  The 
Archbishop  of  Rheims,  with  nothing  of  the  stubborn 
boldness  of  Becket,  or  even  the  passive  courage  of 
Robert  of  Winchelsea,  sent  a  strong  though  humble 
address  to  the  Pope,  expressing  profound  gratitude  for 
his  care  of  the  ecclesiastical  liberties,  but  acknowledg- 
ing their  obligations  both  as  feudatories  of  the  King 
and  as  subjects,  and  their  duty,  in  self-defence,  to  con- 
tribute to  the  public  service :  they  deprecated  the 
Pope's  proceedings  as  disturbing  the  peace  which  hap- 
pily prevailed  between  the  Church  of  France  and  the 
King  and  Parliament  of  France.2 

For  once  the  haughty  Boniface  listened  to  the  admo- 
pradence  of  nitions  of  prudence.  The  King  of  France, 
Bomface.  ^y  SUSpenc|ing  for  a  time  the  operations  of 
his  hostile  ordinance,  gave  the  Pope  an  opportunity  of 
withdrawing  with  less  loss  of  dignity  from  his  danger- 
ous position.  Another  Bull  appeared.  "  The  author," 
it  declared,  "  of  every  law  is  the  sole  interpreter  of 
that  law  ;"  and  the  interpretation  which  it  now  pleased 
Pope  Boniface  to  give  to  his  famous  Bull,  virtually  ab- 
rogated it  as  regarded  the  kingdom  of  France.  The 
King  had  full  right  to  command  the  service  of  all  his 
feudatories,  whether  holding  secular  or  ecclesiastical 
fiefs :  aids,  benevolences,  or  loans  might  be  granted, 

1  Dupuy,  Feb.  3.  2  Dupuy,  p.  26. 


Chap.  VIII.  THE  POPES  PRUDENCE.  275 

provided  there  was  no  exaction,  only  a  friendly  and 
gentle  requisition  from  the  King's  courts.  If  the 
realm  was  in  danger,  equal  taxes  might  be  assessed  on 
all  alike  ;  it  was  left  to  the  conscience  of  the  King,  if 
of  full  age,  during  the  King's  nonage  to  the  prelates, 
princes,  dukes,  and  counts  of  the  realm,  to  decide  when 
the  state  was  in  danger.1 

The  successes  of  Philip  the  Fair  in  negotiation  as 
well  as  in  war,  no  doubt,  if  they  did  not  awe  Thewar 
the  Pope,  showed  the  danger  as  well  as  the  1297' im 
impolicy  of  alienating  the  old  true  ally  of  the  Pope- 
dom, now  rising  to  increased  power  and  influence.  For 
his  dictatorial  injunctions  to  make  peace  had  been  ut- 
terly disregarded  by  all  parties ;  the  truce,  which  he 
had  ordered  for  two  years,  had  not  been  observed  for 
as  many  months. 

It  was  a  powerful  league  which  had  been  organized 
by  the  lavish  subsidies  of  England.  It  comprehended 
the  King  of  the  Romans,  Guy  Dampierre,  Count  of 
Flanders,  who  hoped  to  compel  the  King  of  France  to 
release  his  daughter,  the  Count  of  Bar,  the  Duke  of 
Brabant,  the  Counts  of  Hainault  and  Gueldres,  the 
Bishops  of  Liege  and  Utrecht,  the  Archbishop  of  Co- 
logne. The  Counts  of  Auxerre,  Montbelliard,  and 
other  nobles  of  that  province  engaged,  on  the  receipt 
of  thirty  thousand  livres,  to  make  a  revolt  in  Burgundy. 
The  more  remote  Counts  of  Savoy  and  Grandson  were . 
pledged  to  encourage  and  maintain  this  revolt.  So 
utterly  and  almost  contumeliously  were  the  pacific 
views  of  the  Pope  disregarded  in  all  quarters.  But  in 
the  mean  time  Philip  had  won  over  the  Duke  of  Bre- 
tagne  from  the  English  league.     In  all  parts  his  subsi- 

1  Apud  Dupuy,  p.  39. 


276  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

dies  counteracted  those  of  England  ;  subsidies  on  both 
sides  largely  drawn  from  the  ecclesiastical  revenues. 
He  had  entered  Flanders.  Charles  of  Valois  had  in- 
flicted a  severe  defeat  on  the  rebels,  so  the  Flemings  in 
the  army  of  the  Count  Dampierre  were  called.  The 
rich  manufacturing  cities,  indignant  at  former  attempts 
of  their  liege  Lord,  the  Count  of  Flanders,  to  infringe 
their  privileges,  opened  their  gates  to  Philip  as  their 
Suzerain.  The  Count  in  vain  attempted  to  retrace  his 
steps  ;  they  would  not  trust  him,  and  were  at  least 
indifferent  to  their  change  of  masters. 

Edward  had  at  length  disembarked  to  the  relief  of 
his  overwhelmed  ally.1  But  the  forces  of  the  King  of 
England  were  unequal  to  the  contest.  The  war  in  de- 
fence of  his  foreign  dominions  had  been  unpopular  in 
England.  The  English  nobles,  become  more  inflexibly 
insular  in  their  feelings,  had  more  than  once  refused  to 
follow  their  monarch  for  the  defence  or  reconquest 
of  Gascony.  In  small  numbers  and  with  reluctance 
they  had  accompanied  him  to  the  Flemish  shores.  Ed 
ward's  own  military  skill  and  vigor  seemed  to  have 
deserted  him :  he  was  forced  to  abandon  Bruges,  which 
opened  its  gates  to  the  conqueror.  Ghent  was  hardly 
safe.2 

These  unusual  efforts  had  exhausted  the  resources  of 
both  kingdoms.  The  means  of  prosecuting  the  war 
could  only  be  wrung  by  force  from  murmuring  and  re- 
fractory subjects,  the  clergy  as  well  as  the  laity.  There 
was  a  limit  not  only  to  the  endurance,  but  to  the  possi- 
bility of  raising  new  raxes ;  and  that  limit  had  been 
reached  both  in  England  and  France. 

1  He  embarked  at  Winchelsea,  Aug.  22;  landed  at  Sluys,  1297.     Rymer. 

2  The  war  in  the  English  and  French  historians ;  plainly  and  briefly  in 
liapm. 


Chap.  VIII.  DISPOSITION  TO  PEACli.  277 

At  the  close  of  the  year  the  Kings  consented  to  a 
short  truce.  News  from  England,  during  the  a.d.  1297. 
suspension  of  arms,  disconcerted  the  plans  of  Edward 
for  the  reorganization  in  greater  strength  and  activity 
of  his  wide-spread  league.  All  Scotland  was  in  revolt. 
Wallace,  from  a  wild  adventurer,  at  the  head  of  a  loose 
band  of  moss-troopers,  had  assumed,  in  a  Parliament 
at  Perth,  the  title  of  guardian  of  the  realm  and  general 
of  the  armies  of  Scotland.  Warenne,  Earl  of  Surrey, 
Edward's  Lieutenant,  had  been  reduced  to  act  on  the 
defensive.  The  Scots  were  ravaging  Cumberland  and 
Westmoreland. 

Boniface  found  these  two  haughty  monarchs,  who 
had  so  short  a  time  before  contemptuously  spurned  his 
mediation,  one  of  them,  if  not  imploring,  making  direct 
overtures  in  the  most  submissive  terms  for  his  interposi- 
tion ;  the  other  accepting  it  with  undisguised  satisfac- 
tion. Edward  despatched  his  ambassadors  to  Rome, 
the  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  the  Bishop  of  Durham,  the 
Count  of  Savoy,  Sir  Otho  Grandison,  Sir  Hugh  de 
Vere  (the  Bishop  of  Winchester  was  then  at  Rome), 
to  request  the  arbitration  of  his  Holiness.1  The  King 
of  France  was  not  averse  to  peace.  He  had  gained 
fame,  territory,  power,  and  vengeance  against  some  of 
his  more  dangerous  and  disaffected  vassals.  The  Pope 
had  already,  by  abrogating  or  mitigating  his  obnoxious 
B  ill  as  regarded  France,  by  the  solemn  act  of  the  can- 
onization of  St.  Louis,  shown  his  disposition  to  return 
to  the  old  Papal  policy,  close  alliance  with  France. 
Philip  acceded  to  the  arbitration  not  of  the  Pope  (for 
both  monarchs  endeavored  to  save  their  honor  Bon5face 
and  the  independence  of  their  realms,  and  to  arblter- 

1  New  Rymer,  p.  808.     See  the  Submissio  Specialis,  p.  809. 


278  IATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

preclude  a  dangerous  precedent),  but  of  Boniface  in 
his  private  character.1  Benedetto  Gaetani  was  the  ap- 
pointed arbiter.  This  subtile  distinction  Boniface  was 
wise  enough  to  permit  and  to  despise  :  the  world  saw 
the  two  great  Kings  at  his  feet,  awaiting  his  award,  and 
in  that  award  the  full  virtual  recognition  of  the  Papal 
arbitration.  The  contested  territories  could  be  seques- 
tered, as  they  were  for  a  time,  only  into  the  hands  of 
the  Pope's  officers,  not  those  of  Benedetto  Gaetani. 

The  extraordinary  despatch  with  which  this  im- 
The  treaty,  portant  treaty  was  framed,  the  equity  of  its 
provisions,  the  unreserved  if  on  one  side  angry  and 
reluctant  assent  of  the  contending  parties,2  could  not 
but  raise  the  general  opinion  of  the  Papal  authority. 
Erelong  the  King  of  France  had  acquiesced  in  the  de- 
cree.3 The  treaty  seemed  to  aim  at  the  establishment 
of  lasting  peace  between  the  two  rival  powers  by  a 
double  marriage  between  the  houses,  that  of  Edward 
himself  with  Margaret  the  sister,  of  the  younger  Ed- 
ward with  Isabella,  daughter  of  the  King  of  France.4 

1  As  regards  France,  this  condition  may  appear  the  subtile  and  provident 
invention  of  the  lawyers.  They  would  not  admit,  even  in  terms,  that  su- 
periority which  the  See  of  Rome  grounded  on  precedents  as  feudal  lord  of 
England,  Scotland,  Sicily,  Arragon,  Hungary;  nor  even  that  more  vague 
superiority  over  the  King  of  Germany,  as  King  of  the  Romans  and  claim- 
ant of  the  empire. 

2  The  agreement  was  signed  at  Rome,  June  14,  1298.  The  instrument 
in  Rymer  is  dated  June  27.  The  tone  of  the  King  of  England  is  far  more 
submissive  than  that  of  the  King  of  France.  Compare  the  two  documents 
in  Rymer.  The  nobles  of  Burgundy,  the  allies  of  Edward,  Montbelliard, 
D'Arlay,  Montfaucon,  sent  ambassadors  to  represent  them  in  the  treaty. 
The  Count  of  Flanders  and  Edward's  other  continental  allies  acceded  to 
the  arbitration  of  Benedetto  Gaetani. 

3  See  p.  301. 

4  The  Pope  annulled  all  the  engagements,  obligations,  and  oaths  entered 
into  by  Edward  to  marry  his  son  to  the  daughter  of  the  Count  of  Flanders 
—  Rymer,  p.  188. 


Chap.  VIII.  SCOTLAND.  279 

But -so  completely  was  the  Pope  inseparable  from  Bene- 
detto Gaetani,  that  the  penalty  imposed,  in  case  either 
monarch  should  not  fulfil  the  terms  of  these  marriage- 
contracts,  was  an  interdict  to  be  laid  on  their  territo- 
ries. Restitution  was  to  be  made  on  either  side  of  all 
lands,  vessels,  merchandise,  or  goods,  still  subsisting  ; 
compensation  according  to  the  same  arbitration  for 
those  destroyed  or  damaged  during  the  war.  Edward 
was  to  receive  back,  if  not  wholly,  in  great  part,  his 
fiefs  in  France,  on  condition  of  homage  and  fealty  to 
his  liege  Lord ;  and  the  Pope  became  security  against 
his  future  rebellion.  In  the  mean  time  till  the  bounda- 
ries could  be  settled,  and  all  questions  of  jurisdiction 
brought  to  issue,  those  territories  were  to  be  surren- 
dered to  the  Pope's  officers,  to  be  held  by  the  Pope  until 
the  final  termination  of  all  differences.  The  arbitra- 
tion of  Benedetto  Gaetani  was  pronounced  in  full  Synod 
at  Rome  in  the  presence  of  the  Cardinals,  the  Apos- 
tolic Notaries,  and  all  the  functionaries  of  the  Papal 
Court.  According  to  the  terms  of  the  arbitration,  the 
Bishop  of  Vicenza  took  possession  in  the  Pope's  name 
of  the  province  of  Guienne. 

This  was  not  the  only  quarrel  in  which  the  Pope 
was  invited  to  take  the  part  of  arbiter.  The  insurgent 
Scots  had  recourse  to  the  protection  of  the  Papal  See 
against  the  tyrannous  usurpation  of  Edward.  Their 
claim  to  this  protection  rested  not  on  the  general  func- 
tion and  duty  of  the  Head  of  the  Christian  Church  to 
interpose  his  good  offices  in  defence  of  the  oppressed, 
for  the  maintenance  of  justice,  and  the  preservation  of 
Christian  peace.  They  appealed  to  the  Pope  as  their 
acknowledged  liege  Lord.  Scotland,  they  said,  was  a 
fief  of  the   Church  of  Rome,  and  had  a   right  to  de- 


280  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

mancl  aid  against  the  invader  not  only  of  their  liberties, 
but  of  the  Pope's  rights.  The  origin  of  this  claim  is 
obscure,  but  it  was  not  now  heard  for  the  first  time. 
Nor  did  it  seem  to  rest  on  the  vague  and  general  pre- 
tensions of  the  Pope  to  the  sovereignty  over  all  islands.1 
Already,  before  this  appeal  had  been  publicly  re- 
ceived at  Rome,  Boniface,  in  the  character  which  he 
assumed  of  Pacificator  of  Christendom,  and  on  the 
strength  of  the  treaty  concluded  under  his  arbitration 
between  France  and  England,  had  admonished  King 
Edward  not  to  prosecute  the  war  against  the  Scots. 
Edward  took  no  notice  of  this  admonition.  His  first 
campaign  at  the  head  of  the  knighthood  of  England 
had  ended  with  the  total  defeat  of  Wallace,  who  be- 
came again  a  wandering  and  almost  solitary  adventurer. 
But  though  he  could  vanquish,  the  King  of  England 
could  not  keep  possession  of  the  poor  territory :  and  at 
the  close  of  the  campaign  most  of  his  forces  dispersed 
and  returned  to  their  English  homes.  A  new  govern- 
ment had  been  formed.  William  Lamberton,  Bishop 
of  St.  Andrew's,  Robert  Bruce,  and  John  Comyn  pro- 
claimed themselves  a  Regency  in  the  name  of  John 
Baliol,  who,  though  in  an  English  prison,  was  still  held 
to  be  the  rightful  sovereign.  Edward's  marriage  with 
Margaret  of  France,  the  time  necessary  to  reorganize 
his  army,  the  refusal  of  the  English  barons  to  invade 
Scotland  during  the  winter,  gave  the  Regency  so  much 
leisure  tc  recover  their  strength,  that  they  ventured  to 

1  Compare  Lingard's  note,  vol.  iii.  c.  3,  in  which  he  clearly  shows  that  it 
had  heen  asserted  on  more  than  one  occasion.  In  the  MS.,  B.  M.  appears 
this  singular  ground  for  the  title:  "  Praeterca  nosse  potest  Regia  Celsitudo, 
qualiter  regnum  ipsum  per  beati  Andrea?  Apostoli  venerandas  reliquias, 
non  sine  superni  Dei  dono,  acquisitum  et  convcxsu in  extitit  ad  fidei  Cathol- 
ics unitatein."  —  Vol.  xiv.  p.  53,  June  27,  12110. 


Chap.  VIII.  MEDIATION  OF  THE  POPE.  281 

lay  siege  to  the  castle  of  Stirling.  But  their  main  hope 
was  in  the  intervention  of  the  Pope:  and  the  Pope 
appeared  to  take  up  their  cause  with  a  vigor,  as  it  were, 
flushed  by  the  recent  submission  of  Edward.  June  27 
His  Bull  addressed  to  the  King  of  England  im 
spoke  almost  the  words  of  the  Ambassador  of  Scotland. 
It  declared  that  the  kingdom  of  Scotland  had  belonged 
in  full  right  to  the  Church  of  Rome :  that  it  neither 
was  nor  ever  had  been  a  fief  of  the  King  of  England, 
or  of  his  ancestors.  It  discussed  and  disdainfully  threw 
aside  all  the  pretensions  of  feudal  suzerainty  adduced 
by  the  King  of  England.  It  commanded  him  instantly 
to  release  the  Bishop  of  Glasgow,  the  Bishop  of  Sodor, 
and  other  Scottish  ecclesiastics  whom  he  kept  in  prison ; 
to  surrender  the  castles,  and  still  more  the  monasteries 
and  religious  houses,  which  he  presumed  to  hold  to 
their  damage,  in  some  places  to  their  utter  ruin,  in  the 
realm  of  Scotland :  to  send  his  Ambassadors  within  six 
months  to  Rome  to  Receive  the  Pope's  determination 
on  all  differences  between  himself  and  the  kingdom  of 
Scotland. 

Edward  was  compelled  for  a  time  to  dissemble  his 
indignation  at  this  imperious  summons.  The  Bull,  to 
insure  its  service  upon  the  King,  had  been  committed 
to  Winchelsea,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  The  Pri- 
mate was  commanded,  in  virtue  of  his  obedience  to  the 
Pope,  without  delay  to  present  this  mandate  to  the 
King,  and  use  all  his  authority  to  induce  the  King  to 
immediate  and  unreserved  compliance.1 

1  There  is  great  difficulty  about  the  dates  in  this  affair.  The  bull  and 
the  letter  to  Winchelsea  are  dated  June,  1299.  The  Parliament  of  Lincoln 
was  summoned  Sept.  27,  1300;  met  in  1301.  Lingard  supposes  that  the 
bull,  which  was  only  delivered  by  Winchelsea  to  the  King  in  Aug.  1300, 
had  been  withheld  by  some  unaccountable  delay  from  reaching  Winchelsea 


282  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

At  this  time  all  civil  and  religious  affairs  were  sus- 
pended ;  all  thoughts  swallowed  up,  hy  the  great  relig- 
ious movement  which,  at  the  close  of  the  century, 
began  in  Italy  and  rapidly  drew  all  Western  Christen- 
dom within  its  whirlpool,  a  vast  peaceful  Crusade,  to 
Rome  not  to  Jerusalem,  by  which  the  spiritual  advan- 
tages of  that  remote  and  armed  and  perilous  pilgrimage 
were  to  be  attained  at  much  less  cost,  exertion,  and 
danger.  To  the  calm  and  philosophic  mind  the  termi- 
nation of  a  centenary  period  in  the  history  of  man  is 
an  epoch  which  cannot  be  contemplated  without  awe 
and  seriousness ;  in  those  ages  awe  and  seriousness 
were  inseparable  from  profound,  if  passionate  and 
unreasoning  religion.  It  is  impossible  to  determine 
whether  a  skilful  impulse  from  Rome  and  from  the 
clergy  first  kindled  this  access  of  fervent  devotion.  At 
this  period,  when  Christendom  was  either  seized  or 
inspired  with  this  paroxysm  of  faith,  Palestine  was 
irrevocably  lost :  the  unbeliever*  were  in  undisturbed 
possession  of  the  sepulchre  of  Christ.  But  the  tombs 
of  the  Apostles,  of  Peter  and  of  Paul,  next  to  that  of 
the  Redeemer,  the  most  sacred,  and  hallowed  by  their 
venerable  and  unquestioned  relics,  were  accessible  to 
all  the  West.  The  plenary  Indulgences,  which  had 
been  so  lavishly  bestowed  in  the  early  period  of  the 
Crusades,  and  might,  even  in  the  decay  of  the  Crusad- 
ing passion,  be  obtained  by  the  desperate  and  world- 
ly-weary votary,  were  not  now  coveted  with  less  ardor. 

till  towards  June  1300.  We  might  perhaps  suppose  that  the  jubilee,  in  its 
preparations,  and  in  the  necessaiy  arrangements,  absorbed  all  the  time  of 
the  Roman  court,  and  altogether  preoccupying  the  public  mind,  superseded 
all  other  business.  But,  from  the  haughty  tone  and  almost  menace  of  the 
Papal  letters  to  Winchelsea  (MS.,  B.  M.),  there  seems  to  have  been  some 
timirl  reluctance  or  delay  on  the  part  of  the  primate. 


Chap.  V1IL  JUBILEE.  283 

Would  the  Church  withhold  on  more  easy  terms  those 
precious  and  consolatory  privileges  for  which  the  world 
was  content  to  pay  by  such  prodigal  oblations,  and 
which  were  thus  the  source  of  inexhaustible  power  and 
wealth  to  the  clergy?  Christendom  was  now  almost 
at  peace ;  the  Pope's  treaty  had  been  respected  by 
France  and  England,  and  by  their  respective  allies. 
Germany  reposed  under  the  doubtful  supremacy  of 
Albert  of  Austria.  The  north  of  Italy  was  in  outward 
at  least  and  unwonted  peace :  the  industrious  and  flour- 
ishing republics,  the  commercial  and  maritime  cities 
were  overflowing  with  riches,  and  ready  with  their  lav- 
ish tribute. 

Already  on  the  first  of  January  of  the  great  cen- 
tenary year,  even  before,  on  the  Nativity  (1299), 
the  Churches  of  Rome,  it  might  seem,  from  a  natu- 
ral, spontaneous,  unsuggested,  and  therefore  heaven- 
inspired  thought  (the  movement  was  the  stronger  be- 
cause no  one  knew  how  and  where  it  began),  were 
thronged  with  thousands  supplicating,  almost  imperi- 
ously, demanding,  what  they  had  been  taught  or  be- 
lieved to  be  the  customary  Indulgences  of  the  season. 
The  most  humbly-religious  Pope  might  have  rejoiced 
at  that  august  spectacle  of  Christendom  thus  crowding 
to  offer  its  homage  on  the  tombs  of  the  Apostles,  ac- 
knowledging Rome  as  the  religious  centre  of  the  world, 
and  coming  under  the  personal  benediction  of  the  Ro- 
man Pontiff.  The  venerable  image  of  the  successor 
of  St.  Peter,  thus  planted  in  the  hearts  of  so  many, 
who  would  return  home  not  passive  slaves  only  but  ar- 
dent assertors  of  the  Papal  supremacy,  not  subjects 
only  but  worshippers  ;  the  tribute  lavished  upon  the 
altars  —  these  might  be  but  secondary  considerations. 


284  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI 

Ambition,  pride,  and  avarice  might  stand  rebuked  be- 
fore nobler,  more  holy  sentiments.  Which  predomi- 
nated in  the  heart  of  Boniface  VIII.,  shall  history, 
written  by  human  hand,  presume  to  say  ?  If  both  or 
either  intruded  on  his  serene  contemplation  of  this  tri- 
umph of  the  religious  element  in  man,  was  it  the  more 
high  and  generous,  or  the  more  low  and  sordid  ?  was  it 
haughtiness  or  rapacity  ?  Assuredly  the  sagacity  of 
Boniface  could  not  refuse  to  discern  the  immediate,  and 
to  foresee  the  remoter  consequences  of  this  ceremony : 
he  could  not  close  his  eyes  on  the  myriads  at  his  feet : 
he  could  not  refuse  to  hear  the  amount  of  the  treasures 
which  loaded  the  altars. 

The  court  of  Rome,  in  its  solemn  respect  for  prece- 
dent, affected  to  require  the  sanction  of  ancient  usage 
for  the  institution  of  the  Holy  year.  The  Mosaic  Law 
offered  its  Jubilee,  the  tradition  of  the  secular  games 
at  Rome  might  lurk  to  this  time  at  least  among  the 
learned,  very  probably  in  the  habits  and  customs  of  the 
people.  The  Church  had  never  disdained,  rather  had 
avowed,  the  policy  of  turning  to  her  own  good  ends 
the  old  Pagan  usages.  Grave  inquiry  was  instituted. 
The  Cardinal  Stefaneschi,  the  poet-historian,  was  em- 
ployed to  search  the  archives :  the  College  of  Cardinals 
were  duly  consulted.  At  length  the  Pope  himself 
ascended  the  pulpit  in  St.  Peter's.  The  church  was 
splendidly  hung  with  rich  tapestries ;  it  was  crowded 
with  eager  votaries.  After  his  sermon  the  Pope  un- 
TheBuii.  folded  the  Bull,  which  proclaimed  the  wel- 
come Indulgences,  sealed  with  the  pontifical  seal.  The 
Bull  was  immediately  promulgated;  it  asserted  the 
ancient  usage  of  Indulgences  to  all  who  should  make 
pilgrimage  to  the  tomb  of  the  "  Chief  of  the  Apostles." 


Chap.  VIII.  PILGRIMS  AND  OFFERINGS.  285 

TLe  Pope,  in  his  solicitude  for  the  souls  of  men,  by  his 
plenary  power,  gave  to  all  who  during  the  year  should 
visit  once  a  day  the  Churches  of  the  Apostles,  the  Ro- 
mans for  thirty  days,  strangers  for  fifteen,  and  should 
have  repented  and  confessed,  full  absolution  of  all  their 
sms. 

All  Europe  was  in  a  frenzy  of  religious  zeal. 
Throughout  the  year  the  roads  in  the  re-  Pilgrims, 
motest  parts  of  Germany,  Hungary,  Britain,  were 
crowded  with  pilgrims  of  all  ages,  of  both  sexes.  A 
Savoyard  above  one  hundred  years  old  determined  to 
see  the  tombs  of  the  Apostles  before  he  died.  There 
were  at  times  two  hundred  thousand  strangers  at  Rome. 
During  the  year  (no  doubt  the  calculations  were  loose 
and  vague)  the  city  was  visited  by  millions  of  pilgrims. 
At  one  time,  so  vast  was  the  press  both  within  and 
without  the  walls,  that  openings  were  broken  for  in- 
gress and  egress.  Many  people  were  trampled  down, 
and  perished  by  suffocation.  The  Papal  authorities 
had  taken  the  wisest  and  most  effective  measures 
against  famine  for  such  accumulating  multitudes.  It 
was  a  year  of  abundant  harvest ;  the  territories  of 
Rome  and  Naples  furnished  large  supplies.  Lodgings 
were  exorbitantly  dear,  forage  scarce ;  but  the  ordinary 
food  of  man,  bread,  meat,  wine,  and  fish,  was  sold  in 
great  plenty  and  at  moderate  prices.  The  oblations 
were  beyond  calculation.  It  is  reported  by  an  eye- 
witness that  two  priests  stood  with  fakes  in  their  hands 
sweeping  the  uncounted  gold  and  silver  from  the  altars. 
Nor  was  this  tribute,  like  offerings  or  subsidies  for  Cru- 
sades, to  be  devoted  to  special  uses,  the  accoutrements, 
provisions,  freight  of  armies.  It  was  entirely  at  the 
free  and  irresponsible  disposal  of  the  Pope.     Christen- 


286  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

dom  of  its  own  accord  was  heaping  at  the  Pope's  feet 
this  extraordinary  custom : l  and  receiving  back  the 
gift  of  pardon  and  everlasting  life. 

But  from  this  great  act  of  amnesty  to  the  whole  of 
Christendom  were  sternly  excluded  the  enemies  of 
Boniface  —  the  rebels,  as  they  were  proclaimed,  against 
the  See  of  Rome  —  Frederick  of  Arragon  and  the  Si- 
cilians, the  Colonnas,  and  all  who  harbored  them. 

1  Stefaneschi.  Villani,  Istorie  Fiorent.  viii.  36.  Ventura.  After  all,  this 
mode  of  collecting  does  not,  with  the  explanation  of  the  Cardinal-poet, 
necessarily  imply  a  contribution  so  very  enormous.  The  text  of  Stefa- 
neschi is  unfortunately  imperfect.  He  seems  to  say  that  the  usual  annual 
offerings  on  the  tombs  of  the  Apostles  amounted  to  30,000  florins;  this 
year  to  50,000  more,  chiefly  in  small  coins  of  all  countries.  Many  were 
too  poor  to  make  any  offering.  The  Cardinal  contrasts  the  conduct  of  these 
humble  votaries  with  that  of  the  kings,  who,  unlike  the  Three  of  old,  so 
munificent  at  the  feet  of  the  infant  Jesus,  were  parsimonious  in  their  offer- 
ings to  Jesus  at  the  right  hand  of  the  Father.  "  Instead  of  this,  they  seize 
the  tithes  of  the  churches  bestowed  by  their  generous  ancestors,  whose  glory 
becomes  their  shame."  Villani,  himself  a  pilgrim  (did  the  rich  Floren- 
tines pay  handsomely?),  notes  the  vast  wealth  gained  by  the  Romans  as 
well  as  by  the  Church;  according  to  his  strong  expression,  almost  all 
Christendom  went.  Villani  drew  his  historic  inspiration  from  his  pilgrim- 
age. His  admiration  of  the  great  and  ancient  monuments  of  Rome,  re- 
corded by  Virgil,  Sallust,  Lucan,  Titus  Livius,  Valerius,  and  Orosius,  led 
him,  an  unworthy  disciple,  to  attempt  to  write  history  in  their  style.  Vil- 
lani is  far  from  Livy,  or  even  Sallust;  but  he  might  hold  his  own  before 
Valerius  and  Orosius. 


Chap.  IX.  BONIFACE  VIII.      HIS  POWER.  287 


CHAPTER  IX. 

BONIFACE  VIII.    HIS  FALL. 

This  centenary  year,  illustrated  by  the  splendid  fes- 
tival of  the  Jubilee,  and  this  homage  and  Boniface  at 
tribute  paid  by  several  millions  of  worship-  hiSe power.  ° 
pers  to  the  representative  of  St.  Peter,  was  the  zenith 
of  the  fame  and  power  of  Boniface  VIII.,  perhaps  of 
the  Roman  Pontificate.  So  far  his  immeasurable  pre- 
tensions, if  they  had  encountered  resistance,  had  suf- 
fered no  humiliating  rebuke.  Christendom  might  seem, 
by  its  submission,  as  if  conspiring  to  intoxicate  all 
his  ruling  passions,  to  tempt  his  ambition,  to  swell  his 
pride,  to  glut  his  rapacity.  The  Colonnas,  his  redoubt- 
ed enemies,  were  crushed ;  they  were  exiles  in  distant 
lands ;  it  might  seem  superfluous  hatred  to  confer  on 
them  the  distinction  of  exclusion  from  the  benefits  of 
the  Jubilee.  Sicily,  he  might  hope,  would  not  long 
continue  her  unfllial  rebellion.  Roger  Loria,  now  on 
the  Angevine  side,  had  gained  one  of  his  famous  vic- 
tories over  the  Arragonese  fleet.  Already  Boniface 
had  determined  in  his  mind  that  great,  though  event- 
ually fatal  scheme  by  which  Charles  of  Valois,  who  in 
the  plains  of  Flanders  had  gained  distinguished  repute 
in  arms,  should  descend  the  Alps  as  the  soldier  of  the 
Pope,  and  terminate  at  once  the  obstinate  war.  Sicily 
reduced,  Charles  of  Valois,  married  to  the  heiress  of 


288  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

the  Latin  Emperor  Baldwin,  was  to  win  back  the  im- 
perial throne  of  Constantinople  to  the  dominion  of  the 
West,  and  to  its  spiritual  allegiance  under  the  Roman 
See.  Boniface  had  interposed  to  regulate  the  succes- 
sion to  the  crown  of  Hungary :  Hungary  had  received 
a  king  at  his  bidding.1  The  King  of  the  Romans, 
Albert  of  Austria,  was  under  his  ban  as  a  rebel,  and 
even  as  the  murderer,  so  he  was  denounced,  of  his  sov- 
ereign, Adolph  of  Nassau.  Absolution  for  these  crimes 
could  only  be  given  by  the  Pope  himself,  and  Albert 
would  doubtless  purchase  at  any  price  that  spiritual 
pardon  without  which  his  throne  trembled  under  him. 
The  two  mighty  Kings  of  France  and  England,  who 
once  spurned,  had  now  been  reduced  to  accept  his 
mediation.  He  held,  as  arbiter,  the  province  of  Gui- 
enne.  Scotland,  to  escape  English  rale,  had  declared 
herself  a  fief  of  the  Apostolic  See.  Edward  had  not 
yet  ventured  to  treat  with  scorn  the  strange  demand  of 
implicit  submission,  in  all  differences  between  himself 
and  the  Scots,  to  the  Papal  judgment.  The  embers  of 
that  fatal  controversy  between  the  King  of  France 
and  Boniface,  which  were  hereafter  to  blaze  out  into 
such  ruinous  conflagration,  were  smouldering  unregard- 
ed, and  to  all  seeming  entirely  extinguished.  Philip, 
the  brother  of  Charles  of  Valois,  might  appear  the 
dearest  and  most  obedient  son  of  the  Church. 

But  even  at  this  time,  in  the  depths*  and  on  the 
heights  of  the  Christian  world,  influences  were  at  work 
not  only  about  to  become  fatal  to  the  worldly  grandeur 
of  Boniface  and  to  his  life,  but  to  his  fame  to  the  latest 
ages.  Boniface  was  hated  with  a  sincerity  and  inten- 
sity of  hatred  which,  if  it  darkened,  cannot  be  rejected 

1  Mailath,  Gcschichte  dcr  Magyaren,  ii.  p.  5,  et  seq. 


CuAr.IX.  THE  FRANCISCANS.  289 

as  a  witness  against  liis  vices,  his  overweening  arro- 
gance,  his  treacheiy,  his  avidity. 

The  Franciscans  throughout  Christendom,  more  es- 
pecially in  Italy,  had  the  strongest  hold  on  the  popular 
mind.  Their  brotherhood  was  vigorous  enough  not  to 
be  weakened  by  the  great  internal  schism  which  had 
begun  to  manifest  itself  from  their  foundation.1  But 
to  both  the  factions  in  this  powerful  order,  up  to  near 
this  time  among  the  vehement  and  passionate  teachers 
of  the  humblest  submission  to  the  Papacy,  the  present 
Pontiff  was  equally  odious.  In  all  lands  the  Francis- 
cans were  followed  and  embarrassed  by  the  insoluble, 
interminable  question,  the  possession  of  property,  a 
question  hereafter  to  be  even  more  fiercely  agitated. 
How  could  the  Franciscans  not  yield  to  the  temptation 
of  the  wealth  which,  as  formerly  with  other  Orders, 
the  devotion  of  mankind  now  cast  at  their  feet  ?  The 
inveterate  feeling  of  the  possibility  of  propitiating  the 
Deity  by  munificent  gifts,  of  atoning  for  a  life  of  vio- 
lence and  guilt  by  the  lavish  donation  or  bequest,  made 
it  difficult  for  those  who  held  dominion  over  men's 
minds  as  spiritual  counsellors,  to  refuse  to  accept  as 
stewards,  to  be  the  receivers,  as  it  were,  for  God,  of 
those  oblations,  ever  more  frequent  and  splendid  ac- 
cording to  the  depth  and  energy  of  the  religious  im- 
pressions which  they  had  awakened.  From  stewards 
to  become  owners ;  from  dispensers  or  trustees,  and 
sometimes  venders  of  lands  or  goods  bequeathed  to 
pious  uses,  in  order  to  distribute  the  proceeds  among 
the  poor  or  on  religious  edifices,  to  be  the  lords,  and  so, 
as  they  might  fondly  delude  themselves,  the  more  pru- 

1  See  back  the  succession  of  Generals,  Elias,  Crescentius,  John  of  Parma, 
Bonaventura,  p.  72. 

VOL.    VI.  19 


290  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

dent  and  economic  managers  of  such  estates,  was  but 
an  easy  and  un  perceived  transition.  Hence,  if  not 
from  more  sordid  causes,  in  defiance  of  the  vow  of 
absolute  poverty,  the  primal  law  of  the  society,  the 
Franciscans  now  vied  in  wealth  with  the  older  and  less 
rigorous  orders.1  Mendicancy,  their  vital  principle, 
had  long  ceased  to  be  content  with  the  scanty  boon  of 
hard  fare  and  coarse  clothing ;  it  grasped  at  lands  and 
the  cost  at  least  of  splendid  buildings.  But  the  stern 
and  inflexible  statute  of  the  order  stood  in  their  way ; 
the  Pope  alone  could  annul  that  primary  disqualifica- 
tion to  hold  lands  and  other  property.  To  abrogate 
this  inconvenient  rule,  to  enlarge  the  narrow  vow,  had 
now  become  the  aim  of  the  most  powerful,  and,  be- 
cause most  powerful,  most  wealthy  Minorites.  But 
Boniface  was  inexorable.  On  the  Franciscans  of  Eng- 
land he  practised  a  most  unworthy  fraud  ;  and,  bound 
together  as  the  Order  was  throughout  Christendom, 
such  an  act  would  produce  its  effect  throughout  the 
whole  republic  of  the  Minorites.  The  crafty  avarice 
of  the  Pope  was  too  much  for  the  simple  avarice  of  the 
Order.  They  offered  to  deposit  forty  thousand  ducats 
with  certain  bankers,  as  the  price  of  the  Papal  permis- 
sion to  hold  lands.  The  Pope  appeared  to  listen  favor- 
ably till  the  money  was  in  the  bankers'  hands.  He 
then  discovered  that  the  concession  was  in  direct  oppo- 
sition to  the  fundamental  laws  of  the  Order,  and  to  the 
will  of  the  seraphic  Francis;  but  as  they  could  not 
hold  property,  the  property  in  the  bankers'  hands  could 
not  be  theirs.  He  absolved  the  bankers  from  their 
obligation  to  repay  the  Franciscans,  and  seized  for  his 

1  Westminster  says  that  it  was  rumored  that  the  Statute  of  Mortmain 
was  chiefly  aimed  at  restraining  the  avidity  of  the  Franciscans.  —  v.  p. 
195. 


Chap.  IX.  THE  FRATICELLI.  291 

proper  use  the  unowned  treasures.  It  was  a  bold  and 
desperate  measure,  even  in  a  Pope,  a  Pope  with  the 
power  and  authority  of  Boniface,  to  estrange  the  loyal- 
ty of  the  Minorites,  dispersed,  but  in  strict  union, 
throughout  the  world,  and  now  in  command  not  merely 
of  the  popular  mind,  but  of  the  profoundest  theology 
of  the  age. 

But  if  the  higher  Franciscans  might  thus  be  disposed 
to  taunt  the  rapacity  of  Boniface,  which  had  baffled 
their  own,  and  throughout  the  Order  might  prevail  a 
brooding  and  unavowed  hostility  to  the  intractable 
Pontiff;  it  was  worse  among  the  lower  Franciscans, 
who  had  begun  to  draw  off  into  a  separate  and  inimical 
community.  These  were  already  under  dark  suspicions 
of  heresy,  and  of  belief  in  prophecies  (hereafter  to  be 
more  fully  shown1),  no  less  hostile  to  the  whole  hierar- 
chical system  than  the  tenets  of  the  Albigensians,  or  of 
the  followers  of  Peter  Waldo.  To  them  Boniface  was, 
if  not  the  Antichrist,  hardly  less  an  object  of  devout 
abhorrence.  To  the  Fraticelli,  Ccelestine  was  ever  the 
model  Pope.  The  Coolestinians  had  either  blended 
with  the  Fraticelli,  or  were  bound  to  them  by  the 
ci'jsest  sympathies.  With  them,  Boniface  was  still  an 
usurper  who  disgraced  the  throne  which  he  had  ob- 
tained through  lawless  craft  and  violence,  by  the  main 
tenance  of  an  iniquitous,  unchristian  system,  a  system 
implacably  irreconcilable  with  Apostolic  poverty,  and 
therefore  with  Apostolic  faith.  The*  Fraticelli,  or  Cce- 
lestinians,  as  has  been  seen,  had  their  poet ;  and  perhaps 
the  rude  rhymes  of  Jacopone  da  Todi,  to  the  tunes  and 
in   the  rhythm  of  much   of  the  popular  hymnology, 

1  We  must  await  the  pontificate  of  John  XXII.  for  the  full  development 
of  their  tenets. 


292  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  Xi. 

sounded  more  powerfully  in  the  ears  of  men,  stirred 
with  no  less  fire  the  hearts  of  his  simpler  hearers,  than 
in  later  days  the  suhlime  terzains  of  Dante.  Jacopone 
da  Todi  was  a  lawyer,  of  a  gay  and  jovial  life.  His 
wife,  of  exquisite  beauty  and  of  noble  birth,  was  deeply 
religious.  During  a  solemn  festival  in  the  church,  she 
fell  on  the  pavement  from  a  scaffold.  Jacopone  rushed 
to  loosen  her  dress  ;  the  dying  woman  struggled  with 
more  than  feminine  modesty ;  she  was  found  swathed 
in  the  coarsest  sackcloth.  Jacopone  at  once  renounced 
the  world,  and  became  a  Franciscan  tertiary ;  in  the 
rigor  of  his  asceticism,  in  the  sternness  of  his  opinions,  a 
true  brother  of  the  most  extreme  of  the  Fraticelli.  We 
have  heard  Jacopone  admonish  Coelestine :  his  rude 
verse  was  no  less  bold  against  Boniface.1 

Boniface  pursued  the  Fraticelli,  whose  dangerous 
doctrines  his  well-informed  sagacity  could  not  but  fol- 
low out  to  their  inevitable  conclusions  ;2  even  if  they 
had  not  yet  announced  that  coming  reign  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  which  was  to  supersede  and  sweep  away  all  the 
hierarchy.  He  could  hardly  be  ignorant  of  their  men- 
acing prophecies.  He  cut  off  at  once  this  rebellious 
branch  from  the  body  of  the  faithful,  and  denounced 
them  as  obstinate  irreclaimable  heretics.3     Jacopone, 

1  A  poem  has  disappeared  from  the  later  editions :  — 

"  0  Papa  Bonifazio 
Molto  hai  giocato  al  liiondo, 
PeiiPO  che  giocondo 
Non  te  parria  partire." 

This  is  genuine  Jacopone.  Two  stanzas,  alluding  to  the  scene  at  Anagni, 
seem  of  a  more  doubtful  hand.—  Note  to  the  German  translation  of  Ozanam 
on  the  Religious  Poets  of  Italy,  by  Dr.  Julius,  p.  188. 

2  Compare  Ferretus  Vicentinus,  end  of  second  book,  character  of  Boni- 
face. 

a  On  the  Fraticelli,  Raynahlus,  p.  210.     Iu  the  bull  of  Boniface  against 


Chai>.  IX.  ENEMIES   OF  BONIFACE.  293 

not  without  cause  (he  had  been  the  secretary  in  that 
league  of  the  Colonnas  and  the  ecclesiastics  of  France), 
became  an  object  of  persecution ;  that  persecution,  as 
usual,  only  gave  him  the  honor  and  increasing  in- 
fluence of  a  martyr  ;  his  verses  were  hardly  less  bold, 
and  were  more  endeared  to  the  passions,  and  sunk 
deeper  into  the  hearts  of  men.1 

A  Pope  of  a  Ghibelline  family,  an  apostate,  as  ho 
was  justly  or  unjustly  thought,  who  had  carried  Guelf- 
ism  to  an  unprecedented  height  of  arrogance,  and  en- 
forced its  triumph  with  remorseless  severity,  centred  of 
course  on  himself  the  detestation  of  all  true  Ghibellines. 
He  had  trampled  down,  but  not  exterminated,  the  Co- 
lonnas ;  their  dispersion,  if  less  dangerous  to  his  power, 
was  more  dangerous  to  his  fame.  Wherever  they  went 
they  spread  the  most  hateful  stories  of  his  pride,  per- 
fidy, cruelty,  avarice,  so  that  even  now  we  cannot  dis- 
criminate darkened  truth  from  baseless  calumny.  The 
greedy  ears  of  the  Ghibellines  throughout  Italy,  of  his 
enemies  throughout  Christendom,  drank  in  and  gave 
further  currency  to  these  sinister  and  rankling  antipa- 
thies. 

But  the  measure  by  which  Boniface  hoped  almost  to 
exterminate  Ghibellinism,  by  placing  on  the  throne  of 
Naples  a  powerful  monarch,  instead  of  the  feeble  repre- 
sentative of  the  old  Angevine  line,  thus  wresting  Sicily 
forever  from  the  house  of  Arragon,  and  so  putting  an 

them,  he  is  extremely  indignant  at  their  apostasy.  They  averred  "quod 
tempore  interdicti  melius  quam  alio  tempore  sit  eisdem,  et  quod  propter  ex- 
communicationem  cibus  non  minus  sapidus  sit  temporalis,  nee  minus  bene 
dormiunt  propterea."  —  p.  242. 

1  There  is  to  my  ear  a  bitter  and  insulting  tone  in  the  two  satires  written 
from  his  prison,  in  which  he  seems  to  supplicate,  and  at  the  same  time  to 
treat  the  Papal  absolution  as  indifferent  to  one  so  full  as  he  was  of  hatred 
of  himself  and  love  of  Christ.  —  Satire  xvii.  xix. 


294  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

end  to  the  war,  was  most  disastrous  to  his  peace  and  to 
his  fame.  The  invitation  of  Charles  of  Valois  to  he 
the  soldier,  protector,  ally  of  the  Pope,  ended  in  re  vol  t- 
charies  of  mg  na^  Itaty*  while  it  had  not  the  slightest 
vaiow.  effect  in  mitigating  the  subsequent  fatal  col- 

lision with  France.  Had  Charles  of  Valois  never  tram- 
pled on  the  liberties  of  Florence,  Dante  might  never 
have  fallen  off  to  Ghibellinism,  he  might  have  been 
silent  of  the  fate  of  Boniface  in  hell.  Hardly  had 
Charles  of  Valois  descended  into  Italy,  when  Boniface 
coula  not  disguise  to  himself  that  he  had  introduced  a 
master  instead  of  a  vassal.  The  haughty  Frenchman 
paid  as  little  respect,  in  his  inordinate  ambition,  to  the 
counsels,  admonitions,  remonstrances  of  the  Pope,  as  to 
the  liberties  of  the  Italian  people,  or  the  laws  of  justice, 
humanity,  or  good  faith.  The  summary  of  Charles  of 
Valois'  expedition  into  Italy,  the  expedition  of  the  lieu- 
tenant and  peacemaker  of  the  Pope,  was  contained  in 
that  sarcastic  sentence  alluded  to  above,  "  He  came  to 
establish  peace  in  Tuscany,  and  left  war ;  he  went  to 
Sicily  to  wage  war,  and  made  a  disgraceful  peace.'' 
Through  Charles  of  Valois  the  Pope  became  an  object 
of  execration  in  Florence,  of  mistrust  and  hatred 
throughout  Italy ;  the  anathematized  Frederick  ob- 
tained full  possession  of  Sicily  for  his  life,  and  as  much 
longer  as  his  descendants  could  hold  it.1  It  were  per- 
haps hard  to  determine  which  of  the  two  brothers 
shook  the  power,  and  made  the  name  of  Boniface  more 
odious  to  mankind,  his  friend  and  ally  Charles  of  Va- 
lois, or  his  foe  Philip  the  Fair. 

The  arrogant  interposition  of  the  Pope  in  the  affairs 
England        of   Scotland  was    rejected,  not  only  by  the 

1  See  before,  p.  221. 


Chap.  IX.  PARLIAMENT  OF  LINCOLN.  295 

King  but  by  the  English  nation.  The  Parliament 
met  at  Lincoln.  There  assembled  one  hun-  Parliament 
dred  and  four  of  the  greatest  barons  of  the  a.d.  1301. 
realm,  among  the  first,  Bohun,  Earl  of  Hereford,  and 
Bigod,  Earl  of  Norfolk,1  whose  bold  opposition  had 
compelled  the  King  to  sign  the  two  charters,  with 
additional  securities  for  the  protection  of  the  subject 
against  the  power  of  the  Crown  ;  they  had  joined 
with  the  Archbishop  to  resist  the  exactions  of  the 
King.  The  Universities  sent  their  most  distinguished 
doctors  of  civil  law  ;  the  monasteries  had  been  ordered 
to  furnish  all  documents  which  could  throw  light  on 
the  controversy.  The  answer  to  the  Pope's  Bull, 
agreed  on  after  some  discussion,  was  signed  by  all 
the  Nobles.  It  expressed  the  amazement  of  the  Lords 
in  Parliament  at  the  unheard-of  pretensions  advanced 
in  the  Papal  Bull,  asserted  the  immemorial  supremacy 
of  the  King:  of  England  over  the  Kino;  of  Scotland  in 
the  times  of  the  Britons  and  of  the  Saxons.  Scotland 
had  never  paid  feudal  allegiance  to  the  Church.  The 
King  of  England  is  in  no  way  accountable  or  amenable 
to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Pope  for  his  rights  over  the 
kingdom  of  Scotland  ;  he  must  not  permit  those  rights 
to  be  called  in  question.  It  would  be  a  disinheritance 
of  the  crown  of  England  and  of  the  royal  dignity,  a 
subversion  of  the  state  of  England,  if  the  King  should 
appear  by  his  proctors  or  ambassadors  to  plead  on  those 
rights  in  the  Court  of  Rome  ;  an  infringement  of  the 
ancient  liberties,  customs,  and  laws  of  the  realm,  "  to 


-  It  was  Bigod  who  refused  to  attend  the  King  as  Earl  Marshal  to  Flan- 
ders. "  By  the  everlasting  God,"  said  Edward,  *'  Sir  Earl,  you  shall  go  or 
hang."  "By  the  everlasting  God,"  answered  Bigod,  "  I  will  neither  go 
nor  hang." 


296  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

the  maintenance  of  which  we  are  bound  by  a  solemn 
oath,  and  which  by  God's  grace  we  will  maintain  to 
the  utmost  of  our  power,  and  with  our  whole  strength. 
We  neither  permit,  nor  will  we  permit  (we  have 
neither  the  will  nor  the  power  to  do  so)  our  Lord 
the  King,  even  if  he  should  so  design  to  comply,  or 
attempt  compliance,  with  demands  so  unprecedented, 
so  unlawful,  so  prejudicial,  so  unheard  of.  Where- 
fore we  humbly  and  earnestly  beseech  your  Holiness 
to  leave  our  King,  a  true  Catholic,  and  devotedly  at- 
tached to  the  Church  of  Rome,  in  peaceful  and  undis- 
turbed possession  of  all  his  rights,  liberties,  customs, 
and  laws."1 

King  Edward,  however,  to  quiet  the  conscience  of 
the  Pope,  not,  as  he  distinctly  declared,  as  submitting 
to  his  judgment,  condescended  to  make  a  full  and  elab- 
orate statement  of  his  title  to  the  homage  of  Scotland, 
in  a  document  which  seemed  to  presume  on  the  igno- 
rance or  credulity  of  his  Holiness  as  to  the  history  of 
England  and  of  the  world,  with  boldness  only  equalled 
by  the  counter-statements  of  the  Scottish  Regency.  It 
is  a  singular  illustration  of  the  state  of  human  knowl- 
edge when  poetry  and  history  are  one,  when  the  mythic 
and  historic  have  the  same  authority  even  as  to  grave 
legal  claims,  and  questions  affecting  the  destinies  of 
nations. 

The  origin  of  the  King  of  England's  supremacy 
claims  of  over  Scotland  mounts  almost  to  immemorial 
England.  antiquity.  Brute,  the  Trojan,  in  the  days  of 
Eli  and  Samuel,  conquered  the  island  of  Albion  from 
the  Giants.  He  divided  it  among  his  three  sons,  Lo- 
crine,  Albanact,  and  Camber.     Albanact  was  slain  in 

1  Ryraer,  dated  Feb.  12, 1301. 


Chap.  IX.      CLAIMS  OF  ENGLAND  AND  SCOTLAND.  297 

battle  by  a  foreign  invader,  Humber.    Locrine  avenged 

his  death,  slew  the  usurper,  who  was  drowned  in  the 

river  which  took  his  name,  and  subjected  the  realm  of 

Albanact  (Scotland)  to  that  of  Britain.     Of  the  two 

sons  of  Dunwallo,  King  of  Britain,  Belinus  and  Bren- 

nus,  Belinus  received  the  kingdom  of  Britain,  Brennus 

that  of  Scotland,  under  his  brother,  according  to  the 

Trojan  law  of  primogeniture.     King  Arthur  bestowed 

the  kingdom  of   Scotland  on  Ano;usil,  who  bore   Ar- 
cs O         ' 

thur's  sword  before  him  in  sign  of  fealty.  So,  through- 
out the  Saxon  race,  almost  every  famous  King,  from 
Athelstan  to  Edward  the  Confessor,  had  either  ap- 
pointed Kings  of  Scotland  or  received  homage  from 
them.  The  Normans  exercised  the  same  supremacy, 
from  William  the  Conqueror  to  King  Edward's  father, 
Henry  III.  The  King  dauntlessly  relates  acts  of 
submission  and  fealty  from  all  the  Scottish  Kings.  He 
concludes  this  long  and  labored  manifesto  with  the  as- 
sertion of  his  full,  absolute,  indefeasible  title  to  the 
kingdom  of  Scotland,  as  well  in  right  of  property,  as 
of  possession  ;  and  that  he  will  neither  do  any  act,  nor 
give  any  security,  which  will  in  the  least  derogate  from 
that  right  and  that  possession. 

The  Pope  received  this  extraordinary  statement  with 
consummate  solemnity.  He  handed  it  over  All8wer  of 
to  Baldred  Basset,  the  Envoy  of  the  Scottish  theScots- 
Regency.  In  due  time  appeared  the  answer,  which, 
with  the  same  grave  unsuspiciousness,  meets  the  King 
on  his  own  ground.  The  Scots  had  their  legend,  which 
for  this  purpose  becomes  equally  authentic  history. 
They  deny  not  Brute  or  his  conquest ;  but  they  hold 
their  independent  descent  from  Scota,  the  daughter  of 
Pharaoh,  King  of  Egypt,  who  sojourned  at  Athens  and 


298  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

subdued  Ireland.  Her  sons  conquered  Scotland  from 
the  degenerate  race  of  Brute.  The  Saxon  supremacy, 
if  there  were  such  supremacy,  is  no  precedent  for 
Edward,  a  descendant  of  Norman  kings.  No  act  of 
homage  was  ever  performed  to  them  by  any  King  of 
Scotland,  but  by  William  the  Lion,  and  that  for  lands 
held  within  the  kingdom  of  England.  They  assert  the 
absolute  jurisdiction  of  the  court  of  Rome.  Edward, 
did  he  not  mistrust  his  cause,  could  not  decline  that 
just  and  infallible  tribunal.  Scotland  is,  and  ever  has 
been,  an  allodial  fief,  an  inalienable  possession  of  the 
Church  of  Rome.  It  was  contained  in  the  universal 
grant  of  Constantine  the  Emperor,  of  all  islands  in  the 
ocean  to  the  successors  of  St.  Peter.1 

But  these  more  remote  controversies  were  now  to  be 
Quarrel  with  drowned  in  the  din  of  that  absorbing  strife, 
France.  on  whjch  Christendom  gazed  in  silent  amaze- 
ment, the  quarrel  between  the  Pope  and  the  King  of 
France.  Boniface  must  descend  from  his  tranquil 
eminence,  as  dictator  of  peace,  as  arbiter  between  con- 
tending Kings,  to  a  long  furious  altercation  of  royal 
Edicts  and  Papal  Bulls,  in  which,  if  not  all  respect  for 
the  Roman  See,  at  least  for  himself  was  thrown  aside ; 
in  which,  if  not  his  life,  his  power  and  his  personal  lib- 
erty were  openly  menaced  ;  in  which  on  his  side  he 
threatened  to  excommunicate,  to  depose  by  some  pow- 
erful league  the  greatest  monarch  in  Europe,  and  was 
himself  summoned  to  appear  before  a  General  Council 
to  answer  for  the  most  monstrous  crimes.  The  strife 
closed  with  his  seizure  in  his  own  palace,  and  in  his 
hastened  death. 

As  this  strife  with  France  became  more  violent,  the 

1  Rytnsr.     On  the  Scotch  plea  compare  Fonliin,  Scoti  Chronicon. 


Chap.  IX.     QUARREL  BETWEEN  THE  POPE  AND  PHILIP.     299 

King  of  England,  whom  each  party  would  fear  to 
offend,  calmly  pursued  his  plans  of  security  The  Pope  and 
and  aggrandizement.  The  rights  of  the  Ro-  ablSn 
man  See  to  the  fief  of  Scotland  quietly  sunk  their  aUy* 
into  oblivion  ;  the  liberties  of  the  oppressed  Scots 
ceased  to  awaken  the  sympathies  of  their  spiritual  vin- 
dicator. The  change  in  the  views  of  the  Pope  was 
complete  ;  his  inactivity  in  the  cause  of  the  Scots  grew 
into  indirect  support  of  the  King  of  England.  In  an 
extant  Bull  he  reproves  the  Archbishop  of  Glasgow 
and  other  Prelates  of  Scotland,  for  their  obstinate  main- 
tenance of  an  unnatural  rebellion :  he  treats  them  as 
acting  unworthily  of  their  holy  calling,  and  threatens 
them  with  condign  censure  ;  those  very  Prelates  for 
whose  imprisonment  he  had  condemned  the  King  of 
England.1 

Nor  was  Philip  less  disposed  to  abandon  the  Scottish 
insurgents  to  their  fate.  After  obtaining  for  them  the 
short  truce  of  Angers,  he  no  longer  interposed  in  their 
behalf.  There  might  almost  seem  a  tacit  understand- 
ing between  the  Kings.  Edward,  in  like  manner,  for- 
got his  faithful  ally  the  Count  of  Flanders,  who  was 
confined  in  a  French  prison  as  a  rebellious  vassal.  He 
did  not  insist  on  his  liberation,  it  does  not  appear  that 
he  even  remonstrated  against  this  humiliating  wrong. 

The  quarrel  between  Boniface  VIII.  and  Philip  the 
Fair  is  one  of  the  great  epochs  in  the  Papal  history, 
the  turning  point  after  which,  for  a-time  at  least,  the 
Papacy  sank  with  a  swift  and  precipitate  descent,  and 
from  which  it  never  rose  again  to  the  same  command- 
ing height.  It  led  rapidly,  if  not  directly  and  imme- 
diately, to  that  debasing  period  which  has  been  called 

1  Rymer. 


800  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI 

the  Babylonian  captivity  of  the  Popes  in  Avignon, 
during  which  they  became  not  much  more  than  the 
slaves  of  the  Kings  of  France.  It  was  the  strife  of 
the  two  proudest,  hardest,  and  least  conciliatory  of  men, 
in  defence  of  the  two  most  stubbornly  irreconcilable 
principles  which  could  be  brought  into  collision,  with 
everything  to  exasperate,  nothing  to  avert,  to  break,  or 
to  mitigate  the  shock. 

The  causes  which  led  more  immediately  to  this  dis- 
astrous discord  seem  petty  and  insignificant ;  but  when 
two  violent,  ambitious,  and  unyielding  men  are  op- 
posed, each  strenuous  in  the  assertion  of  incompatible 
claims,  small  causes  provoke  and  irritate  the  feud,  more 
perhaps  than  some  one  great  object  of  contest.  Tlve 
clergy  of  France  had  many  grievances,  complained  of 
many  usurpations  on  the  part  of  Philip,  his  family,  and 
his  officers,  which  were  duly  brought  before  the  Papal 
court.  The  Bishop  of  Laon  had  been  suspended  from 
his  spiritual  functions  by  the  Pope  ;  he  was  cited  to 
Rome.  The  King  sequestered  and  took  possession  of 
the  lands  and  goods  as  of  a  vacant  See.  John,  Cardi- 
nal of  St.  Cecilia,  had  devised  certain  estates  which  he 
held  in  France  for  the  endowment  of  a  college  for  poor 
clerks  in  Paris.  Philip,  it  is  not  known  on  what  plea, 
seized  the  lands,  and  refused  to  restore  them,  though 
admonished  by  the  Pope.  Robert  of  Artois,  the  King's 
brother,  claimed  against  the  Bishop  part  of  the  city  of 
Cambray  :  he  continued  to  hold  it  in  defiance  of  the 
Papal  censure.  The  Archbishop  of  Rheims  complained 
that  his  estates,  sequestered  by  the  King  for  his  own 
use  during  the  vacancy  of  the  See,  had  not  been  fully 
restored  to  the  Archiepiscopate.  The  Archbishop  of 
Narbonne  was  involved  in  two  disputes,  one  with  the 


Chap.  IX.  REMONSTRANCE  OF  THE  POPE.  301 

Viscount  of  that  city,  who  claimed  to  hold  his  castle  in 
Narbonne  of  the  King,  not  of  the  Archbishop,  who 
had  received,  as  was  asserted  on  the  other  hand,  the 
homage  and  fealty  of  his  father.  A  Council  was  held 
at  Beziers  on  the  subject:  and  an  appeal  made  to  Paris. 
The  second  feud  related  to  the  district  of  Maguelone, 
which  the  officers  of  St.  Louis  had  usurped  from  the 
See  of  Narbonne ;  but  on  an  appeal  to  Clement  IV.,  it 
had  been  ceded  back  to  the  Church.  The  officers  of 
Philip  were  again  in  possession  of  Maguelone.  On 
this  subject  came  a  strong,  but  not  intemperate  remon- 
strance from  the  Pope,  yet  in  which  might  be  heard 
the  first  faint  murmurs  of  the  brooding  stoim.  The 
Pope  naturally  set  before  the  King  the  example  of  his 
pious  and  sainted  grandsire  Louis.  That  canonization 
is  always  represented  as  an  act  of  condescending  favor, 
not  as  a  right  extorted  by  the  unquestioned  virtues  and 
acknowledged  miracles  of  St.  Louis  ;  and  as  binding 
the  kingdom  of  France,  especially  his  descendants  on 
the  throne,  in  an  irredeemable  debt  of  gratitude  to  the 
Holy  See.  "  The  Pope  cannot  overlook  such  aggres 
sions  as  those  of  the  King  on  the  rights  of  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Narbonne  without  incurring  the  blame  of 
dumb  dogs,  who  dare  not  bark;"  he  warns  the  King 
against  the  false  prophets  with  honeyed  lips,  the  evil 
counsellors,  the  extent  of  whose  fatal  influence  he  al- 
ready, no  doubt,  dimly  foresaw,  the  lawyers,  on  whom 
the  King  depended  in  all  his  acts,  whether  for  the 
maintenance  of  his  own  rights,  or  the  usurpation  of 
those  of  others. 

As  yet  there  was  no  open  breach.  No  doubt  the 
recollection  of  the  former  feud  rankled  in  the  hearts 
of  both.     The  unmeasured  pretensions  of  the  Pope  in 


302  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI 

the  Bull  which  exempted  the  clergy  altogether  from 
taxation  for  the  state  had  not  been  rescinded,  only 
mitigated  as  reo-arded  France.  All  these  smaller  vexa- 
tious  acts  of  rapacity  showed  that  the  King  was  actuat- 
ed by  the  same  spirit,  which  would  proceed  to  any 
extremity  rather  than  yield  this  prerogative  of  his 
crown. 

The  dissatisfaction  of  Philip  with  the  arbitration  of 
Boniface  between  France  and  England  ;  his  indigna- 
tion that  the  arbitrament,  which  had  been  referred  to 
Benedetto  Gaetani,  not  to  Pope  Boniface,  had  been 
published  in  the  form  of  a  Bull  ;  the  fury  into  which 
the  King  and  the  nobles  were  betrayed  by  the  articles 
concerning  the  Count  of  Flanders,  rest  on  no  extant 
contemporary  authority  ;  yet  are  so  particular  and  so 
characteristic  that  it  is  difficult  to  ascribe  them  to  the 
invention  of  the  French  historians.1  It  is  said  that  the 
Bull,  which  had  been  ostentatiously  read  before  a  great 
public  assembly  in  the  Vatican,  was  presented  to  the 
King  of  France  by  an  English  prelate,  the  Bishop  of 
Durham,  as  Papal  Legate  for  that  purpose,  as  well  as 
ambassador  of  England  ;  that  besides  the  articles  of 
peace  between  France  and  England,  it  ordered  the 
Kino-  to  surrender  to  the  Count  of  Flanders  all  the 
cities  which  he  had  taken  during  the  war,  to  deliver  up 
his  daughter,  who  had  been  a  prisoner  in  France  dur- 
ing two  years,  and  to  allow  the  Count  of  Flanders  to 

i  The  Bull  as  published  in  Rymer  contains  no  article  relating  to  the 
Count  of  Flanders ;  it  is  entirely  confined  to  the  dispute  between  France 
and  England,  and  the  affairs  of  Gascony.  That  article,  if  there  were  such, 
must  have  been  separate  and  distinct.  The  English  ambassadors,  accord- 
ing to  another  document  (New  Rymer),  refused  to  enter  into  the  negotia- 
tion without  the  consent  of  the  Counts  of  Flanders  and  Bar.  The  two 
counts  submitted,  like  the  two  kings,  to  the  Papal  arbitration. 


Uiiap.  IX.  ALLIANCE   WITH   THE  EMPIRE.  o03 

marry  lier  according  to  his  own  choice  ; 1  and  also  com- 
manded Philip  himself  to  take  up  the  Cross  for  the 
Holy  Land.  The  King  could  not  restrain  his  wrath. 
Count  Robert  of  Artois  seized  the  insolent  parchment : 
"  Such  dishonor  shall  never  fall  on  the  kingdom  of 
France."  He  threw  it  into  the  fire.2  Some  trembled, 
some  highly  lauded  this  contempt  of  the  Pope. 

It  is  quite  certain  that  Philip  took  a  step  of  more  de- 
cided disdain  and  hostility  to  the  Pope,  in  entering  into 
an  open  alliance  and  connection  by  marriage  with  the 
excommunicated  Albert  of  Austria.  The  King  of  the 
Romans  and  the  King  of  France  met  in  great  pomp 
between  Toul  and  Vaueouleurs,  on  the  confines  of  their 
kingdoms.  Blanche,  the  sister  of  Philip,  was  solemnly 
espoused  to  Rodolph,  son  of  Albert  of  Austria.  This 
step  implied  more  than  mistrust,  total  disbelief  in  the 
promises  held  out  by  Pope  Boniface  to  Charles  of  Va- 
lois,  that  not  merely  he  should  be  placed,  as  the  reward 
of  his  Italian  conquests,  on  the  throne  of  the  Eastern 
Empire,  but  that  the  Pope  would  insure  his  succession 
to  the  Empire  of  the  West,  held  to  be  vacant  by  the 


1  I  have  quoted  above  the  bull  annulling  the  marriage  contract  of  young 
Edward  of  England  with  this  princess,  p.  279. 

*2  Dupuy,  Mezeray,  and  Velly  relate  all  this  without  hesitation.  Sis- 
mondi  rejects  it  altogether.  Dupuy  refers  to  Villani,  where  there  is  not  a 
word  about  it,  and  to  the  Flemish  historian  Ouderghest.  "  De  Philippe  le 
Bel,  en  la  presence  de  plusieurs  Princes  du  Royaulme,  et  entre  autres  de 
Robert  Comte  d' Artois,  lequels  appercoivant  d'une,  inusit^e  melancholie  et 
tristesse  que  la  dicte  sentence  avait  cause  au  cceur  d'iceluy,  print  les  dictes 
bulles  des  mains  de  l'Arch^veque  (Rheims)  lesquels  il  dechira  et  jecta  au 
feu,  disant  que  tel  deshonneur  n'aviendroit  jamais  a  un  Roi  de  France. 
Dont  aucuns  des  Assistants  le  louerent  grandement,  les  autres  le  blasme- 
rent."  —  Ouderghest,  p.  222.  It  is  singular  that  there  is  the  same  obscu- 
rity about  the  demand  made,  it  is  said,  by  the  Bishop  of  Pamiers  for  the 
liberation  of  the  Count  of  Flanders  —  one  of  the  causes  which  exasperated 
Philip  most  violently  against  that  prelate. 


304  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

death  of  Adolpli  of  Nassau.  These  magnificent  hopes 
the  Pope  had  not  the  power,  Philip  manifestly  believed 
that  lie  had  not  the  will,  to  accomplish.1  Albert  of 
Austria  was  yet  under  the  Papal  ban  as  the  murderer 
of  his  Sovereign.  Boniface  had  exhorted  the  ecclesias- 
tical electors  to  resist  his  usurpation,  as  he  esteemed  it, 
to  the  utmost.  Neither  the  Archbishops  of  Mentz  nor 
of  Cologne  were  present  at  the  meeting.  Albert  of 
Austria  communicated  this  treaty  of  marriage  with  the 
royal  house  of  France  to  the  Pope  ;  and  no  doubt  hoped 
to  advance  at  least  the  recognition  of  his  title  as  King 
of  the  Romans.  Boniface  refused  to  admit  the  ambas- 
sadors of  the  vassal  who  had  slain  his  lord,  of  a  Prince 
who,  without  the  Papal  sanction,  dared  to  assume  the 
title  of  King  of  the  Romans.2 

Rumors  of  more  ostentatious  contemptuousness  were 
Rumors  widely  disseminated  in  Transalpine  Christen- 
face.  dom,  and  among  the  Ghibellines  of  Northern 

Italy.  Boniface  had  appeared  in  warlike  attire,  and 
declared  that  himself,  the  successor  of  St.  Peter,  was 
the  only  Caesar.  During  the  Jubilee  he  had  displayed 
himself  alternately  in  the  splendid  habiliments  of  the 
Pope  and  those  of  the  Emperor,  with  the  crown  on  his 
head,  the  sceptre  in  his  hand,  and  the  Imperial  sandal* 
on  his  feet ;  he  had  two  swords  borne  before  him,  and 
thus  openly  assumed  the  full  temporal  as  well  as  spirit- 
ual supremacy  over  mankind.  These  reports,  whether 
grounded  on  some  misunderstanding  of  acts  or  words, 
or  on  the  general  haughty  demeanor  of  the  Pope, 
whether  gross  exaggeration  or  absolute  invention,  were 

1  Historia  Australia,  apud  Freher,  i.  417,  sub  ami.  1299.     Leibnitz,  Cod. 
Diplom.  i.  25. 
'l  Raynald.  sub  aim.  1300. 


Chap.  IX.  BISHOP  OF  PAMIERS.  305 

no  doubt  spread  by  the  industrious  vindictiveness  of  the 
Pontiff's  enemies.1  It  was  no  augury  of  peace  that 
some  of  the  Colonnas  were  openly  received  at  the  court 
of  France  :  Stephen,  the  nephew  of  the  two  The  coionnas. 
Cardinals  (they  remained  at  Genoa),  Sciarra,  a  name 
afterwards  more  fatal  to  the  Pope,  redeemed  by  the 
liberality  of  the  King  from  the  corsairs  who  had  taken 
him  on  the  high  seas.  It  is  far  from  improbable  that 
from  the  Colonnas  and  their  partisans,  not  only  such 
statements  as  these  had  their  source  or  their  blacker 
coloring,  but  even  darker  and  more  heinous  charges. 
These  were  all  seized  by  the  lawyers,  Peter  Flotte  and 
William  of  Nogaret.  Italian  revenge,  brooding  over 
cruel  and  unforgiven  injuries,  degradation,  impoverish- 
ment, exile  ;  Ghibelline  hatred,  with  the  discomfiture 
of  ecclesiastical  ambition  in  the  Churchmen,  would  be 
little  scrupulous  as  to  the  weapons  which  it  would  em- 
ploy. Boniface,  if  not  the  victim  of  his  overweening 
arrogance,  may  have  been  the  victim  of  his  own  vio- 
lence and  implacability. 

The  unfortunate,  if  not  insulting,  choice  of  his  Leg- 
ate at  this  peculiar  crisis  precipitated  the  rupture.  In- 
stead of  one  of  the  grave,  smooth,  distinguished,  if 
inflexible,  Cardinals  of  his  own  court,  Boniface  in- 
trusted with  this  difficult  mission  a  man  turbulent, 
intriguing,  odious  to  Philip ;  with  notions  of  sacerdotal 
power  as  stern  and  unbending  as  his  own  ;  a  subject  of 
the  King  of  France,  yet  in  a  part  of  the  kingdom  in 
which  that,  subjection  was  recent  and  doubtful.  Ber- 
nard Saisset  had  been  Abbot  of  St.  Anto-  saisset 
nine's  in  Pamiers,  a  city  of  Languedoc.  The  Pamiers. 
Counts  of  Foix  had  a  joint  jurisdiction  with  the  Abbot 

1  Of  one  thing  only  I  am  confident,  that  they  are  not  later  inventions 
VOL.  vi.  20 


306  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  rfoon  XI 

over  that  city  and  over  the  domains  of  the  convent. 
But  the  house  of  Foix  during  the  Albigensian  war  had 
lost  all  its  power ;  these  rights  passed  first  to  Simon  de 
Montfort,  then  to  the  King  of  France.  But  the  King 
of  France,  Philip  the  Hardy,  had  rewarded  Roger 
Bernard,  Count  of  Foix,  for  his  services  in  the  war  of 
Catalonia,  with  the  grant  of  all  his  rights  over  Pamiers, 
except  the  absolute  suzerainty.  The  Abbots  resisted 
the  grant,  and  refused  all  accommodation.  The  King 
commanded  the  Viscount  of  Bigorre,  who  held  the 
castle,  to  put  it  into  the  hands  of  the  Count  of  Foix. 
a.d.1295,  The  Abbot  appealed  to  Rome.  Roger  Ber- 
1296*  nard  was  excommunicated  ;  his  lands  placed 

under  interdict.  The  Pope  erected  the  city  of 
Pamiers  into  a  Bishopric ;  Bernard  Saisset  became 
Bishop,  and  condescended  to  receive  a  large  sum  from 
the  Count  of  Foix,  with  a  fixed  rent  on  the  estates. 
The  Count  of  Foix  did  homage  at  the  feet  of  the 
Bishop. 

Such  was  the  man  chosen  by  Boniface  as  Legate  to 
the  proud  and  irascible  Philip  the  Fair.  There  is  no 
record  of  the  special  object  of  his  mission  or  of  his 
instructions.  It  is  said  that  he  held  the  loftiest  and 
most  contemptuous  language  concerning  the  illimitable 
power  of  the  Church  oyer  all  temporal  sovereigns  ; 
that  his  arrogant  demeanor  rendered  his  demands  still 
more  insulting ;  that  he  peremptorily  insisted  on  the 
liberation  of  the  Count  of  Flanders  and  his  daughter. 
Philip,  after  the  proclamation  of  his  truce  with  Eng- 
land, had  again  sent  a  powerful  army  into  Flanders : 
the  Count  was  abandoned  by  the  King  of  England, 
abandoned  by  his  own  subjects.  Guy  of  Dampierre 
(we  have   before  alluded  to  his  fate)  had  been  com- 


Chap.  IX.  CONDUCT  OF  PHILIP.  307 

pelled  to  surrender  with  his  family,  and  was  now  a  pris- 
oner in  France.  Philip  had  the  most  deep-rooted 
hatred  of  the  Count  of  Flanders,  as  a  rebellious  vassal, 
and  as  one  whom  he  had  cruelly  injured.  Some  pas- 
sion as  profound  as  this,  or  his  most  sensitive  pride, 
must  have  been  galled  by  the  Bishop  of  Pamiers,  or 
even  Philip  the  Fair  would  hardly  have  been  goaded 
to  measures  of  such  vindictive  violence.  Philip  was 
surrounded  by  his  great  lawyers,  his  Chancellor  Peter 
Flotte,  his  confidential  advisers,  Enguerrand  de  Ma- 
rigny,  William  de  Plasian,  and  William  of  Nogaret, 
honest  counsellors  as  far  as  the  advancement  of  the 
royal  power,  the  independence  of  the  temporal  on  the 
spiritual  sovereignty,  and  the  administration  of  justice 
by  learned  and  able  men,  according  to  fixed  principles 
of  law,  instead  of  the  wild  and  uncertain  judgments 
of  the  petty  feudal  lords,  lay  or  ecclesiastic  ;  dangerous 
counsellors,  as  servile  instruments  of  royal  encroach- 
ment, oppression,  and  exaction ;  everywhere  straining 
the  law,  the  old  Roman  law,  in  favor  of  the  kingly  pre- 
rogative, beyond  its  proper  despotism.  Philip,  by  their 
advice,  determined  to  arraign  the  Papal  Legate,  as  a 
subject  guilty  at  least  of  spoken  treason.  He  allowed 
the  Bishop  to  depart,  but  Saisset  was  followed  May,  1301. 
or  preceded  by  a  commission  sent  to  Toulouse,  the 
Archdeacon  of  Angers  and  the  Vidame  of  Amiens,  to 
collect  secret  information  as  to  his  conduct  and  lan- 
guage. So  soon  as  the  Legate  Bishop  arrived  in  his 
diocese,  he  found  a  formidable  array  of  charges  pre- 
pared against  him.  Twenty-four  witnesses  had  been 
examined  ;  the  Counts  of  Foix  and  Comminges,  the 
Bishops  of  Toulouse,  Beziers,  and  Maguelone,  the  Ab- 
bot of  St.  Pepoul.     He  was  accused  of  simony,  of  her- 


308  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

esy,  principally  as  regarded  confession.1  The  Bishop 
would  have  fled  at  once  to  Rome  ;  but  this  flight  with- 
out the  leave  of  the  King  or  his  metropolitan  had  in- 
curred the  forfeiture  of  his  temporalities.  He  sent  the 
Abbot  of  Mas  d'Asil  humbly  to  entreat  permission  to 
retire.  But  the  King's  commissioners  were  on  the 
watch.  The  Vidame  of  Amiens  stood  by  night  at  the 
gates  of  the  Episcopal  Palace,  summoned  the  Bishop 
to  appear  before  the  King,  searched  all  his  chambers, 
set  the  royal  seal  on  all  his  books,  papers,  money,  plate, 
on  his  episcopal  ornaments.  It  is  even  said  that  his 
domestics  were  put  to  the  torture  to  obtain  evidence 
against  him.  After  some  delay,  the  Prelate  set  out 
July,  1301.  from  Toulouse,  accompanied  by  the  captain 
of  the  cross-bowmen  and  his  troop,  the  Seneschal  of 
Toulouse,  and  two  royal  sergeants  —  ostensibly  to  do 
him  honor  ;  in  fact,  as  a  guard  upon  the  prisoner. 

The  King  was  holding  his  Court-plenary,  a  Parlia- 
Oct.24.  ment  of  the  whole  realm,  at  Senlis.  The 
Bishop  appeared  before  him,  as  he  sat  surrounded  by 
the  princes,  prelates,  knights,  and  ecclesiastics.  Peter 
Flotte,  the  Keeper  of  the  Seals,  rose  and  arraigned  the 
Bishop  as  having  uttered  many  contemptuous  and 
charges  treasonable  words  against  the  King's  Majesty. 
sa'isset.  He  offered  to  substantiate  these  grave  charges 

by  unexceptionable  witnesses.  Then  Bishop  Bernard 
was  accused  of  having  repeated  a  prediction  of  Saint 
Louis,  that  in  the  third  generation,  under  a  weak 
prince,  the  kingdom  of  France  would  pass  forever  from 
his  line  into  that  of  strangers ;  of  having  said  that 
Philip  was  in  every  way  unworthy  of  the  crown ;  that 

1  Dupuy,  Preuves,  p.  626.     There  may  be  read  the  depositions  of  the 
witnesses. 


Chap.  IX.  SEIZURE  OF  THE  BISHOP.  809 

he  was  not  of  the  pure  race  of  Charlemagne,  but  of  a 
bastard  branch ;  that  he  was  no  true  King,  but  a  hand- 
some image,  who  thought  of  nothing  but  being  looked 
upon  with  admiration  by  the  world ;  that  he  deserved 
no  name  but  that  of  issuer  of  base  money  ; 1  that  his 
court  was  treacherous,  corrupt,  and  unbelieving  as 
himself;  that  he  had  grievously  oppressed  by  tyranny 
and  extortion  all  who  spoke  the  language  of  Toulouse ; 
that  he  had  no  authority  over  Pamiers,  which  was 
neither  within  the  realm  nor  held  of  the  kingdom  of 
France.  There  were  other  charges  of  acts,  not  of 
words  ;  secret  overtures  to  England  ;  attempts  to  alien- 
ate the  loyalty  of  the  Counts  of  Comminges,  and  to 
induce  the  province  of  Languedoc  to  revolt,  and  set  up 
her  old  independent  Counts.2  The  Chancellor  con- 
cluded by  addressing  the  metropolitan,  the  Archbishop 
of  Narbonne,  summoning  him  in  the  King's  name  to 
seize  and  secure  the  person  thus  accused  by  the  King 
of  leze  majeste* ;  if  the  Archbishop  refused,  the  King- 
must  take  his  own  course.  The  Archbishop  was  in  the 
utmost  consternation  and  difficulty.  He  dared  not  ab- 
solutely refuse  obedience  to  the  King.  The  life  of  the 
Bishop  was  threatened  by  some  of  the  more  lawless  of 
the  court.  He  was  withdrawn,  as  if  for  protection  ; 
the  King's  guards  slept  in  his  chamber.  The  Arch- 
bishop remonstrated  against  this  insult  towards  a  spirit- 
ual person.  The  King  demanded  whether  he  would 
be  answerable  for  the  safe  custody  of  the  prisoner. 
The  Archbishop  was  bound  not  only  by  awe,  but  by 
gratitude  to  the  Pope.  One  of  the  causes  of  the  quar- 
rel between  Boniface  and  the  Kins  was  the  zealous  as- 
sertion  of  the  Archbishop's  rights  to  the  Countship  of 

»  Faux  monnayeur.  2  The  charges  are  in  Dupuy,  p.  633,  el  seq. 


310  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

Maguelone.  He  consulted  the  Archbishop  of  Auch 
and  the  other  bishops.  It  was  agreed  that  the  Bishop 
of  Senlis  should  make  over  for  a  certain  time  a  portion 
of  his  territory  to  the  Archbishop.  Within  that  ceded 
territory  the  Bishop  should  be  kept,  but  not  in  close 
custody ;  his  own  chamberlain  alone  was  to  sleep  in  his 
chamber,  but  the  King  might  appoint  a  faithful  knight 
to  keep  guard.  He  was  to  have  his  chaplains  ;  per- 
mission to  write  to  Rome,  his  letters  being  first  ex- 
amined ;  lest  his  diocese  should  suffer  damage,  his  seal 
was  to  be  locked  up  in  a  strong  chest  under  two  keys, 
of  which  he  retained  one. 

King  Philip  could  not  commit  this  bold  act  of  the 
seizure  and  imprisonment  of  a  bishop,  a  Papal  Nuncio, 
without  communicating  his  proceedings  to  the  Pope. 
This  communication  was  made,  either  accompanied  or 
followed  by  a  solemn  embassage.  But  if  the  Legate 
appointed  by  the  Pope  was  the  most  obnoxious  ecclesi- 
astic whom  he  could  have  chosen,  the  chief  ambassa- 
dor designated  by  the  King,  who  proceeded  to  Rome, 
and  affronted  the  Pope  by  his  dauntless  language,  was 
the  Keeper  of  the  Seals,  Peter  Flotte.1  If  the  King 
and  his  counsellors  had  desired  to  show  the  malice  and 
falsehood  or  gross  exaggeration  of  the  treasonable 
charges  brought  against  the  Bishop  of  Pamiers,  they 
could  not  have  done  it  more  effectually  than  by  the 
monstrous  language  which  they  accused  him  of  having 
used  against  the  Pope  himself,  the  Pope,  whom  he  rep- 
resented as  Legate  or  Nuncio  at  the  court  of  France, 

1  After  careful  examination  of  the  evidence,  I  think  there  is  no  doubi  ot 
this  mission  of  Peter  Flotte.  It  cannot  be  pure  invention.  See  Matt. 
Westm.  in  he.  Walsingham.  Spondanus,  sub  ann.  1301.  Raynald.  ibid. 
Baillet,  Demeles,  p.  113,  &c. 


chap.  IX.  PETER  FLOTTE.  311 

the  object  of  his  devout  reverence  as  a  High  Church- 
man, to  whom  he  had  applied  for  protection,  at  whose 
feet  he  sought  for  refuge.  The  Bishop  of  Pamiers  (so 
averred  the  King  of  France  in  a  public  despatch)  was 
not  only,  according  to  the  usual  charges  against  all 
delinquent  prelates,  guilty  of  heresy,  simony,  and  un- 
belief; of  having  declared  the  sacrament  of  penance  a 
humar  invention,  fornication  not  forbidden  to  the 
clergy :  in  accumulation  of  these  offences,  he  had 
called  Boniface  the  Supreme  Pontiff,  in  the  hearing  of 
many  credible  witnesses,  the  devil  incarnate;  he  had 
asserted  W  that  the  Pope  had  impiously  canonized  St. 
Louis,  who  was  in  hell."  "  No  wonder  that  this  man 
had  not  hesitated  to  utter  the  foulest  treasons  against 
his  temporal  sovereign,  when  he  had  thus  blasphemed 
against  God  and  the  Church."  "  All  this  the  inquisi- 
tors had  gathered  from  the  attestations  of  bishops,  ab- 
bots, and  religious  men,  as  well  as  counts,  knights,  and 
burghers."  The  King  demanded  the  degradation  and 
the  condemnation  of  the  Bishop  by  spiritual  censures, 
and  permission  to  make  "  a  sacrifice  to  God  by  the  hands 
of  justice."  Peter  Flotte  is  declared,  even  in  the 
presence  of  the  Pope,  to  have  maintained  his  unawed 
intrepidity.  To  the  Pope's  absolute  assertion  of  his 
superiority  over  the  secular  power,  the  Chancellor  re- 
plied with  sarcastic  significance,  "  Your  power  in  tem- 
poral affairs  is  a  power  in  word,  that  of  the  King  my 
master  in  deed." 

Such  negotiations,  with  such  a  negotiator,  were  not 
likely  to  lead  to  peace.     Bull  after  Bull  came  Papal  Bullg 
forth  ;  several  of  the    earlier    ones    bore  the  Dec-  3* 
same  date.     The  first  was  addressed  to  the  King.     It 
declared  in  the  strongest  terms  that  die  temporal  sover- 


312  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI 

eign  had  no  authority  whatever  over  the  person  of  an 
ecclesiastic.  "  The  Pope  had  heard  with  deep  sorrow 
that  the  King  of  France  had  caused  the  Bishop  of 
Pamiers  to  be  brought  before  him  (Boniface  trusted 
not  against  his  will),1  and  had  committed  him  to  the 
custody  of  the  Archbishop  of  Narbonne.  The  Popo 
exhorted,  he  commanded  the  King  immediately  to  re- 
lease the  prelate,  to  permit  him  to  proceed  to  Rome, 
and  to  restore  all  his  goods  and  chattels.  Unless  he 
did  this  instantly,  he  would  incur  canonical  censure 
for  laying  his  profane  and  sacrilegious  hands  on  a 
Dec  4, 1302.  bishop."  A  second  Bull  commanded  the 
Archbishop  of  Narbonne  to  consider  the  Bishop  as 
under  the  special  protection  of  the  Pope ;  to  send  him, 
with  all  the  documents  produced  upon  the  trial,  to 
Rome;  and  to  inhibit  all  further  proceedings  of  the 
King.  A  third  Bull  annulled  the  special  suspension, 
as  regarded  France,  of  the  famous  Papal  statute  that 
clerks  should  make  no  payments  whatever  to  the  laity  ;2 
u  the  King  was  to  learn  that  by  his  disobedient  conduct 
he  had  forfeited  all  peculiar  and  distinctive  favor  from 
the  Holy  See."  The  fourth  was  even  a  stronger  and 
more  irrevocable  act  of  hostility.  This  Bull  was  ad- 
dressed to  all  the  archbishops  and  prelates,  to  the  cathe- 
dral chapters,  and  the  doctors  of  the  canon  and  the 
civil  law.  It  cited  them  to  appear  in  person,  or  by 
a.d.  1302.  their  representatives,  at  Rome  on  the  1st 
November  of  the  ensuing  year,  to  take  counsel  con- 
cerning all  the  excesses,  crimes,  acts  of  insolence,  in- 
jury, or  exaction,  committed  by  the  King  of  France 
or  his  officers   against  the  churches,  the  secular  and 

1  "Utinam  non  invitura."  —  Raynald.  Ann.  1301.  c.  xxviii. 

2  Clericis  Laicos. 


Chap.  IX.  THE  LESSER  BULL.  313 

regular  clergy  of  his  kingdom.  This  was  to  set  him- 
self at  the  head  of  a  league  or  conspiracy  of  the  whole 
clergy  of  France  against  their  King,  it  was  a  levy  in 
mass  of  the  hierarchy  in  full  revolt.  The  Pope  had 
already  condescendingly  informed  the  King  of  his  in- 
tention, and  entreated  him  not  to  be  disturbed  by  these 
proceedings,  but  to  place  full  reliance  on  the  equity  and 
indulgence  of  the  Supreme  Pontiff. 

So  closed  the  first  year  of  this  century.  Early  in 
the  following  year  was  published,  or  at  least  The  lesser 
widely  bruited  abroad,  a  Bull  bearing  the BuU* 
Pope's  signature,  brief,  sharp,  sententious.  It  had 
none  of  that  grave  solemnity,  that  unctuous  ostenta- 
tion of  pious  and  paternal  tenderness,  that  prodigal- 
ity of  Scriptural  and  sacred  allusion,  which  usually 
sheathed  the  severest  admonitions  of  the  Holy  See. 
"  Boniface  the  Pope  to  the  King  of  France.  We 
would  have  you  to  know  that  you  are  subordinate  in 
temporals  as  in  spirituals.  The  collation  to  benefices 
and  prebends  in  no  wise  belongs  to  you :  if  you  have 
any  guardianship  of  vacant  benefices,  it  is  only  to  re- 
ceive the  fruits  for  the  successors.  Whatever  colla- 
tions you  have  made,  we  declare  null ;  whatever  have 
been  carried  into  effect,  we  revoke.  All  who  believe 
not  this  are  guilty  of  heresy."  The  Pope,  in  his  sub- 
sequent Bulls,  openly  accuses  certain  persons  of  having 
issued  false  writings  in  his  name ;  he  intimates,  if  he 
does  not  directly  charge  Peter  Flotte  as  guilty  of  the 
fraud.  That  this  is  the  document,  or  one  of  the  docu- 
ments, thus  disclaimed,  there  can  be  no  doubt.  Was 
it,  then,  a  bold  and  groundless  forgery,  or  a  summary 
of  the  Pope's  pretensions,  stripped  of  all  stately  cir- 
cumlocution, and  presented  in  their  odious  and  offen 


314  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  Xt. 

sive  plainness,  with  a  view  to  enable  the  world,  or 
at  least  France,  to  judge  on  the  points  at  issue?  It 
might  seem  absolutely  incredible  that  the  Chancellor 
of  France  should  have  the  audacity  to  promulgate 
writings  in  the  name  of  the  Pope  altogether  ficti- 
tious, which  the  Pope  would  instantly  disown  ;  did  not 
the  monstrous  charges  adduced  against  the  Bishop  of 
Pamiers,  and  afterwards  in  open  court  against  the 
Pope  himself,  display  an  utter  contempt  for  truth,  a 
confidence  in  the  credulity  of  mankind,  at  least  as 
inconceivable  in  later  times.  Our  doubts  of  the  sheer 
invention  are  rather  as  to  the  impolicy  than  the  men- 
dacity of  the  act.  The  answer  in  the  name  of  the 
King  of  France  —  and  this  answer,  undoubtedly  au- 
thentic, proves  irrefragably  the  publication  and  wide 
dissemination  of  the  Lesser  Bull  of  the  Pope  —  with 
its  ostentation  not  only  of  discourteous  but  of  vulgar 
contempt,  obtained  the  same  publicity.  "  Philip,  by 
the  grace  of  God  King  of  France,  to  Boniface,  who 
assumes  to  be  the  Chief  Pontiff,  little  or  no  greeting.1 
Let  your  fatuity  know,  that  in  temporals  we  are  sub- 
ordinate to  none.  The  collation  to  vacant  benefices 
and  prebends  belongs  to  us  by  royal  right ;  the  fruits 
are  ours.  We  will  maintain  all  collations  made  and  to 
be  made  by  us,  and  their  possessors.  All  who  believe 
otherwise  we  hold  to  be  fools  and  madmen."  2 

The  more  full  and  acknowledged  Bull  might  indeed 

1  "  Salutem  modicam  aut  nullam." 

2  The  weight  of  evidence  that  these  two  extraordinary  documents  were 
extant  and  published  at  the  time  seems  to  me  irresistible.  They  were 
not  contested  for  300  years ;  they  are  adduced  by  most  of  the  writers  of 
the  time;  they  are  to  be  found  in  the  Gloss  on  the  Decretals  of  Boniface, 

'  published  40  years  after  by  Jobn  Andrew  of  Bologna.  See  all  the  very 
curious  deliberation  of  Peter  de  Bosco  on  this  very  Bull,  published  in  Du- 
puy,  Preuves,  p.  45.     It  is  called  in  general  the  Lesser  Bull. 


Chap.  IX.  THE  GREATER  BULL.  315 

be  almost  fairly  reduced  to  the  coarse  and  rude  sum- 
mary of  the  Lesser.1  It  contained  undeniably,  under 
its  veil  of  specious  and  moderate  language,  every  one 
of  those  hardy  and  unmeasured  doctrines.  But  the 
language  is  part  of  the  spirit  of  such  documents ;  the 
mitigating  and  explanatory  phrase  is  not  necessarily 
deceptive  or  hypocritical :  though  in  truth  each  party 
was  determined  to  misunderstand  the  other.  Neither 
was  prepared  to  follow  out  his  doctrines  to  their  legiti- 
mate conclusion  ;  neither  could  acknowledge  the  impos- 
sibility of  fixing  the  bounds  of  spiritual  and  of  temporal 
authority.  The  Pope's  notion  of  spiritual  supremacy 
necessarily  comprehended  the  whole  range  of  human 
action  :  the  King  represented  the  Pope  as  claiming  a 
feudal  supremacy,  as  though  he  asserted  the  kingdom 
of  France  to  be  held  of  him.  And  this  was  the  intel- 
ligible sovereignty  which  roused  the  indignation  of 
feudal  France,  indignation  justified  by  the  actual  claim 
of  such  sovereignty  over  other  kingdoms.  Each  there- 
fore stood  on  an  impregnable  theoretic  ground  ;  but 
each  theory,  when  they  attempted  to  carry  it  into  prac- 
tice, clashed  with  insurmountable  difficulties. 

The  greater  Bull,  of  which  the  authenticity  is  un- 
questioned, ran  in  these  terms  :  —  It  began  Bull)  Aug_ 
with  the  accustomed  protestation  of  parental culta  fiU* 

1  Sismondi  supposes  that  the  Lesser  Bull  was  framed  by  Peter  Flotte,  to 
be  laid  before  the  States-General,  on  account -of  the  great  length  of  the 
genuine  Bull ;  that  having  so  presented  it,  and  seen  its  effect,  he  was  una- 
ble and  unwilling  to  withdraw  it.  But  of  the  answers  of  the  three  Orders, 
irwo  are  extant,  and  in  a  very  different  tone  from  the  brief  one  ascribed  to 
the  King.  It  seems  to  me  rather  to  have  been  intended  as  an  appeal  to 
popular  feeling  than  to  that  of  a  regular  assembly.  Such  substitution  is 
hardly  conceivable  in  an  assembly  at  which  all  the  prelates  and  great  ab- 
bots of  the  kingdom  were  present.  Nor  does  this  notion  account  for  the 
King's  reply. 


316  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

tenderness,  which  demanded  more  than  filial  obedience, 
obedience  to  the  Pope  as  to  God.  "  Hearken,  my  most 
dear  son,  to  the  precepts  of  thy  father  ;  open  the  ears 
of  thine  heart  to  the  instruction  of  thy  master,  the 
vicegerent  of  Him  who  is  the  one  Master  and  Lord. 
Receive  willingly,  be  careful  to  fulfil  to  the  utmost,  the 
admonitions  of  thy  mother,  the  Church.  Return  to 
God  with  a  contrite  heart,  from  whom,  by  sloth  or 
through  evil  counsels,  thou  hast  departed,  and  devoutly 
conform  to  His  decrees  and  ours."  The  Pope  then 
shadows  forth  the  plenary  and  tremendous  power  of 
Rome  in  the  vague  and  awful  words  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. "  See,  I  have  this  day  set  thee  over  the  nations 
and  over  the  kingdoms,  to  root  out  and  to  pull  down, 
and  to  destroy  and  to  overthrow,  to  build  and  to 
plant."  1  This  was  no  new  Papal  phrase  ;  it  had  been 
used  with  the  same  boldness  of  misappropriation  by  the 
Gregories  and  Innocents  of  old.  It  might  mean  only 
spiritual  censures  ;  it  was  softened  off  in  the  next  clause 
into  such  meaning.2  Yet  it  might  also  signify  the  an- 
nulling the  subjects'  oaths  of  allegiance,  the  overthrow 
by  any  means  of  the  temporal  throne,  the  transferrence 
of  the  crown  from  one  head  to  another.  This  sentence, 
which  in  former  times  had  been  awful,  was  now  pre- 
sumptuous, offensive,  odious.  It  was  that  which  the 
King,  at  a  later  period,  insisted  most  strenuously  on 
erasing  from  the  Bull.  "  Let  no  one  persuade  you  that 
you  are  not  subject  to  the  Hierarch  of  the  Celestial 
Hierarchy."  The  Bull  proceeds  to  rebuke,  in  firm, 
but  neither  absolutely  ungentle  nor  discourteous  terms, 

1  Jeremiah,  i.  10. 

2  "  Ut  gregera  pascentes  Dominicum  .  .  .  alligeraus  fracta,  et  reducamus 
abjeeta,  vinumque  infundamus,"  &c. 


Chap.  IX.  THE  GREATER  BUT.L.  317 

the  oppressions  of  the  King  over  his  subjects  (the  most 
galling  sentences  were  those  which  alluded  to  his  tam- 
pering with  the  coin,  "  his  acts  as  money-changer  "), 
not  only  the  oppressions  of  Ecclesiastics,  but  of  Peers, 
Counts,  Barons,  the  Universities,  and  the  people,  all  of 
whom  the  Pope  thus  takes  under  his  protection.  The 
King's  right  to  the  collation  of  benefices  he  denies  in 
the  most  peremptory  terms ;  he  brands  his  presumption 
in  bringing  ecclesiastics  under  the  temporal  jurisdiction, 
his  levying  taxes  on  the  clergy  who  did  not  hold  fiefs 
of  the  Crown,  "although  no  layman  has  any  power 
whatever  over  an  ecclesiastic :  "  he  censures  especially 
the  King's  usurpations  on  the  church  of  Lyons,  a 
church  beyond  the  limits  of  his  realm,  and  independent 
of  his  authority ;  his  abuse  of  the  custody  of  vacant 
bishoprics.  u  The  voice  of  the  Pope  was  hoarse  in 
remonstrating  against  these  acts  of  iniquity,  to  which 
the  King  turned  the  ear  of  the  deaf  adder."  Though 
the  Pope  would  be  justified  in  taking  arms  against  the 
King,  his  bow  and  quiver  (what  bow  and  quiver  he 
leaves  in  significant  obscurity),  he  had  determined  to 
make  this  last  appeal  to  Philip's  conscience.  He  had 
summoned  the  clergy  of  France  to  Rome  to  take  cog- 
nizance of  all  these  things.  He  solemnly  warned  the 
King  against  the  evil  counsellors  by  whom  he  was 
environed ;  and  concluded  with  the  old  and  somewhat 
obsolete  termination  of  all  such  addresses  to  Christian 
Kings,  an  admonition  to  consider  the  state  of  the  Holy 
Land,  the  all-absorbing  duty  of  recovering  the  sepul- 
chre of  Christ. 

The  King  in  all  this  grave,  as  it  bore  upon  its  face, 
paternal  expostulation,  saw  only,  or  chose  to  see,  or 
was  permitted  by  his  loyal  counsellors,  who  by  their 


818  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI 

servile  adulteration  of  his  passions  absolutely  ruled  his 
mind,  to  see  only  the  few  plain  and  arrogant  demands 
concentred  in  the  Lesser  Bull,  with  the  allusions  to 
his  oppressions  and  exactions,  not  less  insulting  from 
their  truth.  His  conscience  as  a  Christian  was  un- 
touched by  religious  awe  ;  his  pride  as  a  King  provoked 
to  fury.  The  Archdeacon  of  Narbonne,  the  bearer  of 
the  Papal  Bull,  was  ignominiously  refused  admittance 
to  the  royal  presence.  In  the  midst  of  his  court,  more 
than  ordinarily  thronged  with  nobles,  Philip  solemnly 
declared  that  he  would  disinherit  all  his  sons  if  they 
consented  to  hold  the  kingdom  of  France  of  any  one 
jan  26  Du^  °f  God.     Fifteen  days  after,  the  Bull  of 

1302'  the  Pope  was  publicly  burned  in  Paris  in  the 

King's  presence,  and  this  act  proclaimed  throughout 
the  city  by  the  sound  of  the  trumpet.1  Paris  knew  no 
more  of  the  ground  of  the  quarrel,  or  of  the  Papal 
pretensions,  than  may  have  been  communicated  in  the 
Lesser  Bull  ;  it  heard  in  respectful  silence,  if  not  with 
acclamation,  the  King's  defiance  of  the  Pope,  at  which 
a  century  before  it  would  have  trembled  and  wailed,  as 
inevitably  to  be  followed  by  all  the  gloom,  terror,  spirit- 
ual privations  of  an  Interdict. 

All  France  seemed  prepared  to  espouse  the  quarrel 
of  the  King.  Philip,  or  Philip's  counsellors,  had  such 
confidence  in  the  state  of  the  public  mind,  which  them- 
selves had  so  skilfully  wrought  up,  as  boldly  to  appeal 
states-  to    the    whole    nation.      The    States-General 

General  ,     n  ,         n  1 

\prii  10, 1302.  were  summoned  tor  the  nrst  time,  not  only 
the  two  orders,  the  Nobles  and  the  Clergy,  but  the 
commonalty  also,  the  burghers  of  the  towns  and  cities, 
now  rising  into  notice  and  wealth.     The  States-Gen- 

i  Dupuy,  p.  59. 


Chap.  IX.  STATES-GENERAL.  319 

eral  met  in  the  church  of  Notre  Dame  at  Paris.  The 
Chancellor,  Peter  Flotte,  submitted,  and  put  his  own 
construction  on  the  several  Bulls  issued  by  the  Pope 
on  the  5th  of  December,  which  withdrew  the  privi- 
leges conceded  by  himself  to  the  realm  of  France, 
summoned  all  the  Bishops  and  Doctors  of  Theology 
and  Law  in  France  to  Rome,  as  his  subjects  and  spirit- 
ual vassals,  and  (this  was  the  vital  question)  asserted 
that  the  King  held  the  realm  of  France,  not  of  God, 
but  of  the  Pope.  This  feudal  suzerainty,  the  only 
suzerainty  the  Nobles  comprehended,  and  which  was 
declared  by  the  Chancellor  to  be  claimed  by  the  Pope, 
was  hardly  less  odious  to  them  than  to  the  King.  The 
clergy  were  embarrassed ;  some,  no  doubt,  felt  strongly 
the  national  pride  of  independence,  though  they  owed 
unlimited  allegiance  to  the  Pope.  They  held,  too,  fiefs 
of  the  Crown  ;  and  the  collation  of  benefices  by  the 
Crown  secured  them  from  that  of  which  they  were  es- 
pecially jealous,  the  intrusion  of  foreigners  into  the  pre- 
ferments which  they  esteemed  their  own  right.  There 
had  been  from  the  days  of  Hincmar  of  Rheims  at  least, 
a  vague  notion  of  some  special  and  distinctive  liberties 
belonging  to  the  Gallican  Church.  The  Commons,  or 
the  Third  Estate,  would  hardly  have  been  summoned 
by  Philip  and  his  subtle  advisers,  if  their  support  to 
the  royal  cause  had  not  been  sure.  The  pride  of  their 
new  political  importance,  their  recognition  as  part  of 
the  nation,  if  not  their  intelligence,  would  maintain 
their  loyalty  to  the  crown,  undisturbed  by  any  super- 
stitious veneration  for  the  Hierarchy. 

Each  order  drew  up  its  separate  address  to  the  Pa- 
pal Court ;   that  of  the  ruder  Nobles  was  in  Address  of 
French,  not  to  the  Pope,  but  to  the  Cardi-  th«  cardinal* 


320  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

nals ;  that  of  the  clergy  in  Latin,  to  the  Pope.  These 
two  are  extant ;  the  third,  of  the  Commons,  which 
would  no  doubt  have  been  the  most  curious,  is  lost. 
The  Nobles  dwell  on  the  long  and  immemorial  and 
harmonious  amity  between  the  Church  of  Rome  and 
the  realm  of  France  ;  that  amity  was  disturbed  by  the 
extortionate  and  unbridled  acts  of  him  who  now  gov- 
erned  the  Church.  They,  the  Nobles  and  People  of 
France,  would  never,  under  the  worst  extremities,  en- 
dure the  wicked  and  outrageous  innovations  of  the 
Pope,  his  claim  of  the  temporal  subjection  of  the  King 
and  the  kingdom  to  Rome,  his  summoning  the  prelates 
and  ecclesiastical  dignitaries  of  the  realm  for  the  redress 
of  alleged  grievances  and  oppressions  before  Boniface 
at  Rome.  "  We,  the  people  of  France,  neither  desire 
nor  will  receive  the  redress  of  such  grievances  by  his 
authority  or  his  power,  but  only  from  that  of  our  Lord 
the  King."  They  vindicate  the  King's  determination 
not  to  allow  the  wealth  of  the  realm,  especially  arms, 
to  be  exported  from  France.  They  accuse  the  Pope 
of  having  usurped  the  collation  of  benefices,  and  of 
having  bestowed  them  for  money  on  unknown  stran- 
gers. By  this  and  his  other  exactions,  the  Church  was 
so  impoverished  and  discredited  that  the  bishops  could 
not  find  men  of  noble  descent,  of  good  birth,  or  of  let- 
ters, to  accept  benefices.  "  These  things,  hateful  to 
God  and  displeasing  to  good  men,  had  never  been  seen, 
and  were  not  expected  to  be  seen,  before  the  time  of 
Antichrist."  They  call  on  the  Cardinals  to  arrest  the 
Pope  in  his  dangerous  courses,  to  chastise  him  for  his 
excesses,  "that  Christendom  may  return  to  peace,  and 
good  Christians  be  able  to  devote  themselves  to  the 
recovery  of  the  Holy  Land."     This  letter  was  signed 


Chap.  IX.  ADDKESS   OF   THE  CLERGY.  321 

by  Louis,  Count  of  Evreux,  the  King's  brother ;  by 
Robert,  Count  of  Artois  ;  by  the  Dukes  of  Burgundy, 
Bretagne,  Lorraine  ;  the  Counts  of  Dreux,  St.  Pol, 
de  la  Marche,  Boulogne,  Comminges,  Albemarle,  Fo- 
res, Eu,  Nevers,  Auxerre,  Perigord,  Joigny,  Valen- 
tinois,  Poitiers,  Montbeliard,  Sancerre,  even  by  the 
Flemish  Counts  of  Hainault  and  Luxemburg,  the  Lords 
of  Couci  and  Beaujeu,  the  Viscount  of  Narbonne,  and 
some  others.1 

The  address  of  the  Prelates  to  the  Pope  was  more 
respectful,  if  not,  as  usual,  supplicatory.  They  of  the  Clergy 
too  treat  as  dangerous  novelties,  now  first  ex-  t0  the  Pop* 
pressed  in  the  Papal  Bulls,  the  assertion  that  the  King 
holds  his  realm  of  the  Pope,  the  right  of  the  Pope  to 
summon  the  subjects  of  the  King,  high  ecclesiastics,  to 
Rome,  for  the  general  redress  of  grievances,  wrongs, 
and  injuries  committed  by  the  King,  his  bailiffs  or 
officers.  They  too  urge  the  collation  to  benefices  of 
persons  unknown,  strangers,  and  not  above  suspicion, 
who  never  reside  on  their  benefices ;  the  unpopularity 
and  impoverishment  of  the  Church  ;  the  constant  drain 
on  the  wealth  of  the  realm  by  direct  exactions  and  per- 
petual appeals  to  Rome.  The  King  had  called  on  them 
and  on  the  Barons  of  France  to  consult  with  him  on 
the  maintenance  of  the  ancient  liberties,  honor,  and 
state  of  the  kingdom.  The  Barons  had  withdrawn, 
and  determined  to  support  the  King.  They  too  had  re- 
tired, but  had  demanded  longer  delay,  lest  they  should 
infringe  on  their  obedience  to  the  Pope.  They  had  at 
length  replied  that  they  held  themselves  bound  to  the 
preservation  of  the  person  and  of  the  authority  of  the 
King,  the  rights  and  liberties  of  the  kingdom.     But, 

i  Preuves,  p.  61,  62. 
VOL.   vi.  21 


o22  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

as  they  were  also  under  allegiance  to  the  Pope,  tliey 
had  humbly  craved  permission  to  go  to  Rome  to  repre- 
sent the  whole  case.  To  this  the  King  and  the  Barons 
had  answered  by  a  stern  refusal  to  permit  them  to  quit 
the  realm,  on  the  penalty  of  the  seizure  and  sequestra- 
tion of  all  their  lands  and  goods.  "  So  great  and  immi- 
nent was  the  peril  as  to  threaten  an  absolute  dissolution 
of  the  Church  and  State ;  the  clergy  were  so  odious  to 
the  people  that  they  avoided  all  intercourse  with  them; 
tongue  could  not  tell  the  dangers  to  which  they  were 
exposed."1 

The  Cardinals  replied  to  the  Dukes,  Counts,  and  Ba- 
Answerof  rons  °f  France  with  dignity  and  moderation, 
the  cardinals.  They  assured  tbe  Nobles  of  their  earnest  de- 
sire, and  that  of  the  Pope,  to  maintain  the  friendly  re- 
lations between  the  Church  of  Rome  and  the  kingdom 
of  France.  He  was  an  enemy  to  man  (designating 
clearly,  but  not  naming  the  Chancellor)  who  had  sowed 
the  tares  of  discord.  The  Pope  had  never  written  to 
the  King  claiming  the  temporal  sovereignty.  The 
Archdeacon  of  Narbonne,  as  himself  deposes,  had  not 
advanced  such  claim.  The  whole  argument,  therefore, 
of  the  Chancellor  was  built  on  sand.  They  insisted 
on  the  right  of  the  Pope  to  hold  Councils,  and  to  sum- 
mon to  such  Councils  all  the  prelates  of  Christendom. 
In  their  turn  they  eluded  the  charge  that  this  Council 
was  to  take  cognizance  of  what  were  undeniably  the 
temporal  affairs  of  France.  "  If  all  the  letters  of  the 
Pope  had  been  laid  before  the  Prelates  and  Barons, 
and  their  tenor  explained  by  the  Pope's  Nuncio,  they 

1  "  Cum  jam  abhorreant  laici  et  prorsus  effu  giant  consortia  clerieorum, 
eos  a  suis  onmino  consiliis  et  allocutionibus  abdicando  ...  in  grave  peri- 
culum  animaruni  et  varia  et  diversa  pericula."  —  Preuves,  p.  70  et  seq. 


Chap.  IX.  ANSWER  OF   THE  TOPE.  323 

would  have  been  found  full  of  love  and  pious  solici- 
tude.*' They  then  dwell  on  the  manifest  favors  of  the 
Papal  See  to  France.  They  deny  that  the  Pope  had 
appointed  any  foreign  bishops,  but  to  the  sees  of  Bour- 
ses and  of  Arras.  In  all  other  cases  he  had  nominated 
subjects  of  the  realm,  men  known  in  the  Court,  fa- 
miliar with  the  King,  and  of  good  repute.1  The  an- 
swer of  the  Cardiuals  to  the  Mayors,  Sheriffs,  Jurors 
of  the  cities  and  towns,  was  in  the  same  grave  tone, 
denying  the  claim  of  temporal  sovereignty,  and  alleg- 
ing the  same  acts. 

The  Pope,  in  his  answer  to  the  Prelates  and  Clergy, 
did  not  maintain  the  same  decorous  majesty.  Answer  of 
His  wrath  was  excited  by  what  he  deemed  the  Bishops, 
the  timorous  apostasy  of  Churchmen  from  the  cause 
of  the  Church.  "  Under  the  hypocritical  veil  of  con- 
solation, the  beloved  daughter,  the  Church  of  France, 
had  heaped  reproach  on  her  spotless  mother,  the 
Church  of  Rome.  The  Prelates  had  stooped  to  be 
mendicants  for  the  suffrages  of  the  Parliament  of  Paris, 
and  alleged  the  loss  of  their  property,  and  the  danger 
of  their  persons,  if  they  should  set  out  for  Rome.  That 
son  of  Belial,  Peter  Flotte,  whose  bodily  sight  was  so 
feeble,  who  was  stone-blind  in  soul,  had  been  permitted, 
and  others  who  thirsted  for  Christian  blood  had  been 
permitted,  to  lead  astray  our  dear  son,  Philip  of 
France."  "  And  to  this  ye  listened,  who  ought  to 
have  poured  scathing  contempt  upon  them  all.  Ye  did 
this  from  base  timidity,  from  baser  worldliness.  But 
they  labor  in  vain.  He  that  sitteth  in  the  north  shall  not 
long  lift  himself  up  against  the  Vicar  of  Christ  Jesus, 
to  whom  there  has  not  yet  been  a  second  :  he  shall  fall 

1  June  2G.     Pruuves,  p.  63. 


3^4  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY*  B<Jok  XI. 

with  all  Ills  followers.  Do  not  they  who  deny  the  sub- 
jection of  the  temporal  to  the  spiritual  power  assert  the 
two  principles?"1  This  was  a  subtle  blow.  Mani- 
cheism  was  the  most  hated  heresy  to  all  who  knew,  and 
all  who  did  not  know,  its  meaning. 

At  Rome,  about  the  same  time,  was  held  a  Consis- 
Jun©25.  tory,  in  which  the  differences  with  Franco 
at  Rome.  were  submitted  to  solemn  deliberation.  Mat- 
thew Acqua  Sparta,  the  Franciscan,  Cardinal  of  Porto, 
as  representing  the  sense  of  the  Cardinals,  delivered  a 
speech  of  long  address,  half  sermon  and  half  speech. 
I'orto.'  He  took  for  his  text,  from  the  epistle  of  the 

day  before,  the  Feast  of  St.  John  the  Baptist,  the  pas- 
sage of  Jeremiah  concerning  the  universal  power  to 
pluck  up,  root  out,  destroy,  and  plant.  He  applied  it 
directly  to  John  the  Baptist,  by  clear  inference  to  the 
Pope.  He  lamented  the  difference  with  the  King  of 
France,  which  had  arisen  from  so  light  a  cause  ;  as- 
serted perfect  harmony  to  exist  between  the  Pope  and 
the  Sacred  College.  He  declared  the  real  letter  sent 
by  the  Pope  to  have  been  full  of  gentleness  and  love ; 
the  false  letter  had  neither  been  sent  nor  authorized  by 
the  Pope.  "  Had  not  the  King  of  France  a  confessor  ? 
Did  he  not  receive  absolution  ?  It  is  as  partaking  of 
sin  that  the  Pope  takes  cognizance  of  all  temporal 
acts."  He  appeals  to  the  famous  similitude  of  the  two 
luminaries,  of  which  the  temporal  power  was  the  les- 
ser ;  but  he  draws  a  distinction  between  the  temporal 
power  of  the  Pope  and  his  right  to  carry  it  into  exe- 
cution. "  The  Vicar  of  Christ  has  unbounded  jurisdic- 
tion, for  he  is  even  to  judge  the  quick  and  the  dead ; 
but  he  is  not  competent  to  the  use,  he  is  not  the  execu- 
1  Freuves,  p.  66. 


Chap.  IX.  SPEECH   OF  THE  POPE.  325 

live  of  the  temporal  power,  for  '  the  Lord  said,  put  up 
thy  sword  (the  temporal  sword)  into  its  scabbard.'  " 

The  Pope  followed  the  Cardinal  of  Porto  in  a  more 
strange  line  of  argument.  His  text  was,  gpeech  of 
"  Whom  God  has  joined  together,  let  no  man  the  Pope- 
put  asunder."  This  sentence,  applied,  he  says,  by  God 
to  our  first  parents,  applies  also  to  the  Church  and  the 
Kings  of  France.  On  the  first  baptism  of  the  King 
of  France  by  St.  Remigius,  the  Archbishop  said, 
"  Hold  thee  to  the  Church :  so  long  as  thou  boldest  to 
the  Church,  thou  and  thy  kingdom  shall  prosper:  so 
soon  as  thou  departest  from  it,  thou  and  thy  kingdom 
shall  perish.  What  gifts  and  blessings1  does  not  the 
King  of  France  receive  from  the  Church !  even  at  the 
present  day,  by  our  grants  and  dispensations,  forty 
thousand  livres.  '  Let  no  man  put  asunder.'  Who  is 
the  man  ?  The  word  man  is  sometimes  used  for  God, 
Christ,  the  Holy  Spirit,  sometimes  for  the  devil.  Here 
it  means  that  diabolical  man,  that  Antichrist,  blind  in 
bodily  eyesight,  more  blind  of  soul,  Peter  Flotte.  The 
satellites  of  that  Ahitophel  are  Robert  Count  of  Artois 
and  the  Count  St.  Pol.  It  is  he  that  falsified  our  let- 
ter ;  it  is  he  that  made  us  say  to  the  King  that  he  held 
his  realm  of  us.  For  forty  years  we  have  been  trained 
in  the  science  of  law ;  we  know  that  there  are  two 
powers  ;  how  could  such  a  folly  enter  our  head  ?  We 
say,  as  our  brother  the  Cardinal  of  Porto  has  said,  that 
in  nothing  would  we  usurp  the  royal  power ;  but  the 
King  cannot  deny  that  he  is  subject  to  us  in  regard  tu 
his  sins."  The  Pope  then  enters  on  the  collation  to 
benefices,  on  which  point  he  is  prepared,  of  his  free 
grace,   to  make  large  but  special   concessions    to   the 

1  Fomenta. 


326  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

King.  After  some  expressions  of  regard,  he  reassumes 
the  language  of  reproach  and  of  menace.  "  But  for 
us,  the  King  would  not  have  a  foot  in  the  stirrup. 
When  the  English,  the  Germans,  all  his  more  powerful 
vassals  and  neighbors,  rose  up  against  him  in  one 
league,  to  whom  but  to  us  did  he  owe  his  triumph  ? 
Our  predecessors  have  deposed  three  kings  of  France. 
These  things  are  written  in  their  annals  as  in  ours ; 
and  this  King,  guilty  of  so  much  more  heinous  offences, 
we  could  depose  as  we  could  discharge  a  groom,1  though 
we  should  do  it  with  sorrow.  As  for  the  citation  of 
Bishops,  we  could  call  the  whole  world  to  our  presence, 
weak  and  aged  as  we  are.  If  they  come  not  at  our 
command,  let  them  know  that  they  are  hereby  deprived 
and  deposed." 

From  this  Consistory  emanated  a  second  Bull,  which 
The  Buii        deliberately  and  fully  defined  the  powers  as- 

"Unam  „   .      .f .       _  J     _  .      \  . 

sanctam."  sumed  by  the  Jrope.  It  asserted  the  eternal 
unity  of  the  Catholic  Church  under  St.  Peter  and  his 
successors.  Whosoever,  as  the  Greeks,  denied  that 
subordination,  denied  that  themselves  were  of  Christ. 
"  There  are  two  swords,  the  spiritual  and  the  temporal : 
our  Lord  said  not  of  these  two  swords,  \  it  is  too  much,' 
but  '  it  is  enough.'  Both  are  in  the  power  of  the 
Church :  the  one  the  spiritual,  to  be  used  by  the 
Church,  the  other  the  material,  for  the  Church  ;  the 
former  that  of  priests,  the  latter  that  of  kings  and  sol- 
diers, to  be  wielded  at  the  command  and  by  the  suffer- 
ance of  the  priest.2  One  sword  must  be  under  the 
other,   the   temporal   under  the  spiritual The 

1  "  Nos  deponeremus  Regem,  sicut  unum  garcionem."     Sse  the  whole 
•peech  in  Raynald.  sub  ann. 

2  Ad  nutuni  et  patientiam  sacerdotis. 


Chap.  IX.  INSURRECTION  IN  FLANDERS.  327 

spiritual  instituted  the  temporal  power,  and  judges 
whether  that  power  is  well  exercised."  The  eternal 
verse  of  Jeremiah  is  adduced.  "  If  the  temporal  power 
errs,  it  is  judged  by  the  spiritual.  To  deny  this,  is  to 
assert,  with  the  heretical  Manicheans,  two  coequal  prin- 
ciples. We  therefore  assert,  define,  and  pronounce  that 
it  is  necessary  to  salvation  to  believe  that  every  human 
being  is  subject  to  the  Pontiff  of  Rome."  l 

The  insurrection  in  Flanders  diverted  the  minds  of 
men  for  some  short  time  from  this  quarrel  July  n,  1302. 
which  appalled  Christendom.  The  free  and  industri- 
ous Flemish  manufacturing  burghers  found  the  rule  of 
the  Kins:  of  France  more  intolerable  than  that  of  their 
former  lords.  Their  victory  at  Courtrai,  foretold  by  a 
comet,  the  most  bloody  and  humiliating  defeat  which 
for  years  had  been  suffered  by  the  arms  of  France,  was 
not  likely  to  soothe  the  haughty  temper  of  Philip.  The 
loftier  Churchmen,  in  the  death  of  Robert  of  Artois  on 
that  fatal  field,  saw  the  judgment  of  God  on  him,  who 
was  said  to  have  trodden  under  foot  the  Pope's  Bull  of 
arbitration,  whose  seal  was  the  first  affixed  to  the  re- 
monstrance of  the  Nobles  in  the  Parliament  of  Paris.2 
Among  those  that  fell  was  a  more  dire  enemy  of  the 
Pope,  the  Chancellor  Peter  Flotte. 

Hence,  perhaps,  in  the  mean  time  attempts  had  been 
made  to  obtain  the  mediation  of  some  of  the  greater 
vassals  of  the  Crown,  the  Dukes  of  Bretagne  and  of 
Burgundy.     The  Pope  h?  i  intimated  that  they  would 

1  Porro  subesse  Romano  Pontifici  omni  humanae  creature  declaramus,  di- 
cimus,  et  diffinimus  omnino  esse  de  necessitate  fidei."  —  Preuves,  p.  54. 

2  Continuat.  Nangis,  Bouquet,  p.  585.  Chroniques  de  St.  Denys,  p.  670. 
Villani  (viii.  55)  antedates  the  battle  March  21.  He  is  especially  indig- 
nant that  the  nobles  of  France  were  defeated  by  base  artisans,  "  tesseran- 
doli  e  fulloni."     This  is  curious  in  the  mercantile  Florentine. 


328  LATIN  CIIKISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

be  more  fitting  and  acceptable  ambassadors  than  the 
King's  insolent  legal  counsellors.  Those  powerful  and 
almost  independent  sovereigns  had  commissioned  Hugh, 
a  brother  of  the  Order  of  Knights  Templars,  to  express 
their  earnest  desire  for  the  reconciliation  of  the  King 
Sept.  5.  with  the  Pope.  From  Anagni  the  Cardinal 
of  Porto  wrote  to  the  Duke  of  Bretagne,  the  Cardinals 
of  San  Pudenziana  and  St.  Maria  Nuova  to  the  Duke 
of  Burgundy,  representing  the  insult  offered  to  the 
Pope  in  publicly  burning  his  Bull  (an  act  which  nei- 
ther heretic,  pagan,  nor  tyrant  would  have  done),  and 
the  friendly  and  patient  tone  of  the  Pope's  genuine  let- 
ters. They  explained  the  reason  why  the  Pope  could 
not  write  to  one  actually  in  a  state  of  excommunication. 
They  exhorted  the  princes  to  induce  the  King  to  hum- 
ble himself  before  his  spiritual  father. 

The  Prelates  of  France  had  been  summoned  to  ap- 
pelates who  Pear  m  Rome  at  the  beginning  of  November, 
go  to  Koine.     jt  wag  tQ  ^e  geen  jlow  many  WOuld  dare  to 

defy  the  resentment  of  the  King,  and  resolutely  obey 
their  spiritual  sovereign.  There  were  only  four  Arch- 
bishops, thirty-five  Bishops,  six  of  the  great  Abbots 
Of  these  by  far  the  larger  number  were  the  Bishops 
of  Bretagne,  Burgundy,  and  Languedoc.  The  Arch- 
bishop of  Tours  headed  eight  of  his  Breton  suffragans ; 
the  Archbishop  of  Auch  fifteen  Provencals,  including 
the  Bishop  of  Pamiers.  The  Archbishop  of  Bordeaux 
was  a  subject  of  the  King  of  England,  as  Duke  of 
Aquitaine.  The  Archbishop  of  Bourges  was  one  of 
the  Italians  promoted  by  the  Pope ;  with  him  went  one 
or  two  of  his  suffragans.  Philip,  it  might  seem,  knew 
from  what  quarters  he  might  expect  this  defection. 
The  Seneschal  of  Toulouse  received  orders  to  publish 


Chap.  IX.      PHILIP  CONDEMNS  THE  INQUISITION.  329 

the  royal  prohibition  to  all  Barons,  Knights,  Primates, 
Bishops,  or  Abbots  against  quitting  the  realm  ;  or,  if 
they  should  have  quitted  it,  to  command  their  instant 
return,  on  pain  of  corporal  punishment  and  confiscation 
of  all  their  temporal  goods.  These  southern  provinces 
he  watched  with  peculiar  jealousy,  and,  as  if  deter- 
mined to  shake  the  ecclesiastical  dominion,  he  Phil5p  con. 
published  an  edict,1  denouncing  the  cruelties  JJjJJSftjJa 
and  tyranny  of  the  Inquisition,  and  of  Fulk  0ct  2L 
of  St.  George,  the  head  of  that  awful  tribunal.  This 
arraignment,  while  it  appeared  to  strike  at  the  abuses, 
condemned  the  Office  itself.  u  Complaints  have  reached 
us  from  all  quarters,  from  Prelates  and  Barons,  that 
Brother  Fulk,  the  Inquisitor  of  heretical  offences,  has 
encouraged  those  errors  and  crimes  which  it  is  his  func- 
tion to  extirpate.  Under  the  pretext  of  law  he  has 
violated  all  law  ;  under  the  semblance  of  piety,  com- 
mitted acts  of  the  grossest  impiety  and  inhumanity; 
under  the  plea  of  defending  the  Catholic  faith,  done 
deeds  at  which  the  minds  of  men  revolt  with  horror. 
There  is  no  bound  to  his  exactions,  oppressions,  and 
charges  against  our  faithful  subjects.  In  defiance  of 
the  canonical  rules,  he  begins  his  processes  by  arrest 
and  torture,  by  torture  new  and  unheard  of.  Those 
whom,  according  to  his  caprice,  he  accuses  of  having 
denied  Christ  or  attacked  the  foundations  of  the  faith, 
he  compels  by  these  tortures  to  make  false  admissions 
of  guilt ;  if  he  cannot  compel  their  inflexible  innocence 
to  confess  guilt,  he  suborns  false  witnesses  against 
them."2  This  was  the  Ordinance  of  the  King  who 
cruelly  seized  and  tortured  the  Templars ! 

1  Ordonnances  des  Rois. 

2  Ordonnanced  des  Rois,  i.  340.     Hist,  de  Languedoc.    Preuves,  No  &* 
p.  118. 


330  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

The  winter  passed  in  vain  overtures  for  reconciliation. 
Eacli  sought  to  strengthen  himself  by  new  alliances 
Philip  by  concessions  to  his  people,  extorted  partly  by 
the  unprosperous  state  of  affairs  in  Flanders,  and  from 
the  desire  to  make  his  personal  quarrel  with  the  Pope 
a  national  affair.1  As  the  year  advanced,  Philip  pressed 
the  conclusion  of  the  peace  with  England  ;  it  was  rati- 
fied at  Paris.  Philip  resigned  Aquitaine  on  the  due 
performance  of  homage  by  England.  The  Pope  sud- 
May  20, 1308.  denly  forgot  all  the  crimes  and  contumacy  of 
Albert  of  Austria.  The  murderer  of  his  predecessor, 
against  whom  Boniface  himself  had  excited  the  ecclesias- 
tical electors  to  rebellion,  became  a  devout  and  prudent 
son,  who  had  humbly  submitted,  not  to  the  judgment, 
but  to  the  clemency  of  his  father,  and  had  offered  to 
prove  himself  innocent  of  the  misdeed  imputed  to  him, 
and  to  undergo  such  penance  as  should  be  imposed 
upon  him  by  the  Holy  See.  The  Pope  wrote  to  the 
Princes  of  the  Empire,  commanding  them  to  render 
their  allegiance  to  Albert ;  and  it  suited  the  present 
policy  of  Albert  to  obtain  the  Empire  on  any  terms. 
July  17, 1303.  At  Nuremberg  he  promulgated  a  golden 
Bull,  sealed  with  the  Imperial  seal,  in  which  he  ac- 
knowledged, in  terms  as  full  as  ever  had  been  extorted 
from  the  most  humiliated  of  his  predecessors,  that  the 
Roman  Empire  had  been  granted  to  Charlemagne  by 
the  Apostolic  See  ;  that  though  the  King  of  the  Ro- 
mans was  chosen  by  certain  temporal  and  ecclesiastical 
Electors,  the  temporal  sword  derived  all  its  authority 
from  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  Pope.  The  protec- 
tion of  the  Church  was  the  first  and  paramount  duty 
of  the  Emperor.     He  swore  to  guard  the  Pope  against 

1  Sismondi,  Hist,  des  Fran^ais,  ix.  p.  104. 


Chap.  IX.  CONDITIONS   OF  PEACE.  331 

any  injury  to  life  or  limb  ;  and  though  it  was  a  custom- 
ary phrase,  yet  it  is  curious  that  he  swore  also,  as  if 
the  scene  at  Anagni  might  be  foreseen  distinctly,  to 
guard  from  capture  and  imprisonment.1  He  swore  too 
that  the  Pope's  enemies  should  be  his  enemies,  of  what- 
ever rank  or  dignity,  Kings  or  Emperors.  The  eager- 
ness with  which  Albert  of  Austria  detached  himself 
from  the  alliance  of  the  Kino;  of  France,  though  Ce- 
mented  by  marriage,  the  profound  humility  of  his  lan- 
guage, was  not  calculated  to  diminish  the  haughty  confi- 
dence of  Boniface  in  the  awe  still  inspired  by  the  Papal 
power.2  Boniface  had  the  prudence  to  secure  himself 
against  the  French  interest  in  Italy  :  he  consented  at 
length  to  permit  the  King  of  Naples  to  rest  content 
with  the  throne  of  that  kingdom,  and  to  acknowledge 
Frederick  of  Arragon  as  King  of  Trinacria.  Charles 
of  Valois  had  returned  to  France  to  assist  his  brother 
in  the  wars  of  Flanders. 

Philip,  on  his  side,  was  preparing  certain  popular 
acts,  which  were  to  be  proclaimed  at  the  same  great 
assembly  in  the  Louvre  before  which  he  had  determined 
to  appeal  to  his  subjects  against  the  encroachments  of 
the  Pope.  Yet  for  a  time  he  had  been  even  more 
deeply  wounded  by  his  unavenged  discomfiture  by  the 
Flemings,  and  he  had  not  therefore  altogether  aban- 
doned the  thought  of  pacification  with  the  Pope.  It 
can  hardly  have  been  unauthorized  by  the  King,  that 
the  Count  of  Alengon  and  the  Bishop  of  Auxerre,  one 
of  the  Prelates  who  had  obeyed  the  citation  to  Rome, 

1  "  Capi  mala  captivitate."     Compare  Raynald.  sub  aim.  1.30.3. 

2  Velly,  Coxe,  and  others  write  confidently  of  the  offer  of  the  French 
crown  to  Albert;  with  Sismondi,  I  can  discover  no  trace  of  this  in  the  con- 
temporary documents. 


3o2  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

had  held  out  hopes  that  the  King  was  not  averse  to 
an  amicable  settlement.  Accordingly  John  Le  Moine, 
The  Papal  Cardinal  of  St.  Mareellinus  and  St.  Peter,  a 
Paris.  native  of  Picardy,  appeared  in  the  Court  at 

Paris.  But  the  mission  of  the  Legate  was  not  one  of 
peace.  Boniface  must  have  miscalculated  most  griev- 
ously both  the  blow  inflicted  by  the  Flemings  on  the 
power  of  Philip,  and  the  strength  derived  by  himself 
from  his  Ghibelline  alliance  with  the  Emperor.  The 
Legate  was  instructed  first  to  summon  those  Prelates, 
the  King's  partisans,  who  had  not  made  their  appear- 
ance at  Rome,  to  obey  the  Pope  without  delay,  and 
hasten  to  the  feet  of  his  Holiness,  under  the  penalty  of 
immediate  deposition.  These  Prelates  were  the  Arch- 
bishops of  Sens  and  Narbonne,  the  Bishops  of  Soissons, 
Beauvais,  and  Meaux,  with  the  Abbot  of  St.  Denis. 
The  Archbishop  of  Rouen,  the  Bishops  of  Paris, 
Amiens,  Langres,  Poitiers,  and  Bayeux  had  alleged 
their  age  and  infirmity.  The  Pope  condescended  to 
admij  their  excuse.  So  too  were  excused  the  Italian 
Bishop  of  Arras,  who  was  of  such  tried  loyalty  to  the 
Pope  (was  he  employed  in  keeping  up  the  correspon- 
dence of  which  Boniface  was  accused  with  the  revolted 
Flemings?),  and  the  Bishop  and  Chapter  of  Laon,  on 
account  of  some  heavy  charges  which  they  had  borne. 
The  Legate  had  twelve  Articles  which  he  was  to 
Twelve  offer  to  the  King  for  his  immediate  and  per- 

Articies.  emptory  assent ;  articles  of  absolute  and  hu- 
miliating concession  on  his  part,  on  that  of  the  Pope 
of  unyielding  rigor,  if  not  of  insulting  menace  or  more 
insulting  clemency.  T.  The  revocation  of  the  King's 
inhibitory  Edict  against  the  ecclesiastics  who  had  gone 
to  Rome  in  obedience  to  the  Papal  citation,  full  satis- 


Chap.  IX.  THE  TWELVE  ARTICLES.  3o3 

faction  to  all  who  had  undergone  penalties,  the  abroga- 
tion of  all  processes  instituted  against  them  in  the 
King's  Courts.  II.  The  Pope  asserted  his  inherent 
right  to  collate  to  all  benefices ;  no  layman  could  col 
late  without  authority  from  the  Apostolic  See.  III. 
The  Pope  had  full  right  to  send  Legates  to  any  part  of 
Christendom.  IV.  The  administration  and  distribu- 
tion of  all  ecclesiastical  property  and  revenue  is  in 
the  Pope  alone,  not  in  any  other  person,  ecclesiastic  or 
lay.  The  Pope  has  power,  without  asking  the  assent 
of  any  one,  to  lay  on  them  any  charge  he  may  please. 
V.  No  King  or  Prince  can  seize  the  goods  of  any 
ecclesiastic,  nor  compel  any  ecclesiastic  to  appear  in  the 
King's  Courts  to  answer  to  any  personal  actions  or  for 
any  property  not  held  as  a  fief  of  the  Crown.  VI. 
The  King  was  to  give  satisfaction  for  his  contumelious 
act  in  burning  the  Papal  Bull  to  which  were  appended 
the  images  of  the  Apostles  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul. 

VII.  The  King  is  not  to  abuse  what  is  called  the  Re- 
gale, the  custody  and  guardianship  of  vacant  benefices. 

VIII.  The  spiritual  sword  (judicature)  is  to  be  re- 
stored to  the  Prelates  and  other  ecclesiastics.  IX.  The 
King  is  no  longer  to  blind  himself  to  the  iniquity  of  the 
debasement  of  the  coin,  and  the  damage  thus  wrought 
>rt  the  Prelates,  Barons,  and  Clergy  of  the  realm. 
X.  The  Kino;  is  to  call  to  mind  the  misdeeds  and 
excesses  charged  upon  him  in  our  private  letters  by  our 
notary.1  XL  The  city  of  Lyons  ig  entirely  indepen- 
dent of  the  King  of  France.  XII.  The  Pope,  unless 
*he  King  amended  and  corrected  all  these  misdoings, 
would  at  once  proceed  against  him  spiritually  and  tem- 
I  orally. 

1  Litera  Clausa.     James  the  notary  was,  I  presume,  the  Archdeacon  of 
Narbonne. 


884  LATIN    CIIKJSTIANITY.  Book  XL 

The  King  answered  each  separate  Article  ;  and  his 
rue  King's  answers  seem  to  imply  some  apprehension 
mswer.  tjiat  yg  p0wer  was  shaken,  some  disinclina- 
tion to  proceed  to  extremities.  He  stooped  to  evasion, 
perhaps  more  than  evasion.  I.  The  King  denied  that 
the  inhibition  to  his  subjects  to  quit  the  realm  was 
aimed  at  the  Prelates  summoned  to  Rome.  It  was 
a  general  precautionary  inhibition  to  prevent  the  ex- 
portation of  the  riches  and  produce  of  the  realm  during 
the  war  and  the  revolt  of  his  Flemish  vassals.  II.  The 
King  demanded  no  more,  with  regard  to  the  collation 
of  benefices,  than  had  been  enjoyed  by  St.  Louis  and 
his  other  royal  predecessors.  III.  The  King  had  no 
wish  to  prohibit  the  reception  of  the  Papal  Legates, 
unless  suspected  persons  and  on  just  grounds.  IV. 
The  King  had  no  design  to  interfere  with  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  property  of  the  Church,  except  so  far 
as  was  warranted  by  his  rights  and  by  ancient  custom. 
V.  and  VIII.  So  as  to  the  seizure  of  the  goods  of  the 
Church.  The  King  intends  nothing  beyond  law  and 
usage.  He  is  fully  prepared  to  give  the  Church  the 
free  use  of  the  spiritual  sword  in  all  cases  where  the 
Church  has  competent  jurisdiction.  To  the  VIth  Arti- 
cle, the  burning  of  the  Bull,  the  answer  is  most  ex- 
traordinary. The  King  affects  to  suppose  that  the 
Pope  alludes  not  to  the  Bull  publicly  burned  at  Paris 
with  sound  of  trumpet,  but  to  that  of  a  Bull  relat- 
ing to  the  Chapter  of  Laon,  burned  on  account  of  its 
invalidity.  VII.  The  King  denies  the  abuse  of  the 
Regale.  IX.  The  debasement  of  the  coin  took  place 
on  account  of  the  exigencies  of  the  State.  It  was  a 
prerogative  exercised  by  all  Kings  of  France,  and  the 
King  was  engaged  in  devising  a  remedy  for  the  evil. 


Cdap.  IX.  PHILIP   EXCOMMUNICATED.  335 

XI.  The  King  had  interfered  in  the  affairs  of  Lyons, 
on  account  of  a  dangerous  feud  between  the  Arch- 
bishop and  the  people.  The  Archbishop,  he  averred, 
owed  to  him  an  oath  of  fealty,  which  had  been  refused, 
nevertheless  he  was  prepared  to  continue  his  good 
offices.  XII.  The  King  earnestly  desired  that  the 
unity  and  peace  which  had  so  long  subsisted  between 
the  kingdom  of  France  and  the  Roman  See  should 
be  restored :  he  was  prepared  to  act  by  the  coun- 
sel of  the  Dukes  of  Bretagne  and  Burgundy.  To 
these  the  Pope  himself  had  proposed  to  submit  all 
their  differences. 

With  these  answers  of  the  King  the  Pope  declared 
himself  utterly  dissatisfied.  Some  were  in  April  13. 
absolute  defiance  of  truth,  none  consonant  with  jus- 
tice. He  would  endure  martyrdom  rather  than  submit 
to  such  degrading  conditions.  But  the  same  messen- 
gers which  bore  the  Pope's  instructions  to  the  Cardinal 
of  St.  Marcellinus  to  appeal  again  to  the  King's  Coun- 
cil were  the  bearers  of  another  Brief.  That  Brief 
declared  that  Philip,  King  of  France,  notwithstand- 
ing   his    royal   dignity,    and  notwithstanding  The  King 

...  'ii  11  11  excominu- 

any  privilege  or  indulgence,  had  actually  in-  mcated. 
curi'ed  the  penalties  of  the  general  Excommunication 
published  by  the  Pope  ;  that  he  was  excommunicate 
for  having  prohibited  the  Bishops  of  France  from  at- 
tending, according  to  the  Pope's  command,  at  Rome. 
All  ecclesiastics,  of  whatever  rank,  even  Bishops  or 
Archbishops,  who  should  presume  to  celebrate  mass 
before  the  King,  preach,  administer  any  of  the  sac- 
raments, or  hear  confession,  were  likewise  excommu- 
nicate. This  sentence  was  to  be  proclaimed  in  all 
convenient  places  within  the  realm.     The  King's  con- 


336  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

fessor,  Nicolas,  a  Friar  Preacher,  had  orders  to  fix  a  per- 
May.  emptory  term  of  three  months  for  the  King's 

submission,  for  his  personal  appearance  at  Rome,  to  be 
dealt  with  according  to  his  deserts,  and,  if  he  were 
able,  to  prove  his  innocence. 

But  already,  above  a  month  before  the  date  of  these 
Parliament  at  Briefs,  the  King  had  held  his  Parliament 
March  12. '  at  the  Louvre  in  Paris.  The  Prelates  and 
Barons  had  been  summoned  to  take  counsel  on  affairs 
touching  the  welfare  of  the  realm.  Only  two  Arch- 
bishops, Sens  and  Narbonne,  three  Bishops,  Meaux, 
Nevers,  and  Angers,1  obeyed  the  royal  summons ;  but 
the  Barons  made  up  an  imposing  assemblage.  Before 
this  audience  appeared  William  of  Nogaret,  one  of  the 
great  lawyers,  most  eminent  in  the  King's  favor.  No- 
garet was  born  in  the  diocese  of  Toulouse,  of  a  race 
whose  blood  had  been  shed  by  the  Inquisition.2  The 
Nemesis  of  that  awful  persecution  was  about  to  wreak 
itself  on  the  Papacy.  Nogaret  had  become  a  most  dis- 
tinguished Professor  of  Civil  Law  and  Judge  of  Beau- 
caire:  he  had  been  ennobled  by  Philip  the  Fair.  It 
is  dangerous  to  crush  hereditary  religion  out  of  men's 
hearts.  Law  and  the  most  profound  devotion  to  the 
King  had  become  the  religion  of  Nogaret.  He  was  a 
man  without  fear,  without  scruple  ;  perhaps  thought 
that  he  was  only  inflicting  just  retribution  on  the 
persecutors  of  his  ancestors.  According  to  the  accus- 
tomed form,  William  of  Nogaret  began  his  address  to 
the  Assembly  with  a  text  of  Scripture.     "  There  were 

1  So  writes  Sismondi.    It  is  Antessiodor  in  the  document;  but  the  Bishop 
of  Auxcrre  was  possibly  still  in  Rome. 

2  Philip's  edict  against  the  Inquisition  was  probably  suggested  by  No- 
garet. 


Chai\  IX.  WILLIAM  OF  NOGARET.  337 

false  prophets  among  the  people,  so  among  you  are 
masters  of  lies."  1  These  are  the  words  of  Saint  Peter, 
and  in  the  chair  of  Saint  Peter  sits  the  master  of  lies, 
ill-named  the  doer  of  good  (Boniface),  but  rather  the 
doer  of  evil.2  Boniface  (he  went  on)  had  usurped 
the  Holy  See  ;  he  had  wedded  the  Roman  Church, 
while  her  lawful  husband,  Coelestine,  was  alive ;  him 
he  had  compelled  to  an  unlawful  abdication  by  fraud 
and  violence.  Nogaret  laid  down,  in  strict  legal  phrase, 
four  propositions :  —  I.  That  the  Pope  was  not  the 
true  Pope.  II.  That  he  was  a  heretic:  III.  Was  a 
notorious  Simoniac  :  IV.  A  man  weighed  down  with 
crimes  —  pride,  iniquity,  treachery,  rapacity  —  an  in- 
supportable load  and  burden  to  the  Church.  He  ap- 
pealed to  a  General  Council :  he  declared  it  to  be  the 
office  and  function  of  the  Kino;  of  France  to  summon 
such  Council.  "  Before  that  Council  he  was  prepared 
to  appear  and  to  substantiate  all  these  charges."  The 
public  notaries  made  record  of  these  accusations,  ad- 
vanced in  the  presence  of  the  two  Archbishops  and 
the  three  Bishops,  of  many  princes  and  nobles,  whose 
names  were  recited  in  the  decree  of  record. 

Philip,  to  attach  all  orders  of  his  subjects  to  the 
throne  during  this  imminent  crisis,  and  per-  0rdinance  of 
haps  to  divert  the  minds  of  men  from  the  dar-  Iteformation 
ing  blow,  the  arraignment  of  a  Pope  before  a  General 
Council,  had  prepared  his  great  Ordinance  for  the  ref- 
ormation of  the  realm.  The  Ordinance  was  manifest- 
ly designed  for  the  especial  conciliation  of  the  clergy. 
All  churches  and  monasteries,  all  prelates  and  ecclesi- 
astics, were  to  be  held  in  the  grace  and  favor  of  the 
King,  as  of  his  religious   ancestors  :   their  immunities 

1  St.  Fetor,  Epist.  ii.  21.  2  Maleiicus. 

vol.  vi.  22 


338  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Bqok  XI. 

and  privileges  were  to  be  respected,  as  in  the  time  of 
St.  Louis :  all  good  and  ancient  customs  were  to  he 
maintained ;  all  new  and  bad  ones  annulled.  The 
right  of  the  King  to  seize  or  confiscate  the  goods  of 
the  clergy  was  indeed  asserted,  but  in  guarded  and 
temperate  terms.  The  Regale  was  not  to  be  abused, 
and  (a  curious  illustration  of  the  mode  of  life)  the 
fish-ponds  of  the  ecclesiastics  were  not  to  be  drained 
during  the  time  of  vacancy.  Ecclesiastics  coming  to 
the  King's  Court  were  to  be  immediately  heard,  that 
they  might  return  to  their  sacred  charge.  No  fees 
were  to  be  received  by  the  King's  officers  from  eccle- 
siastics.1 

The  Ordinance  for  the  reformation  of  the  realm  was 
skilfully  designed  to  cover  the  extension  of  the  royal 
power  by  the  extension  of  the  royal  jurisdiction :  yet  it 
professed  to  respect  all  separate  jurisdictions  of  Prelates 
and  Barons  ;  it  was  content  to  supersede  them  without 
violence.  Two  Parliaments  were  to  be  held  yearly 
at  Paris,  two  Exchequer  Courts  at  Rouen,  two  Days 
at  Troyes,  one  Parliament  at  Toulouse.  No  doubt 
Philip's  jurists  intended  thus,  without  alarming  the 
feudal  Lords,  quietly  to  draw  within  their  own  sphere 
almost  the  whole  business  of  the  realm.  Their  more 
profound  science,  the  more  authoritative  power  of  ex- 
ecuting their  sentences,  the  greater  regularity  of  their 
proceedings,  would  give  to  the  King's  Courts  and  to 
those  of  the  Parliaments  every  advantage  over  that  of 
the  Bishop  or  of  the  Baron.  As  though  the  King 
were  disposed  to  win  the  affections  of  every  class  of 
his  people,  there  are  in  the  Ordinance  special  instruc 
tions  to  the  royal   officers  to  execute  their  functions 

1  Ordonnances  ties  Rois  de  France,  vol.  i.  sub  anno. 


Chap.  IX.      PAPAL  LETTERS  DESPATCHED.         339 

with  moderation  and  gentleness.1  The  Crown  was 
absolutely  compelled  to  the  harsh  and  unwelcome  duty 
of  levying  taxes  by  the  disloyalty  and  rebellion  of  some 
of  its  subjects.  Not  only  were  the  King's  bailiffs  and 
seneschals  to  be  thus  courteous  and  forbearing,  even 
the  sergeants  were  to  be  mild  and  soft-spoken.2 

The  Pope  had  either  not  heard,  or  disdained  to  re- 
gard, what  he  might  yet  esteem  the  impotent  audacity 
of  William  of  Nogaret,  and  the  audience  given  to  his 
unprecedented  requisition  by  the  Parliament  held  in 
the  Louvre.  In  his  letter,  dated  one  month  after,  to 
the  Cardinal  St.  Marcellinus,  in  which  he  rejected  the 
replies  of  Philip  to  his  demands,  there  is  no  allusion  to 
this  glaring  insult.  But  the  King  of  France  had  early 
intimation  of  the  contents  of  the  Papal  letters,  which 
commanded  the  Cardinal  of  St.  Marcellinus  to  declare 
him  actually  excommunicate.3  The  bearers  of  these 
letters  were  the  Archdeacon  of  Coutances  and  Nicolas 
Benefracto,  a  servant  of  the  Cardinal.  It  is  said  that, 
in  the  pride  of  being  employed  on  such  important  ser- 
vices, they  betrayed  the  secret  of  their  despatches. 
u  They  bore  that  which  would  make  the  King  tremble 

1  "  C'est  assavoir  que  vous  devez  etre  avisez  de  parler  au  peuple  par 
donees  paroles,  et  d^monstrer  les  grans  d^sobdissanees,  rebellions,  et  dom- 
ages."  — Ibid. 

2  "  Et  vous  avisez  de  mettre  Sergens  ddbonnaires  et  tractables  pour 
laire  vos  executions,  si  que  ii  n'aient  cause  de  eux  doloir."  —  Ordon- 
nance. 

3  The  succession  of  events,  on  which  much  depends,  is  by  no  means 
clear.  Velly  places  the  mission  of  Cardinal  Le  Moine,  the  articles  offered 
by  him,  the  elaborate  answer  of  the  King,  after  the  Parliament  in  tho 
Louvre,  in  which  William  of  Nogaret  appeared  (March  12).  The  Pope's 
letter  to  the  Cardinal  expressing  his  dissatisfaction  at  Philip's  answers,  as 
contained  in  the  Cardinal's  to  Rome  which  he  had  then  received,  is  dated 
April  13.  The  mission,  the  reception  by  Philip,  the  offer  of  the  articles,  the, 
time  for  the  deliberate  reply,  the  Communication  of  the  result  to  Rome,  tho 
Pope's  letter,  could  not  possibl}'  have  been  concluded  in  a  month. 


310  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

on  his  throne."  Orders  were  given  to  the  King's  oftl- 
cers  to  arrest  them :  they  were  seized  and  thrown  into 
prison  at  Troyes.  Certain  other  priests  boasted  that 
they  had  been  permitted  to  take  copies  of  these  Briefs, 
and  were  promulgating  them  in  order  to  stir  up  the 
people  to  insurrection.  The  Cardinal  protested,  and 
imperiously  demanded  the  delivery  of  the  Briefs  into 
his  hands.  The  Edict  confiscating  the  goods  of  the 
Bishops  who  had  attended  the  Synod  at  Rome  was  re- 
newed, if  not  put  in  execution.  The  Order  which 
convoked  again  the  States-General,  to  take  counsel  on 
the  crimes  and  disabilities  of  his  master  the  Pope,  was 
fixed  on  the  walls  of  the  Monastery  of  St.  Martin  at 
Tours,  where  the  Legate  was  lodged.  All  his  move- 
ments  were  watched ;  he  could  neither  receive  a  visit 
nor  a  single  paper  without  the  King's  knowledge.  He 
determined  to  return  to  Rome,  mortified  and  humbled 
by  the  total  failure  of  his  mission,  which  he  had  been 
instructed  to  carry  out  with  such  imposing  haughtiness. 
No  doubt  he  had  acted  up  to  those  instructions. 

The  States-General  held  their  second  meeting  in  the 
second  Par-  Louvre  on  the  13th  of  June.  Louis  Count 
Ih'-Loi^e.  of  Evreux,  Guy  Count  of  St.  Pol,  John 
June  13.  Count  of  Dreux,  William  of  Plasian,  Knight 
and  Lord  of  Vezenoble  (Peter  Flotte,  the  Chancellor, 
had  fallen  at  Courtrai,  William  of  Nogaret  was  else- 
where), presented  themselves  before  the  Assembly,  and 
declared  that  Christendom  was  in  the  utmost  danger 
and  misery  through  the  misrule  of  Boniface ;  that  a 
lawful  Pope  was  necessary  for  her  salvation ;  that 
Boniface  was  laden  with,  crimes.  William  of  Plasian 
swore  upon  the  Gospels  that  these  charges  were  true  ; 
that  he  was  prepared  to  prove  them  before  a  General 


CHAr.  IX.       CHARGES  AGAINST  POPE  BONIFACE.  Ml 

Council ;  that  the  King,  as  champion  of  the  faith,  was 
compelled  to  summon  such  Council.  It  was  no  less  the 
duty  of  the  Prelates  and  Nobles  to  concur  in  this 
measure.  The  Prelates  observed  that  it  was  an  affair 
of  the  gravest  import,  and  required  mature  delibera- 
tion. The  next  day  William  of  Plasian  produced  his 
charges,  charges  of  the  most  monstrous  heresy,  infi- 
delity, and,  what  was  perhaps  worse,  wizardry  and  deal- 
ing with  evil  spirits ;  charges  against  a  Pope  who  for 
nearly  nine  years  had  exercised  the  full  authority  of 
St.  Peter's  successor ;  a  man  now  in  extreme  old  age, 
whose  life  and  stern  inflexible  orthodoxy  had  been  till 
now  above  question ;  who  had  been  the  chosen  arbiter 
of  Kings  in  their  quarrels  ;  who  had  been  almost  adored 
at  the  Jubilee  by  assenting  Christendom  ;  who  was 
even  at  this  time  bestowing  the  Imperial  crown,  ac- 
cepted by  Albert  of  Austria  with  the  humblest  grati- 
tude. These  charges  were  advanced  with  a  solemn 
appeal  to  the  Holy  Gospels,  before  the  King  and 
the  nobility  of  France,  before  a  great  body  of  ecclesi- 
astics, who,  so  far  from  repudiating  them  at  once  with 
indignant  impatience,  admitted  them  as  the  groundwork 
of  a  process  to  be  submitted  to  a  General  Council  of 
all  Christendom  :  this  Council  there  seems  no  reason- 
able doubt  was  in  the  actual  contemplation,  and  was 
deliberately  determined  on  by  Philip  and  his  advisers. 
The  articles  of  accusation  cannot  be  judged  The  charges. 
without  the  examination  of  their  startling,  repulsive, 
even  loathsome  detail :  they  must  be  seen  too  in  their 
strange  confusion.  The  Pope  neither  believed  the  im- 
mortality nor  the  incorruptibility  of  the  human  soul,  it 
perished  with  the  body.  He  did  not  believe  in  eternal 
life  ;  he  had  averred  that  it  was  no  sin  to  indulge  the 


842  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI 

body  in  all  pleasures ;  he  had  publicly  declared  and 
preached  that  he  had  rather  be  a  dog,  an  ass,  or  any 
brute  beast,  than  a  Frenchman  ;  that  no  Frenchman 
had  a  soul  which  could  deserve  everlasting  happiness  : 
this  he  had  taught  to  persons  on  their  death-beds.  He 
did  not  believe  in  the  Real  Presence  in  the  Eucharist. 
He  was  reputed  (all  these  things  were  advanced  as 
matters  of  public  fame  and  scandal)  to  have  averred 
that  fornication  and  other  obscene  practices  were  no 
sin.  He  had  often  said  that  to  depress  the  King  of 
France  and  the  French  he  would  devote  himself,  the 
world,  and  the  Church  to  ruin.  "  Perish  the  French, 
come  what  may."  He  had  approved  a  book  written 
by  a  physician,  Arnold  of  Villeneuve,  which  had  been 
condemned  by  the  Bishop  and  the  Masters  of  Theology 
in  Paris  as  heretical.  He  had  caused,  to  perpetuate 
his  damnable  memory,  silver  images  of  himself  to  be 
set  up  in  the  churches,  to  which  the  people  were 
tempted  to  pay  idolatrous  worship.  "  He  has  a  special 
familiar  devil,  whose  counsels  he  follows  in  all  things." l 
He  is  a  sortilege,  and  consults  diviners  and  fortune- 
tellers. He  has  declared  that  Popes  cannot  commit 
simony,  which  declaration  is  heresy.  He  keeps  a 
market  by  one  Simon,  an  usurer,  of  ecclesiastic  dignities 
and  benefices.  Contrary  to  Christ's  charge  to  his 
Apostles,  "  My  peace  I  leave  with  you,"  he  has  con- 
stantly stirred  up  and  fomented  discords  and  wars.  On 
one  occasion,  when  two  parties  had  agreed  to  terms  of 
peace,  Boniface  inhibited  them  and  said,  "  If  the  Son 

1  This  afterwards  grew  into  a  minute  detail  of  all  the  famous  wizards 
and  sorcerers  from  whom  he  had  obtained  many  different  familiar  spirits 
with  whom  he  dealt:  one  was  in  a  ring  which  he  always  wore,  but 
offered  to  the  King  of  Naples,  who  rejected  the  £ift  with  pious  abhor- 


Citap.  IX.       CHARGES  AGAINST  TOTE  BONIFACE.  343 

of  God  or  Peter  the  Apostle  had  descended  upon  earth 
and  given  such  precept,  I  would  have  replied,  '  I  be- 
lieve you  not.' "  Like  certain  heretics  who  assert 
themselves  to  be  the  only  true  Christians,  he  called  all 
others,  especially  that  most  Christian  people  the  French, 
Paterins.  He  was  a  notorious  sodomite.  He  had 
caused  the  murder  of  many  clerks  in  his  own  presence, 
and  urged  his  officers  to  their  bloody  work,  saying, 
"  Strike  home !  strike  home !  "  He  had  refused  the 
Eucharist,  as  unnecessary,  to  a  nobleman  in  prison  in 
his  last  agony.  He  had  compelled  priests  to  reveal 
confessions.  He  did  not  observe  the  Fasts  of  the 
Church,  not  even  Lent.  He  depresses  and  always 
has  depressed  the  whole  Order  of  Cardinals,  the  Black 
and  the  White  Monks,  the  Franciscan  and  Preaching 
Friars  :  he  calls  them  all  hypocrites.  He  never  utters 
a  good  word,  but  words  of  scorn,  lying  reproach,  and 
detraction  against  every  bishop,  monk,  or  ecclesiastic. 
He  has  conceived  an  old  and  implacable  hatred  against 
the  King  of  France,  and  owned  that  he  would  subvert 
Christianity  if  he  might  humble  what  he  calls  the  pride 
of  the  French.  He  has  granted  the  tenths  of  his 
realm  to  the-  Kino;  of  England,  0n  condition  of  his 
waging  war  on  France;  he  has  leagued  with  Frederick 
of  Arragon  against  the  French  King  of  Naples ;  he 
has  granted  the  Empire  to  Albert  of  Austria,  whom 
he  had  so  long  treated  as  unduly  elected,  as  a  traitor, 
and  as  a  murderer,  with  the  avowed  purpose  of  em- 
ploying him  to  crush  the  pride  of  the  French.  The 
Holy  Land  is  lost  through  his  fault  ;  he  has  diverted 
the  subsidies  raised  for  the  Christians  of  the  Holy 
Land  to  enrich  his  kindred.  He  is  the  fountain  and 
ground  of  all  simony ;  he  has  reduced  all  prelates  and 


344  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

ecclesiastics  to  servitude,  and  loaded  them  with  taxa- 
tion ;  the  wealth  he  has  extorted  from  Christendom  he 
has  lavished  on  his  own  family,  whom  he  has  raised  to 
the  rank  of  counts  and  barons,  and  in  building  for- 
tresses on  the  lands  of  Roman  nobles,  whom  he  has 
cruelly  oppressed  and  driven  into  exile.  He  has  dis- 
solved many  lawful  marriages ;  he  has  promoted  his 
nephew,  a  man  of  notoriously  profligate  life,  to  the 
Cardinalate,  forced  that  nephew's  wife  to  take  a  vow  of 
chastity,  and  himself  begotten  upon  her  two  bastard 
sons.  He  treated  his  holy  predecessor  Coelestine  with 
the  utmost  inhumanity,  and  caused  his  death.  He  has 
privately  made  away  in  prison  with  many  others  who 
denied  his  lawful  election  to  the  Papacy.  To  the  pub- 
lic scandal  he  has  allowed  many  nuns  to  return  to  a 
worldly  life.  He  has  also  said  that  in  a  short  time  he 
would  make  all  the  French  martyrs  or  apostates. 
Lastly,  he  seeks  not  the  salvation,  but  the  perdition  of 
souls.1 

Each  of  these  separate  articles  was  declared  to  rest 
on  public  fame  and  notoriety,  and  so  the  accuser  might 
seem  in  some  degree  to  guard  himself  against  personal 
responsibility  for  their  truth.  Still  it  is  almost  incon- 
ceivable how  even  such  bold  men,  so  fully  possessed  of 
the  royal  favor,  could  venture  on  some  of  these  charges, 
so  flagrantly  false.  The  Colonnas,  no  doubt,  whose 
wrongs  were  not  forgotten,  some  of  whom  will  soon  be 
discovered  in  active  league  with  Philip's  Jurists,  had 
disseminated  these  rumors  of  the  Pope's  tyrannies  and 
cruel  misdeeds  in  Italy,  not  improbably  the  enormities 
charged  on  his  private  life.  The  coarse  artifice  (skill  it 
cannot  be  called)  with  which  the  vanity  of  the  French 

1  Compare  for  all  this  Dupuy,  Preuves. 


Chap.  IX.  THE  KING'S  APPEAL.  34£ 

nation  is  constantly  appealed  to ;  the  accumulation  on 
one  man  of  all  the  accusations  which  could  be  imagined 
as  most  odious  to  mankind  ;  were  not  merely  ominous 
of  danger  to  Boniface  himself,  but  signs  of  the  declin- 
ing awe  of  the  Popedom  beyond  the  walls  of  Rome, 
beyond  the  confines  of  Italy.  William  of  Plasian  sol- 
emnly protested  that  he  was  actuated  by  no  hatred  or 
passion ;  in  the  most  formal  manner  he  declared  his 
adhesion  to  the  appeal  before  made  by  William  of  No- 
garet. 

The  King  commanded  his  own  appeal  to  be  read. 
"  We,  Philip,  King  of  France,  having  heard  k,^  PhilipSi 
the  charges  now  alleged  by  William  of  Pla-  ai>PeaL 
sian,  as  heretofore  by  William  of  Nogaret,  against  Bon- 
iface, now  presiding  over  the  Roman  Church  ;  though 
we  had  rather  cover  the  shame  of  our  father  with  our 
garment,  yet  in  the  fervor  of  our  Catholic  faith,  and 
our  devotion  to  the  Holy  See,  and  to  our  Mother  the 
Church,  for  which  our  ancestors  have  not  hesitated  to 
risk  their  lives,  we  cannot  but  assent  to  these  requisi- 
tions :  we  will  use  our  utmost  power  for  the  convoca- 
tion of  a  General  Council,  in  order  to  remove  these 
scandals  from  the  Church ;  and  we  call  upon  and  en- 
treat, in  the  bowels  of  mercy  in  Jesus  Christ,  all  you 
archbishops,  bishops,  and  prelates,  to  join  us  in  pro- 
moting this  General  Council ;  and  lest  the  aforesaid 
Boniface  should  utter  sentences  of  excommunication  or 
interdict,  or  any  act  of  spiritual  violence  against  us, 
our  realm,  our  churches,  our  prelates,  our  barons,  or 
our  vassals,  we  appeal  to  this  Great  Council,  and  to  a 
legitimate  Pope." 

No  Churchman  uttered  one  word  of  remonstrance. 
It  might  have  been  difficult  to  treat  with  scorn,  or  repel 


346  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

with  indignation,  an  arraignment  made  with  such  formal 
solemnity  ;  accusations  openly  recognized  by  the  King 
as  grave  and  serious  subjects  of  inquiry.  The  Jurists 
had  taken  care  that  all  was  conducted  according  to  un- 
exceptionable rules  of  procedure.  The  prelates  veiled 
their  weak  compliance  with  the  King's  wishes,  their 
assent  to  the  unusual  act  of  permitting  a  Pope  to  be 
arraigned  as  a  criminal  for  the  most  hateful  and  loath- 
some  offences  and  denounced  before  a  General  Council, 
under  the  specious  plea  of  the  necessity  of  investigation 
into  such  fearful  scandals,  and  the  pious  hope  that  the 
innocence  of  Boniface  would  appear.  To  this  assent 
were  signed  the  names  of  five  archbishops  —  Nicosia 
(in  Cyprus),  a  Frenchman  by  birth,  Rheims,  Sens,  Nar- 
bonne,  Tours  ;  of  twenty-one  bishops  —  Laon,  Beauvais, 
Chalons-sur-Marne,  Auxerre,  Meaux,  Nevers,  Chartres, 
Orleans,  Amiens,  Terouanne,  Senlis,  Angers,  Avran- 
ches,  Coutances,  Evreux,  Lisieux,  Seez,  Clermont,  Li- 
moges, Puy,  Macon  (afterwards  St.  Omer,  Boulogne, 
Ypres)  ;  eleven  of  the  great  abbots  —  Clugny,  Pre- 
montre,  Marmoutier,  Citeaux,  St.  Denis,  Compiegne, 
St.  Victor,  St.  Genevieve,  St.  Martin  de  Laon,  Figeac, 
Beaulieu  ;  the  Visitors  of  the  Orders  of  the  Temple 
and  of  St.  John.1 

The  King  was  not  content  with  this  general  suffrage 
of  the  States-General,  nor  even  with  the  mutual  guar- 
antee entered  into  between   himself,  the   ecclesiastics, 

1  Dupuy,  Preuves.  Baillet  published  a  special  appeal  of  the  Archbishop 
of  Narbonne,  containing  ten  charges  against  the  Pope,  in  substance  much 
the  same  with  those  of  De  Plasian,  but  darkening  the  charge  of  immorality 
intc  his  having  seduced  two  of  his  married  nieces,  by  whom  he  had  man}' 
children.  "  O  patrem  fa^cundum  !  "  It  is  said  that  this  appeal  was  made 
in  the  States-General  at  the  Louvre.  Baillet  found  it,  among  the  Brienne 
papers;  but  what  proof  is  there  of  its  authenticity  ?  Baillet,  DemeMs  Ad- 
ditions des  Preuves,  p.  29. 


Chap.  IX.  BONIFACE  AT  ANAGNI.  347 

and  the  barons  of  France,  to  stand  by  eacli  other  and 
cooperate  in  holding  the  General  Council;  in  permit- 
ting no  excommunication  or  interdict  to  be  published 
within  the  realm,  and  to  pay  no  regard  to  any  mandate 
or  Bull  of  the  Pope.  He  appealed  severally  to  all  the 
ecclesiastical  and  monastic  bodies  of  the  realm.  He 
obtained  seven  hundred  acts  of  adhesion  from  General  ad- 

,  .   .  .  i    i       i  •  it        hesion  of  the 

bishops,  chapters,  conventual  bodies,  and  the  Kingdom. 
Orders  of  friars.  Of  the  numerous  houses  of  the  Clug- 
niacs,  seven  only  refused,  eleven  sent  evasive  answers. 
All  who  had  hitherto  been  the  most  ardent  and  servile 
partisans  of  the  Popedom,  the  Preachers  the  Sons  of 
St.  Dominic,  the  Minorites  the  Sons  of  St.  Francis,  the 
Templars  and  Hospitallers,  were  for  the  King.  The 
University  of  Paris  gave  in  its  unqualified  concurrence 
to  the  royal  demands.  Philip  sent  his  appeal  into  some 
of  the  neighboring  kingdoms.  All  these  gave  at  least 
their  tacit  assent  to  the  arraignment  of  the  Pope  before 
a  General  Council :  some,  no  doubt,  reconciled  it  to 
their  conscience  by  doubts  as  to  the  validity  of  the 
election  of  Boniface,  and  his  title  to  be  considered  a 
lawful  Pope :  all  were  careful  that  the  appeal  lay  not 
merely  to  the  Council,  but  to  a  future  lawful  Pope ;  all 
protested  their  fervent  reverence  and  attachment  to  the 
Church,  their  loyalty  to  the  See  of  Rome. 

The  Pope  had  retired,  as  usual,  from  the  summer 
heats,   perhaps   not   without   mistrust  of  the  Boniface  at 

t»  i  •  •  •  a  •  mi  Anagni. 

Romans,  to  Ins  native  city,  Anagni.      lhere,  consistory. 
in  a  public  consistory,  he  purged  himself  by  Aug.  16. 
oath  of  the  charge  of  heresy ;  the  more  scandalous  ac- 
cusations against  his  life  and  morals  he  disdained  to 
notice.     In   the   Bull  issued  from   that  consistory,  he 
declared  that  he  had  received  intelligence  of  the  pro- 


o48  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XT. 

ceedings  of  the  Kino;  and  the  Barons  in  the  Louvre,  of 
their  appeal  to  a  General  Council,  to  a  future  lawful 
Pope,  of  their  proclamation  that  they  would  receive 
neither  legate  nor  letter  from  him,  and  their  renunci- 
ation of  all  obedience.  "  With  what  sincerity,  with 
what  charity,  with  what  zeal,  this  conventicle  had 
acted,  might  be  understood,  by  all  who  value  truth, 
from  the  blasphemies  which  they  had  poured  forth 
against  him,  and  the  open  reception  of  his  deadly  en- 
emy, Stephen  Colonna.  "  They  have  lyingly  blas- 
phemed us  with  lying  blasphemies,  charging  us  with 
heresy,  and  with  other  monstrous  criminalities  over 
which  they  have  affected  to  weep.  Who  in  all  the 
world  has  heard  that  we  have  been  suspected  of  the 
taint  of  heresy  ?  Which  of  our  race,  who  in  all  Cam- 
pania, has  been  branded  with  such  a  name?  We  were 
sound  Catholics  when  he  received  favors  from  us. 
Valentinian  the  Emperor  humbled  himself  before  the 
Bishop  of  Milan  :  the  King  of  France  is  as  much  be- 
low the  Emperor  as  we  are  above  the  Bishop  of  Milan. 
The  state  of  the  Church  will  be  utterly  subverted,  the 
Power  of  the  Roman  Pontiff  annihilated,  if  such  kino-s 
and  princes,  when  the  Roman  Pontiff1  shall  think  it 
right  to  inflict  correction  upon  them,  shall  presume  to 
call  him  a  heretic  or  of  notoriously  scandalous  life,  and 
so  escape  censure.  This  pernicious  example  must  be 
cut  up  by  the  roots.  Without  us  no  General  Council 
can  be  held.  Henceforth  no  king,  no  prince,  or  other 
magnate  of  France  shall  dare,  by  the  example  of  the 
King,  to  break  out  in  words  of  blasphemy,  and  thus 
hope  to  elude  due  correction.  Not  to  name  the  King 
of  France  deposed  by  Pope  Zacharias,  did  Theodosius 
the   Great,   excommunicated    by  St.  Ambrose,   kindle 


Chap.  IX.  EXCOMMUNICATION.  349 

into  wratli  ?  Did  the  glorious  Lothair  lift  up  Ins  heel 
against  Pope  Nicolas?  or  Frederick  against  Inno- 
cent?" In  proper  time  and  place  he,  Boniface,  would 
proceed  to  the  extreme  censure,  unless  full  satisfaction 
should  be  offered,  lest  the  blood  of  Philip  should  be 
pequired  at  his  hands.1 

The  stress  laid  upon  the  reception  of  Stephen  Co- 
lonna  shows  that  Boniface  knew  whence  sprung  much 
of  the  most  desperate  hostility  to  his  fame  and  author- 
ity. He  was  peculiarly  indignant  at  the  presumption 
of  the  Archbishop  of  Nicosia,  whom  he  had  ordered, 
and  again  ordered  in  a  separate  Bull,  to  return  to  his 
diocese,  and  not  to  presume  to  meddle  in  the  affairs  of 
France.  A  third  Bull,  to  punish  the  prelates  who  had 
been  seduced  into  rebellion  by  the  King,  suspended  in 
all  the  ecclesiastical  corporations  the  right  of  election, 
declared  all  vacant  benefices  at  the  sole  disposal  of  the 
Pope,  annulled  all  elections  made  during  this  suspen- 
sion, and  until  the  Kino;  should  have  returned  to  his 
obedience.  A  fourth  deprived  the  Universities  of  the 
right  of  teaching,  of  granting  any  degree  in  theology, 
canon  or  civil  law.  This  privilege  the  Pope  declared 
to  be  derived  entirely  from  the  Apostolic  See,  and  to 
have  been  forfeited  by  their  rebellious  adhesion  to  the 
cause  of  the  King.2 

Boniface  seemed,  as  it  were,  to  pause,  to  be  gather- 
ing up  his  strength  to  launch  the  last  crushing  Exi 
thunders  upon  the  head  of  the  contumacious 
Kino*.  The  sentence  of  excommunication  had  been 
prepared  ;  it  had  received  the  Papal  Seal.  It  began 
with  more  than  the  usual  solemnity  and  haughtiness, 

1  The  Bull  in  Dupuy  and  Raynaldus,  sub  ann. 

2  Preuves.     Raynaldus. 


(.'commu- 
nication. 


,'350  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

"  We  who  sit  on  the  high  throne  of  St.  Peter,  the  vice- 
gerent of  Him  to  whom  the  Father  said,  *  Thou  art  my 
Son,  this  day  have  I  begotten  thee,'  4Ask  of  me,  I  will 
give  Thee  the  nations  as  Thine  inheritance,  and  the 
uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  as  Thy  possession :  to 
bruise  kings  with  a  rod  of  iron,  and  to  break  them  in 
pieces  like  a  potter's  vessel.'  An  awful  admonition  to 
kings !  But  the  unlimited  power  of  St.  Peter  has  evei 
been  exercised  with  serene  lenity."  The  Bull  then 
recapitulates  all  the  chief  causes  of  the  quarrel :  the 
prohibition  of  the  bishops  to  attend  the  Papal  summons 
to  Rome ;  the  missions  of  James  de  Normannis  Arch- 
deacon of  Narbonne,  and  of  the  Cardinal  of  St.  Mar- 
eellinus  rejected  with  scorn  (it  is  silent  as  to  the  burn- 
ing of  the  Bull),  the  seizure  and  imprisonment  of 
Nicolas  de  Benefracto,  the  bearer  of  the  Papal  letters ; 
the  entertainment  of  Stephen  Colonna  at  the  Court  in 
Paris.  The  King  of  France  was  declared  excommuni- 
cate ;  his  subjects  released  from  their  allegiance,  or 
rather  peremptorily  inhibited  from  paying  him  any  acts 
of  obedience  ;  all  the  clergy  were  forbidden,  under  pain 
of  perpetual  disability,  to  hold  preferment,  from  receiv- 
ing benefices  at  his  hands  ;  all  such  appointments  were 
void,  all  leagues  were  annulled,  all  oaths  abrogated, 
"  and  this  our  Bull  is  ordered  to  be  suspended  in  the 
porch  of  the  Cathedral  of  Anagni."  The  8th  of  Sep- 
tember was  the  fatal  day.1 

Boniface,  infatuated  by  the  sense  of  his  unapproach- 
wniiam  of  a^e  majesty,  and  of  the  sanctity  of  his  office, 
£iarrafcand  nad  taken  no  precautions  for  the  safeguard  of 
coionna.  j^  person#  jje  could  not  but  know  that  his 
two  deadliest  enemies,  William  of  Nogaret,  the  most 

1  Pre  uves,  p.  182. 


Chap.  IX.  ATTACK   ON  THE  POPE.  351 

daring  of  Philip's  legal  counsellors,  and  Sciarra  Colon- 
na,  the  most  fierce  and  desperate  of  the  house,  which  he 
had  driven  to  desperation,  had  been  for  several  months 
in  Italy,  on  the  Tuscan  borders  at  no  great  distance 
from  Rome.  They  were  accompanied  by  Musciatto 
dei  Francesi,  in  whose  castle  of  Staggia,  not  far  from 
Sienna,  they  had  taken  up  their  abode.  They  had  un- 
limited power  to  draw  on  the  Panizzi,  the  merchant 
bankers  of  the  King  of  France  at  Florence.  To  the 
simple  peasantry  they  held  out  that  their  mission  was 
to  reconcile  the  Pope  with  the  King  of  France ;  others 
supposed  that  they  were  delegated  to  serve  upon  the 
Pope  the  citation  to  appear  before  the  General  Council. 
They  bought  with  their  gold  many  of  the  petty  barons 
of  Romagna.  They  hired  to  be  at  their  command  a 
band  of  the  lawless  soldiery  who  had  been  employed  in 
the  late  wars.  They  had  their  emissaries  in  Anagni ; 
some  even  of  the  Cardinals  had  not  been  inaccessible  to 
their  dark  intrigues. 

On  a  sudden,  on  the  7th  September  (the  8th  was 
the  day  for  the  publication  of  the  Bull),  the  peaceful 
streets  of  Anagni  were  disturbed.  The  Pope  and  the 
Cardinals,  who  were  all  assembled  around  him,  were 
startled  with  the  trampling  of  armed  horse,  and  the 
terrible  cry,  which  ran  like  wildfire  through  the  city, 
"  Death  to  Pope  Boniface  !  Long  live  the  King  of 
France  !  "  Sciarra  Colonna,  at  the  head  of  three  hun- 
dred horsemen,  the  Barons  of  Cercano  and  Supino,  and 
::ome  others,  the  sons  of  Master  Massio  of  Anagni, 
were  marching  in  furious  haste,  with  the  banner  of  the 
King  of  France  displayed.  The  ungrateful  citizens  of 
Anagni,  forgetful  of  their  pride  in  their  holy  compa- 
triot, of  the  honor  and  advantage  to  their  town  from 


352  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 

the  splendor  and  wealth  of  the  Papal  residence,  re- 
ceived them  with  rebellious  and  acclaiming  shouts. 

The  bell  of  the  city,  indeed,  had  tolled  at  the  first 
alarm  ;  the  burghers  had  assembled  ;  they  had  chosen 
their  commander ;  but  that  commander,  whom  they 
ignorantly  or  treacherously  chose,  was  Arnulf,  a  deadly 
enemy  of  the  Pope.  The  banner  of  the  Church  was 
unfolded  against  the  Pope  by  the  captain  of  the  people 
of  Anagni.1  The  first  attack  was  on  the  palace  of  the 
Pope,  on  that  of  the  Marquis  Gaetani,  his  nephew,  and 
those  of  three  Cardinals,  the  special  partisans  of  Boni- 
face. The  houses  of  the  Pope  and  of  his  nephew  made 
some  resistance.  The  doors  of  those  of  the  Cardinals 
were  beaten  down,  the  treasures  ransacked  and  carried 
off;  the  Cardinals  themselves  fled  from  the  backs  of 
the  houses  through  the  common  sewer.  Then  arrived, 
but  not  to  the  rescue,  Arnulf,  the  Captain  of  the  Peo- 
ple ;  he  had  perhaps  been  suborned  by  Reginald  of 
Supino.  With  him  were  the  sons  of  Chiton,  whose 
father  was  pining  in  the  dungeons  of  Boniface.2  In- 
stead of  resisting,  they  joined  the  attack  on  the  palace 
of  the  Pope's  nephew  and  his  own.  The  Pope  and  his 
nephew  implored  a  truce  ;  it  was  granted  for  eight 
hours.  This  time  the  Pope  employed  in  endeavoring 
to  stir  up  the  people  to  his  defence  :  the  people  coldly 
answered  that  they  were  under  the  command  of  their 
( 'aptain.  The  Pope  demanded  the  terms  of  the  con- 
spirators. "  If  the  Pope  would  save  his  life,  let  him 
instantly  restore  the  Colonna  Cardinals  to  their  dignity, 
Mini  reinstate  the  whole  house  in  their  honors  and  pos- 

1  Statement  of  William  of  Nogaret.  Dupuy,  p.  247.  I  see  no  reason  to 
doubt  this. 

2  The  Chiton  of  Walsingham  is  probably  the  Massio  of  Villani. 


Chap.  IX.  BONIFACE  BETRAYED.  353 

sessions  ;  after  this  restoration  the  Pope  must  abdicate, 
and  leave  his  body  at  the  disposal  of  Sciarra."  The 
Pope  groaned  in  the  depths  of  his  heart.  "  The  word 
is  spoken."  Again  the  assailants  thundered  at  the 
gates  of  the  palace ;  still  there  was  obstinate  resistance. 
The  principal  church  of  Anagni,  that  of  Santa  Maria, 
protected  the  Pope's  palace.  Sciarra  Colonna's  lawless 
band  set  fire  to  the  gates ;  the  church  was  crowded 
with  clergy  and  laity  and  traders  who  had  brought 
their  precious  wares  into  the  sacred  building.  They 
were  plundered  with  such  rapacity  that  not  a  man  es- 
caped with  a  farthing. 

The  Marquis  found  himself  compelled  to  surrender, 
on  the  condition  that  his  own  life,  that  of  his  family  and 
of  his  servants,  should  be  spared.  At  these  sad  tidings 
the  Pope  wept  bitterly.  The  Pope  was  alone ;  from 
the  first  the  Cardinals,  some  from  treachery,  some  from 
cowardice,  had  fled  on  all  sides,  even  his  most  familiar 
friends :  they  had  crept  into  the  most  ignoble  hiding- 
places.  The  aged  Pontiff  alone  lost  not  his  self-com- 
mand. He  had  declared  himself  ready  to  perish  in  his 
glorious  cause;  he  determined  to  fall  with  dignity. 
"  If  I  am  betrayed  like  Christ,  I  am  ready  to  die  like 
Christ."  He  put  on  the  stole  of  St.  Peter,  the  imperial 
crown  was  on  his  head,  the  keys  of  St.  Peter  in  one 
hand  and  the  cross  in  the  other :  he  took  his  seat  on 
the  Papal  throne,  and,  like  the  Roman  Senators  of  old, 
awaited  the  approach  of  the  Gaul.1 

But  the  pride  and  cruelty  of  Boniface  had  raised 
and  infixed  deep  in  the  hearts  of  men  passions  which 
acknowledged  no  awe  of  age,  of  intrepidity,  or  religious 
majesty.     In  William  of  Nogaret  the  blood  of  his  To- 

1  Villain,  in  loc. 
vol.  vi.  23 


354  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

losan  ancestors,  in  Colonna,  the  wrongs,  the  degradation, 
the  beggary,  the  exile  of  all  his  house,  had  extinguished 
every  feeling  but  revenge.  They  insulted  him  with 
contumelious  reproaches ;  they  menaced  his  life.  The 
Pope  answered  not  a  word.  They  insisted  that  ho 
should  at  once  abdicate  the  Papacy.  "  Behold  my 
neck,  behold  my  head,"  was  the  only  reply.  But 
fiercer  words  passed  between  the  Pope  and  William  of 
Nogaret.  Nogaret  threatened  to  drag  him  before  the 
Council  of  Lyons,  where  he  should  be  deposed  from 
the  Papacy.  "  Shall  I  suffer  myself  to  be  degraded 
and  deposed  by  Paterins  like  thee,  whose  fathers  were 
righteously  burned  as  Paterins  ?  "  William  turned  fiery 
red,  with  shame  thought  the  partisans  of  Boniface,  more 
likely  with  wrath.  Sciarra,  it  was  said,  would  have 
slain  him  outright :  he  was  prevented  by  some  of  his 
own  followers,  even  by  Nogaret.  "  Wretched  Pope, 
even  at  this  distance  the  goodness  of  my  Lord  the  King 
guards  thy  life." 1 

He  was  placed  under  close  custody,  not  one  of  his 
own  attendants  permitted  to  approach  him.  Worse  in- 
dignities awaited  him.  He  was  set  on  a  vicious  horse, 
with  his  face  to  the  tail,  and  so  led  through  the  town  to 
his  place  of  imprisonment.  The  palaces  of  the  Pope 
and  of  his  nephew  were  plundered  ;  so  vast  was  the 
wealth,  that  the  annual  revenues  of  all  the  kings  in  the 
world  would  not  have  been  equal  to  the  treasures  found 
and  carried  off  by  Sciarra's  freebooting  soldiers.  His 
very  private  chamber  was  ransacked  ;  nothing  left  but 
bare  walls. 

At  length  the  people  of  Anagni  could  no  longer  bear 
the  insult  and  the  sufferings  heaped  upon  their  illustn- 

1  Chroniques  de  St.  Denys. 


Jhap.  IX.  BONIFACE  RETURNS  TO  ROME.  355 

ous  and  holy  fellow-citizen.  They  rose  in  irresistible 
insurrection,  drove  out  the  soldiers  by  whom  they  had 
been  overawed,  now  gorged  with  plunder,  and  doubtless 
not  unwilling  to  withdraw.  The  Pope  was  rescued,  and 
led  out  into  the  street,  where  the  old  man  addressed  a 
few  words  to  the  people:  "  Good  men  and  women,  ye 
see  how  mine  enemies  have  come  upon  me,  and  plun- 
dered my  goods,  those  of  the  Church  and  of  the  poor. 
Not  a  morsel  of  bread  have  I  eaten,  not  a  drop  have  I 
drunk  since  my  capture.  I  am  almost -dead  with  hun- 
ger.1 If  any  good  woman  will  give  me  a  piece  of 
bread  and  a  cup  of  wine,  if  she  has  no  wine,  a  little 
water,  I  will  absolve  her,  and  any  one  who  will  give 
me  their  alms,  from  all  their  sins."  The  compassion- 
ate rabble  burst  into  a  cry,  "  Long  life  to  the  Pope  ! " 
They  carried  him  back  to  his  naked  palace.  They 
crowded,  the  women  especially,  with  provisions,  bread, 
meat,  water,  and  wine.  They  could  not  find  a  single 
vessel :  they  poured  a  supply  of  water  into  a  chest. 
The  Pope  proclaimed  a  general  absolution  to  all  except 
the  plunderers  of  his  palace.  He  even  declared  that 
he  wished  to  be  at  peace  with  the  Colonnas  and  all  his 
enemies.  This  perhaps  was  to  disguise  his  intention  of 
retiring,  as  soon  as  he  could,  to  Rome.2 

The  Romans  had  heard  with  indignation  the  sacri- 
legious attack  on  the  person  of  the  Supreme  Return  t0 
Pontiff.     Four  hundred  horse  under  Matteo  Rome 

1  According  to  St.  Antonius,  his  assailants  treated  him  with  respect,  ani 
only  kept  him  in  safe  custody. 

2  I  have  drawn  this  account  from  the  various  authorities,  the  historians 
Villani,  Walsingham,  the  Chroniques  de  St.  Denys,  and  others,  with  the 
declarations  of  Nogaret  and  his  partisans,  according  to  my  own  view  of  the 
trustworthiness  of  the  statements,  and  the  probability  of  the  incidents. 
The  reference  to  each  special  authority  would  have  been  almost  endless 
and  perplexing.  The  reader  may  compare  Drumann,  whose  conscientious 
German  industry  is  more  particular.  —  P.  128,  tt  stxj. 


356  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  Xi 

and  Gaetano  Orsini  were  sent  to  conduct  him  to  the 
city.  He  entered  it  almost  in  triumph  ;  the  populace 
welcomed  him  with  every  demonstration  of  joy.  But 
the  awe  of  his  greatness  was  gone;  the  spell  of  his 
dominion  over  the  minds  of  men  was  broken.  His 
overweening  haughtiness  and  domination  had  made 
him  many  enemies  in  the  Sacred  College,  the  gold  of 
France  had  made  him  more.  This  general  revolt  is  his 
severest  condemnation.  Among  his  first  enemies  was 
the  Cardinal  Napoleon  Orsini.  Orsini  had  followed  the 
triumphal  entrance  of  the  Pope.  Boniface,  to  show 
that  he  desired  to  reconcile  himself  with  all,  courteously 
invited  him  to  his  table.  The  Orsini  coldly  answered 
"  that  he  must  receive  the  Colonna  Cardinals  into  his 
favor ;  he  must  not  now  disown  what  had  been  wrung 
from  him  by  compulsion."  "  I  will  pardon  them,"  said 
Boniface,  "  but  the  mercy  of  the  Pope  is  not  to  be  from 
compulsion."     He  found  himself  again  a  prisoner. 

This  last  mortification  crushed  the  bodily,  if  not  the 
mental  strength  of  the  Pope.  Among  the  Ghibellines 
terrible  stories  were  bruited  abroad  of  his  death.  In 
an  access  of  fury,  either  from  poison  or  wounded  pride, 
he  sat  gnawing  the  top  of  his  staff,  and  at  length  either 
Death  of  beat  out  his  own  brains  against  the  wall,  or 
Oct.  ii,  i303.  smothered  himself  (a  strange  notion !)  with 
his  own  pillows.1  More  friendly,  probably  more  trust- 
worthy, accounts  describe  him  as  sadly  but  quietly 
breathing  his  last,  surrounded  by  eight  Cardinals,  hav- 
ing confessed  the  faith  and  received  the  consoling  offices 
of  the  Church.  The  Cardinal-Poet  anticipates  his  mild 
sentence  from  the  Divine  Judge.2 


1  Ferretus  Vincentinus,  apud  Muratori,  a  fierce  Ghibelline. 
2  "  Leto  prostratus,  anhelus 
Procubuit,  fassusque  fidem,  curanique  professi-* 


Chap.  IX.      EFFECT   OF  THE  DEATH  OF  BONIFACE.  357 

The  religious  mind  of  Christendom  was  at  once  per- 
plexed and  horror-stricken  by  this  act  of  sacrilegious 
violence  on  the  person  of  the  Supreme  Pontiff:  it 
shocked  some  even  of  the  sternest  Ghibellines.  Dante, 
who  brands  the  pride,  the  avarice,  the  treachery  of 
Boniface  in  his  most  terrible  words,  and  has  consigned 
him  to  the  direst  doom  (though  it  is  true  that  his  alli- 
ance with  the  French,  with  Charles  of  Valois,  by 
whom  the  poet  had  been  driven  into  exile,  was  among 
the  deepest  causes  of  his  hatred  to  Boniface),  neverthe- 
less expresses  the  almost  universal  feeling.  Christen- 
dom "  shuddered  to  behold  the  Fleur-de-lis  enter  into 
Anagni,  and  Christ  again  captive  in  his  Vicar,  the 
mockery,  the  gall  and  vinegar,  the  crucifixion  between 
living  robbers,  the  insolent  and  sacrilegious  cruelty  of 
the  second  Pilate."  * 

Romanae  Ecclesiae,  Christo  tunc  redditur  almus 

Spiritus,  et  saevi  nescit  jam  judicis  iram, 

Sed  mitem  placidumque  patris,  ceu  credere  fas  est." 

Apud  Muratori,  S.  E.  I. 
See  in  Tosti's  Life  the  account  of  the  exhumation  of  Boniface.    His  bcdy 
is  said  to  have  appeared,  after  302  years,  whole  and  with  no  marks  of  vio- 
lence. 
1  Purgatorio,  xx.  89 :  — 

"  Veggio  in  Alagni  entrar  lo  fior  d'  aliso, 

E  nel  vicario  suo  Christo  esser  catto; 
Veggiolo  un  altra  volta  esser  deriso, 
Veggio  rinovellar  V  aceto  e  1'  fele, 
E  tra  vivi  ladroni  esser  auciso. 
Veggio  il  nuovo  Pi  la  to  si  crudele, 
Che  cio  nolsatia." 

Strange !  to  find  poetry  ascribed  to  Boniface  VIII.,  and  in  that  poetry 
/an  addiess  to  the  Virgin)  these  lines:  — 

"  Vedea  1'  aceto  ch'  era  col  fiel  misto 
Dato  a  bevere  al  doce  Jesu  Cristo, 
E  un  gran  coltello  il  cor  la  trapassava." 
The  poem  was  found  in  a  MS.  in  the  Vatican  by  Amati;  it  was  said  in  the 
MS.  that  it  was  legible  in  the  15th  century  on  the  walls  of  S.  Paolo  fuori 
ielle  mure.    It  was  given  by  Amati  to  Perticari,  who  published  it  in  hia 
Essay  in  Monti's  Proposta,  p.  244. 


858  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI. 


CHAPTER    X. 

BENEDICT  XI. 

Never  did  the  Church  of  Rome  want  a  calmer, 
more  sagacious,  or  a  firmer  head :  never  was  a  time  in 
which  the  boldest  intellect  might  stand  appalled,  or  the 
profoundest  piety  shrink  from  the  hopeless  office  of  re- 
storing peace  between  the  temporal  and  the  spiritual 
power.  How  could  the  Papacy  maintain  its  ground 
with  safety,  or  recede  with  dignity?  There  seemed 
this  fearful  alternative,  either  to  continue  the  strife  with 
the  King  of  France,  with  the  nation,  with  the  clergy 
of  France  ;  with  the  King  of  France,  who  had  not 
respected  the  sacred  person  of  the  Pope,  against  whose 
gold  and  against  whose  emissaries  in  Italy  no  Pope 
was  secure :  with  the  nation,  one  with  the  King ;  with 
the  clergy  of  France,  who  had  acknowledged  the 
right  of  bringing  the  Pope  before  a  General  Council, 
a  Council  not  to  be  held  in  Rome  or  in  Italy,  but 
in  Lyons,  if  not  in  the  dominions,  under  the  control, 
of  the  King  of  France ;  among  whom  it  could  not 
be  unknown,  that  new  and  extreme  doctrines  had 
been  propagated  unrebuked,  and  with  general  accept- 
ance.1     Or,  on  the  other  hand,  to  disown  the  arro- 

*Two  remarkable  writings  will  be  found  in  Goldastus,  De  Monarchia,  fi., 
which  endeavored  to  define  the  limits  of  the  temporal  and  spiritual  powers, 
asserting  the  entire  independence  and  superiority  of  the  temporal  sovereign 
In  temporal  things;  one  by  JEgidius,  Archbishop  of  Bourges;  one  by  John 


Chap.  X.  BENEDICT  XI.  859 

gance,  the  offensive  language,  the  naked  and  unmeas- 
ured assertion  of  principles  which  the  Pontificate  was 
not  prepared  to  abandon  ;  to  sacrifice  the  memory,  to 
leave  unreproved,  unpunished,  the  outrage  on  the  per- 
son of  Boniface.  Were  the  Colonnas  to  be  admitted 
to  all  the  honors  and  privileges  of  the  Cardinalate? 
the  dreadful  days  at  Anagni,  the  violence  against  Boni- 
face, the  plunder  of  the  Papal  treasures  to  be  left  (dire 
precedent !)  in  impunity  ?  Were  William  of  Nogaret, 
and  Sciarra  Colonna,  the  Reginald  de  Supino,  and  the 
other  rebellious  Barons  to  triumph  in  their  unhallowed 
misdeeds,  to  revel  in  their  impious  plunder  ?  Yet  how 
to  strike  the  accomplices  and  leave  the  author  of  the 
crime  unscathed  ?  Would  the  proud  King  of  France 
abandon  his  loyal  and  devoted  subjects  to  the  Papal 
wrath  ? 

Yet  the  Conclave,1  as  though  the  rival  factions  had 
not  time  to  array  themselves  in  their  natural  hostility, 
or  to  provoke  each  other  to  mutual  recriminations,  in 
but  a  few  days  came,  it  should  seem,  to  an  unani- 
mous suffrage.  Nicolas  Boccasini,  Bishop  of  Benedict  xi. 
Ostia,  was  raised  to  the  throne  of  St.  Peter.  He  was 
a  man  of  humble  race,  born  at  Treviso,  educated  at 
Venice,  of  the  Order  of  St.  Dominic.  He  was  of 
blameless  morals  and  gentle  manners.  He  had  been 
employed  to  settle  the  affairs  of  Hungary  during  the 
contested  succession  for  the  crown :  he  had  conducted 
himself  with  moderation  and  ability.  He  had  been 
one  of  the  Cardinals  who  adhered  with  unshaken  fidel- 

3f  Paris.  There  is  au  excellent  summary  of  both  in  the  posthumous  vol- 
ume of  Neander's  history,  pp.  24-35. 

1  According;  to  Ciacconius  there  were  eighteen  Cardinals  living  at  the 
time  of  the  death  of  Boniface.  See  the  list,  not  of  course  including  the 
Colonnas.    There  were  two  Orsinis,  two  Gaetanis. 


360  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book.  XL 

ity  to  Boniface  ;  he  had  witnessed,  perhaps  suffered  in, 
the  deplorable  outrage  at  Anagni.  He  took  the  name 
of  Benedict  XI. 

Benedict  began  his  reign  with  consummate  prudence, 
yet  not  without  the  lofty  assertion  of  the  Papal  power. 
He  issued  a  Bull  to  rebuke  Frederick  of  Arragon,  the 
King  of  Trinacria,  for  presuming  to  date  the  acts  of 
his  reign  from  the  time  at  which  he  had  assumed  the 
crown  of  Sicily,  not  that  of  the  treaty  in  which  the 
Pope  acknowledged  his  title.  The  Arragonese  prince 
was  reminded  that  he  held  the  crown  but  for  his  life, 
that  it  then  passed  back  to  the  Angevine  line,  the 
French  house  of  Naples.1 

The  only  act  which  before  the  close  of  the  year  took 
cognizance  of  the  affair  of  Anagni,  was  a  Bull  of  ex- 
communication not  against  the  assailants  of  the  Pope's 
person,  but  against  the  plunderers  of  the  Papal  treas- 
ures. The  Archdeacon  of  Xaintonge  was  armed  with 
full  powers  to  persuade  or  to  enforce  their  restitution. 
A  fond  hope !  as  if  such  treasures  were  likely  to  be 
either  won  or  extorted  from  such  hands.  The  rest  of 
the  year  and  the  commencement  of  the  next  were 
occupied  with  remote  negotiations  —  which,  in  how- 
ever perilous  state  stood  the  Papacy,  were  never  neg- 
lected by  the  Pope  —  the  affairs  of  Norway  and  of  the 
Byzantine  Empire  in  the  East. 

Philip  had  no  sooner  heard  of  the  death  of  Boniface 
Feb.  25, 1304.  and  the  accession  of  Benedict  than  he  named 
his  ambassadors  to  offer  his  congratulations,  worded  in 
the  most  flattering  terms,  on  the  elevation  of  Bene- 
dict. They  were  Berard,  Lord  of  Marcueil,  Peter  de 
Belleperche  a   Canon  of  Chartres,  a  profound  jurist, 

1  Bull  in  Raynaldus,  sub  arm. 


Chap.  X.  MEASURES   OF  BENEDICT.  361 

and,  it  might  seem  as  a  warning  to  the  Pope  that  he 
was  determined  to  retract  nothing,  William  His  conciua- 
de  Plasian.  But  already  Benedict,  in  Ins  ures. 
wisdom,  had,  uncompelled,  out  of  his  own  generous 
will,  made  all  the  concessions  to  which  he  was  dis- 
posed, or  which  his  dignity  would  endure.  Already 
in  Paris  the  King,  the  Prelates,  the  Barons,  and  people 
of  France  had  been  declared  absolved  from  the  ex- 
communication under  which  they  lay.1  During  that 
excommunication  the  Pope  could  hold  no  intercourse 
with  the  King  of  the  realm  ;  he  could  receive  no  am- 
bassadors from  the  Court. 

The  envoys  of  the  King  were  received  with  civil- 
ity. In  the  spring  a  succession  of  conciliatory  April  2, 1304. 
edicts  seemed  framed  in  order  to  heal  the  threatened 
breach  between  the  Papacy  and  its  ancient  ally,  the 
King  of  France.  There  was  nothing  to  offend  in  a 
kind  of  pardonable  ostentation  of  condescension,  kept 
up  by  the  Pope,  a  paternal  superiority  which  he  still 
maintained  ;  the  King  of  France  was  to  be  the  pious 
Joash,  to  listen  to  the  counsels  of  the  High  Priest,  Je- 
hoiada.  The  censures  against  the  prelates  for  con- 
tumacy in  not  obeying  the  citation  to  Rome  were 
rescinded ;  the  right  of  giving  instruction  in  the  civil 
and  canon  law  restored  to  the  universities.  Even  the 
affairs  of  the  Archbishop  of  Narbonne  and  the  Bishop 
of  Pamiers,  the  first  causes  of  the  dispute,  were  brought 
to  an  amicable  conclusion.  All  the^  special  privileges 
of  the  Kings  of  France  in  spiritual  matters  were  given 
back  in  the  amplest  and  most  gracious  manner.     The 

1  This  was  granted  "  absente  et  non  petente."  —  Benedict's  letter  in  Du- 
puy,  p.  207.  This  is  confirmed  by  the  continuator  of  Nangis.  Compare 
Mansi's  note  in  Raynaldus,  ad  ann.  1304.  The  Anagni  excommunication 
had  not  been  promulgated. 


862  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY-.  Book  XI 

tenths  on  the  clergy  were  granted  for  two  years  on  ac- 
count of  the  war  in  Flanders  ;  the  famous  Bull  "  Cler- 
icis  Laicos  "  was  mitigated  so  as  to  deprive  it  of  its 
injurious  and  offensive  spirit.  It  permitted  all  volun- 
tary subsidies,  leaving  the  King  and  the  clergy  to  de- 
termine what  degree  of  compulsion  was  consistent  with 
free-will  offerings. 

The  Colonnas  found  a  hearing  with  this  calm  and 
The  colon-  w^se  P°Pe«  They  had  entreated  the  inter- 
KMm  ference  of  the  King  of  France  in  their  cause  , 

they  asserted  that  the  Pope  had  no  power  to  degrade 
Cardinals  ;  that  they  had  been  deposed,  despoiled,  ban- 
ished by  the  mere  arbitrary  mandate  of  Boniface,  with- 
out citation,  without  trial,  without  hearing :  and  this 
by  a  Pope  of  questionable  legitimacy.  Their  restora- 
tion by  Benedict  is  described  by  himself  as  an  act  of 
becoming  mercy :  he  eludes  all  discussion  on  the  jus- 
tice of  the  sentence,  or  the  conduct  of  his  predecessor. 
But  their  rehabilitation  was  full  and  complete,  with 
some  slight  limitations.  The  sentence  of  deposition 
from  the  Cardinalate,  the  privation  of  benefices,  the 
disability  to  obtain  the  Papacy,  the  attainder  of  the 
family  both  in  the  male  and  female  line,  were  abso- 
lutely revoked.  The  restitution  of  the  confiscated 
property  was  reserved  for  future  arrangement  with 
the  actual  possessors.  Palestrina  alone  was  not  to  be 
rebuilt  or  fortified  ;  it  was  to  remain  a  devoted  place, 
and  not  again  to  become  the  seat  of  a  Bishop.  Even 
the  name  of  Sciarra  Colonna  appears  in  this  act  of 
clemency.1  William  of  Nogaret  was  the  only  French- 
man excepted  from  this  comprehensive  amnesty :  even 
he  was  not  inflexibly  excluded  from  all  hope  of  absolu- 

1  Raynakl.  sub  arm.  1304. 


Chap.  X.      PERSECUTION  OF  MEMORY   OF  BONIFACE.       363 

tion.  But  the  act  of  pardon  for  so  heinous  an  offence 
as  his  was  reserved  for  the  special  wisdom  and  mercy 
of  the  Pope  himself.  In  another  document1  Sciarra 
Colonna  is  joined  with  William  of  Nogaret  as  the  yet 
unforodven  offenders. 

Peace  might  seem  at  hand.  The  King  of  France, 
with  every  one  of  the  great  causes  of  quarrel  thus  gen- 
erously removed,  with  such  sacrifices  to  his  wounded 
pride,  would  resume  his  old  position  as  the  favorite  son, 
the  close  ally,  the  loyal  protector  of  the  Papacy.  If, 
with  a  fidelity  unusual  in  kings,  in  kings  like  Philip, 
he  should  scruple  to  abandon  his  faithful  instruments, 
men  who  had  not  shrunk  from  sacrilege,  hardly  from 
murder,  in  his  cause,  yet  the  Pope  did  not  seem  dis- 
posed to  treat  even  them  with  immitigable  severity. 
The  Pope,  though  honor,  justice,  the  sanctity  of  the 
person  of  the  Pontiff,  might  require  that  some  signal 
mark  of  retribution  should  separate  from  all  other  crim 
inals  William  of  Nogaret  and  Sciarra  Colonna,  perhaps 
too  his  own  rebellious  barons  and  the  inhabitants  of 
Anagni,  who  rose  against  Boniface  ;  yet  would  hardly 
think  it  necessary  to  drive  such  desperate  men  to  worse 
desperation.  But  the  profound  personal  hatred  of 
Philip  the  Fair  to  Boniface  VIII.,  or  his  determination 
still  further  to  humiliate  that  power  which  could  pre- 
sume to  interfere  with  his  hard  despotism,  was  not  sati- 
ated with  the  death  ;  he  would  pursue  the  The  King  de- 
memory  of  Boniface,  and  so  far  justify  his  persecute  the 

,  ,      .  ,    .  ,  ,        .     .  memory  of 

own  cruel   and   msultmg   acts   by  obtaining  Boniface. 
from  a  General   Council  the  solemn   confirmation   of 
those  strange  charges  of  which  Boniface  had  been  ar 
raigned  by  Nogaret  and  De  Plasian. 

1  Seen  by  Ray  mild  us.     See  in  loco. 


364  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  Xl 

Another  embassy  from  France  appeared  at  Rome, 
but  not  addressed  to  the  Pope  —  Walter  de  Chatenay 
and  Peter  de  Celle,  with  a  notary,  Peter  de  Piperno. 
According  to  their  instructions,  they  visited  singly  and 
severally  each  of  the  Cardinals  then  resident  in  Rome. 
"  The  King  of  France,"  they  said,  "  in  the  full  Parlia- 
ment of  all  his  Prelates  and  Barons,  from  his  zealous 
reverence  for  the  Church  and  the  throne  of  St.  Peter, 
had  determined  that  the  Church  should  be  ruled  by  a 
legitimate  Pontiff,  and  not  by  one  who  so  grossly  abused 
his  power  as  Boniface  VIII.  They  had  resolved  to 
summon  a  General  Council,  in  order  that  Boniface 
might  prove  his  innocence  (they  had  the  effrontery  to 
say,  as  they  devoutly  hoped  !)  of  the  accusations  urged 
against  him,  and  not  only  for  that  purpose,  but  for  the 
good  of  Christendom,  and  (of  course)  for  the  war  in 
the  Holy  Land."  l  To  each  of  the  Cardinals  was  put 
the  plain  question  whether  he  would  concur  in  the  con- 
vocation of  this  General  Council,  and  promote  it  by 
his  aid  and  countenance.  Five  made  the  cautious  an- 
swer that  they  would  deliberate  with  the  Pope  in  his 
Consistory  on  this  weighty  matter.  Five  gave  in  their 
adhesion  to  the  King  of  France.  The  same  proceeding 
took  place  with  six  Cardinals  at  Viterbo.  Of  these 
four  took  the  more  prudent  course ;  two  gave  their  suf- 
frage for  the  General  Council. 

Benedict  XI.  might  think  that  he  had  carried  con- 
cession far  enough.  He  had  shown  his  placability,  he 
had  now  to  show  his  firmness.  The  obstinacy  of  the 
King  of  France  in  persecuting  the  memory  of  Boni- 
face,  in   pressing   forward  the  General  Council ;    the 

1  April  8,  1304.     The  King  could  not  have  received  the  Papal  edicts,  hut 
He  must  have  known  the  mild  disposition  of  Benedict. 


Chap.  X.  PAPAL   BULL.  365 

profound  degradation  of  the  Papacy,  if  a  General 
Council  should  be  permitted  to  sit  in  judgment  even 
on  a  dead  Pope ;  the  desecration  of  the  Papal  Holi- 
ness, if  any  part  of  these  foul  charges  should  be  even 
apparently  proved ;  the  injustice,  the  cowardliness  of 
leaving  the  body  of  his  predecessor  to  be  thus  torn  in 
pieces  by  his  rabid  enemies  ;  the  well-grounded  mis- 
trust of  a  tribunal  thus  convoked,  thus  constituted, 
thus  controlled ;  all  these  motives  arrested  the  Pontiff 
m  his  conciliatory  course,  and  unhappily  disturbed  the 
dispassionate  dignity  which  he  had  hitherto  maintained. 
A  Bull  came  forth  against  the  actors  in  the  tragedy 
of  Anagni.  Language  seemed  laboring  to  June  7, 1309. 
express  the  horror  and  detestation  of  the  Pope  at  this 
"  flagitious  wickedness  and  wicked  flagitiousness."  Fif- 
teen persons  were  named  —  William  of  Nogaret,  Reg- 
inald de  Supino  and  his  son,  the  two  sons  of  the  man 
whom  Boniface  held  in  prison,  Sciarra  Colonna,  the 
Anagnese  who  had  aided  them.  It  denounced  their 
cruelty,  their  blasphemy  against  the  Pope,  their  plunder 
of  the  sacred  treasures.  These  acts  had  been  done 
publicly,  openly,  notoriously,  in  the  sight  of  Benedict 
himself — acts  of  capital  treason,  of  rebellion,  of  sacri- 
lege ;  crimes  against  the  Julian  law  of  public  violence, 
the  Cornelian  against  assassinations ;  acts  of  lawless 
imprisonment,  plunder,  robbery,  crimes  and  felonies 
which  struck  men  dumb  with  amazement.  "  Who  is 
so  cruel  as  to  refrain  from  tears  ?  who  so  hateful  as  to 
refuse  compassion  ?  What  indolent  and  remiss  judge 
will  not  rise  up  to  punish  ?  Who  is  safe,  when  in  his 
native  city  no  longer  is  security,  his  house  is  no  longer 
his  refuge  ?  The  Pontiff  himself  is  thus  dishonored, 
and  the  Church   thus  brought  into  captivity  with  her 


366  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

Lord.  O  inexpiable  guilt !  O  miserable  Anagni,  who 
hast  endured  such  things  !  May  the  rain  and  the  dew 
never  fall  upon  thee  !  O  most  unhappy  perpetrators 
of  a  crime,  so  adverse  to  the  spirit  of  King  David,  who 
kept  untouched  the  Lord's  anointed  though  his  foe,  and 
avenged  his  death."  The  Bull  declares  excommuni- 
cate all  the  above-named,  who  in  their  proper  persons 
were  guilty  of  the  crime  at  Anagni,  and  all  who  had 
aided  and  abetted  them  by  succor,  counsel,  or  favor. 
Philip  himself  could  hardly  stand  beyond  this  sweep- 
ing anathema.  The  Pope  cited  these  persons  to  ap- 
pear before  him  on  the  Feast  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul, 
June  29.  there  to  receive  their  sentence.  The  citation 
was  fixed  on  the  gates  of  the  cathedral  of  Perugia. 
The  Bull1  was  promulgated  on  the  7th  of  June  ;  on 
the  27th  of  July  Benedict  was  dead. 

The  Pope  had  retired  to  Perugia  from  Rome  —  per- 
haps to  avoid  the  summer  heats,  but  no  doubt  also  for 
greater  security  than  he  could  command  in  Rome, 
where  the  Colonnas  were  strong,  and  the  French  party 
powerful  through  their  gold.  There  he  meditated  and 
aimed  this  blow,  which,  by  appalling  the  more  rancor- 
ous foes  of  Boniface,  might  scare  them  from  thus  prey- 
ing on  his  remains,  and  thus  reinvest  the  Papacy, 
which  had  condescended  far  below  its  wont,  in  awe 
and  majesty.  Many  of  the  Cardinals  had  remonstrated 
against  the  departure  of  the  Pope  from  Rome,  which 
was  almost  by  stealth ;  it  was  rumored  that  he  thought 
of  fixing  the  Papal  residence  in  one  of  the  Lombard 
cities.  They  had  refused  to  accompany  him.  But 
Perugia  was  not  more  safe  than  Rome.  It  is  said  that 
while  the  Pope  was  at  dinner,  a  young  female  veiled 

1  The  Bull  in  Raynaldus,  sub  ann. 


Ciiap.X.  DEATH  OF  BENEDICT  XI.  367 

and  in  the  dress  of  a  novice  of  St.  Petronilla  in  Peru- 
gia, offered  him  in  a  silver  basin  some  beautiful  fresh 
figs,  of  which  he  was  very  fond,  as  from  the  abbess  of 
that  convent.  The  Pope,  not  suspecting  a  gift  from 
such  a  hand,  ate  them  eagerly,  and  without  having 
them  previously  tasted.1  That  he  died  of  poison  few 
in  that  age  would  venture  to  doubt.  William  of  No- 
garet,  Sciarra  Colonna,  Musciatto  de'  Francesi,  the 
Cardinal  Napoleon  Orsini,  were  each  silently  arraigned 
as  guilty  of  this  new  crime.  One  Ghibelline  writer, 
hostile  to  Benedict,  names  the  King  of  France  as  hav- 
ing suborned  the  butler  of  the  Pope  to  perpetrate  this 
fearful  deed.  Yet  the  disorder  was  a  dysentery,  which 
lasted  seven  or  eight  days,  not  an  unusual  effect  of  the 
immoderate  use  of  rich  fruit.  No  one  thought  that  a 
death  so  seasonable  to  one  party,  so  unseasonable  to 
another,  could  be  in  the  course  of  nature. 

Fifteen  years  afterwards  a  Franciscan  friar  of  Tou- 
louse, named  Bernard,  was  accused  at  Carcassonne  as 
concerned,  by  magic  and  other  black  arts,  in  the  poi- 
soning of  Benedict  XI.  This  was  not  his  only  crime. 
He  was  charged  with  having  excited  the  populace 
against  the  rival  Order  of  the  Friar  Preachers  and  the 
Inquisition,  of  having  broken  open  the  prisons  of  the 
Inquisition,  and  set  free  the  prisoners :  he  was  charged 
with  magic  and  divination,  and  with  believing  in  the 
visions  of  the  Abbot  Joachim.  He  was  one  of  the  fa- 
natic Fraticelli,  seemingly  a  man  of  great  daring  and 
energy.  The  Ecclesiastical  Judges  declared  that  they 
could  find  no  proof,  either  from  his  own  mouth  or  from 

1  "  Le  mangiava  volentieri  e  senza  fame  fare  saggio."  — Villani.  This 
simple  sentence  of  wonder,  that  the  Pope  would  eat  anything  untasted.  is 
frightfully  expressive,  viii.  c.  80. 


368  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XL 

other  evidence,  of  his  concern  in  the  poisoning  of  Ben- 
edict. He  was  condemned  to  perpetual  imprisonment 
in  irons.  The  King's  advocates  impeached  the  sen- 
tence, renewed  the  charge  of  his  being  an  accomplice 
in  the  poisoning  of  the  Pope,  and  demanded  that  he 
should  be  delivered  to  the  secular  arm.  The  Pope 
(John  XXII.)  aggravated  the  severity  of  his  sentence 
by  prohibiting  any  mitigation  of  his  penance ;  but 
spoke  very  generally  of  his  enormous  crimes.1 

1  See  the  very  curious  documents  in  Baluzius.  —  Vitse  Papar.  Avinionen., 
vol.  ii.,  No.  liii. 


Book  XII. 


CONTEMPORARY  CHRONOLOGY. 


369 


BOOK  XII. 

CONTEMPORARY   CHRONOLOGY. 


POPES. 

BMPERORB. 

Kiana 

or  fbanob. 

KINGS 
Or   ENGLAND. 

KINGS 
Or  SCOTLAND. 

A.D.                           A.D. 

1305  Clement  V.  1314 
Vacancy. 

1310  John  XXII.  1334 

1334  Benedict 

XII.          1842 
1342  Clement  VI.  1363 

1352  Innocent 

VI.            1362 
1362  Urban  V.     1370 

13T0  Gregory  XI.  1378 

A.D.                           A.D. 

1298  Albert  of 

Austria      1307 

1303  Vacant. 

1304  Henry  of  Lux- 

emburg      1313 

1314  Louis  of  Ba- 

Taria          1347 

(Frederick  of 

Austria.) 

1347  Charles  IV.  of 
Luxemburg  1378 

A.D.                            A.D. 

Philip  the 
Fair           1314 

1314  Louis  le 

Hutin 

1315  John  I. 

1316  Philip  the 

Long         1321 

1321  Charles  IV. 

the  Fair     1328 

1328  Philip  of  Va- 

loU            1351 

1351  John  II.       1364 
1364  Charles  IV.  1380 

A.D.                          A.D. 

Edward  I.    1307 
1307  £dward  II.  1327 

1327  Edward  III.  1377 

A.D.                           A.D. 

1308  Robert  I. 

(Bruoe)     1321 

1329  David  U. 

1370  Robert  IT. 

ARCHBISHOPS   Or 

CANTERBURY. 

1294  Robert  of  Win- 

ohelsey      1313 
1318  Walter  Reynolds. 
1327  Simon  Mepbam. 
1333  John  Stratford. 

1348  Thomas  Brad- 

wardine. 

1349  Simon  Islip. 
1360  Simon  Langham. 
1367  William  Whittle- 
sey. 

1375  Simon  Sudbury. 

KINGS 
OP  SPAIN. 

KIKGS 
OP   PORTUGAL. 

KINGS 
OP   SWEDEN. 

K1NGB 
Or  POLAND. 

EASTERN 
BMPEEOR8. 

A.D.                            A.D. 
OASTILB. 

Ferdinand  IV.  1312 

1312  Alfonso  XH.  1350 

1350  Peter  the  Cruel. 

»36»  flcnry  the 
Bastard 

ARRAGON. 

James  the 
Just.          1327 

1327  Alphonso 

Tfc.            1336 

1336  Peter  IV.     1380 

A.D.                           A.D. 

Dionyslna    1325 

1325  Alfonso  IV.  1357 

1357  Peter  the 

Cruel         1367 

1367  Ferdinand  I. 

A.D.                            A.D. 

Bergerll.    1320 
1326  Magnus  III. 
1304  Albert. 

A.D.                           A.D. 

1305  Ladialaus  IV. 

1333  Oasimir  the 
Great. 

1870  Louarf  Hun- 
gary. 

A.D.                           A.D. 

Andronicus  Pa- 
lasologua    1320 

1320  Andronicus  II. 
PaUeologus  1341 

1841  John  V.  Pa- 
Iseologus. 

KINGS 
OP    DENMARK. 

Eriok  VIII.  1321 

1321  Christo- 
pher          1333 

1333  Waldemar. 

VOI-  VI. 


24 


870  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X1L 


BOOK    XII. 

THE  POPES  IN   AVIGNON. 


CHAPTER  L 

CLEMENT  V. 

The  period  in  the  Papal  history  has  arrived  which 
in  the  Italian  writers  is  called  the  Babylonish  captivity: 
it  lasted  more  than  seventy  years.1  Rome  is  no  longer 
the  Metropolis  of  Christendom ;  the  Pope  is  a  French 
Prelate.  The  successor  of  St.  Peter  is  not  on  St.  Pe- 
ter's throne ;  he  is  environed  with  none  of  the  tradi- 
tionary majesty  or  traditionary  sanctity  of  the  Eternal 
City ;  he  has  abandoned  the  holy  bodies  of  the  Apos- 
tles, the  churches  of  the  Apostles.  It  is  perhaps  the 
most  marvellous  part  of  its  history,  that  the  Papacy, 
having  sunk  so  low,  sank  no  lower ;  that  it  recovered 
its  degradation  ;  that,  from  a  satellite,  almost  a  slave, 
of  the  King  of  France,  the  Pontiff  ever  emerged  again 
to  be  an  independent  potentate ;  and,  although  the  great 
line  of  mediaeval  Popes,  of  Gregory,  of  Alexander  III., 
and  the  Innocents,  expired  in  Boniface  VIII.,  he  could 
resume  even  his  modified  supremacy.  There  is  no 
proof  so  strong  of  the  vitality  of  the  Papacy  as  that  it 
could  establish  the  law  that  wherever  the  Pope  is,  there 
is  the  throne  of  St.  Peter ;  that  he  could  cease  to  be 

1  From  1305  to  1376. 


Chap.  I.  THE  POPES  IN  AVIGNON.  371 

Bishop  of  Rome  in  all  but  in  name,  and  then  take  back 
again  the  abdicated  Bishopric. 

Never  was  revolution  more  sudden,  more  total,  it 
might  seem  more  enduring  in  its  consequences.  The 
close  of  the  last  century  had  seen  Boniface  VIII.  ad- 
vancing higher  pretensions,  if  not  wielding  more  actual 
power,  than  any  former  Pontiff;  the  acknowledged 
pacificator  of  the  world,  the  arbiter  between  the  Kings 
of  France  and  England,  claiming  and  exercising  feudal 
as  well  as  spiritual  supremacy  over  many  kingdoms, 
bestowing  crowns  as  in  Hungary,  awarding  the  Em- 
pire ;  with  millions  of  pilgrims  at  the  Jubilee  in  Rome, 
still  the  centre  of  Christendom,  paying  him  homage 
which  bordered  on  adulation,  and  pouring  the  riches  of 
the  world  at  his  feet.  The  first  decade  of  the  new 
century  is  not  more  than  half  passed ;  Pope  Clement 
V.  is  a  voluntary  prisoner,  but  not  the  less  a  prisoner, 
in  the  realm,  or  almost  within  the  precincts  of  France ; 
struggling  in  vain  to  escape  from  the  tyranny  of  his 
inexorable  master,  and  to  break  or  elude  the  fetters 
wound  around  him  by  his  own  solemn  engagements. 
He  is  almost  forced  to  condemn  his  predecessor  for 
crimes  of  which  he  could  hardly  believe  him  guilty ; 
to  accept  a  niggardly,  and  perhaps  never-fulfilled,  pen- 
ance from  men  almost  murderers  of  a  Pope ;  to  sacri- 
fice, on  evidence  which  he  himself  manifestly  mistrusted, 
one  of  the  great  military  orders  of  Christendom  to  the 
hatred  or  avarice  of  Philip.  The  Pope,  from  Lord  over 
the  freedom  of  the  world,  had  ceased  to  be  a  free  agent. 

The  short  Pontificate  of  Benedict  XI.,  had  exasper- 
ated, rather  than  allayed,  the  divisions  in  the  conclave. 
Conclave.1     The  terrible  fate  of  the  two  last  Popes 

1  There  were  now  nineteen  Cardinals,  according  to  Ciacconius,  exclusive 


372  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII 

had  not  cooled  down  the  eager  competition  for  the 
perilous  dignity.  The  Cardinals  assembled  at  Perugia. 
The  two  factions,  the  French  and  that  of  the  parti- 
sans and  kindred  of  Boniface  VIII.,  were  headed, 
the  latter  by  Matteo  Orsini  and  Francesco  Gaetani, 
brother  of  the  late  Pope,  the  former  by  Napoleon 
Orsini  and  the  Cardinal  da  Prato.1  The  Colonna  Car- 
dinals had  not  yet  been  permitted  to  resume  their  place 
in  the  Conclave.  The  elder,  James  Colonna,  had  lived 
in  seclusion,  if  not  in  concealment,  at  Perugia.  He 
came  forth  from  his  hiding-place  ;  he  summoned  his 
nephew,  who  had  found  an  asylum  at  Padua,  to  his  aid. 
They  had  an  unlimited  command  of  French  money. 
But  this  money  could  hold,  it  could  not  turn,  the  bal- 
ance between  the  two  Orsini,  each  of  whom  aspired  to 
be,  or  to  create  the  Pope.  The  Conclave  met,  it  sep- 
arated, it  met  again  ;  they  wrangled,  intrigued  ;  each 
faction  strove,  but  in  vain,  to  win  the  preponderance 
by  stubbornness  or  by  artifice,  by  bribery  in  act  or 
promise.2  Months  wore  away.  At  length  the  people 
of  Perugia  grew  weary  of  the  delay :  they  surrounded 
the  Conclave  ;  threatened  to  keep  the  Cardinals  as  pris- 
oners ;  demanded  with  loud  outcries  a  Pope ;  any  hour 
they  might  proceed  to  worse  violence :  by  one  account 
they  unroofed  the  house  in  which  the  Cardinals  sat, 
and  cut  off  their  provisions.3  One  day  the  Cardinal 
da  Prato  accosted  Francesco  Gaetani,  "  We  are  doing 

of  the  Colonnas.  One  of  the  former  Conclave  had  died.  Pope  Benedict 
had  named  two,  the  Cardinal  of  Prato  (Ostia  and  Velletri),  and  an  Eng- 
lishman, Walter  Winterlmrn  of  Salisbury. 

1  Ferretus  Vicentinus,  Murat.  R.  I.  S.  p.  1014. 

2  "  Ut  multum  valet  aurea  persuasio,  qureque  constat  in  donis  expectata 
fiducia." —  Ferret.  Vicent. 

s  Ibid.  p.  4015. 


Chap.  I.  COMPACT  OF  THE  CARDINALS.  373 

sore  wrong :  it  is  an  evil  and  a  scandal  to  Christendom 
to  deprive  it  so  long  of  its  Chief  Pastor."  "  It  rests 
not  with  us,"  replied  Gaetani.  u  Will  you  Compact, 
accede  to  any  reasonable  scheme  which  may  reconcile 
our  differences?"  The  Cardinal  da  Prato  then  pro- 
posed that  one  party  should  name  three  Ultramontane 
(Northern)  Prelates,  not  of  the  Sacred  College,  on  one 
of  whom  the  adverse  party  should  pledge  itself  to  unite 
its  suffrages.  Gaetani  consented,  on  condition  that  the 
Bonifacians  should  name  the  three  Prelates.  They 
were  named  ;  among  the  three  the  Archbishop  of  Bor- 
deaux. 

Bernard  de  Goth  had  been  raised  by  Boniface  VIII. 
from  the  small  bishopric  of  Comminges  to  the  archi- 
episcopal  seat  of  Bordeaux.  As  a  subject  of  the  King 
of  England,  he  owed  only  a  more  remote  allegiance  to 
his  suzerain,  the  King  of  France.1  He  was  commit- 
ted in  some  personal  hostility  with  Charles  of  Valois. 
Throughout  the  strife  between  the  Pope  and  the  King 
he  had  been  on  the  Pope's  side.  He  had  withdrawn 
in  disguise  from  the  Court  in  order  to  obey  the  Pope's 
summons  to  Rome  :  he  was  among  the  Prelates  assem- 
bled in  November  at  Rome.  If  there  were  any  Trans- 
alpine Prelate  whom  the  kindred  and  friends  of  Bon- 
iface might  suppose  secure  to  their  party,  from  his 
inclinations,  his  gratitude,  his  animosities,  his  former 
conduct,  it  was  Bernard  de  Goth.  But  the  sagacious 
Cardinal  da  Prato  knew  the  man  ;  he  knew  the  Gascon 
character.  Forty  days  were  to  elapse  before  the  elec- 
tion. In  eleven  days  a  courier  was  in  Paris,  interview  of 
In  six  days  more  the  King  and   the  Arch-  ArchbEhop. 

1  Yet  it  is  said,  "  Licet  in  Anglica  regione  praesul  esset,  tamen  Philippo 
gratissimus,  quod  a  juventute  familiaris  extitisset."  —  Ferret.  Vicent. 


374  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII. 

bishop  of  Bordeaux,  each  with  a  few  chosen  attendants, 
met  in  a  forest  belonging  to  the  Monastery  of  St.  Jean 
d'Angely.  The  secrets  of  that  interview  are  related, 
perhaps  with  suspicious  particularity.  Yet  the  Kin< , 
having  achieved  his  purpose,  was  not  likely  to  conceai 
his  part  in  the  treaty,  especially  from  his  secret  coun- 
sellors, who  had  possibly  some  interest  to  divulge,  none 
to  conceal,  the  whole  affair.  The  King  began  by 
requesting  the  reconciliation  of  the  Archbishop  with 
Charles  of  Valois.  He  then  opened  the  great  subject 
of  the  interview.  He  showed  to  the  dazzled  eyes  of 
the  Prelate  the  despatch  of  the  Cardinal  da  Prato. 
"  One  word  from  me,  and  you  are  Pope."  But  the 
King  insisted  on  six  conditions :  —  I.  His  own  full  and 
complete  reconciliation  with  the  Church.  II.  The  ab- 
solution of  all  persons  whom  he  had  employed  in  his 
strife  with  Boniface.  III.  The  tenths  for  five  years 
from  the  clergy  of  the  realm.  IV.  The  condemnation 
of  the  memory  of  Boniface.  V.  The  reinvestment  of 
the  Colonnas  in  the  rank  and  honors  of  the  Cardinal- 
ate.  The  VIth  and  last  was  a  profound  secret,  which 
he  reserved  for  himself  to  claim  when  the  time  of  its 
fulfilment  should  be  come.  That  secret  has  never  been 
fully  revealed.  Some  have  thought,  and  not  without 
strong  ground,  that  Philip  already  meditated  the  sup- 
pression of  the  Templars.  The  cautious  King  was  not 
content  with  the  acquiescence,  or  with  the  oath,  of  the 
Archbishop,  an  oath  from  which,  as  Pope,  he  might; 
release  himself.  De  Goth  was  solemnly  sworn  upon 
the  Host :  he  gave  up  his  brother  and  two  nephews  as 
hostages.  Before  thirty-five  days  had  passed,  the  Car- 
june5, 1305.  dinal  da  Prato  had  secret  intelligence  of  the 
compact.     They  proceeded  to  the  ballot ;  Bernard  de 


Chap.  I.  CORONATION  OF  CLEMENT  V.  375 

Goth  was  unanimously  chosen  Pope.     In  the  Cathedral 
of  Bordeaux  he  took  the  name  of  Clement  V. 

The  first  ominous  warning  to  the  Italian  Prelates 
was  a  summons  to  attend  the  coronation  of  the  new 
Pope,  not  at  Rome  or  in  Italy,  but  at  Lyons.  The 
Cardinal  Matteo  Orsini  is  said  to  have  uttered  a  sad 
vaticination  :  "  It  will  be  long  before  we  behold  the 
face  of  another  Pope." l  Clement  began  his  slow 
progress  towards  Lyons  at  the  end  of  August.  He 
passed  through  Agen,  Toulouse,  Beziers,  Montpellier, 
and  Nismes.  The  monasteries  which  were  compelled 
to  lodge  and  entertain  the  Pope  and  all  his  retinue 
murmured  at  the  pomp  and  luxury  of  his  train : 
many  of  them  were  heavily  impoverished  by  this  en- 
forced hospitality.  At  Montpellier  he  received  the 
homage  of  the  Kings  of  Majorca  and  Arragon :  he 
confirmed  the  King  of  Arragon  in  the  possession  of 
the  islands  of  Corsica  and  Sardinia,  and  received  his 
oath  of  fealty.  He  had  invited  to  his  coro-  Oct.  7. 
nation  his  two  sovereigns,  the  Kings  of  France  and 
England.  The  King  of  England  alleged  important 
affairs  in  Scotland  as  an  excuse  for  not  doing  honor  to 
his  former  vassal.  The  Kings  of  France  and  Majorca 
were  present.  On  the  Cardinal  Matteo  Orsini,  Italian, 
Roman,  to  the  heart,  devolved  the  office  of  Nov.  14. 

,         /~  •  t*  i  •         Coronation 

crowning  the  (jrascon  rope,  whose  aversion  at  Lyons. 
to  Italy  he  well  knew.  The  Pope  rode  in  solemn  state 
from  the  Church  of  St.  Just  in  the  royal  castle  of 
Lyons  to  the  palace  prepared  for  him.  The  King  of 
France  at  first  held  his  bridle,  and  then  yielded  the  post 
of  humble  honor  to  his  brothers,  Charles  of  Valois, 
and  Louis  of  Evreux,  and  to  the  Duke  of  Bretagne. 

1  VI.  Vit.  Clement,  apod  Baluz. 


376  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  Xil. 

The  pomp  was  interrupted  by  a  dire  and  ominous  ca- 
lamity. An  old  wall  fell  as  they  passed.  The  Pope 
was  thrown  from  his  horse,  but  escaped  unhurt :  his 
gorgeous  crown  rolled  in  the  mire.  The  Duke  of 
Bretagne,  with  eleven  or  twelve  others,  was  killed  : 
Charles  of  Valois  seriously  hurt. 

Clement  V.  hastened  to  fulfil  the  first  of  his  en^age- 
The  Pope  fui-  ments  to  the  King  of  France,  perhaps  design- 
ee his  vows.  ing  j^  ^g  reac[y  zeai  to  avert,  elude,  or  delay 
the  accomplishment  of  those  which  were  more  difficult 
or  more  humiliating.  The  King  of  France  had  plen- 
ary absolution  :  he  was  received  as  again  the  favored 
son  and  protector  of  the  Church.  To  the  King  were 
granted  the  tenths  on  all  the  revenues  of  the  Church 
of  France  for  five  years.  The  Colonnas  were  restored 
to  their  dignity  ;  they  resumed  the  state,  dress,  and 
symbols  of  the  Cardinalate,  and  took  their  place  in  the 
Newcardi-  Sacred  College.  A  promotion  of  ten  Cardi- 
nals*  nals  showed  what  interest  was  hereafter  to 

prevail  in  the  Conclave.  Among  the  ten  were  the 
Bishops  of  Toulouse  and  Beziers,  the  Archbishop 
(Elect)  of  Bordeaux  and  the  nephew  of  the  Pope,  the 
King's  Confessor  Nicolas  de  Francavilla,  the  King's 
Chancellor  Stephen,  Archdeacon  of  Bruges.  A  French 
Pope  was  to  be  surrounded  by  a  French  Court. 

Measure  followed  measure  to  propitiate  the  Pope's 
master.  Of  the  two  famous  Bulls,  that  denominated 
"  Clericis  Laicos  "  was  altogether  abrogated,  as  having 
been  the  cause  of  grievous  scandals,  dangers,  and  in- 
conveniences. The  old  decrees  of  the  Lateran  and 
other  Councils  concerning  the  taxation  of  the  clergy 
were  declared  to  be  the  law  of  the  Church.  As  to  the 
other,  the  "  Unam  Sanctam,"  the  dearest  beloved  son 


Chap.  I.       PROCEEDINGS  OF  WILLIAM  OF  NOGARET.        877 

Philip  of  France,  for  his  loyal  attachment  to  the 
Church  of  Rome,  had  deserved  that  the  Pope  should 
declare  this  statute  to  contain  nothing  to  his  prejudice  ; 
that  he,  his  realm,  and  his  people,  were  exactly  in  the 
same  state,  as  regarded  the  See  of  Rome,  as  before  the 
promulgation  of  that  Bull. 

But  there  were  two  articles  of  the  compact,  besides 
the  secret  one,  yet  unaccomplished,  the  complete  abso- 
lution of  all  the  King's  agents  in  the  quarrel  with  the 
Pope,  and  the  condemnation  of  the  memory  of  Boni- 
face. The  Pope  writhed  and  struggled  in  vain  in  the 
folds  of  his  deathly  embarrassment.  The  King  of 
France  could  not  in  honor,  he  was  not  disposed  by 
temper  to  abandon  the  faithful  executioners  of  his 
mandates :  he  might  want  them  for  other  remorseless 
services.  He  could  not  retreat  or  let  fall  the  accusa- 
tions against  the  deceased  Pope.  Philip  was  com- 
pelled, like  other  persecutors,  to  go  on  in  his  persecu- 
tion. This  immitigable,  seemingly  vindictive,  hostility 
to  the  fame  of  Boniface  was  his  only  justification.  If 
those  high  crimes  and  misdemeanors  of  which  the  Pope 
had  been  arraigned,  those  heresies,  immoralities,  cruel- 
ties, enormities,  were  admitted  to  be  groundless,  or 
dropped  as  not  thought  worthy  of  proof,  the  seizure  at 
Anagni  became  a  barbarous,  cowardly,  and  unnecessary 
outrage  on  a  defenceless  old  man,  an  impious  sacrilege : 
William  of  Nogaret  and  his  accomplices  were  base  and 
cruel  assassins. 

Already,  before  the  death  of  Benedict,  William  of 
Nogaret  had  issued  one  strong  protest  against  William  of 
his  condemnation.     During   the  vacancy  he  ^sh- 
allowed no  repose  to  the  memory  of  Boniface,  and  jus- 
tified himself  against  the  terrible  anathema  of  Bene- 


378  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII 

diet.  He  appeared  before  the  official  of  his  diocesan, 
the  Bishop  of  Paris,  and  claimed  absolution  from  a 
censure  issued  by  the  Pope  under  false  information. 
He  promulgated  two  memorials :  in  the  first  he  ad- 
duced sixty  heads  of  accusation  against  Boniface;  in 
the  second  he  protested  at  great  length  against  the  rash 
proceedings  of  Pope  Benedict.  The  Bull  of  Benedict 
had  cited  him  to  appear  at  Rome  on  the  Festival  of  St. 
Peter  and  St.  Paul.  He  excused  his  contumacy  in  not 
appearing :  he  was  in  France,  the  citation  had  not  been 
served  upon  him ;  and  also  by  reason  of  the  death  of 
the  Pope,  as  well  as  on  account  of  his  powerful  enemies 
in  Italy.  Nogaret  entered  into  an  elaborate  account  of 
his  own  intercourse  with  Pope  Boniface.  Five  years 
before,  he  had  been  the  King's  ambassador  to  announce 
the  treaty  of  Philip  with  Albert,  King  of  the  Romans. 
The  Pope  demanded  Tuscany  as  the  price  of  his  con- 
sent to  that  alliance.  It  was  then  that  William  of 
Nogaret  heard  at  Rome  the  vices  and  misdeeds  of  the 
Pope,  of  which  he  was  afterwards  arraigned,  and  had 
humbly  implored  the  Pope  to  desist  from  his  simonies 
and  extortions.  The  Pope  had  demanded  whether  he 
spoke  in  his  own  name  or  in  that  of  the  King.  No- 
garet had  replied,  in  his  own,  out  of  his  great  zeal  for 
the  Church.  The  Pope  had  roared  with  passion,  like 
a  madman,  and  had  heaped  on  him  menaces,  insults 
and  blasphemies.1 

Nogaret  treats  the  refusal  of  Boniface  to  appear  be- 
fore the  Council  when  first  summoned  at  Anagni  as  an 
act  of  contumacy  ;  he  therefore  (Nogaret)  was  justified 
in  using  force  towards  a  contumacious  criminal.  He 
asserts  that  he  saved  the  life  of  Boniface  when  others 

1  Preuves,  p.  252. 


Chap.  I.  THE  KING'S   DISTRESSES.  879 

would  have  killed  him ;  that  he  tried  to  protect  the 
treasure,  of  which  he  had  not  touched  a  penny ;  he  had 
kept  the  Pope  with  a  decent  attendance,  and  supplied 
him  with  food  and  drink.  Had  he  slain  the  wicked 
usurper  he  had  been  justified,  as  Phineas  who  pleased 
the  Lord,  as  Abraham  who  slew  the  Kings,  Moses  the 
Egyptian,  the  Maccabees  the  enemies  of  God.  Pope 
Benedict  had  complained  of  the  loss  of  his  treasure,  he 
ought  rather  to  have  complained  that  so  vast  a  treasure 
had  been  wrung  by  cruel  exactions  from  the  impover- 
ished churches.  He  asserts  that  for  all  his  acts  he  had 
received  absolution  from  Boniface  himself.  For  all 
these  reasons  he  appealed  to  a  General  Council  in  the 
vacancy  of  the  Pontificate,  and  demanded  absolution 
from  the  unjust  censures  of  the  misinformed  Pope 
Benedict. 

William  of  Nogaret  was  necessary,  as  other  men  of 
his  stamp,  for  meditated  acts  of  the  King,  not  less  cruel 
or  less  daring  than  the  surprisal  at  Anagni  and  the 
abasement  of  the  Supreme  Pontiff.  The  King,s  ^ 
King  of  France,  ever  rapacious,  yet  ever tresses 
necessitous,  who  must  maintain  his  schemes,  his  ambi- 
tion, his  wars  in  Flanders  at  lavish  cost,  but  with 
hardly  any  certain  income  but  that  of  the  royal  do- 
mains, had  again  taken  to  that  coarse  expedient  of  bar- 
barous finance,  the  debasement  of  the  coin.  There 
were  now  two  standards :  in  the  higher  the  King  and 
the  Nobles  exacted  the  payments  of  their  subjects  and 
vassals  ;  the  lower  the  subjects  and  vassals  were  obliged 
to  receive  as  current  money.  Everywhere  was  secret 
or  clamorous  discontent,  aggravated  by  famine ; 1  dis- 
content  in    Paris    and    Orleans    rose    to    insurrection, 

1  During  the  winter  1304-5. 


380  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII. 

which  endangered  the  King's  government,  even  his 
person,  and  was  only  put  down  by  extreme  measures 
of  cruelty.  The  King  was  compelled  to  make  con- 
cessions, to  content  himself  to  be  paid  in  the  lower 
coin.  But  some  time  had  elapsed  since  the  usual 
financial  resource  in  times  of  difficulty  had  been  put  in 
jewspiun-  f°rce«  The  Jews  had  had  leisure  to  become 
dered.  again  alluringly  rich.     William  of  Nogaret 

proceeded  with  his  usual  rapid  resolution.  In  one  day 
all  the  Jews  were  seized,  their  property  confiscated  to 
the  Crown,  the  race  expelled  the  realm.  The  clergy, 
in  their  zeal  for  the  faith,  and  the  hope  that  their  own 
burdens  might  be  lightened,  approved  this  pious  rob- 
bery, and  rejoiced  that  France  was  delivered  from  the 
presence  of  this  usurious  and  miscreant  race.  William 
of  Nogaret  had  atoned  for  some  at  least  of  his  sins.1 
But  even  this  was  not  his  last  service. 

Pope  Clement,  in  the  mean  time,  hastened  to  return 
to  Bordeaux.  He  passed  by  a  different  road,  through 
Macon,  Clugny,  Nevers,  Bourges,  Limoges,  again  se- 
verely taxing  by  the  honor  of  his  entertainment  all  the 
great  monasteries  and  chapters  on  his  way.  The  Arch- 
ThePopeat  bishop  of  Bourges  was  so  reduced  as  to  accept 
Bordeaux.  tjie  pittance  0f  a  Canon.  At  Bordeaux  the 
Pope  was  in  the  dominions  of  England,  and  to  Edward 
of  England  he  showed  himself  even  a  more  obsequious 
vassal  than  to  the  King  of  France.  He  could  perhaps 
secure  Edward's  protection  if  too  hardly  pressed  by  his 
inexorable  master,  the  King  of  France.  He  gave  to 
England.  Edward  plenary  absolution  from  all  his  oaths 
to  maintain  the  Charters  (the  Great  Charter  and  the 

1  Ordonnances  des  Rois,  i.  443,  447.   Vita  Clementis.   Continuator.   Nan- 
gia,  p.  594.    Raynald.  sub  aim.  1306,  c.  29. 


Chap.  I.  INTERVIEW   OF  POPE  WITH  PHILIP.  381 

Charter  of  Forests)  extorted  from  him,  as  was  asserted, 
by  his  disloyal  subjects.1  Afterwards,  casting  aside  all 
the  haughty  pretensions  of  Pope  Boniface,  he  excom- 
municated Robert  Bruce,  now  engaged  in  his  gallant 
strife  for  the  crown  of  Scotland.2 

But  the  Pope  could  not  decline  the  commanding  in 
vitation  of  King  Philip  to  an  interview  within  Juue,  1307. 
the  realm  of  France,  at  Poitiers.  To  that  city  he 
went,  but  soon  repented  of  having  placed  himself  so 
completely  within  the  King's  power.  He  attempted  to 
make  an  honorable  retreat ;  he  was  retained  with  cour- 
teous force,  and  overwhelmed  with  specious  honor  and 
reverence. 

A  Congress  of  Princes  might  seem  assembled  to 
show  their  flattering  respect  to  the  Pontiff:  —  Philip, 
with  his  three  sons,  his  brothers  Charles  of  Valois  and 
Louis  Count  of  Evreux,  Robert  Count  of  Flanders, 
Charles  King  of  Naples,  the  ambassadors  of  Edward 
King  of  England.  Clement,  by  the  prodigality  of  his 
concessions,  endeavored  to  avert  the  fatal  question,  the 
condemnation  of  Boniface.  He  was  seized  with  a  sud- 
den ardor  to  place  Charles  of  Valois  on  the  throne  of 
Constantinople,  in  right  of  his  wife,  Isabella  of  Courte- 
nay.  He  declared  himself  the  head  of  a  new  Crusade, 
addressed  Bulls  to  all  Christendom,  in  order  to  expel  the 
feeble  Andronicus  from  the  throne,  which  must  fall  un- 
der the  power  of  the  Turks  and  Saracens,  unless  filled 
by  a  powerful  Christian  Emperor.  He  pronounced 
his  anathema  against  Andronicus.  He  awarded  the 
kingdom  of  Hungary  to  Charobert,  grandson  of  the 
King  of  Naples.  He  took  the  first  steps  for  the  canon- 
ization of  Louis,  the  second  son  of  Charles,  who  had 

1  Kymer.  2  Rymer. 


382  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII, 

died  Archbishop  of  Toulouse  in  the  odor~of  sanctity. 
He  remitted  the  vast  debt  owed  by  the  King  of  Naples 
to  the  Papal  See,  which  amounted  to  360,000  ounces 
of  gold  ;  a  third  was  absolutely  annulled,  the  rest  as- 
signed to  the  Crusade  of  Charles  of  Valois.1 

But  the  inflexible  Philip  was  neither  to  be  diverted 
nor  dissuaded  from  exacting  the  full  terms  of  his  bond. 
He  offered  to  prove  forty-three  articles  of  heresy  against 
Boniface ;  he  demanded  that  the  body  of  the  Pope 
should  be  disinterred  and  burned,  the  ignominious  fate 
of  heretics,  which  he  had  undeservedly  escaped  during 
life.  Even  the  French  Cardinals  saw  and  deprecated 
the  fatal  consequences  of  such  a  proceeding  to  the 
Church.  All  the  acts  of  Boniface,  his  bulls,  decrees, 
promotions,  became  questionable.  The  College  of  Car- 
dinals was  dissolved,  at  least  the  nomination  of  almost 
all  became  precarious.  The  title  of  Clement  himself 
was  doubtful.  The  effects  of  breaking  the  chain  of 
traditional  authority  were  incalculable,  interminable. 
The  Supplement  to  the  Canon  Law,  the  Sixth  Book  of 
Decretals,  at  once  the  most  unanswerable  proof  of  the 
orthodoxy  of  Boniface  and  the  most  full  assertion  of  the 
rights  of  the  Church,  fell  to  the  ground.  The  foun- 
dations of  the  Papal  power  were  shaken  to  the  base. 
By  the  wise  advice  of  the  Cardinal  da  Prato,  Clement 
determined  to  dissemble  and  so  gain  time.  Philip  him- 
self had  demanded  a  General  Council  of  all  Christen- 
dom. A  General  Council  alone  of  all  Christendom 
could  give  dignity  and  authority  to  a  decree  so  weighty 
and  unprecedented  as  the  condemnation  of  a  Pope. 
council  of  They  only  could  investigate  such  judgment, 
termined  on.   In  such  an  assembly  the  Prelates  of  the  Chris- 

1  Acta  apud  Baluzium,  xxv. 


Chap.  I.  ABSOLUTION  OF  DE  NOGARET.  383 

tian  world,  French,  English,  Germans,  Italians,  Span- 
iar  is,  might  meet ;  and  the  Church,  in  her  full  liberty, 
and  with  irrefragable  solemnity,  decide  the  awful  cause. 
He  named  the  city  of  Vienne  in  Dauphiny  as  the  seat 
of  this  Great  Council.  In  the  mean  time  he  strove  to 
conciliate  the  counsellors  who  ruled  the  mind  of  Philip. 
William  of  Nogaret  and  his  accomplices  re-  Absolution  ot 
ceived  full  absolution  for  all  their  acts  in  the  DeN°garet- 
seizure  of  Boniface  and  the  plunder  of  the  Papal  treas- 
ures, on  condition  of  certain  penances  to  be  assigned  by 
some  of  the  Cardinals.  William  of  Nogaret  was  to 
take  arms  in  the  East  against  the  Saracens,  and  not  to 
return  without  permission  of  the  Holy  See  ;  but  he 
was  allowed  five  years'  delay  before  he  was  called  on  to 
fulfil  this  penitential  Crusade.1 

The  Pope  could  breathe  more  freely :  he  had  gained 
time,  and  time  was  inestimable.  Who  could  know 
what  it  mio-ht  bring  forth  ?  Even  the  stubborn  hatred 
of  Philip  might  be,  if  not  mitigated,  distracted  to  some 
other  object.  That  object  seemed  to  arise  at  once, 
great,  of  absorbing  public  interest,  ministering  excite- 
ment to  all  Philip's  dominant  passions,  a  religious  object 
of  the  most  surprising,  unprecedented,  almost  appalling 
nature,  and  of  the  most  dubious  justice  and  policy,  the 
abolition  of  the  great  Order  of  the  Knights  Templars. 
The  secret  of  the  last  stipulation  in  the  covenant 
between  the  King  and  the  Pope  remained  with  them- 
selves ;  what  it  was,  and  whether  it  was  really  de- 
manded, was  not  permitted  to  transpire.  Was  it  this 
destruction  of  the  Templars  ?  No  one  knew  ;  yet  all 
had  their  conjecture.  Or  was  it  some  yet  remoter 
scheme,  the  elevation  of  his  brother  or  himself  to  the 

1  Raynaldus,  sub  ann.  1307,  c.  xi. 


384  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII. 

Imperial  throne  ?     It  was  still  a  dark,  profound,  and  so 
more  stimulating  mystery. 

The  famous  Order  of  the  Temple  of  Jerusalem  had 
a.d.  ins.  sprung,  like  all  the  other  great  religious  insti- 
tee^Knighfcf  tutions  of  the  middle  ages,  from  the  hum- 
Tempiars.  blest  origin.  Their  ancestors  were  a  small 
band  of  nine  French  Knights,1  engaged  on  a  chivalrous 
adventure,  sworn  to  an  especial  service,  the  protection 
of  the  Christian  pilgrims  to  the  Holy  Sepulchre  through 
the  dangerous  passes  between  Jerusalem  and  the  Jor- 
dan, that  they  might  bathe,  unmolested  by  the  maraud- 
ing Moslemin,  in  the  holy  waters.  The  Templars  had 
become,  in  almost  every  kingdom  of  the  West,  a  pow- 
erful, wealthy,  and  formidable  republic,  governed  by 
their  own  laws,  animated  by  the  closest  corporate  spirit, 
under  the  severest  internal  discipline,  and  an  all-per- 
vading organization  ;  independent  alike  of  the  civil 
power  and  of  the  spiritual  hierarchy.  It  was  a  half- 
military,  half-monastic  community.  The  three  great 
monastic  vows,  implicit  obedience  to  their  superiors, 
chastity,  the  abandonment  of  all  personal  property, 
were  the  fundamental  statutes  of  the  Order :  while, 
instead  of  the  peaceful  and  secluded  monastery,  the 
contemplative,  devotional,  or  studious  life,  their  con 
vents  were  strong  castles,  their  life  that  of  the  camp  01 
the  battle-field,  their  occupation  chivalrous  exercises  or 
adventures,  war  in  preparation,  or  war  in  all  its  fierce- 
ness and  activity.  The  nine  brethren  in  arms  were 
now  fifteen  thousand  of  the  bravest,  best-trained,  most 
experienced  soldiers  in  the  world  ;   armed,  horsed,  ac- 

1  a.d.  1118.  Hugo  di  Payens,  Godfrey  de  St.  Omer,  Raoul,  Godfrey 
Bisol,  Pagans  de  Montdidier,  Archembold  de  St.  Aman,  Andrew,  Gundo- 
mar,  Hugh  Count  of  Provence.  —  Wilcke,  Geschichte  des  Terapelherren 
Ordens,  p.  9. 


Chap.  1.  THE  TEMPLARS.  385 

coutred  in  the  most  perfect  and  splendid  fashion  of  the 
times ;  isolated  from  all  ties  or  interests  with  the  rest 
of  mankind  ;  ready  at  the  summons  of  the  Grand  Mas- 
ter to  embark  on  any  service ;  the  one  aim  the  power, 
aggrandizement,  enrichment  of  the  Order. 

St.  Bernard,  in  his  devout  enthusiasm,  had  beheld  in 
the  rise  of  the  Templars  a  permanent  and  invincible 
Crusade.  The  Order  (with  its  rival  brotherhood,  the 
Knights  of  the  Hospital  or  of  St.  John)  was  in  his  view 
a  perpetual  sacred  militia,  which  would  conquer  and 
maintain  the  sepulchre  of  the  Lord,  become  the  body- 
guard of  the  Christian  Kings  of  Jerusalem,  the  stand- 
ing army  on  the  outposts  of  Christendom.  His  eloquent 
address  to  the  soldiers  of  the  temple 1  was  at  once  the 
law  and  the  vivid  expression  of  the  dominant  sentiments 
of  his  time  ;  here,  as  in  all  things,  his  age  spake  in  St. 
Bernard.  From  that  time  the  devout  admiration  of 
Western  Christendom  in  heaping  the  most  splendid  en- 
dowments of  lands,  castles,  riches  of  all  kinds,  on  the 
Knights  of  the  Temple  and  of  the  Hospital,  supposed 
that  it  was  contributing  in  the  most  efficient  manner  to 
the  Holy  Wars.  Successive  Popes,  the  most  renowned 
and  wise,  especially  Innocent  III.,  notwithstanding  oc- 
casional signs  of  mistrust  and  jealousy  of  their  aug- 
menting power,  had  vied  with  each  other  in  enlarging 
the  privileges  and  raising  the  fame  of  the  Knights  of 
the  Temple.  Eugenius  III.,  under  the  influence  of  St. 
Bernard,  first  issued  a  Bull  in  their  favor;  but  their 
great  Charter,  which  invested  them  in  their  a.d.  1172. 
most  valuable  rights   and   privileges,2  was  issued   by 

1  Refer  back  to  vol.  iv.  251.     Sermo  ad  Milites  Templi,  Opera,  p.  830. 

2  The  Bull,  Omne  datum  optimum.   Compare  Wilcke,  p.  77.    It  is  trans- 
lated by  Mr.  Addison,  the  Knights  Templars,  p.  70. 

vol.  vi.  2b 


386  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII. 

Alexander  III.  They  had  already  ceased  to  be  a  lay 
community,  and  therefore  under  spiritual  subjection  to 
the  clergy.  The  clergy  had  been  admitted  in  consider- 
able numbers  into  the  Order,  and  so  their  own  body 
administered  within  themselves  all  the  rites  and  sacra- 
ments of  religion.  Innocent  III.  released  the  clergy  in 
the  Order  of  the  Templars  from  their  oath  of  fidelity 
and  obedience  to  their  Bishop  ;  henceforth  they  owed 
allegiance  to  the  Pope  alone.1  Honorius  III.  prohibited 
all  Bishops  from  excommunicating  any  Knight  Tem- 
plar, or  laying  an  interdict  on  their  churches  or  houses. 
drregory  IX.,  Innocent  IV.,  Alexander  III.,  Clement 
IV.  maintained  their  absolute  exemption  from  episcopal 
•uthority.  The  Grand  Master  and  the  brotherhood  of 
the  Temple  were  subordinate  only  to  the  supreme  head 
of  Christendom.  Gregory  X.  crowned  their  privileges 
with  an  exemption  from  all  contributions  to  the  Holy 
War,  and  from  the  tenths  paid  by  the  rest  of  Christen- 
dom for  this  sacred  purpose.  The  pretence  was  that 
their  whole  lands  and  wealth  were  held  on  that  tenure.2 
Nearly  two  hundred  years3  had  elapsed  since  the 
foundation  of  the  Order,  two  hundred  years  of  slow, 
imperceptible,  but  inevitable  change.  The  Knights 
Templars  fought  in  the  Holy  Land  with  consummate 
valor,  discipline,  activity,  and  zeal ;  but  they  fought  for 
themselves,  not  for  the  common  cause  of  Christianity. 

i  Innocent  III.,  Epist.  i.  508,  ii.  35,  84,  257,  259.  To  the  Bishops,  "Qua- 
tenus  a  capellanis  ecclesiarum,  qiue  pleno  jure  jam  dictis  fratribus  sunt 
concessae,  nee  fidelitutem,  nee  obedientiam  exigatis,  quia  Romano  tantum 
Pontifici  sunt  subjecti." 

2  "  Cum  vos  ad  hoc  principaliter  laboratis,  ut  vos  pariter  et  omnia  quae 
habetis  pro  ipsius  teme  sancta?  defensione,  ac  Christiana?  fidei  exponatis, 
vos  eximere  a  praistatione  hujusmodi  (decimal  pro  terra  sancta)  de  benig- 
nitate  Apostolica  curaremus."  —  Compare  Wilcke,  ii.  p.  195. 

•1118  —  1307. 


CiiAr.  I.  INCREASED   TOLERANCE.  387 

They  were  an  independent  army,  owing  no  subordina- 
tion 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  own  views,  the  plans  of  campaigns,  joined  vigor- 
ously in  the  enterprise,  or  stood  aloof  in  sullen  disappro- 
bation :  they  made  or  broke  treaties.  Thus  formidable 
to  the  enemies  of  the  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  expedi- 
tion of  Frederick  II.  the  Master  of  the  Templars  and 
the  whole  Order  had  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. 

The  character  of  the  war  in  the  East  had  also 
changed,  unnoticed,  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  Sara- 
cen 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.  The 
brave  and  generous  Knight  could  n.ot  but  admire  bra- 
very and  generosity  in  his  antagonist.  The  accidents 
of  war  led  to  more  intimate  acquaintance,  acquaintance 
to  hospitable   even   to  social    intercourse,  social   inter- 


388  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII. 

course  to  a  fairer  estimation  of  the  better  qualities  on 
both  sides.  The  prisoner  was  not  always  reduced  to  a 
cruel  and  debasing  servitude,  or  shut  up  in  a  squalid 
dungeon.  He  became  the  guest,  the  companion,  of  his 
high-minded  captor.  A  character  like  that  of  Saladin, 
which  his  fiercest  enemies  could  not  behold  without  awe 
and  admiring  wonder,  must  have  softened  the  detesta- 
tion with  which  it  was  once  the  duty  of  the  Christian 
to  look  on  the  Unbeliever.  The  lofty  toleration  of 
Frederick  II.  might  offend  the  more  zealous  by  its  ap- 
proximation to  indifference,  but  was  not  altogether  un- 
congenial to  the  dominant  feeling.  How  far  had  that 
indifference,  which  was  so  hardly  reproached  against 
Frederick,  crept  into  the  minds  and  hearts  of  Freder- 
ick's most  deadly  enemies  ?  How  far  had  Mohamme- 
danism lost  its  odious  and  repulsive  character  to  the 
Templars  ?  and  begun  to  appear  not  as  a  monstrous 
and  wicked  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  discipline  of  the  Order? 
oriental  How  far  were  the  Templars  orientalized  by 
maimers.  ^eir  domiciliation  in  the  East  ?  Had  their 
morals  escaped  the  taint  of  Oriental  license?  Vows 
of  chastity  were  very  different  to  men  of  hot  blood, 
inflamed  by  the  sun  of  the  East,  in  the  freedom  of  the 
camp  or  the  marauding  expedition,  provoked  by  the 
sack  and  plunder  of  towns,  the  irruption  into  the  luxu~ 


Chap.  1.  LOSS   OF  PALESTINE.  d89 

rious  harems  of  their  foes ;  and  to  monks  in  close- 
watched  seclusion,  occupied  every  hour  of  the  day  and 
night  with  religious  services,  emaciated  by  the  fast  and 
scourge,  and  become,  as  it  were,  the  shadows  of  men. 
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  austere  and 
impeccable  virtue.  Those  unnatural  vices,  which  it 
offends  Christian  purity  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.  Yet  after  all,  it  was  the  pride  rather 
than  the  sensuality  of  the  Order  which  was  their  char- 
acteristic and  proverbial  crime.  Richard  I.,  who  must 
have  known  them  well  in  the  East,  bequeathed  not  his 
avarice,  or  his  lust,  but  his  pride,  to  the  Knights  of  the 
Temple. 

But  the  Templars  were  not  a  great  colony  of  warriors 
transplanted  and  settled  in  the  East  as  their  permanent 
abode,  having  broken  off  all  connection  with  their 
native  West.  They  were  powerful  feudal  lords,  lords 
of  castles  and  domains  and  estates,  a  self-governed  com- 
nunity  in  all  the  kingdoms  of  Europe.  Hence  their 
total  expulsion,  with  the  rest  of  the  Christian  Loss  of 
establishments,  from  Palestine,  left  them  not,  Palestine- 
as  might  have  been  expected,  without  home,  without 
possessions,  discharged,  as  it  were,  from  their  mission  by 
its  melancholy  and  ignominious  failure.  The  loss  of 
the  Temple,  the  irretrievable  loss,  might  seem  to  imply 
the  dissolution  of  the  defenders  of  the  Temple  :  it  might 
be  thought  to  disband  and  disclaim  them  as  useless  and 
worn-out  veterans.  The  bitter  disappointment  of  the 
Christian  world  at  that  loss  would  attribute  the  shame, 


390  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XIL 

the  guilt,  to  those  whose  especial  duty  it  was,  the  very 
charter  of  their  foundation,  to  protect  it.  That  guilt 
was  unanswerably  shown  by  God's  visible  wrath.  His 
abandonment  of  the  tomb  of  his  Blessed  Son  was  a 
proof  which  could  not  be  gainsaid,  that  the  Christians, 
those  especially  designated  for  the  glorious  service,  were 
unworthy  of  that  honor.  Any  charge  of  wickedness  so 
denounced,  it  might  seem,  by  God  himself,  would  find 
ready  hearing. 

The  Knights  of  the  Hospital,  more  fortunate  or  mere 
Conquest  of  sagacious,  had  found  an  occupation  for  their 
ISgiiteof  arms,  of  which  perhaps  themselves  did  not 
st.  John  appreciate  the  full  importance,  the  conquest 
of  Rhodes.  Their  establishment  in  that  island  became 
the  bulwark,  long  the  unconquerable  outpost  of  Chris- 
tendom in  the  East.  The  Templars,  if  they  did  not 
altogether  stand  aloof  from  that  enterprise,  disdained  to 
act  a  secondary  part,  and  to  aid  in  subduing  for  their 
rivals  that  in  which  those  rivals  would  claim  exclusive 
dominion.1 

Clement  V.,  soon  after  his  accession,  had  summoned 
the  Grand  Masters  of  the  two  Orders  to  Europe,  under 
the  pretext  of  consulting  them  on  the  affairs  of  the 
East,  on  succors  to  be  afforded  to  the  King  of  Armenia, 
and  on  plans  which  had  been  already  formed  for  the 
union  of  the  two  Orders.  It  does  not  appear  whether, 
either  with  a  secret  understanding  with  the  King  of 
France,  or  of  his  own  accord,  he  as  yet  contemplated 
hostile  measures  against  the  Order.  He  declares  him- 
self, that  while  at  Lyons  he  had  heard  reports  unfavora- 
ble both  to  the  faith  and  to  the  conduct  of  the  Templars : 
but  he  had  rejected  with  disdain  all  impeachment  against 

i  Raynald.  sub  ann.  1306. 


Chap.  I.  DU  MOLAY.  391 

an  Order  which  had  warred  so  valiantly  and  shed  so 
much  noble  blood  in  defence  of  the  Sepulchre  of  the 
Lord.  His  invitation  was  couched  in  the  smoothest 
terms  of  religious  adulation.1 

Du  Molay,2  Grand  Master  of  the  Order,  manifestly 
altogether  unsuspecting,  obeyed  the  Papal  Du  Molay . 
invitation.  The  Grand  Master  of  the  Hospitallers 
alleged  his  engagement  in  the  siege  of  Rhodes.  But 
if  Du  Molay  had  designed  to  precipitate  the  fall  of  his 
Order,  he  could  not  have  followed  a  more  fatal  course 
of  policy.  His  return  to  Europe  was  not  that  of  the 
head  of  an  institution  whose  occupation  and  special 
function  was  in  the  East,  and  who  held  all  they  pos- 
sessed on  the  tenure  of  war  against  the  Moslemin.  He 
might  rather  seem  an  independent  Prince,  intending  to 
take  up  his  permanent  abode  and  live  in  dignity  and 
wealth  on  their  ample  domains,  or  rather  territories,  in 
Europe.  He  might  seem  almost  wantonly  to  alarm  the 
jealous  apprehensions,  and  stimulate  the  insatiable  ra- 
pacity of  Philip  the  Fair.  He  assembled  around  him 
in  Cyprus  a  retinue  of  sixty,  the  most  distinguished 
Knights  of  the  Order,  collected  a  great  mass  of  treas- 
ure, and  left  the  Marshal  of  the  Order  as  Regent  in 
that  island.  In  this  state,  having  landed  in  the  south, 
and  made  his  slow  progress  through  France,  he  entered 
the  capital,  and  proceeded  to  the  mansion  of  Entrymto 
the  Order,  in  Paris  as  well  as  in  London  per-  Paris' 
haps  the  most  spacious,  the  strongest,  and  even  most 
magnificent  edifice  in  the  city.     The  treasure  which 

1  "  De  quorum  circumspecta  probitate,  et  probata  circumspectione  ac 
vulgata  fidelitate,  fiduciam  tenemus."  So  wrote  Clement  V.  The  letter 
is  in  Raynaldus,  date  June  6,  1306. 

2  See  in  Raynouard,  Monuments  Historiques,  p.  15  et  &eq.,  the  life  and 
services  of  Du  Molay. 


392  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII 

Du  Molay  brought  was  reported  to  amount  to  the  enor- 
mous sum  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  golden 
florins  and  a  vast  quantity  of  silver.  The  populace 
wondered  at  the  long  train  of  sumpter  horses,1  as  they 
moved  through  the  narrow  streets  to  the  Temple  cit- 
adel, which  confronted  the  Louvre  in  its  height  and 
strength.  Du  Molay  was  received  with  ostentatious 
courtesy  by  the  King.  Everything  flattered  his  pride 
and  security ;  there  was  no  sign,  no  omen  of  the  dan- 
ger which  lowered  around  him. 

Yet  Du  Molay,  if  of  less  generous  and  unsuspicious 
nature,  should  have  known  the  character  of  Philip,  and 
that  every  motive  which  actuated  that  unscrupulous 
King  was  concentred  in  its  utmost  intensity  against  his 
Order.  Philip's  manifest  policy  was  the  submission  of 
the  whole  realm  to  his  despotic  power  ;  the  elevation 
of  the  kingly  authority  above  all  feudal  check,  or  eccle- 
siastical control.  Would  he  endure  an  armed  brother- 
hood, a  brotherhood  so  completely  organized,  in  itself 
more  formidable  than  any  army  he  could  bring  into  the 
field,  to  occupy  a  fortress  in  his  capital  and  other  strong 
holds  throughout  the  kingdom  ?  It  was  no  less  his 
policy  to  establish  an  uniform  taxation,  a  heavy  and 
grinding  taxation,  on  all  classes,  on  the  Church  as  on 
the  laity.  The  Templars  had  stubbornly  refused  to 
pay  the  tenths  which  he  had  levied  everywhere  else 
almost  without  resistance.2     There  were  strong  suspi- 

1  Raynouard  says,  p.  17,  "  Outre  l'immense  tr<?sor  que  l'Ordre  conservait 
dans  le  palais  du  Temple  a  Paris,  le  chef  apporta  de  l'Orient  cent  cinquante 
mi  He  florins  d'or,  et  une  grande  quantite  de  gros  tournois  d'argent,  qui 
formaient  la  charge  de   douze  chevaux;  sommes  considerables  pour  le 


2  They  were  exempt  by  the  Papal  privilege.  These  tenths  were  still  in 
theory  permitted  by  the  Pope,  as  though  for  holy  uses — the  recovery  of 
Palestine. 


Chap.  1.  THE  TEMPLARS  IN  TARIS.  o93 

cions  that  during  the  strife  with  the  King,  Boniface 
had  reckoned  on  the  secret  if  not  active  support  of  the 
Templars,  who,  as  highly  favored  by  the  Pope,  had 
almost  always  been  high  Papalists.1  If  they  had  not 
held  a  congregation  in  defence  of  Boniface,  such  con- 
gregation might  have  been  held.2  For  this  reason  no 
doubt,  if  not  for  a  darker  one  —  some  concern  in  tho 
burning  of  his  father — William  of  Nogaret  hated  the 
Templars  with  all  the  hatred  which  he  had  not  ex- 
hausted on  Pope  Boniface.3 

Philip  knew  well  not  only  the  strength  but  the  wealth 
of  the  Order.  He  knew  their  strength,  for  during  the 
insurrections  at  Paris  on  account  of  the  debasement  of 
the  coin,  he  had  fled  from  his  own  insecure  Louvre, 
and  taken  refuge  in  the  Temple.  From  that  impreg- 
nable fortress  he  had  defied  his  rebellious  subjects,  and 
afterwards  having  gathered  some  troops,  perhaps  with 
the  aid  of  the  Templars  themselves,  suppressed  the 
mutiny  (which  the  Templars  nevertheless  were  accused 
of  having  instigated),  and  had  hanged  the  insurgents4 
on  the  trees  around  the  city.  Philip  knew  too  their 
wealth.5     From  their  treasures  alone  he  had  been  able 

1  "  In  diebus  suis  admirabilis  novitas  et  persequutio  facta  est  super  Ordi- 
n<mi  Templariorum,  quod  processit  ex  invidia  et  cupiditate  Philippi  Fran- 
corum  regis,  qui  odio  Templarios  habebat,  eo  quod  ausi  fuerant  stare  contra 
;psum  ex  sententia  excommunicationis,  data  per  dictum  Bonifacium  contra 
lictum  Regem."  —  Chronic.  Astens.  Murator.  xi.  p.  193. 

2  One  writer  says,  "  Quia  contra  Regem  congregationem  fecerunt." 

3  "  Gulielmus  de  Nogaret,  Regis  Franciae  auctor  fuit  pro  posse  ruinse  or- 
dinis  Templariorum,  eo  quod  patrem  ejus  tanquam  haereticum  comburi 
fecerunt."  This  can  hardly  be  literally  true.  But  see  further  the  striking 
speech  of  a  Templar  going  to  the  stake,  and  (what  cannot  be  true)  the 
death  of  Nogaret.  —  Chron.  Astens.  ut  supra. 

4  Continuator  Nangis  apud  Bouquet,  p.  594. 
6  Of  their  wealth: 

"  Li  frere,  li  mestre  au  Temple 
Qu'estoient  rempli  et  ample 


3D4  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XR. 

to  borrow  the  dowry  of  his  daughter  Isabella,  on  her 
marriage  with  Prince  Edward  of  England.  Debtors 
love  not  their  creditors.  Du  Molay  is  said  to  have 
made  importunate  and  unwelcome  demands  for  repay- 
ment.1 Every  race  or  community  possessed  of  dan- 
gerous riches  had  in  turn  suffered  the  extortionate 
persecutions  of  Philip.  Would  his  avarice,  which  had 
drained  the  Jews,  the  Lombards,  and  laid  his  sacrile- 
gious hands  on  the  Church,  so  tempted,  respect  the 
Templars,  even  if  he  had  no  excuse  of  religious  zeal 
or  regard  for  morals  to  justify  his  confiscation  of  their 
riches  ? 

Du  Molay,  in  his  lofty  security,  proceeded  to  the 
Du  Moiay  at  great  meeting  at  Poitiers,  to  pay  his  alle- 
Pmtiers.  giance  with  the  Princes  and  Sovereigns,  and 
to  give  counsel  to  the  Pope  on  the  affairs  of  the  East 
and  those  of  the  Military  Orders.  Du  Molay's  advice 
as  to  the  future  Crusade,  however  wise  and  well- 
grounded,  might  seem  a  death-blow  to  all  hopes  of 
success.  There  could  be  no  reliance  on  the  King  of 
Armenia ;  to  reconquer  the  Holy  Land  would  demand 
the  league  and  cooperation  of  all  the  Kings  of  Chris- 
tendom. Their  united  forces,  conveyed  by  the  united 
fleets  of  Genoa,  Venice,  and  other  maritime  cities, 
should  land  at  Cyprus  ;  and  from  Cyprus  carry  on  a 
regular   and   aggressive   war.     The   proposal   for   the 

D'or,  d'argent  et  de  richesse, 

Et  qui  menoient  tel  noblesse     .     .     . 

Tozjors  achetoient  sans  vendre." 

Chronique  quoted  by  Raynouard,  p.  7. 
According  to  Paris,  "  Habent  Templarii  in  Christianitate  novem  millia 
maneriorum."  —  p.  417. 

1  "  Quia  is  magistrum  ordinis  exosum  habuit,  propter  importunam  pecu- 
niae exactionem,  quam  in  nuptiis  filiae  suae  Isabella?  ei  mutuum  dederat. 
Inhiabat  pra'terea  praadiis  militum  et  possessionibus." —  Thorn,  de  1? 
Moor,  Vit.  Edward  II.,  quoted  in  note  to  Baluzius,  Pap.  Avionen.,  p.  580- 


Chap.  I.  DU   MOLAI    AT  POITIERS.  395 

fusion  of  the  Knights  of  the  Temple  and  of  St.  John, 
a  scheme  proposed  by  Gregory  X.  and  by  St.  Louis, 
he  coldly  rejected  as  impracticable.  "  That  which  is 
new  is  not  always  the  best.  The  Orders,  in  their  sep- 
arate corporations,  had  done  great  things  ;  it  was  doubt- 
ful how,  if  united,  they  would  act  together.  Both 
were  spiritual  as  well  as  secular  institutions :  neither 
could,  with  safe  conscience,  give  up  the  statutes  to 
which  they  had  sworn,  to  adopt  those  of  the  other. 
There  would  rise  inextinguishable  discord  concerning 
their  estates  and  possessions.  The  Templars  were  lav- 
ish of  their  wealth,  the  Hospitallers  only  intent  on 
amassing  wealth :  on  this  head  there  must  be  endless 
strife.  The  Templars  were  in  better  fame,  more  richly 
endowed  by  the  laity.  The  Templars  would  lose  their 
popularity,  or  excite  the  envy  of  the  Hospitallers. 
There  would  be  eternal  contests  between  the  heads  of 
the  Orders,  as  to  the  conferring  dignities  and  offices 
of  trust.  The  united  Order  might  be  more  strong  and 
formidable,  and  yet  many  ancient  establishments  fall  to 
the  ground  ;  and  so  the  collective  wealth  and  power 
might  be  diminished  rather  than  augmented."1 

Yet  even  now  that  Du  Molay  was  holding  this  al- 
most supercilious  language,  the  mine  was  under  his 
feet,  ready  to  burst  and  explode.  Du  Molay  could  not 
be  absolutely  ignorant  of  the  sinister  rumors  which  had 
long  been  spread  abroad  concerning  the  faith,  the 
morals,  the  secret  mysteries  of  his  Order  ;  he  could 
not  be  ignorant  that  they  had  been  repeatedly  urged 
upon  the  Pope  by  the  King  himself,  by  his  counsellors, 
by  the  Prior  of  the  new  convent  in  Poitiers.2     But  h& 

1  See  the  Document  in  Baluzius,  vol.  ii.  p.  174. 

2  Letter  of  Clevnent  to  Philip,  Baluzius,  ii.  p.  7-4.    This  letter  is  misdated 


396  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII. 

maintained,  both  he  and  the  other  Preceptors  of  the 
Order,  the  same  haughty  demeanor.  They  demanded 
again  and  again,  and  in  the  most  urgent  terms,  rigid 
investigation,  so  that,  if  blameless,  as  they  asserted, 
they  might  receive  public  absolution  ;  if  guilty,  might 
suffer  condemnation.1  Content  with  this  defiance  of 
their  enemies,  Du  Molay  and  the  other  Preceptors  re- 
turned quietly  to  Paris.2 

There  was  a  certain  Squino  di  Florian,  Prior  of 
squinodi  Montfalcon,  in  the  county  of  Toulouse,  who 
Fionau.  |ia(j  \>een  condemned,  as  a  heretic  and  a  man 
of  evil  life,  to  perpetual  imprisonment  in  the  dungeons 
of  one  of  the  royal  castles.  There  he  met  one  Roffo, 
a  Florentine,  an  apostate  Templar,  perhaps  some  oth- 
ers :  he  contrived  to  communicate  to  the  King's  officers 
that  he  could  reveal  foul  and  monstrous  secrets  of  the 
Order.  He  was  admitted  to  the  royal  presence  ;  and 
on  his  attestation  the  vague  and  terrible  charges,  which 
had  been  floating  about  as  rumors,  grew  into  distinct 
and  awful  articles  of  accusation.3 


by  Baluzius.  Wilcke  has  retained  the  error.  The  letter  mentions  the 
death  of  Edward  I.,  which  took  place  July  7,  1307.  It  was  written  when 
Clement  was  at  or  near  Poitiers.     The  king  had  left  the  city. 

1  "  Quia  verb  magister  militia?  Templi  ac  multi  praceptores,  tarn  de  regno 
tuo  quam  de  aliis,  ordinis  cum  eodem,  audito,  ut  dixerunt,  quid  tarn  erga 
nos  te  quam  erga  aliquos  alios  dominos  temporales  super  prsedicto  facto 
eorum  opinio  gravabatur,  a  nobis,  nedum  semel,  sed  pluries  cum  magna 
instantia  petierunt  quod  nos  super  illis  eis  falso  impositis,  ut  dicebant,  velle- 
mus  inquirere  veritatem,  ac  eos,  si  reperirentur,  ut  asserebant,  inculpabiles, 
absolvere,  vel  ipsos  si  reperirentur  culpabiles,  quod  nullatenus  credebant, 
condemnare  vellenms."  —  Ex  Epist.  ut  supra. 

2  Raynouard,  p.  18. 

3  Baluzii  Vit.  vi.  Villani,  viii.  92.  This  was  the  current  history  of  the 
time.  The  historian  expresses,  too,  the  prevailing  opinion  out  of  France. 
"  Ma  piii  si  dice,  che  fu  per  trarre  di  loro  molta  m  on  eta.  E  per  sdegnc 
preso  col  maestro  del  tempio,  e  colla  magione.  II  Papa  per  levarsi  del  dos- 
bo  il  Re  di  Francia  per  la  richiesta  del  condannare  Papa  Bonifazio  ...  pel 


Chap.  I.  ACCUSATIONS   AGAINST   THE   ORDER.  397 

Christendom  heard  with  amazement  and  horror  that 
this  noble,  proud,  and  austere  Order,  which  charges 

,,  ,f   ,  mii  •  i        i         a  agaiust  the 

had  waged  irreconcilable  war  with  the  oara-  Order, 
cens,  poured  its  best  blood,  like  water,  for  two  hundred 
years  on  the  soil  of  Palestine,  sworn  to  the  severest 
chastity  as  to  the  most  rigorous  discipline,  was  charged 
and  publicly  charged  by  the  King  of  France  with  the 
most  deliberate  infidelity,  with  the  most  revolting  lust, 
with  the  most  subtle  treason  to  Christendom.  The 
sum  of  these  charges,  as  appeared  from  the  examina- 
tions, was,  —  that  at  the  secret  initiation  into  the 
Order,  each  novice  was  compelled  to  deny  Christ,  and 
to  spit  upon  the  Cross ;  that  obscene  kisses  were  given 
and  received  by  the  candidate  ;  that  an  idol,  the  head 
either  of  a  cat,  or  with  two  human  faces,  or  that  of 
one  of  the  eleven  thousand  virgins,  or  of  some  other 
monstrous  form,  was  the  object  of  their  secret  wor- 
ship ;  that  they  wore  a  cord  which  had  acquired  a 
magical  or  talismanic  power  by  contact  with  this  idol ; 
that  full  license  was  granted  for  the  indulgence  of  un- 
natural lusts  ;  that  parts  of  the  canon  of  the  mass  were 
omitted  in  their  churches  ;  that  the  Grand  Master  and 
other  great  officers,  even  when  not  in  holy  orders, 
claimed  the  power  of  granting  absolution  ;  that  they 
were  in  secret  league  with  the  Mohammedans,  and  had 
constantly  betrayed  the  Christian  cause,  especially  that 
of  St.  Louis  at  Mansura.  These  were  the  formal  legal 
charges,  of  which  the  accusers  offered  to  furnish  proof, 
or  tc  wring  confession  by  torture  from  the  criminals 

piacere  al  Re  li  assente  di  cio  fare."  Dupuy  observes  (De  la  Condemna- 
tion des  Templiers,  p.  8),  that  all  the  historians  of  the  times  agree  in  this. 
He  refei'S  to  them.  Compare  also  Note,  p.  193,  in  Haveman,  Geschichtfl 
des  Ausgangs  des  Tempelherren  Ordens.     Stutgard,  1843. 


398  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XIL 

themselves.  Popular  credulity,  terror,  hatred,  envy, 
either  by  the  usual  inventiveness  of  common  rumor, 
or  by  the  industrious  malice  of  the  King  and  his  coun- 
sellors, darkened  even  these  crimes  into  more  appalling 
and  loathsome  acts.  If  a  Templar  refused  to  con- 
tinue to  his  death  in  his  wickedness,  he  was  burned 
and  his  ashes  given  to  be  drank  by  the  younger  Tem- 
plars. A  child  begotten  on  a  virgin  was  cooked  and 
roasted,  and  the  idol  anointed  with  its  fat.1 

Philip  did  not  await  the  tardy  decision  of  the  Pope. 
Arrest  of  the  A  slower  process  might  have  banded  together 
Templars.  ^s  formic|aDie  body,  thus  driven  to  despair, 
in  resistance  if  not  in  rebellion.  On  the  14th  of  Sep- 
tember, the  Feast  of  the  Elevation  of  the  Cross,  sealed 
instructions  were  issued  to  all  the  seneschals  and  other 
high  officers  of  the  crown  throughout  the  realm,  to 
summon  each  a  powerful  armed  force,  on  the  night 
of  the  12th  of  October :  then  and  not  before,  under 
pain  of  death,  to  open  those  close  instructions.2  The 
instructions  ran,  that  according  to  secret  counsels  taken 

1  See  the  eleven  articles  in  the  Chronique  de  Saint  Denys,  Bouquet,  p. 
G86.  Observe  among  the  more  heinous  charges  is  one  that  they  refused  to 
pay  taxes  to  the  king.  "  Que  eux  reconnurent  du  Trdsor  du  Roi  a  aucuns 
avoir  donn£,  qui  au  Roi  avoient  fait,  contrari&e,  laquelle  chose  dtoit  moult 
domageable  au  Royaume."  —  Art.  vi. 

2  In  Dupuy,  i.  p.  311.  There  is  a  copy  of  the  orders  addressed  to  the  Vi- 
dame  and  the  Bailiff  of  Amiens.  It  is  dated  Pontisera  (u  Pontoise").  But 
the  fullest  "  instructions"  are  those  from  the  archives  of  Nismes,  published 
by  Menard,  "  Histoire  de  Nismes,"  Preuves,  p.  195.  They  begin  with 
these  inflaming  words:  "  Res  amara,  res  flebilis,  res  quidem  cogitatu  horribi- 
lis,  auditu  teiribilis,  detestabilis  crimine,  execrabilis  scelere,  abhomiiiabilis 
opere,  detestanda  flagitio,  res  penitus  ymo  ab  omni  humanitate  seposita, 
dudum  fide  dignorum  relacione  multorum  .  .  .  ."  Those  employed  "  sai- 
zare"  must  be  well  armed,  "  in  manu  forti  ne  possit  per  illos  fratres  et 
eorum  familias  resisti."  Inquisition  was  to  be  made  "  particulariter  et 
diversim  omnimodo  quo  poterunt,  etiam  ubi  faciendum  viderint,  per  tor- 
menta."  —  p.  197. 


Chap.  I.  ARREST   OF   THE  TEMPLARS.  399 

with  the  Holy  Father  the  Pope,  with  his  cognizance  if 
not  his  sanction,  the  King  gave  command  to  arrest  on 
one  and  the  same  day  all  the  Knights  Templars  within 
+he  kingdom ;  to  commit  them  to  safe  custody,  and  to 
let  the  royal  seal  on  all  their  goods,  to  make  a  careful 
inventory  thereof,  and  to  retain  them  in  the  name  of 
■lie  King.  Philip's  officers  were  trained  to  execute 
these  rapid  and  simultaneous  movements  for  the  ap- 
prehension and  spoliation  of  some  devoted  class  of  his 
subjects.  That  which  had  succeeded  so  well  with  the 
defenceless  Lombards  and  Jews,  was  executed  with 
equal  promptitude  and  precision  against  the  warlike 
Templars.  .In  one  day  (Friday,  October  13th),  at  the 
dawn  of  one  day,  with  no  single  act  of  resistance,  with 
no  single  attempt  at  flight,  as  if  not  the  slightest  inti- 
mation of  measures  which  had  been  a  month  in  prepa- 
ration had  reached  their  ears  ;  or  as  if,  presuming  on 
their  innocence,  numbers,  or  popularity,  they  had  not 
deigned  to  take  alarm  :  the  whole  Order,  every  one  of 
these  high-born  and  valiant  warriors,  found  the  houses 
of  the  Order  surrounded  by  the  King's  soldiers,  and 
was  dragged  forth  to  prison.  The  inventory  of  the 
whole  property  was  made,  and  was  in  the  King's 
power.  In  Paris  William  of  Nogaret  and  Reginald 
de  Roye,  fit  executioners  of  such  a  mandate,  were  in- 
trusted with  the  arrest  of  the  Grand  Master  and  the 
Knights  in  Paris.  Jacques  du  Molay  but  the  day 
before  had  held  the  pall  at  the  funeral  of  the  King's 
sister.1  They  were  confined  in  separate  dungeons. 
The  royal  officers  took  possession  of  the  strong  and 
stately  mansion  which  had  given  refuge  to  the  King. 
E very vh are    throughout  France  there  wa*»  the  same* 

1  Poelu.  Ualut    *riu  '  Millet  TJist.  ^  tVn(;a>   vo]    'v.  ch   iii. 


400  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII 

suddenness,  the  same  despatch,  the  same  success.    Every 
Templar  in  the  realm  was  a  prisoner.1 

The  secrecy,  the  celerity,  the  punctuality  with  which 
Further  pro-  those  orders  were  executed  throughout  the 
ceedings.  realm,  could  not  but  excite,  even  had  they 
been  employed  on  an  affair  of  less  moment,  amazement 
and  admiration  bordering  on  terror.  The  Templars 
were  wealthy,  powerful,  had  connections  at  once  among 
the  highest  and  the  humblest  families.  They  had  been 
haughty,  insolent,  but  many  at  least  lavish  in  alms- 
giving. They  partook  of  the  sanctity  which  invested 
all  religious  bodies  ;  they  were  or  had  been  the  de- 
fenders of  the  Sepulchre  of  Christ ;  they  had  fought, 
knelt,  worshipped  in  the  Holy  Land.  It  was  prudent, 
if  not  necessary,  to  crush  a*t  once  all  popular  sympathy ; 
to  leave  no  doubt  of  the  King's  justice,  or  suspicion  of 
his  motives  in  seizing  such  rich  and  tempting  endow- 
ments. The  very  day  after  the  apprehension  of  the 
Knights,  the  Canons  of  Notre  Dame  and  the  Masters 
of  the  University  of  Paris  were  assembled  in  the  Chap- 
ter-house of  that  church.  The  Chancellor  William  of 
Nogaret,  the  Provost  of  Paris,  and  others  of  the  King's 
ministers,  with  William  Imbert,  the  King's  confessor 
and  Grand  Inquisitor  of  the  realm,  to  whose  jurisdic- 
tion the  whole  affair  was  committed,  made  their  ap- 
pearance, and  arraigned  the  Order  on  five  enormous 
fchtfrges.        charges.2     I.  The  denial  of  Christ  and   the 


1  Neither  the  names  nor  the  numbers  of  the  prisoners  in  other  seneschal- 
ties  are  known.  Sixty  were  arrested  at  Beaucaire:  forty-five  of  these  in- 
carcerated at  Aigues  Mortes,  fifteen  at  Nismes.  Thirty-three  were  com- 
mitted to  the  royal  castle  of  Alais. 

2  Casus  enormissimos.  Baluzii  Vit.  I.  The  first  of  these  Lives  (of 
Clement  V.)  was  written  by  John,  Canon  of  St.  Victor  in  Paris,  and  there- 
c<»re  is  the  best  authority  for  the  events  in  Paris. 


Chap.  I.  CHARGES  —  PREACHINGS.  401 

insult  to  the  Cross  ;  II.  The  adoration  of  an  idolatrous 
head  ;  III.  The  kisses  at  their  reception  ;  IV.  The 
omission  of  the  words  of  consecration  in  the  mass  ;  V. 
Unnatural  crimes.  On  the  same  day  (Saturday)  the 
theological  faculty  of  Paris  was  summoned  to  give 
judgment  whether  the  King  could  proceed  against  a 
religious  Order  on  his  own  authority.  They  took  time 
for  their  deliberation  :  their  formal  sentence  was  not 
promulgated  till  some  months  after ;  its  substance  was 
probably  declared  or  anticipated.  A  tempo-  Preachings. 
ral  judge  cannot  pass  sentence  in  case  of  heresy,  unless 
summoned  thereto  by  the  Church,  and  where  the  her- 
etics have  been  made  over  to  the  secular  arm.  But  in 
case  of  necessity  he  may  apprehend  and  imprison  a 
heretic,  with  the  intent  to  deliver  him  over  to  the 
Church.1  The  next  day  (Sunday)  the  whole  clergy 
and  the  people  from  all  the  parishes  of  the  city  were 
gathered  together  in  the  gardens  of  the  royal  palace. 
Sermons  were  delivered  by  the  most  popular  preachers, 
the  Friars  ;  addresses  were  made  to  the  multitude  by 
the  King's  ministers,  denouncing,  blackening,  aggra- 
vating the  crimes  of  the  Templars.  No  means  were 
spared  to  allay  any  possible  movement  of  interest  in 
their  favor.  Blow  followed  blow  without  pause  or 
delay ;  every  rebellious  impulse  of  sympathy,  every 
feeling  of  compunction,  respect,  gratitude,  pity,  must 
be  crushed  by  terror  out  of  the  hearts  of  men.2  The 
Grand  Inquisitor  opened  his  Court,  with  the  Chan- 
cellor, and  as  many  of  the  King's  ministers  as  were 
present.     The  apprehension  of  the  Templars,  in  order 

i  Crevier,  ii.  p.  207.    Wilcke,  i.  p.  284. 

2  "Ne  populus  scandal izaretur  de  eorum  tarn  subitanea,  captione.    Erant 
quippe  potentissimi  divitiis  et  lionore."  — Vit.  I.  p.  9. 
vol.  vi.  26 


402  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XIL 

to  their  safe  custody,  and  with  the  intent  to  deliver 
them  over  to  the  Church,  was  assumed,  or  declared  to 
be  within  the  province  of  the  temporal  power.  The 
final  judgment  was  reserved  for  the  Archbishops  and 
Bishops  :  but  the  Head  of  the  Inquisition,  the  Domin- 
can  William  Imbert,  thus  lent  the  terrors  of  his  pres- 
ence to  the  King's  commission. 

The  tribunal  sat  from  day  to  day,  endeavoring  to 
The  tribu-  extort  confession  from  the  one  hundred  and 
forty  prisoners,  who  were  separately  exam- 
ined. These  men,  some  brave  and  well-born,  but 
mostly  rude  and  illiterate  soldiers,  some  humble  servi- 
tors of  the  Order,  were  brought  up  from  their  dun- 
geons without  counsel,  mutual  communication,  or  legal 
advice,  and  submitted  to  every  trial  which  subtlety  01 
cruelty  could  invent,  or  which  could  work  on  the  feebler 
or  the  firmer  mind,  —  shame,  terror,  pain,  the  hope  of 
impunity,  of  reward.  Confession  was  bribed  out  of 
some  by  offers  of  indulgence,  wrung  from  others  by 
the  dread  of  torture,  by  actual  torture,  —  torture,  with 
the  various  ways  of  which  our  hearts  must  be  shocked, 
that  we  may  judge  more  fairly  on  their  effects.  These 
were  among  the  forms  of  procedure  by  torture  in  those 
times,  without  doubt  mercilessly  employed  in  the  dun- 
geons which  confined  the  Templars.  The  criminal  was 
Tortures.  stripped,  his  hands  tied  behind  him  ;  the  cord 
which  lashed  his  hands  hung  upon  a  pulley  at  some 
height  above.  At  the  sign  of  the  judge  he  was  hauled 
up  with  a  frightful  wrench,  and  then  violently  let  fall 
to  the  ground.  This  was  called  in  the  common  phrase, 
hoisting.  It  was  the  most  usual,  perhaps  the  mildest 
form  of  torture.  After  that  the  feet  of  the  criminal 
were  fixed  in  a  kind  of  stocks,  rubbed  with  oil,  and 


Chap.  i.  TORTURES.  403 

fire  applied  to  the  soles.  If  he  showed  a  disposition  to 
confess,  a  board  was  driven  between  his  feet  and  the 
fire  ;  if  he  gave  no  further  hopes,  it  was  withdrawn 
again.  Then  iron  boots  were  fitted  to  the  naked  heels, 
and  contracted  either  by  wedges  or  in  some  other  man- 
ner. Splinters  of  wood  were  driven  up  the  nails  into 
the  finger-joints ;  teeth  wrere  wrenched  out ;  heavy 
weights  hung  on  the  most  sensitive  parts  of  the  body, 
even  on  the  genitals.  And  these  excruciating  agonies 
were  inflicted  by  the  basest  executioners,  on  proud  men, 
suddenly  degraded  into  criminals,  their  spirits  shattered 
either  by  the  sudden  withdrawal  from  the  light  of  day, 
from  the  pride,  pomp,  it  might  be  the  luxury  of  life 
into  foul,  narrow,  sunless  dungeons  ;  or  more  slowly 
broken  by  long  incarceration  in  these  clammy,  noisome 
boles :  some  almost  starved.  The  effect  upon  their 
minds  will  appear  hereafter  from  the  horror  and  shud- 
dering agony  with  which  they  are  reverted  to  by  the 
bravest  Knights.  If  their  hard  frames,  inured  to  en- 
durance in  adventure  and  war,  might  feel  less  acutely 
the  bodily  sufferings,  their  lofty  and  generous  minds 
would  be  more  sensitive  to  the  shame  and  degradation. 
Knights  were  racked  like  the  basest  slaves  ;  and  there 
was  nothing  to  awaken,  everything  to  repress,  the  pride 
of  endurance  ;  no  publicity,  nothing  of  the  stern  con- 
solation of  defying,  or  bearing  bravely  or  contempt- 
uously before  the  eyes  of  men  the  cruel  agony.  It  was 
all  secret,  all  in  the  depths  of  the  gloomy  dungeon, 
where  human  sympathy  and  human  admiration  could 
not  find  their  way.  And  according  to  the  rigor  and 
the  secrecy  of  the  torture  was  the  terrible  temptation 
of  the  weak  or  fearful,  of  those  whose  patience  gave 
way  with  the  first  wrench  of  the  rack,  to  purchase  im- 


404  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII. 

punity  by  acknowledging  whatever  the  accuser  might 
suggest :  to  despair  of  himself,  of  the  Order,  whose 
doom  might  seem  irretrievably,  irrevocably  sealed. 
Their  very  vices  (and  no  doubt  many  had  vices),  the 
unmeasured  haughtiness  of  most,  the  licentious  self- 
indulgence  of  some,  would  aggravate  the  trial ;  utter 
prostration  would  follow  overweening  pride,  softness, 
luxury. 

Some  accordingly  admitted  at  once  or  slowly,  and 
confessions,  with  bitter  tears,  a  part  or  the  whole  of  the 
charges ;  some  as  it  seemed,  touched  with  repentance, 
some  at  the  threats,  at  the  sight  of  the  instruments  of 
torture  ;  some  not  till  after  long  actual  suffering ;  some 
beguiled  by  bland  promises  ;  some  subdued  by  starva- 
tion in  prison.  Many,  however,  persevered  to  the  end 
in  calm  and  steadfast  denial,  more  retracted  their  con 
fessions,  and  expired  upon  the  rack.1  The  King  him- 
self, by  one  account,  was  present  at  the  examination 
of  the  Grand  Master  :  the  awe  of  the  royal  presence 
wrought  some  to  confession.  But  Philip  withdrew,  it 
should  seem,  when  tortures  were  actually  applied,  under 
which,  it  is  said,  in  the  unintentional  irony  of  the  his- 
torian, some  willingly  confessed,  though  others  died 
without  confession.  To  those  who  confessed  the  King 
seemed  disposed  to  hold  out  the  possibility  of  mercy.2 

1  "  Factumque  est  ut  eorum  nonnulli  sponte  qusedam  preemissorum  vel 
omnia  lacrymabiliter  sunt  confessi.  Alii  quidem,  ut  videbatur,  poenitentia 
ducti,  alii  autem  diversis  tormentis  quaestionati,  vel  comminatione  vel 
eorum  aspectu  perterriti ;  alii  blandis  tracti  promissionibus  et  illecti ;  alii 
carceris  inedia  cruciati  vel  coacti  multipliciterque  compulsi.  .  .  .  Multi 
tamen  penitus  omnia  negaverunt,  et  plures  qui  confessi  primo  fuerunt  ad 
negationem  postea  reversi  sunt,  in  ea  fortiter  perseverantes,  quorum  non- 
nulli inter  ipsa  supplicia  perierunt."  —  Continuat.  Nangis. 

2  "  Magister  militia?  Templariorum  cum  multis  militibus,  et  viris  magnis 
sui  Ordinis  captus  apud  Parisios  coram  Rege  productus  fuisset.  Tunc  qui- 
dam  ipsorum  propter  vcrecundiam  veritatem  dc  prasmissis  denegaverunt 


cJBap.I.  CONFESSION   OF   GRAND   MASTER.  405 

After  some  interval  the  University  of  Paris  was 
summoned  to  the  Temple  to  hear  nothing  confession 
less  than  the  confession  of  the  Grand  Master  Master 
himself.  How  Du  Molay  was  wrought  to  confession, 
by  what  persuasion  or  what  violence,  remained  among 
the  secrets  of  his  dungeon  ;  it  is  equally  uncertain  what 
were  the  articles  which  he  confessed.  Some  at  this  trial 
asserted  that  the  accursed  form  of  initiation  had  been 
unknown  in  the  Order  till  within  the  last  forty  years. 
But  this  was  not  enough  ;  they  must  be  won  or  com- 
pelled to  more  full  acknowledgment.  At  a  second  ses- 
sion before  the  University  the  Master  and  the  rest 
pleaded  guilty,  and  in  the  name  of  the  whole  Order,  to 
all  the  charges.1  The  King's  Almoner,  the  Treasurer 
of  the  Temple  at  Paris,  made  the  same  confession. 
But  this  confession  of  the  Grand  Master,  however 
industriously  bruited  abroad,  in  whatever  form  it  might 
seem  fit  to  the  enemies  of  the  Order,  though  no  doubt 
it  had  a  poAverful  effect  upon  the  weaker  brethren  who 
sought  a  precedent  for  their  weakness,  and  with  those 
who  might  think  a  cause  abandoned  by  the  Grand  Mas- 
ter utterly  desperate,  by  no  means  produced  complete 
submission.  Still  a  great  number  of  the  Knights  repu- 
diated the  base  example,  disbelieved  its  authenticity,  or 
excused  it,  as  wrung  from  him  by  intolerable  tortures ; 
they  sternly  adhered  to  their  denial.  One  brave  old 
Knight   in    the    South    declared    that    "if  the   Grand 

et  quiclam  alii  ipsam  sibi  confessi  fuerunt.  Sed  postea  illi  qui  denegabant 
cum  tormentis  ipsam  tunc  Hbenter  confitebantur,  et  aliqui  ipsorum  in  tor- 
inentis  sine  confessione  moriebantur,  vel  comburebantur  (the  burning  was 
later).  Et  tunc  de  confitentibus  ultra  (ultro?)  veritatem  ipse  mitius  se 
habebat."  —  Vit.  VI.  apud  Baluz.  p.  101. 

1  They  were  not  content  to  admit  "  quosdam  articulorum."  "  Item  in 
alia  congregatione  coram  Universitate  Magister  et  alii  plures  simpliciter 
sunt  confessi,  et  Magister  pro  toto  Ordine."  —  Vit.  I.  p.  10. 


406  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XIi. 

Master  had  uttered  such  things,  he  had  lied  in  his 
throat." 

The  interrogatory  had  done  its  work.  The  prisoners 
were  carried  back  to  their  dungeons,  some  in  the  Tem- 
ple, some  in  the  Louvre,  and  in  other  prisons.  The 
Grand  Master  with  the  three  Preceptors  of  the  Order 
were  transferred  to  the  royal  castle  of  Corbeil ;  the 
Treasurers  to  Moret.  In  these  prisons  many  died  of 
hunger,  of  remorse,  and  anguish  of  mind ;  some  hung 
themselves  in  despair.1 

With  no  less  awful  despatch  proceeded  the  interroga- 
tories in  other  parts  of  France.  Everywhere  torture 
was  prodigally  used ;  everywhere  was  the  same  result, 
some  free  confessions,  some  retractations  of  confessions  ; 
some  bold  and  inflexible  denials  of  the  whole ;  some 
equivocations,  some  submissions  manifestly  racked  out 
of  unwilling  witnesses  by  imprisonment,  exhaustion, 
and  agony. 

The  Grand  Inquisitor  proceeded  on  a  circuit  to 
interrogate  Bayeux :  in  the  other  northern  cities  he  dele- 
pwvhices.  gated  his  work  usually  to  Dominican  Friars. 
Oct.  28, 1307.  Thirteen  were  examined  at  Caen,  seven  of 
them  had  been  previously  interrogated  at  Pont  de 
FArche.  Twelve  made  confession  after  torture,  on 
the  promise  of  absolution  from  the  Church,  and  secu- 
rity against  secular  punishment.  Ten  others  were  ex- 
amined at  Pont  de  l'Arche.  In  the  south,  of  seven  at 
Cahors,  two  recanted  their  confession.  At  Clermont 
twenty-nine  obstinately  denied  the  charges,  forty  ad- 
mitted their  truth.  Two  German  Templars,  returning 
from  Paris,  were  arrested  at  Chaumont,  in  Lorraine ; 

i  "  Ubi  fama  referebat,  plures  mortuos  fuisse  inedia,  vel  cordis  tristitia 
rel  ex  desperatione  suspendio  periisse"  —  Vit.  I. 


Chap.  1  INTEROGATORIES.  407 

tliey  steadfastly  denied  the  whole.  In  the  seneschalty 
of  Beaucaire  and  Nismes1  sixty-six  Templars  had  been 
arrested  by  Edward  de  Maubrisson  and  William  de  St. 
Just,  the  Lieutenant  of  the  Seneschal,  Bertrand  Jour- 
dain  de  l'lsle.  They  had  been  committed  to  different 
prisons.  Edward  de  Maubrisson  held  his  first  sitting  at 
Aigues  Mortes  upon  forty-five  who  were  in  the  dun- 
geons of  that  city.  The  King's  Advocate,  the  King's 
Justice,  and  two  other  nobles  were  present,  but  no 
ecclesiastic  either  during  this  or  any  of  the  subsequent 
sessions.  According  to  the  precise  instructions  the  fol- 
lowing questions  were  put  to  the  criminals,  but  cau- 
tiously and  carefully,2  and  at  first  only  in  general 
terms,  in  order  to  elicit  free  confession.  Where  it 
was  necessary  torture  was  to  be  applied.  I.  That  on 
the  reception  the  postulant  was  led  into  a  sacristy 
behind  the  altar,  commanded  thrice  to  deny  Christ, 
and  to  spit  on  the  crucifix.  Then,  II.  When  he  was 
unclothed,  the  Initiator  kissed  him  on  the  navel,  the 
spine,  and  the  mouth.  III.  He  was  granted  full  license 
fc  the  indulgence  of  unnatural  lusts.  IV.  Girt  with 
a  cord  which  had  been  drawn  across  the  idol-head.  In 
the  provincial  chapters  an  idol,  a  human  head,  was 
worshipped.  V.  The  clerical  brethren  were  alone  to 
be  pressed  on  the  omission  of  the  words  in  the  mass. 

Eight  servitors  were    first   introduced.     They  con- 
fessed the  whole  of  the   first  charges ;  they  Nov.  8, 1307. 
declared  that  they  had  denied  Christ  in  fear  of  impris- 
onment, even  of  death ;  but  they  had  denied  him  with 

1  In  this  seneschalty  lay  the  great  estate  of  William  of  Nogaret.  There 
are  several  royal  grants  in  the  documents  at  the  end  of  Menard,  Histoire 
de  Nismes,  vol.  i.,  which  show  that  Nogaret  was  not  sparingly  rewarded, 
even  by  his  parsimonious  king,  for  his  services. 

2  "  Caute  et  dilijrenter." 


408  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII. 

the  lips,  not  the  heart ;  they  swore  that  they  had  never 
committed  unnatural  crimes  ;  of  the  idol  and  the  omis- 
sion of  the  words  in  the  mass  they  knew  nothing.  On 
the  following  day  thirty-five  more  were  examined,  all 
servitors  except  one  clerk  and  three  Knights,  Pons  Se- 
guin,  Bertrand  de  Silva,  Bertrand  de  Salgues.  The 
same  confession,  word  for  word,  the  same  reservation : 
the  priest  alone  acknowledged  that  he  had  administered 
an  unconsecrated  Host,  omitting  the  words  of  consecra- 
tion ;  but  in  his  heart  he  had  never  neglected  to  utter 
them.  There  is  throughout  the  same  determination  to 
limit  the  confession  to  the  narrowest  bounds,  to  keep  to 
the  words  of  the  charges,  absolutely  to  exculpate  them- 
selves, and  to  criminate  the  Order,  from  which  some 
might  rejoice  to  be  released,  others  think  irrevocably 
doomed.  They  were  all  afterwards  summoned,  in  the 
presence  of  two  monks  in  the  Dominican  cloister  at 
Nismes,  to  whom  the  Grand  Inquisitor  had  given  power 
to  act  for  the  Holy  Office,  to  repeat  their  confession, 
and  admonished  within  eight  days  still  further  to  con- 
fess any  heresies  of  which  they  might  have  been  guilty. 
Maubrisson  also  passed  to  Nismes  ;  fifteen  servitors  were 
interrogated ;  there  were  the  same  confessions,  the  same 
denials.  At  Carcassonne  the  Preceptor  of  the  wealthy 
house  of  Villedieu,  Cassaignes,  with  four  others,  were 
examined  before  the  Bishop,  Peter  de  Rochefort :  they 
admitted  all,  even  the  idol.1 

The  Pope  was  no  less  astounded  than  the  rest  of 
Conduct  of  Christendom  by  this  s*udden  and  rapid  meas- 
the  Pope.       ure^  so  opposite  to  the  tardy  and  formal  pro- 

1  The  report,  the  fullest  and  most  minute  of  all,  as  to  the  interrogatories 
at  Nismes,  is  dated  1310.  But  it  contains  the  earlier  proceedings  from  the 
beginning  of  the  prosecution  out  of  the  Authentic  Acts.  I  have  therefore 
dwelt  upon  it  more  at  length.  — Menard,  Hist,  de  Nismes,  p.  449;  Preuves, 
p.  195 


Chap.  I.  THE  POPE.  409 

cedures  of  the  Roman  Court.  It  was  a  flagrant  and 
insulting  invasion  of  the  Papal  rights,  the  arrest  of  a 
whole  religious  Order,  under  the  special  and  peculiar 
protection  of  the  Pope,  and  the  seizure  of  all  their 
estates  and  goods,  so  far  as  yet  appeared,  for  the  royal 
use.  It  looked  at  first  like  a  studied  exclusion  of  all 
spiritual  persons  even  from  the  interrogatory.  Clem- 
ent could  not  suppress  his  indignation :  he  Poitiers# 
broke  out  into  angry  expressions  against  the  0ct-27- 
King  ;  he  issued  a  Bull,  in  which  he  declared  it  an  un 
heard-of  measure  that  the  secular  power  should  presume 
to  judge  religious  persons ;  to  the  Pope  alone  belonged 
the  jurisdiction  over  the  Knights  Templars.  He  de- 
posed William  Imbert  from  the  office  of  Grand  Inquis- 
itor, as  having  presumptuously  overstepped  his  powers. 
He  sent  two  Legates,  the  Cardinal  Berenger  of  Fredeol 
and  Stephen  of  Suza,  to  demand  the  surrender  of  the 
prisoners  and  of  their  estates  to  the  Pope.  In  a  letter 
to  the  Archbishops  of  Rheims,  Bourges  and  Tours,  he 
declared  that  he  had  been  utterly  amazed  at  the  arrest 
of  the  Templars,  and  the  hasty  proceedings  of  the 
Grand  Inquisitor,  who,  though  he  lived  in  his  immedi- 
ate neighborhood,  had  given  him  no  intimation  of  the 
Kind's  design.  He  had  his  own  views  on  the  sub- 
ject ;  his  mind  could  not  be  induced  to  believe  the 
charges.1 

But,  when  the  first  impulse  of  his  wrath  was  over, 
the  Pope  felt  his  own  impotence ;  he  was  in  the  toils, 
in  the  power,  now  imprudently  within  the  dominions, 
»f  the  relentless  Philip  ;  his  resentment  speedily  cooled 
down.  The  great  prelates  of  France  arrayed  them- 
selves on  the  side  of  the  King.     The  King  held  secret 

1  Dachery,  Spicilegium,  x.  3G6. 


410  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XIL 

councils  at  Melun,  and  at  other  places,  with  the  Princes 
and  Bishops  of  the  realm,  meditating,  it  might  be, 
strong  measures  against  the  Pope.  Somewhat  later, 
the  Archbishop  of  Rheims  announced  to  the  King  that 
himself,  with  his  Suffragans  and  Chapter,  had  met  at 
Senlis,  and  were  prepared  to  aid  the  King  in  his  prose- 
cution of  the  Templars.1 

The  King  of  France  had  laid  down  a  wide  scheme 
for  the  suppression  of  the  Templars,  not  in  his  own  do- 
minions alone,  but  throughout  Christendom.  Abolished 
on  account  of  their  presumed  irregularities  in  France, 
the}'  could  not  be  permitted,  as  involved  in  the  same 
guilt,  to  subsist  in  the  English  dominions  in  France,  in 
Provence,  or  even  in  England.  Already,  on  the  issu- 
Message  to  m§  ^he  instructions  for  their  arrest,  Philip  had 
England.  despatched  an  ecclesiastic,  Bernard  Pelet,  to 
his  son-in-law,  Edward  II.  of  England,  to  inform  him 
of  their  guilt  and  heresy,  and  to  urge  him  to  take  the 
same  measures  for  their  apprehension.  Edward  and 
his  Barons  declared  themselves  utterly  amazed  at  the 
demand.2  Neither  he  nor  his  Prelates  and  Barons 
could  at  first  credit  the  abominable  and  execrable 
charges ;  but  before  the  end  of  the  year,  the  Pope 
himself,  as  if  unwilling  that  Edward,  as  Philip  had 
done,  should  take  the  affair  into  his  own  hands  and 
proceed  without  Papal  authority,  hastened  to  issue  a 
Bull,  in  which  he  commanded  the  King  to  arrest  all  the 
Templars  in  his  dominions,  and  to  sequester  their  lands 
and  property.     The  Bull,  however,  seemed  studiously 

1  "Ad  vestram  presenciam  duximus  destinandum  (episcopum)  ad  assen- 
tiendum  secundum  Deum  et  justi tiara  vestrae  majestati."  — Archives  Ad 
ministnt.  de  Rheims,  Collect.  Documents  IncMits,  ii.  65. 

2  22d  Sept.,  Edwardus  Philippe  —  Rymer,  iii.  ad  arm.  1307. 


Chap.  I.  TEMPLARS   IN  ENGLAND.  411 

to  limit  the  guilt  to  individual  members  of  the  Order.1 
The  goods  were  to  be  retained  for  the  service  of  the 
Holy  Land,  if  the  Order  should  be  condemned,  other- 
wise to  be  preserved  for  the  Order.  It  referred  to  the 
confession  of  the  Grand  Master  at  Paris,  that  this  abuse 
had  crept  in  at  the  instigation  of  Satan,  contrary  to  the 
Institutes  of  the  Order.  The  Pope  declares  that  one 
brother  of  the  Order,  a  man  of  high  birth  and  rank, 
had  made  full  confession  to  himself  of  his  crime  ;  that  in 
the  kingdom  of  Cyprus  a  noble  knight  had  made  his 
abnegation  0f  Christ  at  the  command  of  the  Grand 
Master  in  the  presence  of  a  hundred  knights. 

King  Edward  had  hesitated.  On  the  4th  December, 
as  though  under  the  influence  of  the  Templars  them- 
selves, he  wrote  to  the  Kings  of  Portugal,  Castile, 
Sicily,  and  Arragon.  He  expressed  strong  suspicion 
of  Bernard  Pelet,  who  had  presumed  to  make  some 
horrid  and  detestable  accusations  against  the  Order, 
and  endeavored  by  letters  of  certain  persons,  which  he 
had  produced  (those  of  the  King  of  France),  but  had 
procured,  as  Edward  believed,  by  undue  means,  to 
induce  the  King  to  imprison  all  the  brethren  of  the 
Temple  in  his  dominions.  He  urged  those  Kings  to 
avert  their  ears  from  the  calumniators  of  the  Order, 
to  join  him  in  protecting  the  Knights  from  the  avarice 
and  jealousy  of  their  enemies.2  Still  later,  King  Ed- 
ward, in  a  letter  to  the  Pope,  asserts  the  pure  faith  and 
lofty  morals  of  the  Order,  and  speaks  of  the  detractions 

1  "  Quod  singuli  fratres  dicti  ordinis  in  sua,  professione  .  .  .  expressis 
verbis  abnegant  Jes.  Christum.  .  .  ."  See  the  Bull,  "  Pastoralis  praeemi- 
aentioe  solio."  —  Raynaldus  sub  ann.    Nov.  22,  Rymer. 

2  "  Aures  vestras  a  perversorum  detractionibus,  qui,  ut  credimus,  non 
zelo  rectitudinis  sed  cupiditatis  et  invidiam  spiritibus  excitantur,  avertere 
velitis."  —  Redyng.  Dec.  4,  Rymer  sub  ann. 


412  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII. 

and  calumnies  of  a  few  persons  jealous  of  their  great- 
ness, and  convicted  of  ill-will  to  the  Order.1 

The  Papal  Bull  either  appalled  or  convinced  the 
Arrest.  King  of  England.     Only  five  days  after  his 

letter  (the  Bull  having  arrived  in  the  interim),  orders 
were  issued  to  the  sheriffs  for  the  general  arrest  of  the 
Templars  throughout  England.  The  persons  of  the 
knights  were  to  be  treated  with  respect,  the  inventory 
of  their  names  and  effects  returned  into  the  Exchequer 
Dec.  20.  at  Westminster.  The  same  instructions  were 
sent  to  Wales,  Ireland,  and  Scotland.  On  the  28th 
December  the  King  informed  the  Pope  that  he  would 
speedily  carry  his  commands  into  execution.  On  the 
Wednesday  after  Epiphany  the  arrest  took  place  with 
the  same  simultaneous  promptitude  as  in  France,  and 
without  resistance. 

The  King  of  Naples,  as  Count  of  Provence,  followed 
King  of  exactly  the  plan  of  the  King  of  France.  He 
Naples.  transmitted  sealed  instructions  to  all  the  offi- 

cers of  the  Crown,  which  were  to  be  opened  on  the 
24th  January.  On  the  25th  all  the  Templars  in  Pro- 
vence and  Forcalquier  were  committed  to  the  prisons 
of  Aix  and  Pertuis  ;  those  of  the  counties  of  Nice, 
Grafe,  St.  Maurice,  and  the  houses  in  Avignon  and 
Aries,  to  the  Castle  of  Meirargues. 

Just  at  this  juncture  an  appalling  event  took  place, 
Death  of  the  wmcn  in  some  degree  distracted  the  attention 
Emperor.  of  Christendom  from  the  rapidly  unfolding 
tragedy  of  the  Templars,  and  had  perhaps  no  inconsid- 
erable though  remote  influence  on  their  doom.  The 
Emperor  Albert  was  murdered  at  Konigstein  by  his 
own  nephew,  John,  in  the  full  view  of  their  ancestral 

1  Ryiner,  Dec.  10. 


Chap.  I.  VACANCY  IX  THE  EMPIRE.  418 

house.1  The  King  of  France  was  known  to  aspire  to 
the  imperial  crown,  if  not  for  himself,  for  his  brother 
Charles  of  Valois.  He  instantly  despatched  chariesof 
ambassadors  to  secure  the  support  of  the  Pope  the  Empire. 
for  Charles  of  Valois  —  Charles,  the  old  enemy  of 
Clement,  to  whom  he  had  been  reconciled  only  on  com- 
pulsion. It  is  even  asserted  that  he  demanded  this  as 
the  last,  the  secret  stipulation,  sworn  to  by  the  Pope 
when  he  sold  himself  to  the  King  for  the  tiara.2  But 
the  accumulation  of  crowns  on  the  heads  of  the  princes 
of  France  was  not  more  formidable  to  the  liberties  of 
Europe  than  to  the  Pope,  who  must  inevitably  sink 
even  into  more  ignoble  vassalage.  A  Valois  ruled  in 
France  and  in  Naples.     A  daughter  of  the  King  of 

1  Coxe  has  told  coldly  the  terrible  vengeance  of  the  Empress  Agnes. 
She  witnessed  the  execution  of  sixty-three  of  the  retainers  of  the  Lord  of 
Balm,  the  accomplice  of  John  of  Hapsburg.  "  Now,"  she  said,  as  the 
blood  flowed,  "I  bathe  in  honey  dew."  She  founded  the  magnificent  con- 
vent of  Konigstein,  of  which  fine  ruins  remain.  Christianity  still  finds  a 
voice  in  the  wildest  and  worst  times.  The  rebuke  of  the  hermit  to  the 
vengeful  Empress  must  be  heard :  "  God  is  not  served  by  shedding  inno- 
cent blood,  and  by  building  convents  from  the  plunder  of  families,  but  by 
confession  and  forgiveness  of  injuries."  —  Compare  Coxe's  Austria,  ch.  vi. 

2  "  Rex  autem  Francise  Philippus,  audita  vacatione  imperii,  cogitavit  fa- 
cile posse  imperium  redire  ad  Francos,  ratione  sextae  promissionis  factae 
sibi  a  Papa,  si  operam  daret  ut  papa  crearetur,  sicut  factum  est.  Kam  cum 
explicasset  jam  earn,  videlicet  in  delendo  quicquid  gestum  fuit  per  Boni- 
facium  et  memoriam  ejus,  ad  quod  Papa  se  difficultabat,  et  in  posterum 
hoc  offerebat  agendum,  arbitratus  est  Rex  commutari  facere  quod  fuerat 
po-tulatum  ab  eo  in  sibi  utilius  et  honorabilius  negotium,  ut  videlicet  loco 
prsedictae  petitionis  hoc  concederetur,  ut  Dominus  Carolus  Valisiensius, 
frater  ejus  eligeretur  in  Imperatorem.  Quod  satis  sequum  et  exiguibile 
videbatur,  cum  Bonifacius  Papa  hoc  ei  promississet,  et  ad  hoc  multa  fece- 
rat  pro  ecclesia.  Sed  et  olim  imperium  fuerat  apud  Francos  tempore 
Caroli  magni,  translatum  a  Gnecis  ad  eos,  sic  possit  transire  de  Teutonicig 
ad  Francos."  —  S.  Antonini  Chronicon,  iii.  p.  276.  This  Chronicle  is  a 
compilation  in  the  words  of  other  writers,  but  shows  what  writers  were 
held  in  best  esteem,  when  the  Archbishop  of  Florence  (afterwards  canon- 
ized) wrote  during  the  next  century. 


414  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII. 

France  was  on  the  throne  of  England :  it  might  be 
hoped,  or  foreseen,  that  the  young,  beautiful,  and  am- 
bitious bride  might  wean  her  feeble  husband  from  the 
disgraceful  thraldom  of  his  minions,  and  govern  him 
who  could  not  govern  himself.  If  Charles  were  Em- 
peror, what  power  in  Europe  could  then  resist  or  con- 
trol this  omnipotent  house  of  Valois  ? 

Philip  had  already  bought  the  vote  and  support  of 
the  Archbishop  of  Cologne  ;  he  anticipated  the  tame 
acquiescence  of  the  Pope.  Charles  of  Valois  visited 
the  Pope  with  the  ostentation  of  respect,  but  at  the 
head  of  six  thousand  men-at-arms. 

But  the  sagacious  Cardinal  da  Prato  was  at  hand  to 
keep  alive  the  fears  and  to  guide  the  actions  of  Clem- 
ent. The  Pope  had  no  resource  but  profound  dissim- 
ulation, or  rather  consummate  falsehood.  He  wrote 
publicly  to  recommend  Charles  of  Valois  to  the  elec- 
tors ;  his  secret  agents  urged  them  to  secure  their  own 
liberties  and  the  independence  of  the  Church  by  any 
Henry  of  other  choice.1  The  election  dragged  on  for 
Emperor.  some  months  of  doubt,  vacillation,  and  in- 
trigue. At  length  Henry  of  Luxemburg  was  named 
King  of  the  Romans.2  Clement  pretended  to  submit 
to  the  hard  necessity  of  consenting  to  a  choice  in  which 
six  of  the  electors  had  concurred  ;  he  could  no  longer 
in  decency  assert  the  claims  of  Charles  of  Valois. 
Philip  suppressed  but  did  not  the  less  brood  over  his 
disappointment  and  wrath. 

Thus  all   this  time,  if  Clement  had  any  lingering 

•  Sed  omnipotens  Deus  (writes  S.  Antoninus)  qui  dissipat  consilia  princi- 
pum  .  .  .  non  permisit  rem  ipsam  suum  habere  effectum,  ne  ecelesia  regno 
Franciai  subiiceretur."  —  Ibid. 
*  A.t  Frankfort,  Nov.  27,  1308. 


Chap.  I.  PARLIAMENT  OF  TOURS.  415 

desire  to  show  favor  or  justice  to  the  Templars,  or  to 
maintain  the  Order,  it  had  sunk  into  an  object  not  only 
secondary  to  that  which  he  thought  his  paramount  duty 
and  the  chief  interest  of  the  Papacy,  to  avert  the  con- 
demnation from  the  memory  of  Boniface  ;  but  also  to 
that  of  rescuing  the  imperial  crown  from  the  grasp  of 
France.  To  contest  a  third,  a  more  doubtful  issue 
with  King  Philip,  was  in  his  situation,  and  with  his 
pliant  character,  with  his  fatal  engagements,  and 
his  want  of  vigor  and  moral  dignity,  beyond  his 
powers. 

The  King  neglected  no  means  to  overawe  the  Pope. 
He  had  succeeded  in  making  his  quarrel  with  Parliament 
Pope  Boniface  a  national  question.  For  theofTour8, 
first  time  the  Commons  of  France  had  been  summoned 
formally  and  distinctly  to  the  Parliament,  which  had 
given  weight  and  dignity  to  the  King's  proceedings 
against  Pope  Boniface.1  The  States- General,  the 
burghers  and  citizens,  as  well  as  the  nobles  and  prel- 
ates, the  whole  French  nation,  were  how  again  sum- 
moned to  a  Parliament  at  Tours  on  May  1.  Philip 
knew  that  by  this  time  he  had  penetrated  the  whole 
realm  with  his  hatred  of  the  Templars.  The  Order 
had  been  long  odious  to  the  clergy,  as  interfering  with 
their  proceedings,  and  exercising  spiritual  functions  at 
least  within  their  own  precincts.  The  Knights  sat 
proudly  aloof  in  their  own  fastnesses,  and  despised  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  Bishop  or  the  Metropolitan.  The 
excommunication,  the  interdict,  which  smote  or  silenced 
the  clergy,  had  no  effect  within  the  walls  of  the  Tem- 
ple. Their  bells  tolled,  their  masses  were  chanted, 
when  all  the  rest  of  the  kingdom  was  in  silence  and 

1  See  above,  page  318. 


416  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII. 

sorrow ;  men  fled  to  them  to  find  the  consolations  for- 
bidden elsewhere.  Their  ample  and  growing  estates 
refused  to  pay  tithe  to  the  clergy ;  their  exemption 
rested  on  Papal  authority.  It  was  one  of  the  charges 
which  in  enormity  seemed  to  be  not  less  hateful  than 
the  most  awful  blasphemy  or  the  foulest  indulgences, 
that  the  great  officers,  the  Grand  Master,  though  not 
in  orders,  dared  to  pronounce  the  absolution.  The 
Nobles  were  jealous  of  a  privileged  Order,  and  no 
doubt  with  the  commonalty  looked  to  some  lightening 
of  their  own  burdens  from  the  confiscation,  to  which 
they  would  willingly  give  their  suffrage,  of  the  estates 
of  the  Templars  ;  nor  did  these  proud  feudal  lords  like 
men  prouder  than  themselves.1  Among  the  common- 
alty the  dark  rumors  so  industriously  disseminated,  the 
reports  of  full  and  revolting  confessions,  had  now  been 
long  working  ;  the  popular  mind  was  fully  possessed 
with  horror  at  these  impious,  execrable  practices.  At 
particular  periods,  free  institutions  are  the  most  ready 
and  obsequious  instruments  of  tyranny :  the  popular 
Parliament  of  Philip  the  Fair  sanctioned,  by  their  ac- 
clamation, his  worst  iniquities;2  and  the  politic  Philip, 
before  this  appeal  to  the  people,  knew  well  to  what 
effect  the  popular  voice  would  speak.  The  Parliament 
of  Tours,  with  hardly  a  dissentient  vote,  declared  the 
Templars  worthy  of  death.3  The  University  of  Paris 
gave  the  weight  of  their  judgment  as  to  the  fulness  and 
authenticity  of  the  confessions  ;  at  the  same  time  they 

1  Eight  of  the  nobility  of  Languedoc,  at  the  Parliament  of  Tours,  in- 
trusted their  powers  to  William  of  Nogaret.  —  Hist,  de  Languedoc,  iv.  146. 

2  "  Intendebat  enim  Rex  sapienter  agere.  Et  ideo  volebat  hominem 
cujuslibet  conditionis  regni  sui  habere  judicium  vel  assensum,  ne  possit  in 
aliquo  reprehendi."  —  Vit.  i.  p.  12. 

8  Vit.  i.  ibid. 


G&ap.  1.  CONDUCT   OF   THE  POPE.  417 

reasserted  the  sole  right  of  the  Roman  Court  to  pass 
the  final  sentence. 

From  Tours,  the  King,  with  his  sons,  brothers,  and 
chief  counsellors,  proceeded  at  Whitsuntide  to  the  Pope 
at  Poitiers.  He  came  armed  with  the  Acts  of  the  Gen- 
eral Estates  of  the  realm.  They  were  laid  before  the 
Pope  by  William  de  Plasian.  The  Pope  was  sum- 
moned to  proceed  against  the  Order  for  confessed  and 
notorious  heresy. 

This  appeal  to  his  tribunal  seemed  to  awaken  Clem- 
ent to  the  consciousness  of  his  strength.  For  the  tem- 
poral power  to  assume  the  right,  even  now  when  the 
Pope  was  in  the  King's  realm,  of  adjudging  in  causes 
of  heresy,  was  too  flagrant  an  invasion  on  the  spiritual 
power.  The  fate  of  the  Order  too  must  depend  on  the 
Pope.  The  King  might  seize,  imprison,  interrogate, 
even  put  to  the  torture,  individual  Templars,  his  sub- 
jects ;  but  the  dissolution  of  the  Order,  founded  under 
the  Papal  sanction,  guaranteed  by  so  many  Papal 
Bulls,  could  not  be  commanded  by  any  other  author- 
ity. Clement  intrenched  himself  behind  the  yet  lin- 
gering awe,  the  yet  unquestioned  dignity  of  the  Papal 
See.  "  The  charges  were  heavy,  but  they  had  been 
pressed  on  with  indecent  haste,  without  consulting  the 
successor  of  St.  Peter ;  the  Grand  Inquisitor  had  ex- 
ceeded his  powers  ;  the  Pope  demanded  that  all  the 
prisoners  should  be  made  over  to  himself,  the  sole  judge 
in  such  high  matters."  Long  and  sullen  discussions 
took  place  between  the  Cardinals  and  the  Counsellors 
of  the  King.1 

1  "  Fuitque   ibi  pretactum  negotium  factis,  allegationibus  et  rationibus, 
pro  parte  Papae  et  responSionibrua  pro  Rege,  rationibusque  et  replication- 
ibus  nuiltis  utrinque   coratn  eardinalibus  cleroque  et  ceteris  qui  aderant 
morbse  discussuin."  —  Vit.  i. 
vol.  vi.  27 


418  LATIN   CillilSTIAKITY.  Book  XIL 

The  King  (the  affair  of  the  Empire  was  not  settled, 
that  was  the  secret  of  Clement's  power)  was  unwilling 
to  drive  the  Pope  to  extremities.  He  ordered  copies 
of  all  the  proceedings  against  the  Knights,  and  the  in- 
ventories of  their  goods,  to  be  furnished  to  the  Pontiff. 
This  Clement  took  in  good  part.  The  custody  of  the 
estates  and  property  of  the  Order  had  given  a  perilous 
advantage  to  the  King.  The  Pope  now  issued  a  circu- 
lar Bull  to  the  Archbishops  and  Bishops  of  France  to 
take  upon  themselves  the  administration  of  all  the  se- 
questered goods ;  and  to  them  was  to  be  consigned,  to 
each  within  his  own  diocese,  the  final  examination  and 
judgment.1  The  Templars  caught  at  the  faint  gleam 
of  hope  that  the  Church  would  assume  the  judgment ; 
they  were  fondly  possessed  with  a  notion  of  the  justice, 
the  humanity  of  the  Church.  Some  instantly  recanted 
their  confessions.  The  King  broke  out  into  a  passion 
of  wrath.  He  publicly  proclaimed,  that  while  he 
faithfully  discharged  the  duties  of  a  Christian  king  and 
a  servant  of  the  Lord,  the  lukewarm  Vicegerent  of 
Christ  was  tampering  with  heresy,  and  must  answer 
before  God  for  his  guilt.  The  Pope  took  alarm.  At 
length  it  was  agreed  that  the  custody  both  of  the  per- 
sons and  the  goods  should  remain  with  the  King ;  that 
the  Knights  should  be  maintained  in  prison,  where  they 
were  to  lie,  out  of  the  revenues  of  their  estates ;  that 
no  personal  punishment  should  be  inflicted  without  the 
consent  of  the  Pope ;  that  the  fate  of  the  Order  should 
be  determined  at  the  great  Council  of  Vienne,  sum- 
moned for  October  10,  1310.2     Clement  reserved  for 


1  Clemens  Philippe  — Baluz.  ii.  98.    The  date  is  erroneous;  it  should  be 
July  3,  1308. 
tf  "  Tandem  conventum  est  inter  cos,  quod  Rex  bona  eoruni  omnia  leva- 


Chap.  I.  NEW   EXAMINATION.  41  (J 

himself  the  sentence  on  the  Grand  Master  and  other 
chief  officers  of  the  Temple. 

Yet  before  Philip  left  Poitiers,  seventy-two  Templars 
were  brought  from  different  prisons  (with  the  King 
and  the  King's  Counsellors  rested  the  selection)  :  they 
were  interrogated  before  the  Pope  and  the  Cardinals. 
All  confessed  the  whole :  they  were  remanded.  In  a 
few  days  after,  their  confessions  were  read  to  them  in 
the  vulgar  tongue,  in  the  Consistory ;  all  adhered  to 
their  truth. 

But  the  Grand  Master  and  some  of  the  principal 
preceptors  of  the  Order  —  those  of  Normandy,  Aqui- 
taine,  and  Poitou — were  now  in  confinement  in  the 
castle  of  Chinon.  Some  of  them  could  not  mount  on 
horseback,  some  were  so  weak  that  they  could  not  be 
conveyed  to  Poitiers : l  the  torture  and  the  dungeon 
had  done  their  work.  Three  Cardinals  (Berenger  of 
St.  Nireus  and  Achilles,  Stephen  of  St.  Cyriac,  Lan- 
dolph  of  St.  Angel o)  were  commissioned  to  go  and 
receive  their  depositions.  The  Cardinals  reported  that 
all  those  Knights,  in  the  presence  of  public  notaries 
and  other  good  men,  had  sworn  on  the  Gospels,  without 
compulsion  or  fear,  to  the  denial  of  Christ,  and  the  in- 
sult to  the  cross  on  initiation  ;  some  others  to  foul  and 
horrible  offences,  not  to  be  named.  Du  Molay  had 
confessed  the  denial ;  he  had  empowered  a  servitor  of 

ret,  seu  levari  faceret  fideliter  per  ministros,  et  servare  ea  usquequo  Papa 
cum  ipso.Rege  diliberasset  quid  regi  expediret,  sed  punitionem  corporum 
non  faceret;  corpora  tamen  eorum  servari  faceret,  sicut  fecerat,  et  de  pro- 
ventibus  domorum  Templi  sustentari  usque  ad  concilium  generale  futurum: 
corpora  autem  ex  tunc  ponebat  Papa  in  maim  sua."  This  left,  as  we  shall 
Bee,  all  future  public  trial  to  the  Church.  — Vit.  i.  p.  13. 

1  "  Sed  quoniam  quidam  ex  eis  sic  infirmabantur  tunc  temporis,  quod 
equitarc  non  poterant,  nee  ad  nostram  presenciam  quoquomodo  adduci." — 
^he  Pope's  own  words  in  the  Bull,  "  faciens  nmericordunu  "  ! ' 


420  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII. 

the  order  to  make  the  rest  of  his  confession.1  The 
Cardinals,  having  regard  to  their  penitence,  had  pro- 
nounced the  absolution  of  the  Church,  and  recom- 
mended them  to  the  royal  mercy.2 

The  Pope  pretended  that  conviction  had  been  forced 
upon  him  by  these  dreadful  revelations.  He  now  issued 
a  Bull,  addressed  to  all  Christendom,  in  which  he  de- 
clared how  slowly  and  with  difficulty  he  had  been  com- 
pelled to  believe  the  infamy,  the  apostasy  of  the  noble 
and  valiant  Order.  His  beloved  son,  the  Kino;  of 
France,  not  urged  by  avarice,3  for  he  had  not  intended 
to  confiscate  or  appropriate  to  his  own  use  the  goods  of 
the  Templars  (he  that  excuses  sometimes  accuses  !) 
but  actuated  solely  by  zeal  for  the  faith,  had  laid  infor- 
mation before  him  which  he  could  not  but  receive. 
One  Knight  of  noble  race,  and  of  no  light  esteem 
(could  this  be  Squino  de  Florian,  the  Prior  of  Mont- 
falcon?),  had  deposed  in  secret,  and  upon  his  oath,  to 
these  things.  It  had  now  been  confirmed  by  seventy- 
two,  who  had  confessed  the  guilt  of  the  Order  to  him  ; 
the  Grand  Master  and  the  others  to  the  Cardinals. 
Throughout  the  world  therefore,  he  commanded,  by 
this  Apostolic  Bull,  that  proceedings  should  be  insti- 
tuted against  the  Knights  of  the  Temple,  against  the 
Preceptor  of  the  Order  in  Germany.  The  result  was 
to  be  transmitted,  under  seal,  to  the  Pope.  The  secu- 
lar arm  might  be  called  in  to  compel  witnesses  who 


1  See  below. 

2  Epistol.  Cardinalium.  —  Baluz.  ii.  121. 

3  Is  it  charity  in  the  Pope  to  exculpate  the  King  of  avarice  ?  "  Non 
gippo  avaritiae,  cum  de  bonis  Templariorum  nihil  sibi  vendicare  vel  appro- 
priare  intendat,"  or  adroitness  to  clench  his  concession?  See  the  secret 
compact  about  the  custody  of  the  goods.  — Dupuy,  Condemnation,  p.  107 


Chai\  1.  LETTER  OF  THE  POPE.  421 

were  contemptuous  of  Church  censures  to  bear  their 
testimony.1 

Pope  Clement,  when  this  conference  was  over,  has- 
ened  to  leave  his  honorable  imprisonment  at  Poitiers. 
He  passed  some  months  at  Bordeaux,  the  Cardinals  in 
the  neighborhood.  After  the  winter  he  retired  to 
Avignon,  hereafter  to  be  the  residence  of  the  Transal- 
pine Popes.2  As  he  passed  through  Toulouse  he  ad- 
dressed a  circular  letter  to  the  King  of  France,  in 
which,  having  declared  the  unanswerable  evidence  of 
the  heresy  and  the  guilt  of  the  Templars,  he  prohibited 
all  men  from  aiding,  counselling,  or  favoring,  from  har- 
boring or  concealing,  any  member  of  the  proscribed 
Order  ;  he  commanded  all  persons  to  seize,  arrest,  and 
commit  them  to  safe  custody.  All  this  under  the  pain 
of  severe  spiritual  censure.  Yet  there  were  many  who 
stole  away  unperceived  ;  and  for  concealment  or  from 
want  submitted  to  the  humblest  functions  of  society,  to 
plebeian  services  or  illiberal  arts.  Many  bore  exile, 
degradation,  indigence,  with  noble  magnanimity  —  all 
asserting,  wherever  it  was  safe  to  assert  it,  as  in  the 
Ghibelline  cities  of  Lombardy,  the  entire  and  irre- 
proachable innocence  of  the  Order.3 

1  The  Bull,  "  faciens  misericordiam,"  dated  Aug.  12,  1308. 

s  Baluz.  ii.  p.  134.  He  was  at  Narbonne,  April  5,  1309,  then  at  Mont- 
pellier  and  Nismes;  he  arrived  at  Avignon  at  the  end  of  April.  —  Menard, 
p.  456. 

3  "  Si  qui  autem  ex  Templariorum  coetu  manumissi  aut  per  fugam  ab- 
stract! evadere  potuerunt,  projecto  Religionis  suae  habitu  ministeriis  plefceiis 
ignoti,  aut  artibus  illiberalibus  se  dederunt  Nonnulli  autem  ex  clarissi- 
mis  parentibus  orti,  dum  transfugae  laboribus  multis  et  periculis  duduiu 
expositi,  vita?  tpedium,  magnificis  animorum  nobilium  conatibus  vilipende- 
runt,  ultro  se  gentibus  edidere,  adjurantes  se  objecti  criminis  prorsus  in- 
sontes."  Ferretus  of  Vicenza  had  before  said  (and  in  Lombardy  the  refu- 
gees would  not  fear  to  describe  their  sufferings)  that  many  had  died  in 
prison,  "  tarn  diu  vinculis  retentos  paedoris  squallorisque  rigidi  angustia 
peremit."  —  Apud  Murator.  R.  I.  S.  ix.  p.  1017. 


422  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XI i 

As  he  passed  through  Nismes,  the  Pope  issued  his 
commission  to  Bertrand,  Bishop  of  that  city,  to  rein- 
vestigate the  guilt  of  the  prisoners.  Bertrand  held  one 
session  ;  then,  on  account  of  his  age  and  infirmity,  de- 
volved the  office  on  William  St.  Lawrence  Cure*  of 
Durfort.  Durfort  opened  his  court  first  at  Nismes, 
afterwards  at  Alais.  Thirty-two,  a  few  Knights,  others 
servitors,  the  same  who  had  confessed  before  the  royal 
commissioners  —  now  that  the  milder  and  more  impar- 
tial Church  sat  in  judgment  —  now  that  their  chains 
were  struck  off,  and  they  felt  their  limbs  free,  and 
hoped  that  they  should  not  return  to  their  fetid  prisons 
—  almost  with  one  voice  disclaimed  their  confessions. 
One  only,  manifestly  in  a  paroxysm  of  night,  and  in 
the  eager  desire  of  obtaining  absolution,  recanted  his 
recantation.  Another,  Drohet,  had  abandoned  the 
Order:  he  confessed,  but  only  from  hearsay,  and  en- 
treated not  to  be  sent  back  to  prison  among  men  whose 
heresy  he  detested.  A  third  appeared  to  the  Court 
to  have  concerted  his  evidence,  was  remanded,  made 
amends  by  a  more  ample  confession,  clearly  from  panic ; 
he  had  heard  of  the  cat-idol.  The  rest  firmly,  reso- 
lutely denied  all.1 

1  The  examination  at  Alais  began  June  19, 1310,  ended  July  14.  St. 
Lawrence  took  as  his  assessors  two  canons  of  Nismes,  three  Dominicans, 
two  Franciscans  of  Alais  (Menard,  p.  260).  Eight  were  brought  from  Nis- 
mes (of  these  were  three  knights),  seventeen  from  Aigues  Mortes,  seven 
from  the  prisons  in  Alais.  ±  should  be  added  that  the  recanting  witness, 
Bernard  Arnold,  swore  that  the  prisoners  had  met  to  concert  —  when  ?  and 
where?  —  "  quod  cotidie  tenebant  sua  colloquia  et  suos  tractatus  super  hiis; 
et  sese  ad  invicem  instruunt  qualiter  negent  omnia,  et  dicant  dictum  orli- 
nem  bonum  esse  et  sanctum."  —  Preuves,  p.  175. 


Chap.  II.      PROCESS  OF  THE  TEMPLARS.         423 


CHAPTER  II. 

PROCESS  OF  THE  TEMPLARS. 

The  affair  of  the  Templars  slumbered  for  some 
months,  but  it  slumbered  to  awaken  into  terrible  activ- 
ity. A  Papal  Commission1  was  now  opened  to  inquire, 
not  into  the  guilt  of  the  several  members  of  the  Order, 
but  of  the  Order  itself.  The  Order  was  to  be  arraigned 
before  the  Council  of  Vienne,  which  was  to  decide  on 
its  reorganization  or  its  dissolution.  This  commission 
therefore  superseded  all  the  ordinary  jurisdictions  either 
of  the  Bishop  or  of  the  Inquisition,  and,  in  order  to  fur- 
nish irrefragable  proof  before  the  Council,  summoned 
before  it  for  reexamination  all  who  had  before  made 
depositions  in  those  Courts.  Their  confessions  were 
put  in  as  evidence,  but  they  had  the  opportunity  of 
recanting  or  disclaiming  those  confessions.2 

At  the  head  of  the  Commission  was  Gilles  d'Aisce- 
lin,  Archbishop  of  Narbonne,  a  man  of  learning,  but 
no  strength  of  character ;  the  Bishop  of  Mende,  who 
owed  his  advancement  to  King  Philip ;  the  Bishops  of 
Bayeux  and  Limoges  ;  the  Archdeacons  of  Rouen  (the 
Papal  Notary),  of  Trent,  and  Maguelonne,  and  the 
Provost  of  Aix.  The  Provost  excused  himself  from 
attendance.     The  Archbishop  and  the  Bishop  of  Bay- 

1  Aug.  1309.   The  Commission  sat,  with  some  intermission,  to  May,  1311 

2  See  Haveman,  p.  227. 


424  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII. 

eux  grew  weary  and  withdrew  themselves  gradually, 
on  various  pretexts,  from  the  sittings. 

The  Commission  opened  its  Court  in  the  Bishop's 
palace  at  Paris1  August  7th,  1809.  The  Bull  issued 
by  the  Pope  at  Poitiers  was  read.2  Then,  after  other 
documents,  a  citation  of  the  Order  of  Knights  Tem- 
plars, and  all  and  every  one  of  the  Brethren  of  the 
said  Order.  This  citation  was  addressed  to  the  Arch- 
bishops of  the  nine  Provinces,  Sens,  Rheims,  Rouen, 
Tours,  Lyons,  Bourges,  Bordeaux,  Narbonne,  and 
Audi,  and  to  their  suffragans.  It  was  to  be  suspended 
on  the  doors  of  all  cathedral  and  collegiate  churches, 
public  schools,  and  court-houses,  the  houses  of  the 
Templars,  and  the  prisons  where  the  Templars  were 
confined.  Sworn  messengers  were  despatched  to  pro- 
mulgate this  citation  in  the  provinces  and  dioceses. 
The  Templars  were  to  appear  on  the  day  after  the 
Feast  of  St.  Martin. 

On  that  day  not  a  Templar  was  seen.  Whether  the 
not.  12.  Bishops  were  reluctant  to  give  orders,  or  the 
Commission  keepers  of  the  prisons  to  obey  orders  ;  whether 
No  Templars  no  means  of  transport  had  been  provided,  no 
appear.  Qne  knew .  or?  wnat  is  far  less  likely,  that  the 

Templars  themselves  shrunk  from  this  new  interroga- 
tory, hardly  hoping  that  it  would  be  conducted  with 
more  mildness,   or  dreading   that   it  might  command1 

1  The  acts  of  this  Commission  are  the  most  full,  authentic,  and  curious 
documents  in  the  history  of  the  abolition  of  the  Templars.  They  were 
published  imperfectly,  or  rather  a  summary  of  them,  by  Moldenhauer, 
Hamburg,  1792.  The  complete  and  genuine  proceedings  have  now  ap- 
peared in  the  original  Latin,  among  the  '  Documents  Inedits  sur  l'Histoire 
de  France,'  under  the  care  of  M.  Michelet.  The  second  volume  has  recently 
been  added.  My  citations,  if  not  otherwise  distinguished,  refer  to  these 
volumes. 

a  "Faciens  misericordiam." 


Chap.  II.  COMMISSION  AT  i>ARIS.  425 

fresh  tortures.  On  five  successive  days  proclamation 
was  made  by  the  apparitor  of  the  Official  of  Paris, 
summoning  the  Knights  to  answer  for  their  Order. 
No  voice  replied.  On  the  Tuesday  inquiry  was  made 
into  the  answers  of  the  Bishops  to  the  Court.  Some 
were  found  to  have  published  the  citation,  others  to 
have  neglected  or  disobeyed  ;  from  some  had  come  no 
answers  ;  to  them  letters  were  addressed  of  mild  rebuke 
or  exhortation.  The  Templars  were  to  be  informed  that 
the  investigation  was  not  against  individual  members 
of  the  Order,  but  against  the  Order  itself.  No  one 
was  to  be  compelled  to  appear ;  but  all  who  voluntarily 
undertook  the  defence  of  the  Order  had  free  liberty  to 
go  to  Paris.1 

On  the  22d  of  November  the  Bishop  of  Paris  ap- 
peared in  Court.  He  declared  that  he  had  himself" 
gone  to  the  prison  in  which  the  Grand  Master,  Hugo 
de  Peyraud  the  Visitor  of  the  Order,  and  other  Knights 
were  confined  ;  that  he  had  caused  the  Apostolic  letter 
to  be  read  in  Latin,  and  explained  in  the  vulgar  tongue  ; 
that  the  Knights  had  declared  themselves  ready  to  ap- 
pear before  the  Court ;  some  were  willing  to  defend  the 
Order.  He  had  published  the  citation  in  the  churches 
and  other  public  places,  and  sent  persons  of  trust  to  make 
known  and  to  explain  the  citation  to  all  the  prisoners 
in  the  city  and  diocese  of  Paris.  Orders  were  issued 
to  Philip  de  Vohet,  Provost  of  the  Church  of  Poitiers, 
and  John  de  Jamville,  door-keeper  ^to  the  King,  who 

1  "  Nee  volumus  quod  contra  fratres  singulares  dicti  ordinis.  et  de  hiig 
quae  ipsos  tamquam  singulares  personas  tangant,  non  intendimus  inquirere 
contra  eos,  sed  duntaxat  contra  ordinem  supradictum  juxta  traditam  nobis 
formarn  Nee  fuit  nostrse  intencionis,  nee  est,  quod  aliqui  ex  eis  venire 
cogantur  vel  teneantur,  sed  solum  ii  qui  voluntarie  venire  valeant  pro 
nremissis."  —  p   25. 


426  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII. 

had  the  general  custody  of  the  prisoners,  to  bring  be- 
fore the  Court,  under  a  strong  and  trusty  guard,  the 
Master,  the  Visitor,  and  all  who  would  undertake  the 
defence.  The  Provost  and  De  Jamville  bowed  and 
promised  to  obey.  On  the  same  day  appeared  a  man 
in  a  secular  habit,  who  called  himself  John  de  Melot, 
of  the  diocese  of  Besancon.  He  was  manifestly  a 
simple  and  bewildered  man,  who  had  left  the  Order  or 
who  had  been  dismissed  ten  years  before,  and  seemed 
under  the  influence  of  panic.  "  He  knew  no  harm  of 
the  Order,  did  not  come  to  defend  it,  was  ready  to  do 
or  to  suffer  whatever  the  Court  might  ordain ;  he 
prayed  that  they  would  furnish  him  with  subsistence, 
for  he  was  very  poor."  The  Court  saw  that  he  was 
half-witted,  and  sent  him  to  the  Bishop  of  Paris  to  be 
taken  care  of.1  Six  Knights  then  stood  before  the 
Court.  Gerald  de  Caus  was  asked  why  he  appeared. 
He  replied,  in  obedience  to  the  citation :  he  was  pre- 
pared to  answer  any  interrogatory.  The  Court  an- 
swered, that  they  compelled  no  one  to  come  before 
them,  and  asked  whether  he  was  ready  to  defend  the 
Order.  After  many  words  he  said  that  he  was  a  sim- 
ple soldier,  without  house,  arms,  or  land :  he  had  nei- 
ther ability  nor  knowledge  to  defend  the  Order.  So 
Hughde  sa^  tne  °ther  five.  Then  appeared  Hugo 
peyraud.  de  pejrauci?  Visitor  of  the  Order,  under  the 
custody  of  the  Provost  of  Poitiers  and  John  de  Jam- 
ville.    He  came  in  consequence  of  the  citation,  made 

1  "  Et  quia  fuit  visum  eisdem  dominis  commissariis,  ex  aspectu  et  con 
sideracione  persona  sure,  actuum,  gestuum,  et  loquelre,  quod  erat  valde 
simplex  vel  fatuus,  et  non  bene  compos  mentis  sure,  non  processerunt  ulte- 
rius  cum  eodem."  —  p.  27.  By  some  strange  mistake  of  his  own  or  of  his 
authorities,  Sismondi  has  attributed  the  speech  and  conduct  of  this  pool 
crazy  man  to  Du  Molay. 


Chap.  II.  DU  MOLAY.  427 

known  by  the  Bishop  of  Paris,  to  answer  any  inter- 
rogatory. He  came  further  to  entreat  the  Pope  and  the 
King  not  to  waste  and  dissipate  the  goods  of  the  Tem- 
ple, but  religiously  to  devote  them  to  their  original  use, 
the  cause  of  the  Holy  Land.  He  had  given  his  an- 
swers to  the  three  Cardinals  at  Chinon,  had  been  pre- 
pared to  do  the  same  before  the  Pope  ;  he  could  only  say 
the  same  before  the  Commissioners.  He  too  declined 
to  undertake  the  defence,  and  was  remanded  to  prison.1 
After  two  days'  adjournment,  on  Wednesday,  No- 
vember 26th,  Du  Molay,  at  his  own  request,  du  Moiay. 
was  brought  before  the  Court.  He  was  asked  whether 
he  would  defend  the  Order.  "  The  Order  was  found- 
ed," he  replied,  "  and  endowed  with  its  privileges  by 
the  Pope.  He  wondered  that  the  Pope  would  proceed 
in  such  haste  to  the  abolition  of  such  an  Order.  The 
sentence  hung  over  Frederick  II.  for  thirty-two  years. 
Himself  was  an  unlearned  man,  unfit,  without  counsel, 
to  defend  the  Temple ;  yet  he  was  prepared  to  do  it  to 
the  best  of  his  ability.  He  should  hold  himself  a  base 
wretch,  he  would  be  justly  held  as  a  base  wretch  by 
others,  if  he  defended  not  an  Order  from  which  he  had 
received  so  much  honor  and  advantage.  Yet  this  was 
a  hard  task  for  one  who  had  been  thrown  into  prison  by 
the  King  and  by  the  Pope,  and  had  but  four  deniers  in 
the  world  to  fee  counsel.     All  he  sought  was  that  the 

1  The  Court  received  private  information  that  certain  Templars  had  ar- 
rived in  Paris,  disguised  in  secular  habits,  and  furnished  with  money  to 
provide  counsel  and  legal  aid  to  defend  the  Order;  they  had  been  arrested 
by  the  king's  officers;  the  Provost  of  the  Chatelet  was  commanded  to 
bring  them  before  the  Court.  It  was  a  false  alarm.  One  of  them  only  had 
been  a  servitor  for  those  monks;  he  was  poor,  and  had  come  to  Paris  to 
seek  a  livelihood.  They  were  gravely  informed  that  if  they  designed  to 
defend  the  Order,  the  Court  was  ready  to  hear  them:  they  disclaimed  such 
Intention. 


428  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY  Book  XII. 

truth  might  be  known  concerning  the  Order,  not  in 
France  only,  but  before  the  kings,  princes,  prelates,  and 
barons  of  the  world.  By  the  judgment  of  those  kings, 
princes,  prelates,  and  barons  he  would  stand."  The 
Court  replied  that  he  should  deliberate  well  on  his  de- 
fence. The  Master  said,  "  he  had  but  one  attendant, 
a  poor  servitor  of  the  Order :  he  was  his  cook."  They 
reminded  him  significantly  of  his  confessions :  they 
would  have  him  to  know  that,  in  a  case  of  heresy  or 
faith,  the  course  was  direct  and  summary,  without  the 
noise  and  form  of  advocates  and  judicial  procedure. 

They  then,  without  delay,  read  the  Apostolic  letters, 
and  the  confession  which  Du  Molay  was  reported  to 
have  made  before  the  three  Cardinals.  The  Grand 
Master  stood  aghast ;  the  gallant  knight,  the  devout 
Christian,  rose  within  him.  Twice  he  signed  himself 
with  the  sign  of  the  cross.  "  If  the  Lords  Commis- 
sioners  were  of  other  condition,  he  would  answer  them 
in  another  way."  The  Commissioners  coldly  replied 
"  that  they  sat  not  there  to  accept  wager  of  battle." 
Du  Molay  saw  at  once  his  error.  "  I  meant  not  that, 
but  would  to  God  that  the  law  observed  by  the  Sara- 
cens and  the  Tartars,  as  to  the  forgers  of  false  docu- 
ments, were  in  use  here !  The  Saracens  and  Tartars 
strike  off  the  heads  of  such  traitors,  and  cleave  them  to 
the  middle."  The  Court  only  subjoined,  "  The  Church 
passes  sentence  on  heretics,  and  delivers  over  the  obsti- 
nate to  the  secular  arm." 

William  de  Plasian,  the  subtlest  of  Philip's  counsel- 
lors, was  at  hand.  He  led  Du  Molay  aside  :  he  pro- 
tested that  he  loved  him  as  a  brother-soldier ;  he 
besought  him  with  many  words  not  to  rush  upon  his 
ruin.     Du  Molay,  confused,  perplexed,  feared  that  if 


Chap.  II.  PONSARD.  429 

he  acted  further  without  thought  lie  might  full  into 
some  snare.  He  requested  delay.  He  felt  confidence 
(fatal  confidence !)  in  De  Plusiun,  fur  De  Plusian  was 
a  knight ! 

The  day  after,  Ponsard  de  Gisi,  Preceptor  of  Payens, 
was  brought  up  with  Raoul  de  Gisi,  Preceptor  Nov.  27. 
of  Lagny  Sec.  Ponsard  boldly  declared  himself  ready 
to  undertake  the  defence  of  the  Order.  All  the  enor- 
mous charges  against  the  Order  were  utterly,  absolutely 
false  ;  false  were  all  the  confessions,  extorted  by  terror 
and  pain,  from  himself  and  other  brethren  before  the 
Bishop  of  Paris.  Those  tortures  had  been  applied  by 
the  sworn  and  deadly  enemies  and  accusers  of  the  Or- 
der, by  the  Prior  of  Montfalcon,  and  William  Roberts, 
the  monk.1  He  put  in  a  schedule  :  —  "  These  are  the 
traitors  who  have  falsely  and  disloyally  accused  the 
religion  of  the  Temple  :  William  Roberts  the  monk, 
who  had  them  put  to  the  torture  ;  Esquin  de  Florian 
of  Beziers,  Prior  of  Montfalcon ;  Bernard  Pelet,  Prior 
of  Maso)  Philip's  Envoy  to  England)  ;  and  Gervais 
Boy  sol,  Knight  of  Gisors."  2 

Had  Ponsard  himself  been  tortured  ?  He  had  been 
tortured  before  the  Bishop  of  Paris  three  months  ere 
he  made  confession.  His  hands  had  been  tied  behind 
him  till  the  blood  burst  from  his  nails.     He  had  stood 


1  "  Per  vim  et  propter  periculum  et  timorem,  quia  torquebantur  u  Flori- 
gerano  de  Biturres,  priori  Montefalconis,  Guliehuo  Roberto  monacho,  in- 
imicis  eorum."  This  is  a  new  and  terrible  fact,  that  the  accusers,  even  the 
Prior  of  Montfalcon,  were  the  torturers  I 

2  Moldenhauer  says  that  they  gave  in  a  paper,  "  Ces  sont  les  treytours, 
liquel  ont  propose  fausete"  et  debaute  contre  leste  de  la  Religion  deu  Tem- 
ple, Guilealmes  Rubers  Moynes,  qui  les  mitoyet  a  geinas;  Esquino  de 
Flexian  de  Biterris,  en  Priens  de  Montfaucon,  Bernard  Pelete  Prions  de 
Maso  de  Genois,  et  Everannes  de  Boxxol,  Echalier  venous  a  Gisors"  (sic). 
-p.  33. 


430  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII. 

thus  in  a  pit  for  the  space  of  an  hour.1  He  protested 
tli at  in  that  state  of  agony  he  should  confess  or  deny 
whatever  they  would.  He  was  prepared  to  endure 
beheading,  the  stake,  or  the  caldron,  for  the  honor  of 
the  Order ;  but  these  slow,  excruciating  torments  he 
could  not  bear,  besides  the  horrors  of  his  two  years'  im- 
prisonment. He  was  asked  if  he  had  anything  to  al- 
lege wherefore  the  Court  should  not  proceed.  He 
hoped  that  the  cause  would  be  decided  by  good  men 
and  true.2  The  Provost  of  Poitiers  interposed ;  he 
produced  a  schedule  of  charges  advanced  by  Ponsard 
himself  against  the  Order.  "  Truth,"  answered  Pon- 
sard, u  requires  no  concealment.  I  own  that,  in  a  fit 
of  passion,  on  account  of  some  contumelious  words  with 
the  Treasurer  of  the  Temple,  I  did  draw  up  that  sched- 
ule." Those  charges,  however,  dark  as  were  some  of 
thern,  were  totally  unlike  those  now  brought  against  the 
brotherhood.  Before  he  left  the  Court  Ponsard  ex- 
pressed his  hope  that  the  severity  of  his  imprisonment 
mioht  not  be  agoravated  because  he  had  undertaken 
the  defence  of  the  Order.  The  Court  gave  instructions 
to  the  Provost  of  Poitiers  and  De  Jamville  that  he 
should  not  be  more  harshly  treated. 

On  the  Friday  before  the  Feast  of  St.  Andrew 
Bu  Moiay  Du  Molay  appeared  again.  De  Plasian  had 
agaiu'  alarmed,  or  persuaded  or  caressed  him  to  a 

more  calm  and  suppliant  demeanor.  He  thanked  the 
commissioners  for  their  indulgence  in  granting  delay. 
Asked  if  he  would  defend  the  Order,  he  said  that 
"he  was  an  unlettered  and  a  poor  man.  The  Pope 
had  reserved  for  its  own  decision  the  judgment  on 
himself   and   other  heads  of  the  Order.      He  prayed 

1  Leuge.  2  See  also  this  in  the  Proces  and  in  Moldenhauer,  p.  35 


Chap.  II.  DU  MOLAY.  431 

to  be  brought,  as  speedily  as  might  be  (fur  life  was 
short),  into  the  presence  of  the  Pope."  Asked  whether 
he  saw  cause  why  the  Court  should  not  proceed,  not 
against  individual  Knights,  but  against  the  Order,  he 
replied,  "  None ;  but  to  disburden  his  conscience,  he 
must  aver  three  tilings :  I.  That  no  religious  edifices 
were  adorned  with  so  much  splendor  and  beauty  as  the 
chapels  of  the  Templars,  nor  the  services  performed 
with  greater  majesty,  except  in  cathedral  churches ; 
II.  That  no  Order  was  more  munificent  in  alms-giv- 
ing ;  III.  That  no  Brotherhood  and  no  Christians 
had  confronted  death  more  intrepidly,  or  shed  their 
blood  more  cheerfully  for  the  cause  of  Christ."  He 
especially  referred  to  the  rescue  of  the  Count  of  Ar- 
tois.  The  Court  replied  that  these  things  profited  not 
to  salvation,  where  the  groundwork  of  the  faith  was 
wanting.  Du  Molay  professed  his  full  belief  in  the 
Trinity,  and  in  all  the  articles  of  the  Catholic  faith. 
William  of  Nogaret  came  forward,  and  inquired 
whether  it  was  not  written  in  the  Chronicles,  of  St. 
Denys,  that  Saladin  had  publicly  declared,  on  a  cer- 
tain defeat  of  the  Templars,  that  it  was  "  a  judgment 
of  God  for  their  apostasy  from  their  faith,  and  for  their 
unnatural  crimes."  Du  Molay  was  amazed  ;  "  he  had 
never  heard  this  in  the  East."  He  acknowledged 
that  he  and  some  young  Knights,  eager  for  war,  had 
murmured  against  the  Grand  Master,  William  de 
Beaujeu,  because  he  kept  peace  -.with  the  Sultan, 
peace  which  turned  out  to  be  a  wise  measure.  He 
entreated  to  be  allowed  the  mass  and  the  divine  offices, 
to  have  his  chapel  and  his  chaplain.  He  withdrew, 
never  to  leave  his  orison  till  some  years  after,  to  b*1 
burned  alive. 


432  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  Xn. 

Up  to  this  time  none  but  the  prisoners  confined  in 
Paris  had  been  brought  before  the  Commission.  It 
was  still  found  that  the  citations  had  been  but  par- 
tially served  in  the  prisons  of  the  other  provinces, 
prisoners        Letters    were    again    written    to    the    Arch- 

from  the  l     -r»  •   l  ...  ■,  -, 

provinces.  bishops  and  Bishops,  enjoining  them  to  send 
lip  all  the  Templars  who  would  undertake  the  defence 
of  the  Order  to  Paris.  The  Kino;  issued  instructions 
to  the  Bailiffs  and  Seneschals  of  the  realm  to  provide 
horses  and  conveyances,  and  to  furnish  a  strong  and 
sufficient  guard.  This  was  the  special  office  of  the 
Provost  of  Poitiers,  and  John  de  Jamville,  who  had 
the  general  custody  of  the  captives  in  the  provinces  of 
Sens,  Rheims,  and  Rouen.  The  prisons  of  Orleans 
were  crowded.  They  were  compelled  to  disgorge  all 
Feb.  2, 1310.  their  inmates.  The  appointed  day  was  the 
morrow  after  the  Purification.  From  that  day  till  the 
end  of  March  the  prisoners  came  pouring  in  from  all 
parts  of  the  kingdom.  Great  numbers  had  died  of 
torture,  of  famine,  of  shame  and  misery  at  their  con- 
finement in  fetid  and  unwholesome  dungeons,  men  ac- 
customed to  a  free  and  active  life.  The  survivors 
came,  broken  in  spirit  by  torture,  not  perhaps  sure 
that  the  Papal  Commission  would  maintain  its  un- 
usual humanity  ;  most  of  them  with  the  burden  of 
extorted  confessions,  which  they  knew  would  rise  up 
against  them.  Perhaps  some  selection  was  made. 
Some,  no  doubt,  the  more  obstinate,  and  the  more 
than  obstinate,  those  who  had  recanted  their  confes- 
sions, were  kept  carefully  away.  Yet  even  under  these 
depressing,  crushing  circumstances  their  numbers,  their 
mutual  confidence  in  each  other,  the  glad  open  air,  the 
face  of  man,  before  whom  they  were  now  to  bear  them- 


Chap.  II.  OTHERS  BROUGHT  TO  PARIS.  438 

selves  proudly,  and  —  vague  hope !  —  some  reliance  on 
the  power,  the  justice,  or  the  mercy  of  the  Pope,  into 
whose  hands  they  might  seem  to  have  passed  from 
that  of  the  remorseless  King,  gave  them  courage. 
They  heard  with  undisguised  murmurs  of  indignation 
the  charges  now  publicly  made  against  the  Order, 
against  themselves  :  the  blood  boiled  as  of  old ;  the 
soldier  nerved  himself  in  defiance  of  his  foe. 

The  first  interrogatory,  to  which  all  at  the  time  col- 
lectively before  the  Court1  were  exposed,  was  Asked  %  they 
whether  they  would  defend  the  Order.  By  £?$£* 
far  the  larger  number  engaged  with  unhesitat-  Feb' 3* 
ing  intrepidity.  There  were  some  hundreds.  Dread- 
ful tales  transpired  of  their  prison-houses.  Of  those 
from  St.  Denys  John  de  Baro  had  been  three  times 
tortured,  and  kept  twelve  weeks  on  bread  and  water. 
Of  those  from  Tyers  one  declared  that  twenty-five  of 
the  Brethren  had  died  in  prison  of  torture  and  suffer- 
ing :  he  asserted  that  if  the  Host  were  administered  to 
them,  God  would  work  a  miracle  to  show  which  spoke 
truth,  those  who  confessed  or  those  who  denied.  Of 
the  twenty  who  arrived  later  from  the  province  of  Sens 
one,  John  of  Cochiac,  produced  a  letter  from  the  Prov- 
ost of  Poitiers,  addressed  to  Laurence  de  Brami,  once 

1  See  the  detail  —  from  Clermont  34,  from  Sens  6,  from  the  Bishopric  of 
Amiens  12,  from  that  of  Paris  about  10,  from  Tours  7  or  8  (of  the  Touraine 
Templars,  some  would  defend  themselves,  not  the  Order,  some  as  far  as 
themselves  were  concerned),  from  St.  Martin  des*  Champs  in  Paris  14, 
from  Nismes  7,  from  Monlhery  8,  from  the  Temple  34,  from  Aris  in  the  di- 
ocese of  Paris  19,  from  the  Castle  of  Corbeil  38,  from  St.  Denys  7,  from 
Beauvais  10,  from  Chalons  9,  from  Tyers  in  the  diocese  of  Sens  10,  from 
Carcassonne  28.  There  came  from  the  province  of  Sens  20  more;  there 
came  from  Sammartine  in  the  diocese  of  Meaux  14 ;  from  Auxerre  4,  from 
Crevecoeur  18,  from  Toulouse  6,  from  Poitiers  13,  from  Cressi  6,  from  Mois- 
Biac  6,  from  Jamville  (Orleans)  21,  from  Gisors  58,  from  Vernon  13,  from 
Bourges  diocese  14,  from  the  archdiocese  of  Lyons  22. 
vol.  vi.  28 


434  LATJN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII 

commander  in  Apulia,  and  to  other  prisoners,  urging 
them  to  deny  to  the  Bishop  of  Orleans  that  they  had 
been  tampered  with,  and  pressed  to  confess  falsehoods : 
to  act  according  to  the  advice  of  John  Chiapini,  "  the 
beloved  clerk;"  and  warning  them  that  the  Pope  had 
ordered  all  who  did  not  persevere  in  their  confessions 
to  be  burned  at  once.1  The  Provost,  having  examined 
the  document  with  seeming  care,  said,  that  he  did  not 
believe  that  he  had  written  such  a  letter,  or  that  it  was 
sealed  with  his  seal :  "a  certain  clerk  sometimes  kept 
his  seal,  but  he  had  not  urged  the  prisoners  to  speak 
anything  but  the  truth."  One  of  those  from  Toulouse 
had  been  so  dreadfully  tortured  by  fire,  that  some  of 
the  bones  of  his  feet  had  dropped  out ;  he  produced 
them  before  the  Court. 

These  many  hundred  Knights,  Clerks,  and  Servitors, 
undertake  a  great  majority  at  least  of  those  before  the 
the  defence.  Qourt^  resolved,  notwithstanding  their  former 
sufferings,  to  defend  their  Order.  Some  of  their  an- 
swers were  striking  from  their  emphatic  boldness.  u  To 
death."  "  To  the  end."  "  To  the  peril  of  my  soul." 
"  I  have  never  confessed,  never  will  confess,  those  base 
calumnies."  "  Give  us  the  sacrament  on  the  oaths, 
and  let  God  judge."  "  With  my  body  and  my  soul." 
"  Against  all  men,  against  all  living,  save  the  King  and 
the  Pope."  "  I  have  made  some  confession  before  the 
Pope,  but  I  lied.  I  revoke  all,  and  will  stand  to  the 
defence  of  the  Order."2     Those  who  declined,3  alleged 

1  Proems,  p.  75. 

2  Raynouard  gives  the  names  (p.  271),  confirmed  by  the  Proces. 

8  There  seems  to  have  been  less  boldness  and  resolution  among  the  great 
officers  of  the  Order;  perhaps  they  were  old  and  more  sorely  tried.  John 
de  Tournon,  the  Treasurer  of  the  Temple  in  Paris,  refused  to  undertake 
their  defence.     William  of  Arteblay,  the  king's  ulmoner,  would  not  offer 


Chap.  II.  DEFENDERS  BEFORE  THE  COURT.  435 

different  excuses,  some  would  defend  themselves,  not 
the  Order ;  some  would  not  undertake  the  defence,  un- 
authorized by  the  Grand  Master;  some  were  simple 
men,  unversed  in  such  proceedings  ;  one  with  simplic- 
ity, which  seemed  like  irony,  u  would  not  presume  to 
litigate  with  the  King  and  the  Pope."  Very  few, 
indeed,  with  Gerhard  de  Lorinche,  refused  "  because 
there  were  many  bad  points  in  the  Order."  Many 
entreated  that  they  might  be  relieved  from  some  of  the 
hardships  of  their  prisons :  that  they  might  be  admit- 
ted to  the  holy  offices  of  the  Church ;  some  that  they 
might  resume  the  habit  of  the  Order. 

On  the  25th  of  March  the  Knights,  who  had  under- 
taken the  defence,  were  assembled  in  the  gar-  Defenders 
den  of  the  Archbishop's  palace  at  Paris,  to  court, 
the  number  of  five  hundred  and  fifty-six  ;  their  names 
are  extant  in  full.1  The  Papal  commission,  and  the 
articles  exhibited  against  the  Order,  which  had  been 
drawn  up,  to  the  number  of  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
seven,  by  the  King  and  his  counsellors,2  and  which  had 
before  been  read3  and  explained  in  French  to  about 
ninety  persons,  were  now  read  again  in  Latin  at  full 
length.  They  contained,  in  minute  legal  particularity, 
every  charge  which  had  been  adduced  before.  As  the 
notary  was  proceeding  to  translate  the  charges,  a  gen- 

himsclf  for  that  purpose.  Godfrey  de  Gonaville,  Preceptor  of  Poithou  and 
Aquitaine,  said  that  he  was  a  prisoner,  a  rude  unlettered  man:  before  the 
King  and  the  Pope,  whom  he  held  for  good  lords  and  just  judges,  he  would 
speak  what  was  right,  but  not  before  the  Commissioners.  The  Commis- 
sioners pledged  themselves  for  his  full  security  and  freedom  of  speech  — 
p.  100.  "  Nee  deberet  timere  de  aliquibus  violenciis  injuriis  vel  tormentis, 
quia  non  inferrent  nee  inferri  permitterent,  immo  impedirent  si  inferri 
deberent."  —  p.  88.     This  is  noteworthy. 

1  In  the  Proces ;  Moldenhauer  has  556,  Haveman  says  544 

2  Raynouard,  whom  Haveman  quotes,  p.  246. 
a  March  14. 


436  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XD 

eral  outcry  arose  that  they  did  not  need  to  hear,  that 
they  would  not  hear,  such  foul,  false,  and  unutterable 
things  in  the  vulgar  tongue. 

The  Commissioners,  in  order  to  proceed  with  regu- 
larity, commanded  the  prisoners  to  select  from  among 
themselves  six  or  eight  or  ten  proctors  to  conduct  the 
defence  :  they  promised  to  these  proctors  full  freedom 
of  speech.  After  some  deliberation  Reginald  de  Praia, 
Preceptor  of  the  Temple  in  Orleans,  and  Peter  of  Bo- 
logna, Proctor  of  the  Order  in  the  Roman  Court,  both 
lettered  men,  dictated,  in  the  name  of  the  Knights 
present,  this  representation :  "  It  appeared  hard  to  them 
and  to  the  rest  of  the  Brethren  that  they  had  been  de- 
prived of  the  sacraments  of  the  Church,  stripped  of 
their  religious  habit,  despoiled  of  their  goods,  ignomini- 
ously  imprisoned  and  put  in  chains.  They  were  ill 
provided  with  all  things :  the  bodies  of  those  who  had 
died  in  prison  had  been  buried  in  unconsecrated  ground  : 
in  the  hour  of  death  they  had  been  denied  the  Sacra- 
ment. No  one  could  act  as  a  proctor  without  the  con- 
sent of  the  Grand  Master;  they  were  illiterate  and 
simple,  they  required  therefore  the  aid  and  advice  of 
learned  Counsel.  Many  knights  of  high  character  had 
not  been  permitted  to  undertake  the  defence:  they 
named  Reginald  de  Vossiniac  and  Matthew  de  Clichy 
as  eminently  qualified  for  that  high  function. 

There  was  great  difficulty  in  the  choice  of  proctors 
and  in  their  investiture  with  powers  to  act  in  defence 
of  the  Order.  The  public  notaries  went  round  the 
prisons  in  which  the  Templars  were  confined,  to  re- 
quire their  assent,  if  determined  on  the  defence,  to  the 
nomination  of  proctors.  The  Knights  had  taken  new 
courage  from  their  short  emancipation  from  their  fetters, 


Chap.  II.  PROCTORS   CHOSEN.  437 

from  the  glimpse  of  the  light  of  day.  About  seventy- 
seven  in  the  Temple  dungeons  solemnly  averred  all  the 
articles  to  be  foul,  irrational,  detestable,  horrid,  false  to 
the  blackest  falsehood,  iniquitous,  fabricated,  invented 
by  mendacious  witnesses,  base,  infamous  ;  that  "  the 
Temple"  is  and  always  was  pure  and  blameless.  If 
they  were  not  permitted  to  appear  in  person  at  the 
General  Council,  they  prayed  that  they  might  appear 
by  some  of  their  Brethren.  They  asserted  all  the  con- 
fessions to  be  false,  wrung  from  them  by  torture,  or  by 
the  fear  of  torture,  and  therefore  to  be  annulled  and 
thrown  aside ;  that  these  things  were  public,  notorious, 
to  be  concealed  by  no  subterfuge.  Other  prisoners  put 
in  other  pleas  of  defence,  as  strong,  some  of  them  more 
convincing  from  their  rashness  and  simplicity.  A  few 
bitterly  complained  of  the  miserable  allowance  for  their 
maintenance :  they  had  to  pay  two  sous  for  knocking 
off  their  irons,  when  brought  up  for  hearing,  and  iron- 
ing them  again.1 

The  mass  of  suffrages,  though  others  were  named, 
were  for  Peter  of  Bologna,  Reginald  de  Pruin,  priests ; 
William  de  Chambonnet  and  Bertrand  de  Salleges, 
knights,  as  those  in  whom  they  had  greatest  confidence 
as  proctors.  Already  on  the  1st  of  April  these  four 
with  Matthew  de  Clichy  and  Robert  Vigier  had  given 
in  a  written  paper,  stating  that  without  the  approbation 
of  the  Grand  Master  they  could  not  act.  The  Grand 
Master,  the  chief  Preceptors  of  France,  Guienne,  Cy- 
prus, and  Normandy,  and  the  other  Brethren,  must  be 
withdrawn  from  the  custody  of  the  King's  officers,  and 
delivered  to  that  of  the  Church,  as  it  was  notorious  that 
they  dared  not,  through  fear,  or  through  seduction  and 

1  Proems,  passim,  at  this  period. 


438  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII. 

false  promises,  consent  to  the  defence  of  the  Order,  and 
that  false  confessions  would  be  adduced  so  long  as  the 
cause  should  last.1  They  demanded  everything  requi- 
site to  defend  the  cause,  especially  the  counsel  of  learned 
lawyers ;  full  security  for  the  proctors  and  their  coun- 
sel :  that  the  apostate  Brethren,  who  had  thrown  off 
the  habit  of  the  Order,  should  be  taken  into  the  cus- 
tody of  the  Church  till  it  should  be  ascertained  whether 
they  had  borne  true  or  false  witness,2  for  it  was  well 
known  that  they  had  been  corrupted  by  solicitations 
and  bribes ;  that  the  priests  who  had  heard  the  dying 
confessions  of  the  Templars  should  be  examined  as  to 
those  confessions ;  that  the  accusers  should  appear  be- 
fore the  Court,  and  be  liable  to  the  Lex  Talionis. 

On  the  7th  of  April  they  appeared  again  with  Wil- 
liam de  Montreal,  Matthew  de  Cresson  Essart,  John  de 
St.  Leonard,  and  William  de  Grinsac.  Peter  of  Bo- 
logna read  the  final  determination  of  the  Brethren  :  — 
Protest  of  "They  could  not,  without  leave  from  the 
the  Proctors.  Qrand  Master,  appoint  proctors,  but  they 
were  content  that  the  four,  the  two  priests,  Peter  of 
Bologna  and  De  Prain,  the  two  Knights,  De  Cham- 
bonnet  and  Salleges,  should  appear  for  the  defence,  pro- 
duce all  documents,  allege  all  laws,  and  watch  the  whole 
proceedings  in  their  behalf.  They  demanded  that  no 
confession,  extorted  by  solicitation,  reward,  or  fear, 
should  be  adduced  to  their  prejudice ;  that  all  the  false 
Brethren,  who  had  thrown  off  the  habit  of  the  Order, 
should  be  kept  in  safe  custody  by  the  Church  till  found 

1  "  Quia  scimus  predictos  fratres  non  audere  consentire  defensioni  ordinis 
propter  eorum  raetum  et  seductionem,  et  falsas  promissiones,  quia  quamdiu 
durabit  causa,  durabit  et  confessio  falsa."  — p.  127. 

2  This  was  probably  aimed  especially  at  Squino  de  Florian  and  his  col- 
leagues. 


Chap.  II.       PROTEST  OF  THE  PROCTORS.         439 

true  or  mendacious ;  that  no  layman  should  be  present 
at  the  hearing,  no  one  who  might  cause  reasonable 
dread ;  "  for  the  Brethren  were  in  general  so  downcast 
in  mind  from  terror,  that  it  is  less  surprising  that  they 
should  tell  lies  than  speak  truth,  when  they  compare 
the  tribulation,  anguish,  insults  endured  by  those  who 
speak  truth,  with  the  advantages,  enjoyments,  freedom 
of  those  who  speak  falsehood.1  "  It  is  amazing  that 
those  should  be  believed  who  are  thus  corrupted  by 
personal  advantage  rather  than  the  martyrs  of  Christ, 
who  endure  the  worst  afflictions :  "  "  they  aver  that  no 
Knight  in  all  the  world  out  of  the  realm  of  France  has 
or  would  utter  such  lies :  it  is  manifest  therefore  that 
they  that  do  this  in  France  are  seduced  by  terror,  influ- 
ence, or  bribery."  2  They  assert  distinctly,  deliberately., 
without  reserve,  the  holiness  of  the  Order ;  their  fidel- 
ity to  their  three  solemn  vows  of  chastity,  obedience, 
poverty ;  their  dedication  to  the  service  of  Christ's 
Sepulchre ;  they  avouch  the  utter  mendacity  of  the 
articles  exhibited  against  them.  "  Certain  false  Chris- 
tians, or  absolute  heretics,  moved  by  the  zeal  of  covet- 
ousness,  or  the  ardor  of  envy^  have  sought  out  some  few 
apostates  or  renegades  from  the  Order  (diseased  sheep 
cast  out  of  the  fold),  and  with  them  have  invented  and 
forged  all  the  horrid  crimes  and  wickednesses  attributed 
to  the  Order.  They  have  poisoned  the  ears  of  the 
Pope  and  of  the  King.  The  Pope  and  the  King,  thus 
misled  by  designing  and  crafty  counsellors,  have  per- 
mitted their  satellites  to  compel  confessions  by  impris- 

1  "  Quia  omnes  fratres  generaliter  tanto  terrore,  et  terrore  perculsi,  quod 
non  est  mirandum  quodam  modo  de  hiis  qui  mentiuntur,  sed  plus  de  hiis 
qui  sustinent  veritatem."  — p.  166,  and  in  Moldenhauer. 

2"Quare  dicta  sunt  in  regno  Francire,  quia,  qui  dixerunt,  corrupti  ti- 
tnore  prece  vel  pretio  testilicati  sunt  "  ! ' 


440  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII 

onment,  torture,  the  dread  of  death.  Finally,  the} 
protested  against  the  form  of  procedure,  as  directly 
contrary  to  law,  an  inquisition  ex  officio,  because  before 
their  arrest,  they  were  not  arraigned  by  public  fame, 
because  they  are  not  now  in  a  state  of  freedom  and 
security,  but  at  the  mercy  of  those  who  are  continually 
suggesting  to  the  King  that  he  should  urge  all  who 
have  confessed  by  words,  messages,  or  letters  not  to 
retract  their  false  depositions,  extorted  by  fear ;  for  if 
they  retract  them,  they  will  be  burned  alive."  l 

William  de  Montreal  presented  another  protest  in 
Provencal  French,  somewhat  different  in  terms,  insist- 
ing on  their  undoubted  privilege  of  being  judged  by 
the  Pope  and  the  Pope  alone. 

These  protests  had  no  greater  effect  than  such  pro- 
tests usually  have  ;  they  were  overruled  by  the  Commis- 
sioners, who  declared  themselves  determined  to  proceed. 

On  April  11th,  on  the  eve  of  Palm  Sunday,  the 
witnesses,  witnesses,  how  chosen  is  unknown,  were 
brought  forward  :  oaths  of  remarkable  solemnity  were 
administered  in  the  presence  of  the  four  advocates  of 
the  Order.  The  depositions  of  the  first  witnesses  were 
loose  and"  unsatisfactory,  resting  on  rumor  and  suspi- 
cion. Raoul  de  Prael  had  some  years  before  heard 
Gervais,  Prior  of  the  Temple  at  Laon,  declare  that 
the  Templars  had  a  great  and  terrible  secret,  he  would 
have  his  head  cut  off  rather  than  betray  it.  Nicolas 
Domizelli,  Provost  of  the  Monastery  of  Fassat,  had 
heard  his  uncle,  who  entered  the  Order  twenty-live 
years  before,  declare  that  the  same  Gervais  had  used 
the  same  language  concerning  the  secret  usages  of  the 
Order.     He  had  himself  wished  to  enter  the  Order, 

1  p.  140. 


Chap.  II.  NEW   PROTEST.  44  J 

but,  though  he  was  very  rich,  Gervais  had  raised  diffi- 
culties. Some  of  the  Court  adjourned  to  the  death-bed 
of  John  de  St.  Benedict,  Preceptor  of  Isle  Bochard. 
John  underwent,  though  said  to  be  at  the  point  of 
death,  a  long  interrogatory.  He  confessed,  as  they  re- 
ported, the  denial  of  Christ  and  spitting  on  the  Cross 
at  his  reception  :  of  the  idol,  or  of  the  other  charges 
he  knew  nothing.  Guiscard  de  Marsiac  had  heard  of 
the  obscene  kisses.  His  relative,  Hugh  de  Marchant, 
after  he  had  entered  the  Order,  had  become  profoundly 
melancholy  ;  he  called  himself  a  lost  man,  had  a  seal 
stamped  "  Hugh  the  Lost."  Hugh,  however,  had  died, 
after  confession  to  a  Friar  Minor  and  having  received 
the  Holy  Sacrament,  in  devotion  and  peace.  Then 
came  two  servitors,  under  the  suspicious  character  of 
renegades,  having  cast  off  the  dress  of  the  Order,  John 
de  Taillefer,  and  John  de  Hinquemet,  an  Englishman. 
They  deposed  to  the  denial  of  Christ,  the  spitting  on 
the  Cross,  the  denial  with  their  lips  not  their  hearts  (as 
almost  every  one  did),  the  spitting  near  not  on  the 
Cross. 

The  Court  adjourned  for  the  Festival  of  Easter,  and 
resumed  its  sittings  on  the  Thursday  in  Easter  Easter. 
week.     The  four  defenders  had  become  still  more  em- 
boldened, perhaps  by  the  meagre  and  inconclusive  evi- 
dence.     They  put  in  a  new  protest  against  New  pr0. 
the  proceedings,  as  hasty,  violent,  sudden,  in-  test* 
iquitous,  and  without  the  forms  of  law.     The  Brethren 
had  been  led  like  sheep  to  the  slaughter ;  they  recount- 
ed again  the  imprisonments,  the  tortures,  under  which 
many  had  died,  many  were  maimed  for  life,  by  which 
some  had  been  compelled  to  make   lying  confessions. 
Further,  letters  had  been  shown  to  the  Brethren,  with 


442  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII 

the  King's  seal  attached,  promising  them,  if  they  would 
bear  witness  against  the  Order,  safety  of  life  and  limb, 
ample  provision  for  life,  and  assuring  them  at  the  same 
time  that  the  Order  was  irrevocably  doomed.  They 
demanded  a  list  of  the  witnesses,  so  that  thev  might 
adduce  evidence  as  to  their  credibility  ;  that  those  who 
had  given  their  depositions  should  be  separated  and 
kept  apart  from  those  who  had  not,  so  that  there 
might  be  no  collusion  or  mutual  understanding ;  that 
the  depositions  should  be  kept  secret ;  that  every  wit- 
ness should  be  informed  that  he  might  speak  the  truth 
without  fear,  because  his  deposition  would  -not  be  di- 
vulged till  it  had  been  laid  before  the  Pope.  They  de- 
manded that  the  laymen  De  Plasian,  De  Nogaret,  and 
others  should  not  be  present  in  the  spiritual  court  to 
overawe  the  judges  ;  they  demanded  that  those  who 
had  the  custody  of  the  Templars  should  be  interro- 
gated as  to  the  testimony  given  concerning  the  Order 
by  the  dying  in  their  last  hours. 

The  examinations  began  again.  Another  servitor, 
Examiua-  Huguet  de  Buris,  who,  with  a  fourth,  had 
sumed.  shared  the  dungeon  of  Taillefer  and  John  the 
Englishman,  deposed  much  to  the  same  effect.  Gerard 
de  Passages  gave  more  extraordinary  evidence.  Seven- 
teen years  after  his  reception  he  had  abandoned  the 
Order  for  five  years  on  account  of  the  foul  acts  which 
had  taken  place  at  his  reception.  After  the  usual 
rigorous  oaths  had  been  administered,  a  crucifix  of 
wood  was  produced :  he  was  asked  whether  he  believed 
that  cross  to  be  God.  He  replied  that  it  was  the  image 
of  the  Crucified.  It  was  answered,  "  this  is  but  a  piece 
of  wood  ;  God  is  in  heaven."  He  was  commanded  to 
spit  upon   and   trample   on   the   Cross.      He  did   this, 


Chai>.  II.  EXAMINATION  443 

not  compelled,  but  from  his  vow  of  obedience.  He 
kissed  his  Initiator  on  the  spine  of  the  back.  Yet 
Gerard  de  Passages,  though  thus  a  renegade  to  the 
Order,  had  suffered,  he  avers,  the  most  horrible  tort- 
ures before  the  King's  Bailiff  at  Macon,  weights  tied 
to  the  genitals  and  other  limbs  to  compel  him  to  a  con- 
fession of  the  idol,  of  which  he  declared  that  he  knew 
nothing.  Godfrey  de  Thatan,  the  fourth  of  the  servi- 
tors, "  had  been  forced  to  the  denial  of  Christ,  on  his 
reception,  by  the  threat  of  being  shut  up  in  a  place 
where  he  could  see  neither  his  hands  nor  his  feet." 
Raymond  de  Vassiniac  made  an  admission  for  the  first 
time  of  one  of  the  fouler  charges,  but  denied  May  6. 
the  actual  guilt  of  the  Order.  Baldwin  de  St.  Just, 
Preceptor  of  Ponthieu,  had  been  twice  examined,  twice 
put  to  the  torture,  at  Amiens  by  the  Friar  Preachers, 
at  Paris  before  the  Bishop.  The  sharper  tortures  at 
Amiens  had  compelled  him  to  confess  more  than  the 
less  intolerable  tortures  at  Paris,  or  than  he  was  dis- 
posed to  avow  before  the  Commissioners.  "At  his 
own  reception  had  taken  place  the  abnegation,  the  in- 
sult to  the  Cross,  the  license  to  commit  unnamable 
vices.  But  at  the  reception  of  four  Brothers,  one  his 
own  nephew,  at  which  he  had  been  present,  nothing 
of  the  kind."  The  servitor  James  of  Troyes  was  the 
most  ready  witness  :  he  had  left  the  Order  four  years 
before  from  love  of  a  woman.  Besides  the  usual  ad- 
missions, he  had  heard,  he  could  not  say  from  whom, 
that  a  head  was  worshipped  at  the  midnight  Chapters. 
The  Court  itself  mistrusted  the  ease,  fluency,  and  con- 
tradictions of  this  witness.1 

1  "  Predictus  testis  videbatur  esse  valde  facilis  et  procax  ad  loquendum 
et  in  pluribus  dictis  suis  non  esse  stabilis,  sed  quasi  varians  et  vacillans." 


144  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII 

Still  during  all  these  examinations  new  batches  of 
Knights  were  brought  in,  almost  all  of  them  eager  to 
undertake  the  defence  of  the  Order.  As  yet,  consider- 
ing the  means  unscrupulously  used  to  obtain  evidence, 
the  evidence  had  been  scanty,  suspicious,  resting  chief- 
ly on  low  persons  of  doubtful  fidelity  to  their  vows. 
Hope,  even  something  like  triumph,  might  be  rising  in 
the  hearts,  faintly  gleaming  on  the  countenances  of  the 
Templars.  The  Court  itself  might  seem  somewhat 
shaken  :  the  weighty  protests,  unanswered  and  unan- 
swerable, could  hardly  be  without  some  effect.  Who 
could  tell  the  turn  affairs  might  take  ? 

But  now,  at  this  crisis,  terrible  rumors  began  to 
Archbishop  spread  that  the  Archbishop  of  Sens,  in  defi- 
of  sens.  ance  and  in  contempt  of  the  supreme  Papal 
tribunal,  was  proceeding  (as  Metropolitan  of  Paris) 
against  all  who  had  retracted  their  confessions,  as  re- 
lapsed heretics.  These  were  the  first  fruits  of  the 
Archbishop's  gratitude  to  the  King  for  his  promotion 
extorted  from  the  reluctant  Pope:  he  had  not  been  a 
month  enthroned ! 

Stephen,  Archbishop  of  Sens,  had  died  about  the 
Easter  of  the  preceding  year.  The  Pope  declared  his 
determination  himself  to  nominate  the  Metropolitan  of 
this  important  See,  of  which  the  Bishop  of  Paris  was  a 
Suffragan.  But  the  King  requested,  he  demanded  the 
Philip  de  See  for  Philip,  the  brother  of  his  faithful 
Marigni.  minister,  Enguerrand  de  Marigni,  the  author 
and  adviser  of  all  his  policy.  Clement  struggled  with 
some  resolution,  but  gave  way  at  length  ;  he  acceded 
ungraciously,  reluctantly,  but  still  acceded. 

At  Easter  Philip  de  Marigni  received  his  pall.  Al- 
i.D.  1310.      most  his  first  act  was  to  summon  a  Provincial 


Chap.  II.  DECISION  OF  THE  COUNCIL.  445 

Council  to  sit  in  judgment  on  the  Templars  who  had 
retracted  their  confessions.  The  rapid  deliberations  of 
this  Council  were  known  to  be  drawing  to  a  close.  On 
Sunday  the  four  defenders  demanded  a  special  Appeal  to  the 
audience  of  the  Commissioners.  They  putsioneTs? 
m  a  strong  protest  against  the  acts  of  the  Archbishop ; 
they  entreated  the  intervention  of  the  Commissioners 
to  arrest  these  iniquitous  proceedings;  they  appealed 
to  their  authority,  to  their  justice,  to  their  mercy  for 
their  Brethren  now  on  trial  before  another  Court.  The 
Archbishop  of  Narbonne  withdrew  under  the  pretext 
of  hearing  or  celebrating  mass.  It  was  not  till  the 
evening  that  they  obtained  a  cold  reply.  "  The  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Archbishop  related  to  different  matters 
than  those  before  the  Court:  the  trial  of  relapsed  here- 
tics. The  Commissioners  had  no  authority  to  inhibit 
the  Archbishop  of  Sens  and  his  Suffragans :  they 
would,  however,  deliberate  further  on  the  subject." 

They  had  no  time  for  deliberation.  The  next  day 
De  Marigni's  Council  closed  its  session.  The  Decision  of 
Archbishop  pronounced  all  who  had  retracted  the  Council- 
their  confessions,  and  firmly  adhered  to  their  retractation, 
relapsed  heretics.  It  was  strange,  stern  logic :  u  You 
have  confessed  yourself  to  be  guilty  of  heresy,  on  that 
confession  you  have  received  absolution.  If  you  re- 
tract your  confessions,  the  Church  treats  you  not  as 
reconciled  sinners,  but  as  relapsed  heretics,  and  as  here- 
tics adjudges  you  to  be  burned."  It  was  in  vain  urged 
that  their  heresy  rested  on  their  own  confession  ;  that 
confession  withdrawn,  there  was  no  proof  of  their 
heresy.  Those  who  persisted  in  their  confession,  were 
set  at  liberty,  declared  reconciled  to  the  Church,  pro- 
vided for  by  the  King.     Those  who  had  made  no  con- 


44b  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XIL 

fession,  and  refused  to  make  one,  were  declared  not 
reconciled  to  the  Church,  and  ordered  to  be  detained  in 
orison,  which  might  be  perpetual.  For  the  relapsed 
there  was  a  darker  destiny. 

On  May  12th  fifty-four  stakes,  encircled  with  dry 
wood,  were  erected  outside  the  Porte  St.  Antoine. 
Fifty-four  Templars  were  led  forth — men,  some  of 
noble  birth,  many  in  the  full  health  and  strength  of 
manhood.1  The  habits  of  their  Order  were  rent  from 
them  ;  each  was  bound  to  the  stake,  with  an  executioner 
beside  him.  The  herald  proclaimed  for  the  last  time 
that  those  who  would  confess  should  be  set  at  liberty. 
Kindred  and  friends  thronged  around  weeping,  beseech 
ing,  imploring  them  to  submit  to  the  King.  Not  one 
showed  the  least  sign  of  weakness :  they  resolutely 
asserted  the  innocence  of  the  Order,  their  own  faith  as 
Christians.  The  executioners  slowly  lit  the  wood, 
which  began  to  scorch,  to  burn,  to  consume  their  ex- 
tremities. The  flames  rose  higher ;  and  through  the 
crackling  might  be  heard  the  howlings  of  the  dying 
men,  their  agonizing  prayers  to  Christ,  to  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  to  the  Saints.  Not  one  but  died  an  unshrink- 
ing and  resolute  martyr  to  the  guiltlessness  of  the  Or- 
der. The  people  looked  on  in  undisguised  sympathy. 
"  Their  souls,"  says  one  chronicler,  "  incurred  deeper 
damnation,  for  they  misled  the  people  into  grievous 
error."  2  Day  after  day  went  on  the  same  sad  spectacle, 
On  the  eve  of  the  Ascension,  four  were  burned,  among 
them  the  King's  Almoner.  One  hundred  and  thirteen 
were  burned  in  Paris  alone,  and  not  one  apostate  ! 

1  Raynouard  (pp.  109-111)  has  recovered  the  names  of  most  of  the  fifty- 
four. 

2  Chroniques  de  St.  Denys.    The  best  account  is  in  Villani,  viii.  xcii., 
Zantfleet  Chronicon,  apud  Martene,  v.  p.  159. 


Chap.  II.      EFFECT  OF  THE  BURNING  THE  RELAPSED.       447 

The  examinations  were  going  on,  meantime,  before 
the  Papal  Commission.  The  day  when  it  Examinationa 
was  well  known  that  the  Archbishop  wasproceed* 
about  to  condemn  the  recreants  to  the  flames,  Humphry 
de  Puy,  a  servitor,  gave  the  most  intrepid  denial  to  the 
whole  of  the  charges  :  he  had  been  three  times  tortured, 
kept  in  a  dungeon  on  bread  and  water  for  twenty-six 
weeks.  He  described  his  own  reception  as  solemn, 
secret,  and  austere.  He  had  heard  rumors  of  such 
things  as  were  said  to  have  taken  place  ;  he  did  not 
believe  one  word  of  them.  Throughout  his  denial  was 
plain,  firm,  unshaken.  John  Bertaldi  was  under  ex- 
amination when  the  tidings  of  the  burnings  at  the  Porte 
St.  Antoine  were  made  known.  The  Commissioners 
sent  a  tardy  and  feeble  petition  at  least  for  delay,  and 
to  inform  the  Archbishop  and  the  King's  officers  that 
the  Templars  had  entered  an  appeal  to  the  Council  of 
Vienne.     This  was  all ! 

The  next  day  Aymeric  de  Villars  le  Due  appeared 
before  the  Commissioners,  pale,  bewildered  ;  yet  on  his 
oath,  and  at  peril  of  his  soul,  he  imprecated  upon  him- 
self, if  he  lied,  instant  death,  and  that  he  might  be 
plunged  body  and  soul,  in  sight  of  the  Court,  into  hell. 
He  smote  his  breast,  lifted  his  hands  in  solemn  appeal 
to  the  altar,  knelt  down,  and  averred  all  the  crimes  im- 
puted to  the  Order  utterly  false  :  though  he  had  been 
tortured  by  G.  de  Maraillac  and  Hugo  de  Celle,  the 
King's  officers,  to  partial  confession.  He  had  seen 
the  wagons  in  which  the  fifty-four  had  been  led  to  be 
burned,  he  had  heard  that  they  had  been  burned.  He 
doubted  whether,  if  he  should  be  burned,  he  would  not 
through  fear  confess  anything,  and  confess  it  on  his 
oath,  even  if  he  were  asked  if  he  had  slain  the  Lord. 


448  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  Xll. 

He  entreated  the  Commissioners,  he  even  entreated  tne 
notaries  not  to  betray  his  secret  lest  he  should  be  con- 
demned to  the  same  fate  as  his  Brethren. 

The  Commissioners  found  the  witnesses  utterly  par- 
alyzed with  dread,  and  only  earnest  that  their  confes- 
sions or  retractations  of  their  confessions,  might  not  be 
revealed  ;  above  forty  abandoned  the  defence  in  despair. 
So,  after  some  unmeaning  communications  with  the 
Archbishop  of  Sens,  they  determined  to  adjourn  the 
Court  for  some  months,  till  November  3d. 

In  the  mean  time  other  Metropolitans  and  Bishops 
followed  the  summary  and  barbarous  proceedings  of 
Philip  Marigni  of  Sens.1  The  Archbishop  of  Rheims 
held  a  Council  at  Senlis  ;  nine  Templars  were  burned : 
the  Archbishop  of  Rouen  at  Pont  de  l'Arche ;  the 
number  of  victims  is  not  known,  but  they  were  many.2 
The  Bishop  of  Carcassonne  held  his  Council :  John 
Cassantras,  Commander  in  Carcassonne,  with  many 
others  perished  in  the  fire.3  Duke  Thiebault  of  Lor- 
raine, who  had  seized  the  goods  of  the  Templars, 
ordered  great  numbers  to  execution.  None  retracted 
their  retractation  of  their  confession.4 

On  November  8d  the  Commission  resumed  its  sit- 
tings, but  most  of  the  Commissioners  were  weary  or 
disgusted  with  their  work.  Three  only  were  present. 
The  Archbishop  of  Narbonne  and  the  Bishop  of  Bay- 
eux  were  elsewhere  employed,  it  was  alleged,  on  the 

1  Continuator  Nangis.  —  Vit.  Clement.  VI. 

2  Histoire  des  Archeveques  de  Rouen,  quoted  by  Ravnouard,  p.  120. 
8  Hist.  Eccles.  de  Carcassonne.  —  Ibid. 

4  "  L'nura  autem  mirandum  fuit,  quod  omnes  et  singuli  sigillatim  con 
fessioncs  suas  quas  prius  fecerant  in  judicio,  et  jurati  confessi  fuerant  dicere 
veritatem,  penitus  retraetaverunt,  dicentes  se  falso  dixisse  prius  et  se  fuisse 
mentitos,  nullam  super  hsec  reddentes  causam  nisi  vim  vel  metum  tor- 
mentorum  quod  de  se  talia  faterentur."  —  iv.  vit.  Clement,  p.  72. 


Chap.  II.  EXAMINATIONS.  449 

King's  business.  The  Archdeacon  of  Maguelonne 
wrote  from  Montpellier  to  excuse  himself  on  account 
of  illness.  The  Bishop  of  Limoges  withdrew  :  a  letter 
to  the  King  had  been  seen,  disapproving  the  reopening 
of  the  Commission  till  the  meeting  of  a  Parliament 
summoned  for  the  day  of  St.  Vincent.1  They  ad- 
journed to  the  17th  of  December.2  The  Commission 
was  then  more  full  ;  the  Archbishop  of  Narbonne  and 
four  others  took  their  seats.  Of  the  four  proctors,  the 
Knights  William  de  Chambonnet  and  Bernard  de  Sal- 
leges  alone  appeared.  Peter  of  Bologna  and  Reginald 
de  Pruin,  it  was  asserted,  had  renounced  the  defence. 
Peter  de  Bologna  was  heard  of  no  more  ;  he  was  re- 
ported to  have  broken  prison.  Reginald  de  Pruin,  as 
having  been  degraded  by  the  Archbishop,  was  deemed 
disqualified  to  act  for  the  Order.  Thus  was  the  defence 
crippled.  In  vain  the  Knights,  unlettered  men,  de- 
manded counsel  to  assist  them :  they  too  abandoned  the 
desperate  office.  The  Court,  released  from  their  im- 
portunate presence,  could  proceed  with  greater  de- 
spatch. Lest  any  new  hindrance  should  occur,  at  the 
suggestion  of  the  Archbishop  of  Narbonne  it  was  deter- 
mined that  the  Commissioners  might  sit  by  deputy. 

The  Court  sat  from  the  17th  of  December  to  the 
26th  of  May.  Not  less,  on  the  whole,  than  two  hun- 
dred and  thirty-one  witnesses  were  heard.  It  cannot 
now  be  wondered  if  the  confessions  were  more  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  views  of  the  King.  The  most  in- 
trepid of  the  Knights  had  died  at  the  stake ;  every 
one  who  retracted  his  confession  must  make  up  his 
mind  to  be  burned.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Order 
seemed  irretrievably  doomed:    while  confession  might 

1  Jan.  22.  2  By  an  error  in  the  Document,  Oct.  17. 

vol.  VI.  2U 


450  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book.  XII. 

secure  themselves,  the  most  stubborn  assertor  of  the 
blamelessness  of  the  Order  could  not  avert  its  dissolu- 
tion. A  few  appeared  in  the  habit  of  the  Order,  with 
the  long  beard :  most  had  either  thrown  it  off,  or  it 
had  been  taken  from  them,  they  appeared  shaven. 
This  was  the  case  with  all  who  had  been  absolved 
by  the  Church. 

The  confessions,  upon  strict  examination,  manifestly 
betray  this  predominant  feeling  of  terror  and  despair. 
Some  there  were  who  nobly,  obstinately  denied  the 
whole.  Those  who  confessed,  confessed  as  little  as 
they  could,  enough  to  condemn  the  Order,  yet  not 
to  inculpate,  or  to  inculpate  as  little  as  possible,  them- 
selves. The  confessions  are  constantly  clashing  and 
contradictory.1  Men  present  at  certain  receptions  as- 
sert things  to  have  taken  place,  which  others,  also 
present,  explicitly  deny.  The  general  conclusion  was 
this.  Many  dwelt  on  the  difficulties  which  were  raised 
against  their  admission  to  the  Order.  They  were  ad- 
monished that  they  must  not  expect  to  ride  about  in 
splendid  attire  on  stately  horses,  and  to  live  easy  and 
luxurious  lives  ;  they  had  to  submit  to  austere  disci- 
pline, stern  self-denial,  almost  intolerable  privations  and 
hardships.  When  they  would  wish  to  be  beyond  the 
sea,  they  would  be  thwarted  in  their  wishes ;  when 
they  would  sleep,  they  would  be  forced  to  watch ; 
when  to  eat,  to  fast.  They  were  asked  if  they  be- 
lieved the  Catholic  faith  of  the  Church  of  Koine  ;  if 
they  were  in  Holy  Orders,  married,  under  the  vows  of 
any  other  Brotherhood  ;  whether  they  had  given  bribe 
or  promise  to  any  Knight  Templar  to  obtain  admission 

1  Raynouard  has,  with  much  ingenuity  and  truth,  Drought  together  the 
direct  contradictions.  —  p.  157  et.  seq. 


Chap.  II.  CONFESSIONS.  451 

into  the  Order.     "  Ye  ask  a  great  thing,"  replied  the 
Knight  who  admitted  them  to  their  request. 

The  first  and  public  act  of  reception,1  all  agreed, 
was  most  severe,  solemn,  impressive.  TheResultof 
three  great  vows  of  obedience,  chastity,  aban-  confessious- 
donment  of  property,  were  administered  with  awful 
gravity.  Then  it  was,  according  to  the  confession  of 
most  who  confessed  anything,  that,  after  they  had  been 
clothed  in  the  dress  of  the  Order,  they  were  led  aside 
into  some  private  chamber  or  chapel,  and  compelled, 
either  in  virtue  of  their  vow  of  obedience,  or  in  dread 
of  some  mysterious  punishment,  to  deny  Christ,  to  spit 
on  the  Cross.  Yet,  perhaps  without  exception,  all 
swore  that  they  had  denied  with  their  lips,  not  with 
their  heart ;  that  they  spat,  beside,  above,  belowT,  not 
on  the  Cross.2  All  declared  that  never  after  had  any 
attempt  been  made  to  confirm  them  in  apostasy  from 
Christ :  3  all  declared  that  they  fully  believed  the  whole 
creed  of  the  Church  ;  almost  all  that  they  believed  all 
their  Brethren  to  have  perfect  faith  in  Christ.  There 
were  some  singular  variations  and  explanations  of  the 
denial.  One  believed  it  to  be  a  mere  test  of  their  ab- 
solute obedience  ;  another  a  probation,  as  to  whether 
they  were  of  sufficient  resolution  to  be  sent  to  the 
Holy  Land,  where,  in  the  power  of  the  Mohamme- 
dans, they  might  be  compelled  to  choose  between  death 
and  the  abnegation  of  their  Redeemer  : 4  some  that  it 


1  See  the  most  full  account  of  the  reception  by  Gerard  de  Causse,  p.  179 
et  seq. 

2  "  Juxta  non  super." 

8  Albert  de  Canellis,  preceptor  in  Sicily,  and  door-keeper  of  Pope  Bene- 
dict XL,  was  told,  when  he  denied  Christ,  "  that  the  Crucified  was  a  false 
prophet ;  and  that  he  must  not  believe  or  have  hope  or  trust  in  him."  —  p.  425. 

4  One  had  confessed  it  to  a  Friar  Minor,  "  et  dixit  ei  dictus  frater  :juod 


452  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII. 

was  a  mysterious  allusion  to  the  denial  of  St.  Peter  ; 
some  that  it  was  an  idle  jest ; 1  some  that  it  was  treated 
lightly,  "  Go,  fool,  and  confess."  Many  had  confessed 
the  crime,  most  usually  to  Minorite  Friars,  and,  though 
their  confession  shocked  the  priest,  they  received,  after 
some  penance,  full  absolution.  Most  of  those  who  ac- 
knowledged the  abnegation  of  Christ,  admitted  the 
obscene  kiss  :  some  that  it  was  but  a  brotherly  kiss 
on  the  mouth ;  some  had  received,  some  had  been 
compelled  to  bestow  this  sign  of  obedience :  it  was 
sometimes  on  the  navel,  sometimes  between  the  shoul- 
ders, sometimes  at  the  bottom  of  the  spine,  sometimes, 
very  rarely,  lower  :  it  was  sometimes  on  the  naked  per- 
son, more  often  through  the  clothes.  Here  stopped  the 
admissions  of  great  numbers  ;  this  they  thought  would 
suffice  ;  the  whole  of  the  rest  they  denied.  Others 
went  further :  some  admitted  the  permission  to  com- 
mit unnatural  crimes,  though  in  the  charge  on  recep- 
tion the  sin  was  declared  to  be  relentlessly  punished 
by  perpetual  imprisonment ;  but  all  swore  vehemently 
that  they  had  never  committed  such  crimes ;  had  never 
been  tempted  or  solicited  to  commit  them  ;  offences  of 
this  kind  were  very  rare,  and  punished  by  expulsion 
from  the  Order.  Some  said  that  they  were  told  it  was 
better  to  sin  so  than  with  women  to  deter  from  that 
sin  :  some  took  it  merely  as  an  injunction  hospitably  to 


ipse  in  articulo  mortis  et  aliter  audiverat  confessiones  multorum  fratrum 
dicti  ordinis,  et  nunquam  intellexit  predict*,  sed  credebat  quod  hoc  fecis- 
Bent,  ad  temptandum,  si  contingeret  eurn  capi  ultra  mare  a  Saracenis,  an 
abuegaret  Deum."  —  p.  405.  Another  Friar-Preacher  took  the  same  view 
of  the  denials,  and  added,  "  Quia,  si  non  negasset,  forsitan  citius  misissent 
eurn  ultra  mare."  —  p.  525.  Peter  de  Charrat  said  that  after  his  abnega- 
tion, "  Dictus  Odo  incepit  subridere,  quasi  dispiclendo  ipsum  testem." 
1  Truffas.    It  was  done  "  truffatorie." 


Chat-.  II.  THE  IDOL.  453 

share  their  bed  with  a  Brother:  they  wore  their  dress 
night  and  day,  with  a  cord  which  bound  it  close.1 

Of  the  idol  but  few  had  heard ;  still  fewer  seen  it. 
It  was  a  cat ;  it  was  a  human  head  with  two  The  idols, 
faces  ;  it  was  of  stone  or  metal,  with  features  which 
might  be  discerned,  or  was  utterly  shapeless ;  it  was 
the  head  of  one  of  the  eleven  thousand  virgins : 2  no 
one  idol  could  be  produced,  though  every  mansion  of 
the  Templars,  and  all  their  most  secret  treasures,  were 
in  the  hands  of  their  enemies,  had  been  seized  without 
warning  or  time  for  concealment,  and  searched  with 
the  most  deliberate  scrutiny.  In  the  midst  of  the  ex- 
aminations came,  in  a  Latin  writing  from  Vercelli, 
from  Antonio  Siri,  a  notary,  this  wild  story,  followed 
by  another  not  less  extravagant.  A  renegade  in  Sicily 
had  divulged  the  secret.  A  Lord  of  Sidon  had  loved 
a  beautiful  woman :  he  had  never  enjoyed  her  before 
her  death.  After  her  death  he  disinterred  and  abused 
her  body.  The  fruit  of  this  unholy  and  loathsome 
connection  was  a  head ;  and  this  head,  a  talisman  of 
good  fortune,  was  the  idol  of  the  Templars.3 

Most  of  the  interrogated  seemed  to  think  that  they 
had  satisfied  all  demands  when  they  had  made  admis- 
sions on  the  first  few  questions :  to  the  rest  they  gave  a 
general  denial,  or  pleaded  total  ignorance.  There  were 
some  vague  answers  about  secret  midnight  chapters,  of 
absolution   spoken  by  the   Grand  Master,  but  rarely, 

1  Theobald  of  Tavernay  added  to  his  indignant  denial  of  those  ciimes, 
"  We  had  always  money  enough  to  purchase  the  favors  of  the  most  beau- 
tiful women."  —  p.  326. 

2  William  de  Arreblay,  the  king's  almoner,  before  his  apprehension,  had 
believed  it  to  be  the  head  of  one  of  these  Virgins;  since,  from  what  he  had 
heard  in  prison,  suspected  it  was  an  idol,  for  it  seemed  to  have  two  mce8, 
was  terrible  to  see,  and  had  a  silver  beard !  —  p.  502. 

»  Pp.  645-6. 


454  .        LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII. 

except  iii  the  absence  of  a  priest,  or  it  was  conditional, 
and  to  be  confirmed  by  a  priest :  very  few  knew  any- 
thing of  the  omission  of  the  words  at  the  consecration 
of  the  host.  But  throughout  they  are  the  confessions 
of  men  under  terror,  some  in  an  agony  of  dread,  others 
from  the  remembrance  or  the  fear  of  torture,  or  of 
worse  than  torture.  John  de  Pollencourt  at  first  pro- 
tested again  and  again  that  he  would  adhere  to  his  con- 
fession  made  before  the  Bishop  of  Amiens  that  he  had 
denied  Christ.  The  Commissioners  saw  that  he  was 
pale  and  shivering ;  they  exhorted  him  to  speak  the 
truth,  for  neither  they  nor  the  notaries  would  betray 
his  secret.  He  then  solemnly  denied  the  whole  and 
every  particular ;  averred  that  he  had  made  his  con- 
fession before  the  Inquisitors  from  fear  of  death ;  that 
Giles  de  Boutongi,  one  of  the  former  witnesses,  had 
urged  on  him  and  many  others  in  the  prison  of  Mon- 
treuil  that  they  would  lose  their  lives  if  they  did  not 
assist  in  the  dissolution  of  the  Order  by  confessing  the 
abnegation  of  Christ  and  the  spitting  on  the  cross.1 
Three  days  after,  the  same  John  de  Pollencourt  en- 
treats another  hearing,  not  only  retracts  his  retractation, 
but  adds  to  his  former  confession,  acknowledging  the 
license  to  commit  nameless  sins,  but  denies  the  worship 
of  the  idol-cat.  John  de  Cormeli,  Preceptor  of  Mois- 
siac,  at  first  seems  to  assert  the  perfect  sanctity  of  the 
initiation.  Being  pressed  as  to  anything  unseemly  hav- 
ing taken  place,  he  hesitates,  entreats  to  speak  with  the 
Commissioners  in  private.  The  Commissioners  decline 
this,  but  seeing  him  bewildered  with  the  terror  of  tort- 
ure (he  had  lost  four  teeth  by  torture  at  Paris),  allow 
him  to  retire  and  deliberate.     Some  days  after  he  ap- 

i  P.  3G8. 


Chap.  IT.  TEMrLARS  IN  ENGLAND.  455 

pears  again  with  a  full  confession.1  John  de  Rumfrey 
had  confessed  because  he  had  been  three  times  tortured. 
Robert  Vigier  denied  all  the  charges ;  he  had  confessed 
on  account  of  the  violence  of  the  tortures  inflicted  on 
him  at  Paris  by  the  Bishop  of  Nevers:2  three  of  bis 
brethren  had  died  under  the  torture.  Stephen  de 
Domant  was  utterly  bewildered  ;  he  confessed  to  the 
denial  and  the  spitting  on  the  cross.  "  Would  he  main- 
tain this  in  the  face  of  the  Knight  who  had  received 
him,  and  so  give  him  the  lie  ?  "  He  would  not.3  The 
Court  saw  that  he  was  shattered  by  the  tortures  under- 
gone two  years  before  under  the  Bishop  of  Paris. 

All  these  depositions,  signed,  sealed,  attested,  authen- 
ticated, were  transmitted  to  the  Pope.4 

It  was  not  in  France  alone  that  the  Templars  were 
arrested,  interrogated,  in  some  kingdoms,  and  Templars  ^ 
by  the  Pope's  order,  submitted  to  torture.    In  Ensland- 

i  P.  506.  2  p.  514.  s  p.  557. 

4  M.  Michelet  writes  thus  in  the  Preface  to  the  second  volume  of  the 
Proces  des  Templiers,  which,  it  must  be  admitted,  contains  on  the  whole  a 
startling  mass  of  confessions:  "II  suffit  de  remarquer,  que  dans  les  inter- 
rogatoires  que  nous  publions,  les  delegations  sont  presque  Unites  identiques, 
comme  si  elles  dtaient  dictdes  d'un  formulaire  convenu,  qu'au  contraire  les 
aveux  sont  tous  differens,  varies  de  circonstances  spdciales,  souvent  trea 
naives,  qui  leur  donnent  un  caractere  particulier  de  v<5racite\  Le  contraire 
doit  avoir  lieu,  si  les  aveux  avoient  e'te'  dictds  ou  arraches  par  les  tortures : 
ils  seraient  a  peu  pres  semblables,  et  la  diversite  se  trouverait  plutot  dans 
les  delegations."  I  confess  that  my  impression  of  the  fact  is  different, 
though  I  am  unwilling  to  set  my  opinion  on  this  point  against  that  of  the 
Editor  of  the  Proceedings.  But  the  fact  itself,  if  true,  strikes  me  just  in 
the  contrary  way.  The  denegations  were  simple  denials;  the  avowals, 
those  of  persons  who  had  suffered  or  feared  torture  or  death,  who  were  be- 
wildered, desperate  of  saving  the  Order,  and  spoke  therefore  whatever 
might  please  or  propitiate  the  judges.  Truth  is  usually  plain,  simple; 
falsehood  desultory,  circumstantial,  contradictory.  In  their  confessions 
they  were  wildly  bidding  for  their  lives.  Whatever  you  wish  us  to  say, 
we  will  say  it;  a  few  words  more  or  less  matters  not;  or  a  few  more  assent- 
ing answers  to  questions  which  suggested  those  answers.  Twenty-five 
examined  at  Elne  in  Rousillon  had  not  been  tortured;  they  denied  calmly, 
«onsistently,  the  whole.  —  Tom,  h.  p.  421. 


456  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII. 

England,  Edward  II.,  after  the  example  of  his  father- 
in-law,  and  in  obedience  to  the  Pope's  repeated  injunc- 
tions, and  to  his  peremptory  Bull,  had  seized  with  the 
same  despatch,  and  cast  into  different  prisons,  all  the 
Templars  in  England,  Wales,  and  Ireland ;  Scotland 
had  done  the  same.  The  English  Templars  were  under 
custody  in  London,  Lincoln,  and  York.  From  Lincoln, 
before  the  interrogatory,  great  part,  but  not  all,  were 
transferred  to  the  Tower  of  London,  to  the  care  of 
John  Cromwell,  the  Constable.1  The  first  proceeding 
was  before  Ralph  Baldock,  Bishop  of  London.  On 
the  21st  of  October  he  opened  the  inquest  on  forty 
Knights,  including  the  Grand  Master,  William  de  la 
More,  in  the  chapter-house  of  the  monastery  of  the 
Holy  Trinity,  in  the  presence  of  the  Papal  Commis- 
sioners, Deodate,  Abbot  of  Lagny,  and  Sicard  de  St. 
Vaur,  Canon  of  Narbonne,  Auditor  of  the  Pope.2  The 
questions  were  at  first  far  more  simple,  far  less  elabo 
rately  drawn  out  than  those  urged  in  France.3  The 
chief  points  were  these  :  4  —  Whether  the  chapters  and 
the  reception  of  knights  were  held  in  secret  and  by 
night ;  whether  in  those  chapters  were  committed  any 
offences  against  Christian  morals  or  the  faith  of  the 
Church  ;  whether  any  one  had  suspected  such  offences  ; 
whether  they  knew  that  any  individual  brother  had  de- 
nied the  Redeemer  and  worshipped  idols ;  whether  they 
themselves  held  heretical  opinions  on  any  of  the  sacra- 
ments.     The  examination  was  conducted  with  grave 

1 ''  Ut  comraodius  et  efficacius  procedi  potest  ad  inquisitionem."  —  Ry- 
mer,  1309. 

2  Wilkins,  Concilia  Mag.  Britann.  ii.  p.  334. 

8  Concil.  Magn.  Britann.  ii.  347.  I  shall  be  excused  for  giving  the  Eng- 
lish examinations  somewhat  more  at  length.  The  trials  were  here  at  least 
more  fair. 

4  The  charges  were  read  to  them  in  Latin,  French,  and  English. 


Chap.  II.  TEMPLARS   IN  ENGLAND.  457 

dignity.  The  warders  of  the  prisons  were  commanded 
to  keep  the  witnesses  separate,  under  pain  of  the  greater 
excommunication :  to  allow  them  no  intercourse,  to 
permit  no  one  to  have  access  to  them.  The  first  four 
witnesses,  William  Raven,  Hugh  of  Tadcaster,  Thomas 
Chamberleyn,  Ralph  of  Barton,  were  interrogated  ac- 
cording to  the  simpler  formulary.  They  described 
each  his  reception,  by  whom,  in  whose  presence  it  took 
place ;  denied  calmly,  distinctly,  specifically,  every  one 
of  the  charges ;  declared  that  they  believed  them  to  be 
false,  and  had  not  the  least  suspicion  of  their  truth. 
Ralph  of  Barton  was  a  priest;  he  was  recalled,  and 
then  first  examined,  under  a  more  rigid  form  of  oath, 
on  each  of  the  eighty-seven  articles  used  in  France, 
and  sanctioned  by  the  Pope.  His  answer  was  a  plain 
positive  denial  in  succession  of  every  criminal  charge. 
Forty-seven  witnesses  deposed  fully  to  the  same  effect.1 
From  all  these  knights  had  been  obtained  not  one  syl- 
lable of  confession.2  It  was  determined  to  admit  the 
testimony  of  witnesses  not  of  the  Order.  Nov.  20. 
Seventeen  were  examined,  clergy,  public  notaries, 
and  others.  Most  of  them  knew  nothing  against  the 
Templars ;  the  utmost  was  a  vague  suspicion  arising 
out  of  the  secrecy  with  which  they  held  their  chap- 
ters.    One   man   alone   deposed   to   an  overt   act   of 

1  Thomas  de  Ludham,  the  thirty-first  witness,  said  that  he  had  been  often 
urged  to  leave  the  Order;  but  had  constantly  refused,  though  he  had  quite 
enough  to  live  upon  had  he  done  so. 

2  The  forty-fourth,  John  of  Stoke,  Chaplain  of  the  Order,  was  questioned 
as  to  the  death  of  William  Bachelor,  a  knight.  It  appears  that  Bachelor 
had  been  in  the  prison  of  the  Templars  eight  weeks,  had  died,  had  been 
buried,  not  in  the  cemetery,  but  in  the  public  way  within  the  Temple,  and 
not  in  the  dress  of  the  Order.  He  had  died  excommunicated  by  the  rules 
of  the  Order.  It  was  intimated  that  Bachelor's  offence  was  appropriating 
*ome  of  the  goods  of  the  Order. 


458  LATIN   CIIRISTIAN1T1       „  Book  XII. 

guilt  against  a  knight,  Guy  de  Forest,  who  had  been 
his  enemy. 

From  January  29th  to  February  4th  were  hearings 
before  the  Bishops  of  London  and  Chichester,  the  Pa- 
pal commissioners,  and  some  others,  in  St.  Martin's, 
Ludgate,  and  in  other  churches,  on  twenty-nine  new 
articles.  I.  Whether  they  knew  anything  of  the  infi- 
del and  foul  crimes  charged  in  the  Papal  Bull.  II. 
Whether  the  knights  deposed  under  awe  of  the  Great 
Preceptor  or  of  the  Order.  III.  Whether  the  form 
of  reception  was  the  same  throughout  the  world,  &c. 
Thirty-four  witnesses,  some  before  examined,  persisted 
in  the  same  absolute  denial.  On  the  8th  of  June 
the  Inquest  dwelt  solely  on  the  absolution  pronounced 
by  the  Grand  Preceptor.  William  de  la  More  deposed 
that  when  an  offender  was  brought  up  before  the  chap- 
ter he  was  stripped  of  the  dress  of  the  Order,  his  back 
exposed,  and  the  President  struck  three  blows  with 
scourges.  He  then  said,  u  Brother,  pray  to  God  to  re- 
mit thy  sins."  He  turned  to  those  present,  "  Brethren, 
pray  to  God  that  he  remit  our  brother's  sin,  and  repeat 
your  Pater  Noster."  He  swore  that  he  had  never  used 
the  form,  a  I  absolve  thee,  in  the  name  of  the  Father, 
Son,  and  Holy  Ghost."  This  was  the  case  with  all 
offences,  save  those  which  could  not  be  confessed  with- 
out indecency.  These  he  remitted  as  far  as  he  might 
by  the  powers  granted  to  him  by  God  and  the  Pope.1 
This  was  the  universal  practice  of  the  Order.  All  the 
witnesses  confirmed  the  testimony  of  William  de  la 
June  1,1310.   More.     Interrogatories  were  also  made  at  dif- 

1  "  Sed  alia  peccata,  quae  non  audent  confiteri  propter  erubescentiam  car- 
nis  vel  timorem  justitiae  ordinis,  ipse  ex  potestate  sibi  concessa,  a  Deo  et 
domino  Papa,  remittit  ei  in  quantum  potest."  —  p.  357. 


Cita*.  II.  HEARINGS   IN   LONDON.  459 

ferent  times  at  Lincoln  under  the  Papal  Commission, 
and  before  the  Archbishop  at  York  with  the  April  28. 
two  Papal  Commissioners.1     All  examined  denied  the 
whole  as  firmly  and  unanimously  as  at  London. 

The  conclusions  to  which  the  chief  Court  arrived, 
after  these  Inquisitions,  were  in  part  a  full  and  absolute 
acquittal  of  the  Order  ;  in  part  were  based  on  a  dis- 
torted and  unjust  view  of  the  evidence  ;  in  part  on  evi- 
dence almost  acknowledged  to  be  unsatisfactory.  The 
form  of  reception  was  declared  to  be  the  same  through- 
out the  world  ;  of  the  criminality  of  that  form,  or  of 
any  of  its  particular  usages,  not  one  word.  Certain 
articles  were  alleged  to  be  proved :  the  absolution  pro- 
nounced by  the  Grand  Preceptor,  and  by  certain  lay 
knights  in  high  office,  and  by  the  chapters  ;  also  that 
the  reception  was  by  night  and  secret ;  that  they  were 
sworn  not  to  reveal  the  secret  of  their  reception  (proved 
by  seven  witnesses),  were  liable  to  be  punished  for 
such  revelation  (by  three  witnesses) ;  that  it  was  not 
lawful  among  themselves  to  discuss  this  secret  (by 
three  witnesses)  ;  that  they  were  sworn  to  increase  the 
wealth  of  the  Order,  by  right  or  wrong;2  by  four  wit- 
nesses that  they  were  forbidden  to  confess  except  to 
priests  of  their  own  Order.3 

The  testimony  of  certain  hostile  witnesses  was  all 
this  time  kept  separate ;  it  was  admitted  that  at  the  ut- 
most even  this  was  but  presumptive  against  the  Order. 
The  Court  seemed  to  have  been  ashamed  of  it,  as  well 
they  might.  In  one  place  there  is  a  strong  intimation 
that  the  witnesses  had  contradicted  and  forsworn  them- 

i  Thos.  Stubbs,  Act.  Pontif.  Eborac.  apud  Twysden,  p.  730;  also  Hem- 
tngford. 
2  "  Per  fas  vel  per  nefas."  «  Concil.  p.  548. 


460  LATIN  CIITUSTIANITY.  Book  XIL 

selves.1  To  what  did  it  amount,  and  what  manner  of 
men  were  the  witnesses  ? 

An  Irish  Brother,  Henry  Tanet,  had  heard  that  in 
the  East  one  knight  had  apostatized  to  Islam :  he  had 
heard  that  the  Preceptor  of  Mount  Pelerin  in  Syria 
had  received  knights  with  the  denial  of  Christ ;  the 
names  of  the  knights  he  knew  not.  Certain  knights 
of  Cyprus  (unnamed)  were  not  sound  in  faith.  A 
certain  Templar  had  a  brazen  head  which  answered  all 
questions.  He  never  heard  that  any  knight  worshipped 
an  idol,  except  the  apostate  to  Mohammedanism  !  and 
the  aforesaid  Preceptor. 

John  of  Nassingham  had  heard  from  others,  who 
said  that  they  had  been  told,  that  at  a  great  banquet 
given  by  the  Preceptor  at  York  many  brothers  met  in 
solemn  festival  to  worship  a  calf. 

John  de  Eure,  knight  (not  of  the  Order),  had  in- 
vited William  de  la  Fenne,  Preceptor  of  Wesdall,  to 
dinner.  De  la  Fenne,  after  dinner,  had  produced  a 
book,  and  given  it  to  his  wife  to  read,  which  book  de- 
nied the  virgin  birth  of  the  Saviour,  and  the  Redemp- 
tion :  "  Christ  was  crucified,  not  for  man's  sins,  but  for 
his  own."  De  la  Fenne  had  confessed  this  before  the 
Inquest.  Himself,  being  a  layman,  could  not  know  the 
contents  of  the  book. 

William  de  la  Forde,  Rector  of  Crofton,  had  heard 
from  an  Augustinian  monk,  now  dead,  that  he  had 
heard  the  confession  of  Patrick  Rippon,  of  the  Order, 
also  dead,  a  confession  of  all  the  crimes  charged  against 
the  Order.  He  had  heard  all  this  after  the  apprehen- 
sion of  the  Templars  at  York. 

1  "  Suspicio  (quae  loco  testis  21  in  MS.  allegatur)  probare  videtur,  quod 
©mnes  examinati  in  aliquo  dejeraverunt,  ut  ex  inspectione  processuum  ap- 
paret." 


Omap.  II.  WITNESSES   NOT   OF   THE  ORDER.  401 

Robert  of  Oteringham,  a  Franciscan,  had  heard  a 
chaplain  of  the  Order  say  to  his  brethren,  "  The  devil 
will  burn  you,"  or  some  such  words.  He  had  seen  a 
Templar  with  his  face  to  the  West,  his  hinder  parts 
towards  the  altar.  Twenty  years  before,  at  Wetherby, 
he  had  looked  through  a  hole  in  the  wall  of  a  chapel 
where  the  Preceptor  was  said  to  be  busy  arranging  the 
relics  brought  from  the  Holy  Land  ;  he  saw  a  very 
bright  light.  Next  day  he  asked  a  Templar  what  Saint 
they  worshipped  ;  the  Templar  turned  pale,  and  en- 
treated him,  as  he  valued  his  life,  to  speak  no  more  of 
the  matter. 

John  Wederal  sent  in  a  schedule,  in  which  he  testi- 
fied in  writing  that  he  had  heard  a  Templar,  one  Rob- 
ert Bayser,  as  he  walked  along  a  meadow,  say,  "  Alas  ! 
alas !  that  ever  I  was  born  !  I  must  deny  Christ  and 
hold  to  the  devil !  " 

N.  de  Chinon,  a  Franciscan,  had  heard  that  a  certain 
Templar  had  a  son  who  looked  through  a  wall  and  saw 
the  knights  compelling  a  professing  knight  to  deny 
Christ ;  on  his  refusal  they  killed  him.  The  boy  was 
asked  by  his  father  whether  he  would  be  a  Templar  ; 
the  boy  refused,  saying  what  he  had  seen  :  on  which 
his  father  killed  him  also. 

Ferins  Mareschal  deposed  that  his  grandfather  en- 
tered the  Order  in  full  health  and  vigor,  delighting  in 
his  hawks  and  hounds  ;  in  three  days  he  was  dead  :  the 
witness  suspected  that  he  would  not  consent  to  the 
wickednesses  practised  by  the  Order. 

Adam  de  Heton  deposed  that  when  he  was  a  boy  it 
was  a  common  cry  among  boys,  "  Beware  of  the  kisses 
of  the  Templars." 

William  de  Berney,  an  Augustinian,  had  heard  that 


462  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII. 

a  certain  Templar,  lie  did  not  know  his  name,  but  be- 
lieved that  he  was  the  Preceptor  of  Duxworthe  (near 
Cambridge),  had  said  that  man  after  death  had  no  more 
a  living  soul  than  a  dog. 

Roger,  Rector  of  Godmersham,  deposed  that  fifteen 
years  before  he  had  desired  to  enter  the  Order.  Ste- 
phen Quenteril  had  warned  him,  "  If  you  were  my 
father,  and  might  become  Grand  Master  of  the  Order, 
I  would  not  have  you  enter  it.  We  have  three  vows, 
known  only  to  God,  the  devil,  and  the  brethren."  What 
those  vows  were  Stephen  would  not  reveal. 

William,  Vicar  of  St.  Clement  in  Sandwich,  had 
heard  fifteen  years  before,  from  a  groom  in  his  service, 
that  the  said  groom  had  heard  from  another  servant, 
that  the  said  servant  at  Dinelee  had  hid  himself  under 
a  seat  in  the  great  hall  where  the  Templars  held  their 
midnight  chapters.  The  President  preached  to  the 
brethren  how  they  might  get  richer.  All  the  brethren 
deposited  their  girdles  in  a  certain  place :  one  of  these 
girdles  the  servant  found  and  carried  •  to  his  master. 
The  master  struck  him  with  his  sword  in  the  presence 
of  the  said  groom.  William  was  asked  if  the  groom 
was  living :  he  did  not  know. 

Thomas  Tulyet  had  heard  from  the  Vicar  of  Sutton 
that  he  had  heard  a  certain  priest,  who  officiated  among 
the  Templars,  had  been  inhibited  from  using  the  words 
of  consecration  in  the  mass. 

John  de  Gertia,  a  Frenchman,  had  heard  fourteen 
years  before  from  a  woman  named  Cacocaca,  who  lived 
near  some  elms  in  a  street  in  a  suburb  of  London,  lead- 
ing to  St.  Giles,  that  Exvalet,  Preceptor  of  London, 
had  told  this  woman  that  a  servant  of  certain  Templars 
had  concealed  himself  in  their  chapter-house  at  Dine- 


Chap.  II.  WITNESSES   NOT   OF  THE   ORDER.  4l>3 

lee.1  The  Knights  present  had  retired  to  a  house  adja- 
cent (how  the  witness  saw  them,  appears  not)  ;  there 
they  opened  a  coffer,  produced  a  black  idol  with  shin- 
ing eyes,  performing  certain  disgusting  ceremonies. 
One  of  them  refused  to  do  more  (the  conversation  is 
given  word  for  word),  they  threw  him  into  a  well,  and 
then  proceeded  to  commit  all  kinds  of  abominable  ex- 
cesses. He  said  that  one  Walter  Savage,  who  belonged 
to  Earl  Warenne,  had  entered  the  Order,  and  after 
two  years  disappeared.  Agnes  Lovekote  deposed  to 
the  same. 

Brother  John  Wolby  de  Bust  had  heard  from  Brother 
John  of  Dingeston  that  he  believed  that  the  charges 
against  the  Templars  were  not  without  foundation ; 
that  he  had  heard  say  that  the  Court  of  Rome  was  not 
dealing  in  a  straightforward  manner,  and  wished  to 
save  the  Grand  Master.  The  said  Brother  averred 
that  he  knew  the  place  in  London  where  a  gilded  head 
was  kept.  There  were  two  more  in  England,  he  knew 
not  where. 

Richard  de  Kocfield  had  heard  from  John  of  Barne 
that  William  Bachelor 2  had  said  that  he  had  lost  his 
soul  by  entering  into  the  Order ;  that  there  was  one 
article  in  their  profession  which  might  not  be  revealed. 

Gaspar  (or  Godfrey)  de  Nafferton,  chaplain  of  Ryde, 
was  in  the  service  of  the  Templars,  at  the  admission  of 
William  de  Pockli no-ton.  The  morning  after  his  ad- 
mission  William  looked  very  sad.  A  certain  Brother 
Roger  had  promised  Godfrey  for  two  shillings  to  obtain 
his  admission  to  see  the  ceremony.  Roger  broke  his 
word,   and,  being  reproached  by   Godfrey,   said  "  he 

1  See  above. 

2  The  knight  whose  mysterious  disappearance  had  been  noticed  before. 


4G4  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII. 

would  not  have  done  it  for  his  tabard  full  of  money." 
"  If  I  had  known  that,"  said  Godfrey,  "  I  would  have 
seen  it  through  a  hole  in  the  wall."  "  You  would  in- 
evitably have  been  put  to  death,  or  forced  to  take  the 
habit  of  the  Order."  He  also  deposed  to  having  seen 
a  Brother  copying  the  secret  statutes. 

John  of  Donyngton,  a  Franciscan,  had  conversed 
with  a  certain  veteran  who  had  left  the  Order.  At  the 
Court  of  Rome  he  had  confessed  to  the  great  Peniten- 
tiary why  he  left  the  Order  ;  that  there  were  four  prin- 
cipal idols  in  England  ;  that  William  de  la  More,  now 
Grand  Preceptor,  had  introduced  all  these  into  Eng- 
land. De  la  More  had  a  great  roll  in  which  were 
inscribed  all  these  wicked  observances.  The  same  John 
of  Donyngton  had  heard  dark  sayings  from  others,  in- 
timating that  there  were  profound  and  terrible  secrets 
in  the  Order.1 

Such  was  the  mass  of  strange,  loose,  hearsay,  anti- 
quated evidence,2  much  of  which  had  passed  through 
many  mouths.  This  was  all  which  as  yet  appeared 
against  an  Order,  arrested  and  imprisoned  by  the  King, 
acting  under  the  Pope's  Bull,  an  Order  odious  from 
jealousy  of  its  wealth  and  power,  and  from  its  arro- 
gance to  the  clergy  and  to  the  monastic  communities ; 

1  Wilcke  asserts  that  Bishop  Munter  had  discovered  at  Rome  the  report 
of  the  Confessions  of  the  English  Templars,  which  was  transmitted  to  the 
Pope.  It  is  more  full,  he  says,  than  that  in  the  Concilia.  I  cannot  see  that 
Wilcke  produces  much  new  matter  from  this  report.  His  summary  is  very 
inaccurate,  leaving  out  everything  which  throws  suspicion  on  almost  every 
testimony. 

2  Two  Confessions  made  in  France  were  put  in,  in  which  Robert  de  St. 
Just  and  Godfrey  de  Gouaville  had  deposed  to  their  reception  in  England, 
with  all  the  more  appalling  and  loathsome  ceremonies.  These  confessions 
do  not  appear  in  the  Proces  (by  Michelet).  Their  names  occur  more  than 
once.  Gonaville  was  chosen  by  some  as  a  defender  of  the  Order.  He  was 
present  at  many  of  the  receptions,  sworn  to  by  the  witnesses. 


Chap.  11.  ESTATES  OF  THE  ORDER.  405 

especially  to  the  clergy  as  claiming  exemption  from 
their  jurisdiction,  and  assuming  some  of  their  powers : 
an  order  which  possessed  estates  in  every  county  (the 
instructions  of  the  King  to  the  sheriffs  of  the  counties 
imply  that  they  had  property  everywhere),  at  all  events 
vast  estates,  of  which  there  are  ample  descriptions. 
Against  the  Order  torture  was,  if  not  generally  and 
commonly  applied,  authorized  at  least  by  the  distinct 
injunctions  of  the  King  and  of  the  Pope.1 

At  length,  towards  the  end  of  May,  three  witnesses 
were  found,  men  who  had  fled,  and  had  been  Three  ^ 
excommunicated  as  contumacious  on  account  nesses- 
of  their  disobedience  to  the  citation  of  the  Court,  men 
apparently  of  doubtful  character.  Stephen  Staple- 
bridge  is  described  as  a  runaway  apostate.2  He  had 
been  apprehended  by  the  King's  officers  at  Salisbury, 
committed  to  Newgate,  and  thence  brought  up  for  ex- 
amination before  the  Bishops  of  London  and  Chiches- 
ter.    Stephen,  being  sworn,  declared  that  there  were 


1  Was  the  torture  employed  against  the  Templars  in  England?  It  is  as- 
serted by  Raynouard,  p.  132.  Haveman  (p.  305)  quotes  these  instructions, 
as  in  Dugdale  (they  are  in  the  Concilia,  ii.  p.  314),  "  Et  si  per  hujusmodi 
arctationes  et  separationes  nihil  aliud  quam  prius  vellent  confiteri,  quod 
exhinc  qutestionarentur,  ita  quod  quaestiones  illse  fiant  absque  mutilatione 
et  debilitatione  alicujus  membri  et  sine  violenta  sanguinis  effusione."  See 
also  in  Rymer,  iii.  p.  228,  the  royal  order  to  those  who  had  the  Templars 
in  custody,  "  Quod  iidem  Praelati  et  Inquisitores  de  ipsis  Templariis  et 
eorum  comparibus,  in  qu^estionibus  et  aliis  ad  hoc  convenientibus  ordi- 
nent  et  faciant,  quotiens  voluerint,  id  quod  eis,  secundum  Legem  Ecclesi- 
asticam,  videbitur  faciendum."  Orders  to  the  Mayor  and  Sheriffs  of 
London,  "Et  corpora  dictorum  Templariorum  in  qu.*:stionibus  et  ad  hoc 
eouvenientibus  ponere."  —  p.  232.  Still  there  is  not  the  heart-breaking  evi- 
dence or  bitter  complaint  of  its  actual  application,  as  in  France.  The  Pope 
gave  positive  orders  to  employ  torture  in  Spain.  "  Ad  habendam  ab  eis 
veritatis  plenitudinem  promptiorem  tormentis  et  qujestionibus,  si  sponte 
confiteri  noluBrint,  experiri  procuratis."  —  Raynald.  A.  D.  1311,  c.  54. 

2  "  Apostata  fugitivus." 

vol.  vi.  30 


466  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Boof  XII 

two  forms  of  reception,  one  good  and  lawful,  one  con- 
trary to  the  faith :  at  his  admission  at  Dinelee  by  Brian 
ie  Jay,  late  Grand  Preceptor  of  England,  he  had  been 
compelled  to  deny  Christ,  which  he  did  with  his  lips, 
not  his  heart;  to  spit  on  the  Cross  —  this  he  escaped 
by  spitting  on  his  own  hands.  Brian  le  Jay  had  after- 
wards intimated  to  him  that  Christ  was  not  very  God 
and  very  Man.  He  also  averred  that  those  who  re- 
fused to  deny  Christ  were  made  away  with  beyond  sea : 
that  William  Bachelor  had  died  in  prison  and  in  tor- 
ment, but  not  for  that  cause.  He  made  other  impor- 
tant admissions  :  after  his  confession  he  threw  himself 
on  the  ground,  with  tears,  groans,  and  shrieks,  implor- 
ing mercy.1 

Thomas  Thoroldeby  (called  Tocci)  was  said  to  have 
been  present  at  the  reception  of  Stapleb ridge.2  On 
this  point  he  somewhat  prevaricated :  all  the  rest  he 
resolutely  denied,  except  that  there  was  a  suspicion 
against  the  Order  on  account  of  their  secret  chapter. 
He  was  asked  why  he  had  fled.3  "  The  Abbot  of 
Lagny  had  threatened  him  that  he  would  force  him  to 
confess  before  he  was  out  of  their  hands."  Thoroldeby 
had  been  present  when  the  confessions  were  made  be- 
fore the  Pope  ;  he  had  seen,  therefore,  the  treatment 
of  his  Brethren  in  France.  Four  days  after  Thorolde- 
by was  brought  up  again  ;  what  had  taken  place  in  the 
interval  may  be  conjectured  ;4  he  now  made  the  most 

1  This  sounds  as  if  he  had  heen  tortured,  or  feared  to  be. 

2  They  were  examined  first  at  St.  Martin's  in  the  Vintry;  Thoroldeby, 
the  second  time,  in  St.  Mary  Overy,  Southwark. 

3  Walter  Clifton  examined  in  Scotland,  was  asked  whether  Any  cf  the 
victims  had  fled,  "propter  scandalum,"  "  ob  timorem  hujusmodi,"  —  he 
named  Thomas  Tocci  as  one  who  had  fled.  — p.  384. 

*  Haveman  says,  "  unstreitig  gefoltert."  It  looks  most  suspicious,  —p. 
815. 


Chap.  II.  ATTESTING  WITNESSES.  467 

full  and  ample  confession.  He  had  been  received  four- 
teen or  fifteen  years  before  by  Guy  Forest.  Adam 
Champmesle  and  three  others  had  stood  over  him  with 
drawn  swords,  and  compelled  him  to  deny  Christ.  Guy 
taught  him  to  believe  only  in  the  Great  God.  He  had 
heard  Brian  le  Jay  say  a  hundred  times  that  Christ  was 
not  very  God  and  very  Man.  Brian  le  Jay  had  said 
to  him  that  the  least  hair  in  a  Saracen's  beard  was 
worth  more  than  his  whole  body.1  He  told  many  other 
irreverent  sayings  of  Le  Jay :  there  seems  to  have  been 
much  ill-blood  between  them.  He  related  some  adven- 
tures in  the  Holy  Land,  from  which  he  would  imply 
treachery  in  the  Order  to  the  Christian  cause.  After 
his  admission  into  the  Order,  John  de  Man  had  said  to 
him,  "Are  you  a  Brother  of  the  Order?  If  so,  were 
you  seated  in  the  belfry  of  St.  Paul's,  you  would  not 
see  more  misery  than  will  happen  to  you  before  you 
die." 

John  de  Stoke,  Chaplain  of  the  Order,  deposed  to 
having  been  compelled  to  deny  Christ.2 

On  June  27th  these  three  witnesses,  Staplebridge, 
Thoroldeby,  and  Stoke,  received  public  absolution,  on 
the  performance  of  certain  penances,  from  Robert  Win- 
chelsea,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  some  of  his 
suffragans.     Many  other  Knights  were  in  like  manner 

1  "  Quod  minimus  pihis  barbae  unius  Saraceni,  fuit  majoris  valoris  quam 
totum  corpus  istius  qui  loquitur."  —  p.  386. 

2  These  are  the  only  three  witnesses  against  the  Order  who  belonged  to 
it.  according  to  the  Concilia.  Wilcke  asserts  that  in  the  Vatican  Acts, 
seen  by  Bishop  Munter,  there  were  17  witnesses  to  the  denial  of  Christ,  16 
to  the  spitting  on  the  Cross,  8  on  disrespect  to  the  Sacraments,  2  on  the 
omission  of  the  words  of  consecration.  But  he  does  not  say  whether  these 
witnesses  were  of  the  Order,  and  his  whole  representation  of  the  Confes- 
6ions  from  the  Concilia  is  that  of  a  man  who  has  made  up  his  mind.  — 
Wilcke,  i.  p.  328. 


468  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  BopK  XII. 

absolved  on  their  humble  confession  that  they  had  been 
under  evil  report,1  and  under  suspicion  of  heresy.  It 
was  hoped  that  the  Great  Preceptor  of  England,  Wil- 
liam de  la  More,  would  make  his  submission,  and  accept 
absolution  on  the  same  easy  terms.  But  the  high  spirit 
of  De  la  More  revolted  at  the  humiliation.  To  their 
earnest  exhortation  that  he  would  own  at  least  the 
U3tirpat|on  of  the  power  of  absolution,  and  seek  pardon 
of  the  Church,  he  replied  that  he  had  never  been  guilty 
of  the  imputed  heresies,  and  would  not  abjure  crimes 
which  he  had  never  committed.  He  was  remanded  to 
the  prison.  The  general  sentence  against  the  English 
Templars  was  perpetual  imprisonment  in  monasteries.2 
They  seem  to  have  been  followed  by  general  respect. 

In  Scotland  the  Inquisition  was  conducted  by  the 
Bootland  Bishop  of  St.  Andrews  and  John  de  Solerco, 
Deo.  16, 1809.  ()n(J  0£  t]ie  Pope's  clerks.  The  interrogatories 
of  only  two  Knights  appear:  but  many  monks  and 
clergy  were  examined,  who  seem  to  have  been  ex- 
tremely jealous  of  what  they  branded  as  the  lawless 
avarice  and  boundless  wealth  of  the  Templars.3 

In  Ireland  thirty  Brothers  of  the  Order  were  inter- 
ir.i.uMi.  rogated  in  the  church  of  St.  Patrick ;  '  one 
only,  a  chaplain,  admitted  even  suspicions,  against  the 
Order.  Other  witnesses  were  then  examined,  chiefly 
Franciscans,  who  in  Ireland  seem  to  have  been  actuated 
by  a  bitter  hatred  of  the  Templars.     All  of  them  swore 


'  "  DiffamatL" 

2  "Quod  singuli  in  singulis  monasteriia  possessionatis  detruderentur,  pro 
perpetuft  poenitentii  peragenda,  qui  postea  in  hujusmodJ  monasteriis  bene 
per  omnia  se  gerebaat."  —  Thos.  Walsiogham. 

SA  monk  of  Newbottle  complains  of  their  "coaquestua  injustos.  In- 
differenter  sibi  appropriare  cupiunt  per  fas  et  nefas,  bona  et  pruedia  suoruin 
picinoruin."     Compare  Addison,  p.  '180. 


Chap.  II.  TEMPLARS   IN   ITALY.  469 

that  they  suspected  and  believed  the  guilt  of  the  Order, 
but  no  one  deposed  to  any  fact,  except  that  in  the  cele- 
bration of  the  Mass,  certain  Templars  would  not  look 
up,  but  kept  their  eyes  fixed  on  the  ground.  Some  two 
or  three  discharged  servants  told  all  sorts  of  rumors 
against  the  Order,  "  that  refractory  Brethren  were 
sewed  up  in  sacks  and  cast  into  the  sea."  It  was  often 
said  that  whenever  a  Chapter  was  held,  one  of  the 
number  was  always  missing.  Everything  that  the 
Grand  Master  ordered  was  obeyed  throughout  the 
world.1 

In  Italy,  wherever  the  influence  of  France  and  the 
authority  of  the  Pope  strongly  predominated,  itaiy. 
confessions  were  obtained.  In  Naples,  Charles  of  An- 
jou,  Philip's  cousin,  had  already  arrested  the  whole 
Order,  as  in  his  dominions  in  Provence,  Forcalquier, 
and  Piedmont.2  The  house  of  Anjou  had  to  wreak 
their  long-hoarded  vengeance  on  the  Templars  for  the 
aid  they  had  afforded  to  the  Arragonese,  Frederick  of 
Sicily.  The  servitor  Frank  Ranyaris  described  an  idol 
kept  in  a  coffer,  and  shown  to  him  by  the  Preceptor  of 
Bari.  Andrew,  a  servitor,  had  been  compelled  to  deny 
Christ,  and  to  other  enormities ;  had  seen  an  idol  with 
three  heads,  which  was  worshipped  as  their  God  and 
their  Redeemer :  he  it  was  who  bestowed  on  them  their 
boundless  wealth.  The  Archbishop  of  Brindisi  heard 
from  two  confessions  of  the  denial  of  Christ.  Six 
were    heard    in    Arragonese   Sicily,   who    made   some 

1  The  report  is  in  Wilkins,  Concilia. 

2  The  proceedings  in  Beaucaire,  Alais,  and  Nismes,  are,  according  to 
Wilcke,  in  the  Vatican  (see  above).  At  Lucerne  (  ?),  a  brother  admitted 
in  Spain  boldly  averred  that  the  Pope  himself  had  avowed  his  belief  that 
Jesus  was  not  God,  that  he  suffered  not  for  the  redemption  of  man,  but 
'rom  hatred  of  the  Jews.  —  Wilcke,  from  MS.,  p.  337. 


470  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII. 

admissions.     Thirty-two  in  Messina  resolutely  denied 
all.1 

In  the  Papal  States  the  examinations  lasted  from  De- 
cember, 1309,  to  July,  1310,  at  Viterbo,  before  thy 
Bishop  of  Sutri.  The  worship  of  idols  was  acknowl- 
edged by  several  witnesses.2  At  Florence,  and  before 
a  Provincial  Council  held  by  the  Archbishop  of  Pisa 
and  the  Bishop  of  Florence,  some  Knights  admitted  the 
guilt  of  the  Order.  But  Reginald,  Archbishop  of  Ra- 
venna, had  a  commission  of  inquiry  over  Lombardy, 
the  March  of  Ancona,  Tuscany,  and  Dalmatia.  At 
Ravenna  the  Dominicans  proposed  to  apply  torture :  the 
majority  of  the  Council  rejected  the  proposition.  Seven 
Templars3  maintained  the  innocence  of  the  Order; 
they  were  absolved ;  and  in  the  Council  the  Church- 
men declared  that  those  who  retracted  confessions  made 
under  torture  were  to  be  held  guiltless.4  The  Arch- 
bishop of  Ravenna  and  the  Bishop  of  Rimini  held  an 
inquest  at  Cesena.  Andrew  of  Sienna  declared  that  he 
had  heard  that  many  Brothers  had  confessed  from  fear 
of  torture.  He  knew  nothing,  had  heard  nothing  of 
such  things  ;  had  he  known  them,. he  would  have  left  the 
Order,  and  denounced  it  to  the  Bishops  and  Inquisitors. 
"  I  had  rather  have  been  a  beggar  for  my  bread  than 
remain  with  such  men.  I  had  rather  died,  for  above 
all  things  is  to  be  preferred  the  salvation  of  the  soul." 


1  Wilcke,  Haveman.   ? 

2  The  particulars  in  Raynouard,  p.  271. 
8  The  names  in  Raynouard,  p.  277. 

4  "  Communi  sententia  deeretum  est  innocentes  absolvi.  .  .  .  Intelligi 
innocentes  debere  qui,  metu  tonnentorum,  confessi  fuissent,  si  deinde  earn 
confessionem  revocassent ;  aut  revocare,  hujusmodi  tonnentorum  metu,  ne 
inferrentur  nova,  non  fuissent  ausi,  dum  tamen  id  constaret."  —  Harduin, 
Concil.  7,  p.  1317.     All  this  implies  the  general  use  of  torture  in  Italy. 


Chap.  II.  TEMPLARS   IN   SPAIN.  471 

From  Lombardy  there  are  no  reports.1  In  the  island 
of  Cyprus  an  inquest  was  held : 2  one  hundred  and  ten 
witnesses  were  heard,  seventy-five  of  the  Order.  They 
had  at  one  time  taken  up  arms  to  defend  themselves, 
but  laid  them  down  in  obedience  to  the  law.  All 
maintained  the  blamelessness  of  the  Order  with  cour- 
age and  dignity. 

In  Spain  the  acquittal  of  the  Order  in  each  of  the 
kingdoms  was  solemn,  general,  complete.3  In  Spain. 
Arragon,  on  the  first  alarm  of  an  arrest  of  the  Order, 
the  Knights  took  to  their  mountain-fortresses,  manned 
them,  and  seemed  determined  to  stand  on  their  defence. 
They  soon  submitted  to  the  King  and  the  laws.  The 
Grand  Inquisitor,  D.  Juan  Lotger,  a  Dominican,  con- 
ducted the  interrogatories  with  stern  severity  ;  the  tort- 
ure was  used.  A  Council  was  assembled  at  Tarragona, 
on  which  sat  the  Archbishop,  Guillen  da  Roccaberti, 
with  his  suffragans.  The  Templars  were  declared 
innocent ;  above  all  suspicion.4  "  No  one  was  to  dare 
from  that  time  to  defame  them."  Other  interrogatories 
took  place  in  Medina  del  Campo,  Medina  Celi,  and  in 
Lisbon.  The  Council  of  Salamanca,  presided  over  by 
the  Archbishop  of  Santiago,  the  Bishop  of  Lisbon,  and 
some  other  prelates,  having  made  diligent  investigation 
of  the  truth,  declared  the  Templars  of  Castile,  Leon, 
and  Portugal  free  from  all  the  charges  imputed  against 


1  There  were  one  or  two  unimportant  inquiries  at  Bologna,  Fano,  &c.  — 
Raynouard. 

2  May  and  June,  1311. 

8  See  Zurita  Anales,  Camporaanes. 

4  "  Neque  enim  tarn  culpabiles  inventi  fuerunt,  ac  fama  ferebat,  quamvis 
.ormentis  adacti  fuissent  ad  confessionem  criminum."  —  Mansi,  Concil.  sub 
win. 


472  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII. 

them,1  reserving  the  final  judgment  for  the  Supreme 
Pontiff. 

In  Germany  Peter  Ashpalter,  Archbishop  of  Mentz, 
a.d.  1310.  summoned  a  Synod  in  obedience  to  the  Pope's 
Bull  issued  to  the  Archbishops  of  Mentz,  Cologne, 
Treves,  and  Magdeburg.  The  Council  was  seated,  the 
Primate  and  his  brother  prelates.  Suddenly  Hugh, 
Wild  and  Rheingraf,  the  Preceptor  of  the  Order  at 
Grumbach  near  Meissenheim,  entered  the  hall  with  his 
Knights  in  full  armor  and  in  the  habit  of  the  Order. 
The  Archbishop  calmly  demanded  their  business.  In 
a  loud  clear  voice  Hugh  replied,  that  he  and  his  Breth- 
ren understood  that  the  Council  was  assembled,  undei 
a  commission  from  the  Roman  Pontiff,  for  the  abolition 
of  the  Order;  that  enormous  crimes  and  more  than 
heathen  wickednesses  were  charged  against  them ;  they 
had  been  condemned  without  legal  hearing  or  convic- 
tion. "  Wherefore  before  the  Holy  Fathers  present  he 
appealed  to  a  future  Pope  and  to  his  whole  clergy  ;  and 
entered  his  public  protest  that  those  who  had  been  de- 
livered up  and  burned  had  constantly  denied  those 
crimes,  and  on  that  denial  had  suffered  tortures  and 
death :  that  God  had  avouched  their  innocence  by  a 
wonderful  miracle,  their  white  mantles  marked  with 
the  red-cross  had  been  exposed  to  fire  and  would  not 
burn.2  The  Archbishop,  fearing  lest  a  tumult  should 
arise,  accepted  the  protest,  and  dismissed  them  with 
courtesy.  A  year  afterwards  a  Council  at  Mentz,  hav- 
ing heard  thirty-eight  witnesses,  declared   the   Order 

1  "  Y  si  mando,  que  nadie  se  atraviasse  a  infamarlos  por  quanto  en  la 
averiguacion  hecha  por  el  concilio  fueron  hallados  libros  di  toda  mala  sua- 
puesta." — Campomanes,  Dissert,  vii. 

2  Serrarius,  Res  Moguntiacae.  —  Mansi,  vol.  Xxv.  p.  297. 


Chap.  II.  DIFFICULTY  OF  THE  QUESTION.  473 

guiltless.  A  Council  held  by  the  Archbishop  of  Treves 
came  to  the  same  determination.  Burchard,  Arch- 
bishop of  .Magdeburg,  a  violent  and  unjust  man,  at- 
tempted to  arrest  the  Templars  of  the  North  of  Ger- 
many. He  was  compelled  to  release  them.  They 
defended  the  fortress  of  Beyer  Naumbourg  against  the 
Archbishop.  Public  favor  appears  to  have  been  on 
their  side :  no  condemnation  took  place. 

Christian  history  has  few  problems  more  perplexing, 
yet  more  characteristic  of  the  age,  than  the  The  problem 
guilt  or  innocence  of  the  Templars.  Two  powerful  in- 
terests have  conspired  in  later  times  against  them.  The 
great  legists  of  monarchical  France,  during  a  The  lawyers. 
period  of  vast  learning,  thought  it  treason  against  the 
monarchy  to  suppose  that,  even  in  times  so  remote,  an 
ancestor  of  Louis  XIV.  could  have  been  guilty  of  such 
atrocious  iniquity  as  the  unjust  condemnation  of  the 
Templars.  The  whole  archives  were  entirely  in  the 
power  of  these  legists.  The  documents  were  published 
with  laborious  erudition  ;  but  throughout,  both  in  the  af- 
fair of  the  Templars  and  in  the  strife  with  Boniface  VIII. 
and  in  the  prosecution  of  his  memory,  with  a  manifest, 
almost  an  avowed,  bias  towards  the  Kino-  of  France. 
The  honor,  too,  of  the  legal  profession  seemed  involved 
in  these  questions.  The  distinguished  ancestors  of  the 
great  modern  lawyers,  the  De  Flottes,  De  Plasians,  and 
the  Nogarets,  who  raised  the  profession  to  be  the  pre- 
dominant power  in  the  state,  and  set  it  on  equal  terms 
with  the  hierarchy  —  the  founders  almost  of  the  parlia- 
ments of  France  —  must  not  suffer  attainder,  or  be  de- 
graded into  the  servile  counsellors  of  proceedings  which 
violated  every  principle  of  law  and  of  justice. 

On  the  other  hand  the  ecclesiastical  writers,  who  e» 


174  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XIL 

teem  every  reproach  against  the  Pope  as  an  insult  to, 
The  eccie-  or  a  weakening  of  their  religion,  would  rescue 
elastics.  Clement  V.  from  the  guilt  of  the  unjust  per- 
secution, spoliation,  abolition  of  an  Order  to  which 
Christendom  owed  so  deep  a  debt  of  honor  and  of  grati- 
tude. Papal  infallibility,  to  those  who  hold  it  in  its 
highest  sense,  or  Papal  impeccability,  in  which  they 
would  fondly  array,  as  far  as  possible,  each  hallowed 
successor  of  St.  Peter,  is  endangered  by  the  weakness, 
if  not  worse  than  weakness,  of  the  Holy  Father.  But 
the  calmer  survey  of  the  whole  reign  of  Philip  the 
Fair,  of  his  character  and  that  of  his  counsellors  —  of 
his  measures  and  his  necessities  —  of  his  unscrupulous 
ambition,  avarice,  fraud,  violence  —  of  the  other  prece- 
dents of  his  oppression  —  at  least  throws  no  improba- 
bility on  the  most  discreditable  version  of  this  affair. 
Clement  V.,  inextricably  fettered  by  the  compact 
through  which  he  bought  the  tiara,  still  in  the  realm 
or  within  the  power  of  Philip,  with  no  religious,  no 
moral  strength  in  his  personal  character,  had,  as  Pope, 
at  least  one,  if  not  more  than  one  object  —  the  eluding 
or  avoiding  the  condemnation  of  Pope  Boniface,  to 
which  must  be  sacrificed  every  other  right  or  claim  to 
justice.  The  Papal  authority  was  absolutely  on  the 
hazard ;  the  condemnation  of  Boniface  would  crumble 
away  its  very  base.  A  great  Italian  Pope  might  have 
beheld  in  the  military  Orders,  now  almost  discharged 
from  their  functions  in  the  East,  a  power  which  might 
immeasurably,  strengthen  the  See  of  Rome.  They 
might  become  a  feudal  militia,  of  vast  wealth  and  pos- 
sessions, holding  directly  of  himself,  if  skilfully  man- 
aged, at  his  command,  in  every  kingdom  in  Christen- 
dom.    With    this    armed    aristocracy,  with   the   Friar 


Chap.  II.  EVIDENCE.  475 

Preachers  to  rule  the  middle  or  more  intellectual 
classes,  the  Friar  Minors  to  keep  alive  and  govern 
the  fanaticism  of  the  lowest,  what  could  limit  or  con- 
trol his  puissance  ?  But  a  French  Pope,  a  Pope  in  the 
position  of  Clement,  had  no  such  splendid  visions  of  su- 
premacy ;  what  he  held,  he  held  almost  on  sufferance  ;  he 
could  maintain  himself  by  dexterity  and  address  alone, 
not  by  intrepid  assertion  of  authority.  Nor  was  it  dif- 
ficult to  abuse  himself  into  a  belief  or  a  supposed  belief 
in  the  guilt  of  the  Templars.  He  had  but  to  accept 
without  too  severe  examination  the  evidence  heaped 
before  him;  to  authorize  as  he  did — and  in  so  doing  he 
introduced  nothing  new,  startling,  or  contrary  to  the 
usage  of  the  Church  —  the  terrible  means,  of  which 
few  doubted  the  justice,  used  to  extort  that  evidence. 
The  iniquity,  the  cruelty  was  all  the  King's  ;  his  only 
responsible  act  at  last  was  in  the  mildest  form  the 
abolition  of  an  Order  which  had  ceased  to  fulfil  the 
aim  for  which  it  was  founded  ;  and  by  taking  this  upon 
himself,  he  retained  the  power  of  quietly  thwarting  the 
avarice  of  the  King,  and  preventing  the  escheat  of  all 
the  possessions  of  the  Order  to  the  Crown. 

Our  history  has  shown  the  full  value  of  the  evidence 
against  the  Order.  Beyond  the  confessions  Evidence, 
of  the  Templars  themselves  there  was  absolutely  noth* 
ing  but  the  wildest,  most  vague,  most  incredible  tales 
of  superstition  and  hatred.  In  France  alone,  and 
where  French  influence  prevailed,  were  confessions 
obtained.  Elsewhere,  in  Spain,  in  Germany,  parts  of 
Italy,  there  was  an  absolute  acquittal ;  in  England, 
Scotland,  and  Ireland  there  appears  no  evidence  which 
in  the  present  day  would  commit  a  thief,  or  condemn 
him    to   transportation.     In    France    these    confessions 


476  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII- 

were  invariably,  without  exception,  crushed  out  of  men 
imprisoned,  starved,  disgraced,  under  the  most  relent- 
less tortures,  or  under  well-grounded  apprehensions  of 
torture,  degradation,  and  misery,  with,  on  the  other 
hand,  promises  of  absolution,  freedom,  pardon,  royal 
favor.  Yet  on  the  instant  that  they  struggle  again  into 
the  light  of  day ;  on  the  first  impulse  of  freedom  and 
hope  ;  no  sooner  do  they  see  themselves  for  a  moment 
out  of  the  grasp  of  the  remorseless  King ;  under  the 
judgment,  it  might  be,  of  the  less  remorseless  Church, 
than  all  these  confessions  are  for  the  most  part  re- 
tracted, retracted  fully,  unequivocally.  This  retracta- 
tion was  held  so  fatal  to  the  cause  of  their  enemies  that 
all  the  bravest  were  burned  and  submitted  to  be  burned 
rather  than  again  admit  their  guilt.  The  only  points 
on  which  there  was  any  great  extent  or  unanimity  of 
confession  were  the  ceremonies  at  the  reception,  the 
abnegation  of  Christ,  the  insult  to  the  Cross,  with  the 
other  profane  or  obscene  circumstances.  These  were 
the  points  on  which  it  was  the  manifest  object  of  the 
prosecutors  to  extort  confessions  which  were  suggested 
by  the  hard,  stern  questions,  the  admission  of  which 
mostly  satisfied  the  Court. 

Admit  to  the  utmost  that  the  devout  and  passionate 
enthusiasm  of  the  Templars  had  died  away,  that  famil- 
iarity with  other  forms  of  belief  in  the  East  had  dead- 
ened the  fanatic  zeal  for  Christ  and  his  Sepulchre ;  that 
Oriental  superstitions,  the  belief  in  magic,  talismans, 
amulets,  had  crept  into  many  minds ;  that  in  not  a  few 
the  austere  morals  had  yielded  to  the  wild  life,  the  fiery 
sun,  the  vices  of  the  East ;  that  the  corporate  spirit  of 
the  Order,  its  power,  its  wealth,  its  pride,  had  absorbed 
the  religious  spirit  of  the  first  Knights  :    yet  there  is 


Chap.  II.  EVIDENCE.  477 

something  utterly  inconceivable  in  the  general,  almost 
universal,  requisition  of  a  naked,  ostentatious,  offensive, 
insulting  renunciation  of  the  Christian  faith,  a  renun- 
ciation following  immediately  on  the  most  solemn  vow ; 
not  after  a  long,  slow  initiation  into  the  Order,  not  as 
the  secret,  esoteric  doctrine  of  the  chosen  few,  but  on 
the  threshold  of  the  Order,  on  the  very  day  of  recep- 
tion. It  must  be  supposed,  too,  that  this  should  not 
have  transpired  ;  that  it  should  not  have  been  indig- 
nantly rejected  by  many  of  noble  birth  and  brave 
minds ;  or  that  all  who  did  dare  to  reject  it  should  have 
been  secretly  made  away  with,  or  overawed  by  the 
terror  of  death,  or  the  solemnity  of  their  vow  of  obe- 
dience ;  that  there  should  have  been  hardly  any  pru- 
dential attempts  at  concealment,  full  liberty  of  con- 
fession, actual  confession,  it  should  seem,  to  bishops, 
priests,  and  friars  ;  and  yet  that  it  should  not  have  got 
abroad,  except  perhaps  in  loose  rumors,  in  suspicions, 
which  may  have  been  adroitly  instilled  into  the  popular 
mind  :  that  nothing  should  have  been  made  known  till 
denounced  by  the  two  or  three  renegades  produced  by 
William  of  Nogaret. 

The  early  confession  of  Du  Molay,  his  retractation 
of  his  retractation,  are  facts  no  doubt  embarrassing,  yet 
at  the  same  time  very  obscure.  But  the  genuine  chiv- 
alrous tone  of  the  language  in  which  he  asserted  that 
the  confession  had  been  tampered  with,  or  worse  ;  the 
care  manifestly  taken  that  his  confession  should  not  be 
made  in  the  presence  of  the  Pope,  the  means  no  doubt 
used,  the  terror  of  torture,  or  actual  degrading,  agoniz- 
ing torture,  to  incapacitate  him  from  appearing  at  Poi- 
tiers :  —  these  and  many  other  considerations  greatly 
lighten  or  remove  this  difficulty.     His  death,  hereafter 


178  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII. 

o  be  told,  which  can  hardly  be  attributed  but  to  ven- 
geance for  his  having  arraigned,  or  fear  lest  he  should 
with  too  great  authority  arraign  the  whole  proceedings, 
with  all  the  horrible  circumstances  of  that  death,  con- 
firms this  view. 

Du  Molay  was  a  man  of  brave  and  generous  im- 
pulses, but  not  of  firm  and  resolute  character  ;  he  was 
unsuited  for  his  post  in  such  perilous  times.  That  post 
required  not  only  the  most  intrepid  mind,  but  a  mind 
which  could  calculate  with  sagacious  discrimination  the 
most  prudent  as  well  as  the  boldest  course.  On  him 
rested  the  fame,  the  fate,  of  his  Order ;  the  freedom, 
the  exemption  from  torture  or  from  shame,  of  each 
single  brother,  his  companions  in  arms,  his  familiar 
friends.  And  this  man  was  environed  by  the  subtlest 
of  foes.  When  he  unexpectedly  breaks  out  into  a  bold 
and  appalling  disclosure,  De  Plasian  is  at  hand  to  soften 
by  persuasion,  to  perplex  with  argument,  to  bow  by 
cruel  force.  His  generous  nature  may  neither  have 
comprehended  the  arts  of  his  enemies,  nor  the  full  sig- 
nificance, the  sense  which  might  be  drawn  from  his 
words.  He  may  have  been  tempted  to  some  admis- 
sions, in  the  hope  not  of  saving  himself  but  his  Order ; 
he  may  have  thought  by  some  sacrifice  to  appease  the 
King  or  to  propitiate  the  Pope.  The  secrets  of  his 
prison-house  were  never  known.  All  he  said  was  noted 
down  and  published,  and  reported  to  the  Pope ;  all  he 
refused  to  say  (except  that  one  speech  before  the  Papal 
Commissioners)  suppressed.  He  may  have  had  a  vague 
trust  in  the  tardy  justice  of  the  Pope,  when  out  of  the 
King's  power,  and  lulled  himself  with  this  precarious 
hope.  Nor  can  we  quite  assume  that  he  was  not  the 
victim  of  absolute  and  groundless  forgery. 


Chap.  II  HISTORIANS.  479 

All  contemporary  history,  and  that  history  which 
is  nearest  the  times,  except  for  the  most  part  Oontempo. 
the  French  biographers  of  Pope  Clement,  de-  rary  history> 
n ounce  in  plain  unequivocal  terms  the  avarice  of  Philip 
the  Fair  as  the  sole  cause  of  the  unrighteous  condem- 
nation of  the  Templars.  Villani  emphatically  pro- 
nounces that  the  charges  of  heresy  were  advanced  in 
order  to  seize  their  treasures,  and  from  secret  jealousy 
of  the  Grand  Master.  "  The  Pope  abandoned  the 
Order  to  the  King  of  France,  that  he  might  avert, 
if  possible,  the  condemnation  of  Boniface."1  Zant- 
fliet,  Canon  of  Liege,  describes  the  noble  martyrdom 
of  the  Templars,  that  of  Du  Molay  from  the  report 
of  an  eye-witness :  "  had  not  their  death  tended  to 
gratify  his  insatiate  appetite  for  their  wealth,  their 
noble  demeanor  had  triumphed  over  the  perfidy  of 
the  avaricious  King."2  The  Cardinal  Antonino  of 
Florence,  a  Saint,  though  he  adopts  in  fact  almost 
the  words  of  Villani,  is  even  more  plain  and  posi- 
tive :  — "  The  whole  was  forged  by  the  avarice  of 
the  King,  that  he  might  despoil  the  Templars  of 
their  wealth."  3 


1  "  Mosso  da  avarizia  si  fece  promettere  dal  Papa  secretamente  di  disfare 
ladetta  Ordine  de  Templari .  .  .  ma  piu  si  dice  che  fu  per  trarre  di  loro  molta 
moneta,  e  per  isdegno  preso  col  maestro  del  tempio,  e  colla  magione.  II 
Papa  per  levarsi  da  dosso  il  Re  di  Francia,  per  contentarlo  per  la  richiesta 
di  condennare  Papa  Bonifazio."  —  1.  viii.  c.  92. 

2  "  Dicens  eos  tarn  perversa  animi  fortitudina  regis  avari  vicisse  perfidiam, 
nisi  moriendo  illuc  tedendissent,  quo  ejus  appetitus  inexplebilis  cupiebat: 
quamquam  non  minor  idcirco  gloria  merit,  si  recto  prseligentes  judicio,  in- 
ter tormenta  maluerint  deficere,  quam  adversus  ventatem  dixisse  aut  fa- 
mam  juste  quajsitam  turpissimi  sceleris  confessione  maculare."  He  describes 
Du  Molay's  death  (pee  further  on),  "  rege  speetante,"  and  adds,  "  qui  ha3C 
vidit  scriptori  testimonium  praebuit."  —  Zantfliet.  Chronic,  apud  Martene. 
Zantfliet's  Chronicle  was  confined  to  1460.  —  Collect.  Nov.  v.  5. 

8  "  Totum  tameu  false  conficturi  ex  avaritia,  ut  illi  religiosi   Templarii 


480  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII. 

Yet  the  avarice  of  Philip  was  baffled,  at  least  as 
to  the  full  harvest  it  hoped  to  reap.  The  absolute 
confiscation  of  all  the  estates  of  a  religious  Order 
bordered  too  nearly  on  invasion  of  the  property  of 
the  Church ;  the  lands  and  treasures  were  dedicated 
inalienably  to  pious  uses,  specially  to  the  conquest 
of  the  Holy  Land.  The  King  had  early  been  forced 
to  consent  to  make  over  the  custody  of  the  lands  to 
the  Bishops  of  the  diocese  ;  careful  inventories  too 
were  to  be  made  of  all  their  goods,  for  which  the 
King's  officers  were  responsible.  But  of  the  mova- 
bles of  which  the  King  had  taken  possession,  it  may 
be  doubted  if  much,  or  any  part,  was  allowed  to 
escape  his  iron  grasp,  or  whether  any  account  was 
ever  given  of  the  vast  treasures  accumulated  in  the 
vaults,  in  the  chapels,  in  the  armories,  in  the  store- 
houses of  the  Temple  castles.  The  lands  indeed, 
both  in  England  and  in  France,  were  at  length  made 
over  to  the  Hospitallers ;  yet,  according  to  Villani,1 
they  were  so  burdened  by  the  demands,  dilapida- 
tions, and  exactions  of  the  King's  officers,  they  had 
to  purchase  the  surrender  from  the  King  and  other 
princes  at  such  vast  cost  of  money,  raised  at  such 
exorbitant  interest,  that  the  Order  of  St.  John  was 
poorer  rather  than  richer  from  what  seemed  so  splen- 
did a  grant.  The  Crown  claimed  enormous  sums  as 
due  on  the  sequestration.  Some  years  later  Pope 
John  XXII.  complains  that  the  King's  officers  seized 

exspoliarentur  bonis  suis."  —  St.  Antonin.  Archiep.    Florent.  Hist.      He 
wrote  about  A.p.  1450. 

1  "  Ma  convenneli  loro  ricogliere  e  ricomperare  dal  Re  di  Francia  e  dalli 
altri  principi  e  Signori  con  tanta  quantita  di  moneta,  che  con  gli  interessi 
corsi  poi,  la  magione  dello  Spedale  fu  e  e  in  piu  poverta,  che  prima  avendo 
solo  il  suo  proprio."     Villani  is  good  authority  in  money  matters. 


Chap.  II.  ABOLITION  OF  THE  ORDER.  481 

the   estates  of  the  Hospitallers   as   an   indemnity  for 
claims  which  had  arisen  during  the  confiscation.1 

The  dissolution  of  the  Order  was  finally  determined. 
"  If,"  said  the  Pope,  "  it  cannot  be  destroyed  by  the 
way  of  justice,  let  it  be  destroyed  by  the  way  of  ex- 
pediency, lest  we  offend  our  dear  son  the  King  of 
France."  2  The  Council  of  Vienne  was  to  pronounce 
the  solemn  act  of  dissolution.  Of  the  Templars  the 
few  who  had  been  absolved,  and  had  not  retracted  their 
confession,  were  permitted  to  enter  into  other  orders,  or 
to  retire  into  monasteries.  Many  had  thrown  off  the 
habit  of  the  Order,  and  in  remote  parts  fell  back  to 
secular  employments :  many  remained  in  prison.  Du 
Molay  and  the  three  other  heads  of  the  Order  were 
reserved  in  close  custody  for  a  terrible  fate,  hereafter 
to  be  told.3  4 

1  Dupuy,  Condemnation. 

2  "  Et  stent  audivi  ab  uno,  qui  fuit  examinator  causes  et  testium,  destruc- 
tus  fuit  contra  justitiam,  et  mini  dixit,  quod  ipse  Clemens  protulit  hoc,  'Et 
si  non  per  viam  justitiae  potest  destrui,  destruatur  tamen  per  viam  expedi- 
ently, ne  scandalizetur  charus  filius  noster  Rex  Francise.'  "— Alberici  de 
Rosate  Bergomensis,  Dictionarium  Juris:  Venetiis,  1579,  folio;  sub  voce 
Templarii,  quoted  by  Haveman,  p.  381. 

3  Wilcke  asserts  (p.  342)  that  Moldenhauer's  publication  of  the  Proceed- 
ings against  the  Templars  (now  more  accurately  and  fully  edited  by  M. 
Michelet)  was  bought  up  by  the  Freemasons  as  injurious  to  the  fame  of  the 
Templars.  If  this  was  so,  the  Freemasons  commited  an  error:  my  doubts 
of  their  guilt  are  strongly  confirmed  by  the  Proces.  Wilcke  makes  three 
regular  gradations  of  initiation :  I.  The  denial  of  Christ;  II.  The  kisses; 
111.  The  worship  of  the  Idol.  This  is  contrary  to  all  the  evidence;  the  two 
first  are  always  described  as  simultaneous.  Wilcke  has  supposed  that  so 
long  as  the  Order  consisted  only  of  knights,  it  "was  orthodox.  The  clerks 
introduced  into  the  Order,  chiefly  Friar  Minorites,  brought  in  learning  and 
the  wild  speculative  opinions.    But  for  this  he  alleges  not  the  least  proof. 

4  A  modern  school  of  history,  somewhat  too  prone  to  make  or  to  imagine 
discoveries,  has  condemned  the  Templars  upon  other  grounds.  These 
fierce  unlettered  warriors  have  risen  into  Oriental  mystics.  Not  merely 
has  their  intercourse  with  the  East  softened  off  theii  abhorrence  of  Moham- 
medanism, induced  a  more  liberal  tone  of  thought,  or  overlaid  their  West- 

VOL.  VI.  31 


482  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII 

ern  superstitions  with  a  layer  of  Oriental  imagery — they  have  become 
Gnostic  TheistSj  have  adopted  many  of  the  old  Gnostic  charms,  amulets. 
and  allegorical  idols.  Under  these  influences  they  had  framed  a  secret 
bodv  of  statutes,  communicated  only  to  the  initiate,  who  were  slowly  and 
after  long  probation  admitted  into  the  abstruser  and  more  awful  mysteries. 
Not  only  this,  the  very  branch  of  the  Gnostics  has  been  indicated,  that  of 
the  Ophitse,  of  whom  they  are  declared  to  be  the  legitimate  Western  de- 
scendants. If  they  have  thus  had  precursors,  neither  have  they  wanted 
successors.  The  Templars  are  the  ancestors  (as  Wilcke  thought,  the  ac- 
knowledged ancestors)  of  the  secret  societies,  which  have  subsisted  by  reg- 
ular tradition  down  to  modern  times  —  the  Freemasons,  Illuminati,  and 
many  others.  It  is  surprising  on  what  loose,  vague  evidence  rests  the 
whole  of  this  theory:  on  amulets,  rings,  images,  of  which  there  is  no  proof 
whatever  that  they  belonged  to  the  Templars,  or  if  they  did,  that  they 
were  not  accidentally  picked  up  by  individuals  in  the  East;  on  casual  ex- 
pressions of  worthless  witnesses,  e.  y.,  Staplebridge  the  English  renegade; 
on  certain  vessels,  or  bowls  converted  into  vessels,  used  in  an  imaginary 
Fire-Baptism,  deduced,  without  any  regard  to  gaps  of  centuries  in  the  tra- 
dition, from  ancient  heretics,  and  strangely  mingled  up  with  the  Sangreal 
of  mediaeval  romance.  M.  von  Hammer  has  brought  great  Oriental  eru- 
dition, but,  I  must  say,  not  much  Western  logic,  to  bear  on  the  question; 
he  has  been  thoroughly  refuted,  as  I  think,  by  M.  Raynouard  and  others. 
Another  cognate  ground  is  the  discovery  of  certain  symbols,  and  those 
symbols  interpreted  into  obscene  significations,  on  the  churches  of  the  Tem- 
plars. But  the  same  authorities  show  that  these  symbols  were  by  no  mean9 
peculiar  to  the  Temple  churches.  No  doubt  among  the  monks  there  were 
foul  imaginations,  and  in  a  coarse  age  architects  —  many  of  them  monks 

—  gratified  those  foul  imaginations  by  such  unseemly  ornaments.  But  the 
argument  assumes  the  connection  or  identification  of  the  architects  with 
the  secret  guild  of  Freemasonry  (in  which  guild  I  do  not  believe),  and  also 
of  the  Freemasons  with  the  Templars,  which  is  totally  destitute  of  proof. 
It  appears  to  me  absolutely  monstrous  to  conclude  that  when  all  the  edi- 
fices, the  churches,  the  mansions,  the  castles,  the  farms,  the  granaries  of 
the  Templars  in  France  and  England,  in  every  country  of  Europe,  came 
into  the  possession  of  their  sworn  enemies;  when  these  symbols,  in  a  state 
far  more  perfect,  must  have  stared  them  in  the  face;  when  the  lawyers  wero 
on  the  track  for  evidence;  when  vague  rumors  had  set  all  their  persecu- 
tors on  the  scent;  when  Philip  and  the  Pope  would  have  paid  any  price 
for  a  single  idol,  and  not  one  could  be  produced:  because  in  our  own  days, 
among  the  thousand  misshapen  and  grotesque  sculptures,  gargoyles,  and 
corbels,  here  and  there  may  be  discerned  or  made  out  something  like  a 
bHack  cat,  or  some  other  shape,  said  to  have  been  those  of  Templar  idols, 

—  therefore  the  guilt  of  the  Order,  and  their  lineal  descent  from  ancient 
heretics,  should  be  assumed  as  history.  Yet  on  such  grounds  the  Oriental- 
ization  of  the  whole  Order,  not  here  and  there  of  a  single  renegade,  has 
been  drawn  with  complacent  satisfaction.     The  great  stress  of  all,  however 


Chap.  II.  HYPOTHESES.  483 

is  laid  on  the  worship  of  Baphomet.  The  talismans,  bowls,  symbols,  are 
even  called  Baphometic.  Now,  with  M.  Eaynouard,  I  have  nut  the  least 
doubt  that  Baphomet  is  no  more  than  a  transformation  of  the  name  of  Ma- 
homet. Here  is  only  one  passage  from  the  Provencal  poetry.  It  is  from 
a  Poem  by  the  Chevalier  du  Temple,  quoted  Hist.  Litter,  de  la  France, 
xix.  p.  345: 

"  Quar  Dieux  dorm,  qui  veillar  solea, 

E  Bafomet  obra  de  son  poder, 

E  fai  obra  di  Melicadeser." 

"  God,  who  used  to  watch  (during  the  Crusades),  now  slumbers,  and  Bafo- 
met (Mahomet)  works  as  he  wills  to  complete  the  triumph  of  the  Sultan." 
I  am  not  surprised  to  find  fanciful  writers  like  M.  Michelet,  who  write  for 
effect,  and  whose  positiveness  seems  to  me  not  seldom  in  the  inverse  ratio 
to  the  strength  of  his  authorities,  adopting  such  wild  notions;  but  even 
the  clear  intellect  of  Mr.  Hallam  appears  to  me  to  attribute  more  weight 
than  I  should  have  expected  to  this  theory.  —  Note  to  Middle  Ages,  vol. 
iii.  p.  50.  It  appears  to  me.  I  confess,  that  so  much  learning  was  never 
wasted  on  a  fantastic  hypothesis  as  by  M.  von  Hammer  in  his  Myste- 
rium  Baphometis  Revelatum.  The  statutes  of  the  Order  were  published 
in  1840  by  M.  Maillard  de  Chambure.  They  contain  nothing  but  what  is 
pious  and  austere.  This,  as  Mr.  Hallam  observes,  is  of  course,  and  proves 
nothing.  M.  de  Chambure  says  that  it  is  acknowledged  in  Germany  that 
M.  von  Hammer's  theory  is  an  idle  chimera. 


484  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY  Book  XU. 


CHAPTER  III. 

ARRAIGNMENT  OF  BONIFACE.    COUNCIL  OF  VIENNE. 

If,  however,  Pope  Clement  hoped  to  appease  or  to 
Prosecution  divert  the  immitigable  hatred  of  Philip  and 
SryofPoJe"  n*s  niinisters  from  the  persecution  of  the 
Boniface  memory  of  Pope  Boniface  by  the  sacrifice  of 
the  Templars,  or  at  least  to  gain  precious  time  which 
might  be  pregnant  with  new  events,  he  was  doomed  to 
disappointment.  The  hounds  were  not  thrown  off 
their  track,  not  even  arrested  in  their  course,  by  that 
alluring  quarry.  That  dispute  was  still  going  on  si- 
multaneously with  the  affair  of  the  Templars.  Philip, 
at  every  fresh  hesitation  of  the  Pope,  broke  out  into 
more  threatening  indignation.  Nogaret  and  the  law- 
yers presented  memorial  on  memorial,  specifying  with 
still  greater  distinctness  and  particularity  the  offences 
which  they  declared  themselves  ready  to  prove.  They 
complained,  not  without  justice,  that  the  most  material 
witnesses  might  be  cut  off  by  death  ;  that  every  year 
of  delay  weakened  their  power  of  producing  attesta- 
tions to  the  validity  of  their  charges.1 

The  hopes  indeed  held  out  to  the  King's  avarice  and 
revenge  by  the  abandonment  of  the  Templars  ;  hopes, 

1  All  the  documents  are  in  Dupuy,  Preuves,  p.  367  et  seq.,  with  Baillet'a 
smaller  volume. 


Chap.  III.  REGINALD  DI  SUPINO.  485 

if  not  baffled,  eluded,  were  more  than  counterbalanced 
by  his  failure  in  obtaining  the  Empire  for  Charles  of 
Valois.  An  act  of  enmity  sank  deeper  into  the  proud 
heart  of  Philip  than  an  act  of  favor :  the  favor  had 
been  granted  grudgingly,  reluctantly,  with  difficulty, 
with  reservation ;  the  enmity  had  been  subtle,  perfid- 
ious, under  the  guise  of  friendship. 

Pope  Clement  had  now  secured,  as  he  might  fondly 
suppose,  his  retreat  in  Avignon,  in  some  degree  beyond 
the  King's  power.  In  France  he  dared  not  stay  ;  to 
Italy  he  could  not  and  would  not  go.  The  King's 
messengers  were  in  Avignon  to  remind  him  that  lie 
had  pledged  himself  to  hear  and  examine  the  witnesses 
against  the  memory  of  Boniface.  Not  the  King's  mes- 
sengers alone.  Reginald  di  Supino  had  been  Re(Titmld  ^ 
most  deeply  implicated  in  the  affair  of  An-  SuPmo- 
agni.  He  had  assembled  a  great  body  of  witnesses,  as 
he  averred,  to  undergo  the  expected  examination  before 
the  Pope.  Either  the  Pope  himself,  or  the  friends  of 
Boniface,  who  had  still  greater  power,  and  seemed  de- 
termined, from  attachment  to  their  kinsman  or  from 
reverence  for  the  Popedom,  to  hazard  all  in  his  defence, 
dreaded  this  formidable  levy  of  witnesses,  whom  Regi- 
nald di  Supino  would  hardly  have  headed  unless  in 
arms.  Supino  had  arrived  within  three  leagues  of 
Avignon  when  he  received  intelligence  from  the  King's 
emissaries  of  an  ambuscade  of  the  partisans  of  Boni- 
face, stronger  than  his  own  troop  :  he  would  not  risk 
the  attack,  but  retired  to  Nismes,  and  there,  in  the 
presence  of  the  municipal  authorities,  entered  a  public 
protest  against  those  who  prevented  him  and  his  wit- 
nesses, by  the  fear  of  death,  from  approaching  the  pres- 
ence of  the  Pope.    The  Pope  himself  was  not  distinctly 


43(j  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII. 

charged  with,  but  not  acquitted  of  complicity  in  this 
deliberate  plot  to  arrest  the  course  of  justice.1 

Clement  was  in  a  strait :  he  was  not  in  the  domin- 

Difficuitiesof  i°ns'  Dut  yet  not  absolutely  safe  from  the 
the  rope.       power  of  phiHp0     Charles,  King  of  Naples, 

Philip's  kinsman,  as  Count  of  Provence,  held  the  adja- 
cent country.  The  King  of  France  had  demanded  a 
Council  to  decide  this  grave  question.  The  Council 
had  been  summoned  and  adjourned  by  Clement.  But 
a  Pope,  though  a  dead  Pope,  arraigned  before  a  Coun- 
cil, all  the  witnesses  examined  publicly,  in  open  Court, 
to  proclaim  to  Christendom  the  crimes  imputed  to  Bon- 
iface !  Where,  if  the  Council  should  assume  the  pow- 
er of  condemning  a  dead  Pope,  would  be  the  security 
of  a  living  one  ?  Clement  wrote,  not  to  Philip,  but  to 
Charles  of  Valois,  representing  the  toils  and  anxieties 
which  he  was  enduring,  the  laborious  days  and  sleep- 
less nights,  in  the  investigation  of  the  affair  of  Boniface. 
He  entreated  that  the  judgment  might  be  left  alto- 
gether to  himself  and  the  Church.  He  implored  the 
intercession  of  Charles  with  the  King,  of  Charles  whom 
he  had  just  thwarted  in  his  aspiring  views  on  the  Em- 
pire.2 

But  the  King  was  not  to  be  deterred  by  soft  words. 
He  wrote  more  peremptorily,  more  imperiously.  "  Some 
witnesses,  men  of  the  highest  weight  and. above  all  ex- 
ception, had  already  died  in  the  Court  of  Rome  and 
elsewhere  :  the  Pope  retarded  the  safe  conduct  neces- 
sary for  the  appearance  of  other  witnesses,  who  had 
been  seized,  tortured,  put  to  death,  by  the  partisans  of 

1  "  Recesserunt  propterea  predicti,  qui  cum  dicto  domino  Raynaldo  vene- 
rant,  ad  propria  redeuntes,  mortis  merito  periculum  formidantes."  — 
Pre uves,  p.  289. 

'l  Preuves,  p.  290.     May  23,  1309. 


Chap.  III.  CLEMENT  AT  AVIGNON.  487 

Boniface."  The  Pope  replied  in  a  humble  tone :  — 
"  Never  was  so  weighty  a  process  so  far  advanced  in  so 
short  a  time.  Only  one  witness  had  died,  and  his  depo- 
sition had  been  received  on  his  death-bed.  He  denied 
the  seizure,  torture,  death,  of  any  witnesses.  One  of 
these  very  witnesses,  a  monk,  it  was  confidently  re- 
ported, was  in  France  with  William  de  Nogaret."  He 
complained  of  certain  letters  forged  in  his  name  —  a 
new  proof  of  the  daring  extent  to  which  at  this  time 
such  forgeries  were  carried.  In  those  letters  the  names 
of  Cardinals,  both  of  the  King's  party  and  on  that  of 
Boniface,  had  been  audaciously  inserted.  These  let- 
ters had  been  condemned  and  burned  in  the  public 
consistory.  The  Pope  turns  to  another  affair.  Philip, 
presuming  on  the  servility  of  the  Pope,  had  introduced 
a  clause  into  the  treaty  with  the  Flemings,  that  ii 
they  broke  the  treaty  they  should  be  excommunicated, 
and  not  receive  absolution  without  the  consent  of  the 
King  or  his  successors.  The  Pope  replies,  "  that  he 
cannot  abdicate  for  himself  or  future  Popes  the  full 
and  sole  power  of  granting  absolution.  If  the  King, 
as  he  asserts,  can  adduce  any  precedent  for  such  clause, 
he  would  consent  to  that,  or  even  a  stronger  one ;  but 
he  has  taken  care  that  the  Flemings  are  not  apprised 
of  his  objection  to  the  clause."  1 

Clement  was  determined,  as  far  as  a  mind  like  his 
was  capable  of  determination,  to  reserve  the  Determina- 

.  ,       .      ,  ,  n   _  tion  of  Clem- 

mevitable  judgment  on  the  memory  or  Bom-  ent. 
face  to  himself  and  his  own  Court,  and  not  to  recognize 
the  dangerous  tribunal  of  a  Council,  fatal  to  living  as 
to  dead  pontiffs.     He  issued  a  Bull,2  summoning  Philip 

i  Preuves,  p.  292.     August  23,  1309. 
2  Sept.  1309.    Raynaldus  sub  ann.  c.  4. 


488  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII. 

King  of  France,  his  three  sons,  with  the  Counts  of 
Evreux,  St.  Pol,  and  Dreux,  and  William  de  Plasian, 
according  to  their  own  petition,  to  prove  their  charges 
against  Pope  Boniface  ;  to  appear  before  him  in  Avig- 
Feb.  2,  i3io.  non  on  the  first  court-day  after  the  Feast  ot 
the  Purification  of  the  Virgin.  The  Bishop  of  Paris 
was  ordered  to  serve  this  citation  on  the  three  Counts 
and  on  William  de  Plasian.1 

Philip  seemed  to  be  embarrassed  by  this  measure. 
The  King  He  shrunk  or  thought  it  beneath  his  dignity 
SpdU'as  f°r  himself  or  his  sons  to  stand  as  public 
prosecutor.  prosecutors  before  the  Papal  Court.  Instead 
of  the  King  appeared  a  haughty  letter.  "  He  had 
been  compelled  reluctantly  to  take  cognizance  of  the 
usurpation  and  wicked  life  of  Pope  Boniface.  Public 
fame,  the  representations  of  men  of  high  esteem  in  the 
realm,  nobles,  prelates,  doctors,  had  arraigned  Boniface 
as  a  heretic,  and  an  intruder  into  the  fold  of  the  Lord. 
A  Parliament  of  his  whole  kingdom  had  demanded 
that,  as  the  champion  and  defender  of  the  faith,  he 
should  summon  a  General  Council,  before  which  men 
of  the  highest  character  declared  themselves  ready  to 
prove  these  most  appalling  charges.  William  de  No- 
garet  had  been  sent  to  summon  Pope  Boniface  to  ap- 
pear before  that  Council.  The  Pope's  frantic  resistance 
had  led  to  acts  of  violence,  not  on  the  part  of  Nogaret, 
but  of  the  Pope's  subjects,  by  whom  he  was  univer- 
sally hated.  These  charges  had  been  renewed  after 
the  death  of  Boniface,  before  Benedict  XI.  and  before 
the  present  Pope.  The  Pope,  in  other  affairs,  espe- 
cially that  of  the  Templars,  had  shown  his  regard  for 
justice.    All  these  things  were  to  be  finally  determined 

1  Raynaldus  ut  supra.    Oct.  18. 


Chap.  III.  DE  PLASIAN  AND  DE  NOGARET.  481) 

at  the  approaching  Council.  But  if  the  Pope,  solici- 
tous to  avoid  before  the  Council  the  odious  intricacies 
of  charges,  examinations,  investigations,  in  the  affair 
of  Boniface,  desired  to  determine  it  by  the  plenitude  of 
the  Apostolic  authority,  he  left  it  entirely  to  the  judg- 
ment of  the  Pope,  whether  in  the  Council  or  elsewhere. 
He  was  prepared  to  submit  the  whole  to  the  Feb.  14. 
disposition  and  ordinance  of  the  Holy  See."  The 
King's  sons,  summoned  in  like  manner  to  undertake 
the  office  of  prosecutors,  declined  to  appear  in  that 
somewhat  humiliating  character.1 

William   de   Nogaret  and  William   de   Plasian    re- 
mained   the    sole    prosecutors   in    this   great  De  nasi.™ 

1  .  .  ,  and  De 

cause,  and  they  entered  upon  it  with  a  pro-  Nogaret. 
found  and  accumulated  hatred  to  Boniface  and  to  his 
memory :  De  Plasian  with  the  desperate  resolution  of 
a  man  so  far  committed  in  the  strife  that  either  Boni- 
face must  be  condemned,  or  himself  held  an  impious, 
false  accuser ;  Nogaret  with  the  conviction  that  Boni- 
face must  be  pronounced  a  monster  of  iniquity,  or  him- 
self hardly  less  than  a  sacrilegious  assassin.  With  both, 
the  dignity  and  honor  of  their  profession  were  engaged 
in  a  bold  collision  with  the  hierarchical  power  which 
had  ruled  the  human  mind  for  centuries  ;  both  had 
high,  it  might  be  conscientious,  notions  of  the  monar- 
chical authority,  its  independence,  its  superiority  to  the 
sacerdotal ;  both  were  bound  by  an  avowed  and  reso- 
lute servility,  which  almost  rose  to  noble  attachment, 
to  their  King  and  to  France.  The  King  of  France,  if 
any  Sovereign,  was  to  be  exempt  from  Papal  tyranny, 
and  hatred  to  France  was  one  of  the  worst  crimes  of 
Boniface.  Both,  unless  Boniface  was  really  the  infidel, 
1  Preuves,  p.  301 


490  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X1L 

heretic,  abandoned  profligate,  which  they  represented 
him,  were  guilty  of  using  unscrupulously,  of  forging, 
suborning,  a  mass  of  evidence  and  a  host  of  witnesses, 
of  which  they  could  not  but  know  the  larger  part  to  be 
audaciously  and  absolutely  false. 

On  the  other  side  appeared  the  two  nephews  of 
Italians.  Boniface  and  from  six  to  ten  Italian  doc- 
tors of  law,  chosen  no  doubt  for  their  consummate 
science  and  ability ;  as  canon  lawyers  confronting 
civil  lawyers  with  professional  rivalry,  and  prepared 
to  maintain  the  most  extravagant  pretensions  of  the 
Decretals  as  the  Statute  Law  of  the  Church.  They 
could  not  but  be  fully  aware  how  much  the  awe, 
the  reverence,  and  the  power  of  the  Papacy  de- 
pended on  the  decision  ;  they  were  men,  it  might 
be,  full  of  devout  admiration  even  of  the  overween- 
ing haughtiness  of  Boniface  ;  churchmen,  in  whom 
the  intrepid  maintenance  of  what  were  held  to  be 
Church  principles  more  than  compensated  for  -all  the 
lowlier  and  gentler  virtues  of  the  Gospel.1  It  was 
a  strange  trial,  the  arraignment  of  a  dead  Pope,  a 
Khadamanthine  judgment  on  him  who  was  now  be- 
fore a  higher  tribunal. 

On  the  16th  of  March  the  Pope  solemnly  opened 
TheCnnsis-  *ne  Consistory  at  Avignon,  in  the  palace  be- 
tory  opened.  ]ongmg  to  the  Dominicans,  surrounded  by 
his  Cardinals  and  a  great  multitude  of  the  clergy 
and  laity.  The  Pope's  Bull  was  read,  in  which,  after 
great  commendation  of  the  faith  and  zeal  of  the  King 
of  France,  and  high  testimony  to  the  fame  of  Boni- 

1  "  Gotius  de  Arimino  utriusque  juris,  Baldredus  Beyeth  Decrctnmm 
Doctores  "     Baldrcd,  who  took  the  lead   in  the  defence,  is  described  as 

GlascueiiMs 


Ciiai*.  III.  CAUSE  OF  BONIFACE  VIII.  491 

face,  lie  declared  that  heresy  was  so  execrable,  so  hor- 
rible an  offence,  that  he  could  not  permit  such  a  charge 
to  rest  unexamined.      The  French  lawyers   were   ad- 
mitted as  prosecutors.1     The  Italians  protested  against 
their  admission.2     On  Friday  (March  20th)  the  Court 
opLMied  the  session.     The  prosecutors  put  in  a  protest 
of  immeasurable  length,  declaring   that   they  did  not 
appear  in   consequence  of   the  Pope's   citation  of  the 
King  of  France  and  his  sons.     That  citation  was  in- 
formal,  illegal,    based    on    false    grounds.       They  de- 
manded   that    the    witnesses   who   were   old   and   sick 
should  be  first  heard.     They  challenged  certain  Car- 
dinals,  the   greater   number    (they    would   not    name 
them    publicly),    as    having   a  direct   interest   in    the 
judgment,  as  attached   by  kindred  or  favor  to  Boni- 
face,   as    notoriously    hostile,   as    having    entered    into 
plots    against  William  de  Nogaret,   as   having   preju- 
diced  the   mind  of  Benedict   XL  against   him.     No- 
garet, who  always  reverted   to  the  affair  of  Anagni, 
asserted  that  act  to  have  been  the  act  of  a  true  Cath- 
olic,   one    of  devout,    filial    love,    not  of    hatred,   the 
charity  of  one  who  would  bind  a  maniac  or  rouse  a 
man  in  a  lethargy.3      He   had   made  common    cause 
with  the  nobles  of  Anagni,  all  but   those  who  plun- 
dered the  Papal  treasures. 

On   the  27th  De  Nogaret  appeared  again,  and  en- 

1  Adam  de  Lorabal,  Clerk,  and  Peter  de  Galahaud,  and  Peter  de  Bleona 
ho,  the  King's  nuncios  (nuntii),  appeared  witlf  De  Plasian  and  De  No- 
garet. 

2  James  of  Modena  offered  himself  to  prove  "  quod  pmedicti  opponentes  ad 
opponendum  contra  dictum  dominum  Bonifacium  admitti  non  debebant." 

3  "  Non  fuit  igitur  odium  sedearitas,  non  fuit  injuria  sed  pietas,  non  pro- 
ditio  sed  tidelitas,  non  sacrilegium  sed  sacri  defensio,  non  parricidium  sed 
filialis  devotio  ut  (et?)  fratema,  cum  qui  furiosum  ligat  vel  letbargi  um 
iLEcitat."  —  p.  38G. 


492  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII 

tered  a  protest  against  Baldred  and  the  rest,  as  de- 
fenders of  Pope  Boniface,  against  eight  Cardinals,  by- 
name, as  promoted  by  Boniface  :  these  men  might 
not  bear  any  part  in  the  cause.  Protest  was  met 
by  protest:  a  long,  wearisome,  and  subtile  altercation 
ensued.  Each  tried  to  repel  the  other  party  from 
the  Court.  Nothing  could  be  more  captious  than  the 
arguments  of  the  prosecutors,  who  took  exception 
against  any  defence  of  Boniface.  The  Italians  an- 
swered that  no  one  could  be  brought  into  Court 
but  by  a  lawful  prosecutor,  which  Nogaret  and  De 
Plasian  were  not,  being  notorious  enemies,  assassins, 
defamers  of  the  Pope.  There  was  absolutely  no  cause 
before  the  Court.  The  crimination  and  recrimination 
dragged  on  their  weary  length.  It  was  the  object 
of  De  Nogaret  to  obtain  absolution,  at  least  under 
certain  restrictions.1  This  personal  affair  began  to 
occupy  almost  as  prominent  a  part  as  the  guilt  of 
Boniface.  Months  passed  in  the  gladiatorial  strife  of 
the  lawyers.2  Every  question  was  reopened  —  the 
legality  of  Coelestine's  abdication,  the  election  of 
Boniface,  the  absolute  power  of  the  King  of  France. 
Vast  erudition  was  displayed  on  both  sides.  Mean- 
witnesses.  time  the  examination  of  the  witnesses  had 
gone  on  in  secret  before  the  Pope  or  his  Commis- 
sioners.    Of  these  examinations  appear  only  the  re- 

1  In  the  midst  of  these  disputes  arose  a  curious  question,  whether  Wil- 
liam de  Nogaret  was  still  under  excommunication.  It  was  argued  that  an 
excommunicated  person,  if  merely  saluted  by  the  Pope,  or  if  the  Pope 
knowingly  entered  into  conversation  with  him,  was  thereby  absolved.  The 
Pope  disclaimed  this  doctrine,  and  declared  that  he  had  never  by  such  salu- 
tation or  intercourse  with  De  Nogaret  intended  to  confer  that  precious  privi- 
lege. This  was  to  be  the  rule  during  his  pontificate.  He  \fould  not,  how- 
ever, issue  a  Decretal  on  the  subject.  —  p.  409. 

2  There  is  a  leap  from  May  13  to  Aug.  3. 


Chap.  III.  CHARGES   AGAINST  BONIFACE.  493 

ports  of  twenty-three  persons  examined  in  April,  of 
eleven  examined  before  the  two  Cardinals,  Berengario, 
Bishop  of  Tusculum,  and  Nicolas,  of  St.  Eusebio,  with 
Bernard  Gnido,  the  Grand  Inquisitor  of  Toulouse. 
Some  of  the  eleven  were  reexaminations  of  those 
who  had  made  their  depositions  in  April.  In  the 
latter  case  the  witnesses  were  submitted  to  what  was 
intended  to  be  severe,  but  does  not  seem  very  skil- 
ful, cross-examination.  On  these  attestations,  if  these 
were  all,  posterity  is  reduced  to  this  perplexing  alter- 
native of  belief:  —  Either  there  was  a  vast  system- 
atic subornation  of  perjury,  which  brought  together 
before  the  Pope  and  the  Cardinals,  monks,  abbots, 
canons,  men  of  dignified  station,  from  various  parts 
of  Italy  :  and  all  these  were  possessed  with  a  depth 
of  hatred,  ingrained  into  the  hearts  of  men  by  the 
acts  and  demeanor  of  Boniface,  and  perhaps  a  relig- 
ious horror  of  his  treatment  of  Pope  Coelestine,  which 
seems  to  be  rankling  in  the  hearts  of  some  ;  or  with 
a  furiousness  of  Ghibelline  hostility,  which  would  re- 
coil from  no  mendacity,  which  would  not  only  accept 
every  rumor,  but  invent  words,  acts,  circumstances, 
with  the  most  minute  particularity  and  with  perpet- 
ual appeal  to  other  witnesses  present  at  the  same 
transaction.  Nor  were  these  depositions  wrung  out, 
like  those  of  the  Templars,  by  torture  ;  they  were 
spontaneous,  or,  if  not  absolutely  spontaneous,  only 
summoned  forth  by  secret  suggestion,  by  undetected 
bribery,  by  untraceable  influence  :  they  had  all  the 
outward  semblance  of  honest  and  conscientious  zeal 
for  justice. 

On  the  other  hand,  not  only  must  the  Pope's  guilt 
be  assumed,  but  the  Pope's  utter,  absolute,  ostentatious 


494  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII. 

defiance  of  all  prudence,  caution,  dissimulation,  decen- 
cy. Not  only  was  he  a  secret,  hypocritical  unbeliever, 
and  that  not  in  the  mysteries  of  the  faith,  but  in  the 
first  principles  of  all  religion  ;  he  was  a  contemptuous, 
boastful  scoffer,  and  this  on  the  most  public  occasions, 
and  on  occasions  where  some  respectful  concealment 
would  not  only  have  been  expedient,  but  of  paramount 
necessity  to  his  interest  or  his  ambition.  The  aspirant 
to  the  Papacy,  the  most  Papal  Pope  who  ever  lived, 
laughed  openly  to  scorn  the  groundwork  of  that  Chris- 
tianity on  which  rested  his  title  to  honor,  obedience, 
power,  worship. 

The  most  remarkable  of  all  these  depositions  is  that 
of  seven  witnesses  in  succession,  an  abbot,  three  can- 
ons, two  monks,  and  others,  to  a  discussion  concerning 
the  law  of  Mohammed.  This  was  in  the  year  of  the 
pontificate  of  Ccelestine,  when,  if  his  enemies  are  to  be 
believed,  Benedetto  Gaetani  was  deeply  involved  in  in- 
trigues to  procure  the  abdication  of  Ccelestine,  and  his 
own  elevation  to  the  Papacy.  At  this  time,  even  if 
t)  ese  intrigues  were  untrue,  a  man  so  sagacious  and 
ambitious  could  not  but  have  been  looking  forward  to 
It's  own  advancement.  Yet  at  this  very  instant,  it  is 
ncseverated,  Gaetani,  in  the  presence  of  at  least  ten  or 
twelve  persons,  abbots,  canons,  monks,  declared  as  his 
doctrine,1  that  no  law  was  divine,  that  all  were  the  in- 
ventions of  men,  merely  to  keep  the  vulgar  in  awe  by 
the  terrors  of  eternal  punishment.  Every  law,  Chris- 
tianity among  the  rest,  contained  truth  and  falsehood  ; 
falsehood,  because  it  asserted  that  God  was  one  and 
three,  which  it  was  fatuous  to  believe  ;  falsehood,  for  it 
mid  that  a  virgin  had  brought  forth,  which  was  impos 

1  "  Quasi  per  murium  ductrinae." 


Chap.  III.  WITNESSES.  495 

sible  ;  falsehood,  because  it  avouched  that  the  Son  of 
God  had  taken  the  nature  of  man,  which  was  ridicu- 
lous ;  falsehood,  because  it  averred  that  bread  was 
transubstantiated  into  the  body  of  Christ,  which  was 
untrue.  "  It  is  false,  because  it  asserts  a  future  life." 
"  Let  God  do  his  worst  with  me  in  another  life,  from 
which  no  one  has  returned  but  to  fantastic  people,  who 
say  that  they  have  seen  and  heard  all  kinds  of  strange 
things,  even  have  heard  angels  singing.  So  I  believe 
and  so  I  hold,  as  doth  every  educated  man.  The  vul- 
gar hold  otherwise.  W e  must  speak  as  the  vulgar  do ; 
think  and  believe  with  the  few."  Another  added  to 
all  this,  that  when  the  bell  rang  for  the  passing  of  the 
Host,  the  future  Pope  smiled  and  said,  "  You  had  bet- 
ter go  and  see  after  your  own  business,  than  after  such 
folly."  1  Three  of  these  witnesses  were  reheard  at  the 
second  examination,  minutely  questioned  as  to  the  place 
of  this  discussion,  the  dress,  attitude,  words  of  Gaetani : 
they  adhered,  with  but  slight  deviation  from  each  other, 
to  their  deposition  ;  whatever  its  worth,  it  was  unshak- 
en.2 These  blasphemies,  if  we  are  to  credit  another 
witness,  had  been  his  notorious  habit  from  his  youth. 
The  Prior  of  St.  Giles  at  San  Gemino,  near  Narni,  had 
been  at  school  with  him  at  Todi :  he  was  a  dissolute 
youth,  indulged  in  all  carnal  vices,  in  drink  and  play, 
blaspheming  God  and  the  Virgin.  He  had  heard  Boni- 
face, when  a  Cardinal,  disputing  with  certain  masters 
from  Paris  about  the  Resurrections  Cardinal  Gaetani 
maintained  that  neither  soul  nor  body  rose  again.3  To 
this  dispute  a  notary,  Oddarelli  of  Acqua  Sparta,  gave 
the  same  testimony.  The  two  witnesses  declared  that 
they  had  not  come  to  Avignon  for  the  purpose  or  giv- 

1  Truffas.  2  Witnesses  vii.  xiii.  s  Witnesses  xvii   xvjii 


49G  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII. 

irig  this  evidence  ;  they  had  been  required  to  appear 
before  the  Court  by  Bertrand  de  Roccanegata  :  they 
bore  testimony  neither  from  persuasion,  nor  for  reward, 
neither  from  favor,  fear,  or  hatred. 

Two  monks  of  St.  Gregory  at  Rome  had  complained 
to  the  Pope  of  their  Abbot,  that  he  held  the  same  loose 
and  infidel  doctrines,  neither  believed  in  the  Resurrec- 
tion, nor  in  the  Sacraments  of  the  Church;  and  denied 
that  carnal  sins  were  sins.  They  were  dismissed  con- 
temptuously from  the  presence  of  Boniface.  "  Look 
at  this  froward  race,  that  will  not  believe  as  their  Ab- 
bot believes."  1  A  monk  of  St.  Paul  fared  no  better 
with  similar  denunciations  of  his  Abbot.2 

Nicolo  Pagano  of  Sermona,  Primicerio  of  St.  John 
Maggiore  at  Naples,  deposed  that  Coelestine,  proposing 
to  go  from  Sermona  to  Naples,  sent  Pagano's  father 
Berard  (the  witness  went  with  him)  to  invite  the  Car- 
dinal Gaetani  to  accompany  him.  Gaetani  contemptu- 
ously refused.  "  Go  ye  with  your  Saint,  I  will  be 
fooled  no  more."  "  If  any  man,"  said  Berard,  "  ought 
to  be  canonized  after  death,  it  is  Coelestine."  Gaetani 
replied,  "  Let  God  give  me  the  good  things  of  this  life: 
for  that  which  is  to  come  I  care  not  a  bean  ;  men  have 
no  more  souls  than  beasts."  Berard  looked  aghast. 
"  How  many  have  you  ever  seen  rise  again  ?  "  Gaetani 
seemed  to  delight  in  mocking  (such,  at  least,  was  the 
testimony,  intended,  no  doubt,  to  revolt  to  the  utmost 
the  public  feeling  against  him)  the  Blessed  Virgin.  She 
is  no  more  a  virgin  than  my  mother.  I  believe  not  in 
your  "  Mariola,"  "  Mariola."  He  denied  the  presence 
of  Christ  in  the  Host.     "  It  is  mere  paste."  3 

1  Witnesses  i.  ii.  2  Witness  xv. 

3  Witnesses  xvi.  xx.  xxii. 


Chap.  III.  WITNESSES.  497 

Yet  even  this  most  appalling  improbability  was  sur- 
passed by  the  report  of  another  conversation  attested 
by  three  witnesses,  sons  of  knights  of  Lucca.  The 
scene  took  place  at  the  Jubilee,  when  millions  of  per- 
sons, in  devout  faith  in  the  religion  of  Christ,  in  fear 
of  Hell,  or  in  hope  of  Paradise,  were  crowding  from 
all  parts  of  Europe,  and  offering  incense  to  the  majesty, 
the  riches  of  the  world  to  the  avarice,  of  the  Pope. 
Even  then,  without  provocation,  in  mere  wantonness 
of  unbelief,  he  had  derided  all  the  truths  of  the  Gospel. 
The  ambassadors  of  two  of  the  great  cities  of  Italy  — 
Lucca  and  Bologna  —  were  standing  before  him.  The 
death  of  a  Campanian  knight  was  announced.  "  He 
was  a  bad  man,"  said  the  pious  chaplain,  "yet  may 
Jesus  Christ  receive  his  soul !  "  "  Fool !  to  commend 
him  to  Christ ;  he  could  not  help  himself,  how  can  he 
help  others  ?  he  was  no  Son  of  God,  but  a  wise  man 
and  a  great  hypocrite.  The  knight  has  had  in  this  life 
all  he  will  have.  Paradise  is  a  joyous  life  in  this  world  ; 
Hell  a  sad  one."  "  Have  we,  then,  nothing  to  do  but 
to  enjoy  ourselves  in  this  world?  Is  it  no  sin  to  lie 
with  women  ?  "  —  "  No  greater  sin  than  to  wash  one's 
hands."  "  And  this  was  said  that  all  present  might 
hear ;  not  in  jocoseness,  but  in  serious  mood."  To 
this  monstrous  scene,  in  these  words,  three  witnesses 
deposed  on  oath,  and  gave  the  names  of  the  ambassa- 
dors—  men,  no  doubt,  of  rank,  and  well  known,  to 
whom  they  might  thus  seem  to  appeal.1 

The  account  of  a  conversation  with  the  famous  Rog- 
er de  Loria  was  hardly  less  extraordinary.  Of  the 
two  witnesses,  one  was  a  knight  of  Palermo,  William, 
son  of  Peter  de  Calatao-erona.     Ro^er  de  Loria,  hav- 


1  Witnesses  xii.  xiii. 
32 


498  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII 

ing  revolted  from  the  house  of  Arragon,  came  to  Rome 
to  be  reconciled  to  the  Pope.  Yet  at  that  very  time 
the  Pope  wantonly  mocked  and  insulted  the  devout 
seamen,  by  laughing  to  scorn  that  faith  which  bowed 
him  at  his  own  feet.  De  Loria  had  sent  the  Pope  an 
offering  of  rich  Sicilian  fruits  and  honey.  "  See,"  he 
said,  "  what  a  beautiful  land  I  must  have  left,  abound- 
ing in  such  fruits,  and  have  exposed  myself  to  so  great 
dangers  to  visit  you.  Had  I  died  on  this  holy  journey, 
surely  I  had  been  saved."  "  It  might  be  so,  or  it 
might  not."  "Father,  I  trust  that,  if  at  such  a  mo- 
ment I  had  died,  Christ  would  have  had  mercy  on  me.''' 
The  Pope  said,  "  Christ !  he  was  not  the  Son  of  God : 
he  was  a  man  eating  and  drinking  like  ourselves :  by 
his  preaching  he  drew  many  towards  him,  and  died, 
but  rose  not  again  ;  neither  will  men  rise  again."  "  I," 
pursued  the  Pope,  "  am  far  mightier  than  Christ.  I 
can  raise  up  and  enrich  the  lowly  and  poor ;  I  can  be- 
stow kingdoms,  and  humble  and  beggar  rich  and  pow- 
erful kings."  In  all  the  material  parts  of  this  conver- 
sation the  two  witnesses  agreed  :  they  were  rigidly 
cross-examined  as  to  the  place,  time,  circumstances, 
persons  present,  the  dress,  attitude,  gestures  of  the 
Pope  :  they  were  asked  whether  the  Pope  spoke  in  jest 
or  earnest.1 

The  same  or  other  witnesses  deposed  to  as  unblushing 
.shamelessness  regarding  the  foulest  vices  as  regarding 
these  awful  blasphemies  —  "  What  harm  is  there  in 
simony  ?  what  harm  in  adultery,  more  than  in  rubbing 
one's  hands  together  ?  "  This  was  his  favorite  phrase. 
Then  were  brought  forward  men  formerly  belonging  to 
his  household,  to  swear  that  they  had  brought  women  — 

1  Witness  x. 


Chap.  III.  SUMMARY  OF  EVIDENCE.  499 

one,  first  his  wife,  then  his  daughter  —  to  his  bed.  An- 
other bore  witness  that  from  his  youth  Boniface  had  been 
addicted  to  worse,  to  nameless  vices  —  that  he  was  noto- 
riously so ;  one  or  two  loathsome  facts  were  avouched. 

Besides  all  this,  there  were  what  in  those  days  would 
perhaps  be  heard  with  still  deeper  horror  —  charges  of 
magical  rites  and  dealings  with  the  powers  of  magic- 
darkness.  Many  witnesses  had  heard  that  Benedetto 
Gaetani,  that  Pope  Boniface,  had  a  ring  in  which  he 
kept  an  evil  spirit.  Brother  Berard  of  Soriano  had 
seen  from  a  window  the  Cardinal  Gaetani,  in  a  garden 
below,  draw  a  magic  circle,  and  immolate  a  cock  over 
a  fire  in  an  earthen  pot.  The  blood  and  the  flame 
mingled  ;  a  thick  smoke  arose.  The  Cardinal  sat  read- 
ing spells  from  a  book,  and  conjuring  up  the  devils. 
He  then  heard  a  terrible  noise  and  wild  voices,  "  Give 
us  our  share."  Gaetani  took  up  the  cask,  and  threw 
it  over  the  wall  —  "  Take  your  share."  The  Cardinal 
then  left  the  garden,  and  shut  himself  up  alone  in  his 
most  secret  chamber,  where  throughout  the  night  he 
was  heard  in  deep  and  earnest  conversation,  and  a 
voice,  the  same  voice,  was  heard  to  answer.  This  wit- 
ness deposed  likewise  to  having  seen  Gaetani  worship- 
ping an  idol,  in  which  dwelt  an  evil  spirit.  This  idol 
was  given  to  him  by  the  famous  magician,  Theodore 
of  Bologna,  and  was  worshipped  as  his  God.1 

Such  was  the  evidence,  the  whole  evidence  which 
appears  (there  may  have  been  more)  so  re-  Summary  of 
volting  to  the  faith,  so  polluting  to  the  morals,  evideuce- 
so  repulsive  to  decency,  that  it  cannot  be  plainly  re- 
peated, yet  adduced  against  the  successor  of  St.  Peter, 
the  Vicar  of  Christ.     What  crimes,  even  for  defama- 

1  Witness  xvi. 


500  latin:  Christianity.  Book  xii 

tion,  to  charge  against  a  Pope !  To  all  this  the  Pope 
and  the  Consistory  were  compelled  to  listen  in  sullen 
patience.  If  true  —  if  with  a  shadow  of  truth  —  how 
monstrous  the  state  of  religion  and  morals !  If  abso- 
lutely and  utterly  untrue  —  if  foul,  false  libels,  bought 
by  the  gold  of  the  King  of  France,  suborned  by  the 
unrelenting  hatred,  and  got  up  by  the  legal  subtlety  of 
De  Nogaret  and  the  rest  —  what  humiliation  to  the 
Court  of  Rome  to  have  heard,  received,  recorded  such 
wicked  aspersions,  and  to  have  left  them  unresented, 
unpunished !  The  glaring  contradiction  in  the  ev- 
idence, that  Boniface  was  at  once  an  atheist  and  a  wor- 
shipper of  idols,  an  open  scoifer  in  public  and  a  super- 
stitious dealer  in  magic  in  private,  is  by  no  means 
situation  of  tne  greatest  improbability.  Such  things  have 
element.  \>eent  The  direct  and  total  repugnance  of 
such  dauntless,  wanton,  unprovoked  blasphemies,  even 
with  the  vices  charged  against  Boniface,  his  unmeas- 
ured ambition,  consummate  craft,  indomitable  pride,  is 
still  more  astounding,  more  utterly  bewildering  to  the 
belief.  But  whatever  the  secret  disgust  and  indifma- 
tion  of  Clement,  it  must  be  suppressed ;  however  the 
Cardinals  the  most  attached  to  the  memory  of  Boniface 
might  murmur  and  burn  with  wrath  in  their  hearts, 
they  must  content  themselves  with  just  eluding,  with 
narrowly  averting,  his  condemnation. 

Philip  himself,  either  from  weariness,  dissatisfaction 
Philip  aban-    with  his  own  cause,  caprice,  or  the  diversion 

dons  the  pro-        „    ,  .  .      ,  -i  i  •  i 

Becution.  ot  his  mmd  to  other  objects,  consented  to 
abandon  the  persecution  of  the  memory  of  Boniface, 
and  to  leave  the  judgment  to  the  Pope.  On  this  the 
The  Pope's  gratitude  of  Clement  knows  no  bounds  ;  the 
BulL  adulation  of  his  Bull  on  the  occasion  surpasses 


Chap.  III.  THE  POPE'S   CULL.  50] 

belief.  Every  act  of  Philip  is  justified  ;  he  is  altogether 
acquitted  of  all  hatred  and  injustice ;  his  whole  conduct 
is  attributed  to  pious  zeal.  "  The  worthy  head  of  that 
royal  house,  which  had  been  ever  devoted,  had  ever 
offered  themselves  and  the  realm  for  the  maintenance 
of  the  Holy  Mother  Church  of  Rome,  had  been  com- 
pelled by  the  reiterated  representations  of  men  of 
character  and  esteem,"  to  investigate  the  reports  unfa- 
vorable to  the  legitimate  election,  to  the  orthodox  doc- 
trine, and  the  life  of  Pope  Boniface.  The  King's  full 
Parliament  had  urged  him  with  irresistible  unanimity 
to  persist  in  this  course.  "  We  therefore,  with  our 
brethren  the  Cardinals,  pronounce  and  decree  that  the 
aforesaid  King,  having  acted,  and  still  acting,  at  the 
frequent  and  repeated  instance  of  these  high  and  grave 
persons,  has  been  and  is  exempt  from  all  blame,  has 
been  incited  by  a  true,  sincere,  and  just  zeal  and  fervor 
for  the  Catholic  faith."  It  was  thus  acknowledged  that 
there  was  a  strong  primary  case  against  Boniface  ;  the 
appeal  to  the  Council  was  admitted  ;  every  act  of  vio- 
lence justified,  except  the  last  assault  at  Anagni,  as  to 
which  the  Pope  solemnly  acquitted  the  King  of  all 
complicity.  The  condescension  of  the  King,  "  the  son 
of  benediction  and  grace,"1  in  at  length  thus  tardily 
and  ungraciously  remitting  the  judgment  to  the  Pope, 
is  ascribed  to  divine  inspiration.2  Nor  were  wanting 
more  substantial  marks  of  the  Pope's  gratitude.  Every 
Bull  prejudicial  to  the  King,  to'  the  nobles,  and  the 
realm  of  France  (not  contained  in  the  sixth  book  of 
Decretals),  is   absolutely  cancelled  and  annulled,  ex- 

1  "  Tanquam  benedictionis  et  gratis  filius." 

'l  "  Nos  itaque  mansuetudinem  regiara  ac  expertam  in  iis  devotionis  et 
reverentiae  filialis  gratitudiuera  quas  .  .  .  dicto  Regi  divinitus  credimus  in- 
tpiratas." 


502  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII. 

cept  the  two  called  u  Unam  Sanctam  "  and  M  Rem  non 
novam,"  and  these  are  to  be  understood  in  the  moder- 
ated sense  assigned  by  the  present  Pontiff.  All  pro- 
ceedings for  forfeiture  of  privileges,  suspension,  excom 
munication,  interdict,  all  deprivations  or  deposals  against 
the  King,  his  brothers,  subjects,  or  kingdom ;  all  pro- 
ceedings against  the  accusers,  prosecutors,  arraigned  in 
the  cause  ;  against  the  prelates,  barons,  and  commons, 
on  account  of  any  accusation,  denunciation,  appeal,  or 
petition  for  the  convocation  of  a  General  Council ;  or 
for  blasphemy,  insult,  injury  by  deed  or  word,  against 
the  said  Boniface,  even  for  his  seizure,  the  assault  on 
his  house  and  person,  the  plunder  of  the  treasure,  or 
other  acts  at  Anagni  ;  for  anything  done  in  behalf  of 
the  King  during  his  contest  with  Boniface  :  all  such 
proceedings  against  the  living  or  the  dead,  against  per- 
sons of  all  ranks  —  cardinals,  archbishops,  bishops,  em- 
perors, or  kings,  whether  instituted  by  Pope  Boniface, 
or  by  his  successor  Benedict,  are  provisionally1  an- 
nulled, revoked,  cancelled.  "And  if  any  aspersion, 
shame,  or  blame,  shall  have  occurred  to  any  one  out 
of  these  denunciations,  and  charges  against  Boniface, 
whether  during  his  life  or  after  his  death,  or  any  pros- 
ecution be  hereafter  instituted  on  that  account,  these 
we  absolutely  abolish  and  declare  null  and  void."2 

In  order  that  the  memory  of  these  things  be  utterly 
extinguished,  the  proceedings  of  every  kind  against 
France  are,  under  pain  of  excommunication,  to  be 
erased  within  four  months  from  the  capitular  books  and 
registers  of  the  Holy  See.3     The  archives  of  the  Pa- 

1  "Ex  cautela." 

2  The  Bull  dated  May.  1311.  —  Dupuy,  Preuves. 

8  In  Raynaldus  (sub  ann.)  is  a  full  account  of  the  Bulls  and  passages  of 
Bulls  entirely  erased  for  the  gratification  of  King  Philip  from  the  Papal 


Uhap.  III.       PUNISHMENT  OF  DE  NOGARET,  ETC.  503 

pacy  are  to  retain  no  single  procedure  injurious  to  the 
King  of  France,  or  to  those,  whoever  they  may  be, 
who  are  thus  amply  justified  for  all  their  most  virulent 
persecution,  for  all  their  contumacious  resistance,  for 
the  foulest  charges,  for  charges  of  atheism,  simony, 
whoredom,  sodomy,  witchcraft,  heresy,  against  the 
deceased  Pope. 

Fifteen  persons  only  are  exempted  from  this  sweeping 
amnesty,  or  more  than  amnesty ;  among  them  punishment 
William  de  Nogaret,  Reginald  Supino  and  his  £3™^ 
son,  the  other  insurgents  of  Anagni,  and &c* 
Sciarra  Colonna.  These  Philip,  no  doubt  by  a  secret 
understanding  with  the  Pope,  surrendered  to  the  mock- 
ery of  punishment,  punishment  which  might  or  might 
not  be  enforced.  The  penance  appointed  to  the  rest 
does  not  appear  ;  but  even  William  de  Nogaret  obtained 
provisional  absolution.1  The  Pope,  solicitous  for  the 
welfare  of  his  soul,  and  in  regard  to  the  pressing  suppli- 
cations of  the  King,  imposed  this  penance.  At  the  next 
general  Crusade  Nogaret  should  in  person  set  out  with 
arms  and  horses  to  the  Holy  Land,  there  to  serve  for 
life,  unless  his  term  of  service  should  be  shortened  by 
the  mercy  of  the  Pope  or  his  successor.  In  the  mean 
time,  till  this  general  Crusade  (never  to  come  to  pass), 
he  was  to  make  a  pilgrimage  to  certain  shrines  and 
holy  places,  one  at  Boulogne-sur-Mer,  one  at  St.  James 
of  Compostella.2  Such  was  the  sentence  on  the  as- 
sailant, almost  the  assassin,  of  a  Pope  ;  on  the  perse- 
cutor of  his  memory  by  the  most  odious  accusations  ;  if 
those  accusations  were  false,  the  suborner  of  the  most 

records ;  of  course  they  were  preserved  by  the  pious  care  of  the  partisaui 
of  Boniface.     See  also  Preuves,  p.  606. 

1  "  Absolvimus  ad  cautelam." 

2  Ptolemy  of  Lucca  calls  this  "  penitentia  dura." 


504  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII 

monstrous  system  of  falsehood,  calumny,  and  perjury. 
The  Pope  received  one  hundred  thousand  florins  from 
the  King's  ambassador  as  a  reward  for  his  labors  in  this 
cause.1  This  Bull  of  Clement  V.2  broke  forever  the 
spell  of  the  Pontifical  autocracy.  A  King  might  ap- 
peal to  a  Council  against  a  Pope,  violate  his  personal 
sanctity,  constitute  himself  the  public  prosecutor  by 
himself  or  by  his  agents  for  heresy,  for  immorality,  in- 
vent or  accredit  the  most  hateful  and  loathsome  charges, 
all  with  impunity,  all  even  without  substantial  censure. 
The  Council  of  Vienne  met  at  length  ;  the  number  of 
Oct  15  to  prelates  is  variously  stated  from  three  hundred 
councVo?1'  to  one  hundred  and  forty.3  It  is  said  that 
vienne.  Bishops  were  present  from  Spain,  Germany, 
Denmark,  England,  Scotland,  Ireland,  Italy.  It  as- 
sumed the  dignity  of  an  (Ecumenic  Council.  The 
Pope  proposed  three  questions :  I.  The  dissolution  of 
the  Order  of  the  Temple ;  II.  The  recovery  of  the 
Holy  Land  (the  formal  object  of  every  later  Council, 
but  which  had  sunk  into  a  form)  ;  III.  The  reforma- 
tion of  manners  and  of  ecclesiastical  discipline.  The 
affair  of  the  Templars  was  the  first.  It  might  seem 
that  this  whole  inquiry  had  been  sifted  to  the  bottom. 
Yet  had  the  Pope  made  further  preparation  for  the 
strong  measure  determined  upon.  The  orders  to  the 
King  of  Spain  to  apply  tortures  for  the  extortion  of 
confession  had  been  renewed.4     The  Templars  were  to 

i  Ptolem.  Luc.  apud  Baiuzium,  p.  40.  "  Tunc  ambasiatores  Regis  ofle- 
lunt  camerse  Domini  Papa?  centum  millia  florinorum  quasi  pro  quadam  re- 
compensatione  laborum  circa  dictam  causam." 

2  Dated  May,  1311. 

8  Villani  gives  the  larger  number,  the  continuator  of  Nangis  the  smaller, 
Has  the  French  writer  given  only  the  French  prelates? 

4  "  Ad  eliciendam  veritatem  religioso  fore  tortori  tradendos."  —  Letter  o/ 
Clement  to  King  of  Spain,  quoted  by  Raynouard,  p.  1G6. 


Chap.  in.  COUNCIL  OF  V1ENNE.  505 

be  secure  in  no  part  of  Christendom.  The  same  ter- 
rible instructions  had  been  sent  to  the  Latin  Patriarch 
of  Constantinople,  to  the  Bishops  of  Negropont,  Fama- 
gusta,  and  Nicosia.1  Two  thousand  depositions  had 
been  accumulated,  perhaps  now  slumber  in  the  Vatican. 
But  unexpected  difficulties  arose.  On  a  sudden  nine 
Templars,  who  had  lurked  in  safe  concealment,  per- 
haps in  the  valleys  of  the  Jura  or  the  Alps,  ap- 
peared before  the  Council,  and  demanded  to  be  heard 
in  defence  of  the  Order.  The  Pope  was  not  present. 
No  sooner  had  he  heard  of  this  daring  act  than  he  com- 
manded the  nine  intrepid  defenders  of  their  Order  to 
be  seized  and  cast  into  prison.  He  wrote  in  all  haste 
to  the  King  to  acquaint  him  with  this  untoward  inter- 
ruption.2 But  embarrassments  increased :  the  acts 
were  read  before  the  Fathers  of  the  Council ;  all  the 
foreign  prelates  except  one  Italian,  all  the  French  prel- 
ates except  three,  concurred  in  the  justice  of  admitting 
the  Order  to  a  hearing  and  defence  before  the.  Council. 
These  three  were  Peter  of  Courtenay,  Archbishop  of 
Eheims,  who  had  burned  the  Templars  at  Senlis; 
Philip  de  Marigny  of  Sens,  who  had  committed  the 
fifty-four  Knights  to  the  flames  in  Paris ;  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Eouen,  the  successor  of  Bertrand  de  Troyes, 
who  had  presided  at  Pont  de  l'Arche.3     The   Pope 

1  "  Ad  habendam  ab  eis  veritatis  plenitudinem  promptiorem  tormentis  et 
qusestionibus,  si  sponte  confiteri  noluerint,  experiri  procurer's."  —  Apud 
Raynald.  1311,  c.  liii. 

2  The  letter  in  Raynouard,  p.  177.  Raynouard  is  unfortunately  seized 
with  a  fit  of  eloquence,  and  inserts  a  long  speech  which  one  of  the  Fathers 
of  the  council  ought  to  have  spoken.    The  letter  is  dated  Dec.  11. 

8  "  In  hac  sententia  concordant  omnes  praelati  Italian  praeter  unum,  His- 
Damte,  Theutonise,  Dania3,  Angliae,  Scotiae,  et  Hibernise.  Item  Gallici, 
prater  tres  Metropolitanos,  videlicet  Remensem,  Senonensem  et  Rothoma- 
gensem."  — Ptolem.  Luc.  Vit.  II.  p.  43.  Compare  Walsingham.  This  was 
in  the  beginning  of  December. 


506  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XIL 

was  obliged  to  prorogue  the  Council  for  a  time.  The 
winter  wore  away  in  private  discussions.1  The  awe  of 
the  King's  presence  was  necessary  to  strengthen  the 
Pope,  and  to  intimidate  the  Council.  The  King  had 
summoned  an  assembly  of  the  realm  at  Lyons,  now 
annexed  to  his  kingdom.  The  avowed  object  was  to 
secure  the  triumph  of  Jesus  Christ  in  the  Council.2 
The  Pope  took  courage  ;  he  summoned  the  prelates  on 
whom  he  could  depend  to  a  secret  consistory  with  the 
Cardinals.  He  announced  that  he  had  determined,  by 
way  of  prudent  provision,3  not  of  condemnation,  to 
abolish  the  Order  of  Templars  :  he  reserved  to  himself 
and  to  the  Church  the  disposal  of  their  persons  and  of 
ad.  1312.  their  estates.  On  April  3  this  act  of  dissolu- 
tion was  published  in  the  full  Council  on  the  absolute 
and  sole  authority  of  the  Pope.  This  famous  Order 
was  declared  to  be  extinct ;  the  proclamation  was  made 
in  the  presence  of  the  King 4  and  his  brother.  We 
have  already  described  the  award  of  the  estates  to  the 
Knights  of  St.  John,  the  impoverishment  of  that  Or- 
der5 by  this  splendid  boon,  or  traffic,6  as  it  was  called 
by  the  enemies  of  Clement. 

Clement,  perhaps,  had  rejoiced  in  secret  at  the  oppo- 
sition of  the  Council  to  the  condemnation  of  the  Tem- 
plars. It  aided  him  in  extorting  the  price  of  the 
important  concession  from  King  Philip,  the  reservation 
to  his  own  judgment  of  the  sacred  and  perilous  treasure 
of  his  predecessor's  memory. 

1  Bernard  Guido.    Vit.  III.  Clement.  Compare  IV.  et  VI. 

2  Hist,  de  Languedoc,  xxix.  c.  33,  p.  152. 
8  "  Per  provisiones." 

4  "  Cui  negotium  erat  cordi." 

6  "  Unde  depauperata  est  mansio  hospitalis,  quae  se  existimabat  indeopu* 
lenta  fieri."  —  S.  Antoninus;  see  above,  p.  480. 

6  "  Tapa  voro  statim  bona  Tonipli  infmito  thesauro  Fratribus  vendidii  ho»- 
nitnti?  S.  .>h:mi]K."  —  FdorWimmS;  (le$t.  Pmifilic.  Leoricii. 


Chap.  III.  DEFENDERS  OF  BONIFACE.  507 

The  Council,  which  had  now  resumed  its  sittings, 
was,  not  in  this  point  alone,  manifestly  disin-  Defeuderg  of 
clined  to  submit  to  the  absolute  control  of  befor^tL 
French  influence.  It  asserted  its  independent  Council* 
dignity  in  the  addresses  to  which  it  had  listened  on  the 
reform  of  ecclesiastical  abuses :  it  had  shown  a  strong 
hierarchical  spirit.  No  doubt  beyond  the  sphere  of 
Philip's  power,  beyond  the  pale  of  Ghibelline  animosi- 
ty, beyond  that  of  the  lower  Franciscans,  whose  fanati- 
cal admiration  of  Coelestine  had  become  implacable 
hatred  to  Boniface,  the  prosecution  of  the  Pope's  mem- 
ory was  odious.  If  it  rested  on  any  just  grounds,  it 
was  an  irreverent  exposure  of  the  nakedness  of  their 
common  father ;  if  groundless,  a  wanton  and  wicked 
sacrilege.  When,  therefore,  three  Cardinals,  Richard 
of  Sienna,  master  of  the  civil  law,  John  of  Namur,  as 
eminent  in  theology,  and  Gentili,  the  most  consummate 
decretalist,  appeared  in  the  Council  to  defend  the  ortho- 
doxy and  holy  life  of  Pope  Boniface ;  when  two  Cata- 
lan Knights  threw  down  their  gauntlets,  and  declared 
themselves  ready  to  maintain  his  innocence  by  wager 
of  battle :  Clement  interposed  not,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
Templars,  any  adjournment.  He  regarded  not  the 
confusion  of  the  King  and  his  partisans.  The  King 
was  therefore  obliged  to  submit  to  this  absolute  acquit- 
tal, either  by  positive  decree ;  or,  in  default  of  the  ap- 
pearance of  any  accuser,  of  any  opponent  against  the 
theologians  or  the  knights,  to  accept  an  edict  that  no 
harm  or  prejudice  should  accrue  to  himself  or  his  suc- 
cessors for  the  part  which  they  had  been  compelled  by 
duty  and  by  zeal  to  take  against  Pope  Boniface.1 

1  The  vindication  of  the  fame  of  Boniface  by  the  Council  of  Vienne  is 
lisputcd,  F.  Fagi,  arguing  from  the  fact  that  the  affair  was  not  included  in 


508  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  X1L 

The  Council  of  Vienne  had  thus  acquiesced  in  the 
Acts  of  the  determination  of  the  first  object  for  which  it 
vienne.  had  been  summoned,  the  suppression  of  the 
Templars.  The  assembly  listened  with  decent  outward 
sympathy  to  the  old  wearisome  account  of  the  captivity 
of  the  Holy  Land,  and  the  progress  of  the  Mohamme- 
dan arms  in  the  East.  But  the  crusading  fire  was 
burnt  out;  there  was  hardly  a  flash  or  gleam  of  en- 
thusiasm. It  seemed,  however,  disposed  to  enter  with 
greater  earnestness  on  the  reformation  of  manners  and 
discipline,  and  the  suppression  of  certain  dangerous 
dissidents  from  that  discipline.  On  the  former  subject 
the  Fathers  heard  with  respectful  favor  two  remarkable 
addresses.  The  first  was  from  the  Bishop  of  Mende, 
one  of  the  assessors  at  the  examination  of  the  Tem- 
plars ;  and  this  address  raises  the  character  of  that 
prelate  so  highly,  that  his  testimony  on  their  condemna- 
tion is  perhaps  the  most  unfavorable  evidence  on  record 
against  them.  The  other  came  from  a  prelate  of  great 
gravity,  learning,  and  piety,  whose  name  has  not  sur- 
vived. These  addresses,  however,  which  led  to  no  im- 
mediate result,  may  come  before  us  in  a  general  view 
of  the  Christianity  of  this  great  epoch,  the  culmination 
of  the  Papal  power  under  Boniface  VIII.,  its  rapid 

the  summons,  or  among  the  three  subjects  proposed  for  the  consideration  of 
the  Council,  that  it  was  not  brought  before  them.  Raynaldus  relies  on  the 
passage  of  Villani,  on  which  he  accumulates  much  irrelevant  matter,  with- 
out strengthening  his  cause.  The  statement  in  the  text  appears  to  me  to 
reconcile  all  difficulties.  It  was,  throughout,  the  policy  of  the  Pope  to  keep 
this  dangerous  business  entirely  in  his  own  hands ;  this  he  had  extorted 
with  great  dexterity  and  at  great  sacrifice  from  the  King.  Till  he  knew 
that  he  could  trust  the  Council,  he  had  no  thought  of  permitting  the  Coun- 
cil to  interfere  (it  was  an  unsafe  precedent);  but  when  sure  of  its  temper, 
he  was  glad  to  take  the  Prelates'  judgment  in  confirmation  of  his  own :  he 
thus  at  the  same  time  maintained  his  own  sole  and  superior  right  of  judg- 
ment, and  backed  it,  against  the  King,  with  the  authority  of  the  Council. 


Chap.  III.      ACTS   OF  THE  COUNCIL  OF  VIENNE.  6(W 

decline  under  the  Popes  at  Avignon.  So,  too,  the  con- 
demnation of  that  singular  sect  or  offset  of  the  Fran- 
ciscans, the  Fraticelli,  will  form  part  of  the  history  of 
that  body,  which  perhaps  did  more  than  any  other  sects 
in  preparation  of  th^  Lollards,  of  Wycliffe,  perhaps  of 
the  great  Reformation,  in  the  minds  of  the  people 
throughout  Christendom,  as  the  disseminators  of  doc- 
trines essentially,  vitally,  anti-Papal. 


510  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XIL 


CHAPTER    IV. 

HENRY   OF  LUXEMBURG.    ITALY. 

Pope  Clement  —  at  the  cost  of  much  of  the  Papal 
dignity ;  at  the  cost  of  Christian  mercy,  even  if  the 
Templars,  tortured  and  burned  at  the  stake,  were 
guilty  ;  at  the  cost  of  truth  and  justice  if  they  were 
innocent  —  had  baffled  the  King  of  France,  and  had 
averted  the  fatal  blow,  the  condemnation  of  Pope 
Boniface.  Even  of  the  spoils  of  the  Templars  he 
had  rescued  a  large  part,  the  whole  landed  property, 
out  of  the  hands  of  the  rapacious  King  ;  he  had  en- 
riched himself,  his  death  will  hereafter  show  to  what 
enormous  amount.  But  the  subtle  Gascon  had  done 
greater  service  to  Christendom  by  thwarting  the  views 
of  the  French  monarch  upon  a  predominance  in  the 
Western  world  dangerous  to  her  liberties  and  Avel- 
fare.  Never  was  Europe  in  greater  peril  of  falling, 
if  not  under  one  sovereignty,  under  the  dominion, 
and  that  the  most  tyrannical  dominion,  of  one  house. 
Philip  was  king  indeed  in  France  :  in  many  of  his 
worst  acts  of  oppression  the  nation,  the  commonalty 
itself,  had  backed  the  King.  Even  the  Church,  so 
long  as  he  plundered  and  trampled  on  others,  was 
on  his  side.  The  greater  Metropolitan  Sees  were 
filled  with  his  creatures.  Princes  of  the  house  of 
France  sat  on   the   thrones  of  Naples   and  Hungary. 


Cha*.  IV.  HENRY   OF  LUXEMBURG.  511 

The  feeble  Edward  II.  of  England  was  his  son-in- 
law.  The  Empire,  if  obtained  by  Charles  of  Valois, 
had  involved  not  merely  the  supreme  rule  in  Ger- 
man}', but  the  mastery  in  Italy.  Clement  would  not 
have  dared  to  refuse  the  imperial  crown,  and  under 
such  an  Emperor  where  was  the  independence  of  the 
Italian  cities  ?  The  Papal  territory  would  have  been 
held  at  his  mercy. 

The  election  of  Henry  of  Luxemburg  had  redeemec 
Christendom  from  this  danger.  This  elec-  Henry  of 
tion  had  been  managed  with  unrivalled  skill  Luxemburs- 
by  Peter  Ashpalter,  Archbishop  of  Mentz.1  This  re- 
markable man  (an  unusual  case)  was  not  of  noble 
birth  ;  he  had  been  bred  a  physician  ;  it  was  said 
that  he  had  rendered  the  Pope  great  service  by  ad- 
vice concerning  his  health,  and  had  thus  acquired  a 
strong  influence  over  his  mind.  Archbishop  Peter 
first  contrived  the  elevation  of  Henry's  brother  to  the 
Electoral  See  of  Treves.  Two  of  the  lay  electors, 
out  of  jealousy  towards  the  other  competi-  Nov  2i 
tors  for  the  crown,  were  won  over.  Henry  im 
of  Luxemburg  was  proclaimed  at  Frankfort.  The 
new  King  of  the  Romans  was  at  once  a  just,  a  relig- 
ious, and  a  popular  sovereign.2  He  had  put  down 
the  robbers,  and  exercised  rigid  but  impartial  jus- 
tice in  his  own  small  territory.  At  the  same  time 
he  was  the  most  distinguished  in  arms.  At  the 
tournament  no  knight  in  Europe  could  unhorse  Henry 
of  Luxemburg.      Soon    after    his   elevation    his    indi- 


1  This  is  well  told  by  Schmidt  —  Geschichte  der  Deutschen,  vii.  c.  4. 

2  Justus  et  religiosus  et  in  armis  strenuus  fuit.  Hocsemius,  apud  Cha- 
peauville,  Hist.  Pontif.  Leoden.  See  the  description  of  his  person  in  Al- 
bert. Mussat.  i.  13. 


512  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII 

gent  house  was  enriched  and  strengthened  by  the 
marriage  of  his  son  with  the  heiress  of  Bohemia. 

The  Pope  had  taken  no  ostensible  part  in  the 
election.  When  Henry  of  Luxemburg  sent  an  em- 
bassage of  nobles  and  great  prelates  to  demand  the 
imperial  crown,  Clement  had  no  pretext,  he  had  in- 
deed no  disposition,  to  refuse  that  wrhich  was  in  the 
common  order  of  things.  Philip  might  brood  in  se- 
cret over  this  politic  attempt  of  the  Pope  after  eman- 
cipation, yet  had  no  right  to  take  umbrage. 

In  a  solemn  diet  at  Spires  Henry,  King  of  the  Ro- 
Wetat  mans,  declared,  amid  universal  acclamation, 

Aug.  21, 1309.  his  resolution  to  descend  into  Italy  to  assert 
the  imperial  rights,  and  to  receive  the  Csesarean  crown 
at  Rome.  Clement  had  never  lost  sight  of  the  af- 
fairs of  Italy :  he  was  still  Lord  of  Romagna,  and 
drew  his  revenues  from  the  Papal  territory.  But  he 
had  no  Italian  prepossessions.  The  Bishop  of  Rome 
had  probably  determined  never  to  set  his  foot  in  that 
unruly  city.  His  court  was  a  court  of  French  Car- 
dinals, increased  at  each  successive  promotion.  He 
had  indeed  interfered  to  save  Pistoia  from  the  cruel 
hands  of  Guelfic  Florence  ;  but  Florence  had  treated 
ThePope'a  his  threatened  anathema  with  scorn.  Bo- 
pohcy.  logna,   struck  with   interdict   by  the   angry 

Legate  for  aiding  Florence,  had  made  indeed  sub- 
mission, but  not  till  she  had  forced  the  Legate  to 
an  ignominious  flight  to  save  his  life.  Clement  had 
maintained  a  violent  contest  with  Venice  for  Fer- 
rara.  Venice  had  struck  a  vigorous  blow  by  the 
seizure  of  Ferrara,  and  the  contemptuous  refusal  to 
acknowledge  the  asserted  rights  of  the  Pope  in  that 
city.     The  Venetians  scorned  the  interdict  thundered 


Chap.  IV.  THE  POPE'S   POLICY.  513 

against  their  whole  territory  by  the  Pope.  Clement 
found  a  foe  against  whom  he  dared  put  forth  all  the 
terrors  of  his  spiritual  power.  He  prohibited  all  re- 
ligious rites  in  Venice,  declared  the  Doge  and  mag- 
istrates infamous,  commanded  all  ecclesiastics  to  quit 
the  territory  except  a  few  to  baptize  infants,  and  to 
administer  extreme  unction  to  the  dying.  If  they 
persisted  in  their  contumacy,  he  declared  the  Doge 
Gradenia;o  degraded  from  his  high  office,  and  all  es- 
tates  of  Venetians  confiscate  ;  kings  were  summoned 
to  take  up  arms  against  them  till  they  should  restore 
the  rights  of  the  Church.  The  Venetians  conde- 
scended to  send  an  ambassador ;  but  as  to  the  restora- 
tion of  Ferrara,  they  made  no  sign  of  concession.  But 
Venice  was  vulnerable  through  her  wealth ;  the  Pope 
struck  a  blow  at  her  vital  part.  She  had  factories, 
vast  stores  of  rich  merchandise  in  every  great  haven, 
in  every  distant  land.  The  Pope  issued  a  brief,  sum 
moning  all  Kings,  all  rulers,  all  cities  to  plunder  the 
forfeited  merchandise  of  Venice,  and  to  reduce  the 
Venetians  to  slavery.  The  Pope's  admonitions  to 
peace,  his  warnings  to  kings  and  nations  to  abstain 
from  unchristian  injury  to  each  other,  had  long  lost 
their  power.  But  a  Papal  license  or  rather  exhor- 
tation to  plunder,  to  plunder  peaceful  and  defence- 
less factories,  was  too  tempting  an  act  of  obedience. 
Everywhere  their  merchandise  was  seized,  their  facto- 
ries pillaged,  their  traders  outraged:1  Venice  quailed ; 
yet  it  needed  the  utmost  activity  in  the  warlike  Leg- 
ate, the  Cardinal  Pelagru,  at  the  head  of  troops  from 

1  "  Qua  de  re  data  pluribus  provinciis  ac  Regibus  impena."  —  Raynal- 
dus  sub  ann.,  with  authorities. 
vol.  vi.  33 


514  LATIN    CHRISTIANITY.  Book  Xll 

all  quarters,  to  reconquer  Ferrara.  He  slew  six  thou- 
sand men. 

On  a  sudden  Clement  totally  changed  the  immerao 
rial  policy  of  the  Popes.  He  did  not  throw  off,  but  he 
quietly  let  fall,  the  French  alliance:  he  was  in  close 
league  with  the  Emperor : 2  the  Pope  became  a  Ghibel- 
line.  If  the  Papal  and  Imperial  banners  were  not 
unfolded  together,  the  Papal  Legate  was  by  the  side  of 
the  Emperor.  The  refractory  cities  were  menaced 
with  the  concurrent  ban  of  the  Empire  and  the  excom- 
munication of  the  Church. 

Henry,  rather  more  than  a  year  after  the  Diet  at 
Henry  in  Spires,  descended  upon  Italy,  but  with  no 
Oct:  23, 1310.  considerable  German  force,2  to  achieve  that 
in  which  had  been  discomfited  the  Othos,  Henrys,  and 
Fredericks.  Guelfs  and  Ghibellines  watched  his  move- 
ments with  unquiet  jealousy.  He  assumed  a  lofty  supe- 
riority to  all  factious  views.3  The  cities  Turin,  Asti, 
Vercelli,  Novara,  opened  their  gates.4  Henry  reinstat- 
ed the  exiled  Guelfs  in  Ghibelline,  the  Ghibellines  in 
Milan.  Guelfic,  cities.    He  approached  Milan.    Guido 

della  Torre,  the  head  of  the  ruling  Guelfic  faction,  had 
sent  a  message  to  the  King  at  Spires,  "  he  would  lead 
him  with  a  falcon  on  his  wrist,  as  on  a  pleasure-party, 


i  See  Clement's  letter  to  Henry  of  Luxemburg,  July  26,  1309.  Also  the 
Treaty  dated  at  Lausanne  September  11,  1310.  —  Monumenta  Germanise, 
iv.  501. 

2  Ferretus  Vicentinus  gives  5000  Germans. 

8  "  Cujusquam  cum  subjectis  pactionis  impatiens,  Gibolenge  Guelfeve 
parti  urn  mentionem  abhorrens,  cuncta  absoluto  amplectens  imperio."  — 
Alb.  Mussat.  i.  13. 

4  See  Iter  Italicum  by  Henry's  favorite  counsellor.  The  Bishop  of  Bu- 
thronto  gives  a  lively  account  of  all  his  march,  especially  of  the  Bishop'3 
own  personal  adventures.  It  has  been  reprinted  (after  Reuber  and  Mu- 
rater i)  oy  Koehmer.  —  Fontes  Iter.  German,  i.  60. 


Chap.  IV.         HENRY   OF   LUXEMBURG   IN  MILAN.  515 

through  all  Lombardy."  Guido  was  now  irresolute. 
The  Archbishop  of  Milan,  the  nephew  of  Guido,  but 
his  mortal  enemy,  entreated  the  King's  good  Dec.  23, 1310. 
offices  for  the  release  of  three  of  his  kindred,  imprisoned 
by  Delia  Torre.  King  Henry  issued  his  orders  ;  Guido 
refused  to  obey.  Yet  Milan  did  not  close  her  gates  on 
the  King.  Guido  occupied  the  palace  of  the  common- 
alty ;  he  would  not  dismiss  his  armed  guard  of  one 
thousand  men.  Besides  this,  he  had  at  his  command  in 
one  street  ten  thousand  men,  not,  he  averred,  against 
the  King,  but  against  his  enemy,  the  Archbishop. 
Henry  lodged  in  the  Archbishop's  palace,  and  there 
kept  his  Christmas.  On  the  day  after,  peace  was  sworn 
between  Guido  della  Torre,  his  nephew  the  Archbish- 
op, and  Matteo  Visconti :  they  exchanged  the  Jan.  6, 1311. 
kiss  of  peace.1  On  the  Epiphany  Henry  was  crowned 
with  the  Iron  Crown  of  Italy,  not  at  Monza,  but  in  the 
Ambrosian  Church  at  Milan ;  the  people  wept  tears  of 
joy.  Guido  gave  up  the  palace  of  the  commonalty  to 
the  King.  All  the  cities  of  Lombardy  were  present  by 
their  Syndics ;  all  took  the  oath  of  allegiance  except 
Genoa  and  Venice,  who  nevertheless  acknowledged  the 
supremacy  of  the  King.2  Henry  calmly  pursued  his 
work  of  pacification.  He  placed  Vicars  in  the  cities 
from  the  Alps  to  Bologna,  and  forced  them  to  admit 
the  exiles.  Como  received  the  Guelfs,  the  Ghibellines 
entered  Brescia.  Mantua  admitted  the  Ghibellines, 
Piacenza  the  Guelfs.  Verona  alone  obstinately  refused 
to  receive  Count  Boniface  and  the  Guelfs :  her  strong 

1  "  Amicabiliter,  utinara  fideliter  osculati."  — Iter  Ital. 

2  "  They  said  many  things  to  excuse  themselve  from  swearing  (writes 
the  Bishop  of  Buthronto),  which  I  do  not  recollect,  excepting  that  they 
(the  Venetians)  are  a  quintessence,  and  will  BeloTig  neither  to  the  Church 
nor  to  the  Emperor,  nor  to  the  sea  nor  to  the  land."  —  Iter  Italicirm,  p. 
«93. 


516  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  Xll 

walls  defied  the  Emperor.  In  Milan  the  leaders  of  the 
factions  vied  in  their  offerings  to  Henry.  William  di 
Posterla  proposed  a  vote  of  fifty  thousand  florins,  but 
added  a  donative  to  the  Empress.  Guido  della  Torre 
outbid  his  rival :  "  We  are  a  great  and  wealthy  city ; 
one  hundred  thousand  is  not  too  much  for  so  noble  a 
sovereign."  The  Germans  were  alienated  from  the 
parsimonious  Viscontis  ;  Guido,  they  averred,  was  the 
Emperor's  friend  ;  but  it  was  shrewdly  suspected  that 
the  crafty  leader  foresaw  that  Milan,  when  the  tax 
came  to  be  levied,  would  rise  to  shake  off  the  burden. 
The  Emperor,  to  secure  the  city  in  his  absence,  de- 
manded that  fifty  of  the  great  nobles  and  leaders, 
chosen  half  from  the  Guelfs,  half  from  the  Ghibellines, 
should  accompany  him  to  Rome  to  do  honor  to  his 
coronation.  The  Guelfs  were  to  name  twenty-five 
Ghibellines,  the  Ghibellines  twenty-five  Guelfs.  But 
this  mode  of  election  failed  ;  neither  Guido  nor  Vis- 
conti  would  quit  the  city,  tt  Guido  alleged  ill  health ; 
Feb.  12.  the  King's  physician  declared  the  excuse  false. 
But  the  assessment  of  this  vast  sum,  though  the  Ger- 
mans were  astonished  at  the  ease  with  which  much  had 
been  paid,  inflamed  the  people.  Frays  broke  out  be- 
lnsurrection  tween  the  Germans  and  the  Milanese  ;  proc- 
in  Milan.  lamations  were  issued,  forbidding  the  Ital- 
ians to  bear  arms.  On  a  sudden  a  cry  was  heard, 
"  Death  to  the  Germans !  Peace  between  the  Lord 
Guido  and  the  Lord  Matteo !  "  Visconti  was  seized, 
carried  before  the  King,  and  dismissed  unharmed.  The 
Germans  rushed  to  arms  ;  they  were  joined  by  Vis- 
conti's  faction  ;  much  slaughter,  much  plunder  ensued.1 

1  "Multi  mortui  et  vulnerati,  si  juste  Deus  scit."     So  writes  the  pioua 
Biiboj),  who  had  apprehended  and,  as  he  says,  saved  the  life  of,  Visconti. 


Chap.  IV.  SIEGE  OF   BRESCIA.  517 

Guido  della  Torre  fled ;  his  palace  fortress  was  sur- 
prised and  ransacked :  great  stores  of  military  weapons 
were  found,  arrows  tipped  with  Greek  fire,  and  balists. 
No  sooner  was  Milan  heard  to  be  in  insurrection, 
than  Crema,  Cremona,  Lodi,  Brescia,  rose.  May  19.  1311 
The  first  were  speedily  subdued  ;  Cremona  Si  of 
severely  punished.  Brescia  alone  stood  an  Brescia- 
obstinate  siege.  The  Emperor's  brother  Waleran  fell 
in  the  trenches :  many  Germans  were  hanged  upon  the 
walls.  The  new  alliance  between  the  Emperor  and 
the  Pope  was  here  ostentatiously  proclaimed.  Two 
of  the  cardinals  appointed  to  crown  the  Emperor,  the 
Bishops  of  St.  Sabina  and  of  Ostia,  appeared  under 
the  walls  of  Brescia.  The  gates  flew  open  :  they 
passed  the  streets  amid  acclamations  —  "  Long  live  our 
Mother  the  Church  ;  long  live  the  Pope  and  the  Holy 
Cardinals."  The  Cardinal  of  Ostia  addressed  the  com- 
monalty in  a  lofty  harangue.  He  sternly  reproved 
them  for  not  having  received  that  blessed  son  of  the 
Church,  Henry  King  of  the  Romans,  who  came  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord :  "  They  were  in  insurrection  against 
the  ordinance  of  Almighty  God,  against  the  monitions 
of  the  Pope :  they  must  look  for  no  better  fate  than 
befell  Sodom  and  Gomorrah. "  The  Captain  of  the 
people  answered  in  their  name  —  "  They  were  ready  to 
obey  the  Pope  and  a  lawful  Emperor.  Henry  was  no 
emperor,  but  a  spoiler,  who  expelled  the  Guelfs  from 
the  cities,  and  gave  them  up  to  the- tyranny  of  the  Ghib- 
ellines  ;  he  was  reviving  the  schism  of  the  Emperor 
Frederick."  The  Cardinals  withdrew  for  a  time  in 
ignominious  silence.  Brescia  still  held  out:  Henry 
urged  the  Cardinals  to  issue  a  sentence  of  excommuni- 
cation.    "  For  excommunication,"  was  the  reply,  "  tho 


518  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XIL 

Italians  care  nothing.  How  have  the  Florentines  treat- 
ed that  of  the  Cardinal  of  Ostia,  the  Bolomiese  that  of 
Cardinal  Napoleon,  those  of  Milan  that  of  the  Lord 
Pelagius  ?  "  1  Famine  at  length  reduced  the  obstinate 
town.  They  consented  to  the  mediation  of  the  Cardi- 
nals, and  Henry  entered  Brescia.  The  want  of  money 
led  him  to  compound  for  the  treason  by  a  mulct  of  70,- 
000  florins.  Henry's  poverty  compelled  him  to  othei 
acts,  ignominious,  even  treacherous,  as  it  seemed  to  his 
most  loyal  counsellors.2 

Henry  advanced  to  Genoa:  the  city  submitted  in 
Sept.  I8-21.  the  amplest  manner.  But  no  sooner  had  the 
Emperor  left  Lombardy  than  a  new  Guelfic  league 
sprung  up  behind  him.  Throughout  Italy,  the  Guelfs, 
more  Papal ist  than  the  Pope,  disclaimed  the  Emperor, 
though  under  the  escort  of  cardinal  legates.  At  Genoa, 
died  his  Queen,  Margarita.  To  Genoa  came  ambas- 
sadors from  the  head  of  the  Guelfs,  Robert  King  of 
March  6  Naples.  Negotiations  were  commenced  for  a 
1312,  marriage  between  the  houses  of  Luxemburg 

and  Naples ;  but  Robert  demanded  the  office  of  Sen- 
ator of  Rome,  and  before  terms  could  be  concluded, 
news  arrived  that  John,  brother  of  King  Robert,  was 
in  Rome  with  an  armed  force.  Henry  moved  to  Ghib- 
elline  Pisa  ;  he  was  welcomed  with  joy.     In   the  mean 

1  Albert  Mussato  apud  Muratori,  R.  I.  S.  I  have  endeavored  to  recon- 
cile this  account  with  the  Iter  Italicum.  I  understand  the  same  fact  tc  be 
alluded  to,  page  900:  "  Domini  Cardinales  de  pace  laboraverunt." 

2  "  I  protested,  but  protested  in  vain  "  (writes  the  Bishop  of  Buthror.to), 
"  against  five  acts  of  my  master.  To  the  doubtful  Philip  of  Savoy  he  grant- 
ed, for  a  loan  of  25,000  florins,  the  lordship  over  Pavia,  Vercelli,  Novara :  to 
Matteo  Visconti,  for  50,000,  that  of  Milan:  to  Guilberto  di  Corregio,  the 
Guelfic  tyrant  of  Parma,  for  an  unknown  sum,  that  of  Reggio:  to  Can  di 
Verona,  who  obstinately  refused  to  admit  a  single  Guelf,  that  of  Verona- 
to  Passerino,  that  of  Mantua."  —  Itei  Italicum,  p.  93. 


Chap.  IV.  HENRY  ADVANCES   ON  ROME.  519 

time  Guelfic  Florence  not  merely  would  not  admit 
Pandulph  Savelli,  the  Pope's  Notary,  and  the  Bishop 
of  Buthronto,  Henry's  ambassadors  ;  they  threatened 
to  seize  them,  as  loaded  with  gold  to  bribe  the  Ghibel- 
lines  to  insurrection.  The  ambassadors  had  many  wild 
adventures  in  the  Apennines,  were  plundered,  in  peril 
of  captivity.  Some  Tuscan  cities,  more  Tuscan  lords, 
swore  allegiance  to  the  Emperor,  whether  from  loy- 
alty or  hatred  of  Florence.  The  ambassadors  arrived 
before  Rome.1  The  city  was  occupied  by  John  of 
Naples.  He  was  strong  enough  to  maintain  himself 
in  the  city,  not  strong  enough  to  keep  down  the  Impe- 
rialists. There  was  parley,  delay,  exchange  of  de- 
mands. John  insisted  on  fortifying  the  Ponte  Molle. 
To  the  demand,  among  others,  of  cooperation  in  recon- 
ciling the  rival  houses  of  Orsini  and  Colonna,  he  sternly 
answered,  "  The  Colonnas  are  my  enemies  ;  with  them 
I  will  have  neither  truce  nor  treaty."  He  at  length 
hurled  defiance  against  the  Emperor. 

Henry  himself  set  out  from  Pisa,  and  advanced  tow- 
ards Rome  at  the  head  of  two  thousand  Henry  ad- 
horse.  With  King  Robert  of  Naples  it  was  Rome, 
neither  peace  nor  war.  Prince  John  still  held  the 
Ponte  Molle.  On  the  appearance  of  King  Henry  he 
was  summoned  to  withdraw  his  troops.  He  withdrew, 
he  said,  "for  his  own  ends  —  not  at  the  Emperor's 
command."  The  Germans  charged  over  the  bridge  ; 
a  tower  still  manned  by  Neapolitans  hurled  down  mis- 
siles ;  it  was  with  difficulty  stormed.  The  Pope's  Em- 
peror, with  the  Cardinals  commissioned  by  the  Pope 
to  crown  him,  entered  Rome  :  he  occupied,  with  the 
Ghibellines,  the  city  on  one  side  of  the   Tiber;   the 

1  This  is  the  most  curious  part  of  the  Iter  Italicum. 


520  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII. 

Capitol  was  forced  to  submit.  Beyond  the  Tiber 
were  John  of  Naples  and  the  Guelfic  Orsini.  Neither 
had  strength  to  dispossess  the  other.  But  St.  Peter's 
was  in  the  power  of  the  enemy.  The  magnificent 
ceremonial,  which  Pope  Clement  had  drawn  out  at 
great  length  for  the  coronation  of  Henry,  could  not 
take  place.  He  must  submit  to  receive  the  crown 
June  29  w*tn  humbler  pomp  in  the  Church  of  St. 
1312,  John    Lateran.      The   inglorious    coronation 

took  place  on  the  festival  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul. 

The  heats  of  Rome  compelled  the  Emperor  to  re- 
juiy20.  tire  to  Tivoli.  A  year  of  war  ensued:  Flor- 
ence placed  herself  at  the  head  of  the  anti-Imperialist 
League.  Henry,  having  made  a  vain  attempt  to  sur- 
prise Florence,  retired  to  Pisa.  There  he  pronounced 
the  ban  of  the  Empire  against  Florence  and  the  con- 
tumacious cities  ;  and  against  Robert  of  Naples,  whom 
Feb.  12,1313.  he  declared,  as  a  rebellious  vassal,  deposed 
from  his  throne.  The  ban  of  the  Empire  had  no 
more  terror  than  the  excommunication  of  the  Pope. 
Henry  awaited  forces  from  Germany  to  open  again 
the  campaign  :  his  magnanimous  character  struck  even 
his  adversaries.  "  He  was  a  man,"  writes  the  Guelf 
Villani,  "  never  depressed  by  adversity,  never  in  pros- 
perity elated  with  pride,  or  intoxicated  with  joy." 

But  the  end  of  his  career  drew  on.  He  had  now 
advanced  at  the  head  of  an  army  which  his  enemies 
dared  not  meet  in  the  field,  towards  Sienna.  He  rode 
still,  seemingly  in  full  vigor  and  activity.  But  the  fatal 
air  of  Rome  had  smitten  his  strength.  A  carbuncle 
had  formed  under  his  knee  ;  injudicious  remedies  in- 
flamed his  vitiated  blood.  He  died  at  Buonconvento 
in  the  midst  of  his  awe-struck  army,  on  the  Festival 


Dante  de 
Monarchia 


Chap.  IV.  DEATH  OF  HENRY.  521 

of   St.   Bartholomew.      Rumors   of  foul    practice,  of 
course,  spread   abroad  :    a  Dominican    monk  was  said 
to  have  administered  poison  in  the  Sacrament,  AuD.  24 
which   he  received  with  profound   devotion.  1313, 
His  body  was  carried  in  sad  state,  and  splendidly  in- 
terred at  Pisa. 

So  closed  that  empire,  in  which,  if  the  more  factious 
and  vulgar  Ghibellines  beheld  their  restoration  to  their 
native  city,  their  triumph,  their  revenge,  their  sole  ad- 
ministration of  public  affairs,  the  nobler  Ghibellinism 
of  Dante *  foresaw  the  establishment  of  a  great  univer- 
sal monarchy  necessary  to  the  peace  and  civilization  of 
mankind.  The  ideal  sovereign  of  Dante's 
famous  treatise  on  Monarchy  was  Henry  of 
Luxemburg.  Neither  Dante  nor  his  time  can  be  under- 
stood but  through  this  treatise.  The  attempt  of  the 
Pope  to  raise  himself  to  a  great  Pontifical  monarchy 
had  manifestly,  ignominiously  failed :  the  Ghibelline  is 
neither  amazed  nor  distressed  at  this  event.  It  is  now 
the  turn  of  the  Imperialist  to  unfold  his  noble  vision 
"An  universal  monarchy  is  absolutely  necessary  for 
the  welfare  of  the  world ; "  and  this  is  part  of  his  sin- 
gular reasoning  —  "  Peace  "  (says  the  weary  exile,  the 
man  worn  out  in  cruel  strife,  the  wanderer  from  city  to 
city,  each  of  those  cities  more  fiercely  torn  by  faction 
than  the  last),  "  universal  Peace  is  the  first  blessing  of 
mankind.     The  angels  sang  not  riches  or  pleasures,  but 

1  Read  first  Dante's  rapturous  letter  (in  Italian)  to  the  princes  and  peo- 
ple of  Italy  before  the  descent  of  Henry  of  Luxemburg  (the  Latin  original 
is  lost),  Fraticelli's  edition,  Oper.  Min.  iii.  p.  2,  23.  "  Non  riluca  in  mara- 
vigliose  effette  Iddio  avere  predestinato  il  Romano  principe?  "  The  Popa 
is  now  on  the  Imperial  side,  and  Dante  is  conciliatory  even  to  an  Avignon- 
ese  Pope.  Nor  omit,  secondly,  the  furious  letter  to  Henry  himself,  al- 
most reproaching  him  with  leaving  wicked  Florence  unchastised.  —  Ibid 
o.  230. 


522  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII 

peace  on  earth :  peace  the  Lord  bequeathed  to  his  dis- 
ciples. For  peace  One  must  rule.  Mankind  is  most 
like  God  when  at  unity,  for  God  is  One ;  therefore 
under  a  monarchy.  Where  there  is  parity  there  must 
be  strife  ;  where  strife,  judgment ;  the  judge  must  be 
a  third  party  intervening  with  supreme  authority." 
Without  monarchy  can  be  no  justice,  nor  even  liberty  ; 
for  Dante's  *  monarch  is  no  arbitrary  despot,  but  a  con- 
stitutional sovereign  ;  he  is  the  Roman  law  impersonated 
in  the  Emperor ;  a  monarch  who  should  leave  all  the 
nations,  all  the  free  Italian  cities,  in  possession  of  their 
rights  and  old  municipal  institutions. 

But  to  this  monarchy  of  the  world  the  Roman  peo- 
ple has  an  inherent,  indefeasible  right.  The  Saviour 
was  born  when  the  world  was  at  peace  under  the  Ro- 
man sway.2  Dante  seizes  and  applies  the  texts,  which 
foreshow  the  peaceful  dominion  of  Christianity,  to  the 
Empire  of  old  Rome.  Rome  assumed  that  empire  of 
right,  not  of  usurpation.  The  Romans  were  the  no- 
blest of  people  by  their  descent  from  ^Eneas,  the  noblest 
of  men.  The  rise  of  the  Republic  was  one  continual 
miracle :  the  Ancile,  the  repulse  of  the  Gauls,  Clelia, 
all  were  miracles  in  the  highest  sense.3  That  holy, 
pious,  and  glorious  people  sacrificed  its  own  advantage 
to  the  common  good.  It  ruled  the  world  by  its  benefi- 
cence. All  that  the  most  ardent  Christian  could  assert 
of  the  best  of  the  Saints,  Dante  attributes  to  the  older 
Romans.     The   great  examples  of  human   virtue  are 

1  "  Et  humanum  genus,  potissimum  liberum,  optime  se  habet." 

2  "  Quare  fremuerunt  gentes,  reges  adversantur  Domino  suo  et  uncto  sub 
Romano  Principe." 

3  "  Quod  etiam  pro  Romano  Imperio  perficiendo,  miranda  Deus  perten- 
deret  illustrium  authorum  testimonio  comprobatur.1'  The  authors  are  Livv 
and  Lucan. 


Chap.  IV.  DANTE  ON  MONARCHY.  523 

Cincinnatus,  Fabricius,  Camillus,  Decius,  Cato.  The 
Roman  people  are  by  nature  predestined  to  rule  :  he 
cites  the  irrefragable  authority  of  Virgil.1  There  are 
two  arguments  which  strangely  mingle  with  these. 
Rome  had  won  the  empire  of  the  world  by  wager  of 
battle.  God,  in  the  great  ordeal,  had  adjudged  the  tri- 
umph to  Rome :  he  had  awarded  to  her  the  prize,  uni- 
versal, indefeasible  monarchy.2  Still  further.  "  Our 
Lord  condescended  to  be  put  to  death  under  Pilate,  the 
vicegerent  of  Tiberius  CaBsar  ;  by  that  he  acknowledged 
the  lawfulness  of  the  jurisdiction,  therefore  the  jurisdic- 
tion is  of  God."  3  But  while  all  this  argument  of  Dante 
shows  the  irresistible  magic  power  still  possessed  over 
the  imagination  by  the  mere  name  of  Rome,  how 
strongly  does  it  illustrate  not  only  the  coming  days  of 
Rienzi,  but  the  strength,  too,  which  the  Papal  power 
had  derived  from  this  indelible  awe,  this  unquestioning 
admission  that  the  world  owed  allegiance  to  Rome  ! 
Dante  proceeds  to  prove  that  the  monarchy,  the  Roman 
monarchy,  is  held  directly  of  God,  not  of  any  Vicar  or 
minister  of  God.  He  sweeps  away  with  contemptuous 
hand  all  the  later  Decretals.  He  admits  the  Holy 
Scripture,  the  first  Councils,  the  early  Doctors,  and  St. 
Augustine.  He  spurns  the  favorite  texts  of  the  sun 
and  moon  as  typifying  the  Papacy  and  the  Empire,  the 
worship  of  the  Magi,  the  two  swords,  the  donation  of 
Constantine.  He  asserts  Christ  to  be  the  only  Rock 
of  the  Church.     The  examples  of  authority  assumed 

1  "Tu  rcgere  imperio  populos,  Romane,  memento." 

2  "  Nullum  dubium  est  quin  pnevalentia  in  athletis  pro  imperio  mundi 
certantibus,  Dei  judicium  est  sequuta.  Romanus  populus  cunctis  athleti- 
gantibus  pro  imperio  mundi  prajvaluit."  —  p.  100.  "  Quod  per  duellum  ac- 
quiritur  jure  acquiritur." 

3  We  find  even  the  startling  sentence,  "  Si  Roman um  Imperium  de  jure 
Don  fuit,  peccatum  adeo  in  Christo  non  iuit  runitum." 


524  LATIN    CHMST/ANITY.  Uook  Xll. 

by  Popes  over  Emperors,  he  confronts  with  precedents 
of  authority  used  by  Emperors  over  Popes.  Dante 
denies  not,  he  believes  with  the  fervor  of  a  devout 
Catholic,  the  coordinate  supremacy  of  the  Church  and 
the  Empire,  of  the  Pope  and  the  temporal  monarch , 
but  like  all  the  Ghibellines,  like  the  Fraticelli  among 
the  lower  orders,  like  many  other  true  believers,  almost 
worshippers  of  the  successor  of  St.  Peter,  he  would  ab- 
solutely, rigidly,  entirely  confine  him  to  his  spiritual 
functions  ;  with  this  life  the  Pontiff  had  no  concern, 
eternal  life  was  in  his  power  and  arbitration  alone.1 

Italy,  at  the  death  of  Henry  of  Luxemburg,  fell  back 
into  her  old  anarchy.  Clement,  it  is  true,  laid  claim  to 
the  Empire  during  the  vacancy,  but  it  was  an  idle  and 
despised  boast.2  The  Transalpine  Clement  was  suc- 
ceeded by  other  Transalpine  Popes  ;  but  the  confed- 
eracy between  the  Pope  and  the  Emperor  broke  up 
forever  at  the  death  of  Henry. 

1  This  is  the  key  to  Dante's  Imperialism  and  Papalism.  Hence  in  the 
lowest  pit  of  hell,  the  two  traitors  to  Cajsar  are  on  either  side  of  the  traitor 
to  Christ.  u  Bruto,  Iscariote,  e  Cassio."  Hence  both  his  fierce  Ghibelline 
denunciations  of  the  avarice  and  pride  of  Boniface,  and  his  indignation  at 
the  violation  of  the  sanctity  of  Christ's  Vicar  at  Anagni.  Throughout, 
the  imperial  authority  is  the  first  necessity  of  Italy  — 

"  Ahi  gente,  che  dovresti  esser  devota, 
E  lasciar  seder  Csesar  nella  sella, 
Se  bene  intendi  cio  che  Dio  ti  nota." 

This  is  followed  by  the  magnificent  apostrophe  to  Albert  of  Austria,  whose 
guilt  in  neglecting  Italy  is  not  only  avenged  on  his  own  posterity,  but  on 
his  successor,  Henry  of  Luxemburg,  — 

"  Vieni  a  veder  la  tua  Roma,  che  piagni 
Vedova  e  sola,  e  di  e  notte  chiama, 
Cesare  mio,  perche  non  in'  acconipagni." 

—  Compare  Foscolo,  Discorso,  p.  223. 

2  "  Nos  tarn  ex  superioritate  quam  ad  Imperium  non  est  dubium  noa 
habere,  quam  ex  potestate,  in  qua,  vacante  Imperio,  Imperatori  succedi- 
mus."  —  Clement.  Pastoral.     Muratori,  Ann.  sub  ann.  1314. 


Chap.  V.  THE  END  OF  DU  MOLAY.  525 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  END  OF  DU  MOLAY,  OF  POPE  CLEMENT,  OF  KING 
PHILIP. 

The  end  of  Clement  himself  and  of  Clement's  mas- 
ter, the  King  of  France,  drew  near.  The  Pope  had 
been  compelled  to  make  still  larger  concessions  to  the 
King.  Philip's  annexation  of  the  Imperial  city,  Lyons, 
and  the  extinction  of  the  rights  or  claims  of  the  Arch- 
bishop to  an  independent  jurisdiction,  were  vainly  en- 
countered by  remonstrance.  From  this  time  Lyons 
became  a  city  of  the  kingdom  of  France. 

But  the  Pope  and  the  King  must  be  preceded  into 
the  realm  of  darkness  and  to  the  judgment-seat  of 
heaven  by  other  victims.  The  tragedy  of  the  Tem- 
plars had  not  yet  drawn  to  its  close.  The  four  great 
dignitaries  of  the  Order,  the  Grand  Master  Du  Molay, 
Guy  the  Commander  of  Normandy,  son  of  the  Dau- 
phin of  Auvergne,  the  Commander  of  Aquitaine  God- 
frey de  Gonaville,  the  great  Visitor  of  France  Hugues 
de  Peraud,  were  still  pining  in  the  royal  dungeons.  It 
was  necessary  to  determine  on  their  fate.  The  King 
and  the  Pope  were  now  equally  interested  in  burying 
the  affair  forever  in  silence  and  oblivion.  So  long  as 
these  men  lived,  uncondemned,  undoomed,  the  Order 
was  not  extinct.  A  commission  was  named  ;  the  Car- 
dinal Archbishop  of  Albi,  with  two  other  Cardinals, 
two  monks,  the  Cistercian  Arnold  Novelli,  and  Arnold 


526  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII 

de  Fargis,  nephew  of  Pope  Clement,  the  Dominican 
Nicolas  de  Freveauville,  akin  to  the  house  of  Marigny, 
formerly  the  King's  confessor.  With  these  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Sens  sat  in  judgment,  on  the  Knights'  own 
former  confessions.  The  Grand  Master  and  the  rest- 
were  found  guilty,  and  were  to  be  sentenced  to  perpet- 
ual imprisonment.1 

A  scaffold  was  erected  before  the  porch  of  Notre 
Dame.  On  one  side  appeared  the  two  Cardinals ;  on 
Prisoners  the  other  the  four  noble  prisoners,  in  chains, 
for  sentence,  under  the  custody  of  the  Provost  of  Paris. 
Six  years  of  dreary  imprisonment  had  passed  over  their 
heads  ;  of  their  valiant  brethren  the  most  valiant  had 
been  burned  alive  ;  the  recreants  had  purchased  their 
lives  by  confession  :  the  Pope  in  a  full  Council  had 
condemned  and  dissolved  the  Order.  If  a  human 
mind,  a  mind,  like  that  of  Du  Molay,  not  the  most 
stubborn,  could  be  broken  by  suffering  and  humiliation, 
it  must  have  yielded  to  this  long  and  crushing  imprison- 
ment. The  Cardinal- Archbishop  of  Albi  ascended  a 
raised  platform :  he  read  the  confessions  of  the  Knights, 
the  proceedings  of  the  Court ;  he  enlarged  on  the  crim- 
inality of  the  Order,  on  the  holy  justice  of  the  Pope, 
and  the  devout,  self-sacrificing  zeal  of  the  King ;  he 
wTas  proceeding  to  the  final,  the  fatal  sentence.  At 
that  instant  the  Grand  Master  advanced ;  his  gesture 
implored  silence :  judges  and  people  gazed  in  awe- 
speechof  struck  apprehension.  In  a  calm,  clear  voice 
Du  Moiay.  Du  Molay  ^afefl .  u  Before  heaven  and  earth, 
on  the  verge  of  death,  where  the  least  falsehood  bears 
like  an  intolerable  weight  upon  the  soul,  I  protest  that 
we  have  richly  deserved  death,  not  on  account  of  any 

1  "  Muro  et  carceri  perpetuo  retrudendi."  —  Continual.  Nangis. 


Chap.  V.  TRAGEDY  OF  THE  TEMPLARS.  627 

heresy  or  sin  of  which  ourselves  or  our  Order  have 
been  guilty,  but  because  we  have  yielded,  to  save  our 
lives,  to  the  seductive  words  of  the  Pope  and  of  the 
King :  and  so  by  our  confessions  brought  shame  and  ruin 
on  our  blameless,  holy,  and  orthodox  brotherhood." 

The  Cardinals  stood  confounded  ;  the  people  could 
not  suppress  their  profound  sympathy.  The  assembly 
was  hastily  broken  up ;  the  Provost  was  commanded  to 
conduct  the  prisoners  back  to  their  dungeons.  "  To- 
morrow we  will  hold  further  counsel." 

But  on  the  moment  that  the  King  heard  these  things, 
without  a  day's  delay,  without  the  least  con-  Death  of 
sultation  with  the  ecclesiastical  authorities,  he  Du  Molay- 
ordered  them  to  death  as  relapsed  heretics.  In  the 
island  on  the  Seine,  where  now  stands  the  statue  of 
Henry  IV.,  between  the  King's  garden  on  one  side 
and  the  convent  of  the  Augustinian  monks  on  the 
other,  the  two  pyres  were  raised  (two  out  of  the  four 
had  shrunk  back  into  their  ignoble  confessions).  It 
was  the  hour  of  vespers  when  these  two  aged  and 
noble  men  were  led  out  to  be  burned :  they  were  tied 
each  to  the  stake.  The  flames  kindled  dully  and  heav- 
ily ;  the  wood,  hastily  piled  up,  was  green  or  wet ;  or, 
in  cruel  mercy,  the  tardiness  was  designed  that  the 
victims  might  have  time,  while  the  fire  was  still  curling 
round  their  extremities,  to  recant  their  bold  recantation. 
Sut  there  was  no  sign,  no  word  of  weakness.  Du  Mo- 
hty  implored  that  the  image  of  the  Mother  of  God 
might  be  held  up  before  him,1  and  his  hands  unchained, 

1  "  Et  je  vous  prie 

Que  de  vers  la  visage  Marie, 
Dont  notre  Seignor  Christ  fust  nez, 
Mon  visage  vous  me  toruez." 

Godfrey  de  Pari*. 


528  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII. 

that  he  might  clasp  them  in  prayer.  Both,  as  the 
smoke  rose  to  their  lips,  as  the  fire  crept  up  to  their 
vital  parts,  continued  solemnly  to  aver  the  innocence, 
the  Catholic  faith  of  the  Order.  The  Kino;  himself 
sat  and  beheld,1  it  might  seem  without  remorse,  this 
hideous  spectacle  ;  the  words  of  Du  Molay  might  have 
reached  his  ears.  But  the  people  looked  on  with  far 
other  feelings.  Stupor  kindled  into  admiration  ;  the 
execution  was  a  martyrdom  ;  friars  gathered  up  their 
ashes  and  bones  and  carried  them  away,  hardly  by 
stealth,  to  consecrated  ground ;  they  became  holy 
relics.2  The  two  who  wanted  courage  to  die  pined 
away  their  miserable  life  in  prison. 

The  wonder  and  the  pity  of  the  times  which  imme- 
Du  Moiay  a  diately  followed,  arrayed  Du  Molay  not  only 
prophet.  m  t]ie  roDes  0f  the  martyr,  but  gave  him  the 
terrible  language  of  a  prophet.  "  Clement,  iniquitous 
and  cruel  judge,  I  summon  thee  within  forty  days  to 
meet  me  before  the  throne  of  the  Most  High."3  Ac- 
cording to  some  accounts  this  fearful  sentence  included 
the  King,  by  whom,  if  uttered,  it  might  have  been 
heard.  The  earliest  allusion  to  this  awful  speech  does 
not  contain  that  striking  particularity,  which,  If  part 
of  it,  would  be  fatal  to  its  credibility,  the  precise  date 

1  "  Ambo  rege  spectante,"  Zantifliet.  He  adds  that  he  had  this  from  an 
eye-witness  —  "  qui  hrec  vidit  scriptori  testimonium  prsebtrik"  The  Canon 
of  Liege  is  said  to  have  been  born  towards  the  end  of  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury. Could  he  have  conversed  with  an  eye-witness  of  this  scene  on 
March  11,  1313?  But  many  of  these  chronicles  are  those  of  the  convent 
rather  than  of  the  individual  monks.  This  was  continued  to  1462.  See 
above. 

2  "  Villani  (St.  Antoninus  as  usual  copies  Villani),  E  nota  che  la  notte  ap- 
presso  chel'  detto  maestro  e  '1  compagnon  furono  marterizzati,  per  frati 
religiosi  le  loro  corpora  ed  ossa  come  reliquie  sante  furono  recolte  e  portate 
via  in  sacri  luogi." 

3  Ferret  us  Vieentinus. 


Chap.  V.  DEATH  OF  CLEMENT.  529 

of  Clement's  death.  It  was  not  till  the  year  after  that 
Clement  and  King  Philip  passed  to  their  account. 
The  poetic  relation  of  Godfrey  of  Paris1  simply  states 
that  Du  Molay  declared  that  God  would  revenge  their 
death  on  their  unrighteous  judges.  The  rapid,  fate  of 
these  two  men  during  the  next  year  might  naturally  so 
appall  the  popular  imagination,  as  to  approximate  more 
closely  the  prophecy  and  its  accomplishment.  At  all 
events  it  betrayed  the  deep  and  general  feeling  of  the 
cruel  wrong  inflicted  on  the  Order ;  while  the  un- 
lamented  death  of  the  Pope,  the  disastrous  close  of 
Philip's  reign,  and  the  disgraceful  crimes  which  at- 
tainted the  honor  of  his  family  seemed  as  declarations 
of  Heaven  as  to  the  innocence  of  their  noble  vic- 
tims.2 

The  health  of  Clement  V.  had  been  failing  for  some 
time.    From  his  Court,  which  he  held  at  Car-  Death  of 

1  .       ..  .  .     Clement. 

pentras,  he  set  out  m  hopes  to  gain  strength  April  20, 1314 
from  his  native  air  at  Bordeaux.  He  had  hardly 
crossed  the  Rhone  when  he  was  seized  with  mortal 
sickness  at  Roquemaure.  The  Papal  treasure  was 
seized  by  his  followers,  especially  his  nephew ;  his  re- 

1 "  S'en  vendra  en  brief  temps  meschie, 
Sur  celz  qui  nous  dampnent  a  tort 
Dieu  en  vengera  nostre  mort, 
Seignors,  dit  il,  sachiez  sans  tere, 
Que  tous  celz  qui  nous  sont  contrere 
Por  nous  en  uront  a  soupir." 

Godfrey  de  Paris. 
2  Besides  other  evidence,  a  singular  document  but  recently  brought  to 
light  establishes  the  date  of  the  execution  of  Du  Molay,  March  11, 1313. 
The  Abbot  and  Convent  of  St.  Germain  aux  Pres  claimed  jurisdiction  over 
the  island  where  the  execution  took  place.  They  complained  of  the  exe- 
cution as  an  infringement  on  their  rights.  The  Parliament  of  Paris  decided 
in  their  favor.  — Les  Olim,  published  by  M.  Beugnot,  Documents  lnedita 
t.  ii.  p.  599. 

vol.  vi.  34 


530  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII. 

mains  were  treated  with  such  utter  neglect  that  the 
torches  set  fire  to  the  catafalque  under  which  he  lay, 
not  in  state.  His  body,  covered  only  with  a  single 
sheet,  all  that  his  rapacious  retinue  had  left  to  shroud 
their  forgotten  master,  was  half  burned  (not,  like  those 
of  the  Templars,  his  living  body)  before  alarm  was 
raised.  His  ashes  were  borne  back  to  Carpentras  and 
solemnly  interred.1 

Clement  left  behind  him  evil  fame.  He  died  shame- 
character.  fully  rich.  To  his  nephew  (nepotism  had 
begun  to  prevail  in  its  baneful  influence)  he  bequeathed 
not  less  than  300,000  golden  florins,  under  the  pretext 
of  succor  to  the  Holy  Land.  He  had  died  still  more 
wealthy,  but  that  his  wealth  was  drained  by  more  dis- 
graceful prodigality.  It  was  generally  believed  that 
the  beautiful  Brunisand  de  Foix,  Countess  of  Talley- 
rand Perigord,  was  the  Pope's  mistress :  to  her  he  was 
boundlessly  lavish,  and  her  influence  was  irresistible 
even  in  ecclesiastical  matters.  Rumor  ran  that  her 
petitions  to  the  lustful  Pontiff  were  placed  upon  her 
otherwise  unveiled  bosom.  Italian  hatred  of  a  Transal- 
pine Pope,  Guelfic  hatred  of  a  Ghibelline  Pope,  may 
have  lent  too  greedy  ear  to  these  disreputable  reports : 
but  the  large  mass  of  authorities  is  against  the  Pope ;  in 
his  favor  hardly  more  than  suspicious  silence.2 

Yet  was  it  the  ambition  of  Clement  to  be  one  of  the 
ecclesiastical  legislators  of  Christendom.  He  had  hoped 
that  his  new  book  of  Decretals  would  have  been  en- 
rolled during  his  life  with  those  of  his  predecessors.  It 
was  published  on  the  12th  of  March,  but  the  death  of 

1  Franciscus  Pepinus  in  Chronico. 

2  Villani,  ix.  58.    The  Guelfic  Villani.    "  Contra  cujua  pudicitiam  fam* 
laboravit  "  —  Albert.  Mussat.  p.  606.    Hist.  Languedoc,  xxix.  35, 138. 


Chap.  V.  CLEMENT  V.  531 

Clement   took   place   before   it   had   assumed   its   au- 
thority. 

From  Boniface  VIII,  to  Clement  V.  was  indeed  a 
precipitous  fall.  After  this  time  subtle  policy  rather 
than  conscious  power  became  the  ruling  influence  of 
the  Popedom.  The  Popes  had  ceased  absolutely  to 
command,  but  they  had  not  ceased  to  a  great  extent  to 
govern.  Nor  in  these  new  arts  of  government  was 
Clement  without  considerable  skill  and  address.  Not- 
withstanding his  abandonment  of  Rome,  his  dangerous 
neighborhood  to  the  King  of  France,  his  general  sub- 
serviency to  his  hard  master,  his  doubtful,  at  least,  if 
not  utterly  disreputable  personal  character,  his  looseness 
and  his  rapacity,  he  had  succeeded  in  saving  the  fame 
of  his  predecessor,  in  averting  the  fatal  blow  to  the 
Popedom  of  which  it  had  been  impossible  to  conceive 
the  consequences  —  he  had  prevented  the  condemnation 
of  a  Pope  as  a  notorious  heretic  and  a  man  of  criminal 
life  —  his  disinterment,  on  which  Philip  at  one  time  in- 
sisted, and  the  public  burning  of  his  body.  Clement 
succeeded  by  calm,  stubborn  determination,  by  watch- 
ing his  time,  and  wisely  calculating  the  amount 
of  sacrifice  which  would  content  the  resentful  and 
vengeful  King.  His  other  great  service  to  Christen- 
dom was  the  preservation  of  Europe  from  the  abso- 
lute domination  of  France.  If  indeed  Henry  of  Lux- 
emburg had  established  the  imperial  dominion  in  Italy 
in  the  absence  of  the  Pope,  it  is -difficult  to  speculate 
on  the  results.  Clement  himself  took  alarm :  he 
yielded  promptly  to  the  demands  of  the  King  of 
France,  and  inhibited  the  war  waged  against  Philip's 
kinsman,  King  Robert  of  Naples,  as  against  a  vassal  of 
the   Church.      He   looked   with   distrust   on   Henry's 


532  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII. 

league  with  the  anti-papal  House  of  Arragon,  with 
Frederick  of  Sicily.  The  Pope  might  have  been  con- 
strained erelong  to  become  again  a  Guelf. 

Philip  the  Fair  survived  Pope  Clement  only  a  few 
months.1  Philip,  at  forty-six,  was  an  old  and  worn- 
out  man.  Though  he  had  raised  the  royal  power  to 
such  unprecedented  height;  though  he  had  laid  the 
foundation  of  free  institutions,  not  to  be  developed  to 
maturity ;  though  successful  in  most  of  his  wars ; 
though  he  had  curbed,  at  least,  the  rebellious  Flem- 
ings, added  provinces  to  his  realm,  above  all  the  great 
city  of  Lyons ;  though  in  close  alliance,  by  marriage, 
with  England ;  though  he  had  crushed  the  Templars, 
and  obtained  much  wealth  from  his  share  of  the  spoil ; 
though  the  Church  of  France  was  filled  in  its  highest 
sees  by  his  creatures  ;  though  the  Pope  was  under  his 
tutelage,  most  of  the  Cardinals  his  subjects:  yet  the 
last  years  of  his  reign  were  years  of  difficulty,  disaster, 
and  ignominy.  His  financial  embarrassments,  notwith- 
standing his  financial  iniquities,  grew  worse  and  worse. 
The  spoils  of  the  Templars  were  soon  dissipated.  His 
tampering  with  the  coin  of  the  kingdom  became  more 
reckless,  more  directly  opposed  to  all  true  economy, 
more  burdensome  and  hateful  to  his  subjects,  less  lu- 
crative to  the  Crown.2  The  Lombards,  the  Jews,  had 
poverty  of  keen  agam  admitted  into  the  realm,  again  to 
puiip.  ke  plundered,  again  expelled.     The  magnifi- 

cent festival  at  Paris,  where  he  received  the  King  of 
England  with  unexampled  splendor,  consummated  his 
bankruptcy. 

But  upon  his  house  there  had  fallen  what  wounded 

i  Clement  died  April  20,  Philip  Nov.  29, 1314. 
2  Compare  Sismondi. 


Chap.  V.  DISGRACE  OF  PHILIP'S  FAMILY.  533 

the  haughty,  chivalrous,  and  feudal  feelings  of  the  times 
more  than  did  the  violation  of  high  Chris-  Disgrace  of 
tian  morals.  The  wives  of  his  three  sons,  family. 
the  handsomest  men  of  their  day,  were  at  the  same 
time  accused  of  adultery,  and  with  men  of  low  birth. 
The  paramours  of  Marguerite  and  of  Blanche,  daugh- 
ters of  Otho  IV.  and  the  wives  of  Louis  and  Charles, 
the  elder  and  younger  sons  of  Philip,  were  two  Nor- 
man gentlemen,  Philip  and  Walter  de  Launoi.  Con- 
fession, true  or  false,  was  wrung  from  these  men  by 
torture ;  but  confession  only  made  their  doom  more 
dreadful.  They  were  mutilated,  flayed  alive,  hung  up 
by  the  most  sensitive  parts  to  die  a  lingering  death.1 
Many  persons,  men  and  women,  of  high  and  low  rank, 
were  tortured  to  admit  criminal  connivance  in  the 
crimes  of  the  princesses :  some  were  sewed  up  in  sacks 
and  cast  into  the  river,  some  burned  alive,  some  hanged. 
The  atrocity  of  the  punishments  shows  how  deeply  the 
disgrace  sank  into  the  heart  of  the  King,  himself  too 
cold  and  severe  to  indulge  such  weaknesses. .  Margue- 
rite and  Blanche  were  shaven  and  shut  up  in  Chateau- 
Gaillard.  Marguerite  was  afterwards  strangled,  that 
her  husband  might  marry  again :  Blanche  divorced  on 
the  plea  of  parentage.  Her  splendid  dowry  alone 
saved  the  life,  if  not  the  honor,  of  Jane  of  Burgundy, 
the  wife  of  the  second  son,  Philip  of  Poictiers.  She 
had  brought  him  the  sovereignty  of  Franche  Comte, 
which  he  would  forfeit  by  her  death  or  divorce.  Jane 
was  shut  up  ;  no  paramour  was  produced :  the  Parlia- 
ment of  Paris  declared  her  guiltless,  and  Philip  received 
her  again  to  all  the  dignity  of  her  station. 

In  this  attainder  to  the  honor  of  the  royal  house  of 
1  Contiu.  Nangis,  p.  G8.    Chroniq.  du  St.  Denys,  p.  146. 


534  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII. 

France  some  beheld  the  vengeance  of  Heaven  for  the 
sacrilegious  outrage  at  Anagni ;  others  for  the  iniquitous 
persecution  of  the  Templars.1 

Philip  had  fallen  into  great  languor,  yet  was  able  to 
Death  of  amuse  himself  with  hunting.  A  wild  boar 
Philip.  ran  uncier  tne  legs  of  his  horse,  and  overthrew 

him.  He  was  carried  to  Fontainebleau,  and  died  with 
all  outward  demonstrations  of  piety.  The  persecutor 
of  Popes,  the  persecutor  of  the  great  religious  Order 
of  Knighthood,  had  always  shown  the  most  submissive 
reverence  for  the  offices  of  the  Church ;  he  had  been 
most  rigid  in  the  proscription  of  heresy  or  of  suspected 
heresy.  The  fires  had  received  one  more  victim,  Mar- 
guerite de  la  Porette,  who  had  written  a  book  of  too 
ardent  piety  on  the  Love  of  God.2  Philip  died,  giving 
the  sagest  advice  to  his  sons  of  moderation,  mercy,  de- 
votion to  the  Church ;  lessons  which  he  seemed  to  lull 
himself  to  a  quiet  security  that  he  had  ever  fulfilled  to 
the  utmost.3 


It  is  singular,  even  in  these  dark  times,  to  see  Chris- 
tianity still  strong  at  her  extremities,  still  making  con- 
quests upon  Heathenism.     The  Order  of  the  Knights 


1  "  Forse  per  lo  peccato  commesso  per  loro  padre,  nella  presura  di  Papa 
Bonifazio,  come  il  Vescovo  d'  Ansiona  profettizo,  e  forze  per  quello,  che 
adopero  ne'  Templari,  come  e  detto  addietro."  —  G.  Villani,  ix.  65. 

2  Continuat.  Nangis.     Sismondi,  Hist,  des  Francais,  ix.  p.  286. 

8  After  the  death  of  Philip's  Queen,  unless  belied,  one  of  the  most  lustful 
of  women,  Guichard  Bishop  of  Troyes  was  arrested  on  suspicion  of  having 
poisoned  her.  He  was  tried  before  the  Archbishop  of  Sens  and  the  Bishops 
of  Orleans  and  Auxerre.  The  proofs  failed,  but  the  Bishop  was  kept  in 
prison.  Nor,  though  another  man  accused  himself  of  the  crime,  was  the 
Bishop  reinstated  in  his  see.  —  Coutin.  Nangis,  p.  61.  Compare  Michelet, 
Hist,  des  Fraucais,  vol  iv.  c.  5. 


Chap.  V.  TEUTONIC   ORDER.  535 

Templars  had  come  to  a  disastrous  and  ignominious 
end.  The  Knights  of  St.  John  or  of  the  Hospital, 
now  that  the  Holy  Land  was  irrecoverably  lost,  had 
planted  themselves  in  Rhodes,  as  a  strong  outpost  and 
bulwark  of  Christendom,  which  they  held  for  some 
centuries  against  the  Tur«o-Mohammedan  power ;  and, 
when  it  fell,  almost  buried  themselves  in  its  ruins.  At 
the  same  time,  less  observed,  less  envied,  less  Teutonic 
famous,  the  Teutonic  Order  was  winning  to  0rder- 
itself  from  heathendom  (more  after  the  example  of 
Charlemagne  than  of  Christ's  Apostles)  a  kingdom,  of 
which  the  Order  was  for  a  time  to  be  the  Sovereign,  and 
which  hereafter,  conjoined  with  one  of  the  great  Ger- 
man Principalities,  was  to  become  an  important  state, 
the  kingdom  of  Prussia. 

The  Orders  of  the  Temple  and  of  St.  John  owed, 
the  former  their  foundation,  the  latter  their  power  and 
wealth,  to  noble  Knights.  They  were  military  and 
aristocratic  brotherhoods,  which  hardly  deigned  to  re- 
ceive, at  least  in  their  higher  places,  any  but  those  of 
gentle  birth.  The  first  founders  of  the  Teutonic  Order 
were  honest,  decent,  and  charitable  burghers  of  Lubeck 
and  Bremen.  After  the  disasters  which  followed  the 
death  of  Frederick  Barbarossa,  when  the  army  was 
wasting  away  with  disease  and  famine  before  Acre, 
these  merchants  from  the  remote  shores  of  the  Baltic 
ran  up  the  sails  of  their  ships  into  tents  to  receive  the 
sick  and  starving.  They  were  joined  by  the  brethren 
of  a  German  Hospital,  which  had  been  before  founded 
in  Jerusalem,  and  had  been  permitted  by  the  contempt- 
uous compassion  of  Saladin  to  remain  for  some  time  in 
the  city.  Duke  Frederick  of  Swabia  saw  the  advan- 
tage of  a  German  Order,  both  to  maintain  the  German 


536  LATIN  CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII. 

interests  and  to  relieve  the  necessities  of  German  pil- 
grims.    Their  first  house  was  in  Acre.1 

But  it  was  not  till  the  Mastership  of  Herman  of 
Salza  that  the  Teutonic  Order  emerged  into  distinction. 
That  remarkable  man  has  been  seen  adhering  in  un 
shaken  fidelity  to  the  fortunes  of  the  Emperor  Freder- 
ick II. ; 2  and  Frederick  no  doubt  more  highly  honored 
the  Teutonic  Order  because  it  was  commanded  by  Her- 
man of  Salza,  and  more  highly  esteemed  Herman  of 
Salza  as  Master  of  an  Order  which  alone  in  Palestine 
did  not  thwart,  oppose,  insult  the  German  Emperor.  It 
is  the  noblest  testimony  to  the  wisdom,  unimpeached 
virtue,  honor,  and  religion  of  Herman  of  Salza,  that 
the  successive  Popes,  Honorius  III.,  Gregory  IX.,  In- 
nocent IV.,  who  agreed  with  Frederick  in  nothing  else, 
with  whom  attachment  to  Frederick  was  enmity  and 
treason  to  the  Church  or  absolute  impiety,  neverthe- 
less vied  with  the  Emperor  in  the  honor,  and  respect 
paid  to  the  Master  Herman,  and  in  grants  and  privi- 
leges to  his  Teutonic  Knights. 

to  to 

The  Order,  now  entirely  withdrawn,  as  become  use- 
less, from  the  Holy  Land,  had  found  a  new  sphere  for 
their  crusading  valor  :  the  subjugation  and  conversion 
of  the  heathen  nations  to  the  south-east  and  the  east  of 
the  Baltic.3  Theirs  was  a  complete  Mohammedan  in- 
vasion, the  Gospel  or  the  sword.     The  avowed  object 

1  Compare  voigf,  Gesehichte  Preussens,  and  authorities. 

2  See  vol.  v.  p.  505. 

8  Pomerania  had  been  converted  in  a  more  Christian  manner  in  the 
twelfth  century,  chiefly  by  the  exertions  of  Bishop  Otho  of  Bamberg, 
whose  romantic  life  with  that  of  his  convert,  Prince  Mitz'av,  has  been  well 
wrought  by  my  nephew,  the  Rev.  R.  Milman,  into  a  Romance  (I  wish  it 
had  been  Histor}',  or  even  Legend).  I  trust  this  note  is  pardonable  nepo- 
tism. See  also  Mono,  Nordische  Heidenthum,  or  Schroeck,  xxv.  p.  221,, 
&c  ,  for  a  more  historical  view. 


Chap.V.  teutonic  order.  537 

was  the  subjugation,  the  extermination  if  they  would 
not  be  subjugated,  of  the  Prussian,  Lithuanian,  Estho- 
nian,  and  other  kindred  or  conterminous  tribes,  because 
they  were  infidels.  They  had  refused  to  listen  to  the 
pacific  preachers  of  the  Gospel,  and  pacific  preachers 
had  not  been  wanting.  Martyrs  to  the  faith  had  fallen 
on  the  dreary  sands  of  Prussia,  in  the  forests  and  mo- 
rasses of  Livonia  and  Esthonia. 

The  Pope  and  the  Emperor  concurred  in  this  alone 
—  in  their  right  to  grant  away  all  lands,  it  might  be 
kingdoms,  won  from  unbelievers.  The  Charter  of 
Frederick  II.  runs  in  a  tone  of  as  haughty  supremacy 
as  those  of  Honorius,  Gregory,  or  Innocent  IV.1 

These  tribes  had  each  their  religion,  the  dearer  to 
them  as  the  charter  of  their  liberty.  It  was  wild,  no 
doubt  superstitious  and  sanguinary.2  They  are  said  to 
have  immolated  human  victims.3  They  burned  slaves, 
like  other  valuables,  on  the  graves  of  their  departed 
great  men. 

For  very  many  years  the  remorseless  war  went  on. 
The  Prussians  rose  and  rose  again  in  revolt ;  but  the 
inexhaustible  Order  pursued  its  stern  course.  It  be- 
came the  perpetual  German  Crusade.    Wherever  there 

1  "  Auctoritatem  eidem  magistro  concedimus,  terram  Prussise  cum  viri- 
bus  domus,  et  totis  conatibus  invadendi,  concedentes  et  confirmantes  eidem 
magistro,  successoribus  ejus,  et  domui  suas  in  perpetuum,  tarn  prasdictam 

erram  quam  a  prsescripto  duce  recipiat  ut  promisit,  et  quamcunque  aliain 
dabit.  Necnon  terram,  quam  in  partibus  Prussia?,  Deo  favente,  conquirat, 
velut  vetus  et  debitum  jus  Imperii,  in  montibus,  planicie,  fluminibus,  ne- 
moribus  et  in  mari,  ut  earn  liberam  sine  omni  servitia  et  exactione  teneant  et 
immunem.  Et  nulli  respondere  proinde  teneantur."  —  Grant  of  Frederick 
II.,  Voigt,  Geschichte  Preussens,  iii.  p.  440. 

2  Compare  Mone,  i.  79. 

8  A  burgher  of  Magdeburg  was  burned  as  a  sacrifice  to  their  gods  by  the 
Nantangian  Prussians.  The  lot  had  fallen  on  him.  A  Nantangian  chief 
begged  him  off,  as  having  enjoyed  his  hospitality.  Twice  again  he  threw 
Btill  the  lot  was  against  him.     He  was  immolated.  —  Voigt,  iii.  206. 


538  LATIN   CHRISTIANITY.  Book  XII. 

was  a  martial  and  restless  noble,  who  found  no  adven- 
ture, or  no  enemy,  in  his  immediate  neighborhood  ; 
wherever  the  indulgences  and  rewards  of  this  religious 
act,  the  fighting  for  the  Cross,  were  wanted,  without 
the  toil,  peril,  and  cost  of  a  journey  to  the  Holy  Land,  i 
the  old  but  now  decried,  now  unpopular  Crusade ; 
whoever  desired  more  promptly  and  easily  to  wash  off 
his  sins  in  the  blood  of  the  unbeliever,  rushed  into  the] 
Order,  and  either  enrolled  himself  as  a  Knight,  or 
served  for  a  time  under  the  banner.  There  is  hardly 
a  princely  or  a  noble  house  in  Germany  which  did  not 
furnish  some  of  its  illustrious  names  to  the  roll  of  Teu- 
tonic Knights. 

So  at  length,  by  their  own  good  swords,  and  what 
sovereignty  they  no  doubt  deemed  a  more  irrefragable 
of  the  order.  titie?  tjie  grants  0f  Popes  and  Emperors,  the 
Order  became  Sovereigns ;  a  singular  sovereignty, 
which  descended,  not  by  hereditary  succession,  but  by 
the  incorporation  of  new  Knights  into  the  Order. 
The  whole  land  became  the  absolute  property  of  the 
Order,  to  be  granted  out  but  to  Christians  only  ;  apos 
tasy  forfeited  all  title  to  land. 

Their  subjects  were  of  two  classes :  I.  The  old 
Prussian,  converted  to  Christianity  after  the  conquest. 
Baptism  was  the  only  way  to  become  a  freeman,  a 
man.  The  conquered  unbeliever  who  remained  an  un- 
believer, was  the  slave,  the  property  of  his  master,  as 
much  as  his  horse  or  hound.  The  three  ranks  which 
subsisted  among  the  Prussians,  as  in  most  of  the  Teu- 
tonic and  kindred  tribes,  remained  under  Christianity 
and  the  sovereignty  of  the  Order.  The  great  land- 
owners, the  owners  of  castles  held  immediately  of  the 
Order :  their  estates  had  descended  from  heathen  times. 


Chap.  V.  TENURE  OF  THE  ORDER.  539 

These  were,  1,  the  Withings ;  2,  the  lower  vassals ; 
and,  3,  those  which  answered  to  the  Leudes  and  Lita 
of  the  Germans,  retained  their  rank  and  place  in  the 
social  scale.  All  were  bound  to  obey  the  call  to  war, 
to  watch  and  ward ;  to  aid  in  building  and  fortifying 
the  castles  and  strongholds  of  the  Order. 

II.  The  German  immigrants  or  colonists.  These 
were  all  equally  under  the  feudal  sovereignty  of  the 
Order.  The  cities  and  towns  were  all  German.  The 
Prussian  seems  to  have  disdained  or  to  have  had  no  in- 
clination to  the  burgher-life.  There  were  also  German 
villages,  each  under  its  Schultheiss,  and  with  its  own 
proper  government. 

Thus  was  Christendom  pushing  forward  its  borders. 
These  new  provinces  were  still  added  to  the  dominion 
of  Latin  Christianity.  The  Pope  grants,  the  Teutonic 
Order  hold  their  realm  on  the  conjoint  authority  of  the 
successor  of  Caesar  and  of  St.  Peter.  As  a  religious 
Order,  they  are  the  unreluctant  vassals  of  the  Pope ; 
as  Teutons,  owe  some  undefined  subordination  to  the 
Emperor.1 

1  Voigt  is  a  sufficient  and  trustworthy  authority  for  this  rapid  sketch. 
The  Order  has  its  own  historians,  but  neither  is  their  style  nor  their  sub- 
ject attractive. 


END  OF  VOL.  VI. 


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